Chapter 3

Chichi ran as fast as she could.

But no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't escape the weird lizard-looking creature that was chasing her.

She looked over her shoulder and tripped. As the demon loomed over her, triumphant, she put both hands to her forehead, screaming as a beam of light fired from the jewel on her helmet.

The monster exploded.

Chichi panted and tried to climb back to her feet, but found she couldn't.

"Where do these things keep coming from?" she asked no one.

As if on cue, several more of the beasts appeared from out of nowhere and advanced on young girl. She tried frantically to fire another blast from her helmet, but it needed a minute to recharge between every attack. She was helpless.

A loud roar erupted from above her as a terrifically large man landed directly in front of her. He wore a golden helmet with ox-horns on either side.

"Daddy!" she cried.

The Ox-King plowed into the monsters that had stalked his daughter, tearing them to shreds with his great strength. It took him less than a minute to destroy 7 demons.

He took no damage.

Turning back to his daughter, the Ox-King lifted Chichi into his arms and began walking back to their home.

"Thank you, Daddy," the girl muttered as she quietly fell asleep in his arms, exhausted from her ordeal.

From a distance, Piccolo floated in the air watching the Ox-King withdraw.

"Not good," the demon said to himself. "He is far more powerful than we were lead to believe."

Piccolo turned and left to report this news to his master.

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"The Ox-King is the toughest, meanest, strongest guy in whole world!" Krillin shouted from the back seat of the car.

Bulma was driving while Goku and Krillin sat in the back seat. After a full meal, Goku had slept most of the way, with Krillin up front. But Bulma had gotten so tired of hearing him talk, she had exiled him to the back once Goku woke up.

"It doesn't matter," Bulma called back for what had to be the sixth time. "We're still going."

"But you don't understand," he continued. "The Ox-King didn't get to be a king because he's royalty. He just killed everyone in the castle one day and started living there. After that, everyone just called him King!"

"Huh, I bet he'd be fun to fight," Goku spoke up.

"Are you crazy!?" Krillin shouted.

"I bet he's not really that bad a guy, after all," Goku offered.

"How do you figure, Goku?" Bulma asked.

"Well, he's not like those demons. If he's human, he had to train to get stronger. That's the cool thing about fighting. Everyone is born weak, but then you can train and get as strong as you want. If he's that strong, he had to work really hard to get that way. If he's a hard worker, then he must be good, right?" Goku looked back and forth between the other two.

Krillin just stared at him. "How can you be so simple?"

"Cause he was raised in the woods," Bulma said.

"Bulma, are we there yet? I'm getting sick of just sitting back here," Goku said, changing the subject.

"What, do you want me to let you out so you can run alongside the car?" she asked.

Bulma drove with one hand while she reached into her pocket to pull out her radar. "Still a few more miles."

"How does that thing work, anyway?" Krillin asked.

"The radar? Well, I found that the dragon balls emit a kind of energy that is easily traceable, so I just built a radar to track them all down."

"You just built a radar device that could do that?" Krillin asked.

"Yeah. Oh, did I forget to tell you? I'm a genius," she smiled.

"What!?"

"Seriously," she continued. "My dad is one too. Dr. Briefs. He founded Capsule Corporation."

"You're dad is head of Capsule Corp?" Krillin asked. "That's crazy. So, if you are that rich, why are you looking for the dragon balls all on your own? Why not just hire people to find them for you?"

"Where's the fun in that?" she asked, with a wicked grin. It was the same look Goku had when he talked of fighting. "I found the first dragon ball in my parent's basement. I don't know where we got it from. But I did the research and found the whole legend of the dragon and the wishes and everything. I thought it would be a fun thing to do on a summer vacation."

"This is a typical summer vacation for you?" Krillin asked.

"Pretty much. I mean, I'm rich and super smart. Everything else is boring to me."

"What about you, Krillin. How did you get to be such a good fighter?" Goku asked.

"I could ask you the same thing. I'm a member of the Orinji Temple. They train us from birth to fight. When the Demons attack our village, the monks all went out to protect it. They did a pretty good job against the small fries, but they were no match for that big demon. After he showed up, we kids just did our best to hide. What's your story?"

"No story," Goku said cheerfully. "I just loved to train with my Grandpa. After he died, I just kept training."

"What was your Grandpa's name?" Krillin asked.

"Gohan."

"What! Son Gohan! He was one of the best tournament fighters in the world!" Krillin shouted.

"Yeah, even I've heard of him," Bulma said. "And that's saying something."

"So?" Goku asked.

"So?" Krillin replied. "Your Grandpa was the probably the only guy who could have taken out the Ox-King in a fair fight! People even said that they may have trained together, but Gohan disappeared years ago and no one asks the Ox-King any questions. No wonder you're so freakishly strong!"

"Hm," Bulma said. "Let's hope that's true. That could be our way in with the Ox-King. Maybe talk him into giving us his dragon ball without squashing us."

"I wonder if I could beat him in a fight," Goku asked out loud.

"Oh, god. We're going to die," Krillin moaned.

"Well, let's hope not," Bulma said, "because we're here."

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S-Shield's Notes

Okay, a bit of info-dump. But I figure any good movie is going to need some character development. And this was a chance to get everyone's back-stories out of the way at once.

Plus, I gave you a nice little fight up front. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.