Chapter Six

Krillin sat in silence. This was a thing he quite loved about the Lookout. The tranquillity. There wasn't the bustle of the city nor was there the claustrophobia he felt when he was at Master Roshi's. No, instead there was the chirping of birds, the nipping wind that he was starting to grow used to and Mr Popo who had been gracious enough to let Krillin call the place home until Kami returned.

Thoughts barrelled into his mind and Krillin tried to cast them back, too late he realised as the sound of heaving blocks on concrete hitting the ground broke the silence. Krillin let out a sigh and opened his eyes. Telekinesis and distracting thoughts did not mix. There were just so many possibilities to consider when thinking of the god, especially with the revelation of Namek. Did that mean this had always been a failsafe? But even so, how had Kami known they would win and the saiyan threat be defeated?

Krillin shook his head, trying with all his might to cast back his thoughts and focus at the matter at hand: Goku was a naturally gifted martial artist, this much Krillin had known since the early days of their training with Master Roshi, therefore it had made sense that now that the saiyan was alive, Krillin would swallow his pride and enquire about tips in gaining a better mobility with his attacks.

The answer was telekinesis.

Telekinesis by its own right was a form of energy control, though unlike ki, it wasn't the control of one's own energy, but the innate energy that all things had; something considerably a lot more difficult than mastering the self, Krillin had come to realise.

He took another breath and focused, reaching out to the two large blocks of concrete and grabbing hold. At first it felt almost impossible, a presence in his mind that was the equivalent of the force that it would take to physically lift the blocks, but unlike the physical realm, he didn't have the help of an immense reserve of energy to break human limits. But the more he stretched this new muscle, the more powerful it got and it was considerably faster than physical training.

The blocks relented and he could feel them rise, wobbling in their hover before they finally settled. Krillin next turned his attention to himself, pushing himself up with his ki until he achieved the same hover, it didn't do to stop training the body.

Then, he focused on the serenity.

Time was spent in that silence that Krillin got lost in it, as he achieved the bliss that so often escaped him, he felt his sense stretch out, his mind drinking in the multitude of tiny sparks coming from all those that were alive. There was something about being on the Lookout that went beyond the earthly plane, the moment one succumbed to it, it was as though a whole new avenue of sensing opened up. No distance existed. There wasn't a need for a powerful opponent for Krillin to be able to sense people at a large distance. It was just there. Every life a small spark and the more powerful opponents brighter and more vivid in appearance.

Two points of equal strength went against each other, squaring off, in relation to these two there was virtually no life; that would be Chiaotzu, who had taken to an unending bout of training since the day of the saiyan attack, more especially since Goku had asked that they keep the brute, Nappa, alive—Krillin hadn't liked it, all of them were watching the man, making sure he didn't do anything that would threaten lives. As if instinctively Krillin reached out further, grasping within his mind the most powerful beings on earth. Gohan became clear, with Chi-Chi and the Ox King close to him, all amongst the lower levels of the people in the mountain range; there was Master Roshi who was close to much lower levels; Goku in his hospital bed; a whole host of other power that were strong, but not strong enough; and eventually he found Nappa, his power was supressed, but the technique was amateur at best and tracking him was easy.

An anxiety Krillin hadn't even known he'd had settled as he kept his eye on the man, tracking him as he moved quickly, most likely training as he often did—Krillin was starting to think that maybe training without pause was a saiyan trait. He kept track of the man as he continued, most likely running because the energy needed to sustain flight would have been much high—

His eyes snapped open and he dropped to the ground, the blocks too doing the same with a heavy thud. Six beings, all with the same power spread-out very far apart, appeared from thin air, and with this lives began to disappear. Krillin was on his feet in within moments and jetting through the sky towards the closest of the beings, two that were in a city with the amount of lives they were taking down.

He hadn't taken ten minutes, but already there was so much destruction: massive holes within the buildings, cars over turned and bloodied bodies littering the streets. There were bangs of gunshots and one of the power levels moved, a life was snuffed out. Krillin quickly darted in the direction of the power level and was struck by momentary awe as he looked at the creature. It was on the shorts side, with a bright green body that looked akin to a humanoid seed, eyes shining a mischievous red and long claws that Krillin would have to watch out for.

The thing started moving, looking left then right and—Krillin caught the thing with a kick as it was looking up, slamming it deeply into the ground and caused it to screech a high-pitched sound. Krillin felt the other coming and dodged as the claw swiped at him; he spun and kicked, catching the creature in its chest and driving it back just as its friend jumped from the hole it had called home. Another swipe was dodged but the creature evaded as Krillin tried to retaliate; the thing flew back and landed beside its friend, eyeing Krillin with a look between excitement and anxiety.

Krillin took a breath and landed on the ground, focusing on keeping everything in perspective: two opponents, they were weaker from what he could sense, but they had the advantage of numbers on their side, not to mention that because he would want to protect innocents, they had a further advantage. Best course of attack?

There was no further time to think as both the things lunged, Krillin focused, quickly grasping them and, with a guttural cry, he gave a mighty shove; the creatures were shoved back by a mighty force and Krillin jumped towards the sky as the things found their feet, releasing blasts of energy that gave small explosions on impact. The creatures dodged with commendable prowess, making their way into the sky as they did, trying to get at Krillin.

A brief look into the sky and Krillin found the sun; he dodged as the creatures attacked, moving with an agility that was no longer hampered by his weighted clothes. One of the creatures managed to land a hit, claw digging into his chest and bringing up blood. Krillin's teeth clenched and the punch was instinctive, with a lot more power than Krillin had meant to give. It landed and sent the thing hurling back, rubble stirring up as it ploughed through a skyscraper.

Something akin to a look of fear appeared on the second of the creatures, but it still didn't relent. Krillin wove out of the way of its hits and quickly shifted to attack; it tried to evade but it wasn't built for it, the evasions were sloppy at best. His hits landed and the creature bruised purple, a vicious swipe fuelled by anger at the creature's neck and Krillin chopped its head off. It plummeted to the ground.

Krillin calmed himself of the anger, the pain surging from his wound. It was done and creatures were—he dodged but it was too late, a white viscous liquid landed on his hand and Krillin couldn't hold back the scream at the fierce burning pain. He turned swiftly, an energy ball forming in his other hand. The creature didn't have a chance, when it hit, the detonation snuffed it out.

With laboured breaths, Krillin looked at his arm, it fizzed, the liquid eating through skin and muscle. An aura of white surrounded him and Krillin shot off towards Korin's tower, hopefully the senzu beans would be able to deal with this. The pain was a distraction, but Krillin kept enough presence of mind to keep flying, using the power levels of Korin as a beacon. It was unfortunate, however, that when focusing on large power levels, it was the easiest thing to miss the small signs of life.

Three almost silent whips and Krillin was hit by an electrical surge, he lost his concentration and plummeted, losing consciousness as he hit the ground.

A minute to an hour must have passed, he wasn't really sure, but all he knew was that as he came alive, his arm had been heavily bandaged and it looked like the liquid had eaten his hand. He let out a shuddering breath as he looked at the stump, calming himself when his internal voice won through and told him that the senzu beans would be able to heal this sort of damage, he was sure from the twinges of pain that the wound had not healed over.

He looked around: he was in a small room with grey walls, a small door of reinforced metal the only exit. Krillin stood, pain from his arm flaring but he took a moment, calmed his breathing and took control of his mind. It was a mental discipline that he had been taught many years ago and one that was particularly useful when one was a martial artist; he blocked off a section of his mind and pushed the pain within. It did not disappear entirely, but the pain dulled, giving him his full wits.

Krillin dug at his memories, searching for what had happened. A minute spent in thought and he found nothing except the sudden feeling of being knocked out. He took another breath, trying to decipher where in Kami's name he was; captured, the obvious thought said. But by whom?

Sense extended, Krillin felt two sparks outside, higher than average; they had trained, rigorous from the feel of it. He stretched further and found more sparks, all with the same above average power and all of them in pairs. If Krillin's guess was correct, they were guards. Military then, or perhaps a group with the same training, it was best to tread carefully at this point.

He went over to the door and gave a few raps. There was movement on the other side. "I'm awake," said Krillin, "and I want an explanation."

No sound passed from the other side but there was movement. Krillin went back to his little cot and sat down, waiting as the various sparks of life moving, most coalescing towards his position.

The first sounds broke through. "Stand up, away from the door and do not move," said a voice. "Trained officers will be coming into the room, any sign of attack and they are liable to shoot."

Krillin did as instructed and the door slid open with a hiss: two guards, carrying large guns pointed at him, Krillin unconsciously reached into his pool of power, spreading a thin layer over his skin then quickly draping a layer of telekinetic force over it; he wasn't sure if it would work, but the damage would not be as severe as when he was not protected. Slowly the men with guns walked in, followed by two others that too had guns and then a woman who strut in, hands at her back and a cold look in her steely grey eyes.

Krillin felt his heart skip a beat and then he mentally shook his head. Not the time, he thought.

"Mr Krillin," she said with a hard voice that did nothing to reveal anything in the vein of emotion.

"I'm sorry to say I don't have the pleasure of knowing your name," Krillin found himself repeating, he mentally scowled at himself, spending too much time around Master Roshi seemed to be having adverse effects.

The slight glimmer of a scowl, but Krillin thought he could have imagined that. Coolly, she said, "I'm Corporal Moniker of the King's Guard and I hope, with your co-operation, you might explain a few things to me."

Krillin frowned. "Things such as?" he asked.

"For one the peculiar ability you have to fly," she said. "Or the prowess you showed when you fought the alien humanoids over South City, but more particularly the energy bolts you were able to conjure up, heavily akin to those used by the late King Piccolo."

"I'm offended by the comparison," Krillin muttered.

"My apology," she said, though it sounded like anything but. "Will you then?" she went on. "Help me solve those mysteries?"

Krillin shrugged. "They aren't exactly any secrets," he said. "But what reason is there I should play along in all this when, and I might be wrong on this point, you've captured and imprisoned me without having committed a crime?"

"Destruction of property," she said without missing a beat. "A minor charge, certainly not one that would lend to this level of security, but no less, we have the right to imprison you."

"I'm allowed a trial," Krillin said.

"And you will have one," Moniker said. "We would have gotten you a lawyer, but your unresponsive state made that hard—"

"Your fault," Krillin said. "You shot me down."

"—and luckily for us, a period of twenty-four hours has yet to pass, making all this by the book. And as for shooting you down, we were apprehending a criminal that was fleeing a crime scene, again, we had right to shoot you down."

"You know," muttered Krillin. "If all this was some bid to try and gain my trust, you're doing an awful job at it."

Moniker gave a short and curt shake of the head and said, "That was not my intention. My intention was to show you that the letters of the law were obeyed."

"Okay," said Krillin.

"Now," she said, "on to the trust. Follow me," she said as she turned, she did add, "These men are expert marksmen. They have orders to shoot you down if you try anything except following me."

"Got it," said Krillin and he followed when the soldiers had parted enough that he was able to walk through and out of his cell. The halls were a winding mess that Krillin didn't even attempt to commit to memory, but he could sense guards arrayed at every corner, all of them poised to attack as Krillin passed, not to mention the four that were behind and four more that were in front of Moniker.

They wove their way until they came upon a door, a few buttons swiftly pressed by Moniker and the door slid open. She walked in, Krillin followed; the room was filled with a dozen or so monitors, all playing with different images. A man stood and got into a stiff posture on Moniker's entrance.

"Sir," he said in a gruff voice. Moniker gave a nod and the man took his seat, fluidly pressing a set of buttons.

"Show him the anomalies," ordered Moniker. The man pressed a few buttons and images blinked on the screen. Five in all: Bulma who was working studiously amongst a trove of scientist, a mess of machinery in the background; Gohan sitting next to a hospital bed, Goku, Chi-Chi and Master Roshi with him, the four exchanging in inaudible conversation; Chiaotzu, the small figure was currently flying over the ocean, engulfed by an aura of white as he flew in a direction Krillin could not tell; the next was of an island that Krillin knew too well; and the last was of Goku's house in the mountains.

"You're watching us?" he said.

Moniker nodded, "Proceeding the attack of the alien life forms and their destruction of a city, it became obvious to the military and various branches of the government that we were outmatched. Beings with superhuman abilities that ranged from flight, super-strength and energy manipulation. Plans were already in motion for a counter attack on the aliens, the full military might of earth ready to attack at our disposable, but within minutes of their arrival and subsequent flight out of the destroyed city, the aliens were facing off against—"

Screens blazed into life with images of the two saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta, the next Krillin saw Gohan and Piccolo, not a moment before he arrived.

"—you and your group."

Pretty soon images of Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Tien—Krillin felt a pang of guilt at the sight of them, the memories that they might have survived had they too had an extra year to train, he pushed this back, he'd done what he could have done with the time limit and what little he knew about Kami's plans. Another monitored flickered into life and a battle ensued, the fight moving at an intense speed at first before coming to a quick end.

"Felt longer," Krillin found himself saying.

The fight was played again, only this time a lot slower.

"As you can see, you and your group demonstrated abilities akin to those of the alien forces and, after some research on our parts, the abilities similar to that of King Piccolo, whom, we've come to notice has apparently changed side?" the question was directed at him, Krillin noticed.

"It's a long story," he said.

Moniker continued, "We know when we're outmatched," she said. "Our planes might be faster, but the agility shown by you shows that in a duel between the two, they would be outmatched; at the speeds you were all moving, experts physicists under our employ have also speculated that you might be able to dodge bullets with enough distance and enough warning. There's also speculation that you might be able to take a direct hit if the footage is anything to go by. Which is why, for the past month, we've been trying to find you."

"Me?" Krillin asked, taken briefly aback.

Moniker nodded. "From the looks of it, you showed a leadership role in the alien's defeat," she said. "The way in which you took charge even when the creature had taken on a monstrous form, and allowed for the energy ball from the fighter Goku."

"I still don't know why you were looking for me," said Krillin.

"The undeniable existence of alien life-forms has forced us to rethink matters in terms of earth's security," she said. "Fighters like you and your group are few and far between, more especially since two of in group were lost. We were hoping you would assist a select few achieve the feats that you and your teammates have achieved."

"You want me to help you create Supersoldiers?" Krillin asked, frowning and running a hand at his chin. The idea, he liked. It didn't make sense that only five beings on earth were able to protect it to the extent that he, Goku, Chiaotzu and Gohan were able to protect it, especially if there were more threats in the greater universe.

But could he trust the government? A stupid thought, Krillin said to himself, trust didn't play a role in the matter. King Fuzzy had been doing damage control the past month, showing citizens that, though a city had been destroyed, the saiyans were no longer a threat and that safeguards were being put in place that would minimise future damage. News on the saiyan ships had also been word-of-mouth, especially since the Brief family had taken charge and manned to reverse engineer and study of the two ships. King Fuzzy had announced that in a year, they were hoping to have fully space faring ships to explore the galaxy and perhaps learn from our neighbours of effective ways at warding off invaders.

Earth was rapidly changing and this was another opportunity to further that change.

Helping the military would be for a greater and long-term good than only a select few being able to effectively protect earth.

"Yes," said Moniker. "Of course, this would run on a trial basis for some time. It doesn't do to put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak."

"Can I be given time to think about it?" Krillin said, though the decision seemed pretty clear. He still needed to talk to the others, tell them that they were being watched and perhaps try and figure out about the green things he'd fought—not to mention he needed to get his hand back before it healed.

"That we can do," she said. "Though you will be watched to ensure you don't disappear."

"I won't," Krillin said. "I give you my word."

She gave a curt nod and gave a few quick orders to her squad. Krillin was, at gunpoint, escorted out of the facility that stood in the middle of a building and left to his devices. He took to the sky and after a long bout of focus, he found Korin and flew in the direction.