Friends in High Places

Toushiro was ecstatic! In his hand, he held his first Dragon Ball. And ironically, it was the 4 Star ball.

Goku: "You have no idea how important that one Dragon Ball is, Toushiro."

Toushiro: "Why's that?"

Goku: "That's the Dragon Ball that my Grandpa Gohan gave me when I was a kid. That ball is what led to me meeting Bulma which led to many adventures where I met everyone who are now my friends and family. You could say that, what you're holding in your hand, was the key that locked all of our paths together."

Now Toushiro was really ecstatic! This one single Dragon Ball was what had brought Goku and the Z-Fighters together. Toushiro could almost 'feel' the significant importance it had. And the fact that it was his first Dragon Ball ever was really something. But the moment had to end. There were still six more Dragon Balls to find.

Krillin: "So where's the next one?"

Goku: "It's a little further north from here. Looks like a bit of a flight too."

Gohan: "Here, Toushiro."

Gohan put one of his old school bags around the young captain's neck and shoulder. It was big enough to carry the Dragon Balls.

Gohan: "You carry the Dragon Balls. Be sure to keep that closed."

Toushiro: "Ok."

Toushiro put the Dragon Ball in the bag and held onto Vegeta as they all took off once again. Goku wasn't kidding when he said that it was a bit of a flight. The next Dragon Ball location was at the Snowy Mountains, a drastic change from the lush forest. Finding a place to land was a challenge. Everything was covered with snow, but the danger was what was under the snow. Two times in a row Vegeta landed on a patch of snow on the mountain that was covering a thick layer of ice. Seconds after he landed and before the others landed, he started to slide down the steep cliff! The first time he slid down so fast that he and Toushiro were off the mountain in seconds! The saiyan just flew back up to his friends after regaining control. The second time he started to slide but quickly dug his fingers into the ice covered rock and held on till Goku grabbed him. The third spot they tried to land on proved that third time's truly the charm. They were close to the Dragon Ball, but a blizzard was going to make it difficult. To top it off, everyone but Toushiro was freezing.

Krillin: "Oh g-g-god, it's f-f-freezing!"

Goku: "I'm going t-to go on a limb here and s-say that saiyan's w-weren't built f-f-for the cold, huh Vegeta?!"

Vegeta: "I-I-I'm starting t-t-to think y-you're right, K-K-Kakarot!"

Yamcha: "I'm s-starting to miss my old desert home!"

Oolong: "Can we hurry, p-please?! Before I become a f-f-frozen piece of bacon!"

Toushiro: "It's not that cold."

Oolong: "Says the Prince of ICE!"

Gohan: "Toushiro! It's freezing, ok!"

Vegeta: "The s-s-sooner we f-f-find the Dragon Ball, t-t-the sooner we can leave!"

Krillin: "Music to my f-f-freezing ears!"

Goku: "Ok... The Dragon Ball s-should be a-a-around here somewhere."

Toushiro just looked at the group. None of them were moving. They were too cold.

Toushiro: "Geez! I'll find it then!"

And the young captain wandered off to look for the Dragon Ball alone. As he did, Vegeta watched him with concern. These mountains were full of wolves, mountain lions and other dangers. Plus the snow storm was picking up strength. Soon Toushiro couldn't see the others as he continued to look for the Dragon Ball. He then spotted something shinning at the entrance of a cave. It was the Dragon Ball! The young captain ran to the cave's entrance and picked up the bright orange sphere. It was the 7 Star ball. But right after he picked it up, the sound of an animal snarling came from right in front of him. He slowly looked up as a giant grizzly bear reared up and roared! The Soul Reaper jumped back as the animal swiped its massive paw at him! The grizzly continued to attack the young captain. Clearly Toushiro had accidentally disturbed it and now it was angry! All of a sudden, there came a howl. Right after that, a lone wolf appeared. But Toushiro knew that he was in no danger from this wolf. It's white and blue fur with one blue and one green eye gave it away. It was Flame Curry!

Toushiro: "Curry!"

Curry: "Hey, Toushiro! Stand back, I've got this!"

Vegeta: "Let me join you!"

Toushiro looked behind him and saw another wolf. It was Vegeta in his wolf form. Both Curry and Vegeta stood between the bear and the Soul Reaper. They howled, snarled, barked, and snapped at the grizzly. A grizzly bear normally had no trouble intimidating a whole pack of wolves. But this one was young, just recently left its mother. That made it easier for Vegeta and Curry to intimidate the bear into submission. It returned to its cave with no further argument. Toushiro thanked Curry and the wolf/husky canine left. Toushiro was a little embarrassed that he had woken up a sleeping bear. With the young captain in possession of the Dragon Ball, everyone left in a hurry before they froze. The next Dragon Ball wasn't in a better place in terms of temperature. It wasn't cold, it was hot. Like in a volcano kind of hot!

Oolong: "Every time! Every time we look for the Dragon Balls, we find one in either a frozen tundra or in a place that'll melt the skin right off your bones!"

Krillin: "What does that tell ya?"

Toushiro spotted the remains of an aircraft that had crashed in the volcano. And then it hit him! He knew where he was!

Toushiro: "This is the same volcano that we fought Zabar in!"

Goku and Vegeta took another look at the volcano and, sure enough, he was right. It WAS the same volcano were they faced and fought Zabar!

Goku: "Now that's just creepy."

Vegeta: "I'm gonna stay up here, if you don't mind! I've already been down there once and that was enough for me!"

Gohan: "Can't blame you for that, Vegeta."

Oolong stayed with Vegeta while the others all started to climb down to look for the Dragon Ball. As he did, Toushiro could see a ghostly replay of Gin defending Vegeta from Zabar. But he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing and he slipped off of the rocks!

Krillin: "Oh no!"

Vegeta and Goku: "Toushiro!"

Toushiro started to fall into the volcano when he was suddenly snatched up from the sky! When he saw who had rescued Toushiro, Vegeta couldn't believe it. The young captain felt thick fur run through his fingers as he held on. He looked down and saw who's back he was riding on as they circled over the volcano.

Toushiro: "Ebony!"

Ebony: "Lucky for you that I was around."

Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief. Luck was on their side today. As she flew around the volcano, Ebony past by a small ledge that had something shiny on it. Toushiro looked back at it and could barely make out the Dragon Ball.

Toushiro: "Ebony! Turn around and go back to that ledge! We need that Dragon Ball!"

Ebony: "Sure thing."

The black Varu turned around and flew back to the ledge with the Dragon Ball on it. The young captain grabbed it just as they were passing by! He could hear the cheers of the others as Ebony flew towards them. Toushiro was quite proud of himself. He had found and picked up the first three Dragon Balls. The four star ball, the seven star ball, and now the five star ball. Quite an accomplishment for someone who had never seen a Dragon Ball only a few hours ago. Goku and the others rejoined Vegeta and Oolong just as the Varu landed to drop Toushiro off.

Goku: "Good catch, Ebony!"

Krillin: "What were you doing here anyway?"

Ebony: "Flying maneuvers. The updrafts here are strong. So why are you looking for the Dragon Balls?"

Vegeta: "The Seireitei has a... Vampire crisis right now."

That was all that Ebony needed to hear. Toushiro thanked Ebony before he followed the others away from the volcano.

Krillin: "Three down, four to go!"

Yamcha: "Where's the next one, Goku?"

Goku looked at the Dragon Radar for a second before he glanced at Toushiro. The boy was looking at the three Dragon Balls they had collected already, the four, seven and five star balls. It wasn't surprising that he was fascinated by them. After all he had heard so many stories about them, courtesy of Vegeta and Val. And he'd never seen one until today. So it was natural that he'd be fascinated with them. So Goku did something, slightly, unexpected.

Goku: "Here Toushiro."

Toushiro looked up at Goku in surprise when he realized that the saiyan was handing him the Dragon Radar!

Toushiro: "Why... Are you giving me this, Goku?"

Goku: "Well you're the one who's found all of the Dragon Balls so far, Toushiro! I think you've proven yourself capable of using the Dragon Radar! Right guys?"

Everyone agreed. Toushiro looked at the radar for a second before taking it from Goku's hand. No one told him how to operate it. They all wanted to see just how smart the young Soul Reaper was. There was nothing on the screen, but Toushiro remembered what Vegeta did to turn it on. He pressed the button on the top and the device turned on. The red arrow that indicated their position had a yellow arrow pointing towards it with the number 3 in it. That was telling him how many they had. There wasn't any other signal around them. Toushiro pressed the button again and the radar's scanning range widened. He saw another signal some distance away towards the east of their location.

Toushiro: "I can't tell how far away it is but it's in (pointing) that direction."

Goku: "Ok. You just tell Vegeta where to go and we'll follow."

The young captain closed the bag the Dragon Balls were in and held onto the Dragon Radar as Vegeta took off and headed towards the east. Goku, Gohan and the others all followed close behind Vegeta. But where they went next was one place they wish they hadn't.