I do not own DBZ

Chapter 10

Yamcha stood by the sea panting after performing his twelfth Kamehameha Wave. He had begun his training the day before but was surprised with the ethnical behavior the old master displayed the day before. Of course, given that the old man ran right by them like a deer bolting away after being caught in headlights, he never did said a word nor tried to disagree with him. Master Roshi's methods must have worked if he was living for over 100 years and still able to surpass them.

"Very good," Roshi said. "You've made good progress over the last two days."

"Yeah, this training has been pretty challenging," Yamcha said. "But if Krillin was able to do it, then so can I." He added boldly.

Roshi chuckled seeing the that his new student was just as determined as the others. Yamcha did share the never-ending energy for training as the kids did. It must be that he was like those young whippersnappers; they get serious one moment, but become exhausted later on.

"You know Yamcha, you shouldn't over do it. Don't forget that I'm not going away anytime soon." He said getting a puzzled look from the young man. "All I'm saying is that you'd be better off taking it easy now. I have made plans to further your training sometime this week, so take it easy for now and rest. I'll send you over to Korin's Land where you'll do the same drills I've been taught by from the old master."

"Alright," Yamcha said. "If you say so."

"Once you get there you need to climb Korin tower and get the sacred water from Korin. However, you'll have to pass a few of his tests before you can drink the sacred water. With that finished, you will be much stronger."

-x-

Tao's pillar landed in a clearing known as the city street. It did however have a misleading name, but he didn't care. Tao had a job to do, and he always did his job well, with the right amount of money anyway. "This looks like the place," He said remembering the location of the dragon ball that was shown to him by the locater on Red's screen, courtesy of the scientists the Red Ribbon Army confined.

In the distant hills that laid in the horizon, Tao saw the dust cloud of the car he saw on the locater and sprinted towards it.

"How many times have I told you Chou? Put that dragon ball back in the box." Yelled the short emperor in the dog's face. Mai continued to drive the compacted car as she grew irritated with the two by the second.

"But it looks so pretty." Chou protested with the ball in hand.

Soon, the constant yelling behind her was escalating into a huge argument. "YOU TWO BE QUIET FOR ONCE OR I'M STOPPING THE CAR RIGHT NOW!"

The sudden halt of the vehicle surprised all of them as the air bags went off.

"Are you two all right?" Mai asked and received a weak reply from the two men. "Let's just get out of here to see what happened. Maybe we hit a pothole or something?" The two others groaned but followed through with Chou's suggestion as they moved back out of the car.

Although Pilaf and his minions were a bit tired out from the crash, when they found out that the entire front of the car was crushed inwardly, they immediately became alert.

"Chou. Mai. Those three children could be behind this. Mai, make sure to look out for them. Chou, get the dragon ball and put it in the radar-proof box. NOW." Pilaf commanded.

Chou did as his emperor called of him and brought him the box as told.

"Good. Now get the chopper ready." Pilaf returned his attention to his other servant.

Mai, whatever the case, was no where to be seen. She was rummaging through her weaponry, but now, there was no sign of her. If she had left, Pilaf would of heard her leave, however, she was mysteriously put to silence after he heard the two shots from her silencer pierce through the tires.

When Emperor Pilaf looked around the other side of their ride, he found his dedicated servant passed out on the floor with the gun in hand and the clip laid next to her.

He scoffed. 'Mai, this is no time for jokes.' The short emperor slapped his servant quickly, but found her deeply out of it. Irritated that it was of no use, he returned to speak with the latter of the two.

"WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG?"

Chou was also passed out. Pilaf could see the capsule case left open next to the dog's limp but breathing body.

"Arrgh! Why do you two always have to procrastinate with these jokes? If I" He was cut off as he saw the shadow of a large figure block the light that was shining on him. He knew it must of been someone he didn't want to meet. Both his servants were out of it and he remembered that the dragon ball was still not put inside the radar-proof box.

"Where is it?" He said to himself, frantically looking all around the area.

"By any chance are you looking for this?"

Pilaf looked behind him to see who it was that spoke up. Looking up at the man's face that the glaring sun keep him from getting a good look at, his eyes went wide with terror. He had just crossed paths with one of the world's well known assassin's.

"M-m-mercenary Tao?"

Tao held the dragon ball in hand, as well as the custom made box he had made for it, Pilaf stood flabbergasted with the very thought in mind that he was hired to gather the dragon balls and possibly kill him.

In an attempt to continue living for another day (if even possible for Tao would of caught him easily), Pilaf sprinted away from the mercenary but forgot about the door he left open.

'Is this really the group Red wants me to kill?' He looked around him to see the three he easily took the one-star ball from. 'No. These idiots were not even a challenge.'

They would just be a waste of time if he was to kill them now. Besides, they only had one of the seven that where out there. There was another group that already had three and if he was to beat them to it, he'd have to leave the place now and get the other three that were hidden.

-x-

Goku woke up from his morning nap to find his older sister already snacking on the tropical fruits of the island.

"Care for some food?" She asked from atop of the tree."

"Sure." Goku grabbed the radar that continued to beep. There was a sudden change with the frequency so it made the boy curious about what happened.

"Uhh. Haruna? Is the radar broken or something. There are only two dragon balls left on the map."

She stopped in the middle of her meal and jumped back next to the boy. Seeing what he was talking about, she grew aware that there was no time to waste that morning. They'd have to make it back to the continent to finish the hunt. Someone must of been hiding the dragon balls while they slept.

"Kakarot."

He flinched with the soft tone she called his name. He wasn't going to lie, there was an attraction he was feeling for her, even he was refusing to accept it for she was his "big sister" and he cared deeply for his companion, but he was still afraid of what she would do. Even now, he could not tell what exactly was on her mind.

"Yes." He meekly replied

"We have to get a move on." She pulled out a map given to her by Oolong. "Let's go to this place a few miles from here. It's a shady island, but the dragon ball is showing up on the map in that direction."

"Okay." He cupped his hands together to call Nimbus.

As he began to shout out the call, she remembered that they were suppose to continue their training as Taritzu had asked. "Hold on a sec, Kakarot." She looked down at the silver pendant she had pulled out of her gi with her hand. "We should fly there. Taritzu wanted us to continue training, and Nimbus wouldn't offer other than a relaxing ride. Do you understand me here?"

He nodded. It was best if they did fly on their own from now on. It would hinder them from getting stronger if they continued to rely on Nimbus.

"Lets go." He said and blasted off while the girl still had her mind elsewhere.

-x-

Taritzu stood on the iceberg's flat surface as he struggled to keep his breath under regular heaves. In front of him was his cousin, Zilan, who unlike him had lived his entire life cultivating himself to get accustomed with the harsh enviroment, so he had a better time breathing out in the cold.

To put it plainly, after the two had their little race, Zilan began to shoot at him to slow him down and as well as enhancing his reflexes. Next, he had him climb over the mountain before Zilan did, while carrying a tree that was tied to him. After that, Zilan proposed another race through a short-cut, which Taritzu had never knew it was through the arctic ocean. And now he had a quick spar with the boy. Of course, he couldn't beat the boy- who could after spending almost all the night and up to that morning with a huge load of 120 kilograms of weight that was his clothes. Exactly how he was going to make it through the first part of his training, he wouldn't know. But at least he got to know how Krillin felt during the beginning of his training.

"

Take a quick rest for now. We'll still have to finish with the cool down before we head back for the rest of today's training. I'll meet you back on shore." He said before diving back into the sub-zero waters of the arctic ocean.

'What the hell is this guy made of.' He thought to himself. 'He seems unstoppable out in this harsh weather. The hell did he survive his first time.'

Taritzu knew that Zilan might of been wearing the same novice clothes as him, but the boy also found out that he was also wearing heavier weights when he tried to throw him off of the glacier. Exactly how strong he was, he'd wouldn't be able to tell.

He stood there, resting up his energy so that he'd be strong enough to swim back to shore, and thought about how far he had grown in power over the last few years.

'I guess there are others out there. Funny, they don't seem to be paranoid about Frieza like I do. And yet they're more powerful than me. I gotta make the best of this while I still can.'

-x-

Yamcha and Krillin stood in front of the pillar in the holy grounds. They met a tall Indian man and his young son that lived in a single Tepee resting in front of the tower just a few meters back. It was there they learned from Bora, that a group from the Red Ribbon Army had been sent to find the dragon ball by force. Yamcha knew things would be bad if the Army were to get their hands on such a powerful set of artifacts, so he proposed that after they finished getting the sacred water, they would return to help the father and son defend the land.

"Well. This is the place." Yamcha said looking up at the large pillar that Rosji said would lead them to the old master Korin. "I can't believe we'll get as strongs The others after this. And all we have to do is climb the tower."

"What about the tower?" Krillin asked. "Do you really think climbing it will make someone that much stronger?"

"I wouldn't know," Yamcha said. "If Master Roshi sent us here, then it must have some benefit. Come on, let's go get climb the tower and drink the sacred water."

"Sounds like a plan," Krillin said. " Then we'll be strong enough to take on whatever this Red Ribbon Army can send."

-x-

Haruna and Goku trekked deep within the pirate cave. It had been two days since they had arrived at the base halfway across the world and began the search throughout the deep maze. So far, the easy part of it was to get past the guards that secured the area around them, but none of them could find an actual path that would take them to the dragon ball. At least, not with the dragon radar; the guards did a fine job on distracting them while another stole that little device, so they had to resort to using the glowing artifacts to track the rest of the set down.

As of now, the two had confronted General Blue, a man with telekinetic powers, and he seemed to be able to keep up with the two, which was quite rare for a human. Most of the time he would escape from them by using his powers to make them paralyzed and keep them from following. But that did not mean they could not continue looking for the dragon balls.

So while the two continued to run amuck the unstable place that could cave in at any second, Goku had his mind elsewhere, specifically thinking about the relationship between his "brother" and "sister."

"Hey Haruna." He cautiously began. She let out a "hmmm?" letting him know he had her attention.

"I've wondered, you've known Taritzu since you were kids right?"

"Of course." 'What's he getting at here. I thought he knew that I didn't want to be reminded of him while we're still in the hunt.'

"Well.. I had my mind on this 'Touchy' subject for a while now and I don't know how to start saying this.. but, have you ever you know.. kissed each other?" He finished, an undeniable blush on his cheeks as he looked away from her piercing flame-like eyes.

'WHAT?'

"Kakarot. Who are you to ask such question"

"It's just that Chi-chi and I are friends now and she said that if friends like each other than sometimes they show it by kissing. And since you two have been friends for a long time I thought that maybe.." He interrupted her, leaving the sentence hanging to let her think to herself.

'Since when did Kakarot care that much about us? If anything all they been worried about is getting stronger.'

"Kakarot." She began. "When you kissed her, how exactly was it performed?" It was a bit out of place, but she needed to know if he knew what he was talking about.

"Well, we kissed each other on the cheeks." He said looking back at her. "Why'd you ask?"

'Idiot.'

"Kakarot, we've never kissed like that. Besides, there is no comparison with what you have with Chi-chi then what we have."

Goku continued to walk silently along side the girl. There was an awkward silence, that was until Haruna decided to ask him what he felt about his kiss.

"It felt really nice." He said. "Say, what is the difference between your friendship and my friendship?" He said after processing the thought in mind.

"I-it all has to do with the interaction and communication. If anything Taritzu and I have a strong bond that each of us have respected and know how the other feels. If he and I want to share a kiss, then we would make it a true kiss."

Goku's mind went blank as he tried to process the meaning of a true kiss. He didn't understand what a true kiss was and neither did he think Haruna would tell him. But he had to know someway or another, if that meant that true kisses were for those with strong bonds.

"Big sis." He started meekly. She turned around to get better eye contact with her companion. "Do you know what a true kiss is?"

'What is he getting at here?' "Of course I do. It's when two friends who really care about one another kiss each other on the lips. Most of the time the kiss would be to make each other feel better and other times it's to show a deeper side of affection." 'At least I think that's how it goes.'

At that moment, Goku did the unexpected, and caught Haruna lips with a quick peck. In his mind, he thought it would be an innocent act for he desired to make her feel better, but he also did not expect his primal instincts that he was trying to ignore make him linger with the act.

Haruna's eyes bucked as she tried to process the current happenings. Here she was, locking lips with her friend's little brother and essentially also hers, and she was accepting him. It was hers and Goku's first true kiss, and they've haven't stopped even after five seconds. Whatever he was doing to make it even more sensual, she liked it, so she never did try to stop. Pretty soon, Goku's instincts started kicking in, and he began to wrap his arms around her neck, to which brought the older girl back to her senses and forced him to end the little charade.

Goku reluctantly let go of her as she wanted and looked into her teary eyes. "What's wrong?" He said with a caring tone that was usually reserved most of the time he was with her.

"I-it's. It's just that.. What we've done. I do not want you to speak to no one about this. Please.. keep this to you self, Kakarot. Keep it as a secret."

"But why? I thought you said that these types of kisses were to make each other happy. So I did that to you because I really care about you, but now, you're still sad. Did I do something wrong?"

'Kakarot. You're such a kind boy. I can see why you've decided to do this, but things like this just isn't right.' "No, I'm just really happy to know that.. you care that much." She replied. She also remembered the little fact about his experience. "So. Since this is your first, what do think about it?"

He quickly answered. "I like it. It feels really nice and soft. It even made me think of mangoes. And I like mangoes."

She laughed to herself. "Dummy. You love food more than anything."

"Hehe. I guess I can't deny that." He said with an arm behind his head and showing off that goofy smile of his.

-x-

Taritzu sat on the floor of his room meditating just like any other afternoon since he started his special training. Zilan had shown him his daily routines the day before. He would wake up in the late evening and walk out of the giant hatch at the end of the city where his cousin would wait for him and take him back through the frozen forest. Then he would spar on the flat top icebergs after swimming through the arctic ocean. After that he'd return back to the palace in the morning where he'd get breakfast, and would begin on his second part of his training- learning a style known as Aikido- where he would try to defeat his opponent with his limitation. After that he'd meditate and rest up for the rest of the day, then begin the cycle anew.

So far, he liked his Aikido partner, Daimane. He was a crafty fellow, yet he was nice about it if he lost. He also had a good sense of humor, which made Taritzu feel better throughout the day. While Zilan was his cousin, he was quite throughout their rounds, and it always made him feel like when he'd fail, Zilan's silence was there to spite him. No comment or words spoken to him, just pure action and body communication. Just how this boy was well liked made Taritzu think what exactly he would do during his free time.

Then, there was also his curiosity. Taritzu noticed Zilan would always seem to know all of his movements just as he would make them. No matter what he'd throw at him, Zilan would always dodge or return it with ease. How exactly was that possible?

:Flash back:

"You're wondering why Zilan is able to keep away? Hmm. I have wondered about that lately." Daimane said putting his index finger and thumb under his chin and looked up in a thoughtful manner. He and the other two girls were sitting across of the table during lunch. Zilan was in the far corner of the lunchroom eating with Reen and Langa while he just sat there minding his own business.

"It all has to do with his senses." Okra interrupted. This perked both boys' attention to the wisdom of the groups intellect.

"She's right you know. Zilan has this ability that he was born with. Well, we all have it, it's in our potential, but he was born with a higher concentration of it. At least, that's what Danny told me." Chimed in the ditzy fourteen year old, Azuki.

"Potential ability?"

"It's the ability to read your opponent's movements through life signatures, or in other words, The Eagle vision."

"Eagle vision? What's that?" Daimane said this time.

"Well, according to the book Blekk lent me, Eagle vision is the name of the ability First Rutabaski and his comrades had given to the power that the gods given us as a gift. It is considered to be the root of most of our abilities, most notably the psychic faction of it. And since the Oozaru transformation, energy manipulation, and flying all have to do with the mind, it can be stated that Eagle vision is available to everyone. However, no one has been able to actually use that ability entirely, let alone the enhanced version of it, Eagle sense. All that can be said to be the closest of one learning the ability is Ki sensing or some limited form of Telekinesis."

"Well, that's pretty interesting. The gods have given us this awesome ability, but we can't even get to use it."

:End of Flash back:

'Eagle vision huh? Well, I'm gonna unlock that ability, even if it takes me twenty years to do so. First I gotta learn Ki sense though. What did Okra say about developing that? Right. I have to learn what my energy signature is and then try to read how much I currently have. Damn, this isn't going to be easy; I've relied on the scouter too much.'

-x-

Bora looked up from his crop fields to see a large dark figure from the north, speeding closer to where he stood. He told his son to stay inside the Teepee in the meanwhile. His instructions were suddenly interrupted as the pillar that Mercenary Tao was riding for the last two days crashed into the ground nearby.

"What do you want?" The wise father spoke with an undeniable amount of spite.

"I have come for the Dragon ball you have." Tao replied. Although he was shorter and a bit thin compared to the man's well-built frame, Tao had no worries as he knew he had the upper hand by just reading his muscle movements. The indian father was not as free to move in a fight as Tao was.

'The ragged haired one said something about the men who would come after the dragon ball. I must not let him have it.' "So long as I live you will never get it." He boldly yelled.

"Very well then." Tao said relaxing his muscles. "Have it your way."

Bora grabbed the closest weapon he could find, which was his spear. Since the smaller man could of easily dodged the spear, Bora threw it as a javelin tried to go for one of his tomahawks in his secret stash he kept away from his son.

"That won't work." Tao had the larger man's wrist in his grip, thus keeping him in place. In his hand was the spear that had flown past Tao's head and landed right behind them.

"Now. It's my turn."

-x-

Yamcha readied himself for the long jump back down Korin's tower. Krillin and himself had taken nearly three days trying to get the sacred water from the old master, which had ultimately turned out to be a cat. Yamcha had been expecting a much more mystical master, sort of like the black mage from the Final Fantasy series, but he didn't pay no heed. So long as he had grown much more powerful he was okay with it.

"Alright Krillin, I'll meet you back at the base of the tower."

-x-

In the empire's base facilities owned by the Tyrant known throughout the universe as Frieza, Raditz looked around him in the halls to see if he was finally alone. He had had enough of Nappa's spiteful remarks and Vegeta's snappy comments such as "Third-Class weakling" or that he was so weak that he should have been rather known as a "Female" than a male. With that constant berating of the arrogant Vegeta and his lackey, along with Frieza's reference to them being dirty monkey's, which somehow Raditz only caught at times, the twenty year old saiyan had grown tired of it.

His prince was an arrogant man. This was the person who was suppose to set an example for their race, yet all he did was calmly take the verbal disappointment that laid in the words of Frieza when he asked his right-hand man Zarbon just about how many days it would of taken to purge planet Shikk. Vegeta just silently walked away and then told him that one day he would simply defeat the Tyrant at his own game. He would of been happy to know that what he said was to be true, but Raditz knew that the true reason for the prince's intentions was for personal revenge and not for the others. Nappa just ate it up like the asskisser he was, but that simply did not appeal to him.

He missed the old days when he had the company of his adopted little brother, Taritzu. Even though he was a bit two young to play much with, Raditz was always in a better mood with him. His father would ignore him for some reason. Whenever he did catch the eyeful gaze of his father's gleaming orbs, he saw a bit of emotion in his stoic nature; sort of like distant memories. Bardock would walk away from them if he would try to speak to him, so Raditz would try not to bother him after a few months. He had been that way for his early childhood, but about a week after his "Uncle's accident", his father had acted a bit differently, so to speak he was more patient towards the questionings of Taritzu rather than his own son.

He didn't know exactly why he would be indifferent to the boy than to his own son. Maybe it had to do with the yelling outside of his bedroom in the living room the night he last saw his "uncle", he wouldn't know for sure though.

Now he was free to enter Vegeta's room, with no one to interfere. Vegeta was being held up by Cui, who knows why now, they had a violent rivalry, and Nappa went to the medical room. Over the last few years, Raditz had minimum access to technology, he was also interested by engineering as his little brother. He collected many scraps and pieces of machinery, and with it he created an undetectable spy camera. Frieza would always seem to shoo them away after reports, he'd say he had a rather important matter to attend to, but not once had he ever move out of his throne room.

Vegeta's room was only a few floors below the throne room, if he traced his steps through the ventilation system. So as he prepared the camera and looked into the small communicator screen, to which he found the perfect place to rest the device where he could see everything in the throne room in secret.

"...Heh. I'll never give you the Tree of Might. Neither by trade or by your threatening force. Face it Frieza, you'll never get your hands on it."

'Why does he look so much like my father? Have I seen him before?'

The Arcosian emperor flicked his tail with indignation. He spent years trying to get back that limited supply of seeds he had been robbed of eighteen years ago by a rogue space pirate. The miners had came across the barren remains of a planet that floated around in the east galaxy, and they decided to check it, to which they came upon with a few strangelets of seeds. Since no known plant would of been able to have survived, for who knows how long, and his best scientist came up with the results of a powerful substance within the seeds, they named it the seeds of the Tree of Might. But before he could get the first supply of it, they were stolen from the freight carrier. His sources confirmed it was an act done by a saiyan, so he grew awry of the saiyans breaking their part of the deal. To make sure they would not rebel, Frieza cornered the pompous King Vegeta and forced him to sign a contract where he would recieve ownership of the prince. He was reluctant at first, but he ultimately gave in, probably because he was reminded of the shear threatening power of the Arcosian.

Two years went by when the prince was ready to be taken away, and Frieza was grateful for the cooperation. However, the boy was not as Frieza had hoped him to be. Not only was a reminder of his ridiculously egocentric father, he acted like him too. But the good news for this was he used his father's vicious ideals but also a great percentage of his mother's cunning mind. Perhaps too cunning as of lately.

But that was not that disappointed him. When Frieza grew awry of the saiyans, Zarbon had reminded him that the barbaric race was growing much more powerful in a steady rate, King Vegeta being an example with the power level of 15,000. So he ended the infestation in the end, fearing that they were using the fruit to empower themselves. However, as it turned out, Turles was the one with the access to the Tree of Might, and there were many other survivors of the "dirty-monkey" race that had learned of his act. If anything, all he did was made them cautious; they would all rise up and unite against him with the fruit. He couldn't allow such a thing. Maybe, just maybe, if he had someone to scout and hunt for them throughout the universe, he would diminish their numbers and finally exterminate the universe's "burden".

But who would be willing enough to work in secret to keep the information to themselves? They can not report to any random station; they'd have to report straight to him. They'd also wouldn't take any chances if they knew how high the stakes were, with Vegeta almost always having complete access to his computers he had to restrict his pass code many times from acquiring his personal information. Last he recalled, the prince had found out about his many transformations. Something that none of his subordinates have known about for a long time. Now, rumors were spread around about his family secret and how he was in that form for "He didn't want to invoke fear". Of course, that was supposed to be a sarcastic claim, but Frieza didn't care.

Let them fear him, they'd all die soon anyway.

"With that kind of routine, Frieza, the only grip of fear you have in the cosmos will only prove to be your end. They'll rise up to your level and fight against you, and when that happens, I'll be there. In the frontlines." Said the saiyan, as if he had read the very thoughts of the emperor.

"Damn that blasted Turles. If I get my hands on him.." He seethed with pure frustration. He had been always three steps ahead of the emperor. Years would pass by when he'd wouldn't be able to get a hold of the pirate's communication lines. Turles would seem to change them regularly, and would also seemingly disappear from the imperial radar. There would also be times he'd hack into the system and disrupt his plans. How he got his hands on such technology, he'd never know.

There just had to be a way to get rid of his potential threats. He'd begin training once more to keep himself at an unrivaled level, but he'd also need someone to cut down those weeds.

'The Draconians!' He thought. The newest faction in his empire had a touchy history with the monkeys. They seemed to have a hostile nature, especially reserved for that name. Whatever it was the saiyans had done to them, none would evoke as much fear to him as much as an Eudoran. How he heard of their consuming nature; his family took pride to be a similar race as those reptilians so he knew greatly about their ancient feats. They'd kill with no remorse, sparing none and taking resources. They were also a highly sophisticated race, even more so than his own. Throughout the universe, the average Eudoran were seen as a hulking brute of a creature, over 7 feet tall, with tough skin, and more strength than most of his people had. They were like locust. But besides that, the point was, Draconians would be willing to do the job for him. They were unheard of by Vegeta, so he would never suspect it, and only a few of his most trusted men were the only people to have known of their contract. They'd be excellent bounty hunters.

Raditz pulled the camera back to the opening of the air vent. Vegeta had made enough noise to have woken Nappa up from his hibernation cycles that he became anxious with the thought of being caught.

Putting the camera back in his bag, he sneaked out of the room and walked back casually down the hall. Little did he know that Vegeta had saw him walk out.

'What the? Why would that low-level trespass in my room?'

He began to jog over to catch the young man, but was irritably stopped by an unwanted guest. "Dammit Nappa. What do you want now?"

In the corner of his eye, Vegeta saw Raditz walk away from him, with the current thoughts of the recent events in mind. 'Turles. He sounds so familiar.'

-x-

"NOOO! FATHER!" Upa yelled out as the spear punctured through his father's body. Tao stood menacingly as the young indian boy cried out for his father. He heard what his father had said; he wouldn't let the vile man have the ball, so he wouldn't let him either.

'Oh no! I'm too late.' Yamcha thought as the horrific truth came to pass. Upa saw what his father was trying to get, so he went to grab a tomahawk and prepared to avenge his father.

"Do you really think that you'll have a chance with that?"

Upa angrily ignored him and began to swing the axe, but Tao was no amateur. He quickly grabbed the handle of the axe and quickly snatched the weapon away from him.

"Now. Now. It's my turn." Tao started with a swing, hoping to end the child's life as quickly.

"Take this you bully." Yamcha threw a ki ball that seared the hand of Tao and grabbed the axe. Next he kneed him in the stomach, doubling the man over. Knowing he would recover quickly from the blow, Yamcha grabbed his head and butted him before landing another kick which sent him flying.

"KA..ME..HA..ME..HA!" Krillin yelled out, finally joining in with the fight. The beam carried the mercenary over and the sound of decimation was heard after it faded away. Yamcha turned his attention to the crying child.

"There. There. Don't cry now. You have to be strong."

"BUT PAPA'S DEAD!" He wailed. Upa continued to cry while Krillin gave the latter a sympathizing look. 'Maybe we can wish him back.'

"Upa. Listen here. The man went after your father because of this. With it we can get anything we'd like, even reviving him. We'll gather the rest of them and come back, okay?"

"Really?" The boy said between sniffles. "How is that possible?"

"Because I saw it work with my own eyes." He replied back.

"Yup." Krillin chimed in. Then he gave a quick look back at Yamcha. 'You better not be lying to this kid.'

"Yea."

"Just remember to stay inside your house near the rest of the tribe. You don't want to meet other people like him, they could come looking for it even after it's long gone, understand?"

With that said, Upa silently nodded and returned inside the Teepee. He left the two martial artists to themselves.

"Well. It looks like were going to go hunting for the dragon balls afterwards."

.x.

.x.

.x.

Power levels

Mercenary Tao: 168

Bora: 105

Yamcha: 160

Krillin: 220

Turles: 25,000 (Many years of experimenting with planets and the tree of might.)

Frieza: 530,000

Nappa: 5,400

Vegeta: 16,500

Raditz: 900

Cui: 18,000

General Blue: 150

Taritzu: 70 (still wearing weights)

Daimane: 1,950

Zilan: 2,000 (Probably about 2,800. He's wearing heavier weights)

Haruna: 262

Goku: 270