Chapter 10

As Goku and his friends looked on quizzically, Master Roshi raised his hand to the sky and called out "NIMBUS!!"

After a moment's pause, wherein all concerned figured the old man had finally lost his mind, movement could be seen in the distance.

Miraculously, a small cloud soared into view and landed directly before the old master.

"The Flying Nimbus!" Roshi proudly proclaimed, as if that solved everyone's questions.

"What does it do?" Krillin asked.

"What does it do?" Roshi repeated. "You ride it, like a surf board in the sky. It's damn-near the fastest thing in the world! But you gotta be pure of heart to ride it. Observe!"

At that, Roshi hopped off the ground with all the grace of a professional athlete half his age, and promptly fell through the cloud with all the elegance of an elephant landing on a trampoline.

"My hip!" the old man screeched in pain from the ground.

"Pure heart, yeah right," Bulma whispered. "Explains everything."

Goku helped Roshi to his feet. "Must be broken," he figured.

Ignoring his words, Goku leapt atop the floating cloud and actually managed to stay on.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Goku shouted. "It's like standing on air!"

Amazed, both Krillin and Bulma tried simply laying their hands on the cloud, only to find they went through just like Roshi.

"Well, we all know what your problem is," Krillin said to Bulma, "but what did I do?"

"Hey!" Bulma yelled at him.

Just then, the cloud rocketed away from the pair, carrying Goku high into the sky.

The young boy whooped and hollered with delight as the flying cloud zoomed around in circles.

"I swear," Bulma said, "that kid gets more impressive by the minute."

"Very true," Roshi said rubbing his hip. "Well, if we're going, I need to pack."

"Hey wait," Krillin spoke up. "Don't I get anything?"

"What do you mean, do you get anything? You get to help me pack!"

Roshi wandered into the house and the young boy followed him, for lack of anything better to do.

Bulma took the opportunity to sit in the sand and have a quiet moment to herself. She stretched out and let the sun wash over her.

Inside the house, Roshi was filling a small suitcase with a number of items, everything from clothes to bedding, while Krillin looked on.

"So, my boy. You trained at the Orinji Temple, huh?"

"Yep," Krillin responded.

"Good people," the old man replied, distracted by his work.

"Hey, did you really defeat the Demon King all those years ago?" the boy asked.

"Indeed," Roshi replied, "back when I was young and healthy and had my hair. Well, not really. I could have had hair. I just shaved it because I was a fighter."

"Me too," Krillin exclaimed.

"Now I don't have a choice. But do me a favor and don't tell the girl, eh?"

"So, if you beat him, how come he came back?"

"Because, even back then, he was too strong for me. I had no option but to seal him away. I spent years after that hunting down all his servants and children. Figured I got them all. Looks like I was wrong, it happens."

"You don't seem too worried."

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm counting a great deal on your little friend out there. All those things he did, at his age, I'm pretty sure with a little training he'll be even better than me."

"So you think Goku can beat the Demon King for real?"

"Yep."

Krillin thought about that for a minute.

"I want to help!" he announced.

"How's that?" Roshi asked.

"I want you to train me too. I lost everyone I care about to those demons, and no matter what you guys think, Goku can't handle this all on his own. So I want to help!"

"Well, of course you do. You got a good heart, like the boy out there. Well, maybe not as good, otherwise the cloud would have let you on, but still."

"You didn't do so well, either."

"Well, that Bulma girl was too close to me. I couldn't keep my thoughts pure," he said.

"Yeah, me neither," the boy admitted.

"Hey, hands off, she's mine!" Roshi pointed at Krillin, emphasizing his point.

"Well," Krillin looked off, "if Goku actually kills the Demon King, I wouldn't be surprised if she ran off with him."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that!" Roshi exclaimed, suddenly worried. "Maybe I should rethink this whole thing."

After Roshi had packed and Goku was finally called down they set off. Bulma and Roshi rode in the plane while Krillin had no choice but to ride on Goku's back while Goku rode the Nimbus.

Bulma managed to keep the old man's hands off her by promising to crash the plane into the sea, killing them both, if he tried anything.

They eventually came to a much larger island that was covered in thick forests, surrounding a large mountain in the center. After landing, the group followed Roshi to a series of caves that peppered the mountainside.

"Why do we have to stay here?" Bulma complained. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to stay on the other island were we could see what was coming from every direction?"

"Not really," Roshi answered. "See, me and Goku, we can sense the presence of powerful evil without needing to see it. Staying out in the open like that only makes it easier for the bad guys to find us."

After setting up camp, the group finally started to relax. Roshi had forbidden Goku from flying around on Nimbus right now, in order to keep their position hidden, so Goku was lying on the cloud, floating only a few feet from the ground, while everyone else tried to get comfortable.

Bulma had managed to cannibalize parts from the plane's navigation system in an attempt to build a new dragon radar, but she didn't seem to be having much luck.

"So, Goku," Roshi asked after a while, "what are going to do with that wish of yours? Are you going to bring Gohan back to life?"

All three heads shot up as one.

"I could do that?" Goku asked. "I never thought about that! But I already promised the Ox-King's daughter that I'd bring him back."

"And you also promised to bring my village back," Krillin reminded him, finally getting it off his chest.

"Hey, I was the one who started this whole thing," Bulma chimed in. "Plus I'm over here building yet another radar, I think I should get some say in how those Dragonballs are used!"

Roshi looked back and forth between everybody. "Whoops, didn't mean to cause any problems," he drifted off.

Everyone got quiet after that. But for the rest of the day, Goku considered something he had never experienced before. Desire. Goku was not naturally a selfish being, but the very idea that he could bring his grandpa back to life caused him to weigh the value of his promises to the others.

Luckily, he never regretted making those promises; otherwise he might have fallen right through his new cloud.

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S-Shield's notes

There will be action next time, I promise. Pesky plot…