Chapter 36: An Unexpected Hero

"Piccolo are you ok?" Kami asked concerned as he tried to mentally probe what was happening to his counterpart.

In response Piccolo's eyes began to glow red and a dark, high pitched laugh came from the usually deep voiced Piccolo. "Never been better Kami." An all too familiar voice responded.

Kami's eyes went wide in horror, 'It...it can't be possible...' He backed away as his legs gave out beneath him and he fell backwards.

"Piccolo...what is going on...?" Krillin asked both confused and terrified at that moment.

A familiar sneer appeared on the Namek's face as he turned to face the small human who had defied his plans so thoroughly. "I'm sorry I guess I lied, Piccolo isn't home at the moment. Can I take a message?" Garlic Jr. voice continued through Piccolo's mouth as he began to laugh madly.

"Kami...what is happening?" Mr. Popo asked as he looked back and forth between Kami and Piccolo.

"Piccolo has been possessed...by that monster…" Kami said his voice shaking.

"That's right, and now with Piccolo's might added to my own I am the most powerful creature to ever set foot on this planet!" Garlic shouted before laughing hysterically again.

'Krillin, Mr. Popo, I need your help we need to get some sacred water on Piccolo it is our only chance.' Kami said realizing it was their only chance to win.

Everyone just stood there for a moment as the laughing slowly died down their minds trying to come up with some strategy to deliver the water to the suddenly even stronger Garlic Jr. As soon as the laughing stopped things got worse for the group.

Garlic Jr. decided he was done bragging about his new power and instead decided to test its limits. In an instant he crossed the space between himself and Krillin, the bald monk didn't even have a clue what was coming his way. By the time his brain registered that he had been punched his head had already turned a full 180 degrees and his body launched completely off of the lookout.

"Oh! Krillin!" Mr. Popo called in horror as he helplessly watched the monk's limp body fly over the edge of the lookout and drop like a rock towards the Earth's surface.

"Don't worry, you'll be joining him soon enough." Garlic said as he backhanded the genie through the nearest wall.

"You...you monster!" Kami shouted rising to his feet again.

Garlic was on him in an instant. "Ah Kami. I think I will keep you around for a while. I wouldn't want to lose this wonderful new power Piccolo has given me." He said as he lifted the elder Namekian by the throat.

"Keep your hands off Kami!" A voice shouted from behind. In the same instant a disk of energy suddenly cut right through Garlic's vassal's arm at the elbow.

Kami dropped to the ground immediately, his hands rushing to his throat.

Garlic Jr. was livid. "Who did that?" He said as he turned to face a strangely completely healed Krillin. "How...I know I snapped your neck…" Garlic asked his face a mixture of confusion and irritation.

"You'll find I'm harder to kill than that." Krillin responded as he took his stance, trying to sound confident.

Garlic Jr. turned the rest of the way to face his mysteriously healed opponent as his hand quickly regenerated. "Well then I guess I'll have to just kill you again." Garlic said relishing the chance to get a bit more of challenge for his new body.

'Damn...this is going to suck...hopefully Kami will have time to act though…' Krillin thought to himself as he spiked his Kaioken up to its maximum and rushed forward.

The entire lookout shook with the force of Krillin's first attack which was easily blocked by Garlic Jr using Piccolo's arm. The monk didn't let that stop him though as he lashed out with his best combination of attacks. Nothing he did could connect though, Garlic Jr. was just too fast.

Krillin's ineffective offense quickly shifted to a fruitless defense as Garlic Jr slammed his knee into Krillin's stomach causing the human warrior to spew blood. Before his body could even really begin to accelerate away Garlic Jr. slammed Krillin square between his shoulder blades with his elbow, then proceeded to punt the short human away with a crushing kick to his chin, as the sickening sound of his jaw popping filled the lookout.

Krillin flew helplessly away as Garlic Jr. laughed madly with his power knowing Krillin wouldn't be getting in his way again for a while, if ever again.

'My chance!' Kami thought to himself as he rushed forward as quickly and quietly as he could. He lashed out with a small amount of water as soon as he got close.

Garlic's eyes slanted as he noticed the guardian of the Earth closing in on him from behind. 'Fool.' He thought to himself as he phased out of the way of the splash.

The demon's retribution was quick, as he appeared behind the aged Namekian and slapped downwards knocking the aged Namekian into the hard ground.

"You disappoint me Kami. Was that really your best try." Garlic said with a manic laugh.

"Hyaa!" Krillin suddenly shouted as his kick connected with the back of Garlic's head, launching the possessed Namek forward into a nearby building.

"Krillin...catch…" Kami shakily said as he quickly materialized 3 small containers, filled it with a small amount of the sacred water and tossed it to the human warrior. "If we each have one we'll have a better chance." The old guardian said struggling to his feet. If Garlic Jr. had held back any less he likely wouldn't be able to rise.

"Good idea." Krillin said as he began to stretch his recently healed body again.

"You!" Garlic shouted as he exploded out of the rubble that had temporarily encased him. "How shouldn't be able to move! You shouldn't be able to fight! Stay down for once!" Garlic shouted.

"Sorry I can't do that right now." Krillin said with a look of determination as he attempted to hide the bottle he had just been given.

Garlic Jr. noticed this but decided he would play along with whatever plan these pests had planned for him. "Fine I'll just have to beat the answer out of you then." Garlic sneered cracking the joints in Piccolo's arms again as he prepared for the next round of combat.

Krillin watch his opponent for a moment trying to think of a strategy that might work when he noticed something in the distance that just might work. His eyes flashed with renewed determination as he powered up his Kaioken again, this time with a different strategy in mind. He dashed forward and began to try and systematically work Garlic Jr back towards another one of the more solid parts of the lookout's sanctuaries walls.

Garlic continued to play along curious just what the human had planned.

'Mr. Popo now!' Krillin mentally shouted as the Genie loudly shattered the wall behind Garlic, already throwing the sacred water Kami had given him while Krillin had been distracting the demon.

Krillin immediately reached for his bottle of sacred water as well, but before he could reach it Garlic slammed his elbow into the monk's sternum knocking him away, and causing his bottle of sacred water to hit the ground and shatter.

Garlic then launched forward just ahead of the spray from Mr. Popo's bottle, slammed his foot into the ground just beyond the splash zone and launched back at the meddlesome Genie. Delivering a bone crushing blow to the mythical creatures gut.

Mr. Popo collapsed to the ground and lay still.

Garlic then whipped around half expecting Krillin to be attacking again. Instead the monk was still on all fours coughing up blood from his shattered rib cage.

"What lost you healing ability already?" Garlic taunted to hide his confusion at the strange turn of events.

Krillin looked up and with a bloody smile said. "Nope just lent it to someone else."

Garlic looked at Krillin confused for a moment until a new voice called out. "Tri-beam!"

Garlic barely had time to see his new attacker before a wave of energy swept him from his feet.

As soon as he shattered the wall of energy pushing against him, he was hit by another attack from behind as Chi Chi appeared seemingly out of nowhere and delivered a neck popping spinning kick to Garlic's head and launching the staggering demon back towards Tien. Who delivered a powerful blow to Garlic's stolen bodies' gut.

While the recently healed Chi Chi and Tien let loose on Garlic Jr. A small figure quickly rushed from the shadows and knelt down besides Krillin. "Here you go Mr. Krillin it's the last bean." She said as she placed the last of the senzu beans into Krillin mouth.

Immediately his chest stitched itself back together. "Thank Videl. Now quick get someplace safe before he sees you." He whispered.

Garlic heard everything though as he utilized Piccolo's Namekian hearing to its fullest. He simultaneously blocked a kick from Chi Chi with his knee and a punch aim at his borrowed face with his forearm. In an instant he struck back with a knee to Tien's gut and an elbow to Chi Chi's face.

He then whipped around after the child who had decided to make life more difficult for him.

Krillin saw the blur heading their way and immediately launched forward. "Videl look out!" He shouted as he pushed the surprised child down and braced himself.

Garlic Jr's blow shattered Krillin's guard in an instant and plowed into his body, launching the human warrior back.

"Now it's your-" Garlic started to say before being hit with a powerful blast in the back.

Immediately the demon in Namekian skin whipped around, only to be met with another blast heading his way, this time he was able to react and swat the attack into the air. "Won't you pests just give up already? I've won, I'm immortal I-" He stopped mid-sentence again as he heard movement from above.

Lurching to the right he quickly flipped away as Kami released a few more precious drops of the sacred water.

As soon as he came to a stop though Chi Chi and Tien had already closed on him again and rejoined the fight.

Blow after blow rained down on him from both sides as Garlic was again forced on the defensive. Finally Krillin joined the fray as well, nearly overwhelming Garlic's unpolished defenses.

"Enough!" Garlic finally shouted as he unleashed a massive explosive wave sweeping everyone from their feet.

As soon as he released the shock wave Garlic Jr. shot into the sky, "You meddling fools! Stop trying to ruin my victory! I will make you pay for this! This time I will finish you all off for good! Enjoy your stay in the dead zone!" Garlic shouted as he surrounded himself in a yellow glow of energy, which quickly expanded into a sphere of pure energy surrounding him. Within a second the sky seemingly shattered into a thousand pieces as what seemed to be a black hole formed behind him.

The pull of its gravity was extreme and the loose rubble on the lookout floor began to float away towards oblivion almost immediately.

"Krillin grab everyone who's still out and get them inside!" Tien shouted as he formed a shield of energy around himself, Chi Chi and Kami and Videl.

"Right." Krillin responded as she rushed around grabbing all of the fighters in the open.

"What the hell is that?" Chi Chi shouted as she saw the bubble of energy surrounding them begin to distort from the ever increasing pressure of the dead zone.

"I'm not sure but I think breaking his concentration would be a good idea." Tien responded, as his muscles began to burn from the strain of trying to hold such a high level of Kaioken.

"Ka-me-ha-me-HA!" Chi Chi shouted knowing exactly what to do as she launched the column of pure blue energy upwards.

It didn't even phase Garlic Jr. as it collided with his shield and completely stopped.

"Ahahahaha,it's too late to stop me now!" Garlic shouted with a mad laugh as larger chunks of the lookout began to break away.

Kami looked on, a look of discomfort on his face as his home for the last few centuries began to dissolve around him. Worse yet, there was a threat to the entire planet and he was forced to let others take the leading role in its defense. He had never felt more useless. Suddenly a feeling of determination blossomed as he got an idea.

He quickly materialized another small container and poured another small amount of the scarce, sacred water, "Child, hold onto this for a moment." Kami asked Videl before launching up straight towards Garlic Jr.

"Kami!" Tien shouted unsure what the Earth's guardian had planned. but it was too late, Kami felt himself accelerating too fast to turn back already.

Garlic's eyes flashed dangerously as Kami cut through his barrier, designed to defend against energy attacks and the effects of the dead-zone, not a physical attack.

"I have you-" Kami started to say as he prepared to throw the sacred water at his possessed other half.

He never got the chance, Garlic lashed out faster than he could follow, swatting the bottle of the water out of his energy shell and into the grip of the dead-zone. In the same movement his hand wrapped around Kami's throat.

"Ha! This is going better than I expected. Now I don't have to worry about my new body dying any faster from you wasting away in the dead-zone!" Garlic shouted triumphantly as he began his mad cackle again, before creating a new bottle to keep the guardian of the Earth with him at all times.

"Kami!" Tien shouted as he struggled to keep the barrier up against the ever increasing pressure from the void.

Videl watched Garlic stare down at the miniature Kami in a bottle, and got an idea, taking a big swig of the sacred water she blasted off towards the demon her cheeks puff all the way up.

Garlic saw the child coming at him and could only laugh, 'Does she really think a mere child can stop me!' He thought with amusement as he noticed her approaching. He didn't even bother raising a more protective shield to keep her out, allowing her to pass right through like he had Kami, and just like how he dealt with Kami, when she got close he grabbed her by her throat ready to squeeze the life from the foolish girl.

Videl felt her throat on the verge of collapsing almost immediately, but kept her cool long enough to do what she came to do, using all the pressure she could manage from her closed throat she spit the sacred water into Garlic's face.

The effects were immediate for Garlic Jr. as pure agony raced through his system. Quickly he tossed the child away, back towards the dead zone behind him as he tried to wipe the dangerous solution from his face. To no avail. The water's magical effects had already been activated and Garlic Jr. soul was forcibly ripped from Piccolo's body.

Piccolo's full fury came roaring out in that instant as well. Using his energy he created a barrier of energy around Garlic's soul's located by feeling the demon's fleeing energy as he attempted to close in on another suitable host and flung the creature back towards its own collapsing creation.

At the same time Piccolo extended his arm and grasped the girl who had set him free from the prison his body had become due to Garlic's dark powers, just as she was about to cross the event-horizon.

Videl hadn't stopped screaming from the second she was thrown, it wasn't until she felt a hand grasp her leg that she felt like she wasn't going to be eaten by the hole in the sky. Just as the arm that held her by her ankle began to retract, she saw the ball of light containing the foul energy she had felt from the green-man fall into the void just as the hole finished closing.

She let out a sigh of relief before turning back to the large green man the others had been fighting, but whose Ki now seemed normal again, "Thank you sir." She said meekly somewhat shy around the monstrous seeming man.

Piccolo was quiet for a moment before awkwardly responded. "We're even now." and allowing the girl to float on her own.

"Great job Videl!" Tien shouted from below as the duo descended.

"Don't be reckless like that again." Chi Chi scolded, before giving the child a soft hug. She could never imagine allowing Gohan to be in such a dangerous position if he hadn't been kidnapped, she might die from fright if she saw him doing something like the small girl did.

"That was too close, if you weren't around I would've been dead that first time he threw me off the lookout. It's a good thing we had you in reserve after all. Great job." Krillin added with a smile and a pat on the head. "Hey I know we should get you and your dad back to your place. I bet he'd be pretty confused up here." Krillin added as he took Videl to find her father.

(A few hours later)

Kami and Mr. Popo had made their way through the resting place of the former guardians and distributed the sacred water over the surface of the Earth.

There was just enough still available after the fight with Piccolo to cure the billions of infected inhabitants, both human and animal.

Confusion spread across the planet as fast as the sacred water had, as people returned home to find their houses, their cars, seemingly everything in their cities damaged to varying degrees from the chaos that had engulfed the world.

King Furry had barely awoken from his madness before some of the human warriors arrived to explain the situation. "A demon managed to make the entire world possessed by his followers...how awful…" King Furry said taking his seat.

"Yes if it wasn't for Videl's help I'm not sure anyone would've been able to stop him." Caspin explained, still slightly irritated with himself for being useless again during the fight.

"I will have to commend the girl after my speech to the citizens explaining this disaster." King Furry explained as he wrote himself a reminder.

(2 months later)

Construction crews dotted the city, still repairing the damage from the night no one seemingly remembered, as a lone ship made its way through the atmosphere, with its two exhausted travelers ready to see something besides the inside of the ship, if only for a few hours.

As soon as the ship had landed Vegeta exited the ship and stormed into the Brief's home. Within a minute he was inside of Bulma's laboratory and demanding an explanation. "Woman! Why haven't you responded to any of my messages the last two months!" he angrily shouted as soon as he entered the room.

Bulma turned to the enraged Saiyan Prince, "Well excuse me Vegeta! I've been a little busy repairing all the damage here in case you haven't noticed. I haven't had time to repair the communication system." She responded with a glare before going back to soldering the wires she had been working on.

"Damage from what?" He demanded.

"We got attack by a demon that managed to get the entire planet possessed, apparently there were riots almost everywhere." She explained exhaustedly, she hadn't slept in over 2 days.

"Hmph, well tell Kakarot's mate that her son is dead" was Vegeta's only response before he left the room to raid the Brief's fridges and recuperate so he could begin his training again.

Bulma could only watch the back of Vegeta's head as he left as his words rushed over him. Finally she let out a sigh and prepared herself to tell Chi Chi the bad news.

And there you have it everyone the mini-arcs have ended and we can move back into the next somewhat larger arc. To be honest this next arc has been clouding my thought process for the miniarcs for awhile now. I've been excited for it for sometime, it was actually the second arc I thought of for this story after the Saiyan arc so it has been on my mind for some time.

I think the only new power level introduced would be Garlic in Piccolo's body - 5,300,000

One other note, I believe this is the shortest chapter I have ever written for the story, but that was mostly because it consisted of just what I couldn't get to for the last chapter, so don't expect it to be a trend or anything.

Reviews:

RKF22- And here comes piccolo demino

Good guess, especially since I did bring him up shortly before the end, but in fact it was actually Garlic Jr. possessing Piccolo.

anonymous- Well first for this chapter, lots happened and nw its upto kami to save the day

Also I think tht the demon king picollo has taken over picollo's body I suppose and if tht is the case then all of them are in deep deep shit
Nw for the previous review
Well yeah kaioken has stamina problems, true, but if the user can use times 20 for extended times then times 3-5 cn be like child's play for the person
Also if the person trains their base as well as ssj kinda equally then base will be at half of their max ssj strength(I guess) until ofcourse ssj2 or other higher versions have been unlocked and trained sufficiently
Update soon

Yup Kami definitely helped with the whole battle, but a different hero ended up saving the day. King Piccolo is a good guess for since he had been brought up in the chapter, I like it when the cliff-hangers aren't very obvious.

To the point about Kaioken vs Ssj. The way I always saw it is you can train your ssj state faster than you can your base state. Like if your base is 1,000,000 it takes you longer to add another million to it than you would to your super saiyan state. I think the gains you get from the training is more percentage based in that regard. So there could be cases in which you would be stronger using Kaioken than you would using Ssj, but the path of least resistance would be to just train up your Ssj state instead. I

wheathermangohanssj4- Okay this was a surprisingly quick update good job.

If there is one thing I find "wrong" with this chapter it's that the beaserking humans can still use their techniques, I get Why they still can from a story perspective you need them to be a their still and with the Z-warriors now having the Kaio-ken you need them to be a threat.

Now if Chi-chi or any of them are faking like krillien and piccolo were in the original I could understand.

yanknow something I just relised is a big problem with Later DBZ, actually all of Dragonball, there weren't any weaker foes for the weaker characters to fight.
The minion characters were always too strong for anyone to fight then Goku came in wrecked shop on them, then struggled with the main villain, then saved the day.

I honestly hope the new Super Series takes a page from One Piece and gives everyone an appoint to face. I do have hopes for this since in the newest movie Krillien Piccolo, Tien, Gohan and Jaco get to fight freiza army before he come out.

Thanks, I am trying to speed up my updates some this summer :) , no clue how long I can sustain it though but I will try to for as long as possible.

For the humans still being able to use their techniques, I understand that was a potential plot hole. How I view the black water mist is similar to how baby operated in GT. In that it didn't necessarily make you a mindless animal, instead it corrupted and distorted your world view while at the same time bringing about all of the negative energies you try and suppress within yourself. The souls of the demons (The explanation I gave for how the black water mist worked) are much less complete than Garlic Jr. was and so they can't fully possess, more just strongly influence, if that makes sense.

Yeah in the shows they liked to use previous villains (turned heros) to show just how much stronger and more dangerous the new villain is. Which is a fairly good strategy here and there but I think DBZ definitely over used it. Giving different sized characters things that can keep them useful is an important aspect to a story and in DBZ's case some weaker minions would've been nice.

I haven't seen the new movie yet, I'm waiting for it to get dubbed, but it sounds like it will be entertaining.

super mystic gohan- ouch garlic got destroyed but I got a feeling he taken over piccolo body and kami got the sacred water quick then to be putting on the human fighters forehead? also the fights was interesting your vision off the garlic saga much better than cannon and I also got a feeling I know whats happen to piccolo :)

Good guess about Garlic possessing Piccolo :). Yeah I figured Kami would be able to find the sacred water a lot faster than the human fighters were able to. He had been stuck with Garlic longer and he knew where he hid it. I'm glad you enjoyed this arc, since the fighers were stronger I had to come up with some new ideas to keep Garlic a threat.

Thanks again for all the support everyone, I will hopefully have the next chapter out soon :).