Chapter 3: Little Mistakes
Greetings #DragonBall fans and welcome to part 3 of Ariel Shalom's suggested, What If: Goku Was Like The Hulk, where on his trip to Earth, little Kakarot's space pod was bombarded with a carefully aligned beam of blutzwaves and gamma rays, and, now that he's old enough to actually experience rage and the mutation has spread far enough, his access to the Ozaru form is a little bit easier, and thus more frequent.
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Previously, the black tailed Goku was found by Grandpa Gohan and still bumping his head, he became the delightful little wrecking ball we all know and love. Gohan then fell to the moon's still present influence and on finding his grandpa's body, Goku had his own first encounter with the Kuruzaru, if you will. It's a contraction of Kurutta Saru, or crazed ape.
Heading off with Bulma, they met Monster Carrot, and Goku got a bit angry at the guards that beat him up. Monster Carrot got squished and Bulma was stuck as a Carrot. Yamcha joined them early and they went to Pilaf's castle where, while Puar managed to wish Bulma back, they were still locked up for the night and Goku was told of the events in Mushroom city, and that he was the monster that killed his Grandpa. This wouldn't have gone over well anyway, but with the presence of a full moon made the whole thing a forgone conclusion.
At the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku's battle with Giren again resulted in his tail regrowing and him being a bit distracted during his fight with Nam. He then jetted off to Korin's tower with Roshi to seek help with the monster within and ended up on Kami's Lookout a couple of pages ahead of schedule. There, he and Roshi trained with Popo and Kami and eventually, seeking to limit collateral damage, Kami took them to the Room of Spirit and Time, not to be confused with the Time or Pendulum Room.
While Kami was distracted for the day, Mercenary Tao finally made his way to the top, via increasingly expensive planes but he had the misfortune of slightly scuffing a much improved Master Roshi and drawing Goku's ire something fierce. The Red Ribbon Army that had assembled at the base of the tower then faced the likes of Goku, Roshi, Krillin and Yamcha, all of whom had now passed Korin's little test.
At the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Tien was ousted without much effort by Yamcha, as was Chiaotzu by Krillin. Jackie Chun still put up a much improved effort against Goku in the finals but it just wasn't enough. Roshi's time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber had great gains for the old man, but Goku was young, still approaching his prime and his body was seemingly handcrafted for 10G.
When the Crane Hermit, Chiaotzu and Tien accost the tournament winners at their celebratory dinner, Goku mostly ignores them. Only when an indignant Tien kicks the table over, scattering Goku's 5th course across the floor, do they get any sort of reaction from the party.
Little Mistakes
Goku stalks out of the restaurant, looks around and then heads over to a local park. Being night time, or at least dark-ish outside, there aren't many people in the park which is sure to come in handy. He turns back to see that, as expected, Tien and Shen and even that creepy little guy are all heading his way too. So, it's gonna be a 3 on 1 huh? Oh, no, here comes Krillin, and Yamcha and it looks like Roshi took care of the bill.
The crane school members fan out a bit and Tien, arguably the most capable, physically, steps forward. As he does though, Goku breathes in sharply, and then out. The picture of all that delicious food, scattered now across the floor sitting firmly in his mind. Tien then stops, and stares, his 3 eyes suddenly wide as his eyes and senses disagree on what they see. This small boy, to Tien, now appears, somewhat larger? Is he hallucinating? Tien spares a glance behind him to see that Chiaotzu is just standing there, staring blankly, but Master Shen is on his back, scrambling away.
So, not hallucinating? Well, that's a relief. Right? When he turns back to Goku, he again sees just the boy, standing there, staring off at something. What on Earth just happened? There was a vicious looking beast, but, now there's not. There's just this boy, not even looking at him. He's looking up into the sky, following, something.
The rest of the Turtle school are also looking up at a dark figure, slowly circling them in the night sky. They watch as it eventually swoops down, off towards the tournament arena across town and disappears. Goku looks back, no longer interested, but the look on Roshi's face again draws his attention from Tien and the lost food.
Ignoring Tien, Goku asks what the matter is, and after a moment to collect himself, Roshi says that, that thing, it, it couldn't be, but it looks like, oh dear gods, it looks like one of King Piccolo's demon spawn.
"N, no." Master Shen sputters out, weakly. "It, it can't be!"
Shen, now having picked himself up and adjusted his gown, then rounds on Roshi.
"You! You said you'd hidden that thing! Where no one would find it!"
"I tossed that thing into the ocean!" Roshi shoots back, defensively.
"What thing?" Bulma asks.
"Master, uh, that fool Mutaito put King Piccolo in a Rice Cooker!" Shen says, still staring daggers at Roshi.
"A, a rice cooker?" Bulma says confused, then moving on from that, err, incongruity, she looks at Roshi too, with a worried look on her face. "A rice cooker made of plastic and metal?"
"Uh," Roshi stares back at them both. "Yeah, I guess. It was a special model though. Top of the line! Air tight and all that! Master Mutaito was very specific!"
Bulma just stares at him for a moment then glances at Shen and back.
"You threw something made of plastic and metal, that has a large, water tight, possibly buoyant compartment, into the ocean?"
"Well, what was I supposed to do with it? Keep it in a cupboard next to my slow cooker?"
Their now almost 3 way accusations are interrupted by the sirens of the local police and fire brigade and they follow the sounds to the tournament arena, now on fire! When they arrive they find the announcer is still alive, but apparently a few of the fighters are not. They weren't even really good fighters, but that winged, thing, had mercilessly cut them all down in a single motion. He, he'd also left this on the wall above the file cabinet that the official roster was stored in!
The collective gasp from Roshi and Shen confirms it. King Piccolo is indeed back and he's up to something. Ignoring Shen's continued accusations, Roshi collapses to the floor and does the needed exposition about King Piccolo's reign of terror and, wait, Piccolo, and Kami, are both, they're the same? Was this his fault? If he hadn't taken Goku to Korin, and then Kami's lookout, would King Piccolo still slumber in his water-logged container? He needs to check, to ask Kami if this was his doing. Some test maybe, to see… No, he's the guardian. He'd been, or had claimed to be so upset by King Piccolo's destruction and the sacrifices of his, of their master, Mutaito. He has to ask though. Maybe Kami knows something they can use!
Their musings are interrupted by the sound of flapping and they look up to see that something massive is descending upon them. The oversized Cymbal has been sent back this way after Tambourine returned with only the Tournament roster, but no dragon ball.
He probably shouldn't have though, as he's not facing the same Krillin, let alone Goku and company. Roshi and Shen, being slightly terrified of the monster both take an involuntary step back, but Goku, Krillin, Yamcha and even Tien, seeing his master's reaction, takes steps in the opposite direction.
I think it's fair to say that Cymbol gets his bell rung, or his bow? I don't know, it's been a while since I was in band class. Cymbals have bells right? That cone bit in the middle? Anyway, whatever he has, gets dented pretty hard, by, I wanna say, Krillin. Korin's training should be enough for that, not to mention climbing to Kami's lookout, mystical thunderstorms be damned.
They search the body but not being tasked with killing tournament members, Cymbal lacks the Demon King's calling cards… Because announcing when you've killed someone is just an all around great idea when someone's there to do something about it.
Before they got to the whole beat up Cymbal part though, they did let the guy have his say. And all he was interested in was the Dragon Ball in Goku's little waist pouch. After the dragon balls is he? Well, that's not ideal. What could the most evil being ever known do with a no holds barred wish? Even the Crane Hermit, resident evil doer that he is, is stumped on that one. Money maybe? That's what he'd wish for. Money, and maybe girls…
Tien's reaction is mirrorod only by Bulma giving him the side eye while reaching into her satchel. She pulls out the dragon radar and a few clicks later, she can confirm that there is one dragon ball slowly cruising over the ocean and the rest are widely scattered. Goku's is right here, there's another not too far actually, just over on the mainland's coast. They could get them both to guard against whatever this King Piccolo guy has in mind for them. If all he does is send more goons like that Cymbal guy their way, it'll be fine!
End Chapter 3
And so as Roshi and Shen share a knowing look, that none of this is remotely FINE, we will bring part 3 to a close.
I bet you were all bummed out that Tien never got to see an actual Ozaru, or Kuruzaru after his little stunt with the dinner table, but that's probably for the best, give their proximity to the rest of the city.
What do you think King Piccolo has in store for the barely contained raging beast? Or will he himself go the way of Monster Rabbit, squashed flat and out of harms way, all too soon?
That might not work out in the long run.
Well, find out next time on Dragon Ball, What If: Goku Was Like The Hulk