Chapter 1. The Climb

The tournament of power is over and thanks to the fighters of universe 7 the multiverse lives another day. There was a big celebration at capsule corporation with everyone enjoying the time of peace. Majin Buu had finally woken up and was very confused, but still enjoyed the food no less. After Goku and Vegeta went off to spar, many of the others said their goodbyes as well. One warrior stands on the balcony of the celebration looking out into the distance with a smile on his face. He remembers a time when he and his friends were on equal footing when it came to martial arts and their early adventures. Everything changed the day he found out his best friend was from another planet, that's when the gap between them started to widen, at least that's what he told himself. It wasn't all bad he though, if it wasn't for Goku he probably wouldn't have ever met 18. He leaned over the railing and smiled.

"Well that's that." He says to himself and turns towards the others when he sees his own reflection in a pair of large shades. "Ah!" He rubs his chest a little startled. "Don't sneak up on me like that master."

"Hmph, if you can let an old man like me sneak up on you then you still have a lot to learn Krillin." Master Roshi stated with his arms behind his back. It reminded him of the old days when Master Roshi still fought in tournaments. As Jackie Chun.

"Well, you are the strongest old man in the world possibly a couple of universes." Krillin's eyes became comically smaller. "You lasted much longer than I did." He laughed and then looked back into the sky.

"So that's it?" Master Roshi stated.

"What?"

"Don't be ashamed Krillin, I know why you were here instead with the rest of the party. The same reason Tienshinhan left early and Yamcha has been making jokes this whole time." Krillin looked down at his hands and slowly shook his head.

"Master, I think you're mistaken." He lifts his face and forces a smile.

"Stop it Krillin! Where is your warriors' spirit?" The words cut into him like a knife. "When I look at you and Goku, I still see the same two young boys who came to my island with unlimited potential." Krillin's hands gripped around the railing of the balcony. "One may possess a natural gift to surpass his limits while the other is too afraid to test theirs."

"That's not it!" Krillin's voice echo out causing most of the people in the party to look up towards the two. "I tried to keep up with him, I really did. I'm only human, not only can they go super saiyan but they have the power of the gods now!"

"Have you forgotten the essence of martial arts?" Krillin felt so attacked, even after he prepared before the tournament he knew his master was right. He had given up martial arts for a silly reason and then rushed to get back in shape out of necessity. Still, it wasn't something that hurt to hear.

"I think I'm going to leave too." Krillin turned and walked towards his family.

"Power isn't everything. I wasn't only showing that technique to Goku, it was for all of my students." Krillin froze for a moment and then thought about how his old master who he foolishly believed was at his limit; had bested one of the strongest people throughout 11 universes. He turned to his master and bowed. t wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it was needed. Krillin walked away to go join his family and rest of the party while a certain large caped warrior leaned against a tree as he walked by. There was a smirk on his face. On the way home Krillin was uncharacteristically quiet. Those movements from his master were a culmination of every technique mixed with battle experience he had. It almost looked as if he had thrown all of it away and let his body react. "Essence of martial arts." He thought.

"What's that matter Krillin, you were staring off into space." The sound of his wife's voice snapped him out of it.

"Oh, nothing dear." She looked down at him then touched his face.

"Well don't let nothing become something else." She said, as he smiled in return.

That night when his wife and daughter were sleeping he found that he couldn't. He got up and went to his workout room where he kept some of his old gear. He opened the closet to see his gi from the cell games which was mostly still intact. It was a little loose from the loss in muscle but he put it on and smacked the sides of his face. He flew out to the area where Goku and Vegeta sparred and decided to use the image training technique. The terrain looked as if two bombs had gone off with rubble everywhere. Finding a spot in the middle of the destruction he landed and closed his eyes. The cool night air blew threw his loose gi causing it to flutter slightly as he concentrated. He slowly pushed his ki outwards to until he could pick up the movements, which was extremely difficult sense he couldn't sense the god ki. He did however have years of experience as a martial artist and now as a cop, so he pulled the clues of the destruction nearby to get clear images of both Goku and Vegeta's fight. He took a breath and then dropped into a stance while concentrating on their images powering up to their god forms. Even though it was just an image, after having sparred with Goku in his god form he started to sweat. The first attack came way too fast for him to react as the image dispersed with its fist vanishing through his head. The shock sent him flying backwards as he sat sweating alone in the night his hand gripped into the dirt. He got up and tried again, and again. Each time he was hit with unavoidable blows which started to physically manifest as bruises.

"It's impossible." He said as he looked down at the dirt. "Power isn't everything?!" His master's words were meant to encourage him, but they had only stirred a deep pain within him that slowly turned to anger. "It's always been about power!? White swirls of ki started to form around his gi. "Each threat we've faced hasn't given the slightest care about our martial arts skill." The white flame blew past his face and up towards the sky as he yelled at the moon. "I've died, 3 times!" his energy expands and causes the crater under his feet to deepen. "I couldn't even protect my family." His ki now exploding around him reminiscent of when Guru had unlocked his abilities on Namek. "Limits?" Krillin gripped his fists and crouched down then threw his arms to the side and yelled as loud as he could while his energy was at its highest output. Dust and rocks started to fall from the air as Krillin's chest heaved in and out. On Roshi's island, the old man stood out on his porch looking into the distance of his student's rising energy.

"You've taken the first step Krillin. Let it out." He smiled.

"Are you done?" A deep voice said from atop one of the large rock faces. He looked up to see the Piccolo with his arms crossed, cape fluttering in the wind.

"How long have you been there?" Krillin said as he stood back up and dropped into a horse stance.

"Long enough." Piccolo dropped down to the ground next to the much shorter warrior, landing softly. "So, you've finally decided to take your training seriously again?"

"I don't know what I've decided, but this is a good place to start." He says, moving his hands around in a turtle style form. Piccolo took off his turban and shoulder pads causing Krillin to stop.

"What are you doing?"

"You know." The large warrior cracks his neck. "I was never satisfied with our first fight."

"You were too powerful."

"No, you just gave up. Even after showing me the folly of underestimating you." Piccolo said as he dropped down into a stance as well.

"Are you serious?"

"You should be, or will you give up again?" Krillin's rage started to boil so he dug his feet into the earth and pointed his open palms towards Piccolo.

"Fine." There was a stillness between them with wind kicking up some dust. In the next moment Krillin yelled and dashed towards his opponent. He delivered a quick combination of punches and kicks which were all dodged. One punch he left out too lung and received a foot in his stomach for his troubles, followed by a dropping elbow sending chest first into the dirt. He was able to narrowly dodge a stump meant for his back by rolling to his left and pushing himself off the ground. As soon as he was in the air, he put his arms up to guard the big green palm approaching him. The hand gripped his forearms and then he found himself being propelled in the air on Piccolo's stretched arm. Krillin was able to break free just before he would have been slammed into a large rock face, landing on it with both feet. He was already out of breath, a combination of letting his ki explode earlier coupled with the image training he had done.

"Come on Krillin." He said to himself. "Power isn't everything." He heard his master's words and then built some ki around his feet. Piccolo tilted his head before the sound of a boom exploded in the air. Krillin had sent his ki through the rock destroying most of it, and propelled himself at his opponent like a missile. He noticed that both of Piccolo's arms were out of view and then used a ki blast to change his trajectory while dodging another stretched limb aimed for his head. As he twirled he saw the light of something above him and quickly had to dodge multiple ki blasts falling towards him. He ended up having to turn with his back to his opponent to fire ki blasts of his own to cancel out the rest. While looking up at the cloud of smoke Piccolo noticed Krillin's form blast up towards the moonlight.

"Solar Flare!" He said lighting the night sky up with his ki. It wasn't as effective as it would have been during the day but it got the job done. Krillin then vanished and appeared in front of his opponent to deliver a solid kick but too his surprise it was blocked. Piccolo smiled revealing his eyes were closed. Krillin then followed up with more strikes but every one of them was blocked and diverted. After nearly taking a returning claw strike to the chest Krillin jumped backwards with a ripped gi. He was really breathing heavily now.

"What's wrong? You tired?" Piccolo said and then let his aura explode around him revealing just how strong he really was. Krillin looked down at his bruised forearms and torn gi. He straightened up and took a breath, then dropped back down into his stance.

"Okay, let's go." Krillin said.

"Bring it little man." Piccolo sounding more and more like his demon days. They both flew at each other darting in and out of view, connecting with each other's attacks creating booms in the air. Krillin's breathing started to steady and Piccolo noticed the attacks coming from his opponent were changing. After Krillin landed a right hand palm strike against his large green forearm, Piccolo wasn't able to predict or dodge the following left back hand which came from the momentum of the palm strike being blocked. It didn't do much damage but it set Krillin up to land another follow up knee to Piccolo's midsection which he was able to block with his own knee but again the momentum was used for Krillin to land a hard elbow to his exposed gut. It was like Krillin was practicing on a wooden dummy. The elbow set Krillin up in the right position to cup his palms, his opponent knew what was coming next. A point-blank range Kamehameha engulfing his large green body until it was completely gone. Krillin prepared for the next attack as he knew he had only fired on an after image. Below him he started to see a yellow glow and leaned back as a fast moving ki ball hit his chin. It flew upwards but didn't dissipate, in fact it changed direction just like Yamcha's spirit ball but then flew downwards towards him. His only choice was to cancel it out, so he charged his fist with ki and went to punch it but it separated into many smaller orbs and he found himself surrounded. They blasts bombarded his body for what seemed like minutes until he was floating to the ground covered in bruises. Piccolo emerged with half of his gi blown off as well, it looked like he didn't completely dodge Krillin's attack.

"Heh, if you fought this seriously all the time."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Krillin said as he dropped to one knee exhausted, Piccolo on the other hand didn't look too worse for wear. Krillin attributed to the large power difference between them.

"Power isn't everything." He heard his masters words and then dropped to a more relaxed stance. Piccolo smirked and then decided that he would go on the offensive this time. He dashed towards Krillin with a chop aimed straight for his neck but to his surprise it was avoided. It wasn't like the technique Roshi or Goku used, but the movements were similar almost instinctual. Krillin then slammed his foot into the earth and felt his energy running through the ground. He pulled the ki back out of the earth and channeled it into his right shoulder to push into Piccolo's exposed ribs sending him skidding a few feet expelling liquids from his mouth. Krillin's breath was shallow but he didn't feel as exhausted as he did earlier. Something about the way he used his energy with the earth had greatly increased the attack with little to no blowback.

"So, it looks like you figured it out. Your master was right, you are a genius. Definitely a more competent fighter than Goku." Krillin stood up straight then smiled then fell to his butt.

"Ah, I get it. Master Roshi sent you." He said as Piccolo walked over rubbing his ribs.

"No." He points to his ears.

"Former Guardian of the planet remember."

"Doesn't make it any less creepy." Krillin said, making Piccolo laugh which wasn't something he had ever seen before.

"In any event, no one said you could rest." Krillin felt his body tingling and going numb in places, something he hadn't felt since the early grueling days of his training. He got up and bowed to his old friend just as he did his master which caught the Namekian by surprise.

18 was shocked when the morning rolled in and Piccolo was standing outside with a Krillin who looked like he had been hit by a bus. She glared at Piccolo until Krillin mustered a thumbs up.

"Hmph, put him on the couch." She said and tended to his wounds while Piccolo went to leave. "You too."

"But I…" His statement was cut short by 18's icy glare.

When Krillin woke up, he was alone in the bed. It was in the afternoon and he was glad that he still had some leave from work. It also didn't hurt that Bulma had given them a lot of zeni to make up for Goku's trickery. He sat up and found a note from 18 stating they had gone shopping and would return later. He was certain Piccolo had left after having his wounds treated, not like he really needed it since he heals fairly quickly. There were new weighted training clothes equipped with new style boots sitting in his workout room, which caused him to smile. The tightness in his muscles had started to loosen when he pulled his belt tight.

"Alright, here we go."