Chapter 8: Contingency Plans
Greetings #Dragonball fans and welcome to part 8 of What If: Grandpa Gohan Got Through to Goku, where, as suggested by Chandler Kinney, instead of the old bump on the noggin, from falling into a ravine, Goku's only cranian impacts came from his own caretaker, now master, Gohan, teaching him how to DODGE!
Check out the fan artist chandlerdrawsthings over on instagram p/CPEegoql9Z2/
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#DragonBallZ #WhatIf #GrandpaGohan
Previously Kakarot had made his way to Earth, met the old man Gohan and taken on the role of student after proving no match in a fight against him. They then met Bulma as she searched for the Dragon Balls and Master Gohan dispatched his pupil to see some of the world and secure the balls against nefarious use.
They met Muten Roshi, the non demonic pig, boar, bat or fish Oolong, Ox King and Chi-Chi and Kakarot got his first Kamehameha. At Pilaf's castle, having ruined the original set in the wash, Bulma wished for fresh armour for Kakarot. The boy didn't want it though, having broken his word to his master regarding looking at the full moon. The castle and its occupants had recently had an unfortunate encounter with the Ozaru.
The 21st Tournament saw Kakarot being beaten by his old master in disguise, and after apologizing for his failures at Pilaf's, they went in search of the four star ball. Sauntering through the Red Ribbon Army, they still ended up at Fortune Teller Babas where they met Roshi's master, Mutaito, brought back for the day.
They also got to meet Mai again, who was out for revenge for the death of Shu. Kakarot's pointing out her hypocrisy led to Mai leaving Pilaf in the lurch. The 22nd Tournament then came around and Tambourine still showed up but he failed to kill Krillin, who had taken to training in the latest iteration of Bulma's body armour.
Chasing at least one ball to keep from King Piccolo's clutches, they met Yajirobe and their trek through first Cymbal and then Tambourine, has brought them to the source. King Piccolo himself showed up to avenge his fallen children and got into things with Kakarot in a big way. Mai, who had just returned from burying that one dragon ball in a lead box, was then sent tumbling as Kakarot unleashed a massive Kamehameha on the green skinned monster.
Regroup
After everything went white, and then faded to black, Mai's next memory is of being hauled up and dragged into a car. Yajirobe has apparently grown a bit of a spine and has come back to see what was going on. They cruise around a bit as Mai collects herself and they try to spot, well, anything. The airship is gone and there's no sign of that King Piccolo fellow at all.
They eventually find Kakarot though, munching away on some animal or another. Does he know where King Piccolo is? No. Dead hopefully. Yajirobe happily helps finish off the meal and now rather hungry herself, Mai even joins in. At least this isn't a Demon, it's just a deer or something. Shu used to love venison, as did Pilaf. Mai curses under her breath, thinking fondly of that little tyrant. He'd not cared at all for Shu! They were just tools to him!
The meal done with, Mai redeploys her jet plane and they ask Yajirobe what his plans are. He can come with them if he wants, since his home is, well, looking around at the crater, kinda ruined? Do they have food there? Why yes! The best food! Kakarot expounds greatly about his culinary habits and Yajirobe's eyes light up. He'd seen how much the boy can eat so, yeah, makes sense there'd be some good food there.
They arrive back at Roshi's island to the sight of Roshi, Gohan and even that Tien guy all practicing the Mafuba and much to Roshi's irritation, he has to admit that Gohan is actually better at it. Ahh the benefits of youth, right? Yajirobe just laughs and says not to worry about all that. That King Piccolo guy is a goner! You should see the crater this Kakarot kid left in his wake!
"W, WHAT?" Roshi stammers.
"Oh yeah, he did a number on that big, scary old King Piccolo." Yajirobe continues. "And to think I was, uh, I was too busy to deal with him myself!"
Mai raises an eyebrow at the rotund samurai then says that yes, King Piccolo had come looking for them after they, err, killed his demon spawn. She's sure it had nothing to do with them cooking and eating the bodies too. Nope, no way he'd've taken offence at someone eating his children? Demon or otherwise.
Bulma sighs. When will he learn that he can't go around eating everything?
She then gets to ruin their celebrations though. Roshi and by extension Gohan were thrilled at the thought of Kakarot having killed the great and terrible King Piccolo, but when she holds up her radar, they all get to watch as two blips move rapidly towards a third. Damn it, someone's still after the Dragon Balls? And they've somehow got their hands on another one?
"Pilaf!" Mai exclaims. "He might have lost his precious King Piccolo but he's still on task with that other guy."
"Commander Black?" Kakarot asks.
Mai's blank look, not knowing anything about the Red Ribbon Army's recent restructuring prompts Kakarot to recap his and Master Gohan's trek through that army and the final boss he'd faced. A formidable opponent, at least when all suited up in a Mech. He'd not found the guy afterward, so looks like they've teamed up. The Red Ribbon Army has teamed up with Pilaf? Oh no! That is not good. Well, no, the Red Ribbon was in ruin, wasn't it? It looks like Pilaf, now devoid of his own hench people, uh, sorry Mai, has claimed those remnants for himself.
When Bulma zooms out all the way, she can't help but exclaim again. They've got 3 balls now and all 7 balls are visible! Their attempt to find and hide one has failed! Mai doesn't believe how though. She buried that box pretty deep while these two, ugg, ate, those, oh god, she'd gonna throw up again. Yajirobe then reminds her what's left of that area. A massive crater. That box probably got smashed and they just dug up the remains.
Kakarot digs around for his own radar to confirm his failure but finds it missing. Hmm, with all that fighting it must have slipped out, and is now lost in that crater as well. Bulma interrupts though, saying that if it is Pilaf, he is making very quick progress. They're already approaching a fourth ball! They need to hurry, so they will go their separate ways, with Mai and Kakarot heading off again with Yajirobe and Master Gohan this time to collect as many as they can.
When asked if Roshi will collect some himself, he says that he has work to do and he needs Tien with him. Well, ok then, that's fine. Kakarot's group heads off and makes good progress. When they finally all meet up again, in a nice open waste land, they watch the radar with interest as the other six balls head towards their one. Only when the airship moves into view does Mai point back down at the radar, having noticed that the other six blips have vanished!
Oh, Pilaf being sneaky huh? Well that's fine, they know roughly where they are. They are not prepared though, to see King Piccolo himself descend to the ground, larger than life and looking at least a little better than Mai remembered him. His clothes are still in tatters and Kakarot notes that he's certainly not feeling as strong as he was before. He has also not come alone. Pilaf is there along that big guy, not to mention a good number of what could only be Red Ribbon Army soldiers. They may well be the dregs of that army, but they are all very well equipped. At least, the mechs they're in are well equipped!
The soldiers fan out, surrounding the group as King Piccolo steps forward, followed by the little Emperor and Commander Black, both of whom are in mechs as well. Piccolo then holds something up for them to see. Something that squirms and wriggles in his hand. A child, small and now crying in the chilly desert wind. King Piccolo laughs and says that their mid fight conversation had been most enlightening. His misguided sense of honour will be his undoing! King Piccolo is no fool though so, you, boy have incredible power, and, if you're willing, they can avoid all this hostility, if he joins them in their quest to take over this wretched world.
Kakarot's reply though is that there's no point in ruling a dead world. There's nothing to learn when there's no one left to learn from. There's nothing to trade, no one to help, There's just no point. Fine, have it your way then, King Piccolo says and orders the Mechs to attack.
Their initial assault is held back by the assembled warriors, which includes their very own Mech suited soldier, in the form of Mai. Her's may not be as imposing as theirs but she's been piloting the things for years and has various motivations at the moment to make good use of the thing. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Roshi and even Master Gohan all dive in as well as King Piccolo dangles the child in front of Kakarot.
"Give me the last ball or, well, I think you know." King Piccolo says, smiling quite viciously and holding his hand up to the child's neck.
Kakarot just stands there in a ready pose, saying nothing for a while but when King Piccolo starts pressing harder with his sharp stabby fingernails, drawing a drop of blood, Kakarot relaxes a bit.
"You won't kill it." He says.
"Oh? Why won't I?" King Piccolo replies, an eyebrow raised.
"It's all that's keeping me from attacking you!"
"Oh! How perceptive!" King Piccolo says. "But I hadn't planned on killing it."
Kakarot looks back a bit confused then gets an angry look on his face.
"Besides, it can't scream if it's dead!" King Piccolo cackles as he draws his nails across the child's neck slightly, eliciting screams and more thrashing as more blood falls on the ground. "I do so love that sound, don't you?"
Bulma, having been in charge of their one Dragon Ball has had enough though and throws the thing from her rock formation, shouting to just take it and stop hurting the child!
Contingency Plans
Bulma's plan, to have King Piccolo drop the child to catch the badly thrown ball is thwarted though by the demon's other hand, reaching out, much farther than it has any right to and it snatches the ball out of the air. Kakarot's attempt to knock the ball out of his grasp also fails and he's left staring at that child's crying face again as King Piccolo examines the last of his balls.
King Piccolo smiles over at Kakarot and before anyone can do or say anything, he throws the child away, into the air. Kakarot catches it relatively easily but when he lands and turns back to engage King Piccolo directly, there is a strange aura surrounding the man.
"Thanks for the ball!" he grunts through his straining! "Now go away!" he shouts and waves his arms around, covering the battle field in an exploding wave that tears through Dragon warriors and Red Ribbon Meched soldiers with equal abandon.
When the dust has settled, Kakarot looks around and can't help but notice that the sky is strangely dark. The dragon! He leaps up to stop King Piccolo but it's too late. Before him stands a now youthful and fully primed King Piccolo and Shenron has had no chance to say his farewell, being pardoned from existence by the man.
As Shenron bits rain down, Kakarot looks around for the others but there is no one moving. He spots Master Roshi, but unprepared for that attack while taking on 8 mechs at once, the man isn't moving. Master Gohan is nowhere to be seen. Krillin is laying there, his modified saiyan armour torn up quite a bit but his exposed and burned face, stares blankly up at the sky! What about Bulma in her rock tower? Where is she? The young King Piccolo just watches as Kakarot heads over to where she is now half buried, but still alive, just.
"Ka, Kakarot." She gasps as he lifts the rocks off of her. "I, I'm sorry, I, I didn't…"
"It's OK." Kakarot says, gritting his teeth, "I didn't know about his arms either."
"Learn, *cough* you, learn something new every, *cough* everyday, don't you?"
Kakarot says nothing, just glares over at King Piccolo with a certain kind of rage in his eyes. There is a clank and a thump as Krillin's body falls over, revealing a slightly less obliterated mech. It opens up and a badly bruised Mai clambers out and casts her own eyes on the scene. She stares down at Krillin for a moment, then staggers over to Kakarot and Bulma and collapses on the ground.
"Maybe it's time you brought out your, uh, friend, Kakarot." She says, also staring over at the monster.
Finally distracted from the target of his rage, Kakarot asks what she means to which Mai just smiles and says, you know, your friend. The massive hairy one. No, no he, he couldn't. And even if he wanted to, there's no moon. No moon? What does that have to do with it? Oh. The moon triggers it huh? Well that sucks. Could really use a moon right about now, and a giant raging monkey too, to maybe take a bite out of that demonic monster, once and for all.
Bulma then reaches out and grabs at Kakarot's arm, pulling him closer. She's, well, she's had his pod for a few years now and, they, uh, they found something in it. Some kind of projector, in the pod, that creates a hologram of a moon. You should have seen the people in West City running around when that strange not quite moon appeared right above the city, right next to the actual moon. That was pretty funny!
Kakarot can't really see how that would help, until Bulma grabs his arm again and twists it towards her. She taps and swipes seemingly at random and a round icon appears on the panel next to the suit's weight number.
"Don't waste it, ka, Kakarot. It's, got enough power for maybe 5 minutes." She says and slumps back.
"No, no I, I can't. I promised." Kakarot says, glancing at Mai and then over at where his master was prior to, this.
"Just this once, Kakarot." Bulma says, smiling slightly. "For your master Gohan, and, Yamcha, and *cough* and even that perv, Roshi."
"And uh, Krillin?" Mai adds, looking back over at her crumpled mech and the man that had saved it from meeting the same fate as the others. "And all those other people. And maybe even for Shu?"
Kakarot stares at them both for a moment then nods and stands up.
"Ahh, FINALLY!" King Piccolo calls out. "I was getting bored!"
"Hey, Ka, Kakarot!" Bulma calls out. "When you're big, check the other wrist, OK?"
Kakarot looks at her and at his other wrist, but just shrugs and says that that might not be possible, once he goes ape.
"Goes Ape?" King Piccolo asks. "Just what's all this about, anyway?"
Kakarot just smiles at him, glances over at Bulma and Mai, then presses the round icon on his wrist.
End Chapter 8
And so as Kakarot starts to grunt and grow, and King Piccolo takes a few steps back, we will bring part 8 to a close.
How will Kakarot fare against this now Primed King Piccolo?
He's not had the luxury of drinking the Ultra Divine Water, but has found another route to power in the form of his base Saiyan nature and the mighty Ozaru.
But will he be able to control the beast?
He showed signs of it back at Pilaf's castle, when Bulma had said that Master Gohan wouldn't like what he was doing. He's also gained control over his tail, and perhaps that is the key to retaining control over the Great Ape.
And What did Bulma mean about his other wrist? Some other trick up her technical genius of a sleeve?
Find out next time on Dragon Ball, What If: Grandpa Gohan Got Through to Goku.