Breaking Arthur Ball

Last Time:

Roshi and Jessi showed up in Elwood, the town of Arthur Read (because I'm the stupid one for thinking his name would be Reed and not the word Read.) The pair meet back up with Goku who is quickly reminded of the dragon balls. After finding the first ball in Roshi's meth lab, Goku is approached by his old opponent, DW Read. Reed what happens next… Now.

Part 2:

Goku stands strong down the road from the newly made Dora Winifred. A steady wind skated a fallen leaf across the pavement, skipping it between the two fighters. Arthur was sat on Roshi's lawn, drifting between his sister and who had been living with for the last year. The illusion had been broken and the reality came flowing in. DW had really gone missing. Now she was standing right here in front of him. But she had changed. She was huge.

DW pointed at Arthur, her finger jabbing through the air and sending a breeze down the road. "You're gonna get what's coming to you, Kid. But I never got your name. I wanna know what to put on the tombstone when I drive you into the ground."

Goku smirked despite the imposing figure standing before him. "I am Son Goku. But don't think just because you're bigger that it means you can beat me. I've thrown bigger guys than you before." Goku slid the bottom of his shoe across the pavement, widening his stance and flexing his muscles in preparation.

"Hmp! I've got a lot more going on than just my size, Son. I've learned a lot about fighting and got help improving myself. I made a lot of new friends at the Red Ribbon Army." DW reached down and dug her fingers into the pavement, crushing blacktop under her fingertips before curling them in to scoop a chunk of the road into her palm. "Now there's no way you'll win."

Goku was unphased. The always-positive boy only got more excited at the prospected of such a challenge. "Well, I'm ready when you are."

DW lurched forwards. Her foot dug into the asphalt and blew a wave of it back behind her. Her shoulder took the front as she charged in, a clenched fist dragging behind. Goku stood his ground, waiting on DW to get close. Just as her towering form looms over him, he jumps into the air and lands a foot on the back of her head. Goku bounces off DW's head, sending her falling headfirst into the blacktop.

DW slams into the ground, chin grinding against the road and digging a trench into it. She quickly scrambles up, turning around with her hand dug in beneath her just to charge back at the boy. "Graah!" DW shouted with rage. "That's playing dirty! Get back on the ground!" She took a swing at Goku while he was still descending, but the agile boy grabbed at her massive fist and pivoted on it, deftly sliding away from the strike.

"Haha!" Goku laughed at DW's expense. "I would, but then you'd hit me." Goku avoided each blow, maneuvering around DW's arms like a gymnast. Their dance continued until DW threw in a wild knee, catching Goku off guard and nailing him in the side. Goku went wide-eyed and got thrown off to the side, bouncing off the sidewalk before hitting grass. "Oof… That was a good hit. But I'm not down yet!" Goku brushed off his clothes and rushed back in, pulling his power pole off his back.

Goku slid in quick, making a flurry of jabs up at DW that clashed with her arms as she blocked the blows. DW snarled out, "That stupid stick! You can't launch me with that thing anymore. I'm not letting you cheat again." DW broke her guard and threw a punch towards the ground, aiming to crash against the top of Goku's head.

Goku aimed the pole below himself and called out, "Power pole extend!" The pole stretched out beneath him, sending him off the ground just as DW's fist crashes down. Goku flips himself around, swinging the extended pole over his head before slamming it in the center of her back.

DW falls forwards, her torso slamming down. Pebbles and dust blow out from under her as she hits the road, creating another crack in their battle ground. Arthur is still sitting on the sidelines, watching in awe as the two fight. He was impressed at how much the field had evened out from their first encounter all that time ago, but still shocked to see his sister so massive and fighting so hard.

Arthur thinks to himself, "Man… I wonder what everybody's thought this whole time I've been calling Goku my sister… And now my real sister is fighting him. Oh geeze… Mom and dad are gonna be angry when they see what happened to DW. Or maybe they'll be so happy to see her that they won't care? Am I even that happy to see her? She's my sister but…" Arthur's thoughts drifted away into more ramblings as his eyes tracked the fight in front of him.

DW did an overhead swing with both fists bundled together, but had the wind knocked out of her when Goku's staff slammed into her gut. She returned the favor by slamming the side of her arm against Goku, batting him away just for him to bounce off the ground and land on his feet. Every time she faltered, she got angry. Every time Goku outplayed her, she got even angrier. It was starting to show as her strikes started to turn into wild swings of fury.

Meanwhile… Roshi and Jesse are in the basement. They are finishing their set-up and getting beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, Bunsen burners, and the like set up on their fold-out tables. Jesse had moved the chest in the corner of the room to the broken open window and stood on it to start fixing the lock. Jesse spoke to Roshi while fiddling with the screws Goku had stripped out. "So, who was that kid back there? Grandson or something?"

Roshi was pulling gas masks out of a box when he turned to respond. "Who, Goku? Yeah, that crazy kid did a lot for me in just a few days. Helped save my turtle, got me a sweet date, and reconnected me with an old apprentice."

Jesse turned around to face Roshi. "Huh. That's a lot for a kid his size. Did I hear right? That he can do the Kamehameha?"

Roshi nodded "Yeeeup. Fastest learner I've ever seen. Maybe I'll take him under my wing one day, but right now I've got an empire to build." Roshi pulled a large round-bottom flask out and chuckled. "Nice, big, and round. Just how I like 'em."

Jesse groaned and shook his head before turning back to the window. He hears a crash outside and the sound of rubble. "Ay, yo, Master Roshi. I think something's happening outside." Jesse leans in through the open window, trying to get a peak but only see chunks of road and dust clouds getting thrown around.

"Ah shit. The cops?" Roshi walks up behind Jesse and looks up at the window slot. "Can you see it?"

"Nah, but it ain't the cops." Jesse jumped down from the chest and started for the door. "Come on, I think we may need to do something 'bout it."

"Bah… Barely just got here and the town's already going to hell." Roshi grumbled as he followed behind.

DW grabs a fire hydrant, easily pulling it off the ground and chucking it at Goku as water starts to fountain from the metal stump. Goku jumps over the projectile, kicking off it and soaring through the air to deliver a hearty punch to DW's jaw. DW whips her head back and swings around to grab at Goku, just barely scrapping her fingers against his clothes and getting sprayed in the face by the open water pipe. "AARGH! STAY STILL!" DW shouts in a fitful rage.

The hydrant lands inches away from Arthur, making him jump back up on his feet and breaking his rambling thoughts. He finally broke his line of sight from the fighters and saw how badly they were tearing up the block. He couldn't let this keep going or he'd be in a lot of trouble. "DW!" Arthur aimed his plea at his sister, but she had her focus on trying to swing at Goku who was ducking and weaving behind the fountain of water. "DW, you need to stop! What happened was an accident. Goku didn't mean to hurt you. He tried his best to help find you, even."

DW snapped back, drenched in water, and steaming with the unyielding rage burning in her soulless eyes. "I didn't WANT to be found, Arthur," DW's words whipped out like a venomous snake. "I wanted to get him back for stealing my cookie! It was MINE!"

Arthur was taken aback. "That's what this is about? You don't care that you got launched across the sky?"

"No!" DW turned back around and slammed her fist in front of Goku, plugging the water hole and letting her get a good look at him. "There you are." DW Grins and darts her hand forward, snatching Goku up in her beefy claws and starting to squeeze him. "Now I'm gonna make you crumble. Like a cookie."

Arthur watched as Goku squirmed and winced in pain. He couldn't just watch though. He had to do something else, anything else. His body was trembling, and sweat was dripping down his cheeks. He couldn't just keep standing back and letting things play out in front of him. It'd be his fault if Goku got hurt and then he'd be grounded for sure.

Arthur found his resolve. He crouched down and got into a wide stance. He placed his hand out at his sides and circled them around his form. "Kah meh," Arthur started. "Ha meh…" He struggled to keep his eyes open. His muscles were aching, but he had to find the strength inside of him somewhere. The past year he had just imagined that he was playing games with DW. But he had really been getting stronger and Goku had really been teaching something about a new way of life. And now, he had to pay it back. Arthur thrust his arms in front of him. "HAA!"

Arthur's heart froze up, his eyes shut, and he felt an intense heat sear away the crisp Autumn air around him. He felt a hot flash blow out in front of him. He cracked open a single eye to see a beam of blue light streaming from his hand. The beam glides through the air towards to DW before blowing through her arm and causing an explosion of blue and red light.

"AAGH!" DW cried out as the arm holding Goku was blow off, throwing Goku to the ground with the large grabber. Wires and metal scraps fell out between the severed pieces before the beam finished its stream by slamming against the Read's house. DW grabbed at her stump and trembled, eyes wide in disbelief. "Wah? H-How? They said I was indu… Industrububble."

Arthur looked up and saw what he had managed to pull off. He was ready to cheer for himself, proud that he had finally pulled off the Kamehameha, but he found himself dizzy. Arthur fell backwards, passing out on Roshi's lawn.

Jesse and Roshi bust out the front door. Roshi was wearing his white-beater and a pair of sweatpants. Jesse had switched into an orange gi uniform with a symbol of the turtle on the back. They both looked out and saw the culprit of the mayhem. Goku was catching his breath on the ground while DW groveled over her missing hand. Both were being rained on by the broken hydrant.

"Shit," muttered Jesse. He looked down and saw Arthur sweating, passed out, and red in the face on their lawn. "Take care of him, I'm gonna get the big guy." Jesse ran over to Goku and DW, wasting no time when he jumped into the air and swung his leg out to collide with DW's jaw.

DW grunted, getting knocked down and rolling over back onto her feet. "Hey! That's not fair! I'm fighting Son, butt out!" DW swung forwards with her working hand, but Jesse dodges it deftly and throws his own fist up at her bicep, crushing down on it with his blow and throwing her backwards. "Ack! Wh-What? That's no fair! You're a grown up! Why are you picking on a kid?"

Jesse's composure broke when the goliath said that. "Wait, what? You're a kid?"

Goku finally got up from the ground and walked over to Jesse. "Yeah. That's Arthur's sister. I accidentally batted her away and she came back a lot stronger. I think… I didn't know girls looked like that on the inside." Goku said, pointing over at DW's sparking stump arm.

"They don't…" Jesse walked over and kneeled next to DW's head. "Hey, what happened? Kids don't get that big. How old are you?"

"I'm five and one fourth." DW claimed, finally calming down and caving to the interrogation.

"Do you know what a fourth is?" Jesse asked.

DW thought for a second, a pouting scowl on her face. "No…"

Jesse stood up and crossed his arms behind his head, taking in a deep breath. "Phoo… Shit. Alright. Okay. Hey, Roshi. How's that kid?"

Roshi gave a thumbs up from his spot kneeled next to Arthur. "Kid's good. He's spent though. He didn't get hit but he used up all his energy somehow."

Goku waved his hand to get Jesse's attention. "I know what happened! He did it! Arthur finally did the Kamehameha wave! It was so cool. He blew off DW's arm though." Goku walked over and handed the limp hand to DW. "Here. I'm sorry about eating your cookie. Hope we can be friends."

DW hesitated, but eventually caved in and took her hand back just to rest it on her chest. "Fine… I accept your apology. But I was totally gonna win if Arthur hadn't butted in."

Goku laughed and scratched at his head. "Ha, yeah, maybe. But we'll have to fight again. Next time for fun."

DW couldn't resist the smile that was working on her face. "Yeah, alright," she said, trying to hide the fact that the idea did sound fun.

Jesse helped lift DW off the ground, brushing her down and giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Never met a five-year-old taller than me. How'd all this happen? Why you got a robot hand?"

DW leveled the severed hand at the break point, but it didn't look like it'd just slip back on. "When I landed, I was in the forest. I walked for a while, and I was just really angry. Then some big guys found me and became my friends. They said they could help me get back at the boy who took my cookie. They said it was the hamdroid program or something."

"You mean android?" Jesse asked.

"Yah, that!" DW nodded as if she had gotten it right the first time.

"That's messed up, yo." Jesse turned back to Roshi. "Hey, Roshi. Let's get these kids back inside. We've got some stuff to explain to their parents."

And so, they did. It was a hard-fought battle, but Roshi and Jesse managed to explain the situation to their new neighbors. The Read parents saw that Arthur wasn't hurt and DW just needed to go to a mechanic instead of a pediatrician from now on. It'd be a lot, but they still loved their kids and would get used to the changes. They weren't thrilled about them going on an adventure for dragon balls, but they said they'd think about in. In the meantime, it was a school night and time for Arthur and DW to go to bed. Goku, no longer having a room to recede to, gladly accepted the living room couch. It didn't make a big difference to him.

The next morning, Arthur got up, got dressed, and got ready for school. DW did the same, not actually having attended in quite some time, but able to make the best of the situation since the school year was still young. The two waved off to their parents as they ran off for the bus. Arthur was just glad to have a normal day start after such wild events.

Arthur was walking down the hallway before class, breathing in the fresh classroom air and relieved that this place was still normal. Binky, the Bulldog boy, waved at Arthur from behind and called out to him. "Hey Arthur!" Binky ran up to Arthur, excited to show him something. Arthur turned around, happy to see Binky in a good mood.

"What's up, Binky?" Arthur asked the big lug.

"Check this out!" Binky surprised Arthur with a hooked punched into Arthur's stomach, blowing him upwards into the air. Arthur, shaken by the blow and surprise, saw Binky's hand raise up in front of his glasses before a bright flash caught him mid-air. Arthur gets blown back, tumbling down the hall and stopping only when he craters into the wall. "Pretty cool, huh? I started taking this new martial arts class and now I'm wicked strong! Watch out world, here comes Binky!" Binky cheered and ran down the hall, passing by Arthur's crumpled body and heading off to class.

"Oh… Brother…" Arthur managed to mumble. The bell for class rang.

Join us next time as Arthur investigates this mysterious new martial arts class and faces off his new foe, Binky. On Breaking Arthur Ball.