Last Chapter:

All three of them nodded and kept silent as Radditz glared into the fire, he broke the silence after three minutes past, "Kakarrot, help me find his energy." Goku nodded and concentrated on the Dragon prince's power signature. It took them both awhile to find it, he masked it real well, and he did not have to say a thing as the prince's voice rang in his head. "What the hell are you doing Kakarrot?"

Chapter Four:

Goku grinned when he saw Radditz flinch from the irritated voice that pushed through their minds. Before he could say anything the voice continued his assault, "Are you going to say something? I swear Kakarrot if you weren't useful I would kill you right now."

Goku chuckled merrily, but abruptly stop when he saw the look on his brother's face. He cleared his throat and spoke seriously, "Prince Vegeta, I'm sorry to bother you but we are in some predicament. We were hoping for you assistance."

The two brothers listened as the Dragon prince growled in frustration, "What do you take me for Kakarrot, one of your humble servants? You have five seconds to tell me why I should even lift a finger to help you."

Radditz exchanged a worried look with his little brother; they recognized the anger that was seething beneath the prince's voice. The Prince was at a loss, he felt helpless and vulnerable at the moment, not able to help save his father; not allowed anything but to wait and watch.

Goku spoke sternly, "We have with us the kings that will help the Dragon king. Prince Vegeta, we are way behind on our journey and the humans cannot go any further without killing their horses and exhausting their strength. We are pleading with-"

The prince's voice broke through with a strong over tone now, "So you want me to open the gate?……….You are falling behind Kakarrot…you should have informed me sooner, instead you wanted to enjoy the scenery. I'll open the blasted window, just make sure that your people are ready, I will not be kept waiting."

Goku grinned at the two monarchs and his brother who sighed in relief. "Thank you Vegeta."

There was a growl from the other side of the link, "Don't thank me yet Kakarrot, I'll collect your payment when the king's life is secure. You'll appear right at the crossroads, an hour before the other two human monarchs reaches you. Understood?"

Goku nodded, "Understood. As a warrior, I will try to pay back my debts, Vegeta." There was a grunt of recognition from the prince before he broke the link.

Radditz glared at his brother, "Kakarrot the day the prince collects your debts, you will not live to see the next day. I may stand by and laugh at your stupidity while he beats your ass into the ground."

Goku chuckled heartily as he got to his feet, "Maybe…maybe…but in the mean time, we have to get ready his going to open the window himself. I don't know when but…" His voice trailed off as he felt something. He saw his brother jump to his feet and turn to the east.

Goku followed his gaze and saw it. The two brothers exchanged knowing looks, without turning to the tow monarchs who also stood beside them, Radditz spoke urgently, "Your majesties, I think we should awaken our other companions. It seems our prince is not wasting any time."

Yamcha followed the two Dragonlords train of visions to see only darkness. Yamcha was about to respond when Lunch grabbed his hand, "Look, Yamcha!" He turned back toward the darkness and saw it distort and move.

Radditz and Goku broke into a run towards the horses, "Wake everyone now!" Radditz rough bark snapped the two monarchs out of their daze and they started to move. Yamcha woke his knights and stopped at Chichi's sleeping form and knelt, "Chichi, time to wake cousin, we have to move now."

Chichi's eyes snapped opened when she heard the urgency in Yamcha's voice. "What's happening?"

 She watched as Yamcha grabbed her things and started packing it back in her bag, "There's no time to explain, just do as I say." Chichi nodded as she got to her feet and started helping him pack her things. Yamcha shook his head at her, "Didn't I tell you not to pack so many things?"

The saddlebags were awkward bundles with all the dresses, towels, parchments and other accessories that she stuff in there. She frowned at him as she grabbed the bags from his hand, "These are necessities."

Yamcha chuckled as he moved away from her and started gathering his things to throw over his horse. Chichi finished her packing and turned to make her way to her horse when she came to a stop, right in front of her was Goku holding onto the reins of her horse while his horse was following him without assistance.

"I'll hold those while you get on princess." Chichi did not argue as he took the bags from her and with other hand help her onto her horse. When she was situated in her seat she glance around the camp to see that everyone was already mounting their horses, there was no sign of the camp, except for what remained of the fire.

She looked down to see the bags have already been tied to her horse, she then saw Goku mount his horse and move it towards hers. Without looking at her spoke, "Stay close to me Chichi, your horse might get spooked, just relax and don't panic."

It was still dark, Chichi was about to ask why the sudden departure when Radditz voice spoke loudly over the neighing of the horses, "Stay close together, the window will only be open for a couple of minutes, the swifter we move the easier the travel it will be. On my word, we ride towards it…. steady."

Chichi saw her cousin steady his horse with ease as he kept his gaze on the east, into the darkness. "What is everyone staring at?" Goku blinked as if in a trance, he turned to her with that teasing smile on his face. "We are about to meet our other companions, princess. Look." He pointed towards the darkness. Chichi followed his hand and gasped as she finally saw. It was not the darkness at all, but a distortion of the dark; it resembled a ripple in water. "What is that?"

Before Goku could answer her, Radditz strong voice pierced the darkness, "Move now." Goku took hold of her reins and they both moved towards the distortion. She gasped as she watched the Queen of Geldata disappear into it with her five knights. Immediately followed by Yamcha's knights. Yamcha glanced around; he saw Chichi and nodded, before moving through it as well.

Goku moved his horse towards Radditz and with a nod to his brother, pushed his horse forward with his hand holding onto Chichi's reins. She had no time to scream as the darkness swallow her, her throat contracted when she saw where she was.

Radditz was the last one to exit the window. Just as he moved a few feet away from the window, it started to shrink. Radditz and Goku turned towards the disappearing window and saluted, "Thank you Prince Vegeta." They turned towards the dazed group and both grinned, "That was one hell of a shot."

Lunch growled at them, "What the hell just happened?" Radditz flinched from the noise, he rubbed his sensitive ears and shrugged at her, "I'm sorry your majesty but we were equally surprised by the sudden window. We had no time to explain everything, if we did the window would have closed."

Yamcha nodded in understanding as he watched the sun make its climb across the sky. He closed his eyes, realizing how sensitive his eyes were to the daylight. It was still dark in Amadicia, they just traveled across the continent in a matter of seconds. Now they stood at the crossroads leading to the Capital. He was about to meet the High king. He just could not believe it, just as he did not believe it when they crowned him king of Amadicia.

"We wait here for the others, in an hour's time the two kings of Mesotovia should be arriving." Radditz turned from the group and nudged his horse to the west towards the hills. He turned his head and shouted, "I'm going to scout the land, Goku keep your ears open for anything unusual." Before Goku could answer, Radditz disappeared behind a hill.

Yamcha jumped down from his horse and motioned for everyone else to do the same. He silently made his way to Goku who was helping Chichi down from her saddle, "I don't understand Goku, why didn't Lord Radditz ask Yamcha and Lunch to help both of you with anything? Isn't kind of rude of him? I mean, Yamcha and Lunch are warriors as well."

Goku saw Yamcha shake his head at his cousin; he looked down at the girl in front of him and smiled. She was not the girl he remembered; in fact she was not a girl anymore. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Chichi, but the answer is very simple. Yamcha, Lunch and the other two rulers are very important to the Dragon king, us on the other hand, Radditz and I are expendable. As horrible as that sounds it is the mere truth. We are not part of "the gathering," so we can take certain risks that could endanger our lives."

Chichi looked up at him in horror. "That's not right! Aren't you a prince, Goku? That must count for something." Yamcha decided then to interrupt, "Chichi, Goku has other things on his mind, don't bother him with talks like that."

Chichi was about to argue when Goku chuckled, "Where did you hear something like that Chichi, me, a prince?" Chichi could feel her face grow hot, but pushed the embarrassment down, "I read about it, the Dragon king's four Dragonlords are as follows, Nappa, Toma, Kai-sha, and Bardock. Dragonlord Bardock happens to have to sons by the name of Radditz and Goku. Unless of course you know other Dragonlords by those names then…"

Yamcha and Goku stared at her with surprise and amusement. She held her head up high and smiled in triumphant. She was about to continue with her performance when Goku spoke first. "I see that you have been keeping up with your studies, but you forgot some minor details. Is the name in the book really Goku or something else?"

Chichi gasped in surprise, "How did you know that?"

Goku grinned, "I have read the books in which you speak of, before you were even born. And I distinctively remembered how much trouble those monks got into when they wrote those books. Forgive me Chichi, but never believe everything you read."

Chichi's lips formed a thin line as she tried to keep her irritation from showing, 'How dare they make fun of me.' She watched as her cousin and Goku smiled their great delight. "Bardock, the Dragonlord, is indeed the my father, but in my world, that does not make me a prince. In fact, far from it, I am but a servant to the Dragonlord. And before you say anything, I'd like to add that I was named after my ancestor Kakarrot, who I know for a fact, was a common Dragon."

Chichi narrowed her eyes at them, "Laugh now, the both of you. Just wait until supper time, you'll starve to death."  Without waiting from either one of them to speak, she turned on her heels and stalked away.

Goku turned to Yamcha with a helpless look on his face; "I guess she doesn't take my jokes like she used to." Yamcha shook his head in amusement, "Don't worry, she's just worried about everything. Was your ancestor really a common dragon?" Goku chuckled, but shook his head, "No, but modesty is the key. It's worse than it is when you humans call me Dragonlord, …but prince, I am no prince? I'll leave that up to the other Dragons."

Yamcha nodded in understanding and decided to change the subject before Goku got really uncomfortable. "Have you ever met the other two? The Mesotovia rulers I mean."

Goku stared off into the east. He shrugged when he heard the question; "I met the king of Nortar a few years back. I was on my way to the Valleys Summons when I stopped at their doorstep. The king was a funny man. He was always full of jokes. It would embarrass the queen to no end when he pulled one of his pranks."

Goku patted his horse's head while he relived memories. Yamcha waited patiently for him to speak again. Eventually he found his voice. "But other than that, I haven't had the pleasure of their company as of late. I have heard stories but, they're just stories."

Suddenly a rumble was heard in the distance. Goku and Yamcha turned to the west and only saw the rolling hills. They narrowed their eyes when they saw a flock of birds suddenly appeared and moved frantically towards them. The whole group paused in their work to watch the panicked departure of the birds and to listen to the growing noise. Goku suddenly grinned, understanding what it was. "It seems my brother has found our long awaited companions. Look." He pointed to the slight rise of earth to their left and with out a doubt a group of knights appeared and came barreling down.

Yamcha watched as about ten knights came galloping down the rise. Five of them wore orange colors of Nortar and the other five wore grey, the colors of Hellan. (Note: Sorry, forgot to state that all the kingdoms have their own colors, Yamcha has purple colors, and Lunch has blue.) "It seems that the rest of our company has arrived…and such an entrance."

Goku chuckled with mirth as he turned in his saddle and called to Chichi, "Princess Chichi, the Dragonlords are here, maybe one of them has the answer to your question." Chichi spared him a glanced before she held up her head and rode towards her cousin. Goku continued to watch her movements with a trained eye before he felt the telepathic bond he had with his brothers' call to him. He forced his eyes to moved towards the group that now was only meters from reaching them.

Goku turned his gaze from all the humans around him and once again to the hills; there from behind the slopes of the hills appeared galloping at a full run, were five figures. He squinted trying to make out the group, he immediately recognized his brother among them with his black horse pounding the ground with a vengeance. He tilted his head to the side contemplating the two with the orange and gray colors adorning their clothes,  it must be the king of Nortar and the king of Hellan. The other two with the same colors must be their companions.

Yamcha cleared his throat and with a grace that only royalty possessed dismounted from his horse. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched Goku and Lunch dismount and move towards him. As the ten individuals halted in front of him he inclined his head towards them. They saluted to him in respect, but did not dismount. Yamcha glanced past them towards the smaller group that was breaking through the knights.

He saw Radditz in front of the group, their eyes met and he nodded towards him as he halted his horse in front of Yamcha. The others followed suit, dismounting and moving forwards. Before anyone could speak Radditz introduced the new arrivals, "King of Amadicia and Queen of Geldata…. meet the Kings of Hellan and Nortar."

Upon hearing their titles the two monarchs of Nortar and Hellan stepped forward and bowed towards Yamcha and Lunch. Yamcha did not hesitate to return the gesture with Lunch following his example. "At last we meet fellow friends and comrades. I, Yamcha of Amadicia am glad to have put a face to a name."

Lunch smiled softly at the two kings as she spoke, "Indeed…my lords…I, Lunch of Geldata am glad to have such men as my fellow companions." She scanned the two men before but was very discreet in not showing the surprise she felt. The two kings were nothing that she imagined. They were both short…short for average men.

            The taller of the two, about 5'2 reached forward and clasped her hand and brushed his lips over her wrist. She was speechless for a second. The sign of respect for a lady has never been done in such a long time…she forgot the gesture. She stared at him, having a sudden urge to touch his hairless head. She was jostled out of her thoughts when he spoke softly to her, but with a hint of humor, "A pleasure to meet the Queen of Geldata…I have heard so much of your bravery in Nortar."

Before she could reply he moved away from her and grasped Yamcha's forearm in welcome. (NOTE: the grasping of the forearms is a mutual token of friendship and welcome. The equivalent of a handshake, so bare with me, thanks.)  Yamcha grinned at the short man, "I have a feeling we are going to get along Nortar."

The Nortar king chuckled slyly, "Indeed. Call me Krillan, none of this formality. So you got here before we did. How did you manage to pull that off, Yamcha?"

Goku spoke up, "Why we used our wits old friend." Krillan turned towards the Goku and grinned with merriment. "Goku!! What a surprise. Long time no see, where have you been keeping yourself?"

Goku sighed loudly, "I've been kept busy as you can see Krillan, I had no time for social calls. Besides, the last time I came to visit, the missus kicked my behind out the window."

The growl was heard behind Krillan, Yamcha blinked in surprise as a beautiful woman stepped forward. She was tall and graceful in posture. Her sun-bleached hair was shoulder length, complimenting her bright blue eyes. Krillan winked at them as he introduced her, "This is my wife, Eighteen. Don't mind her she's very cranky this morning."

Yamcha had to admit that the growl and the present frown did not show off her beautiful face. She was not smiling, she was glaring; she lifted her chin into the air and with a toss of her hair over her shoulders dismissed Goku's apologetic smile.

Before the tension could heighten the other king moved forward and spoke, "Yamcha, Lunch, I, Chaitzu of Hellan have the pleasure of making your acquaintance." Lunch curtsied low, (we all know he's short…about 4'2…. maybe…) "The pleasure is all mine Chaitzu." Chaitzu smiled warmly at her. Yamcha inclined his head towards him, "Indeed the pleasure is ours, Chaitzu. King of the mountains."

Chaitzu motioned to the man at his right to come forth, "This is Tien." Yamcha inclined his head to tall man who stepped forward. He recognized him as one of the Marti, (the humans with the unusual gifts). "Greetings Tien, it's a great honor to meet you. I have heard of your deeds for the king of Hellan. I have never met one as you."

Tien smirked in amusement, "Thanks Yamcha, I never knew my exploits reached the halls of Amadicia." Yamcha blinked in confusion before he understood the statement. He chuckled as he clapped Tien on the back. He was about to remark on it when Lunch pushed her way between them and took Tien by the elbow. "Indeed, I have heard of your exploits, would you like to hear some of mine?"

Yamcha watched with the others as Tien gawked at the Queen of Geldata with surprise. He was about to intervene when Tien's deep voice spoke with amusement, "I would love to hear of them my lady, later perhaps?" The people, who knew the Queen well, were shocked when she actual giggled with delight.

Radditz shook his head and frowned in concentration; he turned from the rest of the group and look about. Goku felt his urgency and started to look around as well. He was about to ask where the other two dragonlords were when they heard the pounding of hooves coming towards them. Goku turned towards the noise but heard his brother growl in frustration. "It's about time."

The group parted and three riders came galloping up. They reined in and as fast as they arrived, two of the riders jumped down from their horses and came to stand in front of the two dragonlords.

Chichi in all the excitement stayed on her horse and watched the three arrivals with curiosity. 'Where did those three come from?' She watched as two of the riders gracefully dismounted from their horses and moved towards Goku and Radditz.

She gasped when she saw on of the new arrivals' features. He was a mirror image of Goku. He had the same face, same unusual hair, all the way down to the colors of his armor. If she didn't know any better she would have thought that he was Goku. She was still staring when she noticed that the man was speaking.

"Hello little brother, so you managed to beat us here after all. How ever did you do it?" The amusement was evident in his deep voice, but to everyone's amazement Goku did not return the humor.

"Not so little Turles, we're twins remember…just a few seconds are you older than I. You seem to have forgotten your head in Tescom. Rest assured that I will be happy to think for the both of us." The four monarchs of Mesotovia silently watched as Turles' jaw clenched and his black eyes narrowed.

He opened his mouth to say something when Goku chuckled and patted his shoulder affectionately, "Your temper always was an easy target Turles. For a minute there I thought you were going to hit me." Without warning Turles punched Goku in the face.

Goku caught of balance by the attack fell backwards and landed on his rear in the mud. Before anyone could react Goku grinned up at his brother. Turles held out his hand to him. "I did."

Goku shook his head as he took the outstretched arm and hoisted himself up. They patted each other on the back with brotherly affection and turned, only stop in their tracks when they saw the displeasure on their older brother's face.

Radditz sneered at them, "Are you two quite finished with your dallying? We are wasting valuable time here. I swear that sometimes you two morons share one brain." He watched his two brothers shrugged, he growled and remembered why he was angry in the first place, "Why are you two late Turles?"

Turles had no time to speak as the other rider spoke up, "My lord?" Everyone turned to stared with admiration at the stunning woman that stood next to Radditz. She had a red chest plate on and armlets of silver on each wrist as her only armor; her figure was indeed remarkable, indeed woman as well as warrior. Her tanned finely toned arms were crossed over her chest. Long sculpted legs slightly apart; encased in black leather hosing that cut off at mid-thigh, and black calf-high boot. Her braided jet-black hair gently caressed her knees as she shook her head in dismay.

"We had to pick up a certain companion. " Radditz turned to Aerin with question in his eyes. "And who was so important that you had to delay your king's life?"

Aerin black eyes met his for a second before she turned and motioned to the person they came with. "She insisted that she knew Kakarrot and wanted to see him." Radditz raised his gaze and stared at the figure still on top of her horse.

Bulma grinned down at Radditz when she heard him growl in annoyance, before Radditz could ask who she was, a stream of laughter was heard as Goku ran up to the woman and held out his arms to her. She grinned at him as she fell into his waiting arms. She giggled with delight as he hugged her tightly to himself. "Bulma, what on Draconia are you doing here?" She chuckled as she kissed the warrior's cheek, "Why, I'm here to see you Goku, I couldn't pass up another adventure like this."

To be continued…

 It would be a while before I can post the next part……I have finals coming up….thanks for reading.