The Halloween festivities were in full swing at Kame House, and everyone had come in costume. Yamcha was dressed as a zombie football player. Bulma was dressed as a vampire, fake teeth and all. Oolong needed no costume and instead was in his ogreish form. Master Roshi, rather ironically, came as a priest, while Krillin was dressed as Piccolo. Chi-Chi forced Gohan into coming as Pugsley while she came as Morticia.
Oolong turned off the lights. Everyone gathered around Krillin, it being his turn now to tell a scary story.
"The day started out as peacefully as any other. We were all gathered here, a lot like we are now, for a party. Little did we know that as we danced our cares away, an ancient evil was reawakening. The evil of…Garlic Jr.
Krillin paused for dramatic emphasis. Yamcha added his own eerie sound effects, and that drama was lost with everyone chuckling.
"Are we done now?" Krillin rolled his eyes. "Good. As I was saying, we had no idea Garlic Jr. had come back from the, uhh, Dead Zone."
"Dead Zone?" Bulma raised an eyebrow. "What kind of half-baked concept is that?"
"You'll find out if you let me finish the story."
That shut Bulma right up.
"Then something came in. A mist, swirling in from the sea. A mist that turned all of us into zombies, except for me and Gohan. Even Piccolo didn't manage to avoid it. Friends fighting against friends…it was horrible."
"You're saying I hurt Gohan?" Chi-Chi wrapped her arms in a shield around her son. "That couldn't have happened! I'd never do ANYTHING to hurt my Gohan!"
Krillin said nothing, neither comforting nor denying that the story did in fact happen.
"Gohan and I took off for the Lookout, where Garlic Jr. and his cronies were waiting for us. It was a tough fight, at first, and to make things worse they had Piccolo on their side. Even with the odds stacked against us, we fought back, and little Gohan killed Garlic Jr.'s henchmen all on his own."
"Then came the final battle. It turned out Piccolo wasn't infected and had been playing along the whole time, so we had him back. The both of us were banged up pretty badly, so it was all up to you, Gohan. Garlic Jr. got bigger, and uglier, then opened up his portal to the Dead Zone and threatened to swallow us all whole. But the source of his power, the Makyo Star, just so happened to be in orbit. And when Gohan destroyed it, well, it was back to prison in the void for Garlic. Permanent prison, with no Makyo Star to bring him back. The earth was safe from his evil once again, and with no help from a certain Saiyan."
"And what happened to us?" Roshi downed a can of sake, adding to the pile. "You're leaving out some key details, Krillin."
"Kami poured the Sacred Water over the planet and turned you guys back to normal."
Krillin, pleased, clapped his hands together, like shutting a book.
"The end."
Instead of giving him any praise, the others turned their focus to Gohan, astounded. To think that one day he might save the universe, considering who his father was, didn't seem so farfetched.
"Wow," Gohan said, beaming. "I can't believe you made all that up. What a great sto-"
Someone was knocking, but no more guests were expected. Yamcha was the first to get up and answer the door.
"Some chick called Maron's saying she's looking for her boyfriend."
"Who's that?" Krillin asked.
"You, dude. Just, out of curiosity, does 18 know about her?"
Yamcha, and then everyone else, looked at him.
Suddenly Krillin felt very lightheaded.