Hercule Satan jumped and ran in back of Buu. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Buu don't know." Buu smiled.

Uub sweat dropped as he ran over to where Goku was covered by several tons of metallic looking club.

"No one can touch the door!" The behemoth bellowed.

A soft, golden glow radiated from underneath the club. Suddenly, the club flew up and struck the metal warrior in the face. To the casual observer, it would have looked like he struck himself.

"Wheeeeeoo! That was some attack!" Goku said as he flew up out of the indentation that his body made in the floor. Goku flew up to eye level with his attacker.

"Is that the best you can do?" Goku asked.

The behemoth looked surprised for a split second. Then a wide beam shot out of the jewel in his forehead striking Goku in the chest and driving him into the wall several feet. Chunks of stone fell around Uub, Buu, Piccolo, and Mr. Satan. Buu flattened out his body and placed it over Hercule like a big, pink dome, deflecting several large pieces of rock.

"Still saving my life." Hercule smiled at his friend.

Satisfied that he had fulfilled his job, the monster turned away from Goku and started walking towards the others. The gem in the center of its forehead began to glow.

"Where are you going? That was a good attack, but I'm not nearly finished yet!" Goku said as he extricated himself from the wall. "Wow! I haven't been hit that hard in a long time!"

The club was sent whistling through the air at Goku once again. The entire vast room suddenly became awash in a golden glow as Goku went Super Saiyan. Instead of impacting on a soft target, the great club stopped in mid-air.

Goku snatched the club from the giant's hand and threw it across the room.

"What?!?! H-How are you so s-strong?" The living statue backed up a few steps, obviously surprised.

"I train very hard." Goku said. "Do you have the key to that door?"

"Yes. But you have to defeat me first." The giant suddenly spun around and kicked out with it's back legs catching Goku squarely on the jaw, sending him to a skidding halt along the surface of the stone floor

Goku quickly jumped to his feet. He started stretching his neck from side-to-side.

"That almost hurt!" Goku teased. "You are pretty strong!"

The monster's eyes went wide again. No one had ever survived an attack from him before, much less stood up to mock him about it afterward. He had only one more attack left. He reached and grabbed his club, but instead of swinging it at Goku again, he slung the club over his shoulder and the other club over his other shoulder, and took a position near the center of the room, where he went motionless.

"What are you up to now?" Goku asked.

The monster did not answer.

"Hey! Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?" Mr. Satan asked.

Piccolo's sensitive senses had already picked up the sudden jump in temperature. "No, it's getting hotter in here, rapidly.

"Look!" Uub pointed at the statue.

The statue began to glow a soft orange, then red.

"It's like a big oven in here!" Mr. Satan said.

The Temperature continued to rise.

"Okay, enough playing around then." Goku said as sweat began to pour off of him.

Goku charged a ki attack in both hands and fired them at the behemoth.

The first one struck the jewel in his forehead; the second struck his chest, blowing a hole straight through him.

The Creature bellowed loudly and fell to the floor. His body immediately began to cool down.

"Where is the key?" Goku yelled at the now defeated giant. He didn't get an answer.

"Everyone, look around for the key!" Goku called.

Everyone flew over to where the giant had fallen and searched to see if he had any pockets, or secret compartments, or something that looked like a key

After several minutes of searching, nothing was found.

Piccolo was busy studying the door. It was a large metal door with no obvious doorknob, or keyhole, just a big, blank expanse of metal with a funnily shaped indentation in the middle. Piccolo studied the indentation for a few seconds, then turned to look at the prone form of the giant. Piccolo's eyes rested on the jewel placed in the giant's forehead.

"I got it!" Piccolo called out and flew over to the metal warrior. Before anyone could ask for an explanation, Piccolo plucked the jewel from the giant's forehead, flew back and placed the jewel neatly in the indentation on the door.

The Jewel glowed brightly for a few seconds, and then the door simply vanished, leaving the jewel hanging in mid air. Beyond was a thick forest on a clear sunlit day.

The Jewel flew back and replaced itself in its owner's forehead.

"Look at that!" Goku said.

From the cracks in the walls, spiders started pouring out by the thousands. Everyone started backing up towards the now open door.

"Umm... Shouldn't we be going?" Uub said trying to quiet his childhood fear of spiders.

The spiders was rapidly making their way across the floor, but it became apparent that they were not interested in the people, but crawled up on top of the fallen metal guardian. They seemed to be inspecting the damage, chattering among them selves. A couple of them seemed to notice Goku and the others and ran over in front of them. The lead spider, one with particularly bright markings, spoke.

"You Idiots! Do you have any idea at all how long it's going to take to fix that thing!"

"Umm... We are sorry Mr. Spider. But it did attack us and..." Goku started scratching the back of his head and shifting nervously.

"Well all you had to do with snatch out the jewel and it would have deactivated him! Didn't anyone tell you that before you came here?" The spider was fairly spitting he was so mad.

"No." Goku looked at his companions. Piccolo shrugged his shoulders.

"You mean to tell me that you are going into the forbidden dimensions without being told what to expect?" The spider seemed to calm down some.

"That's about the size of it." Uub sighed. "King Yamma said that it has been a very long time since anyone has come in here. Perhaps the information is no longer available."

"King Yamma! Don't you mean Prince Yamma? He's just a child!" The spider exclaimed. "What would he know of such things?"

"Wait a minute, don't you know how long you've been in here?" Goku said.

"No! The passage of time is not our concern! We are here to maintain and repair the guardian, no more, no less. We mostly remain dormant other than that." The spider informed indignantly.

"Well, if what King Yamma said is true, millions of years has passed since you came down here." Piccolo said.

Humans have a hard time telling the facial expressions that spiders have, not really wanting to look them in the face much anyway, but all the other spiders stopped and looked at the lead spider when it hissed."

"What is a year?" The spider asked.

"It's an arbitrary measurement of time based on one orbit of any given planet around its sun." Piccolo said. "One year isn't a long time, but millions of them is a vast amount of time indeed."

"Whoa Piccolo! When did you get so smart?" Goku asked obviously impressed.

"Remember that I'm fused with Kami. You would be surprised at the information he has." Piccolo smiled. "That was just a simple fact that most humans learn in early grade school. Gohan could have given you a far more detailed explanation."

"Now I feel dumb!" Goku said.

Piccolo just smiled.

The spider got the gist of what a year was and seemed a bit shocked.

"Okay, I guess that explains why nobody gave you instructions on how to enter the Forbidden Dimensions, WITHOUT BLOWING A DAMNED HOLE THROUGH THE GUARDIAN'S CHEST!! But you don't plan on going on without knowing what to expect, do you?" The spider said quizzically.

"We must! We're on a mission!" Goku said proudly. "We are going to the fountain to wish Buu to be human."

"Buu?" The spider asked.

"The big pink guy over there." Goku and the spider turned to look in Buu's direction to see Mr. Satan up on Buu's shoulders while a dozen or so spiders circled Buu, pinching and prodding at his pink body.

Goku face-faulted. "What the heck are they doing?!?"

"Oh, nothing serious. All of you are flesh and blood types, not of any use in repairing the Guardian, and not of much real interest. The big guy there is something we've never seen before. They are just checking to see if he would be of any use as building material." The spider said casually.

"Oh..." Goku answered simply, really not knowing what to think about it.

Buu obviously got tired of the scrutiny and floated off the floor a few yards. The spiders looked pretty disappointed. One of them still had his pincers in Buu's leg and was hauled off the floor a few feet before letting go. He hit the floor with a loud "CLANK".

"Clank?" Goku thought turning back to the head spider.

"Are you guys metal too?" Goku asked.

"Organic metal. Our exoskeletons are a combination of organic material that has bonded with the metal we mine in the tunnels behind the walls." The spider answered. "The Guardian is the result of millions of our skin sheddings crafted into a statue! What causes it to come to life we don't really know, but it's activated whenever someone touches the door to the hidden dimensions."

"Skin sheddings?" Goku felt slightly nauseous.

"Yes! And it's going to take weeks to gather enough skins to fix that hole!" The spider lamented.

"Well, we're real sorry about that, but we really do have to be going. That door won't stay open forever, and we understand that nasty creatures could come out of there." Goku said as he was walking backwards for the door.

"The door will stay open until the one that opened it passes through the arch." The spider said. "Beyond that, we don't know what is in there. Normally, we would eat you, but since you blasted a stinking hole in the Guardian, it is doubtful that we could attack you without losing half or better of our colony, so you may go." The spider said imperiously.

"You're lucky, you know? Goku was only using a small fraction of his true power to defeat your Guardian. Otherwise it would have been completely vaporized." Piccolo smirked as he followed Goku's lead and backed towards the open arch."

Everyone was following Goku's lead.

Everyone got to the door and Goku stopped them. "Piccolo, remember what the spider said, the door will close after the person that opened it has passed through the arch. You must pass through last."

"Way ahead of you Son." Piccolo smiled. He had already taken a place at the back of the bunch.

"Good, okay then, let's go!" Goku said as he stepped through the arch followed by Uub, Buu, Hercule, then Piccolo.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Vegeta, King of all the Saiyans, suddenly awoke in his bed on Gardedose with a start. Something was wrong. Something was horribly, terribly wrong. Vegeta felt empty, like a gnawing hunger, but he wasn't hungry. It was something else. Vegeta desperately felt around the universe for what was missing.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Vegeta said starting to panic casting out his senses to their very limit, even into the next dimension. "Still nothing damned it!"

Vegeta hopped out of bed and quickly dressed. About the time he was getting ready to go to the communications room Roger set up to contact Bulma, a knock came at his door.

"Come in Tien!" Vegeta said in an agitated voice.

Tien poked his head around the door. "Do you not feel what I do not feel?" Tien asked.

"You noticed it too?" Vegeta said.

"It's like he suddenly just vanished." Tien said.

"Or he...." Vegeta started, not wanting to finish the thought.

Tien looked somber." Where was the last place he went?

"How should I know! He's been popping around the damned dimensions for the last two days! How am I expected to keep up with him?" Vegeta complained. Deep down, however, Vegeta was hurting. He knew that if the situation were reversed, Goku would have known where to look for him.

"Damned it!" Vegeta despaired balling his fists tight enough for his fingernails to cut his palms.

Vegeta was in some pain. Tien couldn't feel his friend's aura in the universe anymore, but for Vegeta, the implications ran far deeper. It was as if someone had cut part of himself out with a knife. The only thing that Vegeta ever felt that topped this was the day Bulma died.

The blood flowed freely from Vegeta's hands and dripped into the floor. He was pale, and his breathing was shallow and rasping.

For anyone that can sense another being's ki, Goku was like Polaris, the North Star. For Vegeta that was all too true in the literal sense. He hadn't realized just how much he had counted on that presence, even when he and Goku were divided by death, he could still feel his ki and knew that as long as Goku's ki could be felt, all would be well in the universe. The ki was diminished by the distance, but never just snuffed out in a moment.

"Not like this!" Vegeta said as he sat back down on his bed. Tien grew worried, kept quite and fully entered the room.

Years ago, Vegeta dreamed of the day that you would defeat his enemy, Kakkarot. Choking his lifeless body until his face turned blue for the loss of his pride. Then, he used to dream of both he and Kakkarot dying in a glorious battle with each other, as true Saiyans should. But lately his dreams have been of he and Kakkarot dying in a glorious battle, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder against a common foe. Vegeta no longer wished to be the instrument of Kakkarot's demise in any way.

"What manner of creature could have taken Kakkarot's life so quickly?" Vegeta wondered out loud.

"Let's not jump to conclusions Vegeta. Goku is an expert at hiding his ki when he wants to." Tien tried to reassure his friend.

That's when Vegeta realized that it wasn't just the ki. The warrior's bond that he and Kakkarot shared was severed completely.

"Not even death could do that!" Vegeta said in surprised. "He can't simply be dead!"

Vegeta jumped up off the bed. "I'm sorry, I promised to stay and help a while, but I have to go find Kakkarot." Vegeta said putting two fingers to his head.

"Go do what you have to do King Vegeta." Tien said bowing low.

"By your leave, King Sarmen IV" Vegeta smirked returning the act of royal courtesy. "You're going to be great, you know?"

Tien smiled. "Thanks."

Vegeta disappeared leaving a Tien wishing that he could go too.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And reappeared into pandemonium.

"Just where the hell have you been mister?" Bulma's voice cut through the multiple conversations going on in the room.

"Didn't Roger tell you?" Vegeta said a bit surprised.

"Yeah, he told me that you were helping Tien. But we needed you here!" Bulma practically screamed. "Look at poor Chi-Chi! Yambia went out to her house to congratulate her on her battle victory and she found the poor woman lying in her kitchen floor! What the hell does this mean?"

Vegeta looked at Chi-Chi in the hospital bed, the woman that had been so vibrant and alive just a few hours ago looked ashen and sickly.

"Can't you feel what is wrong?" Vegeta asked solemnly.

"You know I have only started sensing ki Vegeta!" Bulma complained.

"K-Kakkarot is... gone." Vegeta said simply.

"What do you mean, gone?" Bulma lowered her voice.

"His ki, it has just vanished." Vegeta explained.

"You mean he's dead?" Bulma asked, a tear forming at the corner of her eye.

"No. If he were dead we would still be able to sense his ki in Other World. This is something even more serious. His ki is just gone." Vegeta explained.

"V-Vegeta..." Came a weak voice from the hospital bed.

"Chi-Chi? Don't talk, your weak." Bulma said.

"Wait Bulma. I need to ask her a question." Vegeta turned to Chi-Chi. "Do you know where Goku was?"

"Y-Yes, he w-was at King Y-Yamma's. We used our bond for a few seconds, t-that's where he w-was." Chi-Chi struggled to sit up. "G-Go get him V-Vegeta, p-please..."

Vegeta caught Chi-Chi under the back with one hand as she was falling back to the bed and gently eased her back down. "I swear it."

Chi-Chi and Vegeta was not the only two that felt Goku's absence. Goten and Trunks suddenly stopped sparing and was looking up at the sky.

Gohan interrupted his class and was searching with everything he had.

Kirillin, who had already been confused about being stranded on Earth, also joined in the ki search.

Bardock, Turles, Nappa, Raditz, Abigail, Gerald, Jessica and everyone else on Vegetasei that could sense ki were also looking for him, psychically speaking. Not even Jessica with her enhanced mental capabilities could find him.

Across the universe, Lezick paused in his training for some time. He felt the disappearance of his one time foe as well. Lezick lowered his head and mourned.

Mouri and the other Nameks felt it as well. "I-Is he dead Elder?" Mouri's apprentice asked,

"No, I don't think so. I don't know what has happed to him, but I don't think he's dead." Mouri explained.

They kept silent while searching the universe for it's greatest hero.

The Supreme Kai and Elder Kai stood frantically searching the omniverse. The Elder Kai's crystal ball picked up ziltch.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Piccolo entered the Forbidden Dimension, took no more than three steps and heard a soft "pop" behind him.

Everyone heard the sound and turned to see what had caused it to see that there was no room, no door, nothing but a vast expanse of trees in a primeval forest.

That wasn't the only thing that Goku, Piccolo, and Uub noticed.

"It feels like someone pulled the plug on our universe and all the lights went out!" Uub exclaimed looking at Goku.

"This place must block ki energy from coming in and probably going out as well." Piccolo said.

No sooner had Piccolo said that than he realized.... "Goku!" The green warrior spun around to locate his friend who had entered first and was now at the back of the group. Everyone else spun to see where Piccolo was looking so frantically.

Goku had dropped down to his knees. He was moaning softly. "Chi-Chi..."

"What's wrong with Goku?" Hercule Satan asked with genuine concern.

"Saiyan men and women share a special bond when they mate." Piccolo explained. "It's all very complicated, but to make a long story short, if that bond is completely severed, they could both die. I suspect that is the case now."

"Goku could die?" Buu asked sadly.

"It's a possibility." The Namek Warrior said plainly.

"A plan." Piccolo thought to himself. "We need a plan. We are in an unknown forest, with unknown dangers. We are in a strange dimension. We aren't going back the way we came, so we must go forward. We can't sense anything from the outside, and chances are that they can't sense us either. There isn't a single path, road, or trail marker to tell us which way we should go. To top that off, the strongest member of our party is incapacitated."

"Does it get any better than this?" Piccolo muttered under his breath.

Piccolo went into full survival mode, he looked around for even a faint clue as to what to do next.