Chapter II

Questions and Answers

"No Rokugo, I am not Piccolo, or who you know as Ruler of the World. I am Kami, his counterpart, his twin, in a sense, yet more of that shall be taught to you later, for now I desire the one thing you possess that is of any value to you. The Dragonball...what will you decide?" Kami said, and even Rokugo had to agree that his voice resonated more than a hint of kindliness.

"This is a hard decision, and I can not make it now. But I will soon. Now, I was promised the knowledge of what this Dragonball does, and I must ask again. What does this thing do?" Rokugo uncovered the Dragonball from within his blue, Capsule Corp. jacket, much like the one Future Trunks wore in the time of Robot Frieza and King Cold, and held it tightly in his hands, showing Kami the four orange-hued stars.

"That," Kami declared, mentioning to the Dragonball. "Along with these," At this moment Mr. Popo, and a flash of white light that emanated a somewhat scorching heat, revealed another six Dragonballs, which amazed Rokugo greatly. "Summon a Dragon that can grant a single wish to the one who summoned him,"

"A Dragon?" Rokugo inquired. "That grants wishes...well, now this changes my thoughts. So it needs all..." Rokugo took a second counting the balls before him. "seven to call the Dragon who will grant a wish...amazing. But the odds are in your favor, for even if I don't give my ball to you, you still have the majority of them, and deserve the wish more than I, and would probably use it to greater purposes, now wouldn't you?" (You may notice that Rokugo's way of talking has changed, and that is normal for him, in times of urgency anyway, but this is just a way to cover up for my mistake of making this character able to seem smart at times and comical in other times.)

"We wish to bring down Piccolo with the Dragon's help, but we haven't decided what wish to make, for the Dragon has boundaries as to what he can and cannot grant. A number of wishes he cannot grant range from bringing back someone who died of natural causes, such as old age or sicknesses, to killing a creature, among others, but I shall strike a deal with you. If you render up your ball, which I hope you do, I will give the wish to you, only if it will help us against the usurper known as Piccolo." At this point a sudden yell came from the two warriors, Tenshinhan and Krillin, protesting the giving of a wish to this outsider. Kami simply ignored them, and Rokugo did his best to copy." What do you decide?"

"My own wish, to stop the person that terrorizes the citizens of my hometown, and my country. Oh, how I have awaited this day, even if I did not know it existed. Yes, I accept your offer, and I shall surrender my Dragonball, which are so aptly named, in my opinion at the least, until I make my wish. I need time to think about what I should ask for, and I may need more information," He agreed with the bargain, contrary to what he had just said about needing time to make such an important decision, yet he did need time to make his next choice, which could result in forever superior imprisonment over the race of humanity, or the freedom of the kind of Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Rokugo. It all rested upon the shoulders of Rokugo, in a figure of speech at the least.

"Krillin will help with your thirst for knowledge, and I daresay he makes a good companion." At this point in the conversation Krillin stepped forward, emerging himself behind the much taller form of Rokugo, forgetting his previous objections.

"Yup! I'll help as much as I can," Krillin proclaimed, still forgetting just having complaining for Rokugo receiving a wish.

"Weren't you just all over my back saying how I didn't deserve a wish?" Rokugo asked, adding much sarcasm in the manner of his voice.

"Um...maybe...but weren't you just all over my back on the way here?" Krillin retorted. Rokugo said nothing in return. "Well anyway, I'll show you your room. Now come on," And with that Krillin scampered off, his short, stubby legs bringing him ever closer to palace looming overhead. Rokugo followed, not quite jogging as fast as the midget. They both entered the domain of Kami through an opening that lead inside, which seemed just perfect for a place that was miles above the rest of humanity, and other living things as well. It appeared that even birds did not fly as high up as this place was. Very isolated indeed, yet the pressure of the air was getting to Rokugo. It was hard to breathe now, mostly because he attempting to follow the squat man ahead, yet he was barely using any energy at all, for all he was doing was lowering and quickening his pace to remain a few feet behind Krillin.

Rokugo sighed long sighs, and gasped for much air up above on this almost inaccessible area. He could sense the air up here was almost purely oxygen, and did not contain the many chemicals of waste and useless smells, some Rokugo found intolerable, as was accustomed to being on Earth soil. Down there the trees helped infuse more carbon dioxide into one of many essentials of human life, which helped the air become lighter and easier to breathe, and the humans helped the trees by changing the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, and the trees did their part, and so on and so on, but here were only a set of four palm trees. (About that carbon monoxide and dioxide, I think I got that part right, it's been a while though, two years, so I may have forgotten their appropriate names and/or functions so please excuse my using words that I do not fully know their role/s.)

"Real hard to breathe, eh?" Krillin said, adding more than a touch of laughter in his voice. "It was the same way when I first got here, but I quickly got used to it, yet you're not that much of a martial artist. But don't worry about it. You'll get used to it all the same,"

"Yeah, I hope so," Rokugo responded. Now they were passing many stone halls, very beautifully built, with barely any scratches upon them. Krillin stopped suddenly, and Rokugo was too entranced by the walls to notice the end of movement in Krillin's part. He stumbled head on into him, Rokugo's waist hitting the midget's higher part of the back.

"Eh...sorry about that," Rokugo said, now adopting many anime characters' trademark move of scratching the back of their head/s.

"No problem. Well here's your room," Krillin opened the wooden door revealing a single bed, and a small desk with nothing upon it.

"Rather empty, but it'll do," Rokugo said, taking in the sights of the room.

"Yeah, but it's nice...Now, what do you need to know?" Krillin asked.

"Well...much about Piccolo, as you guys call him. How did he become Ruler of the World?" Rokugo requested.

"Well...that's an awfully long story, but lucky for you I have time, besides I have to. Do you remember the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai?"

"Um...no...what's that?"

"It's a tournament, better known to Americans as the World Martial Arts Tournament,"

"Oh that...yeah,"

"Yeah...but I should start farther back. Ever heard of Goku?"

Rokugo took a moment searching his thoughts of school for any mention of the name of Goku. "No. Who's that?"

"I figured Piccolo would have banned anyone from telling who was Goku or what he did. Well, Goku was my best friend. He's dead now, but back before the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai, when we were kids, we met while both training under Master Roshi, the creator of the Kamehameha Wave. He was younger than me by a year, Goku, I mean."

"Well anyway, he was an amazing warrior, even for the age he was at. He was the only one that could stand up against Piccolo, but more of that later. Me and Goku did all types of weird training, mostly consisting of carrying forty kilogram shells that resembled those of turtles. The training was mostly chores too, like delivering milk bottles to customers twenty miles away from where we lived, I think. And helping farmers plow their fields with our bare hands, and helping a construction crew. We also learned all about fighting and the sort. We did that until the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai, where we were put to the test."

"There we faced many great warriors. My first fight was rather weird. I was against a stinking man, literally. I don't think he ever took a bath before. Naturally, I acted on instinct and copied everyone else, pretending to be horrified by the smell of the putrid odor. It wasn't until Goku told me I didn't have a nose that I remembered I didn't..." At this Rokugo laughed,"...and then I conquered. After that battle I was pitted against my own master, yet he was under the alias of Jackie Chun, so I didn't hold back. I lost then, but I daresay I didn't put up a good fight, me being only a kid and all."

"Goku then had to fight Master Roshi. He did amazingly well, and did something freaky of transforming into a huge monkey after the full moon came out. That's when Master Roshi finally won. The next few years I trained with Master Roshi until the next Tenkaichi Budoukai. Goku went away and traveled the world. He even destroyed the world's most famous assassin: Mercenary Tao, after journeying up Korin Tower and drinking the Holy Water. And completely destroyed the Red Ribbon Army."

"Me and Goku met up again in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai. I won my first fight, like in the previous tournament, but then lost to Goku. Master Roshi also lost before the finals, against Tien. Goku did extraordinary (He really thinks highly of Goku doesn't he?) well against Tien, even he admits that, but still lost."

"Well anyway, after that Piccolo showed up, but really it was his father. I was killed by one of his servants, but brought back to life with the Dragonballs, eventually. Goku disappeared for some time, after going against King Piccolo and losing, but you can't blame him since he was weakened after the fight with Tien and went to Korin, who you will probably meet soon enough, to get some more training from him. He did, and gained an enormous power boost. He killed Piccolo after that, who was also known as King Piccolo, but he spit out an egg before fully destroyed."

"That egg was the Piccolo you know now, who rules the world. You see, Goku always wanted to be stronger no matter how strong he already was, so he went to Kami here and trained under Popo. Me, Tien, and two others trained under Korin. Well all met back up in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai, when we were finally adults."

"Really weird, that tournament. Goku got engaged after one of his fights...with his opponent. Turns out he promised to marry her when he was little and he never did. Tien also fought Mercenary Tao, yet he was in a robot form of some type. Yamcha, one of my friends who trained with me under Korin, who I'm sad to say is dead now, went against Kami in disguise in his first round. Lost, but Kami had to do it, to imprison Piccolo in this jar with a rather weird technique."

"I lost to Piccolo first round, yet even he says I did decent considering me a lowly human. Next up, Kami vs. Piccolo. Kami, disguised as a regular human, used this technique that was supposed to trap him into a jar called the Denshi Jar. Piccolo reversed it, and Kami became trapped, and I mean Kami, not the human he was possessing. Soon after, Piccolo swallowed the jar that Kami was trapped in, and this resulted in Goku not being able to kill him."

"Obviously, Piccolo won and Goku had beaten Tien this time so it was Goku vs. Piccolo, or who everyone besides the contestants knew as Ma-Junior. They were matched, blow for blow, and Goku thought he almost had him when he did a huge Kamehameha Wave at him. He lived, and turned into a huge form, and then bigger. This is where it got bad. After the second super-sizing, Goku flew inside Piccolo's mouth, hoping to retrieve Kami. He did, and Kami was free, but then it got really bad."

"Tien, me, and all the others soon flew away from the fight, but when I got one last glance Piccolo was completely chewing on Goku. It was horrible, blood everywhere. I picked up the pace and told everyone else to hurry, cause I knew we might not have been able to out fly Piccolo even after he would transform back into a smaller mode to become faster. After that Piccolo took control over the world simply by killing the last ruler. We were too weak to do anything about it, even together, so we stayed away, up here...ever since then."

"But...why won't you do anything now?" This was the first time Rokugo had made a sound since Krillin had confessed his utter stupidity about not having a nose. 'Blender accident' was the first thought of Rokugo. (Got the blender incident from a parody of the DB-Z series. It's called DBZ: The F'ed up Saga on fanfiction.net...I think...I showed credit...that counts as something!)

"Now we're even more weaker compared to Piccolo. Last time I checked, he was a little above 1 million. We're only in the 70, 80 thousands. Any other questions." Krillin, after drooping his face low to the ground after his rather long story, reclaimed his happy demeanor.

"Yeah...you said in the ship...or Tien did, that Piccolo would have sensed you guys by then. If he can sense you, wouldn't he sense you here and come and finish you off?"

"He can't do that, because him and Kami are connected. One dies and the other croaks all the same. So he knows if he comes here, we'll kill Kami before he can even get here, but that's only if he comes here. A last option sort-a thing."

"I see."

"Yeah. You think you ready to make your wish yet?"

"Nah. I'm gonna need a little more time."

"Suit yourself."

"Don't mind if I do." With that Krillin promptly left, closing the door after him. Rokugo let out a sigh. Amazing fights, huge power levels, whatever those were (Rokugo doesn't know so excuse him.), extreme sizes, flying, bald midgets roaming the skies, green aliens taking over Earth, a three-eyed, bald man seemed to be the only sane one. No, rephrase that. The guy barely talked, he was obviously psychotic after the witness of his friend's death and the usurper's ruling. Rokugo right now felt like he would waste his wish on the answer to all of this.

But then a sudden thought burst into his thoughts, completely disturbing him from any other ideas of wishing he would likewise had. Why couldn't Rokugo wish himself to be like Goku? After all, Krillin himself said that only Goku could stand up to Piccolo, so a copy of Goku would do the same. He left the bed, ready to make his wish.

And with that Rokugo was off, racing back through the halls to the entrance of the minute palace. He stumbled head into Mr. Popo, who had a watering can in his hand.

"And why are you in a rush today?" Mr. Popo inquired.

"Wish time!" And Rokugo was off once more towards the gathering place of the Dragonballs. Mr. Popo was quickly on his trail, after retrieving the watering can from the ground.

Kami was already upon the Dragonballs, peering at every single one of them. It almost seemed he was about to make a wish. Rokugo saw this, but that didn't stop him from thinking about what the deity could be thinking. He bumbled on and said, "I'm ready to make my wish!"

Kami jumped from fright, obviously shocked form the yell of Rokugo. He slowly turned around and asked, "And what is it, pray tell, that you will wish for?"

"To be like Goku. Krillin even said that he was the only one capable of defeating Piccolo." He said this rather bluntly, forgetting that these beings knew what Piccolo was competent of doing, whereas Rokugo could not even imagine.

"You realize, that if you wish for this, the Dragonballs will be scattered across the Earth and even if gathered you will need another year before they are restored to full power?"
"Um...now I do."

"Fine. Let us continue." He turned to face the Dragonballs once again. "Shenron, Eternal Dragon, I summon you!"

Almost instantly the sky was filled with darkness, thunder howling atop the pinnacle of the endless black, lightning hurtling ever closer to Rokugo and the rest. Rokugo heard a yell, and when he turned to investigate, there came Tenshinhan and Krillin, hurrying to see the wish being granted. The balls emanated a yellow aura, and from that came an enormous lightning bolt, flinging itself upwards instead of the usual downwards. After the flash of yellow appeared a dragon, and not just any regular one either. It stood miles above the sanctuary, even with its body curved and twisted into many pretzel shapes. Rokugo was simply amazed. He could not utter a word.

Out of the blue the Dragon spoke, its voice lighting the haven. "What is your wish?" He never moved, besides the usual shuffle of his extensive tail.

Kami retorted, his voice sounding just as commanding. "I wish that this man could be like Goku, the one who challenged King Piccolo and defeated him. To have his strengths and weaknesses. The same species, attributes, and knowledge."

The Dragon spoke once more. "I can make him appear the same, yet to be like Goku, yet I can not give him the same attributes and knowledge. He must learn on his own. Is this your bidding?"

"Yes." A flash of red lightning pierced Rokugo's chest, and he fell, eyes white. And that was all Rokugo could remember from his past life.