Can I just say that I'm really annoyed at ff.nright now? I could have gotten this posted up around 11:00 Saturday morning (early). But it seems to be letting me do it now so I'm updating.

Chapter 25: imbalance

It was early in the morning and west city was just starting to start its usual busy day. People all over the city were just starting to go to work and earn their keep, except for the occupants of one building in the heart of the city.

Bulma bit her lip as she stared down at the seven cracked Dragonballs. For the first time in a very long while, she was stumped. She had always thought that the Dragonballs were next to impossible to break. They had gone through so much wear and tear over the years and still remained to appear in perfect condition. She just couldn't understand what had happened to make all seven balls – which had all been in separate parts of the planet and had probably not been gathered for roughly 20 years – get this damaged. And she wasn't the only one.

"How could they be broken? They've been scattered before as well as dropped from cliffs, buried and probably worse done to them. How could they possibly be broken?" Goku asked, confusion written all over his face.

"I don't know, dad. This is how we found them." Gohan replied.

"Will they still work?" Marron asked from her spot between Goten and her mother. Bulma shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea. This is the first time this has happened." She replied.

Silence filled the grounds of C.C as everyone contemplated this. Goku took this time to look round at the others to try and work out what they thought. Trunks, Goten, Marron and 18 were all up against one wall with thoughtful expressions on their faces as they tried to make sense of what was going on. Bra and Pan stood a little way to Trunks's right, staring at the Dragonballs. Then the rest of the adults were gathered in front of the Dragonballs, except for Vegeta, who was training, and Uub who was spending some time with his family. Then Zara was set away from the group, seemingly not paying much thought on the Dragonballs. Goku couldn't figure out what she was thinking but he decided that the problem at hand was more important then one girl distancing herself from all of her friends.

"Well…we'll never know if they're ok if we don't at least try them." Goten said slowly and Goku turned to look at his son.

"Goat boy has a point there, we'll never know if no one summons Shenron and we won't be able to help anybody, let alone Krillen." Pan added, earning a growl from her uncle. Everyone else, except Zara, looked at one another.

"Well it is a good point." Goku pointed out and Bulma nodded.

"So it's decided then. We'll carry on." She said and stepped up to the Dragonballs and raised her hands over them.

"Rise almighty Shenron and grant me my wish!" she yelled and the sky instantly began to grow an unnatural black, leaving the horizon with a small line of light, signifying that it was still daytime.

Well, so far so good…the aged scientist thought as she stared up at the sky. As if in answer to this thought, the Dragonball's glow began to falter. Their soft glow flickered and then completely disappeared, confusing all of the spectators. And then the really weird thing occurred.

Thick smoke slowly began to spew from the balls, leaking out of the cracks and threatening to suffocate. Some of the gang covered their mouths whilst the others started coughing and Goku noticed the smoke beginning to take form. It happened almost exactly like how Shenron usually appeared, the smoke gathered together and shot upwards but the dragon that formed from it was not Shenron.

Instead of green scales, this one had a dark blue with black tuffs of hair on its head. It also had large wings and looked somewhat uglier then Shenron. The gang could only stare up at it in a mixture of confusion and awe.

The dark dragon stretched its wings out and its long – at least compared with Shenron's – arms.

"That's better. It was starting to get cramped in there." It said in a gruff voice, not really noticing the small group beneath it.

Pan was the first to get over the shock of this new dragon.

"Hey! Um…aren't we supposed to be getting two wishes right about now?" she asked. The dragon then turned its head to look at the small girl. It blinked a few times as it realised that it wasn't as alone as it had thought and then lowered its head.

"The dragon that grants the wishes doesn't live here anymore." It said before breathing out a large puff of smoke that made Pan cough and splutter.

"Oh yea? Then where is he? Where is Shenron?" Goku asked as his eldest son checked on Pan. The dragon turned its large head to look at the hero and laughed, smoke rings escaping from its lips with every laugh. Then its laughter just suddenly stopped and the dragon looked at Goku seriously.

"Shenron can't come to the wisher right now, but you should know all about that. After all, you can't be so stupid as to use something as powerful as Dragonballs without knowing the risks." The dragon replied and then gathered up the seven cracked Dragonballs in one hand.

"What are you talking about? There aren't any risks? Are there?" Gohan asked as he stepped forward. The dragon again laughed and sent a downpour of smoke onto the group.

"Aren't any risks? Everything has risks! Nothing is without them. You should know this. You can't over use something and not expect it to go 'wrong'." He answered and swallowed the Dragonballs as if they were some kind of headache pill.

"Hey! What are you doing? You can't eat the Dragonballs!" Pan yelled frantically. The dragon gave her a death glare and then spat out seven smoke dragons that each held a Dragonball in its mouth. Each of these smoke dragons flew off in different directions.

"It's a consequence. Life is full of them and this is the Dragonball's. You'll have to deal with them now" the dragon replied and slowly began to break apart in small wisps of smoke.

"Deal with who?" Goku called out.

"Why the seven evil dragons that were born from your wishes of course. Have fun now." The dragon replied and then was gone.

"Wait! My father…" Marron called out and ran forward but she was too late and ended up being supported by Goten. The others all stared in silence at the spot where the dragon had been.

"What was that?" Trunks asked as he stepped forward.

"Nothing good. I could sense those other dragons before they left. This isn't good." Gohan replied.

"Looks like the next threat is here." Goku added.

"It's a bit worse then that." Someone commented and the group turned round to see a familiar green man standing near the entrance of the building.

"Piccolo! Hey!" Goku greeted the Namek.

"And in the flesh too. No disembodied voice to converse with. What brings you here?" Gohan added. Piccolo only nodded his head in a greeting and cut straight to the chase.

"We're in trouble."

"Well what's new? We already got the memo." Bulma replied.

"Not this part." He replied and walked to the centre of the group.

"The point is that for a while now Dende and I have been sensing a growing problem here on earth. I got a larger feel of it whilst I was trying to free Goku from hell. There was a thin veil of evil energy enveloping the earth that was unnoticeable then. It only made communicating off the planet and my little transfer a little harder. But once you released the dragon, the veil got stronger and now it looks like it will be nearly impossible to communicate off world." He explained.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Goku asked.

"It means that you all are complete idiots, Baka!" a telepathic voice cut in, startling everyone.

"Elder, please. They didn't know any better." A second voice added.

"Goku, this is Kibito kai. I have some information to give you regarding the dragons you've encountered. Something immensely evil is on earth and is blocking us here in other world from helping. We can only communicate with you because we are the top Kais but its difficult even for us. " The second voice continued. The group on earth were still confused.

"What do you mean? What's going on here?" Bulma asked, growing frustrated.

"Its what the dragons do. They cause chaos on whatever planet they're on and then use their evil energy to extinguish all life. It's already started. I believe Piccolo has a better understanding of this then I do." Kibito replied and everyone turned to look at the Namek who sighed before talking.

"Look, ever since I fused with Kami, I, or we, have been regaining some of the memories that we lost when we first split. So don't get mad at me for not telling you what might happen before now because I only just remembered."

The crowd only stared at him in reply so Piccolo decided to press on.

"The Dragonballs are very delicate things. Whenever you make a wish, a small amount of good energy is used up to grant it. This means that if they are over used then the evil energy inside them will build up and eventually be released. That's why the Dragonballs need time to become balanced once more." He explained.

"But we do give it time. They need a year to regenerate, right?" Goten asked and Piccolo shook his head.

"It's more complicated then that. The Dragonballs first need to regain their strength before they can work on their balance. The problem is that once they can start working on their energy balance, they can also grant wishes again. You see it actually takes from a decade up to a century to make the Dragonballs balanced again but since we use the Dragonballs a little too much-"

"The good and evil energies couldn't get balanced again and we just released it all." Gohan finished, a shocked look on his face.

"Exactly! Which means that you are all idiots! I warned you not to use them! I told you that they mess with the natural order and you didn't listen. So it's your own fault if those dragons destroy your planet! Or Bulma's. I haven't decided yet." The elder Kai broke in, causing everyone to look up and Bulma to growl.

"Hey! How is this only my fault?" she yelled.

"Because it was you who created the dragon radar and made all of this possible! " The elder kai shot back

"WHAT? Of all the nerve! This is not my fault! All I did was think of the earth! (Well after the whole boyfriend thing) and I would never have gathered the Dragonballs with out Goku's help! I was only a weak teenager! It would have only of been a little fantasy if I had never met Goku! Blame him!" she yelled, making nearly everyone face vault and Goku look confused.

"My fault?" he asked. Bulma turned round and glared at him.

"Yes your fault. Not mine. YOU HEAR THAT OLD MAN?" she yelled up at the sky.

"Mother, please. You're yelling at one of the most powerful gods in other world." Trunks said, exasperated. Bulma only ignored him after a quick 'that's no excuse.'

Goku stepped forward.

"Hey, if Bulma's right and it is my fault then I want to fix it. Where's Gil?" everyone turned to stare at Goku.

"What? Why do you need him?" Chichi asked as she stepped forward.

"Simple. Each of those dragons have a Dragonball, right? I just need the dragon radar to find them and since Gil is it now I need him." Goku explained and took a step forward. Zara got stepped into his way.

"Wait, you're not planning on going alone, are you?" she asked.

"Well kind of. It is my fault after all." He replied, blinking. Zara shook her head.

"Its not your fault. We've all gone on Dragonball hunts or used them. We're in this together so we'll solve it together. Shifting blame is just pointless and so is you doing it alone." She told him. Goku blinked again and then frowned.

"Zara, I don't know. You guys might not be ready yet. After all, you guys couldn't handle Bebi and Super 17, what makes this any different?" he asked.

"We got a feel for them before they scattered, that's what. There are only three to really be concerned with and the rest we should all be able to handle." She replied.

"You don't know that." Goku shot back.

"You don't know either." She shot back. Goku stared at her, exasperated, and then watched as Gohan stepped up behind Zara.

"She has a point. Maybe we can help, even if it is only reconnaissance. At least it will be something." He added and Goten stepped up next to him.

"Come on dad, you were saying that you wanted us to be able to defend the earth. This is as good a place as any to start." He pointed out. Goku stared thoughtfully at them and then at the others that were watching.

"But we only have one radar. Only one of us will be able to find the dragons." He pointed out. Bulma snapped her fingers at this.

"Oh! I have the perfect thing for this situation!" she exclaimed and then ran to her lab. Everyone else blinked and then decided to follow.

Soon everyone was gathered round a large console in the lab and Vegeta had joined them after being pulled out of training by Zara and having the situation explained to him.

"Ok guys, here is my ingenious solution to your little problem. With my idea you will all be able to split up and find your dragon before any serious damage can be done. So get ready to applaud me!" Bulma said happily. Vegeta growled.

"Get to the point. I'm losing training time over this." He snapped and Bulma frowned at him before turning to the console.

"Its simple really. I will be instructing you guys on where to go from here." She explained.

"Um…how are you going to do that? You can't sense us, Bulma, so you won't know if we find the dragons." Goku pointed out. Bulma gave him a smirk.

"Won't I?" she asked and then turned round, "Gil! Come here and bring the security project with you!"

Everyone stared at Bulma in confusion and a moment later the tiny robot floated over pushing a tray with a sheet over it, hiding the contents.

"Thank you Gil." Bulma said as the robot settled in the control panel. Bulma then wired him up to it.

"Onna, you're trying my patience." Vegeta said from the side and Bulma glared at him.

"Well get more, I'm nearly done." She snapped and then finished plugging in Gil. She then turned on the screen and a large map appeared on it with seven white dots scattered over it and eight blue dots clumped together in the centre of west city.

"There we go. This is how I'm going to track you guys. I might not have power levels and so forth on here but it'll tell me your positions." She explained. The others all looked over the map.

"So what are those blue dots?" Goku asked. Bulma smirked and walked over to the tray.

"They are these." She explained and swept up the sheet. Underneath it were eight head sets with microphones attached on.

"You see I was doing a project for a security company. They wanted an updated communication system so I made these. The reception is great and I'll be able to still talk to whoever wears them no matter where they are on the planet. And then I added in some tracking devices so I will be able to track you and guide you towards the dragons. I'm just receiving their signals and the Dragonball's signals and showing them both on one map." She explained.

"Wow, you did it again, Bulma. This'll help a lot." Gohan exclaimed and picked up a headset. He looked over it and then put it on. Goku walked up and did the same.

"And it's a good fit too." He commented and the others all followed. Vegeta hung back and Goku noticed.

"Don't you want one Vegeta?" he asked.

"And have the onna be able to yell literally in my ear? No way. I'm going to find the dragon on my own." He replied and then left the lab. Bulma let out an exasperated sigh and Bra picked up a headset.

"I'll make sure he gets it." She said before following her father.

Gohan looked over at Piccolo who was making his way to the door.

"Hey, aren't you going to need one?" he asked. Piccolo sighed and shook his head.

"I'll be out of my league. I can't keep up with a super saiyan two and the weakest of these dragons seemed to be at that level. I'll have to return to the lookout and watch." He replied and then left. Gohan sighed. He felt sorry for his old mentor, it must have been frustrating for him to finally be able to keep up with a super saiyan and then have it taken away when Gohan ascended to the level above. Now most of the saiyans were light years ahead of him…

"Well if Piccolo isn't going to join in then I better get Uub." Goku said and raised his fingers to his forehead. He then noticed a frown flicker across Goten's face.

"Err…that isn't a problem, is it?" Goku asked and Goten plastered a fake Son grin on his face.

"No dad, why would it be? You just run off and get Uub…" he said and then grabbed a head set and left. Goku sighed and Pan picked up two headsets.

"Don't worry grandpa, I'll get Uub." She said softly and then took off as well.

Trunks scooped up his headset and then looked up for Zara, hoping to pair off with her and talk. He just caught sight her leaving with a headset. Trunks sighed and then felt a hand clasp his shoulder.

"Hey, whatever happened, it'll probably be best to let her cool off a bit more. I'll pair off with you," the voice belonging to the hand said: Gohan. Trunks nodded and let the older saiyan steer him out of the door.

Goku watched everybody leave and then turned to everyone else.

"Thanks Bulma, bye guys. We'll try and get back in time for lunch!" he announced and then left along with the others.

The others all held back and the same thought all went through their minds.

Good luck you guys and be careful.

A/N: meh, only a filler really but it is the more official start of the dragon saga. Hopefully you like my new little twist: everyone going against their own dragon instead of just Goku and Pan. Now everyone gets focused on in the up coming dragon pounding chapters.

Reviews:

Erica: yep, new saga with new twists. Hope you like.

Trugeta: that is a mystery, isn't it? Goku should have taught the others IT. The only reason I can think of as to why he didn't is that he didn't want anyone else spoiling his fun. He had a pretty good tool to use to annoy Vegeta and the others with so teaching them that would be kinda like giving it up. The others would easily be able to get him back. Makes some sense, after all, Goten has to get the whole pranking thing from someone…
and yes, Trunks messed up. He's lucky he's cute really…

Son Oliver: um…ok. Well the baby thing doesn't really work like that in real life so I didn't really notice that before…you'll just have to wait and see what I do, you might be surprised –shifty eyes-. Same for the ssj4 thing, and I have a few explanations on my side. –Sweat drop-

Chico: glad you liked. Didn't think that people would expect those things. And I still have some more surprises up my sleeve that apparently are a little more obvious…

Well I'm all done. Come back next weekend to see Pan and Uub and Dragon number uno. Bye.