"Uugh, where am I?" asked Gohan as he finally came to in the middle of Bulma's living room.
"Gohan! You're okay!" Uub yelled in relief.
"I guess. What happened to the Silver Surfer?" he asked.
"I am here," came a solemn voice in response.
Gohan looked around for the source of the voice, and saw the very man that had defeated him in battle.
"You! What are you doing here?"
Gohan braced himself for a fight, but was interrupted by his father.
"It's okay, Gohan. He's on our side now."
"What?" Gohan asked incredulously.
"It true! Shiny man help us!" yelled out Buu, whom the Surfer had recently restored from his petrified state.
"Are you nuts? How can we possibly trust him?" Gohan asked, still in disbelief.
"Good question!" chimed in Vegeta. "I'm not buying this defection for a minute".
"Please, you have to understand," responded the Surfer, "I never wanted to become the Herald of Galactus. I desire nothing more than to return to my world of Zenn-la."
"Come on, guys, we can trust him. I can tell," said Goku.
"Well, if you say so, dad. I believe you," replied Gohan.
"Hmmph," snorted Vegeta in annoyance.
Just then Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien entered the room.
"We've found all seven of them, we're read when you guys are!" said Krillin.
"Found all seven of what?" inquired the Surfer.
"The dragonballs," responded Tien. "And I'll tell you, it was a pain getting the last one. It was guarded by a nest of dinosaurs and-"
"Just hurry up!" yelled Vegeta impatiently.
"Fine, fine, no need to get all worked up over it," said Krillin as he lead the way outside. The Surfer picked up his board from where he had left it on the table and followed. He had heard of these 'dragonballs' from the tales he had recently been told of this planet, but he was still unprepared for the reality of it.
"Eternal dragon, I summon you," yelled Bulma as she stood over the collected artifacts. "Shenron!"
Just then, an electric glow surrounded the balls, and a lightning bolt shot up into the sky. The sky itself turned black and lightning streaked across the clouds. A bolt of glowing energy resolved into a distinctly serpentine shape, and then changed form into a massive snake - like dragon. The Surfer was absolutely stunned at the sheer enormity of the thing. In all of his travels across the universe, he had never encountered such a majestic creature, with the exception of his former master, Galactus. Then the dragon spoke:
"What is your wish?" it asked in a deep, booming voice.
"Shenron, we wish that Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, was no more!" shouted Bulma at the top of her lungs.
"That wish is far beyond my power. Choose another," replied the dragon.
"Well, it was worth a shot," said Krillin disappointedly.
Ignoring him, Bulma continued: "Dragon, we wish that Galactus would spare this world."
"My power is insufficient to blunt the will of the World Devourer," replied Shenron. "Make a different wish."
Bulma thought for a few minutes, and then said "I wish the earth was hidden from Galactus."
"Nothing I can do can conceal the planet from his cosmic senses," replied Shenron. "Make a different wish."
"Oh, this is hopeless!" screamed Bulma.
"I at least wish we knew when he was coming," said Yamcha thoughtlessly.
"Galactus will arrive in 20 minutes and 41 seconds," replied the dragon. "What is your second wish?"
"Yamcha you dolt! You wasted our wish!" screamed Bulma in anger. "Um, Shenron, you might want to hold off on that second wish for now. We'll save it for later, okay?" she said.
"Very well," replied Shenron as he disappeared into 7 streaks of light that scattered across the sky. The daylight returned and the dragonballs were gone.
"This is bad, this is very bad." said the Surfer.
"I don't see the problem," replied Vegeta arrogantly. "When this Galactus arrives, we'll just destroy him"
"You know not of what you speak." said the Surfer quickly.
"Oh, and I suppose you have a better plan?" asked Vegeta, a note of threat in his voice.
"Whoa, whoa guys, break it up," said Goku. "I'm sure we'll think of something."
Suddenly, the Surfer turned his head skyward and looked intently into the air.
"He has entered the solar system," Norrin Radd proclaimed. "I shall see if I can deter him diplomatically."
The Surfer flew up out of sight, and within seconds he had cleared the atmosphere. Entering into hyperspace, he crossed the solar system easily and met Galactus just beyond Neptune.
"My Herald, you have done well," proclaimed the Devourer. "The planet you have selected is rich with life energies. I shall begin to feed immediately""Master, I was just thinking. Perhaps this planet is not as perfect as I originally told you. However, there is another planet some 20 parsecs from here that would make a most excellent meal."
"Herald, I sense something wrong with you. Allow me to probe your mind." After a few second, the mighty Galactus' face contorted with rage.
"I see. They have corrupted you, poisoned your mind with their filthy thoughts. Begone from my sight!"
With a gesture, Galactus send the Surfer hurling backwards through the solar system, and back towards earth. He hit the ground with the force of a hundred nuclear warheads, but luckily impacted in the middle of a desert so no one was harmed. The Surfer slowly climbed out of the massive crater his impact had caused, with a grim look on his face.
"I didn't think that would work," he said.
Meanwhile, Galactus continued to approach.
Next: The Battle against Galactus!