Author's note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, and the reviews. I love getting those alerts. Please feel free to keep them coming, and let me know your thoughts as the story progresses.

Chapter 23

Korin's Tower

The ceramic pot began to wobble side to side. It's lid clanged as the vessel began to bounce. As the movement sped up, the lid was no longer able to land in place, and fell to the ground. As it shattered waves of light flew from the opening, bouncing off and spreading out from the ceiling of the tower. Four shadows, one after the other, were flung from the container and landed, heaped, in the center of the platform.

For a brief moment Yajirobe was on top of the pile. That was until Piccolo stood up, the samurai slid off the namekian, landing in a traumatized heap on the floor. Roshi rose next, apologizing to Oolong, who laid on his back, staring at the tiled ceiling.

Roshi's heart was racing in his chest. He had been frozen there, on the ground, battered and bruised, for what felt like an eternity. Shen was celebrating, and the corpse of their master was rotting to dust as the days and nights passed. He looked around the platform, hoping, and not expecting, to see Korin. Unfortunately, his expectations were met.

Yajirobe stabbed his scabbard's tip into a crack in the tile floor. Using it as a crutch he pushed himself to his feet. His stomach ached, and he had to fight to keep himself from throwing up. Sure, he had slayed the monster, the one who was responsible for his insatiable apatite, but, but his mouth was watering still. The man who turned out to be his brother, roasting on the fire, meat following from the bone. Yajirobe smacked himself. "Beans. Beans." He reminded himself.

The tiles of the ceiling swam in Oolong's head. They reminded him of the locker room. They reminded him of that humiliation he had suffered for, for as long as he could remember. Puar was his friend, but she was there, she's the reason he was kicked out of school. No, she just didn't protect him from the consequences of his own actions. It was his fault. He deserved it. The fact that she didn't lord it over him, that she could still be his friend, that's what mattered. He had been tortured in that pot, but here, in the real world, he could let it go.

Piccolo felt out with his senses, searching for his other half. Kami was no where to be found. Widening his search he felt out for Gohan, and again came back empty handed. He looked at the pot that he fell in, and with a quick eye beam he shattered it. Kami, Gohan.

Roshi looked between his companions. Oolong was dazed. Piccolo was in a world of his own. Yajirobe was apparently in deep reflection, and hungry. He took the moment to look around the tower a little more carefully that he initially did, trying to see any sign of Korin. There was no hair, no blood, no body. There was, however, Korin's staff. Roshi knelt to pick it up and balanced it in his outstretched hands. The wood was course, unrefined, but strong. Roshi didn't know what magic it held, or what wood it was made out of, but it felt weightless, but also like an entire tree was condensed to create it.

Roshi struck the floor with the base of Korin's staff, and all eyes turned to him. "Well, that was miserable." He said before clearing his throat. "But we're back in the real world, and we're still alive." He turned his back on the group. "That's more than most people can say." His face sagged. "They're out there, right now. They're trying to wipe out every last human, and if we don't stop them, they may succeed."

"How strong are they now?" Yajirobe asked. "Can we fight them yet?"

"It won't be a fight." Piccolo cracked his neck. "I can feel them. Or, I can feel where they're killing people." He slowly searched across the horizon. "They've split up. They shouldn't be a challenge, not anymore."

"There are five of them, and only four of us." Oolong said, getting to his feet.

"Two of them are paired up." Piccolo said. "I can't tell them apart, but I'll take the two together." He kicked off the ground. "I expect you three to take out the rest." With that he blasted off to the north.

Yajirobe raised his hand. "Um."

Roshi nodded at him. "Yes?"

"I, I can't fly." He lowered his hand, and his face.

Oolong raised his hand next. "Um, I can't fight."

Roshi sighed and cupped his chin. "Yajirobe, you'll have to ride a cloud like me. It won't be fun, or comfortable, but you'll get where you need to go." He looked over Oolong. "You're not a fighter. There's nothing I can say or do to change that."

Oolong's shoulders sagged. "So, stay here and keep the senzu beans safe?"

"No!" Yajirobe yelled. "If I'm putting my neck on the line, so are you."

Roshi cleared his throat. "Oolong, I wouldn't ask you to do something I wouldn't do myself. Every moment these monsters are on Earth more people suffer and die. I know you can't fight these people, but, could you distract one? Keep him from attacking civilians until we can get to you?"

Oolong pulled his ears down and screamed. Once he ran out of breath he looked at the warriors beside him. "Okay."

Roshi smiled and turned back to the edge. "Nimbus!" Roshi yelled into the sky. Moments later a quiet, comforting, puttering responded. And shortly after that a small black storm cloud hovered outside the platform. Roshi hopped onto the rail of the tower, one hand on a pillar, the other on Korin's staff. "Nimbus, we urgently need to get three of us, to three different locations." The cloud hovered up to be even with Roshi's chest. "Could you help us?"

The rim of the cloud facing Roshi lowered slightly, as if bowing, before pulling slightly to the left, and roaring to the right. The cloud accelerated its spin and compressed from a fluffy black marshmallow to an obsidian marble. Keeping it's height and depth the same the marble slowly widened into a football, before splitting the tips off into their own spinning marbles. Separating out and slowing down, one cloud had become three.

Roshi mounted his first. It took some encouragement but Yajirobe stepped onto his, and Oolong jumped onto his, holding it tightly. Roshi focused on the power levels vanishing on the Earth below, and directed Oolong's cloud. It began to spin and took off in the indicated direction. He approached Yajirobe's to do the same, but the samurai waved him off, reminding Roshi that he could sense ki as well.

Wishing each other good luck one last time, the pair rocketed off in different directions, spiraling as they flew.

Central City\

Modern skyscrapers reached to the heavens. Smoke poured from their ceilings as if they were giant chimneys, connected to hell's furnaces. Burnt out and wrecked cars filled the street. Broken glass and ash covered the side walks, like sand on a beach.

Yajirobe landed atop an overturned tanker, sword drawn. Looking around he saw signs of people everywhere, shreds of clothes, splatters of blood, and the occasional chunk of forbidden meat, but not a living person. He felt their ki though. When the mist fell the people high up were last to be affected. When the monsters came the people took cover in the sewers.

Hopping to the ground, spilled fuel splashed up on his legs. He probably should have aimed for a milk truck. He pushed his senses out further. He felt the Makyan when he was coming in, but where did he go? He quickly walked down the street, weaving between wrecked vehicles, overturned dumpsters, and avoiding stepping in awful puddles.

He continued in this matter for minutes on end. At first he didn't realize how silent the city was, but as time passed the buildings seemed to close in on him.

Coming to a large plaza he was surprised to see a familiar face memorialized in bronze. The cobble stone grounds was surrounded by a circular street. With nothing but two hundred feet of stone between it and the street the statue of a young Goku, punching his way through Piccolo, looked small, but when Yajirobe approached he realized it was over three times his height.

Yajirobe read the inscription. He read of the atrocities that fell upon Central City, and the world, at the hands of King Piccolo, returned from the grave. He read about how this same demon had once nearly brought humanity to extinction, centuries before. He read how one brave boy rose up in defiance, and fought King Piccolo, finally ending the monsters terrible rampage.

As Yajirobe was finishing his reading, he heard a creek from somewhere in front of him. He looked up from the plaque, between King Piccolo's legs. Nothing was there. He turned around, trying again to detect any threat. He felt something, somewhat close, but he couldn't see anyone. He checked the roofs of nearby buildings, nothing. He looked down, and saw a shadow overtaking his own. Turning around again the large statue had come off its base, and was falling towards him. With two quick cuts and a slight twist of his blade he made sure the statue fell to either side of him, and King Piccolo's head rolled.

Jumping onto the pedestal Yajirobe looked around again. "I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" He hollered to seemingly no one. "Afraid of a human, are you?" He kept his sword high, and continued to circle.

Yajirobe's senses flared as the sky dimmed slightly. He turned to face the sun and jumped from his position. A ball of purple energy hit the pedestal and shredded it to sand.

"I fear no human!" The purple skinned vinegar shouted down at Yajirobe. His brown hair tied back in a ponytail. "You'll regret challenging me." He thrust his left hand forward, pulling his right hand back.

A second energy ball launched from his first fist, and Yajirobe stood his ground. Not taking his eyes off the attack Yajirobe slid his left foot back, took three quick steps, and leaped over the energy.

Vinegar thrust his right hand forward, pulling back his left, releasing a widening web of purple energy. Yajirobe saw the attack coming, but in the air he couldn't do anything to avoid it. It smacked him out of the air, and bound him on the ground.

Vinegar hovered down and landed in front of the struggling swordsman. "I'm surprised you could avoid my first two attacks." He curled his right hand up, dragging Yajirobe to his feet. "Third time's the charm I guess." He smirked.

"The Makyo Star is long gone." Yajirobe said. "It doesn't matter if you kill me. There are fighters here that are hundreds of times more powerful than you, and they are actively hunting you like the dogs you are." He spat at the man, hitting him on his exposed six pack.

Vinegar didn't react at first. The saliva was warm, and it slowly dripped down his exposed muscle. He stepped forward and bent over, nearly touching noses to Yajirobe. "Bad luck. You're going to live to regret that." He wound up and punched Yajirobe square in the jaw.

The punch hurt, as much as it always hurts to get punched in the face, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Yajirobe had expected. The bad news was, his sword fell from his grip, and he was launched backwards towards the street, where he found himself tangled in the undercarriage of a large truck. The good news was, the energy web had loosened, and Yajirobe was able to slip out from between its strings.

Yajirobe leaped to his feet, unhooking his scabbard from his waist while doing so. Vinegar was glad to see that the human had survived. As Yajirobe began walking back to the center of the plaza Vinegar grabbed his sword.

"That's mine!" Yajirobe shouted. "Give it back!"

Vinegar took a series of test swings. He felt how cleanly it sliced through the air, how finely balanced the weapon was. "Okay." He turned his left side away from Yajirobe, before flinging the sword at his stomach with all the force he could muster.

Yajirobe didn't flinch. He stabbed his scabbard forward, and the sword slid back into its home. "Thanks!" Yajirobe smiled. He sped up, now sprinting at the purple alien.

Vinegar summoned ki in to both hands, planning to blast Yajirobe at close range. Yajirobe dodge to the side of the first attack, and ducked under the second. As he reached Vinegar he lowered his head, hitting the monster in his unarmored ribs. The strike knocked the wind out of Vinegar, as well as his feet out from under him. With a quick knee to the back Yajirobe juggled Vinegar into the air, and with a practiced double arc movement he discarded the scabbard from his sword, and cut Vinegar clean in two through the waist.

West City

Roshi spun his way around the city. He knew exactly where his quarry was, but more importantly he knew where his friends and family were supposed to be. Approaching Capsule Corp the nimbus cloud lowered to just a few meters over the road, nearly scraping the roofs of abandoned cars. As the building came into view the cloud finished its decline, and deposited Roshi on the black top, where the forward and rotational momentum kept him spinning on his crossed legs until he came to a rest at the base of the large dome.

The building was ravished, but from here he could sense quite a bit of life inside the building. Not having the time to check each room he focused on the energy signatures, and both Ox-King and Chi-Chi stood out from the rest. Hopefully everyone else was alright as well, but at the moment they weren't important.

With the pair confirmed alive, and hopefully well, he sent his attention outward once more. His target was easy to find. The brute stood out among humans like a palm tree among grains of sand.

Forcing his ki down Roshi lifted himself off the ground and rose above the crumbling buildings. While he could run faster than he could fly, he couldn't run through this devastation. He studied his target for a moment, the energy was impressive, but unrefined. He had a lot of potential, but as long as he'd rely on the strength provided to him by a celestial body, he'd be easy to overcome. He leaned forward and propelled himself onward.

It took longer than Roshi would have liked, but he eventually saw who he was looking for. He was a giant of a man, light brown skin, deep red hair, and a pair of horns that would look at home on Ox-King. The target stood atop a skyscraper, flames shooting from the lower levels, and large lines of civilians in front of him.

The man pointed his thumb over his shoulder, of the edge of the building, and nothing happened. He stepped forward, and pointed again. Still, the people did not react. He pointed at a woman with one hand, and summoned a ball of ki in the other. At that two men stepped out from their places in line and grabbed the woman. They walked her to the edge, and forced her into open air.

Roshi couldn't fly as quickly as he'd like, but he could fall at an incredible rate, especially with his turtle shell on. He released his flight, and spun his back to the woman. With as much energy as he could waste he quickly firmed a Kamehameha and rocketed himself towards the burning building. He closed his eyes, trusting his ki sense.

He heard a low thud as his shell hit the woman. With the force of his attack she was flung out of her date with the ground, and into a window of the burning building. Not letting up his attack Roshi continued pushing them through the thankfully empty floor, and out the far side. He watched as the two men fell into his beam, but he couldn't be bothered to care at the moment.

Clear of the building he canceled his attack, grabbed the woman's ankle, and reactivated his flight. While he lowered himself to the ground he looked down at the woman. Thankfully the shift in direction didn't do as much harm to her as he had thought it might. Furthermore, Roshi was glad the upside down woman wasn't wearing any shorts under her skirt. He straightened her skirt and sat her on the ground, before rocketing up to the roof as quickly as he could.

"Next!" Mustard called as he gestured over the edge again. An elderly man stepped forward and bowed his head. "Perfect, this will be easy." He watched as the man approached the edge.

"STOP!" Roshi shouted as he landed atop the building. "It's over. Let these people go."

Mustard tilted his head at the new arrival. "Who are you?"

Roshi leaned on Korin's staff and used his free hand to unlatch the shell from his back. "I am the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi. I have been fortunate enough to be trained by many masters, one of which you and your people have killed. Korin, friend of Kami."

"Kami? That old fool!" Mustard bellowed. "Your association with Garlic Junior's inferior must be what brings you here. Am I right?"

"I am here to stop you." Roshi discarded his jacket, revealing his white undershirt. "That is correct."

"Bring it, old man." Mustard hopped backwards, landing a few feet over the edge of the building, over the street. "Let me clear the battlefield though." He curled his fingers into claws, and touched the back of either hand to the opposite ear. With a quick slash he spread his arms wide, sending a half dozen razor sharp air slashes through the crowd, to Roshi.

A majority of the humans were cut through, spending the last few seconds of their lives screaming in agony. Roshi charged forward, jumping over the attack, enraged by the bloodshed. "YOU'LL REGRET THAT!"

Mustard lowered his head and with a burst of ki returned Roshi's charge. Roshi threw Korin's staff from his right hand to his left, and used his now empty hand to force Mustard's head down, towards the concrete roof, and vaulted over the creature.

When Roshi was directly over Mustard he stabbed down with Korin's staff, sending the creature to the concrete floor. Roshi rotated himself back to the ground and prepared a one handed Kamehameha. When Mustard pushed himself up, trying to get to his feet, Roshi berried the attack into his back. The resulting explosion sent Mustard tumbling towards the far edge of the building, where he was caught by a safety barrier.

Mustard used his right hand to pull himself to his feet, and his left to rub the spot where his armor had broken away. The red haired maniac growled and turned to face his foe. "You're going to ..." His breath was cut short as Roshi's knee shattered his ribs. As he bent over Roshi delivered a powerful kick to his chest, sending him into the air.

Roshi dropped the staff and crouched to the ground, focusing on his target. "Cobra Twist!" He shouted as he rocketed up after Mustard. He grabbed the larger man's hair and used it to flip him over, exposing his back. Roshi grabbed both his wrists, sank his foot into the fresh burn mark, and pulled both of Mustard's arms out of their sockets. Roshi followed this up with a ki propelled spin, and a downward punch to the man's gut, sending him spinning, screaming, into and through the roof of the building.

Roshi slowly lowered himself to the building, landing next to the hole that Mustard had created. The man was still alive, and already on his feet. With a powerful jump Mustard was back in open air, across from Roshi, arms limply hanging to his sides..

"I would have let you surrender." Roshi said while he thrust his right hand forward. His aura flared a bright blue. "But you just had to kill those people." His muscles bulged. "You will receive the same mercy you granted."

Mustard took a step back and summoned his aura.

Roshi pulled his right hand back to his now massive chest, and cupped his left hand below it. "Ka, me."

Mustard tried raising a guard, but his arms wouldn't respond. Roshi had done more than rip them out of their sockets, he had completely removed them from his nerve network.

Roshi twisted at the waist, bringing his hands to his side. "Ha, me."

"Wait, hold on. I can't fight back." Mustard said. "I surrender, I'm done."

Roshi through his hands forward. "HA!" He both declared and laughed at the demon requesting mercy due to an inability to defend himself. A massive blue beam shot forward, impacting the man's exposed, bruised and shattered, ribs. The beam pushed him backwards, off the building, and into the next one. The bodies he flew over were immediately vaporized by the attack, and he followed their path quickly.

North City

Piccolo slowed as he entered the city limits to the north. The power levels were so low they were hard to focus on, but in a matter of minutes Piccolo had found who he was looking for. He charged towards it, not slowing down for any buildings in his way.

Garlic Junior and Spice were in a large furniture store, picking out a thrown. Garlic Junior thought the gold leaf Versace chair was ideal, but Spice thought it was over the top. Spice suggested a leopard backed black leather wing chair.

Unfortunately, their bickering wouldn't pay off, as when Piccolo crashed through the ceiling in front of them, both chairs were crushed under rubble.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Garlic Junior shouted. "Spice, kill him!"

Spice obediently charged forward, aiming a powerful punch at Piccolo's jaw. Piccolo caught the alien without looking in his direction, and effortlessly crushed his hand. As Spice fell back Piccolo released a small ki blast, wiping him from existence.

"NO!" Garlic Junior shouted as he whacked Piccolo on the head with his staff. "You!" Piccolo deflected a blow. "Should!" Piccolo caught the staff. "Release my staff, please?" Garlic Junior asked sweetly.

"Okay." Piccolo ripped the staff from Garlic Junior's hand and speared it through a near by brick wall. Stepping forward Piccolo grabbed Garlic Junior's head in one hand, and his neck in the other. With a quick jerk Garlic Junior's head rolled onto the ground.

"Immortal my ass." Piccolo dropped the imps body.

"No swearing in the land of Garlic!" Garlic Junior's head said. Piccolo watched as the imp's body walked to the head, picked it up, and put it back on. "That, that was odd. Thank you for testing my limits." He looked to the pit that was Spice's body. "Would you like to be my second in command? I seem to have an opening available."

Piccolo made eye contact with the imp and drew his hand back. He filled it with ki and threw the scatter shot forward. The dozens of pea sized blasts ripped through Garlic Junior's body, but once they were through, his skin sealed itself shut and not even a bruise marked their passing.

"Okay, this is getting a little old." Garlic Junior tapped his foot.

Piccolo filled his other hand with ki, and launched another scatter shot of pea sized ki blasts at the wanna be ruler of Earth. This time, instead of cleanly piercing through him, Piccolo made sure each shot entered his body, and ripped their way to being evenly distributed through the small form. He closed, and quickly opened his fist. As he did so, each ball of energy exploded, reducing Garlic Junior to a fine mist, a spilled bucket of paint in aisle three.

"That was sooooo hard." Piccolo sneered.

"Well, to be fair, you're not done yet." Garlic Junior's body quickly, disgustingly, reformed where he stood. "I think I picked up some dirt." He coughed up dust.

"I guess we're at an impasse." Piccolo

"You'd think so, but ..." Garlic junior put his hands behind his back. "I have something that may work here."

"What's that?" Piccolo asked, crossing his arms and looking down his nose at the short creature.

Garlic Junior brought his hands forward, pulled his sleeves up. "Nothing in either sleeve." He said. He flopped his head to the side, catching his hat. "Nothing in here." He showed the empty cap to Piccolo. "But ..." He put his hands back behind his back one more time, and a red ball shot up from between them. "The Dead Zone awaits!" He grabbed onto a large sectional sofa that he had coated moments ago, and held on for deer life.

The red ball hovered in the hole that Piccolo punched in the ceiling, quickly gaining in size until it blocked out the sky. Loose furniture flew towards it as Piccolo was unaffected. The sofa Garlic Junior held onto budged slightly, and he quickly scrambled to grab a load bearing pillar.

"I see." Piccolo quipped. He casually walked to Garlic Junior, grabbed his legs in one hand, stretching him out from his anchor, and shot a pair of wide eye beams into his wrists, detaching his hands. As his hands were separated they loosened their grip and were quickly sucked into the Dead Zone attack. The rest of Garlic Junior was quick to follow as Piccolo flew through the ceiling, and spiked him down, face first, into the portal.

Moments later, Piccolo followed.

Papaya Island

Oolong's Nimbus followed Roshi's instructions perfectly. It flew as quickly as it could to the small island. It's passenger would have recognized it's landing spot, if he was able to focus, but as it was the Nimbus touched down on the tournament stage, deposited Oolong, and took off to wait for it's next mission.

Oolong laid on the ground. He was starting to doubt his need of legs, he didn't seem to use them much.

"Heya, uh, are you okay?" A man called out from the far side of the ring.

Startled, Oolong jumped up and looked around his surroundings. A large man in a brown gi with a giant afro stood in the far corner, a small child peaking out from behind his leg. In the other corner was a familiar, red, Makyan, face, bruised and bloodied. There were more people in the top row of the stands, looking back over the tournament grounds, melee weapons in hand, but Oolong disregarded them.

"Um, who's that?" Oolong pointed at the unmoving form.

"He said his name was Sugar, or something like that." The large man said.

"Salt." The child corrected.

"Salt." The man agreed. "He flew in like you did and started attacking us with these weird lasers."

"Well." Oolong scratched his head as he approached the invader. "I was coming here to distract him until the fighters could beat his teammates and take care of him. What happened to him? It looks like he was used as a punching bag."

"Mr. Satan showed him who's boss!" A man called from ringside.

"No!" Mr Satan angrily corrected the man. 'I delivered the final blow, but it wasn't my victory. It wasn't a victory."

Oolong kicked the red body, no response. "Well, they were trying to destroy everyone on Earth, so, yeah, it's a victory."

"No, it's not." Mr. Satan approached, his daughter right behind him. "Not everyone made it. We lost good fighters, students, teachers, my wife. We'll see tomorrow, but it's not a victory, not with these costs."

Author's note: So, full powered Garlic Junior in cannon has a power of about 1,500,000 when exposed to the Makyo Star. In Dead Zone he has a power of only 400. That's a boost of 3750 times at it's peak. Working from the Spice Boy's cannon power, and subtracting out this boost, gets us some really low powers, ranging from 267 for Spice, down to 107 for Salt. That puts Salt at or around the same level as Nam or Bacterian, who are 100 and 110 respectively. Even Master Shen, at 120, could have beaten Salt in a one on one fight.

I don't doubt for a moment that Hercule, and other tournament level fighters, couldn't team up to beat him. While there would be challenges, overcoming flight and ki blasts, I'm certain Salt wouldn't stand a chance.