The red and yellow clouds continue to circle the gaping scar in reality. Piccolo staggers towards Gohan, never letting his feet leave the ground. The hot air pocket created by the child's rage fueled aura peels back layers of his skin. Little boils form like water simmering. They grow in size and merge into a bigger bubble before ripping away as white flakes.
The anger dies out leaving Gohan to faint from the exertion. Piccolo manages to grab the collar of the boy's shirt as his pupil flies off for a second time.
Kami sweats and bleeds while maintaining his hold over Tien and Chiaotzu. Krillin burns through the last of his ki hanging onto his friends.
Unseen amongst the debris filled sky and unheard by the deafening portal's last breath, Oolong falls upward. He screams for help. He waves his arms for attention. None of his friends below notice the distress calls as they struggle to avoid his fate. He disappears behind the pitch black veil between worlds.
The clouds ever so slowly reduce their rapid circulation with the suction lightening as the rift shrinks. The heaviest chunks of the castle begin to fall as gravity regains its sway. Smaller and smaller pieces do the same until the Dragon Team finally gets their turn.
They collapse to the ground from fatigue and cover their heads for protection from hailing stones. When the last sounds of crashing rock stop, Krillin looks around from where he lies.
The immense devastation leaves nothing standing. The bases of every wall and tower are all that remain. The foundation, now stripped clean of its top layers, is just a scab on the ocean with scaly edges peeled back towards its center.
Krillin lets his head drop, too tired to hold it up. As soon as his forehead comes to a rest, the floor begins to shake.
A fissure tears through a peninsula of the foundation jutting out across the ocean. The whole thing falls into the sea sending a minor tsunami rushing outwards. The fissure does not stop there. It spiderwebs toward Krillin and his group.
"Uh oh!" he says. "I think the rest of this place is sinking fast."
He turns to Bulma who reaches around in her pocket. She pulls out her Capsule pouch and picks one out. With a quick toss followed by the usual bang and hissing of release, a cargo plane spawns before them.
"Help me load Yamcha in the back," she says.
Krillin nods and gets to his feet. Bulma grabs the unconscious man's legs while he slings his friend's good arm over his shoulder. Puar nestles onto Yamcha's chest. Krillin supports the lower back with a forearm. He and Bulma get Yamcha off the ground and carry him into the back hatch.
They lay him down on the hard metal just before a tremor throws them all against a wall. Krillin catches himself with a quick hand, but Bulma scuffs her knee in a fall. She clambers back up and heads for the cockpit.
"Go get the others ready while I start the engine," she says."
Krillin barely realizes she is talking to him before following the command. He tries to run along the shaking ground but staggers about like someone learning to ice skate for the first time. Taking flight instead, he hovers just above the surface.
Piccolo sits not far ahead. His legs are crossed with Gohan napping atop them. He steadies himself with his remaining hand on the ground as it continues to buckles and pull apart. He sees Krillin approaching with a vehicle lifting off behind him.
"Help me up!" Piccolo says.
He sticks out his injured limb missing from mid forearm down. Krillin flinches from the barked order and dripping wound. The monk sheepishly slides the arm over the back off his neck as if putting on a heavy coat.
Piccolo tosses Gohan onto his other shoulder and presses him there with a hand on the boy's back. Krillin pushes up from a squat and gets Piccolo to his feet.
Bulma merely slows down as she reaches them without stopping. They trot after the still open hatch until Piccolo can step inside. Much to Bulma's dismay, he walks straight toward her seat before collapsing with his back against it.
She shivers and tightens her grip focusing on their next comrades. Krillin keeps pace with the plane as she maneuvers the craft next to Kami without striking him. The Guardian holds Chiaotzu against his hip while leaning the other arm on the plane for support. He shuffles along never letting his arm leave the metal until he is inside and seated. Krillin grabs Tien by the armpits and drags him into the vehicle.
Bulma increases the speed and height to get away from the sinking structure. She opens the driver side window and sticks her head out. She screams into the echoes of the crumbling stone and slapping water.
"Oolong! Where are you, you stupid pig!"
Krillin calls out from the yet to be closed hatch, one fist in a death grip on a handlebar. They keep yelling as Bulma starts to circle the rapidly receding island. They shout louder the smaller the landscape gets. Each cry of Oolong's name rips at their vocal cords. They can feel them inflaming from the overuse.
The last of the castle is engulfed by the ocean leaving nothing on the lapping waves. They continue to shout and circle above the water. They search horizon to horizon scanning for anything that breaks up the monotonous blue. Not a single sign of the fortress having ever been there remains, nor one of their friend.
All the while, the Makyo Star's waning eclipse stains the sky red.
After an hour of exhaustive searching and depleting hope, they increase altitude and close the hatch. With his forehead and hand pressed on a window, Krillin continues to stare back as they leave the sight behind.
"Bulma…"
The name squeaks out of the Guardian. His labored breathing wheezes in a high pitched tone. He tries to speak again, but a fit of coughs interrupts him. He covers his mouth with a hand and then wipes away fluids on his blood soaked robes when he is done.
"Bulma, please take us to my palace."
"Are you kidding me!" she says.
Her knuckles are white on the wheel. She leans up against it without her back touching the seat.
"We need to get all of you to the best hospital we can find."
"No Bulma. We can get Senzu Beans from Korin, and Mr. Popo can provide better healing than any of your doctors."
"I don't really care what you think or if you hold this against my immortal soul," says Bulma, "but I'm taking you to a medically certified institute of science. I'm tired of your mystic mumbo jumbo. We're in the same shitty situation as with Goku. You say you're doing what's right for us, that you have a plan, yet you keep letting everyone fight your battles."
Krillin finally drops his eyes from the window to the floor and faces Kami.
"Korin's supply of Senzu beans has been destroyed," he says. "I think we should do what Bulma says."
"The Senzu Beans are … are gone?" says Kami.
"I'm afraid so," says Krillin.
"I don't need help from any of you."
The three of them look at Piccolo. The swollen bruises on his face do nothing to make him more sympathetic. They just make him appear angrier.
"Drop me and the kid off when we get to dry land and we'll be fine."
"You didn't complain about us helping you out when that castle sank into the ocean," says Bulma.
Piccolo snaps his head around. Krillin steps away from the confrontation. Disbelief breaks over his face.
"What did you s—"
"And who says we're letting you take Gohan again!"
Krillin drops his jaw. Now may not be the time for fighting, but watching her challenge a god and demon gives him the inspiration he needs to face the aftermath of their ordeal.
"Bulma," says Kami. "I understand you may not have much faith in me, but the world is in chaos. No hospital is capable of looking after Yamcha and the others better than Mr. Popo can. Please. I beg you. Take us to my temple."
Silence settles around the drone of the engine. After a full minute, they feel the shift in momentum as Bulma redirects the plane. No one speaks until the top of Korin's Tower comes into view.
Piccolo suddenly screams as a new hand shoots out of the seeping stub. Krillin's head nearly hits the roof, and Bulma swerves the aircraft. Gohan finally stirs awake at the commotion.
"Krillin, do you still feel up to flying?" says Kami.
"Yeah, but why?" he says.
He does not take his eyes off Piccolo who rubs the new wrist with his other hand.
"I want you to take Gohan to see his mother at Korin's residence while the rest of us go to mine."
"Sure, no problem."
Piccolo stabs his eyes at his other half.
"Hey! That's my student," he says. "He doesn't have time for a reunion."
"I made a promise to Chichi, and I intend to keep it," says Kami. "What the three of you decide from there is up to you."
"I thought we needed to recover at your special temple."
"My pupils and I do, but you were never invited. You're not worthy of setting foot on such sacred grounds."
Piccolo springs to a kneeling position dumping Gohan on the floor.
"WHAT! How dare you. I defeat your enemy and save your precious planet, and you treat me like I'm a monster. Like you have no responsibility for me. Well fuck you old man!"
Piccolo starts sucking air.
"You were only there for yourself and no one else," says Kami.
Piccolo glares.
"Uh, Mr. Piccolo?" says Gohan.
Piccolo twists at the waist and throws out his arms.
"What!"
Gohan winces back and lowers his head.
"I, uh, I just wanted to see my mommy," he says. "If that's okay?"
Piccolo fumes a few more heavy breaths before releasing a big sigh. He sits back down with a forearm resting on his knee.
"Fine, but I'm going to work you twice as hard for every moment you spend not training."
Gohan raises his eyes and smiles. Piccolo looks away at the back of the plane.
As they approach Korin's place, Krillin readies himself for his delivery. Piccolo stands up and picks Gohan up by the scruff of his neck. He walks without a word to the hatch door as the others stare in silence. With a press of a button, a gale of decompression gives them all flashbacks to the Dead Zone portal. Piccolo hops out and Krillin quickly closes the door. He looks back at Kami and Bulma who both give him emotionless glances.
Korin, Chichi, and Yajirobe wait at the railing as the aircraft draws near. They slide back when Piccolo exits the vehicle and descends towards them. Chichi experiences a second fright when she sees her son in his grip. She steps forward, body tense and ready for a fight.
Piccolo throws the boy at her. Her mind hesitates at the unexpected action, but her arms do not. They fly out from her sides catching her son and pulling him close. Her cheek wrestles relentlessly against the side of his head.
They all jump back again when Piccolo lands in front of them.
"What could you possibly want?" says Chichi.
Piccolo does not look at her. Instead, he concentrates on his feet as the rest of him wavers in place before collapsing to the floor. The world goes black as far away voices follow him into unconsciousness.
"Mr. Piccolo. Are you okay."
"Stay away from him Gohan. He's a demon."
"He's a good guy. I promise, he trains me just like dad does. We need to get him water and …"
Everything goes silent.
###
Bulma opens the back hatch of the plane to find Mr. Popo waiting on the other side. He holds four balls of fabric against his chest with his left arm. He grabs each of them one at a time and drops them at his feet. After bouncing once, they unfold into rugs and hover above the tile.
Without a word, he hops into the cargo area and gently picks up Kami who passed out before they arrived. The palace caretaker lays the Guardian down on one of the flying carpets. Bulma and Krillin grab Yamcha and do the same. They next grab Tien as Mr. Popo scoops up Chiaotzu's tiny body.
With all four of the patients on the magical rugs, the groundskeeper walks towards the palace. The fabric gurneys follow him. For the first time since coming to Kami's temple, they enter the building itself.
The walls are white and plain. Simple moldings furnish the walls across the base, middle and top. After descending some stairs, they pass several bland rooms until they finally stop at one of them. The rugs move to rest on four of six marble slabs. Mr. Popo opens a closet and begins setting equipment and medicinal herbs on the counter next to it.
He instructs Krillin and Bulma of which herbs to put in their oval granite mortars as he does the same to his. Each of them then grabs a stone wheel with a shaft through it and begins rolling it up and down the mortar. Puar distributes more ingredients to the group as Mr. Popo calls for them. They grind away until each of them has a different shade of green paste.
Mr. Popo provides them with bandage cloth to apply their ointments to and explains which of the three are good for which types of injuries. One is for burns, the other bleeding. The third is to treat infection which he personally made the most of.
He then moves to dress the puncture wound in Kami's side. Bulma does the same for Yamcha starting with the massive burn on his back. Krillin looks at Tien and Chiaotzu unsure of who to treat first. He picks the smaller man as he appears to be hurt the worst.
When the injuries have been tended, Mr. Popo retrieves another set of herbs from the closet. He also brings out some liquids and bowl shaped mortars with pestles. As they mix and mash up the ingredients, he says they are making stamina tonics for invigorating life forces.
"I've made a special one for Tien," he says. "His condition is much trickier than the others. I'm not sure he'll be able to make a full recovery."
He says no more and gives the potion to Krillin. All three of them return to their charges and lift their head to pour the drinks down their throats. Bulma and Puar wait by Yamcha's side while Mr. Popo does not leave Kami's.
Krillin looks at Tien and Chiaotzu one last time before leaving the palace entirely. The night sky still bleeds from the infected sore of the Makyo Star. Its hideous aura churns along the circumstance of its grotesque face.
The battle and his failures replay in his mind. The memory stops when it gets to Piccolo's insane new attack. The motion and shape of it come to a sharp focus as everything around it fades to the background.
He conjures up a yellow ki ball bigger than his fist. The hum of its frequency fills his ears. He applies a rotation to it so the orb spins like Bulma told him. The hum turns into a whistle as it whirls.
He places his other hand over top of the sphere without touching it. His palms push together compressing the ki formation. It continues to spin while taking on an oblong shape.
He presses harder and consciously rotates it faster, as fast as he possibly can. The oblong begins to flatten like a baker working dough. The thinner it gets, the more prominent an edge starts to develop around the perimeter.
Krillin applies even more pressure, but the ki does not bend any further. No matter how much strength he exerts, the formation will not give. His arms start to hurt, and his frustration builds with the mounting pain.
He removes his top hand and yanks back the one holding the flattened sphere. With a grunting heave, he chucks the failed object into the night sky. It breaks apart into small shards as its own spinning momentum tears it apart.
"What was that?"
Krillin starts at Bulma's question. He turns to see her.
"Oh, I don't know," he says. "Just some stupid training to pass the time I guess. Why are you out here?"
"Mr. Popo said I should get some fresh air since there's nothing more we can do tonight. So I'm just waiting in limbo."
They stare at one another with defeat in their eyes as the Makyo Star continues along its cosmic voyage.
###
Beneath the blacked out sun, Master Roshi struggles to retain a cross-legged sitting position. His fingers fumble with a string of prayer beads. He slides his hand down to clasp the next wooden marble and rolls it back and forth between his thumb and index finger.
He exhales and begins to recite the same mantra for the sixty-fourth time. As the Makyo Star extinguishes more and more of the sun, the words become harder and harder to recall. There is a bead of sweat on his forehead for each of the one hundred eight beads on his mala. They run down his face one at a time during each recitation. The droplets catch in his beard, funnel down to its tip, and finally drop into his lap.
"Well done so far Roshi. You're halfway there," says a man sitting before him.
Roshi ignores the man with gray hair in a style he patterned his wig after for the persona of Jackie Chun. He stares intently at the space between them. The man holds a magazine open to him by both corners and rests it against his crossed shins.
"But are you ready for the centerfold," says the man.
Roshi nods his head.
The man unfolds the extended picture to reveal a completely nude woman spread across four pages. Blood geysers from Roshi's nostrils, and his eyes glare with a fuchsia light.
"Hubba, hubba, hubba," he says instead of chanting his mantra.
A crystal ball smacks down on top of his head. A lumps swells up lifting the sphere and his sister who sits on it by an inch.
"I didn't bring you back from beyond the grave for perverted antics," says Baba.
"How dare you question the integrity of my lessons," says the man. "This training may appear to be vulgar self-indulgence, but I assure you on my honor as a martial artist that it's—"
The crystal balls drops on his head too.
"Save it," says Baba. "And quit messing around."
The man clears his throat.
"Perhaps, I was trying to enjoy life's simple pleasures a little too much during my short time back on Earth," he says. "But I know Roshi's temptations well, and this exercise was designed to test his fortitude against the enchantment of that cursed star.
"I must say, I'm disappointed. Your mental prowess has regressed considerably since it made its last appearance."
"Yes," says Baba. "That thing has been interfering with my fortunetelling for quite some time now. I can't believe it's been three hundred years since that great war. I wonder if I will live to see another?"
"Not at the rate we're going," says the elder man, "Roshi! It's time to take your training to the next level. It's shameful you fell to this same corruption a second time."
Roshi straightens to his feet, magenta burning in his eyes.
"I'll show you how strong I've become!"
He throws off his jacket to reveal bone thin arms and visible ribs beneath the skin. His body strains and growls while his frail frame rapidly grows muscle mass. His limbs and torso expand to three times their size.
The man hops back ready for battle as the enormous ki blows over him. Roshi charges him full tilt. The elder lowers his stance slightly. Then he is gone.
Roshi senses nothing as his opponent dashes past him. He manages to follow the movement, but fails to react to the super human speed which should not be possible without using ki.
A strike to his exposed side drops him to one knee. Again he senses no ki which does not make sense. How can the hit completely immobilize his ki infused body without using the mystic energy itself?
He struggles to turn around on all fours. Instead of pursuing the fight further, he prostrates himself.
"Apologies Master Mutaito," says Roshi. "I have been foolish."
He speaks to the ground without lifting his head.
"Hmph, perhaps," says Mutaito. "You've certainly increased your power since I last trained you. You're much stronger than me in fact."
Roshi does not move from his humbled state.
"Thank you Master, but you defeated me easily," he says.
"That is because I have perfected my ki control. You could not detect my life force at all could you?"
"No. Did you truly raise it and lower in a single instant?"
"I did, leaving no time for sensing it all. And I can do it moment to moment so no one ever does."
"Can you teach me this skill?"
"You're going to have to learn it if you want to keep up with your pupils. Like me, you're probably as strong as you're going to get and yet your students have far surpassed you in strength. But they lack experience and control. You can wield these weapons in ways they could never dream of. I—"
A stuttering gasp from Baba grabs their attention. She shuffles away from her crystal ball tripping over her black robes and falling down. She lands on her palms and keeps pushing backward with them.
"What's the matter sis?" says Roshi.
She slowly, jerkily, twists her face to him. Her wide eyes make contact with his.
"It's … it's … it's the Saiyans," she says. "I finally got a reading of their arrival. They're monsters. Even the weakest among them is more powerful than anything this planet has ever seen."
Roshi and Mutaito share a concerned glance beneath the receding Makyo Star.