Chapter Thirty-Eight

After being hit by Raditz's powerful Kamehameha, Tien and most of the arena were left battered. Still standing on one of the few tiles that remained with raised forearms, Tien's second set of arms had vanished after the damage he'd taken on. He grimaced in pain. The boy's Kamehameha Wave had actually hurt him badly, that much was sure. He'd have to end this fight soon if he wanted to win.

Raditz marveled at the power he'd managed to conjure for a second and wondered if Tien had went down. He wasn't one hundred percent certain if he could trust the triclops to not attempt another sneaky tactic after learning that he was Tao's student. Hundreds of lives were at stake in the small arena and Tien had already shown he cared little for them. As much as he put into the attack, Raditz was impressed when he saw the silhouette of the crane student still standing as the smoke dimmed around him.

Shooting at Raditz, as Tien had expected, the Saiyan disappeared as he shot into the air. Reappearing on the ground where Tien had attacked him from, the triclops smiled as he had Raditz where he wanted him. Forming a triangle with his hands, he concentrated what little energy he had left into his arms and into the shape as he grunted in pain. This was risky, he wouldn't lie -but Tien was playing to win. He only hoped this attack wouldn't kill him.

"I suggest you dodge this if you want to live," The assassin spat, preparing his attack. "Tri-Beam Ha!" He screamed, releasing an enormous amount of energy at the arena and Raditz. Resembling a small bomb, the arena was flooded with a golden burst of light as the benches underneath the crowd shook from the winds roaring across the clearing. When the smoke and light disappeared, the entire arena floor was disintegrated and Raditz was nowhere to be found. "Slight work, your champion is defeated." He laughed victoriously.

"Don't speak too soon," Raditz's voice said from above the triclops, the smug look on his face never changing. Raditz smiled, a merciless Tien wouldn't have taunted like that at this point in the battle. "That was a good move but thanks for letting me know to dodge it." The Saiyan smirked as he shot forward with a knee to the stomach, not letting up, Raditz struck Tien with a heavy ax handle attack that sent him spiraling to the floor and into the ground in a man made crater nearly five feet into the earth.

"Well there you have it folks," The announcer said as Tien pulled himself out of the crater and Raditz hovered down to what remained of the arena. "Our World Champion, Raditz has rung Tien out and retained his title!" Gulping, the human only hoped that the two titans wouldn't begin fighting again. It was already going to cost millions repairing what few parts of the arena they hadn't destroyed!

"You did well," The Saiyan said as he reached out an open hand to his opponent with a friendly smile flashed across his face. Though risking a lot by believing Tien would stop fighting, Raditz was more than ready to fight again if he had to. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to keep fighting once you went down. Your arsenal of techniques definitely would have kept me on the rope." He said when the triclops sighed and began to reach forward.

Tien grumbled but couldn't stop himself from smiling. As much as hated that Raditz had killed Tao, he could no longer call the boy the ruthless murderer he once thought of him as. Taking the hand, the triclops got to his feet as he saw Chiaotzu and Raditz's friends approaching.

"Maybe we could train, champion." The triclops offered with a smirk. "You're the best fighter I've ever faced. Maybe even teach me a move or two?"

"Sure," Raditz said as he was hugged by his girlfriend. "Let's go grab some grub with my winnings. All this fighting has me hungrier than ever. I'll be glad to explain some of my training routines. With the things I've seen, our planet needs as many real fighters as we can get." He told Tien. Our planet. That had a decent ring to it, he thought.

"I'll grab our stuff from the locker room," Krillin volunteered, running back into the tournament's interior. He wasn't going to take no for an answer after his lunch had been paid for. "I know the spot you like, I'll meet you guys. You've been kicking ass all weekend. Let me be useful for once." The monk said before disappearing.

Several minutes later, the World Champion and his friends, new and old, had gotten seated at a buffet restaurant. As the table full of hungry fighters indulged themselves, Raditz was pouring his eleventh plate of ramen down the hatch when his hand clenched around the chopsticks he was using and snapped them to pieces.

"No, not again." The Saiyan said, his eyes widening as his stomach began to tighten in pain. 'This is the same feeling I had when Bulma died.' the Saiyan thought to himself, searching for what was making him feel so tense. Suddenly he remembered the only person he hadn't accounted for, his monk friend. "Krillin." He said as he suddenly shot from the table midbite, leaving his girlfriend and other friends behind shocked.

"What's his problem?" Yamcha asked the bluenette, using a towel to wipe his mouth as he stood up too. Focusing some ki into his feet to enhance his speed enough to follow after his Saiyan friend, Yamcha also took off. "He's heading back to the arena." He said before he disappeared, ready to back-up Raditz with whatever they were heading to if needed.

"I'm not sure, it's not like him to miss a meal," Bulma answered, getting up and hovering after her Saiyan boyfriend. She had never seen him so tense and she had seen the look of horror in his eyes before he'd shot away. "I'm going to see what made him so tense. You guys are welcome to follow behind, the meal's been paid for already."

Raditz felt the hairs on his neck rise up as he entered the locker room of the tournament grounds. Almost immediately, the stomach turning smell of blood flooded his nostrils and the Saiyan nearly threw up as he stepped forward to the gruesome scene that awaited him. His blood boiling, Raditz stepped into the pool of blood and grabbed the body of his friend, Krillin.

"No," The Saiyan cried, his teeth dropping into a frown and his grasp on the boy tightening. Raditz shook his friend's limp body in his arms frantically. "Come on Krillin! Stop playing with me."

Sadly, the monk stayed limp. Raditz put an ear to his fellow fighter's lifeless body. A grunt forced its way out as he struggled to hear a single breath in his friend's lungs.

"He took that thing on to save me," A voice came from behind Raditz. Turning on the defensive into a fighting stance, the young Saiyan now faced the tournament announcer. "Your friend is far braver than I am. I wish I could have done something to help him, champ." The announcer sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"What happened?" The long-haired Saiyan screamed, demanding answers from the only witness to what had happened. His blood boiled as he dropped Krillin's body and heard it hit the ground. He only thought of one person that could have been cunning enough to sneak up on Krillin. It had to have been the sick doctor, Gero again! "Who did he save you from?"

"A strange monster came," The announcer said, shuddering as he remembered what had gone on just minutes earlier. Pointing to a shattered window above where he and Raditz were speaking, he carried on. "When your friend came in to get your armor and the rest of you guys' belongings, he had threatened me to give him the full registration list of the last five tournaments. Krillin stepped in to help but before he could see what had happened, he was struck and hit his head on the wall. Tambourine slit his throat before he could even recover. It searched through your locker for something before it flew away."

Raditz's attention turned to his destroyed locker. Rustling frantically through his belongings, the Saiyan cursed himself. "The Dragonball," He grumbled, realizing that his prized possession had been snatched from his bag.

Changing from his blood-ridden gi to his battle armor, Raditz pressed his Scouter, setting it to track down the Dragon Ball that had been taken from him. He grabbed the sword he had gotten a few years ago, knowing that it hadn't yet met its match when it came to slicing whatever stood in its way.

"What happened?" Bulma said, entering the room shortly followed behind by the rest of the gang. Gagging as she stepped in blood and screaming at Krillin's lifeless corpse, the woman looked up at her armored lover.

"I'm going to find Gero like I should have many years ago. My best friend is dead," The Saiyan growled, walking out of the locker room before being stopped by Roshi, who was holding a piece of paper. "What old man? I have to avenge Krillin, making yourself useful or not?" He spat out in anger.

"This is bad," Roshi interjected, opening the paper as his face paled at the insignia written on the small piece. Dreaded memories returned and tears formed at the turtle hermit's face as he stared at the demon kanji. "I'm afraid this wasn't that sick doctor's doing. This is the symbol of the wicked Demon King Piccolo." Roshi sighed.

"Where can I find him?" The Saiyan interrupted immediately, his aura cackling at his side. He was beyond angry. If he hadn't let Krillin go alone to the locker room, he was certain that whatever had popped up would have died facing the two Turtle students. "He's dead for what he did to Krillin!"

"Calm down, that's an order!" The Turtle Hermit shot at his student, who just sighed as his aura calmed and the hut stopped shaking. "You're winded from your fight against Tien, rest for a little bit while I tell you about the dreaded King Piccolo Wars. There's no good in going out and getting yourself killed."

"I'll listen but after that I'm leaving," Raditz objected stagnantly. There was no time to rest when others were in danger. He and Bulma knew best what these Dragon Balls could do if gathered. "Korin should have another batch of senzu beans ready. You guys just be careful, this won't take long."

Muten Roshi and Tsuru Shen were both two of the great Master Mutiato's greatest students, the first line of defense against evil and all things wicked. Still though, the scene that they had arrived at was more than enough to taint a child's sense of innocence. Entire buildings had been leveled, flames spreading and burning strongly all over the ruins of the small village. Bodies littered the ground. Men. Women. Even children had been slain graphically.

"No, even the young," Roshi sighed as he dropped to his knees, closing the eyes of a small child that had been killed. His heart dropped at the scenery he and his brother were walking through on route to their allies. "What sort of demons could cause this?"

"To just be slaughtered like this," The other young man commented, shaking his head in disapproval at the scene. He sighed as he followed behind his friend before stopping in place as he saw the scene down the hill he and Roshi were approaching. "No…" Shen said, rushing over to the bloodied remains of, according to their purple gis, he and Roshi's allies.

"I can't let you keep doing this," Roshi growled several meters away. Charging a disc of ki and throwing it at Shen, or at least Shen thought when he jumped out of the way. Looking at Roshi, who had jumped towards him, Tsuru flinched until he realized his friend had actually saved him from being killed by a hideous green monster that had suddenly appeared as he was looking at the pile of bodies. "Tsuru, we have to watch our surroundings or we end up like that. We're not Mutaito, we can't sense the energy of ambushers." He warned.

"Very Muten like of you," The future Crane hermit said with a roll of his eyes as he shot a Dodon Ray at another demon that was limping behind a turned Roshi. As clear auras danced around the two humans, the two wasted no time in dispatching the small group that had ambushed them.

"Shortly after, King Piccolo arrived to back up his minions that me and Shen had slaughtered," The master snickered, then sighing as he finished his story. "Oh boy were we in over our heads. That kanji still sends shivers down my spine, let alone the actual baddie himself."

"He would've killed us had Mutaito not shown up and sealed him in the rice cooker with the Evil Containment Wave. Mutaito was who kept the tensions between me and Shen from flaring in important moments. Two blowups later and we never wanted to see each other again." Rising up and straightening his sunglasses as he remembered his master's sacrifice with teary eyes, the Turtle Hermit finished with. "I thought that demon would be sealed forever but I guess he found a way out. It appears that my master gave up his life for nothing."

Fixing his scouter and walking out of the door as Roshi finished, Raditz spat out some spit before he began to hover. Giving one last look at Bulma before he was set to blast off into the skies, the Saiyan demanded. "He won't be around much longer. Protect my woman at all costs"

Power Levels

Raditz: 620

Krillin: 470

Tien: 500

750 (Tri Beam)

Tambourine: 570

King Piccolo: 700

850 (young)

Roshi: 500 (young)

Shen: 475 (young)

Mutaito: 750