Chapter Forty

Tambourine shot down to an island close to the coastline, creating a crater in the ground and nearly sinking it in its entirety. The creature glanced over to the island opposite of him, looking at it from nearly 500 meters away. Reaching down, he looked at the pamphlet that was his hit list.

"Muten Roshi, the Turtle Hermit," The demon snickered as he read off the address from the page and looked at the small pink house on the island with his enhanced vision. This was going to be fun. "My master will be pleased to hear that Mutaito's student is dead."

Flaring his energy, Tambourine felt the ground give in under him as he flew from the island he was watching over the home of the Turtle Hermit. The entire rock he was on crumbled to pieces as his aura erupted around him. The son of the demon king licked his scaly lips as he pursued towards his next victim.

Raditz crashed his foot into the scaly Namekian and smashed him through the nearby tree and through the building they had started fighting in. Not letting up, the Saiyan charged at his foe and didn't let up. Sending a fist at the son of Piccolo, Raditz flared his energy at the last second and felt his hand break through bone, tissue, and scaly skin alike as he harnessed all of his strength until his fist was nearly ready to burst through the demon.

"That's what you get for murdering my friend," Raditz growled through bared teeth as he looked down at Cymbal, thinking he the killer of Krillin. "Next is your master… Sincere Sunday!" The Saiyan screamed, unleashing his energy from his palms into the winged creature's abdomen. As the violet energy collided with Cymbal's insides, the creature gave off a painful grumble as his body was vaporized by his foe's energy attack.

Shaking his blood-riddled hand free of charred guts, Raditz powered down as he dropped back to the ground and put the Dragon Radar that Cymbal had into his own possession. He stepped forward and crushed the yellow eyeball that was all that remained of the creature. He didn't know how they had gotten one of their own but he knew that the device was catastrophic in the wrong hands. He wiped the blood from his fingers on his armor, leaving a purple mark on it as he turned to face Pamput, who was left astonished at his savior's power in taking on a foe that had nearly killed him after slashing his way through top trained security guards. The movie star thanked Kami that this guy was on his side as he took the open hand and shook the hand that Raditz placed out for him.

"You!" The skilled but aged crane hermit said in shock as his eyes opened after what he believed would be his death. He hoped to keep the frown on his face at his savior but Shen had to admit… he and Tao had definitely trained the boy well over the years.

Seeing Tien fall into the perfected crane fighting stance as his opponent started to free himself from his rubble prison, the crane hermit shook his head as he remembered how his entire school had failed him at the tournament less than a day prior. Yet still, he couldn't fight the smirk that came to his face as he watched the demon Namekian shake off the rubble and prepared to charge back at his triclops student.

"That was a nice hit," The creature finally grunted, speaking for the first time since his appearance. Had he not rolled with it slightly at the last minute, Drum was sure that he would be walking away with more than a broken and bloody nose. "Let's see you get lucky enough to save yourself and the old man!" Drum roared in his deep voice, rubbing his face with a scaly hand.

"Shinhan!" Ranfan said in both relief and utter surprise at seeing the triclops again as she pulled herself through the hole Drum had knocked her through. She also felt shame for how she had embarrassed not only herself but her friends and former students, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu. 'Maybe I owe him an explanation.' The purple haired woman thought to herself as she stared at the slightly bruised chest of Tien. He was still healing from his fight with the Saiyan teenager, the turtle school champion, Raditz. "Ummm, I…" She began.

"Save it," Tien countered, focusing on the fight and brushing his female friend and fellow student off. He knew that Piccolo and his children were dangerous, other things could wait until they were in the clear. "Focus on our opponent! I'll find you an opening, let's finish him quickly. Don't let up!"

Not giving the large demonic threat that was Drum time to organize a counterattack or even prepare for he and Ranfan attacking coordinately, the triclops flared his energy as high as he could as he stiffened his stance. Thrusting his arms outwards, Tien cried, "Multiform," as his energy split between four different Tiens. This would be perfect for catching the son of Piccolo off guard and leaving him open for whatever Ranfan was brewing.

The four Tien lunged at the monster, each lashing out with a kick. Raising a forearm to absorb as much of the damage as he could, Drum grunted in pain as the triclop's powerful legs felt like iron poles hitting his arms. Staggering back as the force pushed him off his feet, the creature's eyes flashed as he shot off two small rays of energy from his eyes at his foe.

'Take that!" The monster snickered as his attack struck one of the clones and it vanished in a cloud of smoke. Stepping forward, Drum reeled his arm back and prepared to attack again as the remaining men shot back at him. "Wah-tah!" Drum growled as he shot at one of the clones with a stereotypical kick capable of smashing through rock.

"No you don't," Ranfan grumbled under her breath as she reappeared in the demon's path and struck the creature with a spinning kick midair. Concentrating her energy and transferring it to her foot, the crane trained girl's boot smashed into Drum and she followed through completely until she and he both slammed into the floor of the dojo and a crack formed in the area around them.

Jumping quickly to her feet, Ranfan looked back to see Tien preparing his almighty Tri Beam attack. She smirked as she realized what the triclops was planning and knew what her job would be if that were the case. As soon as the cloud of smoke cleared and she could see the silhouette of Drum regaining his composure, the violet haired woman placed both hands at her forehead and flared her aura slightly, using the sun to her advantage as she prepared to blind the demonic alien. "Solar Flare!" Her soft voice screeched as soon as she saw the green giant open his beady eyes.

Shifting her weight to her left foot as she spread her legs apart, the granddaughter of Shen's eyes cackled a faint orange color as she focused her energy through her body and out her wrist to her open hand. "Catharsis Clever," Ranfan spat out as her hands cackled with a surge of orange colored electricity and she lunged herself and her paralyzing attack at her assailant.

Drum felt his body go limp as Ranfan's attack slashed him across his chest. Though it hadn't caused much damage, because he had been hit with it, that same energy now cackled across his body. Much like Chiaotzu, she had her own share of paralysis techniques that helped make up for her human strength. With this, she could make sure that Tien's attack hit its mark. The fat creature grimaced in a discomfort he hadn't felt in his short lifespan as his attention diverted to Tien, who formed a triangle in his hand as the sound of his energy roaring around him flooded the dojo.

"Tri Beam," Tien said sternly, quickly releasing his energy out in a single thrust of his hands as soon as Ranfan's backflip off of her attack launched her out of the radius of the small bombing. Drum's entire existence was annihilated as the crane student's ultimate technique collided into his body and crushed it into small pieces that were instantly vaporized along with half of the room. As if on cue, the triclops fell forward as his body and hands most notably, sizzled and gave off a smoky aura.

"I got you," Ranfan said, moving forward to catch the battered Tien in her arms. Helping him move across the room, she placed him on a chair before turning to face their master who was staring at the few traces of purple blood that the creature had left behind. Seeing him frown like that, she approached him and asked. "What was that monster, master?"

"That was one of the demon king's minions," Shen grumbled, shaking his head as he tried to make sense out of what had just happened. This was bad. They had barely warded off one of the demon's sons and who knew how many more of these things Piccolo had created so far.

"We have to move quickly. There is only one way we will stop this threat. The same way my teacher did many years ago." The crane hermit said as he walked into his office and looked for the one appliance he hoped he would never have use for outside of preparing rice, the electronic rice cooker.

While he had no idea where the demonic overlord was, he knew that Piccolo was known for leaving a trail of disaster and mayhem anywhere he went. It would be only a matter of time before he realized that his young son had been slain and then he'd do something rash. He and his two students would find a way to enslave him again… he knew it!

Master Roshi felt his eyebrows tug at his face as he sat on his couch and a feeling of unrest swept across his body. Moving immediately, he shot a look over at his student, Yamcha, and when he arose as well, the two walked out of Kame House. The wolf bandit watched as the old teacher walked to the edge of the shoreline and dropped into a fighting stance.

"What is it?" He asked his teacher as his body also tensed up. Not many people knew about the location of Kame House and even then, how had the Demon King found out where they were so quickly? "It's not Piccolo is it?" He asked again, falling into a fighting stance of his own as Chiaotzu and the others ran to the door after the two fighters.

"No, you all stay in the house," The old martial arts master ordered Chiaotzu, Mai, Puar, Launch and Bulma, not even looking back as he eyes stayed focused on whatever it was that he had seen. Knowing that Roshi meant well, they stayed in the doorway and waited for the action to begin. "Things are about to get heated. Yamcha and I will hold off this guy until one of our friends returns." Roshi said as a coat of clear flames engulfed his black uniform.

Moving forward immediately, the turtle school master narrowly sidestepped out of the way of what appeared to be a torpedo as Tambourine shot himself across the ocean's surface and attempted to strike the Human before he could even see it coming. Countering immediately, Roshi was able to knock the winged creature to the ground in between him and Yamcha. Watching as Tambourine pulled himself to his feet with a snicker, both Humans were more than ready to protect themselves and the lives of their friends in the house.

"Very good," The son of Piccolo spoke, his voice stoic and cold as his claws ticked his waist as he spoke. Tambourine licked his lips with his purple tongue as he scanned the island and took stock of Roshi, Yamcha, and the several others that had raced into the pink home on his arrival at the hermit's beckoning. "This is going to be fun… my master will be pleased with the progress I've made after this!" He cackled as his eyes looked past the wolf bandit and at the horrified eyes of the people in the home through the window.

"Did you kill Krillin?" Yamcha interrupted, his energy surging as he waited for the winged demon to regain his composure. As he heard a chuckle leave the creature's fanged mouth, the bandit bared his teeth and brought his fists to his side as the sand around him began to pick up as his aura surged. "Answer me! Did you kill my friend?" He asked again with a voice laced with anger and spite, demanding Tambourine to answer his plea.

"You're talking about the bald one at the Budokai Tenkaichi?" The demon retorted with glee. Tambourine's mouth curled into a smirk as he remembered Yamcha's uniform from the corpse of the first fighter he had murdered after watching the tournament. "His screams filled me with happiness as I crushed his lungs." The monster taunted, smudging his feet into the ground as he reenacted how he had ended the monk's life.

"You'll pay for that!" Yamcha screamed as veins bulged at his neck and he saw red. Lunging forward unrelentlessly, the wolf bandit shot out at Tambourine with killing intent. "You have no idea how good a person he was!" Yamcha cried, holding back his tears as he cocked his leg back and readied himself to kick the demon towards his teacher.

"This is for Krillin!" The wolf bandit growled, suddenly appearing in front of his demonic foe. "Eat this!"

Power Levels

Raditz: 670

Tien Shinhan: 500

Master Roshi: 350

Yamcha: 480

Tambourine: 570

Master Shen: 340

Ranfan: 290

Drum: 510

Cymbal: 480