AN: The character name is Lunch in Japanese and Launch in the dub. I prefer Launch because it's similar to Rocket Launcher, and Lunch has nothing to do with the character.
As for how far it will go into the Dragonball story, a better question is: what will the story look like in the future?
Friendly reminder that in this fic ki and chakra are essentially the same thing drawn upon and applied differently.
The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Seventy-three
The moonlight cast deep shadows across the forest path, lighting only patches of dirt and grass between rustling leaves. Naturally, she kept away from the path entirely, slipping from branch to branch with the breeze that stirred through the night, disguising her movements and sound alike.
Goku couldn't disguise his own as well. She knew exactly where he was as he barreled through the brush behind her. But that was to be expected. Tracking others who hid themselves could be much easier than hiding oneself. There was no reason to rush his training.
After all, there were still eight years to wait before she could go home.
She halted, standing still against the trunk of one of the trees she passed through. A moment later, her overeager student crashed through the trees below, not even hesitating for a moment. Clearly he wasn't paying enough attention.
She gripped a dulled kunai in her belt and shifted forward slightly, ready to strike. Two more moments were all she'd give him to realize he was no longer chasing after anything in the night but wind.
A shout echoed through the forest, and something larger than either of them cracked through the underbrush. Goku turned toward the sound with an expression of mild surprise, and something dark darted through the trees toward them.
"Saku-"
She leaped out of the trees in the same moment his expression turned from surprise to determination. A huge creature burst from the trees in front of them, a hulking boar nearly as tall as she was, expression angry and foaming from exertion.
It must have been running from something, as Goku hadn't been making quite enough noise to stir it up so badly, but it had no concern for anything in its way, all the same.
She flipped onto her hands and kicked the creature off of its feet into the air. Goku's faithful red staff flashed through the moonlight a moment later, and her companion sent the creature flying into a tree a short distance from them.
For a moment, it seemed stunned from the double attack. Then, it shook its great head and lifted itself back up to its feet, turning toward them with purpose now.
If they weren't targets of it before, they certainly were now.
"Ready?" She glanced down at Goku and he grinned up at her with his usual enthusiasm.
"Yeah!"
If it had been running from something to begin with, it was probably best to ensure they didn't face that and an angry giant boar at the same time. Just for convenience's sake.
The creature gave an angry snort and started to charge at the two of them, unfazed by their ready stances.
"Enough!"
The sudden unfamiliar shout was actually so abrupt it seemed to startle even the animal in front of them. The voice echoed from the direction the boar had appeared originally, but before she could turn to see where it came from, a bolt of color shot into the clearing from above the tree line.
Between the two of them and the boar, a lone man knelt in the grass. Next to him, a splintered plank of wood stuck deep into the ground.
His entrance could rival one of Gai or Lee's...but the purpose of the wooden plank was...a mystery.
She frowned, and stared at the strange man as he straightened. Behind him, the boar pawed at the ground, agitated still but apparently unwilling to attack the new foe just yet. The pale lavender of the man's coat washed out to almost blue in the moonlight, and the symbol on his chest was unfamiliar to her.
He brushed a well oiled braid off of his shoulder, and then turned coolly toward them, back to the boar as if it held no threat at all. "How unexpected, to find two battle ready warriors in an empty forest like this."
"Well you're here." Goku huffed, glancing between the man and the boar as if the latter also counted as one of them.
The man gave a small nod. "So I am. However, my presence here was requested by the good village nearby."
"There's a village near here?" She squinted in the direction both he and the beast had come from. "We've only been passing through."
"Is that so?" The man chuckled lightly, and turned away from them as well, looking off toward where the village must have been. "Then you may consider yourselves greatly blessed. Crossing paths with the terrible Inoshikacho on the day that I am here to rescue you is truly a fortune that may never be repeated in your life!"
"Ino..."
Ino...what?
She wasn't keeping count of the times she'd heard phrases and terms that should only have existed in her own world, but there were times when it was so prolific she struggled to believe this world wasn't simply a genjutsu she'd found herself caught in upon returning to the battle with Kaguya. (She couldn't, because she wanted it so badly that if she allowed herself to believe it at all, she'd never be able to accept anything else.)
Even so...
"Inoshikacho." The man spoke as a teacher, gesturing toward the beast as if it weren't clearly rearing up and preparing to attack him. "This terrible beast you see before you. It is a demon boar that prowls this land, devouring villages and all that comes across its path. There is, of course, no need to fear now, however. To one of my skill, it's of no threat."
Inoshikacho...
Didn't one of their tactics involve boars?
She shook her head, and stared at the beast. It...didn't look familiar at all. Why would it have a name like that?
"Aw, but if it's so tough, I wanna fight it first!"
"Nonsense." The beast finally did attack.
With just as little urgency as he'd displayed since arriving in front of them, the man smacked the creature away with one hand. The beast bounced off of the same tree once again. It seemed much less surprised the second time around. With an angry howl (a sound she'd previously not heard from boars), it stumbled back to its feet and turned on him once more.
Before it could take more than one step, however, a blur of white and green shot from a nearby tree. A small figure smacked into the boar's neck, causing it to stumble, and the man who had been speaking previously struck out immediately. A swift punch to the creature's ribcage caused it to collapse heavily to the ground.
Despite what the name suggested it might do...once it was clearly dead or unconscious, Inoshikacho did not erupt into three smaller creatures after all.
Because...
Why would it make any sense?
"...Is it already done?" Goku sounded as disappointed as she expected him to, deprived of a battle.
"Yes!" The small figure was, apparently, a small child dressed in some sort of full-head war paint. The white of his face was so pale and bright in the moonlight that he nearly gave off a slight glow himself. His cheeks were painted with darker circles, but the night made it difficult to tell which color they were. "There's nothing to fear anymore, the beast has been defeated."
"Aww..." Goku sighed and slumped his shoulders.
She reached down and pat his shoulder lightly. He hadn't grown that much over the past two years, but she didn't need to lean down as much to touch his shoulders anymore. "Another time, Goku."
"Goku...?" The tall man before them turned back toward them with a curious expression. "Could it be, you're the boy that competed in the last World Martial Arts tournament?"
He perked up a little in surprise. Honestly, she couldn't help a bit of surprise in her expression as well. Since they'd started traveling, very few people had actually recognized Goku from the tournament.
"Uh...yeah! I was in the last one!" He grinned and clapped his hands together. "And I'm gonna be in the next one, too. This time I'm gonna win it!"
The man's lips curled up into a smirk more cruel than amused. The little one behind him gave a light chuckle. "Well...we shall have to see that when we meet there."
"Wha..." Goku glanced between the man and then briefly up at her, as if he wasn't certain of what he'd heard. "You're gonna compete too?"
"The world is running short on monsters." The man settled his hands behind his back and gave Goku a cold smile. "What better place is there to display one's skill now?"
Nothing that the man said was threatening, nor was it even suspect. Indeed, he was pretty much civil and polite since he'd arrived. And yet...he oozed danger. Confidence, but one that came from the deaths of many by his hands. His voice was a threat even when his words weren't a challenge.
She didn't like him.
Naturally, his gaze settled only on Goku.
"I...guess so. But I'm gonna test my skill there, too!" Goku nodded, apparently unfazed by the man's demeanor. "Someone's gonna be there that I wanna get the chance to beat this time. I didn't get to last time, but this time I'm gonna."
"Well then, perhaps we will meet in battle afterward."
"Nah, I don't think so." He shook his head, and then laced his hands behind his neck and grinned up at the man. "But we can fight before then in the tournament instead! I think it'll be fun!"
The man gave a soft scoff, and settled his hands behind his waist. "How very confident of you to say."
"Confidence is important going into a battle, wouldn't you say?" She spoke before Goku could. Clearly, he wasn't aware of the slight he'd dealt toward the man in front of them. Picking a fight, while probably entertaining, wouldn't have been in anyone's interest.
"That confidence..." The man's gaze swept between the two of them. "Could it be the kind built from toppling something like the Red Ribbon Army?"
She blinked. "What?"
Just how would someone know about that? It wasn't likely anyone would have survived to tell stories, and no one before now had made any sort of mention about who took down the Red Ribbon Army. And...few knew about Goku's exploits in the tournament, either.
In...a casual encounter...?
"Master Tao." A fresh voice called out from the forest behind the ominously smiling man, and a moment later another tall figure walked from the shadows. "There you are. I see that the beast was defeated?"
The man's intense gaze finally turned from them to the green clad man behind him. "Of course. A simple-minded demon like this one is of no threat to me."
"Of course." The one who remained mostly obscured by the braided man gave a small nod. "Then we should return it to the village and assure them that their peace of mind is once more intact."
"Yeah. And collect our reward for saving them!" The small one nodded quickly, turning toward the boar already.
"Very well then. It is getting quite late." The man turned away from them completely, and walked toward the boar. He hesitated a moment, and looked over his shoulder toward them once more. "We will meet again. Next year."
"Yeah!" Goku nodded happily, and then gave an excited wave.
As the trio tied up the hog and then disappeared again into the night, jumping into the trees with as much speed as they'd appeared, she couldn't help the frown that tugged across her lips as they vanished.
...Whatever it was...
Those three made her feel uneasy.
Silence fell upon the forest once more almost immediately after the group of mercenaries left with their prize. In the distance, the cries of a few night time birds began to sound, echoing off of the tree branches and alerting her to the passage of time.
Whoever they were, it was an issue for later. A year, still, until they'd be back at the tournament. Or...Goku would. She didn't have much more reason to enter the tournament now than she had before, but...at least she'd be there. Just in case of whatever it was that made her feel uncertain about it.
"Man..." Goku made an irritated sound and walked ahead of her through the freshly trampled grass. "Now I want bacon."
AN: Fun fact - This was going to be a two chapter adventure, but the last adventure was four chapters, and not much could be done with the story of the episode that would be interesting anyway. (Most of it was fluff with Inoshikacho and the villagers that wouldn't work as well with Sakura present)
The important parts made it into this chapter, and that's what counts.
Onward.
To excitement.