AN: A reverse summon is only possible if someone on that side summons a person. Katsuyu would need to summon her, and Katsuyu has no arms.

Reminder - I don't tolerate fighting in the reviews or attacking other reviewers.

Other reminder - chi/chakra are literally the same word in different languages. Artistic license determines that the different definitions come from different perspectives and utility.

I'm mildly curious whether the AU will change things to a point where reader-preferred ships will differ from canon. As an alternative to power level bickering, I prompt reviewers to share any TNDO specific ships (or hopes for how things will play out in the future regarding characters not yet premiered) they may have.

First though, I'll shatter your dreams and sink the obvious fan preferred ship: Sakura and Roshi will not hook up. :(

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Seventy-seven

"Krillin!" Goku jumped from the wall so quickly that he made it to Krillin's side before she could even turn around the screen.

Krillin fell to the ground with a sound so quiet it almost seemed silent, after the terrible crack of his impact. His body crumpled on the floor at an angle that it shouldn't have been able to.

"No don't-!" Her hands lanced out and seized Goku's arms before he could grab his friend. He'd gained an incredible amount of strength even over the last three years. It took some considerable effort to restrain his flailing and lift him away from the other boy.

Although she could see Krillin breathing from where she stood, he made no other movement.

So...

He's alive.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"If you touch him he'll die!" Her voice rose sharply, snapping like a whip not to calm Goku, but to freeze Yamcha in his tracks. Though the man had been briefly paralyzed with surprise and horror, he'd just about recovered and had been about to move the boy himself.

Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but not much of one.

For the moment, at least, both of them hesitated, looking up at her in confusion.

"Can't you see? His back is broken. If you try to move him and you don't know what you're doing, you'll make it worse."

"His back...?" Goku's expression twisted to one of concern briefly, and then to anger. With a startling suddenness, he struggled free of her grasp and dropped to the ground. Rather than attempt to grab Krillin, though, he shot off toward the arena, where Tien was just beginning to walk back from.

"Goku, no!" Yamcha sprinted after the boy, this time struggling with him to keep him from attacking the man walking toward them. "If you attack him now, you'll be disqualified!"

She tried not to think of home. She tried not to compare this world and the people in it to the people at home, and the ones who were gone (not gone, not really. She'd bring them all back.) but...

She couldn't help the flicker of memory that raced through her mind. It felt like a lifetime ago when all they worried about was whether they'd make it to Chuunin rank or not. One of the fights - the one between Neji and Hinata Hyuuga - had turned out like this. She supposed Goku was a bit like Lee.

But...this situation wasn't like that one at all.

The three-eyed man wouldn't learn a lesson, Naruto wasn't there to change him the way he changed everyone. This world wasn't hers, and it wouldn't play out the way it had.

"Perhaps you should ignore your friend." The man called Tao spoke finally. He'd said and done nothing since the end of the fight between Krillin and Tien. Now he simply stood next to Krillin's crumpled form, arms crossed behind himself, lips curled into a smug smirk. "If you disqualify yourself now, you won't end up in the hospital next to him."

"You-" Yamcha's response cut short when the announcer raced past him, leading medics with a stretcher to where Krillin laid.

"Carefully, now! We have to get him to the hospital!"

Her fingers curled and uncurled. Right now, she could fix him. He'd still have lost the tournament, but he wouldn't need to suffer or risk further injury any longer. But...if she did...she'd reveal who she was. There wasn't any way she could continue to pretend to be 'Ino' if she revealed her healing ability.

Her clone appeared, evidently having jumped the wall and sprinted through the tournament arena.

"Hey, you can't-!"

"I'm going with him." It was a little odd to hear her voice issuing commands from outside her own body. Despite that, it was still effective. The announcer hesitated, still uncertain of breaking whatever rule he wanted to share, but then gave a sharp nod.

"...Very well, then. If you're a friend of his, then...I guess it wouldn't be a problem going with him."

Tien lingered outside until the paramedics and the announcer filed away. It seemed much more likely that he simply didn't want to fight his way through the crowd of people than that he had any concern for the boy's health. He looked far too amused and satisfied to be concerned.

"If they die after the tournament, it doesn't count as a disqualification, isn't that right?"

Tao shook his head, smug smile still in place. "Complications that occur as a result of injuries during a fight of course cannot be counted against a participant. The unavoidable can happen, after all."

"Unavoidable?" Yamcha let had Goku drop to the ground once the medics took Krillin away, and the boy chased immediately after them. He, however, had remained. "You'd already beaten him!"

Tien turned his head toward Yamcha, smirk turning to a sneer of disdain. "I think you'll find that's wrong. The winner hadn't been declared. I gave him a chance to forfeit before the battle, and anyone too weak to handle this tournament and too stupid to know when to quit deserves whatever they bring on themselves."

Yamcha's lip curled into a snarl, and he took a step toward the other man. "You know what? I don't care if I lose the tournament anymore. When we fight...you're a dead man."

The man chuckled, derisive, and walked into the waiting area.

"Now then." Tao Pai Pai spoke in a brisk manner as Goku trudged back into view. "After that little distraction, our battle should be just about to begin."

After this man...she'd advance to fight Tien next. Wherever Yamcha was placed, wherever Goku placed, it didn't matter just then. Neither one of them would get the chance to fight him.

Because before that, she'd destroy him.

(*)

Amazingly, of all the things he could have felt, all he really did feel was sick. Woozy, nauseous, and...wrong. Wrong enough that if he had the energy to do it, he'd probably be panicking. At least a little. His body wanted to, and it had a strong argument for why.

He felt air stirring, but he didn't really feel himself moving, and that was just jarring.

Unfamiliar faces surrounded him until...pink hair?

Sakura?

He squinted, forcing himself to focus. What the hell was she-

The crazy woman slapped one of the white-clothed medics carrying him away as they reached out to touch his arm. "Don't touch him!"

One began to protest, but a sharp glare from her silenced them.

"Wh..." wow. Trying to speak hurt way more than he expected. "Are yyo-"

Her hands flattened over his stomach, and if he were capable of moving properly, he'd probably have attempted immediate escape. Having hands that could smash a giant boulder-mountain on him was not something that made him feel safe.

He couldn't, though. All that his worry and brief flicker of panic allowed him was a brief tensing, and a flare up of pain.

Well, on the bright side, at least he could feel.

Fuzzy.

He felt...fuzzy. Warmth bubbled up inside of him like a foreign entity, almost corporeal. A moment later, needles of pain shot through his back and legs. If they were going to hurt like that he kind of preferred not feeling them at all, or just feeling that wrong feeling again, really. He probably shouldn't be picky.

Her hands lifted away from him, and it was as if she dragged away the warmth and the heat at the same time. It probably wasn't what happened, but it still turned out that way. The lingering pain and discomfort faded into nothing, as well. He was pretty sure, anyway, since the people carrying him smacked the stretcher into something. His entire body jarred.

It was mostly just annoying. He frowned up at her as she climbed into the ambulance he'd just been shoved carelessly into. "What...what did you do?"

She directed an unimpressed look toward him. Which he was entirely unimpressed by. So there. "You could be a little more grateful than accusatory."

He shook his head. "No...I don't understand!" He might not have been a medical professional, but he knew he was badly hurt. The force of the blow, the not-right sensation that flooded everywhere it didn't now, and the reactions of everyone around him. He should have been hurt.

Yet...he just...he felt normal.

"Sir...be careful!" One of the medics near him chirped in worry, reaching out to try to lay him back down.

They didn't possess anywhere near the level of strength for that, and he was still feeling totally unhurt. "How? What did you do?"

She squinted down at him for a moment. "...Didn't Yamcha tell you?"

Wait-what? What did Yamcha have to do with it? What did he miss while he was busy seeing stars and regret?! "Tell me what?"

"...I have a technique that can heal."

"You can what?"

He did not say that. He would have said it, but the medic near him shouted it first. Who...was still there, even if they'd given up trying to make him lie back down.

It was a fair thing to say all the same though, because... "What?"

(*)

Krillin's injury had delayed the tournament a bit. The two competitors about to go into the ring looked like they were one snarky comment away from not waiting, so as much as he still struggled with the urge to chase after his friend and fellow student...it was for the best that the next round finally began.

Well, he still had two fights away from his own, so he might be able to make it there and back...

He shook his head, and fingers dug into his arms.

No.

He needed to focus.

This next fight wasn't that important...but the one after that. He glanced over to where his other friend stood. Goku glared over at the bald man who chose not to observe the battle outside. Though he hadn't said much, he'd been glaring at Tien most of the time since returning from Krillin's side.

Goku...probably could beat the guy just fine. If he improved as much as it looked like he had, he might even have less trouble with it.

But...

He didn't want to beat him. He wouldn't just knock him out. The ones who were too stupid to quit got what was coming to them, right? That guy had a hell of a lot more coming to him than just losing the tournament. Next time Goku could fight Krillin, next time Goku would probably win the tournament.

He'd probably get banned from future tournaments if he intentionally killed another competitor. Might do it if he just intentionally crippled another competitor.

So it was better it be him, not Goku.

So it would be him.

Besides, between the two of them, he was the outlaw with the rich girlfriend. He could live without the tournament. This place might have been one of his dreams, but in the end...what the hell were those worth without the friends to share them with?

Anyway.

He forced his thoughts away from Tien, from the fight that loomed ahead of him which wasn't as much a fight anymore as revenge. This way, at least, he could hold it over Krillin's head that he beat Goku for a few years until the next tournament rolled around.

That might have been a little worth it, too.