AN: I'm a busy person, not quitting. I haven't done anything with thenextdimension tumblr, because most of the ideas that came to mind were explicit and I'm not sure readers are ready to delve into that.

In retrospect I feel like I wrote Tambourine cooler than he really was, but then...that's not the first time I did such.

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Eighty-Seven

Given the nature of the situation, splitting up to find the dragonballs as quickly as possible was obviously the only option. Trying to go and find them all in time as a group simply wouldn't do. They couldn't afford to be completely alone, just in case one of them were attacked by more of those lizard creatures, so of course they were in pairs.

That all made sense.

What didn't make sense was why the hell he ended up with the crazy woman?! Well, at the moment, the woman was in her 'tame' form, the blue haired girl that seemed to miss out on all of the more perverted implications of his shameless master's requests. It meant she wouldn't really be any use in battle, but he didn't particularly want any of the blonde's help, either.

They already started with one dragonball - apparently Goku picked up his favorite some time over those three years - so that left six to find, and effectively five of them to go looking for those.

Honestly, he'd rather have been the one guy going it alone than bring along Launch, but...well. In the end, it was less for his protection than hers. He'd lost one friend of his this week, losing a second - no matter how disturbing - when he could have protected her wasn't an option.

He couldn't really blame Bulma for insisting that Master Roshi be forced to travel with Goku instead of any of the girls, either. That his girlfriend didn't go and kill the old man after setting her sight on Launch for a moment was probably some remarkable restraint.

Now that he thought about it - sourly and with nothing better to do than stare at the two dots closest to him on the radar - it would have been most efficient to pair up Goku and Sakura, rather than use three planes just because a certain Master lost his purity some time in his nineties.

But...

Yeah...sorry, Goku, but I still like having a girlfriend. One who seemed to barely tolerate him traveling with Launch as it was.

Which really opened up the bigger question of why the hell she couldn't be Sakura's problem.

He grumbled and sighed to himself as he poked at the radar and shook his head.

"What is it?" The deceptively sweet sounding woman behind him chirped at him and he almost startled. It's not like one could pretend to be the other, but given a sneeze was all that separated the two, he couldn't help being on edge around the woman at all times. "It didn't stop working, did it?"

"Er...no." He shook his head and glanced back at her - still blue hair, good - offering his best smile. "Don't worry about it. I'd just like if we could move quicker."

She frowned softly in return, settling her hands in her lap and looked down at the ground. "...For the wish, right?"

"Yeah. You heard it all, right?" It'd have been hard not to, considering the screaming argument Goku got into with the old master for a bit over whether to wish back Krillin first or do the practical thing and wish away their troubles.

He didn't blame Goku at all, even if he did come down on Roshi's side about the matter.

She nodded quickly. "...I hope he doesn't mind. If he has to wait a whole year to come back, you don't think he'll think we forgot about him, do you?"

...He'd never really thought about the after life. None of the people in the village talked about it when they'd brought those back, and they were all a bit too distracted to bother conducting interviews.

Still. If there was a magical wish granting dragon summoned by glowing orbs once a year, an afterlife wasn't out of the question at all. And if he was up there...could he hear anything they did? Could he tell the passage of time?

His lips pressed together in a line. "Not a chance. Because I'd never give up on him."

(*)

"The way these last two dragonballs are scattered is inconvenient...damn it." Bulma growled as she aggressively clicked the button on the top of the radar. Like it could actually pull the items closer just by zooming in and out.

It was just a bit disturbing, considering her attention was on the radar more than the heliplane she currently piloted.

Sakura sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Hoping that they'd conveniently spread out in three cardinal directions would have been too much."

"...I should have just collected them all together the year after they were scattered."

"Don't be stupid." That creature had been looking for dragonballs. Whatever his other priorities were, those were one of his targets, and even without one of Bulma's radars, she had a feeling putting them all together would make it easier to find the set. "Making yourself a target instead wouldn't have made anything better."

The green haired woman shot a withering glare back at her for a moment. "Oh? Is that what you thought when you were fighting with Krillin?"

Her fingers dug into her own arms, stiffness radiating painfully through her body all at once. It wasn't hard to guess that the reaction was visible, given that Bulma's expression changed to one of surprise a moment later.

Bulma shook her head quickly, turning her gaze back to the radar. "I...no, that wasn't right. I'm sorry, it's just..."

In the end, even though the woman simply lashed out a moment in pain, Bulma wasn't wrong. Had she given up on a pointless fight with no one important and just gone with Krillin in her real body, he'd be alive right now. He'd be the last person on the team hunting for dragonballs, the one heading for the ball out of the way for them.

"It does seem to be a habit of mine to slip away and 'escape' right before someone else dies in my place." She shook her head. It wasn't even 'in her place' this time, though. It was...pointless.

Yamcha was certainly determined to pin the blame on this shadowy figure, and he was...right, really. That thing, that Demon King, he was to blame for Krillin's death. She'd punish him, she'd make him suffer one way or another, even if it was as impersonal as wishing him out of existence and robbing him of his dreams and goals like he stole Krillin's.

Yet...her problem stretched further than just one failure, more than just one death. What good was a ninja who couldn't protect her teammates? What good was someone who failed to save their friends? Ever?

"Hey." Bulma broke the silence again, voice steeled with new determination. "We've made it to one of them. Down there."

She stood and moved behind the pilot in the small vehicle, looking down at the structures Bulma pointed out. It seemed like some sort of dilapidated shrine and a sprinkling of buildings sprawling out from it. Not quite abandoned, but also no population center.

"It's possible no one saw the dragonball land here."

Bulma nodded as she landed the plane. "That's what I was thinking. If that's so, we'll be able to collect it and then double back for the other one pretty quickly."

"Right, here, you give me the radar and stay in here. Keep it running and I'll do a sweep of the area with this."

The woman seemed...some what hesitant, but necessity won her over, and the small white radar settled in Sakura's hand easily. With as small as the area was...even if someone had found the ball, she'd just grab it and leave before they ever knew she was there. World ending threats took precedence, after all.

She waited just until she made it to the grass to give her legs a burst of chakra. The nearest building seemed like the most reasonable place to check first, rather than combing the grass for something that might have already been collected.

She made it as far as two steps past the door before a voice stopped her cold.

"Do you always barge into people's houses without knocking, or is it just when you're hoping to see something special?"

The cold, casual snarl in his voice. The deadly confidence. The insufferable smugness.

In the relative darkness of the house a man lounged on a wooden bench with scant but his confidence and a barely-there towel over his lap. Muscles glinted in the same sheen that settled all across the room evenly - a sauna, apparently, not a house - and a cruel smile that suggested not a hint of amusement or warmth turned toward her.

Three eyes peered up at her in equal distaste, and cold rage flooded her limbs in stark contrast to the heat of the room.

"...You."

(*)

It didn't take a genius to see how uncomfortable and impatient Goku was. And it didn't take a master to see how much the boy had grown in the three years it'd been already. They'd set foot on the ground already now, searching for the source of the blip on the radar, but where before Goku might have been a blur of movement and impatience, eager to collect the ball and move on to the next in the hope of a new challenge...

Even if he didn't look much different physically, in his face, the turtle hermit could see perfectly clear that his best student had grown since the days he'd been digging crops with his bare hands and complaining about delivering milk.

Holding the body of a good friend in your arms would do that.

He hoped quite fiercely that Goku would never know what it felt like to hold the body of a student in his arms. That was a moment of growing up the pure boy in front of him need never experience.

"Hey Goku, try climbing one of those trees and see if you can spot anything up there." He nodded to one of the nearby palms. "I'd do it, but the days of this old back shimmying up trees without a pretty lady on the other end are long gone, heh."

Goku...hesitated a moment, eyes turning up toward him a moment, slightly widened.

Of course.

After something so sudden and visceral...it's no surprise that even someone like Goku would be worried. And he had good reason to be. If the Demon King were to attack right now...

"What's that look supposed to be for, eh?! If you're not gonna do it then I'll have to eat both portions of luck for the energy!"

"Wha-no I'll do it right away!" Goku startled quickly, his worry immediately sidelined by his stomach. The young boy scurried off and clambered up the tree immediately, with the kind of ease he couldn't help but envy. Even with immortality...ah...sometimes he missed a body that didn't know how to ache and pop so intimately well.

"Heh...eh." He shook his head and grinned to himself. Even he could admit that joke was a little bit flat. Well, not all of them could be winners. And he was distracted, anyway. Despite his...relative confidence that Piccolo couldn't be anywhere near them just yet - would he even know if one of his minions were dead, or would they simply not have reported in yet? - he couldn't afford to be entirely relaxed.

Wishing away Piccolo...it's probably too much to hope for. It's exactly the kind of solution they needed, the kind of thing that would have saved his master and so many lives before and after. But...when in his many years had life let things be that easy?

Even if he had to believe this would work, he also had to expect Piccolo to find them. Some time. Somewhere. At least once they'd need to face against him, even if it was only holding him off long enough for the rest to flee and make the wish somewhere safe.

He didn't need to ask his sister to know that part of his future.

"I found it!"

"-Eh?" He blinked, jarred from his thoughts with the sudden cheerful voice of his pupil. "Really? Where?"

Goku dropped out from the top of the tree as if he'd just hopped off of the porch onto sand. And landed with as much effort and impact. Leaves and branches poked out from his hair at every angle and - for reasons better left unknown - Goku's wide grin also had a few bits of leaves and moss in between his teeth.

"Here!" In his hand shone the two star dragonball.

In...

In the first random tree he'd pointed out.

"...Huh."

On second thought, maybe they could make it out of this as easily as it looked after all.