Hello again! Now that the last chapter ended with a shocking discovery, what will happen now?!
Based on MasakoX's What If series "What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?", but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.
DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.
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CHAPTER 10: ENTER KING PICCOLO
Kakarot cradled the body of his best friend in his arms, his face uncomprehending.
Krillin was dead. From the look of him, his frontal lobe had been smashed in. His eyes were blank but his face was frozen in fear from the last thing he saw. Gine knew that lingering final expression all too well.
She stood behind her son, her heart constricting in anguish at taking in the sight.
Gine had dealt with loss. She was a Saiyan afterall, and Gine had lost comrades in battle more times than she cared to remember. But now, all those deaths she experienced did not strike to her core as much as what she was seeing before her.
Maybe it was the fifteen years of the most peaceful living she had ever known that made her forget the pain and horror of death, but that wasn't just it. She knew this sweet little boy from Kakarot's heartwarming tales of his adventures around the Earth. She had the joy to finally meet him, talk with him of his and her son's exploits through his words, see him fight, and bond with him as she did with all of Kakarot's friends, her friends now too. A mischievous kind soul who would never wish ill on anyone. Only minutes ago alive and laughing.
There was a commotion behind Gine as the rest of the gang came into the temple grounds. Master Roshi, Tien, and Gohan stopped beside her. Roshi looked gut-punched when he saw his student lay lifeless on the floor.
"What happened, Kakarot?!" Yamcha asked, as he and Bulma came in last, his broken leg slowing him down.
"Oh no!" Oolong cried out, as Launch and Puar came up on Gine's other side. Chi-chi ran past Gine and stopped behind Kakarot, gasping when she saw what happened.
"Krillin..." Kakarot finally said, his voice flat. "He's dead."
Everyone gasped in shock. They stood where they were for a long few moments, not believing what they were seeing and hearing.
"It-It can't be true! IT can't!" Yamcha shouted in horror.
Though still in shock, Gine noticed the blonde announcer was on the floor too. He looked battered and sounded terrified when he started babbling at them.
"It-it was a monster! A hideous monster!"
"Easy." Tien kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but the announcer went on.
"It took a strange ball covered with stars, and a list of the Martial Arts Society!"
"A dragon ball?" Gohan realized.
"By a monster?" Roshi asked as well. The announcer looked over towards Krillin's body.
"Krillin tried to stop the beast, but it was too strong... that boy fought with everything he had."
Gine heard him but didn't take her eyes off her son. Kakarot started convulsing, his tail frayed and twitched as he couldn't hold back his sobs.
It was then that Gine realized Kakarot had experienced, for the first time in his life, losing someone dear to him. Back on planet Vegeta, a moment like this would've happened much sooner in Kakarot's life, but ever since they came to Earth, she prayed it never would.
But now it has. Krillin was truly gone, Kakarot couldn't save him in time. And who or whatever did this was still out there somewhere.
"Oh, Kakarot..." Gine said softly, a lump in her throat formed as she felt sorrow and anger overtake her as well. "I'm so sorry."
Chi-chi slowly and somewhat affrightedly walked up behind Kakarot as if to try and comfort him as well.
"Kakarot..." She tried to say. But then he shot up, clenching his fists with rage.
"HE DIDN"T DESERVE THIS!" He screamed.
Kakarot grabbed his Power Pole off the ground, and turned towards the gang with determination in his eyes. He didn't acknowledge his mother or Chi-chi behind him.
"Bulma, do you have the dragon radar on you?!" He demanded.
The poor girl was still too shocked to answer, so she just pulled out the device from her pocket wordlessly. Kakarot suddenly ran past her, snatching the radar out of her hand without stopping.
"Stay with Krillin, mom!" He called out behind him.
"Kakarot, wait!" Roshi cried out from behind Gine. Kakarot didn't heed his master's command and kept running out.
"Don't try to stop me!" Kakarot yelled back over his shoulder.
"Stop! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Roshi shouted, as ferociously as a master could shout to a student. But Kakarot kept running as he brushed past the temple's entrance, knocking over the entrance sign.
Before anyone knew it, he was already out of sight.
Gine and everyone else starred at where Kakarot ran off to into the late afternoon sun.
"Impetuous!" Roshi cursed, then turned to Gine.
"That thing was strong enough to kill Krillin, and now your boy is running off right after a big match!"
She and Gohan shared a look when they knew what he meant.
"Kakarot didn't have a chance to eat or rest since the final match." Gohan said as he caught on, "He may not have much energy left to defeat whatever it was that attacked Krillin!"
Gine realized that as well, but she also knew that didn't mean Kakarot would be done for. Her son may be too caught up in the moment, but he wasn't stupid when it came to matters of survival. She and Gohan taught him better than that. He'll find a way to deal with that.
Roshi nodded in grave confirmation to Gohan's deduction, then added "We can only hope that he either comes to his senses soon or prevails, somehow..."
Gine looked at the Turtle Hermit for a long second.
"Don't worry about him." Gine then said curtly, garnering a look of surprise from both Gohan and Roshi.
"Kakarot will be fine, he knows his limits." She said as if it were a matter of fact. She knew they meant well, but to say that something was a lost cause before even doing it was the most pitiful thing one could say to a Saiyan.
Roshi looked at her incredulously. "Didn't you just hear what I said?! Kakarot shouldn't just run off unprepared to fight something that killed someone as strong as Krillin!"
"You're already talking as if he was dead. He is a Saiyan warrior! You know what he is capable of and how he can take care of himself!" Gine shot back.
"That doesn't mean he should just run off when I tell him to stay! Don't you care what happens to him?!"
Gine turned to face Master Roshi fully, feeling anger rising in her. "He has the right to avenge his friend! And how dare you ask me if I care for my own son!"
Roshi and Gine locked eyes, neither backing down from pressing their points.
"Please!" Gohan exclaimed as he pressed himself between them.
Gine and Roshi snapped out of their revere. "Are you seriously going to squabble right here?!" He begged of them, gesturing towards Tien cradling Krillin's body, having closed his eyes out of respect.
Gine and Roshi looked down at their feet and at each other ashamed, arguing while a child lay dead before them.
"He was a brave soldier." Tien said with absolute conviction.
They all nodded. Gine could not deny it either, even for a human child, Krillin truly was strong.
"One kick to the frontal lobe, from the looks of it." Said Tien, observing Krillin's body.
"Are you serious?! Someone with Krillin's strength killed with one kick?!" Yamcha exclaimed in disbelief.
"It happens." Gohan said gravely.
"Who could be so cruel?" Chiaotzu asked, a question that burned desperately in everyone's hearts.
Oolong had walked back toward the group from where Krillin lay earlier, with something in his hand. "I found this piece of paper laying on the ground next to him. Do you think it has anything to do with it?"
Bulma took the piece of paper and read it aloud.
"It's the word 'Devil', circled." She said, as Gine and Yamcha tried to read it over her shoulder.
The sound of Roshi's cane hitting the ground reached her ears when he was suddenly behind them, his face ashen.
"LET ME SEE!" He demanded urgently. Gine was taken aback, she had never seen this perpetually relaxed teacher so scared.
Bulma handed it to him and he read it. Gohan, concerned over his former master's look of terror, came up beside it and read it too.
Both Roshi and Gohan turned white.
"It-It can't be! It's impossible!" Roshi uttered, his hands gripping the paper and trembling.
Everyone was now worried. Whatever it was that managed to shake two of the most respected Martial Arts masters on Earth, it must have been extremely serious.
"What is it, Roshi?" Bulma asked, now truly afraid. Gine was disturbed too. But all she heard was Roshi muttering one word to himself.
"Piccolo..."
They all stood there for a long time, wondering what to say.
"Master Roshi?" Turtle broke the silence, and braved to ask what it was. Roshi didn't seem to acknowledge Turtle, but answered.
"This is the crest...of King Piccolo." He said, shuddering.
"King Piccolo?!" Everyone repeated, unsure if they heard that name correctly.
Gohan shuttered too, and turned towards his master. "The...very same that claimed, your former Master, sir?"
Roshi nodded slowly. "The very same..."
They both looked back at the paper, petrified and not believing what lay in their hands.
"Someone actually admits to having that name?" Launch said disbelievingly, she was the only one who didn't feel the least bit worried about what it all meant.
"I've heard that name." Said Tien. Everyone turned to him.
"It's a legendary creature that was said to have thrown the world in the depths of terror, ages ago." He said.
"It's true." Roshi said. He starred off towards the horizon. Talking to them but not seeing them, as if looking back in time.
"His name may sound funny, but I assure you that there is nothing humorous about that savage beast. With him, came darkness and chaos. His minions of terror reeked havoc across the planet, destroying all in their path with indiscriminate fury. No one knew where they came from or what they wanted, but they were here, laughing as our world crumbled around them..."
Gine felt a cold chill run through her, this type of genocide sounded all too familiar.
"Piccolo and his army destroyed one city after another with no one to oppose him, save for one school of meager but determined martial artists which I was a part of. When the horde closed in, we banded together for one final assault to push back against the demon king's evil forces. Though hopelessly outnumbered, we were united. And with our combined strength, we offered a formidable defense. Many great demons fell that day, but even more great men fell along side them..." Roshi paused, his eyes glistened as if remembering those who fought and died beside him. Gine felt a moment of kindred spirit with him.
"When the battle was over, there was only myself and the Crane Hermit left standing. But our skirmish barely put a dent in Piccolo's forces. Desperate and out of time, we concentrated our energy into a shield that absorbed the horde's attack, and reflected back at them. One bright light, that's all I remember. By some luck, it worked as the horde was vanquished somehow. We thought it was all over, but it turned out the horde was just an opening act for the demon king himself. We barely got a glimpse of his ugly mug before he simply dismissed us with a wave of his hand. We were but rag dolls caught in a storm."
No one spoke as he talked, Gine both captivated and uncomfortably reminded by the fact that the infodump's only info on Earth's population was during some sort of crisis almost a hundred years ago, during which almost half the planet's population was dead. Was this what it was referring ?
Roshi continued. "Shen and I were young and in our prime, we gave everything we had but still King Piccolo prevailed. All those lives lost and we didn't even lay a scratch on him! He was immune to anyone, even Mutaito!"
"Who's Mutaito?" Bulma asked.
"He was my master." He said, almost mournfully. "Shen's as well."
"Crane never mentioned him before." Tien added.
Roshi nodded. "No, I'm sure he didn't. This was a very long time ago. And Mutaito was by far the greatest Martial Artist who ever lived. For he faced Piccolo himself, but even he was still defeated and nearly beaten to death until Shen and I rescued him. We nearly lost him, but thanks to a strong immune system and my extraordinary bedside manner, Master Mutaito made a full recovery. But I suppose exterior wounds heal faster than those we keep inside. For my master, the shame of being dishonored in front of his students, and the loss of the ones he couldn't protect was more than he could bare. So, unwilling to continue his teaching, he left. Hoping that time could heal what his heart could not."
"It's strange picturing you and the Crane Hermit as friends." Yamcha said, "And what you went through, I had no idea."
"Neither did I." Said Tien. "Crane Hermit never spoke of his past. Not to us."
"Yeah." Chiaotzu confirmed.
"Something changed in Shen that day. I could see it in his eyes." Roshi explained. "It was as if goodness itself had betrayed him. Whether it was our master's leaving or the alluring power of evil, who knows. He snapped, and the man I once knew as my friend was gone. Another casualty..." He said, staring off into the horizon.
Gine thought for a moment about Crane. How he, the human she had beaten and broken and almost killed for him trying to murder her son, one of the few people trying to save the world. A funny, but sad thought. And she felt somewhat guilty for hurting him after what little good he tried to do...
"Gee, that's too bad." Oolong said, interrupting their thoughts. Gine glared at him when he didn't notice and asked, "So what happened next? Did you defeat King Piccolo?"
"I didn't. Piccolo continued his rampage across the globe, covering the land with fire and ash. Unable to defeat him, I fled-"
"You ran?! I would've stood my ground." Oolong interrupted again, Roshi wheeled around to face him.
"Obviously you've never fought a titan before! If flesh and blood were as strong as pride, we'd all be invincible!"
Gohan nodded at that, then Roshi continued. "Fortunately I found refuge in the mountains, where I continued my training as best as I could. But as the years passed, I lost hope and begun to feel the weight of my solitude. But then one day, that hope returned when my mentor Mutaito found me again. He had spent his time away strengthening his abilities, and in doing so, discovered a way to defeat King Piccolo for good. By trapping King Piccolo in something called the Evil Containment Wave. A powerful magical ability allowing you to ensnare any entity of pure evil in it's wake into a specifically made physical container. For King Piccolo, my master acquired an electric cooking jar which he imprisoned Piccolo's essence and body. He had been defeated once and for all, sealed away from the rest of the world. But the energy it took to accomplish that required my master to use his own life force, and died from the battle. He had regained his honor, and saved the people of Earth by giving his life..." Roshi closed his moisture-clouded eyes as a tear fell. Gine never imagined this pervert, could hold such pain and history.
After a moment, he opened his eyes again and finished his tale. "As for Piccolo, I obeyed my master's final wish and threw the jar into the sea so he could never escape. No one has seen or heard of Piccolo since...until today."
"Oh no!" Chiaotzu realized. "What if Crane Hermit found it and opened it again?!"
Roshi turned to them, "No, Shen more than anyone knows the danger of releasing King Piccolo from his prison."
"But, master, the note and the description of the monster suggests that it could be one of Piccolo's minions." Said Yamcha.
Now everyone else was worried, that Piccolo was bad enough without an army. "Where did you say those mountains were?" Asked Oolong half-jokingly.
"If that is the case, then Kakarot is in grave danger..." Gohan whispered. Gine looked at him despairingly. She could believe the horror this Piccolo had caused for Roshi and Gohan to feel frightened. This planet was full of surprises. If someone as powerful as them felt as if they were no match for Piccolo, then she started to regret letting her son go on his own.
"What will we do if the monsters come back?!" Panicked Puar.
"This is horrible." Said Turtle, sinking into despair.
"Even if King Piccolo is responsible, there's a chance Kakarot won't be able to find him." Added Tien.
"Don't bet on it pal, that's why he took Bulma's dragon radar." Launch said.
But then that raised another question. "What's he after? I understand taking the dragon ball. But why steal a list of the Martial Arts Society" Roshi asked himself aloud.
"Wait a minute!" Shouted Tien. "What's all this talk about dragons? Or radars, or balls! What's that got to do with anything?!"
There was a collective sigh, they haven't explained the dragon balls to Tien or Chiaotzu yet.
"Kakarot, what are you getting yourself into..." Roshi said. Then thought for a long moment...
"AGH!" He realized with horror.
"You don't need to shout, I'm right here!" Complained Oolong.
"That's why they took that list!" He said.
"WHO?!" Said everyone.
"It was King Piccolo, somehow he escaped. Knowing that it was a fighter who used the Evil Containment Wave to trap him in his prison, he stole the list to learn of his enemies."
"I get it!" Said Yamcha. "With a phonebook of his enemies he could easily track them down!"
"And he guards against the Waves by killing those who know how to use it!" Finished Tien.
"Exactly!"
"If only there was some way to warn Kakarot before it's too late." Realized Gohan, but then knew it was futile. After this much time figuring out the responsible party for Krillin's demise, Kakarot could be anywhere over a hundred miles of where they were now.
"Oh no..." Bulma said in despair. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have given him the dragon radar."
"It isn't your fault... Kakarot made his own choice, as did Krillin." Said Roshi mournfully. "There's no excuses, its just fate."
"What the hell is wrong with all of you?!" Gine suddenly said. They all started at her agape.
"You sound like you've given up already!" She said in outrage.
"I'm sorry, but Kakarot is most likely gone." Roshi said.
"That's not true! How could you say such a thing when he just barely left or found his body!" She pressed, disgust in her voice but frightened by that idea. Oolong joined in too.
"Why do you expect Kakarot to fail? You should have more faith in him!"
"That's right!" Added Puar.
Roshi nodded, "I agree that there is always a chance, but there is not much more that we can do but return to my island. We have to bury Krillin, the rest can wait."
Gine couldn't stand any of this defeatist talk. Yamcha couldn't either. "I never thought I could hate someone I never met before, but King Piccolo is an animal! Once I'm through with him, he'll wish he just stayed in that jar!"
Bulma wheeled around to face her boyfriend. "You sound like Kakarot, what's wrong with you?! That monster is too powerful, you'll just get yourself killed too!"
Yamcha looked at her seriously, "That list he took has my name on it, Bulma. And I'm not just going to sit around and let him find me!" He then turned to the rest of the gang.
"Chi-chi, Tien, and Chiaotzu. You are all on the list as well. Even if Kakarot does fail, this Piccolo will come after us either way.
Bulma looked defeated, but Yamcha was right.
"At least he'll never hunt for pigs! We're cute!" Quipped Oolong. But Bulma raged at him. "YOU'LL END UP THE MAIN COURSE ON HIS DINNER TABLE YOU OINKER!"
"No one is safe, King Piccolo's ambition does not allow for bystanders. Should he gain dominion over our world again, all will be lost. What his nightmarish flames don't scorch, his legions will devour."
Gine couldn't believe it. How could this day have turned so irrevocably dark? Just earlier they were celebrating a tournament of amazing battles and drama that had tested her emotional limits of dealing with people. And now, with her son's best friend murdered, and on top of being pushed to her breaking point of the rollercoaster ride of emotions the events of the tournament put her through, they were now facing a long dormant evil threatening to destroy their world. It would almost seem like some cosmic joke was being played on them, but it wasn't funny.
Roshi, and almost everyone was already accepting the end of the world. She was instantly reminded of the day Bardock told her that Frieza was going to destroy their planet. She remembered that fear she felt on that day, for her life, and for her children. To die by the hands of the being who's biding they did. What everyone was feeling now. Somehow she also thought of the fear of all the planets she helped conquer.
All this time she thought she would be away from that. All the pain, suffering, and destruction that sounded all too familiar to her. Everything that was done in the name of Frieza, the countless planets purged of all life. Nothing but death and destruction while the inhabitants could do nothing but die a hopeless defense of their worlds.
She then thought of the planet she stood upon now. The most beautiful blue orb she had ever known, filled with untold wonders of life, that led them to the miracle of Gohan who adopted her and her son when they had no where else to go. The one place in the universe that she called her true home. The place that saved her in every way a person could be saved.
"There will be no quarter, no haven." Roshi continued, crestfallen. His words blending in with the images playing in Gine's head.
Earth. Her home, fallen in the way countless others before it fell to Frieza, and like Planet Vegeta. Cities reduced to rubble, forests blackened and burnt, continents cratered, oceans evaporated and running red with blood. So many bodies, inhabitants slaughtered without mercy. Men, women, children, elderly, animals. Lucky enough to not be kept for slavery or torture.
Then her friends, her son, Gohan, Paozu, and everything she had come to love so dearly...
"Complete genocide..."
Even without Frieza following her across the galaxy, this curse of destruction will fall on Earth too...
"No..." Said Gine softly, clenching her fists.
"Hm?" Roshi turned to her.
Gine looked at Roshi dead in the eye.
"It will not come to that. Not if I have anything to say about it."
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.
"I wish I shared your determination, Gine. But the situation is far more dire than you could imagine. There is no way we can defeat King Piccolo-"
"I'll face him myself."
Everyone exclaimed in shock.
"Are you insane?!" Roshi yelled at her. "Do you and Kakarot have a death wish?! I told you there is no way you can defeat Piccolo! My Master, Mutaito, was the greatest warrior Earth has ever known, a hundred times stronger than me and even he died trying to defeat him!"
Gine rushed Roshi and shoved him against the wall of the temple grounds, the bricks crumbling from the impact while she held him against the wall by his suit. Everyone backed away in horror, and even Roshi was amazed by how fast and strong she was. Gine gave him a deadly glare and she caught a hint of fear in his eyes, hoping that he now knew that if she felt so inclined, she could pulverize him where he stood.
The moment lasted only a moment when Roshi realized she won't do it, then glowered at her. "Let go of me!"
Gine dropped him and Gohan rushed to his side. Gine immediately felt ashamed for what she did, but she hoped it got the message across.
"I'm so sorry master." Gohan dusted off Roshi, and he starred at Gine.
She softened her expression, but spoke seriously. "I mean no disrespect to you or your old master, but I am a Saiyan. I am not like any warrior on this planet, and I am by far the strongest on it as well. I will deal with this threat myself. I will not let this world that has given me and my son a second chance at life fall to ruin at the hands of some monster."
Roshi straightened out his suit and put his hat on, then sneered to Gine. "Even if you are strong enough to defeat me or even Master Mutaito, there's still no guarantee Piccolo could be beaten. You may be able to grind me to dust but you are far too brash and let your emotions dictate your actions. And if that's all you got, then we don't have much to go with."
Gine gritted her teeth. Was this human really going to put her down too?! At least Gohan tried to help her control those even in her worst training moments.
Before Gine could entertain the urge to punch Roshi's face in to demonstrate how she could grind him to literal bloody dust, Gohan stepped in. "Eh, master. Please listen and hear her out on this. I know I've told you how strong she is, and how we've been training for all these years. If she has been holding back on me as much as she says she has, then she is the one Piccolo should be afraid of, not the other way around."
Gine blushed at that praise, and chuckled uncomfortably. Tien walked up to Roshi, looking at Gine as if he had a lot of new realizations and questions about her.
"Er, I have to agree with Gohan. If our little altercation a few days ago and how she dealt with Crane was anything to go by, then I was foolish to think I was equal to her son. If he says he wishes she can be as strong as her, I can only imagine how powerful she herself must be."
"I like her idea! She's the strongest person anyone every knew!" Said Chi-chi, the Oolong added "Hey, yeah. She's awesome!" Then Launch, "Awesome? She's kickass!" Then everyone else gave some cheer for her one way or another. Gine got more uncomfortable from all the praise, but she thanked them for all their support and was glad she was able to lift them out of feeling impending doom.
But Roshi still wasn't convinced. "Even so, I still don't know who you are or can entirely trust you with the fate of our world. So we'll have to find another way."
Fine, if he was stubborn about that, Gine decided to entertain that idea.
"So, this Evil Containment Wave your old master used to trap King Piccolo the first time around seemed to work pretty well. Why don't we use it instead?" She asked Roshi
Roshi looked defeated. "I've only seen it once. Master Mutaito died before he had a chance to teach it to me properly. Even if I did know it, it would require me to use all my life energy to use it, and die in the process."
"Oh." Tien said, as if he was about to ask the same thing, and had his idea shot down for him.
"Well then I'll still fight Piccolo. Even if I don't win, it beats curling up into a ball and giving up!" She admonished.
"Yeah!" Launch, Yamcha, Chi-chi, and Tien agreed. Roshi still didn't looked convinced. But she could tell his resolution was fading. What better idea did he have anyway?
Gine turned to Bulma. "Bulma, do you have another dragon ball radar?"
Bulma was still dazed by everything that was happening, but shook her head. "No, the one Kakarot took was the only one."
"Can you construct a new one?" Gine asked.
"Uh, sure. Why?"
Gine explained as a plan fell into place in her head. "That thing that killed Krillin took the dragon ball as well. If it's King Piccolo and if he's after them, he'll have to find the others. If he gets all of them, then we will surely be doomed if he makes a wish to dominate the world."
They looked at her trying to see where she was going with this train of thought, then Chi-chi caught on. "Oh I see! He won't be able to use them if we find at least one of them!"
"That's right!" Gine smiled, "And since Kakarot has the other radar looking for the stolen ball, we might be able to find him as well. And if we do, it might lead us to Piccolo. And when we do, I will take him down."
Gohan nodded, smiling at how Gine already has them hopeful and a means to confront the demon king set in motion. And as terrified Piccolo makes him, he somehow had a feeling that Gine's true strength will come through. From all the times she almost killed him in training and her holding back, he might get a glimpse of her true Saiyan power.
Then Gine turned back to Bulma, "So, Bulma, would you be able to construct a new one as quickly as possible?"
"Oh yes, definitely!"
"How soon?" Gine asked.
"Well, if I hurry I could probably make one in half a day."
"Then get to it, the sooner it gets done the better. We'll head out and find them as soon as you are finished."
"Got it!" Bulma said determinedly. "Just need to find a quiet place to assemble it!"
Gine nodded, then turned to Roshi.
"With that in mind, let's head to your island so we can have a safe place to make the radar, rest, and pay our respects to Krillin as you wanted." She said to him politely.
Master Roshi looked at her distrustfully and sighed through his nostrils. He was the master here and ought to be the one to know what to do, and who made this woman in charge?!
But he found himself unable to rebuke her. He had to respect that Gine was ready to deal with this threat even if she had no idea what she was up against. He figured she was probably where Kakarot inherited his headstrongness.
Could it be possible? He dared to ask himself. With the hinted-at stories Gohan told him that she was once a planet purger, she could put her experience in battle to use. And as much as he hated to admit it, he truly knew how strong she was. Not even Mutaito could come close to her.
But whatever the possibility was to defeat Piccolo, he won't argue with her with the fact that it was better than just waiting for the monster to conquer the world again.
"Very well then, let's all head there and regroup." He caved in.
"Uh, excuse me, but it seems clear that this seems like a matter for the police to handle." Said the announcer. Gine almost forgot that he was there with them too.
"Under normal circumstances, yes." Roshi acknowledged, "But local law enforcement is very ill-equipped to deal with this kind of crisis."
"Then who?!" He asked incredulously.
"It's up to us." Said Gine.
"Really?!"
"Yes." Gohan backed her up. "As Tien pointed out, he has been defeated before. He is not invincible. If Kakarot comes back this way, can you tell him we went back home to Master Roshi's island?"
"I understand, if there's anyone who can save us, I think its all of you."
Gine inexplicably felt a warmth with a icy prickling with it spread through her heart at those words. To think that she had gone from a planet purger to a savior, an idea mixed with such painful reminders was a strange feeling she had no idea how to digest.
As quickly as the moment came, she suppressed it. Gine wouldn't get too deep into that feeling yet. They still had to save the Earth first.
Launch walked over to Tien and he handed her Krillin's covered body. "I took it for granted he'd always be here." She choked out.
Tien then walked over to Roshi with Chiaotzu in tow. "Master Roshi? Chiaotzu and I have talked it over and we'd like to come if that's alright."
"Don't be silly, of course you can. We'd really appreciate your assistance." Roshi said.
"Oh I can't believe this is happening to me! Suddenly my whole world's dark." Complained Oolong.
"It's happening to all of us, so stuff it!" screamed Launch.
There we go! Sorry it took so long since I've been burned out from mandatory overtime at work and my other obligations. But I got the Saga drafted already so I just need to go over it and edit it. And sorry this chapter seemed so short, been feeling like my writing has been too condensed and packed so I'm trying to see if I can cut it down a bit. If you think this is better or if it's been good so far, let me know!
Anyways, see you in the next chapter!