Hello again! Time for the next installment of Gine gathering the dragonballs and taking on King Piccolo! Sorry it took so long, lots of things happening in the real world to get caught up in. Still am, but I'm still here to continue.
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.
Please support the official release!
Also, read and review!
CHAPTER 12: CLOSING IN
"Are you sure you won't change your mind?" Roshi asked, ignoring the dozens of machine guns pointed at him.
The captain of the pirate land-ship they were on laughed as he tossed the seven-star dragon ball and caught it repeatedly. Gine wondered, from where she stood in the circle of the gang while surrounded by the crew of the ship that held them hostage, how did they get themselves in this?
"What do ya think? I was the first to find this thing. It's mine!"
"You don't need that ball do you?" Asked Tien.
"It's simply a shiny trinket. Pleasing to the eye. But I can tell from your reaction it holds great value, at least to yee." The captain said with a sly grin.
"What is it you want? Money?" Asked Yamcha.
"Arr." He confirmed. "How about a million zeni?"
"A million?!" The gang exclaimed all at once.
"You can't be serious." Gohan said.
"You heard me, old man. Take it or leave it!" The captain demanded.
"Hmmmm. You drive a hard bargain." Said Roshi, woefully. He turned around and looked into his wallet.
Gine shook her head. Was he actually going to give this guy what he wanted?
"I don'thave time for this." Gine said.
In a blur, she phased out of the circle and snatched the dragonball in mid-toss before the captain caught it. The captain didn't see anything, but then realized he was grabbing air instead of still juggling the orb.
"Wha-WHAT?! Where'd it go?!" The captain said, baffled. He looked around where sat, thinking he dropped it.
He looked back at the gang, then gasped. Gine was waving the ball in her hand while she was still surrounded by his crew.
"H-h-how?! How did you do that?!" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Can we go now?" Gine asked the gang, clearly irritated with this little pirate ship escapade that was Roshi's idea.
Roshi shrugged. "Well that's one way to do. At least we got what we came for."
The captain snarled as his senses came back. "HEY! THAT WAS MINE!"
The ship suddenly stopped in it's tracks as the crew members locked and loaded their weapons.
"Boys, kill them and get my ball back!" He ordered.
Gohan sighed at Gine, "Why did you have to aggravate him?"
"Why are WE wasting time with him?" She shot back.
"I didn't want this to get out of hand." Said Roshi as he rolled up his sleeves. "But you leave us with no choice, we need this ball."
The Captain heard enough. "FIRE!"
"Chiaotzu!" Yelled Tien before a cacophony of automatic gunfire erupted.
After a few seconds, the gang was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and the crew ran out of ammo. The captain smirked, satisified he gunned down these people who dared steal from him.
The smoke cleared, and the crew looked on in shock as they saw the gang still standing and completely untouched. The bullets they fired at them floated around while Chiaotzu had a finger raised. He lowered it and the thousands of spent rounds clattered onto the deck.
Then the crewmembers all collapsed to the deck too, moaning in pain or rendered completely unconscious. After the last one hit the floor, the forward mast cracked and fell over the side of the ship in a crash of snapping wood.
Gine, Gohan, Tien, and Roshi stood in front of the captain with whatever weapons they snatched in the instant it took to incapacitate the entire crew. The captain looked terrified and uncomprehending of what just happened. He failed to notice that his own gun had been snatched too. And for good measure, Launch pulled out her own machine gun and pointed it at the now unarmed captain. Gine had no idea where the blonde-haired fury procured her weapons from, even after being searched by the crew earlier.
Roshi walked up to the stunned captain, wallet in hand.
"If it's any consolation, here's some beer coupons and a lottery ticket. And sorry about your ship." Roshi snickered as he held out his meager offerings.
The captain didn't look away from Gine and the gang for a few moments, still traumatized by what just impossibly happened. But whether out of shock or compliance, he took the coupons with a shaky hand.
"S-sure. No problem." He mumbled feebly.
The gang then flew off from where they stood. Gine holding onto Gohan and Launch while Tien held Roshi and Chiaotzu.
The captain was still beyond dazed to realize the insult to injury that these guys did with how they could have just flown off whenever they wanted to.
He resolved to never keep those orange balls ever again...
"Next time let's just take it." Gine said impatiently as she took her seat and waved the found ball to the other half of the gang, indicating that they are ready to move. Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Turtle, Chi-chi and Oolong stayed behind in the forest with the Capsule Corp jet until Gine and the gang returned with the dragon ball.
A few moments later, Bulma and Launch started the engines and the jet took off. Rocketing over the forest and towards the next signal on the other side of the mountains.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a diplomatic approach if someone else has those balls." Roshi countered.
"It still costed us valuable time." Gine said, getting irritated.
"Hey now. Regardless if it took us awhile, we still accomplished half our mission!" Said Gohan.
"Half?" Said Tien.
"Yeah. Even without just ONE of the balls, King Piccolo still won't be able to call upon the eternal dragon, let alone missing two." He explained.
Gine sighed. "You're right. That part is true. Sorry." She said.
Gohan looked at her concerned, but didn't press to ask what made her so irate.
Gine held the couple of dragonballs they found so far. The other, the two-star ball, was found without much trouble in the ice of the Antarctic only a few hours earlier. They looked so much like the little four star orb Gohan always kept, but she never could've imagined they held so much power and significance.
And the thought of the ball they used to have, made her heart ache. Wondering how her son was doing right at that very moment, out there somewhere...
"Next one shouldn't be too far, probably that town down there!" Launch pointed straight ahead, Gine looked.
Down below was a small, unassuming-looking settlement. From up high they couldn't tell if there was anybody out and about.
"Look's quiet down there." Said Bulma, looking out the window.
"Well, if that's the case then the coast should be clear." Said Launch, as she circled the jet down towards the main dirt street of the town.
After they landed, Gine, Gohan, Roshi, Tien, and Chiaotzu got out while the rest stayed behind to guard the jet and their dragon balls so far.
As they walked down the main street, they didn't hear a single sound save for the whistling of the wind and the battering of loose doors and window sills. The buildings were a lot more dilapidated up close than in the air.
"More than quiet. This place looks deserted." Gine said as they kept going. Becoming more and more unsettled by the lack of people.
"It's a ghost town out here." Tien said as he surveyed his surroundings. He too was getting more disturbed.
"Hey, what about over there?" Chiaotzu pointed.
Their gaze fell on a small wooden house that looked as if it had seen better days. But as Gine looked closely, there was smoke coming from the chimney, and she could even see lights and movement.
"Guess this place isn't totally uninhabited." Roshi said, then looked down at the radar. "According to radar, the ball should be in that house."
"I'll get it, Master." Offered Tien as he walked up to the dwelling. They all smiled at how he was already addressing Roshi as his new master.
Tien reached the front door and knocked. After a few moments, it cracked open just enough for the face of a frail young woman to answer.
"Can I help you?" She asked timidly, somewhat warry at looking over the imposing form of Tien and the group of strangers behind him. She barely looked half of Gine's age.
"Uh, yes, I'm sorry to bother you, Miss." Tien said. "But I'm looking for-"
Tien suddenly gasped.
Looking into the main dining room of the house, there was a man carving potatoes. His weathered clothes covered in patches over patches, matching the bare wooded interior of the home. His melancholic demeanor and disheveled impression, combined with the squalid state of this man's home told as if fate had forsaken him.
He was starring Tien in eye, as if amazed. Then his gazed hardened.
"So, it's you. What have you come for?" He asked with no warmth in his voice.
The woman turned to him. "You know this man?" She asked incredulously, unintentionally throwing the front door wide open for all of them to see inside.
"Good, looks like they know each other." Commented Roshi.
"Probably not in a good way, Master." Added Gohan.
Gine sighed, this was already gonna make getting the ball that much more difficult.
The poor man struggled to stand and limped towards Tien with a cane. Tien stared at the floor for a long time, then back at the man.
"Small world." Tien said. The poor woman looked at Tien one more time, then disappeared behind a hallway. Gine thought she heard the sound of a baby cooing from there.
"Yes it is, as bad luck would have it." The man said coldly. "I tried to forget your face, but I'm reminded every time I move."
Tien couldn't look the man in the eye, and stared at the man's bad leg as if ashamed. The man seemed to have seen what he was looking at.
"I had to be rushed to the hospital after what you did to me that day. I don't remember much, except for the pain from thirteen broken bones. And it took me two years to get back to this house. And to my expectant wife too..." He said, his voice trailing off and wincing, not just from physical pain.
Gine felt a terrible sympathy for the poor fellow. She could tell that his leg had never fully healed, nor the pain she could see in his eyes. And the implication of his 'expectant' wife, which she found odd. On Vegeta, Saiyan fathers couldn't care less if they saw their offspring born or not, but she guessed human fathers felt otherwise. She could definitely see that longing for something lost to him though.
Tien looked up from the ground and faced the man. Gine almost forgot that Tien had, not too long ago, been capable of such things.
"I'm sorry about your injuries." He said softly.
"Are you now?" The man said, almost as if he was insulted. "Sorry that you didn't finish me off, or that you didn't break me further?!"
"I was a different person back then." Tien tried to explain.
"So was I. I could walk without using a cane back then." He spat back. "And I could actually work for a living too! Do you have any idea what it's like to not being able to provide for your family?! That all you could do was just sit around like you are just some useless bum?! And force your wife and son to live in squalor?!" He shouted in fury, almost on the brink of crying.
Tien tried to move on with the matter at hand, not wanting to be facing a past that has come back to haunt him in way he couldn't fathom.
"The reason I've come here is for your dragon ball. I would like to use it."
"Dragon ball? What the hell is that?" He asked angrily.
"It's a small orange orb with a star on it. We know that there is one here in this house somewhere. Will you be willing to give it to us?" Tien asked, but knew him asking would be hopeless.
"No. Now go."
"Unacceptable!" Tien answered back. He looked unsure of what to do.
Gine shook her head. Next time, let's just take it. Her own words echoed in her mind. She just said them not even an hour ago, and was seriously wondering how could she have said that out loud willingly. Could she really bring herself to attack this crippled man and ransack his home in front of his family? Would they really resort to that?!
"I don't know what you speak of. But it doesn't matter, I think you are lying." That caught Tien by surprise. "Even if it did exist, help is the last thing I would ever give you."
Tien didn't know what else to say, the tension in the air was too palpable.
"Oh, what a beautiful day." Roshi said, jarring the solemn atmosphere.
Gine looked at him, offended by his disregard for the situation unfolding before them.
She stood up, suddenly alert.
"What is it?" Gohan asked.
The radio they brought along crackled as Launch's voice came through it.
"Uh, hey guys? We got company incoming towards you!" She said urgently.
"What? Company?" Roshi asked in confusion.
Then, they all heard the sounds of vehicles approaching. Moments later, dust clouds on the road formed into green jeeps and trucks that was speeding directly towards them.
"Did we call for backup or something?" Gohan asked, unconcerned for some reason. Gine didn't get into stance, but stood ready.
The jeeps and trucks stopped just in front of the house, then a platoon of uniformed human soldiers poured out to surround the house. Gine guessed they must have been military forces.
"Not good." Chiaotzu said. Gine turned back towards the door looking into the house, Tien and the man unaware of what was going on outside.
"I must have it." Tien demanded.
"You sound like a broken record." The man said, growing more annoyed.
Tien took a step forward. Alarmed, the man quickly grabbed a shotgun from the wall.
"Get back!" He threatened.
Tien stopped, "Please, I'm not here to hurt you."
Just as he said that, the platoon of soldiers ran up the door and into the house. Gine panicked, ready to charge in.
"Wait!" Roshi instructed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Gine looked at him as if he were insane.
The armed troops surrounded Tien with their guns pointed at him.
The commanding officer stepped forward. "Tien Shinhan, you are under arrest for murder."
"What?!" Tien shouted in disbelief.
"Unlike the police, it didn't take long to identify the killer, Tien Shinhan." The man spat his name in contempt. "Who else is as strong and delights in maiming martial artists?"
"No! That's a lie!" Tien tried to defend himself. But the man didn't flinch.
"You would kill if it suited your needs. I'm living proof."
Tien shook his head. "You've got it wrong, I'm not the one doing this! The true killer is King Picco-"
"SILENCE!" The commander cut Tien off. "You can tell your story at the station. Take him!"
The two nearest officers grabbed Tien, but he effortlessly threw them to the ground. The other men locked their sights on him and readied to gun him down on the spot. Tien got into stance readying to-
"Stop it!" Yelled Roshi as he stepped forward.
About time! Gine thought, almost about to phase in a moment before.
The soldiers turned around and looked at him, perplexed. Then the commander stepped closer to Roshi, looking him over and then jumping in surprise.
"Uh, you must be..." He said, recognizing him.
"Don't worry sarge, I got him." Said one officer pointing a gun at Roshi.
The commanding officer wheeled on him. "No you idiot, don't you know who this is?! It's the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi!"
The lesser officer caught on. "As in the master in martial arts?!" He looked as if he had been caught.
All the other officers gazed at him in wonderment, even the poor crippled man recognized him too.
"Master Roshi, what are you doing here in the company of this criminal?!" The commanding officer asked.
"Sergeant, Tien Shinhan is no murderer. He's a friend of mine, and of all of us here." He gestured with his open arms towards Gohan, Gine, and Chiaotzu for the benefit of the Sergeant.
He then continued, "We are on important business. He's not the killer you are looking for."
"Yeah, but, uh..." The Sergeant struggled for words.
"Let it go, sarge. Tien is not guilty. I can assure you of that." Roshi said calmly.
The sergeant stood there for moment thinking it over, unsure how to take in the strange appearance of the Great Turtle Hermit. But he relented.
"Stand down." He ordered his men, and they all lowered their weapons.
Tien relaxed, and walked up to the man.
"The dragon ball?" Tien asked.
The man didn't say anything, just barely holding himself together from screaming in rage and despair. But he suddenly deflated, as if accepting a death sentence.
"Why bother asking? Just tear my home apart. That is your style, is it, Tien?" The man spat with such vitriol. "Go ahead, do it. You've broken me in body, now is your chance to break me in soul!"
Tien looked down in shame. None of the soldiers would try to stop him and they already backed away in fear, not even trying to stop any notion of defending this man against the most feared student of Crane if he decided to turn his house upside down. They knew full well what Tien had done and could do, and Gine could only imagine the things Tien had done to other people if his victims were like this. And in that moment, she felt a very uncomfortable sense of reflection as she thought of how sorry she felt for all she had done in her life too.
Could anyone really be this remorseful? Such an idea would be laughed at on Vegeta, but being a Saiyan who actually had a sense of empathy was a whole different story...
"What are you waiting for?! JUST GET IT OVER WITH!" The man screamed, tears in his eyes. He looked beyond infuriated and humiliated that this man who crippled him would tear his life apart again in his own home, and not even the army would help him. Like fate had not only betrayed him, but was laughing at him.
Gine was about to step forward, ready to come to Tien's defense and figure out how to dispel any notion of such a cruel act to this poor fellow. She figured they should just tell them all that King Piccolo was on the loose. That alone should be reason to get them to surrender the ball. They had to do something, and time was running out. The lives of Krillin, their friends, Kakarot, the whole planet-
Tien suddenly fell on all fours before him.
"I beg you, we desperately need that ball!"
The man was taken aback by Tien dropping to his hands and knees before him.
"I'm sorry for all the pain and suffering I've done to you... If you want revenge, you can break both my arms or legs. You can even break my rib again! Whatever you want, but please give us that dragon ball!" Tien pleaded. He lowered his head and stayed in a humble bow, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for the man to strike him.
No one moved or said anything, staring at Tien offering himself to be inflicted with pain. Gine stood there as well, now taking in the spectacle of how this once ruthless killer was begging one of his victims to serve justice. She wondered what world was she living in right now.
The man looked at Tien in shock, then contemplative, then remorseful himself.
"I've dreamed of taking revenge on you for so long..." He said.
Then he sighed, leaning against the wall while the gun went slack in his hand.
"I forgive you." He says softly.
Tien looked up at him in amazement. Everyone was as well.
Gine was far too overcome with emotion to take in such an amazing thing. Just stood there trying hard not to cry.
Roshi and Gohan sighed in relief, both smiling.
For the first time since they arrived, the man smiled. "You can have the dragon ball, take it before my little boy wakes up." He nodded to his wife in the hallway, who had streaks of tears on her face. She must've witnessed the whole scene, but was smiling so brightly now before she retreated back into the hallway.
"Thank you." Was all Tien could say, his voice almost cracking from regret and gratefulness. He extended his hand out to the man in a genuine show of good will. After a moment, the man shook Tien's hand silently, but knowingly content. Gine almost felt like breaking down too from seeing such a beautiful thing as atonement.
A moment later, the man's wife came out with their baby boy fast asleep in her arms and clutching the reflective orange glass of the five-star ball.
She pried it from his hands and handed it to Gine. She eyed the baby cradled in the woman's arms as she took the dragon ball.
"He's beautiful." Gine said sincerely. The boy had a mop of messy hair on his head. That looked so familiar to her...
The woman smiled. "Thank you."
The baby stirred and yawned. Gine's heart melted, remembering what Kakarot was like when he was a baby too. Time truly flew by...
And, somewhere buried deep in the recesses of her heart, a corner long left unvisited but never to be forgotten...what her firstborn son was like as a baby...
"You have a little boy too?" The woman asked, catching Gine by surprise.
"I do." Gine answered, looking up at her and then back to the boy. "He's fifteen now. But... you never forget how precious they are when they are this small." She said distantly, with joy and long buried sadness.
She subconsciously mentioned her only surviving son. Gine had gotten accustomed to that by habit than by will. But no matter how much time has passed, the unimaginable pain of acknowledging her own offspring, her own flesh and blood, as deceased never went away.
The woman seemed to have sensed her pain, as if she already knew. Gine found it a little unsettling, yet felt a sort of kindred spirit. Would a mother know from one to another? Regardless of she was human or Saiyan?
The woman looked away, as if to confirm Gine's notion. She probably knew what she was feeling deep down. But didn't go deeper. Only a mother knew...
"They truly are precious." The woman said softly, stroking the baby's forehead with her thumb.
Gine knew what she meant, and nodded. Whatever her pain was, she could never forget Raditz. To love him as much as she loved Kakarot. Alive or dead, it was a mother's love...
"Let's be on our way then!" Said Roshi, getting everyone back on track.
May as well, Gine thought. They had a world to save. For this mother, and millions of others across the planet.
"Let's go!" She said as they all left the house.
She stopped to take one last look at the woman and baby, accompanied by the man now putting a loving arm around her.
"Take care." Said Gine, pointing towards their baby.
The woman smiled in return, and Gine exited the house. Gohan walked beside her as they headed back towards the transport.
"Guess we won't just take it next time?" He asked.
"Shut up." Gine shot back.
"I NEVER SHOULD HAVE WAXED MY HEAD!" Roshi's voice echoed from inside the cave. Gine wondered what the hell was going on in there.
She and the rest of the gang waited in the jet while Roshi and Tien went into an opening in the spiked mountain range. Based on what they saw on the dragon radar, this should have been an easy find...
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Tien shouted from inside.
Gine sighed and ran out of the jet, darting into the cave. She muttered that she should've just gone in with them in the first place.
She was readying herself for whatever it was that Tien and Roshi were up against, but then stopped as the two of them ran past her.
"That's my head, not a bird feeder!" The elder martial arts master wailed in irritation as they were followed by a horde of black crows. Gine shielded herself as the flock flew past her and after the pair.
Gine groaned, relieved at the false alarm but now caught in a maelstrom of plucking and scratching.
Tien and Roshi had fought their way through but now the rest of the horde turned on Gine, diving on her to peck at the new intruder.
Annoyed to a degree she never knew from these ravens, Gine let out a powerful yell and charged up her ki.
The strength of her voice echoed was matched by the resulting blast of energy and wind that blew the birds away like leaves in a storm. Tien and Roshi were knocked over as the blast wave hit the cave walls too. The wind settled, but the tunnel shook. Stalactites started falling and the shaking became more violent.
"Oops." Gine yelped to herself, and ran back towards the entrance; realizing she may have accidentally started a cave-in.
She quickly caught up to Tien and Roshi. Without stopping, she grabbed both of them by the collars with each hand and yanked them up.
"What the?!" Roshi cried out indignantly as she ran as fast as she could with them in tow through the gnarled twists and turns of the tunnel.
They reached the light at the entrance and the shape of Capsule Corp jet appeared, Gohan and the others clinging to the sides as the ground shook beneath them.
"Master, Gine, Tien, hurry!" Gohan called out to them.
Bulma and Launch started the engines as fast as they could, ready to escape as the cliff ledge where they were parked on was about to collapse.
Gine unceremoniously tossed Roshi and Tien into the jet as she jumped in. A few moments later, they were off again as the cave entrance, and the cliff they were just on, fell to the valley floor below.
The mountains shrank behind them as they rocketed off over a forest.
"That was close!" Yamcha said, everyone agreeing offhandedly.
Roshi turned to Gine, annoyed. "What was that all about?!"
Gine waved her hands defensively. "Thought you two were in trouble."
"We were! By just a bunch of..." Roshi said, then trailed off. "Never mind."
Gine glanced at Roshi a little longer. She felt a little guilty for the cave in, but still...
"You're welcome." She said to herself, but in Roshi's direction.
"We've been lucky so far, got four dragonballs without too much trouble." Said Tien, as he held up the six-star ball for them to see.
"Speak for yourself! Hope that didn't leave a scar." Roshi joked as he rubbed the back of his head, already patched with bandages from being devoured by the crows.
"King Piccolo doesn't seem to be in a rush to expand his collection." Gohan said as he watched the dragon radar.
"I wonder what he is up to?" He asked as Gine took a seat next to him, holding onto the other dragonballs.
"Maybe he doesn't need them?" Offered Oolong, joking hopefully.
"He's probably preoccupied with exterminating martial artists." Said Roshi grimly. The interior of the jet fell silent at that, until Gohan pressed the button on the radar to expand it's view.
"Wait, the radar's flashing again!" Gohan pointed.
"You're right!" Gine said, another dot of light blinking on the scope about a thousand kilometers from their current position.
"Bulma, turn around. The next one is that way!" She called out and pointed off to the crafts side.
"Got it!" Bulma confirmed and banked the jet hard towards the last target. The ground below giving way from forest to desert canyons.
"With only three dragonballs left, this could be Piccolo himself or at least one of his minions." Tien guessed, Gine and Yamcha nodded at what that prospect held.
"If that's the case then we might have to fight him first hand. It's bound to happen sooner or later, I just hope we are ready." Said Roshi, not as eager as the rest of them.
"I'm sure we'll win." Chiaotzu said optimistically, then looked at Gine. "We have her on our side!"
"Yeah!" Cheered Chi-chi. "Gine is the strongest of all of us!"
"That's right!" Puar echoed.
"Yeah, with her we got nothin' to worry about." Oolong added.
"Yeah that's right! If that wimpy Tambourine guy was any indication, I say Piccolo should be more afraid of her than us of him!" Yamcha said, earning a laugh from everyone.
Gine smiled, embarrassed and appreciative. She still couldn't get around just how much warmth she felt in her Saiyan heart at how these people trusted her with their lives, like the battle companions she never had.
Roshi, however... "Indeed we do, she may be our best hope of defeating King Piccolo in a head-on battle ...but you must know that he is a cunning and powerful foe. We can't always be certain that we could defeat him for sure."
Gine shook her head in disbelief, how could someone so wise sound so defeatist? She single handedly beaten Tambourine and Crane, what more convincing did he need?
"And we still need the last dragon ball he took from Krillin. So our best bet is to sneak in through the back door, surprise him, and take the ball while he is not looking."
He thought for a long moment, looking at Gine doubtfully. Then said, "If we must, we can have the Eternal Dragon defeat him."
"That's way too passive for my taste, Master." Said Tien. "I say we fight him hand to hand and destroy him!"
"Yeah!" Everyone loudly seconded that.
"Same here, I could probably take him out no problem." Offered Gine, grateful for everyone's support and reminding Roshi yet again what she could do.
Roshi glared at her, "I understand how you all feel, but he is more powerful than you realize. Even with our combined strength, Piccolo still has us at a disadvantage for being a demon king. Dark powers are on his side, which allows him to do things no amount of strength can match. So our best bet is to concentrate on bringing the dragonballs together. And as much as I trust you, Gine, we'll let the Eternal Dragon exterminate King Piccolo."
"But I thought our purpose in getting the dragonballs together was so we could resuscitate Krillin." Tien pointed.
"The dragon will only make one wish and the balls will scatter again, correct?" Asked Chiaotzu
"I know. But after one year, we can gather the dragonballs back together again to revive Krillin then. I hope."
An uncomfortable silence worse than before fell on them. Gine could feel it.
No one liked that idea.
"I know I built a freezer for him, but a year is quite a long time for him to stay dead." Bulma said for them all.
Yamcha thought the same thing too, "Make's my stomach churn." He said at that. "To be dead for so long before coming back, what would that even be like?"
"Hopefully, not as a living skeleton." Oolong quipped. No one laughed.
"Does take the whole weight off of dying, when you think about it." Oolong then added, but no one said anything either. Somehow that sounding worse to think about than his joke earlier. And that made Gine wonder too...
"Um, hey, the radar is blinking." Chiaotzu said to Gohan.
"Huh?"
Gine snapped out of her mind and looked at the screen in Gohan's hand. Indeed it was beeping as another dot was now within range.
"Hey you're right!" She exclaimed, then looked outside the window to see they were now over a vast desert of deep rocky canyons.
"I think the radar shows the fifth dragon ball to be in this ar-"
Suddenly, Gine gasped sharply.
She felt a stabbing pain in her heart. An overwhelming sense of loss, like a piece of her soul was just taken.
"Uh, yeah? Gine?" Chiaotzu asked her, noticing that Gine didn't respond. Gohan also noticed she was lost in a trance.
"Kakarot..." She whimpered.
"What? Kakarot?" He asked.
Gine didn't answer, and began trembling. It was a pain she remembered all too well. One she hadn't felt since the day Planet Vegeta was destroyed. She wasn't sure if it was true, but also not sure if she could deny it either...
Now Gohan was alarmed. "Gine? What's wrong? What happened?"
Did he... Gine thought to herself, not realizing she was hyperventilating. Did he-
"Gine! Whats up with you?!" Gohan nearly yelled, snapping her out of her despairing and drawing the attention of everyone else in the jet.
She starred at Gohan, but couldn't catch her breath.
"I... Kakarot. I think he..." She tried to say, panic creeping into her voice. "...something bad happened."
Roshi came down the isle to them.
"Gine, are sensing Kakarot in peril?" He asked her. Gohan trying to reassure her with a hand on her shoulder.
Gine shook her head, not entirely out of uncertainty.
"I...I don't know...It's, I felt...I felt like as if...Something horrible has happened to him somewhere...I felt... he's...dead." She chocked that last word through tears threatening to fall.
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief.
"How do you know?!" Gohan asked incredulously.
Gine tried to explain. "It's as if... I felt his heart stop beating..." She said, looking out into nowhere. Her eyes glazed over. "It's as if I can't feel his presence anywhere. Like that day, when...when out home planet was..."
"Oh dear." Roshi said seriously.
"NO! NOT MY KAKAROT!" Chi-chi wailed.
"What? He can't be gone like that!" Yamcha yelled.
"Are...are you sure this isn't some sort of trick? Because it ain't funny!" Oolong added.
Gine shook her head, mournfully. "I don't..." She was on the brink of sobbing. "I don't know...what if he is?! What if he's really-"
"Gine, listen." Gohan shook her shoulder. "You need to stay calm. Whatever it was you felt, it may not mean Kakarot is dead."
"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!?" She screamed, the dread overtaking her completely.
"He may have disappeared beyond your reach, or he may be just your worry playing tricks on you. But you don't know for sure, right?!" He said to her without looking away.
Gine sniffled. "I don't...No, I-I don't think so... I just felt like...I knew. He's my son afterall, I should know if he's..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. Maybe it was a universal constant that a mother always knew if her child was in grave danger or dying, but with how she worried so much about him...
"Gine, Gohan is right." Roshi said, "You may not sensing well enough to know if it's true or not. But don't assume your son is dead because of a bad feeling. And King Piccolo is a powerful foe as I said he is. A master of mind tricks and striking terror into the hearts of anyone."
Gine looked at Roshi at that. "He-he'd be making me feel this?" She asked.
"Absolutely, he used to mentally torture people with the things they were most afraid of, and could sometimes control people with them. So he could take the thing you fear the most and make it become a reality like losing your son. You need to calm your mind and not think about that, alright? That is how he would try to take a hold of you and break your resolve to challenge him."
Gine kept breathing hard, but Roshi's words rang in her head. She wanted to believe in them. As much as her gut was telling her otherwise, even though she never thought of "sensing" before...
Her chocked breathing slowed, and managed to utter, "Okay..." And tried as hard as she could to calm herself down.
"Nothing has happened yet, so, let's get the last dragon ball and end this madness. And then we'll go find Kakarot. Alright?" Gohan said reassuringly.
The feeling of what seemed like Kakarot's fading life force still screamed in the back of her mind, but she somehow managed to quiet it enough to be pushed further back. Something Gohan taught her to enhance and bring out after all the things she's compartmentalized over the years. Whatever this was, like any other worry, she could deal with it later.
"Okay, you're right. Thank you, Gohan." Gine said sincerely, and hugged Gohan lightly.
Roshi looked more doubtful than ever. "You see? This also shows you are not ready to take on-"
"Master!" Gohan interrupted. Garnering a look of annoyance at his former student.
"Let's worry about that later, the dragon ball is right underneath us!" Gohan pointed back at the radar.
Everyone almost forgot about it while being drawn to Gine's dilemma, but indeed the jet was right on top of it.
"Right!" Said Launch, and jammed the throttle and controls down as they nose dived to the ground.
Everyone hanged on as they dove.
"I'm sorry about that." Gine told Gohan over the racket.
"Don't worry about it, you could have just been feeling things that aren't real."
"I know, but... it feels so real." Gine said. "How would King Piccolo have gotten word of me and being worried of losing my son? It's not like-"
"Gine, it's alright." Gohan tried to say sternly, reeling in Gine's worry trying to resurface. "Piccolo is a master of mind tricks. As my Master told me and all of us: that monster takes joy in terrorizing the hearts and minds of innocent people. He may know about you and Kakarot. If that demon you fought earlier knew where to find all those fighters, then it's possible he may know what would terrorize a mother most."
Gine thought of what Gohan said. It all made perfect sense. For an evil being it sounds like the most twisted way to torture someone. She had to admit not even Frieza could do something like that, as far as she knew. But, it sounded like a logical explanation. And as much as her mind wants to find some hole or reason in it to think it was real.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gine nodded, her heart finally slowing from it's rapid pace of fear.
Gohan smiled, "Good, no worries my dear. I believe in you, so once we get this last dragon ball…" He said almost on cue as they touched down on the rocky ground. "...then we'll bring that beast to justice."
"Right." Gine said, finding her confidence in her plan again. "We will."
The loading door to the jet opened and they all filed out. Gine followed out last, her mind now focused on finding the next ball. And the nagging feeling of how Kakarot was doing was pushed to the back of her mind... almost.
"It's gotta be within a few meters of here!" Gohan said as he held the radar, the light blinking rapidly. Everyone fanned out and searched under every rock and crack they could find.
Gine looked too, following behind Gohan as they walked in circles to narrow down the ball's signature.
The radar blinking grew faster and faster until it was a single note.
"Should be right here!" Gine said, looking at the radar and around. The large boulders were too numerous to check each one.
Still, Gine saw a large enough gap under a tall boulder, and bent down.
"FOUND IT!" She yelled, as her face and smile were lit up by the reflected light of the three-star ball.
Everyone cheered and ran to her. She reached with her arm, but stopped as it was too short for her to reach even half the distance.
Gine tried to outstretch her arm further...but stopped suddenly.
"Wait a minute, what am I doing?" She said aloud.
Standing back up, she walked around the back side of the near twenty foot tall boulder, and lifted it up by the base with one arm as if it were Styrofoam.
"Got it!" She beamed as she dropped the giant rock without flinching when it hit the ground with a shatter, and held the ball overhead victoriously. Everyone cheered as the gang gathered around to see it.
"That's the fifth one." Yamcha broke it to them all. "Now there's only one left, and then there's the one King Piccolo has!"
Roshi nodded in agreement, "Then we must be on our guard."
Gohan pressed the button on the radar a couple times, then he gasped in alarm.
"What is it? Is the radar broken?" Bulma asked curiously.
"I don't think so, my dear. According to this... the other two dragonballs are together. And they are headed straight for us!"
"WHAT?!" They all shouted.
"But..." Bulma stuttered in confusion. "What could that be..."
Then it hit.
"It has to be King Piccolo, he's coming to destroy us!" Tien said, clenching his fists.
Bulma, Puar, and Chi-chi screeched in terror, clinging to each other for safety
"Then let's get the hell outta here!" Oolong shouted. The panic spreading fast through the non-combatants in the group.
"No." Roshi said, "It was going to happen sooner or later. He's coming after the dragonballs as well."
"Then I guess it's time we face him." Gohan said reluctantly.
"No problem." Gine said, clenching her fists. "We'll send that 'demon king' back to hell, where he belongs. For Krillin!"
Roshi shook his head. "No."
"What?! Are you serious?!" Tien and Yamcha yelled at him.
Gine just looked at him, aghast.
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to all of you." Roshi said, removing his shades. "We have next to no chance in defeating King Piccolo in a hand to hand fight. We HAVE to get his dragonballs and call upon the Eternal Dragon. And it will be the Dragon's privilege to remove Piccolo from this world."
"You don't know that, Master, what about Gine?!" Tien argued. "You saw what she is capable of, she's the strongest fighter on the planet! And Gine said so herself, she could fight Piccolo!"
"I'm not leaving the fate of the Earth in her hands! And none of you know Piccolo like I do!" Roshi yelled. "This is the only way we can be rid of him forever. We can't take our chances with-"
"Oh shut up!" Gine yelled.
Everyone looked at her agape from that outburst.
"I said it before and I'll say it again: we are not wasting a wish to defeat this fiend. For we still have to get the two other dragonballs that he may have secured them in some way we don't know of. So we are going to fight him anyway. And as a Saiyan, I will deal with this threat myself."
Roshi starred her down in a deadly glare, as if wondering how this woman could dare challenge his wisdom, experience, and feelings.
Gine discretely noticed how Roshi felt for a spray can in his pocket, as if anticipating him to pounce on her with it.
"Don't make this difficult, Master Roshi." Gine growled, spreading her arms defensively into stance as if readying for a fight. She knew he could take him, if she has too...
"Both of you, please!" Gohan yelled. "Every second we waste, Piccolo is getting closer. We have to work together and figure out what to do!"
"Gohan's right, we can't just stand here and fight each other!" Chi-chi said.
"I go with Gine, I say we let her fight him. She's the strongest and can still save the wish to revive Krillin." Yamcha said.
"Yes! It's what Kakarot would have wanted too!" Chi-chi said.
"Same here!" Tien and Chiaotzu said.
Everyone sided with Gine while Roshi looked seething at how everything was falling apart around him. Even Gohan looked uncomfortable, caught between his best friend and companion and the fury of his former Master.
"Are you THAT stubborn, Master?!" Yamcha shouted. But Roshi didn't budge.
An uncomfortable silence fell on them as they decided what to do next, broken only by the beeping of the other dragonballs getting closer. As if the groups fate as much as the world rested on them.
Gine counted the seconds in her head as she starred off Roshi. At this rate, King Piccolo was due to show up any minute and settle this argument anyway. But she figured that if that's the case, if push came to shove, she'll fight him when she sees him.
Roshi won't be able to stop her so it'll be taken care of anyway, they can sort it out later. They had a mission.
"Wait!" Tien suddenly perked up. "Master, what about the Evil Containment Wave?" He asked.
"I told you, Tien Shinhan, that's a ridiculous idea!" Roshi rejected violently.
"Forgive me, Master, but it worked before, right? Isn't it what Master Mutaito used to imprison King Piccolo?"
"In exchange for his life, yes. But there's no guarantee it will work. If you fail..." He looked at Gine, "the dragonballs will be our only hope."
Gine wanted to argue more, but somehow couldn't find the words to change his mind. He seemed so determined to take of this King Piccolo problem his way that he won't consider anything else. Not even the fact that she's the most powerful being on the planet. So why wouldn't he just...
She couldn't understand why this man, the mentor of the most trusted and kindest soul she ever knew by the name of Gohan, could be so adamantly against Tien's suggestion. There must have been more to the Evil Containment Wave than she realized. She could see how it frightened him, and how powerful it must be. Still, if it was the only proven technique to have incapacitated King Piccolo before, it should be worth it to do it again. To give his life for the safety of an entire planet was worth it!
And she didn't want to leave her son's best friend to rot like that, even if they were bringing him back. Something about wasting a divinely-granted wish on defeating an enemy instead of saving a friend's life seemed so wrong to her, even cowardly.
Yet, the cost of one life for millions...
"Since our gathering of the dragon balls was to originally revive Krillin, and if you do indeed succumb to using the Evil Containment Wave, couldn't we just revive you alongside Krillin?" Gine suddenly blurted.
Everyone stared at her as if she had ten heads. But Tien broke spoke quickly.
"That's brilliant, Gine!"
"It's horrible...but ingenious!" Oolong said.
"Yeah, that's a good idea!" They all agreed on. Gohan was silent, however.
As for Roshi...
"NO!." Roshi said flatly.
"Oh, please! You said so yourself it was the only surefire way that defeated King Piccolo once. If it works and even if you do die, we'll bring you right back since we'll have all the dragonballs with us. But if I beat him myself, you won't have to worry about any of it either way. I don't see why you have such a problem with that."
Roshi looked at her with nothing to say. How could this woman come up with something so... perverse? Even Gohan looked at her a bit perturbed. He knew she could be rather blunt sometimes, but this idea was beyond anything he could imagine from her.
"While your plan is indeed sound, Gine, I don't appreciate the fact that you are essentially trivializing my own mortality as if it were an easy fix."
Gine sighed, then thought of Oolong's joke from earlier.
"I see what you are getting at. But when you think about it, it's the only way that we can accomplish everything we need to. If you are indeed right that I cannot beat Piccolo, this is the way that will bring everyone back and Piccolo sealed away for good. And besides, why waste a wish like that. And as I said, I can beat him. SO this will only be a last resort."
Roshi opened his mouth to speak, then stopped and opened it again several times. It made sense, in a rather wrong kind of way. It was perverse, but, it just might work. And he couldn't find the words to rebuff her.
Nothing wrong with a diplomatic approach, right? She said to herself, almost finding the situation funny.
If there really was no other way to save the world AND his own life...
"Uhh...uh guys?" Oolong squealed, looking west towards the horizon.
"I think you might wanna decide on something quick!"
They all looked at where he was pointing to, and collectively gasped in horror.
The hairs on her neck stood up. She could feel it, they all did.
Up there, a dot on the sky that was rapidly growing larger, appearing to be a sort of craft approaching them.
Gohan had only to take another glance at the radar to confirm their fear.
"He's here." He said, his voice trailing of in a terror Gine never knew he had.
Gine quickly whirled to Roshi. "Well? What's it gonna be?"
Roshi looked at the rapidly approaching craft, which seemed to be an airship. He could feel a dark presence onboard. One he never wanted to feel again.
"Let's end this little reign of terror, once and for all, alright? For Earth! For Krillin!" Gine said almost chantingly.
Roshi looked up to the airship, to Gine, and back again. His mind a whirlwind of thoughts, memories, and decisions. He thought of Krillin. His own pupil, Kakarot's best friend. The life taken by what lurked up in that ship. As a Master, could he really leave him to rot? He had seen Kakarot's strength. Marveled at it's raw potential, and at who he had inherited from in Gine. And how she, and her child made a new life in the one place of the universe they could truly call home.
And that home plunged into darkness again. He will not let that happen again. As much as he feared it, Master Mutaito proved that even the demon king could be beaten...
"Only as a last resort. Understood?" He said with finality.
"Understood." Gine nodded.
Roshi nodded back, smiling that they finally decided.
They looked back at the airship, now almost in view. Strangely enough, Gine allowed herself something she hadn't given herself in a long time, a wicked grin. As morbid as her idea sounded, at least she could be the voice of reason for once.
But, she won't need to. It was time to face King Piccolo himself...
A/N: And so it begins, the first real showdown against a big baddy for Gine. How will it unfold?
Tune in next time!