The Coming Storm
Chapter 9: Life Goes On
A/N: Hey Everyone! Wanted to give you all a heads-up and say that I'm heading back for another round of college in a few days. Because of this, I can't say with 100% confidence I'll have another chapter out in a week from now as per the weekly update schedule I've been trying to adhere to. What I can say with 100% confidence, however, is that I'm still fully committed to completing this story and will work my hardest to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Alright- chapter nine!
Considering the vast distance they had traveled in the course of fulfilling their quest, it took a few months to return to where Master Roshi had died; then, it took a few more months to follow him back to his home. About half a year, Yamcha reckoned, had passed since they first set off to find the dragon balls. Time flies.
The island where Master Roshi was training him, Rayne, and Chi-Chi was almost comical due to its tiny size and the even tinier house occupying it. The three of them had to quickly get used to sleeping on bedrolls in Roshi's common room. The gentle sound of waves lapping the island's beach had yet to fade into the background for Yamcha. Like many other nights, while Chi-Chi and Rayne were deep in sleep a few feet away, he was deep in thought.
In retrospect, it's not surprising we all went our separate ways as quickly as we did. Bulma was in it for the dragonballs; Kakarot just happened to be in the way of that goal for her. I know she couldn't follow us where we were going… but it still hurt when she left to go home to West City.
Yamcha shifted, rolling from his right side to lay on his left.
Now, on the other hand, I was perfectly fine when Puar left. We've been talking about our plans going forward long before we set them into motion. I needed a dead martial arts teacher; Puar needed a fellow shapeshifter. Once we both got what we needed, we agreed to part ways. Thus, here I am, training with Master Roshi while Puar romps around with Oolong. Always wondered if she told Oolong about her pledge to stop any more shapeshifting schools from popping up. That might've have convinced him to join us way back when…
Yamcha purposely adjusted his body to look at the sleeping forms of Rayne and Chi-Chi. So it's just us students left then… What rotten luck they happened to be the most uncommunicative and unfriendly of the bunch. Though I guess that really can't be blamed on them. He quietly sighed, wrinkling his nose in displeasure as he brought up a memory he had already played over in his head a hundred times.
Snapshots of when Krillin had returned victorious with the dragonball played through Yamcha's head. He rememberd his calm demeanor as he handed over the last missing piece of the legend. His expressionless face denying him any sort of emotional catharsis as he admitted he hadn't killed Kakarot. Yamcha could still see the back of his head perfectly as he walked away from an enraged Rayne, who hurled every curse imaginable at Krillin. Who was crying as she bared her teeth.
I hate… I hate how they act like I'm a part of what Krillin did. Like I had some association or complicity with his crime. Punishing me for the actions of someone else. They may think I'm like Krillin, a coward who couldn't sacrifice when needed, but they're wrong. I had more courage than him… always. Yamcha unconsciously focused in on the tactile sensation coming from his healing arm. My nearly ruined limb is a testament to that. If they ever question me about it, I'll show them my scars.
...Ah well. What we think or don't think of each other doesn't really matter in the end. The cold hard fact is that Kakarot is lost to us- when we took that dragon ball from him we unknowingly took away the one way we had to track him. That was probably it… the fact that we couldn't fix that mistake, we couldn't prevent any more people from being senselessly slaughtered… it feels like just a matter of time before I hear in passing about a randomly destroyed village.
Yamcha felt hollow. And, thankfully, tired.
All I want is peace… what we all want…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It was a slow day, passing time in a barebones office deep in a military complex. Granted, to Colonel Silver, most days were slow nowadays. The unwarranted and unpredictable attacks made on the Red Ribbon Army in the past year had been crippling to the organization, both in terms of resources and morale. Colonel Silver sourly noted the newfound cautiousness that pervaded every order Commander Red and his staff relayed to his COs. Having previously been independent of other officers in the Red Ribbon Army, Colonel Silver resented being put under command of General Blue.
Not that he had anything against the general himself, of course. Though he wouldn't admit it, General Blue seemed to be his superior in every aspect; stronger, smarter, more handsome- loathe as he was to accept it, it seemed appropriate he should be his superior.
Unfortunately, that didn't make him happy to wait around in an office all day. General Blue had been in discussion with Commander Red for what felt like an eternity- day in, day out, General Blue would enter Commander Red's office at dawn and leave at dusk. Endless discussion on the future of the Red Ribbon Army and the ongoing army-wide consolidation and retreat from widespread operations. It was all dreadfully boring.
His nominal equal, Colonel Violet, who was also brought in from another part of the world during this process, wasn't a very good companion either; she was prone to disappearing whenever possible. As to where she was going and what she was doing, Colonel Silver had no idea.
Adjusting his posture in the chair he was sitting in, and plopping his feet on the desk. He turned his head and looked out through the broad windows behind his chair. Surrounding the base were trees, trees, and more damn trees. Commander Red sure knows how to pick a spot for a base...
He held his gaze out towards the horizon. Someone out there is mucking with our plans… and so we decide to put our tails between our legs and hide in a faraway part of the world. Now if I was in char-
"Colonel?"
Colonel Silver nearly fell out of his chair, catching himself at the last moment and taking a frantic look at the door. General Blue was placidly gazing at him. How? Wh-What was that? I didn't hear anything…. Straightening, and rising from the chair, he gave the customary salute to the General. "Sir. Usually, your meetings with Commander Red take a bit longer… any reason why you two broke so early in the day?"
A corner of General Blue's mouth curled in amusement. He closed the door behind him. "Oh, there's a simple explanation for that. We've finally decided what the path forward for us will be."
"Really? This is definitely news, then. "If I may ask, what are we committing to?"
"Well, the way the Commander sees it, there's been a specific group of troublemakers messing with our operations. Troublemakers most likely like the ones you happened to lose at our East Base. It is in the opinion of both Commander Red and me that these people can not go unpunished."
Colonel Silver felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. "So?... That means?"
"We find them, we kill them. All five of them to be exact. Find Colonel Violet at once. We need to discuss orders for the both of you."
Colonel Silver clicked his heels, saluting. He promptly exited the room via the door General Blue had come in, not bothering to contain his all-at-once relieved and excited grin once the door closed behind him. It's about time the Red Ribbon Army went on the offensive. Now, where is that Colonel Violet…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Clouds. Endless clouds filled the sky. Grey clouds, white clouds, clouds of every color, type, and size. Clouds that hugged the ground so tight it was like curling up under a blanket. Clouds that loomed so large that you felt like nothing against them. Raging, swirling, forming-
Krillin was on the ground, sitting in a cross-legged position. The sky above roiled with a preternatural force. It was dark. Extremely dark. It was… night? No, can't be. Surrounding Krillin in all directions the horizon was lit by the sun's rays, forming a rising or setting sun in every direction. Red and orange waved and faded as it went farther and farther into the sky, eventually succumbing to the all-encompassing blackness... but the color didn't die. It wisped and spooled, slowly pulling into a single point right above Krillin. The point grew brighter and brighter, suddenly pushing against the darkness, spreading wider and wider…
And then Krillin saw it. A massive dragon was plunging to the Earth, plunging right towards him, moving faster than Krillin thought possible as it coiled and snaked down through the sky. It was wailing with pain, a sound so dark and deep it shook Krillin to his core. It was going to devastate the world, destroy everything, it was so huge, so HUGE- but Krillin couldn't do anything. His body refused to do anything. He was resigned to watch.
At seemingly the last possible second, the dragon shuddered, shaking violently until finally splitting apart in an unpredictable sequence- one second, the dragon was falling from the sky; the next, in its place seven massive orange balls now rocketed towards the surface. They were nearly on top of Krillin, too big, way too big-
Krillin woke up drenched in sweat, propping himself up off the damp straw underneath him. He caught his breath as the wagon underneath him rocked, the steady creakk it made the only sound he could hear other than his breathing.
He brought a dry part of the sleeve of his robe to his face and dabbed with it, mentally replaying the events of the dream. That was… that was definitely a nightmare. Krillin finished trying to rid his face of sweat and fell back onto the straw, sighing and closing his eyes. Brain, do you really need to torture me while I sleep, too? I already do that enough while I'm awake…
Krillin shifted around in the straw for a few minutes, trying to fall back asleep. No luck. Light was fighting against the darkness outside, slightly illuminating the world beyond the canvas stretched over the wagon. Giving up on trying to go back to sleep, Krillin turned onto his stomach and lifted a flap of canvas near his head.
The man beyond it, who was sitting at the head of the wagon with his back to Krillin, turned at the sound of the flap opening. "Up already? Hope it wasn't my handling, hah." He gave a good-hearted laugh, shaking the reins in his hand as he did.
Krillin waved away the playful accusation. "I've been having trouble sleeping, that's all. Do you know how far off we are from the town?"
"Look ahead."
Krillin adjusted his eyes to see beyond the man. Above the manes of the two horses pulling the wagon, a distant cluster of buildings could be seen through the gathering morning mist. "Oh? So we're close?"
"It's a bit misleading, actually. We're still about an hour out. I'd recommend you try to sleep a bit longer, personally. Not much else to do in the back."
"Guess that's a good idea… thanks." Krillin let go the flap, dropping back to cover the front opening. Krillin rolled onto his back and laced his fingers together on his chest. Good advice, but unfortunately a little too late for me. Been up a bit too long now. Guess I should meditate a tad… haven't done that in a while anyway…
About five minutes into his meditation, Krillin was snoring away.
Later on, after being woken by the chuckling farmer, Krillin paid the man and disembarked. He watched the farmer pull his mules around in a circle and head back the way he came. Guess he's about half a day's distance from his home… best of luck to him. The town he had been left in was by most standards modest- closeby farms and pastures served as a reminder of the settlement's rural past, but the more modern homes and commercial stores in the center of town served as a herald of its future. A type of town where there was only one place for every service -one bank, one grocery mart, one police station- except when they were feuds between people. As he walked down the town's main street he gaped at what seemed to be the only two food markets in town- they were right next to each other. A person from each store seemed to be trying to draw in customers from the street by indirectly deriding the other store. A man outside one store was yelling: "...Come on down to The Mart, the only place in town you can buy locally grown potatoes!"
Meanwhile, not ten feet away, a woman was shouting: "Low prices at Main Street Grocer, where you'll find the freshest fruit in miles!"
Krillin briefly reflected on how weird that job would be to have before something occured to him. They must talk to a lot of people… maybe… Suddenly Krillin broke from the crowd and approached the gesticulating woman outside Main Street Grocer. He caught her when she was taking a breath. "Excuse me? Could you tell me about any big problems around town, or direct me to someone who could tell me, or…" He lost his train of thought.
The woman gave her response in-between delivering her pitch. "Freshest Food!- Yea I know of some stuff- We sell the only beets around!- just go the town hall down the stree- HEY!" She stomped over to someone who tried to enter the Main Street Mart but was being detained by The Mart's yeller. She began wrenching the potential customer out of the grip of the other yeller. Krillin felt a crowd of people closing in around them, and by extension, him. Uh oh. Time to scoot. Elbowing himself through the contracting crowd, as he broke out the back he started to hear cheers and yells. Raucous cheers and yells. What the hell? Did they start a fight over one a customer? This is one weird town…
Krillin blended back into the normal street traffic and continued walking down the town's main street. The town was honestly pretty cute- well-sculpted statues and large old trees littered the walk, giving the town the air of a proud community that had cared for itself for generations. Eventually, the stores disappeared and Krillin entered a corner of the town that seemed more administrative- a fire station here, a post office there. He stopped outside of the biggest building in the area, and sure enough, it was the town hall. The doors were open.
Stepping inside, Krillin saw a quaint little desk in a somewhat too large room. A lady sitting it was typing into a computer at her desk. When Krillin entered, she lifted her head and gave a friendly smile towards him. "Heyo. What can I do for you?"
"This may be a weird question, but is there someone I can talk to about offering my services as a martial artist?"
The woman stared at Krillin, as if expecting him to go on. When he didn't, she shrugged. "You're lucky the mayor is having a slow day. Go up the stairwell to my right. He should be in the first room on the left."
Krillin bowed his head, feeling like he'd narrowly avoided failing the woman's 'should I bother the mayor with this' test. "Thank you so much." Waving, he climbed the stairs and came to just outside the door the receptionist mentioned. He hesitated for a moment, then decided on a simple two-part knock. After a second, a voice inside called for him to come in.
He entered into a typical mayor's office, barring a disassembled chair scattered in pieces around the room. The man who was presumably the mayor was lying on the floor, blankly staring up at the ceiling. "I'm afraid you caught me at a moment of weakness. I foolishly thought I could adjust the height of my chair if I took it apart. Not only could I not do that, but I can't even figure out to put the damn thing back together." The mayor turned his head, making eye contact with Krillin. "Never seen you before. How'd you make it past my secretary?"
Krillin cleared his throat. "A-Ahem. Mister Mayor of Ladoya, I'm a traveling martial artist who sells his services to down on their luck towns. I heard that this town is having some problems I could help with- not that I'd imply this town has a lot of problems, haha!" Krillin furiously scratched the back of his head in self-inflicted awkwardness.
"Well, actually, we do have a stubborn problem someone of your caliber could deal with." The mayor groaned and stood up, brushing dust off himself as he did. He motioned Krillin to sit in a chair facing the desk while he pulled over a stool to where his chair should have been and sat in it. Krillin could only see the top of the man's head behind the desk. "There's been two particularly stubborn crime bosses who have been racketeering and extorting protection money from local businesses on Main street. We catch some guys in the act every once in a while, but we can't make any moves on the bosses because they retain this super strong, super freaky guy who's on both of their payrolls. The only thing they don't fight each other on. Because of this guy, they can sit pretty in their daytime business fronts and we can't do a thing."
"What businesses do they run?'
"The two food stores in town, The Mart and Main Street Grocer. I'm surprised you didn't see their cutthroat practices at work out on the street."
Oh. That… makes a lot more sense. "Haha, yeah, I guess I didn't see them." Krillin gave a nervous chuckle, placing his hand on his neck.
The mayor kept staring. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name earlier. It was?..."
"Krillin. Sorry."
"My name's Beat. Or Mayor Beat on formal occasions. So Krillin, how much do we have to pay you to take out their bodyguard? We lose a huge chunk of revenue to their grafting, so you stand to make a hefty profit if you help us out."
"Actually, I'm not interested in money." Krillin leaned forward, locking eyes with the mayor. "I'm interested in information."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The sun crept over the horizon, shining reddish light onto Kame House and the sands surrounding it. Master Roshi had been awake for an hour; in his small upstairs room he meditated, legs crossed and eyes closed under his shades. It was… an instructing meditation.
Ever since agreeing to take on these three new pupils, he'd sensed a tension amongst them. A metaphorical elephant that overshadowed every single one of their interactions. It was quite possibly the worst class of students he'd ever had. Though, to be fair, the bar has been set pretty low by past pupils… Master Roshi painfully remembered the sight of his house burnt to the ground upon returning from a day trip, his two students pointing fingers at each other. Mischievous two, them. Wish… wish they were still around.
Master Roshi oscillated on how he viewed his immortality. There were times like these when he remembered all the souls that had touched him before he inevitably lived past them all. Times like these where he regretted eating that plant- oh, what was it, 70 years ago?- that purchased him another century. As the years came and went, so did the regrets.
But through these regrets shined the past and future promise of his work. His students would go on to protect and promote his teachings elsewhere, securing communities for generations against anyone who'd seek to do them harm (although Master Roshi was extremely prompt in reminding them there was only one Turtle Hermit). His students had gone on to save villages, towns, even nations… though, personally, hewould never brag about their accomplishments. The best thing about living for a long time is that you really get to see the full impact of things, people, events in the world- and it was clear from the beginning of his school that, indirectly, he was doing a lot of good.
Master Roshi decided a long time ago that he would continue to extend his life as long as he had a positive purpose for the world. When he died to Kakarot (which his pupils were so kind to provide the name of) and briefly experienced the afterlife- something I'll have to ask Baba about later on... - he accepted the fact that his time among the living was over, his job done. After being revived, however, he saw no other path forward than to continue what he'd been doing near for, what, how long? 250 years now. The fractured group before him reminded him of that.
A twinge of frustration rose to the surface of Master Roshi's consciousness. I must really be out of practice. I can't remember the last time I thought so much during meditation. Guess there's a lot to think about… Opening his eyes, seeing the sun fully rise above the horizon, Master Roshi stood up and walked out of his room. On his way out, he grabbed his gnarled, wooden cane and the turtle shell propped up against the wall. He made no effort to disguise the obnoxiously loud wooden creaking of the steps as he descended them. By the time he reached the bottom, three tired groans began rising from the floor. His voice rose to meet theirs. "I don't want to hear any of that! Like I said, training is from dawn to dusk. Now…" Master Roshi ran his fingers through his long, white beard in thought. "Your first task for today… is... to... cook me a meal!"
Three new groans filled the room, louder than before.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Krillin was standing outside of the two markets, making sure to keep at least one or two people in between him and the storefronts at any given time. The two yellers he had seen before were gone, the only sign that they'd been here was the ominously destroyed shards of what seemed to be a wooden crate outside. Pieces of it littered the ground, almost as if it exploded. Wonder if that's the work of the bodyguard… guess I'll find out soon enough. He scanned both stores, looking to see which of the two had fewer people in it. As it turns out The Mart was having a special sales day and was absolutely packed with people tripping over themselves to buy produce. Krillin quietly opened the door to the Main Street Grocer and stepped inside.
The building itself was fairly small. Aisles raced up and down its length, making it hard to see more than a handful of feet in any direction. Keeping his head low, Krillin ambled down the bread aisle before peeking at the back wall of the store. There were two swinging double doors that led deeper into the building next to the milk section. Checking no one was watching him, Krillin ducked through them.
The room Krillin emerged into was half full of food items, blanketing the side with the door that led to the rest of the store. Amazingly, the other side was littered with literal stacks of money, so tall that some dwarfed Krillin's with their height. The mayor wasn't kidding about the bosses being untouchable. You'd have to be completely blind to miss this… Tiptoeing over the foodstuffs, Krillin crept over to the money as quietly as he could.
He heard the door behind him start to open. Crap! In the space of a second Krillin flattened himself to the floor, quieting his breath. As he heard someone enter, Krillin realized he was flush up against a package of frozen tuna. Why is it out in the open!?... oh yeah. The purpose of this place isn't really to sell good food…
Krillin heard a smattering of footsteps echo around the room. The mystery person briefly hovered around on his side before walking towards the other end. Krillin thought he could smell smoke. Soon enough, he heard the sound of bills being rifled through. He gambled, lifting himself slightly off the ground, just enough to peak the top of his head over the stack of frozen tuna.
A sweep of air flew over him. On instinct Krillin lurched forward, narrowly avoiding a huge boot from crashing down onto where he had been. Turning over to lie on his back, he gazed up at an absolute behemoth of a man; he stood at well over eight feet, with muscles bursting from every square inch of uncovered skin. His blue shirt and black pants were straining to fit around the man. A thick pair of sunglasses dominated his face, framed by long strands of long black hair.
A voice drifted across the room, accompanied by a cigar cloud. "Mister… uh… what was it? Mister Bronze? Please take care of this little pest. And try to keep his guts off the money." The sound of cash once again filled the air.
His assailant cocked his head towards Krillin and pulled back his boot, scraping the ground with his foot. Krillin couldn't help but gulp. In retrospect, I shouldn't have taken this job…
A flash of movement. Krillin launched himself to the right, ducking behind a crate. The man had aimed a punch right where Krillin's head at been. Surprisingly, the movement seemed to jar the man, who took a faltering half-step as he settled his weight after fully extending his arm. So… agility then? Guess the weakness was obvious… Krillin ran around the crate, rounding another corner of a pseudo-aisle and bringing his right leg in a swinging arc around it. It collided the man's back, immediately stopping at contact. Pain shot up Krillin's leg. What!? Nearly stumbling from the interruption to his strike, Krillin was helpless as the man turned and grasped a hand around Krillin's ankle. The bone nearly shattered from the pressure of the grip. WHAT!?Krillin was then tossed across the room; fortunately, he landed in a cushioning pile of money. At his side, he heard some curses. "What was the one thing I said!"
Okay. Horrible pain. The guy is kinda slow, not very agile, but he's strong and seemingly indestructible. Krillin weakly lifted his head off the ground. His opponent was slowly making his way across the room. Giving me time to strategize? Awfully nice of him.
Krillin pushed himself out of the money stack, shifting his weight off of his right leg. Gotta figure out a winning strategy here… hmm… Half-unbelieving he'd find something of use, Krillin sighted a pipe running down the length of a wall, directly behind the man. Maybe…
When the man was about ten feet away, suddenly Krillin broke into a dead sprint, charging the man head-on. The man crossed his arms, expecting a strike, but right before colliding with him, Krillin slid underneath the man's bent legs. Continuing his momentum, Krillin rolled up towards the wall, wrenching away a section of pipe about an arm's length long. He held it with both hands, watching the man turn around to face Krillin again. His expression hadn't changed.
Alright… here goes nothing! Krillin ran up to the man, ducking under a horizontal arm sweep and bringing the pipe up and across from his left hip. It collided with the side of the man's ribcage, producing a metallic clunkkk as it struck. That's… odd. The man staggered to the left, twisting slightly in response to the blow. When he resumed his normal posture, Krillin noticed that, this time, the man's body had reacted to the attack. It was dented. Underneath the arm the shirt had almost been… scratched away, as if it was...paint? No way… Krillin stared up at the man towering over him, who was bringing a hand up to his head. He gripped the sunglasses, shook his hand for a second, then took them off. Where the man should have had eyes were two vertical slits, red light shining through them. These slits were growing brighter. Robot. Robot, robot, ROBOT!
At the last second, Krillin jumped to the right- two red beams shot out of the robot's skull and burrowed into a crate, instantly setting it on fire. The smell of burning meat filled the room.
Krillin landed painfully on top of an open crate of yams. As he struggled to extricate himself from the vegetables, he watched the robot sputter his head, like a gear catching. Eventually, it succeeded in putting his shades back on. Okay, the eyes shoot laser beams. Gotta remember that. Still gripping the pipe, Krillin got back on solid ground and circled around the robot, looking for any type of weakness he could exploit. The robot swiveled with Krillin's movements, making sure to keep the former monk in its sight.
The robot moved his right foot- and accidentally slid across a pool of vegetable oil that had leaked out of a crate ruptured earlier in the fight. The heavy mass of the robot caused it to almost slip and fall, but at the last second, it readjusted, barely keeping itself upright. Oooo... as the cliche goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. An idea popped into Krillin's head.
Krillin put on a burst of speed, dashing again straight towards the robot. Thinking that Krillin would try to slide between its legs again, the robot shrunk its stance, bringing its legs together. Perfect. Krillin lowered into a slide like before, but at the last second popped his body off the ground, aiming with both feet at the knees of the robot. Through the sensation of another horrible, jarring pain running up his legs, Krillin distinctly heard something pop, as the robot's knees hitched and then collapsed in on themselves. Metal slivers started to spray out out as the thighs began to crush into the shins. Krillin rolled out of the way of the massive form crashing down to the ground. The robot fell onto its back, cracking into the concrete floor into spiderwebs and smashing through another couple boxes of food.
Hesitating, Krillin stayed prone, watching the body struggle to move a few feet away. Suddenly, the robot lifted its upper torso off the ground. Its sunglasses were missing- the shades were crushed next to it. The two vertical slits the robot used to see with started to glow with red light. There! Krillin brought a hand around from his back, blue light now mixing with the growing red tinge in the air.
"A GIFT!" Krillin swung his body, throwing the ki ball a few feet into the robot's face. It detonated immediately; the robot's face disintegrated in an instant, spraying a mess of oil and metal over the area. After a handful of seconds of the robot's parts raining down, Krillin stood up and examined what was left. The head and the shoulders of the robot were gone, oil and metal bits all that remained alongside the heavily damaged midsection. The legs were completely severed at the knees.
Man, that is one useful move. Though I'm not sure that it would have been as effective if that robot hadn't been charging its laser attack. Smirking, Krillin glanced over at the man who earlier had casually sentenced him to death. The man was presently shaking next to a stack of money. He was quivering so violently that the cigar fell out of his mouth. "Now," Krillin said, in just a little too friendly of a tone, "I assume you're the owner of this proud establishment?"
It's nice to see someone else gulp, for a change.
Caught up in his triumph, Krillin didn't notice when what was left of the robot's chest started to blink.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Half an hour later, two mob bosses were being escorted out onto Main street. The police came to the area reluctantly, then celebratory, as they learned they could, at last, do their jobs. The scene was a spectacle; police cars and officers had tried in vain to block off the area from the thousands of onlookers, who intently watched the two men be escorted into an armored van. The cheers from the crowd were overwhelming. Though from what Krillin saw of the prices inside the stores, he couldn't be sure if they were cheering for justice or the prospect of reasonable prices for groceries.
It was a short walk back to the town hall; the receptionist once again waved him up the stairs to the mayor's office. Krillin was about to put his hand on the doorknob when it twisted. The door swung open, revealing a beaming Mayor Beat. "Astonishing! You've done it! You've accomplished in a day what the entire town government couldn't do in two years! You… I've... " the mayor was practically tripping over his words. "You've left me speechless. Truly."
Krillin's mouth curled, uncomfortable with the praise. "Ah… I had a job, and I did it. There's no story there."
The mayor seemed shocked. "Seriously? You just freed the town from expensive produce!" He paused, then coughed when Krillin didn't respond. "Oh, I wasn't being serious… you've freed us from worst things, of course… You know my secretary doesn't like my jokes either, she says 'Mayor, you need to be more serious', and 'you can't be making jokes about your own weight all the time-'"
"Mayor," Krillin cut in, "not to be rude, but our deal?..."
"Oh! Right! Of course. Sorry." The mayor grinned apologetically. "I get talkative when I'm happy. Let me tell you what you want to know…"
About a minute later, Krillin practically sprinted out of the mayor's office. So he's here!... Hope I'm not too late!... Krillin dashed down the stairs, gave a short wave to the mayor's secretary, then exploded out into the busy street beyond.
Q/A:
Q: I'll admit that this is a pretty common plot in fanfiction but I am impressed you took it to a whole other place! It's very creative and well written, and you make such good use out of the human characters too.
A: Thank you! I'm trying to avoid the 'a bunch of characters standing around doing nothing' problem that afflicts a lot of stories.
Q: Oh YES! That's a fight . Using strategy and not just raw power. That was great!
And , oh, look like kakarot is still alive?
Once again, great chapter! :D
A: Kakarot's tale is far from over.
Q: Ola, desculpe pela mensagem em portugues, mas eu gostaria de lhe parabenizar pela ótima história, gosto bastante quando os humanos são o foco em uma história de DBZ. Deixo aqui meus votos para o seu bem estar e que continue o ótimo trabalho
A: Glad to hear you're enjoying the story and the human focus (and props to Google Translate for allowing me to read this wonderful review).
