Sins of the Father
Chapter 30: Become the Hero
It was relatively simple for Korin to prepare for Tien and Chiaotzu's impending residency at his tower; a few made beds there, a couple packages of food there, and that was that. As it was, he was fairly bored of waiting when a week had passed and a figure emerged from below. A single figure.
Korin's face screwed up from confusion. 'Chiaotzu? Are you by yourself? Where's Tien?'
Chiaotzu finished clambering to a full standing position before speaking. He didn't look nearly as tired as he was the first time he had done the climb 'He's not coming.' he explained between breaths. 'Something came up.'
'Well… that's a shame. But I guess it's no big loss. More attention for you, right?'
'Actually…' Chiaotzu looked a bit sheepish, '...I'm not staying. I just wanted to make the climb and tell you we won't be training with you after all.'
'I… really? That's… nice of you to do that. I think.'
'No problem- if you don't mind,' Chiaotzu backed over to the edge and swung himself over it, 'I need to get back. See ya!'
Left alone, Korin began to frown at the vast expanse surrounding his tower. Just when I was getting excited to teach some new students… they pull the rug out from under me. Damn kids these days have no respect for their elders. He inhaled, then let out a long, drawn-out sigh.
0o0o0
The village Yamcha had found after a few days of listless wandering reminded him a lot of his hometown. Most people kept their hats draped low over their heads as they went about their day, tending to the things like crops and animals that gave them a living. Sheep and cows would walk by in packs every so often, trimming the grass down as they went. From time to time, a person would come out to check that the herds weren't under duress- but this part of the world usually didn't suffer from stuff like wolf attacks or cattle bandits. It was just… peaceful. From a small hilltop close to the village center, Yamcha saw all of this.
My Kami, I'm… probably as young as any one of them. If I had stayed in my own village I'd be like most of those people out there right now- hats pulled down in a workmanlike manner and happily doing the only thing I know. There was a beauty in the way these people could wake up, day-in, day-out, and tend to the same job with no end in sight. When you come from a place like this, your dreams rarely go past the boundaries of the animal pens…
Yet, even here, Yamcha could spot the people who wanted to rise beyond their home. These people weren't bent over, staring at the ground- instead, their backs were held high, their eyes constantly scanning at the horizon for something new. Their imagination stretched beyond the world they lived in. They reminded him of… himself.
Growing waves of noise snapped Yamcha out of his daydreaming. Down the slope of the hill, a crowd was walking up towards him. I guess I was a bit obvious up here. As they drew closer, Yamcha could increasingly make out a sea of angry faces. Maybe this isn't like my own village, after all.
He could have run, of course, but he didn't really have anywhere else to go.
'Hey you! Stranger!' A burly man with a dark farmer's tan was leading the group. 'You know anything about this!' He pushed something into Yamcha's hands accusingly. Around Yamcha, the crowd was slowly encircling him.
Yamcha glanced down at what looked like a leaflet. A message was written in bright, red letters, saying, 'WE ARE NOW PROVIDING OUR PROTECTION SERVICES TO YOUR COMMUNITY. IN PAYMENT, YOU SHALL GATHER AND GIVE TO US ONE HALF OF YOUR YEARLY HARVEST BY SUNSET TOMORROW. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES.' There was nothing else written. Yamcha turned over the sheet. An emblem in the bottom right corner made Yamcha's skin crawl. Red Ribbon?...
'Hey!' The burly man snatched the piece of paper out of Yamcha hands. 'It looks like you recognize this thing! Are you trying to pull a sick joke on us, pal? You don't want to mess with our community! We drove out that damn bloodsucking government tax collector just a few years back and we'll do the same to you, charlatan!'
Okay… this village is nothing like mine. 'No, no!' Yamcha smiled harmlessly, trying to defuse the situation. 'I only reacted to that because I recognized a symbol on it. I'm not associated with it, or whoever made this, promise!'
'Well, who left this leaflet then!' The man crumpled the paper up in his fist and shook it at Yamcha. 'Speak up!'
'A paramilitary organization. They're well funded and well armed. Though I thought they were gone…' Yamcha trailed off, noticing that everyone had stopped listening. Instead, the crowd was murmuring and whispering among each other, concern evident in their expressions and tone. It was a shocking transition- people who were a few minutes ago ready to throw him to the wolves were now scared witless.
They don't deserve this. Actually… 'I can get rid of them,' Yamcha announced, catching everyone's attention again.
Suspicious gazes regarded him. 'What, you're just gonna get rid of them?' a woman with her sleeves rolled up accosted Yamcha. 'Didn't you just say that leaflet is from a well-armed military group?'
'I've done something similar before. They're not as tough as they sound.' When he continued to receive unbelieving looks, he said, 'Just humor me. Regardless if I succeed or not, I'll at least be out of your hair.'
The villagers looked back and forth among themselves, then started to grumble and walk away. 'You better be telling the truth,' the woman warned Yamcha, 'or else I'm going to track you down and get you acquainted with my shotgun.'
Yamcha nodded vigorously. Message received! Sweating a bit from the hostile attention, he let himself cool off as he watched the townspeople filter back down the hill. Despite just having excused himself from a potentially messy situation, his mind had been occupied elsewhere. The chance of this being the actual Red Ribbon Army is so slim… but if this is actually them, then they need to be stopped. He looked over the lonely, tranquil landscape surrounding the village again. And I doubt anyone else is going to be doing that way out here any time soon.
He lowered himself to the ground, crisscrossing his legs and focusing on his ki. He hasn't actually needed to use this ability since he had learned it- turns out, he was a bit rusty. That's… no, that's the village right next to me. Wider. Oh! Oh… no, that's a bunch of deer. Yamcha screwed his eyes tighter. C'mon! Alright… Wider… wider…
Woah. Bingo.
0o0o0
Rayne awoke to a kicking sensation. Her eyes shot open and saw an angry looking Yajirobe glaring down at her. 'You need to leave!' he barked.
'What?' She scooted away from his foot and rubbed her eyes. 'Why?'
'Because you keep asking me the same questions over and over again! You're driving me insane!'
'Questions? What questions?'
'You keep asking me, "Yajirobe, I don't know how to fix things with my friends," or, "hey Yajirobe, what should I do with myself?" Stop asking! I told you before, you just need to stop caring about these things! Or at least stop asking me!'
'Seriously?'
'Yes! Day-in, day-out, you ask the same damn questions! I'm sick and tired of it!'
She sensed something… more was going on. 'Is that it?'
Yajirobe seemed to hold his breath for a moment, but as his entire face went ruby red his mouth exploded, 'NO! STOP EATING THE ANIMALS I CATCH! THEY'RE MINE! IF YOU WANT TO EAT MEAT SO BAD CATCH YOUR OWN!'
Stunned, Rayne continued to sit up on her straw mat, staring at the samurai. I mean, yeah, that's true. I've been eating more to push myself harder in training. I didn't think, though...
While waiting for Rayne to respond. Yajirobe huffed, cooling himself down and draining his face of color. 'Sorry,' he added after a moment.
'Nope, that's completely understandable.' She stood and crouched over her straw mat, rolling it up. 'I think I've stayed here long enough. A year is a long enough period of time to get a bearing on things.
Behind her back, Yajirobe mouthed, 'yea, it should be… grr…'
She slung the mat into her pack and then slung that over her shoulder. 'Your yelling made me realize something. What you said about catching my own animals.' She glanced at Yajirobe- he looked confused, clearly having no idea where she was going with her current line of thought. 'I need to start catching my own animals… in all parts of my life. Get that?'
'Uhh… yea?'
'That was why I was asking you so many questions. Because I didn't want to go out and fix those problems.'
'Oh- okay.'
'So thank you for that. Your act was just jarring enough to shake me out of my own head.'
'Oh yea… of course.' Yajirobe scratched his head. 'You're not going to eat any more of my food though, right?'
'Not a bit.'
'Good.' He walked over to the hut's door and held it open to her. Obliging, she walked through. 'I'll swing by again soon,' she called back to him as she entered the edge of the surrounding forest. 'Until then!'
Yajirobe made a show of smiling and waving back. As soon as she was out of sight, however, his expression soured and he dropped his hand. 'I'm never, ever, ever letting anyone stay with me ever again… eat all my damn food…' he grumbled before withdrawing back into the hut.
0o0o0
Kakarot rounded a dirt road, abruptly running into a bizarrely ruined section of the forest. Beneath fledging saplings and shrubs there were numerous trees flattened to the ground, all in various stages of decomposition. Depending on which trunk he stepped on, his foot was liable to either roll off the rough, calcified exterior or crunch through the rotted wood entirely. It made walking an annoying experience.
Soldering as best he could, he approached what appeared to be the originating center of the phenomenon. He reached the edge of the treeline- or what was the treeline, a few years ago. What used to be a modest clearing was quickly becoming overrun with young plant life. Tall weeds rose higher than Kakarot, swaying peacefully in the wind. Despite this hindrance to his sight, Kakarot could very clearly see a small shack on the top of a hill in the middle of the clearing. His shack.
As he drew closer, he remembered the times he had run up and down this same hill, chasing a small animal that flitted around. He would grab the animal and more often than not wring its neck, dropping it to the ground like a broken tool. Afterward, he would stare at the dead animal for some time. At least, that's what I remember now...
More memories that feel out of place. Kakarot was feeling some sort of disconnect- like parts of his past weren't actually lived by him. Perhaps that was what was driving him here in the first place.
He closed within a few feet of the shack. The door was gone- either removed or destroyed- with its rusted hinges still clinging stubbornly to the wooden frame of the building. Walking through, Kakarot saw that the blooming of life outside was also present within the shack; small plants were pushing against wooden floorboards and walls, slowly working its roots into the nooks and crannies of whatever the building gave. In one corner of the main room, some detritus and burrowing indicated some animals had moved in. Whatever they were, they weren't here now.
Wasting no time, Kakarot curled to the right and pulled opened a smaller, still-existing door.
This side room was in better condition than the main one. It was dark save for a single glass window that looked to be on the verge of shattering at any moment; an unimaginable amount of cracks ran up and down its length- yet it persisted as one piece, whole. To Kakarot's right there was a small writing desk, spilled ink and moldy paper painting the surface of it. Kakarot walked over to the desk, and after brushing off what was on top, removed a few papers from the desk drawers.
He started to leaf through a few of the handwritten pages. I always wondered what the old man did with his time… There were countless little observations written down about Kakarot, years and years and years of it. I hoped he had done something like this.
Shuffling through a few more papers, it became clear to Kakarot that these writings weren't just about him. These are… his thoughts. So like a… journal, then? He picked up one particular page- it was dated eight years ago. The edges of the paper were starting to yellow.
'Today was, thankfully, a quiet day. Kakarot stayed around the house all day. He seemed… distracted by something. He continued to glance in the direction of it throughout the day, but I don't think he consciously remembers it. Otherwise, he would have wandered over by now…'
Intrigued, Kakarot put the page down and lifted up another, dated another two years before the previous one.
'I've been consumed by what I saw in that forest. I can't make heads or tails of it. It seems so alien… but it doesn't look like it could ever leave the ground… if only I was a scholar, then maybe…'
Kakarot put this page down and reached over to a small candlestick on the corner of the desk. He rubbed the wick until it caught fire and started to burn. He then held the candlestick to the paper, illuminating it, before putting the page down and bringing a different one into the light.
He had a feeling he would be here a while. Time to settle in.
0o0o0
Before he had even sighted the base, Yamcha knew he was drawing closer as he heard countless gunshots echo into the air. It was a mad and uneven tune of blasts and pops, surely driving away any animal nearby from coming closer. It was also incredibly obnoxious. How do they not go crazy from this atrocious melody? So evil…
Yamcha had spent the better part of a week tracking the Red Ribbon Army- after dispatching the patrol of goons en route to the village, of course. It seemed that they were intentionally trying to keep themselves hidden by packing up and moving camp every night. A few times already Yamcha had neared where he had sensed everyone previously only to find a bit of rubbish and truck tracks leading out of the area.
He wouldn't let them slip out of his grasp this time. Cautiously, he pressed his back to a section of exposed rock that ran parallel to the base and edged forward, trying to approach the wooded camp with a bit of cover. The stretch of rock went on long enough for him to poke his head out nearly on top of the base, giving him an unobstructed view of what was going on. The area was mostly dominated by tents and tarps, obviously serving as sleeping quarters for the main bulk of the army. The center was dominated by an impromptu mustering ground, where he saw a number of soldiers following various commands to run, shoot, or drop to the ground given by a commanding officer. On the perimeter, armed guards poked out of truck troop carriers that formed a motorized wall around the entire base. There was no chance Yamcha would sneak in unseen.
Luckily, he hadn't planned on doing that. As soon as he finished scanning the entire camp, he walked out into the open, his arms held high in the air. 'Hi!' he shouted towards the base.
Several machine guns trained on him in an instance. 'You have ten seconds to back up or we shoot you!' one of the guards shouted back.
Unintimidated, Yamcha said, 'I want to talk to you guys! Let me in!'
Baffled, the guards exchanged looks with each other. 'We don't usually hear that,' the original guard said, 'so forgive us for asking again. Get the hell out of here!'
At this point their commotion had grabbed the attention of the entire base. Curious soldiers filtered in between the trucks.
'Come on, be reasonable!' Yamcha was grinning madly. This is kinda fun when you know you can't be hurt by bullets!' I promise I'm a nice guy.'
'You have three seconds! Two! On-'
'Stop!'
The guards in the trucks turned to a figure emerging from the press of soldiers. As they did this, Yamcha took a quick headcount of everyone he could see. No more than fifty. Good. It'll be easier to disperse them, then.
The last of the soldiers in the front moved aside- and as plain as day, a familiar figure from Yamcha's past emerged, their blonde hair and blue eyes complementing their buff, shirtless upper body quite nicely.
General Blue?...
Upon laying eyes on Yamcha, he perked up. 'Hah! This should be fun.' With some unseen gestured, the guards swiveled their guns away from Yamcha. General Blue walked forward, cracking his knuckles as he did. 'I've been looking forward to showing my men how far my martial prowess extends. Who would have guessed a punching bag from my past would turn up just when I needed to do a demonstration…'
I hate this guy. 'You sure you want to do this buddy?' Yamcha cautioned, preparing himself for a fight. 'You weren't exactly leaps and bounds above me the last time.'
'Do you think I haven't trained in the slightest?' As if answering his own question, he shifted into a guard, showing more prominently how much more muscled his body was compared to the last time Yamcha had seen him. 'I have grown stronger in both body and mind. And you? You look the same. Weak.'
'So we're actually doing this, then,' Yamcha slowly began to walk forward at an angle, circling General Blue.
Either this fight is going to be very fun or very, very unpleasant. If he's serious about how much work he'd done…
No- no doubt. You have to fight like you think you're going to win. Otherwise… I should have stayed in West City.
The soldiers fanned out further- they formed a half-circle behind General Blue, letting the barren rock wall behind Yamcha box him in. The former bandit was essentially trapped. Ominously, he noticed a few trucks, machine gunners posted on top, start to draw closer.
General Blue rolled his neck once, then again with his hands, then bared his fists. 'Prepare yourself. Raaahhh!' He charged.
Yamcha ran to meet him.
Their bodies sprinted towards each other, both holding back a cocked fist-
And General Blue was sent sprawling to the ground, his entire body ricocheting from the impact of Yamcha's fist. General Blue's fist had bounced off of Yamcha's cheek harmlessly.
Dead silence descended on the previously cheering soldiers. General Blue brought one hand to his cheek, wiping away a streak of blood- '...Why you- GAAACK!-' without any warning, General Blue gagged and then spit out a tooth from his mouth, blood clinging to its root. He stared dumbly at the dislodged tooth for a moment before glaring back at Yamcha. 'Look what you've done!' he snarled, showcasing one of his missing front teeth. 'You're going to pay for that!' General Blue jumped up and swung his leg out at Yamcha. This time, Yamcha hopped back a foot and grabbed General Blue's leg. Grinning wickedly, Yamcha started to rotate, wrenching a startled General Blue off the ground. Yamcha spun faster and faster, eventually taking General Blue's entire body off the ground. When he felt he couldn't speed up anymore, Yamcha released General Blue towards his own crowd of soldiers. Like a rocket, he spun towards them and crashed into their ranks, toppling over nearly half of the soldiers present.
While everyone was trying to reorganize into a presentable mass, Yamcha spoke. 'Soldiers of the Red Ribbon Army, lay down your arms! Can't you see this is pointless!' Out of the corner of his eyes, Yamcha saw a few gunners posted at the top of the trucks lower their guns slightly. That's it, c'mon! 'It's not too late to stop doing this! Just walk away and you won't be seen as bandits for the rest of your lives!'
He saw doubt- but he could tell he still hadn't convinced them. I don't want to kick a guy when he's down, but… 'Your commander is a fraud! He went down in two hits! Would you want to fight, want to die, for someone like that?'
A few soldiers seemed to glance at where General Blue had disappeared into the crowd. Then, some began to walk away from the scene, dropping their guns as they did. The entire group in front of Yamcha started to melt away. Yes! Just a few more seconds!-
'STOOOOP!' A voice raged up out of the crowd. A few seconds later General Blue emerged into the open once more, blood gushing from a broken nose. 'This man is a weaklinga! And I'll prove it to you, my soldiers!' General Blue crouched and placed one outstretched to his temple, squinting.
Yamcha felt a tug on his body… but nothing more. Hesitantly and with some discomfort he wiggled his pinky finger. Oh yes. Freezing for a moment- just to see the beginnings of a satisfied expression form on General Blue's face- Yamcha exploded forwards, bending his hand into a familiar claw shape. Blue ki surrounded Yamcha's leading arm with the slightest shimmer. 'Hyaaaah!' With two downwards strikes onto General Blue's chest, Yamcha drove the Red Ribbon officer into the ground, submerging the center of his body in a half-inch of dirt. The General was out cold. 'Leave!' Yamcha commanded to the soldiers around him.
Soldiers shot blank stares at Yamcha; then, one by one, they turned and walked away. Soon enough, Yamcha was alone amidst an unconscious General Blue and a few deserted trucks.
And the Red Ribbon Army was defeated by a single man.
Yamcha walked back a few feet, examining the state of the general. He was bleeding- but he would live. Well done, Yamcha, well done.
0o0o0
It was the dead of night in the village- the only sound Chi-Chi could hear was the whipping of wind into the side of the building she was in. She had stared out the window of her room for hours, watching the storm slowly deposit snow in an ever-growing bank outside. In a few hours Chi-Chi figured she wouldn't be able to see out her window. Suno had called this the "first real storm of the season". Chi-Chi dreaded seeing what a bad storm was like.
I don't think I could ever get used to it up here. She sipped on a cup of tea she had warmed with her ki a few minutes ago. I've been here for a while now, and the snow still feels just as foreign. It barely got this cold near Fire Mountain… wait... Chi-Chi took another sip, thinking. Fire Mountain would… deter snow. Oh. Guess that's why I don't like snow.
She took another sip. I miss home.
The wind whispered incessantly, like a constant itch at the back of Chi-Chi's mind. Just as annoying. She set the cup of tea down on the windowsill and slid her feet into the warm house slippers Suno had given to her. Winters are brutal here. Why do these people even live up here?
Said the girl who lived at Fire Mountain...
Taking every effort to be quiet, Chi-Chi exited into the hallway and tiptoed past Suno's mom's room, who had been generous enough to offer Chi-Chi a room while she was training Suno. Along the way, she grabbed her cold weather outer-gear and heavy boots.
She knew this wasn't a good idea. But she wanted to do it regardless.
Once she was all bundled up, Chi-Chi had to push the front door open against the weight of a few feet of snow before freeing herself and slipping outside. The door swung back gratefully.
The snow was falling in scissoring streaks, blanketing every house and path Chi-Chi remembered from earlier in the day. The entire town had a dreamlike quality to it. Though maybe that's because I should be sleeping right now.
Without choosing any particular direction, Chi-Chi set off into the snow. The going was tough- and was getting tougher as more snow fell- but she wouldn't be deterred by a spat of bad weather. She trudged past the edges of town and waded further into the snowfield surrounding the village. When she was a good distance away, far enough to be certain no one in town would hear her, she took off most of her heavy clothing and let it drop into the snow behind her. At the same time she began to burn her ki for heat, compensating for her lack of warmth. Slowly, she pushed more ki to her hands, feeling her palms start to buzz with energy. On one hand, it's a shame this is my only time to train.
She noticed that a circle of melting snow was pushing out from where she was. On the other hand, this should be pretty cool.
Not a single soul in Jingle Village, asleep as they were, witnessed a firestorm battle back the snowstorm long into the night.
0o0o0
Kneeling on the forest floor, Kakarot carefully dropped the items he was carrying to the ground. A few twigs, some leaves, some frayed rope he had found by the road a few miles back, and a piece of flint he could scrape against the side of the object in front of him. Around him it was raining, a steady stream of water slowly slipping down the forest's leaves.
He didn't care. He would burn this thing regardless.
It was uniformly metal, blanketed by the forest's steady reclamation. Plants and shrubs either sprouted from it or swallowed it, trying to obscure both the object and the crater underneath it. Kakarot pressed a thumb to its surface and rubbed it across- his thumb came back green and brown, revealing the dull grey color of the plating underneath. My home, for some time, some time ago. It was out of place in the tranquil forest surrounding it- a foreign invader that had been felled by the planet's gravity long ago.
Kakarot picked up a piece of flint, already slick from the rain. He shimmied up to the object and pressed the edge of the flint to its surface. With meticulous strokes, he cleared away a section of forest growth to reveal the metal plating underneath. He then made sure to grab some dry tinder from around him and hold it against the object. With his other hand, he began to furiously chip into the plating.
Sparks breathed and died in the same instant, spiraling in every direction before being extinguished from the rain. Kakarot felt his clothes start to dampen from the weather. Undeterred, he intensified his cutting, throwing up more and more sparks. Tinder would briefly light and smolder- but nothing would catch. The rain wavered but never ceased, drenching every batch of material Kakarot tired to light.
Finally, after a few minutes of dedicated effort, he fell back on his legs, sweating.
He… couldn't do it. The tinder wouldn't catch, the flint wouldn't spark; nothing that he had brought with him had helped him in his goal. Including me. Because I'm the cause of this failure, aren't I? I can't destroy the one true relic of my people. How could I?...
There had been no mistaking what this spherical object was the moment he had laid eyes on it. Nothing in it worked, grass and vines were growing over it- but you could never truly forget such an enclosed and claustrophobic space, even as a newborn. It was a stain on his mind; something that, if he ever tried to excise it, would fight back and stop him before he even had a chance to light the fire. Because it's a part of me, right? As much as I may hate it- I can't deny it.
Kakarot looked around him. The forest seemed either undisturbed or uninterested by his actions of the past few minutes. No… and why would it? I'm done here. Wordlessly, Kakarot left the would-be fire starting material splayed around him and walked away.
0o0o0
Suno rubbed her eyes at what she was seeing. She had barely woken up when she heard the front door to her house shut close. Walking out, Suno saw her teacher Chi-Chi holding up the burnt remainders of her heavy coat with a goofy smile on her face. 'How… what happened?...' she managed while trying to close her gaping jaw.
Chi-Chi laughed nervously, almost fully disintegrating the piece of clothing with that simple movement. 'Oh, you know… training…'
0o0o0
By the time Yamcha returned to the village, the sun had nearly dipped beyond the horizon.
Not quite yet, though. The golden silhouette of a mass of people, grouped on the edge of town, made that clear enough. This should be fun…
The group began rushing towards him. Yamcha, for whatever reason, didn't feel inclined to avoid them.
They surged towards him, like a veritable human wave-
And lifted him up into the sky on their shoulders. Bewildered, Yamcha looked among the faces- but instead of anger or malice, he saw joy. 'He did it!' The burly man from earlier yelled from under him, 'he drove them off!'
What?
They must have seen the confusion written on his face because in the midst of their jockeying a woman gripped his lower body, almost pulling herself up to him. 'We saw everything from here!' she cheered. 'The soldiers fleeing, throwing down their arms- you should have seen the haggard line they formed as they ran across the fields!'
Unaccustomed to sustained eye contact from any woman other than Bulma, Yamcha chuckled, blushed, and looked away. 'Haha…'
The woman dropped back down into the mass of people. There was no sign of the crowd letting off- Yamcha was going to be paraded through the entire town.
He felt that he was going to enjoy the ride.
A/N: This story crossed a pretty cool milestone a few days ago! 100 reviews! Y'all are the best.
Reviews:
Legendary-AI: I'll respond to your (amazing many!) reviews as ya wrote 'em:
I plan on continuing for a long time ;)
Yea, I started the story in DB because I felt a lot of important differences in the universe would be tangible and extensive by the time DBZ rolls around. I actually plan to start DBZ timeline-wise at a much earlier point of time compared to canon- but that wouldn't have been feasible if I had just started in DBZ. There's going to be a very important event within the story for why this is the case.
Kakarot is admittedly one of the tougher characters for me to write, but I think I've made him less of a one-dimensional 'destruction and evil' type of person.
Yea, I definitely wrote everyone a bit too smart towards the beginning of this story, at least tactically.
Hah, this fic as a show would be pretty wild.
Piccolo Jr. will be an interesting figure compared to Kakarot.
The humans' edge over Kakarot exists! Turns out Kakarot's aimless actions meant he never got to train.
I figure the calculus for King Piccolo killing Shenron will usually be the same in every fic. Once he gets what he wants from Shenron, he'll think that the only way the dragonballs will be used again will be to either oppose him or fix the damage he inflicted on the world. Either way isn't good for him, so he kills Shenron and by extension the dragonballs as a weapon against him. Also, King Piccolo probably wants to spite Kami by using his creation and then destroying it afterward anyway.
Kakarot was pretty injured by the point he became an Oozaru. He had zero time to recover from his fight with Master Roshi (which was very taxing) but on top of that, he was heavily injured by King Piccolo. Due to this, his Oozaru was much weaker than it would have been if he had been at full power.
We'll see what happens with Kakarot's tail…
Thank you! And thank you for all the reviews!
CrimsonGhost11: Thank you for the kind words! I'm working as fast as I can!
Zeikwalt: Kakarot is nowhere close to helping people out, and may not ever be at that stage. He's just thinking a lot more clearly now. Unfortunately, Saiyan tails tend to be pretty flimsy. Doesn't mean Kakarot's tail can't regrow back, though.
Guest (chapter 29): Thank you! Updates come out, at the latest, every week or eight days.
Guest (chapter 28): Thank you for bringing that to my attention! Chapter 19 should now be correctly referring to Bora.
Guest (chapter 27): If Kakarot had been at full strength when he became an Oozaru, then yea, his power level would have been around Raditz when he came to Earth in canon. As it is, however, he was weakened from his fight with Master Roshi and was seriously hurt by Piccolo.
Loki (chapter 5): That day is coming, slowly but surely…
LWexe: Yeah, I don't know what it is, but for some reason I really enjoy writing for Yajirobe. Not sure what it is. Equal potential for foolishness and wisdom.
