Kidnapped

Cold breeze blew over the landscape.

The ground had taken quite a beating in the battle. Multiple craters lay across it.

Tien and Gohan were lying unconscious while a battered Goku had been relieved at Raditz's defeat and had fallen asleep immediately after.

Only Piccolo and Krillin stood, watching over the dead body of Raditz.

There was not a single sound to be heard except for Goku's snores.

Krilllin was trembling.

"Hehe"' Piccolo chuckled. "It would be so easy to kill all of you right now."

Krillin was too overwhelmed to reply. After what Piccolo had done with that monster of a man he had no illusions about his chances in a fight against him.

Piccolo pulled back his fist.

"Argh!" Krillin closed his eyes and ducked.

Piccolo's arm went passing over his head and extended to grab a sleeping Gohan. Piccolo's arm than recoiled back to it's original length.

When a few seconds passed by without anything happening Krillin looked up.

Piccolo grinned wickedly. "I am not going to kill you just yet. Your help would be needed in the fight against Raditz's friends."

Krillin however didn't look pleasesd. "Hey! That's Goku's son! Put him down, Piccolo!"

Piccolo grinned even more. "Hehehe! Don't you worry about Goku's seed, Krillin. After I am through with him he will be stronger than all of us. I am going to make a man out of him!"

With that Piccolo took off.

"No, wait!" yelled Krillin as he helplessly watched Piccolo fly away with Gohan. However Krillin knew better than to follow Piccolo alone.

Suddenly the sound of a helicopter could be heard. Krillin turned to his side to see the helicopter land some distance from him.

"Hehe!" yelled Master Roshi, hopping out. "Did I miss something?"

"Couldn't you be a bit more late Master Roshi? You are so before time," Krillin said with sarcasm.

"Eh.." Master Roshi observed the battlefield. "What happened, Krillin?"

"Piccolo took away Gohan."

"WHAT?!"

"He said something about making him stronger or whatever," said Krillin.

Master Roshi's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "That's strange. Why would Piccolo do that?" he asked.

Krillin then explained to Master Roshi all he had witnessed.

Master Roshi sighed and took out a small bag out of his pocket. "These Senzu beans would have been so useful. If only I would be here a bit earlier."

Krillin smiled. "Well, what's done is done, Master Roshi. Atleast we can be relieved that Raditz is dead now."

Master Roshi nodded. "Yes, thank God."

Krillin remembered how they had decided that Master Roshi would visit the Korin tower to obtain a bag of fresh Senzu beans while Krillin would follow Goku and Piccolo silently.

Krillin didn't trust Piccolo. For all he knew Piccolo could just team up with Raditz to fulfill his revenge against Goku. He had shuddered at the thought of Goku's chances against both Raditz and Piccolo at the same time. But then again Goku was truely unpredictable when pushed into a corner.

When nearing his destination (the battlefield), Krillin had masked his power level to avoid Piccolo sensing him and thus had luckily escaped an alert detection by Raditz's scouter.

...

Goku and Tien stood upright, having just taken the Senzu beans fed to them by Master Roshi and Krillin.

Goku looked around. "Where's Gohan and Piccolo?"

"Well.." Krillin chuckled nervously before explaining the whole situation to his friend. "But don't you worry Goku," he assured. "Now that you are healed it is just a matter of time before we find them and get Gohan back from that son of a devil!"

"So Piccolo wants to train Gohan?" said Goku without any sign of worry on his face. "I don't find anything wrong about that."

"Are you crazy Goku?!" exclaimed Krillin. "Piccolo could brainwash him!"

"Nah," replied Goku. "Gohan's mom has raised him better than that. Besides, I owe one to Piccolo. If it wasn't for him Gohan wouldn't even have been on the planet right now. Raditz would have took him to space."

"Hmm," said Master Roshi. "Also, from what I have observed about Gohan there could be no trainer better than Piccolo for him to help him in discovering his latent power." Suddenly the old man looked panicked. "But how would you explain this to the boy's mother, Goku?!"

Now Goku did look worried.

Tien shook his head and began to walk away. "Well guys. I am off to train."

"Wait!" exclaimed Master Roshi. "I have got a message for you from Korin!"

Tien stopped and looked back.

Krillin drove the helicopter or airship or whatever the thing was while his friends chatted in the backseat.

"Hey, Tien," said Goku. "I sure am glad you showed up when you did. Also, the Dodon ray was awesome!"

Tien didn't smile. "But it wasn't enough. I am still not as strong as you, Goku." He gritted his teeth.

Master Roshi interjected. "How did you find them, Tien? I mean Goku and Raditz," he asked, changing the topic.

"Well.. I was busy remembering God when I heard an explosion take place. I wondered if it was a drone attack or what so I rapidly flew towards the source to find out. In a couple of minutes I could sense as well see the two of them fighting. I acted as fast as I could."

"Good thing you were nearby," said Master Roshi.

"Hey, Tien!" Krillin shouted from the driver's seat. "Is this the place Chiaotzu's supposed to be?"

"Yes," Tien replied. "That's where Chiaotzu lives and the adjacent apartment belongs to me."

South Carifa city

Yamcha was snoring in his rented apartment.

Only a few months back he was a star baseball player and was running in millions but a spat with his manager had cost him dearly. Multiple false charges of corruption and misconduct were levelled against him and consequently he was banned for a year. Well he had to admit that not all charges were false. Anyways most of them were, especially the major ones were entirely fabricated!

The fines he had to pay plus his own careless expenditure had led him to this. From a sprawling bungalow to a rented two room apartment...

RING! RING!

Yamcha half-opened his eyes and looked at his phone. "Krillin?" He received the call. "Hey, Krillin! Long time! I thought you had forgotten about this old friend of yours!"

"Nah, Yamcha. You thought I could forget you of all people?"

"So, how did you happen to remember me, Krillin?"

"It's a long story..."

Goku had explained everything to his wife except for the Piccolo taking away Gohan part and she had been surprisingly very understanding.

"And so," he had said. "I have admitted Gohan to a martial arts trainer for a one year course. This will make him able to defend himself just in case anyone attacks him."

Things had gone well. Now it was time for Goku to plan on his own training.

Korin's Tower

Yajirobe was watering the plants when suddenly he was startled by a light coming up.

The light turned out to be Tien's shining head. Tien had climbed up the Korin tower.

Krillin, Yamcha and Chiaotzu followed.

Tien grinned. "I am first."

"Hey!" said Yamcha. "I wasn't even trying... You should have told me it was a competition."

Krillin looked with a 'You said what?' expression at Yamcha knowing full well he was lying.

Yajirobe frowned. "Grr... I hate guests."

Piccolo landed in a barren wasteland with an unconscious Gohan under his arm.

Piccolo brought Gohan in front of his face and studied the face of the unconscious boy, wondering how on Earth he had been able to hurt Raditz.

'It's time we wake you up.'

To be continued...

Author's note: Thanks for the review, SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta. I have decided that for every 100 fold increase in power the distance from which it can be sensed would become twice. A power level of 1000 (approximate power of Raditz) can be sensed from about a kilometre.