Chapter Thirteen: The Legend of Kakarot

A feral roar echoed throughout the landscape as Kakarot lumbered forward. His great arms smashed down the high towers of Pilaf's castle! His strength snapped through the structures reinforced stone-like twigs. The shock sent debris scattering over the surrounding desert. And the full moon loomed above, leering down at them as if in silent triumph for what it had wrought. The ground trembled as Kakarot stood silhouetted against the night sky. It was like a nightmare.

Yet this was no nightmare; it was real.

'We'd better make a run for it!' blurted Yamcha. 'This whole place will be rubble if he doesn't change back!'

'We can't just leave him!' said Chi Chi.

'I think Yamcha is right!' cried Bulma in terror. 'We've got to get out of here and wait for him to change back!'

At that moment, as though the great ape had heard their plans, it turned and lumbered towards them. The group scattered as one great arm reached down. Yet Bulma tripped and fell. In a moment she was grasped within the ape's hand. It brought her up as it turned and began continuing to make a ruin of the once-proud castle.

'Yamcha!' cried Bulma. 'Help! Then she was drawn up before Kakarot's face. The great beast roared in front of her, and she fainted dead away.

Yamcha stood and watched, trying to think of some way to stop the creature rampaging. 'This is bad, if he finishes destroying the castle, Bulma might be next. We've got to help her!'

'Why is she grabbing her?!' snapped Chi Chi. 'I'm a pure of heart maiden who can ride the Nimbus! What does she have that I don't?!'

'Now is not the best time.' said Puar, before turning to her master. 'Yamcha, we have to take action!'

'What do you expect me to do?' asked Yamcha at a loss. 'I fought evenly with him when he was a kid. Now he's strong enough to tear down walls that we couldn't even scratch before, and tall as a mountain! Oh… this is not how I imagined the tale of my life ending!' He halted. 'Tale… of course, his tail! That's his weakness!'

Kakarot picked up a huge segment of a tower and hurled it with one arm towards them. Yamcha rushed forward, as the others scattered. The piece of masonry landed on the ground and shattered into a thousand pieces. Yamcha hit the ground as the pieces flew over his head, moments before Chi Chi hovered above him with the Nimbus.

'That was close…' said Yamcha as he rose up. 'And it doesn't look like Kakarot's finished yet.'

Kakarot now turned and was rushing towards them. They got out from underfoot before they were trampled. His footfalls each had the weight of a fallen hill, yet Yamcha leaped behind him and rushed the tail.

'Wolf fang fist!' he cried, before striking the tail.

Kakarot roared in pain as the attack hit his tail, and the sound of it shook them all. Yamcha clutched the tail, as the great ape stepped to and fro, slamming the ground. Tighter and tighter gripped the appendage, and the more he did it, the more Kakarot thrashed in a fury. Finally, the ape's roaring subsided, and he fell to a kneel, complacent.

'Quick Chi Chi,' said Yamcha, 'now is our chance! Use your helmet blade to snip off his tail!'

'Why don't you ask your new girlfriend to do it for you.' snapped Chi Chi in a jilted tone.

What the hell was she on about? 'Puar, turn into a giant pair of scissors and snip off his tail!.

'Right!' said Puar.

It was only as Puar did so that Yamcha realized that he was not thinking. Cutting off Kakarot's tail had no assurance of turning him back. And if it succeeded was certain to get rid of the one advantage they had. 'Wait, nevermind, ignore-'

Snip. The tail was sliced through by Puar's body, and they were committed.

The tail fell to the ground, and Kakarot roared as Bulma fell from his grip. Yamcha rushed through the air and made a flying leap, catching her out of midair. He landed on one knee. Bulma's eyes fluttered open as she looked into his eyes. '…Thanks for playing my knight in shining armor.'

At that moment, Kakarot was surrounded by blue light. He began to shake, groaning, and moaning in such a terrible voice. Yamcha became afraid he would attack them again. Then, without warning, he began to shrink. The hair on his body receded, leaving only his original form as he became once more a twelve-year-old child. He fell down, lying unconscious. He looked far more adorable than any person with his personality had a right to be.

'Well he's back to normal at least,' said Puar, 'though I guess he doesn't have a tail anymore.'

Far above, the moon loomed.

Daylight came a few hours later, and soon they were sitting down as the sun rose over the devastated castle. The temperature rose as they waited around for Kakarot to wait up. No one was quite sure what to say, though Chi Chi was sticking close by Kakarot, watching him sleep. They had put a blanket over him, and he slept on. In the new morning light, things appeared far better than they had the previous day. No one spoke much, for there didn't seem to be much to speak about.

'…That was quite an adventure,' said Yamcha after a moment.

'I just realized something,' said Bulma, in a thoughtful tone.

'What?' said Puar.

'Kakarot has already beaten his grandfather.' said Bulma.

'What do you mean?' asked Yamcha.

'Remember his story about how his master died?' asked Bulma. 'It all matches up. Kakarot lost consciousness because he transformed into that monster. He killed his master in his rage. That's why his Master warned him never to look at the moon. Kakarot must have transformed more than once. The second time his Grandfather wasn't able to stop him.'

'You're right.' said Yamcha, fear coming into his tone. 'If Kakarot ever finds out that he beat his master, even if it was unconscious, he might take it as a victory. I don't want to think what this kid could be capable of if he went bad.'

Bulma sighed. 'It's just so hard to believe.'

'So what is the deal?' asked Puar. 'Do you think Kakarot is an alien?'

'I've got the feeling he'll be quite normal now that his tail has been cut off.' said Yamcha.

'I hope so,' said Bulma, 'I've got enough friends with weird hangups already. Not mentioning any names of course.'

Suddenly Kakarot leaped to his feet. 'Who are you! It doesn't matter! I'll take you all at once!' he snarled as he took a stance.

'Well that was more or less to be expected.' said Yamcha with a sigh.

'…Why am I naked?' asked Kakarot.

'Don't you remember?' asked Chi Chi.

'No,' said Kakarot, 'what happened? Never mind, I need to get some clothes.'

'WHAT HAPPENED!' came a shriek, and they looked to see Emperor Pilaf looking in horror at the ruins of his castle. 'I had all seven dragonballs! Then everything went dark, and I was standing here with my castle destroyed! And all the dragonballs are gone!'

'We already made our wish.' stated Kakarot behind him. 'Give me your clothes.'

Pilaf turned to see Kakarot. 'Why you insolent wretch-'

Kakarot seized him by the throat and lifted him a foot off the ground. 'I implore you to reconsider.'

A few minutes later Kakarot was standing in the robes of Emperor Pilaf. Though he had left him the ridiculous hat. Bulma sighed. 'Yep, same old Kakarot.'

'Now could someone please explain to me why I was naked, and why the castle is in ruins.' said Kakarot.

'There was an earthquake.' said Yamcha.

'Really?' asked Kakarot. 'What about my clothes?'

'We don't know.' said Bulma. 'Because we were so distracted by the earthquake that we didn't notice what took your clothes.'

'…And everyone is going to confirm this statement?' Asked Kakarot, looking around at his friends, who all nodded. Chi Chi looked away and hmphed. 'Very well, keep your secrets. But I know your hiding something from me. Fortunately for you-' And then he fell forward and landed on his face. 'I don't care. Why am I having trouble balancing?'

'Well that's not too surprising,' said Yamcha. 'You probably just have to spend some time learning to balance without your tail.'

'My tail?' asked Kakarot, before glancing behind him. 'WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TAIL!' Then he paused. 'Oh to hell with it, it'll grow back soon enough.'

The group fell down. They quickly rose to their feet.

'Now,' said Kakarot, 'where is my power pole?'

'Oh it's that way,' said Yamcha, pointing towards the ruins, 'somewhere around the castle. We lost track of it in the earthquake.'

'Great, more searching,' snapped Kakarot 'just my- ow!' He landed face down with a crash and arose before continuing on, falling every so often. The three friends watched him searching around, still adjusting to his lack of a tail. Finally, Puar looked up to Yamcha.

'What are we going to do now, Yamcha? We aren't going to be able to look for the dragonballs for one whole year.'

'Yeah,' said Bulma, 'it was fun while it lasted though.' She looked to Yamcha, and he looked to her. 'So about Kakarot's suggestion…'

'Yeah,' said Yamcha, 'I think he had the right idea.'

They looked at each other for a moment. Then they wrapped their arms around each other, their lips meeting in a tentative kiss. It became more forceful as they became engrossed in each other-

'Alright, so I'm back and- what the HFIL are you guys doing?' asked Kakarot.

They broke the kiss and realized that Chi Chi was glaring daggers at Yamcha. Kakarot looked more than a little unamused. 'Uh… nothing,' said Bulma. 'I think Yamcha and I have decided that we'd like to spend a little more time together.' Chi Chi's glare intensified, as she seemed to loom over the landscape, fire coming into her eyes. Yamcha seemed more than a little afraid and also confused, but he stood his ground. 'So… so why don't we all head back to the city.'

'Yeah, great,' said Kakarot 'fine, whatever.' He'd had enough of pursuing Bulma for the moment, so he'd let this pass. 'I have business with the Master Roshi to conduct before I head anywhere else. I have to prepare for my match with Gohan.'

'Ah, right,' said Bulma, 'that. You know you're pretty strong as you are right now.'

'Yeah, but I couldn't even scratch the paint job on that castle.' said Kakarot. 'So if someone else was able to blow it up, I really need to get stronger. Besides, this wretched world isn't going to burn itself.'

'Well, that's… nice.' said Bulma with a fearful smile. 'You know, I think I'm actually going to miss you kid.'

'Well when a year goes by we can get back together and search for the dragonballs again.' said Kakarot. 'We could wish for immortality next time.'

'We don't need dragonballs anymore.' said Bulma, before she and Yamcha started laughing.

'Wonderful,' snapped Kakarot, 'which means I'm stuck without any means of locating them.'

'Tell you what,' said Bulma, drawing out her dragon radar, 'how about I give you this dragon radar as a going-away present. When you look at it, you can remember all the good times we had together.'

Kakarot blinked in surprise, feeling touched despite himself. 'Thank you Bulma,' he said before taking the radar, 'you know it was kind of fun. The sensation of Monster Carrots life force draining away was quite satisfying.'

'You're an extremely sick person Kakarot.' said Bulma in deadpan. 'I hope you know that.'

Yamcha then turned and drew out a capsule. 'Well, here goes.' He hit the button and tossed it. There was a poof of smoke, and an airship appeared.

Yamcha then turned to Kakarot. 'I guess this is goodbye, Kakarot.' He offered him a hand, and Kakarot took it. 'I want you to become just as strong as Master Roshi, okay.'

'Right,' said Kakarot with a smile. 'hey maybe after I scourge all life from this pathetic domain of weaklings we could get together a team. Go into space and do it to other unworthy worlds.'

'Don't count on it.' said Yamcha, smile unfading. He was quite unwilling to ruin the moment.

'You know, I'll never forget you Kakarot.' said Bulma.

Kakarot blushed despite himself, then turned away. 'Oh, son of a bitch!'

'What?' said Yamcha.

'I just realized that I'm going to have to power pole my way all the way back to Master Roshi's island.' said Kakarot. 'It was hard enough after Fire Mountain. It's going to be a nightmare.'

'That's okay, Kakarot,' said Chi Chi, 'if you want I could take you there on my flying Nimbus.'

'Chi Chi,' said Kakarot, 'I thought we'd established by now that I can't ride the flying Nimbus.'

'Well I was thinking.' said Chi Chi. 'Maybe if you took my hand, and I pulled you up onto to it, and it knew that I wanted you to ride with me, it would let you on it.'

'…Well I suppose its worth a try,' said Kakarot, 'it'll beat the other alternatives.'

Chi Chi offered him a hand, and Kakarot reached forward and took it. She pulled him up, and he tried to set his foot onto the Nimbus. For a moment, he was afraid his foot would fall through, but then he was able to get up on top. As he stood on the Flying Nimbus, he felt light as air.

At the same time, Yamcha, Bulma, and Puar got into their own vehicle. 'Hold on everyone,' said Yamcha, before gunning the engines and flying the vehicle into the air.

At the same time, Chi Chi rode the flying Nimbus up after them. For a moment, the cloud and the plane were flying neck to neck, as if in some great race. Kakarot could see his friends through the windshield waving at him. The Nimbus Cloud pulled in front of the plane, and they soared their separate ways.

It was a moment he would treasure. 'I never thought life could be such a great adventure.' admitted Kakarot to Chi Chi.

Soon Kakarot's skills would be put to the test, as he underwent the rigors of the Turtle Hermits training. What other challenges await our young omnicidal maniac? A new day dawns and a new adventure begins, next time on Dragonball!

Authors Note:

Well, here we have the end of the first arc. It has been a fun ride so far, and I'm particularly proud of the parting between Yamcha and Kakarot. Something about the whole thing meshes well for me. I hope you've enjoyed reading this arc as much as I did writing it.

What's interesting is how little Chi Chi had to say throughout this fic, actually. We never really see her do all that much interacting with anyone but Goku. During which, he misunderstands everything she says. It's quite possible that Chi Chi was a quiet sort of person. One who is sheltered herself and not very outspoken. Which is hilarious, given what she ends up like later on.