DBZR 1/2

Chapter 15: Time to head home.

Piccolo sat in the middle of the Lookout, meditating. Every so often he would sense a disturbance in the Earth's spirit…but he could never lock in on it. It almost seemed as if something was moving here and there, touching this or that, much as a kid in a toy store would. He grunted slightly, annoyed. As the protector of the planet after Goku and Gohan, he should have a better feel for what was going on, but it seemed as if something was throwing up a large shield, hiding what they were doing for those brief moments, until it went away, and by then it was too late and he couldn't tell what had happened.

"This is maddening. Whoever this god is, he's very clever at hiding his touch. It's not L-Sama…but Kami's memories don't tell me who it could be. Darn it!" He muttered. Behind him Dende lowered his head, as frustrated as Piccolo and the others…although they were busy doing their own thing at the moment.

Vegeta leaned against a pillar, looking as surly as ever, but in reality he was thinking things over. Especially how he was going to destroy whatever it was that was doing what it was doing. "Maybe I'll just Final Flash this being first, and then pound him into a pulp before I send him to oblivion with my Big Bang attack…or maybe…" He thought to himself, constantly thinking up a new tactic or strategy instead of going with the previous one. It was all a mental exercise anyways, and he knew it.

Krillin, 18, Tien and Bulma were in their own little corners, thinking about anything and nothing. Tien kept flicking the ugly looking hair out of his eyes, and both 18 and Krillin tried to keep their shirts from being decimated. Bulma didn't have that issue though, but her lack of age was a bother to her.

Videl sat far away from the rest, getting a feel for her new body. Or, to be precise, reworked body, as the only things that changed was her eyes, her increased muscle strength and tone, and the tail.

The tail was taking the most time for her to get used to. "Darn you…quite moving!" She hissed, as the tail moved away from her grasping hands. It almost seemed to have a mind of its' own really. She sighed, exasperated. "Oh forget it." She muttered. The tail for its part wrapped around her waist almost naturally. She looked at it, and then pursed her lips. "Now you do what I wanted you to do…" She said dryly.

Everyone suddenly perked up and looked to the edge of the bowl, just as Gohan flew up and over the lip, landing nearby Piccolo. "I got them all." He said triumphantly as he handed them to Dende.

"Good. We'll make the wishes now then." Vegeta stalked forward.

"Hold on a moment Vegeta…we don't even know what we're going to wish for." Bulma pointed out.

"That's simple woman. We wish for everything to be returned to normal, and then to wish me to the location of this 'higher god' so I can destroy him." Vegeta smirked evilly…just before he got kicked in the shin by Bulma.

"Woman! Why did you do that for?!" He screamed.

"To get you out of this one track mind you have. So you go there and blow this guy up…how you going to get back?" She placed her hands on her hips in challenge.

He smirked again. "That wouldn't have mattered. I would have felt a lot better." He crossed his arms. "Not that the second wish was a serious one. Tempting though…" He grinned again.

Bulma shook her head. "Saiyans…" She muttered.

Dende laid out the Dragon Balls in a rough circle as they glowed in a rhythm. He held his hands out to the collection, and chanted, "By Your Name I Summon You Forth, Shenron!!!" They began to glow steadily, and the sky grew darker than pitch, and a blast of golden light shot forth into the sky, quickly taking on the shape of a dragon until finally, as it twirled and flowed about in the air, the glow vanished, and the giant green dragon known as Shenron floated above them all, growling slightly.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" The mighty dragon rumbled, its face antenna flowing like ripples on water.

* * * * * *

In Ranma's dimension…

"So how much longer should we wait for him?" Goku asked, scratching his head. They were waiting on the outcropping Ranma near the islands of the Jepoc Circle, waiting for…

"Knowing Ryoga, he won't show up for another four days." Ranma commented dryly, his pack on his back.

After the police had their chance to question the fighters, they were released to go home, where Nabiki quickly vanished for a good while, mentioning something about developing something. Ryoga had parked himself in, ironically enough, a park, resting up for the next day's trip in his tent.

Akane and Ranma had separated and gone to do their own things, which meant that Akane went to the dojo to train herself some more before bed, and Ranma just passed out. Goku, after he got a promise to spar or flat out fight with Terry Bogard and Ken Masters in the next fight before they had left, had gone into the living room and meditated for a good while before he finally went to sleep.

Goten and Trunks had gone straight to sleep in Kasumi's room, which didn't bother Kasumi at all, as they slept on the floor.

By the next morning, it was a hectic time, what with running around, getting meals eaten, getting Soun over his crying fit as his girl was off to train for the first time ever, finally changing Genma back to normal only to separate Ranma and him from fighting again, and then removing Shampoo from Ranma before Akane killed him…

It was noon when they were finally assembled, with packs ready.

Cologne handed out a sheaf of small wards from her pack, placing one on each person's body. "This will provide safety from Toltir until the task is completed. Until I have created the barrier in your world, you cannot remove these wards."

Goku nodded. "Ok, got it."

"Shampoo thinks we go without Lost Boy." Shampoo said, crossing her arms under her bosom, ready to get going.

"I'll get him." Goku placed two fingers on his forehead, and stood there for a few seconds.

The Nerima residents looked at him strangely. Trunks and Goten just watched, knowing what was coming.

With a slight blur Goku vanished, surprising everyone but Trunks and Goten. Within a moment he reappeared, aforementioned Lost Boy next to him, highly confused.

"How…how'd you do that?" Ranma asked, amazed.

"Instant Transmission. It's the only way to travel." Goku joked, smiling a Son grin ™.

Cologne sighed, impressed more and more by the Saiyans abilities. "So is that how we'll be traveling to your dimension?"

Goku nodded. "Yup. Matter of fact that will be the way we'll get over there." He jerked a thumb to the Circle. "All you have to do is make a chain and one of you put a hand on me."

Ryoga just blinked a couple of times. "How…how'd I get here?"

The others ignored him as Cologne slapped a ward on his chest. "Don't remove this." She ordered simply. He was too stunned to argue about it.

Ranma placed a hand on Goku, and the other travelers followed. Goku turned to Goten and Trunks and gave quick instruction, "Now you guys be good and don't get into trouble."

They both smiled brightly in that innocent boys look, saying in unison, "Right! We'll be good!"

"Ok then. Take care!" He waved, and then put his fingers to his forehead, focusing on the unique energy signature in the center of the Circle. They vanished, leaving Nabiki, Soun, and Genma with the two Saiyan boys. Soun was crying a river…literally.

"My little girl is growing up Saotome!! Waaaah!"

"They all do Tendo." Genma said sagely. The other three just rolled their eyes as they looked at the Jepoc Circle.

* * * *

In the Circle…

The group materialized on a small patch of land in the center of the Circle. Goku turned, and smiled. "Yup, all here so far."

"So what comes next?" Ranma asked, letting go for the moment, checking for himself to see everyone had arrived. Akane, Cologne, Shampoo, Ryoga, and Ranma where the ones going on this trip, although it was hard to determine if there would be another trip or not.

"Now I need to sense a strong power in my dimension so I can get us there. But it took a lot of energy last time for me to sense the boys, so I'm not going to hold back as much." He bent his arms.

"Hold back? What do you mean by…" Akane started to ask when Goku interrupted.

"Aaaaaah ha!" A flash of gold filled the air as the trademark Super Saiyan warble filled the air, his hair upright and gold and his eyes cyan. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh ha!" He cried again, his muscles bulging some, his hair grew slightly longer and a couple of the bangs over his eyes straightened out. Blue bolts flowed around his body as he made the jump to Super Saiyan 2. "There…that should do the trick this time. Well, shall we go?" He smiled and turned to the others…and then looked bewildered when they all seemed to be ready to swim away.

"What's wrong?" He asked innocently. Honestly, they'd seen a Super Saiyan...this shouldn't have been a surprise to them…should it?

All of them just recoiled away from the strange creature before them. "How…just how much more power can one put out? This is far beyond anything that I could have dreamed in my worst nightmare!" Cologne thought to herself, even though she had known that he'd been holding back before. She just didn't know how much, or how far off her own guesses were.

"Goku…what's this?" Ranma gulped.

"Oh this? This is Super Saiyan 2." He said simply, like Ranma should have guessed it from the beginning.

"And…you can go higher than that?" Akane said, almost trembling.

"Yea, up to Super Saiyan 3, although I still need to work with it. I haven't totally gotten used to it, at least not since I was brought back from Otherworld." He replied.

Ranma just looked at his in a stupor, to the point that the others thought he'd been frightened stiff when he slowly started to shake. "I…."

The group looked at him, curious. He shook some more, until finally he shot a fist out in challenge. "I want that power!" He cried, looking almost maniacal. The others dropped to the dirt, caught off guard.

Goku just gazed on, incredulous. "Uh…well…we'll work on it." Was all he could say, too surprised to tell him only those with Saiyan blood could do it.

He regained his composure quickly, saying, "Well, let's get going. Grab hold guys." He placed his two fingers to his forehead again, searching. The Nerima crew got up and quickly took up position again, grabbing hold of Goku in a circle around him.

"Wow…I sense an enormous energy…they must have summoned the Dragon! Alright!" Goku said happily. "Here we go!" With a blur the group vanished, just as a small wave washed over the small spit of land.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

At the Lookout…

"Mighty Shenron!" Dende called, taking care of the wishes for the others. They had decided on Vegetas' first wish, since that one made sense. They'd release Shenron afterwards. "Forgive us for waking you, but we have an urgent wish to make of you!"

"Then speak it, and leave me to my rest." Shenron replied, annoyed. He was never one for conversation.

"Mighty Shenron, we wish for the effects of the higher god to be undone, returning everyone who was changed by him back to normal."

Shenron paused. For a long time.

"You think he can do it?" Krillin asked, crossing his arms in a manly way.

"I hope so." Bulma replied.

Finally Shenron spoke.

"This wish of yours…asks more than I can give. I shall ask the God himself to undo it." The eyes glowed bright red for a long time as he communicated with the being responsible for it all.

* * * * * *

"Why Shenron…what a pleasant surprise!" Toltir said happily, looking at the spirit form of the great dragon. "It has been such a long time…what brings you here to my humble home?"

"You have brought about changes to my world Toltir. I have been summoned to undo these changes, of which you know I cannot. I ask you to undo them, as one mystical being to another."

It had to be the most the dragon had ever said. Was it enough though?

Toltir looked on for a moment, and then put a finger to his cheek, thinking. "Well…maybe. What's in it for me though? What can you give me in exchange?" He knew the answer to that as well as Shenron did.

Nothing.

The dragon growled in a sigh. "So be it. Farewell."

"Oh don't be like that. Can't have you leaving all upset now can I?" Toltir stood up from his chair and approached the spirit form. "Maybe I could undo part of it? Would that appease your wish makers?"

"It would not. Their wish was specific."

Toltir sighed dramatically. "Guess that puts you in a bad spot. You'll just have to tell them that you can't."

"I shall, Toltir. Farewell." The dragon's spirit vanished.

The god shrugged. "He never could deal. Oh well." He went back to whatever he was doing before.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The eyes stopped glowing, and the gathered looked up in hope. It was soon dashed as he spoke.

"I have asked the god, and he denied the request. Your wish cannot be granted."

They all released their breath, disappointed.

"Make your wishes." The dragon said, not nearly as harsh as last time.

They thought for a bit when suddenly they all looked over to the side a split second before Goku and the Nerima guests appeared.

"Heya! Looks like I was right, you did summon Shenron!" Goku said happily, not drained like was last time.

"Goku? You're back!" Bulma yelled in surprise.

"Dad! You made it!" Gohan said happily.

"Kakarott? Who are they?" Vegeta said gruffly as he pointed at the others.

"Oh, these are some new friends that I brought here for training. Except for her.." He pointed at Cologne. "..she's here to help block Toltir from messing anything up in this dimension."

It was this moment that he noticed how much different some of his friends were.

"B-Bulma? You're…smaller? And Krillin…how'd you get taller than me? Tien?!?! You have hair?!?!" Goku's eyes just got wider and more shocked as he took everything in.

"Toltir? This is the higher god responsible for everything?"

"He is…" Shenron confirmed, surprising everyone, not least of all the Nerima crew, who'd never seen such a thing.

"Wha…Shampoo never see such a thing…" Shampoo said, awed.

"Nor I child, nor I." Cologne agreed, equally as awed as her granddaughter.

Goku looked up at the dragon, powering down as he did so. "Hey, you guys make a wish yet?"

"We did Goku, but he couldn't grant this one." Dende replied sadly.

"Great! This will work out great!" Goku said happily, although no one was sure how it was such a great thing.

"Shenron! Can you sense the barrier that was placed in Cologne's universe against Toltir?" He asked.

The dragon paused for a moment before answering.

"I can."

"Can you set up something like that in the area where Toltir enters this dimension?"

"I can not make such a barrier."

"Oh no, just make a bunch of islands in a circle like that one. That's my wish."

"So be it." The eyes glowed bright red for a moment before fading away.

"It is done. You have one last wish."

Goku turned to everyone. "Anyone have a wish?"

Cologne looked up at him curiously, asking, "This creature will grant wishes? Any kind?"

Goku nodded. "Yup, but maybe you guys should wait." The other Z fighters shrugged or shook their heads when he looked around about the last wish.

"Sorry Shenron, we'll save the last wish for later. Sorry to trouble ya, and thanks a lot!" He waved to the dragon happily.

"Farewell." The dragon replied, its voice deepening. The original bright glow returned and the dragon vanished, leaving only a small glowing circle in the air until, with almost a loud bang, the seven Dragon Balls separated and flew across the globe to new locations, and the sky returned to its normal blue color.

"So this is what Toltir can do huh?" Goku asked, scratching his head as he looked at each changed person. His gazed stopped on Videl for a moment. "Wow…you're a lot stronger now. Have you been training extra hard or something?"

She sighed, and her tail unwrapped from her waist. "Not exactly…"

"Wah! You're a Saiyan now?" He looked on in surprise, not expecting something like this.

"Yeah Dad. It was a rather sudden affair, with some strange side effects."

Goku looked at his son, curious. "Side effects? She's got a larger stomach now, is that what you mean?"

"Well, there's that…" Gohan and Videl both blushed furiously.

"Oh…well what else was there?" He asked innocently.

The couple just looked at the ground, blushing even worse than before.

"She's got an increased sex drive, but that's been taken care of for now." Vegeta answered, his arms crossed again.

Goku looked at Gohan in wonderment. "Wow…I didn't realize you guys were that far along in your relationship."

"It's not like that at all! Vegeta showed me a submissive move to get Videl so stop so we could at least act normal in public!!" Gohan was yelling, surprised and in shock that his father was thinking along those lines.

"Oh…well it must not be a horrible side effect then if you have a counter, right?" Goku scratched the back of his head, smiling.

"Y-yea…you're right." Gohan said quickly, just wanting to move the subject along.

Bulma walked up to Goku, looking up at him and asking, "So tell us…did you find the boys?"

Goku looked down at Bulma, still a little unused to a much shorter…and younger version of her and nodded. "Yup. I found them. They're just fine."

"Well that's good…where are they?" Her fists were on her hips.

"Oh I left them in that dimension so I'd have a way to take these guys home when we're done. They're with good people." He answered.

"What!?!?! You left my boy in a strange dimension with strange people and no way to get home all?!?!?" Bulma raged, her fists in front of her as she ranted. "Goku…I'll kill you!!!!!"

"That's the spirit woman." Vegeta said with a large grin on his face, rather enjoying himself.

"You stay out of this!" She shot back before she turned her attention back to Goku, who had his hands up defensively.

"Come on! You know I can get them just fine! I had to have something strong in order to take these guys home. Their dimension just didn't have anything strong enough." He said in an attempt to calm her down.

Bulma crossed her arms, "Whatever. If anything happens to him though, I'll be after your head." She stalked off…with Vegeta still smiling, watching.

Goku sighed, relieved, as Videl walked up to the new arrivals who'd been quiet so far.

"So who are you guys?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about all this." Ranma said, eyes downcast as he apologized. It was because of them that Goku had gotten yelled at, and that did bother him.

"Oh don't worry about Bulma. She understands. Really!" Goku told them.

"If you say so…" Ranma looked at him, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"I'm Akane Tendo." Akane said next, dropping her pack on the tile ground.

"Shampoo." The busty Amazon spoke up, also putting her pack down with a rather heavy thud.

"Ryoga Hibiki." The Lost Boy also dropped his pack and promptly sat down in front of it.

"And I'm Cologne, Elder Amazon." The tiny old woman perched herself on the top of her cane with ease, looking at each Z fighter present. "Please excuse me, but this has to be done for your safety." She hopped about, slapping a spirit ward on each person, even on Vegeta, before they knew it.

"What's this?" 18 said, while blushing slightly as to the location of her spirit ward.

"These are spirit wards; they'll keep Toltir from making any more changes to you until I have prepared the barrier. Keep them on until I am done and you shall be safe from further harm." She placed the last one on Bulma and hopped back, satisfied.

"Well, maybe I should take you over to that island circle now so you can get started?" Goku asked Cologne, who nodded in response.

"The sooner the better."

"Ok. Let's take care of something first." He turned to Dende. "Hey Dende, you don't mind if they can stay here for awhile? I promised some training with them, and we don't have enough space at my house for them to stay."

"Sure Goku. No problem. They can stay here as long as they want." Dende said with a smile. "Mr. Popo will see to the arrangements."

"Great! Well, let's get going." He said the last to Cologne, who hopped over and landed on his back easily.

"Ready when you are."

"Here goes…" With a small blast of energy they launched into the air, heading for the location of the strange yet now familiar energy passage.

For a few minutes no one moved, as the four teens looked at the others in wonderment.

Ranma analyzed each one, until his gaze fell upon Vegeta. "What are you looking at?" He shot out gruffly.

Things were off to a great start already.

To be continued…

Next time, Cologne goes to work setting up the barrier, and the others begin to train. Meanwhile, Trunks and Goten go exploring and of course you can guess what happens. That's right, something unexpected happens. Will the boys get in trouble? And what happened to Akuma and Bison? Are Gohan and Videl ever going to get jiggy with it at all now? All this and maybe more will be written up someday late at night in the middle of a college semester...or maybe before that. Or after…bah, who knows?

Just kick the author and he'll get around to it. Guy can't get motivated like he used to…guess he's a wuss or…ACK!! Help! The…author…is…chok...ing…me….**the sound of a body thumping to the ground is heard, as well as a pair of hands clapping together, as if knocking dust off.**

We're experiencing technical difficulties at this time. Please stand by as we attempt to locate a tap-dancing weather man to take the previous narrators place.

Until next time…

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