THE DARKEST HOUR

"Bulma's…dead…"

Even though he's the one who said it, Yamcha finds himself frozen in shock as he stares at Bulma's body. He can barely hear the others' horrified reactions around him. After several long seconds, tears start to form in Yamcha's eyes and his gem glows blue.

Then, everything crashes down on him, and he lets out a gut-wrenching, anguished scream. As he does so, a deep blue aura bursts from his gem, engulfing the entire Main Hall. The moment it touches everyone, human or Gem, they're suddenly hit with overwhelming sorrow and tears fall down their faces uncontrollably.

Everyone's confused by what just happened, even the Crystal Gems. They've never seen something like this before. Did Holly have this ability? If she did, she never used it. What was going on?

Despite the sorrow and tears, Rose manages to walk over to Yamcha, who is sobbing over Bulma's body, and gently shake him to make him look up at her. She tries to reassure him through her sniffling that it'll be okay, that they can use the Dragon Balls to bring her back. They just need to track down whoever took the four-star ball and steal it back, first.

Yamcha calms down after a few minutes and the blue aura vanishes, freeing everyone from the anguish. Though they're admittedly curious about what that was, they have bigger things to worry about right now.

The moment the aura vanishes, Goku's expression shifts from anguish to fury. He demands one of the radars from Peridot in his rage. As she starts pulling one of the radars out her gemstone, Krillin spots a piece of paper on the ground with the 'Ma' character printed on it. Roshi's horrified when he sees it; he tries to stop Goku from leaving, but to no avail as he snatches to radar and flies off on Kinto'un alone.

The others ask Roshi what's gotten him shaken up, and he tells the others that the 'Ma' character is the seal of King Piccolo.

King Piccolo was said to have been the master of demons, said to have plunged the world into darkness and terror hundreds of years ago. He was a fearsome monster with overwhelming power. He conjured a brood of monsters from within himself, and in a moment, transformed a world of peace into a world of death.

Even when Roshi was younger, he was no match for King Piccolo, nor was Shen. Not even their master, Mutaito. But their master could bear to allow King Piccolo to twist and turn the world according to his whim, so he devised a great attack: the Mafūba. With it, he was able to trap King Piccolo and seal him away in an electric rice cooker, sacrificing his life in the process.

Roshi has no idea how King Piccolo returned, saying that the rice cooker was buried at the bottom of the ocean floor long ago. And now that he's back and making his monsters steal the Dragon Ball and the tournament roster…What is he plotting now?

OoOoOoO

In another part of the world, on a large floating boat above the clouds, an elderly, towering green figure can be seen sitting on a throne. "So…" he says, observing the five-star orb that Pilaf, Shu and Mai just retrieved. "This is a Dragon Ball…"

It's revealed that, after his defeat at the hands of Bloodstone, Pilaf decided the best way to stop the Crystal Gems' interference and finally conquer the world was to get an unbeatable foe on his side. So, alongside, Shu and Mai, they managed to track down the rice cooker and free King Piccolo.

Now, they're gathering the Dragon Balls to restore King Piccolo to his youth, when his strength was at its peak, and having King Piccolo's brood slaughter any possible opposition. And in exchange, King Piccolo tells them he'll consider giving them a portion of the Earth to rule over.

OoOoOoO

Back at the Budokai, Roshi figures out why King Piccolo wanted the tournament roster: He's terrified of the Mafūba. He knows that someday, another champion might step up and seal him away again. So, to make sure that never happens, he's going to track down and murder everyone on that roster.

And Goku's headed straight towards one of King Piccolo's brood.

Rose is the one to snap everyone into action, yelling that they've got no time to lose. Peridot pulls out the other three radars from her gem, and the group splits up.

Yamcha, Chi-Chi, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu (the former three in a capsule plane and the latter two flying alongside them) follow Goku. He's gonna need all the help he can get.

The Gems decide to go after the Dragon Balls, hoping to get ahold of them before King Piccolo does. Jasper and Lapis head off in one direction, Rose and Apache in another, and Peridot (who has a radar built into her Limb Enhancers hologram) heads off in different direction.

Roshi, Lunch, Ranchi, Oolong and Puar head back to Kame House, where they'll keep Bulma's body safe until she can be revived.

It's a flimsy plan, especially against a monster like Piccolo King Piccolo, but it's the best they've got right now.

OoOoOoO

Hundreds of miles away, Goku finally catches up with his target: Tambourine, the gargoyle-like beast who killed Bulma. Goku attacks him out of pure rage, but he's still exhausted from the tournament. Thanks to this, Tambourine is able to send him flying down to the Earth with ease, and even destroys Kinto'un with a single mouth blast.

Goku is sent flying and hits the ground, creating a small crater upon impact and falling unconscious immediately. Tambourine merely laughs and flies away.

OoOoOoO

Tambourine finally gets back to King Piccolo's ship, proudly presenting both the four-star ball and the Budokai roster to his father. Mai goes through the roster, and the Pilaf Gang freaks out when they see Jasper's picture. Seeing this, Piano asks why they're acting like that, prompting the trio to tell them about the Crystal Gems.

After hearing how powerful they are and their abilities, Piano asks for a description of each Crystal Gems. Tambourine and Piano look through the tournament roster, but can only find Jasper's picture. Nevertheless, King Piccolo decides to hunt down and eliminate the Crystal Gems as well; he doesn't want to take any risks.

King Piccolo decides to create another warrior to hunt down the rest of the Dragon Balls, while Tambourine hunts down their targets. This worries Piano, who reminds King Piccolo that the more energy he uses to spawn another brood, the quicker his body ages. King Piccolo merely waves his concerns away, saying he can still use his powers several times until he gets all seven Dragon Balls.

And thus, through a grueling and rather disgusting process, King Piccolo vomits up another egg, which breaks open to reveal a fully-formed Cymbal.

Tambourine heads off to eliminate the Budokai participants, while Cymbal tracks down the nearest Dragon Ball. As they watch this, the Pilaf Gang start to worry that King Piccolo won't fulfill his promise, but Pilaf tries to reassure their worries.

OoOoOoO

Across the globe, as dusk gives way to twilight, the Crystal Gems are hurriedly gathering any Dragon Balls they can find.

Rose and Apache find the two-star ball in the Snowy Highlands. Jasper and Lapis locate the six-star ball at Crow Cavern. And Peridot finds the three-star ball in a prairie, hiding it in her gem as soon as she has it.

They can only hope and pray that this will work.

OoOoOoO

Back with the five fighters, Chi-Chi suddenly has a sinking feeling in her gut as they fly over a prairie. She has Yamcha stop and jumps out, and her suspicions are confirmed when she discovers Goku's unconscious form in the grass.

Chi-Chi hurriedly shakes him awake just as the others catch up. Goku's okay, though he's still injured, exhausted, and not to mention hungry; he can't fight like this. Yamcha gets an idea and tells the others to get some food, then once again bites his lip hard enough to draw blood, allowing him to cry onto Goku's body.

The monkey-tailed boy's injuries immediately vanish, much to Chi-Chi's awe and joy, though he's still tired and hungry. Yamcha, meanwhile, winces as he tries to get the remaining tears on his bloody lip. "There's gotta be an easy way to do this…" he grumbles out.

Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu quickly come back with some fruit and meat, bringing Goku back to full strength. He tries to call Kinto'un, but it fails; seems that chi blasts are most effective than mere rocket launchers. Krillin reminds Goku that they have a plane, which cheers Goku up. He then pulls out the radar to continue hunting Tambourine down…only to see that there's a Dragon Ball in their area.

The group tracks down the one-star ball in a nearby bush, much to their relief. Tien and Chiaotzu ask why the Dragon Balls are so important, still in the dark about this. While Chi-Chi explains everything, Goku, Yamcha and Krillin look over the radar again. There are two in one area nearby; there's a 50-50 chance of it being either King Piccolo or the Crystal Gems.

After a bit of debate, they decide that one of them should take the one-star ball, both to continue hunting the other Dragon Balls and to keep it away from King Piccolo, while the others confront King Piccolo. The thought of taking on a monster like him is terrifying, but if they work together, they might be able to stand against him and his brood.

But before they can decide who will take the one-star ball, Cymbal suddenly shows up, demanding the Dragon Ball. They refuse, with Goku wanting to fight him out of anger.

Goku attacks Cymbal, much to the beast's surprise. Now that he's at full power, Goku easily pummels Cymbal into the ground. However, Cymbal manages to smack him away with his tail and tries to get the jump on Goku as he picks himself up…only to be kicked away by Krillin and Yamcha, jumping in at the last second.

An annoyed Cymbal attacks them again, but this time feels the wrath of all three of the Turtle School students. At one point, he charges up an Electric Shock Wave…but he never gets to fire it, as Yamcha swiftly amputates his arm with his sword. This shocks Cymbal, and gives Goku and Krillin plenty of time to fire a Double Kamehameha at him, vaporizing the beast into nothing within seconds.

OoOoOoO

King Piccolo suddenly clutches his chest and pants heavily, startling Piano and the Pilaf Gang. He felt Cymbal's demise immediately.

But how? How can there be someone with enough power to defeat one of King Piccolo's brood? Who would dare to resist them?!

Cymbal died trying to collect the Dragon Ball they sent him to. Whoever killed him must be in possession of it. King Piccolo has no idea who killed Cymbal, but he swears to do terrible things to them.

King Piccolo telepathically connects to Tambourine, who is busy eliminating the Budokai participants. He informs Tambourine of Cymbal's defeat, and orders him to eliminate whoever did it. He's several times stronger than Cymbal; this should be a cakewalk for him.

OoOoOoO

As satisfying as ending that monster was, Goku mutters out that that wasn't the one who killed Bulma and stole the four-star ball. Yamcha tightens his grip on the sword as he hears this. He starts to ask Goku what the killer looked like. But before he can give any details, Tambourine suddenly shows up.

Goku quickly says that this the monster they're looking for. As soon as he says this, Yamcha feels rage and anguish boil within him and him alone. This monster took Bulma away from him…His gem starts to glow again as his thoughts swim in his head, but nothing happens yet.

Tambourine is shocked to see that Goku's still alive. But Yamcha yells at Tambourine that his fight is with him, promising to avenge Bulma's death. Tambourine laughs smugly at this, asking what a mere human can do against him. He doesn't get to finish that sentence, however, as Yamcha sheathes his sword and charges forward, kicking the gargoyle-like monster in the head before he can react.

It doesn't stop there. Yamcha ruthlessly beats Tambourine over and over again, pouring his fury and grief into each attack. His gem continues to glow, but still nothing happens yet…

Tambourine fires a powerful blast from his mouth, but Yamcha effortlessly dodges it. It's at this point that Tambourine realizes how screwed he is and tries to fly away. Except he doesn't get very far. Because Yamcha rushes up to him in the blink of an eye, unsheathing his sword again and decapitating the monster in barely a second.

Tambourine's head and corpse collapse to the ground. Yamcha pants heavily as he sheathes his sword again, glaring at the mess before him. The glow on his gem dies down, but he doesn't even notice or care right now.

He's never killed before. He's always just incapacitated his opponents. But this monster killed Bulma. And he doesn't regret what he just did.

OoOoOoO

King Piccolo is shocked when he feels Tambourine's death. That shock quickly turns to rage, and he orders the Pilaf gang to take the ship to where Cymbal and Tambourine were killed. He's going to destroy this enemy himself.

As the ship flies, Pilaf notices that one of the Dragon Balls suddenly vanishes from the screen, much to his confusion. Is someone using electromagnetic pulse-blocking technology?

Then, he quickly notices that two of the Dragon Balls start moving. More specifically, heading towards each other. Now Pilaf starts panicking. Someone else is collecting the Dragon Balls…

OoOoOoO

On the other side of the world, all five of the Crystal Gems quickly reunite. Peridot quickly stores the two and six-star balls in her gem, then look over the radar with the others. There are only four left, with two of them together and the other two scattered. It's safe to assume that the two together are where King Piccolo is.

So far, their plan is simple. First, they'll go after the two scattered balls, and then…They'll have to confront King Piccolo eventually. A head-on attack isn't a smart idea. Somehow, they're got to catch him off-guard, steal the other two Dragon Balls, and wish for Shenron to destroy Piccolo King Piccolo.

Jasper grits her teeth at the thought of taking on King Piccolo. Normally she'd be happy at the thought of fighting on a stop opponent like him…but after what that monster's brood did to Bulma…any thoughts of a fun fight are replaced with a burning rage to take him down immediately.

And she's not the only one.

They split up into the same groups as before, except now Peridot's accompanying Rose and Apache.

OoOoOoO

Pilaf panics again when two more of the Dragon Balls vanish from the screen. King Piccolo is more than a little annoyed, but waves it away, saying that if someone truly is collecting and hiding the other balls, they'll never get ahold of the two he currently has. They're saving him the trouble of tracking them all down himself, anyways.

Besides, he has something more important to focus on: defeating whoever killed Cymbal and Tambourine.

OoOoOoO

Back with Goku and the others, they also notice the other Dragon Balls vanishing, figuring that it's just Peridot putting them away. They finally decide that Chiaotzu should be the one to take the one-star ball, while the others confront King Piccolo.

But they decide this a little too late. Two of the Dragon Balls are suddenly very close, freaking the group out. King Piccolo knows.

They're don't have time to run, because the wind suddenly picks up speed, and they all look up to see King Piccolo's ship right above them.

The group is a mix of furious and horrified, but they ready themselves to fight nonetheless. Up on the ship, the Pilaf Gang freeze up when they recognize Goku and Yamcha; they inform King Piccolo and Piano that those two are allies of the Crystal Gems.

This piques King Piccolo's interest. The Pilaf Gang said the Crystal Gems were quite strong. And if these two are their allies, then they must be the ones who took out Tambourine and Cymbal. And even if that weren't the case…the mere sight of a martial artist makes him want to kill.

King Piccolo quickly descends to the ground. Chiaotzu quickly grabs the one-star ball and flies away. But he doesn't make it far, as King Piccolo fires a single Finger Beam, piercing his heart and killing him before he hits the ground.

The others are aghast; it was so fast, they barely saw King Piccolo move! But Tien is frozen in shock, staring silently at his best friend's body, unable to move or speak.

Goku moves first, attacking King Piccolo out of fury. Despite their fears, Yamcha, Krillin and Chi-Chi rush in after him. The four of them rely on both their strengths and their wits, managing to land more than a few decent hits on him. King Piccolo is admittedly impressed, saying that it's no wonder his brood couldn't handle them.

But what made them think he'd be taken down by so little?

Now it's time to show them the full, terrible power of Piccolo King Piccolo.

King Piccolo discards his weighted cape and attacks the group. His power shocks them, as he easily knocks them into the dirt. It doesn't matter how hard they hit or how fast they try to move; suddenly, they're not even making a dent.

King Piccolo gloats over their injured forms, saying that he's not even using half of his power. Goku manages to stand back up and prepares to fire a Kamehameha at him. King Piccolo freaks out at first, thinking it's the Mafūba, but relaxes once he realizes that's not it.

As soon as he says "Mafūba", Tien snaps out of his shock.

Goku fires a powerful Kamehameha point-blank at King Piccolo…but it does nothing. The smoke clears, revealing a laughing King Piccolo. Not even his clothes were singed in that attack.

That's when a fifth fighter reminds King Piccolo of his presence.

Replacing his shock with boiling rage, Tien soars into the air and fires a full-power Kikōhō at King Piccolo. The blast throws the others out of the way and even pushes the ship a few miles away. The blazing light and billowing smoke vanish, revealing a gigantic hole in the ground.

The others struggle to their feet, hope rising in their chests as they think that Tien's attack ended the demon's life. Up in the air, Tien is seen shaking and panting heavily, but that's all cut short when his heart suddenly stops. He put everything he had into that attack, draining his life energy, and his body quickly falls to the ground.

But just before his heart gives in, just before drawing his last breath, Tien's eyes widen as he stares into the hole and manages to say one final thing: "Ma…fū…ba…"

Despite his injuries, Yamcha rushes forward and jumps across the hole, grabbing Tien's body before it can fall in. His heart aches as he gently places his new ally on the ground. It cost Tien everything, but thanks to him, the world is safe once again—

"How amusing…"

Yamcha, Goku, Chi-Chi and Krillin all feel their blood turn to ice, and turn to watch King Piccolo rise out of the hole with ease. His clothing is tattered and he has a few burns and bruises on his body. But besides that, it looks like Tien's attack barely hurt him at all. If anything, he looks more annoyed than injured.

Tien's death was for nothing.

King Piccolo starts to walk towards Chiaotzu's corpse, towards the one-star ball. Yamcha quickly jumps in the way, sword drawn as he stands between them. By now, the glow of his gem has returned. Tien and Chiaotzu would still be alive if it weren't for this monster. Yamcha refuses to let King Piccolo anywhere near the one-star ball.

Goku, Chi-Chi and Krillin stand alongside their friend. King Piccolo merely laughs again, tauntingly asking them what they think they can do against him. They still attack, and are once again easily smacked away, with Krillin and Chi-Chi being knocked unconscious.

Despite being covered in blood and his muscles practically screaming for relief, Goku still crawls over to the one-star ball and lays on top of it. Yamcha watches this from several feet away, his body just as broken and his sword laying a few yards away. He struggles to pull himself up; his gem is still glowing, but nothing's happened yet…

King Piccolo scoffs at Goku's attempt to protect the Dragon Ball and prepares to fire a chi blast at him…but is cut off by a crackling orb of green energy slamming into his face, surprising him and causing him to stumble backwards.

Peridot, Rose and Apache have finally arrived.

As soon as she lands, Peridot spots Yamcha's injured form and rushes over to him, fretting as she helps him sit up. Rose, meanwhile, stands between King Piccolo and Goku, darkly telling the former that he'll have to go through her to get the latter.

Goku grabs the one-star ball and shakily hands it to Apache, saying that they can't let King Piccolo have it. The monochromatic Gem doesn't need telling twice. As this happens, King Piccolo fires a powerful chi blast at Rose, prompting her to throw her shield up. It works, but the shield is destroyed, flickering just before it vanishes.

Unfortunately for King Piccolo, in the blinding light that his attack caused, Apache took the opportunity to run away into the prairie, still holding onto the one-star ball with an iron grip.

King Piccolo fires at Rose again, and this time she grabs Goku and jumps out of the way. His attack destroys a good portion of the prairie, knocking Apache down and causing the one-star ball to bounce out of her hands. King Piccolo immediately spots this from a distance and barrels towards her. Apache tries to grab the one-star ball and run again, but that plan is cut short as King Piccolo grabs her by her bow and holds her up in the air.

"Why don't you be a good little girl and hand it over?" King Piccolo says in a low voice, giving her a grin that shows his fangs and holding out his free hand.

Apache growls, glaring dagger at him. "You're not getting this…" she says. Then, as if to prove a point, she suddenly shoves the Dragon Ball into her mouth and swallows it. It's a bit uncomfortable, but she still smirks at King Piccolo's wide-eyed expression. "Not on my watch."

King Piccolo says nothing. Instead, he merely plunges his free hand into her stomach, causing her to let out a painful scream and vanish into a puff of smoke. Her gemstone falls to the ground, and King Piccolo is left holding the one-star ball between his claws, his previous grin returning.

His grin is cut short as a peach-colored shield covered in green electricity is suddenly hurled at him, hitting him from behind and causing him to yell out as he's shocked from behind.

The shield vanishes and King Piccolo whips around to see who threw it…and finds himself staring at a new being, one with familiar gemstones on her forehead and navel. She is the fusion between Peridot and Rose Quartz: Watermelon Tourmaline.

Tourmaline narrows all four of her eyes at King Piccolo, summoning another shield crackling with electricity. "You want a fight?" she asks in a dark voice. "Come and get one."

King Piccolo gladly takes this offer. But instead of barreling towards her, he raises up one hand and charges up an attack. Since Yamcha and the others are still behind her, Tourmaline leaps high into the air, relying on Rose's floating ability to keep her in place. King Piccolo merely aims up at her and fires an Explosive Demon Wave at her. Tourmaline quickly dives down before it can hit her, but still remains in the air.

It quickly turns into a game of King Piccolo rushing around and firing at Tourmaline while she flings more and more electrical shields at him; they dodge each other's attacks, neither one really gaining an upper hand.

As this happens, Yamcha, who had watched the whole thing, slowly but surely limps over to Apache's gem, gently picking it up and hold it close to him. A whirring noise catches his attention, and he looks to see that Piano and the Pilaf Gang have brought the ship back around.

Piano jumps and lands on the ground. He spots Yamcha and makes his way over to him. Yamcha stuffs Apache's gem into his jacket pocket and gets into a fighting stance, despite his battered body. He's thrown for a loop as he watches Piano suddenly morphs into an identical, green copy of Yamcha.

Even though he's weirded out, Yamcha still charges at Piano and fights him. It's easier said than done, as Piano is easily throwing Yamcha's own techniques back at him, and the injuries give the former a clear advantage. More than once, Piano knocks Yamcha down and tries to fire a blast up at Tourmaline, and the half-Gem is forced to tackle him before he can do so.

Throughout the fight, Yamcha's frustration grows. Piano's just playing with him at this point. And he can hear everything still happening between Tourmaline and King Piccolo; she can only keep dodging and throwing shields for so long, she needs to think of something else fast.

After several minutes of back-and-forth, Piano hits Yamcha in the gut hard enough to force him to the ground and vomit up whatever was left in his stomach. Covered in blood, dirt and bile, he shakily looks up to see Piano charging yet another attack at Tourmaline. Except this isn't an ordinary chi blast…

"Ka…Me…"

His hearts speeds up as panic courses through him. "No…" he says hoarsely. He tries to stand up, but cries out as agony courses through his body, collapsing onto the puddle of bile. "No…" If Piano hits Tourmaline, then that'll give King Piccolo the opportunity to—

"Ha…Me…"

"No!" Yamcha yells, trying and failing to stand again. The glow of his gem intensifies, but he doesn't even notice.

Piano opens his mouth and prepares the shove his hands forward to fire the beam—

"NO!" Yamcha screams out, and a familiar blue aura bursts from his gem as tears appear in his eyes, spreading throughout the entire area.

Piano's attack immediately vanishes into nothing, and the mutant is forced to his knees as tears stream down his face, reverting back to his original form. King Piccolo and Tourmaline stop their fight as well, but while the former is confused and tries to wipe the tears away, the latter defuses in midair. Peridot and Rose plummet to the ground, landing with hard thuds as they try to stop the tears.

King Piccolo turns to Yamcha, glaring through his tears, and storms over to the half-Gem. Yamcha barely has time to look up and glare at King Piccolo before he's kicked in the head, knocking him out cold and sending him tumbling several feet. The blue aura vanishes as soon as he's unconscious.

King Piccolo's tired off all of this. He picks up Yamcha by one arm and aims a Finger Beam at his head. But before he can fire it, another voice yells behind him.

"WAIT!"

King Piccolo turns around, seeing Peridot rush up to him. "Wait, please!" she begs him, tears still running down her face. "Don't hurt him!"

King Piccolo merely scoffs and turns back to Yamcha, the Finger Beam still charging up and—

"I have the other Dragon Balls!"

This catches King Piccolo's attention. The Finger Beam dies down and he turns again to look at her. "What was that?"

"I-I have them!" Peridot says, collapsing to her knees. "You've been hunting them down, right? I'll give them to you, but only if you spare him!"

It's a stupid decision. Peridot knows this. But she can't just sit by and watch Yamcha die, even if the Dragon Balls can revive him.

King Piccolo narrows his eyes, then says simply, "Show me."

Peridot quickly pulls the three Dragon Balls out of her gem, holding them up in her hands. King Piccolo grins at the sight. He tosses Yamcha away and grabs the three balls. As soon as he does so, Peridot rushes over to Yamcha, cradling him in her arms.

"I'm sorry…" she whispers to him, tears still dripping from her chin. "I'm so sorry…" Once again, she hadn't been strong enough to protect him.

King Piccolo, however, smirks in triumph. He now has six of the Dragon Balls. He just needs to collect one more. The rejuvenation of Piccolo King Piccolo is now only a matter of time.

King Piccolo and Piano head back to the ship, flying off to collect the last Dragon Ball.

Rose, meanwhile, tries to hold back a sob. They tried so hard, but King Piccolo still got what he wanted. She can only hope and pray that Jasper and Lapis will at least be able to hold him off until they can come up with another plan…

The pink-haired Gem picks herself up and rushes over to check on the others. Krillin and Chi-Chi are only unconscious, thank goodness, but Goku is wide awake and struggling to even stand up. As soon as he spots Rose, he tries to limp over to her, but collapses midway. Rose lifts him into her arms…and that's when he says it.

"Karin…" Goku groans out weakly

"Huh?" Rose says.

"Karin's Tower…" Goku continues. "We can get healed there…Rose…We need to get there…"

Rose nods, trusting Goku's judgment. She quickly calls over Peridot and tells her the current plan. The two of them fuse into Watermelon Tourmaline again, allowing her to hold Goku, Yamcha, Krillin and Chi-Chi in her arms. Using Peridot's ferrokinesis, she floats in the air.

The fusion turns to give Tien and Chiaotzu's bodies a regretful look. "This isn't the end," she says. "We'll bring you back. I promise."

Tourmaline takes off into the air, flying as fast as she can to Karin's Tower. She can only hope that she'll be able to keep that promise.

Since it's Yamcha's birthday (March 20), I thought I'd finally get this up

Just like with the Red Ribbon Army Saga, I'll be splitting the Piccolo King Piccolo Saga into two parts. The next part will be the end of the King Piccolo section

Ah yes, the Sorrowful Aura…Since Yamcha's half-human, I liked the idea of it working on both Gems and organics. And I'll say this much: it's a double-edged sword

I really like writing the Turtle School alumni fighting together (Goku, Krillin and Yamcha); makes me wish we had the three of them teaming up together more in the original canon

Damn, I keep forgetting how much death there was in the original Dragon Ball…

Ah yes, the old "swallowing the Dragon Ball so the enemy can't get it" trick…Callback, anyone? …No, I'm the only one who watched GT? Okay then…

Piano never really did anything in the manga (don't know if he did in the anime, I haven't gotten to that point), but he has the power of Shapeshifting/Mimicry in the game "Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden", which I really wanted to incorporate in this fic. Plus, him mimicking techniques makes sense, since Namekians are naturally telepathic

Thank you so much for reading this! God bless you and have a wonderful day/night/whenever you read this!

Watermelon Tourmaline

Gems: Peridot and Rose Quartz

Appearance: 18.5 feet tall. Slightly thick, feminine build. Pale pinkish-gray complexion. Shoulder-length, kinky curly hair that resembles a voluminous afro; rosy-pink to lime-green gradient. Four eyes (top are dark green, bottom are black). Blush-pink lipstick. A mix of Peridot and Rose's facial features, with Peridot's pointed upper lip and Rose's nose. Pink and green gemstones.

Outfit: Off-shoulder medium-pink sweater with a pale gold six-point star on the chest. High-waisted, medium to dark seafoam-green gradient skirt that ends at her knees, and has multiple layers that resemble rose petals (sweater tucked into the skirt). Knee-high black and green boots that resemble Peridot's Limb Enhancers. Elbow-high, fingerless black gloves. Icy-green visor.

Voice Actor: Karen Strassman (sounds like Lisa Garland from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories)