AN. Set directly after the last chapter :)

Thank you to CommanderAIK for looking over this for me! It's so appreciated xoxoxo

Chapter Thirty-Two

The tension continued. The festival continued around him. Krillin was somehow drunk, stumbling around and grinning a wide, friendly grin at everyone he met. Yamcha and Tien were holding their drink a little better, but were still becoming slightly intoxicated. The alcohol had relaxed Tien significantly, the triclops even smiling and joking along with the others.

Chiaotzu was not relaxed. As they'd gotten closer to the village the tension had gotten worse. The ground beneath his feet was very tangibly moving now, rising and falling. Almost throwing him off balance. No one else seemed to notice.

As the others smiled and laughed, Chiaotzu found his eyes drawn again and again to the peak of the mountain behind the village. In the foreground a huge statue of the mountain god stood, its face twisted and somehow vengeful. The whole situation just felt wrong.

Chiaotzu, are you okay?

He jolted, turned away from the mountain. Tien was looking at him, a small concerned frown on his face. Chiaotzu blushed, jerked his head in a nod.

Yes, Tien. Still just a little…wrong is all…

Okay. If you're sure.

Chiaotzu forced a small smile onto his face. Tien did not look convinced, but didn't push it. That was good. Chiaotzu wasn't sure what he would've said if pushed.

The village blacksmith clearly picked the tallest and broadest of the group, so he approached Tien and challenged him to a fight. Tien smiled awkwardly and declined. He was aware that with some alcohol on board a fight against a normal man was not a good idea.

Krillin, however, lacked this insight. Hiccoughing and flushing a drunken red he swayed and laughed as Mint's older brother threw gentle punches towards him. Catching hold of the brawny man's forearm Krillin easily threw him from the ring.

The fight was over. Everyone, but the humans who had seen Krillin fight before, were stunned. Krillin hiccoughed again, fell back on his butt and rubbed his head.

"Oops," he said with a good-natured smile. Luckily Mint's brother didn't hold it against him.

And then, during the feast while everyone was eating and enjoying themselves, the pressure became too much to bear. Chiaotzu's eyes snapped to the mountain, observing the thin trail of black smoke that was winding through the clear air.

"The mountain is going to erupt!"

Tien's gaze sharpened. The slight flush of his intoxication left his face. Krillin and Yamcha laughed. The village elder was outraged that Chiaotzu would dare insinuate such a vicious lie of their benevolent mountain god. But that didn't stop it from being true.

"Are you sure, Chiaotzu?" Tien asked quietly. Chiaotzu nodded, his mouth set in a thin, worried line.

The tension was slowly building towards release. Pressure limited his psychic power and made his mind shudder at its intensity. His whole body ached with it, his heartbeat thudding in his ears.

A prolonged moment of silence. "Here it comes," Chiaotzu said, and as his words left his lips the world began to shake. The mountain seemed to groan, and then a massive split opened at its peak. Magma poured freely, so bright it hurt his eyes, and yet he couldn't look away.

The cacophony that broke out around him as villagers fled for safety was almost lost under the turmoil of his own mind. The release hadn't really relieved the tension, just eased it slightly, and it still beat against the inside of his skull.

"Alright, we're going to fix this."

He swung his eyes around. Tien was looking at the mountain, at the magma, and smiling a small, determined smile.

Tien…you can't…

"Yeah!" Yamcha stepped forward, a cocky grin on his face. Krillin hiccoughed and giggled as he joined the two adults. Chiaotzu lifted off the ground, floated behind Tien's left shoulder.

Tien, this isn't a good idea.

Shh, Chiaotzu. We've gotta save these people. Their homes. I know what I'm doing.

Chiaotzu nodded, though Tien wasn't looking at him, and as a group they headed up the mountain. Heat rose to meet them, a wave preceding the magma, and they shielded their eyes. Krillin fired a Kamehameha, but the resulting shower of sparks sent them scattering. A shuddering crack and the ground split open beneath them.

Yamcha caught hold of the mountain instinctively, pulled himself to safety. Tien took off into the sky, hovering there above the shaking chasm. Krillin, however, his senses still dulled from his intoxication, reached out to catch hold and then tumbled into the darkness.

Without thinking, Chiaotzu dove into the chasm after him. The boy's scream rang in his ears and with a final burst of energy he managed to catch hold of the bright orange Turtle gi that Krillin still proudly wore.

The extra weight made his ascent slow, but he managed to pull Krillin from the ground before the gap shuddered closed again.

"Are you okay?" he asked, landing Krillin on the ground as delicately as he could.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"You guys really need to learn Bukujutsu," Tien said, with a shadow of a smile.

The comment made Yamcha and Krillin laugh, and the sight of their relieved smiles made Chiaotzu relax slightly.

Blocking the magma didn't work. Firing ki beams didn't work. Using his telepathy to try to hold back the surging liquid rock didn't work either, just exhausted his already fraught mind.

All four of them were pushed back, down to the village. Glowing stones rained down on them and bounced off the shining blue barrier Chiaotzu threw up. Mint and her brother were crouched beside their grandfather, who was still bowing and grovelling at the base of the mountain god statue. Pleading for his god to spare their village.

"We need to go together," Krillin said. "All of us."

Tien and Chiaotzu glanced at each other. They were a team; they could do this. All four of them readied themselves. Yamcha and Krillin grew blue balls of Kamehameha in their hands. Tien and Chiaotzu gathered bright red Dodonpas at the tips of their fingers. Red and blue crisscrossed as the four of them fired shots at the base of the mountain. Krillin and Chiaotzu's blasts ripped up a valley, a trench skirting the forest. Yamcha and Tien's shots crumbled the stone and formed a solid wall between the village and the mountain.

They waited together, with bated breath. Chiaotzu, unable to help himself, reached out with his mind and touched Tien's gently. His brother's third eye flicked sideways, met Chiaotzu's and the edges softened, relaxed, embraced him. The relief of that simple psychic movement made tears rise in Chiaotzu's eyes, and when the magma struck the stone wall and funnelled away in their makeshift channel he barely saw it.

"We did it!"

Yamcha did a celebratory dance. Mint ran forward and wrapped her arms around Krillin, planting a kiss on his cheek that caused his entire bald head to flush a brilliant red. Tien and Chiaotzu moved closer together, sharing celebratory smiles. Cries and joyous laughter echoed as the villagers jumped from their safe ledge and sprinted back into their village.

We did it, Chiaotzu sent, wiping away the tears that threatened.

Yeah. Tien reached out blindly, nudged his hand against Chiaotzu's. We're…heroes…