Two months after Garlic Jr.'s failed attack.
"Hyah!" screamed Chi-chi, spinning into a kick at Goku's chest. Goku blocked her foot with a single finger, and threw her into a tree. He was standing calmly, not even in a fighting stance, with his right hand behind his back and just his little finger extended on his left.
"C'mon, Chi. You can do better than that. I'm only using one finger!" he taunted, as she kicked off the tree and leapt at him again. She began to punch, and he raised his pinky to block again. However, just before her fist made contact, Chichi spun into another kick. This time, her foot was glowing with concentrated ki. Goku, seeing the glow, knew he couldn't block that with just a finger, and dodged backwards, avoiding the kick.
"Hah! You dodged!" Chichi gloated, exultant that she had finally forced Goku to take the match a bit more seriously. She finished the rotation of the kick, and hovered in mid-air.
"Yeah? Well, you cheated. We said no ki blasts, and that kick was basically the same thing." pouted the fighter.
Chichi glared at him, and flared her aura as she gathered her ki. "The same as a blast? That was not the same as a blast. It never left my body, so it's a physical attack. This, however…" she cupped her hands to her side, and began to pool her charged ki into her hands. "Is a ki blast. Kaa…Mee…"
"H-hey, wait! I was only kidding. There's no reason to get carried away about this!" stammered Goku, crossing his arms in front of his face to block the oncoming attack.
"No reason!? Calling me a cheater is no reason?!" chichi yelled her response, gathering all the ki she could. "Ha-Me-HAAA!" she released the fully formed beam, which rushed at Goku with a head nearly five feet wide. Goku quickly dropped into a stance, and braced against the impact, using his full force to hold back the beam. With a yell, he spiked his ki into his arms, turning the beam and sending it flying harmlessly into the sky.
"Damn!" he said, rubbing his forearms, which were already beginning to swell into welts from the pressure. "You've got to be more careful, that could have actually hurt me!"
"That was the point, Knucklehead." Chichi rolled her eyes. Her husband could be such a baby sometimes. "It was time to finish, anyway. You've got that reunion over at Kame house to go to." She dropped to the ground, and stumbled a bit before catching her balance. "Whew. I'd better rest a bit, too. That last one took a lot out of me." She turned, and started walking back to their small house in the woods.
"Chichi, why don't you and Gohan come with me? I'm sure you'd have fun." Goku asked his wife as he followed her towards the house. He stripped off his shirt on the way, anticipating a nice hot bath to help his muscles relax before he headed out.
"Gohan can go if he's through with his math, but I'm going to stay, and get started on dinner. Besides, Roshi is a bit of a pervert. He makes me uncomfortable." She lit the fire under the tub behind the house for Goku, and turned to go inside. "Gohan, how far are you on your studies?" she called as she came through the door.
"I've finished math and grammar, and I was just about to start history." responded the precocious child. He was sitting at the kitchen table, several textbooks years ahead of his age stacked on his left neatly, and another open in front of him.
"Good. You can stop there for today. Go change into some nice clothes, you're going with your father to see his friends." Chichi opened the refrigerator, and started gathering various sauces and vegetables. "Actually, go down to the river and catch a fish, first. I have a new recipe I want to try."
"Alright!" exclaimed Gohan, happy to leave his schoolwork for the day. He raced outside, and flew over the forest to the river. Once there, he quickly stripped, folded his clothes neatly on the bank, and then dived in searching for a fish. Almost instantly, he saw one of the giant catfish native to the rivers of the Mt. Paozu region, and raced through the water to catch it. He grabbed the fish, which was about twice his own size, by the tail, and jumped out of the water, dragging it with him. He picked up his clothes in his free hand, and took off running through the woods, dragging the still struggling fish behind him. "Is this one big enough, Mom?" he asked, holding up the fish for her to inspect.
"It's perfect. Now go take a quick bath, and get changed." she took the fish from Gohan, and shooed him from the kitchen.
Piccolo, the reincarnated demon king, was standing on a ledge in the middle of a wasteland, meditating. He had been hard at work training after the encounter with Garlic, and he knew he had made a breakthrough. His power had increased more in the last two months than it had in the year beforehand, and he knew that unless Goku had done the same, he would finally be able to defeat his nemesis.
Suddenly, he felt something in the back of his mind. He whirled around, looking for the ki he detected. 'I sense... A great power! Is it Goku? No, but who is it?'
His question was soon answered, in the form of a longhaired stranger that flew in low, and then landed in front of him. The stranger frowned when he saw Piccolo. "Humph. You aren't Kakarot."
"And what being are you?" demanded Piccolo. "Do you have business with me?"
The strange man chuckled. "With the likes of you, no."
Piccolo scowled at his insolence. "Then why do you come here. Do you wish to die?"
The strange man laughed, and tapped a button on an odd eyepiece he wore. "Quite the feisty one, aren't you." the device over his eye beeped, and showed a series of strange symbols. "Humph. Power level 456. More than I expected on this mud ball, but you're no match for me."
"What!" shouted the infuriated piccolo, as he threw his hands wide, brushing his cape back. "Do you not know who you are insulting?"
The man smirked. "The appropriate question is, do I care?"
At this, Piccolo growled. "He thinks he's that powerful?" He quickly charged ki into his right hand, and braced it with his left. He fired a concentrated beam right at the cocky stranger who dared to disrespect him. The blast exploded against its target, throwing up a massive cloud of dust. Piccolo peered through it, trying to get a sense of how much damage he did.
When the dust cleared, however, the man hadn't moved an inch, and was completely unharmed. "A fine display of dust, if that was your intention!" he laughed at the stunned expression on piccolo's face. "Is it my turn? Maybe I should show you some real power." he raised his right hand, and began to pool his ki into his palm. However, just as he was about to fire, the device on his eye began beeping insistently. Releasing his held ki, he tapped a button on the machine, as another string of symbols was displayed. "Another large power. That must be Kakarot. Distance 12,909 that way." He took off flying to the east.
Piccolo picked himself off the ground, recovering from his fear. 'I was petrified.. Paralyzed. To think another power like that could exist, and would appear so soon after Garlic.'
At Kame house, about 3 hours later.
Bulma hopped out of her hover jet, and crossed the beach on the tiny island to the front door of Kame house. Knocking twice, she called out, "Yo, anyone home?" She opened the unlocked door, and let herself in.
"Bulma!" greeted Krillin, who was standing behind the couch, holding a tray of drinks.
"Ohh-ohh." exclaimed Roshi, managing a pervy leer even through sunglasses.
"Long time, no see." responded Bulma, with a salute from the doorway.
"Cold one, ain't ya? You never come over unless we ask you." Roshi admonished.
"Yeah, well…" Bulma evaded, not wanting to embarrass the old man about his ways. "I'm here now. I brought tea cakes, even."
"Cakes? Aww." Roshi began to grin. "you didn't have to do that. I'd have been perfectly happy with a nice big ki-" the rest of his comment was cut off as Bulma slammed her fist into the side of his head. "Geez. Still no sense of humor, I see."
"Still as ornery as ever, I see." The blue haired woman retorted, rubbing her sore hand.
Krillin stepped in to defuse the growing tension. "By the way, Bulma. Where's Yamcha?"
"Yamcha? That jerk! You think I care, after what he did? Well, think again, pal! I'm better of without him, and so are you!" As she was shouting, she looked around, and noticed someone missing. "Forget about him, where's that 'Launch' chick?"
Krillin shrugged. "She went chasing after Tien five years ago. We haven't seen her since."
Outside, Goku and Gohan were just arriving on the nimbus, after a long flight. "See there?" Goku pointed at the pink house on the island. "that's Master Roshi's house." He jumped off the flying nimbus and landed, carrying Gohan in his arms. "Here we are." He said cheerfully, as he put Gohan on the ground. Goku was wearing another of his signature orange gi, complete with 120 kilograms of weight, while Gohan was in a looser black outfit, with his own set of 5-kilogram wristbands, belt, and boots, for a total of 25 kilograms. "Hey there!" Goku shouted.
Within seconds, Krillin, Roshi, and Bulma had crowded out onto the porch, with cries of "Goku!" and "Son!". Bulma was the first to notice Gohan. "Hey, so this must be Gohan." she crouched down, and held out her hand to the boy. "Nice to finally meet you, Gohan. My name is Bulma."
Gohan timidly reached out, and shook Bulma's hand. "H-hello, Ms. Bulma."
"Say, Gohan. How old are you?" Bulma asked.
"I'm four years and 1 month old," He said, holding up four fingers on one hand, and one on the other.
"He's awfully polite for a four-year old. Especially your four-year old, Goku." Bulma pointed out with a questioning look.
"Yeah, well. Chichi's been teaching him. She had him tested, and turns out he's some kind of genius." Goku laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I was barely able to get her to let me train him part-time."
Bulma happened to look down at Gohan just as he turned around to hug his father's leg, and noticed the tail sticking out from the back of his pants. "H-He has a tail?" she stammered.
"Yeah, same as I used to have." Goku replied, oblivious to the shiver that ran through his group of friends.
"Um… Goku" Ventured Roshi, the first one brave enough to ask what they were all thinking. "Has he ever seen the full moon?"
"No. we get to bed pretty early. Why?" Goku responded, curious at the strange question.
"Oh. Nothing! Nothing! Never mind." Roshi backed off, trying not to raise Goku's suspicions any further.
Goku was about to press the issue, when he felt a tingling at the back of his neck. He whipped around, searching for the massive power he could now feel heading towards them. A second later, Krillin and Roshi looked up too, as the large ki brushed against their senses, as well. "Someone's coming." Goku said, dropping into a fighting stance. "Someone strong… There!" He shouted, pointing upward toward the sun.
The strange, longhaired man dropped out of the sky, and landed in front of the group. "Well, hello again, Kakarot,'
Author's note: and second chapter… done. This one was longer than the first, that's for sure. A couple of notes. Krillin, Goku, and piccolo are obviously stronger than their canon counterparts already, given that they've had a couple of months to progress. And of course, everyone already knows who Gohan is, even though only Krillin has actually seen him before now. Gohan isn't wearing the four star ball, because the dragon has just recently been used. And his ridiculous outfit was torn up in the fight against garlic Jr. (too bad.), so he's in his training outfit.
