Chapter Five.

In good times, in bad times I'll be on your side forever more, that's what friends are for.

Yamcha-

I was bandit and he was a little kid when we met.

Well, I saw him as a little kid and I guess compared to me, he was. I was close to seventeen and he was about twelve. Anyway, I remember when I tried to rob him and Bulma of they're possessions.

Useful fact you might need to know: NEVER attempt to rob Goku.

And instead of getting angry at me and killing me like any other person would do, he smiled and asked me to come along on his journey.

He wasn't in ANY way a mean or spiteful guy which at the time made me angry. I think it might have made everyone angry at one point or another. Inside of every human, alien, whatever, there was always a revenging side. A side that never forgave or forget but it wasn't like that with Goku. Nothing was ever normal with Goku. He was always the exception.

He was pure. Always the happy one. Always the one full of charisma and joy. Even if the world was faced with an incredible opponent that had no means of being defeated, he'd smile and laugh. It seemed ironic that the only man who strived for peace brought so much destruction in his wake.

Man, I don't think anyonecould tell you how many times Goku has saved the Earth. Probably a billion and then some! Just think about seeing him in action whenever he did and you'll get a small glimpse of what I've been seeing for most of my life. Every victory was always amazing.

As we all grew, Goku and I became good friends. He was even the one who encouraged me to ask Bulma out, go figure! After questioning the little pipsqueak later about it, he told me that he thought her and I had made a nice couple but she had been destined from the start to end up with Vegeta.

I have no comment on that.

Besides from being my friend, Goku was my backbone. My savior. The only reason I'm still here today is because of him. Not because he's saved the Earth from destruction, well yeah because of that too, but I mean more in a spiritual/ friendship sense. He urged me to domore and be more. Goku was a beast when he got out on the battlefield and if one of us died or got injured, he'd be the first one running out to save us.

No many men had bravery like that.

Or strength.

As we continued to grow, Goku and I drifted. Maybe it was because he was a Saiyan and was expected to train everyday and I was human and could barely keep up. Or maybe it was because he was just destined for greater things. It became more of my thing to sit and wait around with the wives and children when the others went blasting off to save the world from utter devastation.

Nobody saw how hurt I was however, whenever I didn't get the chance to join them all in battle.

Fighting along Goku was an honor. An honor that only a handful of guys were able to experience. I'm still proud of that fact and I always will be.

A lot of the others have abandoned the hope of him coming back, moving on with their lives and doing what need be done. I find that both selfish and logical. Selfish because Goku was a hero and his efforts shouldn't be forgotten yet logical because holding onto the past made you miss out on the future.

Contradicting, I know.

His family, meaning Gohan, Chichi, Goten, Pan, etc are actually taking his disappearance fairly well. Well, all except Chichi that is. I know she tries to hide it and appear bright to us, but deep down she's dying slowly. You could tell by the sullen look in her eyes. I only wish we could do something.

I lost contact with Tien a while ago. I don't know where or what he's doing but I hope him and Chiaotzu are okay.

Krillin isn't being as tough as thought he'd be. The man still cracks jokes and such but; it's just not the same. I see his eyes wandering to an empty seat every time we have a get together and I know he's searching for Goku.

Vegeta might actually be the only one taking this well. He trains nonstop and hasn't mentioned much about Goku except his usual sarcasm, which isn't surprising. He has also changed but for the better. But even he has his moments when he draws back whenever the topic of Goku surfaces, as if he doesn't want to relive a nightmare.

It's been about eight years or so since I've last seen the little guy. I wasn't there to witness the moment when he flew away on the Eternal Dragon. My last time talking to him had been the day before he left to go collect the dragon balls after Old Kai had told him about the stored negative energy and such. I'll never forget what he told me.

We had been sitting at the table of Capsule Corporation, waiting on our friends to appear at the party Bulma had thrown, enjoying a rather large pizza that she had prepared, trying to waft as much down as we could before the others arrived.

I had questioned him about his return, asking him how long he intended to cheat death.

"What do you think? You're going to be okay right?" I had laughed but it had been nervous and tense.

He had stared at me, picked up a bottle of champagne that Bulma had set on the table and slid it to me. "Yamcha," He had smiled at me in that child body of his and shot me thumbs up. "When I come back we're going to drink that bottle of wine together. Sound good?" It sounded ridiculous coming from a small boy.

At the time, I hadn't really seen the significance of it and I was a bit flabbergasted but I had nodded and swallowed hard, while he had kept that wide grin. Goku hadn't been one to drink at all and the sheer thought of it was a bit weird but things changed. Afterwards, I had taken the bottle and set it in the fridge of my house.

If you go to my kitchen, and open the refrigerator, you can still see the Champagne there. Nobody has touched it. Nobody has moved it. Sitting there in the same position for Eight years.

And when Goku comes back, we're going to enjoy it.

Together.