The Power Within

Well...it's been a nice, lazy, unproductive three months, but I'm finally back with another chapter. Sorry for making you guys wait so long (especially since I said that I wouldn't take long on this one. Ha!). I put a lot of thinking into this chapter and the chapters to come, so that's the good news at least. Another thing: this chapter has way more questions than it does answers, so review if anything gets confusing, okay?

Also, I just wanted to say that I found a mistake in the previous chapter. When Krillin was talking to the unconscious Gohan, I believe he said something about his nose being stuffy. Correction: Krillin has no nose. So, ignore that! XD

On to the story!

Krillin and Vegeta dashed through the forest, making sure to keep their power level down so that whoever the high power level belonged to couldn't sense them. Vegeta was ahead of Krillin because he refused to wait for a human, so Krillin had some time to himself as he flanked the prince. He wondered what caused the spike of energy. Was it one of the other Z-fighters, training? No, the signal wasn't familiar. Besides, none of them were that strong, not even Goku. Was there a glitch in his senses? No, Vegeta felt the power level as well. There was one more option that he didn't want to consider, but was the only plausible choice.

Was it another enemy, more powerful than Cell?

If so, he was screwed. The monk had ceased his training for the most part because of the peace that had ensued after Cell, so he didn't think he had the power necessary to beat another enemy. He had really thought that Cell would be the end of the evil that was constantly drawn to Earth, but it seems like he was wrong. What made the monk feel horrible, though, was that Goku stayed dead so that the Earth would be safe. Instead of peace, Goku's absence left them even more open to enemy attacks, since the Saiyan warrior was usually the one to save the day. Without his help and encouragement, Krillin didn't think that he could win another battle.

'As Yamcha would say, Otherworld, here I–'

"Hey, baldy! If you're done being an idiot, pay attention! We're almost there," Vegeta snapped. Krillin scratched the back of his head and sped up to catch up with Vegeta, who was way ahead of him. The two ran for about a minute longer through the dense, green forest before Vegeta stopped and stared at something ahead, his face holding the slightest bit of surprise. Krillin skidded to a stop beside him and followed the prince's line of sight. They'd reached a city, but he couldn't tell which city it was. East? South? It was hard to tell what direction they'd gone in because the forest winded and twisted, messing up their sense of direction. The plain, grey buildings stood tall, windows shining in the light. Cars stood abandoned in the streets, and stores stayed lonely and empty. It seemed as if the city had been abandoned in a rush. When Krillin couldn't see any sign of damage, he sighed in relief.

"Well, I don't think whoever it is did any damage yet, so that's good," he said, stretching his arms. "The citizens must've fled when the bad guy came, so we don't have to worry about that. I guess we'll just come back when we–"

"Fool!" Vegeta said firmly. "Look closer, behind the buildings, then tell me if it did any damage."

The monk placed a hand on his forehead to shield his eyes from the glaring sun and peered closer at the city. Seeing nothing yet again, he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Man, you Saiyans and your super vision," he sighed. "I give up. Let's get closer."

Vegetas snarled in annoyance. "I can't deal with you humans and your pathetic visual limitations," he said. "Saiyans are much better suited for these kinds of situations."

That struck a nerve. More than one, in fact, but Krillin was already used to the prince's royal insults. If it helped the man boost his own ego then fine; he could deal with it, as long as it didn't interrupt the mission.

The two ran into the city without another word. They ran past the hills, fields, and small buildings that signalled the transition between forest and city before reaching the heart of the area. Krillin skidded to a stop and gasped.

"What the..." he breathed in surprise, shock overwhelming his senses. Vegeta said nothing, and simply crossed his arms knowingly.

Before them lay a truly grotesque sight. Bodies upon bodies were scattered in large piles around the city, mangled beyond recognition. From these bodies blood was spilled, painting the ground a dark, thick crimson. Their eyes were open, staring blankly at the two warriors as if it was them that murdered them. Krillin stared at the carnage with a look of terror on his face, skin completely drained of colour. He stumbled back in shock and had to stop his shaking legs from causing him to collapse on the ground.

"W-w-who could have d-done this!?" the monk sputtered. "W-who's capable of this kinda damage!?"

"What are you gaping at?" Vegeta snapped, walking around the bodies as if he hardly acknowledged their presence. "You've been fighting for years now, haven't you?" He spat on the ground carelessly. "You should be used to this kind of carnage by now."

This made Krillin angry. He clenched his fists and took a step forward. "Use to carnage? What's wrong with you, Vegeta!?" he asked furiously. "These are innocent people!"

"Were," Vegeta retorted, staring indifferently at the body of a maimed little girl.

Krillin froze, then took a deep breath. He had to remain calm in this type of situation, something that he had always relied on Goku for. "They're dead, Vegeta," he said as calmly as he could, knowing full well that Vegeta would yell at him any minute. "Does that mean anything to you?"

Just as Krillin had predicted, Vegeta snapped. "Do you think I'm an idiot?" he said angrily. "Someone or something arrived and killed them. Of course it means something. It's not shocking, though, because these humans were too weak to defend themselves."

"Not shocking? Weak?" the monk exclaimed, feeling brave all of a sudden. "What kind of person are you? It's not their fault they died!"

"Yes it is! In this world, it's brute strength that determines the outcome of a battle! The mightiest survive and the weak perish!"

"Fine. If that's the way you want to think, go ahead. But I still can't believe that this...this murder doesn't shock you! Just look around, Vegeta! How can you be so cold-hearted!?"

The flame-haired prince looked around the area, his face showing no fear, shock, or pity. He walked around the body of a middle-aged man and stared, then gave Krillin such a cold and hardened look that it made the monk almost reel back in shock.

"I've seen much worse than this without blinking an eye," he said, his voice ice-cold. "When you've been raised under Frieza's rule for the majority of your life, you tend to grow indifferent to these kinds of situations. We Saiyans were taught by that monster to purge and destroy entire planets without showing the petty emotions that you are now, because it interfered with the mission. This is the way I was raised." He snarled. "Don't be so quick to judge, human."

Krillin was left speechless. He suddenly realized that there was so much about Vegeta that he didn't know. He assumed that the man's evilness and black heart caused his personality to be so horrible, but it seemed that that wasn't the case. Krillin vaguely recalled Vegeta giving a similar speech to Goku on Namek; he hadn't paid attention then because he had been overcome by shock and fear. The monk felt guilt pool in his stomach; if he had known, he wouldn't have made those accusations.

"I-I'm really sorry, Vegeta," he said quietly. The prince spat on the ground.

"Save it," he said. "I didn't come here for a pity party. I came here to look for that high power level."

This made the monk jump. To think he'd almost forgotten about...

"Alright, let's look around some more," he said, bracing himself for the scenes he would see as he walked around. He couldn't let his emotions take over; this was important.

They walked around the city some more, examining the damage and looking for any signs or clues that would reveal to them the monster that caused the destruction. Krillin was currently poking at a piece of ripped green cloth stuck to a broken window when Vegeta called him over. He jogged to where the prince was at.

"Yeah, what is it? Found something?" he asked, stopping to see what the warrior was looking at. Vegeta frowned.

"Take a look at this," he said, pointing to the side of one of the damaged buildings. Krillin read what was on it and gasped.

IT HAS BEGUN.

That was the message which was scrawled in blood on the side of the building, giving it a chilling and foreboding feel. The monk stared at the red lettering and frowned.

"What? It has begun...? What has begun?" he wondered aloud. Vegeta crossed his arms and scowled.

"This must be some kind of sick joke," he said. "Now it's leaving messages."

"This is serious, Vegeta," Krillin pointed out. "For all we know, the message could be implying that what it did here was only the tip of the iceberg."

The prince, showing he agreed, simply nodded.

Krillin stared at the sign. "We have to be on our guard from now on," he said. "There could be more coming soon."

The two Z-fighters stood silently beside the building, thinking about the message. Vegeta suddenly realized that they couldn't feel the power level anymore and pointed this out to Krillin. The monk nodded and decided that they should evacuate.

"You're just chicken," Vegeta said, smirking. Krillin ignored him and began to fly up.

"We'll meet back at Goku's house tomorrow," he said. Vegeta frowned and flew up as well.

"I'm going to do this alone," he snarled. "I don't need a weakling like you holding me back. I will find him and kill him by myself!"

With that, the prince took off in the opposite direction. Krillin sighed and ran a hand over his head.

"Whatever you say..." he whispered. The monk powered up and took off towards Kame House for some rest. It was almost night, and he was beginning to feel mentally tired. The day's events wore him out and he needed some sleep. There were a lot of things on his mind that he needed to sort out.

'I hope we can beat this thing...whatever it is,' he thought as he flew. 'Goku…why did you have to stay dead?'

Yamcha flew as fast as he could in the direction of the power level he had sensed earlier, readying himself for the damage he was sure to see when he got there. He couldn't sense the energy anymore, but the Z-warrior had a pretty good idea of where it was. Why he had chosen to chase after it was beyond him, but as a Z-fighter it was his duty to make sure the Earth was safe, even more so now that Goku was gone. Just thinking about his friend's death make Yamcha feel stressed, and so he quickly banished the thought. There was plenty of time to mull over Goku later; right now, the scar-faced bandit had to focus on the task at hand. Clenching his teeth, he sped up to full speed (which wasn't very fast if you compared it to the Saiyans, but at least he tried). The bandit flew over the desert, past small villages, over the 439 East District mountain area, and past the forest before finally reaching a city. He stopped immediately, eyes wide. Whether it was East City or West City, North City or South City, Yamcha didn't care; the only thing that he cared about were the countless number of blood-covered bodies lying amongst the city. He hovered in midair, and despite mentally preparing for this beforehand, he was too shocked to even move.

"W-what...is this!?" he blurted out, hands beginning to shake. "I knew that people died, but...at this level!?"

Yamcha took a deep breath to calm his wild emotions, then hesitated, debating whether he should go down into the city or not. At last, he decided to head down; after all, it was what Goku would have done. Besides, he wasn't a coward (or, at least, he liked to think he wasn't). After finding a clean spot to land in, the desert bandit tapped down and closed his eyes. Once he counted to ten to prepare himself, he opened his eyes and couldn't help but cringe and look away when he saw the lifeless eyes of an old woman gaze up at him. He berated himself for being weak and walked forward, feeling apprehensive. After walking quite a distance, Yamcha decided that there was nothing to see here but the dead. Clearly, whoever caused the mess had already fled the area and hid his or her power level.

"Damn it!" he swore. "I must have missed it. I'd better go back and tell the others!"

"You are not going anywhere."

Yamcha spun around immediately, his heart slamming against his chest. Before him stood a creature one would only see in the depths of Hell. He…no, it was blacker then the blackest void, with two piercing red eyes that were staring straight at him. It smiled madly and stepped forward. Being sensible, Yamcha did the only thing that came to his mind.

He fled.

'Oh geez! Oh God! Oh shit! Oh crap! Oh hell!'

He ran as fast as he could, dodging dead bodies as he did so. The bandit spared a glance behind him and immediately snapped his head forward again when he saw the creature's eyes stare back at him, red as blood. Maniacal laughter filled the air, wrapping itself around him and suffocating him. Yamcha suddenly tripped on an arm and tumbled to the ground.

'God damnit! This is just like that Slenderman game I played once! And we all know how that turned out,' he thought, quickly peeling himself off of the ground and running again. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins, making the world feel slow and numb around him. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since the Saibaman latched on to him all those years back during the arrival of the Saiyans and killed him. Just remembering that fateful battle frightened him even more, and he pushed his power level as high as it could go to gain some speed and escape from the monster chasing him.

'Get away, get away, get away!'

The laughter became louder and louder until Yamcha had to cover his ears to avoid becoming deaf. It became hard to run with the sound blaring in his ears and pressing him in from all sides. He stumbled and tripped again, rolling to a halt against…something. On instinct, he looked up to see what had stopped him. In front of him, written in blood, was a haunting message.

IT HAS BEGUN.

Yamcha's heart leapt through his throat. Footsteps sounded right behind him and he spun around, only to see the creature yet again. He crawled back against the wall.

"It had begun," it said, smiling as Yamcha began to shake. The bandit was huddled against the wall, bracing himself for the final blow. The dark creature stood there for a moment, basking in the human warrior's fear, before walking right up to him and bringing his face close. If the air didn't seem cold and brittle before, it did now; Yamcha felt like anything he said or did would break the atmosphere between them. And along with the atmosphere, the desert bandit would also break. He stayed quiet.

"It has begun. Do you know the meaning of this statement?" the creature asked ominously, baring its jagged teeth. When Yamcha shook his head frantically, it stepped back. "I would like you tell those pathetic organisms you call 'friends' what I said. Tell them to expect more from me. This is only the beginning of what I am capable of." As if to make its point, the monster picked up a dead male from the ground and held him up by his throat. Then, swiftly, it ripped off the head and tossed it to Yamcha, who caught it reflexively. The warrior looked down at the head in his hands. Wide, empty eyes stared back at him, void of life. Yamcha—feeling his stomach lurch—screamed and threw the head aside, then tried to calm his frantically beating heart. The creature laughed.

"I want you to remember that, Yamcha," it mocked. When it noticed surprise and confusion wash over said man's face, it smiled. "I will see you again very soon."

It vanished.

Yamcha stayed pressed against the wall, his breathing erratic. Slowly, he stumbled into a sitting position, then stood while holding on to the wall for support. His legs were shaking, and so was his determination.

"H-how…did it know my name?" he wondered aloud, looking around the city at the damage that had been inflicted. "And how are we s-supposed to stop this thing? I-I-I don't think we'll be able to…to…" He trailed off. After a moment of hesitation, he realized how cowardly that sounded and mentally slapped himself.

'Why am I acting like such a baby?' he thought. 'I act all macho when I'm with the other fighters, but as soon as I'm alone I act like a coward. Is this what Goku would have done? What Krillin, Tien, Vegeta, Gohan, and Piccolo would have done? Act like a coward? Hide in the corner while the enemy mocked them?'

The fear and shock left Yamcha's body, quickly replaced with anger and determination. His legs stopped shaking and his eyes grew hard. Suddenly, Yamcha didn't feel cowardly anymore. He felt strong.

'Well, I'm not a coward! I'll show this damn monster what the Z-fighters are made of!'

With a new, fiery spirit rushing through his veins (is this what the Saiyans felt like during a battle?), Yamcha took off into the air. Before he did anything, he had to warn the other fighters what was coming. Gather them all up and explain the situation, then hopefully fight and prevail. He had a great feeling about this situation. They would win. They just had to.

'Goodbye Otherworld, hello Victory!'

Krillin sat at a table in a restaurant, although he wasn't quite sure which one it was. Piles and piles of tantalizing, delicious food were in front of him, all being inhaled by someone at a very fast rate. The monk frowned; he'd ordered that food for himself! Although every time he reached for the food, his hand went right through it. It didn't help that his stomach kept grumbling every second, mocking his inability to eat the food, and that whoever was behind the plates did not stop eating even to take a breath. Steam began to escape from Krillin's ears as his anger rose; he would show this guy not to eat all of his food!

"Hey! Stop that! That's mine!" Krillin barked. "I paid for it!"

The person on the other side stopped to slurp up the last bit of whatever they were eating, and then burped. "Ah, come on, buddy!" he said, the voice clearly being male. "You know what they say, sharing is caring!"

Krillin froze. That voice. Whiny and high-pitched, but full of happiness and hope. It couldn't be...it had to be...!

"G-G-Goku, is that you!?" he said, eyes brimming with tears of joy. The plates were pushed aside one by one, until Krillin could see a large smile. More plates were pushed aside until wide, shining eyes stared back at him, then a blue and orange gi, then a tuft of green hair.

Wait...what?

All of the plates were pushed aside now, and there sat Goku in all of his green-haired glory.

"Krillin, why aren't you eating?" he asked, shoving a spring roll in his mouth. "The food's great!"

The monk gaped at his friend. "S-since when did you dye your hair green, buddy?" Goku raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? My hair was always this colour!" he said. The Saiyan warrior's eyes suddenly lit up and he leaned forward, smiling peculiarly. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Krillin felt uneasy. "Sure..." he said, leaning forward as well. Goku brought his mouth near his friend's ear and said, in the quietest voice ever, "Wake up."

The monk pulled back, eyebrows raised. "What?"

Goku's smile widened. "I said wake up!" he yelled in a high-pitched, squeaky voice. "Wake up, wake up!"

Now, Krillin knew Goku was crazy, but not this crazy. He was starting to feel creeped out. Goku kept repeating the words, and it got progressively louder each time. Suddenly, Goku's smile widened, and it was so bright that it emitted a blinding white light that assaulted his senses.

"Wake up, you idiot!"

Freezing cold water was splashed on the monk's head, and he shot up immediately in his bed. In front of him stood Oolong, holding a now-empty bucket and wearing a fearful, panicked expression on his face.

"Get out of bed, you sleepy-head!" he yelled, pointing towards the living room and jumping up and down. "There's something on TV! Quick, you have to come look!"

Krillin rubbed his face lethargically. "Man, I had the weirdest dream..." he mumbled, throwing the blanket off of himself. Oolong grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the living room.

"I don't care about your stupid dream! You've got to look at this!" he shouted. Krillin groggily entered the living room and collapsed on the couch, realizing that Master Roshi was already there drinking tea. The old man pushed a cup towards his student, who took it thankfully and shifted his gaze to the television.

"So what's all of the ruckus about?" he said, taking a sip of his green tea. There was nothing but commercials on TV, so he didn't see what the problem was. Master Roshi, however, looked completely serious.

"Just wait until the commercials are over, and you'll know," he said. Once the commercials ended, the news channel appeared. A frightened yet professional reporter stood in front of a city which didn't have the normal rustle-bustle of a normal city. In fact, it was so empty that it seemed as if no one had ever lived there. Krillin spat out his tea, eyes widening.

"Oh, crap!" he blurted out. "I-I almost forgot! That city...I went there yesterday!"

Master Roshi's eyebrows furrowed in response to his student's outburst. "You what? Are you stupid, boy?" he said angrily. "You know I taught you to survey a situation before you jump into it. You could've gotten hurt!"

"Shut it, you old man!" Oolong said jokingly. "I'll bet if it were you, you would've ran away like a baby!"

"Hey! Quiet, piggy!" Master Roshi retorted. "I'm Master Roshi! I'll have you know that I was once the strongest fighter in the world!"

"Well, you're just a washed up paper bag now!"

Krillin waved his hand at the two. "Quit bickering, guys," he said in annoyance. "I want to hear this."

The television reporter shuffled her papers and looked straight at the camera. "And now, channel five, continuing coverage of the disaster in East City," she said professionally. "To recap the situation, all activities in East City came to a screeching halt when the entire population was murdered by an unidentified cause." The camera moved around to show the carnage in the city, although the blood and gore was blurred out just in case there were any children watching the news. "There is no way to identify when this incident happened, although on-the-scene investigators believe it happened sometime late last night."

The reporter suddenly stopped her report and put a hand to the microphone on her ear. After a moment of hesitation, she shuffled her papers and looked back at the camera. "It looks like we have more details on the crisis in East City," she said. "Our latest reports indicate that there are no signs of life anywhere. It has been confirmed that the entire city was murdered and not a single person was left behind. On-the-scene investigators have yet to recover a single individual who escaped the massacre. Now, in other news, three people have been rescued from a house fire in—"

The TV was promptly shut off. "I think we've heard enough," Oolong said, twirling the remote in his hands. Master Roshi nodded and turned to his student. "What do you think, Krillin? Didn't you say you went there yesterday?" he asked.

Said fighter sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what to make of this situation," he said frustratingly. "When Vegeta and I visited the city the other day, we arrived too late. Whoever or whatever caused the damage had already left. All that was left was the clean-up duty."

The turtle hermit sipped his tea. "Hmm…that sounds bad…" he mused. "And when exactly did you visit the city?"

Krillin though for a moment, absently studying his reflection in his cup of tea. "We visited it around early evening," he said. "Right after…after…" A light bulb went off over the monk's head. "Gohan! I went to see Gohan first because of something Piccolo'd said to me earlier that day! I sensed a high power level during my visit, and then when Vegeta arrived sensing the same thing, we both went to see what happened."

He pushed his cup away and stood. "The kid was sick, really sick," he continued, mind working at a kilometre an hour. Everything was slowly falling into place. "He had cuts and bruises all over his body, which was weird because Chichi 'd said that he was perfectly fine an hour before. And get this; Piccolo said that Gohan killed five campers a couple of days ago, and that the kid's been acting strange ever since."

This made both Master Roshi and Oolong pause. "Wait, what?" they exclaimed in unison. Krillin nodded.

"Yeah, I had the same reaction…but it's true."

Master Roshi gripped his cup tighter, eyebrows furrowing with worry. "Are you trying to tell me that Gohan is the one who murdered all those people?" he said accusingly. "I doubt it! He's pure, like Goku! Don't you think that's a little big of an accusation?"

"Yeah, well, it's the only lead we have right now that makes sense," Krillin said, folding his hands behind his head. "And the only way we can confirm it is by giving Gohan another visit. We can ask him to see if he knows anything. The way I see it, we either get an answer and a lead, or we don't and we have to start from scratch."

The turtle hermit nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. I think that's a good idea." He scratched his beard. "But...take someone with you, like Tien or Yamcha. You'll need all of the help you can get."

He spoke to empty air, however, as Krillin was already out the door and in the air with a small shout of, "See ya!" The monk knew that he had no time to waste; if it really was Gohan, then he had to be stopped immediately before any more people were hurt. Master Roshi watched his student leave and smiled inwardly. With determination running through Krillin, the old man was confident that the problem would be stopped before anything else could happen.

"So you were there, too?" Krillin asked Yamcha as they both flew towards the Son house. The desert bandit had sensed the monk's energy and immediately sped up to meet with him. Apparently, Yamcha had been out looking for any clues regarding the incident and was going to visit Krillin after to ask if he could help. When Yamcha met up with Krillin, however, he found out that the monk was already on his way to gather more evidence, and that the evidence would hopefully come from Gohan. So, the desert bandit had joined his friend on his journey. Currently, the two were flying above numerous small villages that were scattered around the countryside. From there, they would fly over cities, forests, mountains, and eventually reach the Son house.

"Yeah, I was," Yamcha replied. "It was pretty scary. The monster almost made me freak out. Man, just thinking about it is giving me the creeps."

"Yeah…" Krillin mused. "It was scary, and…wait, what monster?"

Yamcha's scratched his head. "Oh, you don't know?" he asked, puzzled. "Didn't you see a weird black shadow monster type of thing? It said that it was the one that caused the damage."

Krillin froze mid-flight. "What!?"

Yamcha's eyebrows shot up suddenly. "Ah, yeah, I forgot to tell you! It told me to tell you that what it did in the city was only the beginning! There was some creepy sign there written in–"

"Blood?" Krillin interrupted, turning to fully face his friend. "It said it has begun, right? On the wall of a broken building beside a small pile of bodies?"

The desert bandit paused, then nodded. "Yup, sounds about right. You saw it, too?" he asked. The monk had to wait a few minutes before he could fully process the information. As soon as he grasped what his friend had said, he shook his head in denial.

"N-no, that can't...I mean, yeah, I saw it, b-but...I don't understand," he said slowly. "The whole reason I was going to Gohan's house was because...now, don't call me crazy, but...I had a feeling that he was the one that did it."

Before he could stop himself, Yamcha burst out laughing. "What? Gohan? Are you serious?" he said in between chuckles. "I doubt the kid would even hurt a fly, let alone actual people. You're really off your wagon these days, Krillin buddy."

Krillin became frustrated suddenly, something that was out of his character. He usually made light of the situation, but that was only because he always had an idea of what was going on. This was the first time that Krillin couldn't make sense of the situation. Even with Cell, there was at least some kind of lead they had. Even though everything was going wrong, they still knew what dangers they were facing and what they could do next. In this situation, however, there were so many parts to the puzzle that he couldn't figure out which pieces were real and which pieces weren't. They didn't even have a lead yet, for goodness sake! He would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he had one, or grasped his hair if he had some, but instead the monk simply sighed heavily and threw his hands in the air.

"I don't even know what to believe anymore, Yamcha!" he exclaimed. "First Piccolo comes telling me that Gohan murdered five people, then we sense a giant power level, then thousands of people die. All of those events are likely to be traced back to Gohan, but now you're telling me that there's some other shadow creature doing it. What are we supposed to do? None of it makes sense!"

Yamcha paused to consider that. "Well, we could continue with heading towards Gohan's house to see if he has any answers," he said. "For all we know, all of those bruises you were telling me about that he had could have been caused by the monster."

Now, that was a plan that made sense. Krillin smiled wide, happy that something was finally going right. "Hey, man, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that? That's...that's so obvious!"

Yamcha gave his friend a thumbs up. "Oh, you know." He dropped his hands and looked into the distance, then faced Krillin again. "By the way, I think we should keep moving."

Krillin nodded. With a burst of energy, the two warriors shot off into the direction of the Son house. As they passed over the forest which indicated that they were close, Krillin suddenly had a realization.

"Hey, Yamcha?" he said. Said warrior looked over.

"Hm? What is it?" he asked.

"I think we should drop by Piccolo after this," the monk said. "He should have some answers to, if not the incident, then at least for what's happening to Gohan."

Yamcha nodded, showing he agreed. The two continued on with their quest in hopes of finding the answers they needed. The problem had to stop before it grew, and with Goku gone, it was now up to the rest of the Z-fighters to deal with it.

Piccolo sat by his waterfall, seemingly deep in meditation but in reality listening to the conversation taking place kilometres away between Krillin and Yamcha. When their conversation finished, he dropped out of his lotus position and stood.

'Things are much worse than I thought they were...' he thought to himself, frowning. He thought that Gohan was the main problem, but it seemed as if there was a bigger cause. Now, simply observing and analyzing the situation wasn't going to get him anywhere. If he wanted to do, then he had to act. Sitting around and snooping in on people's conversations was useless if he didn't do anything with the information he received.

'I think it's time to pay a visit to the rest of the Z-fighters.'

It was the right choice, in his opinion. They needed all of the help they could get to nip this in the bud. Piccolo decided to meet Krillin and Yamcha at Gohan's house and figure out a plan from there. If Yamcha was right about the creature, then it was probably already on its way to another city. However, like Cell, they could only sense it when it let them, it seemed. Piccolo powered up and, with a burst of energy, took off in the direction of the other two warriors in hopes of finding the answers he needed.

That's it, guys! Sorry it was shorter than the previous chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing for you all. If you have any questions or comments, review or PM me please. I tried to put more descriptive words in this chapter as requested by a fellow guest reviewer, but I don't think my efforts really showed. Well, I still hope it was descriptive enough. Expect a lot of strange, interesting action coming up! There is so much more I have left to write, and it's all going to come very soon! Au Revoir!