Chapter 4
Piccolo hovered over the wasteland as he watched his young pupil chase a dinosaur across the empty plains. Piccolo looked on with some amusement as Gohan wacked at the dinosaur's tail, which Gohan had been using for his source of food for the last couple days, cutting a good chuck off of the tail. The kid blasted a pile of sticks and sat down to cook his newly acquired meal.
"Good he seems to be mastering the training," commented Piccolo to himself as he continued to watch the kid cook his food. Piccolo gave a small approving nod at his young pupil and he flew off to continue his own training. Piccolo flew towards a small clearing in the middle of several mountains and landed in the clearing. Piccolo quickly crossed his legs and closed his eyes and resumed the meditative training he had been doing for years now.
His body floated into the air and hovered several feet above the ground. Piccolo concentrated and began to use his amazing mental abilities to focus his mind and using his ki to move the objects around him. His body began to tremble as he strained himself to unleash his dormant energy. Suddenly the wind began to pick up and a tornado began to form around the green fighter.
The tornado surrounded Piccolo and began to roar even more ferociously as a second tornado, this one being even bigger than the first, surrounded the smaller tornado. The bigger tornado had so much power that it actually lifted the mountains surrounding Piccolo and began to rotate them around in the tornado. Piccolo's concentration and energy was pushed to the limits by this exercise and his body was trembling from the strain the mediation was putting on the green fighter's body.
After several minutes of rotating the mountains, Piccolo finally set the mountains back down in their original places. His ears pricked up when he heard the kid's voice not to far away.
"Wow, Piccolo caused all that?" Piccolo opened one eye and looked over to see Gohan lying on the ground next to a saber tooth tiger. Both the half-saiyan and the animal were dumbfounded by the amazing display of power they had just witnessed. Piccolo just chuckled and blasted off into the sky to get away from the kid and his animal friends.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Krillin panted as he pulled himself onto the landing of Korin's tower. Once he had gotten to the solid floor of the tower, Krillin laid there panting trying to catch his breath while. He finally looked up when he heard someone chuckling from behind him. It was Upa, the young man they had run into yesterday while preparing to climb up Korin's tower. Krillin thought he looked familiar but he couldn't quite place the young fighter that he was going to be training with for the next year.
"Aw, it's good to be back up here again," said the tan man as he stood up and walked over to Krillin and extended a hand to help the other fighter up. Krillin gladly took the offered hand and pulled himself up. He began to look around the tower as well and he noticed the residents of the tower were missing.
"Hey where are Korin and Yajirobe at? They're always around here somewhere." Krillin asked as he continued to look for the small white cat and the fat samurai.
"They are downstairs getting all of us senzu beans so we can continue our journey up to Kami's lookout as soon as the rest join us up here." Upa motioned for Krillin to come sit with him over at the bench. Krillin nodded and walked over to the bench and sat down with the young Indian.
"So you've been up here before?" asked Krillin remembering Upa's earlier statement.
Upa nodded. "Yes. I have always lived down at the bottom with my father and the rest of my tribe, but I made a vow to a friend of mine that I would climb the tower just like he had and become a great fighter like him. I trained under my father and I learned the basics of martial arts and I became very strong. Then about four years ago, when I was 15, I climbed to the top of the tower. It took my several days, but I finally managed to reach the top. That was when I met Korin and he agreed to train me to become a great martial artist, just like my friend Goku."
Krillin shook his head and looked at Upa with a confused face. "Goku, you know Goku?" Then it hit Krillin. This was the small Indian boy that Goku had gathered the Dragonballs for to revive his father.
"Oh now I know who you are!" exclaimed Krillin. "You are the kid Goku gathered the Dragonballs for. I met you after he took down the Red Ribbon Army!" Upa nodded and smiled at the small fighter.
"Wow, you've grown a lot haven't you!" exclaimed Krillin as he began to look at Upa in a whole new way. He kept picturing the small boy he had once met 12 years ago when he had gone with Goku to see Master Roshi's sister, Fortuneteller Baba. Upa had been with Goku and he had helped them defeat one of Baba's fighters, Fang the Vampire, a fighter Krillin hadn't been able to beat at the time.
Upa laughed. "You have also changed quite a bit my friend. Why you may still be short, you do not look so young anymore." Krillin growled at Upa for the joke on his height but Upa just laughed again and clapped Krillin on the back. They sat in silence for awhile as both thought about times long ago when they had been traveling with Goku searching for the Dragonballs.
As the two fighters sat in silence, Krillin began to think about Upa's newfound strength. When Krillin had met him, Upa was just a boy with no exceptional strength at all and he did not know how to use ki. Now however, the young man had beaten Krillin up Korin's tower and was the first one to the top out of the five fighters that had climbed up together.
"Hey Upa how did you get so strong? I mean, last time I saw you, you were just a small kid with no strength at all and now you're beating me up Korin's tower."
Upa gave Krillin a funny look and then answered the question. "As I said I climbed up this tower four years ago and have been up here training ever since. What did you think I was doing up here? Playing tea party with Korin and Yajirobe?" Krillin blushed as he realized how stupid his question had sounded.
Upa leaned back on the bench and put both of his arms behind his head. "Besides, when I met you I was only 8, so I couldn't have trained very much before then anyway. After meeting you and Goku though, I began to train with my father until I was strong enough to climb Korin's tower. Also, the reason why I have probably surpassed you is because I drank the Ultra Divine Water in the north, the same water Goku drank to gain the strength to beat King Piccolo. The Ultra Divine Water also gave me the ability to sense ki."
Krillin looked at Upa shocked that Upa had survived drinking the Ultra Divine Water. From what Goku had told him about the sacred water, it was a deadly drink that only Goku had survived drinking, while thirteen other people had died drinking the sacred water that could give the drinker an amazing power boost.
"Why did you go and drink the Ultra Divine Water? Didn't you know that it could kill you?" questioned the alarmed Krillin.
Upa just gave the other fighter a determined look and then looked away. "After Korin had told me about the arrival of the saiyan that landed a couple of weeks ago, I knew I couldn't stand by and do nothing. So I asked Korin if I could go and drink from the Ultra Divine Water so I could grow stronger and help fight against the saiyan. I went into the magic pot that would transport me to where the sacred water was kept right as Piccolo, Goku, and Tien confronted the evil saiyan. I drank the water and was able to sense the incredible increase in Piccolo's power as he killed the saiyan and Tien as well. When I came back, Korin told me that I was still needed since two more saiyans would be arriving in a year's time. Yajirobe was sent to gather you guys and I went down the tower to visit my family and wait for you all to show up so I could guide you up to Kami's lookout." Upa's hand curled into a fist as he seemed to ready himself for the upcoming training and subsequent battle with the saiyans.
Krillin nodded. They sat in silence again as they both thought about the saiyans who would be arriving on Earth in less than a year. "It's not enough time to prepare," mumbled Krillin as he stared at the floor of the tower. Upa nodded in agreement and then got up and went to the railing of the tower and looked down on the planet below. Krillin was surprised when he saw a hand coming from the floor of the tower and he jumped up and yelped in surprise. Upa turned back towards Krillin with a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong?"
Krillin pointed towards the floor, but his fears were proven to be misguided as the hand became the upper body of Yamacha as the long haired bandit pulled himself into the tower.
"Yeah what's the matter Krillin? Did you think the boogieman was coming to get you?" teased Yamacha as he sat on the floor with his legs hanging out of the hole in the floor of the tower.
Krillin just laughed nervously and Upa just shook his head at the jumpy bald fighter. Yamacha laughed at his friend and then stood up. He looked over at the young Indian who was again looking out over the surface of the planet below.
Yamacha leaned towards Krillin and asked, "So, did you find anything out about our mysterious fifth fighter?"
Krillin nodded. "Yeah you actually know him. He's the kid Goku was gathering the Dragonballs for when he beat the Red Ribbon Army and when we went to see Baba. Remember he and Puar beat that vampire guy that beat me because I was creped out by him."
Yamacha backed up in shock and looked over at Upa and then back to Krillin. "You mean that guy over there is the same little kid that you thought was cute?" said Yamacha a bit too loudly. Krillin blushed deeply as did Upa who had just turned back towards the other two fighters. Taking the other two fighter's reaction as a yes, Yamacha burst out laughing again.
"Hey what's all this commotion about up here? You do know it's hard enough to pick the senzu beans off the plants just right without all of this noise coming from up here." The three fighters looked over to see a small white cat holding a staff walking up from the downstairs area followed by the one and only Yajirobe who was eating a bag of chips.
"Hey Korin how's life been up in the tower?" asked Krillin as he tried to change the subject from his past attraction to Upa but Yamacha had other plans.
"Hey did you to know that Krillin thought Upa was cute when the first met awhile ago?" innocently asked Yamacha before bursting into another fit of laughter. Yajirobe instantly hit the ground and began rolling around laughing his head. Korin tried to stifle his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand, but found that he could not contain his laughter and he too began to laugh.
Krillin and Upa blushed even deeper until their entire faces were bright red. Krillin tried to laugh it off by putting his hand behind his head in an imitation of Goku and laughed nervously. Upa however growled and threw dirty glances at the two men and the cat who were laughing at them.
"Shut up you three. It was an honest mistake made over 12 years ago. Besides if you don't stop it, I'll be forced to beat you all up." Korin and Yajirobe immediately stopped laughing but Yamacha continued to chuckle as he looked over at the Indian man.
"Ha, yeah right you couldn't take me on!" said Yamacha with full confidence in himself. Upa just snorted at the long haired fighter and turned his back to him. Yamacha snarled and then launched at Upa determined to prove that he was the stronger of the two. However the last thing Yamacha saw was Upa's long black braid as it suddenly disappeared as Yamacha tried to strike.
Yamacha looked around frantically for the dark haired fighter, but not for long as he felt a sudden sharp pain in his back and he was sent flying over the rail from a kick sent by Upa. As Yamacha passed over the rail Yamacha began to panic as he thought he was about to fall to his death and he began to flap his arms wildly. He suddenly felt himself stop moving and he looked up to see a smirking Upa holding him. Yamacha then looked down and cried out in terror as he saw the seemingly never ending drop to the ground below.
Upa quickly hovered back into the tower and sat down the now scared Yamacha next to Chiaotzu, who had just arrived to see Upa catch Yamacha. He had been ready to fight, having never might Upa before but Krillin had told him to stand down. He had quickly informed Chiaotzu that it was Yamacha that had started the small scuffle and he had relaxed. Krillin noticed that Chiaotzu was a bit uptight though and Krillin suspected Tien's death had hit the small pale man harder than he had let on.
Yamacha laughed nervously as he stood up again and extended his hand towards Upa. Upa smiled and took the former bandit's hand and shook it. Korin chuckled and then addressed Yamacha. "Yeah Yamacha you might not want to pick fights with him. He just drank the Ultra Divine Water Goku drank to defeat King Piccolo like a week ago." Yamacha's eyes widen at the discovery and Upa's smirk just got even bigger.
"Well then I guess I'll at least have a decent sparring partner," said Yamacha as he returned Upa's confident smirk with one of his own. Upa just nodded and then turned to Chiaotzu.
"Hey do you know how far back Chi-Chi was from you?"
Chiaotzu thought for a minute and then replied, "Yeah she was a bit behind me. She should be here soon. It was weird though. Her energy would jump around all the time. Most of the time it would be like it usually is but when she got mad about something her energy would skyrocket and she would almost catch up to me."
As Chiaotzu finished his sentence, all of the fighters felt a sudden increase in energy and they all went over to look down the hole in the tower floor. They saw a bright red aura shining on the side of the tower as it rapidly went up the tower, getting closer and closer to the hole they were looking through. The group surrounding the hole had to jump back as Chi-Chi came flying though the hole, her aura still super charged and they could hear her muttering to herself.
"Letting that green monster take our son! What bad parenting. My little boy should be home studying right now, not being trained by that green demon," ranted Chi-Chi as she slowly began to cool off. Once she seemed to realize where she was, she immediately collapsed on the ground and began to pant heavily from the enormous effort the climb up the tower had taken out of her.
Korin looked around at all of the fighters. "Good, now you're all here. Now here our five senzu beans for all of you that climbed up the tower," announced Korin as he walked over to all of the worn out fighters and handed each of them a senzu bean which they all promptly popped into their mouths.
"Wow! These things are great!" exclaimed Chi-Chi as she jumped up off the ground, her energy completely restored because of the senzu bean.
Korin just nodded at her. "Now that you all are fully replenished, you better head up to Kami's lookout. He's expecting you all as soon as possible. So just follow Upa up to the Power Pole and you all can start your climb up to the lookout."
Yamacha sighed. "Not another climb!" he pouted.
Korin just smiled at him. "You have no idea," said the white cat deviously.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Alright Master Roshi, Bulma, I'm off to go find Piccolo," said Goku as he nearly sprinted towards the door of Kame House. It had been a month since he, Piccolo, and Tien fought Raditz and he felt that he had been cooped up in this house for to long. He was ready to get to training for the arrival of the two other saiyans.
"Goku be careful," called out Bulma as Goku dashed out the door of Kame House. He called out for his trusted method of travel, Nimbus, and then hopped on to the back of the cloud and then the cloud took to the sky and Kame House quickly faded into the distance. Goku then searched for Piccolo's unique energy signal and found the high energy level pretty quickly.
After about an hour, Goku and his Nimbus cloud arrived in the desert that Piccolo's energy was in. Goku began to search for his green rival but it did not take long for him to find the green man. Piccolo was floating high in the air meditating and was holding a pyramid above the clouds. Goku watched in awe at the control of Piccolo's power as he then began to lift the other two pyramids that were positioned behind him and they too rose up to join the other pyramid high in sky. After watching in awe for a few minutes, Goku took his nimbus over to where Piccolo was mediating and stopped a few feet in front of the green fighter.
"Hey Piccolo! What's up?" Piccolo opened one eye and then slowly set the pyramids back down to their original places. He then stood up so that he was towering over Goku who was sitting on the nimbus cloud.
"So Goku, you're finally back to full strength. Good, I've been wanting a good sparring partner for a while now. It gets boring sparring against yourself all the time." Goku hopped off his nimbus cloud and the cloud sped away as Goku hovered in front of Piccolo, who just crossed his arms and waited for his opponent.
"Yeah, I've been waiting to start our training together ever since you mentioned it when we fought Raditz. It will be fun!"
Piccolo smirked, "Sure Goku, it will be fun to beat the living daylights out of you everyday. So shall we begin?" Piccolo crouched down into his fighting stance and Goku nodded and then joined him by dropping down into his own stance as the two rivals faced off against one another.
"Aren't you going to remove your weighted clothes Piccolo?" asked Goku who was staring at the green fighter.
Piccolo chuckled, "No need to. Besides it will help me get faster training with the weighted clothing.
"Alright then, then I'll fight with my weighted clothes to!" With a yell Goku charged his green rival and began unleashing a flurry of powerful punches. Piccolo dodged and blocked every one of the blows with rapid speed that shocked Goku. How did he get this fast? He wasn't this fast when we fought Raditz, thought Goku as he continued to unleash his flurry of punches against the well disciplined Piccolo.
Piccolo then went on the offensive after dodging one of Goku's punches by throwing a few open-handed punches and knife strikes at the other fighter. Goku managed to dodge the blows but he was kicked away as Piccolo used his earlier attacks as a distraction to kick Goku in the gut. Goku was sent reeling back from the blow.
Goku then raised both hands and fired two small energy waves at the green fighter in front of him. The small golden energy attacks were effortlessly deflected away by Piccolo but when he looked back over to where Goku had been, the spiky haired fighter had already disappeared.
Piccolo calmed himself and tried to sense out his opponent and was alerted to Goku who was flying towards him from behind. Piccolo smirked as he phased out of sight at the last possible second before Goku struck. He quickly reappeared and delivered a two handed over head blow to his rival that sent Goku flying towards the ground.
Goku was able to quickly recover and he sprang back into action as he flew straight at Piccolo. Piccolo prepared himself to evade Goku's attacks but Goku disappeared as he was heading towards Piccolo. Stunned for a second, Piccolo was off guard when Goku reappeared in front of him and then punched the green fighter in the face. Piccolo was sent reeling back from the blow but he forced himself to a stop.
Goku laughed as he panted during the brief pause in the action. "This is fun Piccolo! We should do this way more often."
Piccolo just stared at his rival. "What do you think we'll be doing for the rest of the year while we train together?" Goku laughed again and then dropped back down into his stance as he waited for Piccolo to resume the action. At the same time both fighters disappeared and then they reappeared higher in the air as both of their fist collided and made a large booming sound from the two fist colliding.
Both fighters growled and they both disappeared again, but they quickly reappeared farther off to the left as their knees collided with one another, making another resounding boom. The two rivals disappeared again this time right of where they had first collided and both fighters' elbows connected and made another huge boom. The desert was beginning to shake from the collisions the two fighters were making high in the air.
This time though, instead of disappearing, Goku brought his other arm up and delivered a ki infused punch which connected with Piccolo's head. Piccolo was sent flying a few hundred feet back from the force behind the blow. Goku grinned from the success of his tactic and watched as Piccolo recovered from the blow.
Piccolo snarled and then thrust his right hand forward. His arm bulged as he brought energy to his arm, and then a golden energy wave was fired out of his hand and towards Goku. Goku was able to evade the large energy wave by twisting his body to let the wave pass by him. The pyramid behind Goku wasn't as lucky though as Piccolo's destructive wave hit and completely obliterated it. The ancient structure was turned into a new pile of rubble by the devastating attack.
Goku looked behind him at the huge cloud of dust that had risen into the air and then back at Piccolo who was slightly panting. "Aw, Piccolo you just destroyed a priceless monument."
Piccolo lowered his arm and stared at this rival. "How was I supposed to know that you would dodge it? Besides I didn't even now that was a monument."
Goku looked at Piccolo confused. "How did you not know that the pyramids were a monument? They're like one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."
Piccolo just sighed, "Goku you do know I'm like 8 right. I never went to school and all I've done my entire life is train. I don't know anything about Earth history except for the parts that involve me or King Piccolo. How do you know they're one of those seven wonders things? You never went to school either."
Goku scratched his head as thought about how old Piccolo really was. He then replied, "I read about them in one of Gohan's books when Chi-Chi made me help him study. It was one of the worst days of my life and I remember seeing a picture of the pyramids in there."
"Enough! Okay I messed up! Can we please continue sparring now?" asked an angry Piccolo.
Goku quickly crouched down into a stance. "Yeah sure, I'm ready."
Piccolo stood up straight and gave Goku an evil smile. "Good, because I'm ready to show off a new technique I've been working on. Just prepare yourself, because I doubt you'll be able to keep up after I've used this technique." Goku just smirked at his rival as Piccolo crouched slightly and curled both of his hands into fist.
Piccolo began to yell as he gathered power. He began to shake and he closed his eyes and barred his teeth as his entire body began to tremble from the effort he was putting into the technique. Goku was shocked when another set of arms burst out of Piccolo's forearms. The arms where covered in a light green slime and then began to separate even farther from Piccolo's original arms. Goku watched as Piccolo's face began to stretch out and then actually became a second face. Goku finally realized that Piccolo was making another Piccolo.
Goku watched as the second Piccolo fought out of the original Piccolo and then went over to float beside him. Goku looked from one to the other but could see no distinguishable differences between the two.
Goku smirked, "I see you've learned Tien's Multi-Form technique."
Both Piccolo's nodded and then the one on the right said, "Yes the technique is very similar. Now do you think you can handle two of us?"
Goku nodded, "I know the weakness of the Multi-Form technique. You have to divide your power among how many copies of yourself you make. So that means each of you is only half as strong as you were originally Piccolo."
Both Piccolo's smirked at Goku and the left one replied, "Yes but don't count on that as a fatal flaw. We still have the advantage of numbers so it evens out." The Piccolo that was speaking turned to the other Piccolo and nodded. Then both Piccolos vanished as they used their rapid speed to vanish from sight.
Goku looked around trying to spot at least one of the Piccolo's and he saw one of them coming at him on his left side. Goku turned to fight that one, but then was hit in the back by a ki blast sent from the other Piccolo. Goku turned his head to see Piccolo smiling at him and then firing another ki blast at him, which Goku deflected easily. As Goku prepared to attack the Piccolo, he was kicked in the back by the other Piccolo that he had seen earlier. He was sent flying through the air only to be backhanded by the other Piccolo into the ground.
Goku got up from where he had landed on the ground and looked up to see two stoic Piccolos looking down on him. He brushed the sand off of his orange and blue training outfit and then thought to himself, This is going to be an interesting year, as he flew back up to the two Piccolos.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The six human fighters walked towards the huge building that was directly in front of them. They had all just finished their climb up to Kami's lookout by climbing the ladder that was at the bottom of the lookout. There was excitement in the air as all of the fighters, except Yajirobe, anticipated the training they were about to begin.
As they walked towards the building, two figures came out of the shadows of the entrance to the huge structure. One was similar in appearance to Piccolo, only older so his skin was slightly darker and his body was covered in wrinkles. They all knew this was Kami, the Guardian of the Earth. Along side him was a pure black genie that none of them had met before.
As they got to the entrance, Kami and the genie were standing there waiting for them. Once they had gotten into a line so that Kami could see all of them, Kami looked over the six fighters and then nodded.
"Good you're all here," he said as his eyes scanned every member of the group. He leaned on his staff and then stated to the group, "You are all aware of the situation. Each of you has been chosen because you are the strongest fighters Earth has to offer. You all will have a part to play in the defense of Earth, yes even you Yajirobe. So drop the petty differences you have amongst yourselves and feel the oncoming threat and know that it is greater than any you have ever faced."
All of the fighters nodded up at the old guardian. "We're ready Kami!" stated Yamacha. "When do we start the training?"
Kami turned to look at the long haired fighter. "Mister Popo here will oversee your training for now." Kami then turned to leave as the confused group of fighters watched as he went back inside the building and the black genie named Mister Popo stood there and watched them.
Yamacha then turned to the black genie. "So what do we do first Mister Popo?"
"I guess you should train," answered Mister Popo slightly amused as he too turned to leave and go back inside. Yamacha watched dumbfounded as both the guardian and his assistant walked away from the group of assembled fighters and entered the large building.
"Well I guess we better get started," said Upa as he prepared to go through his warm-up exercises.
"Yeah it will be harder to train up here in this higher altitude so that should make us stronger," said Krillin as he began to stretch. Yamacha just shrugged and then went over to join the other fighters. Yajirobe promptly went over to sit underneath a tree and eat while the others began to stretch.
"Hey I just thought of something," said Krillin. "Why don't we check our power levels on the scouter Bulma fixed so we know how strong we are now so we can see how strong we get from the training."
"Good idea Krillin," said Yamacha patting his friend on the back. "Do me first; I would love to see what my power level is!"
Krillin took out a capsule from his pocket and threw out on the ground. There was a small explosion and then the green scouter was there on the ground. Krillin picked up the scouter and put it on his right eye.
"Okay Yamacha just hold still while this thing gets a reading on your power level." The scouter beeped a few times and then a number flashed on the green screen. "177, not bad Yamacha. Not as high as mine is but still you haven't been training for awhile so that's to be expected."
Yamacha grumbled about being weaker than Krillin for awhile and then began to do one finger push ups while he balanced himself upright. As he began he muttered, "Going to rub your higher power level in my face, well we'll see who's stronger in a few weeks baldie."
Krillin then turned to Upa and the scouter began to beep again. "Wow, Upa your power level is 260! Man that's even higher than mine!"
Upa nodded, "Yeah since I drank the Ultra Divine Water I should be about the same strength as Goku was when he fought King Piccolo." Krillin noticed that Yamacha had started doing his one fingered push ups even faster after hearing what Upa's power level was.
Krillin just chuckled and then looked over at Chiaotzu, who was mediating off on the far side of the lookout. "Hey Chiaotzu your power level is 169, that's pretty good!" Chiaotzu ignored Krillin and continued to mediate. Krillin just shrugged and then looked over at Chi-Chi who was throwing some punches at an invisible opponent.
The scouter beeped and Krillin was shocked at the number it showed him. "155! How is her power level that high? She doesn't even train."
Chi-Chi just looked over at her husband's best friend and smiled innocently. "I get my workout from keeping Gohan and Goku in line. Do you think its easy trying to get a child with super strength to take a bath?"
Krillin laughed nervously and then turned to take the last power reading. "Yajirobe your power level is 183, that's the power level Bulma read at Master Roshi's house. So it's true, we weren't hallucinating after all."
Krillin just shook his head and then said, "I already know my power level so who's up for some sparring?" All of the fighters except Yajirobe and Chiaotzu said they would spar so they all paired up. Yamacha and Chi-Chi faced off while Krillin and Upa sparred together. With a yell the four fighters charged their opponents and the training on Kami's Lookout began.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tien continued to run down the long winding path of Snake Way as he continued to head towards the mysterious King Kai. He had been running for several weeks now non stop and he was exhausted. As he ran he saw a yellow street cleaning vehicle traveling down the road ahead of him. Tien picked up his speed and quickly over took the vehicle.
Tien tapped on the window of the vehicle and the blue ogre driving it rolled down the window. "Excuse me sir, do you know how far it is to King Kai's from here?" asked Tien as he kept pace with the street cleaner.
"Your heading to King Kai's?" questioned the shocked ogre. Tien merely nodded, not wanting to waste any more of his scarce energy reserves.
"Well good luck to you then. If I had to guess though, I would say you're about a fourth of the way there now." Tien nearly fell over from the news. He had used every last ounce of his energy and he had only traveled a fourth of the way there!
"I have to have traveled more than 10,000 miles by now," muttered Tien.
The blue ogre laughed, "Of course you have my boy. As a matter of fact, you've actually traveled way past 10,000 miles if you started at the check-in station."
Tien looked at the blue ogre in shock. "What! I was told that Snake Way was over 10,000 miles long!"
The blue ogre laughed again, "Well it is. A better estimation though is more like 1 million kilometers, far over 10,000 miles. Why 10,000 miles isn't even a tenth of what you would have to travel to get to King Kai's."
Tien looked down at the ground as he continued to run. Snake Way was actually 1 million kilometers long. How was he ever going to get to King Kai's now?
"Hey I have an extra seat on the back of this thing. Why don't you hop on and I can give you a ride."
Tien looked up from the ground and turned his attention to the generous ogre. "Thank you sir, I would really appreciate it."
The ogre just nodded and turned his eyes back to the road as Tien jumped onto the back of the yellow street cleaning vehicle. Tien lay down on the back and began to close his eyes to sleep until he remembered something. Wait I'm dead, I don't need to sleep I just need to give myself some time to recover my energy so I can continue on, thought Tien as he sat on the back of the vehicle. After thinking about it some more, Tien decided to do something productive so he crossed his legs and began to mediate.
Tien sat on the back of the street cleaner for several days mediating, all the while regaining the energy he had been constantly using while traveling on Snake Way. One day while he was mediating, the street cleaner hit a bump on Snake Way and Tien was sent flying into the air and actually off of the path.
Tien however quickly regained control of his body and he hovered over the golden clouds for awhile looking down, glad that he had not been asleep when the vehicle had hit that bump. Tien shuddered thinking about how he would have been trapped in hell with no way of getting to King Kai's to receive the training he would need to battle the saiyans.
While Tien hovered there, he realized that he was at full strength with full energy reserves now. Happy that he would now be able to fly again, Tien blasted off in the direction he had been traveling for the last month or so. Tien found that he could travel at much faster speeds than before and flying wasn't using up as much energy as it had been before.
"Huh it seems just traveling along Snake Way has made me stronger," remarked Tien as he flew above the street cleaner he had been riding on earlier and quickly outdistanced it. "Actually it would probably be faster if every now and then I take some time to rest and recover my energy than just going until I drop. That way I won't be reduced to crawling just because I think it will slow me down to stop and take a break every now and then."
Tien continued to fly down Snake Way for several days. His endurance surprised him as he had only been able to fly for several hours when he had started down Snake Way but now he could fly for days at full speed. When he touched down, he stretched a little and then began to run down the winding road of Snake Way.
Tien was surprised at his speed, as with flying he made an incredible leap in speed and endurance as he felt nothing running at full speed down the long winding road of Snake Way.
"It's amazing what a little rest can do for you huh," said Tien as he continued to speed down Snake Way and towards the martial arts master King Kai.
I would like to thank all of the people that reviewed the last chapter. It means a lot to hear from my readers and I love getting the feedback. So if you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for the story please put them in a review. And to answer your question J.W. Appel, the humans will also have transformations to make them stronger, but those will come into play when I get to the Android Saga and beyond. Right now though, I don't think they actually need them.
Now the only thing I think I need to explain is the power levels of Upa and Yajirobe. Upa's power level is the exact same as Goku's was after he drank the Ultra Divine Water, so that's pretty self explanatory. Yajirobe's is a bit more complex. His power level around this time was actually only about 160. However because Upa has been up in the tower with Yajirobe and Korin, Yajirobe has been forced to train a little bit because Upa wanted a sparring partner so Yajirobe is a bit stronger than he was in the original manga/anime. Again thanks for reading and please review.