The Announcer stood in the center of the stadium and called out to crowd. "Welcome martial arts enthusiasts. Today is the second day of the 22 Tenkaichi Budokai where we will be having the semi-finals this morning and the finals this afternoon. For the first half of the semi-finals we have newcomer Tien Shinhan facing off against defending champion Jackie Chun. Will both fighters please come to the ring now?"

Tien and Roshi calmly walked into the ring shoulder to shoulder. Once in the ring, they walked the customary distance apart and waited for the signal to fight. The two fighters spring into action as soon as the signal to start was given. Tien had started on the offense, but Roshi was simply blocking or dodging every attack that Tien made. After a while, Roshi got tired of being on the defensive and switched to offence.

It was quite a shock for Tien to find himself on the defense in a fight. He wasn't used to reacting; he made others react to him in a fight! After taking a knee to the chest, the triclops decided that enough was enough and he flew into the air. Floating a few feet above Roshi, he called out, "Solar Flare!" Tien smirked figuring that he had rendered his opponent helpless. He then took advantage for Roshi's temporary blindness to fly at the old man with the intention of delivering a knock-out kick to the back.

However, Tien's foot never reached Roshi's back. To Tien's shock, Roshi had whirled around and blocked the attack with his left arm. "What," Tien cried out in shock, "How can you do this? I blinded you with the Solar Flare!"

Roshi let out a small chuckle. "That you did Tien; I still can't see anything even though my vision is starting to return. However," Roshi paused only long enough to punch Tien in the chest with his open palm, "Only an inexperienced fighter relies on just his eyes in a fight! The eyes can easily be deceived." To emphasis this point, Roshi used the after image technique several times and then punched the still shocked Tien in back.

As Roshi expected, Tien was able to quickly recover from the blow that he had just delivered. Tien turned to face Roshi and called out, "You're right. Only an inexperienced fighter relies on just his eyes. However, an experienced fighter can use his eyes for far more than just seeing an enemy. Try this, Kamehameha!" Roshi was momentarily surprised that Tien could create a Kamehameha Wave after only seeing it once. But, the old master quickly recovered his wits and deflected the attack harmlessly into the air.

Most of the audience was shocked and amazed at how the fight was going so far. However, the more attentive members of the audience were wondering why Tien wasn't surprised at how Jackie had so effortlessly defected the Kamehameha Wave. In fact, Tien was smirking. "Very impressive Jackie Chun, it was quite interesting how you were able to so effortlessly reflect the Kamehameha Wave. Were you shocked to see a student of your rival use your own attack!"

Goku, Krillin, the rest of the dragonball gang not in the know, and many members of the audience gasped in shock. Jackie Chun was Master Roshi? Tien smirked and called out, "You did a good job of hiding it old man, but you messed up a few things with your disguise. First you can't change your facial structure, although I will admit that the wig your wearing and removing your sunglasses were very useful in throwing off suspicion. Second, your style of fighting is the original Turtle School Style and not a derivative or heavily influenced by it. Finally, a quick background check reveals that 'Jackie Chun' doesn't exist and no one has heard of him except for appearing at the 21 Tenkaichi Budokai."

Realizing that the jig was up, Roshi pulled the wig off his head. "You can't just let an old martial arts master enter a tournament in disguise can you Tien? Fine, I'll admit it, I am Master Roshi!" The Turtle Hermit then pulled out a pair of his customary sunglasses and put them on his face.

Tien was smiling. "Thank you for this fight Turtle Hermit. It's exciting to face off against someone more powerful than my own master. However, would you come at me with your full power? I can sense that you aren't using your full potential and I don't want to chance winning against someone because they were handicapping themselves. It wouldn't make any victory on my part satisfying."

Roshi shrugged and decided it was time to teach Tien a lesson in humility. His cover might be blown, but he wasn't about to give up his primary mission of making sure that the younger martial arts learned some valuable lessons. Gathering his energy, Roshi let out a yell as his muscles started to bulge. When it was finally over, Roshi had grown almost a foot and looked like a body builder with the muscles he had. "Alright Tien, you've got what you asked for, I'm now at my maximum power."

Round two of Tien and Roshi's fight began in earnest as the audience eagerly watched the remaining Crane contestant battle the master of his rival school. Tien had expected that Roshi would be a harder opponent now that he was using his full power. However, the punch Roshi delivered to Tien stomach felt like a freight train had hit the triclops. That first punch was only a taste of what Roshi had in store for Tien. Two things became very obvious as the fight continued. First, Roshi was much more powerful when he was using his maximum power and those muscles didn't slow him down. Second, it was becoming ever more obvious to Tien that the turtle hermit had purchased his ass and was paying off the mortgage in pain.

Goku was surprised to see just how much more powerful Roshi was in his current stated. The teen saiyan quickly pulled out his scouter to get an exact read on Roshi power. "Amazing," Goku whispered to himself, "Master Roshi's power has increased to 320!" Krillin never noticed Goku using the scouter because he was too amazed at how Roshi owned the fight.

Finally, Roshi felt that Tien had learned his lesson and picked the teenager up by his neck. Quietly he whispered to the boy. "You're a good lad Tien and you have a lot of potential. No doubt you'll one day surpass me in strength one day. However, you must learn your limits so you can surpass them and learn to never assume that you're the strongest. As strong as I am, I know that there are beings on this world with far more power than I have. Still, I enjoyed our fight and I hope we can fight again in the future so I can see how you've improved." With that said Roshi walked to the edge of the stadium and dropped Tien out of the ring.

The Announcer was grinning like a mad man as he did the introductions for the second half of the semi-finals. "Well folks, it appears that we are in for a treat today. In the second half of the semi-finals we have veteran fighters stepping into the ring. Goku and Krillin will be battling it out to see who can advance to the finals where the winner will face off against their master for the championship of this tournament."

Krillin was nervous about his fight. He had no doubts that Goku was more powerful than he. The fact that Goku had his Oozaru trump card almost sealed the deal on the fight. The only way Krillin could see to win was to trick Goku and to exploit Goku's blind spot. As soon as the fight started Krillin and Goku started trading blows. It was quite obvious as the two teens continued fighting that they were both equally skilled when it came to the arts of battle. However, it was also obvious that Goku was the stronger of the two boys. The saiyan's punches simply hurt more, his reflexes were faster allowing him to block quicker, and he could soak up the damage from the hits Krillin landed easier.

It was only a few minutes into the fight and Krillin was already sweating from exhaustion. He quickly decided that now was the time to spring his plan into action. "Hey look, is that a noodle cart offering free food to fighters!" Goku's head whipped around to find the noodle cart causing Krillin to grin. Goku might be stronger than him, but he was still smarter than Goku. In the end, it was always the smarter fighter who would win a battle.

Unfortunately for Krillin, the bald fighter couldn't see the grin on Goku's face. The teen saiyan called out, "Thunder Shock Surprise!" Goku's tail glowed with a greenish-gold light which Krillin was almost instantly sporting as well. If Krillin had hair on his head it would have been standing up strait from the electricity coursing through his body. Goku jumped up into the air and flew towards the barrier wall with his rival being dragged behind unable to let go of Goku's tail from the shock. Krillin's time as a human light bulb ended when Goku gently whacked him into the wall knocking him out of bounds.

Krillin comically fell to the ground on his butt twitching every few seconds from the residual electricity. Goku was simply floating a foot off the ground grinning at how silly Krillin look. The Announcer was momentarily shocked at the scene, but quickly recovered. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, thanks to a shocking upset and a ring out, Goku is the winner of this match. That means that he will be going to the finals for a rematch against Master Roshi for a shot at the 22 Tenkaichi Budokai tournament championship!"

Hearing that Goku was going to the finals snapped Krillin out the shock he was in. He stood up, looked at his surroundings, and then sighed. "Well, I gave it my best shot." Krillin then turn to look at Goku who was still giggling. "How did you do it Goku? I had you by the tail!"

With a grin Goku replied, "It's simple Krillin, I trained my tail so it wouldn't be a weak point for me. I figured you, Yamcha, or Master Roshi would try to use my tail against me in this tournament so I remembered Roshi's Thunder Shock Surprise technique and recreated it."

Off to the side, the non-combatants and already eliminated competitors of the dragonball gang were staring with their mouths open. "I don't believe it." Oolong muttered to himself. "Does Goku have ANY weaknesses left? He almost seems inhuman."

A slight frown momentarily crossed Goku's face as his superior hearing picked up Oolong's comment. That careless comment almost felt like a knife being driven into his heart. Only two facts allowed Goku to keep smiling: Oolong's voice didn't have any malice or fear in it and the cold truth that he wasn't a human.

Lunch was a very interesting affair for the dragonball gang. How could it not be when two of their friends, even Bulma was grudgingly willing to consider Roshi as her friend, were going to be fighting each other for the title of strongest under the heavens? The monks had prepared a feast fit for kings and were happily serving it to the entire group. Goku was seated at one end of the table and Roshi sat at the other end. Everyone else was sitting between the two with the set of seats immediately next to Goku empty. He might be their dear friend, but no one wanted to risk losing their lunch to Goku's gut.

Chi-Chi looked over to Goku was having trouble wrapping her mind around the fact that he was eating so much. She thought that he had eaten a lot during their date a few days ago because he was famished from getting to the island. But, she had just watched him eat twice as much as he did during the date! She turned to Krillin and whispered, "Does he ever stop?"

Krillin was annoyed at having Goku's eating habits brought up while he was eating. That wasn't something conducive to digestion! His body shifted to a defensive posture ready to defend his plate if need be; a habit he had picked up after spending a year training with Goku. "Eventually that pit gets satisfied. Launch checked a few times and found that Goku tends to stop once he's had enough to feed ten people. Occasionally he'll eat a little more, but that's usually before a fight or after he's been injured. Where he puts it all is something I'll never figure out."

Trying to turn the conversation to more pleasant subjects, Yamcha asked, "Master Roshi?" Once he had everyone's attention Yamcha continued, "What happens if Goku wins the match between you two? It was very close last time after all. Would that make Goku a master of the Turtle School?"

Roshi shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Winning a fight against me would not make Goku a master. Being a master of martial arts requires one to both know the art and know how to use it properly. Goku has already demonstrated both of these requirements to my satisfaction. If he wants to be officially recognized as a genuine master of the Turtle School all he has to do is ask me and I will gladly sign his certification."

Goku paused his feeding frenzy long enough to listen to what Roshi had to say. "Thanks Master Roshi, but I don't need to be a recognized master at the moment. Still, it's great that you think I'm ready. What about Krillin and Yamcha? Do you think that they're ready as well?"

Both fighters eagerly turned to look at Roshi. The old master took a sip of tea and then gave his answer. "In terms of raw fighting skill, both Krillin and Yamcha are ready to be masters. However, I'm still not convinced that you two are mentally ready for the title. Yamcha, you are still too arrogant when it comes to your skills and you continually underestimate your opponents. Despite the obvious signs that Tien was a powerful fighter, you continued to dismiss him even into your fight. Krillin, you've demonstrated a dangerous lack of planning ahead and poor tactical judgment. Your match with Chaotsu was a clear case of this! You knew that there would be fighters at the tournament capable of using their ki and instead of practicing on your own like Yamcha you wait until the middle of a fight. Secondly, why were you trying to learn how to do the Kamehameha Wave in the middle of a tournament battle? Improvising like that is tolerable in a real battle in order to save someone's life, but doing something that dangerous because of a tournament is just stupid. The smart decision in that situation would have been to simply forfeit the match."

"Until you two fix these flaws of yours I cannot in good consciousness name either of you a master. Of course, I say this with full confidence that both of you will correct the mistakes that I've pointed out to you. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if both of you are ready for the title by the time the next Tenkaichi Budokai rolls around."

The audience was practically radiating excitement as Roshi and Goku walked onto the arena stage. With great gusto the Announcer began to speak. "Three years ago, master and student unknowingly battled it out to see who would become the Strongest under the Heavens. Both combatants gave everything they had in that fight with Master Roshi under the alias of Jackie Chun narrowly beating Goku. However, that was three years ago. The question on everyone's mind today is: can the Invincible Old Master defeat his student again or will Goku prove today that students can surpass their teachers?"

As soon as the gong rang, Goku flew at Roshi and began a ferocious frontal assault. Goku was attacking far more aggressively than he usually did. As Roshi blocked and in a few cases barely dogged he commented on this. "Why Goku, I don't think I've ever seen you so aggressive before in battle." Roshi paused for a second to duck under a kick and block an attempted strike at his head from Goku's tail. "Your form is excellent, but what's with this all out offense of yours?"

To many people's surprise, Goku actually answered his teacher. "I'm not about to make Tien's mistake. At the moment I'm stronger than you, but if you power up I'll need to go Oozaru to have more power than you. Since I'm not about to go Oozaru in a friendly match, my best option to win is to prevent you from powering up!"

"That's a very wise strategy Goku. It is never a good idea to let your opponent become more powerful in a battle; even more so if you know that they will become more powerful than you. However," Roshi paused to deliver a powerful kick and then blasted Goku into the air in the same manner he did with Chi-Chi. Roshi immediately started gathering his energy and transformed into his maximum power state just as Goku started flying back into the ring. "You need to learn how to fight when you don't have the upper hand in strength, Goku."

Round 2 of Goku and Roshi's battle immediately started as student and teacher returned to slugging it out. Roshi's speed, strength, and experience gave him several very powerful weapons to use against Goku. However, the teen saiyan wasn't about to become his master's punching bag. Utilizing his relatively small size and lighting quick reflexes, Goku weaved around and with Roshi's attacks like a ferret from hell. Of course, even when Goku was hit he still fought back like the time Roshi punched him in the face only for Goku to kick his master's elbow.

Even giving as good as he got, Goku knew he was losing this fight. Finding an opening, Goku weaved away from one of Roshi's punches and flew up into the air. Goku floated above the stadium for a second catching his breath. His face then got serious and he screamed out, "Thundering God Fist!" Both of Goku's fists started to crackle with green energy as his ki started changing into electricity.

With his new technique in hand, Goku flew at Roshi ready to continue their fight. Roshi figured that this was some variant of his thunder shock surprise technique and tried to grab Goku's wrists. However, Goku weaved just enough so that his fists grazed Roshi sending 20,000 volts of electricity through the Turtle Hermit. Using Roshi's shock, Goku ran his hands a hairsbreadth above Roshi's arms paralyzing the muscles and then punched the old man's chest. With Roshi immobilized, Goku flipped backward and fired a Kamehameha Wave at his teacher. This Kamehameha was extra wide so it pushed Roshi out of the ring.

Goku blinked his eyes making sure that Roshi had landed outside the ring. His face light up as a big smile appeared on his face. "I did it." Goku whispered to himself. The audience was then treated to Goku jumping up and down in pure joy. "Hurray! I won the tournament!" The audience started smiling and clapping their hands in applause. Something about the child-like joy Goku had and was so freely sharing over his victory spread like wildfire. Even Roshi was smiling as the monks helped him to his feet.

The good mood of the crowd came crashing down as a voice yelled out, "Dodonpa!" A thin beam of orange energy raced from a point in the audience and shot through Goku's back and out his belly. Goku fell to arena floor in shock as the Crane Hermit flew out of the audience. Crane Hermit pulled out a short sword from his sleeve shouting out, "Now you will die Goku and my brother shall be avenged!"

Roshi tried to come to Goku's aid, but he was still paralyzed from Goku's attack. Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi jumped over the railing and ran to Goku's defense. However, they weren't moving as fast as Crane Hermit. Just as Crane Hermit was finishing his approach, he found himself surrounded by a blue glow that stopped him in his tracks. A blur then appeared and sent Crane flying into the arena with his sword impaling him. Eyes full of rage, Crane looked up at his attackers and hissed out, "You traitors!"

Tien and Chaotsu floated above their master with looks of distain and sadness. Chaotsu quickly landed next to Crane Hermit so he could treat the man's wound while Tien spoke. "Even though you are our master, we cannot let you dishonor yourself by attacking Goku in this manner sir! Now is not the time or place to battle Goku and how is it even possible to avenge a man who dishonored himself by holding innocent people hostage to try and win a tournament match?"

Fighting through the pain, Goku's voice cut through arena. "Tien, in my right boot is a Senzu Bean from the Land of Korn. If you get it, cut it in half, and give one half to each of us, both your master and I can live." Before coming to Papaya Island, Goku had made a detour to go visit Upa and his friend's father. He and Upa had climbed Korn's Tower and Korn had given him that Senzu before starting on Upa's training.

Tien blinked his eyes in shock. Goku was dying and he wanted to eat? Suddenly, he remembered the stories that his master would tell after physical training was over for the day. The Senzu Beans were supposed to feed a man for ten days or could heal a dying man to perfect health. Tien quickly pulled off Goku's boot and found the dried up old bean. He immediately broke it in two, gave one half to Goku, and then moved to give the remaining piece to his master.

Before Tien could hand the Senzu to his master, Crane spat at him. "I'd rather die than be saved by the actions of that brat!" Tien still wanted to save his master out of residual loyalty, but Crane Hermit bit his own tongue off to prevent his receiving the Senzu.

The dragonball gang, except for Chi-Chi who had left to get Goku's things, was currently squeezed into a small room that the monks used as a clinic. Currently, everyone was looking at the bed that Goku was lying on as the doctor that the monks had fetched checked him out. The doctor gave Goku a through checkup and then chuckled. "I see that the legend of the Senzu beans is true." He then turned to Roshi and said, "Don't worry about your student sir. All of his major wounds were healed leaving him with just a few minor burses. All he needs is a good night's rest and then the little champion will be good as new."

Roshi smiled and replied, "That's good to hear." Everyone in the group, including Tien and Chaotsu, was relieved to hear that news.

The doctor frowned slightly and then leaned in closer to Master Roshi. "Sir, can I speak to you in private?" Roshi frowned and nodded his head. The two started to leave the room and no body noticed except for Bulma. Curious, the genius followed the doctor and the old perv as they walked down the hall.

Once the doctor was sure that he couldn't be overheard not realizing that Bulma was tailing him, he spoke to Roshi. "I'm only telling you this because you are listed as Goku's guardian Master Roshi. We did some blood work on Goku when he first came in just incase we needed to do a transfusion. The monk who did the analysis gave me the results a few minutes ago. I'll be blunt sir, what is Goku?"

Roshi got defensive and quickly replied, "Just what kind of question is that?" Mentally, Roshi was cursing himself for not switching Goku's blood sample with the vial of his own blood he had prepared for just such an emergency. Damn it, he was so worried about Goku that he forgot to do the switch!

The doctor frowned and then replied, "Sir, to say that Goku's blood type is unique would be an understatement. It doesn't match any human blood type nor is it connected to any Anthropo Saipan blood type that we have record of in medicine. If I didn't know better, I'd say that it came from someone who didn't evolve on Earth."

That was enough for Roshi. He quickly placed the doctor under hypnosis. "There is nothing wrong with Goku's blood sample. You've found that someone has pulled a prank on you and will destroy the faulty records." The Doctor nodded his head and left to fulfill his hypnotic commands.

Bulma quickly backed away and rejoined the rest of the gang hoping that no one had noticed her absence. Silently, she wondered what could be so important about Goku that Roshi felt the need to destroy the boy's medical records. After all, wasn't he just a strong kid from the country with an unusual monkey tail? Bulma watched as Roshi rejoined the group and started talking with Goku like nothing was wrong.

A few minutes later, the dragonball gang was interrupted by the sound of monks running with medical bed. Everyone, even Goku, poked their heads out to see the monks scrambling to move a battered and bloody body to the next room. It was obvious to the fighters that even though the monks were trying their best, it was too late. Whoever they were trying to care for was already dead. Goku caught a glimpse of the person's face and whispered out in horror, "Chi-Chi."

Ox King heard Goku's whisper and yelled out, "Oh no, not Chi-Chi!" He then raced after the monks praying that Goku had been mistaken. In a few minutes Ox King returned with tears in his eyes. "My precious daughter, someone killed Chi-Chi."

Roshi walked over to his old pupil and gave the giant man a hug. "Listen Ox, we'll bring Chi-Chi back. Goku was able to resurrect his friend's father with the dragonballs so I know we can do the same for Chi-Chi!"

Ox King nodded his head and then fire started to form in his eyes. "It's not enough master! I want my daughter back, but I also want those who took her away to pay. Do you recognize this symbol master? The monks said that it was left by Chi-Chi's killer." Ox King handed Roshi a small slip of paper.

Roshi took one look at the image on the paper and almost had a heart attack. "It can't be. This is the crest of the Demon King Piccolo."

A blond haired Launch snorted, "Piccolo? You mean someone willingly admits to having such a silly name."

Roshi's eyes harden as he turned to face the dragonball gang. "This is no laughing matter! The Demon King and his spawn nearly destroyed plunged this world into eternal darkness centuries ago! No army could defeat them, cities were destroyed by the dozens and millions of people were slaughtered like animals. Crane and I were both students at the time serving under the most powerful fighter of that era: Master Mutaito. Out of three hundred students, only Crane and I survived when Piccolo's forces attacked. The only reason why human life still exists on this planet is because Mutaito used a powerful spell to trap Piccolo in a jar which Crane and I cast into the ocean so that it could never be found."

"Someone must have found Piccolo's prison and released him. Why, I don't know and at the moment it doesn't matter. All that matters is that this planet is entering into a very dark era."

Goku's face got completely serious and he spoke up. "Bulma, can you get my bag for me now?" Bulma blinked her eyes and did as she was asked. As soon as Goku had the bag, he pulled out his scouter and placed it on his face.

"Uh Goku," Krillin began. "What is that thing on your face and what are you doing with it?"

While setting up the search settings Goku replied, "It's a device that detects power levels. With this I can find exactly where Piccolo is and see just how much power he has." The scouter quickly locked onto several power signals and Goku analyzed the information he was getting. "Someone with a power of 170 is traveling rapidly away from here. That must be Chi-Chi's killer. Whoever they are, they're moving towards two individuals about 3,000 km due east of here. One has a power level of 97 and the other has a power level of 327. The one with the power level of 327 must be Piccolo while the other two must be the start of his demon army."

Goku turned off his scouter and put it away. He then turned to the dragonball gang and grinned. "Don't worry everyone, we can beat Piccolo. Both Tien and I are stronger than Chi-Chi's killer, Yamcha and Krillin are a little weaker than him but not by much, and Master Roshi at full power is almost as powerful as Piccolo himself."

Tien was shocked to hear that news. "But Goku, Master Roshi just said that Piccolo was virtually unstoppable when he last walked the Earth. How can he and Master Roshi be equals?"

Goku quickly replied, "Well Piccolo has been locked away for centuries right? That means that he couldn't train and probably lost a lot of his power. Master Roshi on the other hand has been free and has been training during that time. Thus, their both on the same level now whereas before Piccolo was much more powerful. If we all fight together, we can kill Piccolo and avenge Chi-Chi. Then we can gather the dragonballs and wish her back to life!"

Author notes: As you can see, I'm playing loose with the canon power levels at this time. Roshi's power was chosen because 1) he never was tested in his maximum power state, and 2) it makes it a little more believable in universe that he had the power to destroy the moon.

One of the reviewers was asking about whether or not Gohan will be born. He is locked into my story and will be born same time as in canon. However, I'm having a little debate with myself as to whether or not Chi-Chi should be his mother. Her DBZ personality is 180 from her DB personality and she's constantly hampering Gohan's potential. Heck, you could even lay the blame for all the trouble in the Buu Saga at her feet since if she hadn't turned Gohan into a scholar than he could have stopped Buu from hatching. If I leave Chi-Chi as Goku's wife than expect her death to wake her up to how things really are in the Dragonball world.