Piccolo, having decided he might as well use his father's name, the prince of demons was floating in the wastelands. A scowl covered Piccolo's teenager like face as his eyes tried to figure out where the blasted thing was hiding. Finally, luck smiled on the demon prince as sunlight started to gleam off of something in a mountain crevice. Piccolo smirked and quickly flew to the crevice. He quickly reached in and pulled out a dragonball.

A month ago Piccolo had stumbled upon the five star dragonball during his training. Naturally, he had been shocked to see the gleaming dragonball knowing that his father had killed Shenlong. Once Piccolo got over his shock he realized that this was a golden opportunity for him. The dragonballs were the key to his victory over Goku. With the five-star ball in hand, the young namekian flew off to the cave that was his temporary base.

Once Piccolo arrived at the cave, he headed to the back and started digging. After a few minutes he created a ten foot deep hole and uncovered six dragonballs. Piccolo scooped up the six dragonballs so he held the complete set and walked out of the cave. He then placed them on the ground and called out, "Eternal dragon, by your name I summon you: Shenlong!"

The sky darkened and the dragonballs glowed as Shenlong was summoned. In a deep and powerful voice the dragon said, "You who have gathered the seven dragonballs, speak now your wish. I shall grant any that is within my power."

Piccolo gulped as he looked up at Shenlong. Even with the memories of his father, the sight of Shenlong in the flesh was a very impressive sight for the two and a half year old warrior. Quickly regaining his cool, Piccolo said his wish. "My father held far more power before separating with that bastard Kami then he did afterward. I wish that I had the power my father wielded before the separation!"

Shenlong made a low growl before he gave his answer. "Such a thing is beyond my power. To grant you all of the power your father wielded before his separation with Kami would require the joining of both body and spirit between you and Kami. However, it is within my power to restore the power lost because of the physical separation. Is this modification of your wish acceptable or does your heart desire something else?"

A scowl graced Piccolo's face and he snorted. "Fine, I wish that I had the power my father lost because of his physical separation with Kami!" Even a partial power up was better than no power up.

The eternal dragon's eyes glowed and he growled out, "Your wish has been granted. Until the next summoning," with that said, Shenlong disappeared and the dragonballs shot off into the horizon.

Piccolo blinked his eyes not sure what had happened. For a moment, he thought that his 'uncle' pet lizard had pulled one over on him. Then Piccolo felt something pulling on his ki reserves. To the young namekian's surprise, he shifted to a power up stance against his will and started drawing on his ki. All the dust and many of the nearby plants started flying into the air as a thick, white corona of ki surrounded Piccolo. With both joy and stress from the sudden power up, Piccolo lifted his head back and defiantly roared at the heavens.

Euphoria radiated from Piccolo's face clear as day. He let out a deep almost sadistic laugh. "Oh yes! I can't believe it. This is power!" Piccolo quickly glanced at a far off mountain and decided to give his new powers a quickly test by briefly powering up a Destruction Wave and firing it at the mountain. A massive beam of energy burst from Piccolo's hand, flew at almost super sonic speed, and blew the mountain into oblivion. The mushroom cloud of dust caused Piccolo's eyes to bulge out and it slowly became clear that the only thing left of the once titanic mountain was a smoldering crater.

Piccolo looked down at his clawed hands for a few moments in shock. He then grinned and made fists out of both hands. "Oh the irony, thanks to that damnable Kami I have the power to avenge you father. I'll send Goku to hell so that you can torture him for all eternity in the afterlife!"

Up on the Lookout, nearly eighteen year old Goku was meditating on top of one of Mr. Popo's palm trees. He was in a classic meditation pose only Goku was meditation on his tail which was strait as an arrow with the very tip of the tail balancing on the top of the palm tree. Suddenly Goku's eyes opened in shock and he cursed out, "Shit! Just what did he do?" Goku immediately used his tail to spring off the palm tree; he did a back flip/summersault combo, and lightly landed on the Lookout.

Immediately afterward, Goku ran into the palace towards Kami's throne room. The young saiyan barged into the throne room to find Kami sitting on his throne with Mr. Popo watering one of the nearby hanging plants. "Kami, Mr. Popo, we've got a problem! Junior has somehow massively increased his power. It now rivals mine when I went oozaru to kill King Piccolo."

Kami frowned and then closed his eyes concentrating on the life bond he shared with Piccolo. The old god never liked concentrating on the bond since it allowed him to catch glimpses of his other half's mind. About the only good thing Kami could say about concentrating on the bond he had with Piccolo was at least the boy only had an evil heart and wasn't the twisted psychotic thing his father was. This allowed Kami to stomach the connection long enough to glimpse the images of Shenlong, Piccolo powering up, and the mountain being destroyed.

Quickly breaking the connection, Kami turned to face Goku and sighed. "It appears that Piccolo has just used Shenlong to gain more power. At the moment he's become far more powerful than you, Goku. Will you please check to see just how much more power he has?"

Goku nodded his head and pulled out the capsule that held all his stuff. After the puff of smoke dissipated, Goku pulled out his scouter and put it on. He then walked over to a fountain with sparkling clear water and firmly said, "Show me Piccolo." The water of the magical fountain rippled for a few seconds as a picture of Piccolo flying over the wasteland appeared. Goku turned on his scouter and watched as it recorded Piccolo's power level. Once the number came up Goku bit back another curse. "His power's grown to 5,800! This is ridiculous, before the wish it was only 700."

Turning off the scouter, Goku whirled around to look at Kami and Mr. Popo. "What are we going to do? My currently power level is only 900. Even though you've taught me enough skills to fight foes much stronger than that, Piccolo's become so strong that I need to go oozaru just to hope to beat him. The only solution I can think of is beating myself to near death and healing until I get strong enough. However, between all of the beatings and the power increase I'd lose much of the skill I've gained over the past two years and won't have enough time to retrain before the tournament!"

Kami walked up to Goku and gently put a withered green hand on Goku's shoulder. "Relax Goku, things aren't as bad as they seem. Piccolo might have become more powerful, but you can still beat him with your transformation. Still, it would be better if you were around his power level without transforming. I have an idea that may just solve this problem for us. Wait here while I go talk with my superiors."

Once Kami left the room, Goku turned and asked Mr. Popo, "Superiors? Who can be above god?"

Mr. Popo smiled and quickly replied, "Higher gods of course. Kami's powers as god are great, but they are limited to the living realm of earth. Planetary gods such as Kami are actually quite numerous as each life giving planet has its own god. Above the planetary gods are the gods of the afterlife who watch over sections of the galaxy. These beings each control a check-in station in the afterlife where the spirits of the dead go for judgment. All the planets in a sector share the same check in station and thus, all the planetary gods of the sector are under the rule of the gatekeeper god of the section who rules the check-in station. King Yemma rules the check-in station Earth belongs to and is Kami's immediate boss."

"In turn, King Yemma and the other check-in gods report to one of the Kaio. There are four Kaio and each of them is in charge of a quadrant of the galaxy. Earth lies in the northern quadrant meaning that the Kaio King Yemma reports is King Kai. In a way we are lucky because word through the grapevine is that King Kai is the most responsible Kaio when it comes to his duties, even if he is supposed to be a lousy comedian. Finally, at least what I know for certain, the four Kaios are ruled by the Dai Kaio who is also sometimes called the Grand Kai during less formal occasions. The Dai Kaio is the highest divine authority ruling over the entire galaxy. It's believed that the other galaxies share the same or a similar structure, but I don't have enough information to say the truth about that one way or another."

Goku nodded his head and mentally filed Mr. Popo impromptu lecture away for future reference. Almost every second that Goku hadn't spent training for his upcoming battle seemed to be filled with lectures on what the duties of a planetary god were. Much to Goku's surprise, he was sometimes even given hands on challenges like the time Kami had him create a storm to water some plains that were suffering from a drought or the time when he had to choose which volcano was going to erupt. That last task was not fun at all since the choice was between an island that was the only home of a rare planet with powerful medicinal properties and an island with thousands of people. Goku had shocked Kami with beating his little Kobayashi Maru by collecting samples of the plant and then having the volcano on its island blow. The young saiyan planed to reestablish the plant on its island once things settled down.

About an hour after Kami had left, earth's god returned to his throne room with a confident smile on his face. "Goku, I've found a solution to our problem. King Yemma has allowed the soul of a fighter far stronger than Piccolo to return for one day to help train you. Now, I know that a day doesn't allow the kind of time needed to get that strong. However, some negotiation with King Yemma has allowed us to stretch that time by allowing you two to use the Room of Spirit and Time for twelve hours. This will give you six months with your trainer while not technically breaking King Yemma's rule about the dead only having a single day in realm of the living."

Goku nodded his head accepting what Kami just told him. He then asked, "Who did you get to train me? Is the person a hero from the past?"

Kami shook his head. "Not exactly Goku. Our situation meant that I didn't have much selection to choose from. You're actually quite lucky that an officer of the hell guard was delivering a report to King Yemma and volunteered to help you." Goku frowned and nodded his head at this point. The hell guard was made of the 'noble damned'; warrior souls who went to hell for their sins, but weren't corrupt enough that they couldn't be trusted. These former mercenaries and blood knights were used by King Yemma as riot police when hell's residents got too rowdy.

Seeing that Goku accepted everything that was happening, Kami motioned for someone to step into the room. Goku's eyes widened in shock and horror as the figure moved into view. Kami had an almost sadistic grin on his face as he said, "Goku, allow me to introduce your sensei for the next six months. This is Tribune Bardock of the Hell Guard, your father."

Bardock glanced at his son's shocked face hiding his pride. The boy had done well for himself over the years; no saiyan had ever grown as strong as Kakarot had living on such an insignificant planet and only fighting such weak foes. Not even first class saiyans could boast of such raw potential that Kakarot's current power whispered at and the boy had only begun to unlock the power he was destined to wield. Knowing what needed to be done, Bardock gave his son a smug egotistical smirk. "What's a matter Kakarot? Don't you want to spend time with your old man?"

Goku's eyes narrowed in cold fury and he hissed out, "My name is Goku. There's no one here that goes by Kakarot."

The smirk on Bardock's face grew wider and he waved a finger like he was admonishing a toddler. "Oh no kiddo, your birth records clearly show that your name is Kakarot, not Goku. Pretend all you want Kakarot, but your name stays as your harpy of a mother left it unless you can convince me otherwise. Of course, the fact that I have to leave Hell to train you in order to keep you from getting in over your head doesn't make that convincing of a case for you Kakarot."

Eight hours, or four months later, Goku and Bardock were in the Room of Spirit and Time training hard. Father and son were currently locked in aerial combat each blocking the other's fist with their other hand and viciously slamming boulder shattering kicks into each other. After a few seconds, Goku slammed his head into Bardock's while combing the attack with a knee to the groin.

Bardock lost his concentration for just a second, but that was all the time that Goku needed. The younger saiyan backed away from his father and rapidly fell to the ground at speeds only assisted flight and high gravity can create. Goku rolled as he reached the ground using his momentum to springboard across the ground. He charged up a Kamehameha Wave, flipped around so he was facing Bardock, and fired the wave.

A grin appeared on Bardock's face as he launched an energy wave that met the Kamehameha wave head on. The two beams clashed lighting up the white dimension like a raging newborn star. For several seconds, father and son engaged in a beam war before Bardock stopped fueling his attack a swerved to the right. Bardock quickly charged up two small balls of ki, fired them in quick succession, and then used the fury of the attack to flip over his son's head. In a shocking move that only someone of the duo's bloodline would think of pulling off, Bardock uncoiled his tail from his waist and put Goku into a chokehold with it. The elder saiyan then immediately started to machine gun his elbows into Goku's back.

With Goku desperately trying to gain some breath by pulling on Bardock's tail, the elder saiyan was grinning at his son's predicament. "Come on Kakarot! You've to do better than this if you want to protect Earth." Bardock then slammed the back of his foot between Goku's legs while keeping up his machine gun elbowing. "Lesson 13 Kakarot: payback is always a bitch and you're her boy toy."

Goku's vision was starting to blur from lack of oxygen when he went for broke. The teen saiyan started glowing green as he unleashed a Thunder Shock Surprise from his entire body. Bardock was a tough as nails warrior who had gone through 15 planetary purges, death, and survived in Hell for almost 18 years. However, even his battle scared body couldn't handle a half million volts of electricity being pumped through it. Bardock tried biting his lips, but in the end let loose a howl of agony.

The Thunder Shock Surprise lasted for only a few seconds before Goku let go of the technique because he became unconscious. As Goku fell to the floor, Bardock let out a gasp of smoke. The older saiyan hoarsely whispered, "Good job Kakarot." Bardock then crashed onto the ground next to his son sporting a puffy tail and an afro hairdo courtesy of Goku's attack.

An hour later, the two saiyans woke up with their muscles screaming in pain from the previous five hour long workout. Dead and half-dead father and son crawled back to the apartment complex in the Room of Spirit and Time. Once the apartment, the lower gravity allowed Goku and Bardock to stagger like drunks over to the bathtub which they quickly fell into. Bardock reached over turned on a second faucet. This faucet didn't pour water into the tub; instead it unleashed grayish-green gloppy goo with a stench worse than a week old carcass in a scorching desert. Slightly green from the smell, Bardock muttered, "Remember Kakarot, if you puke, make sure it's out of the tub."

Goku turned and glared at his father with his only eye. "It wasn't me last time! You shouldn't have had those burritos before that spar last month. They gave you gas that could be classified as biological weapons and caused you to puke on me."

Bardock closed his eyes letting the healing properties of the goo work. With their now customary verbal spar over with, Bardock began to talk. He always did this after the two sparred to exhaustion. Sometimes Bardock talked about Saiyan history, other times he'd tell his son stories from Saiyan lore, and rarely like now Bardock talked about his past. "Your mother was one beautiful, first class self-centered bitch from hell Kakarot. We met at a hospital in Vegeta's capital. I was half dead from a mission as usual and she was there to make sure her trainees were healing up so she could kick the crap out of them again for botching a training exercise."

"Heh, I can still remember being in the regeneration tank when she came strolling into the medical bay with typical first class arrogance and such aloofness that she clearly needed to pull her tail out of her ass. Her first words when she spotted me was 'why by the Moon's bloody light is that third rate jarhead in here?' That wing of the hospital was supposed to be for second class warriors at the bare minimum, I was placed there because the third class wing was full. The doctors tried to explain that to her, but she wouldn't hear it and demanded that the doctors throw me into the third class wing."

"Naturally, I was pissed at this and started powering up. Her scouter picked it up and she was shocked that I had a power level of 8,000. Not that I blame the bitch since even first class elites rarely had power levels over 6,000 and she only had a power level of 3,000. To save face after that she decided to 'take pity on me' and let me remain in the regeneration tank."

"About three weeks later, your mother tracked me down because she was in heat and wanted to insure that she had powerful kid. A little sandstorm fight, some alcohol, a few nights of passion, and then eight months later your elder brother Raditz was born. Being mixed class, the doctors tested him and found him to have a power level of 73. This meant that he was classified as a first class and publicly recognized as your mother's son. Four years later, your mom went into heat again, sought me out, and you came around. Since you only had a power level of 2, you became a third class like me and listed as my son."

Goku sighed as he listened to his family history. He had suspected that his family was a piece of work, but this was confirmation strait from the horse's mouth. Of course, human concepts like 'family' weren't important at all in Saiyan culture. Bloodlines were recorded, but not really important except among the upper levels of the first class and the Royal family. Why worry about who your relatives were when it was your personal strength that mattered? Saiyan noses were sensitive enough that they could detect how closely to Saiyans were related to one another so inbreeding wasn't a problem.

Bardock then went on to talk about the legendary Leek who had faced off against an entire clan of warriors under the full moon when he had lost his tail and yet still won. Towards the end of the story, Goku fell asleep causing Bardock to sigh. The elder saiyan got up, picked up his son, and carried the teen to one of the beds. Once the younger saiyan was in bed, Bardock gently held his sleeping son's shoulder. "You've done me proud boy. You somehow managed to become a true saiyan without giving up that heart of yours and you've found a much more worthy reason to fight than I ever did. I'm proud to be your father, Goku."

Six months later in real time, Bulma was walking down the streets of Papaya Town towards the arena for the 23 Tenkaichi Budokai in a raincoat because of the weather. She quickly spotted Launch and Master Roshi standing by the sign in desk waiting for the others. "Hey guys, have any of the others arrived yet?"

Roshi shook his head and then answered. "Not yet Bulma, but I sense some powerful people rapidly heading our way. I don't doubt for a moment that it's the rest of the guys and that they'll be here shortly."

Bulma nodded her head grateful to hear that. She then felt someone's hands where they shouldn't be and viciously elbowed Roshi in the face. "Hands OFF my butt you old pervert!"

Suddenly a voice called out, "You'll never change will you Master Roshi." The trio turned their heads to look at the person who called out to Roshi. He was a tall man nearly six feet dressed in blue jeans, a dark almost jade green coat, and had a black t-shirt barely visible under the coat. Thanks to the person's umbrella, the trio couldn't see his face. The unknown person walked closer to the trio and said, "It's good to see you in such good health Master Roshi. I hope you're competing in the tournament this year. I'm also glad to see that you are doing well Bulma, Launch." Then to give everyone a clue who they were talking to, a brown tail uncurled from around the figures waist and started waving in the air.

Immediately the trio called out, "Goku! Is that you?"

Goku tilted his umbrella so that everyone could see his face. There was a pair of sunglasses on Goku's face to hide the scar where his right eye should be. However, it was clear as day to the trio that Goku was standing in front of them. As soon as the rain stopped Goku walked over, gave Launch and Bulma a friendly hug, and then bowed to Roshi. "You never answered my question Master Roshi, are you entering the tournament?"

Roshi put a hand on Goku's shoulder and answered his fellow master. "I've been debating that issue. After all the Turtle school has some very impressive students entering with our friends and a master with the returning champion. It almost seems like it's time for me to step down and let you kids take the main stage. But, I think I'll have one more go at it for old time's sake."

The teenage saiyan pumped his fist practically crowed out, "Alright! I was hoping I'd get another chance to test myself in the ring against you master. Let's go sign up." The master and grandmaster of the Turtle school quickly registered themselves for the tournament causing a bit of a commotion among the monks at the desk. After all, this was the third time in a row that the duo would be fighting in the tournament and both of them had a championship under their belt.

Just after Goku finished signing in there was a whoosh of air. He turned around and saw five familiar figures standing in front of him. Yamcha, Tien, Chaotsu, Krillin and Korin were all standing with grins on their faces. Goku called out, "It's great to see all of you again. Are you all here for the tournament?"

Korin, who was the last in line to sign up, quickly nodded his head. "You bet Goku. I left my new student Upa at the Tower in case anyone else manages to climb the tower. Met up with these guys about ten km north of South City and then we headed strait here." Korin then turned and signed up as a fighter drawing some odd looks from one of the monks. Not that anyone could blame the monks since Korin did look more like someone's pet cat than a fighter at first glance. Once everyone was signed up, the gang left for the hotel so that they could rest for tomorrow's tournament.

Krillin grinned as he put on his uniform for the tournament. He had a smirk on his face as he showed off the orange Turtle gi saying, "I knew Master Roshi wouldn't let us have our old gis. So, I had this one made; its pretty spiffy wouldn't you say?"

Yamcha turned around in a similar gi with a knowing grin. "I know what you mean Krillin. It looks like we know the same tailor."

Goku walked over in the same outfit he had on yesterday minus the glasses allowing everyone to see the turtle emblem over his heart on the black t-shirt. The saiyan had his green jacket drapped over one shoulder allowing part of the turtle emblem that covered the back of the jack to be seen. "Looking good guys, those duds really suit you. I'd be in an orange gi myself, but Master Roshi felt that was inappropriate for me to be wearing a student's uniform since I'm officially recognized as a master of the school. Who knew you could declare someone a master in absentee?"

Both Krillin and Yamcha chuckled at their friend's 'misfortune'. Krillin gave Goku a pat on the back and replied, "This is what you get for beating Master Roshi in public Spacemonkey. If you wanted to wear the students' gi you shouldn't have won the championship last time!"

The three martial artists all had a good laugh at Goku's predicament. Goku stopped laughing when the ceiling fans turned on changing room's air currents and bringing a familiar scent to his nose. He turned to Krillin and Yamcha saying. "Hey guys, I'm going to check something out. I'll be right back."

Goku calmly made his way between the preliminary rings. Luckily, many of the fighters recognized him as the defending champion and respectfully moved out of his way. After all, Goku was the youngest winner in the Tenkaichi Budokai's history and was mainly responsible for killing King Piccolo. Even some of the more arrogant and uncouth fighters felt the need to give Goku some respect. Finally, Goku came and found who he was looking for. "Ox King, why are you here? Is Chi-Chi here too?"

The human mountain bent down so that the ten foot tall Ox King was eye level with the six foot tall Goku. "Hi there Goku, I haven't gotten a chance to thank you for getting the dragonballs working again!"

Goku shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry about it Ox, I know you'd do the same for me. Now can you tell me where Chi-Chi is?"

Ox King frowned and eyes started to water. "Oh Goku, it's terrible. My dear sweet little girl was never the same after she was revived. She apparently inherited some of her great-grandmother Baba's abilities. Unfortunately, these abilities allowed her to remember her time in Limbo and no one found out about it until we read her diary looking for clues why-" Ox King busted into tears at this point crying all over Goku. "Oh Goku, my sweet little girl couldn't take it and killed herself!"

The saiyan doubled over like someone had punched him in the gut. Chi-Chi was dead? That couldn't be true! He had check in on her once a week ever since Kami showed him how to use the viewing fountain until the last six months of his training when he had to focus completely on Piccolo's upcoming attack. She had always looked so happy when he saw her chatting with her ladies-in-waiting or sparing with her father. How could that all be an act?

Of course, if she did remember being in Limbo than it wasn't really that much of a surprise that she had killed herself. Thanks to Kami's lessons Goku knew that Limbo was a very nasty dimension that existed outside the realms of the afterlife, but was closely connected to Hell. When sorcerers and other dark magic wielders who casted people into 'hell' they really sent them to Limbo. It was impossible to leave Limbo strait to the mortal realm and very dangerous either way to get at Limbo from the afterlife. Members of the Hell guard were typically tasked with rescuing the poor souls stuck in that realm earning the dammed warriors remissions for their sins. Because of King Piccolo's twisted nature, everyone he or his minions killed automatically was cast into Limbo. Kami had cast a spell as soon as Shenlong revived everyone to blot out those memories as an act of mercy.

Eventually, Ox King managed to regain his composure and stood up. "Sorry about that Goku, but Chi-Chi's death has been very hard for me to deal with. Master Roshi mentioned that you were undergoing some special training because King Piccolo's heir was supposed to be at this tournament."

Goku nodded his head and replied, "That's correct. I spotted him on my way to see you."

Ox King slammed his fists together and grinned. "That's the first bit of good news I've heard in a long time Goku. I want to make that punk pay for what his old man did to my sweet little girl."

Author's note: yes, I finally decided that Chi-Chi will NOT be Goku's wife and therefore Gohan's mother. I know that this upsets some of my readers, but someone was going to be upset no matter which way I went on this issue. However, I'm not quite done with the Ox Princess just yet. Even in death, she still has an important role to play. What that is, you'll just have to see.