Author's Note: I know you all are expecting the third chapter of Dragon Ball Civil War Part One but my mind is stuck with how to progress that story, doesn't help that in despite of me adding in new details its retreading a lot of old ground and it just feels so tedious even though I understand the importance of it. So to satisfy your reading needs and to spread my creative wings a bit and therefore hopefully give me a jolt of inspiration, I decided to write this little story. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter One: Signs of Reckoning
The Dragon Balls, the mystical orbs of legend were capable of granting almost any kind of wish. Arguably the most powerful and impressive being to resurrect the dead. Every living soul even ones made of or consumed by evil can't help but admire and love them because of this fact. However, unbeknownst to anyone, there was someone or rather...something that not only disliked them...but utterly despised them.
Near the edge of the divinely designed lookout levitated the legendary warrior known as Piccolo. The green skinned alien was meditating as he usually did focusing his mind and body into bettering himself. Normally he was able to this astonishingly easily due to decades of practice and experience. Today however the Namekian appeared to be having trouble as he seemed distressed sweating profusely, eyes though closed were fluttering and his gritting mouth let out moans and groans with the occasional growl. Within his mind, Piccolo was in the thrust of a nightmare. It started out with Kami as a young adult first foraging the dragon balls. Kami created them as a way to make up for his mistake of separating himself from his dark half who had become Demon King Piccolo and caused a lot of misery and pain down on the surface of the earth he had just become guardian to. The young Kami looked at his creation with a proud smile. "I'm confident that this will bring the world to a better balance and undo all the damage that I have caused" he stated in a bittersweet tone. Suddenly a cold gust of wind blew past as the previously bright blue sky turned dark as night startling the slug man. His highly sensitive pointy ears picked up the sound of a haunting whistling . He looks back down to see his dragon balls vibrating on their own . There bright glowing orange color dims and turn dark blue and the red stars turn pitch black as the orbs crack. Finally they break apart and out comes a blood red mist that races towards Kami who screams in terror. His screaming peaks as the mist reaches him, revealing two disembodied glowing green eyes and forms a hand that violently scratches his chest. With a flash the nightmare ends and Piccolo breaks his meditation gasping from fright. He breathes heavily trying to recuperate from his vision. "What was that all about?" Piccolo asked himself very confused. The warrior felt like the nightmare was trying to warn him about something but couldn't figure out what. "Are you alright Piccolo?!" Dende called out, him and Mr Popo running to Piccolo having sensed his energy spike suddenly and then abruptly drop back down. "Yeah... I'm fine Dende, just...a bad dream" Piccolo answered awkwardly uncertain and not used to talking about his feelings not turning around to face them. "Well we better get going to Goten's birthday party, maybe that'll help you forget about it" Dende suggested. "Yeah...your probably right" Piccolo agreed turning around to face Dende. "Ooof how'd you get that? You want me to heal that for you before we leave Piccolo? That gash looks nasty" Dende asked surprised with a touch of concern in his voice. "Huh? What are you talking abo.."Piccolo's mouth trailed off as his widened. He indeed had a large bleeding cut across his chest. The same spot that his past life Kami got struck by the mysterious entity in his nightmare. "Uhhh...yeah go ahead and heal that D-Dende..." Piccolo replied shakily now starting to worry if what he saw was all a dream. "Something wrong Piccolo?" Mr Popo questioned taking notice of Piccolo's change in attitude. Recomposing himself as Dende healed his inexplicable chest wound, Piccolo shook his head and got out of his meditative position. "I said I'm fine, let's get going" Piccolo said hurriedly speed walking towards the edge of the lookout. "Ok, let me just grab my birthday gift!" Dende said cheerfully as he ran back into the palace like inside of the lookout. Eventually he reached a room where the seven star dragon ball was being stored illuminated by a huge golden chandelier hanging on the ceiling. Evidently Piccolo found it in the wilderness during one of his training sessions and brought it to the lookout afterwards. "I bet Goten will love this! He loves all the stars on this dragon ball!" Dende said happily eager to see Goten's reaction to his gift. As the guardian of earth got closer to the ball, he noticed something off about it. The ball was dripping wet a thick red liquid that was splattered erratically all over the ball. "What the..." was all the guardian could muster perplexed by the mysterious substance. He took the dragon ball into his possession to examine it closer. Right as he started his investigation a cold breeze coursed through the room. Simultaneously the chandelier's lights began flickering on and off as it shook with the breeze. After a few moments the lights went out entirely and then the chandelier's supports abruptly failed and the chandelier came plummeting down. The young Namekian yelped in fright and frantically jumped out the way just barely avoiding getting hit directly by the chandelier. He still had to deal with the shards as they flew out in multiple directions as he was crashing onto the ground near the wall. Hearing and feeling no more shards flying, Dende breathed a sigh of relief. "Gonna need to have Mr Popo to fix that" he said lightly laughing as he tried calming down from the deadly close call. He then started to pick himself up again until he felt his hand without the dragon ball in it being cut painfully. "Owww!" Dende yelled in pain recoiling and looking at the palm of his hand revealing that he had cut himself on the broken glass on the ground. Taking a look at the injury as it bled, he noticed that his blood looked and felt identical to the red liquid on the ball. "Is this...blood? No..no it couldn't be" Dende thought in his mind trying to reassure himself and come up with some other explanation. "Oh yeah, the party, I'll figure this out later" Dende declared deciding that the problem whatever it was wasn't an immediate threat and have fun at Goten's birthday party. He quickly healed his wound and cleaned off the dragon ball meeting back with Mr Popo and Piccolo outside. "Mr Popo, that chandelier came down and broke in one of the storage rooms" Dende reported to his attendant. "Oh my really? I just inspected it yesterday and it looked to be in perfect condition. I wonder if I missed something. Oh well, I'll gladly repair it while your away. Have a good time at the party you two!" Mr Popo responded shocked that some imperfection had slipped his keen eyes but finished contently with a sweet smile. "We will Mr Popo! We'll return late tonight! Bye!" Dende said waving goodbye as he and Piccolo took to the air and rocketed off to the Son house. Mr Popo waved back until the pair were out of sight. As he turned back around to start the repairs, a shadow passed over him, briefly dimming his line of sight. Mr Popo, surprised by it, gasped and quickly noticed he could see his breath and the air felt cold even though just seconds ago it was eighty degrees. "You should have said goodbye..." an eerie voice whispers in Popo's ears. The genie spins rapidly around startled to identify the source of the voice, only to find no one there. Popo glances left and right a few times to make sure. On his last glance to the left, he could've sworn it caught a glimpse of a black cloak before it vanished. This left the normally aloof genie uncomfortable with an overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread he couldn't explain.
At the Son Family Household a couple hours later
Nearly all the z fighters and their families had arrived gathering to shout "Happy Birthday Goten!". "Aww thank you so much everyone!" Goten thanked extremely happy and grateful for his friends and family's celebration. Just then Piccolo and Dende touch down on the ground the outer edges of the property, the younger of two smiling and waving while the older one held his usual stoic expression his arms crossed. "Hey! You guys made it!" Yajirobe greeted the two Namekian arrivals his voice muffled due to his mouth predictably being stuffed with food. "Hello everyone! Happy birthday Goten!" Dende greeted back presenting his gift for all to see. "Wow wee! The seven star ball! Give me give me give me!" Goten squeaked in pure delight making quick repetitive give it her gestures with his hands. "GOTEN!" Chi chi shrieked which caused all party attendees especially the hyper hearing Namekians recoil and cringe in pain. "Just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you forget your manners!" Chi chi scolded her youngest son. "Sorry mommy...can I please have it now?!" Goten apologized meekly before perking up at the end with the question. "Of course! Here catch!" Dende said lightly throwing the dragon ball to Goten who giddily catches it mid air. "Thank you Dende! Best birthday present ever!" Goten shouts with glee. "Don't you say that with just about every gift Goten?" Trunks teased Goten who frowned in return. "Shut up" Goten dryly counters. "Nice! That'll go great along with my gift!" Goku says gingerly walking towards his son. "Ooh what is it dad?!" Goten asked excitedly his eyes sparkling with curiosity. Goku coolly reaches into his pocket and pulls out the four star ball. "Ahhh! You got me another dragon ball! Thanks dad!" Goten thanked his father. "This isn't just any dragon ball Goten, it's the same dragon ball that Grandpa Gohan left for me after he died" Goku informed his son. For some reason the word died rang in Piccolo's ears after coming out of Goku's mouth as if something was echoing it to him and his eyesight tunneled to focus on the four star dragon ball. "Hey piccolo are you alright?" Gohan asked taking notice of his former master's dis shelved expression. "Huh? Oh... yes Gohan I'm ok" Piccolo answered hastily. Gohan shot his friend a worried look but knew from experience to leave him be when he was in a mood so he backed off. "Wow dad! I'm honored!" Goten said taking his second gift and putting the two balls down on a nearby table.
The party continues on into sunset. All the while most of the z warriors and their families chat with each other and the kids played out in the field. Piccolo however was isolated under the trees mauling over his nightmare and the mysterious wound he sustained earlier as well as Dende's bloody dragon ball and close call with a previously mint condition chandelier. A lot of strange occurrences were happening and he didn't like it. "I can't shake this feeling...there's a presence in the air yet I can't sense it's energy...all I know is that it seems out to get me and Dende, question is, who is it and why?" Piccolo asked himself. His thinking is interrupted when he notices that a shadow was passing over him, darkening his spot under the tree. Frightened, Piccolo looked up and saw the end of a black fabric passing out of his line of sight. Before having a chance to even start moving, he begins hearing a whistle, the same one he heard in his dream. "Where's that whistling coming from?" Tien inquired him and everyone else's ears perking up. "Wait, you all hear it too?" Piccolo asked surprised that someone was hearing the same thing he was. "Yeah, but where...hey who is that?" Krillin asked spotting someone. Piccolo turned his head and just centimeters away from him stood a tall figure wearing a black cloak that covered his entire body. Now everyone turned to see the mysterious figure and could tell that he or she was the source of the whistling. Abruptly the whistling ceased and dead silence fell in the area, not even any flies could be heard in the usually lively atmosphere of the mountain. Then the figure spoke in a spookily quiet yet courteous manner, "Greetings folks, I didn't mean to crash the party, I was just in the area". The figure then turned its head slightly to look at Piccolo. "Well Well well if it isn't the famous Piccolo himself" he said before turning to look at Dende and said, "and the guardian of the earth Dende as well, don't imagine this happens every day, even for you lot,heh heh heh..." the figure finished laughing weakly to himself. "Um excuse me sir, who are you?" Bulma questioned the stranger. "Oh I'm just a big fan of supposedly wise and powerful figures such as them" the figure vaguely explained not really answering the question with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "What do you mean by "supposedly?" ". Android eighteen inquired picking up on the sarcastic tone of the stranger's words. The figure instead of responding to the inquiry walked slowly towards the two dragon balls that Goten was gifted and set down earlier. Once he reached them, the figure looked up to seemingly focus on Dende. "You know these dragon balls that you two have created...they kinda piss me off" the figure stated in a nonchalant tone but anger could be heard behind it. The entire group were shocked to hear anyone talk ill of the dragon balls. Who the hell could possibly hate them? Piccolo stood up shocked himself and a little insulted considering that his past life created the dragon balls hundreds of years ago. "Wha? W-why do you hate them?" Dende stuttered out, not being able to fathom the figure's ludicrous statement. "Well...they keep reviving the dead" the figure replied simply. Now everyone gained confused expressions. "Uhhh that's a good thing dude" Oolong said matter of factly. "Perhaps for you...but what if I'm the one that put them in the ground and wanted to keep them there...?" The figure asked his voice becoming more serious and angry sounding. The group became even more stunned before most morphed into angered glares, thinking this figure was just some psycho. "Well then I say screw you! If you killed them then why shouldn't we have revived them?!" Yamcha yelled in righteous fury. "How do you know that they shouldn't be dead?" The figure bit back harshly which only caused everyone's expressions to turn disgusted. Piccolo having enough of this obviously mad stranger's babble zoomed over to right next Dende. "And just who are you to decide that?!" Piccolo interrogated the cloaked figure aggressively. "Oh come now Piccolo, surely you can put the pieces together" the figure taunted Piccolo as two seemingly disembodied glowing green eyes revealed themselves within the cloak. The ghostly eyes bore into Piccolo and Dende's illuminating there green skin with their gaze. Piccolo immediately recognized them as the same ones he saw in his nightmare. "I'm waiting..." the figure spoke again and out of its arm stretch came a hand, that had no skin, it was all bone and it's finger tapped the four star ball four times. The sight of this caused everyone even Vegeta to gasp. "Wha-who-...what...are...you?" Dende shakily asked now becoming scared. The fear would explode into sheer terror and horror as out from the top of the cloak the head of a skeleton revealed itself, the green eyes belonging to it and with a slow opening of its mouth, it finally shouted out for all to hear, "DEATH!".