King Piccolo Saga: Part III

It had only been a few minutes since Yajirobe—with the naive Saiyan child Goku still gripping tightly onto his back—had begun his climb of his life, yet the samurai had already fervently started complaining. It seemed that, despite his above-average physical capabilities, he was simply unable to climb any longer... either that, or he was simply much too lazy to perform the task.

"Aww, man! I can't even tell if we're closer or not," he muttered, continuing his climb as if he were on autopilot. Though the actual climb itself didn't put even the slightest strain on his muscles, the constant rumbling of his stomach seemed as if it had a mind of its own—it wanted its promised feast, and it wanted it now.

"At least we can't see the bottom anymore," the monkey-tailed boy pointed out, trying to remain optimistic during the climb. The robotic motions of Yajirobe's burly arms concerned him; he was worried that the samurai might've been considering quitting the climb right then and there. "Then again, Bora did throw us pretty high to begin with."

"I better get the feast you promised me the moment we get up there," continued on Yajirobe as he continued to scale the mighty tower, completely drowning out whatever Goku had said prior. His one-track mind could only focus on ascending the tower so that he could finally cease his journey with the child.

"Don't worry! As soon as we get up there, I promise you'll get to eat all the food you can stomach!" He was careful to reference the fact that the climb was still very much ahead of them-he knew he had to find some way to keep up the elder human's motivation if he wanted to get to the top of the tower anytime soon.

— Chiaotzu! Go back to Roshi's island and let them know what's going on, now! There's no time to waste, got it?!

— Okay, Tien! But how am I going to get out of here without Piccolo noticing? If I try and fly out of here, there's no doubt that he'll spot me!

— Leave it to me!

— But Tien, what will happen to yo-

— You don't have to worry about me. Go on.

Chiaotzu quickly signaled his best friend with an impromptu nod before he focused on Roshi's now youthful form. He waited until his friend pounced on the Demon King, watching as the two warriors duked it out in front of him. It was in this moment that the white-faced boy slowly levitated upwards into the sky, trying to remain unnoticed by the Demon King, lest he be caught-

"Does your friend actually think I'm going to let him get away?"

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened with horror as he realized that the demon had detected his energy signature taking flight—he must've had some extraordinary abilities in order to be able to multitask on both battling Roshi and finding the Chiaotzu's energy signature. 'What is Chiaotzu doing? How could he be so foolish?!'

Now that Piccolo had tracked his location, he knew there was no escape any longer. Whether he liked it or not, Chiaotzu knew he now had to partake in this struggle for the Earth, regardless of the outcome. There would be no fleeing today; all he would be able to do was fight unless some miracle were to arise...

"It appears you're comfortable with allowing your friend to do all the work of fighting me, aren't you? Sadly, if you fools wanted any chance of defeating me, you would attack me all together... I suppose I'll have to settle for slaughtering you one by one like I originally planned!"

THAACKK! A well-timed boot connected firmly with the demon's cheek, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing into the ground unceremoniously.

Roshi stood agape at the sight—he hadn't even seen this warrior coming; it was as if he had moved faster than speed itself. Who could this possibly have been? Tien had been knocked out by the anesthesia not too long ago, and Chiaotzu had just taken the opportunity presented to escape. Goku and Krillin were gone.

Then, just as swiftly, Tien dropped to the ground next to Roshi and nodded at him slightly, indicating he had forgiven him for the knockout gas incident. "I've kept track of the entire battle since it's started—maybe if we combine our powers, we just might stand a chance."

"Eh?" Roshi looked like saw a ghost. He never would have thought someone could come to from the knockout gas so quickly—perhaps Tien was much more impressive than he gave him credit for. Or maybe he was determined by his resolve to help out his new friends, perhaps? Either way, it didn't matter—they needed to focus on their common goal, which was dispatching of the greatest threat ever known to the Earth.

The pair nodded to each other and charged toward King Piccolo with dual battle cries.

And just like that, the fight was on.

Snarling as the Turtle Hermit appeared in front of him with blinding speed, the Demon King plunged his three knuckles into his gut, following up with a kick to the solar plexus that sent him flying backward before the youth righted himself with a backflip, landing on his feet. Following in Roshi's footsteps, Tien ran toward Piccolo and tried to punch him, but the green demon blocked it, then countered with a quick jab to the ribs, knocking him down.

"Two of you now, huh?" King Piccolo said, cracking his neck with a menacing grin. "I suppose it'll simply save me half the time to exterminate you both."

"Cheaters!" The Pilaf trio exclaimed in unison, scowling at the newcomer who dared to intervene in Piccolo's battle. Again in a chorus, they replied "You'll pay for this!"

"Bah, let them do what they like!" Piano shouted out with a mighty cackle. "It's just as Father said-regardless of whether or not they team up to fight, they stand no chance in the might of the Demon King Piccolo!"

Roshi dragged the sole of his black shoe across the soil before jumping up, this time in the direction of a standing rock formation. Quickly, he rebounded off of the formation by concentrating his energy into his foot, gathering momentum as he neared the demon with his knee outstretched and ready to connect. As the strike would have hit, Roshi's knee was astonishly met with air; it seemed to hit, however, the demon's form faded just moments after passing through the illusional afterimage left behind.

"Watch out!" Tenshinhan warned, trying to dash towards his ally in order to save him from the powerful olive-green fist nearing his cheek. Alas, it was not to be, as Piccolo's arm swung in a full arc and collided nastily with the side of Roshi's cheekbone, sending him spiraling along the wasteland until his body came to a full stop, nearly unconscious.

"You fell for the oldest trick in the book! I'd imagine with our advanced ages, we both should have anticipated that one. You really are pathetic, old man… you're not worthy of your power."

'Li-Little does he know...' thought Roshi as he tried to will himself to stand and continue the fight, 'this isn't the end… this is only just the beginning!'

Just then, Tien scurried over to Roshi and managed to stand. "Roshi... He's beating us like we're children. Maybe if you stall him long enough for me to charge a Tri-Beam, we can-"

"No, you can't," Roshi interrupted, already catching on to the triclops' train of thought. "If you use that attack to its fullest—which you'd surely need to if it would stand a chance to beat him—you'd use up too much or you life energy and die!" With Shenron gone, he wasn't exactly willing to take any chances with fate.

"Well, what else can we do?" responded Tien in a whisper, wracking his brain for any possible technique he knew that could possibly get the duo out of this terrifying predicament. Unfortunately, even with his vast knowledge of ki and energy manipulation, he still couldn't think of anything he could do. He could only hope that Roshi had something up his sleeve.

"I have an idea." he said as he leaned close to the three-eyed fighter's ear. "If you can lure him into the sky, I think you'll probably have the aerial advantage. After that, strike him down toward me and I'll power up to my MAX power state and hopefully land some lasting damage ."

"Are they actually trying to formulate a plan to defeat the master? Hah! Like that will help them!" the pterodactyl-like servant spoke up again, grinning with blind confidence. His master couldn't be beaten, simple as that.

"MAX power state?" Tien whispered back, unaware of Roshi's hidden ability. "Just what do you mean by-?"

"There's no time to explain, Tien; just go!" Roshi ordered, beginning to concentrate his power and tap into his latent potential. "I'll need all the time I can get to manage this, so please hurry!"

Tien nodded, knowing that the time for talk and preparation was over—the fight had just begun.

Flying at his fastest possible speed, it didn't take Chiaotzu long to reach the Turtle Hermit's secluded island home. 'I have to tell everyone what's going on! I'm almost there!' A few seconds later, the island came into view and he grinned, knowing that his flight was complete. Touching down, he immediately dashed inside the household and got everyone's attention by waving his arms frantically. "Everyone! Roshi and Tenshinhan are fighting King Piccolo!"

"Chiaotzu!" Yamcha was the first member of the group to speak up. He could tell by looking at him that he was clearly distraught; in fact, he had barely been in the home for ten seconds and had already wiped away enough sweat from his brow to fill buckets. "Calm down, alright? What happened?"

"Yeah, Yamcha's right," Bulma agreed, making about as much sense of the situation as her boyfriend, "Just start from the beginning, okay?"

"Hey, Piccolo! I bet you can't get me up here!" Tien gathered his power and promptly ascended into the air—nearly as high up as Pilaf's stationary airship.

"Heheheh." the Demon King cackled as he locked eyes with the triclops, who, remarkably, didn't show even the slightest sign of fear. "You wish to challenge me in aerial combat? As you wish..." he rose up, meeting the bald-warrior at a similar height. "Is this better for you? I'll finish this quickly, then move onto your young-again friend." Attempting to back up his words, the demon rushed forward with his claws extended, aiming for his foe's chest.

Tien lowered himself, dodging the blow swiftly while throwing his leg upwards to connect firmly with the demon's abdomen. Eyeing his opening, the three-eyed fighter thrusted a double-fist attack into the demon's ribs before finishing up the combo with a flip-kick that snapped Piccolo's chin upwards and nearly off his neck altogether.

As the triclops regained his stability mid-flip, he quickly righted himself before grinning. 'I do have a chance up here… Roshi was right! Hopefully, this plan will-'

Unfortunately, Tenshinhan's smile was about to fade. As Tien backed off, having done his damage, his thoughts of retribution were destroyed by undisturbed laughter. Not willing to stand for this mockery of his fighting skills, the bald-fighter rushed back and the two engaged in a violent barrage of punching and kicks—much to Tien's distraught, he seemed to be more on the losing end if anything else.

"Keep it up, Tien!" Roshi yelled. Just then, the youth discarded his unbuttoned shirt, throwing it to the wind. 'Now to finish this off once and for all!'

THUMM! The Demon King caught Tien with a punch, sending him plummeting toward the airship, eventually slamming into the side of the aircraft with enough force to smash him through the reinforced steel.

"Oh no!" the blue imp cried as he nearly felt himself topple over from the sudden turbulence. He immediately tried to grab onto the nearest object for stability, but he soon failed, his small figure slamming violently against the metal of the aircraft as it spiraled down violently.

"We're gonna crash!" Shu exclaimed, fearful for his life. In retrospect, he knew teaming up with the feared 'King of Demons' was an awful idea. However, he didn't have the courage to say it to his boss's face, instead opting to stay silent and follow his leader dutifully.

Miraculously, Pilaf's ship managed to stay afloat even with a gaping hole in it. Even as that was happening, Shu and Pilaf could not stop complaining.

'Idiots,' Mai thought to herself while brushing back her ebony locks of hair, 'why I even associate myself with them is a mystery to me.'

With his body now bruised, broken, and battered, with blood rushing from his cranium, Tenshinhan quickly flew back toward Piccolo with fury blazing in his eyes. Using Piccolo's mal-preparedness to his advantage, Tien swiftly cross-kicked the demon down towards his comrade and then promptly called:

"Master Roshi, get ready! It's now or never!"

Master Roshi clenched his fists as he brought them up, in front, and in line with his forehead, concentrating on achieving his MAX power. It didn't take long before his body doubled in size, his muscles immediately bulking up to accommodate for his new figure. As he brought down his arms, muscles grew even larger, almost as if that motion flicked an 'on' switch. Now Roshi felt that he was ready to put an end to this once and for all.

Assuming a mounting position on his opponent in the middle of the sky, the bald-fighter returned the favour once again—he threw a devastating punch which in turn sent the demon spiralling downward toward the Turtle Hermit.

When the tall demon reached Roshi's position, the youth didn't waste a second before throwing a devastating kick into the green being's ribs, easily breaking them a few with his full, newfound strength. Piccolo was sent careening into the ground not even a moment later, unable to move even the slightest finger.

"He did it!" Tien shouted, hovering in the air with an absolutely drained expression.

Using his superhumanly strong leg muscles, the youth leapt high in the sky. Cradling both hands together at his side, the Turtle Hermit formed an azure sphere of latent ki energy. "Ka... Me... Ha... Me..." Master Roshi paused, straightening his aim to the demon's body below as the blast grew in size. The azure orb of energy continued to flicker in his palms as it began to illuminate the sky with a blue hue.

Piccolo could do nothing as the blast designated to kill him grew ever and ever brighter, even having to shield his eyes from the blindingly powerful blast. He knew it was over and that he had been beaten; there was simply no way to escape now.

"HAAA!" As he thrusted his arms forward, the Kamehameha went with it, crashing down on King Piccolo with an unimaginable amount of energy. The beam instantly threw up a maelstrom of dust and smoke, a faint whine reverberating around the battlefield as the blast ultimately dissipated.

"Lord Piccolo!" Piano cried out, unable to believe that his master very well could've perished in that final explosion. Was this truly to be the end of the Demon King's reign, just only moments after it had seemed to begin?

A few minutes later, when the aforementioned smoke and dust clouds faded, all that was immediately visible was a green arm, almost completely drenched in purple-coloured blood.

"He-He's killed for real this time!" Pilaf blurted out as well. It appeared to be as the blue imp said. Try as he might, he couldn't see the tall demon anywhere… it was as if that arm was all that remained of the bloodthirsty demon.

"Lord Piccolo..." Piano mumbled, the eyes of the pterodactyl-like demon watering profusely, tears rushing down his face. "I-I can't… there's simply no way… y-you can't die… not now…"

Tien touched down beside Roshi—who had powered down moments ago—with a smile. "You did it! I can't believe it's over!" the three-eyed fighter cheered as he patted his new friend and unofficial mentor on the back. "Piccolo's finally dead!"

The Turtle Hermit let out a large sigh of relief, relishing in the fact that the battle was finally over. 'Krillin... Goku... Master Mutaito… you may rest in peace now. I have finally avenged your death by taking the life of the Demon King. Now you and the others slain during his last reign can finally, truly pass on...' After paying his respect to his deceased mentor and students, Roshi turned to his comrade and nodded to him. "I think we should head back to my island. There's no doubt Chiaotzu's news must've caused an uproar with the others."

"But what about Piccolo's minions up there?" Tien asked, gesturing to the horrified figures trembling off on the side. "Surely we should finish them off too?"

"Don't bother," Roshi replied, waving them off absentmindedly. "There's not much they can do at this point anyway. Those three up there aren't anything to worry about," the youth pointed toward the three member's of Emperor Pilaf's gang. "And the other one, he's clearly no fighter; he's nothing without his father."

"Fine," Tenshinhan conceded. 'Maybe he's right. I should just trust his judgement at this point; he did help save the Earth, after all,' he said internally. "Right, let's go meet up with Chiaotzu and the others."

With Tien's acquiescence, Master Roshi took out the small dynocapsule out of his pants pocket, throwing it on the earth in front of him. BOOM! A large ship appeared, accompanied by a small amount of pink smoke. Only seconds later, after grabbing the now inert dragonballs, the pair got in and made their way to the Kame House.

"Take this ship down," Piano demanded, unable to utter much more than that, his emotions still running wild from the loss of his father and creator. "NOW!" he shouted violently, causing the trio to tremble.

"R-Right!" Pilaf agreed, signalling Mai to attempt to figure out how to work the damaged ship's controls, lest they have to deal with an enraged demon warrior. Though Piccolo may have been gone, the chances of an enraged Piano slaughtering them all were too high to risk at this point.

Back at the Kame House, Chiaotzu had just finished explained the situation to the group; everything from finding the dragonballs to Roshi nearly succeeding in trapping the tall Demon King and to the Turtle Hermit regaining his youth.

"Master Roshi..." Yamcha started.

"Regained his..." the golden-haired Launch continued.

"Youth!?" Bulma finished, immediately wondering what the former old man looked like now. Somehow, it was hard to imagine the lecherous old—or, rather, young—man without his aged features. "Th-That's crazy!"

'I've never even seen the master as a young man...' Turtle cogitated. Even with the sea-creature's advanced age itself, he couldn't help but realise that even he was at a loss of what Roshi could possibly look like now.

"So, Chiaotzu," Yamcha spoke, changing the subject. Despite this shocking revelation, there were still more pressing matters at hand to discuss "How did Master Roshi look like he was doing against King Piccolo?"

"Uhh... Well, it looked like things were getting better when I left… I have faith in them, though. He can-"

As Chiaotzu was about to finish his sentence, the men in question had landed the ship on the sand outside, immediately capturing the attention of the duo. They then quickly ran inside the household with tired, yet proud, expressions plastered across their faces.

"Tien!" Chiaotzu cried. "You're both alive!" The white-faced boy noticed the bald-fighter's bruises almost instantly after he spoke, running up to his best friend in an attempt to remedy them.

The rest of the group remained silent… the situation was awkward, to say the very least. They had clearly never seen Roshi like this before; it was almost as if the Turtle Hermit they all knew and loved was a completely new person none in the room had even met before—even to his faithful pet, Turtle.

"M-Master Roshi!" Once again, the reformed bandit was the first to speak up. "You look so young!" he pointed out, scratching his head nervously. "You're actually better looking than I thought you'd be!" Yamcha gulped.

"Quite," Roshi replied, inching closer and closer to Bulma. "Some may even say... Sexy!" He took off his sunglasses, winking at the blue-haired woman with the lecherous grin of his, except this time with a full mouth of teeth. But just as always, the teenage girl was repulsed by his actions, dashing towards her boyfriend at seemingly hypersonic speeds.

"Well, he hasn't changed a bit..." chuckled Launch dryly as she watched Roshi pout at Bulma's display of—or lack of—affection.

"No! He's even more immature now that he's young again!" Bulma quipped, prompting laughter—long overdue, good-spirited laughter, among the group.

Tien joined in on the farce as well; however, his laughter was interrupted by the stinging pain of his injuries.

"Tien! Are you alright?" Chiaotzu cried, immediately going to his friend's side in an attempt to ease his pain.

Tien momentarily chuckled again, brushing off all his injuries as if they hadn't happened at all. "I'm fine, Chiaotzu. I told you, you don't have to worry about me," he assured him.

"Oh yeah, this whole time we forgot to ask..." Bulma began. "...what happened with King Piccolo?"

"He's dead," Roshi smirked proudly, holding two fingers up in a sign of peace and bliss.. "With my newfound power, Tien and I were able to defeat him… it was a hard-fought battle, but in the end, justice prevailed."

"Wow! That's impressive, considering everything you told us about him!" Yamcha said, astonishment evident in his tone. "But I gotta say, at this point, I'm just glad it's all said and done."

"Now I can sit here with the beautiful ladies and relax!" Roshi proclaimed, pushing Yamcha out of the way then placing his hand on Bulma's butt, the blue-haired woman's face literally turning red from embarrassment.

SLAAPPP!

In the now barren wasteland—the aftermath of the battle against King Piccolo—the Pilaf gang, as well as the Demon King's offspring, Piano were frantically searching for anything that remained of the green giant.

"Nothing over here!" Mai declared, brushing away dirt and debris with a broom she found inside the aircraft.

"Nothing over here, either," Pilaf added, frustration evident in his tone.

"Then keep looking!" harshly retorted Piano, refusing to come to terms with the fact that his father may have truly departed from the world of the living.

"Ar...gh...gh...rr..." Barely audible growls were picked up only by Shu's enhanced senses. The dog quickly started sniffing around, eventually being able to follow the distinct scent of the demon as well.

"Guys! Over here!" Shu called out. "I think I found him!" Immediately, the others went to the dog's position. It didn't take long for Shu to dig up the broken carcass of the Demon King, lying there in shame and defeat. His entire body was broken, battered, and drenched in purple-coloured blood—he was even missing an arm and a leg.

"Lord Piccolo!" Piano exclaimed, overjoyed that his initial hunch had been proven correct. "I-I knew you couldn't have died!"

"H...h-help me... Pl...please," the demon pleaded, looking toward the Pilaf gang—it was obvious the pterodactyl-like demon would remain by his side, as per the specific purpose for his creation. "I... I-I can barely sp...speak…"

"We're clearly not going to be able to rule the planet by siding with you now," Pilaf said, realizing his mistake in aligning with the Demon King in the first place. "I think we should just leave you here!"

"How dare you!" Piano shouted, amazed at the audacity of the blue imp.

"N-no... Pl-please don't..." lowly hissed the Demon King in pain, growing desperate. If this kept up, his injuries would simply be too much to tend to...

Pilaf turned around, facing his gang. "Let's leave, guys." Shu immediately followed, like the dog he truly was in his core. Mai, however, wasn't as easily coerced.

"Emperor Pilaf! We should stay by King Piccolo's side!" the henchwoman argued. "Piccolo just needs help right now, that is all."

The King of Demon's smirked as best as he could, despite his injuries at Mai's words.

"Are you disobeying me, Mai? Do I have to use my 'technique' on you?"

"Please, no. Not that! I'm just saying we should stay by his side," Mai said, bending down to tend to the broken Demon King's frail body. 'The first thing that King Piccolo is going to do before getting revenge on the guys who beat him would be to kill us for leaving him in his time of need; doesn't he realize this?' she thought. Despite her loyalty to them, she knew that she had to figure out a way to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, even if it meant leaving Pilaf's group.

"Either you leave with us, or you're out of our group, Mai!" the blue imp gave his ultimatum, unwilling to back down. This would be settled in a matter of moments; he would not tend to a broken warrior, nor would he allow the weak-minded in his group.

"Then, unfortunately, Emperor Pilaf," Mai began, looking toward King Piccolo lying helpless in the corner of her eye. "I'm done working for you from now on."

"Well then!" Pilaf scoffed. "Good riddance." he decided to leave without her, with only Shu by his side. The pair quickly stepped inside their damaged airship, somehow making it work, then left the area as fast as they could.

"Y...y-you made the right ch..choice..." King Piccolo murmured, the frequency of his voice barely even above that of a whisper. "T-to be h...honest... I...I've always th-thought you had a ruthless s...side to you since I st-started working with you..."

"Really?" Mai asked, actually flattered by the demon's words. Even somewhat close to blushing. It wasn't every day she was complemented by a higher power than herself. Not even working under Pilaf, did she receive any type of respect like that.

"Yes... Wh...when I'm b...back to f-full strength, how a...b-bout I train you?" he asked, coming to the conclusion that human beings were much stronger than he was initially lead to believe. To think, the Demon King himself begging for—and relying on—the help of a mere human; it sickened him. However, like the woman herself, he, too, knew what he had to do to ensure survival.

"Y-Yes, Lord Piccolo! I would love that!" Mai hadn't actually considered the possibility of receiving training from a true fighter like him. Though the idea was truly intriguing, she felt forced to comply with in order to avoid certain death in the future.

"Alright, now let's get Piccolo to safety while he heals..." Piano said, instantly agreeing with King Piccolo's decision without hesitation. He wouldn't dare argue with him, believing that if it was his master's idea, it must be for a good reason. With that, the offspring and Mai each grabbed a remaining limb of the demon, picking him up and heading toward somewhere for shelter.

Roshi clutched his red cheek with his hand, still throbbing in pain from the blue-haired woman's strike.

"By the way, guys," Launch interjected. "you end up seein' Goku anywhere? I remember that Chiaotzu said there was a brutal battle with him and Piccolo, but I haven't heard nothin' about him since..."

"No," Roshi said grimly, bowing his head in mourning. "I'm afraid it seems that King Piccolo killed him..."

Sad facial expressions went all around. All except for Bulma, who still had hope. "I don't know... For some reason, I just can't believe that Goku is dead..."

"I'm sorry, Bulma, but I've got no other explanation for it," responded Roshi in an attempt to help her realize the truth. Though he himself would love to just believe his grandson in all but blood had survived, there was too much evidence to suggest that he had somehow escaped from his battle with Piccolo.

"Hey, either way, we can just revive him, Krillin and the other martial artists with the dragonballs in a year!" Yamcha tried to cheer everyone up. Looking around the room everyone now had a hopeful smile on their faces; all except for Tien, Roshi and Chiaotzu, who remained silent and still with a look of seriousness on their faces. "Eh? What's wrong, guys? Doesn't it sound like a good idea to wait until then?"

"We can't, Yamcha..." Tien interjected.

"What? Why not?"

Tien gulped, unsure how to break the news. "We were going to fill you in on this later, when everything was more calm...but..." Although he paused due to nervousness, he felt he had an obligation to tell the truth now that he brought it up. "...King Piccolo killed Shenron after the dragon granted Master Roshi's wish."

To say that everyone was in shock and awe was an understatement…was there really no way to revive those who had fallen in this mighty battle?

Later that night, Yajirobe and Goku finally made their way to the peak of the Korin Tower, heading inside to meet up with the anthropomorphic cat. The moment the overweight swordsmen stepped foot on stable ground, he sprawled out on his back, absolutely drained and exhausted.

"It's about time!" he panted, wiping the excess sweat off his brow and taking a few moments to breathe heavily. "Now where's my feast?!"

"Thanks, Yajirobe! And it's coming right up, I promise you that!" commented the boy, who proceeded to give his comrade a thumbs-up.

A bead of sweat dropped from Korin's furry white-coloured brow. "If he was able to climb all the way up here with Goku on his back, he must be incredibly strong..."

"Korin! It's been a while!" Goku decorously greeted, bowing respectfully as well.

"That's him?!" Yajirobe said half-curious, half in disbelief. "...that's a cat!"

"Hello!" Korin responded jovially, seemingly ignoring the samurai's derogatory remark. "And what can I do for you two today? It's not every day that I get visitors, you know."

"I came here becaus-" Goku began, but the feline simply held up one paw, cutting him off before he could finish the rest of his sentence.

"Don't say anything, I already know." the white-coloured cat confirmed.

"What? What do you know?"

"Piccolo beat you up pretty badly, didn't he?" Korin replied with an all-knowing smirk, trying not to burst into laughter at the surprised expression of the child.

"Huh? How did you know that?" Goku constantly wondered how he could know all of these things without even being told!

"I haven't had anything else to do, so I was looking down on what was going on below," he revealed.

"You saw that from here?!" Goku asked, astounded with this feline's amazing sight. "That's awesome!"

"I've been told, but that's enough of that for now. So, what can I do for you, kid?"

"He's a monster!" Goku said with his fist clenched in front of his face. "Train me! I need to beat him at all costs!" the monkey-tailed boy demanded.

"Calm down!" the anthropormorphic cat advised as he turned to grab a jar. "First, let me heal you." Korin took a single lime-coloured bean out of the container. "Eat this!" He flicked it to Goku, who caught it in his hands before staring at it curiously.

"A senzu?" he asked, puzzled.

"Senzu?" Yajirobe stated angrily, grasping the boy's shoulder. "That's a senzu?" he spat. "You call that a feast?! I came all this way to eat peas..." the man grabbed a handful out of the jar, then proceeded to scoop it into his oversized mouth. "It tastes like fish!"

"Oh, no!" Korin exclaimed. "Don't do-"

Shovelling that many senzu beans into ones mouth seemed to have terrible side-effects on Yajirobe; the samurai seemed to have grown fatter by one pound for each senzu bean he ate. He then fell backward, unable to support his new weight, it was as if there was now a large exercise ball on the floor.

"Hahaha!" Korin laughed. "One senzu bean lasts you ten days of food, genius!"

Looking on as Yajirobe endured his ordeal, Goku ate his single senzu as well. "Eh?" Instantly, the monkey-tailed boy felt completely rejuvenated and as lively as ever. It was an unexpected bonus that those mysterious beans called senzu were able to patch up his wounds just as easily, even to him.

"So? Are you healed?" Korin wondered.

"COOL!" the boy yelled, jumping around the room with his newfound energy and stretching his limbs without feeling the pain he did just seconds ago. "That's really cool!" Goku adopted a smile. "Can we start training right away?"

"There's no need. Not that I'd be able to teach you something anyway," Korin replied to which the boy withdrew his smirk. "King Piccolo's already been defeated. And by none other than Kame-Sen'nin."

"What? Master Roshi?!"

Hello everyone! Well, this chapter about wraps up the fight with King Piccolo...or does it? Surely he'll be out of commission for a while, but the question is: how long? Also, next chapter, we will find out exactly how the divergence affects Goku in this universe. I hope you're all as excited to read it as I am excited to write it!

I also hope the reasoning for Mai to leave Pilaf and join King Piccolo was logical and made sense. When I started it, I wasn't sure how it'd actually turn out, but I'm quite happy with the result. I've had this in mind since day one of writing this story, so I hope I don't disappoint! And no, it's not a reference to the live-action movie; in fact, I didn't even realize this until a friend asked me, XD.

I'd like to thank Super Vegetarott for editing this for me as well.

And off to answering reviews:

C: I've been thinking...Mai. Will she have a bigger role in the story to come? You're at a point in the canonical timeline where she actually can still play a role, whether as a fighter, an ally, or even a love interest for Roshi. Something also tells me that Yajirobe is actually going to do work in this fic...at least, I hope so.

R: As I've begun to show in this chapter, yes, Mai will in fact have a much larger story than in canon, as will King Piccolo as well. As for Yajirobe, to be honest, we just have to wait and see if I can think of some use for him.

C: I don't think you'll be making HRD Goku into a weakling, nor do I think Roshi will become Goku 2.0. Right now, the way the events are running, there's simply no other choice but to have Roshi as powerful as he is and to have Goku out of the picture - it's what happened during your divergence, so it must be done. I'm absolutely all right with that, so long as Goku gets his own time to shine later on(it doesn't need to be done so that the Earth-raised Saiyan is the all-time great he was in canon, but just so that he is able to be perceived as the warrior he is). But I'm not so worried about you doing that, as you seem to have a good plot running here and are giving fair amounts of time to each character.

R: I appreciate that! I've said it before, but I really don't plan to make Roshi into a Goku 2.0; admittedly, you may see some similarities between their paths in the future, but I can assure you it's all for a reason. I also don't plan on making Goku weak either. Perhaps Roshi's newfound power will encourage him to train harder than he ever had before.

C: Like the title drop in this chapter and that will teach Piccolo to keep his eyes on the prize

R: Indeed. And thanks! Title Drop is probably my favourite TV Trope out there. I don't actually have a tropes page, but I thought it was still fun to add!

C: Well it was worth the wait to rest this chapter, first thing I have to point out is how you made sure to put the title into the actual story as you did, lol. Moving on, I was glad to see Roshi is stronger and yet still not strong enough to take Piccolo on his own, would have been strange if Roshi took him out right then and there after all... though I do now wonder if Piccolor's lack of youth will effect Piccolo Jr's strength once he's born into the world. Also liked that you gave Mai of Pilaf's group some lime-light, out of those three she always seemed the most interesting and actually the smartest out of the bunch... I admit I'm a little curious if you intend to do anything more with her character, always thought it a shame she was stuck working for her bumbling moron of a boss. As for the future, I think it'd be interesting after Piccolo is dealt with for Roshi to take time to enjoy his newfound youth now that he's joined this new generation, perhaps becoming an inspiration for the other human fighters to push them on further then in canon where they slowly were overcome by the Saiyans.

R: Thank you. I didn't really want to make Roshi overpowered after regaining his youth, but at the same time, I didn't want to underpower him either. As of right now, I don't really have any plans to incorporate Piccolo Jr.; I felt that King Piccolo was somewhat of an underused villain in canon, and even when Piccolo Jr. was born, he—more or less—still didn't have the same ambitions as his father, like truly wanting to rule the Earth. So far, I have plans for King Piccolo all the way up to the Android saga, at least. I hope you don't mind! As for Mai, I completely agree. All she was in the manga was a henchwoman of Pilaf, and not very threatening; I intend to give her a much larger role in the chapters that follow. I also can't wait to write how this affects the human in this story either. Honestly, I feel there are so many possibilities in a story like this, so I hope you continue to read as it goes on!