"Ka..." Gohan methodically practiced his qi gong, forming a circle with counter-clockwise arms "Me..." as usual, he brought his aged wrist together in front of him "Ha..." he pulled back his hands, gathering his ki "Me..." he whispered with a hint of strain "Ha!" he thrust his palms outward. The old man then appeared disappointed."Nope, still not right..." he sighed.
The little Goku sat on a lower level of the mountain top, eating a muffin."What's wrong, Granpa?"
Son Gohan shook his head."Ah, nothing important..." he dismissed as he carefully stepped down from the tip of the mountain; he sat next to his beloved grandson, partaking in the basket of muffins. They sat together, watching the sunrise.
"Hey, Granpa?" the boy looked up at the old man.
"What is it?"
Goku blinked."I wish you were still alive."
At this, the old man chuckled, shaking his head."You don't have to keep mourning for me, Gokou; I've lived a long wonderful life, and I have no regrets; but you still have yours ahead of you. Now, go out there and finish your adventure."
Goku gasped for air, flinging his upper half off of the bed he was lying on. His breathing and sweating face darted all around the room he was in. He was stunned to realize he was lying in his grandfather's bedroom. This opened up a can of new questions. How did he get back here? Where were his friends? Wasn't he fighting the Crane assassins on an island in the Pacific? Was everything he experienced up to this moment a dream!? Now that he thought about it, that would explain the talking turtle and the magic pig man...
Just then, the door opened up, and in came, of all people to walk in, Yamcha. His face brightened."Dude, you're awake!"
"NANI!?" Goku shouted, vaulting off the bed and cocking his fist.
Yamcha responded by flipping his hands up submissively."Woah! Slow down, brother! Fightin' you again is the last thing I wanna do."
"WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE!?" was Goku's perfectly understandable response.
"Goku!?" cried another familiar voice as Bulma slipped passed Yamcha and froze in front of Goku. She lunged at Goku with a fierce hug and shoved the young man back a step."You're okay!"
"Goku!" Oolong exclaimed as he, too, ran into Goku's line of sight.
Goku blinked."...okay, so I wasn't dreaming..." he noted Oolong "...But how did I get back home?"
"You know that crazy American soldier lady disguised as a crazy Chinese soldier lady, right?" Bulma explained."She called in for a chopper to take us back to your place. We spent the next day and a half waiting for you to wake up."
"Ok..." Goku blinked, then flung his finger forward."So what the hell is HE doin' here!?"
"He's my boyfriend now," answered Bulma factually.
To this, Goku's eyes widened."Eh!?"
Yamcha pounded his fist over his heart."I was determined to forge a bond of love with this mistress that would last an eternity! Which is why I followed you all to this majestic mountaintop, where I prostrated myself before her and pledged to love her until the end of time!"
A drop of sweat slid down Goku's temple. He glared at Bulma, who shrugged.
"How could I turn down a hotty willing to grovel for me?" she reasoned.
"Easy," Goku grunted,"You do this..." he walked over to Yamcha, fist cocked and frightening Yamcha yet again.
Bulma zipped between them."Oi! Stop right there! My BF is offlimits, Goku!"
"YOU SPENT AN ENTIRE ADVENTURE TO WISH FOR A BOYFRIEND, AND THEN YOU JUST FIND ONE JUST LIKE I SAID YOU COULD!?" Goku shouted in a tone similar to Bulma's usual outraged tone.
Bulma smiled back up at the angry superhuman nervously."Well, yeah, but the real wish was the friends we made along the way, right, buddy?"
"No, it wasn't!" he persisted."The real wish was the freakin' wish, you entitled little-!"
"WE STILL HAVE THE BALLS!" Bulma yelped.
This was thankfully enough to sober Goku's rage fit, as he gasped mentally."We do!?"
"You're not gonna believe this..." Oolong explained, smirking, "But Black Widow actually let us keep the Dragon Balls!"
"Who's Black Widow?" Goku asked reflexively.
Silence...
"I missed that..." Bulma sighed.
They walked outside into the front yard, where Goku saw, with additional surprise, not only Krillin, who was now donned in orange gi, but Tien meditating next to each other on his lawn; before he could properly react to either of them, he realized with a sting of despair that the body of Master Roshi was laid on a sheet in front of the two. The assassin turned to see Goku with a stern but amiable face."Your master has not left our sight since the island." Tien said.
Goku walked over to Tien and Roshi's body, staring down at the hole in his heart mournfully. He sat down on his knees next to the other young fighters. They were joined together in their mourning.
"I heard you pulled off the Kamehameha," Krillin opened up,"That would make you the second person in the world ever to do so."
Yamcha picked his spot carefully, kneeling next to Krillin as opposed to Goku."This guy had somthin' to teach all of us..."
"It was a privilege to have known him even in the brief and chaotic time in which I did," Tien agreed.
At this, Goku's face perked up, staring forward, and smiling."...Maybe he can teach us more..." he said, gaining the looks of the other fighters."We all agreed I get the wish, and I know exactly what to wish for..."
They had gathered at the top of the mountain; Krillin laid Roshi's body at the very top, where Son Gohan would practice his Qi Gong. Bulma, Goku, and Oolong all took out the Dragon Balls from the bag and carefully placed them in a hexagonal circle, with the seventh in the center. The three looked down at them with breath apprehension.
Oolong's tense hands continued to rub, his palms increasingly warmer."Welp...here we are..."
"We made it..." Bulma said.
"All the Dragon Balls are together..." Goku vocalized.
They stood at the summit of the earth and their adventure, unaware of what to do next...
Oolong coughed."So, like...how do we summon the dragon?"
"I think..." Bulma muttered, "You just ask him to come out and make a wish."
"Is that it?" Yamcha had to ask, "You don't have to speak some alien language? Cause I heard the Dragon Balls were created by aliens..."
"And do you know this language?" asked Tien sharply.
"I, uh..." The street punk scratched his hair"...just assumed one of you had deciphered it all Indiana Jones-style..."
"There is no language!" Bulma asserted.
"ok," Yamcha peeped.
Bulma simply could not keep her rapid heart rate down. She exhaled,"Look, Goku, just go ahead and call for the Dragon; the balls will do the rest."
"If you say so," Goku nodded," I trust you," he added, making Bulma smile. Goku took his position front and center of the group before Roshi and the balls and did what came naturally, raising his arms in a form of reverence. He coughed."Almighty dragon! We found your balls! So come down and grant my wish!" he paused,"...Pretty please, peas and carrots?"
Everyone looked at the wish maker awkwardly, who shrugged.
Just then, all their faces were glazed with a sudden orange glow from below that shocked them frozen: They watched all seven Dragon Balls, glow and hum in perfect unison. Then, all seven Dragon Balls lit up like balls of ki, and fired a golden ki beam into the sky. The beam immediately started swerving and turning in all kinds of directions, just like the northern lights, or the giant divine noodle Goku had dreamed of as a boy. They watched the whole sky, as far as they could see, even from their high vantage point on the mountain, darken with storm clouds, and rumble with thunderbolts. The whirling yellow beam peered into the clouds. As that happened, the former ominous black clouds gained their own orange glow like the Dragon Balls. After all of this supernatural spectacle, now was the moment of truth...
And the truth did not disappoint, as their ears were filled with a powerful godlike whale resonating from above the clouds. The beam broke through another portion of the clouds, but now it was no longer just a beam, as the light grew a long whaling mouth, as well as antler-like constructs protruding from the head. The entity made of light flow downward like a living river, filling up the sky with its great, endless, jade scally coils. For the first time in no one knew how long ago, this band of mere mortals bore witness to the decent of the Eternal Dragon himself, Shen Long.
The massive head of the divine dragon slowly descended, looking down upon the summit and the people staring back up at him with all of their wonders, their eyes meeting with his own huge orange eyes. His colossal maw of diamond-sharp teeth slowly opened, as if it were actually about to speak. But instead of the traditional organic voice, their minds were buffeted by grand telepathic waves that emulated speech.
"YOU WHO HAVE SUMMONED ME, BEARERS OF THE WISHING ORBS: BULMA...OOLONG...YAMUCHA...KIRIRIN...TENSHINHAN...AND GOKOU, I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR CALL. SPEAK TO ME YOUR ONE WISH, AND I SHALL GRANT IT AS FAR AS WITHIN MY POWER."
"Thank you for letting us have this wish, Shen Long!" Goku yelled."Because now, we only want one: we wish for you to bring back Master Roshi!" he cried, then his mind was rattled again.
"A SIMPLE MATTER. BUT KNOW THIS: WHOSOEVER I HAVE REVIVED FROM THE DEAD, I SHALL NOT REVIVE A SECOND TIME..." Shen Long replied, as his eyes glowed like two suns.
This same light shone from Master Roshi's wound, sealing it up and regenerating his flesh as though it were never pierced. They could see, with joy filling their hearts, as the old man's breathing resumed.
"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN...FAREWELL." Shen Long's presence boomed for the last time. The seven Dragon Balls were suspended off the ground, becoming white as pearls, and spinning faster and faster in the air. With a flash of lightning, the balls fired outwards, out far beyond each corner of the horizon. With that, Shen Long's face, along with his coils, appeared to disintegrate into a hail of floating sparkles as the clouds again parted and the sky was filled with the sparkles that the a group watched gradually fade away into the sky.
Now a normal sound moaning gained their attention. They watched Master Roshi stir awake.
"Sensei!" Krillin exclaimed with glee, hopping to the top and lifting Roshi's head and back off the ground."You're alive!"
"errr..." the master grunted,"I'm alive...?" then his eyes shot open."I'M ALIVE!" he shouted, grasping Krillin's gi."Oh, thank God - I was THIS close to being reborn as a cow!" the anxious elder gripped his pupil's shoulders, "And I don't mean one o' those highly respected cows in India! I was about to be on a beef ranch in Fresno! I mean, what the hell, Bhudda!? I was supposed to be one with the universe, not a Quarter Pounder with cheese! Come 'ere and give your sensei a hug!"
Goku Bulma, and Oolong laughed as they joined Krillin and Roshi in a warm embrace, with Oolong poofing into a cat. The onlookers had their own hearts warmed at this sight
Yamcha happily raised his fist in Tien's direction, expecting a fist pump. But the three-eyed assassin misinterpreted it as a challenge and assumed a Crane fight stance which frightened Yamcha.
Goku sat in front of the shrine dedicated to his dear grandfather; he bowed in respect."Thank you for everything, Grandpa. I'm gonna live a long wonderful life, just like you."
With that, he rose from the ground, picked up his staff, which he could now confidently call "his" staff, let it hang over his back, and walked away. He watched Bulma hoi-poi 'd herself a new motorbike. As much as Yamcha wanted to ride the bike for her chivalrously, Bulma insisted she rode front, and he respectfully agreed without objection; Goku could tell that she was getting used to this...
She winked at Goku, before revving the engine and zooming down the mountain with her self-granted wish.
A Stark helicopter landed on the mountain to take Krillin back to the States. The bald fighter waved Goku and his master a warm goodbye; knowing that the exact opposite awaited him once he had to explain his absence to Mr. Hogan. Oolong snuck into the chopper as a fly.
Goku and Roshi stopped before Tien at the summit of the mountain. While no one was looking, he, too, attempted the Turtle School's signature move, but he froze in embarrassment when he realized he was being watched.
Roshi chuckled."Oh no, you're gonna learn it the hard way, Crane Boy."
Tien bowed respectfully."Of course, Sifu."
The old master stretched his shoulders."Well, I guess without that cloud, it looks like you're gonna have to be my ride home." He leered at Goku.
The boy scratched his hair."Hey, I wasn't the one who destroyed it!"
Roshi bopped Goku's head with his staff. "Think of this at the start of that training you said I was supposed to teach you. Heheh!"
"Yessir..." Goku frowned like a scolded child, before Roshi hopped onto his back. Goku eyed Tien, his new peer."You ready to be trained by the best?"
"Only if it means I can surpass you, Son Goku," Tien said before taking off into the sky, heading for Kame House.
Goku giggled with excitement."That's the spirit, buddy!" he said before arching his knees even further and blasting off after Tien; As Master Roshi sat on Goku's back like Turtle, Goku instantly caught up with Tien as they both flew through the sky as they looked onward to a bright future.