Turbulence Chapter VI: Nosedive, a dragon ball z fanfic

Hey there, readers, Super Vegetarott here. I didn't think I'd really delve in past the 10K mark again, but when you're writing something you love… well, you lose track of where you are. So this chapter is again quite long, but it is by no means like chapter 3 in which it covers only two important events. As I've promised, this is the official ending of the Dragon Ball arc in Turbulence, and I will not deny that I did try to speed things up near the ending. I'll be justifying my decisions regarding the content later on(and yes, there is going to be a lengthy A/N this time around; such a long chapter demands such a note).

For now, please enjoy the thrilling battle between Piccolo and our heroes!

Demon Saga – Part 3: Nosedive

As he stared down at the collection of fighters below, sizing each and every one of them up in his mind, the demon king couldn't help but let a smirk spread across his aged features. Each and every one of them seemed to tremble with horror at his presence, no doubt aware of his children's might. It was unfortunate for them that they didn't know the hell they were about to face.

Still, though, something seemed terribly off about the group—aside from the chubby samurai, the fighters seemed to stand in unity, their miens conveying all the same expression. Surely they were allies, but how would they have caught wind of his plans so easily?

'It doesn't matter in the end, I suppose,' concluded the demon king as he began his descent toward the ground, eyes locked with the formation of fighters. 'They shall all fall to my might… and once I rid myself of the Earth's remaining fighters, none will oppose my wrath...'

"M-Master!" Tambourine cried jovially, pleased to see that his master had come for him. Though he'd been in a rough predicament before, it seemed as if the tides had turned, leaving the humans as the ones in peril. "T-Thank goodness you've come! They… they're all powerful, more so than we could've ever guessed!"

Upon hearing his subordinate's voice cry out for him, Piccolo turned his head and let loose a firm scowl. "You should be lucky your brother fell before you did, Tambourine. Had my senses not been attuned toward this battle due to my…concern… about our enemies' battle power, you wouldn't be seeing the light of day right now."

His words immediately shut Tambourine up, nervous beads of sweat drizzling down his brow. Never had he seen his master so poised and focused; it was almost as if he'd thrown his arrogance aside in the face of these humans. 'C-Could Lord Piccolo be nervous about the battle ahead? I-Is there actually a chance he might not be able to win?'

An aged, taloned index finger was pointed in an upward direction, revealing Pilaf's airship where the remaining minions were. "Go, Tambourine. It's obvious you will be of no use to me during this battle."

"B-But—"

"Go..." Piccolo snarled, his piercing gaze as unrelenting as ever. Despite his master's old age, Tambourine was well aware of his awe-inspiring power—it wasn't one he would want to be matched up against any time soon. "...Before I re-consider sparing you despite your failure."

If nothing else, those eight words opened Tambourine's eyes to the situation he was in. Knowing he would be chastised for his failure later, he stole one remaining glance at his father's enemies, hissed at them vehemently, and then took off to follow his master's orders, feeling the heat of Piccolo's gaze follow him until he had successfully boarded the airship.

Upon seeing Tambourine's figure fade into the ship, Piccolo returned his gaze to the Earth's fighters, an aged smile playing across his features. "Now, with the weakling out of the way, feel free to let loose. I must warn you that despite my frail appearance, I am single-handedly capable of decimating you all. My power is unmatched on this planet, even when compared to your combined might… and if you want to run now, I wouldn't blame you."

"Like we'd ever back down from someone like you!" spat Krillin boldly as he glared into the demon's eyes, his fury and anger all too prevalent in his words. "Your minions are responsible for the death of my friend, and I'm not gonna let any of you get away with that!"

In response, Piccolo raised his brow in mock amusement. "Oh? Do tell me his name, boy; my minions have had a lot of blood on their hands today. I imagine it's rather difficult for them to make each and every one of their deaths personal."

"His name…" Krillin lowly hissed, fire in his eyes, "...WAS GOHAN!"

He flung himself forward, dashing toward the demon and kicking off the battle with a mighty punch to his adversary's aged cheekbone. The shock and surprise of the human containing such power within his tiny form forced Piccolo to stagger backward, applying pressure to the bone in order to ease the pain.

"Krillin, no!" Roshi cried in protest, gripped with fear at the fact that his student had been so reckless. He may have only been a child, but he'd thought his student could keep a level head—perhaps all the legend and lore of Piccolo's wrath had affected him more than he could've anticipated. "You're going to be killed if we don't attack together!"

Not heeding the warning, Krillin landed on the ground for a split-second before he pounced again, a shrill battle cry accompanying his high kick to his foe's skull. Again, the blow went unguarded, eliciting an audible crack that echoed around the reticent forest lands.

Krillin performed a few backflips to regain distance from his foe, panting heavily as rational thought returned to him. The sight of his foe's aching, groggy form was enough to pull a smile on his drenched visage. "Haah… haah… serves you right…"

But his satisfaction would soon wither away with the mere sound of the demon king's laughter, immediately snapping the ex-monk out of his illusion and reminding him of his foe's continued existence. In one fluent motion, the green-skinned figure had regained his posture and his menacing grin as if he hadn't been hit at all.

"I will admit, you're quite powerful—even more so than I'd anticipated. Never had I expected for one of my children to fall to a lowly human… tell me, which one of you was responsible for that? Was it you, brat?"

"W-What the…?" Krillin stuttered, subconsciously stepping back toward his allies. 'H-How could he possibly just take my fully-strengthened attacks without even feeling any pain at all?! ...Master was right… this guy's a monster...'

Yajirobe, despite all his previous bravado, now had been reduced to trembling in his boots, unable to muster up even the slightest response. 'Those were the minions of Piccolo? Damn it, what the hell did I just get myself into?!'

A small scowl adorned Tien's face as he raised his fist, clenching it tightly to prevent himself from making any irrational movements. "Does it really matter, Piccolo? We know all about your reign of tyranny over the Earth—you'd sooner snap our necks than allow us to get away."

"Heh! I'm impressed that you know my name despite my last appearance on Earth being so long ago… enough so that I'd normally ask how you know it. But there are more pressing matters at hand." His eyes narrowed at the group of fighters, indicating that the time for idle threats was over. "Now… the Dragon Balls. I'm aware you've got them stashed around here somewhere, so if you would be so kind as to fetch them… I might consider making your deaths painless."

"Do you really think we'll just hand them over to you?!" the Turtle Hermit exclaimed loudly, disgusted with the mere notion that he would submit to the demon. "That time you spent in containment must've really slowed your brain down!"

A visible twitch in the aged warrior's face was evident after that taunt, Piccolo's face contorting into the foulest of glares he could muster up. "You have no way of knowing I was sealed in that jar," he darkly hissed, small tendrils of energy arcing around his fingertips to accentuate his rage. "How could you possibly know about my original reign over Earth?! No human has a lifespan that long…"

An elderly voice, broken down by the natural progression of time, was the only sound that could be heard around the isolated forest."If you really want to know… this isn't our first meeting, Piccolo. The last time… I wasn't alone. I was with my master."

"W-What are you even—?"

"His name was Master Mutaito!" Roshi grinned, a knowing look in his eye as Piccolo was visibly taken aback by the mere mention of his mentor. "We both know why you fear him… you're concerned he might have passed down his knowledge of the Evil Containment Wave, aren't you? His teachings do indeed live on through me, but solely me alone—you have no reason to target any more fighters any longer if I fall."

Krillin immediately whipped his head to look at his master's grinning expression, shell-shocked by his bold approach to the situation. 'M-Master… why would you make yourself a target like that?! And what's worse… why would you lie to us? Is he really that powerful that you had to refrain from telling us all this?'

'It's not like that, Krillin.'

'Wha—Tien?!' the ex-monk internally exclaimed, his eyes stealing a glance at the triclops' form. He was perfectly still, concentrating on the enemy, yet he somehow had pervaded through the child's consciousness and had opened some form of telepathic link with him. 'How did you even do that?'

'Master Shen taught me how to connect with another person's mind and hold a conversation, but that's beside the point. It took me a second to figure all of this out, but Roshi did have plans to use the attack—he hadn't accounted for everyone else's presence. If he tried the attack right now, his minions could swoop down and strike him when he's exposed, both dooming us without a fighter and rendering him dead. Had the circumstances been different and there wasn't a warrior there to stop him, I've got the feeling that he would've given his life to end it all right then and there.'

'But why would he let it slip that he knows the technique?' Krillin asked, trying his hardest not to spare a glance over at his fellow fighter. If Piccolo was able to catch onto their sudden connection, they wouldn't likely live much longer.

'Because...' Tien paused for a moment, determining how best to word this. After taking an extra breath, he 'spoke' again, this time more slowly and carefully. '...I don't think he believes he'll make it out of here alive.'

Instantaneously, Krillin knew exactly what the triclops was suggesting; he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it sooner. In his master's mind, of course it would make sense—he was attempting to appease the demon with the knowledge that the Evil Containment Wave would cease with his existence so that they could live to see another day. After all, he would surely believe that sacrificing one life would be more pragmatic than the remainder of them falling, even if it wasn't likely that Piccolo would spare their lives in the slightest. Did he really just not have any faith in their chances any longer?

Feeling the link with his comrade sever itself, Krillin suddenly felt a terrible lump in his throat as he thought of all the memories he'd shared with his master. From all the training they'd gone through, the world tournaments they'd experienced together… he could remember it all so clearly. Despite how much his peers had belittled and taunted him into believing he could never be a successful fighter, they'd been far from the truth. His life had turned around since departing from Orin Temple, performing a one-eighty all thanks to the kindness and generosity of one hermit. Had he not truly pinched himself and recognized how fortunate he had been, he could've sworn that this experience was a half-remembered dream.

'Master… you can't die…' Krillin thought to himself, a single tear cascading down his cheek and falling to the still grass below. 'I can't be a part of this next generation you spoke about before ...not when the world needs you… n-not when… I need you...'

"Well, well, is your little chat finished?" sneered the demon king at the child, his eyes widening in utter shock. "In case you weren't aware, I too have the capability of opening mental links with my children. While I can't exactly intrude upon each individual word you said, I was able to predict enough that you were concerned about not having the time to properly mourn your demises. I figured it wouldn't be a proper sendoff without allowing you to say your goodbyes."

"As if!" Tien snarled, cracking his knuckles before pounding his fists together. "You may be more powerful than anything the Earth's ever seen, but there's no way in hell we'll let you take over the world without a fight!"

"This is the end of the road for you, Piccolo!" shouted Roshi as he too prepared for close combat with the demon. "For every single martial artist's life you've had your demons tear away from their loved ones, you'll pay tenfold!"

Yajirobe gripped his katana, recognizing he had no other option but to ally with the human fighters or face the demon king's wrath alone. "Yeah, that's right! We're gonna dine on your flesh!"

Alongside him, Krillin took up a fighting stance as he readied himself for battle. "I don't care what Master said about your power; when there's a will, there's a way!"

"Well, then," Piccolo cackled as he thrust a palm forward, charging it with a faint yellow hue of energy. "Make your move!" With that, he howled in malicious laughter as the wave of ki shot forth, forcing the fighters to zip out of the way as quickly as possible.

Krillin and Roshi, following their martial arts styling, leapt backwards to avoid the demon king's attack and create distance between them. Tien, having a different schooling, leapt upward into the air to avoid being stung by the wave.

Yajirobe, however, was the wild factor—possessing only the knowledge he had taught himself, he was without any sort of technique whatsoever. He merely tucked and rolled out of the way, but this had foolishly left him susceptible to attack—something that Piccolo was quick to capitalize on, darting forward and landing a firm kick to the side of his opponent's skull that sent him flat onto his back.

"That's one down," he grinned sinisterly, raising a sharpened claw in order to end the human's existence. "Really, I'm stunned that someone like you had the power to match my children. But I suppose your raw power has failed you…. RRGH!"

Tien, crossing the distance of the forest in what seemed to be a split-second, rammed shoulder-first into his adversary with all the force he could muster up. The impact certainly stunned him, forcing him to tumble backward awkwardly until he landed face-first on the grass.

"Rgh…" Piccolo snarled as he stood tall once more, brushing off the debris of his gi as he looked toward the triclops. "That was quite a nice shot. But can it compare to this?!"

Kicking off the ground, the demon darted forth and buried his mighty fist right into Tien's midsection, all three of the latter's eyes glazing over in sheer pain. Then, just as quickly, he struck with a swift headbutt before being interrupted by Krillin's sliding kick, having to guard that with his left arm.

"Despite your puny strength, you have the ability to work together, don't you?" Piccolo commented as he let Tien drop to the ground in pain while still keeping a firm hold on Krillin's leg. "It's a shame; that would've worked well on any other opponent…"

He tightened his grip on the boy's leg, applying enough pressure to just slightly twist the bone until it was bent at an unnatural angle. While the sound of the bone cracking itself was already thrilling to the sadistic demon, the cries and shrieks that accompanied it were music to his ears.

"...but not the Demon King Piccolo!" the monster shouted to the heavens, performing a one-eighty and hurling the bald child into the approaching Roshi, the force of impact slamming them both down into the grass.

Tien used the opportunity to flip back upwards, whipping himself at the demon and trying to connect with a rapid barrage of jabs. Each one made firm contact with the green-skinned warrior, forcing him to resort into a slight defensive tactic, but the flurry itself felt like a swarm of wasps than anything else.

"Give up now," the demon king sneered as he endured another wave of strikes, a demonic grin flashing upon his features. In the split-moment that Tien used to breathe, Piccolo threw a quick punch that slammed into Tien's brow and another to the solar plexus that knocked the wind right out of him as he dropped to the floor. "If you simply tell me where the Dragon Balls are, I'll cease all this pointless battle, slaughter the one with the knowledge of the Evil Containment Wave, and be on my way."

"I don't think you understand exactly what that means to a human, Piccolo..." Tien coughed, trying desperately to refill his lungs with air. "...Y-You're asking us to give up yet another life… another soul to your hellacious hounds. As long as I have the means to fight… I-I will…"

In mock amusement, the green-skinned warrior plucked the triclops up by his skull, his obsidian eyes of terror staring into his foe's very soul. "Those are some heroic words, I'll give you that." He reared back his free palm, tightening it into a fist and sneering sadistically. "But they mean nothing if you can't back them up."

THUMMM! Piccolo's fist slammed against the triclops' unguarded rib-cage, slamming directly against the warrior's bone and sending him barreling backwards until he collided with the bare bark of a tree. Needless to say, he was down and out for the time being.

But he had no time to rest whatsoever; from behind, Krillin struck with a dropkick to the spine that sent Piccolo awkwardly stumbling forward and left him susceptible to a spinning kick from Roshi that actually managed to force him to the ground. Both fighters gave a curt nod to each other before they kicked off the forest grounds, darting at their opponent from two different directions.

Piccolo scowled at the sneak attack before using his lengthy limbs to his advantage, cutting the master-student duo with a quick sweep of his legs. From there, he used the momentum to roll back on his feet and punt the hermit backward, sending him tumbling on his side until he came to a full stop. As he pivoted on his heel, he tucked his leg backward before burying it into Krillin's side, leaving him to suffer the same fate as his master.

"Pesky flies…" Piccolo muttered to himself, seeing Yajirobe clumsily attempt to regain his footing. "D'AAAH!" He fired a quick bolt of energy at the samurai that was sent right into his chest, knocking the wind straight out of him as it detonated and forced his foe down yet again.

Suddenly, Piccolo sensed Roshi's sudden revival, his energy signal rapidly approaching him from behind. Swiftly, he spun around and swung his arm in a knife-edge chop, sending him spiraling to the right before being blasted in the stomach by another energy bolt.

Observing the battle from high in Piccolo's airship, Mai was simply floored with the demon king's impressive might. "W-What unbelievable power! He's just knocking them around as if they're mere flies on the wall!"

"Tch!" Tambourine gave an annoyed scoff as he continued to nurse his injuries, sparing quick glances down at his master below. "Clearly you fools were in the dark in regards to his actual power. Not only is Lord Piccolo the most powerful being to have ever walked the Earth, his power far eclipses that of any combination."

Piano concurred, nodding his pterodactyl cranium with a grin. "I must admit that I lacked faith in our master to take on four formidable foes who were capable of dispatching of Cymbal individually… but now I'm convinced he is without any challenge. Our ruling over Earth isn't far from our grasp now."

"Yeah!" Pilaf shouted giddly, raising a stubby arm upward in encouragement. "Now… let's talk business. When Piccolo takes care of these meddling punks, it won't be long before he takes over Earth. Which half of the Earth are we taking as our own?"

"Half?" Tambourine sneered, a raspy laugh forcing its way through his lips. "I'm sorry to say, but once these four are disposed of, I doubt that our master will see any more use in you. Once he gives the call, you'll be following those weaklings straight into the Otherworld."

"W-WHAT?!" the trio cried out in unison, each of them chilled to the bone with nothing short of fear. Was Piccolo truly that heartless to simply forget how he'd escaped his captivity to begin with?!

"Y-You've got to be kidding me!" shrieked Shu, his eyes widening until they were nearly the size of dinner plates. After all him and his cohorts had done to aid Piccolo in his quest, it was just stunning 'I-I don't wanna die… there's still so much I've got to live for!'

"Oh, please don't kill us!" Pilaf winced, dropping to his knees and keeling over in a last-ditch attempt to get in the demons' good graces. "We can still offer you all so much more than you realize! W-We can be your enforcers! The public knows our faces and will fear us, and in addition, there's still my own empire we can add to the mix!" He wasn't about to admit that his 'empire' consisted of one castle in the Mushroom Forest, but at this point, it was irrelevant. He didn't care about ruling any longer… all he wanted was to ensure he'd escape with his hide intact.

There was no reply from the winged beast, which only made Pilaf and friends whimper with fear and anxiety regarding their fates. All of them turned their attention to the battle, the trio recognizing that their fate truly hung on the outcome. If the rebellion won, they would live… but if Piccolo won, there was little to no chance of their survival.

In all his time as a martial artist, Krillin had never experienced pain like he had now. Despite being one of the most powerful fighters the Earth had to offer and having been able to stand toe-to-toe with many warriors older than himself, it had only taken Piccolo a few strikes to fell him and leave him a broken mess on the battlefield.

'T-This isn't what Master would want of me...' Krillin internally reasoned, trying futility to push up off the ground with his left arm. His master had vowed to fight until his dying breath, much like his master before him. Krillin knew that live or die today, he'd make his master proud. 'I…I've gotta keep fighting… for the Earth… for everyone!'

Summoning up his resolve, the Turtle student made it to his knees and panted heavily. He could see the demon strolling toward Yajirobe with a menacing cackle, ready to end the samurai's life once and for all.

Krillin would be damned if he did.

Mustering up every ounce of strength within him, Krillin fully stood, favoring his right leg as he did so. The pain of the twisted bone still unfortunately lingered, but he knew it was something he'd have to cope with if he wanted to keep on fighting.

Exhaling, Krillin tried to drown out the world around him, concentrating solely on harnessing his energy into his body and his target. While he'd normally be able to execute any sort of ki attack within the span of a few seconds, the searing, white-hot pain rushing throughout his leg made it rather difficult to concentrate on his energy.

"C-C'mon…" Krillin murmured to himself as he saw Piccolo continue his deadly saunter toward Yajirobe, now only a few short moments away from his weakened ally. It wouldn't be long before the ronin met his end if he wasn't able to gather enough energy in time.

Suddenly, Krillin… changed. The world around him became crystal-clear, Piccolo's dark-green skin suddenly becoming a bright and dazzling olive hue. He looked down at his arms and saw that they were crackling in static lines, a clear sign that he'd left a perfect afterimage of his physical form right where he was standing.

And in that one moment where he recognized his Shaolin Mirage had worked perfectly, Krillin zipped forward, ever so silently dashing toward his opponent while leaving impeccable afterimages of himself in his trails.

Piccolo's moccasin-covered feet came to a full stop in front of the fallen samurai, sneering at his fallen opponent as he tried to regain complete consciousness. Though he had prolonged the man's death for far too long, the demon king knew it was time to end his opponent's suffering.

"Consider it an honor that you've opposed me now..." chuckled Piccolo sinisterly as he thrust an arm forward and charged it with a golden sphere of light. "...for in only a day's time, this world will have been plagued with anarchy and despair…"

"YAAAH!"

Piccolo immediately re-directed his energy back into himself, whipping around and snarling at what appeared to be a perfect afterimage of his opponent. Knowing he'd been duped into sparing the fighter for a second longer, Piccolo whipped around to confirm that Yajirobe was still laying semi-conscious as he was before…

...and sure enough, he'd been moved, settled down to the ground by yet another afterimage of his child-like foe.

"How dare you mock me?!" Piccolo snarled, opening his maw and firing off a brilliant blast of a golden hue at the duo, consuming them both in his pure and utter rage with deadly accuracy. Much to his surprise, however, the beam hadn't just stopped and swallowed them whole; it continued to stream forward as if nothing had been hit.

And much to Piccolo's chagrin, he found this out a minute too late. He whirled around and indeed felt a double-booted kick to the sternum, eliciting a gag of pain from his aged lips. His foe was much too savvy to allow the opening to go to waste, punching and kicking the demon king with everything he had in his arsenal.

"Why don't you just…" Piccolo hissed, the constant blows raining down on his body taking more of a toll on him than he would've liked to admit, "give up?!" He reared his fist back for a split-second before launching it forward, slamming the ex-monk back with both the physical force of his blow in addition to the kiai he'd summoned with his sheer strength. The force of impact sent Krillin sailing back until his nearly unconscious body skidded into the now-torn blades of grass.

Piccolo took a moment to assess the situation, eyeing the two unconscious bodies in the area and scowling to himself as he realized he could barely handle the human's combined offense. 'This body is far, far too fragile to handle combat of this intensity for so long… if I were able to subdue them by now, this wouldn't have been a problem. My breath is growing shorter and shorter with each passing minute, damn it… I need those damn Dragon Balls...'

"Don't think you're finished with us yet! Dodon Ray!"

Swinging around, the demon king had only a moment's notice before the pencil-thin ray of light crashed into his stomach, forcing him off his feet and sending him barreling backwards as it edged against his abdomen, just daring to push through and complete the kill.

'RRGH! Damn him, that intelligent triclops… he must be well aware of the stamina issues I'm having...' Piccolo growled to himself as he forced his aged palms forward and tried to channel his own energy to halt the attack's progress. 'But I have a date with destiny! I won't perish here!'

"I…" Tien stuttered, his body wracking with sheer pain as he tried to put everything he had into the attack. "...I can't give in now! I made a promise to someone to avenge their master's death, and I'm hellbent on keeping it! YAAHH!"

The demon's eyes widened as he realized the dire situation at hand, feeling an extra pulse of power fire its way through the ray of light and force it to expand against his ribcage. If he wasn't able to repel it quickly, he knew that it wouldn't be long before he was no more.

"Y-You… are… nothing to me!" Piccolo cried out as he could feel the Dodon Ray begin to spear into his inner flesh, white-hot waves of pain traveling through his stomach and causing him to hack up a spray of blood. "I am your superior! I am the Demon King Piccolo!"

With that, he thrust his palms forward and fired a spiraling wave of yellow-purple energy, the contrasting colors rotating as they arced forward toward Tien with malicious intent.

"You're mine now, triclops!" Piccolo howled as he threw his arms back before launching them forward again, expanding the beam's size until it grew wide enough to consume his adversary's entire frame and surely end him once and for all.

Tien kicked off the ground and just narrowly avoided the attack, watching with fright as the beam drilled its way into the forest before dissipating, likely slaughtering one of nature's creatures before it had even had a chance to fully experience life.

Though he was quite surprised with the human's ability, the demon king couldn't help but give a cold, calculated smirk. "Ah, so you too possess the knowledge of how to fly… interesting. It's been a while since I've been challenged in aerial battle." He began his own ascent into the sky, slowly levitating upward to meet his opponent as the latter took his own fighting stance.

"I hadn't believed Roshi at first about your power, and quite frankly, I still don't." Tien remained perfectly still as the demon king approached his own altitude, stilling his mind so as not to be blinded by rage. "Roshi believed your power was unstoppable, but... your power isn't just unmatchable… quite frankly, it's nearly inconceivable.

"But that doesn't mean I can't beat you on my own."

Kakarot parried away another one of Nail's light strikes, countering with his own swift sweep of the legs. Though the Namekian was able to avoid it with ease by leaping upwards, the Saiyan merely used his awkward positioning to his advantage, kicking off the ground and firing off a roundhouse punch that connected with the fighter's jaw. While the attack predictably had no real effect on the much stronger warrior, it did get him to nod confidently at his pupil's potential.

"Excellent work, Kakarot," he lauded, performing a backflip until he landed lightly on his feet. Kakarot did the same, though his landing was a tad more clumsy than his mentor's—he still hadn't grown entirely used to the mechanics of aerial fighting quite yet. "You seem to have picked up a knack for hand-to-hand combat, but your opponent won't always be as lenient as I was today. For example, when you went for that leaping punch, you left yourself terribly exposed—had I chosen to exploit that weakness, I could've easily knocked you out and finished you off all because of one prone position you assumed."

"I think I get it," noted Kakarot, trying to replay the situation through his mind to find the flaw within his stance. He'd taken to training like a sponge would to water, eagerly soaking up anything and everything that his instructor taught him. "So if I tilted my body more when I was angling for that punch…you wouldn't be able to hit me?"

Nail paused for a moment, figuring out how best to phrase his sentence without confusing the young boy. "Well, admittedly, no attack is without its flaws. There's always going to be some way that a fighter can take you down, whether it relies on speed, strength, or skill. The key is actually being able to predict such a thing, and even that'll prove to be quite difficult when you're matched up with an opponent you don't know all that well."

"That makes sense, I suppose..." said Kakarot as he wiped the accumulating sweat off his brow, fatigued from their continuous training. "Hey, Nail, could we… maybe take a break? I don't think I'll be able to fight you anymore at this rate…" His breath was coming in ragged bursts at this point, his arms and legs feeling as if they'd had only the strongest weights tying them down.

Nail firmly nodded, a slight chuckle escaping his lips as he did so. "Sure thing, Kakarot. I was actually surprised you lasted as long as you did against me. Being a first-time combatant and having such stamina shows you've got a lot of natural talent that you can use in the future."

"R-Really?" asked Kakarot giddily, his tail wagging about with excitement. "Does that mean I'll be fighting on par with the warrior clan anytime soon?" He supposed it was his warrior blood that had him so hyped for what lay ahead for him, but at the same time… he just felt truly excited that he had the chance to fight with some of Namek's strongest warriors.

Nail couldn't help but smile at the child's infectious grin. "Heh! It's only a matter of time, kid. One day you're even going to surpass me… and I'll be the one taking pointers from you." It felt surreal to imagine, but the Namekian knew there would indeed be one day where he passed the torch to his adoptive brother. There would indeed be the day where Kakarot would become the strongest threat to Frieza's tyranny.

But those days weren't here quite yet, and Nail intended to make the best of them to ensure that the young warrior would have a happy and healthy upbringing. If there was to be a storm in the form of Frieza, Nail hoped to provide Kakarot with as much knowledge as possible to help him endure the mighty tyrant's wrath.

Piccolo couldn't help but sneer at the human's accusation as he stared into the obsidian eyes of his opponent—did he really think he could single-handedly take down the king of demons? "I think I've knocked a couple of screws loose in your brain, human. Your combined efforts with your friends weren't enough; what makes you think you can fare any better on your lonesome?"

A confident smirk slid onto Tien's face, the demon's retort being exactly what he'd wanted him to say. Whether he knew it or not, Piccolo had played right into his hands. "Oh, really? Then I assume you're able to take anything I've got in store, right?" Subtly, he rose just ever so slightly into the air, positioning himself at a higher altitude.

"Tch!" the demon king scoffed, disgusted with the thought of actually falling to such a lesser opponent. He'd been caught off guard once; he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. "No human shall ever defeat me without the knowledge of the Evil Containment Wave, you fool. You're wasting your breath right now even attempting to convince me of that."

"Well then… why don't I give this everything I've got?!" Tien retorted, thrusting his arms forward and placing them in a diamond-like formation, energy beginning to coalesce within them. "If you're so sure of your power, then take this! Tri-Beam… HAAAAAH!"

Despite being hastily charged, the flash of light that normally accompanied the triclops' ultimate attack came roaring from above came just as quickly as before. Though its power hadn't been fully charged, the raw energy packed into it was more than enough to slam Piccolo into the ground and cause a large explosion of light all around.

"Rrgh!" snarled Tambourine, clenching his scaly fist hard enough to draw blood. "Why did Lord Piccolo have to be so damn overconfident?! He might've just gotten himself killed due to that stunt!" He had no way of sensing energy; therefore, he could believe any attack would prove fatal... but the explosion that attack had caused wasn't exactly assuring Tambourine of his master's condition.

"H-He's not really dead, is he?!" asked Pilaf to the pterodactyl-resembling demon, his tone laced with concern. Though he had seemingly broken free from working for Piccolo, he wasn't about to take any chances—he was well aware that the two demons in front of him were fully capable of slaughtering his entire gang within the blink of an eye.

Neither Tambourine nor Piano responded.

Krillin, who had been far from the realms of consciousness previously, was jolted awake by the sudden tremors that rumbled through the land, forcing his body to sit up as swiftly as his injuries would allow. He tried to stare up at his comrade, but the blinding light of the Tri-Beam forced him to shield his eyes instead. "T-Tien… what're you doing? If you're not careful… you might even destroy one of the Dragon Balls!"

Gone would be the chance to revive Gohan, eradicating his legacy forever. After all he'd done to contribute toward Bulma's adventure and Yamcha's training, he surely deserved to be resurrected from the dead. Though he had only a few precious years left in his life, it just didn't seem fair for them to be ripped away from the heartless claws of a demon.

'But it's not under my power anymore… I've got to put my faith in you, Tien. Please… please save the world!'

As the aesthetics of the Tri-Beam began to die down, the forest was deathly silent aside from the triclops' heavy, ragged panting. The tension was so thick it could only be cut with the sharpest blade, the atmosphere filled with an air of uncertainty.

The former Crane student surveyed the damage as he began his descent down toward the ground, noting the diamond-shaped crater formed in the plains of the forest. Judging by the close-range impact, it was fair to assume that the demon king had been buried inside of the seemingly endless abyss.

TAC. Tien's feet landed lightly on the blades of grass, the only sound within the otherwise dead-silent battlefield. Sweat poured down his brow as he tried to catch a breather, just praying that the sudden surprise attack had been enough to do the deed.

"Haah…. haah…" the triclops panted, desperate to fill his lungs with as much oxygen as his body would allow. No matter how often he used the Tri-Beam, there was no ridding it of the brutal side-effects it took on his body; however, he recognized that with desperate times came desperate measures. Needless to say, his current predicament couldn't be described as anything but.

Five seconds ticked by without any sudden movements, each of them feeling like an eternity. For those five seconds, the battle was seemingly all over, the threat of Piccolo vanquished forever. All finally seemed right in the world, Mother Earth itself seeming to take a sigh of relief.

And then not even a second after, the embodiment of hell rose once again.

Piccolo rocketed out of the crater with a scowl, his obsidian eyes burning with nothing short of hellacious rage. Despite the wounds and bruises covering his aged form, it was all too clear that he was alive and kicking. "You… I will slaughter you and tear out that third eye of yours!"

Even as he stared death in the eyes, unable to move the slightest muscle, Tien couldn't help but give one last defiant growl toward his foe. Piccolo zipped forward and swung his forearm in an arc, crashing it against Tien's cheekbone with sheer, unadulterated power. As if he'd been hit by a freight train, the triclops soared backward until he landed next to his Turtle comrade in Krillin.

Despite their predicament, Krillin weakly smiled at seeing his new friend. Though he no longer held a telepathic connection with him, the ex-monk knew exactly what was running through the triclops' mind. "H-Hey… i-it's no-not your f-fault…" he murmured softly, trying to speak with the little strength he had left. "H-He was just… to-too powerful in the end…"

"I-I kn-know…" Tien stuttered back, trying to force himself back upward in a futile manner as he wracked his brain for any technique he knew that could get him and his allies out of this terrifying predicament. Unfortunately for him, his body just couldn't comply, the white-hot pain burning through his body just being too much to handle. "Bu-but he has to be stopped… if none of us have the power to kill him… who will?"

Krillin had no answer for the triclops, merely staring up at the instrument of their destruction as he raced toward them with malicious intent. Closing his eyes, he knew he had only a few more precious seconds remaining, using them to picture all his remaining friends. There was no doubt they would be disappointed in his failure, if not more so than he was at himself. "I… I just don't know…"

"Never lose hope, Krillin."

THUUM! Out of seemingly nowhere – perhaps due to his weakened state hindering his ability to follow all the action – Master Roshi slammed the sole of his shoe against the side of Piccolo's skull, sending him careening backward until he regained his footing, grounding his moccasins into the grassy plains of the forest.

"I thought I'd taken you out of the picture a while ago, old man." Piccolo's eyes narrowed at the Turtle Hermit, sizing up his current condition and whether or not he'd need to perceive him as a threat. Oddly enough, save for the few bruises and wounds he had decorating his body, he seemed relatively unharmed—something that the demon king would be quick to rectify.

"This old man has more tricks in his hat than you could imagine," Roshi retorted slyly as he clenched his fists, trying desperately to avoid flinching and giving away his plan all in one fell swoop. "And while Master Mutaito did teach me the ultimate method of putting you down…" He saw Piccolo visibly flinch at the prospect of the Evil Containment Wave being referenced, a small smirk lighting up his face. "...he's also taught me that there's more than one way to set up an attack."

It took no more than a beat for Piccolo to fully comprehend what the Turtle Hermit was implying, his heart beginning to pulsate wildly as his breath caught in his throat. "N-No…" Just as quickly as he'd caught on, Piccolo leapt into the air, attempting to soar into the sky to evade the attack, but even he knew it was futile.

Roshi thrust his arms upward and fired off a blast of fluorescent light at the demon, watching with satisfaction as it enveloped Piccolo's form and rendered him paralyzed. 'I-It worked! Charging the energy I needed from afar was actually enough to do the deed! Now to end this before the other demons can intervene and halt the attack!'

Swerving his arms in a rapid manner, Roshi directed the Evil Containment Wave toward the rice cooker he'd opened near his previous positioning, having made sure to place it at an angle that Piccolo's subordinates wouldn't be able to reach for quite some time. Piccolo was contorting, twisting and whirling within the maelstrom of energy with no way out, his struggling producing no results whatsoever. The nature of the Evil Containment Wave was known for its drawing upon the target's evil, thus rendering any of the demon king's legendary power useless as he tried to escape from the attack.

"M-Master!" Krillin cried, futilely trying to raise one arm to reach out for his master and stop him from using the life-risking maneuver. "D-Don't do this, please!"

"He's got no choice, Krillin," Tien solemnly replied, bowing his head out of sheer respect for the Turtle Hermit's last stand against the mighty demon king. "He's doing this for everyone… not just us, but the world. This must've been all a part of his plan—it makes perfect sense, too. He allowed us to be the bait while he carefully crafted the attack, plotting and planning to make sure he'd be able to blindside Piccolo when the chance arose. He was a great man… and it's a damn shame that he had to give his life to stop this monster."

"N-NOOOO!" Piccolo bellowed, snarling like a rabid beast as his body was being curved and remolded in order to fit the container. He'd felt the experience once before when he was sealed inside that insufferable prison; he would not allow it to happen again. Somehow, someway, he had to escape…

'T-Tambourine!' he internally contacted his son, trying to find any way out of his horrifying predicament. 'H-Hurry, damn you! I'm about to be sealed up again inside this wicked contraption!'

But with one passing glance, his worst fear was confirmed: Tambourine had indeed begun to make his move, but with only the power of his wings to keep him afloat, there was simply no way he would be able to intercept the attack in time. The sole deciding factor was his opponent and how well he had been able to emulate his master's skill...

The battle was quite literally in the palms of his hands now—he'd thought of every single possible counterattack that his foes could muster up and subsequently thought of an effective counter. All that was left to do was guide the demon into his prison.

Rivulets of sweat began to pour down the master's face as he kept his concentration, expending almost all the energy he could muster up on this sole maneuver. Roshi knew this was his only chance; there was no room for any sort of error whatsoever. 'C-Come on… just a few more seconds...'

Keeping one eye trained on the demon and the other on his rice cooker, Master Roshi swung his arms down to the side, sending Piccolo through the final stretch of the wave—and ever so dangerously close to the pot. There was nowhere for the demon to go but down from here; he plunged toward the pot at breakneck speed, his containment imminent…

...and then, in the span of a second, the Earth's fate had been decided.

CRACKK! Piccolo's compressed figure slammed brutally against the edge of the rice cooker's opening, effectively shattering the rim of the container and sending it ricocheting along the grassy plains. As it came to a full stop on its side, Roshi could see with his already-fading vision that the object was broken…

...which meant Piccolo had survived.

Feeling his elderly body trembling, his heartbeat slowing down ever so swiftly, Roshi could do nothing but glance one final time in the direction of his wounded student, whose eyes he met for one last time. Tears began to brim in his eyes as he saw his prized pupil take one last look into his soul before nodding ever so slightly, communicating without words that he understood before the waterworks began cascading down his face as well.

"N-Never lose hope, Krillin…" Roshi spoke aloud one last time, already feeling his vision begin to slip into perpetual darkness. As he lurched forward, he drew his last breath, the final image he would ever see being his student – the son he never had – rise to his feet. "N-Never…"

And with the torch effectively passed, his legacy forever engraved in Earth's history, Master Roshi passed into the next dimension.

Though he was flat on his back, his aged body wounded and fatigued from all the stress it'd gone through today, Piccolo knew that it was finally all over. As he forced his body to stand once more, a faint chuckle resounded from his lips upon the sight of Roshi's corpse. "Hah… hah… hah... finally… it's all over. There isn't any more damn opposition…"

"He's dead!" Piccolo boomed, throwing his head back and cackling madly, the force beyond his words so loud they reverberated around the battlefield. There was nobody to stop him from using his power to overtake the Earth; now that the one man with the knowledge of the Evil Containment Wave had perished, there was no way to stop his might. "He slipped up just ever so slightly and it cost him his life!

"And now… the Dragon Balls are mine!" With a telekinetic pulse of power, he flicked his finger upward, the mystical spheres bursting out of the soil beneath the grass and landing in a neat ring before his feet. He then extended his tongue outward and plucked the golden orbs out of his mouth, dropping them next to their counterparts and using his telekinesis to align them perfectly.

Suddenly, a mystical glow surrounded the full set of Dragon Balls, a faint humming sound whining from the center of them all. Piccolo took a moment to gaze upon it all, marveling at the sight that would make him the eternal ruler of this mudball.

"He's truly done it!" cried Piano elatedly. "I must admit I had my doubts, but he's taken them all down! Now Shenron will appear and grant our master his wish for youth!"

"Lord Piccolo will be unstoppable!" Shu chorused, the anthropomorphic canine hoping to worm his way into the demons' favor. "After destroying everyone here, nobody will even have the chance to challenge our might!"

"At long last, our visions will have come true!" Pilaf rejoiced giddly, shell-shocked at the demon king's might. Though he wouldn't be splitting the world with the demons anytime soon, he knew that he was well on his way to becoming a true ruler of Earth.

"At last… this moment is all mine…" the demon king grinned, hardly able to believe the one-eighty he'd managed to pull. He'd gone from being sealed away for centuries to the Earth's ruler once more; however, this time, there was no Evil Containment Wave to impede his reign. After his wish was granted, Piccolo would be the ultimate superpower—with his youthful age and might returned to him, he would be nothing less than a true monarch. "Shenron… come forth and grant me my wish!"

Upon Piccolo's command, the whine of the Dragon Balls began to grow louder and louder, the sky's natural blue hue beginning to fade into a pitch-black setting, almost resembling nightfall. Suddenly, the glow around the spheres began to grow brighter and brighter, expanding ever so swiftly until it had grown to be three times its previous sizing. A flash of golden lightning streaked through the sky, the rumbling of thunder accompanying it not long after.

There was another explosion of bright light, a large surge of energy bursting out of the Dragon Balls and reaching high into the atmosphere before beginning to twist and contort into a serpent-resembling dragon with a jade coloring, scales running down its physical form as it continued to manifest before its summoner. A fanged snout made up its head, twin horns protruding from either side of its skull, and its eyes glowing a deep ruby red hue.

Shenron had been summoned at long last.

'I-Incredible...' the demon king thought to himself, unable to stop a fanged grin from spreading his features. 'To think that Kami had the potential of creating such a powerful creature…'

"What is your wish?" boomed the dragon, an impatient tone laced within its baritone voice. "I remind you that you only get one."

"What I want is nothing more than youth!" Piccolo cried out to the dragon with an evil cackle. "I want my young body restored to me with its mighty strength so that I may rule over these Earthlings like the peasants they are! Is that within your power?!"

"A simple task; it shall be done." Shenron's eyes immediately began to glow a deeper shade of red as it prepared to work its magic upon the elderly demon king.

At first, Piccolo felt nothing, as if the mythical dragon hadn't granted his wish at all. But then suddenly he began to feel… lighter, somehow. His arms began to pulse and throb wildly, feeling as if they had too much power for him to contain in his frail body…

...and then all of a sudden, they returned to their youthful form, a vibrant lime green coloration that stood out in a stark contrast to the rest of his aged body. The serpent's magic quickly went to work on the remaining body, restoring the demon king's body as perfectly as it had been in his youth. All the age lines and wrinkles on his face suddenly ceased to exist, revealing a flawless visage of the demon king that hadn't been seen since his previous ruling over Earth.

"U-Unbelievable…" the now youthful demon king murmured to himself, power flooding through his newfound body as he rolled his fingers. The dragon had indeed fulfilled his demand, restoring every single bone in Piccolo's body to its younger days and giving him back the power he'd once contained to unleash at his disposal. "I did it! I'm young! Eternal youth is finally mine!"

"I have granted your wish to be youthful once more," rumbled Shenron as its magma-red eyes lightened ever so slightly, revealing that his work was finished. "And now I shall take my leave…"

Piccolo shot his gaze upward toward the mystical serpent and gave him a menacing smirk, one that hadn't been unleashed for what had truly been centuries on end. "Oh? I regret to tell you this, but you're not going anywhere!" Opening his maw, the demon king quickly fired off a wave of yellow light that enveloped Shenron in its wrath and began to dig into its olive flesh in an explosion of a golden hue.

When the smoke lifted and all was said and done, all that remained of the once mighty Shenron was its emerald-green arm. Grinning heinously, Piccolo shot a glance over at the Dragon Balls—they, too, in their own way, had been destroyed, reverting into their stone form rather than scattering across the globe and doing so afterward.

"It's all over! The Dragon Balls have become nothing more than mere stone… and now that Shenron is permanently dead, there's no way at all that those puny humans can manipulate its magic against me!" He threw his head back in cold, vicious laughter as he relished the moment, recognizing that all his careful plotting and planning had truly paid off in the end.

"S-Shenron may be gone… but this is far from over, Piccolo."

Piccolo whipped around to find Krillin standing abreast him, his puny form trembling in the face of a power such as himself. He gave a mere chuckle at the boy before crossing his arms. "You're truly persistent, aren't you? Shouldn't you be more worried about your friends? Honestly, I don't know why you didn't just up and run when you had the chance… but I do suppose you're much like your master in that regard."

Though the remark about his fallen master did visibly get to the Turtle student, he suppressed his anger, knowing that being in an enraged state of mind would cause his final gambit to fail. "You're right when you say I'm like Master Roshi. I'm not going to quit just because you've gotten so much stronger. Trust me when I say this, Piccolo, but I'll be back—and my friends and I will make you pay for everyone you've taken from this planet."

"That would imply you'd escape right now, wouldn't you?" A dangerous glint appeared in the demon king's eye as he prepared to pounce and finish off these pesky insects once and for all.

"Guess you forgot my little trick from earlier, then. See the slight shimmer in this body's stance?" Krillin – or, rather, what appeared to be Krillin, winked tauntingly.

It took a grand total of two seconds for the demon king to realize he'd been duped yet agan by that damn technique.

"Y-You damn brat!" Piccolo hissed, kicking off his heel and beginning to dash into the depths of the forest to seek and slaughter his remaining prey. But suddenly, within the blink of a second, the afterimage of Krillin regained its natural glow, and he quickly held up his fingers to his face before shutting his eyes.

"Solar Flare!" he cried out, an alabaster-colored light projecting outward and burning right into Piccolo's corneas. Immediately, the demon king was forced to halt in his tracks and clutch at his eyes with a howl of pain, the white-hot sensation of pain temporarily blinding him.

With a confident smirk of his own, Krillin 'switched' to his original body, leaving the afterimage present. Speaking through said afterimage, he added "I also happen to plan out my techniques fairly well, just like my master did. This isn't over, Piccolo."

"Y-You damn bastard!" the demon king hissed wildly, dashing in the direction of which he heard his foe's voice and raking a claw forward. Unfortunately, despite his power, he'd only been able to strike the afterimage, which then suddenly faded into nothingness.

He paused for a moment, lowering his arm slowly and bowing his head ever so slightly until he felt his vision return to him. "A worthy opponent for a bit of cat and mouse, I suppose. But don't think you'll last so long. With only your two allies, it's inevitable that you'll reconcile with your master shortly." A faint chuckle rumbled through the forest as he kicked off his foot, levitating upward before floating over to his airship to kick off his new reign over Earth.

Without question, the world was all his now… and after all, he wouldn't be living up to his name if he didn't conquer every single inch of Mother Earth and razed it to the ground.

And while our heroes had indeed made their escape to live and fight another day, in the end, evil had emerged victorious on this fateful day. Two great heroes had fallen today in the form of Master Roshi and his esteemed pupil, Son Gohan. Mother Earth cried itself for the loss of two innocent souls, though it was safe to say none were afflicted like the young Turtle student known as Krillin. During his trek through the forests alongside his new allies in Tien and Yajirobe – who had been rather reluctant to ally with the former rivals until he realized he was now a target – it had seemed as if all he did was sob vehemently over the loss of his master, begging and pleading for the Turtle Hermit to return to the world of the living.

But alas, with no Dragon Balls to wish upon, there was no way for him to reverse fate. All of the fighters who had perished at the hands of the malicious demons now were left with no way of seeing the light of day ever again, their souls left to travel the Earth in eternal agony and perpetual suffering until their murderer was slain himself.

Unfortunately, that day wouldn't soon come. Now without any opposing force to stop him from his goals, Piccolo stormed Chow Castle with his minions in tow and made mincemeat of the royal guard, 'persuading' King Furry into crowning the demon king the new monarch of Earth. The official announcement would soon spread like wildfire after its being broadcasted all over the globe, interrupting every program aired in order to crown Piccolo as their new king.

From then on, King Piccolo would go on to impose his new regime, revoking any law or judicial system and telling the Earthlings to wreak havoc upon one another. It wouldn't take long for the humans to settle into such a setting, robberies and murders beginning to grow exponentially due to the fact they saw no savior in sight. The fact that Piccolo had opened an annual 'lottery' of sorts to determine which region would be destroyed only helped to spread chaos and strife among the world.

As for Pilaf and company, they had been quickly disposed of by Piccolo shortly following his coronation, the tiny emperor having asked Piccolo for his reward for assisting him through all this time. They'd somehow managed to survive the new dog-eat-dog morality in this new twisted world, living as nomads as they tried to search for a suitable home.

And finally, as for the remaining warriors, Yamcha and Chiaotzu, they had recognized that it was quite likely that Krillin, Tien, and Master Roshi hadn't survived past their initial encounter with Piccolo. As such, Yamcha had taken measures to have backup in his eventual rebellion against the King of Earth, training Bulma and Launch to become actual fighters while unfortunately having to break off his relationship with the former, fearing that death could arise at any time and not wishing to put either of them through more pain. Actually teaching the new warriors much at all was quite difficult while he was sidelined with his broken leg, but upon his leg healing he threw them into the most rigorous training regime he could. Naturally, the blonde Launch was able to progress farther than the bluenette due to the latter never seeing a day of combat in her life, but it had been balanced out due to the blue-haired Launch's reluctance to fight.. Of course, much to their chagrin, they were nowhere near powerful enough to challenge Piccolo's might; however, they still grew stronger and more skilled with each passing day.

A little more than two months had passed following Piccolo's coronation, and it was safe to say that the Earth had fallen from grace, now becoming a world of death and decay. The streets were littered with bloodied corpses, the rotting flesh of those who had either been slaughtered in robberies or those who just couldn't handle the stress of this new world any longer. The air was thick with tension, even when there was no activity on the roads or in the cities; everyone knew there was a shadow lurking behind them almost at all times. There was truly no such thing as 'peace' any longer.

After the initial attack on West City due to its region being selected first, the barely-standing Capsule Corp had been safeguarded by the Briefs family, turning any and all away by firmly locking themselves inside their complex—it was far too risky to allow any into their abode. However, their rations would be enough to last them for quite a while; they'd contained much more than the average family due to their plethora of capsules. They kept in daily contact with their baby girl via telephone, but they had to be quite secretive and cryptic due to the possibility of their calls being tapped into. It was terrifying to think such a thing, but even as isolated from society as our heroes had become when they took up residence at Kame House, there was still a chance of their being located by Piccolo and killed to join their friends. No corner of the world was free from Piccolo's wrath any longer.

The world had indeed devolved into what its king had predicted: a miserable world with its populace corrupted, all but ready to bring itself down without his mere interference.

But where there is darkness, there is always light—even if it can't be seen nor heard, enshrouded by pure, unadulterated evil, a beacon of hope always shines through.

Bulma wiped the sweat off her brow as she reached into the fridge of Kame House with her black-gloved hand, pulling out a chilled bottle of water before gulping down its contents rather quickly. Clothed in a blue Capsule Corp jacket with a red tank top underneath it along with a pair of jean shorts and black leggings underneath that, she'd just came from an extensive sparring session with her former boyfriend. To say that it'd been hard to see him as an actual trainer was an understatement, in all honesty—she'd never expected that the man who'd been so shy around her in their first encounter would've changed so much to become her trusted friend and ally in battle.

'Gohan's death really did change him...' thought Bulma to herself as she threw away the plastic bottle before closing the fridge, frowning as she did so. Their water supply was running dangerously low, and the extra hydration the three warriors required after training didn't help to ease it any less. '...he's not as funny as he used to be. Nowadays it's almost like all he wants is to kill Piccolo, but… can we blame him for that?'

It hurt to see her former lover acting this way, so much so that it'd inspired her to back him up in battle. She just couldn't bear to see Yamcha put himself through the strain of pushing his body to the limit day in and day out, practically torturing himself in his quest to grow stronger and defeat the youthful monstrosity. Anything she could do to alleviate the strain on his shoulders was enough of a reward in her eyes, even if they didn't succeed in overthrowing Piccolo in the end.

"Miss Bulma?"

Bulma turned around and tilted her head downward, locking eyes with the former Crane student and giving him a smile. "Oh, hi, Chiaotzu. What's going on?"

"Yamcha wanted me to let you know that he's going to be training until nightfall and that Launch is currently napping upstairs," the imp replied with a slight frown. "Quite frankly, I'm concerned about him—all this extra training surely can't be good for his health."

The heiress gave a small sigh in response, shaking her head ever so slightly and freeing her hair from her ponytail. "It's hurting him, in all honesty. He lost someone close to his heart and he's trying to fill that void with anger at Piccolo and wanting to kill him. He has a right to feel sorry for himself, but he just can't let himself do it anymore."

"On the bright side, you've all grown stronger since you've begun your training, right?" Chiaotzu inquired, looking up at the scientist-turned-fighter for a response. "Regardless of how much he puts himself through the wringer, it'll pay off in the end. Some people are just different that way."

A tear came to Bulma's eye at the psychic's words, though she quickly wiped it away with the back of her gloved hand. "Yeah… but sometimes I just think he'll end up breaking down his body faster than even Piccolo would, you know?"

Chiaotzu pouted at the girl's response, hoping to try and cheer her spirits with his words. If anything, he'd only made her feel worse about their current situation. "Well, Miss Bulma, only time will—"

"K-Krillin?! Tien?! Is that really you?!"

Bulma and Turtle shared a collective gasp as they bolted toward the front door, the former's superhuman strength nearly tearing the screen door down as she tried to see if her long-lost friend was truly alive.

Sure enough, the battered forms of Krillin, Tien, and a rather obese man came into view. The two groups stared at each other with smiling faces - sans the chubby man- and content to just bask in the knowledge that they'd all survived.

"T-Tien!" Chiaotzu cried happily, darting over to him and laughing happily. "I-I knew you couldn't have been dead; I just knew it!"

"I-I'm…" Tien started slowly, reaching down and patting his best friend's head. "Thank you, Chiaotzu. I'm glad you all kept safe as well. I would've tried to contact you earlier, but Piccolo had hinted that he was able to intrude on mental conversations and I wasn't about to risk anything about your location."

Bulma couldn't a large cheeky grin from spreading her pretty features. "I-I don't believe it! It's been so long since we've seen any of you! We honestly thought Piccolo took you all out!"

"It… well, Bulma, I'm not gonna lie to you; these past two months have been a real pain for all three of us," Krillin panted, shaking his bald head to rid himself of the water that had gotten into his ears. "B-But as for Master Roshi…" A tense silence filled the air as they recognized what had happened, one that nobody had the courage to break for minutes and minutes on end. The breeze of the cool air and the lapping of the ocean waves did their mourning for them; they spoke what the humans could not.

Tien took a deep breath before continuing onward. "Ever since we failed to stop Piccolo from getting the Dragon Balls, we've had to stay under the radar and make our way back here. It's been a long journey, and we've had to… well, 'conform' to Piccolo's feelings on thievery at times, but it paid off in the end."

"Then who's that guy?" Yamcha gestured over to the portly man with a flick of his thumb. "He a new friend or somethin'?"

"My name's Yajirobe," came his blunt reply as he looked at the scar-faced warrior. "I met up with your friends when one of Piccolo's demons went after me. They made the save and things just went from there. I don't exactly wanna help take that monster down, but now that he's seen me I'm sure I'm one of his targets."

"In any case, I'm just glad to see that you guys are all right," genuinely smiled Yamcha for what seemed like the first time in two whole months. "I hope you guys haven't been slacking, either. While you guys were sneaking around on your way back here, I've been training Bulma and Launch to become powerful fighters in their own right."

"Extra fighters would definitely be useful if we're planning on going after Piccolo again," noted Tien, "but for now, I don't think any of us are even remotely prepared to face him. According to what Krillin told me while we were running, his youthful body is even stronger than his aged form."

Neither Bulma nor Yamcha had a response for that one, being stunned into absolute silence by the former Crane student's claim. From how easily he'd made his defeat sound over their friends, Piccolo seemed to be truly unstoppable before… but now there was seemingly a whole new layer to his power, one that surpassed even his godly power before.

"Well then, we've just got to take him down, don't we?"

Everyone turned their eyes to a boat, four organisms on board. Two were on each side as they used their oars to push the boat through its final stretch before it made contact with the sand, allowing the quartet to hop out and have the smallest figure anchor it to the ground.

"I-Is that…" Yamcha gaped at the sight, having never believed he'd see the figure in front of him ever make an alliance with the trio before his eyes. "...Chi-Chi?"

Dressed in a teal kimono with a red sash indeed stood the Ox-Princess, slightly taller than she stood before with a more defined facial structure and a slimmer figure overall. "Hi!" she said innocently, smoothing out her kimono as she waved to the fighters who had helped her and her father extinguish the burning flames at Fire Mountain. "It's been a while since we saw each other!"

"U-Uh… Chi-Chi, what are you doing out here with them?" Bulma motioned over to the flustered gang, all three of them seeming to cower slightly at the sight of their enemy. "Y-You do know that's the Pilaf gang, right?"

"Yeah. And?" the princess asked simply, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly at the question. "They were nice and helped me out. See, my dad told me that I needed to go find Mr. Gohan and Master Roshi to get some extra training while he was busy taking care of something that happened in the kingdom. So then I started on my way here and I noticed these guys in trouble with some big dinosaur, and I beat him up so that he'd go away. From there, Mr. Pilaf. Mr. Shu, and Ms. Mai started traveling with me to make sure that I was safe until I got here."

"Oh, really?" Yamcha rolled his eyes at the cowardly tactics of the Pilaf trio, glaring at them knowingly. 'From what Bulma's said about them, they're weaklings—they obviously couldn't fend for themselves anymore and so they piggybacked on this innocent girl to get them to safety.' Suddenly, a darker thought flashed through his mind as he realized just exactly what the Ox-King had done for his daughter. '...So they've rebelled there too… and if so… there's no way he could fend off all those robberies on his lonesome...'

"Yeah!" Chi-Chi interjected, snapping Yamcha out of his thoughts. They've all been really nice to me and helped me out!"

Yamcha nodded at the young girl and gave her a forced smile before he walked over to the Pilaf gang, bending down to meet the leader of them all at eye level. "Listen," he whispered softly, careful not to allow Chi-Chi to overhear their conversation. "I still haven't forgotten our last encounter, all right? You guys aren't exactly what I'd like to call trustworthy, but against a threat like Piccolo I'm willing to accept any help I can get. You can all stay here if you pitch in in taking that monster down, all right?"

All three of the gang nodded silently, recognizing the subtle threat Yamcha had laid down. For the time being, in order to survive, they would all have to put their heads together in the face of a bigger monster.

"We're in," Pilaf murmured quietly. "If I can't rule the world, I'm not about to allow Piccolo to get his chance to."

"All right!" Yamcha stood back up fully and went back to the center of the fighters, cracking his knuckles. "Seems we've got the strength in numbers now, but according to Tien, Krillin, and Yajirobe, we've got a long way to go before we'll be fighting Piccolo any time soon."

"His power's unmatched," stated Tien bluntly, crossing his arms. "Quite frankly, I doubt any of us will ever gain the power to take Piccolo down individually, but if we all combine our powers we might stand a chance."

"He's right," Krillin added. "While we lost before, not only do we know his fighting style now, but we've got more capable fighters on our side this time around. But even so… we have one advantage that Piccolo doesn't, and I intend to use it for all it's worth."

"What's that, Krillin?" asked Yamcha, his eyes darting over to the small warrior. "Other than numbers and knowledge, we don't have anything that Piccolo can't beat."

"We've got one thing he doesn't, Yamcha." A broad grin lit up his face as he looked up to the sky, pointing up to the heavens. "Hope."

Congratulations, readers! You've made it to the end of the Turbulence Dragon Ball arc! I'm terribly excited to share the next few chapters of the story with you as we progress into the Z arc, continue the Demon Saga, and see how the Earth is faring in Age 761(this does mean there's a time skip, yes). This means we're getting into seeing adolescent Kakarot and how he's been affected by his raising on Namek while also seeing how Raditz's arrival will affect the Earth. Needless to say, the story is really picking up from here on out; the wait is finally over!

I hope you appreciated the short wait time for this chapter, and I'd love to say that I really worked hard on it because I wanted to get through the DB arc… but quite frankly, I wrote this entire thing in 6 hours of writing time divided over the course of three days. I'm extremely motivated to tell my tale to you all, and I hope that the extra effort I put into this chapter shows. That being said, I'm aware that some of you aren't going to like some of the content I placed into this chapter(mainly Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Launch all becoming fighters for the time being). Luckily, I didn't just randomly think of this and I've been planning it for quite some time, so now I'll get into my reasoning for why I did it:

Bulma has now officially lost(and when she thought she'd lost Krillin and Tien the pain had been magnified even more so) both the man she considered to be one of her closest friends and additionally, someone who, while lecherous, had genuinely cared for her well-being. With Launch, I suppose you can say it's the exact inverse - Roshi had taken her into his home(albeit for not exactly the right reasons) and she'd eventually grown into the Z-Gang. And in Chi-Chi's case, while she's too young to really figure this out now, Ox-King has most likely sent her off to avoid being killed by looters and to entrust her with Roshi and Gohan, both of which who are dead. Especially with the lack of Dragon Balls at this point(meaning that death is all too real), I think they would be motivated into training because at the time, they believed that they were the last true stand against Piccolo.

Additionally, to follow up on this point, I want to apologize in ANY way if the ending seemed rushed. I didn't want to just spring any information on you at the beginning of the next chapter, so it all needed to be condensed into that last scene. I tried to make everything work all at once, and I'm sorry if it didn't seem to work well with you all. I did my best as an author to write the scene, so I'm content with it, but nevertheless it's still something I want to bring up.

Also, once again Kakarot did not get a full scene in this chapter, and I'd like to just say that it would honestly be a repeat of what you all saw in Chapter 3. There's no need to show something that isn't really all that different from before, in my humble opinion, but rest assured that he is set to become the main character from here on out. Adolescent Kakarot's time on Namek will be quite more eventful than that of his younger self.

So… moving away from the concerns, let's get to the positives! Those of you who like Yajirobe are in for a treat, as he will indeed be joining the Z-roster for the foreseeable future and will be involved in many fights to come. Additionally, I thought that for my first real "multi-battle" of the story it was well-written, and I must admit that I had a blast writing the latter stages of the fight with Roshi's ultimate sacrifice and Krillin's savvy means of escape. It seems like not too many of you had caught on to my subtle hinting that Piccolo would prevail here and go on to rule the Earth, which is a good thing; I like to keep the readers guessing! I did say that without Goku around, there were going to be some negative consequences for the group. Consider this a bit of foreshadowing for the future, as things will be kicked into a darker tone now that Piccolo's reign has begun over Earth once again.

I imagine that some people will question why I planned to have Piccolo actually prevail here, and so I'll just answer that quickly before I get to the review responses. I wanted to show that the hero doesn't win every time and that there sometimes needs to be more of an uphill struggle for the characters to actually be seen as authentic and true characters. Additionally, I feel that having to work together to overcome such a big threat together will bring the Z-Fighters closer together as a whole; hell, it's already brought four new fighters to the table. What'll we see next?

Tune into the next installation of Turbulence to find out!

-Elbadj:Nice to see Yajirobe being his badass self again. He was a character that really got shafted come the transition to Z - given how he was effectively portrayed as being Goku's equal (with no training!)

I'm liking the look of where this is going - with the hero alliance about to face off against Piccolo. I'm curious as to whether the Yeat's allusion is foreshadowing of a sort (given what the poem was about), but I guess I'll have to wait until next time to see. Much as that is annoying, I think you were right to split the chapter in two - it's more dramatic this way, and I think some of the power would have been lost if it had all been one long chapter.

Yeah, I did my best to hint at Piccolo's winning that battle without actually doing so. While the villain won't always win every time to heighten the tension, I will admit that I intend on making things very balanced and not as formulaic as canon sometimes was(Goku somehow gets taken out of the picture, the fighters get smacked around, Goku returns with some new skill for the victory, etc.), so expect situations and allusions like that quite often.

And ironically enough… this chapter ended up being even longer than I thought Chapter 5 would've been together, haha. I wasn't about to split things up again when I made a promise to the readers; quite frankly, I'd like to get into Z just as much as all of you do!

-meh: Does anyone really give a crap about what's going on on Earth without Goku? I mean, yeah, it's nice that you're not rushing shit and giving some good characterizations of the humans, but it's boring. It's a rehash of canon with a few twists and turns. The interesting part of this story is the Goku on Namek part, yet you have an entire chapter devoted to filler crap on Earth without even a mention of Goku. If you insist on portraying all characters equally you'll find yourself bogged down and having to put off the climax of the story for years (at the pace you're writing, at least).

You also have 6k words worth of A/Ns. Do you realize that? You basically have a chapter worth of review replies. You can easily respond to each reply individually if the reviewer has an account, you can post them in your author profile and direct readers there, you can make a forum and direct readers there, etc. There's no reason at all for a chapter to be 25% non-story, especially when the chapter didn't even contain a single mention of Goku.

I would first off like to thank you for being very mature in your review, as generally anon reviews that don't have positive comments tend to be… I'll say 'less than mature.' Anyway, while I've actually done each of these methods in the past, I've found that it really just doesn't matter at this point. None of these notes or responses detract at all from the actual story; they're here to touch upon certain subjects that I can't do via narration, clarify or discuss various concepts, and just enhance the reader's experience overall. With author's notes like these, I can explain things about the story that I can't do through the voice of the narrator. It's also a very small way of making my readers' voices heard, as ultimately you are the ones that drive this fic as much as I do.

-LegendaryGoku5: Sucks to see no Kakarot in the chapter, but I guess I understand, I hope this is only one special case where it happens though, because I'm honestly more interested in seeing what happens on Namek right now than anything else. This demon saga right now has been fun so far, it really has, but ultimately I wanna see some more of your Nail and Kakarot right now as their story is pretty different from anything canon's seen before.

Anyway, Roshi was cool, so were Krillin, Yajirobe and Tien, but I gotta admit I wish that we could get to see some newer fighters instead of just the canon characters. While I'm not telling you to magically create an OC out of thin air, I do think the story would be better if we got some new fighters right now.

That's been noted, don't worry. As I promised, Kakarot will now be getting lots of screentime due to being able to work with more elements now, but that doesn't necessarily mean his story will be taking top priority.

Oh, and as for your second comment… how was the ending of this chapter, then? While Pilaf, Shu, and Mai won't be fighters, they have their own part to play in this rebellion; however, you can expect to see the three new female Z-Fighters in action(for this saga, at least) in addition to Yajirobe(who, spoiler alert, will be a full Z-Fighter for the foreseeable future).

-Ryu no Ohi: I really, really like the humans in this fic. Strong, cunning, & resourceful, especially against a much more powerful foe. Yajirobe is, dare I say it, being awesome. I really wish he'd been a bit braver in canon & trained harder - he could be a good counterpart for Krillin, with one being a martial arts master & the other a master swordsman.

Honestly… you'll be surprised to hear this, but prior to writing Turbulence I cared little for the remaining humans other than Tien, Krillin, or Yamcha. The main incentive of writing the fic was primarily to give Goku an alternate path while allowing the humans to shine a bit more, but as I grew deeper and deeper entrenched with the fic it revitalized my passion for the series as a whole. Having to actually re-write parts of Dragon Ball really got me to appreciate characters like Launch, Yajirobe, and Master Roshi, and its inclusion was better for the fic as a whole. I'm really glad that I had a DB arc in my story, but now it's time to move on to bigger and better things.