"Goku!" Krillin called out to his friend. The downed boy spread a pungent odor of sweat all around the area and his skin looked red enough to seem as if he had just left an intense sauna session. Krillin knew what that meant, Goku used his odd power-up mode that drove his body into a dehydration crisis to temporarily boost his strength and speed beyond the normal limits. It was a dangerous technique, the longer Goku used it, the more powerful he'd have grown but the closer his body drove itself to total shutdown or even death. The concept was too early in its testing stages for the technique to even have a name, it was just the way in which the duo kept themselves warm using Ki escalated to the N'th degree.

A puny spark of life still simmered in Goku, it was weak but it wasn't going any weaker so it didn't seem like the boy's life was in much danger. He could have used a good dip in a cold bath and some food to help him recover, ideally a Senzu. It wasn't like there was much point staying in the Room of Spirit and Time now that King Piccolo didn't threaten the world anymore. King Piccolo…

The decrepit Demon Lord coughed up more purple goop from his mouth and glanced at the massive hole jarring in his abdomen, then at the stump of the arm that he had planned to fire off his Explosive Demon Wave with before Goku shred it to fleshy bits and reduced it to ashy remains on the floor. The Demon King coughed up and smiled. It was a malicious sort of smile that drove goosebumps down Krillin's back. He had to lash out or else fear would consume him again. Krillin had promised he'd stop being afraid for once.

"What's so funny!? Goku won, we'll bust Chayote out of the rice-cooker too, you've lost!" Krillin shook his fist at King Piccolo but didn't dare come any closer.

"Won? Hardly so…" the Demon King wheezed in a husky voice. Who could have blamed him, after all, most of his chest cavity was blown out. "It seems impossible to think that I… The Great Demon King Piccolo would be done in… By some… Boy… Although… I had been waiting for this body to feel close to death."

"Wait, what!?" Krillin freaked out. "This body?"

"That's right…" The Demon King pointed his beady eyes at Krillin and got serious while violent jerks took his body over. It didn't make much sense that another egg would form inside his body and fire off into the white oblivion beyond but it did so nevertheless. An egg almost the size of the Demon King's head emerged from his mouth and shot out deep into the Room of Spirit and Time. The dying Demon King slobbered and bled all over in slouching position.

"What was that!?" Krillin demanded to know.

"That…? That was your doom…" the Demon King mustered out a laugh. "Listen and listen well, human, when driven to a point of near-death, the Evil Tribe is capable of reincarnating into a new body. This reincarnation is… Both me and not me at the same time… Part clone, part my true son… All inheritor of the Evil Tribe's might and will. You think you have won by killing me but… Truth be told… It was I, Demon King Piccolo who… Tasted victory by transferring my power into a younger inheritor and cemented Kami becoming one with me at last."

A powerful blast detonated at the Demon King's side, blowing a chunk of him off and ripping what pathetic husk remained almost in half. A cascade of more and more smaller blasts then collided into a singular, almighty explosion that made Krillin cover up so that he didn't get thrown aside. After the smoke settled, the Great Demon King Piccolo was no more.

With a hastened step, Krillin rushed up to the rice-cooker and opened it, a vortex of green light emerged from within, forcing the bald martial artist to stumble a few steps back in resistance to the emerging force that began taking a monstrous shape. A shockwave-inducing roar emanated through the Room of Spirit and Time making Krillin go pale in terror. What emerged from within the rice-cooker was a Great Ape monster similar to that which had appeared in the World Martial Arts Tournament three years ago. Back then Muten Roshi had to blow up the moon because there was no other way to fight the monster off. Now, even when the titan of fur, teeth, and muscle bled from its eyes, nose, and mouth and looked in an all-around pathetic condition, it still sent surges of Ki so massive that they might have made Krillin's bowel movements freeze up.

It would be such a shameful death, dying to a careless release of Great Ape Chayote just after slaying the Great Demon King!

The Great Ape jerked and clutched its stomach, then bellowed once more as it began shrinking in size. Its hair began retracting while the beast bled out mass and bulk until it remained as a shape of a battered and bruised young woman lying on the white floor of the Room and Spirit and Time unconscious. Krillin wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked around.

"That's right… This place doesn't have a moon, does it?" he muttered to himself. "Blowing up a moon serves the same point as not having one, to begin with, I guess…" he laughed out despite being the only one who could hear his own glee.

The handle of the wooden door leading into the Room of Spirit and Time turned and the old door squeaked open. Mr. Popo stared at Krillin and the excitement on his face for a few moments before realizing what this attitude of the martial artist must have meant.

"I left Goku in a cold bath. He'll need a couple of moments to soak up some fluids. Also, Chayote's in there too, I umm…" Krillin poked two of his fingers together with a blush on his cheeks. "I didn't feel like moving her. They both will need some help."

"That's a relief…" Mr. Popo smiled. "Earth will be safe soon then."

"Will be?" Krillin wondered.

"Yes. King Piccolo left a nasty mark of the Devil carved on the remains of West City. The mark inspired the deep-rooted evil from the human hearts to surface. The world will need some time to recover. Never has the Earth needed a new Kami more than now." Mr. Popo looked down, staring the upcoming difficulties of picking the pieces back up in the face.

A couple of hours later, Korin and Yajirobe ascended to the God's Temple with a sack of Senzu. It was an unusual situation to see the old cat up in God's Temple but it was also a very unusual set of circumstances. Goku took a good twenty-two minutes to get back into shape and regain his consciousness. Both of the Saiyans stuffed their faces full in the Room of Spirit and Time. They looked weak at first but with each bite of food, their strength surged back into their bodies. The Senzu helped to top the process off.

"Nice!" Chayote punched her palm, feeling the rough thud of her fists. "With this strength, King Piccolo would have been a joke…"

"Yeah… I feel power surgin' through my body! It's insane!" Goku shrieked in shock after chewing the Senzu. "Who's this guy again?" he pointed at Yajirobe.

"He's my newest trainee. He's can be pretty useful at times…" Korin explained.

"What's dat about useful, eh? You just sat on my shoulders while I did the climbin' 'ere, ya coot!" Yajirobe shook his fist at Korin.

"It's not like you couldn't use losing some weight…" Korin cleared his throat while fending off the accusation.

"I'm glad you two feel stronger." Krillin pulled his torn up gi, choosing the grab the bull that blew smoke from its nostrils just outside the pawnshop by the horns. "Because we might soon use that strength…"

"Huh?" Goku wondered and turned to Krillin, the rest followed, curious about what the baldy had to say.

"King Piccolo he… Just before he died, he spat out another egg. He talked a lot about some reincarnation business too…" Krillin pointed out.

"Oh no!" Mr. Popo took a step back and raised his palms up in panic. "You mean he succeeded in reincarnating!?"

"I… I think he did…" Krillin dragged his shoe across the floor. "I didn't know I was meant to stop him, it just happened so suddenly. By the time he explained what had happened – it had already happened. The egg flew off far in the Room of Space and Time somewhere…"

"Oh… That's better. If the little demonling gets lost – he won't hurt Earth anymore." Mr. Popo scratched his cheek. "Still… It's sad. That means there's no more hope for Kami to come back, not even if we use the Dragon Balls."

"It isn't like we could, Kami's gone, isn't he?" Korin sighed. "Seeing Earth how it is now, for how long further can we postpone that we need a new guardian?"

"I know… I had thought that… Maybe there was hope that… Kami would still return but…" Mr. Popo got wet in the eyes as his lips started whimpering in waves. "Korin is right. The world is in chaos, Piccolo's reincarnation might emerge from the Room of Spirit and Time at any point and threaten the world again. The need for a young and strong guardian now is greater than ever. Kami is… Truly gone." Mr. Popo sniffed.

"Goku killed Demon King Piccolo, he'd likely whoop Piccolo Jr.'s ass too…" Krillin prod his friend in the side with his elbow.

"Huh? Me, doing all that boring stuff Mr. Popo did while we were training? Nah, take that!" Goku pulled his eyelid down with a crude gesture, scaring Mr. Popo and making Korin laugh aloud from the rudeness of the young Saiyan.

"True, perhaps Son Goku isn't the best option. Krillin then?" Korin looked to the baldy. "You're one of the best students I've ever had. I never had any doubts I'd be giving you the bell the moment you started taking your training seriously."

"I'm sorry but… I'll have to refuse. I… I want nothing to do with Piccolo Jr. anymore. That whole Evil Tribe business is way too scary for me…" Krillin rubbed his stomach that kept on swarming with butterflies.

"Well, they did kill you and have you roam the Earth restless in Limbo so… I suppose nobody can blame you." Korin licked his paw.

"I suppose… If I really had to, I'll fight…" Krillin shrugged, looking frightened to the soles of his boots by the prospect.

"No." Mr. Popo shook his head. "The Guardian of Earth needs to be pure of heart. I can sense wickedness in you. You had nasty thoughts looking at Chayote when she emerged from the pot, didn't you?" Mr. Popo looked at Krillin with that blank, inquisitive stare that could have meant nothing just as easily as it could have meant a million of things.

"Whaaaa!" Krillin stumbled back while Chayote turned to him with a twitching eyebrow. "I… It's just… Look, I can't fly Goku's yellow Kinto so it's clear that my heart isn't the purest!" he wisely shoved it all under that carpet and sealed the question of his candidacy shut.

Goku laughed, nearly rolling over on his back in hilarity as he pointed at Krillin's emotional predicament, having found it all quite comical, though more likely than not because he understood nothing about what anyone was talking about and reacted purely on the blood-red blush on Krillin's face and how he reacted to being embarrassed in public.

"Chayote's chances at stopping Piccolo Jr. are as good as they are going to get for us…" Krillin shrugged, avoiding eye contact with Chayote as much as possible.

"Her heart is far from pure…" Mr. Popo pointed out. "I would also like the new Guardian to have at least a modicum of mysticism training. That part takes the longest to tutor the Guardian in."

"Also, she's dumb and lazy as a brick." Korin licked his paw. "It wasn't until very recently that she's learned the basics of Ki manipulation. Think about how long it'd take a pitiful Kami like that to create anything at all. She hasn't even earned her bell yet…"

"Thanks for the flattery but… It's not like I planned on staying here to rule over this joint anyway." Chayote locked her arms over her chest and looked away. "I'm gonna go fly off into space anyway to join up with the Frieza Army like I was always meant to. King Piccolo really did a number on this planet, it's worthless to conquer anyway…"

Krillin smiled. The routine of Chayote's endless excuses for why she was sticking around and not acting on her basic Saiyan impulses had not yet gotten old with him. It didn't seem to have gotten old with Goku either who had finally managed to settle down after laughing at Krillin and was beginning to do some light stretching since the conversation of higher ranking divinities and attendants of Earth was beginning to bore him.

"Do ye even have any food 'ere!? Carryin' dat deadweight cat made me hungry!" Yajirobe croaked from somewhere far away in God's Temple. Korin and Mr. Popo didn't look all too excited to have the ronin hick scour the sacred grounds of God's Temple but the conversation and the tough decision ahead of them were too important to overlook.

"What about Fortuneteller Baba, isn't she really old and a strong mystic? She seems like the right kind of crone for the job…" Chayote shrugged, not even daring to suggest the woman's brother since he was a perv through and through and judging with what was being discussed – it was a wrong property for a Kami to have.

"No way!" Mr. Popo objected. "Baba is very old. The human lifetime is fragile and becoming a Kami extends it two or three times due to the influence of the God Ki but the woman has a notoriously bad reputation and she doesn't follow any rules at all – she'd doom us all. Not to mention that she's greedy and self-centered at heart."

"That she is…" Chayote sighed, identifying her mentor at heart by what Mr. Popo described.

"Upa…" Goku pointed out nonchalantly while stretching. "I'm not sure what we're talking about here but Krillin said he's not able to fly Kinto, Upa can fly the Kinto just fine."

"Upa… Baba's little trainee boy, right?" Korin scratched his chin. "Yes… That might work… Baba has been training him to become her assistant so that she didn't have to do any work. He'll be a natural!"

"Be right back!" Mr. Popo declared out of a sudden as he was standing atop of the magical flying carpet by the time Korin finished the sentence. A blur of black, gold and rose and Mr. Popo was back with a frightened young man on the carpet with crossed tomahawks on his back and even more details face-paint decorating the boy with his accomplishments.

"Ch…Chayote!" Upa smiled and jumped off of the carpet. "Goku!" he turned for the young boy as the two shook hands. "What's… What's going on here?" he scratched his head.

"Kami is dead. You will become the new Kami." Mr. Popo declared with a bluntness that could have only been attributed to someone unfamiliar with the subtleties of the human communication and basic social skills.

"Me!?" Upa reeled back in shock. "B-But…!" he tried to come up with at least one of the endless reasons there must have been for that to be impossible but he just couldn't formulate one. It might not have been because of the fact that there were no reasons but more likely that the entire situation seemed just so absolutely preposterous that he couldn't even begin to deal with it in a rational manner.

"Yes, you've done some training with Baba so you'll pick things up quickly. You're pure of heart so the other past Kami will accept you when you take your trials. You will do just fine." Mr. Popo nodded with a smile on his face. "Mr. Popo will be your humble attendant and help you settle into your role, Mr. Popo will guide you in all things!"

"B-But... This is so sudden… M-My dad…" Upa fumbled his way through words.

"The boy isn't wrong. He is quite green at the moment. His father has served very well as the protector of the Sacred Land of Korin, he might serve as a replacement until the boy comes of age." Korin scratched his ear.

"No!" Mr. Popo shut it down. "The human lifespan is very limiting. It will take years for even a natural to adapt and learn all the things, then years more until he passes the Kami trials and learns to make things work. Kami was perfect because somehow he could just do all the things but Upa will have to learn all those from scratch. Even if God Ki extends the human lifespan, his father would pass away too soon after learning everything and then I'd have another middle-age Kami to teach it all over again to, who'd then also pass away far too soon. Upa is perfect, he must be the one to do it!"

"Look at you, shrimp…" Chayote smirked. "Going from a little weakling crybaby to Kami is a pretty impressive leap."

"Th…Thanks…" Upa scratched his chin, struggling to believe what was going on but surrendering himself to the chaos and accepting the tough training ahead of him and the tremendous responsibility of fixing the Earth after the chaos that King Piccolo seeded, not to mention protecting it from the threat of Piccolo Jr. on top of that. "What about you?" Upa wondered. "The Earth would benefit from having you help us protect it."

"Forget it, I'm long overdue to get off this rock." Chayote pouted. "As much as I'd love to pound the shit out of Piccolo's son or whatever that thing to avenge the beatdown he gave me, it might take years for the bastard to grow some balls to attack us. He might never find the exit from that room at all…"

"Say, say… What are dese tough balls!?" Yajirobe emerged from God's Temple carrying an old, open, gold-incrusted, mahogany chest with gleaming orange orbs with black stars on them. "One thing they're not is food…" the chubby ronin declared with busted teeth as he without a doubt had tested that specific potential use for the balls thoroughly.

"Th… These are! Dragon Balls!" Krillin freaked out, staring at the seven artifacts that reflected sunlight about as well as the Dragon Balls he knew and loved.