The Tournament Finals! Break Free, Tenshinhan!
The crowd cheered wildly as Goku and Tenshinhan met in the ring and the hot summer sun was suddenly cut off by a gathering of dark clouds. Tenshinhan glared at Goku… but blinked in astonishment when she brought her hands together and bowed at him. She never broke eye contact and glared right back but the action itself showed far more respect than Tenshinhan had been expecting. For reasons he wasn't quite sure of, he bowed in response.
"What are you doing?!" Shen demanded. "Don't show respect to that Turtle simpleton!" Tenshinhan… tuned his master out as he and Goku stood up and moved into their guards.
"Fighters ready? Begin!" Tenshinhan and Goku slowly circled each other as the clouds began to darken overhead. Tenshinhan made the first move and threw out a kick to capitalize on his reach advantage. Goku jumped high over the kick and went for a punch at Tenshinhan's head that he deflected to direct Goku towards the ground. She landed on her hands and kicked back with both feet at Tenshinhan's knee. Ten jumped over the kick and turned as he came back down to see that Goku had pushed off with her hands to be in front of him when he landed and charged him. Ten sprinted forward to meet her charge and the two clashed in a furious exchange of punches and kicks with each blocking the others' attacks at a pace too fast for almost anyone else to see. They met forearm to forearm, bodies trembling with nervous energy as they glared at each other before hopping away again and circling.
"Wow," Yamcha muttered, "So that's what it looks like when Goku gets serious." Launch nodded and moved closer to Yamcha. Unconsciously, he put an arm around her shoulders. As the Turtle and the Crane circled each other, Goku found herself smiling. She couldn't help it. Even though she was mad at him and even though Tenshinhan was a big jerk, she could tell this was going to be fun! Tenshinhan… found himself smiling back. Goku leaped at Tenshinhan and he made a swipe with the edge of his hand to knock her down but, to his shock, Goku wrapped her tail around his arm and swung by her tail to punch him hard in the back of the head to make him double over. Goku yanked down with her tail to send Tenshinhan down into the ground before uncurling her tail and jumping into the air to drive her feet into his back. Ten rolled away at the last second to avoid impact and came up with one arm thrust out to unleash a hail of yellow ki bullets from his palm. Goku swept them aside with a wave of kiai before sweeping them up again when she remembered that they would have hit the audience.
"Got you!" Tenshinhan declared triumphantly as he charged across the ring and drove his elbow into Goku's gut. He followed up with a series of punches to the stomach that drove Goku higher and higher up into the air before finishing with a kiai aided palm strike right on the bridge of the nose that sent Goku flying up into the sky with a thin trail of blood following her up for the first hundred feet. He flew up after and above her and waited until she was only a few feet away before he thrust his arm out again. "Dodonpa!" He roared and the yellow lance flew out of his finger and struck Goku true in the chest to send her hurtling back to Earth where she smashed violently into the ground.
"Eeesh," Bulma muttered as she watched. "That looked pretty bad." Roshi frowned as Tenshinhan descended back to the ring. Perhaps he'd given up too early. Worse still, perhaps he'd been too late. Shen might have turned Ten into a true killer after all. Before Ken could begin the count, however, Goku burst out of the ground with both fists out to smash Ten under the chin and send him staggering back. Goku battered Ten with a relentless series of expertly precise jabs, heedless of the blood flowing from her nose.
'Looks like Goku picked up a few boxing lessons while she was travelling the world,' Roshi thought with a chuckle. The fault in a boxing stance, though, was that it left your legs open to attack. Tenshinhan threw out a hard kick that caught Goku in the shin and broke her concentration for just a moment. That moment was all Tenshinhan needed as he grabbed Goku by the back of the head and slammed her face down into the tiles, over and over again before hauling her up by her hair and tossing her up again. Ten pulled his hands back as she fell and unloaded with sixty-four pinpoint accurate spear strikes all over her body. Ten let her drop on the sixty-fourth and backed away.
"You may as well count," he instructed Ken with his back turned to her. "She couldn't get up now even if she wanted to." Those exact points Ten had struck were the sixty-four energy points on the human body. Each two-fingered blow had been delivered with a ki-charged intensity that ensured total shutdown of that energy point. She would be completely immobilized.
"Three… four…" Ken stopped counting. Ten blinked. Why? Why would he stop? Unless she was… Slowly, as if he already knew the impossible thing he was about to see, Ten turned around. Son Goku was getting to her feet. Ten was too awestruck to attack.
How?
How?!
It was no matter of physical toughness or mental conditioning, every human being, no matter their age, size, or power; had those same energy points in the same places! He had hit every single one! It wasn't possible! No human could get up from that attack. Yet there she was. Covered in tiny purple bruises and wiping a thin trickle of blood from her nose but otherwise… Goku grinned and got back into her guard. Tenshinhan… laughed. Without an ounce of malice, he laughed.
"I hate to say it," he admitted, "But I'm enjoying this! I've never had a fight like this! It'll be a shame to kill you, Son Goku." Tenshinhan sounded genuinely regretful. Shen was appalled. Had Roshi actually gotten through to Ten? Was he feeling… guilt? Despite the threat against her life, Goku's smile was undeterred.
"You're going to have to try harder to kill me," she encouraged as earnestly as Ten had apologized. "Especially since I'll be getting serious to stop you!" Tenshinhan chuckled as the first flashes of lightning danced through the clouds and were followed by rumbles of thunder.
"So you've been holding back so far?" he asked. Goku nodded emphatically and Tenshinhan cracked his knuckles. "That makes two of us." He charged her again and was much faster this time. "Come on!" Goku met his charge and the two crashed into each other with the force of a train collision in an explosion of strikes. Elbows and punches and kicks and knees being thrown out at a pace too quick for anyone but the other finalists and Suno to follow and even for them it was a struggle. Powerful, full-force blows that neither combatant attempted to block, each going for an all-out offensive that left their bodies covered in bruises and welts. Tenshinhan went for a spinning kick that went right through Goku and he nearly lost his balance. He smirked when he realized she was using the afterimage technique and held his forearm up over his head. "You can't fool me with those kinds of tricks!" He reminded her in a taunting tone as she dove down… right through him. Goku spun in surprise to see Tenshinhan's foot coming right for her face… and he went through that, too.
"Got you!" Goku declared from Tenshinhan's left and he pivoted to see her barrelling towards him.
"You think so?" he asked with a smirk as he brought his hands up to his face. "Taiyouken!" Ten charged into the blinding light… and right into Goku's fist. He staggered away and collapsed onto all fours as he held his face and groaned. How. How was she doing these things?!
Ken recoiled in pain from the light and wondered when he'd taken his sunglasses off. No sooner had he wondered that then his sunglasses were somehow back on his face. It was very strange.
Goku turned to Roshi and gave an uncharacteristically cheeky wink before Tenshinhan suddenly crashed into her like a cannonball to tackle her to the ground and tried to put his hands around her throat as she fought to keep him from strangling her. She managed to put her feet up under Ten's chest and shoved him away before getting into her guard and… and nothing. She couldn't make her body move! Tenshinhan charged again and smashed his knee into her face. Goku staggered away and was able to move again when she wiped blood from her nose.
"That's…" she gasped out, "That's cheating!" Tenshinhan blinked in confusion and wondered just what in the world that meant when Goku leaped into the air to attack him again. Once again, however, Goku couldn't move! It was a hesitation in her movements too subtle for most to see before Tenshinhan brought her down to the ground with a hard chop.
'Wait,' Tenshinhan thought as he reflected on that hesitation, 'I know what this is…' He turned his gaze towards Shen and the still-damp Chaozu in the audience. Master Shen was rubbing his hands together with a wicked smile on his face. How could they?! 'Chaozu!' Ten demanded. 'Stop this!' Chaozu slowly turned towards Master Shen.
'M-master,' Chaozu thought, 'What should I–'
'What are you simpering fools waiting for?!' Shen demanded as Goku got to her feet and into her guard. 'Now, Chaozu!' Chaozu reluctantly stuck out his hand and the crowd watched in terrified confusion as Goku seemed to fight her own body's movements. Her arms were outstretched and her feet were firmly planted to the ground. A perfect target.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Launch demanded furiously.
"Snap out of it, Goku!" Yamcha called out. He just knew it had to be some kind of Crane trick! Roshi frowned. He knew exactly what was happening.
'Master,' Tenshinhan begged, 'Stop this! I don't want to win this way!'
'This isn't about winning!' Shen scolded. 'This is about revenge! Kill her! Kill her now! Drive your fist through her chest and crush her heart in your hand!' Tenshinhan's face was screwed up in agony while the sky rumbled and flashed as he slowly balled his hand up into a fist and pulled it back… then dropped it.
"I can't!" He confessed aloud. Everyone stared as the mental conversation turned verbal. "I can't do it! I don't want to do it! If I kill her, I'll be disqualified! I want to win this on my own. And I…" Ten swallowed as he came to the sudden realization. "I don't want to be an assassin. I don't want to kill." Shen was turning purple with rage.
"How dare you?!" Shen bellowed. "You are a killer! You are an instrument of death! It is what I made you for! It is what you were trained to be from the moment you could walk! Now kill her! Kill her now! Do it!" Ten glowered at his master and deliberately put himself between Goku and Master Shen and Chaozu, protecting his enemy from the only family he'd ever had. Shen shrieked with rage and pulled at his hair wings. "Chaozu!" he demanded. "Kill her! Crush the air out of her lungs until her eyes burst!" To Tenshinhan's surprise… Chaozu shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Master. Tenshinhan is my friend!" Chaozu spoke in a tremulous voice that was still clearly defiant. "If he wants to win on his own, I have to respect it!" Chaozu dropped his hand and Goku gasped as she was able to move again. She didn't know what was going on… but she was starting to like Tenshinhan.
"Fine!" Shen snapped as he threw out his arm and his fingertip began to glow. "I'll do it myself!" Ten didn't move. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and glowered with all three eyes. "What," Shen sneered "Is that supposed to stop me? That I'm supposed to care? I'll kill you both!" The crowd dove out of the way as Shen's fingertip grew brighter "Dodon–"
"Kamehameha!" The blue beam of light flew from the fighter's area and struck Shen to send him flying into the sky and punched a hole through the clouds. Roshi grinned as he watched Shen fly away. "Superior killing technique my ass. Waited over two hundred years for that," he muttered with satisfaction before turning back to Goku and Ten. "You two go back to what you were doin'." Ten turned back to face Goku as she hopped away to create space between them. They stared at each other for a moment before the sky suddenly opened up. A torrential rain came down on the stadium and everyone pulled out their umbrellas as thunder crashed and bolts of lightning streaked down from the sky.
"All I have left is this victory," Ten told Goku over the pouring rain as they circled each other again. "I cannot afford to lose. Even though I won't kill you anymore, Son Goku, I will do whatever it takes to win." Chaozu swallowed when he heard that. Did Ten mean he was going to use the Kikouhou? Goku grinned as she charged at Ten… and then slipped in the rain and fell on her face. Tenshinhan was so startled that he slipped right in the middle of his own charge and fell down as well. Everyone in the arena face-faulted as one at the sight of something so ridiculous.
Goku and Ten took off their boots as everyone got back up before sprinting at each other again and clashing in the rain. Now, though, it had become less of a fight and almost… a dance. Goku's movements were swift and graceful, as if she had committed the Odori style to memory after the weeks she spent with Suno, while Tenshinhan's Crane Style seemed so light and free now, as if a great weight had been sloughed away. The two moved as smoothly and fluidly as the water that came down around them.
Tenshinhan caught Goku in the side with a kick and she slid across the water on all fours before using her ki to anchor herself as Tenshinhan came towards her. She threw out her hands as he got close and struck him in the chest with a double palm strike that made Yamcha cheer from the sidelines. Tenshinhan slammed into the wall with a groan and watched as Goku came charging towards him like a bullet. He dodged at the last second and she crashed with both feet into the wall and nearly would have ringed herself out it if she hadn't stabbed her tail into the ring to anchor herself. Ten let out a frustrated huff of air through his nose as Goku got back into her guard. This was no good. They were too evenly matched! They were going to start wearing down soon and if she had more energy left in her than he had, he'd be sunk. It was time to get drastic.
"Goku!" he called out. "Let's see how you like this! Shiyouken!" Every muscle in Tenshinhan's body tensed up as he hunched forward and his veins pressed against his skin. He clenched his teeth to keep from screaming as unsightly mounds began to bubble and grow just above his shoulderblades. Finally, he couldn't hold in the scream anymore and cried out in pain as the mounds burst and stretched into fully-formed arms.
"I…" Ken stared. "I have nothing to say." Suno began to turn green.
"That," Bulma muttered, "Is so messed up." Being Bulma, however, the very next words out of her mouth were "I have to run tests on him!" The third eye, the flying, the arms! This guy was a treasure trove of scientific anomalies waiting to be examined. Tenshinhan smirked and cracked all of his knuckles before splaying his fingers.
"I can do that too!" Goku told him cheerfully. Ten stared at Goku in disbelief as she held out her arms. She couldn't. Could she? "Juunishuken!" In seconds, her arms were moving fast enough to look like she had not just eight but twelve arms. Now she wasn't just copying techniques she saw, she was improving them! Still, Tenshinan just laughed with some small amount of relief.
"I'm sorry, Goku," he said as he got into a low stance, "But it's not quite the same!" He charged at Goku and battered her with his four fists, always having two free no matter how quickly she blocked. He even indulged himself in a bit of a battle cry as he unleashed his rapid fire fisticuffs. "Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora!" That made Launch chuckle. Finally, Ten grabbed Goku by her arms and legs and pulled her up into the air. "Give up!" He told her as he pulled on her limbs. "I'll pull them out of their sockets! Give up now!" He pulled harder and Goku screamed in pain.
"Never!" she cried defiantly even as Ten pulled harder. Goku lashed out with her tail, the only thing she had left, whipping Tenshinhan in the face over and over. Despite this, his grip didn't let up, so Goku was forced to do something she didn't really want to and wrapped her tail around Ten's neck and squeeze. Ten squirmed and fought and tensed the muscles in his neck to try and loosen her tail from around his throat. Slowly, however, Ten's knees began to buckle until he finally began to fall to his knees. Even so, his iron grip remained until Goku had brought him fully to the ground and his vision began to swim with his extra arms sinking back into his back. Goku released her tail from around his neck once she was free and Ken began the count. Ten got up at eight and shook his head to clear it. That was too close.
"This ends now," he growled resolutely before he flew up into the sky with such force that he cracked the ring and sent up a spray of water. Goku jumped up after him, sending another huge crack through the heavily abused ring and another spray of water into the crowd. Tenshinhan flew up into the clouds and looked down to see Goku rocketing up to meet him. Some part of him knew he shouldn't have been surprised. He met her punch with a punch of his own and the pair dueled high in the sky, among the crashing of thunder and the howling winds, flashes of lightning illuminating their duel.
"Incredible!" Ken narrated from the ground below with a pair of binoculars. "I have never seen anything like this in my entire life! It certainly brings a new meaning to the term 'Mile High Club'!" Suno squinted up at the sky and watched as silhouettes were framed against the clouds like giants with every flash of lightning. It was so hard to see what was going on! There was a flash of lightning and a sudden cry of pain before a tiny, smoking body plummeted towards the ground like a rock and smashed painfully into the ring. Tenshinhan took a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow and flew up above the stormclouds. If that bolt of lightning hadn't given him the opening he'd needed to knock Goku down, he might have been in trouble.
"Goku!" he called down from the heavens while using ki to amplify his voice, "If you don't dodge this attack, you will die!" Ten brought his hands together and pressed his fingertips to each other as Chaozu's white face grew even paler.
"Tenshinhan!" he called out in a panic. "Don't do it, please!" Roshi pulled off his sunglasses with a trembling hand as his eyes grew wide.
"He wouldn't… not the Kikouhou!" he whispered. Why would Ten even think of using such a move? Was the Tenkaichi Budoukai worth years of his life?! "Goku!" he called as the girl picked herself up. "You've got to move! Now!" Goku looked around quickly.
"Where?" she asked. "Where should I go?!" She couldn't leave the ring! She'd lose! Roshi stroked his beard and thought. The average Kikouhou was about the size of a small car, so Goku would have to–
"My target," Tenshinhan bellowed out in a strained voice as he gathered energy, "Is the ring!" They all stared up with mouths agape as the clouds began to glow orange as if an angry God was speaking to them. "Move or die, Goku! Those are the only options! Move or die…" High above in the sky, Tenshinhan gathered the last of his energy and held it inside him for just a moment, holding it until the pain was unbearable. "Now! Kikooooouhooou!" A massive orange square ripped through the stormclouds and flew down towards the ring before everything was enveloped n a blinding flash of light and heat.
"Jeez," Yamcha muttered while he rubbed his eyes as the light died down, "I'm gonna need to start wearing glasses after thi–" he opened his eyes and saw "Hi… hi... hi…"
The ring… was gone. It was just gone. There was a giant square chasm where the ring used to be that went down for a good five hundred feet.
"That comes out of my salary…" Ken whined to himself with his arms hanging limply at his sides.
"Amazing," Roshi muttered as he looked down at the ring before he cast his eyes towards the clear blue sky. "Simply amazing." He had never seen a Kikouhou like that before in his life.
"Screw that!" Launch blurted out with her fists balled in rage. "That bastard killed Goku! She's as gone as the ring!" Roshi chuckled as he put his sunglasses back on.
"I wouldn't go that far," he assured her.
OoOoOoO
Tenshinhan was gasping for breath as sweat replaced the rain that had flash-misted off of his body from the heat of the Kikouhou. If he was honest with himself, he was amazed he still had the energy to keep himself in the air. He didn't think it was possible to be so tired or sore. Every muscle in his body was screaming for rest and he felt like his skin was on fire. All the same, he couldn't let his guard down. He could still sense Goku.
"Now," he muttered, "Where are…" he turned his gaze upward to see Goku plummeting down towards him and laughed. "I'm surprised to see you could jump so high!" he called up to her. "This was an excellent battle!"
"It's not over yet!" Goku said defiantly as she got closer. Ten only smiled and shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he told her, "But the ring is destroyed and so is the ground beneath it! The second you land, you lose! I've got enough energy to keep myself in the air. You can't win!" Goku glared at him.
"Don't tell me…" she brought her hands down to her side, "What I can't do! Kaaameeehaaameee…" Ten smirked.
"You can't be serious. Even as weak as I am now, I can deflect your Kamehameha. All you'll do is use up the last of your–" Goku suddenly spun around so that her back was to him.
"Haaa!" She cried out and the blue-white beam shot from her hands to send her into Ten's stomach like a rocket. He wheezed out the last of his energy in pain and the pair of them plummeted towards the earth.
OoOoOoO
"Ha!" Launch laughed as she pumped a fist in the air. "I saw that beam! Get him, Goku!"
"Astounding!" Ken shouted as he looked through his binoculars and was running short on superlatives. "Both fighters are dropping out of the sky towards the city! It will simply be a matter of gravity now!" Ken fished in the inside pockets of his suit and pulled out a capsule. He threw it on the ground and it exploded open to reveal a red hoverboard which he took off on to follow the action with a camera drone hot on his heels.
"Nimbus!" Suno called out and the magic cloud zoomed down towards her as Roshi unfurled his magic carpet and Bulma put on her sonic discs while Chaozu floated up into the air. Launch and Yamcha hopped onto the carpet with Roshi and they all flew off with Puar hanging onto the carpet for dear life.
"Both fighters are falling towards the street!" Ken narrated as Goku and Ten came closer and closer towards the ground. "However, it looks like Tenshinhan is falling just a little faster than Goku!" From his hospital bed, a barely-conscious Krillin smiled. Suddenly his door opened and he strained to sit up. The nurse was just in here a second ago…
OoOoOoO
Goku and Tenshinhan were falling so fast that the air whistled around them. It looked like Goku just might win… when she smashed into the side of a tractor trailer as it made a sharp turn through the intersection they were falling towards. Ten hit the ground half a second later and barrelled through the asphalt.
"Goku was out of bounds first!" Ken declared as he zoomed onto the scene. "Tenshinhan is the winner of the Twenty-second Tenkaichi Budoukai!" The driver looked out of the window and stared in slack-jawed disbelief. He'd been listening to the tournament on the radio for the last few hours! Goku's friends rushed to her and pulled her out of the dent she'd made in trailer as Chaozu flew to Ten and tried to pull his friend up.
"Are you okay, Goku?" Bulma asked as Suno and Yamcha helped Goku onto shaky legs. Goku made a groan of assurance and Roshi tousled her hair.
"You won, Ten!" Chaozu told his friend ecstatically. Ten groaned as he sat up. He certainly didn't feel like a winner. He'd won by luck. He forgot that as the crowd finally caught up with the rest of them and a large mob of the audience swarmed Ten and lifted them onto their shoulders as they cheered his name and another mob did the same for Goku. Well, now he felt like a little more of a winner.
OoOoOoO
Once they were all carried back to the stadium, the fighters changed out of their gi with Goku putting on Krillin's suit to replace her ragged and burned gi.
"Please," Ten insisted, "Let me split the prize money with you. If you hadn't hit that truck, I would have lost. It really could have gone either way." Goku shook her head firmly.
"Nah," she insisted right back, "You won, it's only fair. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with it!" Yamcha's stomach gurgled.
"I dunno about you guys but I could use some food," he grinned as Bulma and Launch playfully elbowed him from each side and glared at each other when they realized what the other had done.
"I'll pay for dinner," Ten said resolutely, "And I won't take no for an answer!" Roshi chuckled.
"Ohh, you'll regret that," Roshi told him with a playful wink. "Believe me." Everyone laughed… except for Goku. She clenched the Power Pole in her fist as the other hand balled up tight.
"I'm not hungry!" she said loudly and everyone's laughter died in their throats. "Something's wrong with Krillin!"
"Goku?" Suno asked softly before Goku sprinted away. She had no idea how Goku could still move so fast! "We better follow her." Everyone nodded and they chased Goku to the hospital.
OoOoOoO
Goku smashed down the door to Krillin's room… and there was Krillin, lying on the floor with his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. His eyes were vacant and a thin stream of blood ran down his mouth to the floor.
"Krillin?" she asked in a small voice as she got closer to her friend's body. He wasn't breathing. She collapsed to her knees beside him and reached out to hold him. "No…" she whispered as she pulled Krilin to her chest. She couldn't feel his heartbeat. When she realized that, she couldn't hold back her sobs any longer. They ripped out of her so painfully that it felt like her heart was coming out with each ragged gasp.
The others arrived moments later and were horrorstruck. Launch covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head desperately as tears ran down her cheeks. Yamcha put an arm around Bulma as she buried her face in his chest and tried to fight back his own tears. It was a battle he lost. Suno felt the kind of numb pain that only came to those who had seen too many friends die. Puar wailed helplessly and Tenshinhan was hit by a wave of guilt. If he hadn't broken Krillin's leg… Roshi's hands were trembling with a mixture of fear and sadness and rage.
"Who did this?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper. Who had murdered his boy?
"I-i-it was a monster," the nurse stammered and he pointed into the room. "Green a-a-and he had wings! He-he-he took the ball on his nightstand. The kid tried to stop him and…" Goku's head snapped up at that. The Dragon Ball. Someone had killed Krillin over her Dragon Ball. It was her fault. Someone had murdered her best friend and it was all her fault. Her grief and guilt mixed into her stomach like a horrible lead weight… before something burned it away. She looked up at the open window and glared. Goku sobbed out growls of rage as a single strand of lightning danced through her hair. Someone had killed Krillin. She had someone to hit. Someone who she could make pay.
"Bulma!" she snapped as she stood up. "Dragon Radar!" Bulma pulled herself away from Yamcha and wiped her eyes. She started to say something but Goku cut her off. "Now!" she demanded with tears still running down her cheeks. Bulma nodded hastily and handed her the radar. None of them had ever seen Goku so angry before. "Nimbuuuuuus!" Goku roared in fury. The cloud flew out to the window and Goku jumped out onto it and Nimbus rocketed away as if it could sense its master's rage.
"Goku, wait!" Suno called out… but she was already long gone. "We have to go after her! She's in no shape to fight! I'm the only one who didn't fight today, I'll try and catch up to her!" Suno hopped out the window and threw out the Capsule with the hover car her mom had given her for her birthday. She managed to get into the car and turn on the engine before it hit the ground and immediately began to chase after Goku. Everyone else started to run out of the hospital and nearly crashed into Ken.
"Ken," Yamcha asked as he helped the announcer up, "What the heck are you doing here?"
"Someone stole the roster from this year's Budoukai!" he explained frantically as he waved around a piece of paper. "They left this behind!" Roshi took the paper from Ken's hand… and felt his blood freeze in his veins.
"No…" he whispered as the paper slipped from his numb fingers. "No, no, no." He had prayed this day would never come. Was so certain that it couldn't possibly happen.
Son Gohan had always told him about Goku in the letters they exchanged over the years. How strong she was and how proud he was of her. Roshi had become proud of her as well, of her skills and her power but also of her good nature. Even though she had only lived with him for a year, Roshi knew that he could not have loved that girl more if she were his own daughter. But she was weary and beaten and tired beyond all possibility. As Roshi stared down at the seal of the Great Demon King Piccolo, he knew that he would never see Son Goku alive again.