Training for the Budoukai! Road to the Final Confrontation!
Three Years Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
Korin hummed a little song to himself as he walked through his little senzu garden and watered the senzu sprouts and plants. He still had a giant jar of the things but he'd started growing some recently. Partly because he had a sneaking suspicion that Goku and her friends were going to need a lot more of these someday and partly just to give himself something to do. He hadn't realized until after Suno had finished her training and gone back to her village that practically the only things he did were nap, walk around his tower, and occasionally stare into the distance before scrambling all around like a maniac for reasons he couldn't explain.
Something distracted Korin from his watering and made his ears jerk suddenly. It sounded like someone was climbing his tower. Like… several someones. He walked away from his plants and walked closer to the center of the second floor of his tower just as five, five people finished climbing the tower at once. A triclops, an albino, a young man with a scarred face, a shorter young man with six incense burns in his forehead, and a woman whose hair was an erratic clash between blonde and blue.
"Hello," the Triclops said with a bow, "You must be Korin." He did not seem surprised that Korin was a cat. "We're here for training." Korin suddenly found himself regretting his lonely feelings.
OoOoOoO
Suno walked past the limits of Jingle Village and into the forest and smiled when she saw Master Snow. She knew she'd find the old man here. She didn't know what it was but old masters seemed to love standing in isolated places where they could look dramatic, like a tall hill for example. It wasn't quite as effective in the spring when all the snow had melted but she supposed it was the principle of the thing.
"Master Frost," she said with a bow, "It's good to see you again." Frost bowed in return and smiled at her.
"And you as well, Suno. I heard about what you and that Goku girl did. You and her friends are very brave."
"Thank you, Master," Suno said. "It's funny that you mentioned Goku, though. I'm actually here because of her." Frost looked at her skeptically and arched an eyebrow.
"Is she interested in learning the Odori style?" He asked.
"No," Suno said with a shake of her head. "I mean, she is but she's probably figured it out just from watching me fight. She's really good at that sort of thing." Suno chewed her lip for a moment before she continued. "Master," she said, "I'm going to enter the next Budoukai. I know Goku will be there and I expect to fight her. If it comes to that, I'll need all the help I can get." Her face screwed up with determination as she brought her hands onto her hips. "I'm ready for you to teach me the Fubuki Odori." Frost nodded slowly and squeezed his one hand into a fist until his knuckle cracked.
"Let's begin."
OoOoOoO
Two Years and Six Months Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
"I've paid you an exorbitant amount of money," Shen said as he looked down at his baby brother's barely-alive body on the operating table with an oxygen mask strapped to his mouth and much of the mangled flesh from the grenade and his crash hacked away. There were wires hanging from his limbs and eye sockets and even from the top of his cracked skull. "Everything my brother ever made from killing people and much of my own personal savings. This was quite some time ago. When can I expect results?"
"Patience," the other man said as he stroked at his mustache. "The technology has not been easy to build with my lack of resources in these hard times and half the struggle has been in keeping him alive. I assure you, however, he will live. He will be stronger than ever before."
"Yes," Shen nodded as he clenched his fist, "And then he shall kill them! My traitorous students and that worthless old cretin. And Son Goku!"
"Yes," the other man said drolly although Shen did notice his eye twitch at the name "Son Goku", "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to work." Shen sneered but nodded curtly.
"Very well," he said, "I expect to hear from you soon, mister–"
"Doctor," the other man corrected sternly. "Doctor Archimedes Gero."
OoOoOoO
He'd been weak when he was born. Weak and small and confused. With every day, though, he had been growing stronger. With every day, he grew larger and discovered more of his powers, his strength, flight, energy sensing and manipulation. With every day, he discovered the pleasure of doing evil. A wild animal here, a hiker there, a family of campers. As he looked down into a swift-moving stream at his green reflection and ran his claws across the water's surface, he growled and spoke his first words.
"K-k-k-kiiiiiill," he whispered, "Kill," he said again, more clearly and confidently, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" Again and again, until it became a chant when he added "Son Goku! Kill Son Goku! Kill Son Goku! Kill Son Goku!" He threw his head back and laughed as he beat his chest.
Piccolo Daimaou lived again.
OoOoOoO
Tenshinhan sat alone on his mountain perch, legs folded under him as he flipped through his magazine and read it intently. A smile crept across his lips as he chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh Josuke," he muttered to himself, "You are such a scamp."
"Hey up there!" A voice called and Ten quickly tucked the manga under his seat and brought his hands up onto his legs. He heard someone approaching and was surprised to see that it was… Yamcha. He was carrying a square cardboard box with one hand as he pulled himself up onto Ten's perch with the other. Whatever was in that box certainly smelled good. "Hope I didn't disturb your meditation or anything."
"Yes," Tenshinhan said, "Meditation." After an awkward pause he said "And no, you did not. What are you doing here, Yamcha?" He had not seen the other man since they had trained with Korin. Yamcha grinned and held up the box.
"Brought pizza." Ten blinked at that.
"What," he asked, "Is 'pizza'?" Yamcha sighed and shook his head sadly.
"You poor, poor man," he said. "It's food. Friends hang out sometimes and have lunch." Tenshinhan blinked at that. Friends? "I mean, we did fight a demon and try to save the world."
"I broke your friend Krillin's leg," Tenshinhan objected.
"Isn't broken anymore."
"I struck Bulma."
"She's tough."
"I tried to kill Son Goku!"
"Yeah but ya didn't." Ten groaned and ran a hand across his bald head.
"How did you even get past Chaozu? He was supposed to make sure no one disturbed my meditation." Yamcha grinned and opened the box to reveal the pizza. There was a slice missing.
"So," Yamcha said as he sat down next to Ten, "You hungry?" Ten stared at the pizza for a moment in awkward silence before he reached into the box and took a piece. He bit into it… and all three eyes opened wide.
"Ohm mm Gd." He muttered in shock with a full mouth. Yamcha laughed.
OoOoOoO
Two Years Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
It was like a madman's version of the Tenkaichi Budoukai. It was in a dirty, dingy, underground arena instead of the open air with a crammed-in audience of a few hundred screaming lunatics that surrounded and pressed up against a cage filled with one hundred screaming lunatics.
"Kumite," the audience chanted as one as they pumped their fists, "Kumite! Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!" They worked themselves into a frenzy, frothing at the mouth, baying for blood. The chant grew louder and louder until someone sounded a gong and the chant devolved into a wordless scream as the fighters tore into each other like wild animals.
There were no referees to stop the fight if someone was injured and with so many bodies it was impossible to hear anyone yield and cry submission. The cage ensured there would be no ring-outs. There was only one way to win this mad tournament: be the last man standing. It was madness and bedlam as men and women who had never met before fought as if the person in front of them was someone they had hated all their lives. Limbs were broken. Teeth and eyes were knocked out. Some lives were ended. In the end there was only one. When the chaos finally ended the crowd fell into a hushed silence. Standing amidst the carnage was a most unlikely champion. He was short. He was bald. He did not appear to have a nose.
Krillin roared in triumph and raised his fists to the sky. He would do whatever it took to become strong enough. He would travel the world and face any foe. He would become strong enough for her, to face her as an equal at the Tenkaichi Budoukai and, win or lose, he would finally tell Son Goku how he felt about her!
OoOoOoO
Bulma carefully moved out from behind the secret hallway to her secret lab and quickly covered it with her bookshelf before she walked out of her regular lab and made her way down the hall. Yeah, sure, it was a cliche but she was pretty sure that if anyone actually saw what she was doing, they'd be pretty mad. Because they were all stupid, of course. None of them were as smart as her, not even daddy. They wouldn't understand the why of what she was doing. All the questions that could be answered and all the knowledge that could be gained, they were just…
Bulma tried to push those thoughts out of her mind as she stopped by the fifth floor kitchen to grab a couple bottles of water. She didn't need to be thinking like that, not with her friends around. Yamcha had brought Launch over to use the gravity room with him. Apparently he'd even offered Tenshinhan to come use the facility but the Triclops had politely declined. Yes, she thought, Launch was definitely a friend. Even if she had been acting more… erratic lately. Her hair kept shifting in the proportions of blonde to blue. Bulma had offered to run some tests to see what the problem was but, for whatever reason, Launch had gotten really upset with her. Then upset with herself. It was worrying. As Bulma neared the gravity room, she noticed that the display outside showed that they were only using twice the Earth's gravity. That was weird. Then she reminded herself that Launch had never used the room before and that Yamcha was probably taking it easy on her. Yeah, that made sense. Bulma pushed the button to turn off the gravity and the door slid open…
The water bottles slipped out of Bulma's numb hands and clattered to the floor.
They were…
They were…
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Bulma screamed with tears in her eyes before she ran off.
Yamcha returned a week later. He would have come back the very next day but the guards had explained that they'd had orders to shoot on sight and told him to leave. Yamcha had been thankful at that moment for the friendship he'd built with the guards over the last several years. So he'd had to sneak into Capsule Corp. Sneak into a building where he had, or probably used to have at this point, his own bedroom. A place where he'd felt like part of a family. Yamcha supposed he deserved as much, though. It had been awful what he'd done to Bulma; in her own home, no less. He'd spent the week beating himself up, asking why he had done it. Why had he hurt Bulma? Sure he liked Launch but he loved Bulma. Launch had also disappeared from the face of the Earth shortly after what had happened so it looked like Yamcha had gone and screwed everything up.
"Bulma?" he called out in a hushed tone as he crept through the hallway. He had a basket of chocolate-infused strawberries in one hand and a bouquet of purple roses, Bulma's favorite kind, in the other. Neither had been easy or cheap to find but Yamcha didn't care. He was here to apologize, to make amends, to do whatever it would take to get Bulma back. He had even dressed up in his one good suit and tie. "Buuuulmaaaa?" he called, "I'm sorry! I wanna talk to you!" He noticed that the door to Bulma's lab was ajar and stepped inside, figuring that she might be in there. He frowned as he looked around the typically-chaotic, if abandoned, scene. No Bulma. He was all set to leave when he saw a strange green glow emanating from behind Bulma's bookcase. Against his better judgement, Yamcha put his shoulder to one side of the bookcase and gave it a small shove. There was a hallway behind the bookcase. "Secret lab behind the bookcase?" Yamcha muttered suspiciously. That was never good. Yamcha walked down the hallway with ever-growing discomfort before he came to the secret lab itself source of the light. The strawberries and flowers slipped from his numb hands as he stared up in disbelief.
It was…
It was…
"What the fuck?!" he whispered in shock. Floating in an enormous tank filled with glowing green fluids was the corpse of Piccolo Daimaou. There were tubes connected to his body that flowed out of the tank and into computers and machines that made strange and disheartening beeps and chimes.
"What are you doing here?" Bulma asked coldly from behind him. Yamcha spun around to face her, all thoughts of apology and compromise forgotten.
"What am I doing here?!" Yamcha asked incredulously. "What is that doing here?!" He asked as he gestured up to Piccolo's body. "Why is it in your house?! What are you doing with it?!" Bulma scowled and folded her arms over her chest.
"Not that it's any of your business," she said sourly, "But I'm studying him. I took Piccolo's corpse from the battlefield when no one was looking and I brought it back here so I could preserve him before his flesh started to decompose."
"WHYYYYY?!" Yamcha practically screamed. Bulma just rolled her eyes.
"Oh yes," she said sarcastically, "An ancient, possibly extraterrestrial creature with a completely alien physiology living on Earth. Who would ever want to study that?" She ran a hand along the glass tank and smiled. "It sucks that Goku destroyed most of his internal organs but I've been able to learn so much from studying his brain and blood and the structure of his muscles and tissues–"
"Who cares!" Yamcha snapped. "Did you forget the part where he tried to wipe out the human race? Or when he took over the world?!" He gestured to Piccolo's floating corpse again and tapped on the glass, pointing at his chest. "Look at this hole! Remember how it used to be GOKU SIZED?! It doesn't look that way anymore!" The hole had noticeably shrunk in the last year. "So tell me what that means, science lady," Yamcha demanded scornfully. "I think it means he's regenerating! What if this… thing you've got him hooked up in is keeping him alive?! What if he comes back?!" Bulma scoffed.
"Please," she said, "I've been monitoring him for the last year and we haven't seen the slightest brainwave fluctuation. He's as dead as a block of wood. Besides," she added, "I'm a scientist. It would be against my moral compass not to research when I see the potential for scientific discovery. Just think what I could do for amputees or crippled people if I could unlock the secrets of his tissue regeneration!"
"Your… moral compass," Yamcha said quietly as he narrowed his eyes, "Your. Moral. Compass?! You manipulated a small child into being your bodyguard by using the memory of her dead grandfather so you could get a boyfriend! You talk about studying corpses when the corpse in question is kicking my ass! For God's sake, Bulma, you kidnapped Puar in his sleep and tried to force him to shapeshift and study the changes in his biology!"
"And what's so terrible about that?!" Bulma demanded.
"You didn't ask me! Worse, you didn't ask him!"
"He's a cat!"
"He's a thinking, feeling person, Bulma!" Yamcha screamed. "He's my best friend! Your 'moral compass' IS A GODDAMN ROULETTE WHEEL!"
"Oh," Bulma scoffed, "Is this what's going on now? I'm getting lectures in morality from the criminal?" That hurt worse than anything else. More than the deception, more than the attempted unwilling experimentation, more than the lies or the disregard. She would never see him as anything more than a criminal, Yamcha realized. In that moment, Yamcha realized why he'd done what he'd done. Even if Launch had initiated that moment, Yamcha hadn't resisted. Now he knew. In that moment, he hadn't felt compartmentalized or scrutinized or analyzed and, for all of Launch's problems, he realized that she was still less messed up than the girl he'd been in a relationship with. Yamcha growled and let out a wordless roar of rage as he flung a Sokidan out of his palm and swept it around the lab in a wide arc and destroyed all of Bulma's equipment in a shower of sparks and shrapnel as Bulma dove for the floor. He detonated the ball against Piccolo's glass and the corpse tumbled to the floor where it quickly began to decompose in the open air. Then he blasted a hole in the ceiling with another ki ball and flew up into the sky, a trick he was now grateful to have learned from Ten. Bulma got to her feet and screamed up at him. "I don't ever want to see you again! Ever!"
Yamcha didn't stop and he didn't look and he didn't turn around but his eyes were burning with unshed tears.
OoOoOoO
Climbing a mountain, Launch thought, was hard. It wasn't any easier when you spent the entire climb arguing with yourself. Not that her angrier self was trying to stop her from climbing. They were arguing about how they were going to fix this problem.
"One of us has to go," Blonde Launch said gruffly, "And the other one gets to stay. That's the only way this is gonna work. Do you think you have the guts to kill me?" Blue Launch shook her head furiously. "No," she insisted, "There has to be a better way! We can be one person! We don't have to fight anymore!" "But if we're one person then we're both gone!" Launch climbed in silence for a while. "... Maybe that wouldn't be so bad."
Launch had become a wreck ever since the battle with Piccolo Daimaou. She thought confronting and overcoming her other self would make things better but it had only made them worse. She was constantly arguing with herself and fighting for control. Sometimes she'd be perfectly fine and then it would be hours later and her other self had done something terrible. She wasn't even sneezing anymore! When she'd seen Chaozu earlier, she'd threatened to kill him and then immediately had to apologize. The last year had been hell. After what had happened with Yamcha, she realized that she needed to do something. One minute they'd been sparring and then the next time she'd been in control everything had gone wrong. She couldn't live like this anymore.
Ten was back on his mountaintop perch. He'd gotten into a routine of travelling the world every few months and fighting any skilled opponents he could find and in the end he would always come back to his mountain. He had been focusing on changing the way he meditated. He could no longer make himself the focal point of the universe and yet he did not feel entirely right opening himself up to the energy of all things as Muten had told him to do. So he had been endeavoring to find a balance between the two; to make himself into a single point and then find where that point fit in with everything else. He was taken out of his mental focus by the sound of approaching footsteps and opened his eyes, expecting to see Yamcha yet again.
"Launch?" he asked in surprise. He had not seen her in nearly a year. "Are you… well?" She did not look it. She looked nervous and erratic as she rubbed at her arms and her hair was a more disheveled mishmash of colors than ever. "What's wrong?"
"I… I'm not fucking well, you idiot!" Launch snapped in a harsh voice before she immediately covered her mouth and looked to be on the brink of tears. "I-I'm sorry! I just… I need your help, Ten!" Her voice changed as she spoke, shifting from soft to harsh and back again. "S-something's really goddamn wrong with me! I c-c-can't control what's happening and I hate it! I can't live like this! There's two people screaming in my head!" Launch fell to her knees in front of Tenshinhan and gripped his arms as she buried her face into his shoulder. "Fucking help me! ...Please." Ten uncomfortably put an arm around Launch's shoulder and patted it a few times before gently pushing her away.
"What you are searching for," Tenshinhan said as he looked at Launch's tear-streaked face, "Is inner peace. It is something I, myself, am searching for. I do not know how to achieve it yet." Launch looked absolutely heartbroken and Ten immediately regretted his choice of words. "Perhaps," he said gently, "We can find it together." He scooted slightly to the left and patted a place beside him. Launch dried her eyes and smiled before she sat down beside him and folded her legs. "Close your eyes," he instructed as he did the same, "Focus on your ki. Focus on your ki and on yourself as if it were a single grain of sand on the beach. Once you understand that grain completely, you will be able to understand all the universe and your place within it." Launch nodded and closed her eyes.
"... How long does that take?"
"As long as you make it."
OoOoOoO
It had taken Goku about a week to master Kami's meditative lessons. Once she'd figured out how to control her movements, she had surpassed Popo in another week and now she sparred almost solely with Kami or with these weird little dolls he'd create that looked a lot like her. They were kinda funny-looking. Goku had learned so much from Kami in this year alone and there were still two years to go before the Budoukai! That was so exciting to think about! He wasn't just making Goku stronger, either. Kami had been teaching her about the fighting styles he'd learned hundreds of years ago when he and Piccolo were one person and he'd even started teaching her this funny language she'd seen him talking to Popo in when she'd asked him to.
Today she was watching the sunrise and drinking orange juice while she sat on the edge of the Lookout. She couldn't believe she used to be so scared of being so high up. It was beautiful up here. Part of her wanted to live way up here but she knew she might get lonely and it wouldn't be easy for her friends to visit her. Kami had told her something about how he had a spell over the Lookout that kept planes and things from getting up here. She wasn't super sure what that meant but she knew that anyone who wanted to come up would have to climb. And Bulma wasn't that strong…
"Goku," Kami called from behind and Goku stood up to turn around and meet him as he came closer, "Good morning!" Goku smiled and bowed to the kindly old not-a-demon.
"Good morning, Kami!"
"Goku," Kami said, "There's something I need to talk to you about." Goku scratched the back of her head curiously.
"Is this like last year where you told me why I bl–"
"No!" Kami blurted out suddenly and shook his head, "Merciful Kaiou, no!" Kami had never told her who "Kaiou" was but she supposed he'd get around to it or he'd tell her if she asked. "It's… about your tail." Goku looked down at her tail as it swished behind her.
"Is there something wrong with it?" Goku asked. Kami shook his head.
"Not exactly, no, but…" Kami paused for a moment and tugged at one of his antennae, "I'm afraid I shall have to remove it." Goku took a step back when he said that.
"No way!" she protested. "I've already grown it back twice!" If there was nothing wrong with it then why did it have to come off?
"You will have to trust me, Goku," Kami insisted. "You know that I would never do you harm. Your tail is simply… dangerous!"
"Dangerous how? It's not a weakness anymore! You taught me how to make my tail stronger!"
"I know," Kami said in an aggravated tone, "But it still represents a danger to you and to…" Kami sighed. "Goku, please trust me on this." Goku thought about it for a moment and sighed before turning around.
"This isn't gonna hurt, is it?" she asked.
"Of course not," Kami said as he gripped her tail. "All right. One… two… three!"
Hundreds of miles below and on the other side of the world, a farmer with a shotgun heard a noise like someone had run over his cat.
OoOoOoO
One Year Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
She smashed stones with giant hammers and cut down forests with giant axes. She swam upriver and up waterfalls and against the ocean in typhoons. She'd wrestled giant bears and giant boars and fought every warrior her father could send against her. She'd even surpassed father himself by now and was far stronger than the little girl she had been six years before. She had to get stronger, though. She had to be strong enough to be a part of her life. She would prove her love to Goku and she would be welcomed into her world with open arms. She would have to.
She would not give Goku a choice.
OoOoOoO
"How are you feeling, brother?" Shen asked with the smallest hint of genuine concern as he watched Tao Pai Pai move with his new cybernetic limbs. Tao Pai Pai closed and opened his fists and listened to the way the servos whirred and clicked and what little face he had left to emote with seemed to scream with contempt and scorn at what he had become.
"It will be worth it," Tao said curtly. "It will all be worth it. Once I kill Son Goku and the others, I'll be able to triple my price." Tao wasn't really concerned with the money, though. Not to say that wealth and power weren't important to him but the thing Tao most desperately needed from the Budoukai was peace of mind. He needed to be Tao the Terrifying again, Tao the Invincible. Mercenary Tao! He unscrewed one of his hands and watched as a sword popped out of his wrist. He glared at his red-tinted reflection in the blade. Power, wealth, triumph, vengeance. "It will be mine. It will all be mine!"
OoOoOoO
"So me, Ox King, and Son Gohan are surrounded by this Ice Dragon," Roshi said, "I mean surrounded, this fella was big! I'm thinking I might have to bust out the Kamehameha and what does Ox do? Crazy kid jumps up and bites the Dragon right on the nose!" Roshi and Baba laugh uproariously and Roshi bangs on the table which nearly spills the tea that the Pink Ghost had just delivered. "I've never seen somethin' fly away so fast. Of course, then we had to chase after him because his tongue was stuck to the dragon!" Baba laughed again and wiped a tear from her eye. Since Roshi's return from the dead, he'd been visiting Baba a few times a month for almost two years now. It had been the most Baba had seen her brother in a century. It was nice to talk to Muten and to hear his stories. What Baba thought was interesting was that Roshi almost never talked about how great he was in his stories. It was always about Gohan or Ox King or even the handful of students he'd had before them. He spoke with a father's pride.
"So," Baba said, "You're not planning on entering the Budoukai this year, are you?" Roshi leaned back in his chair and shook his head.
"Nah," he said, "I learned my lesson after the mess with Daimaou. My fighting days are over." Baba nodded and sipped her tea.
"Good," she said, "I don't want you fighting anymore." Roshi chuckled and Baba scowled. "I'm serious! I've seen things of the future, Muten. Horrible things that make Piccolo Daimaou look like that goofball in the mustache with the big hair you told me about." Muten frowned at that and slowly wrapped his hands around the tea mug.
"These terrible things," he asked somberly, "How soon are they coming?" Baba shook her head in disappointment.
"It's unclear," she admitted, "But… too soon. I don't know how they'll be prepared in time." They both sat silently for a moment until the ghost floated up to the table with a little platter in its tiny flippers.
"Cookies for tea!"
OoOoOoO
One Week Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
Piccolo Jr looked down at the clothes he had magicked for himself. He had originally wanted to fight in the same blue gi he had worn before but that would perhaps be too on-the-nose. It would raise too much suspicion. He had opted for a purple gi with no symbol or characters and a turban to cover his antennae. That would be enough to fool these simple creatures. As he looked at his reflection in a lake, however, he thought that it was missing something. A certain bit of dramatic flair. He was suddenly struck by inspiration and waved a hand over himself. A swirl of darkness passed over his chest and spilled down his back before it transformed into a billowing white cape with enormous shoulder pads. He looked down at his reflection again and smiled.
"Perfect."
OoOoOoO
One Day Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
"I have taught you all I can teach you, Son Goku," Kami said as he looked proudly at his pupil. "You are ready to face Piccolo Daimaou once again. If you are able to defeat him then the Earth will finally know peace."
"I know, Master Kami," Goku said, "But is all of this… really necessary?" On top of her gi, Goku was also wearing a long blue and white coat with an umbrella, her power pole, and a travel sack tied to her back. She also had a turban wrapped around her hair that Popo was constantly fidgeting with.
"This one has seen the weather," he told her. "It will be raining and this one does not want you to catch a cold. It will affect your chances of defeating Daimaou." Goku smiled and bent down to give the Djinn a hug.
"Thank you, Popo," she said before moving to hug Kami as well. "And thank you, Master Kami. I won't let you down." Then she turned around and… walked right off the edge of the Lookout. "HiKorin!" She shouted when she flew past the cat, "ByeKorin!" The ground rushed up to meet Goku but she laughed even as she reached terminal velocity. "Nimbuuuuus!" The cloud zoomed under her within inches of the ground below and she laughed again as she zoomed back up into the sky. "Hey there! Didja miss me!" she asked as she patted the cloud on its side. "Okay, Nimbus! Papaya Island!" The cloud rocketed off towards the sunrise dutifully. "Hey, you weren't carrying Suno, right?"
OoOoOoO
Two Hours Until the Tenkaichi Budoukai
Kami stared at a reflection that was not his in a mirror and rubbed a hand that was not his across a face that was not his.
"Hmm," he muttered in a voice that was not his, "So this is a mustache?" He supposed it would have to do. As he climbed onto the boat that would ferry him to the Tenkaichi Budoukai, he couldn't stop scratching himself. How did humans stand having so much hair?!