Chapter Forty-two

Goku vs. Piccolo! The Final Encounter!

It was a bizarre moment that happened next. Goku and Piccolo met forearm-to-forearm in the blink of an eye in the center of the ring with the force of two runaway trains smashing into one another and generating a wind that knocked everyone in the stadium off their feet. The sounds came a second later. The whip-like crack of their charge and the cacophony of their collision, a sound only slightly softer than an atomic explosion. Then, Piccolo's turban hit the ground.

"W-wait," Bulma muttered as she pulled herself back up to her feet and her brain caught up with what just happened. "Th-they just…" Goku and Majunior had moved faster than the speed of sound. As their opening.

Goku and Piccolo pushed away from each other and glared for a moment before dashing towards each other again. They appeared to most of the audience sporadically, only in fits and burst, all across the ring and even sometimes in the middle of the air, each collision followed by a wave of concussive force that nearly knocked them off their feet and a tremendous crash. Even the state-of-the-art supercameras were struggling to give the viewing audience at home anything more than blurs of orange, green, and purple.

Suno was able to keep up with things better than most. She watched Goku and Piccolo dash around and could even follow their strikes. She was also able to see, with a slowly-rising unease, that Piccolo was either dodging or blocking all of Goku's attacks. They landed across the ring from each other and Goku lunged with her dropkick. To everyone else, it would seem that, at one second, Goku was on one side of the ring, the next second on the other. Piccolo had rolled calmly out of the way and it was only a well-placed kiai that kicked up chunks of grass that kept Goku in the ring. Then they stood across from each other again, still breathing evenly.

"Jeez," Goku said as she got back into her guard, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you could read my mind." Then she smirked, "But Kami taught me how to make sure that couldn't happen. So what'd you do?" Piccolo chuckled and rolled his shoulders as he spoke.

"It's simple," he said smugly. "I have all of the original Piccolo Daimaou's memories. I remember exactly how your last battle went down. I remember your techniques, tactics, and strikes. No matter what you've learned, I know how you fight and I know every move you will make. I have been preparing for this battle, and only this battle, for the last three years." Where a normal person might feel trepidation, even terror, Goku grinned.

"Cool!" she said eagerly. A person who was just as strong as her and knew how she fought and had been training for three years just to fight her? What a challenge! It was awesome! Piccolo chuckled again and slowly ascended into the sky.

"Excuse me for a moment," he told her with a strangely polite tone, "I have some business to take care of." Goku shrugged and looked up at him and waited. It would be rude to take a cheap shot, after all. "People of Earth!" Piccolo bellowed as he threw out his arms dramatically while using ki to project his voice. "What you see is no mere illusion, no costumed freak trying to take advantage of your fears. I am the great Piccolo Daimaou reborn! This time, nothing will stand in the way of my glorious reign! I shall bring you a hell that never ends!" He threw back his head and laughed maniacally as the audience screamed in terror and ran out of their seats as if they were on fire, running for their lives. No one ran as fast as Pilaf and his gang, of course. Soon, the arena was empty save for the fighters, Ken, Bulma, Puar, and Roshi. Piccolo slowly descended again and nodded his head in appreciation. "Thank you," he said cordially, "I've been waiting to do that for–"

Goku socked him right in the nose.

Piccolo cried out in pain and groaned when he hit the ring hard with one hand clutching his face. Goku grinned and shrugged.

"You were done with your business," she told him, "And you kinda did me a favor. Without all those people, I don't have to worry about holding back because someone might get hurt!" Suno's face paled and she broke out in a cold sweat.

"They… they've been holding back?" Piccolo nodded and hopped to his feet before getting into his guard again.

"Let's continue," he growled as he tried to hide his frustration at being so easily hit. Goku nodded and got into her guard. "I'm curious, though," Piccolo admitted, "Just how strong you think you are." Goku grinned and gave a shrug.

"Stronger than you," she told him cockily. Piccolo smirked.

"Are you so sure?" he taunted. "Why don't we compare the speed and power of our attack rushes?" Goku nodded and they walked towards each other calmly until they were no more than an arm's-length apart. They each took a moment to stretch, cracking their knuckles, popping their elbows, rolling their shoulders and twisting at the hips. Then they stood with their arms at their sides… and it began. Goku let out a battle cry as her fists flew forward at such a tremendous speed that they disappeared from sight completely. "Die!" Piccolo roared as his fists met with hers, "Die, die, die, die, diediediediediediedie!" They collided fist-to-fist a hundred times in the space of a breath, two hundred, five hundred, more, every blow delivered with lethal power. The ground shook under their feet and each blow released the force of a small explosion and carried a tremendous enough wind behind it to cut through earth and stone, opening tiny cuts in both fighters' gi. They seemed to be completely matched.

Then Piccolo kicked Goku in the shin and headbutted her viciously to send her across the ring. Piccolo pursued her but Goku tucked backwards and pushed off against the ring with her feet and a burst of kiai to sail over Piccolo's head and landed behind him to throw a kick at the small of his back.

"That was a cheap shot!" Goku accused as Piccolo pivoted to avoid the strike. If there was one thing Goku hated, it was dirty fighting.

"We'll call it even," Piccolo shot back as he swiped at her with his claws. "Cheap shot for cheap shot!" Goku twirled through the air to avoid the swipe and slammed the point of her elbow down towards Piccolo's head and he jerked back to avoid it, feeling the breeze brush past his face. Piccolo jumped up into the air and hovered high overhead before thrusting one palm out. "Tsuibidan!" he cried, firing a large blast from his hand down towards Goku. She brought her hands down to her side and thrust her palms forward.

"Kamehameha!" The blue beam flew out to meet the yellow bolt and they seemed ready to make a head-on collision when Piccolo leaped to one side and the Tsuibidan suddenly… swerved to avoid the Kamehameha.

"He can control the blast!" Krillin exclaimed in surprise. Yamcha fought an inclination to grumble.

"Look out, Goku!" Launch called. "Move it!" Goku stood rooted to her spot, though, even as Piccolo's attack came rushing towards her. She smirked and, with the slightest movement of her wrist, the Kamehameha arched and intercepted the Tsuibidan, the blasts cancelling each other out in a huge explosion. Piccolo flew in and burst through the smoke with both hands outstretched and mouth open wide in a roar. He flew right into Goku's palm and it smashed him under the chin with enough force to snap his mouth shut. Piccolo groaned in pain and staggered back. Goku wiped blood from under her nose and Piccolo spat out a mouthful of blood and a pointed tooth.

"Guess you didn't know as much as you thought," Goku quipped as Piccolo growled. Roshi nodded to himself and stroked his beard thoughtfully.

'I never figured out how to manipulate the Kamehameha's direction,' he thought to himself. 'I may have invented it but I'm not its master anymore.' Piccolo threw his arms out with a bend at the elbow and spread his legs wide in almost a power lifter's stance and his face twisted up in a sneer.

"Let's see how you like this!" he boastfully declared. Goku watched Piccolo suspiciously as he growled and his entire body tensed and crackled with energy. Veins branched out all across his head and chips of the broken ring were pulled into the air by his aura. Then Piccolo… began to grow. Goku's eyes widened in shock and her mouth went agape.

"That's not good," Suno muttered fearfully as she stared up and up at Piccolo as the Demon Prince continued to grow.

"Not good at all," Yamcha agreed. Puar had taken to hiding behind Bulma who was hiding behind Roshi.

'This'll teach me to drag my feet on building that giant robot suit,' Bulma thought to herself as she gulped nervously. When Piccolo stopped growing, he was four times his originally size. He gave a sinister chuckle and cracked his knuckles. The sound was like glaciers breaking.

"So," he asked in a booming voice, "What do you think?" Goku couldn't help but grin, full of nervous energy. She hadn't fought someone huge since she was a kid!

"It's cool!" she told him and the others fought an inclination to face-fault. Then Piccolo lunged forward with one of his massive hands pointed towards Goku in a spear strike. "Not cool!" she corrected herself as she leaped up to avoid it. Piccolo continued to swipe at Goku and stomp at her. He undoubtedly had the reach advantage now. He was almost as big as the ring! Goku kept just out of his reach, though. It was like trying to catch a small fish out of the water with your bare hands, only this fish hit back. Goku landed behind Piccolo and jumped up to drive her shoulder into the back of his knee. He cried out in pain and she quickly scrambled up his back to land on his head. He shook his head to and fro and tried to grab at her but Goku continued to evade him. She lunged forward to grab his antenna in both hands and jumped forward, yanking Piccolo face-first down into the ring. Piccolo groaned in pain and, before he could even wonder if he'd lost another tooth, Goku ran forward and grabbed one of his fingers. With a grunt of exertion and a twist of her hips, she somehow managed to lift Piccolo off of the ground and toss him high overhead. Piccolo let out a cry of shock as he sailed through the air and landed hard on his back.

"I… I don't believe it," Krillin murmured. Suno shrugged.

"I don't think Goku could do anything to surprise me at this rate," she said as Piccolo picked himself back up. He sneered and popped the dislocated finger back into place before he tried attacking again. He grabbed and slashed and punched and stomped but he just. Couldn't. Get her.

"Hold still!" Piccolo cried out in frustration as Goku continued to evade him while leaping and twisting and hitting him in the stomach, knees, shins, and ribs. He almost sounded like a child having a tantrum more than he did the Demon King come again. Roshi chuckled and adjusted his glasses.

"His body grew," Roshi said, "But his ki didn't. So he has to exert that much more energy to move around all that mass. He can't move as fast as he was before. He can't keep up!" Or, as Goku put it…

"The bigger they are," she taunted as she jumped high into the air and drove an axehandle blow into Piccolo's collarbone, "The harder I hit!" She pushed off of Piccolo's chest and dropkicked him in the eye, causing him to howl in pain.

"That's…" Bulma started to say before she shrugged, "Eh, it works." Piccolo growled as Goku landed in front of him and his fists curled and uncurled in petulant fury.

"So," she called up, "Do you have another secret technique? It's not like you can get taller." Piccolo fumed and the air whistled between his nostrils before he stopped and chuckled again. "...You're about to get even taller, aren't you?" Goku asked in what was perhaps the first dry moment of her life. Piccolo growled again and veins began to spread across his head again and Goku stared tensely while the others looked up in terror.

"This," Yamcha muttered, "Is ridiculous." Chi-Chi nodded wordlessly from behind him. She supposed that she had been hoping for excitement from this journey…

"L-look at it this way," Puar stammered, "A-all Goku has to do is trip Piccolo and some part of him will land out of bounds!"

"Not to be rude, Puar," Krillin retorted, "But somehow I don't see this fight ending on a ring-out."

Piccolo finished growing again and once again quadrupled in size. He was now as tall as a skyscraper and as he loomed over Goku the ring cracked under his weight. He sneered down at her before he spat out a tooth almost as big as Goku was. She jumped high into the air to avoid it but couldn't avoid Piccolo's enormous hand swatting her back down to the ground like a fly. Goku hit the ring painfully and bounced once off the impact. She got to her feet as quickly as she could and rolled to avoid getting stomped on. She evaded Piccolo's stomps for a few moments before Piccolo shot a blast of ki from his eyes to make Goku leap backwards into another downwards slap. Before Goku could move, Piccolo stomped down on her.

"Goku!" Krillin and Suno cried out in dismay. Piccolo threw back his head and laughed, his deep voice booming like thunder.

"Perfect!" he declared boastfully. "How poetic! You may have been my father's equal, Son Goku, but to me you were as much an insect as the human race so you have died like an insect!" He grinned evilly and turned his attention to the others. Tenshinhan, Suno, Launch, Krillin and Yamcha glared up at him despite their dread while Ken, Bulma, Roshi, Chi-Chi, Puar and Chaozu tried to look like they weren't there. "Now for the rest of– what?!" Piccolo looked down at his foot and stared in shock as it began to move. "Nooo… NO!" Piccolo tried to push his foot back down as it continued to rise. There was a roar from beneath Piccolo's feet and they were finally able to see Goku pushing up.

"Goku!" Suno and Krillin exclaimed ecstatically. Ten only smiled and shook his head in disbelief.

"Come on!" Bulma cheered. "Push! Push the bastard!" Goku roared again as the veins stuck out in her arms and neck while Piccolo pushed back down with a growl. With a final roar and an extra kiai push, Goku pushed Piccolo's foot away and caused him to stumble away. Goku rolled out and got up to her feet. Goku sprinted over to Piccolo's tooth and kicked it as hard as she could to send it hurtling up at him to strike Piccolo in the right shoulder like a bullet. Piccolo cried out in pain… and then Goku leaped up into his open mouth.

"WHAT?!" the spectators screamed in confusion as Piccolo swallowed her.

"Why?!" Launch screamed while she pulled at her hair. "WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?!" Suno was as confused as anyone but she could swear that, just before Goku leaped in, she saw her smile. Did Goku have a plan?

"You!" Piccolo bellowed as he jabbed an enormous finger down at Ken. "Start cou–" he wretched suddenly and clutched as his stomach while his eyes widened with dread.

Goku found herself wondering if this was a great idea once she hit the bottom. It was a good thing that Piccolo didn't have any stomach acid but it stank. It was easy enough for Goku to find the bottle that Kami was in once she'd used her ki aura to light up Piccolo's stomach and tucked the bottle into the band of her pants. Then she decided it was time to give Piccolo a hurting. She grinned and started hopping around, smashing her shoulders into his insides and punching and kicking anything that looked important. After a minute of this she jumped as high up as she could and grabbed that dangly thing at the back of his throat. Piccolo's mouth opened wide and Goku swung off the dangly thing before leaping out of his mouth.

While Goku had been doing all of this, Piccolo had been clutching at his stomach in agony, groaning and gurgling and turning several unpleasant shades of green and even blue. He gagged before Goku flew out of his mouth and she threw the bottle down towards the others.

"Someone catch it!" she called down. The bottle landed in Puar's forepaws so perfectly that it seemed like Goku had thrown it specifically to him. He yanked the stopper off the bottle with his teeth and Kami came flying out of the bottle and took a grateful gulp of air while Goku landed in front of Piccolo again.

"Well," he sighed, "That was… unpleasant." Roshi, Bulma, Chi-Chi, Ken and Puar stared at him in horror and Kami rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes," he muttered, "I look like Piccolo Daimaou. Or, if that isn't what bothers you, God is a green man. Does that cover it?" They nodded dumbly. Piccolo fumed again as he shrunk back down to his normal size. It wasn't fair! They kept taking away his victories! He snarled at Goku as he pulled the tooth out of his shoulder and flicked it away.

"So," Goku said with a smirk, "Guess you figured out size doesn't mean anything." Piccolo sneered and flew up into the sky.

"That's it!" he roared petulantly. "Everyone dies!" he threw out one hand and grabbed it by the wrist with his other hand. His aura flared and streaks of ki flicked and lashed out off of him like wild flames. "Take my rage, Son Goku! Take my hatred!" Goku scowled up at him and brought her hands down to her side.

"I'll take that," Goku called up, "But you can take my Chou Kamehameha!" An absolutely enormous ball of blue-white light began to gather in and envelop Goku's hands.

"Everybody down!" Roshi cried out and everyone quickly hit the deck with Yamcha pulling Chi-Chi down when she was too stunned to move and Bulma tackling Kami. The air crackled with electricity as the two warriors gathered their energy.

"Chouuuu… Kaaaaameeee haaaa meeee…."

"Nikushimi Kou!" Piccolo roared malevolently as a massive blast of yellow light fired out of his palm and rocketed down towards Goku.

"Haaaaa!" Goku cried out as she thrust her hands forward. The two gigantic beams of light flew out towards each other and collided with a sound so loud as to be incomparable. Blue and yellow light bathed the world as the blasts struggled against each other. The Capsule Corp Cameras flew high and wide, both to get a better shot and to avoid the heat being generated by the blasts. Goku's Kamehameha slowly began to push forward and Piccolo let out a roar of frustration as he tried to push forward. The effort aggravated the wound in his shoulder, however, and Piccolo faltered for just a moment. That hairsbreadth of hesitation allowed Goku to push forward with a cry of effort and overwhelm the Nikushimi Kou, the blast hitting Piccolo head-on in a blinding blue-white flash.

When the light finally faded away, Piccolo fell to the ground in a smoking, charred heap and crashed into the ring like a bag of wet leaves. Goku wiped sweat off her forehead and took a second to catch her breath. That was pretty close!

"Hey!" Yamcha shouted at Ken suddenly. "Start counting already!"

"O-oh!" Ken replied with a start and nearly dropped his microphone, "R-right!" These things usually never went to count-out anymore… "One! Two! Three!"

"Four!" Bulma, Yamcha, and Puar counted along.

"Five!" Roshi, Krillin, and Launch joined in.

"Six!" Chimed in Suno, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu.

"Seven!" Even Kami and Chi-Chi were counting now. "Eight! Nine!"

Piccolo shot up to his feet and struck as quick as a snake.

"Got you!" he declared triumphantly as lightning arced out of his antennae and trapped Goku in a field of electricity that left her paralyzed and grunting in pain. Piccolo's skin was still smoking and covered in burns, his gi was torn to shreds and the wound in his shoulder was practically gushing purple blood but he was laughing his head off as he sprinted towards Goku with his good hand prepared for a deadly spear strike. He reared his hand back and thrust forward…

Into Kami's outstretched hands. Earth's guardian appeared in front of Goku in the blink of an eye and had caught Piccolo's hand by the wrist in both of his, grunting with the effort to restrain him. Then he and Piccolo began speaking what could only be described as a nonsense language.

"Ha!" Bulma laughed as she jabbed a finger at Yamcha. "Alien language! Fuck you, Yamcha!"

"Eat a thousand dicks, you unscrupulous harpy!" Yamcha shot back. He notice Chi-Chi's eyes widen in surprise and her cheeks redden slightly. "Bad breakup," he muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"Huh," Chi-Chi muttered and gave a nod. Suno frowned curiously and looked at Goku while Kami and Piccolo spoke. It looked like she was actually understanding them. Then Goku broke out of Piccolo's paralyzing field and started speaking it, too!

OoOoOoO

"Foolish old man," Piccolo growled in Namekian as he pushed against Kami, "Get out of my way!" Kami pushed back even as his feet slid against the stone floor.

"You won't kill me," Kami retorted, "Because doing so would end your own life and you're too selfish for that!"

"Selfish?!" Piccolo spat. "How many of these worthless humans could you have spared if you had killed my previous self hundreds of years ago, if not for your cowardice?" Kami's brow furrowed in thought.

"You may be right," Kami admitted, "Which is why I'm doing something now! Goku," he said as he looked over his shoulder, "Forget the Budoukai! Together, we can defeat Piccolo once and for all!" Goku scowled at Kami and yanked her arms up suddenly to shatter Piccolo's paralyzing barrier.

"Out of my way, Kami," she snapped. "I'm going to do this on my own! If you help me, I'll get disqualified!" Kami stared at Goku in disbelief. "Move!" she demanded. Reluctantly, Kami let go of Piccolo's wrist and walked out of the ring. "Sorry about that," Goku told Piccolo, "I'll give you a free shot."

"What did she say?" Krillin asked.

"She's giving him a free shot," Kami groaned.

"WHAT?!" the others cried in dismay. Piccolo nodded appreciatively… and shot a ki beam from his fingertip that punctured right through Goku's left knee. She screamed in pain and her leg fell out from under her. Piccolo chuckled and kicked her in the face as she knelt.

"Knee for shoulder," he said matter-of-factly. Goku groaned and got to her feet slowly, not able to put any weight on her left leg. Piccolo laughed and she punched him across the jaw.

"Your laugh is annoying," she told him brusquely as Piccolo staggered before he slugged her right back. Goku punched him in the ribs this time and the two glared and came to a silent agreement before they began trading punches, rooted to the spot, putting everything into their attacks, grunting or crying out with each collision. These were no longer supersonic warriors. Every blow was slow and deliberate, each strike taking a little more out of them. Goku brought her fists together and viciously smashed them in an axehandle blow against the side of Piccolo's neck. He snarled and kicked Goku hard in the side of the head and nearly took her off her feet before she whipped back and smashed her head into his with a sickening "THUNK". Piccolo groaned as blood trickled down his forehead from the place of impact and headbutted her right back. In a rather unsettling display, the two warriors headbutted each other viciously, blood slowly pouring down their faces. Piccolo jabbed forward quickly when Goku pulled her head back and heabutted her in the throat. He swept her good leg out from under her while she was stunned and leaped high into the air before pivoting and dive-bombing towards her.

"Time to die!" Goku groaned and brought her legs up against her chest.

"She's not gonna try and just shove him off, right?" Chaozu asked. "There's no way that'll work!"

"Kamehameha!" Goku cried out and the beam fired out of her feet to catch Piccolo squarely in the chest. Piccolo arched back up into the sky before he landed in a crumpled heap with an awkward snapping sound.

"...I'm not the only one who saw that, right?" Krillin asked. The others shook their heads. "Okay, good." Piccolo got up slowly and cried out in pain as he tried to put weight on his right leg.

"Knee for knee," Goku taunted with a weak laugh as she tried to sit up. Piccolo snarled and his face twisted up in a sneer. His eyes flashed red and his eyebeams pierced Goku's right shoulder. She shrieked in agony and fell backwards again. Piccolo crossed his arms and began to gather his energy.

"Everyone," he growled with a strain of effort, "And I mean everyone dies!" Ten quickly brought his hands up into a triangle and pointed to the ground.

"Kikouhou!" he cried out and blasted a square hole in the ground. "Everyone get in!" The others quickly ran down into the hole although Krillin was rooted to the spot. "Come on!"

"B-but we can't just–"

"Krillin!" Goku called despite her pain, "Go!" Krillin finally nodded and jumped into the hole with Tenshinhan following in without a second to spare.

"Chou Shougekiha!" Piccolo roared as he threw his arms out. The explosion was more than massive, more than gargantuan. The dome of white light swept across Papaya Island and reduced everything to atoms. Cars, buildings, people. Everything. Piccolo was left standing alone on a slightly-raised square of dirt. Alone. There was only the blowing of the breeze and the faint whirring from the engine of the last, incredibly resilient Capsule Corp Camera as it hovered around the area where an arena had been. Piccolo took a moment to take a few deep gulps of air, that blast having taken everything out of him. He waited for a few moments. For the trick. The surprise. The last-moment reveal. It didn't come. He'd… he'd won. He'd won! Piccolo threw back his head and laughed boisterously as the others climbed out of their hole. He was burned and bleeding and in unimaginable pain but he had done it. It was finally over! "I've done it! Son Goku is finally dead! Now nothing can stand in my way!" he gloated. "I, Piccolo Daimaou, shall be master of this world!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Launch shouted. He turned his head suddenly and saw the worms staring at him with tears in their eyes and their fists balled in rage. "Get him!" Launch, Krillin, Suno, Ten, Yamcha, Kami, Roshi, Chaozu, Chi-Chi, and even Bulma, Ken, and Puar prepared to charge him. Whether they might have been able to overwhelm Piccolo or not, they would never know as a whistling sound from high above caught their attention.

"Nnnnoooo…" Piccolo muttered as he turned his eyes skyward and squinted, "It… it can't be!" She was supposed to be dead!

Goku was streaking towards Piccolo like a rocket with her left hand outstretched, glaring at him with burning intensity. Piccolo slowly tried to reach out to strike her but he was completely drained. Goku gave a final kiai push out of her feet and her hand latched around Piccolo's throat. She slammed him down and burrowed into the ground with the back of his head. Piccolo's fingers twitched and fell limply at his sides with his head buried under the dirt.

"H-hey, Ken," Goku said wearily, "This is a ring-out, right?" Ken looked down and, sure enough, Piccolo's head was outside of the raised square of dirt.

"R-ring out!" Ken declared. "Son Goku is the World's Champion!" The others cheered and helped Goku up to her feet and hugged her tearfully before Tenshinhan hoisted her up onto his shoulders. "I'll go and find a doctor," Ken said after he finally, wearily, dropped his microphone, "Though I'll have to go off-island."

"I've got it covered," said a new voice. Everyone turned to see Korin standing with a pouch in one hand and his staff in the other.

"Master Korin!" Suno exclaimed in surprise. He gave a small wave with the pouch-holding hand.

"Is that…" Chi-Chi muttered,

"A talking cat?" Ken finished.

"What am I?" Puar huffed indignantly. Korin flicked a senzu into Goku's open mouth and she chewed it up eagerly. Her knee, shoulder, and ribs popped as the senzu worked its healing magic.

"Oh," Korin added, "I should probably do something about…" he gestured awkwardly to Goku's clothes. Or rather… lack thereof. She had lost both her shirt and the wrappings that had covered her breasts in the explosion. He waved his staff and covered Goku in fresh clothes before everyone else could blush for too long. Goku grinned and leaped off of Ten's shoulders to touch the clouds.

"I did it!" Goku crowed. "I finally won the Tenkaichi Budoukai!" She grabbed Suno and spun her around in a hug before pulling everyone into a group hug. "I won!" she cried with a jubilant laugh.

"I'm sorry," Kami said in a somber tone that cut right through the cheer, "But this isn't over yet, Goku. Not as long as I'm alive." He jabbed a finger down at Piccolo's barely-conscious body, "That means Piccolo is as well! You have to kill him to end this, Goku!"

"But Master Kami," Goku protested, "What about the Dragon Balls? Besides, Earth needs a guardian!" She couldn't just kill Kami! That would… that would just be wrong!

"You can take my place as Earth's guardian," Kami told her, "It's part of what I was training you for. You're more powerful than me, you can protect the Earth and live on the Lookout. Popo will help you adjust." Goku shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Kami," she said firmly, "But I can't. Besides, I'm moving in with Suno!" Kami sighed and slowly closed his eyes.

"Goku," he said in a weary voice, "If Piccolo lives, he will continue to do more evil, bring more suffering, and try to conquer the world. He cannot be allowed to live." Goku looked down at Piccolo with a thoughtful expression as he weakly pushed himself out of the rubble on his one good arm. She stalked towards him and stretched out a hand… with a senzu in it.

"Take it," she told him. Korin's eyes actually opened wide and he did a double-take before he stared down at the bag in his hand. How fast was she?! Piccolo scowled down at the bean before taking it and shoving it into his mouth. The others cried out in horror as Piccolo stood up, fully healed.

"G-Goku!" Kami stammered in shock, "Why?!"

"Master Kami," she told him, "One of the things you taught me on the Lookout was that every life, every soul, is important. Even if Piccolo's isn't, yours is. Besides," she added, "If Piccolo is going to keep trying to take over the world…" she shrugged, "I'll just keep training so he can't." Piccolo scoffed and spat on the ground in front of her.

"This changes nothing, Son Goku," he told her curtly. "I will become stronger, I will kill you, and I will rule this world." Goku smirked.

"You can try," she retorted. Piccolo growled and took off into the sky.

"So," Yamcha said after a poignant silence, "I guess this is goodbye for now."

"Are you sure?" Suno asked, "What about…" she awkwardly gestured at… everything. Which was to say, nothing. Ken groaned as he looked around at the devastation.

"This is gonna take forever to clean up," he muttered. Not to mention it would probably come out of his paycheck. Bulma gave a dismissive wave.

"Don't sweat it," Bulma assured her, "We'll gather the Dragon Balls and clean up this mess. You two lovebirds go off and do what you're gonna do." Suno blushed furiously while Goku had no idea what that meant. Hugs were exchanged and Goku looked skyward.

"Nimbus!" she called out. The cloud zoomed down from the heavens and Goku hopped on, patting a space behind her. "Come on, Suno!" Suno grinned and climbed up onto the cloud behind Goku and wrapped her arms around the other woman's waist. "Bye, everyone!" Goku called as Nimbus took off and they all waved back.

"So," Roshi said when they were out of sight, "How the heck are we gettin' off this rock?" Bulma blinked. She had remembered to pack a vehicle capsule, right?

"You better not expect us to carry you," Yamcha muttered, referring to himself and the other fliers.

"I'd sooner swim," Bulma shot back. There followed a tense silence.

"Would anyone else like to get pizza?" Ten asked.

OoOoOoO

Piccolo found a mountain out in the desert wasteland and threw the undisputed king of all tantrums for a good seven hours. Then he regenerated his clothes, sat on the mountain's peak, and closed his eyes. He would kill her. No matter how long it took.

OoOoOoO

Suno held onto Goku tightly as Nimbus streaked across the sky with her head resting on Goku's back and let out a contented sigh. She was going to be living with Goku. In a part of the world totally removed from Jingle Village. It was a whole new chapter of her life.

"Hey, Goku?" Suno said softly as she summoned up her courage. Goku looked over her shoulder at Suno.

"Yeah, Su–" she was cut off as Suno kissed her suddenly. Her eyes went wide and it took her a few seconds to figure out what Suno was doing. Though, as Goku was wont to do, she figured out the "technique" quickly enough and kissed back. Suno broke the kiss only because she needed air and gasped with a blush. Goku was blushing too and smiled at her. Suno smiled back and Nimbus came to a stop as Suno moved around carefully to sit in front and turn around to face Goku. Then they kissed again and Nimbus flew off again towards the horizon and a bright new future.

Z/N: And that brings an end to Dragon Ball. We can't believe that we've already come this far but this isn't even the halfway point. We still have a long ways to go. For the next few chapters, we're going to be taking a bit of a break as we set the stage before we move on to the Saiyan Saga but don't worry, it won't be that long.

SSV/N: Even though we still have a long way to go, we just wanna thank all our readers, followers, favoriters, and reviewers. You're all wonderful and your support means a lot. Prepare for things to get adorable.