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Chapter 17
Looming Danger

Chichi squeezes her eyes shut as she feels her Ki and begins to push it outward while Kakarot focuses on the opposite. Kakarot focuses on the feeling of his Ki and realizes he really did have a lot of it. He imagined that he must be like a lighthouse at night. He got to work on sucking it into his core, his "turtle" as Chichi puts it. Kakarot begins to speculate on the many uses for this technique. He could hide himself from Freeza's tech or even fool them into misjudging his power level, a useful tactic which can open them up to a surprise attack.

Kakarot began to suck in all of his Ki, a process which took longer than he thought it would. He began to wonder how effective it would be at deceiving those more experienced at Ki sensing. As Kakarot did this Chichi's focus switched to seeing his progress. She watched as Kakarot's Ki began to shrink until it was completely undetectable. She thought to herself, "If I wasn't watching him right now then I wouldn't be able to tell he was right in front of me." She was amazed by how quickly he managed the final step of Ki suppression, granted now it was a battle of attrition. Chichi got back to practicing exerting her Ki.

Kakarot finally suppressed every last bit of his Ki but found it quite difficult keeping it all inside, bits and pieces of it were leaking out. "Damn, this is tougher than I thought." Then he remembered the analogy Chichi made and thought of the turtle that was his core. He quickly sucked up all of his leaking Ki and began to memorize the feeling. It began to get easier and easier, and he then noticed Chichi was concentrating just as hard. He liked the progress they have made but if they spend too much time, it might get to nightfall before they get off Mount Paozu.

Kakarot suddenly let his Ki free and stood up, Chichi assumed there was a problem and suddenly apologized, "Sorry, I must be distracting you." Kakarot shook his head and said, "That's not it, I just thought we should cover some ground before night." Chichi blinked out of surprise but then said, "Oh, right then, let's get moving." Kakarot then says, "We'll have plenty of time to train tomorrow but when that time comes, let's work on Ki sensing." Chichi nodded and followed after Kakarot who had already begun walking. She stopped by his side and followed in the same direction as Kakarot. "Ki suppression requires so little effort that I might as well practice on the road." Kakarot smiled as he sucked in and let go of his Ki acting as an invisible exercise, Chichi followed suit but focused on pushing her Ki out.

For the past couple hours Yamcha and the other warriors of earth felt the mysterious Ki raising and returning to normal. It was a frightening display which made them realize the gravity of what they were up against. Yamcha felt the urge to forgo Krillin's strategy and just get this fight over with but kept himself in check, he was sure that Krillin's strategy would be a lot better than the direct approach, especially after getting a good feel for this new invaders Ki. That was until this new Ki began to disappear and reappear over and over as if it was trying to send a signal.

After a couple hours the Ki disappeared completely and reappeared which worried Yamcha. "Damn it all, I wish I knew what was going on over there… wait a minute…" Yamcha realized now what this meant, "Is he suppressing his Ki? I thought he was in a life-or-death battle but if he's actually learning that technique then I need to tell Krillin." He quickly flies to Capsule Corp and gives Roshi a call. "Oh, hey sunny, how are things going over at Bulma's?" The elderly man listened as Yamcha quickly explained that he needed to get in contact with Krillin. "This is about the new invader then… right I'll get him right away." Krillin soon answered the phone, "Roshi said you needed to call me?" Yamcha immediately replied, "Have you felt that Ki dropping and reappearing?"

Krillin replied back, "Yeah, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Yamcha said, "Yes, it's Ki suppression, I need to investigate, we need more information if we're going to fight this guy." Krillin immediately said, "I'll go with you." However, Yamcha rejected the idea, "No, if too many of us start to move we'll confuse the others and besides the Ki wasn't too close to me so West City should be safe if I leave it for at least an hour." Krillin thought for a moment but eventually relented, "Alright but be careful." Yamcha said one last thing before hanging up, "Will do."

Yamcha immediately leaves Capsule Corp and heads where the Ki he felt was last while suppressing his Ki just enough to allow him to fly. Upon seeing Mount Paozu Yamcha grew worried, "Wait, this is where Chichi lives. Damn it all, was all that crazy Ki aimed at Chichi?!" Yamcha immediately made a Beeline for where her house usually is but was relieved to find it was missing though Gohan's house was still present. He let out a relieved breath and said, "Oh good, maybe she left to visit Bulma or something." Yamcha then comments, "She's lucky, if she had encountered that Ki then I doubt she would have stood a chance." After thinking about that Ki for a moment he added, "Me neither for that matter."

Right when Yamcha was preparing to start his search for that Ki he sees smoke rising in the distance. He gets a dreadful feeling as he closes in on the source of the smoke. From the sky it looked like a pile of freshly burnt wood but upon getting close enough to get a proper look, he froze. The color drained from his face as he stared at a pile of burnt corpses, many of which were Dragon men, while others were beast people or humans. He couldn't even muster the energy to scream, he just floated above it. The smell was awful, it was an unsightly display which Yamcha feared was just a prelude to the invaders' end goal. "D-damn it all, if only we attacked first." Yamcha had enough of the gruesome sight and returned to West City.

Later Yamcha gave Krillin another call and informed him of what he found on the mountain. "We need to find him, now!" barked Yamcha. Krillin however, disagreed, "We can't jump into this without a plan. The whole point of this plan is to catch him on all sides, if it is who we think it is then this will be the best way to win." Yamcha retorted with, "What if he starts picking off towns, this guy might not be like the last one, he might start small and ramp up his attacks. By the time he attacks a city, who knows how many will die!" Krillin immediately replies with, "I have Roshi surfing all the news channels and there's been no big reports."

Krillin let out a sigh and said, "Ok, if he starts attacking towns we'll change the plan. We can't track him anyway; it seems he's gotten really good at suppressing his Ki." Yamcha paused for a moment before letting out an exhausted sigh and agreed, then hung up and returned to keeping an eye out for this invader. Back with Kakarot; they finally got off the mountain and were now on the main road. Kakarot noted that one of the larger power levels had moved to Mount Paozu and returned to its old position. "Seems they're done standin' around and are now trackin' me. It would be better to keep this technique on at all times."

Kakarot smirked as he declared to himself that wouldn't be a problem. It also confirmed that they too feel Ki, giving him evidence that they may indeed be involved in Raditz's disappearance. "All it took was a few hours to get the hang of it, they won't be able to find me until I'm good and ready." Three days pass and the pair's day to day training begins to pay off. Kakarot has begun to get a handle of Ki reading/Ki sensing. Chichi explained it's as simple as learning how to detect the life force, the Ki of those around them. Plants are the only thing you can't sense for some reason.

Chichi explained that through using this technique Kakarot will be able to detect the location of distant life forms as well as being able to tell how strong said life form is, outside of if they're using Ki suppression. Chichi then told him that when you master the technique you will even be able to detect malice within someone's Ki, essentially you will be able to tell if an individual has killed people with malicious intent. Once again Kakarot is glad Chichi hadn't mastered this technique, otherwise she would have sniffed him out as soon as they met. Chichi finished her explanation that day by saying once Kakarot mastered the technique then there won't be anyone on the planet he couldn't sense.

On this day Chichi was helping Kakarot with his training by having him focus on feeling her Ki and attempt to familiarize himself with it. She focused on light Ki suppression while Kakarot worked on feeling it despite the light suppression. However, something distracted Chichi as her suppression lifted. Kakarot was about to ask when she suddenly said, "Wait, that Ki is familiar…. Ah…" She broke into a yell as her expression twisted into a mix of shock and anger. She suddenly yelled a single person's name as she stared off in a random direction. "Piccolo!"

Kakarot recognized the name from the story she told him three days ago but reacted to the unseen threat regardless of that detail. He spun around in the direction Chichi was looking and fired three Ki blasts at the forest, scattering trees and making three craters. Kakarot immediately pulled out his Scouter and scanned the area. Kakarot however, found no high-power levels, least of all one that would freak Chichi out this much. After this Kakarot went about suppressing his Ki again. Chichi was frozen in fear which is when Kakarot picked her up bridal style and dashed to a further location, fearing that that attack would bring over those hunting him.

He worried that Chichi would ask questions, but she offered no resistance to his attempt to relocate her. Chichi didn't talk for the rest of the day, clearly traumatized by what she saw. Nighttime had come and Chichi brought out her house from her Dino Cap. Since the first night they spent on the road, Chichi with Kakarot's help patched up what they could. The holes in the house were sealed while the Kitchen had been mostly cleaned up, they'd been surviving by eating what Kakarot hunted or making something with the microwave, the only appliance that didn't get busted by Giren and friends. Kakarot had been spending his nights outside but today Kakarot needed to talk to Chichi about what had happened earlier that day.

If she remained unresponsive like this then they probably wouldn't get any more training done, nor would they make any progress on the road. They sat in the living room where Kakarot was about to ask Chichi something only for her to beat him to the punch with a show of gratitude. "Thanks." her voice sounded weak, but Kakarot could hear it clear as day. Kakarot simply asked, "You said Piccolo, you saw Piccolo didn't you." Chichi hesitantly nodded, which is when Kakarot asked, "Was this some trick er' some hallucination? I thought he was trapped in a rice maker." Chichi let in a deep breath before saying, "There was more to the story after he was sealed away."

Kakarot listened intently as Chichi explained to him the rise and eventual rebirth of Demon King Piccolo. She started the tale by saying that many years passed to when she was still a little kid, her father and Master Gohan were still around too. It happened after the recent Tenkaichi Budokai, a list of the past Tenkaichi participants containing their names and their home addresses was suddenly stolen. After that Martial Artists who participated in previous tournaments were killed one after another. It didn't take Gohan and Roshi long to realize who was responsible. Somehow Demon King Piccolo had returned, someone had found his rice maker and out of a desire for power or by complete accident released him.

Gohan was eventually attacked by one of his enforcers, but he was able to kill him. The next fight however didn't end so well. Gohan and Roshi faced Piccolo, but Roshi died, and Piccolo went on to take over the capital. Piccolo then strong-armed King Furry into accepting his rule. After that Piccolo abolished all the laws and set all the prisoners of the world free. Worse yet he forced the armed forces of the kingdom to hunt down the Martial Artists his enforcers failed to kill. Chichi finally said, "My father was killed by armed forces who were doing Piccolo's bidding out of fear."

This made it very clear to Kakarot why Chichi had such a strong reaction to this Piccolo, but it made him wonder how old this guy was if he's still around despite all the time that had passed. Chichi continued; she said that Piccolo decided he was going to destroy West City but before he could the turtle school confronted him along with other allies. Gohan, his students, and students from the rival Crane School all joined together. They fought against Piccolo and to Kakarot's surprise they succeeded in killing Piccolo however it came at a cost. Gohan perished in that final battle.

It made even more sense now, she lost both her father and cherished mentor, with how she puts it, in a matter of days and all to the same person; however, one detail confused Kakarot to no end. "You said he died, yet you saw him earlier today. How is that possible?" Kakarot's question echoed throughout the living room. Chichi answered him honestly, "He did die, however, before he died, he apparently spat out an egg. He made one last member of his clan before he actually died. That egg was the new Demon King Piccolo, he inherited everything from his father. He got his looks, his power and his memories, he was essentially Demon King Piccolo reborn." It was a shocking tale which Chichi continued by telling him that she begged Roshi to train her so she could help avenge her father and Gohan.

Roshi rejected the offer at first but eventually he saw her conviction and accepted her. The rest of his students apparently took special training just to defeat this Piccolo and right when Chichi turned eighteen her and the other students of the Turtle and Crane schools fought and defeated Piccolo's reincarnation. Kakarot listened intently to the next part, "That's… when we spared him." Chichi sounded dissatisfied while Kakarot jumped to his feet, "Spare? Why the hell would ya do that?" Chichi suddenly yelled back, "It wasn't my choice!"

Kakarot and Chichi both took a step back realizing they had begun to raise their voices. Kakarot sat down as Chichi did the same, "There was a reason not to kill him but we had the Mafuba to seal him with. That's when Roshi's sister appeared and warned us not to do anything to him." Kakarot asked why, which is when Chichi explained further, "His sister is a fortune teller, she can see into the future, and she saw a future where we would need his help to stop the earth from being destroyed by a monster." Kakarot scoffed at the idea of seeing the future, but Chichi saw the question coming and answered it before he could ask, "Her fortunes always come true, she even told Gohan that he would die a hero… and he did die, against Piccolo… like a hero." Chichi's voice got even weaker as she held back tears. Kakarot felt an uncharacteristic desire to comfort her, but he stopped himself. Instead, he asked, "Is that why ya freaked out when ya saw him?" Chichi nodded but then said, "But it wasn't because of his crimes or because I was angry over him being spared in the end… It was because of what I said afterwards." Kakarot's eyebrows raised as she explained the next part, "I was… unreasonable. I yelled at my friends, the turtle school, Crane too, I told them horrible things before storming off. I told them that they were disgraces and failures to Gohan's memory, then I left. I moved to Mount Paozu and isolated myself."

Chichi fell to her arms and knees as tears streamed down her face, "I-I didn't come here to get stronger or get any sort of enlightenment. I came here because I couldn't bring myself to face them again, I couldn't bring myself to apologize for the unfair and cruel things I said. They were unhappy with it too, but I was the one who acted like a brat!" Chichi broke into tears as she yelled to no one in particular about how weak she felt and how she wished she was stronger. This time Kakarot couldn't restrain himself, he came to her side and dropped down to one knee, patting her back. He tried his best to make her feel better, but it was quite apparent he was no good at this sort of thing.

He was used to causing tears, not stopping them. Kakarot spoke hesitantly, "I-it's alright…" Chichi suddenly looked him in the eye and yelled, "How is it alright, huh?! I insulted the people who fought alongside Master, people who knew him longer than I ever did. How is any of this okay?!" Kakarot grew irritated and suddenly jumped to his feet. Kakarot threw out any attempt at being subtle and just said what came to mind. "Alright, it's your fault, you messed up. You said horrible things and you want to take it all back."

Chichi looked angry at having words she knew were true thrown at her face but was interrupted when Kakarot grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. "But the only thing keeping you from making it up to them' is you!" Chichi looked confused by the response, Kakarot continued, "I'm not gonna pretend I know why you stayed on that mountain for so long, but I know it hasn't helped ya get past yer' guilt." Kakarot let go of her shoulders and said, "Your next lesson ain't gonna be about flight, It's gonna be getting past this wall yer' stuck on and making up with your buddies."

Chichi took a step back while grasping her left arm before asking, "W-will you help me with that?" She couldn't look him in the eye. Kakarot looked at her for a second and then said, "Yeah, but in the mornin' we need a break." He then left the house to go to bed but after an hour Kakarot set up the hammock but was struggling to give himself his weekly shots. Kakarot grumbled, "Damn… it… all…" He wasn't used to shots, suppressing his Ki made it easier but it was still a pain. His arms felt much more numb than normal, it made them hard to move. He guessed this was because he went three months without taking them. Suddenly he heard a voice from his left, "D-Do you need help?"

Kakarot looked in the direction of the voice and saw Chichi who was offering to help. Kakarot paused for a moment but realized he wasn't responding when Chichi said, "Well?" Kakarot immediately said, "Oh, alright, sure." Kakarot hands her the shot and sticks his arm out which Chichi grabs in order to steady it. As she begins to inject him, she asks, "I-I noticed your scars, are they why you need these shots?" Kakarot winced at the pain but still managed to force out an answer, "Aack… Y-yeah I got in way over my head and got banged up pretty bad." Chichi pulled the shot out after injecting him with the medical liquid and said, "Oh, was your brother there?"

As she did this, she began to inject him with the second shot. Kakarot answered honestly, "Yeah, ah! If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have gotten out of that scuffle alive." Chichi then said while pulling out the last shot, "You must really care about him." Kakarot reluctantly said, "Y-yeah… I wasn't always the best brother." Chichi asked, "How come?" They both sat on the hammock as Kakarot answered while looking up at the night sky. "I… found him to be a coward. In the past he only cared about himself, he would leave me to die on multiple occasions, it was… frustrating." Chichi felt frustrated at hearing this but chose to not act on that emotion, reasoning that the last thing she should do is insult Kakarot's brother.

She remembered what happened the last time she was careless with her words. Instead, she said, "But you're looking for him now." Kakarot peered at her and gave her an exaggerated "Yes." as if waiting for what she had to say next. "Then you must have had some good times with each other, your brothers after all." Kakarot paused for a moment, he then stared at the stars above and said, "After my parents died, Raditz and I weren't so close. But then he started telling me these amazin' stories, about heroes, warriors who gave it their all to get stronger. They didn't care about conquest or ego, they just wanted to test themselves."

Kakarot sang praises to what Chichi didn't know was in reference to his species or at least stories of the first years of the Saiyans. Regardless, Chichi smiled and asked, "Do you still plan on sleeping out here again?" Kakarot bluntly said, "Yeah, the outdoors suits me." In reality Kakarot had grown accustomed to sleeping outside since his Pod wasn't always available for missions. If he used it too much the inhabitants of a planet, he's on could track it and take it. They didn't have much hope in damaging it since it's so sturdy, but they could potentially mess with the engine, which was a worst-case scenario due to the dangers of space travel.

Chichi looked at the night sky too and said, "I don't spend enough time out here." Kakarot wasn't sure why she said that until she left and came back with a Dino Cap which released a bed which landed next to the tree Kakarot had set his hammock up in. Kakarot wordlessly lays on his hammock as Chichi says, "Good night." Kakarot glances at her for a moment before drifting to sleep himself.

Power Level's:

Kakarot: 4,000

Chichi: 800

Yamcha: 1,500

Krillin: 2,100