Chapter 25 - Shadow of the Demon King

"Is this Piccolo?" All of the vulnerable people stayed behind letting the fighters take the floor. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, and Roshi circled the smirking demon.

"This isn't what I remember him looking like. This is most likely a minion of his. Even if it is his minion, you mustn't underestimate the might that he carries."

"We won't lose to his pet!"

They were raring to go, to make sure that this demon won't rule the world, they were willing to sacrifice their life.

"You seem like you know about me and my Master. I will grace your death with his honor. Be grateful!"

With at, he made his way to his first target which was Yamcha. He observed them for a little and was able to locate the weak link in the pack.

Yamcha was ready for him not risking his life for a second. Wolf Fang Fist, his signature move, was aimed at the condescending grin. He didn't get far until the monster fist was lodged into his gut.

He was standing over Yamcha in a very relaxed position. Rasing his claws to impale his back, he was stopped barely by an invisible force. Looking over in the direction that it was coming from, a flying psychic was closing his eyes in concentration. Veins were sprouting from his head from the strain.

Before he could think of a counter-attack, he was launched from an impact to the side of his head. Flying through the building, he tried to stabilize himself with his wings before Krillin and Roshi finished the combo that Tien set for them by hitting Tamborines back at the same time. He crashed into the sturdy wall with dust flying everywhere.

Tien spat in the direction of the demon to taunt it.

"You don't seem too tough, with all of us here you will meet your doom."

Tamborine grunted in response. Tien was no doubt his biggest threat but if he could just isolate him by quickly killing the others then he might have a chance.

Going to the second weakest link, Krillin, he already had Chiaotzu and Roshi backing him up after they realized the monster's strategy. Pinched between a rock and a hard place, he didn't know what else to do.

"You strong martial artists don't have to kill me! We have reformed from our evil ways I promise. They offered us a cake to join the good side and we accepted!"

"The cake is a lie! Don't listen to him, he needs to be terminated before he can bring doom to us all!"

The 5 fighters started to charge their beam techniques in order to ensure the demon's demise not caring at all about the damage that it will entail to the infrastructure. Bulma was rich after all.

Sweat started to pour down his face when he felt the disturbance and abundance of ki that was being gathered.

He put a hand out for each group that was aiming at him and pushed out his own ki to give him time to save himself.

"Kamehameha!"

"Dodan Ray!"

Beams clashed but it was foreseeable who would win. The combined beams were right upon the demon's hands ready to erase him into ash.

"You will not be able to stop the advent of my master!"

With that, the beams collided and exploded with its prey in the middle. Overkill was not in the dictionary for these people as one misstep could very well lead to world domination.

---

"This is the end of the line Miss! We can't go any higher, the altitude is too high for this helicopter!"

"Damn it! How long is this tower!"

They were climbing in altitude for so long and they have yet to see the top. Bulma pulled out the hoverbike that she had stored in the back of the helicopter and flew out the opening. Bulma upgraded the bike to keep up with the Flying Nimbus. It was able to stick to the pole and slowly ascend. This was the reason why she didn't bring it out in the first place.

---

"Hurk!"

"EEP!" There was a green ugly monster sitting on a throne inside of a flying airship. He was incredibly wrinkly from age making him looked like a prune.

The idiot trio was below next to his feet. When he started to act strangely, they yelled in surprise and probably peed themselves at the sudden noise.

There was a tridactyl type monster being annoying with its high pitch voice. It was a wonder why he was still there serving no use.

"Master, what happened!?"

"T-Tamborine has perished! Who could have killed him?"

"I-I knew it! It is probably that Goku kid who could have possibly be strong enough to kill him. That is why all the Dragon Balls are already collected except for one."

"Goku huh? Set the course to those Dragon Balls! I shall terminate this Goku once in for all before he becomes a problem to my regime!"

"No problem sir!" Pilaf, the person who wanted to have some sort of power so bad that he lowered himself to be someone else's bi*tch, ran to the terminal and charted a course to Capsule Corp.

---

It didn't take too much longer for Bulma to reach the top. After driving for an hour, she finally saw a huge building on top of the tower and got excited that her trip was finally coming to an end. Seeing that there was no way for her to actually bring the bike with her, she jumped off and let the bike fly down without its owner.

Climbing up, she proceeded forward and up the stairs to the balcony. It was there that she suddenly face to face with a frizzly cat and cane.

"Um, meow?" Although Goku told her about his adventure to Korin's tower, he never actually said that Korin could talk.

"I CAN TALK YOU, STUPID HUMAN." Seeing the angry cat fuss over practically nothing was amusing to watch. Totally worth it. Calming down a little bit, Korin peered into Bulma's mind as she was trying to search for something.

Seeing her intention and the way that she traveled her made him understand her transparent urgency. Korin pointed toward a room that was adjacent to the main building and spoke to the distressed girl.

"What you seek is over there."

Heading over, she entered the room to see two beds. One had the announcer that Goku took for some reason. He was sitting on his bed looking over at Goku who was sweating a flood on his bed with occasional whimpers. Bulma didn't even notice that the announcer's legs were magically fixed and headed over to Goku.

"Goku!"

The announcer was startled at the young girl's arrival but kept quiet about the matter after seeing her concern.

"He has been in this state for at least several hours. Apparently, I was saved by him after my legs were broken from that Demon. When I awakened, he was already like this."

Bulma finally noticed the notable side character with his healed legs.

"What kind of science is this! Your legs were broken just earlier today?!" There was no science on Earth currently that was able to heal broken legs in hours like so.

"From what I am told, apparently it's not science, but magic. Master Korin told me that Goku gave me one of his green beans and I was able to heal my injuries. They had just found out about it and gave it to me to save my legs."

"A bean that is able to heal injuries? This is life-changing! Wait why don't you give it Goku then? Don't you see he is in all this pain? What is causing it?" Bulma was talking so fast it was hard to keep track of her words. The announcer got flustered at all the questioning but was luckily saved by Korin.

"He is experiencing the Ultra Divine Water. The liquid his extremely poisonous but if you are able to survive the trial than you will receive a great boost in strength. He himself dosed himself with a Senzu bean and it did not work too well. In fact, it made his pain intense in the beginning and mild in the middle. Nothing can stop the trial set by the water."

Bulma stared at Goku's pained expression with her own. It was torturous to see him experiencing hardship without her being able to do anything about it.

She was in for a surprise as that was the exact moment that he suddenly opened making her jump.

"AAAHHHH!" WACK!

---

Goku, unfortunately, woke up from his nightmarish hell with a headache and bump to boot. Not letting the annoyed Bulma and scared announcer get his mood down, he was feeling stronger than ever. Even with his gravity training, the water still boosted his strength tremendously. No pain, no gain!

"Let's hurry Goku, the others went for the Dragon Balls at my house. We need to rendezvous and come up with a plan."

"Did you say Dragon Balls?"

"Um, yes?"

"At your house?"

"Ummmmm, y-yes. But that is not the poi-"

"Why didn't you tell me!"

Goku rushed out with the announcer and Bulma on each hand. Jumping off the platform, he called out for his trusty ride.

"Flying Nimbus!"

The little cloud swooped them off their feet this the two that was dragged to be dangled from the side.

"Goku that hurt! Why did you do that? I just wanted the Dragon Balls to be a secret, I wasn't going to wish for anything that important."

"You ughh! Those are wish-granting mystical balls that have been around for centuries! Piccolo could have known about them and could be on the his way to them right now! Everyone is in danger!"

"Ahh...shit."

---

"Well, that was easier than I thought." Yamcha was looking over the ash in the middle of the room as everyone helped Dr. Briefs and his robots fix his house.

Krillin opened the suitcase to find 6 dazzling Dragon Balls neatly placed in their respective holder. There was only one missing which was Goku's final ball.

"They were after the Dragon Balls. This is bad, they know about the power that it holds. Wait, how did they know that they were here?"

Krillin turned to Chichi who was looking no less than guilty that the revelation that they were collecting the Dragon Balls was out. Her and Bulma were only supposed to make the wish pretend they never had them in the first place. No matter how stupid their wish was.

"W-Well Bulma and I were collecting them. I don't know know why they knew where they were. Bulma has the Dragon Ball radar with her right now."

"Radar? The only other people that have a radar are the RR Army but they went extinct and Pilaf is too incompetent to have Piccolo as a minion. Wait that doesn't matter, the fact that they have a radar makes this place a target! We have to leave this place before it gets blasted into oblivion."

Finally, that cue ball was worth something as he snapped everyone to become more alert. They all said bye to Dr. Briefs after fixing his house and boarded the jet to bring the fight somewhere else.

Taking off into the sky, the plotted their course for the final battle.

"We can go to the Diablo Desert. It is pretty deserted if you catch my drift."

Before anyone could laugh(cringe) at his joke, the jet rocketed out of control. Tien tried to bring it back to his control with his totally expert flying capabilities. The ship went crashing down in minutes.

Everyone crawled out of the wreck that was lodged into the middle of the street. Cars were honking and pedestrians were scattering. Everyone at the same time looked up when a shadow loomed over them.

A giant ship that loomed over them like there were ants. The pressure alone spelled doom in all caps.

(Semi important A/T)