Stay the Course

The battlefield was quieter now. The smoke had thinned. The tension hadn't.

Kai hovered beside Goku, watching the sky in thoughtful silence. The Saiyan prince had been defeated and dragged his broken pride into a pod before launching himself into orbit, vanishing like a bad dream with a tail.

Goku wiped blood from his mouth and smiled tiredly. "So… you're Kai, huh?"

Kai nodded. "Yup. You're Goku. Super dead until about fifteen minutes ago."

"Heh. Guess I owe you and the others a big one."

"You kinda do. But we'll take payment in food."

Goku chuckled. "Deal."

They shook hands, and even though Kai knew Goku wasn't using real power, the warmth behind the grip was… solid. Not like Nappa, who was all meat and ego. Goku's strength felt intentional. A coiled spring, not a blunt weapon.

The others regrouped. Gohan limped up to Goku with a watery smile and hugged him. Krillin sat on a rock, watching the sunrise, and muttered something about retirement. Tien and Chiaotzu exchanged bandages and deadpan comments. Piccolo stood near the treeline, arms crossed, stone-faced as usual.

And Kai…

Kai felt a knot in his gut.

He looked over at Piccolo. Alive. Standing tall. Not a scratch on him.

'Damn it.'

That wasn't supposed to happen. Piccolo had been meant to die. Heroically. Tragic mentor sacrifice to protect Gohan. And with him, Kami. Which would've made the Dragon Balls vanish — forcing them to go off-world. But no, Kai had jumped in. Took Nappa down. Saved everyone.

He cursed internally. 'I saved the wrong people.'

Still… it wasn't unfixable.

He cleared his throat. "Hey. Quick question."

Everyone looked at him.

Kai pointed at Piccolo. "So… uh… just checking. You and Kami are, like, linked or something, right?"

Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "What about it?"

"Well, I'm just thinking out loud here… if you'd died during that fight, Kami would've gone too. And then the Dragon Balls would've disappeared, right?"

"Yeah," Krillin said slowly. "That's how it works."

"But since Piccolo's alive, Kami's alive. Which means we can still use the Dragon Balls."

"Right," Goku nodded. "So we can bring back Yamcha."

"Exactly!" Kai said. "But… I mean… if we figured that out, what's to stop that spiky hair royalty guy from figuring it out too?"

"Vegeta?" Piccolo asked.

Kai nodded. "Yeah. He figured out you were a Namekian just by looking at you. Didn't even hesitate. That means the Saiyans must know what your people are."

Piccolo crossed his arms. "So?"

"Well," Kai said, carefully pacing his words, "if they know Namekians can make Dragon Balls… what's stopping them from thinking other Namekians might've made more of them?"

Gohan blinked. "Like… on another planet?"

Kai held up his hands. "Hey, I'm not saying anything for sure. Just—if I were a genocidal space warlord who wanted immortality, and the Dragon Balls on Earth were tied to one guy's life, I'd want a backup plan. Like a planet full of green dudes who can grant wishes."

The group went quiet.

Krillin scratched his head. "That… actually makes a lot of sense."

Piccolo didn't say anything at first, but there was a flicker of something behind his eyes. "There are some scattered memories from before I split from Kami. A distant world… full of people like me. But it's hazy. Like a dream."

Goku turned to the sky, serious now. "If there really is a place like that… and if Vegeta's smart enough to go there…"

"We can't let him get there first," Kai finished. "Not if they've got their own Dragon Balls."

Tien stepped forward. "Even if we wanted to chase him, how? We've got no ships."

Kai smirked. "Actually… we might."

One Hour Later – Capsule Corp

Bulma opened the door in a lab coat, fuzzy slippers, and a look that could cut glass.

"You guys again."

Kai gave her a charming wave. "Hi."

"We come with… adventure?" Goku offered.

"We also brought a broken alien murder pod," Krillin said helpfully.

Bulma sighed and stepped aside. "You people are going to give me a brain hemorrhage."

They all shuffled in, following her through the high-tech maze of Capsule Corp.

"We need a spaceship," Kai explained as they moved. "Vegeta might go looking for more Dragon Balls. So we want to beat him there."

Bulma blinked. "Beat him where? You don't even know where he's going."

Kai shrugged. "Maybe not, but if we can fix his buddy's pod, maybe it'll give us a clue. Flight logs, coordinates, something."

Bulma turned back and jabbed a finger in his face. "I'm not promising anything. That thing probably runs on intergalactic dog farts and plutonium."

Kai grinned. "So… that's a yes?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll check the wreckage. But it's gonna take time. Days. Maybe weeks. And I'm not sleeping until I figure it out, so you'd better all leave me alone and not blow anything up."

Goku saluted. "We'll be on our best behavior."

Kai raised a hand. "Quick question: while she's building the spaceship… do I still have permission to use the gravity chamber?"

Bulma narrowed her eyes. "You're not gonna start bleeding out of your ears again, are you?"

"I'll try to keep my blood internal this time."

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "Fine. But if you die, I'm not dragging your corpse out again."

Later that night, as Bulma returned to her lab with a thermos full of coffee and a fire in her eyes, she passed the training yard window and caught a glimpse of Kai.

He was mid-air, surrounded by sweat and steam, muscles straining under every limb, body trembling from pushing his limits — again.

She stopped for a moment and watched him, then sighed.

"Idiot," she muttered fondly. "You're gonna burn out before we even leave Earth."

But inside, part of her couldn't help but admire how serious he was — even if he never talked about why.

Even if he always seemed like he was holding something back.