Well, it was going to be a big day for my two recruits, and this would probably decide if they could walk the walk or not.  I was sure they’d be able to take the training, well Cris at least, but how long they’d last without getting homesick was beyond me, I just hoped they’d make it.  They were extremely young, and while I doubted Triono had many roots or family members in his dimension, Cris probably had tonnes, and ripping him apart from them may have had a bigger impact than he imagined.  But what was done was done; I doubt we would make it back to the rift in time to send him back, so he was here for at least a while.

            All three of us stepped out of the pod as the walkway ahead of us lowered itself slowly to the ground.  The greenery of my Earth was a sight for sore eyes after having to look at nothing but the barren wastelands Triono and Cris called home.  I turned to both of them, and they both stood awe-struck, looking into the rich grass and clear blue sky that I knew so well.  I took in a breath of invigorating air, and in a second the dirty, crusted feeling I’d had since arriving on Cris and Triono’s Earth was gone.  There was freshness, a sort of renewing factor on my planet that Cris and Triono’s lacked.

            The two of them really amazed me; I was still having trouble believing that they were so powerful.  Triono was 13 and yet, he was more powerful than Goku at his age.  Sure he wasn’t as strong as Gohan was, but that was just because he hadn’t been properly trained.  I was even more astounded though, at how much Triono looked like Goku.  The resemblance was un-canny, everything from the beefy arms to the spiky black hair to the oh so familiar facial features.  I didn’t know if he was a full saiyan or not, even after reading his memories because seriously he didn’t know himself.  I’d seen everything he’d gone through, and I’d felt sorry for him, he’d been through stuff Cris didn’t even know about, like his mom, who’d come up in his memories very often.

            Now I was sure that Triono was capable of becoming a formidable warrior, but he’d have to get over his fear, or maybe hatred of training.  Kami wouldn’t take it easy on him, and I couldn’t have him buckle, he’d be the only super saiyan against the invaders if it came down to an all-out brawl.

            “So where are we going to now?”  Cris asked through squinting eyes, as the sun came pounding on us from high above.  I was just about to answer by flying off with them in tow to sky tower when I became aware of a very powerful force not a kilometre to our left.  I instantly recognized it, Nacran.  Shit, we didn’t need this now; I couldn’t take him alone, much less with two potential hostages with me.  Sure enough he was coming towards us, and I barely saw him before he touched down in front of us.

            I sensed the tension from my pair of newbies, and I’m sure they could sense mine.  My thought was confirmed when Cris fell into his fighting stance facing Nacran.  Triono either realized Nacran was too strong for them, or he didn’t want a fight right then, which I found hard to believe, he must’ve taken memories of Nacran from my mind when we linked.

            “What you got here?”  The big brute ahead asked in that stupid western accent, peering around me and looking over Cris first then Triono.  I couldn’t let him have them, Triono was still corruptible, and I didn’t want to lose Cris fighting a foe way more powerful than him.  I knew what this was going to come down to already, the destructo disc.  I began gathering a bit of the energy on my arm so it was ready for a quick destructo disc.

            “Just leave now Nacran, I don’t have time to deal with you right now.”  I continued garnering the energy I’d need, but it’d be a while if I wanted to get in the necessary energy without him noticing.

            “You mean you don’t have time to die?”  This caused even Triono to tense up to my left.  “I just wanna know what you got here, new recruits no doubt. Eh?”  He asked rhetorically “You can’t beat us don’t you realize that yet?”

            It was then that Triono decided to open his mouth “Not only will we beat you, we’ll beat your whole stinking army.”  I really wish he hadn’t done that.  Cris stood behind me dumb-founded, he didn’t know that Nacran was the head of the scouting team that had found out about the dragon balls for the invaders, he didn’t know that Nacran’s power level was rated as high as six hundred thousand on the higher-end scouters, and he sure didn’t know that I’d barely survived my last encounter with him.

            Nacran looked to Triono, and then replied to me “Lippy workforce you got here.”  He then took a few steps towards Triono, and Cris quickly jumped to his right, getting behind Nacran and creating a pincer between him and Triono.  I was about to screw stealth and just power up my destructo disc, but then Nacran took matters into his own hands.

            “Maybe it’s time I should show them how to give some respect.”  He raised his right hand and before either Cris or I could do anything, he fired a small ki blast from his palm straight towards Triono.  The green blast hit Triono at full force, shearing through his body like it was paper, and in less than a second, Triono had a hole roughly the size of a fist straight through his torso.  He fell to the ground like a ton of bricks, blood gushing out at exponential rates.

            “Noooooooooo!!!” A horrified scream came away from the main action.  I realized it was Cris, who was trying his very best not to explode in anger.  This surprised me more than a little, even in Triono’s memories they’d been nothing more than rivals, but maybe Cris was more worried about Triono than he let on, who knew.

            Cris then did something I never expected.  He brought his hands back to his hip and began charging his ki, almost screaming out “Ka-----“ I had an idea of where this was going “me-------“ I then realized he was going for a Kamehameha, god knows where he learnt it.  Nacran turned to face Cris, staring at the boiling human fighter.  It was all the chance I needed.  I cleared my mind, paused and with one great push, zanzokened five metres behind Nacran.  I raised my hand, palm outstretched and began preparing one slick, deadly destructo disc.

            “Ha-----me----“ Cris continued, concentrating his ki with all his effort.   Nacran remained focused on Cris, as the burly alien’s scouter began beeping wildly, obviously Cris could raise his power level by concentrating his energy.  My destructo disc was now complete, hanging above my head, ready to go.  “Ha!!!!” Cris screamed out at the top of his lungs as he let his ki blast loose on Nacran.

            Sure enough the dark skinned attacker easily sent the blast to the side, as Cris stood exasperated.  It was the opening I needed though, and quickly launched my attack.  It was on Nacran before he could even turn to face it.  It sliced through his armor, skin, and then cracking through his middle torso.  Blood sprayed everywhere, but it didn’t stop Cris from jumping to the side as the destructo disc, as it continued its torrent straight onwards towards the hillside.  Eventually it’d run out of energy and disintegrate.

            Nacran made no death scream, just a few gurgles before death claimed him.  Triono was slightly less quiet.  He screamed his head off, as Cris and I both ran to him.  We bent over him, but there was nothing we could do, he was dying.  Blood had already soaked into the ground, replaced by fresh stuff from Triono’s saiyan heart.  “Help me, oh please dear god help me!” He yelled, agony and fear in his heart.

            I passed my hand over his head to dampen his pain receptors, better than any kind of painkiller we had.  He quieted somewhat, but he still clasped onto Cris shoulder as blood began coughing itself up from his throat.  When he’d finally cleared enough of the liquid from his mouth to speak again he said only one thing “I’m gonna see her again Cris, dear god, I can’t wait to see her again.”  He then went limp, and his head drooped back.

            I heard Cris sobbing, as he set Triono’s body to the ground and then in disgust vomited off to the side.  It struck something inside of me, maybe it was because Triono looked so much like Goku, but something hit me, and suddenly I just wanted to go back to life with 18, just settle down again, and not care about anything, just enjoy my time in the other dimension with Gohan, Yamcha, Tien and Chao-zu.  I suddenly longed for the carefree days long since past.  The dragon balls could not ensure happiness, especially not for souls that had witnessed as much as mine had.

            I rose from the ground, and stepped over the mess that had been Triono, and pulled Cris up from where he was weeping.  His eyes were red and teary, his face was grim and I could only find one way to consolidate him.  “We’ll wish him back, don’t worry.”

            “What are you talking about?” He replied a few seconds later.

            “Remember those dragon balls that I told you about, the ones that the aliens are coming for?”  I paused, not long enough to let him answer, but long enough to let the question sink in “They can bring people back from the dead.”

            He just looked at me with an odd face, like he was seeing if I was lying or not, when he finally realized I was telling the truth, he hiccupped a little, and then nodded.  I took my hands off him and let him collect himself.  After a while he asked, “Who was that guy who attacked us?”  And pointed to one half of the body of Nacran.            “His name was Nacran, he was part of the search party that discovered the dragon balls power.  He was the captain actually, he was even more powerful than me.”  Cris nodded absent-mindedly, and then his jaw dropped.

            “Triono! His body, it’s gone!”  He exclaimed as he pointed behind me.  I turned and sure enough Triono’s body was gone, just a blood-soaked patch of grass where it should have been.

            “Kami.”  I thought out loud.

            “Where did he take his body? And how did he move so fast we didn’t even see him.”

            I smirked at his innocence slightly, he really had no idea what he was talking about, ah well, we all had to learn sometimes.  “He took his body to the check-in station in the other dimension.  Only his body will be completely healed and fighting fit.  There he’ll probably go to King Kai’s place and train with him, if King Yemma lets him that is.  Oh and he didn’t come here at all, he takes the souls and bodies of people from this dimension every day, with just a thought.”

            I could tell I’d gone right over his head so before he could ask anything I said “Don’t worry, you can find out everything very soon.  In-fact let’s go right now to……” I was going to say Master Roshi’s house where he could relax and read up on the history, but then I remembered him pulling off the Kamehameha and instead I asked, “where did you learn the Kamehameha?”

            He seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden question, but slowly answered, “I read about it from some ancient Chinese scrolls.  I perfected it two years ago.”

            I didn’t know who or what the Chinese were, but if they knew about the Kamehameha they must’ve been some sorts of warriors.  “The person who created it here goes by the name Kame-sennin.  He taught it to Goku, Yamcha and I.”  He again appeared to not know what I was talking about, so I explained in some detail.  “He trained Goku, Yamcha and I when we were kids, about Triono’s age.  He’s the main reason Goku went on to become the most powerful being in the universe.  The Kamehameha was Goku’s most powerful move throughout his whole life, because it’s an extension of one’s own ki power.”  He appeared to catch on a bit better, so I continued my previous thought.  “Anyways, let’s get going to his house right now, you can read up on the history of the dimension from there, and you can rest up before your training with Kami.”

            Cris nodded, and then with one final glance at the scene of Triono’s death, he gave me the go ahead nod.  I covered both of us in my aura, and then shot up into the sky, off to the southeast and my old stomping grounds.