Holding two men’s lives in your hands, and choosing only one of them to be given life was not an easy task, I can guarantee you that.

            Such was the decision presented to me by my old friend Dende.  He’d given me two young men, and a single wish.  Possibly my two most competitive and lustful students ever had been pitted against each other for four months.  And in that short time I’d been forced to evaluate, judge, and grade every aspect of both of them, culminating into making this very choice.

            The obvious selection was Cris, what with his mastery of Kaioken, his remarkable work ethic, his peerless martial arts skills, and his amazing smarts in battle.  Still, something kept dragging me back to Triono, like there was something that I’d been forgetting when considering sending him back.  I couldn’t figure out what it was, yet it stayed there, nagging me like some sort of itch I couldn’t scratch.

            I wanted to just sit down, weigh the pros and cons on each side, and then come to a reasonable choice.  Time did not permit such a decision making process, and with every second I thought about who to choose was a second that choice wouldn’t be going down snake way towards Earth.

            So, I decided to tell both of my trainees, and let them sway me one way or another.  I told my plan to Kami over our psychic link, and he met it with a fair amount of hostility “Damnit Kai, we don’t have time for this.  Yush will be arriving in about fifteen minutes, and Mr. Popo has all the dragon balls ready for the wish, we just need your word, quickly.”

            “I can’t rush this Kami, a few minutes won’t really alter when one of them gets there, but it will dramatically alter the life of both of them, so you can understand how I can’t rush this.”

            “I don’t understand, doesn’t Cris know Kaioken?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well then what is there to choose?  Triono may be stronger right now, but when Cris gets out of that heavy gravity, he’ll be able to raise the Kaioken fairly high, right?”

            “Well, yes, but there’s something else, something that rises Triono to Cris’ level, maybe even beyond.”

            “And what is that?”

            “I don’t know, I’ll tell you when I find out.”

            I heard Kami sigh heavily on the other side of our telepathic conversation, then he answered “Alright, but please hurry, we’ll need their help very soon.”

            “Alright, I promise to get one of them out there as fast as possible.”  I was going to end it with that, but a thought popped up in my head  “Just please tell me how strong Yush is Kami.”

            “I’ve estimated his power level to be very close to a million.”

            I shrugged, and stared bleakly out into the orange sky.  “Alright, I’ll contact you before thirty minutes.”

            “Ok.  Mr. Popo and I will be waiting.”

            Our discussion ended, and I walked slowly over to the tree, where Triono was meditating and Cris was practicing some basic sword strokes behind the Saiyan.  As I approached, Triono’s eyes whipped open, he stood up and faced me.  Cris also turned to face me, his face covered in beads of sweat.

            I didn’t speak for several seconds, just looked at both of them, my mind still clouded in doubt.  Cris sensed my uneasiness, and asked, “What’s wrong King Kai?”

            I looked at him, stared into his innocent and forgiving eyes, and then answered.  “It’s the Caprians.” 

As soon as I spoke the “C” word, they both took a step closer and asked in unison “What about them?”

            “They’re on Earth.  It looks like they sent a small group to follow up on Nacran’s discovery long before the main fleet set off.”  The air flew out of both of their lungs, their jaws dropped, and they stared in horror at me.

            “How strong are they?”  Cris managed to ask after a few seconds of silence.

            “Strong.”

            “Strong enough to beat the Earth Warriors?”  Triono questioned.

            “Yes.”  I replied in a quiet voice.

            They both stood in silence, their heads drooping slowly, not daring to look at me, much less at each other.  After several awkward seconds, Cris asked, “How did they get close enough without being detected by you or Kami?”

            “Kami had said that he simply forgot to look out over the nearby star-systems, too busy with his trainees or something.  He and I both agreed that my main job would be to track the progress of the main fleet, so my vision never passed over the course of this new attack team.”

            They both nodded, content with the shitty answer.  “So,” Triono said “the only question now is: Who gets wished back?”

            Cris turned to face him slowly, and then asked in a sarcastic voice “Is there a question there?”

            Triono smiled, and then answered smoothly “Hell yes there’s a question.”

            Cris stood open-mouthed and then replied, “What are you talking about?  I’ve mastered Kaioken.  That alone should make me the one to be wished back.”

            “And how high do you think you’ll be able to rise Kaioken on Earth?  Ten times, maybe fifteen at the most?”  Cris nodded in agreement, and Triono quickly replied “Then that won’t put you as high as me in Oozaru form.”

            A revelation of sorts hit me.  I realized that Oozaru had been the thing I’d been forgetting about Triono.  If his tail grew back in the battle, it would put Triono seriously over Cris in power.  Cris didn’t understand this of course and answered back a “Wha?”

            While Triono went about explaining that Oozaru would multiply his power by 10, and with that he would surpass Cris with Kaioken X 15, the thought of power levels entered my head, and I quickly rushed back to the house to get something I’d forgotten about for a while.

            After a quick and frantic search, I snatched my goal, and returned to the bickering Saiyan and human with a small blue and metallic object in my hand.  Triono was currently explaining to Cris how he’d been able to overpower him the last time he’d turned Oozaru, while Cris was adamantly arguing that it would be nearly impossible for his tail to grow back at that late a stage in his life.

            I interrupted them with a definitive “Shut up!!!!!” at the top of my lungs.  They both quickly quieted and turned to face me, a somewhat stunned look on their faces.  “Good.  Now stand still and let me read your powers.”

            They both stared at me with questioning and stupefied faces.  I just brought the brand new Capsule Corp. high-end scouter Krillin had brought me months previously to my right eye, and with my free hand pushed the large grey button on the side of the device.  It instantly came to life; beeping and whizzing like a little kid high on sugar.  The first power signature it read was the most powerful, that belonging to Triono.  The numbers on the screen shot up at amazing speeds, surpassing four digits in less than a second.  Soon the scouters little yellow numbers came to a stop at 7000.  I multiplied that by 10, accounting for the gravity’s affect on the reading, and then multiplied that by 10 again to get Triono in Oozaru form.  700,000.  It was good, but even at that level he wouldn’t have a chance against Yush.

            Rather than tell either of them, I moved onto Cris, pushing the square grey button again and gliding the scouter’s tunnel of vision over the red-haired human.  The scouter beeped some more, and soon the numbers were displayed right in front of me.  4000.  Giving Cris an Earth gravity power level of 40,000.  Multiplying that by 15 put it somewhere near 600,000.  Less than Triono’s but a far more dependable power level to say the least.

            “Triono, your power level is 70,000, and Cris, yours is 40,000.”  They both stood there, absorbing the information, each doing the thumbnail calculations I’d just performed.

            Triono came to the conclusion first, practically shouting, “If I turn Oozaru, I’ll be far more powerful than you Cris, I knew I should be the one wished back.”

            Cris quickly replied with, “That’s a big if Triono.  I mean what are the chances of your tail growing back now?”

            “Pretty damn good I say.  I mean, look at Goku, his tail grew back once when he was 14 too.  You can’t just write off that it won’t happen.”

            “But ----” Cris continued, but by this point I’d blocked them out.  The variables fighting each other in my head were far louder than Cris or Triono could ever be.  I tried to figure out which of them to choose, which one of my pride-enjoys were to be given life.  Both presented such strong cases, and I knew that if either of them were to be wished back, they’d be the strongest Z warrior against Yush, but I also knew that either of them alone wouldn’t be strong enough to defeat Yush.  If only there was a way they could go back together.  Together……….

            The thought hit me like a tidal wave, a giant onslaught of cosmic design.  I didn’t even speak a word to either of them, I just mentally engaged Kaioken, igniting my body in red flames, and shot off to the house with amazing speed, a giddy feeling in my heart.  I broke down the door to the grey domed house, and immediately began a frenzied search to find the key to my plan.  I knocked over my bed, the dinner table, the entire silverware cabinet, almost broke down the very walls in my hysterical hunt.

            Soon I found the old chest I seeked.  It seemed like a relic of times long since past, an old wooden chest with gold-plated handles, locks, and hinges.  In actuality the contents inside were historical objects in themselves.  I looked past the gi worn by Goku during his time with me, past the hammer King Yemma had used when he’d trained under me, past all the other things that I’d kept to remind me of the past, to the two items that held the key to victory against these group of Caprians.

            I caught hold of them after only a few seconds, running my fingers gently over the smooth, curved metallic surfaces of the pair.  I clasped them tightly in my hands, ripped them out of the pile of mementos and various junk residing in the chest of memories, and then sprinted out the wrecked doorframe.

            Cris and Triono both watched in mild humor as I came, huffing and puffing, in front of them, an earring in either hand, and a tense look on my face.  They waited patiently while I caught my breath and stood up straight.  Then they asked, “Yes?”

            I held up the two small, golden earrings, letting the elongated ends dangle out of my hands, creating a slight jingling sound.  “You know what these are?”  I asked.

            They both studied them, and for a second there was no reaction, then Cris sighed lightly and asked, “Are those the fusion earrings?”  I nodded, and Cris was struck with a puzzled look, like he didn’t understand what I meant by their presence.

            “Fusion….. earrings?”  Triono quizzically asked aloud.  He didn’t even know what they were, and his innocence somehow reminded me of Goku, of his endless purity, of everything that made Goku, Goku.  Maybe it was the way they looked nearly identical, or maybe it was the virtuousness in his voice, like a young child’s, but I was just reminded of Goku to a tee.

            I smiled at Triono in a sort of desperate, parenting kind of way.  He gave me an even stranger look, and I smiled even wider.  Suddenly though Cris caught on to what I’d been planning to do.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!!!”  He screamed, nearly breaking my delicate eardrums.

            “I’m not kidding at all Cris, I think its come down to this.”

            “No way.  There’s no way I’d fuse with Triono, much less with the earrings.”

            “I hate to tell you guys, but even at either of your maxes, you’d be no match for Yush.  He’d kill you, all your friends, and then he’d just pave the way for Yoorabit and his army.”

            “What are you guys talking about?”  Triono interjected.

            Cris turned to him and exclaimed, “He wants you and me to fuse together into one person, so that we’ll be strong enough to defeat the Caprians on Earth.”

            “Hell no!!”  Triono echoed Cris’ thoughts.

            “So you guys are saying you won’t sacrifice your two bodies to save the lives of trillions of sentient beings?”  I asked.

            “What about our lives?”  Cris wondered.

            “I’m not going to lie to you two, I don’t know what will happen to either of your subconscious’, or your identities, or anything like that.”  They fell silent, absorbing the information grudgingly.  “But I do know that this is our only option.  You guys would be signing your own death warrant if either of you went alone.  That’s the last thing I want to see happen to you guys, to end your lives again.”

            “Isn’t that what your proposing though?”  Cris asked.

            “Your lives will be ended, but we all know that Goku and Vegeta fused with the earrings once, and they found a way to un-fuse.  I’m not promising anything though.”  After a few more seconds of silence, I said, “It’s up you though.  I can’t make this decision for either of you, and if you choose not to go through with this, I won’t think any less of either of you.”

            They both bowed their heads in concentration.  I couldn’t imagine what thoughts, ideas, and emotions were running through their minds at that time, but I also knew we didn’t have much time.  My thought was confirmed when Kami’s voice suddenly popped up in my head.  “King Kai, are you there?”

            “Yes, what is it Kami?”  I replied hastily, whipping my antennae towards Earth to getter a better “reception”.

            “They’ve almost landed King Kai.  We need to know who to wish back, soon, like right now.”

            “Just a second Kami, you may actually be wishing back both of them.”

            “Wha---?”

            “Never mind, you’ll find out soon enough.”

            “Alright, but please tell me as soon as possible.”

            “I already said I would.”

            I waited a few more seconds, letting Cris and Triono have their final few moments of thought before I interrupted their thinking.  “We’re sort of in a rush here guys.  They need to know who to wish back to life.”  With that I extended both hands, palms upward, with an earring in each paw.

            I studied Cris, then Triono.  Neither gave any hint as to what their decision would be, and for the longest time, they both stared blankly at me and at each other.

            Suddenly Cris sighed, sheathed his sword, took a few steps forward, and reached out to take the earring from my left hand.  He picked it up slowly, hands shaking, and then clasped it tightly onto his right ear.

            All eyes turned to Triono.  The Saiyan looked into the sky, at Cris, and then finally at me.  For the split second his eyes and mine locked, I saw the pure innocence once again.  Then he stepped forward and snapped up the remaining earring.

            I backed off as Cris and Triono took a few tentative steps away from each other.  Each of their faces remained amazingly focused on the other, in a level of concentration no pair of lovers could match.

            Triono closed his eyes one final time, scrunched his mouth together, and began to cry.  Then in one fluid motion, he brought the earring up to his left ear, and clipped it securely on.

            The sky suddenly turned dark purple, like on a planet when the dragon balls were being used, and two flashes of lightning sprung forth from the sky.  One beam hit Triono, and the other Cris.  The blasts seemingly shoved them together, until they crashed into each other at suicidal speeds.  When their bodies met, there was a blinding flash of light, and I was forced to turn away.

            From their meeting point, sounds like that of an intergalactic battle spread forth, so loud the very ground vibrated strongly.  After a few seconds the light seemed to dissipate, and the sounds gently receded to bearable levels.  I turned back, and was greeted by the sight of a cloud of dust and flying dirt, not to mention a bright white light pulsating from some sort of centre, in the eye of the storm.

            I waited, and for what seemed like an eternity, there was nothing.  Then the wind, which normally didn’t exist on my planet, picked up, and the dust was blown away.  In its place stood the source of the light.

            It was tall, at least over six feet, with wide shoulders, long legs, and high, spiky red hair.  Its back was facing me, and all I saw was the green tunic and yellow scarf it wore on its torso and neck.  The sounds disappeared, and then there was utter silence for several seconds.

            Then, the figure spoke in a deep, rough voice “Tell them to wish back,” at that the being lashed its head around to half-face me, its hair bouncing, its earrings jingling, and finished “Crono.”