(Edit from the chapter 30 future; writing has improved a ton since the beginning of this fic. Future me talks more about this at the bottom. Enjoy the chapter!)

(Edit from the chapter 63 future; yeah, you know this guy right above me? He had no friggin' clue as to what was coming- the writing got even better, if I do say so myself)

For a long time, Krillin thought he was weak. It had been easy to believe what his older, taller peers at the temple had told him. They had seniority. They were older. They seemed to know more about the world. To a kid like him, they were the best source of information he could hope for. Rumors dressed up as facts, covering the lowliest initiate to the most prestigious monk. Swirling storms of fiction, surfacing occasionally as truth. Krillin was small, they said. Weak.

He had been pretty convinced of what they had said- including their pronouncements of him being a waste of space at the temple- for a fairly long time. And, most likely, it would have remained that way for a good deal longer if Krillin had not known one particularly overzealous peer. A careless shove from Zushin, a kid maybe two years older than him, had flung Krillin off the metaphorical cliff. With a push of his own, Krillin accidentally crashed Zushin through a wall. Thus, after this not-so-polite response, and then an even more unpolite response by his teacher, Krillin found himself walking down a dirt path to nowhere. He was frustrated, a little sad, but confident in the knowledge that, at the very least, he was stronger than Zushin. At the very worst, he had been the second weakest student at Orin temple.

As it turns out, the solitary setting Krillin now occupied was a good space to mentally torture himself.

I can't believe I did that…

A pebble flew off to the side.

Zushin was a jerk but he didn't deserve to be launched through a wall…

Another pebble rocketed away.

And now here I am, masterless and teacherless. Doomed to fight with all the skill and grace of a jellyfish.

Right before kicking another pebble out of his way, Krillin stopped in the road, smiling.

I'm still stronger than Zushin, though.

Krillin continued along the winding dirt path, zigzagging back and forth to avoid some errant branches from the surrounding forest. The road in front of him twisted endlessly to the left and right, obscuring any destination Krillin could have had in mind. He sighed. I think there's a city nearby... At least, that's what I think my teacher said.

He had packed enough food for four, five days max. He had stretched that to a week.

Why didn't I pack more food?! I don't know where I'm going! I'm so hungry... and tired...

The monk slouched closer to the ground, playing up his exhaustion for a non-existent crowd. What I'd give for a taxi or a bus… servicing forested nowhere stop #1.

As if on cue, an engine sounded nearby, obscured by the forest further down the path. His face a mixture of comedic satisfaction and astonishment, Krillin turned his attention to the farthest part of the path visible. I haven't seen any sort of car on this road… who would be out here?

In seconds, a motorized scooter screeched down the sharp turn, throwing dirt up as it flew, before settling into a straight path down the road. A path that ran straight through where Krillin was currently standing. Oh. A second later the scooter screeched just past Krillin's jumping body, barely avoiding a crash. Throwing up a cloud of dust, curses drifted across the air as the bike slowly regained control and stopped about twenty feet down the road. Krillin, prone on the path, heart racing, watched as the driver angrily stepped off and fumbled with their helmet. They wrenched it off, revealing a long braid falling down their back.

Thinking that the driver couldn't see out of the dirt cloud, Krillin grinned and cleared his throat, "a-HEM-", before a helmet whacked him square on the head. The thrown headgear bounced back and landed motionless in front of him.

"Are you CRAZY!" Limbs flailed in the dust for emphasis. "HOW many seconds did you stand motionless like an idiot? Five? Ten? Usually, people are smart enough to move out of a path of a speeding vehicle!"

"Okay, I had that coming…", Krillin muttered to himself, rubbing the growing bruise on his head.

The driver slowly emerged from dirt cloud. She was a girl in her early to mid-teens, dressed in gear a city dweller would deem appropriate for adventuring. Anger twisted her face into an unpleasant frown. CAPSULE CORP. was blazoned across her body, while the brand's logo was interspersed here and there elsewhere on her clothes. "You", she pointed at him, "have a lot of explaining to do, being out here in the middle of nowhere all by yourself."

"Uh… well… it's kind of embarrassing…" Krillin scratched his head.

She continued to glare, waiting.

"Uh... to tell you the truth... I sorta got kicked out of my temple. I've been walking in this forest ever since…"

The girl stared for a few more seconds, then visibly relaxed and let out a long sigh. "That's a relief. And to think, I considered you a competitor for a second there."

She blinked. "I probably shouldn't have said that. But the cat's out of the bag, I guess. Hmm, actually…" Her face seemed to scrunch as she seemed to be… thinking? Krillin wasn't entirely sure. At this point, Krillin felt more like an observer than a participant in the conversation between them. It was if she had completely forgotten he was here. "Ah!" She snapped her fingers. "I have a proposition. I'm assuming you don't like wandering around aimlessly, right?"

Krillin nodded. At the same time, he noted how hollow his stomach felt.

"Okay, so here it is; I'm searching for a special object that's hidden nearby, and I need another pair of eyes to help me look for it. If you help me find the thing, I'll drive you to the nearest town so at the very least you don't starve to death." A smile edged across her face. "Sound fair?"

For whatever reason, Krillin had a feeling in his gut that this girl was trouble. But his gut was also screaming for breadcrumbs at this point. What other option do I have? "Alright, sure, I guess. What are we looki- hey!"

The girl had closed the gap between them and had pulled out a rod; she aggressively began waving it over every part of Krillin. Satisfied, she folded the object in half and tucked it into her back pocket. "Sorry, just had to make sure you were legit. You know, that you're not some person in the woods preying on passersbys and whatnot. So, ready to head off?" She jogged over to her bike and began rummaging around in a backpack strapped to its side.

"Sure, but where? And what are we looking for?"

She pulled out a round object from the sack, holding it up and inspecting it in the day's light. Krillin could make out some sort of grid on the front side of it.

"This, my associate, shall lead us."

0o0o0

The unlikely pair crunched through the forest undergrowth, trying their best to conceal the sound of their movement. The forest itself was pretty normal, Krillin figured. A smattering of dead leaves, bushes, trees, furry animals, and creeks populated the landscape, giving off a feeling of tranquility. It wasn't long, however, before both of them stumbled into a clearing with trees aggressively plastered to the ground.

"Excuse me, but I don't think I asked for your name.", Krillin managed to squeak out of his throat.

Bulma was too distracted by the device in her hands to look at Krillin directly. "Bulma. My name's Bulma. Why do you ask?"

"I need a name to blame when I die."

"Oh? And what's your name?"

"Krillin."

"Good," Bulma growled, "now we'll both die cursing each other on a first name basis." After scanning the surrounding section of flattened woods, Bulma walked out into the flat area, her eyes and hands still consumed by the round device.

Krillin hesitantly followed, studying the trees underneath as he went. The wood seemed strangely warped, almost curved, as if they weren't flattened indiscriminately but rather purposefully. In fact, now that he took a wider look at the environment, Krillin noticed the shape of the clearing wasn't round, but instead was a curved line, stretching through the woods for miles. To his right, the flattened section of the woods gently bent to the left, continuing for as far as he could see. To his left, in the distance, stood a solitary shack. Eee!... I don't like the look of this! He did his best to follow Bulma- who was now walking directly towards the building- and struggled to stem the rising tide of fear within him.

As they approached, Bulma slowed, eyes narrowing on her device. Suddenly, she frantically scurried off to the remaining tree line to her right, launching herself into a bush right on the edge near the shack. She swung her arms madly until Krillin realized she was angrily telling him to get out of the open. Without a moment to spare, he scrambled into the bush next to Bulma as a figure emerged from the shack.

This figure was, for some reason, completely naked.

"Wonder if that's what we're looking for?... probably not," Krillin said under his breath, his cheeks reddening from the sight before him.

The longer Krillin looked, the more confused he became. This kid - has to be, he's a few inches shorter than me - had the body of a survivor. Lean muscles latticed his body like diamonds, without as much as a single inch of fat or unnecessary flesh. Dark red marks ran down their body in a pattern- blood, if Bulma was to be believed. Most startling of all, the figure had a tail, calming swinging behind him. It gave him an almost unholy appearance.

A soft pop at his side made Krillin turn. Bulma was fumbling in a cloud of smoke for something, "Ah, there." She lifted a pair of binoculars to her face and peered towards the shack. Krillin was about to ask where the binoculars had come from when Bulma gave a stifled yelp.

"What?" She jumped, "No dragonball?" She fell uncharacteristically silent, eyes glued to the binoculars. "What!" She jumped again. "Is that blood!"

Dragonball? Blood? Krillin couldn't take his gaze off the kid. Fear rapidly closed around him, suffocating him and denying him any action that could have gotten him out of there. The kid just stood there, standing next to the shack fifty feet away, half-turned and gazing into the forest.

Bulma's eyes narrowed. "Wait," she muttered, "if he's not the one moving, then who..."

"What? What are you talki-"

A crack rang out in the forest. The kid jumped away as a tree fell down on where he was standing. He landed a few feet away, rising from a crouch, as his gaze fell on the opposite end of the treeline from Krillin and Bulma.

The person who emerged was even stranger than the first. The man's head looked positively ancient, bald and adorned with a long, full grey beard. Wrinkles covered every part of his face, surrounding a pair of sunglasses with a broken right frame. The man's body, on the other hand, was absolutely ripped; muscles bulged beyond what seemed possible for a human body, let alone someone as old as him. The man seemed to be in a state similar to the first figure; bloodied and alert, on the verge of action.

It also happened that, at their distance, neither Krillin nor Bulma could hear a single thing the two were saying to each other.

"You don't think they could be having a friendly conversation," Krillin said to no-one in particular, "do you?

Bulma opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut-off by a deafening booom. The two figures- now clearly combatants- had surged forward and gripped against each other, arm for arm. They briefly struggled in each others' grip before disengaging and chasing each other in and out of the edge of the forest near the shack. As limited as Krillin's battle sense was, he saw in the strangely built old man an experience in combat beyond equal and in the kid a ferocity and will unlike any other person he'd seen. Krillin could barely keep track of the fists, kicks, and collisions that filled the space between them.

Bulma, still at his side, watched with an even duller awareness.

Krillin saw a splash of red splatter across the sky. Blood was in the air. Someone was going to die from this fight.

A particularly vicious blow knocked the kid from the treeline. Now closer and clearly visible, Krillin could make out the immeasurable amount of scars this kid, for someone as young as him, had. More and more, Krillin saw a phantom of death.

The old man quickly followed up his punch, running and launching a vicious chop aimed at the kid's head. Still struggling to stand after crashing into the ground, the kid didn't see it coming until it was too late, his head making an audible cracckk as the hand flew down and hit the top of his head. He sagged to the ground, unconscious.

Krillin was awestruck. This man, whoever he was, was clearly a martial arts master, far greater than anything he had seen at the temple, and experienced beyond his years. Someone who isn't weak… Quickly, and without thinking, Krillin rushed out of the brush and approached the old man. Bulma feebly tried to grab the former monk's fluttering clothes to stop him, but her hand gripped air and for her effort, she nearly toppled face first out of the bush.

Still panting, the old man cast a wayward eye up out of his broken shade and raised a hand. "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you. By the way you're walking, I assume you're here to back up your murderous little friend."

Krillin met the man's eyes, then immediately fell to the ground prostrating, his head pressed into the dirt. "Please," he begged, "teach me your ways!"

Krillin thought he heard a snort, then a laugh, and then finally a sigh. "Heh… who would have thought that I would have found another pupil here, of all places," the old man said, ending with a tone of sadness not lost on Krillin.

The former monk lifted his head. "What's your name?"

The old man, for the first time, smiled. "Master Roshi." He glanced down at the unconscious kid, then began to move over to Krillin. "I-"

Horror. What transpired next would forever be coded as one thing in Krillin's mind. Horror. The kid, who up until this point looked to be perhaps dead, sprung up from the ground, blood still flowing down his head from the Master Roshi's earlier blow. In one snarling motion, the kid raised a two-handed fist high above his head and swung it towards Master Roshi. It connected with the back of the old man's neck, reciprocating the crunchh that had been given to him. Its effect was immediately devastating. In an instant, Master Roshi's eyes- which up until this point were waxing in warmth and kindness- emptied, and expressed an incomprehensible pain. He pathetically fell to the ground, only mustering a twitching of his appendages as he attempted to move his body. Out of his throat came sharp, guttural sounds, the sounds of a tortured person. In one second, Krillin saw perhaps the greatest martial artist in maybe the whole world be blindsided by a cheap shot. Now, all that remained was a writhing, yet still living, mess.

The kid drew back his hands, evidently from pain more than anything else, and then slammed his foot down on Master Roshi's now prone body. Hard. The body underneath creaked and crushed, yet refused to give up, trying to find some way to escape, to flee the pain inflicting it.

The kid, for the first time, looked up from Master Roshi and looked into Krillin's eyes. "Wanna know something funny?", he said softly, his foot driving deeper and deeper into the broken man below him, "He was far stronger than me. He could have killed me at any time." A sick grin bubbled to the kid's mouth. "My name is Kakarot. And mercy is for the weak."

With one swift, brutal motion, Kakarot drove his foot straight through Master Roshi's back, crunching inwards in a gory, pulpy mess. Blood sprayed onto both Kakarot and Krillin, binding them both to destiny.

0o0o0

Admiring his handiwork, and then casting his eyes one more time at the now shaking Krillin, Kakarot turned around and withdrew into the forest, only stopping to grab a small pack at the foot of the shack door. He receded out of sight, leaving Krillin trembling on his knees next to a corpse.

After what felt like an eternity, a sound approached him from behind. Bulma had cautiously, carefully, walked towards him, her face paler than Krillin thought possible. Her eyes frantically flashed between him and the body before him.

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Within the clearing wind and the chirps of birds could be heard in the far-off distance. Tears welled in Krillin's eyes, but he would not let them leave- not let the silence be destroyed.

Krillin opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally said, "Why?"

She lifted her eyes from the ground, water welling in her eyes. "What?"

"Why were we here?"

"Well," she began, using her fingers to massage her temples in an effort to get a hold on herself, "dragonballs. This started a quest for them. As a child, I had always heard stories about dragonballs, these… orbs, I guess- that could grant any wish you desired if you found all seven of them. I set off from my home with a simple goal in mind…" her voice falling off, detached.

"Earlier," Krillin asked again, his voice warbling slightly, "you realized that someone was in that house, and hid before they could see you. How'd you do that? I've heard that it's possible to find another human person simply from sensing their life energy, or ki. Were you doing that?"

Bulma shook her head. "No, but in this scenario, I had the second-best thing." She pulled out from her knapsack the round object she had been walking through the forest with earlier. "This is a dragon radar. I built it to track and find dragonballs, though don't ask me how I pulled that off- more luck than anything else."

"So... you're saying that one of those two had a dragonball and was moving, and as a result, you knew someone was here."

"Yea, although at first I was confused because as we got closer, I noticed there were actually two dragonballs here. They were so close on top of each other- and moving- that I thought the radar was broken."

"I don't understand," Krillin replied, scratching his head. He seemed to remember where he was and he backed up from Master Roshi's corpse a few feet.

"When we first started to move through that area with the flattened trees, I was originally going for a blip on the radar that was around the edge of the treeline, but when I checked it again it was gone. It was then that I realized that there was a second dot, up ahead, by the shack. When that dot moved, and the dot behind us began jumping around wildly, I scrambled into a bush so I wouldn't be seen.

Krillin paused, considering. "Okay; where are the dragonballs now?"

"Well, unless this thing is truly busted, that kid took one, probably in that pack of his."

"And the second one?"

Bulma hesitantly pointed towards the corpse.

Oh. That. Fighting back waves of nausea, Krillin crouched down to the corpse. The dragonball, strangely enough, was locked in his right hand, fingers still clenched around it in apparent defense. Slowly, Krillin pried finger after finger away until the ball was free. Examining it closely for the first time, he noticed that the balls were a particular shade of orange, with darker inlaid stars within the balls themselves. This particular dragonball had three such stars. Overall, it was about the size of his fist.

In response to a gesture from Bulma, Krillin handed the ball to her, who eagerly examined the ball. "I can't believe they actually exist", she mumbled, turning the ball endlessly in her hands. "This isn't some sort of fantasy mumbo-jumbo… they might actually work!"

Deep in thought, Krillin remained quiet through Bulma's measured optimism.

"Bulma, can I ask another question?" He asked after a moment.

"Shoot."

"Do you have any interest in using the... wish, I guess, granted by the dragonballs, if you find them all?"

"Hmm..." She closed her eyes in thought. "Now that I think about it, there's nothing I really want or need… I guess I set off on this adventure to test whether or not I could locate them, and then find out whether they worked or not." She suddenly blushed. "Well, there is one thing, but it's not a huge deal… Yea, I guess I'm 95% sure I don't need a wish. Why?"

"Okay", he began, "here's what I suggest; we find the dragonballs. We get the dragonball back from that kid, Kakarot. We use them to revive…" He pointed to the corpse, "his name was Master Roshi. We revive Master Roshi. From what I saw, he was a kind, strong person, someone whose life was cut short by fighting this monster of a kid in the middle of nowhere. He didn't deserve this. I want to bring him back."

Bulma arched an eyebrow. "You do know that if we're going by experience, it seems that these dragonballs are held by crazy strong martial artists and fighters. What makes you think we can even get one more of these, let alone six? Furthermore, no offense, but why should I bring you along for the ride? I have the radar, transportation, and money. What do you bring to the table?"

Admittedly, Krillin couldn't argue against this. Krillin held no delusions about his own strength. He may be able to beat up an overgrown bully, but he doubted he could do anything beyond that. He certainly couldn't protect Bulma, let alone himself, from someone like Kakarot. By all accounts, this seemed to be a suicide mission. But… I need to... I have to!... He met Bulma's eyes.

"Bulma, I've had a dream, for as long as I've remembered, to be strong, Not for the sake of power, or any other advantage strength gives. No, I wanted to be strong so I could stand up for myself. In Master Roshi, I saw that he was the type of person who could help me, who could help a lot of people learn to find that inner strength, to bring to the surface power I or anyone else never knew we had. I have no doubt in my mind that, if he had survived, he would have stopped any further destruction or death that kid Kakarot would have caused. I… " He clenched both his fists, clamped his eyes shut. "I can't let that happen! Master Roshi would have saved lives!"

Krillin stopped, then took a long, deep breath.

"I", he struggled to say, "I-I worry that this kid won't stop. He'll continue to destroy. And when he fights helpless people, it won't be a fight, it'll be a slaughter." He paused again, gathered what little composure he had left, and looked up at Bulma. "Please Bulma, let me try. Let me try to find the strength to help those who have none."

Silence. Krillin frowned.

Bulma stared, then finally broke eye contact. "Fine. We find the dragonballs, we revive Roshi. I guess it's the least we could do."

Relieved, Krillin nodded.

"We do need to do something first, though", Krillin added.

"What," Bulma questioned, "is that?"

The monk dragged his gaze towards the still motionless corpse near them.

0o0o0

After a heart-wrenching amount of time, Krillin and Bulma- mostly Krillin- had succeeded in digging a modest man-sized hole. It was as good as a grave as they were going to create with the time on their hands. A significant chunk of that time, unfortunately, had been taken up by Krillin's incredulous shock at Bulma seemingly creating shovels out of thin air. Only after a long and exhausting conversation did Krillin finally learn that the shovels came out of Bulma's capsules. An unexplainable modern marvel, as far as Krillin was concerned. Regardless, they eventually managed after a handful of starts and stops to roll Master Roshi's body into the impromptu grave, and together, they moved the dirt back over the body and packed it down. When the last of the packing had been done, they stood there silent in their vows, graced by the sounds of a forest quickly turning dark. Night subsumed, thankfully, a long and mournful day.

On their way back to the motorbike Krillin had to scratch an intellectual itch. It was the best thing he could focus his mind on.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong,' he asked, "but the capsules kinda suck whatever object near them into a pill-sized container, right?"

"Yea-huh".

"So, how do you actually put the object in the capsule." He squinted at a line of capsules strung to Bulma's waist. "I don't see an opening."

"What, are you some kind of spy, huh? Going to go off with all my secrets and mass produce some capsules of your own? Forget it!". She crossed her arms and turned her head away from Krillin, which, he suspected, she did to hide her own lack of knowledge on how exactly capsules worked.

He was about to open up his mouth to press further when they found themselves back at the motorbike, exactly where it'd been earlier, still propped up against a tree to the side of the dirt path.

A quick examination of the bike by Krillin confused him. "Uh, Bulma, I don't see a second seat on the bike. Am I going to run alongside it?"

"Stop asking dumb questions for a second, please", she snapped back, pulling out two capsules with her right hand. In one movement she clicked both capsules and tossed them, producing a popping sound and throwing up a cloud of smoke where the bike had been. When it cleared the bike was gone, replaced by a full-sized off-road jeep.

Krillin's jaw dropped. "What!? You can fit something as big as that in one tiny capsule!?"

As he stood there shocked, Bulma inadvertently emphasized the car's size by walking around to the driver's seat and completely disappearing from Krillin's view for a few seconds.

Soon enough, the engine started. "Come on," she beckoned, "Get in".

Krillin climbed into the passenger seat, clicked in his seat belt after some pestering by Bulma, and came to grips with what he was trying to do. Six other dragonballs? With my prize at the end having to face that kid?... What have I gotten myself into?...

In a cloud of dust, the jeep lurched, then sped away under the cover of darkness, leaving behind a now silent forest.

Fair warning- as time goes on, this story is going to diverge very heavily from canon. (edit from chapter 51 future)- Main characters fluctuate with the progression of the story, though it is safe to say that most human characters will be around for a long time to come.

Edit from the chapter 27 future- I should clarify that I usually respond to reviews as they come in at the bottom of the most recent chapter. Sorry if that wasn't clear before. If you've left a review at any point of this story, look for them in those places.

Edit from the chapter 30 future- To any new readers, if the writing is putting you off in any way, I would say that in the middle of The Coming Storm Arc (around chapters 12 or 13) is where my writing started to get pretty consistent. Of course, I love all of my writing for this story, but if you feel the need to jump ahead, around that point might be a decent spot to land on.

Edit from the chapter 47 future- Table of contents has been condensed! Individual chapter names are on individual pages so I figured it would be better to post only arcs and volumes down here.

Edit from the chapter 70 future- I worry that the table of contents below is a bit spoiler-ish for new readers, so for the sake of suspense, I've redacted some of the arc names (they'll still be present in their respective chapters). The volume names stay, though.

VOLUME I: THE SAIYAN OF EARTH (Chapters 1-42)

Pursual Arc (Chapters 1-8)

The Coming Storm Arc (Chapters 9-14)

Escalation Arc (Chapters 15-22)

King Arc (Chapters 23-27)

Sins of the Father Arc (Chapters 28-36)

Endgame Arc (Chapters 37-42)

VOLUME II: A WIDER UNIVERSE (Chapters 43-67)

Outlanders Arc (Chapters 43-51)

Arc #2 (Chapters 52-60)

Arc #3 (Chapters 61-67)

VOLUME III: THREADS OF TIME (Chapters 68-

Echoes Arc (Chapters 68-72)

Visions Arc (Chapters 73-77)

Metal Arc (Chapters 78-