Author's notes.

1. Many of you may have read this story before. I would like to invite you to read it again, as major changes to the story have been made.

2. This is not a happy story. If you do not like that, DON'T read it.

3. This story contains some foul language, lots of violence, gore and death, and some other more mature concepts and problems. If you do not like this, why are you reading DBZ fanfics? DON'T read it

4. This will be a LONG fic. Please give it a chance... The first several Chapters set up the story and are therefore some-what dry.

5. Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball. I did not create Dragon Ball.

(c)2001, Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation. Licensed by FUNimation Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved, or as otherwise directed by FUNimation. This fan-fiction is not meant to infringe on any copyrights, it is simply here to show my appreciation of and for Dragonball.

This story and any characters, moves or other information not created by those named above are (c)2001-2004 by the Smooster. If you enjoy or enjoyed reading this fiction you have my permission to use any Character, move or other in one of your own, BUT PLEASE give me some credit as I worked quite long to present you with this story.

Enjoy... The Smooster

Names: some of the names are in Japanese and are translated here.

Ichigo Strawberry, Kinomi Berry

Kudamono Fruit, Nashi Pear

Momo Peach, Ume Plum

Ringo Apple, Sakura Cherry

Meron Melon, Aoikinomi Blueberry

The Return

Preface

This story takes place about four hundred years after the end of GT (which the author has never seen being an American who does not know Japanese). Goku is still alive, as the Kaioshin has removed him from the dragon balls to serve as their champion if anything like Buu ever put the universe in danger again. As such, he lives with the Kaioshins on their planet and cannot interfere with the normal progression of the Universe.

Chapter One School's Out!

Thursday, June 5

Son Roshi checked one last time to make sure he had cleared everything out of his locker before he shouldered his backpack and headed for the door. 'I can't believe that the school year is over already.' He thought to himself as he walked past a group of milling younger students and out the front door of Orange Star High School. As he walked down the steps into the courtyard park that was in front of the school, Niko Sweet and Carge Norm ran up to meet him.

"Hey Roshi! What are you doing this summer?" Niko asked sweetly, invoking an odd look from her boyfriend Carge.

Roshi saw the look and laughed, patting Carge on the back. "Don't worry about me, I'm harmless." Turning to Niko he shook his head. "I really don't know. Hopefully staying out of trouble."

Carge rolled his eyes, "You're probably going to be so busy with all the charity stuff your family does that you won't even know it's summer."

Roshi was about to say something when Rock Snob walked past and knocked Carge into Roshi. "Oh if it isn't Roshi the wonder geek. So what worthless causes are you giving all you money away to this year?" Rock asked snidely as he juggled a soccer ball from hand to hand. His friends Clay Jock and Mud Petty snickered like Rock's comment was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Rock was wealthy, not nearly as wealthy as Roshi mind you, but he thought of himself as better then everyone else, just because he had money. Since Roshi had far more money, it made him a threat, and made all of his friends targets.

"Ugh! Just ignore him Roshi, he isn't worth your time." Niko said as she glared at Rock and his friends.

Roshi didn't even waste a glare at the three as he led Niko and Carge away from them and over towards one of the fountains to talk. Even as he walked away, his Saiyan hearing picked up the crude jokes and snide comments that were being shared by Rock and his friends. 'If I could do it without making a scene I would beat some sense into those three, but I can't so it is better that I ignore them.' He thought to himself as he tried to calm down.

"Yeah, so I'll be working in the mall with Mariah and Bambi this summer, so you be sure to stop by and say hi every now and again ok Roshi?" Niko said to pull Roshi out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll have to visit Mariah and..." Roshi trailed off as he caught sight of Mariah Smart and Keiko "Kit" Kitsune. The two of them were walking down the steps heading into the crowd of people.

"Man, he has it bad." Carge said jokingly to Niko as they laughed about the way Roshi seemed to have forgotten their presence.

Roshi watched Mariah casually walk down the steps. He wondered how she could even walk with all the stuff she was carrying. Her huge backpack was filled to bursting and she carried at least six books in her arms. She saw him and smiled as she started in his direction.

"Hey Roshi, you really aught to ask her out you know." Carge said as he poked Roshi in the ribs. "Everyone in the world knows you like her."

Roshi turned three shades of red and turned on Carge. "Shut up!" He said embarrassedly.

Carge and Niko just laughed. Roshi was about to turn and say something when his good hearing picked up something Rock said.

"Speaking of charity cases, look, it's Bookworm and Dog Face!" He said as he threw the soccer ball into the back of Mariah's head. The ball bounced off surprising her and causing her to flail her arms in an attempt to regain her balance. Her books flew out of her hands and fell down the steps. The weight of her backpack soon caused her to fall face forward hitting her knee on the concrete sidewalk and scraping her hands. Her small oval glasses flew off her face and bounced down the sidewalk several feet. Mariah slowly sat up and placed her hands over her skinned knee. Roshi could tell that she was in a lot of pain but was trying to hold back her tears.

"Awww what's wrong? Did you drop all your books?" Rock taunted from where he stood.

Roshi started to walk forward to help his friends, but both Carge and Niko stopped him. "Roshi don't, you'll only make it worse if you get involved. He takes offense at everyone who does better then him at anything. If you cause him to stand down now, he will only get more vicious later." Niko said while she pulled feebly on Roshi's arm.

Roshi's entire class couldn't stop him from walking if he wanted to go someplace, but her words did. Roshi didn't want to make a scene, and he knew that in many ways, she was right. Rock hated to lose. He was also a bully. If Roshi got directly involved, he would only bring Rock down on them harder the next time.

Kit however, had no such reservations. "Leave her alone, you ignorant bully!" She said as her normally fluffy black tipped silver-white tail and most of her fur started to stand on end.

"Oh look guys, the bitch is playing guard dog!" Rock laughed.

Mariah was a target for Rock's ridicule because she was tied with Roshi for top student in the class. It didn't help that she was poor. The fact that someone who didn't rate a blip in Rock's social group was smarter and more dedicated than him caused her to be the butt of far too many crude jokes and ridicule.

Kit had it far worse. She was a Vulpine. While she was definitely humanoid, she also was clearly not human. She was tall and so thin that she almost looked delicate. Short downy silver white fur covered every inch of her body. She had long dark silver-black hair on her head that ran down to just past her shoulders. On the top of her head her normally pointed black tipped ears were now turned to the side and laid flat against the hair that they parted. She had a longer, flatter, wider nose then normal, and a slightly longer jaw. The difference from a normal girl's face structure was subtle, but with the fine fur even on her face, it was also definitive. Since her lips were parted showing off her long pointed canine teeth, it also made her look a lot more like a predatory fox then normal.

Current situation aside, since Kit was one of just around 900 or so Vulpines living on Earth, and was the only one who attended Orange Star, she was both feared, and brutally picked on for no reason except that she was different. People's irrational treatment of a person who Roshi had found to be kind and generous was one of the main reasons why he was so careful never to reveal how strong he was or that he wasn't entirely human. Kit had never done anything to any of them. When her family had moved to Satan City during Roshi's fourth grade year, he and Mariah were probably the only two people who had given her a chance.

"The correct term is Vixen, you ignoramus!" Kit said back putting emphasis on the last few words as she helped Mariah back up.

"Ah, Dog Face is all upset. Maybe we need to call the pound! Somebody call a vet. This might get messy." Rock said while fishing for something in his pocket. "Wait. How does this sound? I give you this doggie treat." He said while holding up a Milk Bone dog snack, "and you be a good girl and run away"

The crowd that had gathered to watch the confrontation gasped at his words.

"That is going way too far." Roshi said as he pushed Niko's hand off his arm and started to walk through the ring of people.

Mariah had also had enough and walked forward to defend her friend. "That is really low even for you, Rock!" She yelled as she walked up to him to yell into his face.

Rock rolled his eyes and grabbed something from one of his henchmen. "Do I look like I care? Oh wait, I guess you can't see, can you? Guess you need these back." He said as he held up her glasses. He then made a display of snapping them in two. "Oops, how ever will you be able to afford a new pair?" He said as he dropped the broken glasses.

Mariah just stood there dumbstruck by the fact that he had broken her glasses. She was so proud of them. Calling her a charity case was a deep insult. Roshi knew that she had worked very hard and saved so she could afford to get rid of her old clunky frames. Even though he practically insisted to pay for things when he and his friends did stuff, Mariah would always make sure she paid her fair share. Her independence and high spirits were two of the things that Roshi liked best about her.

When she didn't say anything Rock laughed and pushed her back by shoving on her shoulders. "What? Nothing smart to say, Smart?" He said one last time before shoving her backward forcefully causing her to stumble and start to fall. Her arms flailed helplessly as her backpack once again started to lose the war with gravity.

Roshi jumped forward and caught her, stopping her fall just before her head would have hit the ground. Setting her down gently, he stood up to face Rock. "Leave them alone. They didn't do anything to you."

"So, what's your point?" Rock said as he walked down the steps towards Roshi. "What are you, the Great Son Roshi going to do about it? Well?"

Roshi stepped between Rock and the girls as Clay and Mud started to circle around.

Rock walked up and shoved Roshi like he had Mariah. Roshi allowed himself to be shoved back a step. "Well? You wanna play hero and fight? Your dad may be the Best in the world, but you're nothing but a pansy." He said as he shoved Roshi again.

Roshi caught a glance from Kit, as she slowly shook her head no. A worried look of danger flashed through her green gold eyes. Kit was the only person present who knew who he really was. She also knew how dangerous that would make him in a fight.

Seeing her shake her head only reinforced Roshi's resolve not to fight. 'Rock can't hurt me, so as long as his anger and frustrations are transferred to me rather then Mariah and Kit, I win.' "I'm not going to fight you, Rock. Just go home and we can forget about this, ok?"

"What? You chicken? Hey look everyone! Roshi's afraid to fight! Probably afraid it would tarnish the reputation of Mr. Satan to let the world know how big of a pansy he is." Rock pushed Roshi again. This time Roshi didn't budge.

"I'm not going to fight you, Rock, just go away." Roshi said as he casually turned around to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me, you pansy! Look everyone; a descendant of Mr. Satan is walking away from a fight. Mr. Satan's heroic blood must have run out after 497 years huh? You looked good in the Mr. Satan day celebrations last week, but you just can't hack it in real life, huh, geek?"

Roshi kept walking. He stopped to help Mariah pick up her dropped books, but he was totally ignoring Rock.

"Like I thought. He doesn't even know fighting words when he hears them. At least the dog had the guts to talk back!" Rock said as he walked around to stand in front of Roshi. He pulled his fist back and attempted to hit Roshi in the face. Roshi caught Rock's fist and held it. This action pulled a gasp of awe from the crowd. Roshi was a geek. Geeks were not supposed to be able to stop punches.

"Rock, you really don't want to make me mad. Please go away and leave us alone." Roshi said as he stood up.

"Oh, he thinks he can talk his way out of this! Talk is cheap geek. I'm going to make you eat your words." Rock said as he pulled his right fist out of Roshi's grasp and jabbed Roshi in the side of the jaw with his left.

Roshi's head whipped around and he tasted blood. Roshi slowly wiped blood away from his lip and looked at it on his fingers. 'Maybe dropping my ki down so Rock wouldn't hurt himself when he hit me wasn't the smartest idea in the world. Rock can't hurt me, but I can allow myself to be hurt.'

"Oh, look, Roshi got hurt. Looks like you fell a long way from Mr. Satan's tree."

Roshi turned and started to walk away.

"Oh, look everyone, the geek got hurt and now he wants to run away."

Several people in the crowd laughed and a few even added insults to the laughter.

Mud handed Rock something. It was a little blue book with a picture of clouds and a rainbow on it.

"Hey look! Bookworm dropped her diary! Let's see if there is anything really personal in it." Rock said as he opened it up.

Mariah freaked and started to run past Roshi to get her diary back. Roshi didn't have to run. One second Rock was flipping the book open, the next Roshi had grabbed it and Mariah and was handing it back to her.

"You are beyond cruel Rock. Not only are you scum, but you revel in the fact that you are scum." Roshi said sternly. He was very rapidly loosing his patience.

"Ah what's wrong? You too good to hear all the juicy stuff Bookworm puts in her diary? Roshi: the great white knight, protector of flea bitten mongrels and the poor. You talk big, but that is all you are, words."

Roshi was probably the only person who could hear Kit growling. It wasn't a nice sound. "I AM NOT FLEA BITTEN!" She yelled as she snarled at Rock.

"Ah Dog Face is mad now. Next thing we know, she'll be baying at the moon!" Rock laughed as he bent down to pick up another one of Mariah's scattered books.

Roshi grabbed Kit and calmed her down before she did anything she would regret. Back about six years ago, someone had thrown a water balloon at Kit that was filled with a hyper strength Nair like chemical. Kit had lost patches of fur all over her body and people started making fun of her for having mange. Needless to say, she took it personal when people mentioned fleas.

"Hey look, pictures!" Rock said as he opened up the artists pad. Mariah's mother was a fairly good artist. Good enough to keep them in house and home, and fed, but by no means famous. Roshi happened to know that the pad that Rock now held was a collection of Mariah's mother's earlier work.

"You should be more careful, Bookworm, art like this is priceless" Rock said as he slowly started to rip a full color ink drawing in half.

Roshi grabbed Rock's hand and squeezed. "Give the pad back."

Rock gasped in pain and dropped the pad, but managed to hold on to some of his bravado. "Or what? You going to hit me or something?"

"Yeah, I just might."

"Oh this is funny. You almost failed boxing cause you couldn't hit anyone and you think you can actually beat me in a fight? I don't care if you are a descendant of Mr. Satan, you can't beat me.

Ignoring Rock's comments, Roshi bent over to pick up the pad, and Rock kicked him in the face. Roshi did a complete back flip and landed on his feet next to Mariah. Most of the people were so shocked to see Roshi the geeky nerd pull off a back flip that they didn't notice Rock hopping on one foot like he had stubbed his toe.

Roshi had his back turned to Rock and was whispering something to her when Clay handed Rock the baseball bat. Several people yelled warnings that they thought would do no good as Rock sucked up the pain and charged at Roshi and Mariah.

Roshi pushed Mariah out of the way and ducked under Rock's overextended swing. He popped up inside the reach of the bat and slammed his fist into Rock's nose. Rock's nose collapsed beneath Roshi's fist with a satisfying crunch, and his beady eyes rolled up into his head. The force of the punch knocked the teen back several meters. The stream of blood, which gushed from his collapsed nose, left a puddlely trail as he fell through the air.

Roshi looked down at his now bloody hand. 'What have I done?' He asked himself in horror.

"SON ROSHI! I would have expected better from one of my top students!" Principal Fierce yelled, as he seemed to suddenly appear on the scene. "I cannot believe, you, of all people got into a street brawl, and on school grounds of all places! If this weren't the last day of school for this session, I would have you expelled!"

"It wasn't his fault. He was only trying to keep Rock from destroying my mom's art pad." Mariah said as she tried to defend Roshi's actions.

"I don't care what caused it. Fighting is a serious breach of conduct. Go to my office and wait there, Roshi." Mr. Fierce scanned the crowd. "Someone go get a nurse to look at Rock. And be quick about it." He said as he looked down at Rock.

A young man ran off to fetch the nurse.

"Mr. Fierce, you can't punish Roshi. Rock almost hit him with a baseball bat. He probably saved Mariah's life!" Kit said exasperatedly.

Mr. Fierce was known for being very strict. He didn't like it when anyone told him how to do anything. The balding middle-aged man glared at Kit for a moment before looking at Mariah and seeing the bat, which was lying a few feet from where she was standing.

"Miss Smart, what happened to your glasses? And how did you get such a nasty scrape on your knee?"

Mariah looked down at her knee for a moment. "Rock broke my glasses. I got the scrape on my knee after he hit me on the back of the head with his soccer ball."

Mr. Fierce grimaced and looked at Rock who was now being attended to by the nurse. "He did, did he? Well, you need to go have that scrape looked at. Go to the nurses office, I am sure she will attend to you shortly." He looked around. "The rest of you can go home. There is nothing here to see. Enjoy your vacation, and stay out of trouble."

While most of the crowd left, Niko, Carge, and Kit stayed to wait for Mariah and Roshi.

--

Meanwhile, in Mr. Fierce's office, Roshi was listening to Mr. Fierce talk to his mother on the phone.

'I am dead beyond simply being dead when I get home. First my mom is going to kill me, and then when she is done dad is going to have my rear in a sling. How could I be so stupid as to let him get on my nerves? I never should have hit him. Heck, I was angry enough I am lucky I didn't kill him on accident. That would look real great in the headlines. Descendant of Mr. Satan murders classmate in street brawl. I am so dead.'

Mr. Fierce got off the vidphone and looked at Roshi. "Well, your mother said that you would be punished for this indiscretion, and since it is the first time you have ever gotten into a fight, I would like to just send you home, but I cannot do that. I need to punish you somehow." Mr. Fierce's vidphone rang. He answered it. Roshi could easily hear a man who identified himself as Rock's father insulting and threatening Mr. Fierce as the Principal tried desperately to explain the situation. He finally gave up. "Sir, you may take any action you wish, including pulling your son from this school for next year's classes, but I have several witnesses who say that Rock started the fight. The Son boy is being punished for being in the fight and so will your son. If you have a problem with this you can take your complaints elsewhere." Mr. Fierce ended the connection and looked tired. He slowly turned his chair away from Roshi and stared at the wall behind his desk for a few minutes. He then reached out and absent- mindedly brushed some dust off of a placard that read "Son Goshu."

Roshi was very proud of that wall, but he also hated it at the same time. Every year since the school was build the top graduating student got their name put on a placard and placed up on that wall for all the students who entered the office to look at. From his father Goshu all the way back some 500 years to Gohan there was a Son named every twenty or so years. Every single one of Roshi's ancestors since Gohan had attended Orange Star, and every single one of them had graduated top in their class. It was a mark of honor, but it was also one heck of a pain to live up to.

"You know, your father was one of my first students. You remind me a lot of him. Just like you, he was studious and highly lacking in athletic ability. I couldn't understand how the son of Son Yoshu the reigning Master of The Budoukai could be such a klutz. None of the world champions ever challenged Yoshu for that title, but I saw several of your grandfather's exhibition matches when I was younger. He made fighting beautiful to watch. I was at the Budoukai last year when that alien won the tournament and challenged your father for title of Master of the Budoukai. Your father made quick work of the poor idiot. He moved even faster then your grandfather had." Mr. Fierce took his glasses off and slowly polished them. "I have to admit that I watched most of your confrontation with Rock. I should have stopped it as soon as Mariah skinned her knee, but by the time I got there, you were involved. I had to admit that I was curious as to see what you would do, or could do."

Roshi tried to shrink into his chair. 'Great, he's on to me. Next thing I know he is going to try to get me to be the captain of the baseball team or something.'

"I have to admit that I am impressed by your ability to convince almost everyone that you are a helpless klutz. Had I not taught your father and seen him pull off the same act, I too would have fallen for it. You probably have your reasons for doing what you are doing, so I won't ask you to stop, but I am curious, how much martial arts training have you had?"

Roshi frowned. 'Lie or tell the truth? Lie or tell the truth?' He let out a long breath. "It would not be overly arrogant of me to claim that my father and Piccolo the third, the man who challenged my father last year, are probably the only people on the planet that would give me much of a challenge. Rock may have started that fight, but I am the one who is more guilty because I allowed it to get to the point were people got hurt."

Mr. Fierce sighed. "Very well then. I want you to go find the head janitor and help him to scrub the floors before you head home tonight. Next fall you will help scrub the floors every night for a month. That way you will have plenty of time to think about what happened today."

Roshi found the head janitor and started to mop the floors of the school.

--

Mariah came out of the school to join the rest of the gang about ten minutes after the fight ended. She walked with a slight limp, but that was probably more from the weird ice pack brace thingy that the nurse had strapped on her knee to keep swelling down then from it actually hurting.

"Hey guys, have any of you seen my glasses? I didn't pick them up before going into the school. I might be able to get them fixed, but I need to find them back first." She said sounding quite concerned.

Kit, Carge, and Niko scanned the ground for a moment, but quickly gave up. "I didn't see them," Carge said. "We picked up all your books and stuff, but I never saw any glasses."

"Ha! That's probably because you were too busy trying to get me to let you read her diary to look!" Niko said as she stood up pulling Mariah's diary out from under her.

Mariah quickly took it from her and held it to her chest as she walked up and stood about a foot from Carge so she could actually see him. "You wouldn't have actually read this would have you?"

"Well ah no... Well maybe... Oh come ON! It is every guy's sick fantasy to read a girl's diary. Why should I be any different?" Carge asked while wisely moving away from the three girls.

Niko rolled her eyes, "Roshi didn't seem to have any problem being a perfect gentleman."

"Yeah well that's because Roshi's a goody-goody. I'm willing to bet that if he saw your diary sitting out during one of those late night study sessions you two always seem to have the time for, that he would try to peek at it too. Only idiots like Rock would actually read someone's diary in public." Carge said to defend himself.

"Hey! All we do is study! There isn't anything going on. Besides, we usually meet at the library!" Mariah retorted.

Carge was about to say something when Kit interrupted him, "hmmm, let me get this straight. Only idiots would read someone else's diary in public? Hey Mariah what's the definition of public?" Kit asked acting innocent.

Carge realized where the line of inquiry was going and interrupted. "Ok, so I'm an idiot! I admit it. I'm sorry ok! Would you please get off my case now?"

Niko giggled. "Awwwh, you are sooo cute when you are embarrassed.

"Whatever. Hey look guys; Roshi is probably going to be in there for a while. We should do something while we wait for him." Carge said to change the subject.

The four of them talked for a while and couldn't think of anything to do that would allow them to keep track of Roshi.

"I'm not going anywhere, we might as well just sit here and talk." Kit said as she reclined as far as she could on a park bench.

"Do any of you guys know where Roshi keeps his cloud thing when he is in school?" Niko asked.

Kit sat up, "you mean the Kintoun? It flies away when he gets here and comes back when he calls it, why?"

"Well, Roshi isn't using it now. I just thought it would be kinda fun to fly around on it." Niko said with a giggle.

"Well call the thing, who knows, it may come here. But haven't you ridden it before?" Kit asked.

"No, you mean to say that you have?" Niko said sounding a touch jealous.

"Well, sort of. Last fall Mariah and I helped Roshi paint a bunch of historic buildings that his family was helping to renovate, and... well... I..."

Mariah laughed at Kit's reluctance. "She stepped on my paint roller that I had put down in the wrong place and slipped off the scaffolding. Roshi was bringing more paint up on his cloud and he caught her and brought her back up to the top."

"What?! You mean miss perfect balance slipped and almost killed herself?" Carge asked with feigned concern.

"Hey, just because I have good reflexes doesn't make me perfect, so Naaahh!" Kit said back sticking out her tongue.

Mariah suddenly jumped and yelled as if something had frightened her. The other three turned and found her poking the Kintoun. "Kami this thing scared the dickens out of me! It must have heard us talking about it and came here."

Niko giggled, "I wonder where it's ears are."

"Oh please! Niko, this thing may have a really fancy computer or something, but it isn't alive!"

Niko put on a fake pout. "Well then why does it only like some people? I saw Clay try to jump on it one time after Roshi called it and he fell right through it!"

"I don't know, but I wish Capsule Corp would make more of them though, this thing is neat."

"I don't think Capsule Corp made this." Kit said after Carge finished.

"Why do you say that?" Mariah asked, "Where else would he get it?"

"I couldn't tell you, but all he has ever said was that it used to belong to Son Goku and that it was the only one he knew of." Kit replied.

"Goku? I think I remember that name. Wasn't that Goku guy almost as good as Mr. Satan?" Carge asked.

'That Goku guy?' Kit thought. "Um, one doesn't get a twenty foot statue in the hall of heroes at the Budoukai without being a good fighter."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean. Last week was the celebration of the 524th Anniversary of Mr. Satan's defeat of Cell. He saved the world. No one can claim to have done so much before or since. To say that this Goku guy was almost as good as Mr. Satan is really saying something to me. Besides, if my memory is right, Goku lived during the same time as Bulma Briefs. I'm sure he got it from her." Carge retorted.

"Whatever," Kit said as she hoped up onto the Kintoun. "Are we going to go for a ride or not?"

"Well, I know I can't see very well, but that thing isn't that big. Will all four of us fit on it?" Mariah asked as she tentatively poked at the cloud some more.

"No problem," Carge said, "I'll get on it and then you two can sit on my lap and Kit can sit right behind me and hold on."

"Um, snookums," Niko said.

"Yes?"

Niko softly patted Carge on the cheek and then kissed him. While she kissed him she sucker-punched him softly in the gut.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"If I can't get sweet on Roshi, you can't get sweet on those two." Niko said back as she poked him in the center of his chest.

Carge grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a kiss and whispered something into her ear. Niko started giggling and kissed him back.

Kit arched her head back, stuck out her tongue and let it flap at the side of her mouth, started to make gurgling noises, and acted like she was grasping at an invisible rope.

"Ah! PDA PDA! Get a room!" Mariah laughed.

"What can't we be passionate?" Niko asked innocently.

"Only if you get Kit and me a couple of guys too!" Mariah shot back.

Carge laughed. "That shouldn't be too hard. Get Roshi for you," He paused and looked at Kit, she glowered back. "Ah, and I'm sure we can find someone who would go for an exotic girl like Kit."

"So I'm exotic now am I?" Kit asked. Her tone of voice made it clear she didn't like the conversation and the subject was dropped.

Niko climbed on behind Kit and scooted back a bit. "Mariah you can sit between Kit and me." She said. "Hey! Earth to Mariah! You home? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just Roshi would never go for me, we're just friends. He's way too good for someone like me." Mariah said dejectedly.

"That's nonsense!" Niko said surprised. "Don't put yourself down girl!"

"Yeah, I mean why wouldn't he like you? Your smart, and se..." Carge shut up before he ate his foot for dinner.

Niko smirked at Carge. "Yeah! What you know he meant to say!" Turning to Carge she continued "and you better not be thinking those thoughts about my friends!"

Mariah blushed and laughed. "It's ok Niko, he was only being himself." She said as she climbed onto the Kintoun.

The three girls tried to squish themselves together so that there would be room for Carge. He took about ten steps back and acted like he was a cowboy out of some western running up to jump on his horse.

"Yeeeee Haawwwww!" He yelled as he jumped up and landed behind Niko. He managed to grab her shoulders before falling though the Kintoun and pulling her off backwards as he landed on the sidewalk.

"Owwww! That hurt!" Carge said as he helped Niko off of himself.

The Kintoun turned and floated back a bit so that Kit and Mariah were facing their two fallen comrades.

"And you were making fun of me for being clumsy a bit ago right?" Kit asked with a laugh.

Carge stood up and walked over to the Kintoun. He passed his hand right thought it. "Ok, why can you three ride it but it won't let me?"

"You made fun of it earlier, you hurt it's feelings." Niko said laughing as she poked him in the ribs.

Carge passed his hand through the cloud again. "Hey what's this?" He asked as he pulled a couple of capsules out of the cloud. He started to read the labels on them. "Huh, camping stuff. I guess Roshi is actually serious about taking us out camping tomorrow."

"Well he lives out in the middle of nowhere. I bet he knows the best campgrounds." Niko said.

"I never saw Roshi as much of a camper. He said something about living off the land when he talked to me about the trip. I don't know about you, but I don't know if we should encourage him." Mariah said.

"Oh never fear, if nothing else the ol' Kit Fox here can probably catch us some rabbit or something." Carge laughed.

Kit ground he teeth for a moment. "If I didn't know better I would think you were taking lessons from Rock on how to be offensive. I doubt I could catch anything even if I did try, besides, I doubt we will be roughing it much. That big capsule you have is a five room capsule house."

The four of them had a good laugh. "Sorry Kit, I was only joking, but yeah you're right. I guess we know Roshi's definition of roughing it now."

"Yeah, well common Niko. Your boyfriend can't ride this thing, but that's no reason for us to not have some fun." Kit said as she turned the cloud around to point the other way.

Niko climbed on, and the girls took off.

--

Roshi got done scrubbing the floors and headed to his locker, where he had stashed his stuff. After grabbing his book bag, he carefully picked up the two pieces of Mariah's glasses. 'Little bit of ki welding and these should be good as new. Then I can stop by Mariah's place on the way home and drop them off. It's the least I can do.' He thought as he looked to make sure no one was around. Using a little arc of ki electricity he welded the frames back together and then buffed a shine back onto them. 'There, good as new! Give these back to Mariah and then I guess I should go visit Rock. I feel bad, I never should have hit him.' Roshi frowned and walked out the door of the school to find Carge sitting on a park bench.

"Hey Roshi! Bout time you showed up. I was getting bored."

"You waited for me? Ok man, what's going on? School let out an hour and a half ago."

"Nothing, honest. The girls took your cloud for a little joy ride. I would have gone with, but the stupid thing wouldn't let me ride it."

Roshi laughed. "It wouldn't? Wonder why."

"Couldn't tell you. Hey, aren't those Mariah's glasses? How'd you fix them?"

Roshi realized belatedly that he was holding her glasses right out in the open. "Ah well ah... I uh... I had to help the janitor clean and well I ah... went into the shop room and well welded them back together."

"Right, ok what really happened. Breaking Rock's nose I can believe. You playing with power tools I can't see happening."

"Hey! I'm not just a descendant of Mr. Satan you know. I'm a descendant of Bulma Briefs too! If I can fight, why can't I play with power tools? Besides, I'm a guy, what guy doesn't like to play with power tools?"

Carge held his hands up. "Ok you got me." He said as the three laughing girls suddenly flew up on the Kintoun.

"You should let us ride this thing more often Roshi! That was more fun then I have had in ages!" Niko said as she jumped off.

Carge grimaced and spoke up. "Hey Mariah, Roshi fixed your glasses. Not only is he rich and famous, but also he beats up bullies and is pretty handy with the tools. You make him your sex slave and life would be almost easy."

"Ah! Carge you're disgusting!" Niko said before she slapped him and tackled him. Before long they were laughing and kissing.

The rest of the group just laughed at the two of them.

'I shouldn't be laughing.' Roshi told himself. 'I came just the smallest bit away from killing Rock today. Some hero I am. By the time Gohan was 16 he had saved the world several times. He even became the Great Saiyaman to fight crime in Satan City. Goku and Vegeta died several times for their beliefs. The most heroic thing I've ever done is break a bully's nose and he didn't stand a chance against me, so who was really the bully?'

Roshi shook his head. 'Well, at least Mariah still likes me. It could be worse, she could have freaked out when she saw all the blood on my hands. I only meant to stop him from picking on her and Kit. Why is it that the only things that break up the monotony of my life are bad? I wish something truly great would happen to me.'

He looked at Mariah as she put her glasses on and then pulled her shoulder length light brown hair out from beneath the frames. Her brown eyes lit up when she could see again and she smiled at the group. She saw him watching her and blushed smiling deeper which brought out her dimples.

'Then again, maybe something great has happened.' He thought as he tried to push the blue thoughts out of his head. He smiled back at Mariah. 'Who knows, maybe I shouldn't complain, I guess my life is pretty good as it is.' He sighed. 'But why settle for good when you can hope for greatness?'

Noticing a speck of blood on the sidewalk Roshi's spirits dropped a bit. 'Then again, at what cost does greatness come?'

--

AN: Well there you have it. The revision of the first chapter is complete. Please review, as your comments are very helpful and important to me.

AN2 Keiko "Kit" Kitsune is on loan from the Kitsune Den where she is (will be) the official mascot as soon as Kitsune Maxwell finds a scanner. Kitsune means Fox in Japanese by the way.

AN3: I am lazy and didn't find a way to write this into the story, so I will explain it here. Mr. Satan ended up running the Budoukai. After his death, the tournament more or less became a fight only between the various Saiyans living on earth. This hurt Martial arts in general since normal people were more or less certain to loose. The tournament started to die off. Therefore, the Budoukai was changed. The Son family still more or less runs the thing, but they rarely ever fight in it. Instead, one of them is given the title Master of the Budoukai. This person is seen by the world as the best martial artist in the world. If the World Champion (the person who wins the tournament) wants to claim both titles, he or she can challenge the person who is the Master of the Budoukai for that title and double the prize money. I hope this explains that stuff a little bit.

Special thanks to Kitsune Maxwell who helped me edit this chapter.

Second editor's note: The Smooster is going to thank his loyal follower Ben "Black Eva" Rusch for his hard work in reediting this for him.