"How is it?"
In mid-air, a small flying craft hovered as Krillin asked. He looked down at the forest below, the wind whistling past his ears. This was his first ti being so high in the sky.
Bulma was piloting with one hand, checking the Dragon Ball radar with the other. "We’re almost there. Goku’s Dragon Ball signal hasn’t moved for a while. He should have reached the hideout by now and taken care of the guy..."
Krillin nodded. He trusted Goku’s combat abilities. The person they were after seed like just soone who could use transformation techniques to scare people. If it was Goku, there shouldn’t be any problem. But...
"If we had this flying craft, why didn’t we use it sooner?" Krillin asked, slightly frustrated. He was eager to learn martial arts from the Muten School and had already made plans with Goku to start training after this Dragon Ball journey. He couldn’t wait to find all the Dragon Balls.
Bulma raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him. "What? Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-no..."
The flying craft continued to follow the Dragon Ball signal high in the sky and soon ca near a small castle. Bulma checked the radar again and confird that this was Oolong’s hideout, and Goku’s Four-Star Dragon Ball signal remained steady within the small castle below.
"Should we land now?" Krillin asked as the craft circled above the castle.
"Of course!"
Bulma responded decisively, imdiately maneuvering the craft to descend, scanning the structure of the castle. She and Krillin looked through the craft’s window, trying to catch glimpses of the interior. However, the castle was strangely quiet.
Carefully, she guided the craft to land quietly on the grassy area behind the castle. She didn’t activate the switch to retract the capsule craft, as that would make too much noise. They both got out, exchanged a glance, and nodded. Bulma nudged Krillin, urging him to take the lead.
"Why are you pushing ?" Krillin muttered, looking back at her.
"Well, you’re a boy, so of course, you need to protect !" Bulma replied smugly, already aware that Krillin was around the sa age as Goku, about twelve years old. She proudly added, "You’re going to be Muten Roshi’s disciple, so you need to be brave!"
Krillin took a deep breath and continued forward, leading Bulma around to the front of the castle.
It wasn’t that he was scared, but who knew what could be inside such a castle? And the eerie silence was unsettling. He wasn’t sure if Goku had already found the trickster or defeated him...
They approached the castle’s main entrance. The two doors were partially ajar, and the dim light inside made Krillin feel uneasy. Bulma gave him a gentle push from behind, making Krillin stiffen up.
"What’s wrong? You’re so jumpy?" Bulma said with a laugh.
"Don’t you think... this is a bit strange?" Krillin stamred, his teeth chattering.
Bulma wasn’t pleased. "Stop whining. Goku’s inside! Are you going to leave him hanging? Besides, with Goku there, what could go wrong?"
Krillin stepped up to the stone steps and pushed the half-open doors wide... just as a figure suddenly leaped out.
"Ah!" Krillin jumped back, and the girl who had dashed out collided with him, throwing herself into his arms. Bulma, knocked backward by Krillin’s body, quickly stepped aside.
She was startled. "What’s going on?"
Looking forward, they saw a flamboyantly dressed young woman, her makeup heavy and gaudy. Her rough skin and calloused fingers suggested she was no stranger to hard labor. Bulma imdiately deduced that this was probably one of the girls who had been tricked from the village.
"So scary... so... so scary..." the girl murmured, shaking uncontrollably in Krillin’s arms. Her face was pale, and she kept muttering under her breath.
Krillin, feeling awkward with the girl clinging to him, looked back at Bulma. She shrugged, and he cautiously asked, "What’s wrong? Were you one of the girls who was kidnapped? Did you see a boy with a tail?"
The girl suddenly trembled violently, let out a sharp scream, and shouted, "Don’t grab ! Don’t grab ! I don’t want any more pretty clothes!" She thrashed around, then looked at Krillin’s face before retreating in a panic, falling over, her hair and clothes disheveled.
Krillin and Bulma exchanged glances, both sensing sothing was off.
What exactly happened? Logically speaking, even if Goku had been defeated by Oolong’s cunning trap, it shouldn’t have caused the girl to react this way! And if Goku had easily beaten Oolong, then the girl should have been overjoyed! So why was she acting like she had seen a ghost?
"I... I think... sothing’s off?"
Krillin hesitated. He wasn’t exactly the bravest, and if it weren’t for Bulma insisting, he would have preferred to wait for Goku to return to the village. Bulma frowned. She didn’t understand what was happening either. She lowered the Dragon Ball radar and pressed a couple of buttons, zooming in on the signal source, carefully tracking Goku’s Four-Star Dragon Ball.
Once the scale stabilized, Bulma whispered, "The signal is getting closer... Goku’s coming!"
"Goku’s coming?" Krillin breathed a sigh of relief, but the girl, who was acting completely unhinged, seed even more frightened. She collapsed onto the ground, looking back toward the dark interior of the castle. Slowly, they could hear the sound of footsteps approaching in the shadows.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Krillin stared intently at the dark doorway where the footsteps were coming from, also keeping an eye on the girl who had collapsed beside him. She seed to be growing more terrified, her body trembling violently.
What had happened inside the castle after Goku arrived?
Had Goku encountered an accident?
Or was the shapeshifter not just a trickster as they had assud, but actually a terrifying monster?
While Krillin’s mind raced with wild thoughts, the footsteps grew even closer. Soon, a person of average height stepped out of the castle’s shadows. As they stepped into the light, their figure slowly beca clear...
"Goku, what happened?" Bulma let out a sigh of relief when she saw Goku step out. She had been getting increasingly worried because of the girl’s reaction and Krillin’s fearful behavior. She smiled, visibly relieved, and casually asked.
Goku walked out, holding his head. "I don’t know!"
Krillin scanned Goku from head to toe. There were so oil stains and sauce marks on his clothes, and... Krillin’s pupils contracted as he noticed the dark red stains on Goku’s hair, the hem of his shirt, his left wristband, and the lower legs of his pants.
"What about that bastard trickster? Did you defeat him?" Bulma asked again.
"Ahhh!!!"
The girl beside Krillin scread wildly when she saw Goku, nearly going mad. Her eyes were filled with fear. Suddenly, she rolled her eyes back and scread, then fell unconscious. Krillin quickly caught her.
"What happened to her?" Goku asked, his tail flicking behind him.
Krillin swallowed nervously, looking at Goku. For so reason, he suddenly rembered... one night, when Goku was asleep, a terrifying expression had flashed across his face. At the ti, Krillin had thought it was just his imagination.
"What about that trickster?" Krillin asked Bulma again, pressing for more answers.
"I’m not sure. I didn’t see him anywhere..." Goku thought for a mont. "I rember he was a good person... and then I don’t know what happened. After that... he seed to have fed a lot of food. I’m so full!"
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