Earth
As the dust of the blast thinned, the towering waves slowly calmed.
"Krillin…!"
Goku stood there in a daze. Cell's death scoured the rage from him, and what followed was a crushing grief.
"It's okay, Dad. We can bring him back," Gohan said, stepping up to steady him.
"But his body's gone," Goku said, hollow.
"That's easy. We can just have Shenron rebuild it. And since Dende upgraded Earth's Dragon, we get three wishes now."
Goku hadn't heard. At Gohan's words, his eyes lit up. "Right! I'll go borrow the Dragon Radar from Bulma!"
Without even dropping Super Saiyan Two, he shot away at full speed toward Capsule Corp.
"It's over. Everybody head home," Gohan stretched lazily and blinked out.
Piccolo turned and flew for his training grounds.
Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa angled back toward Mount Paozu.
One hour later The Lookout
"Dende! Hey there, Mr. Popo long time no see," Goku called, landing with a grin.
"Uncle Goku! What brings you here?" Dende asked.
"I'm hunting Dragon Balls. The last one's up here, right?"
"Mhm. After we revived Vegeta, I kept one behind to test the cooldown on wishes." Dende jogged off and returned with the Three-Star Ball.
Seven orbs gathered shimmering gold.
"Come on out, Shenron! Grant my wish!" Goku, impatient as ever, summoned the Dragon right on the Lookout.
He'd completely forgotten Bulma's "one wish for me" deal.
One hour earlier Capsule Corp
"Goku, seriously you only show up when you need something. Are we even friends?" Bulma scolded, hands on hips.
Goku put his palms together in apology. "Sorry, Bulma! But Krillin's dead can I borrow the Dragon Radar? I have to bring him back, fast!"
"What Krillin's dead? Wait right there!" Bulma blanched, sprinted into the lab, and came back with the Radar.
"Thanks a ton!" Goku reached for it.
Bulma jerked it back. "Hold it. Didn't Gohan say the Dragon can grant three wishes now?"
"Think so come on, hurry!"
"How many wishes to revive Krillin?"
"Two! Please, Bulma ask me later!"
"Nope. You want the Radar, you owe me one wish," she said, stepping back and naming her price.
"Deal, deal! The third wish is yours!" Goku agreed in a heartbeat.
"Fine. Here." She handed it over.
Goku snatched it and rocketed skyward.
"Goku! You didn't even ask what I want! No listen, after you gather them, you come back here and make my wish!" Bulma yelled after him.
"Got it!" drifted his voice from the sky.
Back to now
A hollow hum rolled across the world. Day flipped to night. People looked up, puzzled.
They'd seen this during Vegeta's revival; with no disasters then, most shrugged it off now.
Capsule Corp
"Ugh! I knew I couldn't trust that scatterbrain." Bulma, unlike everyone else, knew exactly what was happening.
She cursed under her breath, popped a capsule at her feet
Poomf!
an odd, needle-nosed aircraft unfolded in a puff.
"Good thing this genius built a Mach-3 flyer. Just you wait, Goku!"
She vaulted into the cockpit. She'd even wired in a Dragon Ball scanner, purely for future convenience.
The craft lifted, then whooom blazed for the Lookout triple the speed of sound.
The Lookout
"State your first wish. I shall grant three," Shenron's vast voice rumbled.
"Shenron, please revive Krillin and rebuild his body to what it was," Goku said.
"A simple task but it will require two wishes."
"I know. Please do it!"
"Very well." The Dragon's eyes gleamed red; his head tilted toward the heavens.
A tremor of light
First, a body formed out of thin air: Krillin's.
Other World King Kai's Planet
Mid-training, Krillin's spirit flickered.
"Looks like someone's bringing you back," King Kai chuckled.
"Yes! Thank you for everything, King Kai! See you!" Krillin's soul winked out.
The Lookout
His spirit slipped into the waiting body; Krillin's eyes snapped open.
"Goku thank you!" He rushed over, overcome.
"Awesome. You're back, Krillin!" Goku laughed, just as relieved.
"Now, your third wish," Shenron intoned.
"Uh feels like I'm forgetting something…" Goku scratched his head.
Bulma's wish had left the building.
"Time is limited. Speak quickly," Shenron warned, voice tightening.
A spark lit in Krillin's eyes. "Right Yamcha! Bring back Yamcha! When I was in the Other World, King Kai said Yamcha's name vanished from the Book of Life and Death he's gone!"
"Shenron, please revive Yamcha!" Krillin blurted.
"That is… beyond my power," Shenron said after a heartbeat of searching.
"What do you mean?" Krillin froze.
"He is not in this universe. That lies outside my domain. Choose another wish." Yamcha was no longer in Universe 7.
Earth's Dragon could not reach across universes only Super Shenron could.
Fwoosh!
The Lookout's tiles rattled as Bulma's jet braked and the canopy popped.
"GOKU, YOU JERK!" she stormed out.
"Oh! That's what I forgot. Bulma hurry, Shenron can't hold much longer!" Goku flashed a sheepish grin.
"Shenron! Make me three years younger!" Bulma didn't care who was listening; she fired off her wish.
"A trivial request." The Dragon obliged at once, then, straining, dissolved back into seven streaks of light.
Bulma felt a subtle spring where things had started to sag; her once-relaxed derrière firmed and lifted.
Krillin elbowed her, grinning. "Heh, why only three years? Why not go back to eighteen?"
"You know nothing. If I drop a decade overnight, people notice," she sniffed.
"So, uh… how old are you now?" Goku asked, curious.
Thunk!
Bulma's finger-flick to the forehead came faster than a hundred Super Saiyans. Goku staggered.
"Ever heard that asking a lady's age is rude?"
"Okay, okay no more questions! Ow seriously, Bulma, are you an alien? That hurt like crazy."
Mount Paozu
Goku filled Gohan in on everything at the Lookout and, yes, he was still wondering about Bulma's age. Doing the math:
Born Age 737, Goku was nineteen in 757. It was now Age 767. Bulma was at least three years older than him… Gohan was ten, Goku twenty-nine, which put Bulma at least thirty-two.
"By the way, Gohan… Yamcha being gone what do you make of that?" A faint dread prickled the back of Goku's neck.
"Dad, I'm going to the Other World." Gohan vanished.
Other World
"King Kai!"
"Gohan! Been a while you've shot up," King Kai greeted.
"Sir, why did Yamcha vanish after dying on Earth?" Gohan asked, frowning.
"Yamcha? That guy… I wasn't watching him closely, but Lord Enma mentioned his Book of Life lost a name just vanished. The name was Yamcha. He thought I had claimed him," King Kai said, remembering a recent message.
"Under what circumstances does a name disappear from the Book?" Gohan pressed, brow knitting.
"When a soul is annihilated beyond reincarnation. Or when someone attains godly power their life ascends and slips free of mortal lifespan. Or else…" King Kai trailed off.
"Or what?" Gohan's eyes sharpened.
"Or some being whose authority exceeds the cosmic order erased it," King Kai said, grave.
"Like a God of Destruction? An Angel?" Gohan asked, startled.
"Possible, but unlikely. I haven't sensed any high-tier divine presence entering the Other World," King Kai admitted, face growing grim.
"So more likely… someone powerful from another universe took Yamcha." Gohan's tone turned cold.
"If I had to guess yes," King Kai said.
"Understood. Leave this to me, King Kai." Gohan disappeared.
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