18 - The Sacred Land Of Korin

More than a day of being unconscious later, Jesse's eyes slowly opened and he woke back up. His entire body was in pain and he was covered head to toe in bruises and sores, but luckily the bleeding on his back had stopped. Shakily, he stood up and surveyed the area. Everything was as he left it, which wasn't that great for him.

'How am I gonna get out of here…?'

Looking over to the abandoned castle, he decided to go look through its ruins, hoping to find a capsule for a vehicle. As his body ached, he made his way back into Pictoro's room through the same hole smashed into it's side earlier.

'Hopefully there's something here… I need to get to a hospital or something soon, or I'm still gonna end up dying.'

He quickly began to rummage through random drawers, until eventually he found one with a case of capsules.

"Finally!"

Picking the capsules up, he also noticed a small circular device in the same compartment it was in.

'Looks a little bit like a dragon radar…'

As soon as he picked it up, it was quite obvious that it was a simple clock, an oversized one, but just a clock. Nothing quite surprising, but the date flickering on the clock's screen made him raise his eyebrows.

'That means… the red ribbon army saga is happening!'

Shoving the clock into his pocket he scrambled outside and began randomly throwing the small and medium capsules out. Eventually one turned into a plane, and he turned the rest back into capsules and brought them with him.

'This isn't good… if the red ribbon army saga is happening or is about to happen, that means the Dragon Balls are gonna get used… I don't wanna wait an extra damn year to bring back Truffel!'

He was confident that at this level, if it was before his training with Karin, he should be as strong if not stronger than Goku. But he wouldn't be able to beat Tao Pai Pai and it would take months for his body to recover properly, he needed to get better much sooner.

'I need to be stronger, and I need to recover… I know the perfect method!'

Hopping into the plane, he zoomed off from the scene of his battle with Pictoro.

Yet, unbeknownst to him, something had lived on, a tiny piece of black shiny goop wriggled slowly at the bottom of the crater the Tri-Beam created.

For now however, this wasn't a problem for Jesse, especially since he didn't even now about it. Instead he continued to simply blast off towards his destination.

'To the Sacred Land Of Korin!'

He was lucky this was a quite advanced model, so it pretty much flew itself. Recounting a few landmarks in the series, he was able to eventually find his way to the Sacred Land of Korin. Feeling his energy start to drain faster, he quickly landed the plane down near the base of Korin Tower. This immediately caught the attention of the two natives living there. The large man, who was the father of the smaller one, a child, grabbed his spear and yelled out.

"Who's there?!"

Breathing heavily, Jesse exited the plane. With his legs shaky, he smiled a bit, seeing two real Dragon Ball characters for the first time, even if they were incredibly minor characters. He didn't care all that much at this point, besides the novelty it wasn't as exciting to him as it once was. Additionally, he had something else to worry about, his slowly failing body.

"N-Need… H-H-Help…."

Jesse murmured slowly, before falling over, unconscious once again. He knew he'd be fine however, these two were good people and they'd take care of him.

Five days later, his idea had worked, he woke up, still in pain but feeling much better. Only now with not every single inch of his body hurting could he tell that he had multiple broken bones. When he looked around, he was in a tent, the small boy from earlier looking at him surprised.

"Father! He's awake!"

Jesse got up, still slightly shaky to meet with the man and the boy, though he already knew who they were.

"Oh you're finally awake I see."

Bowing respectfully, Jesse thanked the man.

"Thank you for taking care of me."

"No need, I would not just let you die there. You should go back to a hospital in your city however, you're still hurt."

Jesse shook his head.

"Nah, I had a reason to come here, and I think I'm healed enough for it."

The native man was somewhat surprised for a second, he thought the boy had come here just for help cause he'd seen them nearby or something. However, he quickly realized what he had wanted.

"Ah, I see you're here to try to climb Korin Tower. You did seem quite strong for someone so young, so you're a warrior as well?"

His strength comment was referring to Jesse's heavily muscular physique, which would be obviously uncommon, especially for someone of his age. With a smile, Jesse nodded slightly and responded.

"Yep, not only that though, I also have two questions for you specifically."

"Me? What would you want with me? I just guard this land."

Jesse coughed into his hand and pointed at him.

"I need something from you. First, have any men tried to steal a small, orange ball with 4 stars from you yet?"

The native man shook his head.

"No such men have come."

Jesse smiled, this was good, this means he still had time. His plan right now was pretty simple. He had no way to gather the Dragon Balls himself right now, so he just needed one, then he needed to wait for Goku and he could befriend him and gather the rest. He didn't have to worry about Goku wanting a wish too, the only reason Goku used the Dragon Balls in this arc was to revive Upa's father, the native man, but he was planning to stop that from happening.

"Alright, that's good. Now, second off, could I have that ball from you?"

The native man furrowed his brows, thinking.

"Why do you want the ball?"

"It's something important to me, I need it to save a friend."

It was easier not to explain the whole wish for anything part, just would cause more issues, plus might make him not want to hand it over, regardless of how noble he was.

"Well, I don't mind giving it up then, it's just a ball."

He and Upa made their way into their tent, and minutes later, came out with the ball in hand.

"Here you go."

"Yes! Thank you!"

He said with another respectful bow while looking at the ball with excitement. A real Dragon Ball in his hands, and not only that, but the 4-Star Dragon Ball. There was no time for fanboying however, he needed to get healed and stronger fast. He had no idea how soon the red ribbon army would come, and when they would send Tao Pai Pai.

"I'm gonna climb the tower now! Thanks a lot sir."

Both of them smiled at eachother and Jesse made his way to the base of the tower, sweating a bit.

'I don't think I have energy to climb this entire thing right now… how am I gonna get up there...?'