Protecting the Dragon Balls

"That extending pole, that's the Power Pole. Only one man could have given that to you." said Yamcha staring at Goku's weapon. "It was my Grandpa Gohan's, he died a long time ago."

"I knew of him, but even with your magic pole and all that he may have taught you two, I'm afraid you are still not match for me." said Yamcha. "Dude he's not my grandpa, Goku and I aren't related." stated Tora. "It doesn't matter, I will have that pole's power. Give it to me or prepare to fight to the death!" "We're already fighting to the death aren't we?" asked Tora. "I'm starving." Goku said as he was losing focus again.

"You're not the only ones with special powers." said Yamcha taking up a unique stance. "This is it, I have to focus all my senses on Yamcha and try to figure out how he uses Ki!" Tora thought. While Yamcha was preparing his attack he saw that while Tora was very focused on him, while Goku was focused on holding his stomach.

Yamcha ran up to Goku shouting "Wolf Fang Fist!" The unprepared Goku was hit by a big kick followed by several palm attacks to the head, finishing with a double palm strike to Goku's chest that sent him flying back through a rock formation. Tora observed every motion of Yamcha's attack and at the end finally sensed Ki. "I did it! It's faint but I sensed his Ki!" It was a major step of Tora's survival, if he was unable to use Ki, his death would only be a matter of time.

Yamcha turned toward Tora. "Your turn, kid!" "Give it your best shot!" Tora had gotten what he wanted from Yamcha and still kept his trump card the Tiger Strike concealed, he felt confident if he could bait the very straight forward attack that is the Wolf Fang Fist, he could perfectly counter it.

Before anything could happen Goku stood up out of the rubble he was buried in "I've had just about enough of you!" but then Bulma woke up from all of the fighting and screaming. When Yamcha saw her, he froze in place. His face turned completely red and he just fell over on his side. Puar checked on him and then they immediately left on their vehicle.

"Well, I guess we put them on the run, didn't we?" said Oolong. "Hey, you guys, who was that hunk? He looked absolutely dreamy!" said Bulma still sleepy. "He was a bandit who was trying to kill us." Tora responded. "Oh wow." said Bulma not really listening to Tora. "Can we eat now?" asked Goku who still cared more about his stomach than he ever did about Yamcha's attack.

About an hour after the fight, the group was eating inside of a Capsule RV Oolong owned. "So why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" asked an irritated Bulma. "Well you didn't exactly ask me, now did you? Besides I didn't want those bandits to steal it."

"Were you hoping to escape without sharing any of things you earned from your scams?" said Tora. Oolong didn't respond and Goku didn't care he was too busy eating. Tora left the RV and spent some time observing from the top of a rock formation, he wanted to make sure no schemes against them worked tonight. He wasn't sure if he had already caused some sort of butterfly effect and he wasn't going to risk his life on it.

That night he saw Emperor Pilaf's minions Shu and Mai try and stick a bomb the the RV only for Shu to accidently stick the bomb to his own hand before the two of them ran away. "So far so good... Man it would be scary if those two were competent."

He saw Yamcha and Puar sneak up the the RV and accidently see Bulma naked in the shower when trying to observe who was in one of the RV's rooms. They freaked out and hid before sliding over to the window where Goku and Oolong were talking and they began to eavesdrop. Tora knew this is when Oolong, Yamcha, and Puar would all learn about the Dragon Balls from Goku, he also knew he has to let this happen because all of their future behavior for the Pilaf arc relies on them knowing about the Dragon Balls.

Tora knew for the next part, he'd need to involve himself. Yamcha and Puar would try to account for Tora in their plans and his not being there would affect them. Tora reentered the RV and Oolong quickly offered the three of them drinks in a over friendly way.

"Goku did you tell Oolong about the Dragon Balls?" Tora asked. "Sure did!" Goku innocently responded. Bulma who was in a towel after taking a bath yelled at him. "Goku! I told you not to tell him!"

"Oolong, why don't you drink this first." Tora said with a knowing smile. "Uhh, I, well..." Oolong stammered. "What'd you put in the drinks?" Tora asked. "Piggy, piggy, piggy!" shouted Bulma in anger as she put together that Oolong had been trying to drug them.

Oolong ran into the bathroom and shut the door behind him "I'm sorry! Stop, please!" he shouted. "Good work kid, how did you know about the spiked drinks?" she asked. "My father said don't drink anything you didn't see poured yourself." Tora lied.

Later that night Tora pretended to fall asleep, with Goku actually asleep next to him, Bulma asleep up stairs, and Oolong still in the bathroom. Even after he was done using the toilet he'd find Bulma had barred him inside the bathroom and he'd have to spend the night in there.

Tora knew Yamcha and Puar were waiting for all of them to be asleep before they'd try sneaking in and stealing the Dragon Balls. He heard the sound of Puar's transformation into a key outside the door and Yamcha using him to unlock it. Tora stood up, got in his stance and waited for the door to open.

Yamcha opened the door and was about to quickly run inside only to see Tora already there. "HA!" Tora launched his Tiger Strike full force into Yamcha who flew back thirty feet into a rock formation that collapsed onto him. "Yamcha!" Puar ran and picked up the unconscious Yamcha and took him away. Goku woke up "Huh? Tora what's going on?" "Nothing I just sneezed very loudly go back to bed." said Tora. "Okay." Goku said happily before drifting off.