22 - Rise Shenron! Grant my wish!

As Goku flew forward with his flying nimbus, his eyes kept darting around the area, until eventually he found all his friends talking to each other near a ship.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!! THERES SOMETHING FLYING TOWARDS US!!"

Krillin yelled out, but due to Goku knowing they were there already in this timeline, he was closer, and Roshi quickly noticed and remarked.

"Wait, thats Goku!"

"I-It is! It's Goku!"

Zooming towards them, Goku happily greeted the group.

"Heeeeeyy everyone!!! What're you all doing heeeeeeree?!"

As Goku landed, Krillin explained.

"You went in to fight the red ribbon army with someone strange, so we came to help you!"

"Wooow! I can't believe you found that out!"

The monkey boy replied, surprised.

Suddenly however, their conversation was interrupted by Jesse's late arrival. He had been busy making sure there were no remains of Pictoro, though it was hard to tell if something was completely gone or not. As he jumped down from his black nimbus, he asked.

"Hey Goku, these are all your friends, right?"

Of course, he already knew the answer to that.

"Yeah!"

Goku happily responded.

"You're the guy we saw Goku with!"

Bulma exclaimed, pointing at Jesse as she did. Yamcha remarked at seeing them both fine.

"You guys made the right decision not going in there."

"We didn't give up, we went in!"

"Eh?!"

"We beat them all up and got 6 Dragon Balls!"

Goku exclaimed, counting 6 on his hands as he did. Jesse stood firmly and proud while everyone looked at them, totally astonished. Roshi looked particularly nervous at Jesse, he had a somewhat daunting presence, plus he wore black and rode a dark nimbus, only the non-pure can ride such a thing, so he was wondering if he was evil.

"Y-You guys really beat them all? You mean the whole red ribbon army? By yourselves...?"

Puar went to check on the base, and came back with shocking news, they really had all been destroyed. They continued their conversation until another subject came up from Jesse.

"We're really strong now, since we both climbed Korin Tower!"

Goku happily smiled as Roshi stood astonished, all he could think about was how amazing these two seemed.

'I guess thats how he got a black nimbus…'

"Oh yeah Bulma! The Dragon Radar broke again!"

"Whaaaat? You got six whole balls and still haven't found your Grandpa's Dragon Ball?"

Goku was simply watching the conversation, it was really amazing, seeing the anime play out right in front of his eyes. He also kept taking looks at Bulma and Launch, they were so attractive in real life, it almost made him wish he was reincarnated as Yamcha or Tien instead.

"Nah, I got all the other Dragon Balls, Jesse here just said he needed help getting the rest and would give me the four-star after!"

"Eh…? This guys collecting the Dragon Balls?! You're not planning to try to wish for anything evil right?"

Jesse casually denied Roshi's worries.

"Nah nah, I just need them to revive a friend."

"Hoh…"

"So you're a good person!"

Puar commented as everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

'Did they all think I was evil?'

"Anyway, you don't need to fix the Dragon Radar, it's not broken. The last balls hidden, but I know where to find it!"

Suddenly, Roshi spotted the symbol on Jesse's ring, and interjected.

"Eh wait, you're a student of the Beetle Hermit?"

Jesse was stunned, but it made some sense, the school didn't seem the most normal in terms of power.

"Wait? You know Orzo?"

"Orzo? Never heard of him, but he must be who's running the Beetle School now I guess. The Beetle Hermit and me were good friends back in the day, he taught me a lot about the body and such. Last I heard the old man was training alone in the tundra mountains, refused to ever leave."

Jesse scratched his chin.

'So this guy was amazing enough to be teaching Roshi at some point, interesting… Maybe I should try to explore the tundras and see if I can find him or his remains later, should be a good training spot anyway!'

"Interesting…. Oh anyway! I know where the last ball is, so just gimme the other 6 and I'll go get it!"

"Alright, here ya go!"

Goku exclaimed, happily handing over all the Dragon Balls.

"Kuro'un!"

Jesse hopped on to his black cloud and zoomed out in another direction, where Pilaf and his gang was. He could've done the whole fortuneteller baba thing, but he really didn't want to, he wanted to revive Truffel as soon as possible.

As Jesse disappeared, Roshi commented on Goku's and his strength.

"Amazing… It seems these two boys have already surpassed me…"

"Really? Both of them?"

"I wonder if that Jesse guy will be joining the next Tenkaichi Budokai too… There's no way we're gonna be able to stand up to him and Goku with the mere training we've been doing."

Yamcha thought out loud.

"Exactly."

Their conversation ended when Jesse suddenly came zooming back with the last Dragon Ball in hand.

"That was quick!"

'I was lucky I could find them so fast; they could've been in a lot of places…'

Landing on the ground and collecting all the Dragon Balls together, he thanked Goku.

"Thanks for the help, Son! Now I need to go and use these, but im sure we'll meet again!"

Goku suddenly remembered their earlier conversation and exclaimed.

"Hey Jesse! You should join the next Tenkaichi Budokai! You're plenty strong!"

"Oh? I was considering that already to be honest, but thanks for the invite! I'll be there, but you're all gonna have to train as hard as you've ever trained if you wanna keep up with me!"

Jesse said, some cockiness and pride showing through as he pointed at himself.

"You bet! So we'll see you there in a few years then!"

"You can count on it. For now though, see ya later!"

Jesse exclaimed as he hopped on to his black nimbus, zooming away to the battlefield which he had fought Pictoro on. With his heart racing, he placed all seven balls together.

'This is it…'

"Rise Shenron! Grant my wish!"

Almost immediately, thunder erupted and the sky began to turn from bright and cloudy to entirely dark. The Dragon Balls on the ground began to glow brilliantly until a massive light erupted from it. That light was Shenron, the eternal wish-granting dragon, floating above Jesse.

"Amazing…"

Jesse looked on in awe at the massive dragon, until Shenron interrupted in a booming voice.

"What is your wish? I will grant any one wish you desire."

"Oh…! Please bring the Earthling Truffel back to life with no damage to her body!"

Shenron's eyes glowed for a second, then, suddenly Truffel appeared behind him, looking at her hands surprised.

"Wasn't I dead?"

"Your wish has been granted. Farewell."

As all the Dragon Balls began to rise into the air, Jesse spotted the four-star ball. Jumping into the air, Jesse yelled out.

"Zenpo!"

He boosted up quickly and snatched the four-star ball right as it was about to disperse, then it turned to stone. For now, he pocketed it, and ran over to Truffel and hugged her, picking her up as he did.

"Truffel!"

"E-Eh? Jesse? Whats going on…"

He put her down, he was happy it all worked out, next year he'd try to revive Vidya too.

"Wait a second… YOU KILLED ME YOU BASTARD!"

Truffel suddenly socked Jesse in the head angrily. Nervously and awkwardly, Jesse hastily replied.

"I-I had to! Pictoro was gonna kill you in a second anyway! I brought you back quickly too!"

She pouted and turned her head, she understood, but it was still annoying that she killed him.

"Humph."

Quickly however, she got over her anger and questioned.

"How exactly did you bring me back? Was it that big dragon from a second ago?"

"Yep, you see there are seven mystical balls spread throughout the world that summon a wish-granting dragon who will grant any wish you could dream of."

Truffel was shocked and surprised, a wish-granting dragon? It seemed unbelievable, but then again she wasn't dead anymore and she had just seen the dragon moments ago.

"How did you even know about something amazing like that?"

"I found out about them from uhhhh... a book I read one time!"

That was an ample enough explanation for Truffel.

"Whatever. Let's get out of here, it's cold..."