"And you are sure they are here?", a shady person asked at another.

"Yes, they are. After all, I followed them until here and they haven't moved around much at all from that place.", the other shady person said.

"Hehehe, that perfect! Now prepare our things and engage as soon as soon as they got the last Dragonballs.", said the first shady person and snickered.

Another person joined the conversation. "Are we really able to get them? What are they doing right now anyway?" It was asked a little bit confused and the person was unsure of the success of the operation.

"Don't be such a downer. Tell her.", said shady person 1 and looked at shady person 2.

"They are actually trying to catch Glimmerbirds that collected two of the balls" shady 2.

"Glimmerbirds? Arent those extremely rare and pricey if sold?" shady 1

"Yes, but they are under national protection so if we get caught having them we will land in jail. Let's just concentrate on getting those wishing beads." shady 3.

"True that. Alright prepare everything!" shady 1

"Yes, Boss!" shady 2 & 3 responded and began readying up everything.

--------

Darc and his friends already were on this trip for about 3 and a half weeks and they are also about to get the last Dragonballs but exactly those were a little bit weird.

Darc at first thought the last two Dragonballs would be in possession of another person but it looks like some Glimmerbirds have collected them since they do value shiny things and travel pretty far to search for food and such stuff.

The problem here is he can't just go and knock these birds ko since they are rare and under wildlife protection.

So they had to try and distract them with other shiny things further away and sneak into their nest and get the balls.

Of course, it was again up to Darc because the nest was on a steep mountain wall and no one would want to climb that. Yes, climb. If he flew the birds would notice and directly attack him. And not only that. They actually stole his bag with his Senzu Beans last time when he tried it.

Darc was pretty close to snap and pulverize these annoying birds.

In the end, they managed to fool them after using aluminum sheets and wrapping a rock with it a certain distance from the nest. After they hid and the sun shone on it, it did attract the Glimmerbirds. Those birds were just like magpie only way more greedy and aggressive.

When he reached the nest after climbing it up pretty fast he took his bag back and the last two Dragonballs.

After that, he just climbed down and got back to his group. They would finally be done with the journey.

But what was waiting for Darc back down was a Zarid on the ground and his friends held hostage by a 5 meters tall mech.

Darc looked curious to his teacher and wondered how they managed to get those old bones in that condition but a big tranquilizer dart was stuck to his body. He has been simply put to sleep it seems.

"Hey, you. Hand over those two last Dragonballs that you have or else we will not be too kind to these four here.", came out of a speaker mounted on the mechs outer layer.

Darc heard the words and looked at his friend distressed look. Lite even rubbed his hand indicating he already tried to punch it. He is still not far to punch a metal robot. They did effectively tranq Zarid out of luck it seems or just precaution.

Darc already knew that it was the ones that stalked them but wouldn't have expected them to get Zarid out of action like that. Well, they do not expect us kids to do much against a mech but they made sure the adult was out.

"And what happens if I just don't want to? You guys followed us the whole trip but only now show yourself. You think I will make it that easy for you?", said Darc to them. He could feel three signatures from them so he knew three people were inside the mech. To be precise he already had a guess who those three idiots are.

"What, you knew already!?" The voice became a little panicky but then became resolute again. "Doesn't matter. If you don't want to hand them over we will take them with force. Rocket Barrage!", shouted the voice and the mech fired about 10 homing rockets from its shoulders against Darc.

Darc only arched his eyebrows. They actually fired against a kid? He sighed. This world really is sometimes weird. Violence was such an overrated thing. But he sure won't hold back if someone wants to get pummeled.

He smirked and stretched out one hand and pointed with his finger at those rockets and shot precise ki blasts against them to detonate them in midair.

"What just happened!? Why did the rockets prematurely explode?" The person in the mech was surprised and didn't know what happened. He also wanted to say something else but was pushed against the wall by Darc the next moment. Feeling how hard the impact was they got confused again. "Huh? What!?"

Darc smiled. "You know I am angry now, right? Let's dismantle this toy, shall we?", he said in a joking manner and pulled one arm from the mech and threw it away. After that, the other limbs also came off pretty easily.

One by one the mech soon was just its main body embedded in the wall. The people inside the mech screamed and had probably bulging eyes from his actions. For them, that was not normal. They were scared.

Then he ripped open some of the middle compartment of the mech and finally saw who was inside.

It was, of course, the pilaf gang: Pilaf, Shu, and Mai. Darc was not that surprised to see them. He only wondered if his actions already made this to do their greedy searches for the Dragonball at a much earlier time.

"Hello, there.", smirked Darc "Now then, do you return our Dragonballs or should I use force?"

The three became scared. "Ah, no. Of course, we will return the beads!", said Pilaf.

"We will?", asked Shu uncertain.

"Of, course you idiot!", shouted Pilaf and smacked his head.

Shu with a bulb on his head gave back the bag with the five other balls and Darc took them with a smile.

"Good, and now I will send you on another trip since you like to follow people.", he said.

Then he half-assedly put back the lid onto the mech that he ripped open, pulled them out of the wall and launched the trio into the air. Effectively sending them flying somewhere. They will probably survive. If not, one less problem he thought.

Returning to his group he saw them with bulging eyes. They knew Darc was strong but that was inhuman.

Darc only shrugged his shoulders and made a gesture as if asking if anything was the problem.

"What? Why are you looking like dead fish? You know, teacher Zarid could do the same. He just happens to be out...", he tried to explain but if that really helps is another story.

Lite´s body then shook in excitement. "Alright!" Then he jumped and made a winning posture. "I will start to give my all in training. If I can become that strong that would be amazing! That was just like a superman."

Darc was surprised. There was a superman here as well? Well, he never came to read comics in this world and Gohan also kinda became The Great Saiyaman. Come to think of it, it made sense.

The other three didn't say anything to that. They actually didn't know what to say. But at least they were safe now and had the Dragonballs back. Still, it was pretty surprising how Darc dealt with a steel mecha like that.

Time to return home. But before that, they should wake up Zarid and make their wish.

Going over to Zarid, Darc pulled out the tranq dart and placed one hand on his chest. Then he slowly manipulated his ki to start healing him. Like that the effects of the drug slowly vanished inside him and it didn't take long for Zarid to wake up.

"What happened?", asked Zarid and stared at Darc and the others.

"You took a nice little nap after being hit by a tranq dart from our followers. Don't worry, though. I already took care of them.", he answered and turned back to the others. "Now then. It's time to summon the dragon!" He said smirking.

The others came out of their daze and followed Darc to a wider location.

Darc put all Dragonballs on the ground and prepared to summon the dragon

"So, before we summon. What wish do you guys have?", he asked and looked at them.

Everyone stayed silent and looked at each other.

"Wait.", said Darc now with a little bit of an annoyed face. "Don't tell me you guys didn't even think about anything you wanted to wish for? Are you for real?"

The others chuckled guiltily and Zarid looked confused.

"Well, I didn't really think we would come to this point and you know. I don't really believe such superstitious stuff...So I didn't really make any thought about a wish", answered Glew.

Otamo was next to answer. "I was more interested in the trip itself actually and see how the dragon looks like. I actually also didn't think about a wish."

"I also just wanted to spend some time with you guys so I joined along", said Luffa while glancing shyly at Darc. She was obviously here for a certain reason and Otamo only smiled wryly.

"And I thought you would make the wish." Were the words that came out of Lite while shrugging his shoulders.

Darc´s eyelid twitched. What was this? These kids actually had no real desires to wish for anything. That was abnormal. So he sighed.

"Then just think about something. How about you, teacher? Do you have anything to wish for?", he asked Zarid.

"Is youth and such an option?", he asked back.

Darc stayed silent for a while and nodded "Yes it is..."

Zarid smiled. "That's interesting. Why don't you wish something for your parents if no one got a wish?"

"Huh?", asked Darc back. " I thought you would wish for your youth?"

"Don't be silly. Having youth is only prolonging one's life for a few years. And I have already lived so long that I don't desire such a thing. Hell, surviving my own children and grandchildren would pain me to no end.", he said laughing.

Darc had an admiring glimmer in his eyes. So there truly are people that enjoy every time they have to the fullest. He himself smiled and sighed. Come to think about it he should make up to his mother somehow.

Wait, did he just hear right? "You got children? Why didn't you ever mention that?"

Zarid only arched his eyebrows in surprise himself. "Of course I got them. Do you take me for some hermit or something? It's just that we live our life's separated and I seldom talk about them.", he said.

"I see.", said Darc scratching his chin and thought about it. It kinda made sense so he didn't go further into that topic. He after all also never really asked him about it.

Then he thought about a wish for his parent. Particular his mother.

"Alright" having thought about one he prepared again. "Come forth Shenron and grant me my wish!"

Like always Shenron came out majestically from the Dragonballs, darkened the day and looked down at the summoner with his ruby eyes.

The group was amazed at this scene and especially Otamo was smiling from one ear to the other seeing this.

"Come, state your wish. I shall grant any one wish you have" traveled Shenron´s voice to the group's ears.

"Amazing.", whispered Otamo and Luffa smiled at seeing her brother happy like that.

"Shenron, please enlarge my mother's gallery and add a lot of painting stuff and such to it. And add a note to that wish, please. Like those for flower bouquets. So she will know I was the one responsible and doesn't get too scared by what happened."

It was basically a wasted wish but he really didn't care all that much for now. For him, the Dragonballs were like a djinn he can always call upon when he wanted. His wishes also didn't really collect negative karma at all since they didn't include reviving the dead so he doubted he would end up calling Shadow Shenron and his shadow minions. Even worse would be Dark Shenron but that was even less to happen.

"...That wish is easy. Your wish will be granted." Shenron´s eyes flashed and soon became normal again. "Now then, I bid farewell", he added and scattered around the earth once again.

The group still stared at the sky even long after the dragon disappeared.

"Hello~. Are you guys finished with being dazed? Let's return home. You can see the wish being real after you visit my home", said Darc with a smile.

Everyone recollected and was happy about seeing the dragon and now returning home. If the wish was really granted they would see later.

-----

Returning home after some days of travel everyone gathered up at Darc´s home at first and saw that his house kinda became bigger at some part. Luckily it didn't bother any neighbors or anything since the houses were further apart from each other.

When they entered and went to the gallery they could see Darc his mother sitting in front of a large canvas where she drew Shenron. That did surprise everyone. Why would she draw the dragon without knowing how it looked like. After asking her she told that the dragon appeared in her mind after granting the wish.

It told her that her son had made this wish for her. She was shocked at first, then happy about Darc thinking about her and afterward inspired to draw that majestic creature on a canvas to remember this event.

His mother wasn't really that angry after he returned home pretty late into the holidays again. That made Darc smile. So the wish kinda wasn't wasted in his opinion.

Everyone else returned back to their homes after eating the cooking from his mother and like that his normal life started again. Until the tournament, that is. He would still train himself at his teacher's dojo for now.