Across To Elsewhere

Part One: Twelve - Search Again

Of course it had to be only a few days after the end of Harri's school year that the Dragon Radar decided to finally ping to life with the declaration that there was a Dragonball nearby. Goku welcomed the challenge like one greeted an old friend and eagerly set off to find each one.

Luckily enough, not counting the four star ball Goku already had, the first Dragonball to find had been fairly close by. It took him a little less than a week to get to it and add the five star ball into his coin bag. Unfortunately the rest of the Dragonballs were much farther apart from each other.

First Goku went north west, just skirting around a desert, and after several weeks of walking, eventually came upon a lake large enough that he could just barely spot the forest on the other side of it. He spent days swimming through the place, combing it as best as he could with a radar that couldn't go in the water with him. It wasn't until he came upon a mermaid who was annoyed with his snooping that he was able to ask about the Dragonball.

The merfolk certainly had it, but wouldn't hand it over unless Goku could trade something better for it. Apparently it was their young prince that the Dragonball had been found by and it was therefore considered to be special because of it. With Harri on her summer vacation, she had been able to procure a crystal orb through the owlmail and send it through the Window Wood to Goku so he could use it to barter for the Dragonball. It was something Harri told him had been put for sale for Hogwarts students that were supposed to take divination class. Goku felt lucky that despite the strange mystical clouds that swirled within the orb- or perhaps because of it- the merfolk had accepted it as a trade. Now Goku had the one star ball to add to his collection.

With a dread Goku then headed up north and braced himself for the cold that was to come. Not long after he'd traveled far enough to encounter snow Harri had gotten him a cloak. It kept him warm when he wore it and wasn't so bulky that it would restrict his movements or overheat him. Despite the cloak and the radar combined to help him, he still had the same troubles as the last time he had been in the snowy regions.

 Though the snow storms were notably less frequent, there had been part of the land that had felt so cold he couldn't even think straight, even with warming potions in his system. There the white peaked mountains had stretched tall and the sky was a constant grey overcast. It had been an area where he had to be extra quiet. Any loud noises tended echo which made the snow tremble in it's precariously piled places and threaten to cause an avalanche. The land between these mountains swooped down like one giant bowl. If it hadn't been filled with snow and giant piles of stones, Goku would have called it a small valley. And he was pretty sure, amongst those icy stones in the bowl between the mountains, something was down there. His instincts told him so.

Luckily the three star ball was only at the top of a snow peaked mountain. While the climb up said mountain had been more than unsettling, Goku was glad that there had been no need for him to get any closer to the bowl-valley below. Unluckily, it had taken long enough for Harri to start her fifth year at Hogwarts for him to have simply traveled here.

From there Goku made haste to travel south east, glad to leave the snow far behind. He walked until the weather warmed enough for the snow to melt, then made to jog the rest of the journey until he came across a body of water large enough to not be able to see across. The Dragon Radar had pointed him forwards, through the water. Needing to take the shortest path Goku decided to simply swim straight through it.

Three days straight were spent in the water. During that time Goku did his best to go in a straight line. He was only able to take small naps floating on his back. At times he'd nibble on seaweed when he couldn't catch a fish to keep up his energy. He sort of wished there had been more than just the one giant sea serpent around who had thought he looked like a tasty snack.