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Supernova

I

"Into the Unknown."

Somewhere in the vast vacuum of space, there was a planet called Earth. This planet was an oasis in the vast unforgiving place that is the universe. It should come as no surprise that many would kill and have killed to keep control over it. The planet was home to the strongest warriors in the galaxy and beyond. Of course, the presence of these strong warriors have also sparked the interest of even stronger opponents. It was for this reason that the warriors of Earth, dubbed the Z-Fighters, were typically training to grow stronger and more powerful. Oddly enough, the strongest of the planet's defends wasn't even an Earthling in origin.

No, the strongest being on the planet was a man named Goku. Father of two, loving husband, and strongest of the Son family, he was of an alien race known as the saiyens. He had defeated numerous evil beings in his life time and even made some allies from people who were once enemies. He was truly a remarkable person, that much was of no question. He held the power to obliterate entire stars in the very palm of his hands and he was a fighting genius! He was, without a doubt, the champion of Earth and its people.

That being said, it was of no small bit irony that he was facing one of the very few problems he couldn't solve with that power. The irony may have been lost on him but it certainly wasn't lost on others. Son Goku's youngest son had taken an interest in something besides training and playing with his friend. That last bit wasn't completely true as he still spent a lot of time with his best friend, Trunks. Goku had taken to speaking with Chi-Chi, his wife, about the situation at hand. It troubled him to see his son investing so much time in, what he could only assume to be, an activity that proved useless in the long run. Naturally, Chi-Chi would have encourage him to leave their youngest to his devices; however, for once the Earth woman couldn't be in more agreeance with her alien husband.

Their son Goten was wasting his time and blowing his future away! If he had been doing something related to education or learning, she would have put her foot down. She would have even been lenient if he was just training or play fighting with his friend. Either of those scenarios provide some sort of advantage for life in the future. Unfortunately, the boy had taken to one of the worst possible things-in her eyes anyways. The boy was blowing off his studies and training for playing video games!

Chi-Chi was a close friend to Trunks' mother, who went by the name of Bulma. The woman was probably the smartest woman on the planet, if not then the second. She was the heiress to the largest company in the world too, the Capsule Corporation. Unfortunately for Chi Chi's poor little Goten, this meant the family had copious amounts of funds for buying whatever they felt like. Typically, a call to the mother of the friend supplying the electronics would solve the problem. Unluckily for the son family, Trunks had more than enough ways to acquire video games due to his families status.

It was of no surprise that when Chi-Chi had told Goten explicitly not to play any more video games, until she told him it was okay to, he had gone and done so anyways. That had been the last straw for the mother, she was going to punish him good for blatantly ignoring what she said and disrespecting her in such a way. When Goku had come to her to express his concern over the lack of interest Goten was showing in him and training, she had formed an idea. Goku would go to Bulma's house, see exactly what their son was playing, and then tell Chi-Chi. Then he would bring their son home, kicking and screaming if he had to, where Chi-Chi would be waiting with the proper punishment. Of course, she had neglected to tell him about the intended outcome. Goku was a big softy after all and would likely find some way to let Goten off the hook.

Goku had arrived at the Capsule Corporation head quarters, where Bulma Briefs and the rest of their family lived. The moment he was on the ground, he extended his sense to try and find his son. Luckily the boy was inside and, as expected, he was accompanied by Bulma's own son-Trunks. He didn't wait to let himself inside of the house. He and Bulma were friends since childhood, he was sure she wouldn't mind if he dropped by unannounced.

Fortunately, Goku didn't have to search for long before he stumbled upon his boy. They were in a sealed off room with Bulma's boy, Trunks. The room looked super sophisticated to most powerful saiyen. Even looking at it through the window in the door, he couldn't gleam and idea as to how it worked. It was for that reason, and a few others, that he sweat dropped at the motions his saw the boys using. The movements and such were what he would consider silly and, given that this was Goku calling them such, that was a problem. Goku shook his head to focus, he needed to get Goten and head home to Chi-Chi.

He knocked on the glass window on the door. They didn't respond so he chose to do so with more force. Unfortunately, the force was enough to has the glass fracture into spiderweb cracks. The sudden change caused the lights in the room to flicker briefly before everything shut down. Suddenly, with no warning, the door in front of Goku released a hiss of air before lifting up and outwards-forcing Goku to side step it.

"Aw come on! Trunks, what happened? I was just about to break my record!" The sound of Goten whining echoed from inside the chamber. It wasn't alone though, for their best friend was quick to reply with just as much confusion.

"I don't know Goten, the game just freaked out for a moment and then stopped. Maybe we were too rough with it and something broke." Goku didn't waste time and immediately stepped into the room. He quickly cleared his throat to let his presence be known. The two boys let their heads snap tot he sound because they hadn't expected to see or hear from anyone while they were inside.

"Hey kids, sorry I had to interrupt your little game." Goku told them both before turning his attention to his son. "Goten, it's time to go home to your mom."

"But dad! I was having so much fun."

"Sorry Goten but she's been getting really concerned about you." He told his youngest before turning and gesturing to the room they were in. "She thinks you're spending too much time in here and I'm inclined to agree."

"What do you mean?"

"Goten, did you even sense me when I came into the room?" He questioned his son, who could only look at the floor with shame. It was true, he hadn't even picked up on his dads energy signature until he hear him clear his throat. "Exactly, you're not studying and you're not training either." He finished telling his son, hoping they would see it from his perspective.

"Fine... I guess you're right... but dad?" Goten asked, looking up to their father's eyes. "Do you think you could at least try it out? I mean, I really like it and I think if you saw it-you might understand." Goten finished the final part of their sentence quieter than when he began. This made Goku raise and eye brow at his son's odd behavior. He decided to humor the young saiyen before he ruffled their hair and gave them his signature grin.

"Well, we still have to return home but I don't see how staying a little bit longer could be a problem." Goten grinned when he heard Goku say that.

The youngest child of the Son family quickly looked to their best friend, who nodded in return. Trunks went to calibrate the machine for another game to be played. While they did so, Goten quickly grabbed a pair of ear buds to give to Goku. The adult saiyen took them and put them in before smirking at his son. The young boy, Goten, was practically a carbon replica of him. The calibrations took just a few more seconds to set. During that time, Goku could only wonder what on Earth was so fascinating about the machine.

"There, all set!" Trunks had called from the command console. The lavender haired boy rushed back to the others before they gave Goku a strange headband.

"What's this?" He asked.

"That's a visor needed for the game, you put it on and it helps make the experience more immersive." Trunks explained. "You put it over your eyes like in some sci-fi movies." Trunks finished his explanation.

"Sci-Fi movies?" Goku said with a confused tone of voice, he had never seen a movie before.

"Science fiction movies, you know-with lasers and robots and stuff."

"Oh..." Goku glanced at the band that would be covering his eyes in but a moment. It had white trim with the majority of the band being black. He took a deep breath before pulling it over his hair and down onto his eyes. Goku waited for a moment before extending his senses, he could make out the scuffling of boots. He couldn't pin point exactly where it was coming from because the chamber seemed to make noise bounce off the walls. "Hey guys, what's going on-I thought we were going to play the game."

The sound of the entrance closing harshly touched his senses...

"What?"

A loud humming filled his ears and he could feel himself float off of the ground...

"Trunks? Goten?" He called out for the two young saiyens but received no answer.

Suddenly light flickered in his vision and he found ground beneath his feet. The entire area was creepily dark and rather unnerving, even for him. The darkness seemed to ripple like the surface of a pond when a stone is thrown into it. Soon the ripples gave way to distorted imagery, which quickly morphed into a rather meager looking house. A meager looking house that looked very odd to the powerful saiyen.

Goku took a moment to examine his surroundings and noticed something peculiar...

The floor was made from wooden boards but it was in a terrible state of disrepair. It looked like many of the boards had been broken or just removed all together. Beneath him was a very large rug that stretched to two things. A desk with some sort of machine on it, it looked like a computer from what Goku could gleam. Beside that sat a large book case filled to the brim with books. He couldn't make any of the titles out though, not with how little light was shining into the room. The light was moon light and it was coming from a closed window...

"Where am I?" Goku had wondered once he had a good grasp on his environment. To his left was a door and behind him was also a door! The only thing he hadn't taken a good glance at was the bed with the light on it. Then again, he wasn't tired in the slightest and sleeping wasn't really appealing right now. He wanted to explore but, more importantly, he needed to find a way to talk to Trunks and Goten. He had never experienced anything like this so he was on edge.

"G-Goten? Are you there son?" Goku decided to check the door furthest from himself. The door had opened with a squeak and a click, which granted the saiyen access to a run down bathroom.

The bathroom was incredibly dark and incredibly difficult to see, even for a saiyen. The lack of light actually made it difficult to gleam any details outside of basic things. There was a sink with a mirror next to a toilet, a bathtub across from that, and a small pot in the corner of the room. Goku approached the sink and tried to make the water run. Unfortunately, the pipes seemed to have been all dried up and nothing came out. Goku glanced up at his reflection in the mirror, he could see his outline and a few features but details were lost in the darkness.

Son Goku, the strongest under the heavens and champion of good.

Goku blinked and a confused expression took hold of his face. Where had that thought even come from? The way the thought was formed was off, funny even-he didn't talk about himself as if he were another being. He stared at his reflection for a moment longer before moving away from the mirror. He took another glance around the room before deciding to leave it. If the water wasn't working in the sink, he doubted it would be working in the toilet or bathtub. He found himself back in the room he had appeared in.

Goku immediately headed for the only other door in the room. Maybe the rest of the house would have a clue as to where he was? He found his luck to have run out when he grabbed the handle and gave it a twist. The door remained locked and didn't budge in the slightest. He frowned before trying again, applying more pressure to the handle; however, the handle still held firm despite the superhuman force placed on it. Eventually the saiyen relented from trying to open the door. A nervous tick showed up on the surface when he scratched his head.

If he couldn't get out of the room, then what was he supposed to do?

Goku turned around and examined the room again. Perhaps he had missed something, like another way out or a key for the freakishly strong door? It was then that he took notice of something he hadn't seen before. Something was lying on the floor just out of reach of the moonlight. He approached it and picked it up, unable to make out anything other than the shape. He glanced at the window where the moonlight was spilling in. He quickly moved the object into the rays of light slipping into the room.

"A remote?" Goku mumbled out loud once he saw the object for what it was. Upon closer examination, he noticed every single button was missing except for 9, 8, 1 and 4. Something he noted about the numbers was that they were all different colors. 9 was red, 8 was blue, 1 was yellow and four was green. Who would ever design a remote like this and why was it so busted up?

"I wish I knew what to do..." Goku said aloud to no one in particular. Whether he meant to speak to someone or not, it did not matter, for someone spoke back; although, it wasn't a reply one would have expected.

"H... Hello?..." Goku's head snapped in the direction of the other wall across the room. The voice, he was sure it was coming from someone over there. The only problem was that he couldn't actually see anyone over there. Was his mind playing tricks on him or was this the kids doing? Well, he was partially right with the last idea.

A pair of glowing gold eyes peaked out from behind something-it was too dark for Goku to make out. When Goku had noticed the glowing pair of eyes, his had immediately darted to them. The sudden zeroing in on them had cause the owner of the glowing eyes to retreat into the darkness. Goku just stared at where he had thought he'd seen the eyes. He waited, remaining as still as he could manage, and was eventually rewarded.

A pair of glowing golden eyes peaked out from the darkness again...

"Excuse me..." He said as softly as he could, the pair of eyes widened before darting back to him. They seemed panicked and it looked as though they were about to retreat again. "Please, wait!" Goku called out to the owner of those eyes. It seemed to have been effective at stopping them as the eyes froze, not moving, but not looking away from Goku either. "Just... hold on a second..."

"My name is Goku, I... I don't exactly know how I got here or where here is..." He told the glowing eyes, which didn't make a motion to respond. "Please, I don't intend to hurt you-I'm just confused is all." Perhaps it was the sincerity in his tone of voice, or something else, but it appeared to do the trick. The pair of eyes quickly clambered about and it was then that Goku came to the realization that whoever they belonged to had been in the bed in the corner of the room.

After a second of shuffling bed covers, a soft pair of thuds was heard. Then more sounds of bed covers being moved before the glowing eyes turned to him again. Slowly and with ever subtle taps, the figure behind the eyes approached Goku. The saiyen remained deathly still, concerned that he might frighten off whoever it was. It was only when they entered to moon light in front of him that he caught a good glimpse of who they were.

"Hi... I'm Niko..." They said aloud to the strongest saiyen alive. They wore a large brown jacket with sleeves to long for their tiny body. They also had a large purple scarf wrapped around their neck. They also wore the largest hat he had ever seen on a person, it was the same color as their jacket. Perhaps the most notable things were the cat-like features spread across them. Cat ears sat atop their head, slitted glowing cat eyes, and what looked to be whisker marks on their face-not to mention their hair was the same color as the scarf around their neck.

"Hello Niko, it's nice to meet you." Goku told the cat person before he decided down to their height. He figured it would make him less intimidating as a stranger. "Do you know where we are Niko?"

"No... I just woke up in the bed... and you were here..." They said, a tone of unease seeping into their voice. This made Goku frown, they were clearly nervous-maybe even afraid, not that he could blame them.

"Well it's okay, we're going to get through this together." He said to reassure them, which seemed to work because they gained a small smile and nodded. Goku stood back to his full height and looked around the room again. "Now we just need to find a way out of here."

"What about the doors?" The cat person, Niko, had pointed to the door at the end of the room. Goku only shook his head in response to their question.

"No, that way leads to a bathroom and the other one is stuck good-I couldn't even get it open." Goku admitted to Niko, who merely raised an eye at his choice in wording.

"So... what haven't you tried?" The had asked Goku and it made him ponder. Was there anything he had neglected to do? Not exactly, he tried both doors, tried looking for a key of sorts, but ultimately failed at location something of use. Of course, there was the white thing on the desk but Goku had no idea how to work it.

"Well, you could try that thing on the desk." Goku pointed to the old and severely outdated computer. "I haven't used it but that's because I'm worried I might break something if I tried." Niko stared at him for a moment-after all, how difficult was it to turn on a computer?-before checking the computer.

A quick click of the power button and the computer started to boot up. Then screen flashed white before fading to an inky blackness. Then, suddenly, a group of 4 digits appeared on screen. Each one was a different color, blue, green, red and yellow. Above that, in white text, it read [Input Password:]. This resulted in Niko pausing to think over what the password could've been or where to get it. They quickly sighed when they couldn't come up with a good guess-which drew Goku's attention.

"What, what's wrong?"

"The computer needs a password to work." Niko answered before they moved to the side to allow Goku to see the screen better.

"Huh... I felt like I've seen something like this before..." Goku explained while rubbing his chin.

"You have?"

"Well, I feel like I have... I just can't place where..." Goku continued to rub his chin before slowing to a near halt. It was then a brief flicker occurred inside his eyes. Of what, it was impossible to know but it certainly had a positive effect on the saiyen. He quickly put his remote out in front of himself and found, much to his pleasure, the buttons were all color coordinated with the password. "Here, try this Niko!" He handed the little cat person his remote and stepped back. They seemed to study the remote and the screen for a moment before going to work typing on the keyboard.

"And there!" Niko cheered when they saw the computer process the code and reply with an Access Granted message. Then, another flash of white from the screen and a desktop appeared. The icons and models looked extremely outdated, which served to make the computer look older than it really was. Goku himself never spent much time around computers but from the few times he had seen Bulma or his friends on them, he had seen what they looked like. Even with as little experience as Goku had, the screen icons and such looked a little too simplistic.

All of this only served to make Goku wonder just how long the computer had been sitting there...

The screen was suddenly covered with a gray box. A blue stripe zipped across the top and a single icon with the characters "OK" was present at the bottom. For a brief moment the center of the box was lined with only dots. Then the box cleared everything, taking a moment to refresh its self, before making another message appear in the gray box. This one seemed like it was left for someone, maybe even intended for them.

You found me.

Niko blinked in confusion after reading the message. Who was the message referring to and who left it? Niko had never seen this computer, nor the room for that matter, in their entire life. There was no way that message was intended for them, so maybe it was for this Goku person that was with them? No, they doubted it was intended for Goku as he was apparently just as confused as them. Did that mean they had stumbled upon the message by accident and that it was meant for someone else? The computer had been locked with a password after all.

Goku was having a similar line of thought as Niko. Who was the message for and who left it? Was the machine actually talking to them at that moment? He doubted it but with his crazy luck, he wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibilities. The machine had been locked after all, so they probably stumbled upon something meant for someone else.

Both Niko and Goku paused when the message vanished, holding their breath when a new one loaded.

... Why?

"Why? Why what?" Goku couldn't help ponder out loud, not that it bothered the only other occupant in the room. Niko held a similar piece of confusion.

You're already too late.
Not much of the world
remains.

What...

Both Goku and Niko stiffened when the message appeared. What where they talking about, what happened to the world?

The rate at which the messages disappeared and reappeared had begun to increase...

This will be made apparent
once you go outside.

Worry...

Goku felt worry growing inside of his chest, what was outside? Just what in the heck was going on?

This place was never
worth saving.

Anxiety, fear, unease, and curiosity...

Niko couldn't help the sudden wave of emotions that hit them. Their breathing hastened while waiting for the next message to appear.

...Do you still want to try?

What.. what kind of question was that?!

Who in their right mind wouldn't try and save the world? What did it mean it was never worth saving?! He had put his life on the line countless times for Earth. The lack of hope, of belief, coming from the person in the messages was disturbing to the champion of Earth...

Then, remember this:

Remember...

Remember what?

Your actions will
affect Niko.

Wait, what?

Just who were the messages for?

Who's actions were going to affect them?!

Your "mission" is
to help Niko leave.

Was...

Was this thing talking to him?! He was the only one there besides little Niko!

And most importantly...

Pause.

Pause...

The machine took extra long to churn out the next message. Perhaps it was for the best as the recent string of messages had just rocked the two occupants inside the room. It was clear now the messages were not meant for Niko but... if they weren't meant for them, then who were they meant for? The only other person in the room besides the cat person was Goku and he hadn't the slightest idea of how to operate a computer! What was happening to the world and how were they both involved in it?...

A final hum came from the large plastic box next to the monitor. The sound of air being forced out of vents in the back filled the room, covering up the quick breathing of the two inside... Then the last message appeared...

You only have one shot,
Kakarot.