The Ascent

Chapter I: Breaking Point

Yamcha had been training. Hard. Very Hard. He had long ago realised that of all of Earth's protectors, he was the most useless. Hell, f**king Chiaotzu made him look like a chump. He kept thinking back to the early days when Yamcha, Goku and Krillin had a competitive friendship. They all trained under Master Roshi, and, for a number of years, they were pretty much on par with one another (well, Goku was always a few steps ahead). In fact, it wasn't until around the time Yamcha was blown up by a midget fighting-cabbage that he realised his place. Nevertheless, whenever Yamcha was down, he just thought of Bulma. That had kept him going for awhile. Until the backstabbing bitch decided that it would be a lovely idea to settle down and have a family with a sadistic space-pirate; that is. The very same sadistic space-pirate that less than a year previously, had been responsible for the slaughtering of three of her friends and her boyfriend at the time. And yet somehow, he was more appealing than Yamcha. The sheer insanity of it had left Yamcha feeling numb for awhile. It wasn't until after Cell had been defeated that Yamcha had finally snapped.

Vegeta was an arrogant self-centred jerk, who cared about nothing but himself. He constantly whinged about having to keep up with Goku as if it were something that anyone should be able to do. What did he know? Yamcha had fallen behind Goku years ago, but he never complained about it. Yamcha had decided that he was going to win Bulma back. Not because she was worth it, but because he wanted to see Vegeta snivelling at his feet. He had gone to Dende's lookout and asked to use the time chamber. He had been training intensely for nearly two full years. His time in the chamber was up. Prior to entering the chamber, he was at least as strong as Goku was just before he turned into a Super Saiyan on Namek. This was Yamcha's driving force. Why should only Saiyans have the capacity to ascend? They shouldn't. That was the answer. Plain and simple. Yamcha had nearly killed himself trying to discover this new power. But to no avail. Beaten, battered, broken, he limped from his vast yet empty prison, back into the dimension in which he knew that he would have to face his demons.

"How did it go?" asked Dende. But after seeing the crushed look on the face of Yamcha, he knew better than to expect an answer.

"Nobody has ever been in there for that long before. Not even Goku. That was a brave thing you did."

Dende's words didn't even register in Yamcha's mind. Yamcha stepped of the lookout and hovered down to Korin's Tower.

"I need a sensu bean," Yamcha said simply.

"I can tell. Take this, it's the last one of the batch," said Korin as he tossed Yamcha the tiny green wonder food. Yamcha swallowed it and immediately felt his body repairing itself. His mind was still damaged though. He didn't think anything could mend it at this point. Suddenly, he felt a familiar power level closing in. He turned around to see Tien touch down beside him.

"I heard you decided to use the time chamber," said Tien.

"What's it to you?" replied Yamcha, bitterly. This surprised Tien. He had considered Yamcha a friend for years and they were always on good terms. He studied Yamcha more closely and saw that he looked older and tougher than he did the other day. But that wasn't what worried Tien. It was eyes. There was so much pain.

"You've been to hell and back, haven't you?"

"That's putting it lightly."

"You're still upset about Bulma, aren't you?"

"No, it's worse than that."

"How so?"

"I tried to ascend."

"What do you mean 'ascend'?"

"I mean transform. I thought, if Goku can become a Super Saiyan, why can't I be a Super Human?"

"How do you know you're not one?"

"What kind of question is that? I look the same."

"I came over here because I thought I felt a powerful evil energy. It turned out I had mistaken evil for pain and hardship. That said, you're a hundred times stronger than the Yamcha I knew."

That was all Yamcha needed.

"You're right. I do feel strong. Really strong. It's incredible."

Ideas started to form in Yamcha's damaged mind.

"That's a huge jump. I'm envious of your improvement," said Tien, enthusiastically.

But Yamcha wasn't listening. He powered up and blasted off into the sky at a speed that he didn't think he could ever achieve. He felt confident. He had been tormented by Bulma's betrayal for far too long. Vegeta was going down.