The Tail Theory
"Good, that's good," Piccolo applauded. "You're starting to get your fighting senses back. Don't lose this feeling."
Gohan stepped out of his fighting stance and relaxed. He wiped the sweat that drenched his head and fanned himself with the collar of his purple gi. "Thank you for training me again, Piccolo. I really appreciate it. I feel like I'm starting to reclaim my former self."
"Of course," Piccolo said to the young warrior. "Believe it or not, training with you also helps me out as well. You've shown me things about myself that I never would have otherwise discovered through training alone."
Hearing those words from his teacher caused a big smile to stretch across Gohan's face. "Thank you, Piccolo. But I know I still have a lot to learn. So much that it's almost overwhelming. I never would have dreamed that there was an entire realm of strength like Super Saiyan God. And even with that strength, Vegeta still couldn't defeat Lord Beerus last year, and I don't think my father would have been able to either. It's why I want to train again. I want to protect my daughter, and I can't stand how useless I was in the fight."
Piccolo could sense a storm of frustration brewing in the young adult. "You'll get there, Gohan. You surpassed your father back when you fought Cell, At one point, you were the strongest warrior in the universe, above Majin Buu, even. But do you know why you failed back then?"
Gohan looked at his mentor with a furrowed brow. He thought back to that time with Buu, and remembered how the monster couldn't even lay so much as a finger on him up until he absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo. With the edition of the overwhelming power of a Super Saiyan 3 and creative techniques of his younger brother, as well as the brilliant intellect of a Namekian who was once even the former guardian of Earth, that was when Gohan found himself outmatched. He remembered how he could just narrowly escape those Super Galactic Donuts that Buu had him imprisoned in, and arrived at a conclusion. With his head hung in shame, he theorized, "It was because of my arrogance, wasn't it? Had I just destroyed Majin Buu as soon as possible, he wouldn't have even absorbed you and Gotenks, and I could have saved the world." His fist curled up and pounded against the ground as he further went on to say, "Dammit! I shouldn't have even let Gotenks fight Buu again in the first place! He was waiting for them to fuse again the whole time! I can't believe I let him outsmart me! And the same thing happened with Cell, too! I was too arrogant and then he managed to get even stronger!"
Piccolo placed a friendly, yet firm hand on the man's muscular shoulder. With a squeeze, he said, "Gohan, look at me."
Gohan tore his gaze away from the ground and looked at the composed, serious eyes of his mentor.
"We all make mistakes. I've done the same thing. Remember back on Namek when I fought against Frieza in his Second Form? I could have defeated him, but I was far too arrogant and tried to fight him by myself. I should have fought with you and Krillin from the very start. And the same thing happened with Cell after I fused with Kami. And even with Majin Buu, I should have done more to guide you instead of letting you handle it all on your own. Your power was so great, and you had matured so much, that I thought nothing could go wrong. It's easy to get drunk off of your own power, or even feel comfortable in the company of someone else's overwhelming strength. But it's that complacency that will prove to be your downfall. Don't ever stop improving yourself, even if those around you reach heights so insurmountable that you may never be able to catch up. Because at the end of the day, you can at least die fighting for the things that matter to you."
Gohan's tight chest relaxed with a long sigh. "Thank you, Piccolo. Hearing all of that from you really means a lot. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one who really kept screwing up. But all I guess I was just focusing too much on my own mistakes and not moving forward. I'll work on my arrogance, and one day, I'll become the best warrior I can possibly be."
"That's the spirit," Piccolo said as he helped Gohan up to his feet. "I think that's enough for today. It's getting late, and I'm sure you've got work to catch up on. Besides, Pan and Videl probably miss you, too. How are they doing?"
Gohan's eyes began to beam as he said, "Oh, they're doing great! Pan's already flying, and she's barely even a year old! She's got a lot of potential. So much that it's even hard for my dad to keep up with her sometimes."
"Speaking of your father, what's he been up to lately? No doubt training, but did he go with Vegeta to train on Lord Beerus's world?"
"No, actually. I thought he would have, but Whis refused to take him when he took Vegeta. I don't think he's taking it too well."
Piccolo chuckled and said, "Please, if anything, that probably just motivated Goku to train even harder on his own so Whis will take him one day."
"I hope so," Gohan said. "I haven't seen him train this hard since we were in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."
. . .
Goku fell back into the rich grasses of King Kai's planet. His chest vigorously deflated with exhaustion as he threw the ropes off of him. He looked back at the weights he dragged around the small sphere, and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Man, pulling those things sure does take a lot out of ya' when you don't go Super Saiyan."
King Kai approached the middle-aged Saiyan, face twisted in frustration as he looked at his lawn that had been decimated with unsightly tracks. "Yeah, well it sure does do a number on my yard, too!"
"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that," Goku moaned. "You're a Kai! You can fix it in a snap, can't you?"
"Don't assume that just because I can fix it easily, means I don't get tired of doing it!" screamed the North Kai. "I've gotta say, Goku, you've really been taking me for granted lately. You haven't even wished me back yet!"
Goku laughed nervously and said, "Uh, right! Well, you see, I was gonna do that when we summoned Shenron a few months ago when Lord Beerus came to the Earth, but the poor guy was so scared that he took off before I could ask him! Don't worry, though. I promise I'll wish you back as soon as I can!"
King Kai turned away from the man and grumbled under his breath. He could tell the Saiyan was lying through his teeth. "Yeah, you'd better," he grumbled under his breath.
"Say, King Kai, got anything to eat? I'm starving," said Goku as he patted his empty stomach.
"Well, eat me out of a house and planet, why don't you?" King Kai groaned as he retired to the kitchen. "Give me a second and I'll whip something up for you."
Goku thanked the Kai as he continued to relax in the grass. He watched the golden clouds roll by and reminisced how just a year ago, he was being thrown through them like a ragdoll at the hands of Lord Beerus. How anyone could have been capable of such power that could far exceed his own was still a mystery to him. But he remembered that all of those times when he was the strongest in the universe, someone stronger would always show up. He never imagined someone as strong as Lord Beerus existed, but it also excited him to know that there were new heights for him to aspire to beyond Super Saiyan 3. The thought of having the ritual performed on him, however, depressed him. Becoming a Super Saiyan God was a rather interesting thought to him, but as long as it could only be obtained through the ritual, it was just going to stay a thought. He pondered ways to achieve it on his own, and came back to a realization that he was already well aware of. If he wanted to reach Super Saiyan God without the ritual, then training with Whis would be his best bet. However, the Angel had already refused to train him multiple times.
"C'mon, Mister Whis! Aren't you finished yet?!" Goku pleaded.
Whis looked up from his meal with Bulma and aimed a sharp glare at the man. This was the ninth time he was asked that question in the span of five minutes, and he had enough. "That's it, Goku. I warned you about your impatience, but you just refused to listen. You have potential, maybe even more than Vegeta, but I cannot train you while you act like this. Please, leave us alone."
Since then, Goku had taken up a somewhat prolonged residence with King Kai, pushing himself harder and harder. His strength increased considerably, but he could feel that something was missing. He had resolved to try and master his current Super Saiyan forms, with the first already having become quite natural to him, and the second well on its way to becoming complete. But he had trouble with the third form, as it still put a tremendous amount of stress on his body, no matter how much he trained with it.
As King Kai set up the dinner table and began to bring out pots of food, he saw the Saiyan nearly drowning in thought. He could tell by the perplexed look on the man's face that he was thinking about how to better himself yet again.
They both sat down to eat, and while Goku viciously scarfed down plate after plate, King Kai watched him. The only other thing he'd seen Goku excited about aside from fighting, was eating. But that's when it hit the Kai that maybe the answer was in the way he fought and his training regiment. He knew a staple of the Saiyan race was their ability to transform, whether it be into a Great Ape, or into a Super Saiyan. However, in many of Goku's fights, King Kai observed the Saiyan would transform almost immediately.
"Goku, have you ever thought that you may be relying too heavily on your transformations to win fights?" King Kai questioned.
Goku looked up from his plate of food, sauce all over his face, and asked, "What do you mean? Going Super Saiyan is how I get stronger and win fights."
"I realize that, but what I'm asking is, are you really training yourself, or just your transformations? Think about it. When you meet an opponent you can't defeat in your base form, you transform into a Super Saiyan, multiplying your strength. But if you're having to transform against every enemy you encounter pretty early into the battle, you're not really getting that much stronger. Instead of training the transformations, you should train your base strength. That's the only way you'll truly get stronger when you transform."
Goku put down his plate and thought back to his previous fights since learning how to transform. What the North Kai said was very true. Against Android 19, he wasted no time in transforming, and the same could be said when he faced Cell and Majin Buu. Even when he trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku never thought to increase his overall strength in his base state, but only to ascend to a higher strength. It hit him that he really had been relying on transformations all this time, and while they were powerful, he realized that he had been overlooking the true potential that could be brought out from his Super Saiyan forms. The weights that he dragged around earlier were heavy in his base form, but he knew they would be nothing to him if he were to transform.
"I see now, King Kai. So I've been using my transformations as a crutch. If I really want to get stronger, I need to increase my base strength as I am now, then that'll make my Super Saiyan forms stronger!"
"Well, that's pretty much what I just said, but yes," agreed the North Kai.
"But then, wouldn't that make Super Saiyan 3 even more of a strain on my body? Back when I trained with Gohan, we stressed our bodies by staying in Super Saiyan constantly, and now I don't feel any strain at all with it, and hardly any strain with Super Saiyan 2. But no matter how long I try to stay in the third level, it doesn't get any easier."
"I've been thinking about that, too," King Kai responded. "Tell me, have you ever considered growing out your tail again?"
Goku shook his head immediately at that question. "No way. It's way too dangerous for me to do that. If there's ever a full moon and I accidentally look at it, I could kill someone!"
"But you saw how strong it made the Saiyans when they came to Earth, didn't you? Even before they transformed. It's safe to assume that Raditz and Vegeta hadn't trained a day in their lives, yet they were about equal to or even a little stronger than you when you first fought them, and you had been training practically your entire life. Now, I believe their age had something to do with that since they were older, but I also think their tail contributed to their strength as well. But I do believe that your tail, or rather, your Saiyan power, could help you. Who knows? There may even be some secret within the Great Ape form that everyone is oblivious to. It's been theorized that form is true appearance of the Saiyans, or at least a step towards it. But that's just a theory."
"You're saying that there's something in the Great Ape form that we're all ignoring?"
"Perhaps," said King Kai. "Just, whatever you do, don't go practicing control over that form here! My planet is nowhere big enough to do that. If you wanna do that, try to find a remote planet with no life. Or even the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The only issue you'll face is trying to find a full moon to look at to trigger the form."
"Don't worry," said a suddenly assured Goku. "I think I know just who to talk to for that."
. . .
"Stop, you!" shouted Tien.
The small, cloaked man dashed through the thick forest. Clutched underneath his arms were two small, white music boxes. His snickers echoed through the woods as he darted from tree to tree underneath the cover of the night.
Tien rose above the forest and scanned in between the many leaves and branches of the trees. It may have been pitch black, but the power of his third eye allowed him to see quite clearly. "You'll never escape my third eye," the monk warned the villain.
Try as Tien might, he could not feel the energy of this unknown man. Before pursuing the man into the forest, he did however, see a strange aura around him. It would have been invisible to most, but thanks to his third eye, he could clearly see that it was some sort of magical cloak around him to mask his presence. Not only was he undetectable, but he even moved in complete silence. He was so small, that not even his weight, as he flung himself from branch to branch, produced any noise.
"Chiaotzu, do you see him?" asked Tien via telepathy.
"No, he's gone," he responded.
Tien lowered himself to the ground just outside the forest. His fist flew into the trunk of a tree that splintered beneath his frustration. "Damn, we can't let him get away. If he unleashes what's in those music boxes, then the Earth is doomed!"
