Ascension, Part 1

by edgarmash79

Peace had once again returned to the multiverse after the events of Dragonball Z. Goku is eagerly awaiting a new Martial Arts Tournament to enter his new protégé, Uub, whom he had spent the past six years training with. Little does he know that there is a growing threat from Universe 11 that may become a threat to the whole multiverse.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3 – "Training begins! Fighters from all over prepare eagerly for the Tournament."

The first day of training began for Bulla as she groggily woke up from a restless sleep. She had been too excited because this was her first tournament and she wanted to show Pan how much more she could improve with proper training, rather than what they had been usually up to with sparring.

She spent so much her time drafting up a plan on what she wanted to do during her regimen that she didn't pay attention to how much time had passed by and by the time she finished drafting plans to build training drones, it was in the early hours of the morning.

Vegeta was the first to wake her up and he pulled the blanket off her, tossing it to the floor. She covered her head with her pillow and he frowned even more.

"Your training begins now, get up," he ordered but she groaned in response.

"I need more sleep, dad," she said through the pillow and he scoffed at her.

"Trunks is waiting for you in the gravity room. Get changed and meet him there."

She slowly sat up and looked at him with tired eyes and he stood with his arms crossed. He took a capsule out of his pocket and activated it, making a box appear.

"Your mother made you and Trunks battle uniforms to help you train with, put it on," he said and left the room, the door sliding closed behind him. Bulla adjusted the strap of her nightshirt and stood up, opening the box. She saw that there were several uniforms that her mother had made and they all looked like what her father wore on occasion. She smiled at the idea of dressing up like her father but she almost felt more like lying back down on the bed and falling back to sleep. She knew she would sleep plenty after today so she endured it and changed into the battle armor.

She tied her hair back so it wouldn't get in the way as she walked over to the gravity room and the doors slid open. Trunks was leaning against the wall while Vegeta stood by the controls.

"From today onward until the day of the Tournament, if you're not eating, sleeping, or taking care of basic needs, you will spend each day in here training and sparring with your brother under intense gravity," Vegeta stated and both Bulla and Trunks looked back at him, surprised.

"Wait, I thought we were training with you, father?" Trunks said and Vegeta gave him a look.

"I have my own training to do elsewhere," he said and Bulla looked upset.

"But dad-"

"No whining!" Vegeta cried out and she winced a bit. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not here to coddle the both of you. You have to find your own method of training. That is how you grow as a warrior."

"Yes, dad," Bulla said, looking down. He shook his head and tilted her head back up by her chin.

"You carry the pride and legacy of the Saiyan race. I will protect you and this planet from danger when its needed, but I must also count on the both of you to be strong enough to handle things when I'm not there. Learn from each other as you train and fight hard."

"Are you going to train with Goku, father?" Trunks asked.

"That is none of your concern," Vegeta said and he left the room. Trunks and Bulla glanced at each other and he walked over to the gravity controls.

"Father and I usually train at 150 times. I think you're strong enough to handle that much," he said and Bulla's eyes widened a bit.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, I'm ready for that, bring it on!" she said nervously and Trunks smirked as he switched the device on and turned the dial to 150g on the display.

Bulla almost fell face first on the floor as the intense gravity began to affect the room. She had mentally prepared herself for the shock of the increased gravity, but her years of developing her physical strength and showing displays of lifting heavy objects meant that she could at least handle intense gravity. This sensation was different for her as she held herself up, clenching her fists as she did it and grunted as her upper body hunched forward. Trunks casually walked over to her since he had been accustomed to the gravity for years.

"I was like that the first time I trained with father years ago," he said. "You should adjust quickly."

"Dammit," Bulla grunted and she channeled energy to flare up her aura and her hair changed color. After she transformed into a Super Saiyan, she felt her mobility come back and she bounded around the room, throwing punches and kicks, moving and flipping around inside. She took to the air and did a few combo moves and landed back down on the floor. Trunks was impressed at the amount of speed she was displaying during her state and he whistled her over.

"What's up, brother?" she asked.

"We need to set ourselves some ground rules for our training while we're in here. First and foremost, we can't transform," Trunks said and Bulla frowned.

"Why not? I can move a lot easier as a Super Saiyan than if I wasn't," she protested and Trunks smiled, shaking his head.

"You'll wear yourself out a lot faster doing that. You might enjoy the power boost, but one thing I learned from father is how much strain it puts on your body and your stamina if you do it for too long. You have to train your body naturally to handle the increase boost from your Super Saiyan form, otherwise you won't be able to build yourself up to the next level."

Trunks flared up his energy and transformed in front of her. Her eyes widened as she saw her brother's aura spark with electricity and his hair looked sharper and more refined.

"That's Super Saiyan two, right? I've been trying to get to that form but I'm having so much trouble with it," Bulla said and Trunks powered back down to his normal state. She did the same and felt the pressure of the gravity wear her down again.

"I'll give you until sundown to adjust to the room. You should have enough strength to do so. Keep doing laps inside the room here," Trunks said and he dropped down to the floor to do push up exercises.

Bulla slowly began taking steps forward as she lifted each leg to bring it in front of the other, grunting as she did so. The sweat was already dripping from her head and they hit the floor hard. She walked until she had managed a full lap around, starting from the door and she paused, leaning forward. She was practically using every muscle in her body to keep herself up and had to focus her energy to maintain her strength and continue moving. She breathed hard as she stared at Trunks and grunted in frustration. I'll catch up to you in no time, brother.

When she took the next few steps into a new lap, her foot caught hold the droplets of sweat that was still on the floor and she slipped, falling backwards on her rear. The fall was a lot more intense than she had imagined and she breathed heavily, closing her eyes and seething through her teeth at the amount of pain that shot up through her from the impact. She rolled over to her side and was able to get herself to at least her hands and knees and she took a while to stand back up on her feet. She stared down at the floor and saw several wet patches from her sweat and had to look down to make sure she avoided slipping and falling again.

Trunks watched this unfold and was tempted to help her, but felt that if Vegeta were to see this, he'd probably scold him for it, insisting that she work through this on her own. She hasn't called out for help yet so he must feel she is determined enough to finish this.

A few hours had passed and she had reached the door a total of 10 times. She slipped a couple of times as she walked around the room but got right back up again to continue. She stopped after she reached the door and Trunks glanced at her as he was moving around doing his own exercises that he had practiced often with Vegeta. He paused and saw that she was nearly ready to collapse on the floor. He rushed over to catch her as she did and held her up.

"Easy, I got ya," he said and she smiled, looking up at him. Her wet hair was matted to her face.

"I think I can still keep going, brother," she said and Trunks eased her down onto the floor so she could sit down. He walked over and shut the machine off, the gravity slowly returning to normal.

"Let's take a break first. Ten laps for your first time is pretty good."

"I'm not sure if I can handle the gravity so quickly," she said and Trunks smiled down at her.

"It took me until the end of the week to finally get a handle on it. I believe you have the potential to do it sooner. Once you've mastered it, then we can properly fight one on one."

She smiled up at him weakly. "I hope so too."

They both broke for lunch and ate their fill. Bulla felt much better after moving around and regaining her energy that she felt she was ready to tackle the intense gravity for a few more hours.

Within the next three days, Bulla was able to grow more comfortable with the gravity. She could run around the room now and move more nimbly, which impressed Trunks. By the end of the week, she was able to move as freely as though there was no gravity to begin with. At that point, Trunks got into a fighting position.

"I think we're good to go now. Come at me when you're ready," he said and Bulla took a stance that was much like Vegeta's. The two charged forth and flew around the room at high speed intervals, disappearing and reappearing to trade blows, which Bulla had a bit of a hard time to block and dodge since Trunks was more experienced in fighting and gravity training. She couldn't keep up with his speed and was knocked down to the floor with a strike to her back.

"C'mon sis, keep it up," he said and she breathed a sigh, standing back up on her feet. She fired off a few energy blasts that were deflected, and he retaliated with a few of his own, which forced her to dodge, flipping around the room and moving at high speed bursts to avoid them.

"Don't forget to focus on defense as well as evasion!" Trunks cried out and he moved quickly to appear behind her and blast her back with another energy ball that sent her flying forward toward the wall. She rolled herself off the energy ball and caught it with her hand mid-air, throwing it back at him. She landed on the floor and sent an energy beam in his direction, which he deflected with the back of his hand.

Trunks moved swiftly, causing Bulla to search his energy since he was moving so fast and she narrowly caught his fist which grazed her face and knocked her to the floor. She held her face and winced, breathing heavily.

"You've shown improvement as of late. All those sparring sessions with Pan must be paying off," Trunks said, extending his hand to help her back up on her feet. She glared at him and launched with a few kicks which were blocked and he cleared some distance from her. She took up another fighting stance and stared at him.

I want to be strong enough to make quick work out of everyone at the Tournament. I didn't get inspired to start fighting if it wasn't for Pan, she thought to herself and could feel the stuffiness of the air making it hard to breathe sometimes the more often she spent in here. But she took one of her father's lessons to heart about not letting the environment get the better of her, but to use it to her advantage.

They fought some more until Trunks was able to connect with a punch that was hard enough to knock her out and he was worried he had gone too far. He checked on her and was relieved she was durable enough to take those heavy hits. He shut the gravity off and picked her up to bring her to her bedroom.

When she woke up, she immediately threw a couple of punches that connected with the air, but then realized she was in her bed and Trunks was leaning up against the wall beside the door. He doesn't often visit Bulla's room and noticed that there were a lot of discarded gadgets and inventions strewn along the floor. He spotted a sheet covering something in the corner and went to pull it off.

"Don't touch that!" Bulla cried out, reaching out with a hand to stop her brother.

"Why?"

"It's an unfinished project," she said and jumped out of bed to stand in between Trunks and the sheet. He shrugged his shoulders and turned around.

"Go get dinner and rest up, you're going to need it," he said, the door sliding open in front of him.

"I will," she called back, looking at the sheet. When the door slid shut behind him, she breathed a sigh and pulled the sheet off, revealing a humanoid looking robot that was about Bulla's height.

"I didn't want to show you off until you were finished," she said, smiling.

She spent months building a prototype training robot for herself, in hopes that it would help with her training. While she wasn't working on school work or sparring with Pan, she spent hours tinkering with the mechanisms, putting it all together. She was in the end stages of development and only needed a few more items and computers in the laboratory to finish her project. No one knew this was being worked on, since she kept making sure that Bulma and Vegeta didn't see what was under the sheet. Her fiery temper she had inherited from both her parents would sometimes get the better of her when she harshly defended her secret from them. She'd only lose her cool under extreme stress but even she had her limits such as when she would be defiant against Vegeta, one simple glare from him would calm her down. He did remind her that her temper reminded him of Bulma often but admired that she showed the determination and pride of a Saiyan.

She covered the robot back up under the sheet and changed out of her battle uniform to simple indoor wear and rushed over to eat dinner and then take a nice hot bath to relax her worn muscles from the gravity and the fighting.

Later that night, she woke up. She sighed, trying to force herself back to sleep, but all she could think of at the moment was the robot that she was working on. She sat up and pulled out her laptop computer from her dresser drawer and switched it on. She pored over the programming she was working on related to the robot's AI script and sighed in frustration.

"I'm getting nowhere with this, I need more info," she said to herself, blowing a strand of hair away from her face. "I need to get into mom's files if I'm going to progress any further."

She crept down the hall to the main lab where Bulma had kept her files stored on the lab's computer hard drive. She sneaked by the door, looking for signs of anyone nearby and pressed a button to let the door slide open.

She was surprised to see that the lights were on and her grandfather, Dr. Briefs was inside working on the very computer she needed access to. A lone cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth as he was busily working the keyboard, ignoring the long strand of ash that fell from the cigarette onto his lap. By the looks of several stains on his pants, Bulla could tell that he often wasn't paying much attention to his smoking habit, it had become so second nature to him.

He spotted Bulla from the corner of his eye and a grin appeared on his face.

"Ah, Bulla, what brings you here at this hour?" he asked.

"I can't sleep," she said, leaning against the wall opposite the computer. She crossed her arms and breathed a heavy sigh. She started getting curious about her grandfather's work and walked around him to look over his shoulder at the monitor.

"Woah," she said as she saw the complexity of the computer programming he was using.

"You're not quite ready for this level of work, are you?" he asked and Bulla shook her head.

"Are you kidding? I don't understand a quarter of this. What is this?"

"A formula I'm working on for a new type of fuel based on the notes your mother wrote down. We're hoping to crack the code on infinite renewable fuel sources. We're playing around with a similar concept with regards to those artificial humans-"

"Like number 18?" Bulla interjected and he nodded.

"Yeah. She refuses to let us examine her core though, so we're deducing methods ourselves. It'd be simple to retrieve all the data from Dr. Gero's laboratory but that was destroyed years ago. We're basically working from scratch here."

"And have you made any progress?" she asked. Dr. Briefs looked back over the formula he wrote and sighed. He chuckled a bit and ended up deleting the whole thing. Bulla's eyes widened a bit.

"Why did you delete it?" She asked.

"Because it was pure gibberish," he replied with a smile on his face. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out in his ashtray and stood up.

"Um, I need to get into mom's files to access her information on robotics and Artificial Intelligence. I'm fairly certain she has worked on them before since I had spotted some blueprints lying around a while back." She took the chair her grandfather was using and sat down. She clicked on a file labeled "Bulma" but it was password protected.

"Hmm," Dr. Briefs hummed as he saw the password screen. "Type 19749."

Bulla cocked an eyebrow but typed in the numbers regardless. The password was correct and the file opened.

"Wow grandpa, how did you know?" She asked.

"Because Bulma once told me that September 1st, age 749 was the most important day in her life. If things hadn't happened the way they did that day, her life wouldn't have changed so much."

"What happened that day?" Bulla asked. She was getting curious. Dr. Briefs cleared his throat before he walked to the door.

"That was the day she met Son Goku for the first time. Good night little one, don't stay up too late," he said and left the room, the door sliding shut behind him. Bulla was a bit surprised to hear that answer, never realizing how important her father's biggest rival was to her mother. She didn't hear Bulma speak often of Goku all that much as she grew up, instead talking more about her and her brother's education, her projects, her father, visits from Whis and Lord Beerus for lunch dates (she thought Beerus looked cute and wanted to pet him on the head).

She began browsing through the folder, opening up several other folders in the process. She hastened to find her info on robotics but there wasn't a lot of files except one about an android 16. She opened it up and it brought up schematics of a skeletal blueprint with various parts each labeled. She smiled as she looked at the blueprints and opened up more files related to this number 16. She looked around for a portable hard drive and found a small one, plugging it into the computer. She figured this would be very useful information to help complete her robot project. But she began to feel a sense of doubt as she was about to copy the files.

Is this right for me to be snooping in mom's private files? I don't want to throw grandpa under the bus if she catches me knowing.

No, she shook her head and unplugged the hard drive, sighing.

"I should ask mom first," she said and closed all the folders. She stood up and took one last look at the computer, nodding. She resolved to ask Bulma about this project and was hopeful she would help her out.

She shut down the computer and left the lab, turning off the lights. She quickly made her way back to her room and crawled back into her bed. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

The next morning during breakfast, Bulla was thinking about how to approach her mother without giving away anything and got interrupted.

"Hey kiddo, getting another hard day's training out of the way?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I think I'm good to increase the gravity at this point."

"Something bugging you? You look distracted, more so than usual," Bulma said. She'd often catch Bulla in a thinking mode and they spoke of little projects she liked to work on. She offered to help on occasion but Bulla kept insisting that she'd be able to handle those on her own.

"You ever think of building a robot like Android 18 or Android 17, mama?" Bulla asked and Bulma had to blink for a moment.

"That's an odd thing to think about. What brought this on?"

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I ran into grandpa in the lab and we got to talk about those infinite engine cores those two have and he'd like to replicate that in some way."

Bulma sighed. She knew this was a project that gave them both headaches as to the nature of the equation being unresolved. She felt frustrated that neither her nor her father were gaining any headway in solving the mystery behind this unlimited energy and no matter how many times she's asked Android 18, the answer was always the same: She doesn't have any clue how it was made, only that they have it and she doesn't feel comfortable enough to have it looked at. Android 17 was an entirely different matter and he flat out refused to even broach the subject. He doesn't care about his modifications but doesn't want to abandon his duties as a wildlife ranger for some experiments. Add on to the fact he has Goten as his apprentice range and he has little time to cooperate on anything Capsule Corporation related.

"Do you have anything related to robots or artificial intelligence?" Bulla asked. Bulma eyed her suspiciously.

"You've never been this curious about robotics or A.I. before. Do you know something that I don't?" Bulma asked and Bulla looked back in surprise. She had many strengths but holding a good poker face wasn't one of them. She sighed and groaned a bit.

"I didn't want to tell you, but I took a peek into your computer," Bulla said and Bulma glared at her.

"Uh huh. Find anything interesting?" Bulma said. Her tone was cold, shooting icicles with every word.

"I didn't see a whole lot, I swear! I just took a peek but felt bad about it and shut the computer off. That's all."

Bulma shook her head. "I'm going to have a word or two with your grandfather at some point," she said. She figured that her father had some sort of role in this, since he's the only other person who knows the password to her encrypted files. She rubbed her temples and sighed.

"Fine, I'll let this one slide, but come to me first if you have any new ideas. I don't like you keeping secrets from me."

"I will, mama. I promise," Bulla said.

They finished breakfast and made their way to the laboratory where Bulma switched her computer on. When she got into her files, she brought up all the information about robotics that she had. She glanced over at her father, Dr. Briefs and shot him a look of disapproval but all he did was give her a friendly smile while puffing away at his cigarette.

"There, that's what I want to know more about," Bulla said, pointing to the inter-skeletal diagram of Android 16.

"Android 16? That takes me way back. Way back when your brother was still a baby," Bulma said. She quickly glanced over to a few pictures she had framed on her desk and one of them was of her holding Trunks when he was still a few months old and she smiled a bit. She saw the picture of Vegeta holding Bulla as a baby beside it and blushed a bit, turning to Bulla.

"I think I have an idea of where this is heading, am I right?" She asked and Bulla gave her a shy smile.

"Can we? Can we rebuild him, mama?" she asked. Bulma sighed as she looked over all the files she had saved up.

"That's going to be tough. Reverse engineering everything we had on Android 16 was hard because we had barely any information retrieved from Dr. Gero's laboratory. Everything else had been destroyed years ago."

"Oh," Bulla said, dejected. She took a deep breath and made her face determined.

"I still want to rebuild him, mama. We'll do whatever it takes."

Bulma looked a bit surprised at Bulla's determination but smiled regardless.

"You definitely inherited your father's sense of pride, kiddo," Bulma said and Bulla looked more closely at the computer screen. She snapped her fingers and sat up.

"I just remembered something! Wait here," Bulma said and quickly ran over to a door on the opposite side of the lab. She entered a keycode and the door unlocked.

"Come with me, I want to show you something," she said and opened the door. Bulla quickly joined her and they walked into a hallway with several units of what looked like a storage area. Bulma walked down the hall and turned left into another junction and stopped near the end. There was a larger set of drawers that were locked and Bulma put her hand against an identification panel that read her palm. When the light turned green, she pulled a lever and turned it clockwise. She pulled it outward and the drawer slid out, revealing several busted and worn out pieces scattered on the surface.

"What's this?" Bulla asked.

"What was left of Android 16," Bulma said, crossing her arms.

"Seriously?" Bulla asked, her face beaming. She felt excited that there was some hope to this project after all and she could see there was a tinge of sadness in the way Bulma looked at the broken pieces.

"You remember the story I told you about how your friend Pan's dad defeated Cell and saved the world?" Bulma asked.

"Vaguely, I was still very little when you told me about that. You didn't mention anything about this android before."

"Well, after Gohan defeated Cell, your grandfather and I went back to the battlefield to see if we could find any remains of Android 16 lying around. This was all we could find."

Bulla saw the crushed head with what looked like either dried up oil or blood caked onto it. There were other broken pieces that looked like it made up the torso, and a large chip that looked like a processor with a red ribbon logo on it, two large R's superimposed on it. She picked it up and looked it over.

"This processor looks ancient," Bulla said and put it back down.

"It's fried, we can't access anything on it," Bulma said, leaning over the surface. She picked up the damaged head piece and frowned, turning it over. The eyes were missing, most likely having been popped out after it got crushed, and she tried to remember what those eyes looked like when she first saw Android 16, but that was so long ago. Bulla put her hand on top of the head and felt the tuft of orange-red hair, coarse and dirty to the touch.

"It's not much, but it's a start at least," Bulla said. Bulma put the head back down on the surface and closed the door.

"Are we not going to start working on it?" Bulla asked.

"Didn't your father say you had to be training? I don't want you to skip out on that and get distracted."

"I know, but I want to work on this!" Bulla cried and Bulma locked the drawer. She glanced over at Bulla, who had that same look she once had when she saw Goku doing something out of stubbornness. Like looking at a young me in the mirror.

"I'll think about it, okay?" Bulma said as she led Bulla back out of the hallway and into the lab room. Bulla nodded and smiled.

"Okay. I can't wait to get started on this project."

"I never said I'd do it," Bulma said and Bulla smirked.

"You never said you wouldn't, either," she shot back and Bulma smiled.

"Go and train, Bulla. I'll get you and Trunks a big dinner tonight," Bulma said and Bulla nodded once more.

"Alright, see you later, mama!" she cried as she bolted out of the room. Dr. Briefs walked over beside Bulma and scratched the back of his head.

"She's a very spirited young girl, much like you were," he said and Bulma smiled. Then she gave him a good bop on the head with her fist and glared at him, smiling. He held his head in his hands.

"You should be thankful Bulla has the good sense to keep this between us. I'm going to change my password now," she said and walked over to her computer to sit down.

When Bulla entered the gravity room, she didn't see Trunks anywhere. She sighed and looked at the time on her watch.

"Where the hell is that moron? He's always the first in here," she said and used the phone in the room to call his mobile."

"Hey sis, what's up?" came his voice on the other end.

"Where the hell are you? We're supposed to be training today, remember?" she asked.

"Sorry about this sis, but I'm going to be doing the rest of my training with Goten. You have the gravity room all to yourself now. Good luck!" he said and hung up. Bulla's eyes widened and she slammed the receiver down hard, almost breaking it. She breathed a heavy sigh and walked quickly over to the control panel.

"Tch, who needs him. I can handle this on my own, I've handled a lot of things on my own. Let's see here," she said and she brought up some training programs that were meant for her father and she brought up one of them. When it started, the gravity machine set itself at 300 times and she felt the effects almost bring her down to the floor.

Crap, I didn't think to modify the program! She thought quickly and noticed that several panels on the walls were opening up and training drones flew outward. They locked their sensors on Bulla and began to open fire. She took a few hits from them before she began to charge her energy to dodge them as quickly as possible, but the intensity of the gravity she hadn't accustomed herself to yet were overbearing on her and she took a shot that grazed the side of her face. She cried out in pain as blood was trickling down her cheek and a look of panic was on her face. She quickly made her way to the panel but it was blocked by a couple of drones who intercepted her movements.

Her panic gave way to anger and she glared at the drones. She screamed and her aura quickly changed to gold. She transformed into her Super Saiyan form and grabbed the two drones that were in front of her, throwing them towards a couple others, crashing them into each other. She darted around the room at hi-speed bursts and deflected the blaster fire from the drones, redirecting a few into the other open drones and destroying them in the process. She took to the air and nimbly moved around the laser fire and took out the rest of the drones before landing on the floor in a kneeling position on one knee. She stood up and punched the palm of her hand with her fist and breathed a sigh.

"Level one: complete," said a computer voice from the terminal and Bulla raised an eyebrow.

"That was level one? How many levels are there?"

"One hundred," the computer responded and Bulla's mouth dropped open.

"I guess this would be good training for the tournament," she said. Hopefully I can reach Super Saiyan 2 before then. I gotta show Pan who's the strongest between us.

Pan's training…

Videl gathered a few things and placed them in Pan's bag. She had prepared herself mentally for the day Pan would head off to train with her grandfather and Uub at his village. She could see that Pan looked a little nervous and was playing around a bit with her dinner and she walked over to her, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"Nervous?" she asked.

"A bit, yeah," Pan said.

"You're not worried about getting homesick, are you?" Videl asked and Gohan looked up from his food. He swallowed his mouthful and Pan shook her head.

"You're going to be fine, Pan. You're in good hands with dad, trust me," Gohan said and Pan smiled a bit.

"I guess I'm also excited that I get to spend a lot more time with grandpa than usual. I'm so used to training with Bulla that this is going to feel different. I don't know what kind of training he'll give me while I'm there so I guess that makes me feel more excited than nervous."

A few minutes later Pan was looked at her food for a bit and played around with it with her chopsticks. Videl glanced back and forth between her and Gohan and motioned him to say something, but his eyes were glued to his notes and organizer that she had to nudge him with an elbow to grab his attention.

"Pan, you're not eating," Gohan stated and Pan looked up at him, surprised.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's delicious."

"Are you sure? You haven't eaten a bite of it yet," said Videl as she ate her curry. She had become quite adept at making Chichi's recipes from the cookbook she had published and Gohan was very pleased that Videl had been able to replicate his mother's world-famous curry recipe without a hitch. He had hoped Pan would enjoy it too, but her constant distracted look on her face seems to allude to her earlier reservations.

"Are you sure you're okay to leave tomorrow and train with my dad?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I guess I'm not that hungry," she told him. Her thoughts drifted back to seeing Goku again, then she blushed when she started thinking about seeing Uub and spending more time with him. There have been brief moments where she had a good look at Uub and realized how cute he actually was and that brought a smile to her face. She felt that she was starting to like the young man even more and training with him was something she began to enjoy a lot more than when she was training with either Goku or Piccolo. The older fighters were impressed by her growth and potential and were hopeful she could reach that level of Super Saiyan she had been dreaming of. She felt she was close and hoped that this rigorous training for the next few months would finally break that limit.

Gohan felt that she had the potential as well, since Pan had been a part of the ritual to help Goku unlock the power of the gods for the first time when they first encountered Beerus the Destroyer.

Videl smiled as she noticed Pan blushing and she had some idea of what that might mean. But she did want Pan to eat and rest up for her trip tomorrow.

"I know you've got a lot on your mind, Pan, but please eat your dinner before it gets cold," Videl said and Pan nodded, shoveling the food in her mouth. She did still have a Saiyan's appetite, even though she couldn't stuff as much as her father could.

After a nice, relaxing, hot bath, she watched her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her hair. She could see how long it had gotten, growing past her shoulders and she thought it might not be a bad idea to cut it short, so it doesn't get in the way of her training. She thought of calling Bulla and asking how her training's going but looking at the time she realized that she might already be asleep. It started to ring and Pan saw that it was Bulla's number calling and she giggled.

"Hey," she said, answering the phone. "I was thinking of calling you just now."

"You wouldn't believe the day I've had," she said. Her tone implied that she was either very happy or maybe she was very upset. It was subtle but Pan could always tell when Bulla was upset about something even when she expressed joy.

"I can't stop thinking about training with grandpa and Uub tomorrow," Pan said.

"You haven't started?! It's been almost a month!" Bulla cried and Pan winced a bit.

"I'm sorry! I've been busy with schoolwork and house chores, and grandma keeps making me help her practice housewife work so she knows I can be a good housewife when I'm older. Ugh, it gets annoying after a while."

"Yeah. Papa insisted that every day I spend is done training, eating, and sleeping. But my idiot older brother decides to take off to train with your uncle Goten and it makes me so mad that he'd ditch me like that!"

Pan frowned. "He must have a good reason?"

"Tch, as if. He knows I'm holding him back and leaves at the first opportunity. If I face him in the tournament I'll kick his butt and knock him out of the ring!"

Pan laughed a bit. "You're pretty fired up."

"Yeah, I know. I've discovered papa's training program. 100 levels of battle simulations with drones and gravity modifications that I can use for the rest of the time until the day of the Tournament. I'm going to be so strong by that point, I know I'll reach Super Saiyan 2 before then. How about you? Think you'll finally transform?"

Pan sighed. "I'm starting to think I might not, but I keep trying. I've been trying every night but I don't know what more I need to break through. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"I wish I knew myself. It pretty much happened naturally for me like it did with my brother. Maybe it's because your mom's human and your dad's only half-Saiyan that it might not happen at all?" Bulla asked and Pan scoffed.

"I will transform, I know I will!" Pan cried out but had to calm her voice down so she wouldn't draw attention from her parents.

"Sorry, I gotta keep my voice down," she said, chuckling.

"Mama has this old robot stored in her lab," Bulla said, changing the subject.

"A robot? Cool!" Pan cried out, smiling.

"I know! I want to rebuild it but mama doesn't seem to want to. There's not a lot of data on him and I've been working on an A.I. script but I haven't had much success with it."

"A.I.?" Pan asked.

"Artificial Intelligence," Bulla said. "That guy that made number 17 and number 18 all those years ago apparently was a mad genius with that technology, even being able to make an engine that never depletes energy. Mama said they liked the fact that their energy never runs out, but they won't let her replicate the formula. Either because they don't want to, or they don't know."

Pan knew Bulla had a lot of smarts, much more than she ever could. But most of those things related to science go over her head sometimes and she doesn't have much she could really say about it. She nodded as Bulla talked about the android siblings and thought back to some of the times she had played with Marron at Krillin's place while her parents socialized with 18 and Krillin.

"I hope I get to see this new robot at the Tournament if you'll let it go with you, Bulla," Pan said, feeling eager to see what new creation she'll come up with.

"That's if mama will help me rebuild it though. She hasn't given me an answer on that yet, but I'm hopeful she'll consider it."

"Yeah," Pan said, then she breathed a small sigh. She lowered the phone from her ear for a moment, looking down at it, frowning.

"Pan? You still there?" Bulla could be heard asking on the other end. Pan sighed again and brought it back to her ear.

"You realize that this will be the last time we get to talk to each other until the day of the tournament, right? I'm leaving tomorrow to go train with Uub and grandpa and I won't be able to communicate with anyone during that time. I made a promise to mom and dad that I wouldn't while I've committed to this."

"I know, this will be the same for me. But I know one thing's for sure. We'll both train hard and give it our best at the Tournament and show everyone how much stronger we've gotten."

Pan smiled, closing her eyes. She was happy to have a friend like Bulla, someone strong, brave, and upbeat like herself. She'd have to figure something to do with her after the Tournament is over but for now she would need to focus on the next day.

"I guess we should get some sleep then," Pan said. She could hear Bulla yawning heavily on the other end and she giggled a bit.

"You sound exhausted," she said.

"Ugh, I couldn't sleep last night and I was overthinking too much about this robot project. I hope I don't oversleep and miss my training. Good night, Pan."

"Good night, Bulla," Pan said and they both hung up. Pan turned off the lamp to her bedroom and was fast asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

Pan felt more energetic as the excitement grew when she woke up the next morning. She hastily ate breakfast and got ready, donning her usual outfit. She loved the bandana she wore often on her head, the color reminding her of the gi her father once wore as well as her grandfather. She still missed seeing Gohan wear his old orange and blue gi and hoped she could have some time to spar with him but knew that her training time was going to spent with Goku and Uub. She thought for a moment about the time she'd spend training with Uub and she blushed a bit, smiling. She didn't realize she was blushing but she couldn't help but smile every time she got to see him and spar with him.

"I got everything packed and ready for you, Pan," Videl called out to her from the kitchen as she was putting everything away.

"Thanks mama!" Pan cried out and slung the heavy backpack on her shoulders. She took a deep breath and began walking out of the house.

"Mom, dad, I'm heading off now!" Pan cried out. Gohan stood up from his seat at the dining table and placed his hand on her head.

"Train hard, Pan," he told her.

"I will," she nodded. Videl quickly walked over and gave her a tight hug. Pan's face felt awkward as she felt a bit embarrassed from this.

"Mom, I'm only going to be away for a short while. You'll see me again at the tournament," she told her.

"I know, but your mama's still going to worry a lot about you. Please be safe out there," she said and Pan rolled her eyes.

"Grandpa and Uub are really good fighters, mama. I trust them."

When Videl let go, Pan quickly waved goodbye to them and was out the door. She powered up and took to the air to quickly fly southbound towards Uub's island home.

As she flew closer to the island, she could spot Goku and Uub sparing in mid-air, trading blows one after another and blocking each other's punches and kicks. Uub adjusted well to Goku's fighting style and was able to land a good few counter blows that connected with Goku's stomach, sending him flying back. Goku smiled and chuckled a bit and launched a few energy attacks as a feint before he made a high speed burst to reappear behind Uub and give him a chop on the back of the head. Uub almost lost consciousness from the blow but shook it off, holding the back of his head.

"Hoo, you've improved a lot, Uub. But you're still lettin' your energy leak out as you attack. You can't maximize your capability if you're not internalizing it completely," Goku said and Uub let his aura dissipate. He was a bit out of breath since they had been sparing since before the sun peaked out over the horizon.

"Sorry, master," Uub said and the two flew down to the ground. Pan waited a moment before she continued onward, sensing that their energy was calming down to normal levels.

"It takes a while to practice mastering your energy control. When you're able to do it fully, you can fight at full strength without exhausting yourself so quickly. I think if we start working more often on your stamina, you can expect to see better results."

"Yes, master," Uub said, bowing at him.

"Grandpa!" Pan called out as she came into view. Goku and Uub turned to face her and he smiled, waving at her. Uub had a smile of his own as he saw her come down to land in front of them.

"Ah! Good timing. It's great to see you, Pan," Goku said and Pan detached her backpack, letting it slide off her to the ground. She rushed to jump into his arms and give him a hug and she jumped back down. She turned to Uub and shyly waved at him. He returned the wave as well and they both looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Goku broke the silence.

"Whew! All that sparring sure builds up an appetite! I'm starvin'!" He cried out and Uub didn't realize it himself until his own stomach began growling. He chuckled a bit himself and waved over to Pan. She grabbed her pack and rushed over to join up with them as they walked into Uub's village. The villagers all greeted them openly and the two elderly women of the village both looked at Uub, then at Pan and one nudged the other.

"Ah! Uub! I see you've brought your girlfriend with you this time!" she said and Pan's jaw dropped, her face turning beet red. Uub looked back at Pan, then at the old women and waved his hands in front of him.

"Pan's a good friend, w-we're n-not dating or anything!" Uub nervously said and Pan averted her gaze and quickly walked past him to join up with Goku.

"A strapping, young, handsome person like yourself should get a wife that will bear you many children, Uub!" said the other old woman and Uub looked back in panic, blushing heavily.

"I-I-I just want to p-protect the village and keep the w-world safe! I can't be married at my age!" He cried out and decided to avoid embarrassing himself in front of them any further, he rushed over to join Goku and Pan to walk over to his hut where his mother was waiting for them.

"Hey mom, we're back," Uub said and Palma stiffly stood up to greet her son. Uub's siblings helped her to her feet and she coughed into her hand before she walked over to greet him.

"Breakfast is almost ready, baboo, go freshen up," she said. Uub nodded and retreated into the hut. She looked up at Goku and sighed. Pan shyly kept her distance but she looked on with a bit of concern on her face.

"Are you okay, miss?" Pan asked.

"Ah, I should introduce you. This is my granddaughter, Pan, she's come her to train with Uub until the day of the tournament," Goku said and Palma gave her a warm smile.

"Good to meet you, Pan. I'm fine, don't worry about me. I overworked myself a bit," she said and limped a bit to her large pot that's placed over the open flame.

"I can get you some senzu beans if you need them," Pan said and Palma waved her off.

"Psh, don't give me none of those magic healing trinkets. My boys will never learn the value of hard work if instant cures have to fix everything," she said and checked on her cooking. Pan slung the backpack down beside her and rushed over to her side.

"Is there anything I can do to help you, miss Palma?" she asked. Palma chuckled a bit and smiled down at her.

"Ah, such a polite child. Yes you can. Help the boys gather the bowls and utensils for me, would you?" she said and Pan nodded, rushing in with Uub's siblings to retrieve the items. She looked up at Goku, sighing. Goku could tell there was something far more than she was letting on.

"You can't tell Uub, no matter what, Goku," she said. Goku's eyes widened.

"I know of a way to fix this, Palma. It might take me up to a day or so but I can help you feel better again," he said and Palma stared at him.

"I know of those dragonballs, and no, I don't want some dragon fixing what I've got. I've heard so many things about what has happened over the years and how people suddenly were dead and brought back to life. One of the first things I taught my boys as they grew up was never to go the quick and easy route to solve your problems. If I broke my own rules, I'd have the dragon bring my Tropius back."

Goku looked sad, but he nodded. "I won't tell him, I promise."

Palma smiled and finished adding the final touches to her cooking with some herbs and spices. Pan, Uub, and his brothers Coco and Natta emerged back again ready to eat and they all sat down. Pan sat by herself, watching the others eat while she stole a few glances at Uub, then turned away when he looked back at her, confused.

"So what will you teach me first, Grandpa?" Pan asked, turning to Goku as he had his mouth full of food. He was about to speak but got a shooting glare from Palma who cleared her throat and coughed at the same time. He swallowed first before he could speak again.

"Well, there's not a whole lot that you haven't already learned, Pan. I want you to focus on building up your physical attributes, and weighted clothing should help you out with that. I had Piccolo make some for you."

"Wait, you're not going to teach me how to become a Super Saiyan like you?" she asked and Goku laughed a bit.

"You don't need to try so hard, Pan." Goku said and Pan looked back, confused then annoyed.

"That's not an answer I was hoping to get, grandpa," she said, crossing her arms.

"What I'm sayin' is that you don't need to be a Super Saiyan. Just focus on building up your raw strength and energy control and you'll realize you won't need all that extra power. What good is all that going to do to you if your stamina runs out so quickly? It takes a long time to train yourself to maintain your Super Saiyan form. I know it took me years before I could fully master it. Besides, your papa doesn't need to be a Super Saiyan, he's very strong on his own without it."

"I guess so. But I want to catch up with Bulla and fight evenly against her. If I can't become a Super Saiyan by the tournament, I won't be able to beat her," she said, looking pleadingly at him.

Goku paused for a moment, looking at his granddaughter. She had a point, but it brought back memories of when he was her age and training so long ago under the Turtle Hermit school. He wanted to pass on those teachings to both her and Uub and got up to sit beside her.

"Pan, fighting in the tournament isn't always about winning some grand prize. You're always going to come across strong fighters, some who are stronger than you are. The tournament is about proving how much stronger you are compared to what you were then. How much you've grown as a fighter and how much you still need to learn and explore as you grow older. I learned that myself a lot as I was growing up. I didn't win the first two tournaments I fought in, but I loved fighting everyone there regardless. It's about having fun, not winning."

Pan stood up, staring down at him. Her anger began to rise. "Are you going to teach me Super Saiyan or not, Grandpa?!" she yelled at him and all eyes were on her now.

Goku stood up and looked down at her for a moment. He turned and walked away.

"If that's all you've come here to do, Pan, then I can't teach you anything and I'd be wasting your time. I'm sorry," he said. Pan blushed as she realized what she had just said and sighed.

"Grandpa, I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to yell at you like that!" she cried out, tearing up. Goku instead just smiled and waved it off.

"It's okay, Pan. Let's finish up our breakfast and get back to training," he said and quietly ate his fill, which was still quite the large portion. Palma and her boys finished afterwards and Uub got up to stretch. Pan walked over to Palma.

"I'll help clean up, Miss Palma," she said and Palma put her hand up.

"No need, little one, I'll have the boys help me. Go and train with my baboo and Goku," she said and placed her hand on Pan's cheek, smiling down at her. Pan grinned nervously at the gesture and it reminded her of her mother often.

"I can tell you've taken a liking to my boy," she said and Pan's eyes widened.

"I-I, um," she began but Palma laughed a bit, coughing up a storm afterwards. Pan rushed to rub her back but Palma kept her at bay, shaking her head.

"I can see a great amount of gentleness in your heart, Pan. In time, I believe you would make a suitable wife for Uub," she told her and Pan blushed heavily.

"Me? A wife? I can't imagine getting married, not yet," she said but didn't dismiss the fact that she could see Uub as someone who can be more than just a friend to her and hid her face in embarrassment.

"I had that same look when I first met Tropius," Palma said, laughing. She nudged her forward. "Go and train, be back by sundown for dinner, okay?"

"Okay!" Pan cried out, nodding and bowing at her. She took off to run up to Goku and Uub, who were ready to take to the air to begin training again. When they landed on a separate island, Goku stood before the two, crossing his arms. He remembered something and took a capsule out of his pocket and activated it, throwing it to the ground. The smoke cleared up to reveal a case which contained training gi meant for Pan and he opened it up for her.

"Here, go change into this weighted gi and come back, then we can start," Goku said and Pan nodded. She grabbed the gi and realized how heavy it was, taking some effort to pull it up out of the case.

"Seriously? I'm wearing something this heavy?" She cried out, looking down at it, shocked.

"You can't get stronger if you can't work out your muscles effectively. I imagine Vegeta's kid is training under a lot of gravity at her place, right?" Goku said and Pan nodded. She quickly rushed over to the dense foliage in the background and looked around.

"Hey you two, no peeking, got it?" She cried out and both Uub and Goku stared back, surprised. They turned around to look the other way as Pan slipped out of her regular clothes to put on a gi that was just like Piccolo's and she smiled as she looked down at it. She always loved Piccolo's visits and often wished she could wear an outfit that was like his and was glad to feel the fabric on her for once. She didn't know what kind of material it was, but she felt the weight of it push down on her body and she slowly walked back to the two.

"So what do I need to do first, grandpa?" she asked.

"Hmm," Goku said, hand to his chin. He didn't think much past this point but snapped his fingers.

"I know! How about you go help out around Uub's village until you get comfortable with your weighted gi? Then you can start training with Uub proper!"

Pan looked back, stunned. "Are you kidding me?!"

"It's like Uub's mama always said: 'You can't learn the value of hard work if everythin' is so easy for ya!' or something like that," he said and Pan gave him a wry grin. She crossed her arms and stared at him, then at Uub.

"Fine but promise me you'll teach me how to transform into a Super Saiyan properly when the time comes," Pan told him.

Goku chuckled a bit. "Alright alright, I promise. Uub, I've got something for you as well." He pulled out a second capsule from his other pocket and activated it. It was a larger case than the one that contained Pan's new gi and inside was a large turtle shell with shoulder straps attached to it.

"Put it on," Goku said and Uub went to pick up the carapace and found it weighed a great deal.

"I had Whis custom make that one for you as a request from me. Since I want you two to be proud students of the Turtle Hermit school, weighted training gear will help you both out a lot as you go help out around the village for the next month."

"Huh?" Uub said, and he struggled to slip on the carapace on his back. He almost lost his footing and fell backwards but steadied himself as he felt the weight press down on him. He looked at it nervously.

"Master, aren't we going to resume training?" Uub asked but Goku shook his head.

"Nope! I've got an old friend to visit, which was why I decided you two should go back to basics and train your bodies up to become much stronger for the next month. When I come back, I expect you two to be way way stronger than what you are now. I promised myself that we'd have a proper fight at some point, Uub, and after a month's time, we will have that fight in a place I know all too well where we can go all out and not worry about putting anyone in danger."

Before Uub could say anything, Goku waved goodbye at the both of them and put two fingers to his forehead. After he focused his energy for a moment, he vanished in front of the two. Uub and Pan looked at each other for a moment, blushing a bit, then they slowly took to the air.

"Flying's going to be really difficult in these," Pan told him.

"But if master Goku said this will make us even stronger, then I will work even harder to make him proud," Uub said and they both powered up to fly back to his island.

A long awaited reunion…

Goku reappeared on a distant planet that was light years away from Earth. He could see that there were significant changes to the landscape as there were a couple more capsule buildings, and acres of fields being tended by a long figure wearing his signature toque on his head, riding a tractor. He turned and saw him and stopped, climbing out. He stretched out his back and walked over to greet him.

"Now there's a face I haven't seen in a while. Son Goku, was it?" he said.

"Ah," he replied. "And you're…um…lemonade, right?"

"Lemo, Goku," he said, glaring at him. He sighed and stretched his arms and legs a bit before walking back to his tractor.

"Can't keep my work waiting for me. If you're looking for Broly, he's around somewhere. But I'd keep my eyes out for his boys, if I were you," he said before he resumed his field work. Goku raised an eyebrow, then his focus shifted to the foliage not too from his right as a figure darted from the shadows running at him full speed. He vanished in a high speed maneuver and reappeared to catch him with a chop. Goku blocked and went for a retaliatory hit but the figure dodged nimbly and caught him with a leg sweep that tripped up Goku and he fell to the ground. He followed up with another few kicks which Goku dodged in the nick of time and flipped back up on his feet. There was a second figure that appeared above and fired a large energy blast straight down at him and Goku powered up to deflect the blast away, redirecting it back up to the sky. The two shared similar skin tones, a light greenish tone to them, but their hair was as white as snow. The nimbler of the two's hair was shaped like a mohawk while the other was long and tied back in a ponytail. They both rushed at Goku and he hastily blocked their shots as he dodged and weaved his way around the two, waiting for an opening. He felt that the long-haired one's strikes were much heavier than the one with the mohawk, as the latter came at him with rapid-fire fists that connected more often but didn't carry as much impact, yet over time they were eventually wearing him down a bit. Goku gained some distance away from the two and assumed a fighting stance once more. The two stopped and the mohawk squatted down, glaring at him. The long-haired one stood with a fighting stance of his as well.

"I don't get a bad vibe out of this guy, Bok," said the mohawk. Bok, the long-haired one, relaxed his stance and nodded.

"Yeah, he's got a good fighting sense about him. But popping out of nowhere on our planet is a recipe for disaster if you think you're going to try anything funny with Choi and I," he said.