I think I can safely say that this chapter draws heavily on the warped view of reality left behind after Sensou's interference. This is where things start to deviate more obviously from the original storyline so it should be interesting. As always, things to note:

1) This chapter took some heavy editing hits, spelling and grammar has been checked but as you are probably painfully aware by now, I am unobservant and chronically attention deficient so if you find anything, apologies.

2) I am not a physics student, nor am I Harry Potter. The references to future sight, shifting the course of destiny, inter-planar travel etc therefore have no relevant foundations in science or magic. It's all just a product of my own fractioned mind.

3) I actually forget the rest but I blame spring time. My current thoughts are fleeting at best. This last note may have been to thank all you wonderful people that have reviewed so far?

Let's go with that.


6: The Root of the Problem

Goku took a moment to breathe, trying to ignore the exhaustion fighting to overwhelm him following his recent abuse of the Kaioken technique. On the ground, he watched as Vegeta's expression warped in to one of insidious fury and took comfort in the fact that the Saiyan prince was losing control of the battle.

If only he could keep up this pace…

He noted that Vegeta was starting to power up, feeling the soaring Ki signature and weighed up his options for his next plan of attack. He still had a few things he could try, his trump card, the Spirit Bomb automatically came to mind but he dismissed it for the moment. The Spirit Bomb required the user to be able to take his time gathering energy and Vegeta was able to match Goku's speed easily even whilst he was using the Kaioken. He could ask Krillin and Gohan to get involved, distract Vegeta until the bomb was ready…

He glanced down briefly, catching a glimpse of his son's innocent face.

No, he couldn't ask them to fight anymore.

That left him with the Kamehameha and the Kaioken…or a combination of the two…

'King Kai, you're going to have to forgive me for breaking my promise…but I don't think I can win this one otherwise…'

'Goku…whatever you are about to do and I can guess, I forbid you from going through with it, you hear?'

Goku inhaled.

'Goku!'

"Kaioken…x…3!"

There was a pop and a click and his system was bombarded with an agonising assault of Ki. His blood was burning in his veins, his already over-taxed muscles screamed in protest and his eyes grew hot as the distinct red of the Kaioken aura erupted outwards. The pain was almost unbearable but the results were unquestionable. This time when he looked at Vegeta he could easily predict the moves the prince was going to make because he was executing them so slowly. Goku reacted before Vegeta had even finished forming a coherent battle plan.

Vegeta's eyes widened in dark surprise as that same red aura burst out of the lower class Saiyan and in an instant he was beside Vegeta, ramming an elbow into his gut. It was all Vegeta could do to try and dodge but even this failed and the attack connected, sending his system into a tumult of nausea. He drew back, clutching his stomach but in the time it took him to do that, Kakarot was behind him, aiming a roundhouse kick to the back of the head which slammed him straight into the ground.

His ears rung and as his face impacted hard rock, one of his canines cracked.

The prideful rage he had felt before seemed to intensify a hundred fold until the whole world was red. How could this lower class Saiyan keep pushing it like that? How could this…plebeian monkey produce so much power through an amplifying technique without being reduced to a useless heap as was the norm? It was infuriating that he should be able to do this…maddening even and as Vegeta felt the first spill of blood run over his lips, he lost it completely.

Levering his hands beneath him, he pushed up into the sky.

"You think you've won Kakarot? Huh? You think you've beaten the mighty Vegeta? Well, see how you feel after I blow up this pathetic spit of land that you call home!" Vegeta screamed, gathering his last resort into his hands.

Gohan's eyes widened as he felt Vegeta's Ki leaping into astronomical territory and something familiar tugged at his insides.

He had to help his father.

"DADDY!"

"No, Gohan!" Krillin grunted, grabbing onto the kid's ankle as he aimed to catapult himself into the fray. He grunted as he held on, using everything he had to try and restrain the boy. Kami but this little guy was strong…

"Gohan, there's nothing you can do now. You'll only get hurt like this and that's not something that Goku would want okay?"

Gohan heard the words but it was almost impossible to let them filter in. The panic that was settling over him narrowed his line of sight until all he could comprehend was his father helpless in the path of that catastrophic attack. As he stared on, utterly helpless, images of the fallen came unbidden to his mind. First Yamcha blown to bits by that nightmarish little Saibaman, then Chaotsu valiantly trying to take that brutish soldier Saiyan into the next world with him, Tien giving everything he had, Piccolo…

And then there was the gruesome end to that great big bully. If he superimposed his father over that heartless monster in that same position with the prince's hand on his exposed stomach…

No, it would not happen.

"DADDY!" Gohan shrieked, kicking Krillin off and putting on a spurt of speed like the bald monk had never seen before. For a second he was left gaping after the shooting form of the boy, knowing that he would never be able to catch up to him before he sunk to the ground in despair.

Goku would never forgive him…

And he would never forgive himself…

Gohan could feel himself accessing a plethora of power that he was unaware existed inside himself. Just like the first time he had been introduced to the volcanic fury of Sensou's training dimension, he tried to grasp onto it, tried to understand it but it slipped out of his consciousness and overtook him like a parasite.

Goku suppressed his fear as the prince powered up in mid-air, not allowing the dissipation of his Kaioken to faze him. His body was spent, a useless mass of shooting pains and aches and he could feel the need to just pass out and sleep for a week battering the back of his mind.

"I'm not ready…" he muttered, staring down the energy that his adversary was gathering.

"I'm not ready," he repeated, preparing himself to withstand another Kaioken, knowing full well that this would probably end him.

Then he heard it.

"DADDY!"

His heart simply stopped beating as he turned to watch his small son hurtling towards them at breakneck speed. An ebullient panic became him, there was nothing else but the overwrought fear that his son was about to be completely incinerated.

"No, GOHAN!"

Gohan heard his father's desperate call but he only had eyes for the man that was threatening to hurt his daddy. Convulsive energy surged inside him as he brought his hands up over his head.


"What?" Shorai whispered, falling towards the dimension window with blood shot eyes to peer at the spectacle of Gohan Son as he was about to try and attack Vegeta.

"What? What's the matter?" Sensou snapped angrily, agitated that he had to be kept in the dark about the proceedings.

"The boy is about to…but he never learned…"

Shorai was blind and deaf to his companions as the world closed off into the sway of a vision. The seer watched as two different scenarios play out before him simultaneously, comprehending a split in the thread of destiny like the split end of a hair.

Tonbo observed with mounting concern as his mentor's eyes rolled back into his head and as he started muttering incoherently, groaning every now and then. He had seen Shorai lapse into a vision many times before but never before had the seer been so restless, twitching and groaning spasmodically.

Sensou watched the proceedings with stressed acceptance. A feral growl escaped his throat and he fought the urge to grab his brother and shake him into the present for the little good it would do. For now he would simply have to observe things as they happened and pray to the Four Winds for a favourable outcome.


Gohan plopped down on the grassy plain and huffed, letting his lungs deflate fully before mustering the energy to inhale again. Above him, Piccolo hovered with an expression of condescension on his face, his eyes boring into the boy as he sat regaining himself. Normally, Piccolo's look of disdain was enough for Gohan to strive to push himself beyond his limits. The boy hated to disappoint, but today was different.

"Get up kid," Piccolo snarled, firing a fairly high powered Ki blast at the prone form to inspire some movement.

Gohan snarled uncharacteristically and brushed the Ki blast aside like it was an irritating mosquito rather than a sophisticated attack. Piccolo raised an eyebrow. Perhaps they were on the verge of something here.

"I said get up!" Piccolo barked, punctuating this with another lethal attack.

This time, Gohan twisted, anger apparent in his face as he formed a block in front of his face and blew Piccolo's attack back with his own Ki.

"I need a break sir, I've had enough," Gohan said, eyes blazing as he looked up at Piccolo.

Piccolo smirked mercilessly.

"Do you think the Saiyans will let you take a break when you've had enough?" he asked, diving down to deliver a drilling punch to the boy's skull which he only just dodged.

"No, I know they won't let me, but I'm not fighting them now!" Gohan protested, throwing out a half hearted counter punch.

"I don't care if you're not fighting them now, if you don't act like you're fighting them now, you'll never really improve enough to be of use," Piccolo retaliated, blocking Gohan's punch and countering with his own much harder punch.

Gohan went flying into a nearby rock formation letting out an undignified 'oof' as he hit solid matter. After a few minutes, the boy stood up and eyed his mentor defiantly, brushing down his ruined gi.

"Maybe if you taught me how to make some of those explosions you can make then I'd be able to do more damage!" he threw out, not really expecting his mentor to think about it. To his complete surprise, Piccolo paused, staring at the kid with soul searching eyes.

"Alright," Piccolo relented eventually with a sigh. "I suppose it is about time I started to try and pound some more complex skills into that thick head of yours. You better pay close attention."

Piccolo observed with barely concealed amusement as the metaphorical thunder cloud over the boy's head lifted. He mulled over the change in attitude, appreciating the boy's appetite for learning; he couldn't deny that the little demi-Saiyan was absorbing his training like a sponge. This both irked and awed him in equal measure. That Goku's son wasn't a wash out and a wimp was irritating to say the least, how could Piccolo use the kid as leverage against his rival if the kid had actually managed to learn to fight back? That this tiny boy was mastering techniques at the rate he was with the constant thirst for more awed the demon. The boy had the makings of a truly formidable warrior.

"Before we go any further, I want you to get it straight that I'm not teaching you to 'make explosions', I'm teaching you to control Ki so you can produce it as a physical and destructive output."

Gohan nodded studiously, a frown of concentration knotting his brows.

"Now…the technique I am about to teach you is called the 'Masenko'. It's a standard, straightforward manifestation of Ki that's quick and easy to use and powerful to boot. To perform it, all you have to do is…"


Convulsive energy surged inside him as he brought his hands up over his head like he remembered being taught. Simultaneously, he remembered being taught the 'Jinsumi' Ki blast by Sensou at the same time, in a different place, like he was in two places at once or nowhere at all.

"Masenko!" he called out, forming the bright yellow ball of Ki above his head, pouring everything he had into and more from that space inside himself that he still couldn't quite grasp.

From his position on the ground, Krillin bit back a string of curse words as he ogled the nacreous light forming from Gohan's fingertips. Just where was this kid pulling this power from? Had he not admitted, when Vegeta was about to blow them to bits, that he was out of power? What was going on?

Vegeta saw the blast forming in the kid's hands and one of his eyes started to twitch. Still there was no going back now, he would just have to release his energy and get the hell out of there.

"Galick Gun!" he yelled.

"HA!" Gohan screamed.

A torrent of slicing winds started to bombard the Earth as boy and prince released their attacks at the same time. The purple aura of Vegeta's attack and the electric yellow aura of Gohan's attack clashed in the air, turning the sky a deep muddy brown. Through the flashing display, Goku watched his son tumble out of the air, completely spent and despite the insane display of power before him, he raced forward to catch his little boy before he could impact the dirt.

The two power balls hit, colliding in mid-air and the resulting explosion was devastating. The mountains and hills that had been part of Piccolo's home were levelled, trees were upturned and flung then disintegrated in the heat. A huge, resounding boom followed a few seconds later, shaking the foundations of the plains. There were people in the nearest city some 20 miles away that saw the light from the collision and grabbed their ears as the bang followed like thunder.

Goku threw himself onto the ground, using his body to shield his son from any resulting damage. He cried out as the heat tore at his back, burning his skin but still he held on, determined to keep his boy safe.

On the other side of the battle field, Krillin threw himself down as flat as he could, trying not to get blown away by the repercussions of those two goliath powers.


"What the hell?" Sensou snarled at the dimension window, his hands shaking on the grass as he lent forward. A vein in his temple was beginning to throb.

'That's Piccolo's technique…but that's impossible. The boy was never taught the demon style of fighting. Something's wrong.'

He turned from the window, staring at his brother who was still caught in the vestiges of the vision, muttering incoherently. He frowned as he watched his brother's pupil wiping the sweat from the seer's brow, noting how the little spasms flittering over Shorai's body were becoming more violent. This was something of an abnormality. Though Sensou didn't make a habit of watching Shorai when he was caught up in one of his visions, he knew from experience that for the most part it normally looked like he was in deep meditation. Now it seemed that he was having some sort of mild fit.

"Ma," Sensou barked, making Tonbo jump and drop the cloth he was using. "Do you have any idea what's going on? The technique that the boy just used is something he was never taught."

Slowly, Ma shook his head, perplexed as to why the warrior god would be asking him such things. True, he was able to travel across more of the universe than Sensou was ever likely to see but that didn't mean he understood any of it.

"I'm sorry, I don't know about the subtler vibrations and reverberations of the universe. All I know is that I possess the ability of inter-planar travel. I'm not even sure if I fully comprehend how that works," Ma admitted.

Sensou took in a deep hissing breath through his teeth and spit on the grass in frustration.

"Useless," he muttered, pivoting back to face the dimension window.

There was a silence as Sensou tried to prepare himself to watch the rest of this battle in the dark, settling himself down on the grass, but Ma's quiet voice demanded his attention.

"I'd hazard a guess to say it was something to do with Goku's arrival 3 hours before schedule. Perhaps this has twisted the fabric of the universe somewhat…"

Sensou stiffened where he sat but said nothing else, considering. To be honest, Ma's suggestion seemed logical enough but if that was the case and Goku's anomaly was the cause of all this, why hadn't Shorai been able to see that this would happen? Why hadn't Shorai been able to see that Gohan would be able to tap into knowledge he had never been taught? If an aberration like that had appeared, who knew what else could change?


The ash and smog, the dust and debris; eventually it all settled to reveal the new shape of the land, a bowl of a crater filled with desert-like sand. For minutes afterwards, there was nothing but silence, not even a wind dared whip out over this scarred landscape. And then there was a scrabbling, almost non-existent at first and then louder as something dug its way to the surface.

A hand shot out of the dust, flailing for a moment in mid-air before finding leverage and pushing up, revealing Krillin's small frame. He took in a deep breath of air and collapsed, unable to do anything but exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide for a few seconds before digging his fingers into the cracks of his eyes to try and clear the dust. When he managed to open stinging eyes he was awestruck at what he found – the barren wasteland devoid of life where Piccolo's home had once been.

'I can't believe that kid,' he thought to himself as he started scanning the surrounding area for any signs of the Saiyan prince. 'Training for what? A year? And kidnapped during that time…again…only to produce something that me and the rest of the other warriors can still only ever dream of? Definitely Goku's son alright…'

Both the sky and the ground was surprisingly free of the Saiyan shadow so, standing on tired legs, he started scouting for his best friend and the boy that had saved the Earth. When he was unable to spot anything at all, he swallowed his panic and started loping out into the desert, trying to keep his eyes peeled for anything that might give Goku or Gohan away.

Eventually, just as he was about to give up hope and accept that they had probably passed on, he spotted a tuft of black hair sticking out of the dust like an unnatural weed.

"GOKU!"

He stumbled over and started to frantically scoop the dust away, slowly but surely managing to excavate his best friend. He winced as he uncovered Goku's bare, burnt back, gagging as he realised that some of the gi fabric he had been wearing had sort of fused to the skin there. Sand granules clung to sticky skin and he knew that once Goku was taken to the hospital, it would be a hellish experience to clean all that out.

As he dug, he realised that Goku's strong arms were clamped tight around something and with the utmost care, he loosened the grip, peering into the unconscious face of the little demi-Saiyan who seemed exhausted but remarkably un-hurt.

"Thank Kami…" Krillin whispered, sitting back on the sand.

"H-hey K-Krillin."

The bald monk jerked involuntarily and peered at his best friend's pain contorted face. He hadn't realised that Goku had been conscious.

"Goku! Are you okay? Do you think that crazy Saiyan is gone?" Krillin asked, his eyes darting out once more for a sentry sweep.

Goku only heard every other word. Waves of pain were rolling along his devastated back causing a white hot ringing in his ears. His thoughts were jumbled, scattered by the pain. All he could really coherently think about was his son and the bag of Senzu beans he had been given before dropping off of the tower on the way to the battle.

"Gohan?" he asked, blanching through the pain.

"He's fine Goku, just dead tired is all," Krillin assured him. Goku breathed out slightly in relief and then sucked in a new sharp breath of air as the pain over his back seemed to magnify.

"Senzu…in…pocket," he managed, trying to lift his hand so that he could grab one.

Luckily, Krillin was quick to pick up on what Goku was aiming to try and do, reaching up to pull the bean from Goku's pocket himself to save his friend unnecessary movement. Just as the tip of his finger was about to sweep across the lip of Goku's gi pocket, something erupted out of the ground, causing Krillin to jerk up in an automatic reaction.

It was a power ball barely bigger than Krillin's fist, bright white in colour and heading up into the sky. Krillin watched as it catapulted into the upper atmosphere, exploding in a brilliant stream of light that looked somehow familiar…

Something followed it, bursting out of the ground and throwing Krillin away from his companions, a huge creature growing steadily in size until it was bigger than the mountains that had once adorned the land. Thick brown fur covered it from head to toe, its exposed skin was tan. It had a distinctly monkey-like face with bared, chisel sharp teeth and murderous red eyes. The wicked smile on its face, the Saiyan armour and the way that fur on top of its head stuck up in a flame were all reminiscent of the Saiyan prince Vegeta.

The great ape stared down at the miniscule forms of Kakarot and his atrocity of a half breed son.

"That…kid…hurt…me," the huge creature hissed, snarling, grasping at some obvious burns and cuts that had opened up and were oozing sticky blood. The worst of the damage seemed to be confined to a centre point in the Saiyan armour which had cracked and imploded, embedding shards of protective material into Vegeta's vulnerable flesh. He winced every time he moved, knowing that this was a wound that would earn him a good while in the rejuvenation tank once he got back to the station. That this damage was caused by a tiny half Saiyan toddler was simply unbearable…inconceivable. The brat had to pay.

Goku subconsciously clutched the limp form of his son a little closer and, finding strength somewhere within himself, attempted to stand. Spots broke in a tidal wave over his vision but he realised the importance of keeping himself straight faced in front of this ape if he wanted to turn the heat away from his little man. He made sure his legs were anchored as he glared defiantly at the Saiyan prince.

"You will both pay!" the ape promised, bringing his fist down in a wide arc, aiming to flatten his enemy. The fist was not only big but fast, Goku only just had enough time to muscle up enough momentum to spring away, landing on a sedimentary pile of rubble a little way away where he was able to put Gohan down, hiding him from the line of fire behind a tiny barricade of rocks.

As soon as he was sure that his son would remain safe, at least until Krillin managed to find him, he widened his stance, pulling his hands in beside him to try for a Kaioken enhanced Kamehameha.

"Ka…me…ha…"

'Goku wait!'

Goku paused at the sound of King Kai's voice, the energy tingling through his fingers itching to be released.

'Seriously King Kai, I'm kind of in the middle of something!' Goku complained, noting that the huge ape Vegeta had turned around to face him and was getting ready to charge forward.

'I know Goku, don't use the Kamehameha, use the Spirit Bomb!'

Goku frowned, letting the gathered energy disperse.

'But that'll take too long. Vegeta may look a lot slower than he was before but he's really just the same.'

'I know, look, I have a plan but you're going to have to trust in me and in your friends.'

'No King Kai, I don't want to put them in any more d-

'You don't have a choice Goku, use the Spirit Bomb!' King Kai ordered, severing their link.

Goku took a deep breath, ignoring the angry Saiyan ape stampeding towards him and held his hands up to the sky, asking the Earth with his spirit if he could borrow some of its energy.

Vegeta saw the change in stance and paused in his tirade to throw the third class Saiyan a suspicious look. Experience had taught him that when a fighter got a little desperate, he might try to perform a technique that he had previously deemed unusable due to its risk factor. The prince waited, analysing the situation.

He stayed like that for a while, gauging his opponent but whatever Kakarot was trying to do, it didn't seem to be working.

He smirked.

"Trying a last resort, eh Kakarot? It doesn't seem to be doing anything, you should just give up. If you still had your tail, this would have been an interesting duel, a battle between behemoths but as you've opted to have your true power cut off, I fear that you are grossly outclassed."

'That's it, just keep talking…' Goku thought to himself as he felt the tug of miniscule granules of energy rolling across the globe.

"I must congratulate you, you and your half-breed son have been the first in many years to really cause me harm and for that I feel that I should give you a warrior's death."

He ambled forward, his huge feet crushing tracks into the dust. Raising his fist above his head, he took aim at the tiny stretched out figure of his opponent.

"Goodbye Kakar-

"DESTRUCTO DISK!"

Vegeta heard the words and turned, taking in the spectacle of the spinning, razor sharp disk of Ki in Krillin's outstretched hand just as the bald monk threw it. The disk sliced through the air, sending whirlwinds of dust over the wasteland and instinctively, Vegeta knew to avoid rather than tackle this particular attack. Although the energy used to make it wasn't particularly spectacular, the way the Ki had been compressed made it deadly. The prince really did have to applaud Earthling innovation, much as it annoyed him.

Tucking his tail back around his waist, he jumped, narrowly avoiding having his foot cut clean off . The disk sped on, slicing through the mound of debris that Goku was standing on, literally missing Gohan's unconscious form behind him by inches.

"Watch it Krillin!" Goku yelled, struggling not to let his concentration slip.

From his position on the sand, Krillin grimaced, putting his hand behind his head.

"Oops, sorry Goku!" he called back as the monster prince landed, creating an earthquake on impact so particles of dust shot up into the air.

The prince approached the smaller fighter with a smile. He would deal with this one first. Kakarot was still standing in the same position, futilely attempting to call on a failed last resort. What did it matter if his demise was delayed by a few minutes?

"That was a very interesting little trick cue ball," Vegeta said, his tail unwinding to swish agitatedly behind him. "It's a shame I can't allow you to live to teach it to me."

"Oh yeah, like I would," Krillin called back bravely, avoiding the tail as it came down to crack like a whip in the dust.

Vegeta chuckled, back on solid ground now he was the one with the clear advantage again.

"Oh believe me, when I'm finished with you, you'll be begging to impart your wisdom."

Krillin didn't doubt it and chose not to comment further, focussing instead on mustering the emptiness inside him to produce another disk. If he could only manage to cut off that tail…bring the prince back down to their level by getting rid of the root of the problem…but how could he when he had to keep Vegeta's attention so Goku could finish gathering energy for his attack. King Kai had been adamant that Krillin was to provide enough of a distraction for Goku to finish.

"De…structo…"

"That's it, try again," Vegeta guffawed. "If at first you don't succeed right?"

Krillin raised his hand above his head and the prince waited lazily for things to heat up. Then something caught his eye, the shadow beneath the bald monk was…odd. Though the power ball Vegeta had thrown up into the air was creating a shadow, the shadow seemed to have been split in two…almost like two light sources were producing different, contradicting shadows.

Realisation dawned on Vegeta like a sledge hammer. He pivoted on huge feet, staring at the still spread out form of his rival Kakarot and his eyes snaked up into the sky where a second power ball was forming.

"What the-

It was like nothing Vegeta had ever seen, a vast blue orb gathering miniscule particles of light, feeding on the energy of the very atmosphere itself to increase its size. He stared at it dumbstruck, petrified and those few moments of awe were all Krillin needed for his newly formed disk of Ki to slice through Vegeta's tail, reducing it to a ruined stump.

"What?" Vegeta howled. "No, you little bastard, do you have any idea what you've just done?"

'Nothing, just cut you down to size is all,' Krillin thought to himself, jumping out of his skin when he heard King Kai's hysterical laughter in the back of his mind.


Shorai's head lolled onto his shoulder and his eyes rolled forward. He blinked a couple of times to clear the remaining haze, not appreciating the feeling of light headedness that accompanied his return to reality. Eventually, he was able to focus on the pale green face of his pupil beaming openly at him.

"Tonbo…how long was I out?"

"A while," his little pupil admitted, helping him to lean forward. "Gohan's blast was incredible but he's unconscious now. Goku and his friend have taken over."

'Ah, so that's what allowed me to return to sanity,' Shorai thought to himself, breathing steadily. His clothes clung to him and he realised that he had been sweating heavily. It had been a long time since something like this had happened and he'd been a much younger man then.

As soon as Sensou saw that his brother was back with them, his temper flared. He grabbed the seer by his robe, pushing his small apprentice out of the way.

"What happened?" he barked, his expression dangerous. "The boy performed one of Piccolo's techniques, something he was never taught. What's the big idea?"

Shorai sighed and pulled back, feeling too bone tired to care about Sensou's temper, even if he knew he should fear his brother.

"It's a hairline fracture in the weave of destiny," Shorai explained. "It's one of the few things in the universe I can't predict. It doesn't happen very often and is likely the result of Goku's arrival before schedule…"

Sensou's eyes shot to Ma who shrugged nonchalantly. He'd been guessing but it seemed fairly straightforward to him really.

"Does it change anything?" Sensou asked quickly.

Shorai shook his head.

"Probably not, but it's hard to tell. It's like any crack in anything, harmless until whatever the crack is in shatters and then everything's reduced to shards."

"I wouldn't exactly call that technique harmless," Sensou spat, his eyes blazing. "Will the boy remember it when he returns?"

Shorai shook his head again, indicating that he didn't know.

"Well, check," Sensou threw out, pushing Shorai's robes into his chest.

The seer glowered, still fighting to breathe evenly.

"I can't just delve straight back in to another vision after something like this has occurred. Hairline fractures are dangerous, I could get caught between two realities and cause myself mental damage. To pull myself out of the last illusion was hard enough. No, I need to rest for now."

Sensou couldn't restrain himself, howling like an animal and jumping on his brother's chest, his hand reaching round to grab at a ceremonial knife he kept tucked under his hard armour. Shorai was beaten into the ground with his brother's arm over his throat. He gasped uselessly and struggled.

"I swear to you brother I am this close, this close to ignoring the Four Winds and killing you. I delight in the thought of slitting your throat and letting your blood flow freely over my hands but it just so happens I need you to tell me how this will play out so that I can make my move. After the little stunt you pulled earlier with that Namekian, Piccolo, its more imperative than ever that I get Gohan back."

Shorai's eyes remained level with Sensou's, a cold expression on his features, like he'd removed himself entirely from the situation.

"No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it," Shorai muttered. "Do what you want to me brother, it won't change the fact that I can do nothing more right now."

Sensou kept his angry eyes on his brother's for a while longer before hoisting him up and slamming his head into the dirt. After that, the warrior god stood and walked out over the plains, ignoring the dimension window, Ma and the seer's pupil who was looking at the warrior god's back, horror struck.


The prince was shrinking, falling out of the air. His colossal Ki was dropping to something manageable and Goku knew it was now or never. With a great grunting effort, he jumped off of the dust mound, throwing the Spirit Bomb as hard as he could towards Vegeta. The ball sped through the air, seemingly becoming elongated as it began to move though it was just a trick of the light.

Vegeta watched its progress through his half-transformation, knowing he was defenceless so long as he was caught between great ape and man. He shrieked, calling out in disbelief, rage and shattered pride.

'No…it can't end like this, it can't!'

Twisting himself round in mid-air, he held his half-transformed hand out and cried out, releasing a sloppy blast of Ki to propel himself upwards.

And the Spirit Bomb missed.

It shot beneath him, hot energy licking at the toes of his boots as it flew onwards towards the bald monk.

"Ah!" Krillin cried, throwing himself down onto the sand.

'Goku, try a boomerang manoeuvre in the shape of those rocks!' King Kai instructed, projecting an image of the rock formation into Goku's mind so he knew what King Kai was talking about. It was a natural half pipe created by the brilliant blast his son had used to deflect Vegeta's planet killer that could be used to sling shot the ball up and round towards the semi-vulnerable form of the prince. All Goku had to do was use a little Ki control to nudge the ball onto the right course. He reached out, putting everything he had into the invisible force that he would use to coax the ball towards the rocks.

For a few crucial, heart wrenching moments, nothing happened and it looked like the energy would go flying off into the wasteland to explode, a useless waste of gathered energy. Goku's forehead was beaded with sweat, his Ki was oscillating madly. With a cry he pushed out and the ball swerved, ricocheting up from the half pipe into the sky, a wild card flying back towards the prince.

The prince had almost finished his transformation when he saw the ball heading towards him again, bigger than he was and terrifying beyond compare. The transformation and the arduous battle had taken it out of him and though his mind worked to plan a method of escape, his thoughts kept jumbling until all he could do was fire another sloppy blast towards the Earth, putting almost every last scrap of Ki into it with the desperate hope that he could avoid it.

The sizzling ball flew towards him and he was ascending too slowly. With a final grunt, he dredged up the last of the reserves within himself and doubled the output of the Ki blast, barely conscious as he realised that the ball had missed again.

"No!" Goku yelled. "How is that possible?"

He heard a low groan behind him and whipped round to look at the tired form of his son silhouetted against the dust mound. Gohan rubbed his eyes, confused and a little worried when he found it a gargantuan effort to keep himself awake. He wanted nothing more than to curl up where he was and forget everything but he knew he couldn't do that just yet.

"Gohan!"

Was that his daddy's voice? What had happened anyway? The last thing he remembered was…

"DADDY!"

Though his father was nothing but an indistinct figure on the backdrop of the desert below him, Gohan squinted, trying to make out if his father was hurt. Having lost consciousness so quickly, he had no idea whether or not his blast had been enough to deflect the prince's.

"Gohan!" Goku called up to his son, praying that Gohan wasn't too disorientated for his next plan of action to work.

'King Kai, please?' Goku asked, praying it wasn't too presumptuous to ask for his mentor's help in connecting him to the mind of his son at this crucial moment.

'Okay, but I want a present next time I see you. I'm not really supposed to intervene like this you know.'

'I know, I'm sorry King Kai…Gohan?'

On top of the mound of debris, Gohan's little face whipped round comically, searching for his father though he knew that Goku was down on the ground, waving. As his eyes darted round, he caught sight of the massive energy hurtling towards him and froze.

So his blast hadn't worked, Vegeta's planet destroyer was coming towards him, about to destroy him. He braced himself for the worst, hoping that Piccolo would be there waiting for him on the other side…

'It's daddy Gohan, I'm talking to you through King Kai,' Goku explained hastily.

'Listen to me Gohan, that ball isn't Vegeta's attack, it's my Spirit Bomb and it won't hurt you if you're pure of heart. All you have to do is use your Ki to re-bound it up at Vegeta, okay little man?'

Gohan blinked, struggling to take it all in. He stood, staring the blast down, trying to remember what Sensou had taught him about not crying. It didn't help anyone, it meant you were weak, helpless. Crying meant that you were no longer able to help the people that you loved and that was more than Gohan could take.

Though his lower lip wobbled with the threat of hysterical sobbing, he fortified himself, anchoring his legs as Sensou had taught him.

'What if I'm not pure enough daddy?'

There was a millisecond of silence that seemed to stretch on for a lifetime and then Goku replied, his voice light with an obvious smile.

'Oh Gohan, you'll be absolutely fine, I promise.'

The boy formed a bubble of Ki and the Spirit Bomb rebounded like a ping pong ball, shooting up once again towards the Saiyan prince. This time, he had nothing left to save himself with and the ball collided in a bull's eye to the wound on his stomach, exploding into an awe inspiring display of electric Ki. The prince let out in ear-splitting scream as his entire body became a hot house of agony. A branch of lightning forked out from the main explosion, carrying Vegeta with it and scrambling his insides. The energy carried him up into the stratosphere or down towards the hard ground. He had no idea whether he was going up or down, whether he was still on Earth or in the farthest reaches of space. There was no more rational thought, only pain and the knowledge that he had been beaten by a third class Saiyan and his half-breed rat.


So between them, Gohan and Goku have managed to rid the world of the Saiyan threat. What will happen to Gohan now? Will he get a chance to tell his dad that long story? Or will he be spirited away, back to Sensou's training of doom? Has Vegeta survived this time or has he actually been blown into the next world?

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON…INVADER ZIM!

Solutions, give me solutions!

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