A/N: Generally, for the most part, this story focuses on the heroes on earth, and the more plot important elements. More explicit details, interactions and the side stories of a few characters your going to find yourself curious about will be handled in one-shots and separate stories. Keep in mind when reading this chapter that I'm a fan of minimal power increases between the years, and the power levels in my fic represent this. For comparison purposes, Goku's base during the Buu saga is set at about 5x his base when he first went SSJ. Your free to disagree, of course, but its how it is here.
Its been five years since the earths greatest warrior had been lost. It was impossible to miss his massive Ki suddenly vanishing, and the heroes of the earth had feared the worst. However, Enma reported that Vegeto had not passed through the Otherworld checkout, indicating that he was still alive. Hopeful, the warriors of Earth had gathered together the dragon balls to wish him back to the planet, but the dragon himself had been unable to find him.
Seeking advice, they had turned to the Supreme and Elder Kai. Between the two of them, they were able to lay out two possibilities. The first was that Vegeto had been utterly consumed, not even his energy or soul able to return from the depths of the massive gravity well. In normal cases, this would have been the only possibility. However, there was an alternative. The second possibility was that with his extreme power, he was able to protect himself even from the might of the all consuming hole. It was possible that the altered space-time there had given way, causing Vegeto to spill into another dimension.
In some sense, the Eternal Dragon was something like a collective subconscious of everything that had ever been known or was currently known within the universe. As such, even his power would be unable to detect or even affect Vegeto should this be the case. As Bulma was unable to be found either, she more than likely had shared whatever fate Vegeto had.
The warriors of Earth, especially his sons, held the hope that the latter was true, but had to carry on with the knowledge that either way, there was the very real possibility that he would never be returning to them.
To that end, all of them fully took up training. With the Earth's greatest defender gone, that burden fell on their shoulders, as Goku had told his son a long time ago. It was a memory that Gohan held bitterly, wondering if he had continued training like he should have...would things have turned out differently?
For his part, Gohan had become the strongest warrior on the planet, while maintaining his scholarly standards. It had cut into other areas of his life, but he had still been able to find time for his wife, and more recently, his daughter pan, who was already proving to have a great deal of potential all her own.
His younger brothers had taken the loss of their father hard. Trunks previous loss of a father had almost been non-existent before the void was filled, and Goten hadn't ever experienced the loss at all. They had taken it personally, and despite having no reason to believe so, had blamed themselves. Their response had been to train as much and as hard as they could. As a result, they went from being near 1/10th Gohan's base power to 1/6th. He found their rate of growth incredible, and as a result, their fused form was much more powerful as well.
It was remarkable, really. Despite being 6 times their individual strength, the way the fusion multiplied their power and their increase in strength had made it so their SSJ2 form was almost a match for his full power, and their SSJ3 completely blew him out of the water. He found it somehow fitting, though. A single persons progress would never be able to match pace with the combination of two others, let alone a multiplied factor of that.
Goten and Trunks had learned no to rely of the power of the third level, however. It was a fickle mistress indeed, and any fight against an equally skilled opponent would easily outlast the limit of time that it imposed. And, truth be told, Gohan looked forwards to the day that was soon to come when Gotenks SSJ2 was more powerful that all his power. It was that day that he could relax a little, return to his studies a little more and truly leave the mantel of protector of the planet on the boy's shoulders.
Capsule cooperations management had returned back to Bulma's father. Despite getting along in the years, he was capible of doing the job and, while Trunks wasn't otherwise training, was passing on everything he knew to his grandson. It was looking like some time in the near future, Trunks and Goten's generations would be inheriting the full load of the previous.
But, inheriting that mantle of responsibility of course meant inheriting all of the problems that came with it, and as was the course for this universe, that trouble was just around the corner. For Vegeto had easily dealt with the strongest incarnation of the Majin curse, but the curse itself was still out there. Similarly, all contact with Piccolo had been lost shortly after he had landed on his home planet. Despite being worried, the state of the universe was dark enough that neither Gohan nor the teens could risk their own planet to check on him.
They knew he was alive, however, due to a wish made when Vegeto couldn't be wished back. The dragon confirmed that he couldn't be resurrected due to not being dead, and he couldn't be brought back to Earth due to being unwilling to do so. They had left it at that and trusted in Piccolo to be able to take care of himself.
There was no crackle, no grand explosion or display to signal the arrival of their next challenge. There was simply the communication from Kaio, explaining that Gohan should come to Otherworld and speak with Lord Enma. Being the hero he was, Gohan had complied without hesitation, and had met with the leader of the check in station, which is where we pick back up.
"Lord Enma." Gohan said with a slight nod, his usual humor and cheerfulness currently displaced due to the obvious severity of what was going on. The universe had been in a dark mood since the Majin curse had been released, like a curtain of dread constantly fell over everything.
"Good of you to come, son of Goku." Enma responded from high on his desk. It was common knowledge that the otherworld had been in a bad way. Some dark force had been interfering with everything going on with the check in and management of souls, and as a result, many of the universes greatest threats had managed to slip through the cracks.
"You know the situation that we've been facing down here." He continued. "And unfortunately, its gotten worse. I'm afraid that the Majin curse found its way even here, and corrupted the soul recycling device." He paused and looked at Gohan, noticing the curious look on his face. Realizing that the mortal had little idea about the intricacies of the life and death cycle, he decided to let him in.
"As you know, when a person dies, its soul travels here. In the case of those exceptionally pure of soul, they are allowed to experience paradise until such time as they wish to return to the cycle of reincarnation. Warriors who have proven themselves are allowed to stay in these lower realms with other warriors, and like those in heaven may do so until they wish to pass on. Neutral souls are simply returned to the cycle once they arrive... and then there are the evil souls."
He shook his head. "Which is where the problem comes in. A soul that has become corrupted through its time living can't simply be returned to the cycle, for two reasons. The first and most obvious is punishment. It would hardly be fitting if a corrupted soul simply got returned with no retribution. The second is cleansing. Once the soul has experienced enough torment, its put into the soul recycle, where its broken down and released back into the living universe."
Gohan nodded, following along. "Which is why father was allowed to keep his body, and why Vegeta would have been recycled immediately rather than keeping his body or going to hell after sacrificing himself to stop Buu. He redeemed himself from his corruption, but was still to stained to warrant special treatment."
Lord Enma nodded. "Correct. Its also why your mother spent her time in heaven while she was dead."
Gohan scratched his head. "If thats the case though, why do you let those in hell keep their powers? I understand that most of them are weak criminals, but in the case of villains like Frieza and Cell, they could pose real problems. Not to mention the Saiya-jins." Gohan shuddered to think about an army of hell bound super saiya-jins.
Another nod from the giant lord. "Its not as easy as taking their power, unfortunately. Energy doesn't come from nowhere, Gohan. Believe or not, there is ultimately a finite amount of it in the universe. Through training, transformations and power ups, a person binds to their soul latent energy. The only way to free that energy from a soul is through the recycling process. Once the souls identity has been broken down, all of their energy is unbound and freed up. Similarly, if your killed while your dead, all that happens is your identity is lost and energy scattered in the same manor as recycling."
Gohan frowned. It seemed like it would be a better idea to simply recycle powerful villains from the get go. He understood that it would hardly be fair for someone like Freiza to receive no punishment, but it seemed safer.
"The villains that you have faced during your lifetime have been some of the strongest to ever exist. However, there are some safe guards in place. For one, there is no latent energy in hell, so its impossible for a soul there to bind any more strength to itself. I assure you that Frieza and Cell are still at the strength they were when you sent them there."
A slight grin crossed his features. "Well, thats not so bad then." He pressed his knuckles against each other. "It might be fun to drop in on them while I'm here then."
Enma chuckled. "If you can find them, you'll be doing better than we are. At any rate, theres one more safe guard that you should be aware of..." An explosion seemed to rock the entire foundation of the building, sending even the large Enma tumbling to the ground, a thud sounding as he cracked his head on the edge of the desk.
After a few moments, the tremor was over, and he picked himself off the ground, rubbing the slightly swelling spot.
"It seems like the explanations are going to have to wait." He pointed outside towards the famous snake way. "Out there. Jump off the edge and you'll find yourself in hell. Be careful Gohan. All of the energy that was being recycled has been pulled together into a wrapper of Majin curse. It will be extraordinarily dangerous at best."
Son Gohan nodded and without another word walked out the door for snake way. In his office, Enma tuned his screen to focus on hell so that he could keep an eye on things.
As was the way of things, timing was everything. And the timing on the days events were rather terrible. That depended on ones point of view, however. From the eyes of the villain, it would seem that todays timing was rather perfect.
At present, Goten, Trunks, Yamcha and Krillan were gathered on the lookout, standing beside a worried looking Dende. He had called them there not because anything had happened just yet, but because he felt an odd disturbance in the world. It was the nature of his position of Kami that he was more in tune with the ebb and flow of the worlds Ki than any of them could be, and he was certain that he felt a dark tint gathering within it.
"Ah. He's ready." Dende said after a few moments, before vanishing from there sight momentarily. When he returned, he had his hand gripped to the arm of a tall three armed warrior that they all knew well, a short white being sitting on his shoulder.
"Tenshinhan!" Krillian shouted, running up to the taller warrior. "How was it?"
Tenshinhan smiled down at the monk, as Dende let go and Chotzu floated off and to the side a bit. "It went well Krillan. The Otherworld's training was intense as ever. Its a shame that you and Yamcha came back as soon as you had your potentials unlocked, you really missed out."
Yamcha walked up to stand beside Krillan. "We can tell by you Ki. Your as strong as Gotenks base back during the whole Buu deal. Its pretty impressive. But we both had families that we had to get back to. Don't think we've been slacking off though. We're not as strong as you, but we're still a lot stronger than we were."
Tein nodded. "Well, you know. We can't always depend on the Saiya-jins to protect the planet." He noticed Trunks and Goten standing a little ways off. "No offense boys. Us humans just have to stand on our own feet now and again."
Trunks response was a grunt and a shrug, and Goten just grinned at him. "None taken uncle Ten."
As if on cue, Dende felt the dark fluxes start pulling together, and after a few minutes two rifts opened, one on each side of the planet. Both powers, Dende was familiar with, at least in passing.
Wait...three powers. He couldn't feel any life, but the dark Ki of the Majin curse was in some second vessel there.
"Do you feel that guys?" It was Trunks who first spoke.
"Yeah, that one feels like...our dads and Mr. Piccolo, and all of the warriors here." He looked around at all of them.
"Must be Cell." Krillan said, walking to the edge of the lookout to peer down. "It feels like he's the exact same strength he was during the Cell games." He smiled back at the teens. "Shouldn't be a problem at all for Gotenks."
The pair nodded at him. "We don't know who that other Ki is, though." They said in unison.
"Frieza." Krillan said again, a slight burning feeling in his chest. It looked like he was going to be able to get some revenge. "Unlike Cell, though, he's a whole lot stronger than he was the last time we saw him."
Trunks nodded. "He's defiantly weaker than that Cell guy still, but he's still about the same strength as Goten's SSJ2. I don't think you three can beat him. Gotenks should be able to take him out almost instantly, and then we can move on to that Cell guy."
Krillan shook his head, while Yamcha and Tein just smiled. "No, we've got this one kids. Trust us a little more than that. Besides, I've got a little bit of a grudge with him."
Trunks looked a little skeptical but shrugged. "Fine. Don't make us have to wish you back." He looked over at Goten. "You ready?"
Goten smiled and nodded, assuming the position. "Fu..." Part one of a silly little dance. "...sion....." Part two of a silly little dance. "...Ha!" The finale, and one flash of light later Vegeto's true son, Gotenks, was standing before him. "I'll be over to help after I finish up with this wimp." And then the fused warrior was off.
"You ready for this guys?" Tein asked his fellow Earth warriors.
"Of course. Lets show him what Earthlings are made of!" Yamcha said as he through his arm up in the air, being the first one to take off towards the dead tyrant.
