Dragon Ball Super +PLUS+

PART 9

XXIV

"Where to next?" Krillin said to the gang as they huddled back into the Capsule Corp Space Ship, orbiting around the dead planet.

Piccolo stood, leaning against the wall, while Gohan stood there, eyes closed thinking intently. "Piccolo," Gohan started, "Do you think we should head back home until we know more?" He asked without a clue of what to do.

"The reason we came out here in the first place is because this planet is close to the Namekian Dragon Balls," Said Piccolo as he walked towards Gohan. "King Kai has been keeping a close eye on the Namekians since, but I think it would be best to go and check in to be sure everything is OK, before we go anywhere else."

Krillin fist pumped, "Alright!" he said with excitement, as he sat down to the controls.

Walking over to Krillin, Gohan looked at the console, "How long does it say it's going to take to get there?"

Krillin typed at the computer to chart its course. The whole ship hummed to life, and they could feel the ship accelerate and boost around the planet to head out towards New Namek. "It says 12 hours, so we will be there shortly.

As the ship shot off into space towards the Namekian home world, Goten and Trunks were relieved the ship wasn't heading home. This would had been such a bummer to head all the way out here, just to have to turn around.

About 12 hours later, as the greenish white planet came into view, Gohan could see a beaming smile from Piccolo, who, likely had more than one reason to want to visit his people's home world. Gohan walked over to Krillin, and sat down, nudging him to grab his attention. "Just like old times, right partner?" he said with a goofy smile, which Krillin returned.

"Yeah, well," Krillin laughed, "Hopefully not too much like old times."

"Why don't you come down with us?" Gohan said to him.

"Hey man, I'd love to do that, but who is going to fly the ship?" he said back to him as the ship began its low orbit approach.

Simultaneously, Gohan and Krillin looked back to Trunks and Goten, just sitting there, looking bored.

After several minutes, and multiple knowledge checks, Trunks and Goten were given instructions of how to open the airlock and ready the ship for them to get back in. "Are you sure you can do this?" Gohan asked Goten, who nodded.

"It'll be fine Gohan," Trunks said with a grin. "I know how all of this stuff works." Gohan looked over to the confident pre-teen and nodded, before heading to the lower deck to meet up with Krillin and Piccolo.

As the 3 entered the airlock, Gohan brought the communicator to his mouth, and gave the order, "Alright you two, release the airlock." After several seconds, nothing happened. "Goten? Trunks?"

The two up top began arguing which button was the air lock release and air lock pressurize.

Gohan looked over to Krillin and Piccolo, "Maybe this was a bad I…" Before he could finish his sentence, the floor opened, and the three blasted out with a pressurized burst towards the surface of the planet. Tumbling in the upper atmosphere, Piccolo was the first to right himself, and used his Ki to start flying off towards the nearest Namekian Settlement. Gohan was next, but he flew over to Krillin, who was turning blue in the face for not holding his breath all the way before falling out of the shift. As the freezing cold of high altitude subsided, Krillin gasped deeply for air before passing out, and then turned to the ship that was fading from view.

"DARN YOU!" he yelled at the two young half Saiyans, before Krillin turned and he and Gohan joined Piccolo, flying off in the direction of the nearest Village.

After several minutes of flying, most of which spent catching up to Piccolo, the 3 warriors landed on a small settlement, on the edge of a lake, with grassy plains surrounding the nearby landscape not covered in water. As they powered out of flight, and landed next to the lake, in the middle of the town, The Namekians were there, waiting in a group, with Maury leading the group.

"My friends," He said with a great warm smile, "how lovely it is to see you all again." He said greeting them.

Gohan, the leader of the group, stepped forward towards Maury to greet him. "Long time no see," he said, as he leaned down to shake the hand of the 5 foot tall Namekian.

"Yes, it has been. Why, the last time I shook your hand, I was the one to lean over Gohan. My have you grown strong." He said, still grinning ear to ear.

Piccolo walked up to the two shaking hands, getting down to more business, "I wish it was under better circumstances." He said, working to bring up the topic of why they were here.

"Well, I am sure we have much to discuss, but now is not the time. Please, come in, let me treat you three to something to eat and drink."

"Awesome!" Krillin said walking up towards Maury.

"Ah, the Hero Krillin, such a pleasure to see you again good sir." Krillin just nodded with a big smile.

As the 3 entered Maury's hut, food, which was mostly cooked Vegetables and tea had been put out for them. "We expected your arrival, but I will say, I am surprised Goku isn't here. Not that we don't appreciate your presence. You all have grown so much more powerful since those fateful days of our old planet."

Gohan nearly choked on his tea, "Yeah, well, dad is away right now, but yeah, I am glad to come back and see you all again."

Maury turned to Piccolo, "How is Dende, is turning into the wise guardian we all expected of him?"

"Yes," Piccolo said, "He still has much to learn, but he grows more confident with every day."

"That is good news to hear. I have tremendous confidence in that boy…well…he is probably fully grown now. He truly has the spirit of Guru flowing through him." As Maury took a drink, of, presumably water being it was in a different cup then the rest, he looked back over to Gohan. "So, I suppose we should get down to business, shouldn't we?" presuming the response would be yes.

"I'm sorry we have to jump right into it, but yeah, we just came from that planet, and it's totally dead. Everything on it was turned to Ash."

Maury closed his eyes for a moment, and nodded his head, "Hmm," he said as he began to rock slightly in his chair, "That is very concerning in deed."

Piccolo, who was neither eating or drinking anything, spoke up, "Have you or any of the other Nameks felt anything in the past few days since it happened?"

"After King Kai and I spoke, I got the elders of each tribe together to discuss this situation. I was not the only Namek to have felt it. Since then, that power source has not returned, but, we have also sensed other anomalies in recent days that concerned us."

Krillin looked concerned as he gulped down his tea, "What kind of anomalies?"

Well, to be perfectly honest, we are unsure. All of it is difficult to understand from such a distance. If I were to compare it to anything, I would relate it to my time on your Earth. I was amazed the first time I saw a night's sky. So many stars. But over time, I realized I can pick out and remember the brightest stars. I know the dimmest one's are there, and on a clear night, I can see them, but I couldn't tell one from another. This is like how I see the life force of the universe around me. I can see life all around, but I can only pinpoint the strongest ones, such as yourselves. I could sense your approach. But most life is so dim, I am only aware of its existence, but couldn't tell one life from the next. But in the past few days, I have sensed an awakening. Once dim stars, seemingly overnight becoming bright."

Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin all stared at each other with mounting concern. If it wasn't enough that the life force of a planet was dissolved, now this. "What do you mean by awakening?" Gohan said, staring straight at the Namek, who was now peering out his window, reminiscing about the evenings on Earth.

"I have never seen such a dramatic change in one's life force. But out there, something is causing seemingly ordinary beings to turn into extraordinary. Every few days another new one shines."

Piccolo stood up and walked over to the corner of the room. Arms crossed, contemplating, "Maury?" he said to the old man. "Do you think you could tell us where they are coming from?"

Maury Stroked his chin. "I could, but it would be of no use. It is always in a different place." He said.

Gohan stood up, and walked to the door before turning around, "Do you think you could let us know the next time you sense that?"

Maury Nodded, "Yes, that shouldn't be a problem."

Gohan nodded to him, exchanged a stare at Piccolo, before exiting the hut and walking away, outside of the village. Piccolo followed behind by a short distance. As Gohan climbed up a short hill, and walked through tall grass to a small cliff, he stopped overlooking the lake and the Namekian landscape, standing still and contemplating with much on his mind.

Piccolo arrived a few seconds later and stood behind him, looking over to his pupil, and knew what was on his mind. "Gohan?" he said, getting his attention.

The two stood there for what seemed like another minute before Gohan closed his eyes. Knowing what Piccolo was going to ask. "Twice in my life," he started, "I had someone unlock my power. Guru once when I was a boy, and then a few years ago, the Old Kai." Gohan paused for another long moment, measuring his words before he spoke them, "What the Elder Namek said, an awakening, that is what it is like. That is how it felt."

"If someone is out there, awakening the hidden powers of a group of warriors, that could pose a problem for us. 1 on 1, I think you could take down anyone. But an army?"

"I don't think it's an army," Gohan interjected. "Whatever is awakening these powers, it is taking its time to do it. Maury said he only noticed a few. Whatever is doing this, it is taking its time.

"Well, assuming it keeps going, hopefully we don't have long to wait."

XV

As the Saiyan craft touched down on Metamora, Goku, Caulifla, and Kale all quickly exited, without a moment to lose. Goku had his finger's crossed that the people of Metamora knew the fusion dance in this universe. Otherwise, they'd be in real trouble. Soon, many Metamorans began to appear, which was instantly recognizable to Goku. Almost all of them had white pants and black vests, with really the colors of their belts, boots and trim of their jackets being the major differences.

As they approached the 3, Goku walked forward and greeted himself. "Hi, my name is Goku!" He cheerily said, as he stuck out his hand to shake. Such action was greeted with fear and hostility, as many of the Metamorans jumped back and got defensive. "Whoa, whoa, hold on, I'm not here to fight you!" he said placing his hands up, trying to be calming. Thinking to himself, he didn't remember the Metamorans to be this jumpy, but they were already dead, so, I guess, what did they have to lose.

"Who are you," one of the humanoid like creatures said to Goku. They looked like humans, with light colored skin; some blue, some red, some yellow, with various dark grey hair styles.

"I said my name is Goku," The Metamoran in charge was not amused.

"I didn't ask your name. You are you three? Why are you all here?" he said, defensively.

Caulifla stepped up, getting annoyed, Goku could see this, and immediately knew this would not be good. He didn't know her very well, but diplomacy didn't seem to be her strong suit. "Hey, were are just here to learn your stupid fusion technique and be on our way. So, where do we go to learn this?" Her arms were crossed, and didn't even make eye contact with them.

"Sorry? Fusion? We know nothing about such a thing." The Metamoran replied.

"Darn it," Goku said, as he felt a sharp ping of disappointment in his gut. "What are we going to do now."

Caulifla walked over to Goku upset. "Hey! You told us these guys would teach us how to fuse! Since you lied, I think now is the time you train me so I can become a Super Saiyan 3, we don't have a choice. You can train Kale too, if we both become one, we will win." As Goku defensively leaning back to avoid the spit coming out of the shouting Caulifla's mouth, he felt something. Something strong. These Metamorans were very weak, so a power level that stood out would definitely be noticed, suddenly a second large power level could be felt, and they were approaching from 2 different sides.

Looking over to his left, a purple Metamoran, bulkier, and intimidating walked up, while a green one walked up on the left.

"I think you should leave," the Metamoran in charge said, with newfound confidence as the two brutish looking men walked up to them.

Goku smirked, "Hey!" he said back to him. "You lied!" Calling him out.

"We, I, I certainly did not!" He said nervously.

"Oh yeah, then why don't these two strong guys speak up. I bet if they did it would sound pretty weird."

The Metamoran in charge hesitated, "THEY DON'T SPEAK! And you are trespassing! Please leave now!"

Goku looked over and smirked. "Watch this." He looked around, made sure he had plenty of space, and then placed his arms out to one side, as he began to say "Fusion," very slowly, he took three steps to the left, rotating his arms. Then, quickly lifting one leg, and swiping his arms to the other side, then they bent over to the side, pointing both index fingers, and shouted out, "HA!"

As he held the pose for several seconds, everyone around was incredibly embarrassed and confounded by his little dance routine. "Wha…What was that?" The blushing blue man said.

"It was the fusion dance?" he said as he righted himself. Looking around to the men. Kale had her hand in front of her blushed red face, and Caulifla had looked away, hands on her hip, disgusted with how embarrassed she was by Goku.

"I think you are mistaken, stranger, now I will reiterate again, please leave!"

As the two strong men approached from either side, Caulifla got into a fighting pose with a smirk on her face, before an older, deeper voice shouted out from behind the group of Metamorans, "ENOUGH!"

As the man, dressed the same, but with a red cape attached to his vest and a cane to assist his movement, all of the Metamorans turned and bowed to him. The older Metamoran was a dark shade of maroon, deeper than the red of his cape and belt. "Your excellence, these intruders are…" the blue Metamoran said before interrupted.

"Excuse me, these people are guests, not intruders. And we do not treat guests this way," the regal man said as he crossed by.

"Yes father. My deepest apologies sir."

"Very well," he said as he walked up to Goku. "That was quite a display. I admit, it has been almost a lifetime since I have seen such technique." All the Metamorans were shocked by this admission, "I am a High Priest of Metamora, my name is Master Club."

"Nice to meet you sir, my name is…" The Priest interrupted him.

"Goku, yes, I heard your name. I may be old, but I have been blessed with great hearing." Goku nodded with a smile. "May I ask, such a young man as yourself, where did you learn that dance?"

"It's really complicated, but let's just say I made friends with some Metamoreez from where I am from a long way from here, and they taught it to me."

"Well, that is very unique, as that technique hasn't been widely used in over 1000 years."

"WHAT!? A THOUSAND YEARS!" Goku said astounded at the old man's words.

"Yes, I have read about it in ancient texts. I actually saw it performed once as a child, by two elders, who, to the best of my knowledge, were the last two alive who knew of it." He paused to let that statement sink in, "Which, does cause me to question your explanation."

As Goku stood there, he tilted his head, and then shrugged his shoulders, before clarifying his answer, "You see, I am not from this universe, I am from universe 7 which is a pair of this one. That planet had a people known as the Metamoreez, but they were all wiped out a long time ago. Then I died and while I was dead I came across 2 of them who taught me the technique. I am here to help train these 2, but I can't teach them a technique that they can't learn on their own in Universe 6, so that is why I brought them here." As Goku finished his statement, the Metamoran high priest dropped his jaw, and was flummoxed by Goku's full account of events that led him to know this ancient technique.

"Well," the old man coughed and cleared his throat, "That is certainly a," he paused and measured his response, "unique story." He looked over to Goku, and in his eyes before continuing. "I am unsure if your story is entirely true, but when I look in your eyes, I can see at the very least, you believe it to be. I honestly cannot think of any way possible for someone without access to our ancient texts, and knowledge of how to read them in our language would be able to know such a thing, so I have no choice but to believe you."

"That's Great!" Goku responded. "But, if you do not use that dance, how do you all fuse?"

The Metamoran Priest smiled and looked at the two fused warriors flanking Goku, Kale and Caulifla. "So, you not only know the dance, you have seen it in action before?"

"Uh huh!" Goku said with a smirk and a thumbs up.

"Well," the old priest smiled and chuckled a bit. "That would be a site to see. Maybe one day you can show me."

"Right!" Goku responded enthusiastically.

"It would seem that, even the ancients knew the ridiculousness and complexities of the fusion dance. Over the past millennia, it has changed many times since the poses you know. We now have a less," he paused, trying to avoid using the word embarrassing, "uncomfortable, and more efficient way to perform fusion."

"Alright!" Goku said pumping his fists. "Well, if it is different here, then I definitely can't teach them my way! I'm glad we came…" the old man cut him off.

"But, I am afraid, it is ancient knowledge and sacred to my people. I can understand if you learned this from…a ghost, who passed on the ancient knowledge so it wouldn't die with them, but to us, it is a treasure we do not lightly divulge. If the forces of evil knew there was a way to achieve such unnatural strength, it would bring unnecessary plight to our people. I assume that may have had to so with the destruction of our people from…wherever it is you are from."

Goku nodded, "I understand, but you see, we come here, not to cause harm to your people, but to save your universe. There is a being out there that is killing planet after planet. It is so strong; no one will be able to stop it unless these two learn how to fuse."

The priest looked over to the 2 Saiyans behind Goku, and back to him. "How can you be so confident they will be enough?"

Goku furrowed his brows and gave a confident stare, "Those two are really powerful, and I fought them using another method of fusion not too long ago. They were ridiculously powerful. One of the strongest in all the universes. If they fuse, nothing would be able to stop them!"

The priest looked back at the two, Caulifla about to fall asleep from all the talking, and Kale, sitting there, reserved. Looking back at Goku, he looked grave, "Such power is not what the fusion was intended for. The fusion you speak of, was it done with the portara?"

Goku looked surprised he knew and nodded.

"Fusion is an ancient gift, given to us as a method to defend ourselves. It is derived from the same magic as the portara. As you can tell, we are not blessed with great power, but when we fuse, our warriors can defend themselves from outside forces. That is how we survive. But, it is temporary for a reason. Our people are not strong enough to fight alone, and with such limited time, we must rely on whatever fight to come to us. But those two, if they are as strong as you say, fusion is a power too radical and dangerous for them to be able to do outside of the blessings of the Gods. The timid one, she follows the commands of the other. Fusion is a partnership. If there is a dominant being, she would instantly become the most powerful being in the universe by manipulating her friend to fuse with her. And when fused, bend to her wishes. Such a terrible, unstoppable power, it is something I cannot endorse."

"Hey!" Caulifla said, hearing the ancient priest's message. "Kale speaks for herself, she does what she wants, right Kale!?"

Kale, looked up, and startled bowed slightly, "oh, yes."

Caulifla crossed her arms "Besides, this fusion Idea is his. I want to become the most powerful fighter in the Universe on my own. Me and Kale together! RIGHT KALE!" She said pumping her fist and looking over to the other Saiyan, still standing reserved with her legs and arms together, partially bowed towards her friend.

"Right," she said, with a smirk.

The old priest looked over to the 3 Saiyans standing in front of him, thinking of how peculiar the situation is. "Come with me," he said to them after a long pause, and turned around, walking down a path.

After several minutes of walking, they came to a massive, cone-like, building that looked like a tube spiraling all the way high in the sky. "Whoa, this place is huge!" Goku said, as they came up to this old stone sanctuary.

As the old man came to the door of the building, opening it, he turned back, and motioned for them to enter the building. As they entered, with him closing the doors behind him, they marveled at the cavernous interior. He continued to walk over to the far end of the room, where there was a ramp that circled the walls, leading all the way to the top, with platforms held up by columns every so often. As they climbed further and further up the structure, they stopped at a platform with racks and racks of scrolls. The High Priest Club shuffled through several ancient documents before he had an aha moment, and then moved to another rack where, after reaching very high up for a small tightly bound scroll, he grabbed what he had intended to look for and walked over to a thick wooden table.

Unrolling the scroll, and placing heavy weights that were on the table to the corners to hold it flat, the scribblings on the text were traced by Club's finger, as he mumbled to himself.

"Um sir?" Goku chimed in, trying to get his attention.

"Shhh!" he waved he free hand, shushing him. Goku grabbed his mouth and held his breath slightly. Maybe he wasn't allowed to make noise in here. He didn't know the custom. "Ok then," Club's voice shocked the 3 Saiyans as he didn't hush it in the slightest. "After consulting with the ancient texts, I have determined I can teach you two how to fuse."

"That's great!" Goku started before he realized there was more to come.

"But, you must prove yourselves first."

"Prove myself!?" Caulifla said, offended by the statement.

"Indeed. I have to say, my inclination is to not teach the two young warriors, but I do not act alone. I have this sanctuary to inform me." He pointed towards the document on his table, "in here, it says that this skill has been taught once before, to two passing warriors who were out to vanquish a great evil. As any Metamoran warrior, they had to prove themselves worthy before training was given, and so will you two. I will teach our fusion technique to the two of you, under the condition, that you pass our trials."