Dragon Ball Super +PLUS+
PART 10
XXVI
Cabba's face was struggling, it was taking all of his effort to not fall to his death. Sweat was pouring off of his face, dripping down onto his thrashed armor, and tattered blue garments he was wearing below. His body was full of bruises, cuts and scrapes. Tears were forming in his eyes, which, he desperately tried to avoid letting out to where his Master would see him. Above him, Cabba was holding a massive boulder, really, more like the side of a mountain he was holding up from collapsing into a vat of lava that was below him.
"Good," Vegeta said to him, as he could see his pupil, working up to his absolute limit. "We have been here for 4 hours now. I would say we area about halfway there." He said with an evil smirk on his face.
"Halfway!?" Cabba said, as it took everything he had from slipping, and being crushed between a pool of molten and a mountain of solid rock.
"Oh? Ready to give up huh? Is that really sweat on your face, or is it tears?" His words hurt. He had stood here for 4 hours, and just received torment from him. Every time he thought he was complimenting him, more bad news, or another volley of insults thrown his way.
Thinking to himself, Vegeta looked at the kid, struggling mightily, holding his power inside, focusing, controlling and suppressing it incredibly. Whispering to himself, Vegeta was secretly urging on his pupil, "C'mon kid." He looked over to Cabba, and could tell he was near slipping, close to letting his power go to save himself from certain death. "Focus damn you!" he shouted out. "Remember to breath! If you fall into that lava, I can't save you!"
"Right!" Cabba struggled to respond. Closing his eyes, he attempted to calm himself, and opening his mouth wide, he drew in as much air as his lungs could hold. Before slowly letting it out. He then began to slowly, and deeply breath in through his nose, exhaling equally as slow. As he opened his eyes, he was focused again, and the rock, which had been teetering to collapse raised a few inches up, as Cabba began hovering a few feet higher from the molten death below him.
"Holding out on me huh?" Vegeta said, responding to the new found focus of his pupil.
Cabba, looking over to Vegeta, continued to breath, before measuring his words to respond, "I," he began, each word, spoken individually, as if its own sentence, "Will. Not. Fail. You." As he said that, Cabba's arms raised, the rock, which he had been holding up through combination of his back and hands, was lifting above him, slowly. Cabba's mouth opened, revealing a clenched jaw, and the sounds of his intense struggle to raise the stone higher becoming more audible. His eyes closed momentarily as Vegeta felt a twinge of energy release. Cabba stopped for a second, got back in control, and then reopening his eyes, he made one final push until the entire side of that mountain was raised above his head, arms stretched straight, and no energy seeping out of his body.
"Me huh?" Vegeta said, as he slowly hovered in the air and approached him, circling him with crossed arms. "Well, I have to say I am honored," he said sarcastically, again with a short, low, maniacal laugh to himself. "Am I your true motivation? You want to make me proud?" Cabba, was as firm as a stone, holding the rock up, his body stretched straight as he held it in place as Vegeta circled him. "Well, I think we both know, you already have."
Cabba's focus wavered a sec, and as his elbows began to tremble, he pushed back to ensure he did not succumb. But, what Vegeta just said, could it be true, or was he opening himself up to more torment. He had to stay on the defensive, but, his words, if it were true would had meant so much to him. He had to ask, "Master?"
"You have overcome everything I have thrown at you, and, to be honest, exceeded my expectations. When we first fought, I challenged you to become a super Saiyan, and you succeeded. During the tournament, I pushed you to surpass your limits, and you succeeded. Out here, I have pushed you to your absolute limits, and here you are, stronger than ever." Cabba was now trying harder than ever to not cry. It was difficult, Vegeta's words meant a lot to him. "Anyone can train, and get stronger, but your will to do so, and overcome my torment, it makes me proud."
"Master," Cabba said, sincerely, doing what he could to keep his grip on this rock, trying to prevent himself from crying. "That means…" Vegeta cut him off.
"It means nothing, because I am not the one you seek approval from, am I." Cabba felt a sting. The rock atop his grip grew heavier and heavier with every second. "No, someone like you," Vegeta paused, "who has gained such power at such a young age, you desire the approval of someone else, and it has become clear to me since coming here who that is." The swelling weight of the rock was causing his elbows to begin to buckle, and his arms shake and tremble doing what it could to keep the rock in place. "You are seeking approval from your father. Am I right?" The rock dropped a bit, and he now had placed the weight on his back to distribute it, but his body was starting to sink more and more. "Because no matter how hard you try, no matter how powerful you become. No matter how many enemies you defeat, in the end, your father won't recognize you as his son," Vegeta paused, and with his face right in Cabba's staring at him right in his eyes, he revealed his discovery, "Prince Cabba."
All the air left Cabba's lungs, and his grip collapsed underneath the weight of the rock, as his body went limp and he fell. An instant later, after closing his eyes, waiting for death. He felt a tug pulling him up by his collar, instead of stone pushing him down. He turned his head, and looked up. There was Vegeta, holding him by his ragged shirt, and with one hand, effortlessly holding the mountain up. "Vegeta?" he said, weakly, as he felt all the energy leave his body.
"Pathetic," he responded, as he tossed Cabba aside away from danger, and pushed the falling mountain away, having it avoid falling on top of either of them. Several seconds later, Cabba was sitting, cross legged on the ground, near the molten pit, with Vegeta gingerly landing in front of him, arms now crossed again.
"That," Cabba said, desperately trying to catch his breath, "That was just a test?" he felt pain throughout his body as he had strained just about every muscle in his body after losing control of his power. "Those things you said, all lies, just to try to make me break."
Vegeta could sense the mixed anger and sadness in Cabba's voice. "Your father is a fool," he said to him, as he began to walk past him. Vegeta didn't turn his head, or even glance at him. "And a liar." The words, spoken, just as Vegeta was next to Cabba, felt like a thousand needles attacking his insides. No one had ever spoken so negatively about his father, about his family before.
"My father…" Cabba stopped and corrected himself, "The King, he is a great man!"
"He is a fraud. My father was a true Saiyan King. He was a horrible man, but he was proud of who he was, he didn't pretend to be something he wasn't. Your father has neither Honor or Pride. He pretends to be a great man, but it is an act, he does it just to manipulate his people, whom, by my estimation, many of them could kill him in an instant."
"STOP IT!" Cabba said, rising to his feet. "STOP TALKING ABOUT THE KING LIKE THAT!"
"Or what," he said, stopping. "You will stop me?" Vegeta laughed. "You can do nothing, Like Father, like Son. You both are just failures!" Vegeta said, still not turning back at Cabba.
"HE IS NOT A FAILURE!"
"Oh, I'd disagree," Vegeta said, now, with an even more sinister tone. "Why do you think he doesn't recognize you as his Son. He sees too much of himself in you. A loser, someone who has never won a tough fight because, deep down inside, like you," Vegeta lowered his voice, closed his eyes, and really resonated his voice when he finished, "He is a coward."
The mountain they were on began to tremble, as loud cracks resembling thunder echoed in their canyon. Behind Cabba, the pool of lava bubbled intensely, before ballooning and shooting into the sky like a geyser. Cabba was enraged. Surrounding his body, sparks of violent electricity formed, as his dark eyes, targeted Vegeta with intense prejudice. "How dare you," he growled at him, standing in an aggressive pose. Vegeta's eyes were still closed, he could sense the power boiling inside of Cabba. Behind him, Cabba's eyes were now solid Green, his air standing jagged on his head. His muscles slowly bulged and toned, as his hair began to fade from black to golden. Then, he could feel the snap happen inside of him. The Saiyan rage take over. How dare this man speak to him like that. Master or not, whether it was to train him or not Vegeta's words were unacceptable. He must pay, "HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT MY FATHER LIKE THAT!" With a blast, Cabba fired off towards Vegeta, arm at the ready, cocked and ready to fire its powerful fist right at his face.
Vegeta turned his body slightly, and tilted his head at Cabba, with his confident smile. As Cabba drew his hand back as far as he could and then threw it with all the force in his body right at Vegeta's face. As it connected, all manner of rock and debris nearby, either compressed or blasted off in all directions from the sheer force of the impact. Vegeta's fell back several steps, catching himself, and regaining his footing. As Cabba stood there, feet planted and arm still outstretched from his mighty punch, he was shocked at what he just did. He just threw his planet, maybe his entire universe down the drain with his tantrum. Why would he do such a thing? Vegeta would surely leave now, and they would be doomed.
"Good." Vegeta said, as he brought his wrist up to his moth and straightened his body. Turning his head towards Cabba. A small stream of blood had begun to drip down his cheek, and with a wipe of his glove, he cleaned it off. "I have been waiting for that all day." Vegeta said to him, which caused Cabba to back down, and power out of Super Saiyan 2. "A true Saiyan Warrior does not accept disgrace. Those who truly insult us and our power deserve to be punished. I disgraced you for hours, and nothing. You stood there and took it. Like a weepy child. I am not here to teach you; I am here to train. You need to learn these lessons on your own."
Cabba put his head down, and thought to himself, before looking up at Vegeta. "It's like when I first became a Super Saiyan, you were trying to make me angry, am I right?"
"Yes, but, what was different this time?" Vegeta responded with a deep and serious voice.
"It is not just about controlling my power; it is also about controlling my anger."
"Of all the Super Saiyan's I have met, each of them are triggered by different emotions that make them more powerful. For Kakarot, it was loss. For me, it was anger. For Gohan, it was disappointment. The Super Saiyan Power comes from emotion." Cabba stood up straight, arms to the side, and now was listening intently. "Super Saiyan, or Super Saiyan 2, they are not plateaus. They are mountains that can be explored. I realized this during our fight with Majin Buu. Kakarot turned into a Super Saiyan 3, and in that moment, I accepted just how much more powerful he had become then me. There was a Gap I didn't think at the time I would ever be able to overcome. But, as the battle dragged on, his power faded quickly, and he lost the ability to transform. It became clear to me in that moment, he had attained Super Saiyan 3 before he was ready, and his body couldn't handle it. Kakarot and I were about equal in power as a Super Saiyan 2, so if I wanted, I could have explored how to transform into a Super Saiyan 3, but I refused. It was clear, we hadn't explored just how far Super Saiyan 2 could go. If I were to surpass Kakarot, I would master Super Saiyan 2, and then, when I was ready, move to level 3, He would be no match."
"So, you too know how to go Super Saiyan 3?" Cabba asked him.
Vegeta smirked and chuckled at the comment, "Never got around to it. Once we discovered Super Saiyan God, there was no point. The bar had raised again."
"So, you're not teaching me how to become a Super Saiyan 3, you're teaching me how to become a Super Saiyan God?"
"As if." Vegeta looked over to him with a smirk, "You still don't fully understand what it means to be a Super Saiyan, God power is a long way off. If you are strong enough to survive this, maybe one day you can visit me on Earth, and I will teach you how to master Super Saiyan God, the only true way a Saiyan should do it, on your own."
XVII
"What do they mean by Harmony?" Caulifla said to Goku as they were walking down a path to the first trial.
"I dunno, I guess he means teamwork?" Goku said quizzically.
"TEAMWORK!" Caulifla yelled over at him. Goku jumped.
"Would you stop doing that!" he said, remarking at her spontaneous outbursts.
"Kale and I don't need to prove anything about how good of a team we are! We are the best team in the Galaxy!"
"Yeah?" Goku said, with a smirk, "Then this should be NO problem for you I guess," challenging them to accomplish this task.
"Right!" She pumped her fist.
Kale looked over to her, the two locked eyes, and she smiled and pumped her fist too, "RIGHT!
As they got to the training ground, they saw it was a small pond with a waterfall flowing into it. At the base of the waterfall, was a water collection device, used to direct water from the falls to the small village nearby.
The High Priest Club was there, with several other old Metamorans close by but with either blue or yellow capes. "Greetings, welcome to the first trial: The Trail of Harmony. For 2 people to become one, they must be in complete harmony with each other." As he beckoned the girls to enter the pool of water, they passed by Goku and walked over to the where The Priest beckoned them to. They were standing underneath the ramps that were splitting the water in either direction. One of the younger priests brought over a large container, placing it in the water, between them. "As you can see, this device splits the flow of water in 2 opposite directions, the container in the center needs to be filled, and we could easily fill it by placing it at either of your ends, but it would fill twice as fast if the water poured straight into it. For your trial, the two of you must work in harmony, raising each end of your spouts simultaneously and quickly will allow the water to pool and overflow into the container. There must be no waste. Once you begin, all the water from that point must land in the container. Do you understand?"
Kale and Caulifla looked at each other, and to show off how good of a team they were, they both simultaneously pumped their fists, and said "yes!"
Club nodded his head, and crossed his arms as the two girls got into position. Kale looked over to Caulifla, making sure she was doing it right as she grabbed the handle extending from a pole hanging off the contraption. Caulifla nodded back, and began a count. "Ready Kale?"
"Ready," she responded.
"Alright! 1! 2! 3! GO!" Kale quickly raised her end, faster than Caulifla. All of the water on her end drained incredibly fast, too fast to overflow over the barrel, and rushed down Caulifla's side, who thought she should be more methodical. As the water hit her side, it overflowed incredibly and gushed over, falling on top of Caulifla, drenching her. "KALE!" she creamed over, water dripping from her massive bushy hair.
"Oh sis! I'm so sorry!" She ran over to her to try and brush water out of her hair.
"Stop, just stop, go back, let's do it again…" She thought to herself, embarrassed for a second, and looked back over to the shore. "Uh…Can we go again?" she asked. With a great big smile, Club just nodded his head.
"Aw man, this could be harder than I thought," Goku said with his hands on his hips and head tilted, trying to understand the trick.
"Alright Kale, Slowly, OK?" Caulifla called over.
"Yes sis! I can do it slowly!"
"OK then. Ready?!" She shouted over. Kale nodded. "OK. 1! 2! 3! GO!" As the two slowly raised each side, water ended up pooling over their heads instantly splashing out, and drenching both of them this time." "DAMMIT KALE!" She yelled out to her friend, who was embarrassed. "You went to fast again!"
"I," she paused, "I went slow, like you. I got splashed too!"
Caulifla looked over, noticing her friend, sopping wet. "Hmm," she thought. "Kale, maybe we need to both go fast! That way the water can't pool over our heads, and won't overflow on the other person's side!"
"You're a genius!" Kale said clapping.
"Hey old guy, we're going again," Caulifla called out over to the high priest irreverently.
"So be it," Club responded, still with a smirk on his face.
"OK, let's do this! 1! 2! 3! NOW!" The 2 girls quickly lifted each side forcing all the water towards the center, but, the flow of water was too quick, and as it all came to the center, the flow had become too strong, and as it pooled and rebounded, water flew out in all directions, splashing back, and slapping both girls with water.
Club looked over to Goku, smiled, and nodded his head as he walked away, followed by his entourage of priests. "They may continue as long as it takes." Stopping, he looked back at the two, arguing at who went too fast or two slow, he looked back at Goku, "it may take a while."
XVIII
Back on Namek, Gohan and piccolo were sitting alone, meditating, as the Young Namekian boys played nearby. It was serene, and peaceful here. The whole planet reminded Gohan of the badlands Piccolo generally lived and picked to train in, his whole life. Krillin headed up to the ship 2 days ago to watch after the boys.
The two of them spent these days searching. Searching the stars for energy that would lead them to what they were looking for. The one causing this trouble was out there. They could sense something wrong, but it was a sensation they had never experienced before.
Gohan, knowing that feeling, the sense of a power awakening, searched particularly hard for that. In the past 2 days, a lot of thoughts entered their mind. This being used this tree from the world core, where the Kais were born, and now possessed the ability to awaken someone's inner power, their ultimate power. Gohan and Piccolo could only detect traces, but not lock onto anything.
Coming over the ridge to where they were training, Maury brought food. "Gohan, Piccolo, I apologize for the interruption, but I thought you may be hungry."
As Gohan exhaled, he opened his eyes, and looked over to Maury, "THANK YOU! I'm famished!" he said with a goofy smile, jogging over to the tray of food and drink.
As they sat down, the three of them huddled while Gohan mostly did the eating. Maury looked over to Piccolo and asked him a question that had been on his mind since they arrived, "So, do you all believe a Kai is responsible for the planet?"
Piccolo thought intently about it before answering, "I really don't know. Goku and Vegeta fought a powerful Kai not too long ago, from universe 10, named Zamasu."
Gohan looked up, "Yeah that's right, if there is one bad Kai, chances are, there could be a second."
"I would think all the Supreme Kai's especially after the tournament of power would be more careful with their disciples. It just seems odd, in all the years the universe has existed, 2 Supreme Kai's go rogue at the same time."
Maury spoke, obviously thinking out loud, "Whatever being has done this, their timing is intentional. They waited for Goku and Vegeta to be away, to challenge what was left of the strong warriors in this universe. It would make sense, whoever is behind this, has knowledge of the fighters in your universe, and believes with those two out of the picture, they can raise enough strong fighters from your own universe to overpower you. Even with whatever strength this being may or may not possess, I don't believe it is all powerful. Otherwise, it would had sought you out already."
"That's what concerns me," Gohan said to the Elder Namek and Piccolo. "The only Kais who know of Goku and Vegeta, are the ones who saw us fight at the tournament of power. Most of them seemed like good guys, except that one."
"Yeah, that sleaze-ball from universe 9."
"Hmm," Gohan said as put down his food. "It would make sense. He also was super mad at our universe from the Zen Exhibition match. He also had those small fruit that made the one guys super powerful when he took it."
"Those fruit were temporary," Piccolo questioned.
"Yeah, but maybe he knows a way to make it permanent." Gohan responded.
"Goku and Vegeta eliminated essentially their entire team together."
"Possibly," Maury said to them, obviously with some objection.
"What is it?" Piccolo questioned.
"I struggle, with the idea of any Supreme Kai being capable of such a heinous act. It is their job to grow and cultivate a Universe. Death, and blasphemous actions like using that tree I cannot imagine, one who has attained the role of a supreme Kai would be capable of…" Before he could finish his sentence, Maury sensed something. He grew very still, sitting back and closing his eyes. Focusing on what he sensed.
"Maury?" Gohan said, but he too began to realize the same thing Maury had. Closing their eyes, both he and piccolo could feel it. A new, radical power raising rapidly out of nowhere.
"Gohan!" Piccolo yelled to him.
"RIGHT!" Pulling his radio from his pocket, he squeezed the transceiver and called out to Krillin, "Krillin, come in!"
After several moments of nervous static, Krillin's voice resonated over the small speaker, "Gohan, I read you, what's up."
"We got to go, now, we found it!" Gohan said with urgency.
"Right! Got it, on our way."
Gohan and Piccolo stood up, "Maury," Piccolo called to him, "can you help us pinpoint where it is?"
Gohan and Piccolo could feel it out, but they weren't 100% positive.
"Yes Piccolo, I see it clearly now," without opening his eyes, he slowly raised his hand towards the sky, about three-quarters of the way up towards the east, he pointed in that direction. Piccolo and Gohan focused and concentrated on it hard, until they too could sense it clearly.
"We got to go. Sorry Maury to run like this," Gohan said as his feet lifted off in the air and was rising towards the sky.
"Be safe you two," Maury said, followed by two bursts of energy and the two warriors flying off rapidly towards the sky, to sync up with the space craft, and track down just what was awakening all this power.