Dragon Ball Super +PLUS+

PART 11

XXIX

The night had fallen on Metamora, and the two, shivering, soaked Saiyans were still at it trying to master this skill of raising the drains so all the water redirected into the central container.

"Kale," Caulifla said, her arms dangling to either side, hair, hanging straight down from the extra weight of the water soaked in it, "This is useless, this test is crap, its designed for us to fail."

"Sis?" Kale said, "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Caulifla said, leaning down on the handle, supporting her weight.

"Well, the test, it's about Harmony, right?"

"Yes, I know that," she was interested about where she was going with this.

"I keep looking at the water, and I keep thinking, why would a test about harmony be done with water, and then it hit me. Ripples."

"Ripples, seriously Kale? Ripples?" Caulifla was dubious.

"Think about it. If you drop a rock into the water, it causes a ripple. But if you drop 2 rocks at the same time, those ripples will hit each other. But if they are not exactly the same, one ripple will overflow another. If the ripples will truly combine into one single wave, they have to be identical."

"Kale, I appreciate the analogy, but we have been going at the same time and speed for hours, and nothing," Caulifla said, admonishing her friend's insight.

"no, but you see, there is one other thing you're not considering." Caulifla looked over, now extremely curious. "The Water!"

"Kale?" Caulifla said of her partner's aha moment.

"We keep just trying to be one with each other, but not with the water. The water is flow isn't exactly the same all the time, it flows slightly differently. Like a ripple. Everything can be exactly the same, but if the water isn't perfectly still, it will mess up the whole thing. If the two of us can act as one, and focus on the flow of water, and trying to control it, instead of just be in unison, we can do it!"

"Kale," her friend said with a dead pan, emotionless tone. "You are…A GENIUS!" She exclaimed. "GOKU! Did you hear that!?" as Caulifla looked over to the shoreline, Goku was fast asleep. "GOKU!" She yelled even louder, causing him to jump.

"Geez, I told you stop doing that!" he said with a start. Rubbing his eyes, he looked down to the two who were drenched, but high spirits.

"My partner, Kale, figured it out. Watch." She looked over to Kale for the next step.

"Well, sis, I think we can't just do a countdown. We both need to feel out what the other one is doing, and the water at the same time, and when we know it is time, we can go together."

"Kale, that sounds really hard, I thought you said you figured it out."

"I did, we just have to try," she responded back. Caulifla smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

The two closed their eyes and focused. Meditating over the water. Focusing on the flow, and the other on the other side. They were in tuned with all of their senses.

As Goku sat there, and watched, he heard footsteps nearby, turning to see the red cape and skin of the High Priest Club, who had trotted down from his sanctuary to join him, even at this late at night. "So, it looks like they are finally figuring it out."

"Yeah, they seem confident," Goku said as he kept his hands on his hips.

"They are persistent, I will give them that," Club responded, as the two of them, stood over them on the shoreline, as the girls meditated over the water.

With their eyes closed, they could almost feel the flow of the water, the minor variations of the current, splashing down the ramps. The two of them felt out each other, sensing the other's movements. They two could feel a rising feeling inside of each other. An anxiousness, like a countdown, coming all on its own. It was building. They were breathing as one, preparing their bodies, naturally for the task, acting out of instinct.

And in an instant, they both felt their arms raise, not too quickly or slowly, and not constant, as it varied with the flow. They were not in perfect unison, but they didn't need to be. They were both equally controlling their share of the water flow. What was simultaneous, was the result, as the direction of the flow of water was perfect: changing direction without splashing, and rushing towards the center, but again, not too fast to splash out. As the flow pooled in the center, it began to overflow as their arms were both now extended all the way straight above their heads into the center container, filling it rapidly. As the girls opened their eyes, they both looked over, and the large container was itself now overflowing with the full force of the water current draining into it.

"KALE YOU DID IT!" Caulifla responded with excitement, releasing her end and running over to her.

"No, we did it!" Kale reminded her. As they hugged, they could hear clapping at the shoreline by the High priest, whom they didn't even know had come down to watch them again.

"I am impressed. The two of you passed the trial of Harmony. Of course, as you know, to be harmonious, is not to be identical, it is to act as one clear mind with one clear purpose." The Saiyans were beaming with pride as they moved onto the next step. "Now, go dry off and get some sleep, the second trial begins tomorrow."

XXX

Fiery rocks of fell from the sky, as the intense heat from the volcano worked to sap Cabba from his full strength. As he flew around, firing off Ki blasts at the falling rocks, working to prevent them from landing on Vegeta, Cabba struggled to breath from the infernal temperatures he was training in. as a Rock was blasted only a few feet from Vegeta, he looked up to his pupil and warned him. "If you don't want to take a swim in that lava, you won't allow even a pebble to get that close to me again, got it?"

Struggling to get enough air in his lungs to answer, Cabba simply let out a "yes," as he heaved and wheezed through his training.

As Vegeta could see the ducking, dodging and darting Saiyan acrobatically use all four limbs to fire Ki to prevent the volcanic rock from nearing him, he noticed the weakening of each blast, and Cabba beginning to slow.

"Why are you doing this Cabba!" Cabba tried to open his mouth and answer, but he was exhausted. His vision was blurring, and he really was not wondering if he would pass out. "CABBA!" Vegeta yelled more emphatically.

"Emo…." Cabba Started, stopped and started again, "Emotion."

"That's right," Vegeta reminded him, "A true Super Saiyan's power comes from his emotion, not his body. You saw me, when I defeated the metal man in that damned box. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, but I got angry, and used my emotion to draw out more power. If you are to raise your power to the next level, you need to unleash your emotion. Draw it out, use it to keep you going. This damned mountain isn't giving up soon. So you had better follow my lead or the mountain will win." Vegeta paused and returned to his malicious tone, "And trust me, you DON'T want the mountain to win."

"Yes, yes sir!" Cabba said with all emphasis as he could. Gritting his teeth, he used the feelings Vegeta helped draw out the other day, focusing on how his father, the king, and his disappointment in him. How he just wants to earn his pride. As these emotions crept into his belly, he felt a great swell of energy come out of nowhere, and within an instant, his blasts, speed and power were returned to normal.

"Good," Vegeta called up to him, "Use it, use all of those emotions, it is your fuel that will keep you alive in a fight to the death."

The mountain erupted for several more hours. Vegeta, standing like a monument in the dirt beneath the falling rock, and Cabba blasting away all incoming debris with unwavering emotion.

XXXI

"Krillin," Gohan said, "we are getting close, aren't we?" As he was leaning anxiously over his old friend, who was checking the navigation system in the captain's chair.

"We are within minutes. Why? Do you sense something." Gohan nodded.

Behind him, Piccolo walked up, confirming what Gohan already knew, "I sense them too."

"THEM!?" Krillin said, "How many are there?"

Gohan closed his eyes and reopened. "I'm not 100% sure, but it could be as many as 5."

With Piccolo nodding, Krillin looked over to him, and then back to Gohan, "And you are sure you want to go ahead with this?"

Gohan paused, look back at piccolo. The energies were no joking matter, but they weren't astronomically high either. "What concerns me isn't those power levels as much as I can't sense whatever is causing them."

"You're right. I figured when we were close, we would be able to pinpoint the leader," Piccolo added.

"Do you think maybe one of those 5 is the leader?" Krillin asked.

"No. Like I said, those 5 guys don't concern me. I can take them as Super Saiyans. If one of them has the power of a whole planet, it is hiding it really well."

"Agreed." As piccolo said that, the ship blasted out of hyper-speed and grew close to the reddish pink planet that they were approaching.

"Boys, are you sure you are up to this?" Gohan asked the two, but before he even got his answer, he could see the two pre-teens dressed in their Gi, with focused eyes, ready for a fight.

"We got this Gohan," Trunks said.

"I'm ready!" Goten added.

"Boys, I want you to make me a promise. If things get bad down there, you two will head for the ship right away, do you understand?" Gohan said to them.

"But Gohan!" Goten chimed in.

"No buts Goten. I am a ton stronger then you, and if it becomes a big problem for me, you two will be child's play for whatever is down there. I won't be able to forgive myself if anything happens to you. And I know our Mom's wont either." The two boys just nodded their head, as they came close to the atmosphere.

"We're close," Piccolo said, "we should get to the airlock."

Gohan, Goten, and Trunks all said in unison, "Right!"

Heading down to the airlock, the 4 warriors could feel the ship's turbulence as it entered the outer atmosphere. "You all ready?" Krillin Said as he placed his hand on the release button.

"Ready," Gohan responded.

"Ok, 3, 2, 1, GO!" and he pressed the button, causing the base of the airlock to open. As the four left the airlock, Gohan and Piccolo, now a veteran of this quickly gained their composure, flying off towards the power levels they could feel not too far away. Just behind them, Goten and Trunks tumbled for a bit before Getting their bearings and then they two fly off after them. The four warriors flew swiftly towards what would most definitely be a fight.

In an open field, with only a few trees, they could see a fire, where 5 men were sitting around, eating. The Sun on this planet was still about an hour from setting, but the pink and orange sky was a backdrop to the red vistas of this planet's surface.

Just outside of the area the 5 were eating, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks and Goten all landed, all with their defenses up. The people around the fire were all definitely warriors, it was clear as they ran up to face them.

In the center, there was a medium sized, large man with a boar-like face, to his right, a purple pebbly skinned man with a large forehead and two round open nobs on the sides of his upper head for ears. A tall, orange haired man with a braid who resembled someone to Gohan, even though he couldn't put his finger on it. There was a Grey skinned, average sized man with an aquatic, almost shark like face, and a woman, with deep blue skin and black hair, carrying knives.

In the center of them, the boar-like man spoke addressed Gohan and the gang. "I count four, where is the 5th warrior in your group?"

Gohan was surprised that these men knew they were coming, obviously waiting, and knew their party was actually 5. "You don't need to concern about him, he didn't come for a fight. None of us did. We just want to know something and we can be on our way."

"You four don't look like you are dressed to come all this way and ask us a question. Especially the little two who seem poised for a fight," the man responded back.

Piccolo looked over to Goten and Trunks who were both in fighting stances, and placed his hand over to them to back down.

Looking back as the boys stood more straight, but still with their guard up, he responded, "You 5, your power levels have gone through the roof of late, am I correct in assuming that?" The men all looked back at each other and smiled. "Well then, we just want to know who is the person responsible. Then you can go on with your business."

"And what do you want with him?" he responded.

"We have some questions for him. Like I said, we aren't looking for a fight, but if it comes to that, I warn you, no matter how strong you THINK you are, it wouldn't end well for you." Gohan said, eyeing Goten, Trunks and Piccolo, who all began to ready themselves.

"We'll see," The response came, as the 5 warriors began to shine bright. It was apparent to Gohan and Piccolo just how strong these guys had become. As the great swell of power boiled up inside of them, it seemed to keep rising more and more. The brightness around them peaked and in a Flash, the 5 warriors were standing there, covered in shining white aura's. Their bodies were different. Each of them seemed to have become more muscular and toned, and their eyes were confident as they stared down Gohan and the gang.

"Boys?" Gohan said calmly over to Trunks and Goten. The two younger half-Saiyans powered up, transforming into super Saiyans.

"Gohan?" Piccolo said over to him.

"I got the big orange haired one and the leader, you handle the woman with the knives, you two, take on the rest, got it?"

"Right," the 3 others responded.

With a smirk, the Boar-like man looked over to Gohan, nodded his head, and then with a scream, flew with incredible force at him. Gohan threw his arm up to defend just in the nick of time, but was thrown back, as the Large man with orange hair trailed behind hastily trying to catch up.

Piccolo and the Blue woman with knives flew at each other. As she took swipes at him, he grasped her wrists, preventing strikes from her blades. As she struggled, it became clear, he had her in strength, but, in her cunning, she threw her forehead into Piccolo's face, smashing him in the nose, before pulling herself towards him using his own grip and drove her feet into his stomach, launching him away. As Piccolo flew away, she realized, he hadn't let go of his grip, but she wasn't flying with him, as Piccolo had stretched his arms. "Two can play at that game!" he yelled. As his arms retracted she felt a great pull towards her, as he met her face with his forehead, smashing in her nose and knocking her back.

The two boys were flanked by the purple man and the shark man, who were circling them. "Goten," Trunks said to him. "You got this?" Trunks said with a confident smirk on his face.

"Yeah trunks, but, who am I fighting."

"You get ugly over there." Trunks replied.

"But Trunks," he responded, "Their both pretty ugly.

"Ugh," Trunks sighed, "the purple one!"

"Right!"

The two warriors flanking them both made motions with their hands, and fired Ki beams at Goten and Trunks, who leapt up into the sky. Both the Shark faced and purple men anticipated these moves, and closed the distance fast, and began throwing fists at the boys. Their smaller stature allowed them to duck and dart around their strikes, but the speed of their opponents was incredible, and it took everything they had to stay out of their way.

The Purple man saw through Goten's defensive dodge and adjusted his assault, throwing a hard punch directly at his face. Goten crossed his arms in front of the blow just in time, but was knocked back. "Goten!" Trunks called out, but as he did, he took his eyes off his Shark faced foe, resulting in him being kicked and flying towards the surface, close to where Goten was.

Gohan had 2 massive warriors, throwing punches and kicks at him, as he tried to move around the battlefield, trying to get an advantage. The two warriors kept pace with him. Gohan's skill was incredible, as he made it look easy to block their blows. These two were considerably more powerful than any of the other warriors in the group of 5, especially the large boar man. Suddenly, the Orange haired man peeled back from the fight, with the Boar man going all in on him. Gohan Easily blocked the strikes against him, and was able to finally go from being on the defensive, to offensive. As he began to trade blows, he finally started connecting, punching him in the stomach and the face before kicking him back several feet. But before he could prepare for his next attack, his skin crawled, as he sensed incoming. Turning quickly, he saw just at the last moment a whistling Ki blast the Orange warrior fired at him. The impact caused a bright explosion that covered that part of the battlefield in smoke. The two warriors fighting Gohan Regrouped, and waited for it to clear.

Piccolo was himself dodging the bladed attacks from the blue woman. As she chased after him, with his back against a wall, he acrobatically leapt over her, with her large swipe of her blade slicing the rock in two with its hard, sharp blade. "Those things are no joke!" he said, before she back flipped, and threw herself at him again, not letting up her assault. Her speed was more impressive than her strength, and with those blades, she was incredibly lethal.

As Goten and Trunks got up from the dirt, wiping themselves off, they both could hear whistling meteoric sounds above them, before seeing dozens of Red and blue Ki blasts heading in their directions. The purple and shark faced men were firing repeated blasts right at them. The boys darted away from their spot, running from the rain of explosive energy chasing them down. As each ball struck, the concussive burst of air was enough to slightly knock the wind out of them, even without being a direct strike.

Over by Gohan and his fight, as the smoke was clearing, there was a yellowish glow, flashing behind the dust and debris. Smiling, the Boar and Orange haired men looked over to a serious looking Super Saiyan Gohan. "No more playing around," He said. As they stared, the two men saw him seem to just disappear, before the Boar creature feeling all the air in his lungs explode out of his mouth as a boot struck his upper back. Seeing this, the other man threw his fist at him, which Gohan dodged and kicked him in the other direction.

The two warriors, upset, and now on opposite sides of him focused their palms in his direction, and as they yelled loudly, both created extremely powerful balls of energy that fired straight at him from either side. Gohan, seeing this, crossed his arms, and then just before the balls reached him, shot them out in either direction, stopping the two incoming blasts in their tracks. With a great bright blast of yellow Ki, the two blasts were over whelmed and flew off into the distance, exploding on impact.

Seeing this, Piccolo knew it was time to get serious. As the Blue woman continued her strikes, he jumped back quickly, crossed his arms and powered up rapidly. As she went for the killing blow, he raised his arms wide in the air, exploding everything around him, throwing her back with great force. As she tried to regain her footing, she could see Piccolo fly at her with incredible speed, so she flipped the knife in her right hand, and threw it at him with full force.

Piccolo opened his mouth at it, and with a deep orange Ki appeared as he fired a Blast at it, disintegrating the blade, and nearly striking the woman who had to leap out of its way. As it impacted the ground near her the blast was so powerful it threw her back. Knocking the other blade out of her hand. Noticing this, Piccolo shot towards the ground to plant his foot, digging it in, before lunching at her, drawing his hand back and before she could put up her arms in defense, connected with her cheekbone, knocking her out cold.

Goten and Trunks, seeing Gohan and Piccolo's assaults, looked at each other as they were still on the run, and decided, it was time they go on the offensive too. Trunks flipped over and landed, now facing the oncoming blasts. He crouched down, and powered up his fists, before thrusting both hands towards the sky, releasing an explosive wave of energy, that when impacting the opponent's Ki blasts, erupted all of them.

Goten, still ducking and dodging explosions placed his hands to the side, cupping both hands around his right waste. "Ka," he started saying, as a small blue ball of Ki formed between his two cupped hands, "Me," he jumped around rock and debris, "Ha," he used a large rock to change direction swiftly, jumping off of it, and moving out towards his opponent. "Me," the ball was now pulsating in his hands, difficult for him to keep hold of. Finally, he stomped both feet into the ground turned his head, with ki balls feet from him. "HA!" As he thrust the ball of energy forward a massive blue beam of energy exploded out of his hands, evaporating all the Ki Balls in its way, and finding its Target, striking him, and exploding.

As Shark faced man looked over to his unconscious partner falling to the surface, he looked back as the smoke cleared below him, and realized, the kid was gone. Suddenly, he heard his voice yelling aggressively and before he could fully turn his face, the leg of Trunks was swinging right at it, striking him hard, and throwing him at his already unconscious partner. The two bodies struck midair, and then both fell to the ground limp and unconscious.

The Two warriors fighting Gohan were still going at him, fighting more aggressively, but as a Super Saiyan, Gohan was too fast and strong for them, blocking every attack easily. Finally, as the boar like man went for a left hook, Gohan dodged, and planted his elbow to the back of his head. The impact caused the creatures tongue to shoot out of his mouth and eyes go bug-eyed at the impact, before eyes rolling in the back of his head. Immediate after, he spun and thrust his right foot into the midsection of the Orange Haired for, who equally went bug-eyed, as a combination of spit and blood came out of his mouth. The two warriors both collapsed in front of him, unconscious.

Looking over to each other, Gohan, Piccolo and the two boys, each huddled up in the middle of the battlefield with the 5 unconscious warriors they just beat. "Is everyone alright?" Gohan asked the group.

"Yeah Gohan, I'm good, no sweat," Trunks said.

"That was awesome!" Goten responded.

"Yeah, it seems we are all good. But those guys were no joke."

"Yeah, no kidding, I didn't think I would have to go Super Saiyan to take them out. If we had this much trouble with 5 of them, imagine if there were 20 or more. That could be overwhelming."

"It's not like we were going all out," Trunks said.

"Yeah, we didn't even need to fuse, if we had, we could had taken all of them in a second."

Piccolo smirked at the two boys, but then froze, as he heard something coming up on them. This did not get past Gohan, noticing the look on Piccolo's face. "Piccolo, what is it."

"I hear something," he said to him, "we are not alone. Be on your guard."

As He turned around to the tree line where the 5 men had been standing, there was a large stone that Piccolo could see movement around. Soon, all of them could see, dark brown cloaked figure, come out from behind the rock, and leave the Tree line, walking up to them.