Goku bit his lip, wiping his brow of sweat. He frowned, taking in the endless dirt field that used to be an abandoned suburb. "Is this smooth enough for you?"

Bulma took a moment to take off her safety goggles and observe the work before answering. "Yeah. Great work, Goku!"

He gave a swift nod and walked towards her portable bunker. Being the creator of the flat mass behind him, he was certain a metal box wouldn't stand up to his full power. Lucky for her, he had no intention of testing his theory. Neither did he have any inkling in telling her of such a possibility.

Bulma nodded once more, staring down at her digital checklist. "Alright! We just have to get some crews down here to excavate the old sewer system to make room for the new. I haven't seen a neater demolition job since we were captured by Pi-"

Goku raised an eyebrow as she looked up, frozen like a deer in headlights. "Oh, Pilaf?" he asked after a pause. "I like to think I'm a bit more neat when it's not a full moon."

She took a seat on the dirt with her legs crossed. Without a word or prompting, he did the same.

Bulma sighed deeply, deep in her mind's ramblings. "So you know about that now. Do you know about..?"

"My grandpa?" He asked. Her cerulean eyes gave him a signal that could only be received as an affirmation. "Yup."

"I'm sorry, Goku…" she mumbled.

Goku flashed her his signature smirk. "Nah, it's all okay. I've done a lot of thinking about it. It was hard to accept, but it wasn't my fault. It's extremely rare for a saiyan to be born with control over the great ape transformation."

Suddenly, something clicked in the young woman's mind. Something that left the genius feeling stupid, wondering why it hadn't occurred to her earlier. "That's a regular trait for your species?"

"Yeah," he sighed, nodding. "as long as we have a tail, we transform under the full moon."

"So we have a city full of weregorillas right now?!"

He brought his arms down to the ground behind him and shook his head. "It's not a problem. We're trained for moon discipline, trying to keep an eye on the moon phases and stuff. The earth's cycle is one of the smallest I've ever seen, so we'll have to be careful!"

Bulma had about two dozen questions she wanted to ask, but she managed to calm herself down before asking them all in a rapid fire manner. "How does your home planet still exist with great apes running around?"

"Planet Vegeta only has a full moon once every sev…" he brought his hands in front of him, counting to be sure. "Uhhhh… Eight. Pretty sure they only happen every eight years."

It was clear to her that Saiyans didn't need to transform into a great ape in order to be strong. Goku was miles ahead of anything on earth in terms of strength, even before he had been brought back to his home planet.

"Can you control it?"

"Not really. Occasionally I can, but it just feels really weird. Everything is all fuzzy and heavy. It reminds me of… the time I accidentally took a sip from my dad's cup." he said, chuckling to himself.

Bulma joined him in giggling. The merriment didn't last for long, however. Goku sprang up, looking behind them and toward the horizon. A speck in the distance was careening towards them haphazardly.

"What's going on?" Goku asked casually, before the dust had settled. Bulma could only stand her ground and hope nothing important was blown away.

"You've gotta hurry!" Boston cried, gripping onto Goku's pants. Tears and snot dripped down his swollen and bloodied face. "It got Bibi! Come on!"

A switch flicked inside of Goku, and Bulma took note. His carefree aura was uprooted by a serious one. Boston caught something flicked toward him. "Eat that and let's go. Bulma, can you call for backup?"

She nodded and fumbled around in her pockets as Boston chewed loudly. Before she could blink, Goku had grabbed his cousin and blasted off in the direction the latter had come from. The elder saiyan was mindful of just how nauseous Boston was becoming, so he made sure his stop was a gradual one. Conveniently, it also gave him ample time to size up his opponent.

He was a gruff looking red man in white PTO battle armor that was clearly not regulation, as each shoulder pad had two spikes protruding from them. He was twice the size of Goku. His smirk and scar were identical to his father's, but Bardock wouldn't be caught dead with a long braid for a hairstyle.

It was odd to Goku, as soon as he neared, both Bibi and the red guy stopped fighting. He pressed the button on his red scouter as soon as Goku's boots touched the ground. Boston rushed to his sister, who had collapsed.

"Give her this," Goku said evenly, tossing a bean to Boston.

The red guy glanced at Boston. "You were right, he has no power level."

Bibi wiped her nose, smearing blood across her face. "Get him, Amond. I'm tired of this planet."

Amond cracked his neck. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon. This little twig may look like the boss, but there's no way he can compare to the power of the tree's fruit."

Goku merely stood idly, trying to grasp the situation. While he was distracted, several punches made their way to his gut. Amond even landed one to his lip that caused him to cut his lip on his razor-sharp saiyan canine.

"Haha! Looks like super saiyans are worse than fruit!" Boston cried, jumping up and pumping his fist.

Spitting out blood, the seemingly battered Goku slowly fell into a fighting stance. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't sorta see something like this coming. I'm going to give you one chance to leave, Almond. There's too much for me to do here."

"Big talk coming from such a tiny guy," Amond retorted. "And it's Amond, Carrot."

"It's Goku," he said, shooting forward and delivering a punch to Amond's stomach. The armor shattered around his fist, leaving a near perfect circle.

"H-he's faster than you told me!" Amond cried as he created a buffer between himself and the saiyan.

Bibi bit her lip slightly. "Just power up and finish it!"

She clearly meant Amond, but Goku took heed of her advice as well. As the red alien was crouching down and gathering his energy, he tried to tap into even a microscopic drop of the power he had felt while under the effects of the Super Saiyan God ritual...

But nothing came.

Amond was on him in an instant, gripping the sides of his head tightly. Before he had a chance to let out a cry, his cousins swooped in and detonated energy blasts on him, sending him flying back.

Goku would have liked to claim he was unscathed, but that wasn't he truth. He was confident he could come out on top in this situation, but he was not happy to learn he was unable to transform at will. Right before his three assailants could attempt to lay hands on him, he lashed out with his energy. It was time to go all out.

Goku closed the distance, socking Amond in the jaw as soon as he could. Of course, it was miles swifter than his uncle's lackey could comprehend. Boston and Bibi unleashed a flurry of hands and feet upon him, but he dodged every single strike they aimed to make. When they paused to take a breath, he launched a non-lethal blast at each of them before cupping his hands at his side.

"Kaaaaaaameeeeee…" he began.

Amond sat up, his eyes wide.

"Haaaaaaameeeee…" he continued, blue energy crackling between his palms. His target didn't need to read his power level to feel the sheer power emanating from him.

"Ha!" He cried, shooting his wave forwards.

Amond raised his hands in the shape of a wedge, firing a blast meant to pierce Goku's beam. He barely succeeded, the Kamehameha wave forking off just in front of him. Stressed barely described how he felt in this moment.

"You don't look half as powerful as you are…" he panted.

"Thanks a bunch!" Goku shouted, hopping upwards and loosening his boots. In midair, he did the splits, kicking off his footwear completely. Each weighted shoe hit their mark, his cousins. They groaned and grunted, attempting to free themselves, but the force of the boots proved too much. Now it was just him and Amond.

Said for chuckled. "Not like I needed the help of those brats anyhow!"

Goku took a deep breath, steeling himself. "That's not true. The only reason you're still alive is because of them. I don't know how important you are in their eyes."

Amond sneered, reaching for the pocket of his baggy pants. "You won't know until you're well on your way to Turles," he said, pulling a strip of tasty looking dried fruit from his pocket. He quickly devoured it as Goku could only watch in confusion and jealousy. He was hungry too. All of a sudden, the red alien bulked up to about twice his normal size before just as quickly reverting. "The boss isn't gonna like this. To think I had to use the last of my share of the fruit against his weakling nephew!"

He had no idea if he was in trouble. Amond's current energy output would have startled him pre-Namek, he knew that for sure. However, he still had no idea how his retained Divine energy scaled to Mortal energy, let alone how much he had retained from his transformation. All he could count on was his abilities.

Goku skimmed the ground on his bare feet, approaching the powered-up Amond with his knees out. Said opponent took the bait, as when he raised his guard, Goku unfolded his legs and delivered swift kicks to just under his crossed arms. After this, he didn't let up. All of his limbs made contact a few times before he realized Amond was brushing all of his attacks off as if he were being struck by an insect.

"What happened to all that confidence, boy?" Amond asked, cracking his knuckles. Just as soon as the last pop was heard, he began to return Goku's favor with a counterattack. The young saiyan couldn't even attempt to dodge, so he was resigned to tanking every single one.

One of his worst fears was confirmed just then. He couldn't call upon the power of the Super Saiyan God transformation by himself. At least not at the moment. A truth was also revealed to him. One that excited him as a saiyan, but terrified him as the Earth's protector. He couldn't rely on the God transformation.

"Kaaaaameeeeehaaaameeeee…" he panted, cupping his hands. "HAAA!"

Amond merely laughed as the blue light flashed, completely lowering his guard. "You already tried that trick! What makes you think it'll work this time?!"

However, as he discovered by the burning sensation on his entire face, Goku had not tried the same trick. He had taken advantage of his lack of detectable energy, only pretending to use a lot of it. In reality he had fired a weak beam. Most of his energy had gone to a sizeable orb he had used to skate along his Kamehameha wave, detonating it in Amond's face.

Goku let out a yelp when on his way past Amond, he grasped him by the ankle. Before he could attempt to escape, the red invader twisted his foot as hard as he could. It made a myriad of crunches and pops as his ankle began to swell. Instinctively, just as chills ran down his spine, he sent an adrenaline fueled kick with his good foot directly into Amond's head, knocking him over.

He retreated, taking his moment to hide and inspect his situation. Goku hissed as he observed his dislocated right foot. Even though it had only been seconds, it was already puffy and swollen, taking on a sickly purple and yellow coloration. Lucky for him, his training included minor first aid. Closing his eyes and bracing himself, he popped his foot back into place. It wasn't usable in a fight, but it was better to have it in place as opposed to flipping around.

Judging by his sixth sense, Amond was fooling around behind him, searching for him. He supposed he could take a moment to catch his breath. His stomach growled reminding him of a possible way to get out of the situation. Goku reached into the folds of his gi, pulling out the pouch full of Senzu beans and devouring one. His hunger from a lack of lunch and his wounds fully disappeared. The boost he received from healing wasn't much, but it was still a boost.

He stood up and leapt over his cover, rocketing toward Amond feet forward. Amond smirked devilishly, holding his hands out. Just as planned, he caught Goku by the feet, throwing his arms outward, splitting his legs and by extension, his guard, wide open. Without skipping a beat, Goku charged a great deal of the energy he had into a blue sphere between his cupped palms.

Amond realized the trouble he was in. Goku had taken a huge gamble, one that he had won.

"Ha!" The young saiyan cried, unleashing his mostly wordless Kamehameha directly into his opponent's face. Immediately, his grip went slack and Goku's feet were freed. He dropped to the ground, clearing the smoke with a kiai. It smelled horribly of burnt flesh and hair, and the reason as to why became perfectly clear as Amond's corpse fell. All that remained of his head was a blackened skull barely connected by tough tissue.

Goku turned his head to glare at his cousins without moving his body. "You've got some explaining to do to me."

Boston's lip trembled in fear. He tossed a beeping scouter to his cousin. He accepted it and affixed to his ear.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't kill my children as well," a cold voice told him.

"I didn't want to kill anyone today, but he left me no choice, Uncle Turles," he said evenly. His heart, in actuality, was pounding out of his chest. He'd heard nothing but terrible things from this side of his family.

"I didn't want anyone getting killed today, Kakarot."

"Is that why you sent this red goon after me?"

Turles sighed. "I didn't send anyone after you. Amond was dispatched to pick my children up, not you."

"I- what?"

"I've no intention of quarreling with either you or your father anymore. I'm not ashamed to admit Super Saiyans are out of my league…"

Goku stopped himself from inquiring further. What Turles meant by Super Saiyans plural, he had not a clue. He glanced to the side trying to remember if his father ever did a ritual like he had done, but came up short.

"Good, I'd hate to lose family."

"Send my children on their way, my dear nephew. I'm sure they're scared enough to want to go of their own volition. Believe me, they have a punishment awaiting them. I cannot believe that they got the man I sent to retrieve them wrapped up in their affairs and killed."

It was odd. His uncle reminded him of a less gruff version of his father, but he supposed that made sense. Goku hung up on him almost immediately by crushing the scouter in his hand.

Bibi finally managed to heave and slide the boot off of her. She rolled over, out of breath completely. "We'll leave, we'll leave!"

Goku nodded. "Glad we're in agreement. Where's your ship?"

"They don't work anymore, which is why dad sent Amond," Boston groaned. Bibi rushed to him and tried to remove the boot pressing him into the earth.

Goku blinked in response to their stupidity. He recognized his own lack of brainpower, but man, these kids were dumb. "Okay, then where's his ship?"

Bibi pointed behind her. "A few kilometers that way."

He briskly put his boots on and grabbed each of them by the collar, rushing in the direction she pointed to. It was a small trip, and before they knew it, they had arrived. Goku set them down in the pod and closed the hatch. It looked way more advanced than the ones on Vegeta. Ruco would probably get a kick out of seeing it.

"Bye, guys. Sorry you couldn't kidnap me."

"We'll be back when the war is over!" Boston cried.

"Yeah!" Bibi added, even louder.

Goku merely raised an eyebrow. "War? What war?"

They opened their mouths to answer, but it was too late. The pod took off, leaving Goku in the dust.

"What?" He repeated, his words echoing in the wasteland.