Dragon Ball: Governed
Chapter 32
"Enlightenment"
Every different world had ways of constructing their own civilizations, and they had their own way of choosing the leaders who guided the people - for good or bad. Saichoro, often referred to as the Grand Elder of Planet Namek, was one of the few survivors of the horrible cataclysm that took place on Planet Namek hundreds of years ago. He birthed over one hundred children by himself and raised them all to be peaceful people with a strong will and drive to restore Namek to the glory that it once was.
He learned to appreciate a lot less to a very much higher degree because of their unfortunate circumstances.
As this giant thousand pound obese looking slug sat on his throne, with a Dragon Ball just behind his head and idle, he looked down to his most trusted body guardian: Nail - the champion of Namek. Saichoro and Nail both felt the uneasy presence coming from one of the visitors that touched down on their homeward. As Nail was more likely to act upon his suspicions, Saichoro was there to advise him.
"We don't get visitors," the grand elder told Nail. "Regardless of what aura they emit, treat them respectfully. Don't do anything rash unless you feel that their actions may be of great harm to you or the people."
Understanding, Nail nodded. The two strangers were on their way and getting extremely close. In just a matter of seconds, Chi-Chi and Kakarot were just on the outside of Saichoro's residence. He looked over to the elder, who just nodded in approval.
Nail walked over beside Saichoro and just waited. In the middle of the room, a hole opened up and through appeared the two visitors, Chi-Chi and Kakarot. The both of them had a near equal amount of shock plastered all over their faces whenever they first laid eyes on Saichoro. Chi-Chi had experienced a lot of weird things growing up and Kakarot had witnessed a lot of unique beings through his travels as a galactic warrior, but this? This was different.
The three Namekians that prevented Kakarot and Chi-Chi from fighting to the death subsequent to touching down were there to lead them both. They paid their respects to their elder before quietly using the floor elevator back down to the bottom layer of Saichoro's home.
What shocked Chi-Chi was the overwhelming size of this guy. He would frighten anybody unfamiliar with him, but she could feel that he was pure hearted. Though physically weak, the man emitted a lot of power and it was easy for her to tell that he was a generous and well-intentioned individual.
Kakarot, on the other hand, was in awe at the sheer size of this person and in disbelief that he could be so physically weak. But still, there had to be something special about him to be the leader of an entire race such as the Namekians. He just didn't know what. His tail had been wagging from side to side without himself even noticing; that's just how curious the young Saiyan was.
To add to their surprise, Saichoro greeted Chi-Chi and Kakarot as Earthling and as Saiyan.
"And how exactly do you know where we're from?" Kakarot asked.
"I have powers that exceed physical limitations."
Wanting to get right to business, Chi-Chi stepped up with her hand pressed against her bosom. "I come here in peace and by no means do I wish to bring any harm onto your people. I just want to use the Dragon Balls so that I can-"
"Come here," Saichoro interrupted her.
Such a demand that was said with a friendly tone had caught her by surprise. Chi-Chi was hesitant to do so, but seeing that he had no evil intentions, she approached the elder slowly. As she did such, Kakarot's eyes were moving all over the room. He made eye-contact with Nail for a split second and the two had a brief staring contest. For the remainder of their stay there, Nail didn't take his eyes off Kakarot for one second. He didn't even do as much as blink. Once he began to pay him no mind, Kakarot noticed the Dragon Ball directly behind Saichoro's head. His smirk was insanely subtle, but Nail eyed him so hard that it was all too obvious for him to not notice.
The thought of just taking the Dragon Ball came to mind, but Kakarot figured that if he were to take a more affable route, he'd manage to get what he wanted at the end of the day without bloodshed and possible unwanted interruption. One thing he learned: plans didn't always go as seemed and the ones with altercation were the plans that blew up much more horribly than the plans that were more...civil.
With his giant, green, rancid hands covering the entirety of Chi-Chi's small human head, Saichoro managed to delve deep into her mind and witness all that took place through her life, with emphasized points on her reasoning for being here - that of wishing her father back to life.
After removing his hand, Chi-Chi immediately understood what he had just did as far as mind reading went. The two felt an instant connection - a platonic bond so to speak. Saichoro was able to feel all that she felt and strongly resonate, especially since her feelings came from a pure spectrum. The only downside was that she held in a lot of hate.
Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, Kakarot said, "We were told that we would be able to grant three wishes. Is that true?"
"That is true, yes," Saichoro answered him.
Kakarot smiled. So it looked like he'd be able to repay his father after all.
Planet Earth had a limited amount of time for the sun - unlike Planet Namek. Though since it was day time on Earth, the planet was just as bright was Namek was many light-years away.
On this bright and sunny day, Roshi figured that he and his former pupils could get some old fashioned training done. Roshi was wearing a simple tank top and some blue khaki shorts while bare feet. All of his pupils wore their gi, albeit with weighted wrist bands, boots, and turtle shells. Tien, Krillin, Kaston, Chaotzu, and Liban were all taking turns on one another.
Not a single person landed a hard strike as they were merely flexing their muscles and getting their bodies warmed up before they decided to go in hard for some heavy sparring.
Roshi backed away from Krillin and hopped onto a small rock of Omori's island and fired a multitude of chi attacks in the sky and let them explode simultaneously to catch everyone's attention. Everyone immediately stopped and jerked their heads over to the side, bringing their undivided attention over to the seasoned Martial Artist.
"Feel good?" Roshi asked them.
"Yeah, I'm getting a good pump for sure," Liban told his master. Everyone else was quick to agree. Their hearts were pumping a bit faster and they could feel their hot blood coursing through their bodies. Excitement was starting to take over.
"Now you'll all be coming at me for the real fight," Roshi told everyone. "Remove your weighted clothing and your shells. It's time to get real."
This evoked laughter from Tien, Krillin, and Kaston. Chaotzu and Liban just stared on with looks of great uncertainty. Last time they checked, they surpassed their master in strength a long time ago so none of them saw how Roshi would be able to take on even one of them - much less all five together.
"Just because you've gotten back into shape by training alongside Kame and Mister Popo doesn't mean anything," Tien confidently told his master. "We're still ahead by miles."
Roshi hopped off the rock with his hands behind his back, which his students didn't take very kindly to due to the fact that he wasn't even in a battle-stance. This made them feel as if their own master was looking down on them. Roshi noticed this and had a bit of trouble hiding his cheesy smug look. With his feet on the ground, the seasoned martial artist moved his neck around a bit to stretch it out prior to tensing his body and letting out a brief explosion in power strong enough to tear his tank top to absolute bits.
Tien and the others felt the jump in power, though it still wasn't all that much. Usually, Roshi appeared bird chested with a wrinkly body but he was capable of toning his muscles and beefing up. The sudden change in look made it appear as if the old man was taking instantaneous steroids.
But there was something different about him here. His muscles were still lean but there didn't appear to be any flab. His arms were small, toned, as was his nos visible six pack. And the flow of his beard...it seemed different. He looked far more chill in every way.
Roshi nonchalantly lifted his left hand and beckoned each and every single one of them to come at him simultaneously.
Seeing that their master was serious, Tien was the first one to jump in. Next came Kaston and Krillin. Chaotzu and Liban soon followed.
One by one, they came for Roshi. They first decided to take it easy on the old man in fear that they'd hurt him, so they held back a lot. But once ten seconds passed by with nobody being able to do as much as graze him, everyone turned it up a notch and before they knew it, all five of them were giving it their all. The old man kept his hands behind his back and simply moved his body to insane angles with extraordinary balance and composure. After not being able to do anything for an entire half minute after sending tens of hundreds of punches and kicks, everyone powered up and tried to go the extra mile.
Roshi felt the pressure of the power being emitted from his students and hopped back. It was almost overwhelming for him, so much that it almost instantly depleted his focus, but he had the will-power to maintain proper concentration with equanimity. Closing his eyes, he took in a small yet deep breath. He didn't bother opening them and just felt the atmosphere around him.
He side-stepped Tien's strike, grabbed him by the wrist and had him sliding at his six o'clock with a simple toss. He then casually spun around Krillin, blocked a knee from Liban using his own knee and pushed the two away with a kiai push prior to bending all the way backwards and using both of his feet to send Kaston off the ground and onto his back.
The motion in which Roshi moved was nothing short of impeccable. Whenever he moved at another angle, there was still a near transparent vision of his body in another position. He was moving with the wind with his mind as clear and adaptive as water.
All of his students were slow to get up, utterly amazed at what Roshi was able to do despite being so much behind in strength.
"W-What in the hell was that?" Krillin asked. "There's no way! We had to hit him at least once, right guys!?" He looked over to his peers, which discouraged him as he witnessed the dumbfounded look over their faces.
"That has to be some kind of technique," Tien commented. "Your reflexes just intensified like one trillion times...explain that."
"Yes, I know," Roshi told them. "but it's hard and I haven't even gotten close to mastering it. If you would have kept on for about half a minute more, I would have gave in."
He continued to explain to his pupils that when Gohan, Gyumao, Tao, Orin, and Tsuru were all killed about 12 years ago, he felt an uncontrollable anger beginning to overtake him. The final straw was when Gohan had been killed. The last time he felt an anger even remotely similar was when Piccolo Daimao began his reign of terror, but the anger with Gohan's death was far worse. It took every will in Roshi's very being to not jump at their murderers. When he managed to compose himself, he felt a clarity like never before. It was then he realized the importance of keeping one's emotions in check, especially under stressful situations.
Getting in touch with that same rage and keeping himself composed, he trained and felt himself move and flow like never before. Ever since he had been continuously working at that in secret instead of trying to gain more absolute raw power.
That was the real reason he had been training with Popo and Kami because they both were extremely familiar with this technique.
"That's amazing, master!" Krillin exclaimed. "You gotta teach it to us!"
Muten Roshi just chuckled. All of what he just said and yet of course, Krillin still looks at the cool aspect of it. He had never been in the pressure of the moment to where he witnessed his own friends and rivals die before his very eyes. Such rage Roshi didn't believe that Krillin would be able to contain. But despite that...he was willing to help whenever he could.
Through Roshi's explanation, Tien believed he understood exactly what his master meant. To get rid of unnecessary emotions and remain as calm and passive as the waters of the ocean was the way to do it, though that was easier said than done. This was the conclusion he came to by himself, though still wanting to know more of his master's needed input, Tien asked, "What do you think is the key factor into moving like you did?"
"It's all about keeping your emotions neutral and keeping your mind clear. You let your subconscious take over rather than consciously act out on your next move. Ever heard the saying that your body knows best?"
"Yeah," Kaston answered. "That's what people say when they talk about food or sickness. Listen to your body."
"The same applies to fighting," Roshi informed them.
"What do you even call such a technique?" Krillin asked.
Roshi got to rubbing his beard. Kami nor Mister Popo ever managed to come up with a name for the technique, but Roshi did have a simple answer. "I say it's relying on your sixth sense." He then looked at Tien. "Or you can say your own third eye."
"After all these years, you never stop learning, do you, master?"
That big, rough voice sent a total chill down Roshi's spine, also rendering goosebumps up and down his very arms. He couldn't tell whether a ghost was speaking to him or if this was a real person.
But it couldn't be.
Could it?
Everyone looked behind Roshi and asked who the heck this guy was. The only person who knew was Tien, as he had seen pictures of this man many times growing up. Roshi himself had confirmation whenever he turned around to face him.
With his eyes wide, Roshi could only muster, "Gyumao!?"
Despite the years passed, Planet Gawake had barely changed. The place remained freezing cold with heavy winds and near blinding fog and towering mountains. The only thing that did change was the fact that the people that inhabited the planet no longer lived there.
Until a life was brought back from the dead.
Underneath the ice cold snow, a hand pokes out like a zombie coming back from the grave. After getting her head out from underneath, the woman sucked in so much air that the snow falling from the sky got sucked into her mouth. It was so long that she took in genuine oxygen so by overdoing it, she began to cough like a mad person.
She was clothed in her armor, though she last remembered being stripped absolutely naked prior to her death. There were tendons hanging from her torn flesh and the cauterized wounds she suffered were visible no more.
"How?" was all she could ask herself. The woman was still in such shock that her skin was barely affected by the dangerous cold.
The fact that she was alive now felt like a dream, but she knew it was all too real. Regardless of that fact, she was sure that the pod she came in was possibly still around.
It was time for Gine to head back home.
Darkness had consumed Planet Namek. And one thing about Planet Namek was that it had two suns, meaning that there was literally no night time.
Knowing this and seeing the darkened skies of the planet without knowledge of the Dragon Balls would have people scratching their heads. But with knowledge of such things, one would know that the balls are being used.
The Namekian children who never got to see Porunga were in total amazement and even nervous at first, until the elders reassured the children that Porunga was family to them just like every other Namekian on the planet. This got the young Namekians to live in the moment and appreciate witnessing Porunga for the very first time in their life.
"Your second wish has been granted!" Porunga boomed. Chi-Chi had spoken her wish first, which surprised her because of the fact that she didn't really expect Kakarot to let her go through with her wish. Because of the fact that he was civil enough to allow her, she felt it would be respectful of her to at least allow him. And what really surprised her was the fact that he wished for something selfless more than anything else. Did he really have good in him?
"What is your last wish?" Porunga boomed.
Chi-Chi looked around to the others and cocked her head slightly. "I don't have anything else to wish for."
Everyone then looked over at Kakarot. The Saiyan definitely had something in mind. Oh, indeed, oh yes he did. He approached the Namekian translating everything and whispered into his ear. Of course the other Namekians still heard because of their enhanced hearing, but Chi-Chi wasn't able to make out what he said, despite her attempt at reading his lips.
The Namekian translates for Kakarot. And after he finishes, everyone awaits the answer.
Kakarot's tail is seen wagging side to side as he stands with his fists clenched. Whatever this wish was, he most definitely desired it and it showed. He was like a kid unable to contain himself.
"The wish is beyond my power," Porunga specified. "If there is anything else you want, let it be within my capabilities."
Kakarot's look of anticipation went to that of a frown. He then asked Porunga,"So you can't make me a Super Saiyan?"
Chi-Chi wondered what the hell a Super Saiyan was and even asked, though Kakarot ignored her. The Saiyan looked up to the wish-granting Dragon, who answered Kakarot's simple question. "No, I am not."
"You mean to tell me that you can-"
Kakarot then cut himself off. "Wait a minute!" He pointed his finger at the Dragon. "All my life, Turles has been telling me that the legend of the Super Saiyan is nothing but a myth! You telling me that you can't give me the power of a Super Saiyan must mean that it's true, right?"
"That is correct," Porunga answered.
Just then the Namekians all around began to mumble words to one another. None of them ever saw a Super Saiyan and some even questioned its credibility, but Porunga and the rest of the wish granting Dragons knew all there was to know about in the world, so the Super Saiyan myth was no simple myth.
"Alright, then! I know what the final wish is. I want knowledge as to how the last Super Saiyan that ever lived came to be."
Once the Namekian translated Kakarot's harmless wish, Porunga answered with all that he knew.
He didn't hold anything back, either. He told Kakarot about how there was long ago, once a Saiyan by the name of Yamoshi, who lived on Planet Sadala, original home of the Saiyans before its untimely destruction. He was one of the few righteous Saiyans amongst many, so when a war spread and he fought an evil, he was eventually backed into a corner. It was then that he became a Super Saiyan. Eventually he was worn out, outnumbered, and defeated. The last bit Porunga had to say was, "Now his spirit seeks out the next big obstacle."
Not only were wish granting objects real, but so was the legend of the Super Saiyan. Two things considered virtually impossible were true. Kakarot, being the first Saiyan to ever use the Dragon Balls, now hoped to be the first Saiyan to ascend into something greater than his current state.
After getting their wishes, Kakarot and Chi-Chi were guided directly right back to Saichoro, who wished to see if they managed to get exactly what it was that they desired. Chi-Chi was the most respectful of the two and said thank you a thousand times as she made an effort to shake Saichoro's giant hands. Knowing that it was a sign of trust back on Earth, the grand elder was happy to reciprocate by using his index finger to shake Chi-Chi's entire hand.
"Before you leave, I would like to do something for you."
After being asked what, Saichoro tells Chi-Chi that he wishes to unlock the hidden potential bubbling inside her. Chi-Chi was curious as to how he could possibly do that, so instead of saying anything, she approached him like she did earlier. Saichoro placed his hand on the top of her head.
Kakarot folded his arms and rolled his eyes. Was he really going to read her mind again? He scoffed.
But then a great surge of energy seems to consumes Chi-Chi's entire body. The bright, blue light illuminated the room great for a few seconds before vanishing with great haste. She looked at her hands, arms and legs. Nothing was different but everything sure as hell felt different.
The woman gave Saichoro a thousand more thank yous before she finally left the building.
Now it was just Kakarot, Saichoro, and Nail, who still didn't stop staring at the suspicious Saiyan.
"And as for me?" Kakarot asked.
Saichoro just smiled. "You know you could have asked me about the Super Saiyan instead of asking Porunga, yes?"
"Oh, really? Then what's the best way to become one?"
"While I do have my own hypothesis, I wouldn't dare want to steer you in the wrong direction. I do know of the man who knows everything in the world. He knows that I am speaking about him right now and right after this conversation, will likely be expecting you to tend to him very soon."
"What's his name?"
"Zuno," Saichoro answered Kakarot. "His name is Zuno."
"Where might I find him?"
"Now that...I can tell you without hesitation. Listen carefully now."
Chi-Chi was like a speeding bullet as she was making way to head back home. She was so drunk on the insane power boost she got that she wasn't even thinking logically anymore. As soon as Chi-Chi touched down to where she initially landed, she quickly came to the realization that her ship was destroyed and the only one available is Kakarot's, which she didn't even know the location of.
Knowing that he'd be coming to speak to her, Chi-Chi turned around to face the Saiyan that killed the Macareni gang. "What's wrong?" Kakarot chuckled. "Lost?"
She bit her lip hard - so hard that she was on the verge of bleeding. She couldn't believe she had to ask this question, but what other way would there be for her to head back home without a problem? The only way would to stay on Namek and let the Dragon Balls reactivate, but why not just catch a ride with Kakarot?
After all, she felt her power beginning to edge out his. And she wondered if he could feel it as well.
"As much as I hate to ask, will you take me back home?"
The fact that Chi-Chi asked Kakarot while he was having the best day of his life so far meant that he didn't even care if he had to travel with her. He wasn't aware of the fact that she was about to surpass him in power thanks to Saichoro, but once he did realize it, he wouldn't be able to do anything to the woman - at all.
"That won't be a problem."
