Chapter IV: Gohan's Deal with the Devil

Vegeta slammed his fist down on the table. "What do you mean that you haven't found Kakarot?"

            "Well, Vegeta," Gohan told him, "I mean just that. I mean that Shenron didn't know where my father was."

"Argh!" Vegeta let out a cry of frustration. "Darn you, Kakarot! I have waited a millennium to prove my superiority, and now you deprive me of my greatest pleasure even in my death!" In his anger, Vegeta had turned Super Saiyan without even realizing it.

Although his face was wrinkled and changed by age, Vegeta still looked quite similar to a much younger version of himself when he transformed. While in an untransformed state, his hair had gone completely white and his eyes had turned a neutral grayish color. Still, his upright Saiyan hairstyle never changed.

"Calm down Vegeta," Gohan reassured him. "Although it was cryptic, Shenron told us that my father was closer to us than we might have realized."

"I'm not interested in that!" Vegeta shouted at him, firing an energy blast straight towards Gohan's face in his rage. Because of the proximity of the blast, Gohan was unable to doge or block. When the dust cleared… Gohan still looked the same as before. Vegeta frowned even more.

"That's what I hate about this blasted dimension," he complained, letting his Super Saiyan status up. "I can't even kill anyone when I'm mad!"

"Why don't you just go back to your training?" Gohan said, walking away. "The next afterlife tournament is only another hundred years away."

"Oh, you think that that's what I've been doing?" Vegeta asked him. "No, my friend, that's not quite the case. Although I have been training, it does little good… I'm pushing my body to its limits. I just had to live to be this old!" He cursed his old age at death.

"But," he said. "I have a plan, and an offer. The West Kai told me of a legend, one that I found quite provocative. Somewhere in this dimension is an artifact called the Fountain of Revival. If one drinks the sacred water, he shall be restored to his appearance and ability at his fighting prime for the rest of his existence. Naturally, I would normally never stop training, but this seems too good to pass up. You see, although time never runs out here, there is only a limited supply of this water. But, it is guarded quite well, so only the most fantastic fighters have ever made it there."

He turned to face Gohan again. "Gohan! We mustn't cheat ourselves. We are the strongest Saiyans here; the very last of a proud warrior race. Wouldn't you love to establish your superiority and rule this dimension alongside of me? We still have the potential to become the greatest fighters in the universe." Vegeta extended his hand. "Are you with me, Gohan, son of Kakarot?"

Gohan stared at his hand. "I won't help you take over this dimension, Vegeta. It's awful and wrong to cause that much carnage just to try to assure yourself of supremacy, and eventually, someone will overthrow you; someone ten times worse than you could ever be." Gohan still did not extend his hand to meet Vegeta's.

"But," Gohan continued, with a strange intonation, "You are right. We are the last of the Saiyans and we can become the strongest fighters in the universe. All right, Vegeta; I'm with you on this one. As a Saiyan, I can't pass up a good challenge, and this seems like one if I've ever heard it." Gohan smiled and he and Vegeta gave each other a hearty handshake that would have torn the arms off of normal men.

"Hmm," Vegeta took his hand away and looked as if he were in deep thought. "We're not going to go alone, though… I sense that the two of us alone won't be enough to overtake the challenges that lie ahead. Fetch me my wife, my son, your wife, your mother, your brother, and Krillin. They should be strong enough to help us with the impending challenges and there should be enough water to quench their thirst for youth as well."

"All right, Vegeta, I'll do that," agreed Gohan. "This should prove to be exciting; the first real challenge I've had in quite a while. And…" he said, his voice brightening. "Maybe we'll find my father."

Vegeta broke into a grin. "Maybe," he replied, and returned to his training as Gohan ran off to board a plane back to the residential planet of the Next Dimension.