1 Chapter 10: Goku's Emergence.
Bulma sat in a desk chair at a console table as she played about with a series of components lain strewn across the desk, pausing to push a strand of hair behind her ear and out of her eyes. As young Bra gurgled peacefully in her cot, she fitted the trans-modulator, then hooked up the variable connector to the main power feed and slid the anti-shock casing over the delicate wires that made up the sporadic deflector. Very carefully, she inserted the processor, from her old laptop computer, into its appropriated slot on the main circuit board then clipped the plaz-chrome case shut. She leaned back in the chair with a sigh and looked at her handiwork. Bra gurgled softly and Bulma swivelled the chair around so that she could peer into the cot of her new-born baby girl, and watched as she waved her arms in the air gurgling.
"Yes, that's right!" Bulma cooed, "Mommy's finished! Yes she is, yes she is!" Bra gurgled in response and swiped at one of the dangling toys above her face. Bulma ducked as a small model elephant shot towards her at head height and exploded against the wall behind her, showering her workbench with pieces of plastic pachyderm.
"My, you certainly get that from your father, don't you?" Bulma said with a smile and turned back to her new thing. She pressed a small red button on the side and a small green LED started to flicker on and off at three second intervals. Bulma then turned a dial on what appeared to be the front of the device and listened as scratchy music pulsed quietly into the room. She turned the dial this way and that, the audio quality improving and degrading with each turn. After much fiddling, Bulma decided that this quality was as good as she would get (the quality was in fact as good as that from a modern minidisk stereo!) and sat back and enjoyed the relaxing melodies that came from the new radio she just invented from bits and pieces filched from broken pieces of equipment from across the building. Bra's gurgles became softer and softer as she dozed off to sleep, and Bulma could feel her own eyelids becoming heavier. Over the radio, she was dimly aware of a change of tone, and her eyes snapped open as she instinctively turned the volume of her radio up.
".rupt this program to bring the tragic news of a new terrorist act in the city of New York, in the United States of America!" The reported said excitedly, the sounds of mayhem in the background. Sirens wailed everywhere and people were screaming. "Earlier this evening, about half an hour ago, two people were found murdered on the streets of the city, apparently being thrown from then top of one of the Neo Trade Centre buildings! Then not long after the couple were killed, the towers themselves exploded in great billows of smoke and flame before collapsing to the streets below!" Bulma raised a hand to her mouth and gasped in astonishment. "Due to the suddenness of the attacks, it is estimated that the casualty rate of those in and around the towers at the time of collapse will be extremely high, and even now, as the cloud settles, rescue teams formed by city fire- fighters and National Guard are planning rescue operations. But, alas, it would seem that we would have to be able to find a way to get in there first!"
Bulma was engrossed by what was happening. All those people killed! First, Crest City goes up in what appeared to be a reactor overload, and now this! What would happen next? Bulma was so wrapped up by the special bulletin that she never heard the door bang open and Vegita's voice echo through the rooms.
"With all this dust in the air," the reporter continued, "it seems unlikely that any rescue attempts will be held before this day is through, though the imperative that the rescue crews get to work immediately!" Vegita opened the door to the small lab that Bulma was in with Bra and scowled at the mother of his children.
"Woman! Did you hear me over that infernal noise?" He asked, not noticing the expression on her face. "I said that the gravity generator in my training room is on the blink, have a look at it whilst I make. Woman! Are even listening. to." Vegita's voice trailed away as his brain caught up with what his ears were hearing.
"Once again, for those who have just tuned into this broadcast, the twin towers of the Neo Trade Centre have been raised to the ground in a sudden act of terrorism with a high mortality rate feared around the business area."
"What the.!" Vegita said as he listened to the reporter retell the tale of what had happened only moments earlier. The Saiyan Prince's eyes narrowed and he gripped his hands together tightly and cursed under his breath. "Brolli! I'll stake my life on it!" he roared. Bulma looked around at her man and let her gaze fall onto him.
"You think that it was Brolli who did that?" she asked.
"Yes, it's the sort of thing that madman would do. He is unpredictable when he's in a rage." Vegita replied. He walked over to the cot and leaned over the side, smiling slightly as he watched his daughter sleeping peacefully.
"Are you going to try and stop him again?" Bulma asked, her voice full of concern. Vegita closed his eyes and stood up with a sigh.
"I've told you before, I am a warrior. It is my duty to fight when I am called upon, not to hide away like a coward."
"But you haven't been called up!" Bulma replied. "Let Goku and the others deal with this, I don't want to loose you like this, I don't want Bra to grow up with her father!" Vegita hesitated. He knew she was right, hadn't he said that same thing on the first day when he was speeding away from the Lookout when he had that crazy notion of finding Brolli alone?
"I know, I know. But what else can I do? I am a great deal more powerful than Kakkarot right now, and when I return from the Time Chamber I will be a great deal MORE powerful! He answered back.
"But. Vegita." Bulma started, unsure what to say. Vegita raised a hand, a sign for her to be silent.
"No buts. This is the only way. The only way for us to defeat Brolli once and for all is for us all to stand together against Brolli. Me, my son, Kakkarot, Gohan, Goten and Tomatta will all fight side by side, all to defeat that monster." Vegita said.
"But. what about the others? The new Saiyans that will be training with you?" Bulma asked. Vegita sneered.
"Huh! What good could they possibly do against Brolli!" Bulma thought for a moment. Of course, he was right. At his current state, Vegita was much more powerful than Goku was, and they were going into the time chamber to face this Brolli creature with as much power as they possibly could.
Bulma took a deep breath and asked her question.
"Do. do you think you guys have a chance of beating him?" Vegita paused, thinking of the answer. Then he shrugged.
"It could go either way. He has the strength, but we have the numbers. If we keep standing and don't lose our heads then. who knows, we could win." Vegita said. Bulma smiled, elated. "But!" Vegita continued, "if any one of us flounders then Brolli could easily pick us off one by one." Bulma nodded, she knew that already. It had happened the last time that they had fought Brolli.
Mister Popo came rushing forward across the white surface of the Lookout Tower, his arms waving in the air as he tried to grab the attention of the assembled Z Fighters. Krillin turned and saw him and waved.
"Yo, Mister Popo. What's wrong?" he piped.
"It's time! It's time!" he shouted and pointed back at the clock over the main building of the lookout. Krillin looked up Piccolo, whose gaze was headed to the smaller building that housed the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
"Goku." he whispered to nobody in particular. The others followed the Namek's gaze and waited with bated breath. There is an old axiom - A watched pot never boils. In essence this is true. You can switch on a kettle and wait patiently for the thing to boil, and you can be there watching it for what appears to be minutes. Then, when you grow bored and sure that it will take longer to boil so decide to sit down, the thing boils. The same goes with other things throughout the Multiverse, such as television adverts and, for some annoying reason, those chemistry experiments we had to do (and for some of us, still have to do) at school which involved turning off the heat and just the RIGHT moment. If not, either the experiment didn't work if turned off to soon or, this being Sod's Law, laminating thick green goop across every viable surface in the lab and eradicating any hair on your face if left to late.
In the same way a watched pot never boils, a watched door never opens. And so it was thusly that the Z Fighters watched the door to the time chamber for what seemed to them to be an eternity, and it seemed to be that they sensed Goku's power level a long time before he actually emerged from the chamber with long golden hair flowing down his back.
"Wow, Goku!" Yamcha shouted, not believing what he saw before him. Tomatta walked across the Lookout and stood before his cousin grinning with pride, then embraced the smaller Saiyan and gave him a bear hug. Goku laughed and hugged Tomatta in return, slapping the taller man's back.
"You have really progressed, my cousin!" Tomatta roared. Goku nodded solemnly and turned to search the group for his youngest son.
"Goten, my son," said Goku, "You must go inside the chamber with Tomatta right now." Piccolo said nothing - by rights he should have gone in. It had all been arranged. Goku turned to his friend.
"Piccolo, I'm sorry, but we don't have time to train the non-Saiyans," Goku said apologetically. Piccolo merely nodded.
"It's okay, Goku. I understand. I was thinking the same thing earlier." He glanced at Applor, then shrugged. "I will train the young lad in real time before."
"No! You will train him last," Goku interrupted. "After Goten and Tomatta's training ends, Gohan will train with Vegita then Cukumbri will go inside with Fru."
"Then I will go in with Applor?" Piccolo asked. Goku nodded.
"Then you will go in with Applor," the Saiyan repeated. Goku watched as Goten walked past at Tomatta's side, almost jogging to keep up with the tall man's long stride. "Goten!" he called out. The young Son Goten looked around and beamed.
"Yeah?"
"Push yourself in there, you'll have a full year of full training ahead of you so don't think you have all the time you need, because you don't! You need to work hard every day with Tomatta and he will show you what it means to be a warrior, do you understand?" Goku asked. Goten nodded.
"Sure daddy. I'll make you proud of me!" Goten said beaming and turned and jogged off. Then Goku looked up to his son's sensei for the next year.
"Tomatta! Make sure he does what he's told, and make sure he trains!" Tomatta looked back at Goku and made a brief saluting motion.
"Will do, Kakkarot!" Tomatta shouted back before stepping through the Chamber doors.
Once inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, both Goten and Tomatta gasped with amazement with what they saw. Immediately before them sat the living area: two beds, a small tucked away kitchen with table and two chairs, and a door to their right. When Goten opened it, it revealed a large pantry packed to the brim food the food that would sustain them throughout the year.
"Uncle Tom, Uncle Tom!" Goten cried as he ran into the room, "Look at all this food!" Tomatta winced at the name and followed and was amazed at how deep the pantry stretched. There were freezers inside the pantry, that when opened, revealed themselves to be larger on the inside than on the outside. Milks, cheeses, yoghurts, meats. there was everything you could possibly want, all stored and stacked.
Goten rushed back past him into living area and flopped onto one of the beds and wriggled against the soft fabric and comfy mattress. Tomatta walked out of the pantry and closed the door, then sat down on the other bed and sank several inches. He frowned and lay back and felt his body raise an inch as the mattress, freed from the pressure of his bulky body in a small area, pushed him upwards again.
"You know, Goten. I could easily get used to this!" Tomatta said with a sigh.
"Yup," Goten replied, "It's almost as comfy as." he stopped as memory hit him. "As home," he finished, remembering the brief but destructive battle between Vegita and Tomatta that had demolished their home in the forest clearing. Tomatta looked down at the troubled expression on his kin's face and smiled.
"C'mon, kid. Let's get out there and start our training."
"What!?" Piccolo asked in disbelief. Vegita snorted arrogantly, he had arrived moments earlier with Cukumbri to tell the news to the others.
"It's all very simple to comprehend, even for a Namek," the Prince scorned, ignoring Piccolo's growl as he continued. "Brolli has demolished the twin Neo Trade Towers of New York, killing everybody inside."
"Why would he do such a thing!" Goku hissed with rage. Vegita gave him a sidelong glance.
"Because it's Brolli we're talking about here! The man who murdered his father because you just happened to be on the same planet as he was!"
"Yeah? Well you were the one duped into going out there to be king of the planet in the first place!" Piccolo responded in Goku's stead. Vegita spun around and stared at the Namek.
"What?! That drunk old fool Roshi dragged me onto the ship before I had a moment to think!" Vegita said. Piccolo sneered.
"Yeah, and we can't go against Master Roshi, can we?" Piccolo jeered, "I mean, just think of what he would do to us!"
"Knock it off, you guys." Goku said, looking thoughtful. Vegita turned his head slowly and looked at his rival over his shoulder.
"Yes, Kakkarot's thinking, and we don't want to interrupt that extremely complex process now, do we?" Vegita sneered. Goku ignored the comment.
"Trunks! Come here, quickly!" Goku ordered. Trunks, who was talking to Applor, across the floor, hurried over and stood looking up at Goku from beside his father. He had grown several inches since he had gone into the time chamber and needed his hair cut, the curtains, if they hadn't been pulled back into a ponytail that hung down between his shoulder-blades, would have encompassed his face neck and shoulders.
"Yes, Goku?" Trunks asked. Vegita kept watching Goku, unsure of what the man was going to do.
"We're going to get Gohan. All three of us," Goku said sternly. Vegita began to turn around, but Goku had already grabbed one of his shoulders and pressed his leg against Trunks as he raised his left hand to his forehead and concentrated.
"No, Kakkarot! Wa." Vegita began, and vanished with the others.
".it!" Vegita finished lamely as he reappeared outside in a field. Goku let go of Vegita's arm and looked about the landscape.
"Next time, warn me when you're going to do that!" Vegita shouted angrily, but the other two just ignored him. Trunks hesitated and felt the pang of Gohan's power level over the field in a westerly direction, and headed that way. Goku headed after him and Vegita sighed and then followed, grudgingly.
Gohan was a blur as he flipped and jumped all over the countryside, his white aura leaving vapour trails in his wake. He spun, kicked, punched, sent fireballs and blasts of Kai into, through and around mountains, and levelled them, bringing down entire cliffs with the merest of flicks of his wrist. He had progressed, not very much, but the slight rise in his power was clearly readable. Gohan finished by clasping his wrists and palm-heels together, hands open and fingers held tightly together, curled forwards. A spark of blue-white energy appeared in his hand and he quickly thrust both hands down by his waist, hunched over slightly, coiled as if ready to pounce. The spark grew significantly to become a ball, which Gohan grasped, wrapping his fingers around it.
"K-A-A-A-A-A-A!" he called out, and the energy ball began to glow brighter.
"M-E-E-E-E-E-E!" The ball's intensity greatly increased and faint blue beams of light leapt into the air through the gaps between Gohan's fingers.
"H-A-A-A-A-A-A!" The blue shine became longer and harder, the blue tendrils of energy-induced light stabbing out farther into the surrounding area.
"M-E-E-E-E-E-E!" Gohan yelled. The ball erupted in size at the beginning of the cry and burned Gohan's form into an outline as the Kame-Hame-Ha's intensity leapt.
"H-A-A-A-A-A-A!" Gohan thrust his hands forwards and up slightly, twisting them so that they were held at right angles, the palm-heels still held together. A blinding flash of energy erupted from Gohan's cupped hands as he stood in the wash of blinding energy, bracing himself forwards against the back-push that the Kame-Hame-Ha wave gave as it sped into the night, leaving a large blinding blue-white tail as it disappeared into the mid-day sky. Gohan pulled his hands around and up, changing the wave's angle and trajectory, sending it up higher and higher into the air, before bringing it down again with a sweeping motion of his arms and then pulled it around to head back towards him. He stood and waited, bracing himself, watching for that moment when he should avoid the large bolt of energy passed down from Master Roshi to Goku and then finally to himself. This particular bolt, Gohan estimated as it hurtled towards him, was a little smaller than the one which his father had ripped Cell in half with during the Cell Games, and Gohan knew better than to try and black it. He knew he could, but looks could be deceptive, especially with these kinds of attacks. It may look small and harmless, but it may just have enough power to atomise a large planet.
The Kame-Hame-Ha thundered across the plain, the bottom side scoring a large trench into the ground as it passed, vaporising the ground it touched. Gohan steadied himself. "Wait for it. Wait for it!" He thought, "NOW!" and leapt high into the air and sent a smaller Kame-Hame-Ha into the ground in front of the larger one. The blast wave from the smaller attack washed over the larger one and sent ripples through it, distorting the wave- form of the attack and then Gohan watched as the blue-white beam began to waver and then finally dissipated into a small white glow that sank harmlessly into a hill, leaving only a small burrow the size of a rabbit's burrow.
Goku stepped forward after watching his son's training and smiled.
"Hey son! That was great, you're really becoming a great warrior!" Gohan turned at the sound of his father's voice and smiled.
"Gee, thanks dad, that means a lot coming from you", Gohan said beaming. Goku ruffled his son's short, dark hair and motioned for him to follow. As they moved back to where Trunks and Vegita stood, Goku became aware of his son powering down, though physically there was little difference.
"So now what, Kakkarot? What do we do now?" Vegita asked. Trunks looked up at his father.
"I think I know, dad," he said. Vegita looked down.
"Oh, you do, do you?" he asked. "Then tell us, pray, where are we going?" the Prince asked. Trunks gave a questioning glance to Goku, then looked back at Vegita.
Trunks told him and looked up at his father's bemused expression, then up to Goku.
"That is right, isn't it?" Trunks asked, with just hint of uncertainty in his voice. Vegita laughed.
"Boy, you have a wild imagination!" The Prince said, but grew silent when he saw Goku's expression. "He is kidding, right?" he asked, but feared that he already knew the answer.
"No, you should listen closely to the child, because he's right," Goku said simply. Gohan gasped and Vegita's eyes flared.
"What! Are you insane? You're really going to do this?!" Vegita shouted.
"Yup."
"Kakkarot, sometime I think that when you hit your head as a baby, you lost more than just your memory!" Vegita roared. Trunks sniggered. Goku merely shrugged.
"Say what you like, I'm still stronger than you," Goku taunted.
"Only because you've been in that blasted Time Chamber!" Vegita shot back.
"I know," said Goku, and grinned. "Trunks, Gohan, let's go." The other two nodded and each held onto Goku's forearm a she reached out and put his hand back on Vegita's chest.
"Kakkarot! What do you think you're doing! Let go of me this instant!" Vegita yelled as Goku reached his other hand up to his forehead.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I demand that you release me right now or I'll."
"What's the matter, Vegita? Scared?" Gohan said with a sly grin. Vegita turned and gave him a hard stare.
"Be quiet, you impudent little wretch, or I'll." And then they vanished.
Brolli stood on a large hill overlooking an open plain and looked down at the large industrial town that clung grimly to the grass and dirt. Roads radiated from the town and headed off in various directions and there was the outline of a forest that sat behind the town, dark and brooding. Brolli was about to take a step forward when he sensed something behind him. He looked back over his shoulder and smiled.
"Ah, I wondering when you were going to bother and show up," Brolli rumbled, a small smile crossing across his lips.
Piccolo gasped with astonishment and morbid fear as his sensed scoured over the Earth, causing Krillin and Dende to look at him.
"What is it, Mister Piccolo?" Dende asked, holding his staff. Piccolo's eyes widened with horror as he looked out over the Earth.
"I. I don't believe it! They're mad!" Piccolo said, more to himself than to anybody else in the group.
"Piccolo! What is it!" Krillin shouted, a fist clenched. Piccolo looked down and the others took a step back, seeing the amount of fear in his eyes.
"They're fools! They're complete fools!" Piccolo yammered.
"What? Who are!" Krillin asked.
"The others! They're going to die!"
"Why? What have they done!" Krillin shouted, starting to get annoyed. Dende frowned and looked out over the Earth.
"Hmm." he said as he scanned the planet's surface looking for his friends. And then he gasped.
"I can't believe it! They're actually.?" he asked, leaving the sentence hanging. Piccolo nodded.
"Yeah, they are. I don't fancy their chances much."
"But. surely they can't, I mean, not yet!" Dende said. Piccolo clenched a green fist.
"I don't think something like that can be stopped!" Piccolo growled. Krillin looked from one to the other.
"What's going ON!" He yelled. All conversation on the Lookout stopped and everybody turned to the trio.
"They've gone to challenge Brolli," Piccolo said solemnly. Krillin's eyes bulged.
"They've what!"
Goku stood casually before Brolli, who loomed over him like a monster, sneering with an insane-fuelled distaste.
"So, little Kakkarot, you've come to me. I must say," Brolli rumbled, "that I expected you a lot sooner than this!"
"I know, but we're prepared for you now! Whilst you've been destroying innocent civilians, We've been training in preparation for you!" Goku shouted, his voice carrying across the plain and hillside. Silence dropped. Brolli gave them all a bemused smile, and soon rose into an insane bellow of laughter.
"I see," he said. "And I suppose that Vegita here will pose more of a Challenge this time?" Brolli said mockingly, thinking of the ease that he had demolished the Saiyan Prince all those years ago on that false planet set up as the trap to lure Vegita to his death.
"Hah! You pathetic dog You have no idea what you're up against now!" Vegita retorted. It had been his pride that had taken the bigger beating, not his body. "And I will give back to you tenfold what you gave to me!" This only caused more laughter to ensue from Brolli's large form.
"Then I shall look forward to crushing you again!" Brolli shouted. He turned his attention to Gohan. "So this is the young whelp who I kicked all over the planet! It appears you've grown, but you're still that little bastard that will be crushed by my hand!"
"Enough!" Goku barked, taking a step forward. "I have come to tell you that if you do not leave this planet, we will be forced to destroy you, if that clear?" Goku asked. Brolli gave him a sceptical look, and laughed again.
"You make me laugh, Kakkarot. Perhaps this is why I never destroyed you the last time!" Brolli rumbled. Goku's eyes narrowed.
"Nether the less, you have until tomorrow. I suggest you run!"
"Yes? And how am I supposed to go from the planet!" Brolli boomed. Goku hesitated, he had never thought about this.
"We will supply the vessel, now go. Before we change our minds!" Vegita shouted. Goku looked back with surprise. This was Vegita talking? Brolli appeared to think for a moment, then grinned.
"You know what, I think I like it here. I'm going to stay!" Brolli said, then without warning, charged.
With Goku and Trunks back from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Vegita and Gohan training outside in the real world, the team seems a lot harder than they were! But are they strong enough yet to take on and defeat Brolli without some sort of aid? With Brolli's insane mind and muscle-packed body, what will he do? Find out next time on. TOTAL WAR!!!
Bulma sat in a desk chair at a console table as she played about with a series of components lain strewn across the desk, pausing to push a strand of hair behind her ear and out of her eyes. As young Bra gurgled peacefully in her cot, she fitted the trans-modulator, then hooked up the variable connector to the main power feed and slid the anti-shock casing over the delicate wires that made up the sporadic deflector. Very carefully, she inserted the processor, from her old laptop computer, into its appropriated slot on the main circuit board then clipped the plaz-chrome case shut. She leaned back in the chair with a sigh and looked at her handiwork. Bra gurgled softly and Bulma swivelled the chair around so that she could peer into the cot of her new-born baby girl, and watched as she waved her arms in the air gurgling.
"Yes, that's right!" Bulma cooed, "Mommy's finished! Yes she is, yes she is!" Bra gurgled in response and swiped at one of the dangling toys above her face. Bulma ducked as a small model elephant shot towards her at head height and exploded against the wall behind her, showering her workbench with pieces of plastic pachyderm.
"My, you certainly get that from your father, don't you?" Bulma said with a smile and turned back to her new thing. She pressed a small red button on the side and a small green LED started to flicker on and off at three second intervals. Bulma then turned a dial on what appeared to be the front of the device and listened as scratchy music pulsed quietly into the room. She turned the dial this way and that, the audio quality improving and degrading with each turn. After much fiddling, Bulma decided that this quality was as good as she would get (the quality was in fact as good as that from a modern minidisk stereo!) and sat back and enjoyed the relaxing melodies that came from the new radio she just invented from bits and pieces filched from broken pieces of equipment from across the building. Bra's gurgles became softer and softer as she dozed off to sleep, and Bulma could feel her own eyelids becoming heavier. Over the radio, she was dimly aware of a change of tone, and her eyes snapped open as she instinctively turned the volume of her radio up.
".rupt this program to bring the tragic news of a new terrorist act in the city of New York, in the United States of America!" The reported said excitedly, the sounds of mayhem in the background. Sirens wailed everywhere and people were screaming. "Earlier this evening, about half an hour ago, two people were found murdered on the streets of the city, apparently being thrown from then top of one of the Neo Trade Centre buildings! Then not long after the couple were killed, the towers themselves exploded in great billows of smoke and flame before collapsing to the streets below!" Bulma raised a hand to her mouth and gasped in astonishment. "Due to the suddenness of the attacks, it is estimated that the casualty rate of those in and around the towers at the time of collapse will be extremely high, and even now, as the cloud settles, rescue teams formed by city fire- fighters and National Guard are planning rescue operations. But, alas, it would seem that we would have to be able to find a way to get in there first!"
Bulma was engrossed by what was happening. All those people killed! First, Crest City goes up in what appeared to be a reactor overload, and now this! What would happen next? Bulma was so wrapped up by the special bulletin that she never heard the door bang open and Vegita's voice echo through the rooms.
"With all this dust in the air," the reporter continued, "it seems unlikely that any rescue attempts will be held before this day is through, though the imperative that the rescue crews get to work immediately!" Vegita opened the door to the small lab that Bulma was in with Bra and scowled at the mother of his children.
"Woman! Did you hear me over that infernal noise?" He asked, not noticing the expression on her face. "I said that the gravity generator in my training room is on the blink, have a look at it whilst I make. Woman! Are even listening. to." Vegita's voice trailed away as his brain caught up with what his ears were hearing.
"Once again, for those who have just tuned into this broadcast, the twin towers of the Neo Trade Centre have been raised to the ground in a sudden act of terrorism with a high mortality rate feared around the business area."
"What the.!" Vegita said as he listened to the reporter retell the tale of what had happened only moments earlier. The Saiyan Prince's eyes narrowed and he gripped his hands together tightly and cursed under his breath. "Brolli! I'll stake my life on it!" he roared. Bulma looked around at her man and let her gaze fall onto him.
"You think that it was Brolli who did that?" she asked.
"Yes, it's the sort of thing that madman would do. He is unpredictable when he's in a rage." Vegita replied. He walked over to the cot and leaned over the side, smiling slightly as he watched his daughter sleeping peacefully.
"Are you going to try and stop him again?" Bulma asked, her voice full of concern. Vegita closed his eyes and stood up with a sigh.
"I've told you before, I am a warrior. It is my duty to fight when I am called upon, not to hide away like a coward."
"But you haven't been called up!" Bulma replied. "Let Goku and the others deal with this, I don't want to loose you like this, I don't want Bra to grow up with her father!" Vegita hesitated. He knew she was right, hadn't he said that same thing on the first day when he was speeding away from the Lookout when he had that crazy notion of finding Brolli alone?
"I know, I know. But what else can I do? I am a great deal more powerful than Kakkarot right now, and when I return from the Time Chamber I will be a great deal MORE powerful! He answered back.
"But. Vegita." Bulma started, unsure what to say. Vegita raised a hand, a sign for her to be silent.
"No buts. This is the only way. The only way for us to defeat Brolli once and for all is for us all to stand together against Brolli. Me, my son, Kakkarot, Gohan, Goten and Tomatta will all fight side by side, all to defeat that monster." Vegita said.
"But. what about the others? The new Saiyans that will be training with you?" Bulma asked. Vegita sneered.
"Huh! What good could they possibly do against Brolli!" Bulma thought for a moment. Of course, he was right. At his current state, Vegita was much more powerful than Goku was, and they were going into the time chamber to face this Brolli creature with as much power as they possibly could.
Bulma took a deep breath and asked her question.
"Do. do you think you guys have a chance of beating him?" Vegita paused, thinking of the answer. Then he shrugged.
"It could go either way. He has the strength, but we have the numbers. If we keep standing and don't lose our heads then. who knows, we could win." Vegita said. Bulma smiled, elated. "But!" Vegita continued, "if any one of us flounders then Brolli could easily pick us off one by one." Bulma nodded, she knew that already. It had happened the last time that they had fought Brolli.
Mister Popo came rushing forward across the white surface of the Lookout Tower, his arms waving in the air as he tried to grab the attention of the assembled Z Fighters. Krillin turned and saw him and waved.
"Yo, Mister Popo. What's wrong?" he piped.
"It's time! It's time!" he shouted and pointed back at the clock over the main building of the lookout. Krillin looked up Piccolo, whose gaze was headed to the smaller building that housed the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
"Goku." he whispered to nobody in particular. The others followed the Namek's gaze and waited with bated breath. There is an old axiom - A watched pot never boils. In essence this is true. You can switch on a kettle and wait patiently for the thing to boil, and you can be there watching it for what appears to be minutes. Then, when you grow bored and sure that it will take longer to boil so decide to sit down, the thing boils. The same goes with other things throughout the Multiverse, such as television adverts and, for some annoying reason, those chemistry experiments we had to do (and for some of us, still have to do) at school which involved turning off the heat and just the RIGHT moment. If not, either the experiment didn't work if turned off to soon or, this being Sod's Law, laminating thick green goop across every viable surface in the lab and eradicating any hair on your face if left to late.
In the same way a watched pot never boils, a watched door never opens. And so it was thusly that the Z Fighters watched the door to the time chamber for what seemed to them to be an eternity, and it seemed to be that they sensed Goku's power level a long time before he actually emerged from the chamber with long golden hair flowing down his back.
"Wow, Goku!" Yamcha shouted, not believing what he saw before him. Tomatta walked across the Lookout and stood before his cousin grinning with pride, then embraced the smaller Saiyan and gave him a bear hug. Goku laughed and hugged Tomatta in return, slapping the taller man's back.
"You have really progressed, my cousin!" Tomatta roared. Goku nodded solemnly and turned to search the group for his youngest son.
"Goten, my son," said Goku, "You must go inside the chamber with Tomatta right now." Piccolo said nothing - by rights he should have gone in. It had all been arranged. Goku turned to his friend.
"Piccolo, I'm sorry, but we don't have time to train the non-Saiyans," Goku said apologetically. Piccolo merely nodded.
"It's okay, Goku. I understand. I was thinking the same thing earlier." He glanced at Applor, then shrugged. "I will train the young lad in real time before."
"No! You will train him last," Goku interrupted. "After Goten and Tomatta's training ends, Gohan will train with Vegita then Cukumbri will go inside with Fru."
"Then I will go in with Applor?" Piccolo asked. Goku nodded.
"Then you will go in with Applor," the Saiyan repeated. Goku watched as Goten walked past at Tomatta's side, almost jogging to keep up with the tall man's long stride. "Goten!" he called out. The young Son Goten looked around and beamed.
"Yeah?"
"Push yourself in there, you'll have a full year of full training ahead of you so don't think you have all the time you need, because you don't! You need to work hard every day with Tomatta and he will show you what it means to be a warrior, do you understand?" Goku asked. Goten nodded.
"Sure daddy. I'll make you proud of me!" Goten said beaming and turned and jogged off. Then Goku looked up to his son's sensei for the next year.
"Tomatta! Make sure he does what he's told, and make sure he trains!" Tomatta looked back at Goku and made a brief saluting motion.
"Will do, Kakkarot!" Tomatta shouted back before stepping through the Chamber doors.
Once inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, both Goten and Tomatta gasped with amazement with what they saw. Immediately before them sat the living area: two beds, a small tucked away kitchen with table and two chairs, and a door to their right. When Goten opened it, it revealed a large pantry packed to the brim food the food that would sustain them throughout the year.
"Uncle Tom, Uncle Tom!" Goten cried as he ran into the room, "Look at all this food!" Tomatta winced at the name and followed and was amazed at how deep the pantry stretched. There were freezers inside the pantry, that when opened, revealed themselves to be larger on the inside than on the outside. Milks, cheeses, yoghurts, meats. there was everything you could possibly want, all stored and stacked.
Goten rushed back past him into living area and flopped onto one of the beds and wriggled against the soft fabric and comfy mattress. Tomatta walked out of the pantry and closed the door, then sat down on the other bed and sank several inches. He frowned and lay back and felt his body raise an inch as the mattress, freed from the pressure of his bulky body in a small area, pushed him upwards again.
"You know, Goten. I could easily get used to this!" Tomatta said with a sigh.
"Yup," Goten replied, "It's almost as comfy as." he stopped as memory hit him. "As home," he finished, remembering the brief but destructive battle between Vegita and Tomatta that had demolished their home in the forest clearing. Tomatta looked down at the troubled expression on his kin's face and smiled.
"C'mon, kid. Let's get out there and start our training."
"What!?" Piccolo asked in disbelief. Vegita snorted arrogantly, he had arrived moments earlier with Cukumbri to tell the news to the others.
"It's all very simple to comprehend, even for a Namek," the Prince scorned, ignoring Piccolo's growl as he continued. "Brolli has demolished the twin Neo Trade Towers of New York, killing everybody inside."
"Why would he do such a thing!" Goku hissed with rage. Vegita gave him a sidelong glance.
"Because it's Brolli we're talking about here! The man who murdered his father because you just happened to be on the same planet as he was!"
"Yeah? Well you were the one duped into going out there to be king of the planet in the first place!" Piccolo responded in Goku's stead. Vegita spun around and stared at the Namek.
"What?! That drunk old fool Roshi dragged me onto the ship before I had a moment to think!" Vegita said. Piccolo sneered.
"Yeah, and we can't go against Master Roshi, can we?" Piccolo jeered, "I mean, just think of what he would do to us!"
"Knock it off, you guys." Goku said, looking thoughtful. Vegita turned his head slowly and looked at his rival over his shoulder.
"Yes, Kakkarot's thinking, and we don't want to interrupt that extremely complex process now, do we?" Vegita sneered. Goku ignored the comment.
"Trunks! Come here, quickly!" Goku ordered. Trunks, who was talking to Applor, across the floor, hurried over and stood looking up at Goku from beside his father. He had grown several inches since he had gone into the time chamber and needed his hair cut, the curtains, if they hadn't been pulled back into a ponytail that hung down between his shoulder-blades, would have encompassed his face neck and shoulders.
"Yes, Goku?" Trunks asked. Vegita kept watching Goku, unsure of what the man was going to do.
"We're going to get Gohan. All three of us," Goku said sternly. Vegita began to turn around, but Goku had already grabbed one of his shoulders and pressed his leg against Trunks as he raised his left hand to his forehead and concentrated.
"No, Kakkarot! Wa." Vegita began, and vanished with the others.
".it!" Vegita finished lamely as he reappeared outside in a field. Goku let go of Vegita's arm and looked about the landscape.
"Next time, warn me when you're going to do that!" Vegita shouted angrily, but the other two just ignored him. Trunks hesitated and felt the pang of Gohan's power level over the field in a westerly direction, and headed that way. Goku headed after him and Vegita sighed and then followed, grudgingly.
Gohan was a blur as he flipped and jumped all over the countryside, his white aura leaving vapour trails in his wake. He spun, kicked, punched, sent fireballs and blasts of Kai into, through and around mountains, and levelled them, bringing down entire cliffs with the merest of flicks of his wrist. He had progressed, not very much, but the slight rise in his power was clearly readable. Gohan finished by clasping his wrists and palm-heels together, hands open and fingers held tightly together, curled forwards. A spark of blue-white energy appeared in his hand and he quickly thrust both hands down by his waist, hunched over slightly, coiled as if ready to pounce. The spark grew significantly to become a ball, which Gohan grasped, wrapping his fingers around it.
"K-A-A-A-A-A-A!" he called out, and the energy ball began to glow brighter.
"M-E-E-E-E-E-E!" The ball's intensity greatly increased and faint blue beams of light leapt into the air through the gaps between Gohan's fingers.
"H-A-A-A-A-A-A!" The blue shine became longer and harder, the blue tendrils of energy-induced light stabbing out farther into the surrounding area.
"M-E-E-E-E-E-E!" Gohan yelled. The ball erupted in size at the beginning of the cry and burned Gohan's form into an outline as the Kame-Hame-Ha's intensity leapt.
"H-A-A-A-A-A-A!" Gohan thrust his hands forwards and up slightly, twisting them so that they were held at right angles, the palm-heels still held together. A blinding flash of energy erupted from Gohan's cupped hands as he stood in the wash of blinding energy, bracing himself forwards against the back-push that the Kame-Hame-Ha wave gave as it sped into the night, leaving a large blinding blue-white tail as it disappeared into the mid-day sky. Gohan pulled his hands around and up, changing the wave's angle and trajectory, sending it up higher and higher into the air, before bringing it down again with a sweeping motion of his arms and then pulled it around to head back towards him. He stood and waited, bracing himself, watching for that moment when he should avoid the large bolt of energy passed down from Master Roshi to Goku and then finally to himself. This particular bolt, Gohan estimated as it hurtled towards him, was a little smaller than the one which his father had ripped Cell in half with during the Cell Games, and Gohan knew better than to try and black it. He knew he could, but looks could be deceptive, especially with these kinds of attacks. It may look small and harmless, but it may just have enough power to atomise a large planet.
The Kame-Hame-Ha thundered across the plain, the bottom side scoring a large trench into the ground as it passed, vaporising the ground it touched. Gohan steadied himself. "Wait for it. Wait for it!" He thought, "NOW!" and leapt high into the air and sent a smaller Kame-Hame-Ha into the ground in front of the larger one. The blast wave from the smaller attack washed over the larger one and sent ripples through it, distorting the wave- form of the attack and then Gohan watched as the blue-white beam began to waver and then finally dissipated into a small white glow that sank harmlessly into a hill, leaving only a small burrow the size of a rabbit's burrow.
Goku stepped forward after watching his son's training and smiled.
"Hey son! That was great, you're really becoming a great warrior!" Gohan turned at the sound of his father's voice and smiled.
"Gee, thanks dad, that means a lot coming from you", Gohan said beaming. Goku ruffled his son's short, dark hair and motioned for him to follow. As they moved back to where Trunks and Vegita stood, Goku became aware of his son powering down, though physically there was little difference.
"So now what, Kakkarot? What do we do now?" Vegita asked. Trunks looked up at his father.
"I think I know, dad," he said. Vegita looked down.
"Oh, you do, do you?" he asked. "Then tell us, pray, where are we going?" the Prince asked. Trunks gave a questioning glance to Goku, then looked back at Vegita.
Trunks told him and looked up at his father's bemused expression, then up to Goku.
"That is right, isn't it?" Trunks asked, with just hint of uncertainty in his voice. Vegita laughed.
"Boy, you have a wild imagination!" The Prince said, but grew silent when he saw Goku's expression. "He is kidding, right?" he asked, but feared that he already knew the answer.
"No, you should listen closely to the child, because he's right," Goku said simply. Gohan gasped and Vegita's eyes flared.
"What! Are you insane? You're really going to do this?!" Vegita shouted.
"Yup."
"Kakkarot, sometime I think that when you hit your head as a baby, you lost more than just your memory!" Vegita roared. Trunks sniggered. Goku merely shrugged.
"Say what you like, I'm still stronger than you," Goku taunted.
"Only because you've been in that blasted Time Chamber!" Vegita shot back.
"I know," said Goku, and grinned. "Trunks, Gohan, let's go." The other two nodded and each held onto Goku's forearm a she reached out and put his hand back on Vegita's chest.
"Kakkarot! What do you think you're doing! Let go of me this instant!" Vegita yelled as Goku reached his other hand up to his forehead.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I demand that you release me right now or I'll."
"What's the matter, Vegita? Scared?" Gohan said with a sly grin. Vegita turned and gave him a hard stare.
"Be quiet, you impudent little wretch, or I'll." And then they vanished.
Brolli stood on a large hill overlooking an open plain and looked down at the large industrial town that clung grimly to the grass and dirt. Roads radiated from the town and headed off in various directions and there was the outline of a forest that sat behind the town, dark and brooding. Brolli was about to take a step forward when he sensed something behind him. He looked back over his shoulder and smiled.
"Ah, I wondering when you were going to bother and show up," Brolli rumbled, a small smile crossing across his lips.
Piccolo gasped with astonishment and morbid fear as his sensed scoured over the Earth, causing Krillin and Dende to look at him.
"What is it, Mister Piccolo?" Dende asked, holding his staff. Piccolo's eyes widened with horror as he looked out over the Earth.
"I. I don't believe it! They're mad!" Piccolo said, more to himself than to anybody else in the group.
"Piccolo! What is it!" Krillin shouted, a fist clenched. Piccolo looked down and the others took a step back, seeing the amount of fear in his eyes.
"They're fools! They're complete fools!" Piccolo yammered.
"What? Who are!" Krillin asked.
"The others! They're going to die!"
"Why? What have they done!" Krillin shouted, starting to get annoyed. Dende frowned and looked out over the Earth.
"Hmm." he said as he scanned the planet's surface looking for his friends. And then he gasped.
"I can't believe it! They're actually.?" he asked, leaving the sentence hanging. Piccolo nodded.
"Yeah, they are. I don't fancy their chances much."
"But. surely they can't, I mean, not yet!" Dende said. Piccolo clenched a green fist.
"I don't think something like that can be stopped!" Piccolo growled. Krillin looked from one to the other.
"What's going ON!" He yelled. All conversation on the Lookout stopped and everybody turned to the trio.
"They've gone to challenge Brolli," Piccolo said solemnly. Krillin's eyes bulged.
"They've what!"
Goku stood casually before Brolli, who loomed over him like a monster, sneering with an insane-fuelled distaste.
"So, little Kakkarot, you've come to me. I must say," Brolli rumbled, "that I expected you a lot sooner than this!"
"I know, but we're prepared for you now! Whilst you've been destroying innocent civilians, We've been training in preparation for you!" Goku shouted, his voice carrying across the plain and hillside. Silence dropped. Brolli gave them all a bemused smile, and soon rose into an insane bellow of laughter.
"I see," he said. "And I suppose that Vegita here will pose more of a Challenge this time?" Brolli said mockingly, thinking of the ease that he had demolished the Saiyan Prince all those years ago on that false planet set up as the trap to lure Vegita to his death.
"Hah! You pathetic dog You have no idea what you're up against now!" Vegita retorted. It had been his pride that had taken the bigger beating, not his body. "And I will give back to you tenfold what you gave to me!" This only caused more laughter to ensue from Brolli's large form.
"Then I shall look forward to crushing you again!" Brolli shouted. He turned his attention to Gohan. "So this is the young whelp who I kicked all over the planet! It appears you've grown, but you're still that little bastard that will be crushed by my hand!"
"Enough!" Goku barked, taking a step forward. "I have come to tell you that if you do not leave this planet, we will be forced to destroy you, if that clear?" Goku asked. Brolli gave him a sceptical look, and laughed again.
"You make me laugh, Kakkarot. Perhaps this is why I never destroyed you the last time!" Brolli rumbled. Goku's eyes narrowed.
"Nether the less, you have until tomorrow. I suggest you run!"
"Yes? And how am I supposed to go from the planet!" Brolli boomed. Goku hesitated, he had never thought about this.
"We will supply the vessel, now go. Before we change our minds!" Vegita shouted. Goku looked back with surprise. This was Vegita talking? Brolli appeared to think for a moment, then grinned.
"You know what, I think I like it here. I'm going to stay!" Brolli said, then without warning, charged.
With Goku and Trunks back from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Vegita and Gohan training outside in the real world, the team seems a lot harder than they were! But are they strong enough yet to take on and defeat Brolli without some sort of aid? With Brolli's insane mind and muscle-packed body, what will he do? Find out next time on. TOTAL WAR!!!