Movin on to a new era, as we have entered the era of SIGohan being far too OP. I promise this won't impact the story...too much. I won't have SIGohan immediately stomp every conflict. That'd be boring. That's what the rules will help with.
This fic was never too focused on the fights anyway it's fine.
WrathofAjax: it's taken a fair bit of buildup to get to this point but here we be
Desolatedsabers: Le thanks
And at the very least, Trunks and Clover are more than strong enough to beat the future androids at least
arkon3321: I have a few key points planned in the Buu Saga. And a lot more is gonna be winged
KalAeon: Honestly, even if Goku did die, I'd probably have SIGohan resurrect him anyway. She knows that Goten is coming and I just disagree with him staying dead. Like, I understand why, I just fundamentally disagree.
At least for now, SS4, or The Ultimate, is going to remain exclusive to SIGohan. I could theoretically give it to the others but, it's honestly cheating enough to have one person that strong, let alone the lot of them. And going over each of them individually, Goku I can't see ever embracing any form of the Oozaru because of the whole Granpa Gohan deal. Vegeta, I think it'd be a shot at his pride for him to have to wish his way to power, even if it's just wishing back his tail. Nappa, I could, but it'd feel awkward to just wish back his tail. Raditz has a tail and if I give him Super Sayain it'd be doable, but even then it'd be a lot of training which would not be in character for him, either in my interpretation or canon. Goten and Trunks were born without tails so their disqualified, which would leave Clover and one other character yet to be introduced. (also maybe Tarble but probably not) both of which are entirely possible, mostly Clover, but that would be far into the future
And yeah, the social element is the primary thing in the way of just being done with the gender thing.
thewittywhy: It being anticlimatic was inevitable the second SS4 was introduced
TheWaterKid: thanks lol. and yeah the goal was always to retrieve both Androids and get them to the lookout. Both for the purpose of having the canon K18 set up, and that SIGohan and 17 conversation.
Phreak91: I'm pretty sure a lot of people would play super hero if given the chance
And yeah, for my whole explaination on the whole. others Sayains getting SS4 thing, refer to my response three reviews up
HeWhoShouldn'tBeNamed: Well unfortunately, SIGohan has incentive to avoid such fallout
guestyperson: the future shall be seen
Nevermourned: Don't worry, K18 is like, my favorite ship. I ain't doing anything to interfere with that. And I likewise will not be writing 17 out so he shall be present, or at least moreso than he was in canon
Qinlongfei: Le thanks
Radish payoff imminent, and I will not say anything on future plans other than, you are correct in that I will not be shipping SIGohan with Videl
My self-prescribed alone time couldn't last long of course. Why would it? That'd be too convenient.
This time however, it was -her- turning the corner to approach.
"We, haven't really talked, figured time was running short to."
"Not much to talk about," I said, because it was true. What is there to say to, yourself? Kinda?
Honestly thinking about it too much might just be an existential crisis in the making.
"Yeah well. We can't not talk. Missed opportunity or whatever."
I hummed.
"Oh lighten up. You got the good timeline. I'm, probably gonna get killed by Goku Black or whatever that was…do you happen to remember any more of-"
"Nope." I shook my head. I don't think I'd even started Super by the time I died. I knew the major plot points but like- no details.
"Great." -She- glared into the skyline before shaking her head.
…
"..what, was dying like…?" It was a dumb question and I immediately regretted asking it.
She rubbed at her stomach, "If you mean the afterlife, not a clue. According to Mr. Popo, since I was put into stasis so quickly, I, never got the chance to move on. So, it was just like I was sleeping for ten days. Which is, not great."
I nodded. As if this wasn't all existential enough before. Why did I ask that? There was no right answer and that? That was the worst one.
"Anyway! Clover says you got some new transformation? What's up with that, didn't sound like two."
"Well, there's only one reason to watch GT after all."
I leaned back with a grin as the implication registered.
"Four? That- oh that's cheating."
"It absolutely is."
The information simmered, before -she- sat back upright and shook her head, "man. I never even considered- Really wish I didn't lose my tail. And the Dragon Balls were just used too, shame."
…
…
"Welp. I can't think of anything else to talk about. You?"
I shook my head.
"Great. Obligatory other self conversation done," she stood back up, and rubbed at her stomach again, "well, I'm never getting to sleep properly again. Oh well."
And, she walked back. And I was alone up here again.
And, I no longer wanted alone time.
I went to sit next to Piccolo.
…
Raditz-
Well. That literally could not have gone better.
The brat's new form was absurd but he wasn't really surprised by much anymore.
Except, he was surprised by how, not afraid he was. Of the brat. Because he should have been. The brat was so much stronger than- forget him, anyone. But even as he (she?) threatened Vegeta, he, was fine. Even though what the brat was saying should have applied to him as well.
Everything about that form should have screamed danger at him.
But it didn't.
And, it wasn't just that he was used to others always being stronger than he was. Back when it was just him Nappa and Vegeta, there was always an underlying threat. The only reason the prince tolerated him was because of the lack of Sayains left.
Around Kakarot he almost always felt some form of frustrated, even on the best days. When he had unlocked the Super Sayain it was as if yet another impassable rift fell between them. That one was probably more so on his part.
And Kakrot's friends? The only one he somewhat got along with was Bulma (and maybe Chichi? He still wasn't sure how to read that). The rest, there was always an underlying tension. He couldn't quite tell if it was coming from him or them.
And the Namek was laughably out of the question. Even if being around him wasn't entirely nerve-wracking anymore, that didn't mean being in his presence was pleasant.
The fact that he, trusted, the brat at this point. It- he didn't know what to do with that.
And what was worse, is that he couldn't place when he began to do so.
It obviously wasn't when he was first brought back here. But it also couldn't have just been recent. Even ignoring the, woman, brat, whatever time travel was stupid, situation, when the brat stepped out of the time chamber just as blonde and his (her?) father, he only felt, annoyed.
Why was it annoying when it was the brat but frustrating with Kakarot? Of course, by then he'd somewhat accepted the power gap, so maybe it was just that he'd accepted the brat getting it as an inevitably.
But he still wasn't scared. Even with Kakarot, he wasn't afraid of the fool, but when his hair sparked blond he still felt, wary about it. And maybe he was still too worked up about the future woman (just sticking with that. It's easier) but-
He still didn't feel concerned about it. A fact made all the more clear by the new form. Hell, Kakarot had looked warier than he felt. Which seemed odd but whatever.
Of course, that was all ignoring everything else that was, wrong, about the brat's fight with Cell. Hell, even before that.
He'd always thought the brat was odd. Obviously. There were fewer things right about how he (she?) acted than otherwise. But most of it was vague, things he couldn't quite place.
But the first thing that he could clearly point to and say was something that was definitively wrong,
Was the brat knowing more about the assassin meant to kill Kakarot in his childhood than Kakarot himself.
And, maybe there was some way for him (her?) them to know that. Maybe they just heard it from somewhere else. Somehow. He had no idea where but it was, technically, a possibility.
And if it was just that he probably would have just piled it onto the "weird brat things" pile.
But then the brat asked to learn the Power Ball.
Which fine. The Oozaru was powerful. And maybe he did just think that was a new avenue to go down for power.
And stumbled upon a new form. That required a heavily modified power ball. By accident.
Totally possible. Technically.
And then the Cell fight. and where to begin. The brat was utterly unconcerned throughout. Which considering the form, was now entirely understandable.
The brat seemed to like the loud, obnoxious human for some reason. Not entirely relevant but definitely counts as weird.
And then the brat stepped into the ring.
They gave Cell one of those stupid healing beans, which seemed incredibly and out of characterly reckless-
-until the new form was revealed and it became very clear just how outclassed Cell, and by extension everyone else, really was.
Out of vague curiosity, he tried to scan the form with his scouter and was entirely unsurprised when it shorted.
He pulled another Scouter out of his pocket and dialed up the sound amplifier.
And from that he got several interesting quotes to add to the collection, plus an explanation of the form that he assumed would be restated later, however it seemed, too detailed for the brat or even the Namek to have deciphered on their own.
"In case you're unaware, I killed you once already." - great. Thanks. Needed a reminder of that.
"It is hardly my choice. The form is terribly masc, but that's the price for power." - confirmation that at least in some form the brat didn't like being masculine.
"Now then. To pretend to be fair, I'll go ahead and give you the first shot. Full power. And, to be clear, I do not mean half
Power. Or seventy percent, or any other arbitrary number. You have ten seconds." -according to Cell- some kind of quote, though not perfectly stated.
"Why?" so you can charge up your little kamikaze thing?" - what Raditz assumed to be some last-ditch attack.
These were things he could have never imagined the brat would normally say. It was too blatant. Too blatant that they knew something that they shouldn't. Too blatant that they weren't quite as they presented. And while the attempted quote wasn't entirely out of character, it was still too on the nose.
And it was entirely possible, if anything rather likely, that they didn't expect anyone to listen in.
Even knowing the Namek had advanced hearing, Raditz wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he knew whatever the hell was up with the brat. He already apparently knew about the future woman being the brat thing. Which. Raditz did not want to begin to dissect.
And any one of these on their own wouldn't really be proof of anything. Most of what the brat's done could have been written off as an accident, coincidence, or gotten from an outside source.
But added together, it at the very least implied that the brat knew things that they should not have been able to know.
And with this information, Raditz decided: that he didn't care.
Or, that wouldn't be quite the right way to put it. He wouldn't stop mentally collecting these oddities, but, so the brat had secrets. If anyone would be surprised by that, he'd be disappointed.
He'd keep collecting any oddities he heard, but he wouldn't go out of his way for it.
Besides, he got the feeling the brat would get a lot more boring if they started to make sense.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only topic he had to deal with in the aftermath.
The other one also had to do with the brat. Technically speaking.
And it probably wasn't one he could just avoid as he'd made eye contact with the future woman.
So, while everyone else was distracted he retreated back into the building on the Lookout. It wasn't hard to slip away unnoticed, it's not like people tended to pay attention to him anyway.
And while technically he didn't have to wait long, the fact that he had to wait at all was aggravating.
At least the woman managed to poke her head through the door before he up and gave up and left.
Of course, when she did neither of them wanted to say the first word beyond her tentative "hi."
"Ok," she eventually broke the silence, "you're not good at this and neither am I so, uh," she trailed off and god of it wasn't obvious her mannerisms were the same as the brat's now, "right so- look, I'm sorry about what happened before. It wasn't fair that- let's just, forget it happened, ok?"
And Raditz frowned. Because forgetting it would be the easiest solution. But, he didn't want to, and he didn't quite know why. Still, he responded, "sure," anyway.
The woman looked unsure and refused to sit down, which was fine enough, he didn't care either way.
So this time he spoke up, "you are a woman," he stated. And it felt like, cheating, to bring this up with her.
'Course that was for nothing since she all but dismissed him. "That's not a conversation for you to have with me."
And with that, he assumed any other lines of questions would be dismissed all the same.
The woman shifted on her feet and opened and closed her mouth several times. Eventually, she nodded and turned to leave, only to stop, and not do that.
"…you- my version of you. My timeline's, I mean- you were the last one to, uh-"
"Die," he finished her statement. And that made sense. Like hell he'd go running into danger like the rest of those idiots.
"Right- yeah. You- he, he died protecting me. And- since I can't tell him, I'll tell you instead. Uhm, thanks. But if you ever do anything like that here I'll personally come back to drag you back to life by the hair."
Without another word she turned and left.
Left him with that new information as if he needed to know it.
She was probably just making it up anyway. Like hell he'd go and die for someone else.
What a ridiculous concept.
…
He's not sure how he ended up back at Kakarot's house. He had no reason to be there anymore. No need for that ridiculous training without a threat, not that it did him any good regardless. He'd managed to avoid any real fighting through it all. All the better for him.
It was a week or so after it all settled down and things were still trying to adjust back to normality. The Future trio had returned home, now more than strong enough to defeat their Androids. Or, Trunks and Clover were at least.
("Now you have to catch up to us! Clover grinned.
"Yeah, I guess I do.")
The brat was doing whatever the brat did in their room and the three of them were left in the living room.
When Chichi announced to them she was pregnant.
"…you're joking," he said because goddamn it one brat was enough to deal with.
Kakarot was entirely nonchalant to the news. Which was as unsurprising as it was ridiculous.
Which brought up something that, he hadn't really considered before.
"How, do you pay for-" he gestured to the house, "and how are you going to pay for another kid?"
"Well, the house was a wedding present from Bulma. I tried to tell her it was too much but you know how she is. Everything else my father pays for. There are advantages to coming from old money," Chichi stated as if it was a normal thing. Which, he knows he hasn't been on the planet long but, that didn't sound average.
"And, what would happen if your father started to run out of money?"
"Well if that ever happened Goku would just have to get a real job," Chichi turned her head towards her husband and rose her voice to say that.
Which, Raditz could not imagine Kakarot doing for the life of him.
…
But, come to think of it, he had another idea. One that would make him a little less pissed about how the aftermath of the Cell Games went down.
…
I sighed as I leaned back in my chair.
You know. This entire time, I'd always figured that after the Cell shenanigans went down, I'd be done. I'd probably help in some way with the whole Buu thing, but other than that, I'd just do my own thing. Not that I really knew what that looked like in this world.
But while that sounded real nice in theory, there was something else I hadn't considered.
I, was bored.
It's only been a couple weeks and I was already bored.
The past four and a half years of my life (counting the time chamber) have been spent training solely for Cell, and now that that was done, I, didn't really know what to do.
I mean there was the obvious, the things I actually liked doing, but it still felt like there was a hole in my days that training used to take up. Not that I never trained, I'd sometimes spar with Piccolo still. Which was a lot more fun now that there wasn't a dispiriting power gap between us.
And it's not like I wanted to go back to that old schedule. It was awful, and the only thing keeping me from dropping it at the time was the fear of Cell.
But still.
I was bored.
I was back in a cycle of homework that I had to pretend to struggle with. That time of pretending running dangerously thin as the difficulty quickly caught up to me.
And even going to visit Pigero's gang was a bit, tense, at the moment.
("You said you weren't going to fight." Pigero stated soon after I first showed up.
"Huh?"
"Your voice was heard asking the cameras to be shut off before they were. Why would you ask for them to be turned off after your father already fought if you weren't planning on going up there next?"
"Uh- I mean. I wouldn't really call it a fight. And I didn't get hurt at all so-"
"That's not the point!")
So uh, not sure how long that's gonna take to blow over. I doubt it'll last long. Issue is, I have to be the one to go over there to check, and the longer I wait the more difficult that will be.
I get that Pigero was just worried and yeah, that was logical, but it was still frustrating. Because I knew how absurdly stacked my odds were, but it was hard to convey that to someone who, doesn't really have the same experience.
And while I could, theoretically, just hang out with those not named Pigero, which was the standard anyway. Mostly being Chico, ROM, and sometimes Ena, I do call them Pigero's gang for a reason. And while I doubt I'd be pushed away or anything, that didn't really make it less awkward.
…oh whatever. I'm just gonna check it out again tomorrow. I'm technically the adult used adult there. I should pretend to act like it.
…
Mr. Satan-
Mr. Satan, had absolutely no idea what happened at those damned Cell Games.
He knows some blond guy came up and stole his spotlight with all of his tricks.
He knows that kid stepped into the ring and that he (? She? They were hard to read) threw, some kind of light in the air, and then some completely other person stood in the ring.
And then Cell was, well, whatever had happened, the kid wasn't exaggerating when they said it wasn't going to be a fight.
And then the new person sat and talked with their group, the kid being nowhere in sight (after threatening that angry spikey-haired guy? He thinks?)
Then that light faded and the kid was back. Asleep (he hoped).
And then they all left. Flying back up into the sky from where ever they came.
He didn't know what kind of tricks were used to pull all that off, but they had to be pretty elaborate.
"…can, can I turn my camera back on now…?" Lionel asked from behind him.
Jimmy enthusiastically encouraged him and before he know how to process any of it, the camera and microphone were already refocused on him.
"Mr Satan. Would you like to tell the world what just happened?"
"I- I don't-"
"Mr Satan." Firecracker gave him a way more stern look than he was used to from the announcer, "would you like to tell the world, and your millions of confused and scared fans, what. happened?"
So, he did exactly what that kid explicitly told him to do. He took the credit. Granted they said if they were the ones who beat Cell, but he figured that whatever that other person was had to be part of that kid's plan or something.
It wasn't hard to slip back into his persona for the camera, hell, it was barely even a persona at this point.
And, everything was a whirlwind after that. What with all the media and the praise. Movie studios and advertisers were practically stumbling over each other to get his name as a credit.
He didn't tell anyone the truth, not even his daughter. It was hard, he told his little sweetheart everything. But, she didn't need to have that kind of lie hanging over her. And, he didn't want to teach her to lie like that either, so it was better if she didn't know.
He, didn't say anything more about their group's tricks. It was still obviously fake of course! But, a deal's a deal. And one way or another they did get rid of Cell so, least he could do.
So, after a long day of signatures and media coverage, he walked back into his home office-
To find somebody already sitting at his desk.
He startled back as the man slowly spun his chair to the forward position as if he owned it.
He vaguely recognized the long-haired man as one of the people from that group. Memorable only by the absurdly long hair.
"W-what are you doing in my house!" He demanded. He was already going to move soon, into a bigger, more protected house- a mansion even! But this? This cinched it.
"Hm? Me? Oh nothing, just admiring what you can get off of my," the man frowned, "family's victory."
The man toyed with a picture frame on his desk. The sight made Mr. Satan stiffen.
If that man even thinks about-
He placed it back with deliberate care, "so here's what we're going to do, my brother, you know, the father of the kid who actually beat Cell, is apparently going to be having another child. And I've recently become aware of how, precarious, their financial situation is. So, you are going to take some of the money you've leached off of their victory, and ensure that they want for nothing."
The man stood up, handing him a piece of paper. And placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down to his eye level. Mr. Satan wasn't used to other people being taller than him, "I can assure you, I am not as kind as they are. I'm not sure where Kakarot got that annoying good person gene of his but I can assure you, it was not our father. If you fail to have done this within the week, well-" the man's hand tightened on his shoulder to a painful degree, "I'm sure it won't come to that."
"And we will never speak of this again. To anyone. See, I don't quite think they'd quite appreciate the effort I've gone to here, so there's no need to tell them. Understand? Oh, and don't make it a direct payment or anything like that. My sister-in-law is the stubborn type."
Before Mr. Satan could respond, the man walked past him and out of the room.
Mr. Satan whipped around to say, something! But by the time he did, the man was already gone.
The paper held an address from somewhere in the 439 east district.
…
Chichi's insistence on waking up at a reasonable time would absolutely never be a thing I get used to.
It had been over a month since the Cell game and I was still getting used to normalcy.
Getting back into Pigero's gang wasn't exactly difficult. A bit awkward for about ten minutes then Chico and Rom were back to as if nothing happened. The rest followed as such in not much longer.
Still, I managed to wander out before she demanded I get up for breakfast for a fourth time.
After breakfast and I was unfortunately no longer tired enough to fall back asleep I sat at the table zoning out as Chichi shuffled through the mail.
I glanced up at the ever-increasing speed of the papers being flipped.
Chichi was frowning as she all but glared at the mail.
"What's up?"
She glanced up, "oh nothing Gohan, I just, need to make a call."
And a few minutes later I overheard part of a conversation: "what do you mean it's been paid indefinitely? no, I don't know who would have- if I find my water or electricity's turned off one day because this is all some mistake-"
Ok. That's interesting. I looked over at Goku to see if he had any idea what was up, only for him to shrug.
I don't know why I expected anything else.
"Oh hey Gohan! I found something you might like! If, you wanted to of course!"
"Ok?"
"I found this little tournament you might like. I loved tournaments when I was your age, and while you're at a bit of a higher level than I was, it could still be fun. Bet you could convince Piccolo to join."
"A tournament?"
"Yeah, just thought you might want to participate in one that isn't life or death, y'know?"
"I guess," I shrugged fiddling with a napkin.
"Great! Oh and Chichi, there's a cash prize so that should be-"
"Oh, I don't think we'll have to worry about that for a while," Chichi said as she sat back at the table, staring at the papers in confusion.
I waited for her to elaborate, and when she did not I asked why.
"For some reason, all of our bills have been paid indefinitely. I called my father, and he has no idea, then Bulma but she didn't know either," she looked up as if either of us would have an explanation. Which, obviously both of us were clueless.
"Oh, but Gohan can join if he wants. It'd be good for you to get out of the house again," she directed that last part to me directly.
"I still expect one of you two to win. That prize money would be nice if this does all turn out to be some mistake."
And, with that, plans for next week were set.
Alrighty I should touch in with Raditz see how he's dealing with events-
Evil twin: make it half the chapter
What? I just had a three part Raditz POV he doesn't need-
Evil twin: half. the chapter.
I have no excuses and I will not apologize
