Chapter 39: Evil Dragons Saga Epilogue: Sendoff
Hours after Goku had made his deal with Babidi to revive him in exchange for his aid in stopping this threat of impending war, the King of Earth stood over a legion of his armed military forces, muttering to himself, "So finally… Finally, we've found the root of that scourge Piccolo Daimao and his kinsmen. For such a long time, I'd thought that we'd been rid of them all after that boy miraculously defeated him that fateful day… But then he returned again, with that foul devil Baby by his side. It pains me to order a nuclear assault, but I'm afraid that any less would be wholly insufficient to be rid of his evil threat…"
"Sir, we are ready to deploy our forces to the location we found the Demon Kinsmen in within four hours," said the general of the Royal Armed Forces via transmission.
"Very well… It must be done, so let it be written, let it be done. But before that, send all the foot soldiers we can to spread sleeping gas into the surrounding area, and scatter the wild animals who call the place their home elsewhere. I could not bear to see millions of innocent wild animals slaughtered solely for the sake of removing the Demon Kinsmen threat. We do not fire our bombs until we've gone and accomplished this first phase of the mission, is that clear? Soldier?"
"Yes, my king. Exactly as you command, your majesty," said the general as all the foot soldiers he commanded then got into a series of helicopters, wearing gas masks. Within several hours, all of the helicopters surrounded the town that the Namekians built as their new home, and the soldiers descended on jet packs.
"Move it, move! And remember, if any of those green devils obstruct our mission, we have permission to drop hydrogen missiles into the area! We cannot risk the Demons coming across any civilians, or else this entire world is doomed – "
Just as the general said this, a large volley of yellow Ki blasts struck the tanks of sleeping gas that the soldiers carried on their backs before knocking their masks off, and the gas perforated around the area within a moment's notice, knocking all of the soldiers out. A tall, caped figure wearing a purple Gi and a turban emerged, and he put on one of the masks saying, "That was too easy. Now, Goku! The coast is clear, take this transmission device and tell their king that the process has been delayed!"
Son Goku, encased in a barrier created by Babidi, emerged from the sky and put on voice changing equipment built by Bulma before using the transmission equipment to contact the Earth's King, saying "Bzzz… Uh, I'm sorry, my king, but the wild animals are putting up a bit more resistance than I'd have thought! Please give it another two hours before we're able to complete this mission! G'day!"
"V-Very well. Anything to avoid unnecessary casualties, General," said the King over transmission.
Goku then put on one of the masks that the soldiers dropped and said, "Say, Piccolo… This really ain't my style, fakin' voices and all… Why didn't we just go ahead and storm the castle? It ain't like we'd have needed to use the front gate like Baby did, we do have my Shunkan Idou…"
"We needed to buy more time in case it'd take more time than we'd have expected to convince the King. After all, regardless of the fact that he's been resurrected twice, the thought of a man still dead coming back from the world beyond to certify a ceasefire is a farfetched tale. If we'd have taken too long, it could have been possible for the soldiers to construe their inability to reach the King as a sign that the enemy forces had gotten to their leader, and who knows how many lives would have been lost in the ensuing confusion?"
"Right, we don't have Dragon Balls no more to go and revive the dead…" thought Goku.
"Fools! I don't exactly have all day to listen to you petty Earth swine whine about this petty endeavor! I went through the bother of recharging your Afterlife energy for a reason, Son Goku, and I demand that we get this over with, pronto! Unless you want me to rescind my offer and deplete your energy…" said Babidi impatiently.
"Fine, fine. You stay here, Babidi, and I'll go ahead and teleport myself to the location of the Earth's King and get this over with! And Piccolo, be nice, Babidi is on our side this time around!"
"Wait, Son. Before you go…"
Piccolo then pierced Babidi's barrier and used his magic materialization to change Goku's clothes back to his orange Kame Sennin'ryu clothes, the ones he wore when training with Kami as a teenager. He then said, "These clothes are a closer match to the ones you wore when defeating the previous Piccolo Daimao. It is better to have all our bases covered. After all, it has been roughly forty years since he saw you last."
"Alright, Piccolo! Off I go!" said Goku as he placed his index and middle fingers on his forehead and homed in on the Earth King's Ki at King Castle, emerging in front of his desk within an instant.
"Howdy, King o' the Earth! My name's Goku!"
"! Y-You! Where-where did you come from?!"
"I'm the grandson of the martial artist Son Gohan, and former champion of the Tenkaichi Budokai! Although, I don't think there are any recordings of my last match with Majunior left after he blew up that island that day… And I come here from the afterlife, and I want to make a few things clear! I mean you no harm, your majesty!" said Goku, refraining from using the name Piccolo to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
"T-The Tenkaichi Budokai? Y-Yes, that's right, there was a rumor that Piccolo Daimao showed up there that day, but there were no more incidents for well around a decade after that event, so we construed it as a rumor… B-But you call yourself, Son Goku? A-Are you the same boy who fought that green devil on these grounds so many decades ago? The same man who fought Cell alongside Mr. Satan?"
"Yup! The one and only! My son was the one who defeated Cell, and yes, he was the man taken over by Baby two years ago and made to usurp the throne! But don' worry, my other son Goten and his friend Trunks took care of that menace!"
"T-Trunks?! You mean the grandson of my friend Dr. Brief, who is no longer with us? T-Then it is true, you must be who you say you are!"
"Sir, it would be in our best interest not to trust this man! He could be another devil in disguise!"
"Ah, don't say that, mister! I ain't no devil, I'm actually a Saiyan, raised on Earth! And I fought against Piccolo, against the alien invader Saiyans, and against Cell! I was also the one who defeated Majin Boo… Although I guess your memory of that would be wiped clean. So let's just say me and Mr. Satan go way back, and due to some unfortunate circumstances, I've been dead for a while, hence the halo on my head!" said Goku as he tapped the halo floating over his scalp lightly, causing it to vibrate slightly and release small glitters.
"Y-Yes, and I recognize the Kanji on your Gi as well… The same turtle Kanji that boy wore when he defeated Daimao. I-I trust you. If you'd wanted to kill me, you've had a few minutes to do so, now," said the King.
"Great! Then the rest of this exchange should go an' flow smoothly!" said Goku as he then laid out the events of the Cell Game, while omitting the fact that Satan played virtually no part in defeating him, and then explained the rest of the events that transpired, including the defeats of Baby and Yi Xing Long, and assured the King that Daimao was but an evil shadow expelled from the previous Kami, who'd merged himself into his reincarnation to defend the Earth against Cell.
"All of this is just so hard to believe… I may be a fool to trust you," said the King.
"Ah, c'mon! Don't say that, King! I can go ahead and bring you Piccolo if you'd like, and I assure you, he's as pure hearted as they come, now! He just had the misfortune of being connected to the Ultimate Dragon Balls, but they ain't around anymore! All the Dragon Balls are toast! So please, please, you have to call this war off! Any lives lost in this, they ain't comin' back!"
"But very well. Perhaps I am that fool. Your voice was the one that demanded for us to gather our energy to defeat an evil creature I now scarcely recall, and the one who attempted to secure peace some days ago… And I cannot deny it, you are a splitting image of that enigmatic figure who participated in the fights against Piccolo Daimao and Cell. I am calling off the nuclear attack. However…"
"Y-Your majesty! You can't!" yelled his advisor, "the green devils still lurk among us! This could be some trick!"
"Silence! Don't interrupt me!"
"Whew! This's a relief!" thought Goku.
"This does not mean I have purged myself of all suspicions. If I ever hear even one credible report that one of those green slug monsters have harmed or killed civilians, if I see even one single minute of footage confirming this… Then I care not if Trunks and the rest of the Capsule Corporation are on your side, I will order another attack! Is that clear?!"
"That's perfect, chief! I assure ya, that ain't gonna happen as long as Dende and the new Piccolo are around! Thank ya so much for seein' eye to eye with me, King! See ya'll later!"
Goku then teleported back to where Piccolo and Babidi were, and told them the good news.
"Well, well, well. It seems I was right to change your clothes, after all," said Piccolo.
"Yeah, the turtle Kanji really came in handy! I didn't think the guy would still remember what clothes I wore like forty years ago, hehe! But now, the nuclear attack's called off, so I'll just go ahead and gather up these unconscious soldiers and place then back at King Castle!"
"A-hem!" blurted Babidi loudly, "Are you forgetting about something, Son Goku?!"
"R-Right, right! I'll go ahead and get you taken care of straight after, just gimme like half an hour to go ahead and visit my wife!"
"Your wife is at Capsule Corporation, Son," said Piccolo, "she is seeing the future Trunks off along with your two sons and the rest of our friends. You didn't even know about that, did you? Heh… You never change," said Piccolo.
"They're seein' Future Trunks off! S-So there's gonna be a big feast?! Shoot, I'm totally there! Be seein' you there, Babidi! Piccolo!" yelled Goku as he quickly gathered up all of the unconscious soldiers, placed their helicopters in capsules, and then teleported them all back to King Castle.
"Now to focus on… Let's see, Vegeta's Ki! He's no doubt in the middle of trainin'! He wouldn't miss the chance to have a big feast as a post-workout meal!" yelled Goku as he then homed in on Vegeta's Ki, emerging next to Vegeta in the gravity chamber.
"K-Kakarrot!" yelled Vegeta as he withdrew his fist when he narrowly avoided punching Goku in the face.
"Yo! Vegeta, it's a long story, but I find myself back in the world of the livin'… For just one day! Ain'tcha gonna see your son off?"
"Hmph. That feast won't be for another forty minutes. The Prince of the Saiyans need not bother showering the boy with unnecessary praise. He knows all too well that he's still got a ways to go," said Vegeta.
"Paparapapa!" yelled Babidi as he and Piccolo then emerged in the room, at which point the excess gravity instantly pinned him to the floor.
"S-Son Goku! Vegeta! D-Do something about this – this weird contraption! I-I can't move!"
"Babidi?! Where did this cretin come from?! I'll eliminate him!" yelled Vegeta as he formed a Ki sphere on his right hand, at which point Goku got in the way, saying "No, no, Vegeta! Babidi's on our side this time around! I-I need to help him get his hands on somethin'!" said Goku as he gestured with his fingers that he really meant the opposite, pointing to Babidi and then pointing his thumb downward.
Vegeta smirked and said, "Is that so? Well, I wouldn't want to get in the way of the great Wizard-sama Babidi and whatever he wants his hands on! Come, Kakarrot! I intended to work out a few hours longer, but we'll go ahead and attend that feast, now!"
Vegeta then turned off the 600G that his machine was set to before he, Goku, Piccolo and Babidi walked bristly toward the feast. There, Future Trunks' time machine, complete at last, was being recharged, and Bra and Pan having another sparring match, while Goten, Trunks, and Gohan suddenly noticed the adults' presence, and waved them hello.
"Piccolo-san! So everything went smoothly?" said Gohan, before he suddenly donned an ominous expression when he noticed Babidi among their ranks.
"That's the evil wizard that was commanding Boo to destroy cities! What's he doing here?!" said Goten.
"He's got a halo. He's dead, isn't he? He's a persistent one, coming back from the world of the dead… Were his magic powers necessary for something?" said Trunks.
"Why, hello, Babidi," said Kibitoshin as he suddenly excused himself from his table and quickly sped into the wizard's vicinity, "making yourself at home here on Earth, I presume?"
"H-Hehehehehe! You've changed faces since I saw you last, but I remember you, Kaioshin! So, you didn't die that day when Majin Boo fought Vegeta, did you?!"
"No, I did not. But I see you've seen better days," said Kibitoshin as he flicked Babidi's halo with his finger, causing it to flutter about.
"Feh! This Son Goku character here has agreed to bring me back to life, in exchange for my services! It was I who recharged his afterlife energy, to bring this petty Namek farce to an end! And now, I demand my prize, Son Goku! Bring me back to life, now!"
"Ha-hahahahaha! Hahahahahaa! Son Goku-san, you did not tell him, did you?" blurted out Kibitoshin mockingly.
"Tell me… what?!" said Babidi, confused.
"The Dragon Balls! The magic orbs that were used to bring back Kibito and all the rest of you and Boo's victims… They were destroyed, some time ago! They're gone! And without them, no magic power exists to wish back the dead! Son Goku-san tricked you!"
"W-WHAT?!"
"Heh… Sorry Babidi, the most I can do is put a good word to Enma-Daio to consider reincarnatin' you quicker… You'd probably cause a lot of mischief in Heaven, if you were to be brought there with all your magic power!"
"Y-You little… DAMNABLE TRICKSTER! YOU DARE MOCK ME?! I-I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
The skies darkened and rumbled violently as a powerful wave of dark and foul energy emanated from Babidi, at which point he directed that power toward Vegeta, and yelled, "HAAAAAA! VEGETA, I COMMAND YOU TO DO MY BIDDING! DESTROY SON GOKU, DESTROY THE TWO KAIOSHIN, DESTROY PICCOLO AND KILL EVERYONE HERE! I COMMAND YOU IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS EVIL AND FULL OF MY GLORY!"
Vegeta then collapsed to his knees and breathed violently, as he was forcibly turned Super Saiyan. Suddenly, his hair, which had been cut to a shorter length, grew back to its normal length as veins appeared all over his body, and his eyes glowed in a frightening red, and he let loose a dark, crackling and foul aura of orange and black as an M emerged on his forehead. Without even being able to put up a resistance this time, Vegeta found himself converted into one of Babidi's followers.
"D-Damn! Goku-san, it seems Babidi's shadow magic has increased greatly in potency since we faced him last! Vegeta-san is a complete puppet, now!"
"Vegeta! Get ahold of yourself, you're too strong for Babidi to control you!" yelled Goku, at which point Vegeta charged into his range and punched him in the stomach, causing Goku to spit blood.
"I… I… obey only Master Babidi! Babidi-sama wishes for your death, and I will grant him this!" yelled Majin Vegeta as he removed his jacket and formed a Kienzan on his palm and yelled, "En garde!"
Piccolo sped into his range and kicked Majin Vegeta away, with enough force to dislocate his jaw. Gohan then knocked the Kienzan away and destroyed it with a massive, one-handed blast, at which point Vegeta emerged from the rubble and placed his dislocated jaw back in place before then going Super Saiyan 2 and then Super Saiyan 3, causing a huge cyclone of energy to emanate around himself.
"Now! Vegeta, end them, right this instant! Kill them all!"
"G-Grrr!" yelled Vegeta as he strained himself to hold back his hand when Babidi psychically commanded him to form a Final Shine Attack, one strong enough to kill everyone in the vicinity. Right in his line of sight was Goku, who'd recovered from Vegeta's earlier assault and looked at him, directly into his eyes, his eyes full of pity.
"!"
"Vegeta, what are you doing?! Kill them, kill them all now!"
"I-I-I… Am the Prince! The proud, the only, the mighty Prince of the Saiyans! I-I refuse to be looked down on! My pride… My pride – "
"Vegeta! You fool! I'll just strengthen my possession, you -will- kill them all, right this instant! You will – "
Just as Babidi said this, suddenly a spear was hurled in his direction, and impaled his skull, the resulting concussive force causing his entire body to burst into chunks of bloody meat and scrap. He who fired this weapon far into the horizon was Redjic, who then made his presence known as he, too, sped himself to the location of the feast.
"The one in the way is gone. If you two desire a match between warriors, you can do so, now. Without interference," said Redjic as he recovered his weapon, then wiped Babidi's blood away and said, "There… Now your legacy has been laid to rest, Babidi. My comrades can rest in peace."
Vegeta reverted to his base form as the M on his head disappeared, and he then smiled lightly when Goku walked to his direction and said, "That was a big wallop you landed on m' stomach… How 'bout I pay you back, Vegeta?!"
"Fine! Kakarrot, I challenge you to one final showdown! The one to settle it all!" yelled Vegeta as he instantly went Super Saiyan 2, as Goku did the same in turn and they then flew off into the distance, ready to settle their now friendly rivalry once and for all. Watching this transpire, Redjic said, with Trunks, Goten and Piccolo beside him, "Three centuries ago I swore I wanted nothing to do with this world… It was nothing but a sinful and wretched place, full of horrible burdens and misfortunes. But watching those two fight for the sport of it, after one of them just had his pride soiled by being put into Babidi's possession… It strikes a chord in me. I swore when I was resurrected to never fight by anyone's side again, to never have anything to protect again and to never again lose out on protecting my pride… Yet it was due to the assistance of you people, my new comrades that I survived my near-destruction at the hands of Ultimate Yi Xing Long. I am at a loss for words."
"That's what it's like… to have friends," said Trunks.
"Friends… You and I, everyone else?"
"Yes, friends."
"Hmph. Perhaps. You all go and grab a bite to eat, I require no such methods of sustenance, with countless souls in my body!"
"Don't say that! We'll all eat together!" said Goten.
"Yes, we shall. Us Namekians require no such sustenance either, but you'll find it's quite nice to warm one's self to these merry festivals," said Piccolo.
"Yes, I insist," said Future Trunks, "the time machine is almost ready, if this feast will be the last one we all have together, I want everyone to have had the chance to partake in it!"
"Feh. As you all wish," said Redjic as he too chose to dine in on the merry festivities and the delicious food that Bulma's chefs and Chi-Chi had prepared.
Far across the distance, in a desolate wasteland, Goku and Vegeta were engaged in a grapple, with Vegeta yelling to Goku, "Kakarrot! Where's Super Saiyan 4?! You still have your tail, do you not?!"
"Oh, about that… It seems like I can' go and replicate it no more! Without bein' fused with you, I can't yet take control of the Golden Oozaru state to access Super Saiyan 4 by myself!"
"Ho! So that just gives me yet another opportunity to go and leave you… in the dust, KAKARROT!"
"Hey! No fair, Vegeta! That ain't happenin!"
Goku kicked Vegeta into the distance, where Vegeta quickly emerged from, and then punched his rival several feet back as well.
"We'll both keep getting' stronger, Vegeta! Without any limits!" yelled Goku as he then entered his Super Saiyan 3 state.
"Of course! All those in the entire Multiverse fear the boundless potential of the Saiyan race!" yelled Vegeta as he, too, went Super Saiyan 3 and then clashed with Goku.
A few hours later, after this scuffled had ended, Future Trunks was about to board his time machine, as his friends and family were waving him goodbye.
"Well, my friends, it's been a pleasure," said Future Trunks, "I'll return one of these days to inform you all that getting peace for my timeline was a success."
"Yeah! No matter which enemy comes your way, you'll be givin' them a wallop, Trunks! You've gone and made yourself unrecognizable in the time you've been here!" said Goku.
"Keep training, Trunks. Never settle for your current limits. Become even stronger," said Vegeta.
"I will! Thank you both very much!" yelled Future Trunks as he entered his time machine, at which point Bra suddenly sped herself into the time machine as well, and said, "Hey, it's no fair that I'm the only one in the family who's never seen that evil android Cell! So I'll taggin' along with you, and coming back when you are, Onii-chan!"
"B-Bra!"
"Feh. Let her go. It'd be a good motivator to keep her training as well," said Vegeta as he walked off into the distance, "perhaps this farewell won't be a long and final one."
"Alright! Then to the future, we go!" yelled Future Trunks as he set the coordinates of the Time Machine for the day that the Cell of his future would ambush him to gain access for his time machine, and used Bulma's new feature to ensure that he would not end up astray in some other parallel timeline from the CPU synchronizing with his unique time dimension frequency. The time machine headed for the day of no return, for Future Trunks and Bra!
Watching this event transpire, Goten then said, "So, the Dragon Balls are all gone… And the future Trunks-kun is back in his timeline. Now, it's all up to us to protect the fragile peace we've preserved, with our own efforts… I'll keep training and getting stronger too, so I can do anything, and I mean anything, to ensure nothing like Yi Xing Long ever threatens us again!"
"And I'll go a step beyond you and preserve the peace, too!" yelled Trunks.
The two friends gave each other a fist bump as both went off to pursue his own training. This timeline was in good hands, Dragon Balls or no.
However, what would become of the future timeline? What dark threats lurk in this unexplored world? What new evil plots? Nothing was yet certain, to us at the time…
ARC 3: THE EVIL DRAGONS OF SHADOWS: END
