Una: Yes. Up to the end of DBGT, Vegeta had not achieved SS3. He only attained SS4 through the scientific wizardry of his mate. However, I assumed that in order for Vegeta to achieve SS4 without the use of the Brutz ray, or whatever it's actually called, he would have to be strong enough to do so and would have kept training until he made SS3. After all, he wouldn't want Kakkarot doing anything that he couldn't do himself, now would he? :c)
Immortal7: Thank you for the compliment and offer of help. I'll let you know if I need anything.
To all others that reviewed, thank you very much!
On to the story!
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Dendi almost let the portal close as the power he was sensing from The Supreme Kai's planet increased dramatically, and then subsided.
"Dendi! Get your mind back onto the task at hand!" Piccolo warned.
"Did you feel that!?" Dendi exclaimed as he brought his full attention back to his link with Piccolo.
"Of course I did, but we have to let Mr. Popo finish." Piccolo said.
Piccolo and Dendi weren't the only one's to feel that ki. Vegeta felt Roger's ki increase unbelievably, then shrink to nothing. Goku's ki had also increased, but Vegeta could still feel his ki.
"Dendi! Do you need myself or Trunks?" Vegeta asked.
"No Vegeta, go and see what happened." Dendi answered.
"Trunks, take us back to Kaioshin's planet now!" Vegeta commanded.
"Ok Father." Trunks reached out and put his hand on Vegeta's shoulder and disappeared in an instant.
+++++++++++
Goku walked out of the 200-yard wide crater that marked the effects of the combined attacks. His gi was all but burned away, and Goku himself was bleeding from his nose, mouth, and arms. In his arms he carried the limp body of Roger, which was in far worse condition than Goku.
Kaioshin was on them in an instant. "Is he alive?"
"Barely. I didn't expect him to do that… I didn't expect him to be so…. So… " Goku struggled for words.
"So Saiyan? So much like yourself and Vegeta?" Kaioshin supplied as he directed Goku to set Roger down and began to heal him." This is going to take some time, he's badly hurt."
Goku looked at Roger's body. The fingers of his right hand were partially burned off, and the right arm had been almost ripped apart at the elbow. The rest of his body, particularly the right side that took the brunt of the blow was a mass of bruises, cuts, and broken ribs, several of which had broken the skin. His breathing was heavy and labored.
Yambia, Kirillin, Goten, and Pan ran up and stopped as soon as they seen Roger. Yambia resisted the urge to run to Roger and hold him knowing that it would only worsen Roger's injuries. Yambia tried to talk, but could only manage a choked sound. Pan put her arm around Yambia's shoulders as tears swelled in Yambia's eyes.
"Will he be alright?" Pan finally managed.
"Yes, he will live and be fine, but it's going to take a while to heal his injuries." Kaioshin answered.
Suddenly, Trunks and Vegeta appeared beside The Supreme Kai.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED Kakkarot!?!?!" Vegeta demanded to know.
"We were sparing, Vegeta." Goku said. "I let things get out of control." For the first time that Vegeta could remember, Kakkarot was truly embarrassed by something.
"N-no!" A weakened Roger said after having just regained consciousness. "It isn't his fault, or at least not all his fault."
"Don't talk Roger. Save your strength." Yambia pleaded.
Vegeta then took out the small pouch that Korin had given him and took one bean out and placed it in Roger's mouth. "Here, chew this and swallow it."
Not being in much position to argue at the moment, Roger did as he was told. "Whew! That's nasty!"
Almost immediately, Roger's wounds closed up, and his bones knit together in the proper places, and his fingers reappeared whole and unscathed.
"Now, you were saying?" Vegeta smirked.
"Vegeta, Goku threw his last attack from a huge distance away, and at the slowest speed he could. I had more than enough time to get out of the way. That's what he expected me to do. I didn't do the expected." Roger smiled. "It wasn't Goku's fault. Once again, I bit off more than I could chew."
"Sigh… Yes, you seem to have a problem with that." Vegeta smirked. Actually, it's a very Saiyan trait."
Roger smiled standing up, not a blemish on him at all. "So, those are the Senzu Beans from your story?"
"Umm… Roger?" Yambia said.
"Yes?"
"Your training clothes were… umm… damaged. Well, look down." Yambia said stifling a giggle.
Roger looked down and seen that the only thing covering the front of his body from the middle of the chest on down was his partially burned away Fruit of the Looms, and that coverage was little. Roger quickly turned away as Kaioshin regenerated a set of clothes for him. Kaioshin then regenerated Goku's gi.
"You know, I'm beginning to really like this training. You get to see things you don't ordinarily see." Pan said smiling.
Yambia chuckled. "Looking is okay, just don't touch!"
"Don't worry, he's a bit too young for me any ways." Pan smiled.
"I'm not worried." Yambia said.
Because of the Saiyan mating customs, and the mental bond, actually cases of infidelity among bonded pairs were practically non-existent. First off, you'd have to be very, VERY good at blocking the telepathic link between yourself and your spouse, if not you would be busted before you even got started. Secondly, those caught cheating on their spouse were subject to being hunted down by the spouse, her family, and her friends and executed. Your identity would be transmitted via video links all over the planet. No one would help you. There had been cases were the offenders own family would join in the hunt just to clear the family name. This is why very few Saiyans actually worried about their spouse's faithfulness.
"Alright Trunks, take us back to the lookout." Vegeta said, and a few seconds later, they were gone.
Kaioshin finished healing Goku.
Goku had been pretty quiet since Roger's revival. He approached Roger now with an expression that reminded him for all the world of that hound dog that used to grace the front of Jed Clampett's mansion on "The Beverly Hillbilly's" reruns.
"I'm really sorry Roger. That was pretty stupid of me. I…" Goku started.
"Water under the bridge bud." Roger smiled. "Nothing to forgive. I could have easily have dodged that attack. Instead I let my testosterone levels override my critical thinking abilities. If anyone was stupid, it was I. Don't give it another thought. Besides which, now that I'm healed, I feel much stronger." Roger offered his hand, which Goku gratefully grabbed and shook. Roger spent the next three minutes trying to wrest himself from Goku's grip.
"Yes, that's the best thing about being Saiyan! If you come close to dying, like you just did, and recover you get stronger! You get stronger just by training, but you get stronger much faster if you're mortally wounded." Goku smiled.
"Well, as attractive as that sounds, let's try to keep being mortally wounded to a minimum." Roger chuckled.
"We always do!" Goku smiled.
++++++++++++++
"There, finished!" Mr. Popo announced.
"Good work Mr. Popo, now recite the incantation like we discussed." Dendi said.
Mr. Popo took out a very old, very tattered notebook and turned to a page that he had bookmarked and began reading in a language that only he and Dendi understood. He finished by pointing at the newly constructed doorway and yelling. "Yazzalraght Kimwu!" The doorway shimmered and a vortex appeared in the middle, then irised out to form a permanent conduit between the mortal realm, and the Room of Spirit and Time. Dendi and Piccolo let the portal they had been holding open drop.
"Good! It seems to have worked!" Dendi exclaimed. Piccolo stepped out of the door.
"Yes, it seems to be fine." Piccolo said.
Vegeta and Trunks arrive back at the lookout just in time to see Piccolo come out. "Is it ready?" Vegeta asked.
"Well, yes. I mean you can go inside and train if you want, but Mr. Popo still has to rebuild the training quarters inside, restock it with food, and numerous little odds and ends before it is suitable." Dendi said. "If Mr. Popo and I work hard, we can have it ready for you by tomorrow morning. Is that okay?"
"Fine." Vegeta answered. "We will be by around 5:00 AM with the first training team. Thank you for all of your efforts. I have to get back to Capsule Corporation, so we'll see you in the morning."
Without even waiting for a response Vegeta launched himself from the lookout.
"Trunks and I have to get back to Kaioshin's planet now." Piccolo said. "I'm sure that they're slacking off in their training without me there." Piccolo said. And without another word, Trunks and Piccolo were gone.
"My how rude!" Mr. Popo said once everyone was gone.
"Don't be to harsh Mr. Popo. They've all got a lot on their minds right now." Dendi said.
"Well, what's Goku doing? Isn't he the one that is usually here training to save the world?" Mr. Popo said.
"Didn't you feel it Mr. Popo?" Dendi smiled a knowing smile.
"Feel what sir?" Mr. Popo asked.
"The shift in the balance of things. It won't be Goku that is responsible for the fate of the universe anymore, it will be Vegeta." Dendi explained. "He is finally… worthy." Dendi explained.
"What will Goku do?" Popo said.
"Goku has his own forgiveness to acquire." Dendi said. "He owes one person in this universe big time!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gohan landed in front of his parent's home. He thought how funny it was that even though his father had been gone for so many years, he still thought of this place as his parents home. He walked towards the door looking around he yard and the memories sprang to his mind, as they always do when he's here. "Over in that direction was where I first saw Goten go Super Saiyan. Over that rise is the cave where I hid Icarus. Boy, Mom sure was set against keeping a dragon as a pet. And right over there is where Dad first gave me the Four Star Dragonball, which mom later glued to my hat. Gohan didn't have much of a childhood, having been forced to grow up years before he really should have, so whatever childhood Gohan could remember was intensely celebrated
Gohan was so intent on his ruminations that he failed to notice that he had already reached the door.
Whump!
"Ouch! Damned!" Gohan yelled.
"Gohan? Is that you?" A frail voice from inside the door asked.
"Yes mother. It's me." Gohan answered.
"Okay, just a minute." Chi Chi said.
Gohan heard his mother's slow shuffling steps approach the door and the mechanical clicks of locks being turned back. Gohan remembered that there was a time that locks weren't necessary out here. Of course, that was during the time when the most powerful warriors on the planet were in residence. The door opened and an aged but bright and shiny face lit up like a star going nova when she saw her son.
"Gohan! It is you! I've missed you so much!" Chi Chi grabbed Gohan in a hug. "Come in! Come in!"
Gohan, Videl, and Pan had, pretty much ritually, visited his mother every Sunday afternoon and evening, since he moved out into the house situated only 100 yards down the lane. Yet every time his mother saw him, it was as if they hadn't seen each other in years. Gohan figured it came from losing her husband, more than once.
"So, Gohan, how are things going? Do you still work for the University?" Chi Chi asked.
Same old Chi Chi. She was so proud the day that Gohan started teaching, and prouder still when he was appointed head of an entire department. It would probably kill her if Gohan weren't happy with his job.
"It's going great mom. Right now I've taken an 18 month sabbatical." Gohan braced himself.
"WHAT? You've never taken a sabbatical before! For Dendi's sake why?" Chi Chi demanded.
"Well, I'm going to be training again. There's something coming mom." Gohan was trying to break this gently, but wasn't having much luck.
"Something is coming? Something is coming? Damned it Gohan! Hasn't this family sacrificed enough over the years!! And now, when I finally feel that it's done, you come and tell me something is coming!" Chi Chi said frantically. "So what the hell do you want me to do? Pack you a lunch and kiss you on the cheek!?!?!"
"No mom. I need you to understand that…" Gohan started.
"You DARE to accuse me of not understanding? I let you fly off into space when you were a little boy and what do you do? You fight the strongest creature in the universe. I let you train with your father, and who is it that ends up fighting that damned android? Then, just when I think things couldn't get any worse, the entire world is destroyed by that pink piece of bubble gum that used to hand out with that baka Satan! And just where is your father? Is he dead? Nobody has any idea except that he isn't here with his wife, that's for sure!" Chi Chi fumed.
"M-mom, I'm sorry that you've had to put up with all this over the years, but I really can't ignore my responsibilities." Gohan looked his mother straight in the eye.
"Your responsibilities? What makes every megalomaniac that crawls out of the woodwork your responsibility?" Chi Chi demanded.
Gohan stood up tall. "On this planet, this planet that we call home, are billions of people that has no way of protecting themselves. They live, they love, they're happy, they're sad, and most of all they have a purpose and value in the grand scheme of things. They are good people, for the most part, that only want to live out their lives in peace." Gohan continued. "Father sacrificed his own life and own happiness on several occasions to insure that everybody else could do just that. Why? Because he was the only one on the planet, perhaps the only one in the universe capable of doing the job. If it weren't for someone walking up to the plate and taking responsibility, Frieza, Cell, or Buu would have destroyed this planet years ago, and been off happily destroying the rest of the universe. Now if you can tell me exactly who else will step up and handle this new threat you let me know because I would just as soon stay home with my wife content in the knowledge that the universe was safe and evil was being handled by others. I know that you've sacrificed more than your fair share mom, I know that you should have been able to live your life in peace with your husband and children, but you married a Saiyan, and had half Saiyan children who had great power and abilities. And with those greater powers and abilities comes greater responsibility. I love you mom, but I just can't turn my back on this. The fact that I am who I am makes it my responsibility." Gohan finished.
Chi Chi was quiet for quite some time. In her heart she knew that Gohan was right.. "Gohan, I can't stop you, you're a grown man, and I know that what you say is true. But I am your mother and I will worry." Chi Chi smiled. "I used to think that if I could interest you in academics that you would loose interest in fighting and be a scholar and a solid family man."
"It really has nothing to do with interest, although I am a Saiyan, but it has more to do with duty, and honor." Gohan said. "Mom, I came here to ask you to come to Capsule Corporation while we train. I would feel better if you weren't out here all alone." Gohan said. "The residential area has cooks, cleaning staff, and valets. You could take it easy for awhile, let others pamper you for a while." Gohan coaxed.
Chi Chi looked thoughtful. "No, I can't Gohan. I mean I recognize that you need to do this, but you can't expect me to watch you march off to war.. I'll be fine here."
Gohan looked at his mother's face, which looked quite set in her decision. "Ok mom, I'll be training, if you change your mind just pick up the phone and I'll come and get you. I've got to get back. I love you mom."
"I love you too Gohan." Chi Chi said.
Gohan got up and hugged his mother and gave her a peck on the cheek and started for the door.
"Gohan?" Chi Chi said.
"Yes mother?" Gohan answered.
"Kick butt, ok?" Chi Chi smiled.
"You got it mom." Gohan smiled back.
Gohan opened the front door and stepped out and took two steps before running straight into his father.
Whump!
"Damned it dad! Did you have to do that? My nose is already sore!" Gohan yelled.
Gohan had debated telling his mother that he'd seen his father. The news about him going off and fighting was bad enough, but to tell her that her husband was involved, and not coming to visit her, may have been too much for her to handle. But here dad was.
"Sorry son, I've come to see your mother. I've neglected her for far too long." Goku looked a bit sheepish.
"Well, I'd say you'd better be ready to do a lot of apologizing dad." Gohan said.
"I know. But I've got this coming to me." Goku resigned himself.
Goku walked around his oldest son and started to knock on the door.
"Come in Goku." Goku heard through the bond he shared with his mate before his knuckles met the wood of the door.
Gohan watched as his father disappeared into the house then took off towards Capsule Corporation.
"Time to face the music dad." Gohan smiled.