Chapter 4: The Magic Spheres of Life.
The fire continued to crackle loudly at the base of the gorge, as it fiercely spat cinders at it's unyielding surroundings. The noise of the small blaze did nothing to distract the three dead warriors however, as they struggled to come to terms with the revelations which had just been thrust upon them.
Bardock, Fionn, and the now-complacent Tenshinhan sat cross-legged at opposite ends of the fire, and talked amongst each other as jovially as if they had been old friends undergoing a much-awaited reunion. Tenshinhan, in particular, was only too eager to converse with the father of the man he considered to have been the greatest fighter of all time.
"It really is unbelievable," he uttered with awe. "The resemblance between you two is uncanny, Bardock. You look so much like Goku it's unnatural".
"I'll have to take your word on that one", Bardock said. "The visions I have never really give me a clear glimpse of his face. Although, I must admit, it wouldn't seem all that unusual to me. Saiya-jin children tend to closely resemble their parents quite a lot. Isn't it the same with other species?"
"Not to the same extent. If it wasn't for those scars of yours, you and Goku would be almost identical."
"I guess that proves for certain that I am his father, after all, and that this Goku is indeed Kakarotto."
"Hmmm," Tenshinhan grunted. "I could have told you that even without the resemblance. Vegita used to refer to Goku all the time as "Kakarotto". It's his real name, right?"
Bardock sat up with interest.
"Wait a minute, did you say Vegita? Do you mean Prince Vegita?"
Tenshinhan's face darkened.
"That's him. I can safely say that I'll never forget that bastard. My experiences with him were the main reason I formed a bad opinion of Saiya-jins in the first place."
"Really?," Bardock smirked. "So tell me, what changed your opinion?".
"Goku, mostly. He went a long way to assuaging my doubts about you as a race. So did Gohan, Goten and Trunks. I also met up with a few of you after I arrived here, and, well, I eventually realised that you're not all bad."
"Gohan and Goten? Are they Saiya-jin too?"
Tenshinhan cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, they're Goku's sons. Trunks is Vegita's, hard as it is to believe."
Bardock's eyes bugged. Goku's kids? That meant they were...his grandchildren. He was a grandfather.
He smiled.
"Grandkids, eh? I feel so old..."
Fionn, who had remained silent during the majority of conversation, cracked a grin, and leaned over to give Bardock a pat on the back.
"Congratulations, gramps."
Bardock looked distinctively proud that his bloodline had continued into another generation. Once he found Kakarotto, he thought to himself, he would have to look them up.
Suddenly, he thought of another issue that had been brought up back at the Check-In station, and he turned to face Tenshinhan once again.
"Listen, before I forget, there's something I want to ask you. When we were at the Check-In station beside Snake Way, Enma Daiou told us that Kakarotto had died over 3 times already, and every time he found a way to return to life. How is that even possible?
"Ah, well," Tenshinhan began, with the hint of a smile at the corner of his face. "That's an easy one. Tell me, have either of you ever heard the word "dragonball" before?"
"Never", came the unanimous reply.
"Didn't think so", Tenshinhan continued. "They're actually Namekian in origin, so very few other races have knowledge of their existence. Earth is probably the only other planet in the entire universe that has a set".
"Only two planets?," Fionn interjected. "That's highly unusual. I don't think I've ever come across a natural phenomenon limited to only two worlds. Why is that? If they originated on Namek, then logically, if they ever appeared on another planet, it should be one similar to their planet of origin. From what I've been led to believe, Earth possesses a vastly different environment and ecosystem."
Bardock suddenly remembered the vision he was struck with over 3 weeks ago; the one which showed a fight to the death between Kakarotto and...a Namek.
"A Namek-sei-jin came to Earth...and...brought them with him", he mumbled under his breath.
Tenshinhan raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Well yes, that's...basically correct. Dragonballs aren't a naturally occurring phenomenon. They have to be created, and as far as we know, Nameks are the only race capable of doing just that. A Namek named Piccolo created two sets of dragonballs on our planet, and those are what we used to restore Goku to life when he was killed."
"They can reincarnate the dead?"
"If you gather all 7 balls together, they can do anything. There are certain limitations though. They cannot affect anything or anyone more powerful than their creator, and they have to regenerate themselves after every wish is made. The set of dragonballs that we used most often on Earth had an extra limitation, in that they couldn't grant the same wish more than once. That's all different now, however, since the balls were powered up."
Fionn simply stared in amazement
Bardock scratched his chin thoughtfully and decided to ask the question which had brought him over 50,000 miles across the afterlife.
"Tenshinhan. My son...is he...dead?"
Tenshinhan bowed his head slightly, and lowered his voice.
"That's something I honestly don't know. This is all I can tell you. The last time I ever saw Goku was about 50 years ago, in the living world. You see, the thing about Goku is that I could always sense his ki energy, no matter where on Earth he was. So could anyone else who had the ability to sense a fighters' aura. He was simply that powerful; his ki was like a constant background energy around the entire planet."
He paused momentarily, as if lost in the memory of his previous life.
"But," he continued. "That day, the last time I ever saw Goku alive, his energy simply disappeared. It just vanished, without warning and without a trace. It was then that I knew something had happened to him, so I decided to seek out the others and find out just what that was. No one knew. Not a single living being on Earth knew where Goku had gone. It was as if he had vanished into thin air."
Hearing this, Bardock looked almost frantic, for if no one knew where Kakarotto was, how would he ever be able to find him?
Tenshinhan kept going.
"Eventually I decided to swallow my pride and go to Vegita for answers. He and Goku had been constant rivals for many decades, so I figured that if anyone knew what had happened to him, he would. Long story short, Vegita wouldn't have anything to do with me. I knew that he was hiding something, and it very nearly turned nasty when I tried to force him to tell me, but I left that day without anything new for my troubles. Vegita was the only one who knew what had happened to Goku, and he never told anyone.
After about 5 years, there was still no sign of Goku's return, and it generally became accepted that he was probably dead, although no one had any idea of how it might possibly have happened.
Then, when I arrived here in the afterlife, I made it my top priority to find my old friend. No luck, unfortunately. I've spent the last 20 years scouring the far reaches of this infinite expanse in hope of finding even the smallest trace of him, but I never found anything. I never sensed even the smallest glimmer of his energy."
He sighed, and the sound of grief began to creep into his voice.
"It's like he simply ceased to exist."
Bardock was stunned. This was something he never would have expected, never could have prepared for. Kakarotto, his son, had seemingly vanished from all known planes of reality, leaving behind a guilt-ridden father who would now never be able to amend the sins of his past. It was too cruel.
Fate had robbed him of the chance to see his son grow up once before. Was this his cursed fate? Never to see his son again? Was he doomed to relive the memories of rejecting his own flesh-and-blood over and over as some form of penance? He was given a chance and he blew it, was that it? It was unbearable punishment. He thought that he had been given a chance to atone for his treatment of Kakarotto all those many decades ago, but it looked like that was just a delusion. He had been fooling himself. They were destined never to know each other. Father and son- apart for all eternity.
He heard Fionn's voice from across the fire.
"Don't worry, friend. We'll find a way."
He turned to Tenshinhan.
"Could he be wished back from wherever he is?"
Tenshinhan raised his head, a sorrowful look on his face. It was clear that he missed his old friend.
"I don't know. For a wish like that to work, first of all we'd need to know where he is, and I don't see how we could possibly find that out.
Then again, I'm not the best person to ask when it concerns the capabilities of the dragonballs."
"But that's what I find so hard to believe," Fionn cut in. "There are only two planes of reality- the living world and the afterlife. Now, if Goku isn't in either of those, where else could he be? Is there a third plane out there somewhere?"
Tenshinhan shook his head. "Not as far as I know, but when it comes to the dragonballs, the rules change. They are an unbelievably complex mystical creation, and I believe that only their creators can truly understand them."
Tenshinhan seemed to suddenly gain inspiration from his own words; almost as if he thought of something that he had never even considered before.
"Their own creators..." he muttered quietly.
He got to his feet. "Let's go", he ordered.
Bardock and Fionn looked at him in surprise, but picked themselves up nonetheless.
"Go where?" Bardock enquired.
Surprisingly, a smile cut across Tenshinhan's normally serious face, and he replied...
"A place I'm willing to bet you've never been before. We're going to Hell, my friends."
The fire continued to crackle loudly at the base of the gorge, as it fiercely spat cinders at it's unyielding surroundings. The noise of the small blaze did nothing to distract the three dead warriors however, as they struggled to come to terms with the revelations which had just been thrust upon them.
Bardock, Fionn, and the now-complacent Tenshinhan sat cross-legged at opposite ends of the fire, and talked amongst each other as jovially as if they had been old friends undergoing a much-awaited reunion. Tenshinhan, in particular, was only too eager to converse with the father of the man he considered to have been the greatest fighter of all time.
"It really is unbelievable," he uttered with awe. "The resemblance between you two is uncanny, Bardock. You look so much like Goku it's unnatural".
"I'll have to take your word on that one", Bardock said. "The visions I have never really give me a clear glimpse of his face. Although, I must admit, it wouldn't seem all that unusual to me. Saiya-jin children tend to closely resemble their parents quite a lot. Isn't it the same with other species?"
"Not to the same extent. If it wasn't for those scars of yours, you and Goku would be almost identical."
"I guess that proves for certain that I am his father, after all, and that this Goku is indeed Kakarotto."
"Hmmm," Tenshinhan grunted. "I could have told you that even without the resemblance. Vegita used to refer to Goku all the time as "Kakarotto". It's his real name, right?"
Bardock sat up with interest.
"Wait a minute, did you say Vegita? Do you mean Prince Vegita?"
Tenshinhan's face darkened.
"That's him. I can safely say that I'll never forget that bastard. My experiences with him were the main reason I formed a bad opinion of Saiya-jins in the first place."
"Really?," Bardock smirked. "So tell me, what changed your opinion?".
"Goku, mostly. He went a long way to assuaging my doubts about you as a race. So did Gohan, Goten and Trunks. I also met up with a few of you after I arrived here, and, well, I eventually realised that you're not all bad."
"Gohan and Goten? Are they Saiya-jin too?"
Tenshinhan cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, they're Goku's sons. Trunks is Vegita's, hard as it is to believe."
Bardock's eyes bugged. Goku's kids? That meant they were...his grandchildren. He was a grandfather.
He smiled.
"Grandkids, eh? I feel so old..."
Fionn, who had remained silent during the majority of conversation, cracked a grin, and leaned over to give Bardock a pat on the back.
"Congratulations, gramps."
Bardock looked distinctively proud that his bloodline had continued into another generation. Once he found Kakarotto, he thought to himself, he would have to look them up.
Suddenly, he thought of another issue that had been brought up back at the Check-In station, and he turned to face Tenshinhan once again.
"Listen, before I forget, there's something I want to ask you. When we were at the Check-In station beside Snake Way, Enma Daiou told us that Kakarotto had died over 3 times already, and every time he found a way to return to life. How is that even possible?
"Ah, well," Tenshinhan began, with the hint of a smile at the corner of his face. "That's an easy one. Tell me, have either of you ever heard the word "dragonball" before?"
"Never", came the unanimous reply.
"Didn't think so", Tenshinhan continued. "They're actually Namekian in origin, so very few other races have knowledge of their existence. Earth is probably the only other planet in the entire universe that has a set".
"Only two planets?," Fionn interjected. "That's highly unusual. I don't think I've ever come across a natural phenomenon limited to only two worlds. Why is that? If they originated on Namek, then logically, if they ever appeared on another planet, it should be one similar to their planet of origin. From what I've been led to believe, Earth possesses a vastly different environment and ecosystem."
Bardock suddenly remembered the vision he was struck with over 3 weeks ago; the one which showed a fight to the death between Kakarotto and...a Namek.
"A Namek-sei-jin came to Earth...and...brought them with him", he mumbled under his breath.
Tenshinhan raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Well yes, that's...basically correct. Dragonballs aren't a naturally occurring phenomenon. They have to be created, and as far as we know, Nameks are the only race capable of doing just that. A Namek named Piccolo created two sets of dragonballs on our planet, and those are what we used to restore Goku to life when he was killed."
"They can reincarnate the dead?"
"If you gather all 7 balls together, they can do anything. There are certain limitations though. They cannot affect anything or anyone more powerful than their creator, and they have to regenerate themselves after every wish is made. The set of dragonballs that we used most often on Earth had an extra limitation, in that they couldn't grant the same wish more than once. That's all different now, however, since the balls were powered up."
Fionn simply stared in amazement
Bardock scratched his chin thoughtfully and decided to ask the question which had brought him over 50,000 miles across the afterlife.
"Tenshinhan. My son...is he...dead?"
Tenshinhan bowed his head slightly, and lowered his voice.
"That's something I honestly don't know. This is all I can tell you. The last time I ever saw Goku was about 50 years ago, in the living world. You see, the thing about Goku is that I could always sense his ki energy, no matter where on Earth he was. So could anyone else who had the ability to sense a fighters' aura. He was simply that powerful; his ki was like a constant background energy around the entire planet."
He paused momentarily, as if lost in the memory of his previous life.
"But," he continued. "That day, the last time I ever saw Goku alive, his energy simply disappeared. It just vanished, without warning and without a trace. It was then that I knew something had happened to him, so I decided to seek out the others and find out just what that was. No one knew. Not a single living being on Earth knew where Goku had gone. It was as if he had vanished into thin air."
Hearing this, Bardock looked almost frantic, for if no one knew where Kakarotto was, how would he ever be able to find him?
Tenshinhan kept going.
"Eventually I decided to swallow my pride and go to Vegita for answers. He and Goku had been constant rivals for many decades, so I figured that if anyone knew what had happened to him, he would. Long story short, Vegita wouldn't have anything to do with me. I knew that he was hiding something, and it very nearly turned nasty when I tried to force him to tell me, but I left that day without anything new for my troubles. Vegita was the only one who knew what had happened to Goku, and he never told anyone.
After about 5 years, there was still no sign of Goku's return, and it generally became accepted that he was probably dead, although no one had any idea of how it might possibly have happened.
Then, when I arrived here in the afterlife, I made it my top priority to find my old friend. No luck, unfortunately. I've spent the last 20 years scouring the far reaches of this infinite expanse in hope of finding even the smallest trace of him, but I never found anything. I never sensed even the smallest glimmer of his energy."
He sighed, and the sound of grief began to creep into his voice.
"It's like he simply ceased to exist."
Bardock was stunned. This was something he never would have expected, never could have prepared for. Kakarotto, his son, had seemingly vanished from all known planes of reality, leaving behind a guilt-ridden father who would now never be able to amend the sins of his past. It was too cruel.
Fate had robbed him of the chance to see his son grow up once before. Was this his cursed fate? Never to see his son again? Was he doomed to relive the memories of rejecting his own flesh-and-blood over and over as some form of penance? He was given a chance and he blew it, was that it? It was unbearable punishment. He thought that he had been given a chance to atone for his treatment of Kakarotto all those many decades ago, but it looked like that was just a delusion. He had been fooling himself. They were destined never to know each other. Father and son- apart for all eternity.
He heard Fionn's voice from across the fire.
"Don't worry, friend. We'll find a way."
He turned to Tenshinhan.
"Could he be wished back from wherever he is?"
Tenshinhan raised his head, a sorrowful look on his face. It was clear that he missed his old friend.
"I don't know. For a wish like that to work, first of all we'd need to know where he is, and I don't see how we could possibly find that out.
Then again, I'm not the best person to ask when it concerns the capabilities of the dragonballs."
"But that's what I find so hard to believe," Fionn cut in. "There are only two planes of reality- the living world and the afterlife. Now, if Goku isn't in either of those, where else could he be? Is there a third plane out there somewhere?"
Tenshinhan shook his head. "Not as far as I know, but when it comes to the dragonballs, the rules change. They are an unbelievably complex mystical creation, and I believe that only their creators can truly understand them."
Tenshinhan seemed to suddenly gain inspiration from his own words; almost as if he thought of something that he had never even considered before.
"Their own creators..." he muttered quietly.
He got to his feet. "Let's go", he ordered.
Bardock and Fionn looked at him in surprise, but picked themselves up nonetheless.
"Go where?" Bardock enquired.
Surprisingly, a smile cut across Tenshinhan's normally serious face, and he replied...
"A place I'm willing to bet you've never been before. We're going to Hell, my friends."