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The Kakarotte Factor
by Echelon

Chapter Three:
The Breach

Scarcely five seconds after ending his telepathic conversation with Son Goku, King Kai turned around—and smacked right into a tall orange-and-blue-clothed form.

"Hello, Goku. How considerate of you to be so prompt," he cracked, his voice muffled under the folds of fabric. "We were going to..." His sentence went unfinished as something considerably heavy pressed down over his skull. "Er, Goku...could you remove whatever it is you've put on my head?" He reached up blindly and grabbed at the offending weight. "My goodness...have you been stuffing yourself silly back on Earth? You seem to be getting a little soft. Well, soft but firm. That's all right, I suppose. And nice and rounded and..."

And then he jerked back his hands as though he'd been burned, his entire body wrenching backwards, and ended up falling on his butt. From this ignominious position, he was afforded his first good look of the new arrival.

Glass rattled and heads turned all over the Grand Kai's palace as King Kai's high-pitched shriek resounded throughout that level of Heaven.

They unearthed several more corpses buried under the rubble of the destroyed vessel, a few of which Shin and Kibito recognized. Not far from Dabura's carcass was a leathery, gargantuan limb, which Shin tagged as having once belonged to Yakkon—a rapacious creature Babidi had adopted as his sort-of killer pet.

Yakkon was one of the less fortunate; all that remained of them were a number of dismembered body parts scattered here and there. The dead bodies encompassed a diverse range of species hailing from various sectors of the cosmos, of all them bearing the distinctive 'M' motif on their foreheads.

Ominously enough, they found neither hide nor hair of either Babidi or Majin Buu, or even the ball the latter resided in.

"This is not good," was Shin's laconic diagnosis as the group reassembled in the midst of the wreckage.

"I'll say. Who could've killed all these people?" Gohan wondered out loud, his voice flooded with empathy. Even after years of being a front-row witness to diabolical acts perpetuated by individuals the likes of Cell and Frieza, the young demi-Saiyan still found it difficult not to be affected by them.

"First Pui Pui, then Dabura, then Yakkon," Kibito murmured, sounding profoundly disturbed. "Babidi's recruits were the most formidable, most ruthless criminals from the four corners of the universe even before their powers were amplified under his spell. And yet, whoever did this disposed of them as though they were mere weaklings!"

"They were weaklings." Vegeta's words reverberated throughout the room like the last trump of judgment. As Shin and Kibito gaped at him incredulously, he clarified: "That Pui Pui person outside that you both said was all but invincible couldn't even survive a low-level ki-blast. Then we find this so-called king of the Demon World killed by something as mediocre as a crushed windpipe. If these were the kind of employees Babidi recruited, then it should be a laugh when we do come across this Majin Buu."

The Supreme Kai looked flummoxed at the Saiyan prince's audaciousness, but he recovered swiftly. "Majin Buu is not a joke! We are talking about a creature made of pure magic—he has no limits, no conscience, and all he knows is to destroy! I've heard that you Saiyans can't resist a good fight—the more impossible the challenge, the better—but even with your Super Saiyan upgrades, Buu is way out of your league!"

"The Supreme Kai is right," Kibito put in harshly. "We can't risk taking on Buu. We already have our hands full dealing with the wizard."

Vegeta was far from impressed. "Oh, really? Why don't we deal with Babidi, then? Oh, wait, that's right—we don't know where he is, because you're all too afraid to search the rest of this ship!"

"I've told you already, Vegeta! We can't chance—"

"Um, you said earlier about there being a connection between all this and whatever it was King Kai was talking about?" Gohan interrupted, hoping to sidetrack them from a rehash of their old disagreement.

Fortunately, Shin welcomed the change of topic. "Yes, I believe there is. In fact, I'm beginning to be convinced that we won't find Babidi here in this ship."

Kibito regarded him in surprise. "You...really think he's left?"

"Why wouldn't he? We can't sense anyone inside here. It's obvious now that something unexpected came up and altered Babidi's plans—the same something that caused all this. As cold-blooded as that wizard is, this butchery cannot possibly be his handiwork. Besides, he would not allow his vessel to get caught in the crossfire." Shin pulled the pad of his thumb across his chin, contemplating. "It's as if something occurred to set all these things in motion. First there's Babidi's absence, then his ship's in shambles, his underlings have all been slaughtered, and something's going on in the Otherworld. If we could only figure out what could have been the catalyst for all this, then we could get a better picture of how Babidi's plans may have changed."

"You forgot one occurrence," Piccolo spoke up crisply. At the others' puzzled looks, he added, "Before all this began, Goku was turned into a female. I know we discussed this earlier, but we never figured out who was behind it, did we?"

"You think what happened to Goku really is somehow connected to all this?" queried Kibito.

"I wasn't sure at the start," Piccolo admitted, "but after what's we've discovered since then, I'd say yes. Like you said before, it's a bit too coincidental. Which would make Babidi a likely suspect. That's not to say, though, that he's the only one." He sent Shin and Kibito a cynical grin. "You two would be surprised at the number of 'acquaintances' who'd be willing to have Son Goku at a disadvantage."

Gohan nodded thoughtfully. "I see what you're saying, but...why turn Dad into a woman? I mean, why that? That's...kind of weird."

"Or sheer genius," Vegeta mumbled to himself, his voice so low that the others scarcely heard him.

But Piccolo did. "What did you say?"

The Saiyan snapped his head toward him, onyx eyes flashing defiance. "I said nothing."

"Don't lie to me!" Piccolo was suddenly in front of Vegeta, his seven-foot frame looming threateningly over the much shorter Saiyan. "I heard what you said. Sheer genius, is it?"

Vegeta snarled and drew himself up to his full height; although it was not as impressive as the Namek's, the barely contained power radiating from his stocky form more than made up for what he lacked in stature.

Sensing impending disaster, Gohan quickly maneuvered himself between the two. "Hey, you guys, come on. Let's not do this here, okay?"

Piccolo didn't remove his eyes from the bristling Saiyan. "Go ahead, Vegeta. Why don't you tell them what you said?"

Gohan cast a look at the older man. "What did you say, Vegeta?"

Vegeta simply glowered back at him and gritted his teeth.

"He's been holding back on us, Gohan," Piccolo answered for the reticent Saiyan. "He knows a lot more than he's been letting on about your father's condition."

Shin manifested at Gohan's side, his expression suspicious. "Vegeta, is that true? Do you have something to do with Goku's transformation?"

That jolted the prince out of his seething silence. "Of course not! If you think I had a hand in doing this to Kakarrot, you're insane! I have been waiting for years for a rematch with that clown, and you think I'm going to screw that up by making him a woman?"

"Bluster all you want, Vegeta, but I'm warning you." Despite Gohan's attempt at playing a living barrier, Piccolo managed to take one more step toward the Saiyan prince. "When Goku gets back, you will tell him all that you know about his condition, and you are not going to leave out anything essential. Got it?"

Vegeta's aura flared into visibility. "Do not presume to order me around, Namek, if you value your—"

"Er, guys?"

Krillin winced as five sets of eyes honed in on him—three of them openly curious, two of them downright hostile. The ship's lights seemed to be in their death throes, their illumination coming out in pitiful spasms, but that was of no matter: the glow of the battle auras being generated by Piccolo and Vegeta were more than enough for Krillin to take in the considerable destruction of the interior—as well as the showdown-in-the-making that was ensuing in the room's midst.

"Uh...what're you doing?" Krillin queried warily. He did a second scan of the place. "And where's Goku?"

"He left to talk to King Kai for a minute," Gohan informed him, not bothering to hide his relief at his old friend's timely interruption.

Shin cut to the chase. "Krillin, what're you doing down here? What about Spopovich and Yamu?"

The confusion on the former monk's countenance dissipated, and was replaced by absolute seriousness. "I think," he said slowly, "you all had better come up and see for yourselves."

It was far too late to save Yamu and Spopovich by the time Krillin had led the others back up to the surface: the first thing that greeted the contingent's ears upon their exit of the spacecraft's entrance was the sound of tortured screaming.

The two thugs were lying on the field, writhing in pain as their bodies stretched and swelled and warped; it was as if their flesh were clay being kneaded by invisible hands. Their eyes bulged grotesquely from their sockets, their mouths elongated into twisted, yawning maws, and massive convulsions wracked their muscles like grand mal seizures.

Gohan stared at them in shock. "Krillin, what—"

He abandoned the rest of his question when Yamu and Spopovich exploded.

"Oh, dear...oh, my..."

King Kai slouched down on a nearby bench in the Grand Kai's arena, his hand clutched to his heart and wheezing like he'd run a marathon. Goku didn't see what was he was so worked up about; she'd been the one who'd been violated.

Bubbles the monkey scurried in from one of the arena's entrances, bearing a glass of water in his pudgy fingers. King Kai gratefully accepted the glass, and gulped down half the liquid. The other half he up-ended over his head to cool his heated face.

Goku observed him with some concern. "King Kai?"

"Waahh! Ah, that's cold! Cold, cold..." King Kai's teeth chattered as he wiped the water from his eyes. He glared at Bubbles, who shrank back. "Bubbles, I said cold water, not freezing!"

Goku tried again. "King Kai?"

This time he did turn in her direction, and let loose an unidentifiable gargling, choking noise. "Oh. Kais preserve us...you're still here."

"Yeah..." The Saiyan shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I, uh...I went through a little change."

"A little change?" King Kai made another odd little sound. "That's the biggest understatement I've heard so far in all my time in the Otherworld, and believe me, I've heard quite a few." He handed the glass back to Bubbles, took a step toward her—a tiny, very reluctant step, Goku thought—and adjusted his round glasses as he appraised her from head to toe, then back up again. "Oh. Oh, my. So when did...ah...when did this happen, Goku?"

"Not long before you called me, King Kai."

"I...see. But you sure didn't sound like a girl when you talked to me just ten minutes ago."

Goku chuckled, bringing a hand to the back of her head. "Aw, that's probably 'cause I forgot I was a girl ten minutes ago. I thought I still had my old voice, so I probably sounded like my old self while I was talking to you."

King Kai coughed. "Ah. Still haven't adjusted your mental voice...that might explain it, yes." He took another shuffling step toward her. "Look, Goku, about my...er, you know...of your...your—it was an accident, and I apologize."

"That's all right. It was my fault. You didn't know." Her disposition grew solemn. "King Kai, about what you were saying earlier..."

"Eh?" He stared blankly at her for a moment, then smacked his head. "Oh, right! Goku, there's been—"

"For the love of Heaven, King Kai! What came up and bit you on the butt?"

The two of them swiveled around at the familiar voice. Entering the stadium from the leftmost entrance was Baba, perched on top of her trusty floating crystal ball.

"Geez, Baba," King Kai groused, "why don't you say that louder so that everyone else on the grounds can hear you?"

"I thought I did. What's with all the screaming? As if things here weren't crazy enough..." The old woman broke off as her gaze riveted on Goku. "Are my cataracts deceiving me, or is that Goku's sister over there?"

Goku heaved a sigh. "Baba, I'm Goku," she explained for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day. "Someone changed me into a—"

She was interrupted as a blue light zipped toward her, did a loose spiral around her torso, and finally came to a halt five inches in front of her nose.

"Hah!" cried Gregory in his usual tinny, slightly manic voice. "Would you look at yourself! Personally, Goku, I think you ought to stick with this new look. Much easier on the eye, if I do say so myself!"

Baba was shaking her head in disbelief. "I let you spend twenty four hours in the living world, and this is what happens. Although..." A reflective gleam crept into her beady eyes, and she began to circumnavigate around the Saiyan, studying her like a particularly bizarre specimen of womanhood. "Goku, you do know who's responsible for this, right?"

"No, not really. It just...happened. At the World Martial Arts Tournament."

"Is that so?" Baba lifted an eyebrow—or, at least, she would have, had she still possessed one. "How long ago was that?"

Goku scratched at her temple with her index finger. "Um, let me see...this was about...about thirty, thirty-five minutes ago."

Baba and King Kai swapped troubled glances at her answer.

"That's just a little after it started," Baba murmured.

"What?" the Saiyan asked, pelting the solemn assemblage with confused looks. "What started?"

"There was a break," Baba said gravely, "in Hell."

"A break? You mean a breakout?"

"In a manner of speaking. But I am referring more to a rift between the dimensions. But what do I know? I'm just a visitor to the Otherworld, anyway. My knowledge on how things work here is limited." She jutted her thumb back at her squat, blue-skinned companion. "King Kai should be able to explain it to you better."

"Oh. Yes, yes, of course." King Kai cleared his throat. "Goku, forty minutes ago, there was a breach in the Demon World. See, this Demon World is a dark mirror of the world we live in. It's located on a different plane of reality not far removed from Hell itself. Now, whoever caused this breach brought someone from the Demon World back with him—none other than the most powerful of its inhabitants, a demon named—"

"Dabura," Goku supplied.

"Yes. The demon king Dabu—" King Kai paused, astonishment dawning on his face. "How do you know Dabura?"

"We...came across him, just before you contacted me." Goku leveled her gaze with his. "He's dead, King Kai."

"Dead?" King Kai goggled. "How? Who...?"

"Actually, we still haven't figured that out. We found his body inside Babidi's spaceship—"

Her old mentor gawped at her, flabbergasted. "You know about Babidi, too? How did you—"

"Oh, hush, never mind that now," interjected Baba. "I'm sure Goku'll tell us why she knows all this later. Now get on with it."

"All right, all right! Push-ee." King Kai rolled his eyes behind his shades and refocused his attention on the Saiyan. "Anyways, Babidi—whom we're now certain was the one behind the breach—brought back Dabura to the Living World to act as his bodyguard. Now Babidi's access of the Demon World was so deviously executed that no one in the Upper Dimension took notice of it. The only reason we learned about it was because while this was happening, something else was going on in Hell. Some of the inhabitants there were acting up—you know, blowing stuff up, terrorizing their fellow occupants and overseers alike. It's not unusual per se; some of the residents can get a little rowdy, but the sheer destruction that was being caused threatened the very balance of Hell itself."

Goku strode toward him, her lips drawn into a tight line. "Like the time Cell and Frieza tried to take control of Hell."

"Yes...and no." King Kai looked uneasy. "At least those two had the courtesy to threaten the ogres in charge into transferring their authority to them. With this one, there was no such finesse; according to the ogres and King Yema, it was just as if an area of Hell just started exploding. They sent in a number of people to investigate, but they never came back. So we called in Pikkon."

"And?" Goku's head lifted up at the mention of her old opponent, and she bent her body forward slightly.

"And..." King Kai averted his eyes from hers and let them roam over the rest of the crowd. "He hasn't returned yet."

"You mean, he's still down there somewhere in Hell?"

"I'm afraid so," admitted King Kai.

Goku ran a hand through her hair, her head whirling. Pikkon's strength was nothing to sneeze at; the top fighter of the West Quadrant had single-handedly defeated Cell and Frieza without even divesting himself of his weighted headgear and robes. If Pikkon was having trouble dealing with whatever was occurring in Hell, then it had to be something extraordinary indeed.

"Maybe I should go down there," she announced. "I could search for Pikkon, see what's going on..."

But the others were already shaking their heads.

"It'd be pointless. Whatever's been going down there, it's been over for nearly half an hour," Gregory informed her.

"King Yema has already dispatched a clean-up crew to the area. Don't worry about Pikkon," advised Baba. "He couldn't have been hurt all that bad. I mean, he is already dead, after all. Can't get any worse than that, right? The crew'll locate him soon enough."

"The whole thing was over within a matter of minutes, really," King Kai confessed. He produced a rose-embroidered handkerchief from inside of his robes and started to mop his forehead. "But whatever it was, it must've attracted Babidi's attention, because not long after that, he opened a portal between Hell and the Living World."

"Which means, basically," chirped in Gregory, "that whoever goes through that portal's got a one-way ticket to instant resurrection."

Goku's eyes widened. "Babidi brought back someone from Hell?"

"Without question." Baba's already wrinkled visage creased even further. "He could have even brought back more than one. But until King Yema and his crew have accounted for every single individual in Hell, we won't know for certain who or how many went through that portal."

"We do have a rather worrisome theory," King Kai blurted out. "There were ogres who were there before the trouble started, and they—say, Goku, could you fix your shirt, please?"

"Whuh—okay." Goku tugged her collar up over her shoulder where it had been slipping down. She couldn't believe that she had once needed a neckline that huge.

Baba eyeballed King Kai suspiciously as he went on wiping his handkerchief over his face. "What's the matter with you, anyhow? You're acting all weird, and you haven't yet cracked one of your corny jokes!"

"My jokes are not corny!" shrieked King Kai. He then composed himself and addressed the Saiyan. "You'll have to excuse me, Goku...it's...it's just that...up here, see, I'm not really used to standing so close to...to, well, a girl..."

Baba pinned him with a withering glare. "Hey! And what am I, chopped liver?"

King Kai matched her glare. "Well, you and the East Kai don't count!"

"Why, I never...!"

"Never what? Landed a date? Now that I can believe!"

"You shut your mouth, you short, fat, female-fearing, never-had-a-girlfriend loser!"

"Grr...I'll have you know, you crinkled old wart-covered prune, that—"

Goku moved between the two bickering elders and shoved their faces apart. "Hey...hey! Would you guys cool it?"

"Yeah!" Gregory piped in, buzzing frenetically around them. "We got more important things to worry about!"

"For once, the cricket's right."

They all turned around once more to view the second wave of arrivals: none other than the Grand Kai and the East Kai.

"Ouch," remarked Gregory. "Cheap shot, East Kai."

The East Kai huffed and patted her fake blond curls. "Well, that is true. You all shouldn't be diddling around when there's been a riot in Hell—especially when everyone says that that awful Babidi person's involved in it!" She shivered. "After all, his father's monster nearly obliterated all of the original Kais. If it's freed again, it could come after us!"

"Now, relax, East Kai," drawled the Grand Kai. "As far as I know, Babidi hasn't freed Majin Buu yet. As soon as we hear from King Yema..." He trailed off as he spotted a new face. "Well, well...no one told me we'd be having such a fine-looking visitor stopping by today."

King Kai, Baba, and Gregory dropped their jaws as the Grand Kai elbowed his way past them to snatch up Goku's wrist.

"Uh, Grand Kai..." King Kai began.

The Grand Kai ignored him and planted an unnecessarily loud kiss on the back of the stunned Goku's palm. "It's a pleasure to have you visit my humble abode."

The East Kai examined her closely, fingering her glasses as she did so. "I say, my dear, are you new here in Heaven?"

Goku yanked her wrist back in mild alarm, and Baba took up for King Kai. "Really, Grand Kai..."

Her words went unnoticed as the Grand Kai continued to appraise Goku with obvious approval. He stopped as he caught sight of the young woman's wild shock of hair. "Hm...you'll pardon me, darlin', if I may be so bold as to say that that's the most atrocious hairstyle I've ever seen. Not at all appropriate-like for a bodacious babe such as yourself."

Goku blew her bangs up and away from her eyes, an exasperated motion. "Grand Kai, it's me, Goku."

The East Kai recoiled. "Goku? You mean that muscular young man who nearly won the Otherworld Tournament? Your prize pupil? That Goku?"

King Kai nodded somberly. "Yes, that Goku."

But the Grand Kai wasn't as easily dissuaded. "You're Goku? Oh, no, no, darlin', you must be mistaken. Goku is a boy."

"Uh, Grand Kai?" King Kai tried again. "That is Goku. He got turned into a girl."

The Grand Kai regarded the others incredulously, then mounted a second scrutiny of the now rather familiar-looking young woman. Goku had had crazy hair. So did she. And an orange-and-blue uniform. So did she...

"Oh—uh, er, ahem...oh, so it is!" The Grand Kai backed up a safe distance and began to chortle madly. "Ha, ha...so it is! I must say, Goku, kudos on the sex change. A risk well taken! I must admit, you're looking much better as a female. Much, much better."

The assemblage sweatdropped profusely.

"Uh...thanks," Goku stammered. "I think."

The East Kai snatched the North Kai's handkerchief right out of his hand—ignoring his indignant "hey!" with admirable aplomb—and proceeded to dab delicately at her own temples. "M-my word! How did this come about, Goku?"

"She still doesn't know," Baba replied on Goku's behalf. "But we've got a hunch that Babidi's behind it."

"Babidi?" The Grand Kai knitted his bushy brows together. "Why would Babidi target Goku specifically?"

"We still don't know that, either," answered King Kai.

"Well, if Babidi's the cause of this, then it can't be good," proclaimed the East Kai. She flounced over toward Goku, peered up at her critically, and sniffed. "Besides, she's got legs up to her neck. No real woman's got those proportions. This body's just begging to be fixed!" She shifted her gaze away from the wide-eyed Goku and let it land on Baba. "You! You're what those on Earth call a 'witch', correct?"

Goku whirled toward the old woman, hope lighting up her face. "Oh, yeah, that's right...Baba, you know some magic. Can you change me back?"

Baba nearly toppled off her crystal ball. "Change you—hey, I'm not a magic machine, you know! I can't just undo spells cast by other people! It's just not safe! I could try, but don't blame me if you get turned into a hermaphrodite or something."

The group paled collectively, Goku in particular.

"Uh, never mind," she squeaked. "I pass."

The Grand Kai watched her discreetly from behind his shades. "Don't know why you'd wanna change back anyway, seein' as you look so very..."

"King Kai," Goku said hurriedly, "back when you contacted me, you said there was something you needed to tell me that concerned me especially. What was it?"

"Guh?" King Kai seemed caught off-guard by her sudden query, but he quickly got with the program. "Oh, right. Right. Like I was saying earlier, there were some ogres who managed to escape the devastation while it was still going on, and they've all witnessed the same thing. They say that not far from Babidi's portal, they saw Cell, King Slug, Frieza, Cooler—a whole lot of people who, for whatever reason, owe their stay in Hell to you."

"So anyone, or all of them, could've gone through it," Goku deduced, her tone bleak.

"That's right. But that's not all of it."

She exhaled sharply. There was more?

"The ogres also said," King Kai continued slowly, "that the chaos in Hell was instigated by Saiyans."

Goku stared at him, a shadow passing across her countenance. "Saiyans?"

The East Kai was befuddled. "What's a Saiyan?"

"I am," Goku said, and there was something else underneath the gentleness of her inflection. "Are you sure, King Kai?"

King Kai hesitated, but he told her what she needed to hear. "When the planet Vegeta was annihilated, millions of Saiyans were sent to Hell. They nearly destroyed the place. Those ogres don't forget things like that. If they say it's a Saiyan, then it's a Saiyan."

"I told you, no one was around when they started going into seizures like that," Krillin declared steadfastly. "I kept my eye on them the whole time. I didn't sense anyone else near. I don't know what triggered them."

Shin got down one knee, scanning the spot where Yamu had blown up. It was of a darker hue than the surrounding soil, and was still smoldering weakly. "Babidi," he muttered.

Gohan did his own cursory scan of the spot in question. "You think he did this?"

"There's no mistake. This is his handiwork, all right." He straightened back up. "I told you that Babidi disintegrated his minions after they had outlived their usefulness. There's nothing left here of Spopovich and Yamu."

Krillin twisted his mouth. "Yugh."

Kibito regarded him, his expression austere. "If what you say is true about no one being around when this happened, then perhaps their deaths were triggered automatically."

"Automatically?" echoed Gohan. "How?"

"When Babidi puts a person under his spell," Kibito explained, "he infuses him with a certain amount of strength-amplifying magic. For the gophers—his weaker recruits, the ones whose services he requires only for a short while—he sometimes adds a countdown so that after a set amount of time, it detonates inside the body."

"Boom," quipped Piccolo, but there was no mirth in his intonation.

"Exactly."

Shin shook his head in disgust. "Just like his father. No respect whatsoever for any sort of life."

Just then Goku re-materialized a few feet away.

"Dad!" Gohan was the first to greet her. The others were not far behind. "What happened? What did King Kai say?"

"He said..." His 'father' lifted her head. There was nothing jocular in her manner. "Babidi broke into the Demon World to get Dabura. And then, he broke into Hell."

After nearly half a minute without anything further from her, Krillin urged, "And?"

"And...he took someone from there, too. Maybe someones. More than likely it could be one or more of our old friends. Cell, Frieza, Cooler, King Slug..." Goku shrugged, a deceptively flippant movement. "Take your pick."

Predictably enough, the names rendered certain members of the group thunderstruck.

"Th-them?" chattered Krillin. "That's impossible!"

Gohan was shaking his head vehemently. "I don't believe it. I mean, no way! We've defeated them before. They're done for! They're old news! Why would Babidi go after them?"

"Defeated or not, they were far and away some of the strongest foes we've come across," reminded Piccolo. "If Babidi took control of someone like Cell, he would be much tougher to defeat than he was last time."

"There's more." Goku pulled irritably at her sagging-yet-again neckline. "King Kai and the others think Babidi's the one who did this to me."

Shin glanced at her, astounded. "Babidi was the one who turned you female? But for what reason?"

"Why don't you ask Vegeta?"

This abrupt question was sprung forth by the ever indomitable Piccolo. The others stared at him, then at the aforementioned Saiyan, who had been standing by himself at the other side of the field.

Piccolo followed their gaze. "Well, Vegeta?" he goaded. "Don't you have something to tell Goku here?"

Vegeta returned their stares, a muscle at the edge of his eye twitching dangerously. "I told you already, Namek, I have nothing to do with Kakarrot's condition!"

"So you've said." Piccolo folded his arms over his chest. "And I think I might actually believe you. But I still think that you're holding something back."

"Vegeta." Goku extricated herself from the group and marched over toward the older Saiyan. "If what Piccolo says's true, you have to tell me what you know."

Vegeta observed her out of the corner of his peripheral vision, noting not for the first time how much unlike a Saiyan female she was: her eyes were too round and too huge, and—this he noticed with a surge of annoyance—filled with very un-Saiyan-like ingenuousness.

Goku pushed on. "Look, Vegeta, I know you might still be kinda mad at me for skipping out on our match, but the sooner we can get this straightened out, the sooner we can fight—"

Vegeta could not suppress the burst of acerbic laughter that tore from his throat. "Us, fight? No, Kakarrot, I am afraid you cannot fight me."

She blinked. "What do you mean, Vegeta?"

His arm lashed out, ready to grab at her shirtfront, but he changed his mind and seized her arm instead. "Isn't it obvious? Don't tell me that you still haven't felt the change in your power level, Kakarrot!"

The confusion on her face instantly gave way to utter gravity; it still surprised Vegeta how effortlessly Kakarrot could do that. "I have. From the moment I fell on you back at the tournament. I just haven't given much thought to it after everything that's been going on." She raised her free hand and gazed at its palm as though it would somehow provide her with the needed answers. "I know there's been a shift in my power level, but I'm still not sure just how much it's changed."

Vegeta stared down at the arm he clutched—now half the girth of the male Kakarrot's arm—then released it roughly. He could tell her what he knew, what he was sure had happened to her strength, but he was a man of action, not words.

"Brace yourself, Kakarrot," he rasped.

She started as she felt his power level rising rapidly. Loose shards of dry earth began to rise in the air, and around them, substantial dust clouds unfurled outward in unremitting waves. "Vegeta—"

"I said, brace yourself!"

And she did—but it was not enough to nullify the no-holds-barred ki-enhanced punch he drove into her solar plexus.

It hurt—that single punch hurt as much as any of Pikkon's Thunder Flashes, or any one of Cell's blows, as much as everything else she had withstood post-planet Namek. The last blow she remembered being as painful was that single strike to the stomach Frieza had dealt her—back when she'd been a he, and he had been all but dead, and unaware still of the Super Saiyan ascension.

She barely heard the cries of angry dismay from her companions across the clearing as she wrapped her arms tight around her belly, dropped to her knees, curled up into a fetal position, and coughed up blood.

Well, she had wanted to know where she now stood in strength, and now she had her answer.

Goku spat out the last of the blood in her mouth, then lifted her head up toward the other Saiyan. He had still not retracted his punching arm and was watching her with his usual hard expression, but behind that she could discern an odd hodgepodge of emotions. A bit of satisfaction, a little more shock, and, unexpectedly enough, disappointment.

In spite of it all, Goku found herself curving her crimson-stained lips into a smile. "Well," she managed, pausing to hack out a few more coughs, "thanks for showing me, Vegeta."

End of Chapter Three

Closing Notes: Yeesh—that went on much longer than I thought. Oh, well. Thanks again to those who reviewed and sent e-mail. There were a few e-mail replies that I'd like to post up here, but I'd like to ask the e-mailers' permissions first. Anyways, onto my replies to some of the reviews:

Loriko Neko & otakufan: Yes, unfortunately, Goku as a female is weaker. Why else would a foe have him turn into one? Not to conform to the usual stereotypes (I'm female, too, you know), but it's a safe assumption to make, especially in regards to the Saiyan race, who rank themselves according to their strength. Case in point: all of the pre-destruction-of-planet-Vegeta flashbacks are dominated by males. You never see Goku's or Vegeta's mothers (even shortly after the former is born!), though their fathers figure prominently. Whenever a scene is shown with a group of Saiyans in battle armor, there's usually only one female, if there is any at all.

But then again, Goku as a damsel in distress? Pffft—this is Goku we're talking about. ;P And remember: he's never really conformed to preconceived Saiyan standards, has he?

Kookie: The Dragonball doujinshi in question is Watashi wa Cacarot (spelled just as it's printed), volume two. I've managed to read (okay, not really "read"; my Japanese isn't that good) that single volume, though I'm aware that the rest of the Watashi wa Cacarot volumes revolve around a very obviously female Goku traipsing around Earth and the rest of the galaxy with her troupe of rather maniacal companions: Gohan, little Goten, Future and Present Trunks, Tien, Yamcha, Chaotzu, Piccolo, and Vegeta (you gotta read it to understand just how maniacal ^^;;). The art is pretty good, though the plot's confusing at times and the reason for the gender switch is never really explained, though it seems that she's naturally a girl.

Still, my main visualization of Son Goku as a female is based on the fanart of a Japanese fan artist named Nosuke, whose work can be seen on the non-link-free (sorry!) DBZ fan site VC Crash! Her webpage, Space Cottage, which was once accessible by the general public, is now available only if one e-mails her for a link—a precaution, I think, after some of her artwork had been bandied around the Net without her permission. It's not hard to see why: she can draw some of the most intricate costumes and backdrops ever seen for Dragonball fanart, and her renditions of a female Goku actually resemble the male version (an extraordinary thing, since some male-to-female interpretations by other DBZ fan artists—and I've seen a lot—hardly bear any resemblance to the original). I'll see if I can procure a link to a sample of her work.

Okay, this has got to be the longest author's notes I've ever written, and I still haven't addressed how I intend to handle the relationships between the DBZ cast. That'll have to wait until next chapter, I suppose. ^^

Next: Goku returns to the rest of her disbelieving family and friends, and Shin and Kibito race to learn more about Babidi's new plans for Hell and Earth. In the meantime, King Kai, Piccolo, and various concerned parties contemplate re-training the weakened Goku with Babidi, Buu, and one or more returning foes on the loose...