"Alright, people, time for ideas."
As Yamcha spoke, Goku, Gohan, and the rest of Earth's defenders sat gathered around in the living room of the Briefs family residence on Capsule Corp's grounds. On the one hand, they had just learned that the present version of Vegeta was very much still evil, very bent on becoming the ruler of a new Saiyan Empire, and had become very powerful by unlocking the Super Saiyan transformation, meaning that only Goku and perhaps Android 16 could stand against him until Future Vegeta got back on his feet. On the other hand, they had the benefit of Future Vegeta's knowledge about himself and his present counterpart's new capabilities, which he was more than willing to bestow upon Master Roshi through a brief and rather disorienting flurry of telepathic information. Although it would still take the old man some time to sort through it all, he had at least been able to gather where Vegeta was heading and how quickly he would get there aboard King Cold's private shuttle, giving them a timetable on when they could mount an effective response.
"Dende, can you get one of us to Vegeta using your own teleportation technique?" Tien asked, only for Dende to shake his head immediately.
"Theoretically, yes, but I'm still having trouble landing on the Lookout with perfect accuracy; landing on the fastest ship in the universe is beyond my abilities," Dende explained simply. "Getting onto Planet Chilled is far more doable, but I don't want to risk taking more than one person at a time, and...I could use some more practice with traveling such long distances first." He looked around sheepishly at the others before finishing his thought. "Getting my people back to our planet in order to keep our Dragon Balls out of Vegeta's hands should help with that. Assuming, of course, that he doesn't decide to swing around to Namek instead of Earth."
"It's possible, but I wouldn't count on him doing that before he's done with Earth. I would wager that he's far more directly motivated to destroy this planet for the moment," Piccolo reasoned, which didn't exactly comfort anyone present.
"Well, assuming Dende can get somebody to where Vegeta is, then all we need to do is have him take Goku, then Goku takes Vegeta and his lackeys out, easy peasy!" Krillin argued. The group was left initially optimistic, although Chi Chi seemed reluctant to see her husband go off into space again. Gohan seemed reluctant to agree with Krillin's suggestion for an entirely different reason, a sentiment Master Roshi picked up on before he eventually spoke up.
"Even if Goku does what you suggest, that doesn't do a lot for the bigger problem that Vegeta represents," he countered, gesturing towards the strongest man in the room. "From what we know, Frieza's empire has seen its leaders dispatched at least three times now, along with many of his top lieutenants...and yet it endures." The group fell silent at this, unable to refute this simple fact. "It endures because whenever their leader dies, someone new has come crawling out of the woodwork to fill the power vacuum left behind in their wake. We're not exactly equipped to fill that power vacuum ourselves, unless any of you has experience with running an intergalactic state?" In response to Roshi's rhetorical question, the group naturally remained silent. "Exactly," Roshi continued. "Which means that if we want to make sure that whatever remains of Frieza's empire will never threaten our home again...we need to find a different solution." The group remained silent for a while, most of them unsure of what else to suggest until Gohan dared to speak up as well.
"Master Roshi, didn't our Vegeta hear that some planets were defecting?" he asked, his innocuous question causing several of the warriors' eyes to widen while Roshi smiled.
"Why, yes, he did," Roshi confirmed, proud of his youngest pupil's ingenuity.
"Could your powers get us to any of those planets?" he asked Dende eagerly, hopeful that his cool plan was actually working. Dende thought about it for a moment before nodding tentatively.
"I should be able to once I'm told where they are, although I really shouldn't be off of the planet for too long," Dende cautioned before cocking his head. "Why do you ask?" he queried.
"Well, the main issue with taking out whoever's in charge of the empire directly is that someone will eventually replace them, right?" he asked, to which several people nodded before the boy continued. "So, what if instead of focusing on Vegeta taking over the empire, we focus on the empire as a whole, or more specifically...the planets that have already left it behind?" Piccolo allowed himself a small smirk as he began to piece together Gohan's proposal, while Master Roshi was similarly proud. "The empire is likely going to want those planets back, and I doubt that they would be able to hold out against a big army for long, but given how weak their soldiers were back on Namek, they wouldn't stand a chance if we were around to keep those planets safe! We could show up and fight whoever we need to, disappear before Vegeta shows up, and once the rest of the empire hears about us protecting these twenty planets-"
"-It will inspire any good people held under the empire's thumb to continue the fight elsewhere," Master Roshi finished for him with a wide smile, while Piccolo added his own summary.
"We would be the figureheads of a rebellion unlike any the universe has ever seen, boundless in its scope and impossible to fully extinguish before it tears the empire apart from the inside out...never to rise again," he said, the unintentional dramatic flourish surprising nobody who knew Piccolo well enough. He smiled at Gohan with pride in his eyes as well. "Very devious, my pupil," he complimented the boy, who chuckled at the praise.
"Yeah, well, I learned from the best!" he quipped somewhat nervously, causing Piccolo to laugh while Chi Chi was left looking at the pair with mixed feelings. She had been warming up to the Namekian, sure, but she never would understand how Goku and Gohan could forgive him so easily, let alone making jokes about that horrible year which wasn't so long ago. As Chi Chi politely moved to excuse herself from the room, Yamcha decided to bring up the Saiyan who wasn't there.
"Don't get me wrong, it makes sense to go for the empire itself like this, but like...killing Vegeta right out the gate would be good too, wouldn't it?" Yamcha asked, to which Goku spoke up.
"Actually...I think it might be better to leave him alone for now," Goku said, causing most of his friends to look at him incredulously as he held up his hands in a defensive manner. "This isn't a 'Let me fight him' thing, I've actually thought about this! King Cold taking over was just the old boss filling in after his son died, and while I'm not sure what was going on with Cooler, he at least was also related to Frieza. Both of them were able to take over because they had that connection to him and because they were the strongest, but Vegeta only has raw power and taking credit for killing the royal family on his side. Because of that-"
"-the people will be primed to hate him," Piccolo finished, catching on to what his rival was getting at and moving to back him up. "If we kill Vegeta as soon as possible, it would only leave his position open for one of Frieza's remaining lieutenants to seize for themselves, someone who's bound to be more well-liked than Vegeta is currently. They could leverage that popularity, marginal though it may be, to attempt to rally the people against us for deposing their leaders time and time again, which would make a successful revolution harder to pull off. However, if we leave Vegeta alive while curtailing his plans to the best of our ability, he will only become more despised by the populace, who will see him not only as an interloper and a usurper, but an ineffectual one at that. It ultimately serves our purposes to thwart him at every possible turn and leave his death for the very end of our revolution. So long as he doesn't grow stronger than Goku can handle-"
"-we can take him out at any time," Tien concluded, nodding along with the others once Goku's point had been made more articulately than he likely would have managed on his own. He smiled, glad that the others agreed with his assessment of the situation. Krillin, however, noticed another flaw in the plan which he decided to bring up.
"Well, even if we leave Vegeta alive, there's still the problem of how to get to these places en masse," Krillin argued, while Master Roshi nodded in agreement.
"According to our Vegeta, there may be one option that could help," Roshi confirmed. "It seems like the last thing he did before confronting his present counterpart was broker an agreement with what remains of that outfit called the Ginyu Force." At this, Dende blinked in surprise.
"Huh. I mean, he warned me he was doing that in advance, but still...I'm surprised that it worked," he admitted, to which Roshi chuckled.
"It didn't seem to come easily, but the prospect of bringing back their friends Burter and Guldo, combined with the fact that they'd join them in the afterlife otherwise, seems to have done the trick," Roshi remarked. "They're not exactly on the side of the angels, but they've promised not to attack Namek and pledged themselves to something called the Galactic Patrol, an enemy of the Frieza Force who's been looking to liberate the universe from his empire's tyrannical rule for some time now."
"Hm," Goku said, unusually taciturn as he thought about something he hadn't wanted to think about since he was healed from his battle with Cooler and King Cold. Or, more specifically, someone he hadn't wanted to think about.
"Something wrong, son?" Roshi asked, sensing the course of his student's thoughts.
"I ran into someone who posed as a Galactic Patrolman during my last trip into space," Goku explained with a sigh. "His name was Jamba, and he looked a lot like you, Tien, except for the fact that his skin was blue. He claimed he was an engineer from a planet called Kasei, whose people were wiped out by some powerful god-like being that he called 'The Destroyer.' Apparently he and a few others survived because his people had the ability to make permanent copies of themselves, and their copies happened to be out in space at the time." In the face of all of this, most of the warriors assembled listened with rapt attention, while Tien in particular nodded intently.
"Well, that's one question answered," Tien said, causing Piccolo to chuckle at the unintentional mirroring of his own response to learning about his Namekian heritage.
"I'm...not sure how much of his story is true," Goku admitted. "He was an engineer, alright: he used his skills to hack into the ship's computer and make it think this other planet King Cold picked out was Planet Chilled. He said the Galactic Patrol wouldn't help his people after their planet was destroyed by this mysterious figure, so if I had to guess, it was probably a member of Frieza's family who blew up his planet, and so he actually joined the Frieza Force to get back at them while working on...something else. I left the copy of him I encountered on a deserted planet, which I have to assume was part of his real plan, but I'm not sure what exactly that plan is. All I know is...he can't be trusted." With that, Roshi looked at Goku for a moment before getting an idea of how to accomplish both of the objectives that had been brought up.
"I'll make sure to check it out while I look into meeting up with the...I guess Galactic Force now?" Roshi said quizzically before shrugging, leaving Krillin to pick up the conversation.
"Well, I'm still not sure how we'll manage either of those things at the moment," he said. "I mean, Dende can go anywhere, but he's still learning, and we'd need to have him ferry us back and forth anywhere we need to go for this plan to work, at least until Master Roshi figures out how to use Instant Transmission and teaches it to the rest of us."
"Hm, yes. I'm afraid it'll take me time to sort out everything the other Vegeta shared with me, and even if I share those memories with you all, it'll still take you quite a while to learn it yourselves," Master Roshi explained. "Time that we don't have." At this, however, he perked up as he read the thoughts of a few people in the room, thoughts which challenged that assumption.
"We might have a way to get around that, master," Goku said with his usual cheeky smile. Master Roshi could only chuckle to himself as he put together what they were all thinking of.
"Ah, right, that time chamber our Vegeta mentioned," he remarked. "Well, after training with King Kai, I should be able to handle going in there as easily as the rest of you can now."
"Hang on, back up; what exactly does this 'Hyperbolic Time Chamber' do?" Tien asked, prompting Piccolo to explain it in Goku's stead.
"It's a pocket dimension created by Kami to be used during times of extreme crisis, when Earth's champions would need to train extensively in order to protect the planet from imminent danger. Time flows differently within the chamber compared to how it flows outside of it, such that a warrior of sufficient physical and mental fortitude could accomplish up to two years' worth of training within the chamber in as many days." This elicited several gasps of surprise from the crowd, along with a skeptical look in all three of Tien's eyes.
"Uh huh. And we didn't use this when the Saiyans invaded...why, exactly?" he asked, although Piccolo didn't show any sign of being affected by the pointed question.
"Kami believed that you were not strong enough to survive the chamber's gravity, which is equivalent to that of King Kai's planet, not to mention there are...other dangers," Piccolo replied with a slight pause before continuing. "In any event, you all should be able to handle it from your prior experience with gravity training. Simply keep in mind that you can only enter the chamber twice in your natural lifetime, and only to a maximum of two years total. Carefully consider exactly how much time you wish to spend apart from your companions and loved ones." At this, several of the warriors assembled gave long looks at each other and at Blonde Launch in particular.
"Hey, do what you gotta do, big guy. I don't mind missing a birthday," she said, placing a consoling hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. He looked up at her with a gentle smile, although he didn't fail to notice Krillin and Yamcha looking noticeably more tense about the situation than he was. He certainly didn't miss the way that Krillin's energy subtly built up as the shorter man glanced outside, seemingly intent on flying towards a destination that he could easily guess.
"Well, uh, Master Roshi obviously gets first dibs, but I'm-I'm gonna go over to Kame House and see whether the androids want to get in on this," Krillin said with a slight stutter, trying not to visibly blush. "I mean, one of the twins should stay to help out Bulma, but 18 might, um…anyway, I should be going now!" With that, he was just about to practically throw himself out the door so that he could take off when Tien of all people called after him with a smirk on his face.
"Leaving abruptly two times in as many days, how interesting!" he remarked. "Tell me, do you actually intend to visit her this time, or will you suddenly change course halfway yet again?" His question only served to embarrass Krillin further, who elected not to respond as he took off from the front porch, leaving the rest of the warriors assembled to chuckle to varying degrees. Blonde Launch in particular squeezed her boyfriend's shoulder appreciatively.
"Oh, I'll make you a comedian yet," she quipped, earning her a fond eye roll from the triclops while Master Roshi was left with trying to get the group back on track.
"Well, I don't think it should take me more than a couple months to figure out Instant Transmission, but we've only got a couple days before the evil Vegeta starts making moves, and I could certainly use the extra time to catch up to the rest of you whippersnappers," Roshi said jokingly. "Of course, from what I'm gathering, it seems a little unwise for me to go in there alone, so...any takers?" he asked the group, only for many of them to shake their heads.
"I'd love to, but I did promise Chi Chi that I'd stick around for a month before going anywhere," Goku said. "Probably for the best, really. I need to be around just in case things get too dicey for y'all out there, and I can always spar here with Android 16 if I need to get stronger. I'm...not positive if he's left the gravity chamber since Bulma tweaked his programming," he admitted with a sheepish grin, his question promptly answered by a shake of Piccolo's head.
"I've gotten used to training with Piccolo at this point, so I think I will wait until the two of us have a chance to use the chamber ourselves," Tien explained, to which Piccolo nodded as well.
"I'd be down to train in there, but uh, I gotta talk with Maron about it first," Yamcha said with a hint of nervousness, earning him a few interested glances from the ladies in the room.
"Oooh, and just who is this Maron person?" Chi Chi asked eagerly, having taken the time to calm down enough that she could rejoin the others in her living room.
"Yeah, Yamcha, who's this Maron person?" Blonde Launch repeated teasingly, finally causing the former bandit to cave under the pressure.
"She's, um, a girl that I met...last night. We, uh, we're kinda dating now," he admitted, earning him a delighted squeal from Chi Chi and smiles from the rest of the company.
"Well, how about that? Didn't think you had it in you to find a lady that fast," Blonde Launch said with some of that teasing lilt still in her voice. Yamcha chuckled sheepishly.
"I didn't plan on it, things just kinda happened," he said. "But yeah, I better go and talk to her about all of this. Might've only met her yesterday, but she still deserves to know that I might be going away for a year or two, from my perspective, at least." The two women nodded before seemingly thinking of the same idea at once.
"Would you mind taking us along?" Chi Chi asked, while Blonde Launch simply gave her boyfriend a look that conveyed the same request easily enough. "I don't exactly get a lot of opportunities to socialize with other women, much less those who have any inkling of what you all do. It's led to some unexpected trouble in the past, but it's also been...very rewarding," she explained, giving Blonde Launch a long look which communicated so much that Yamcha couldn't say no to her. As far as he was concerned, Maron deserved to have a few new colorful friends of her own.
"Sure thing," Yamcha said breezily, gently taking Chi Chi's hand while Tien glady scooped up Blonde Launch in a bridal carry. "Best of luck to you, master!" he called out to Master Roshi before the pair of warriors took off into the sky with their respective companions while Chiaotzu came along as well. Dende and Piccolo, seeing that the company in the room had begun to thin out, likewise made their exits, with Dende teleporting back to the Lookout while Piccolo simply walked towards the gravity chamber to spar with Android 16. Master Roshi brought his hands together as though he were preparing to leave himself, glancing around one final time.
"Well, if there's no takers, I guess I better head off then. See you in a year!" he said cheerfully until a small raised hand stopped him in his tracks...and the request that followed left him speechless.
"Master Roshi," Gohan began hesitantly. "Can I go in with you?"
Needless to say, the initial outcome of Gohan's question was less than positive.
After catching Goku and Master Roshi off guard, the two attempted to talk Gohan out of it through various methods while simultaneously seeking to let him down as gently as they could. Goku argued that he would personally be delighted to see Gohan grow stronger, but that his mother wouldn't want her son to be separated from her for another year or potentially more if the boy sought to go out into space with the others. Master Roshi was likewise afraid of Chi Chi's considerable wrath should he agree to allow Gohan to accompany him, and he also pointed out that the gravity might prove hazardous to Gohan's younger body. Rather than talking him out of it, their arguments only served to upset Gohan enough that he angrily stomped off into his room.
Seeing that this was an issue that his parents would be best equipped to handle, Master Roshi left for Kame House to say goodbye while Goku made the wise, if potentially hazardous decision to consult Chi Chi on the matter over the phone. Half an hour later, Goku had the answer he'd hoped for, but not without a caveat: Gohan wasn't to set foot anywhere on that Lookout until father and son finally sat down to have that heart-to-heart conversation which she had asked for just the other day. Thus, after mentally reviewing how exactly he was going to approach this, Goku knocked on the door, somehow feeling more nervous here than in many of the moments where he had risked his life to save his friends from untold peril.
"Gohan? You still in there, buddy?" he called out through the door, receiving no response at first. "Listen, uh, I've been talking with mom, and...she's alright with you going in the time chamber once, for one year. That's, uh, that's about all she's willing to tolerate," he added, attempting to provide some levity that didn't seem to be appreciated, judging by the continued silence. "The, uh, the other condition she had for you going, which was kinda the main one she had for me going in there eventually, is, uh...she wants us to talk. About...about everything that's happened. With how often the two of us have been separated, we, uh, we didn't have much of a chance to talk about any of that stuff before, but...we have a chance now, and I just want to say...I'm sorry."
Although there was still nothing but silence from Gohan's room, Goku sensed that what he had said made an impact, so he kept going. "I'm sorry for getting you caught up in the whole Saiyan invasion thing. I'm sorry for dying and leaving nobody around to keep Piccolo from kidnapping you. I'm sorry for-for not being fast enough or strong enough to protect you on Namek...on multiple occasions. I'm sorry for going away to fight King Cold when you needed me the most, and I'm sorry for making you feel like you had to step up in my absence even though...you don't like fighting the way I do. Even though you never have."
He'd known this fact about his son for some time, of course, but for a while, a part of him hoped that he was mistaken. Now, of course, he was more certain than ever that Gohan wasn't going to be following in his footsteps, and it...hurt. He didn't even know why, it just...did. But, Goku thought, this wasn't about him: this was about Gohan.
"Dad-" he faintly heard Gohan say through the door, but Goku knew he had to continue.
"You've been through more messed up stuff in the last year than I had to go through during most of my childhood, and on some level...it's all my fault. I-I failed you, Gohan. I've been failing you from the moment this all started. I'm not really that great at talking, you know that, so all I can even think to say is that...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Gohan. You deserve a much better life than the one I've given you...and a better dad than me." Goku found himself choking up ever so slightly, but he was nonetheless prepared to keep going until he felt the door open rapidly and a pair of arms wrapped around his legs faster than he could see.
"It isn't all your fault, dad," Gohan said into Goku's leg. Goku tried to shake his head, but Gohan beat him to the punch. "You did everything you could with the Saiyans and Frieza, and you wouldn't have needed to protect me on Namek if I hadn't snuck aboard the ship in the first place. Granted, going off into space for four months wasn't the smartest choice, and the situation with Uncle Raditz probably could've been taken care of some other way, but, heh, that ended up working out a lot better for us in the long run too. As far as the actual mistakes you made...I forgive you," Gohan finished with a bright smile on his face, one that managed to bring Goku out of his slump.
"That's...more than I was expecting after everything, to be honest," he admitted sheepishly, causing Gohan to chuckle a bit at his father's awkwardness.
"Yeah, well, all things considered...you're still pretty cool, dad," Gohan said happily, with a look in his eyes that Goku was smart enough to recognize, if only because he'd seen it in the mirror.
"There's no point in trying to butter me up so you can go into the chamber; I'm all for it," Goku said jokingly. "Gravity might be an issue, but I think you're strong enough to handle it. The only real issue is how much time you'd be away." Goku paused briefly as he was left to reckon with the reality of his son growing even older without him around. "Gohan...are you positive you're alright with us missing a whole year of your life?"
Gohan thought about it once again for a moment. He certainly didn't like the prospect of being away from everyone for a year, but at the same time...perhaps another year of relatively little activity outside of training would help him to more or less settle down after everything that had happened to him. Aside from that possibility, the fact remained that if he was going to look into the idea that he had been contemplating since he'd heard about what happened to his future self, then the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was the safest possible place to explore it. Ideally, he'd want to be alone there, but from what he'd heard, that wasn't the best idea. Of course, of all the people who could have gone with him, he would have wanted Master Roshi in there more than most. With his centuries of experience, Gohan knew that he had to be an expert on meditation techniques and other means of harnessing your emotions in battle.
Such techniques were beyond critical for what he had planned.
"I'm sure, daddy," Gohan replied, with determination in his eyes. "But first...could you tell Master Roshi to come back here? I need to talk to him about something."
"So we just had this, like, the whole time."
Once various arrangements had been made and much needed conversations were had alongside some lovely introductions, Yamcha was left with the task of ferrying Chi Chi to the Lookout in time for her and Goku to say goodbye to Gohan before he went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber right around midnight. With the three of them caught up in this essential task, Yamcha was left without much to do after he had said goodbye, to Dende's chagrin.
"So it seems," he replied, not sure what else to say to that as Yamcha looked at the door.
"And we're positive we couldn't have handled it before?" he asked, causing Dende to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose as he fixed Yamcha with a tired gaze.
"Look, from what I understand, the only reason Goku survived dipping in there when he was a kid was because he was literally born to live in that kind of gravity. Both humans and Namekians, however, have evolved to live with only a tenth of that gravity weighing down on their bodies at any given moment. If I went in there and I wasn't immortal, the room would turn my bones to mush the minute I stepped beyond the safe threshold. You think your 'rock hard abs' would have fared better just because you were, what? Three times as strong as I am now when you started training on the Lookout? You really think you could've handled that, tough guy?" At his teasing remark, Yamcha wisely said nothing. "Didn't think so," he said smugly, proud to have once again reminded these reckless people of how fragile their bodies really were...only for his antennae to stick up as he felt several pairs of eyes staring into the back of his head.
"Hey, uh, Dende?" Gohan said tentatively while his mother looked just about ready to scold the young Namekian. "Not helping." Dende wisely said nothing further on the subject as Mr. Popo opened the door, prompting Master Roshi to walk towards Gohan and offer him a hand.
"Well, my boy," he said, unusually taciturn as the door opened. " Are you ready?" he asked, only for Gohan to nod without hesitation. "Alright then. Here we go...the long way round." With that, he guided Gohan into the glowing white void that shone through the open door, and continued to walk until the door closed behind them with a great thud...and left them in a surprisingly well furnished room, equipped with everything they could possibly need to stay alive and sane over such a long time. Taking a few breaths to prepare himself, Gohan let go of Roshi's hand and walked with purpose towards the outer door leading into the great white void beyond. As soon as he stepped over the threshold of the training area, his body was hit with the full force of the chamber's gravity, and while it certainly remained unpleasant, he didn't even need to power up to a fraction of his full strength to more or less cancel out the effect.
"Nice," Gohan said, just a little proud of himself. He'd proven that he could handle the gravity. Now all he had to do was prove he could handle what came next.
"I should be able to do what you've asked," Master Roshi interrupted as he crossed the threshold with similarly moderate difficulty, rubbing the back of his neck to ease the discomfort. "Our Vegeta was willing to provide some tips about the Saiyans' Artificial Moon technique once I explained that you asked me to learn it. He seemed to understand why you would look into such a possibility after hearing his story, although...he did advise me to warn you of something."
"Yeah?" Gohan said, in a tone that indicated that his mind was already made up.
"While he thought it may be possible, no Saiyan alive has ever achieved the kind of mastery that you're looking to achieve with their 'Oozaru' transformation," Roshi explained. Although Gohan nodded in response to the new information, his determination didn't waver at all.
"Then I'll be the first," he said simply. "From what our Vegeta said, Future Me didn't do anything except train for three years, and he became powerful enough to take on the twins, but not by transforming. That likely means that he still wasn't old enough to handle becoming a Super Saiyan, especially since he...he didn't have anyone around who could show him how. With how young I am, I probably can't do it either...but I can transform another way just fine." The boy looked down at his furry little Saiyan tail, miraculously undamaged after everything he'd been through, before looking back at Master Roshi. "I just need to find a way to get this Oozaru thing under control. If I can manage to preserve the power increase that comes with it and have it increase my speed to match instead of being some slow, massive brute like Vegeta was, then I could get stronger than him even without being a Super Saiyan! And even if I don't manage it...then at least the effort might help me finally feel like I'm in control of myself." At that, Gohan choked up a bit as he thought back to that conversation he'd had with Chiaotzu so many nights ago, a conversation that still played in his mind when he found himself having trouble falling asleep.
"Gohan-" Master Roshi began, sensing where the boy's thoughts were heading, only to be cut off by a boy desperate to get some awful thoughts out of his head.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," Gohan said, tears already coming to his eyes before he blinked them away. "I'll fight if I have to, but I refuse to go overboard in a moment of panic or rage or whatever else. Not anymore. I refuse to kill somebody again, not if I can help it, but...with the way my life has been for the past year and a half now...I just-I feel like there's going to come a moment where I'm going to be more angry at someone than I have ever been in my entire life!" By this point, he was pacing around the void just outside of the main entryway, far too engrossed in his rant to stop now. "Angry enough that my power skyrockets higher than ever before! Angry enough to kill that person without even trying! And if I let myself do that, if I let myself finally snap and kill someone on purpose, even if they deserve it...I don't think I could ever come back from that. I might not kill anyone else, but the fact that I even did in the first place, the fact that I wasn't strong enough to stop myself even in that one singular moment...I don't think I would ever stop feeling that anger. It'd just be sitting there, just under the surface...waiting."
By the end of his speech, Gohan's look of utter horror at his own worst impulses was enough to make even Master Roshi's heart break a little. He was centuries old at this point, someone who had been through countless hardships and questioned what lines he was willing to cross for the sake of opposing evil more times than he could count...and yet this boy was facing an even greater internal struggle at a tiny fraction of his age. He had his doubts regarding Gohan's plan, but if this was the best way to ensure that such a bright and special boy would forever remain happy in the light...then he was going to do everything in his power to help him.
"Very well, Son Gohan," he said as he sat down to meditate. "Let us get started then."
Woof, okay, gonna be honest, this one got away from me a bit.
I'm kinda rushing to get this update out using a friend's computer while my own computer is having major issues, so apologies if this is a bit more brief than usual. Anywho, let's go ahead and answer questions!
Zeon Paralysis Crystal says:
"Great Chapter and Vegeta using the Care Bear stare is something I didn't see coming."
I...did not anticipate it being described that way and now I can't unsee it. Personally, if we're gonna give it a comedic name, my vote is for something like "MEMORY BEAM!"
destroyerAli asks all the way back in Tale 2:
"how can he be 1.000 at 50% and 1.250 at 100%?"
I understand your confusion, but in this case, it's important to keep in mind that this is less "50% of his full power" and more "him using the MAX Power state to around 50% of its total growth capacity." As stated in the prologue, I initially based the calculations for MAX Power on how his power level changes between when it's measured in DBZ (when he's just kinda hanging out) and when he fights Tien in the 22nd World Tournament (where he gets serious, but not to the hulked out level he gets when blowing up the moon). This is a difference of 41, so I assumed he could increase his power from 137 up to a maximum of 221 before he trained on the Lookout. With that training, the formula becomes "25% of what 50% MAX Power looks like between stages," so because 25% of 1,000 is 250, his power level goes up from 750 to 1000 and then to 1250. It's been so long that I'm not entirely sure how that became the formula; I think I just wanted power levels that were easier to calculate the difference of if I was going to be using this. Sorry for the confusion that this process caused you, but hopefully this cleared it up somewhat?
The Rocha says:
"So, THAT is who the old foes are. Vegeta returning to Main Villaindom is definitely interesting. All Hail Emperor Vegeta!"
Present Vegeta, in the same tone as TFS' Perfect Cell: King Vegeta. =(
"Looks like Future Vegeta is going Full Android. Geez, a Super Saiyan whose tank lasts forever, crazy."
Idk if I'd describe him as going full Android (or Cyborg, technically). He's sort of in a weird spot where Bulma makes the in-universe comparison to the Saiborgs in terms of what we can expect out of this new cyborg design, but she's also using the twins as a model since they're the only options left for her after all the Saiborgs got blown up, so it'll be interesting to see how Bulma's work turns out. Perhaps she will be a greater cyborg maker than Dr. Gero ever was...or perhaps not.
"Its funny how everything Future Vegeta says barely sounds like things that would ever come out of Vegeta's mouth, and yet... It makes sense."
Honestly, yeah, a part of me is still a bit mad at myself for not really diving into the nitty gritty of Future Vegeta's change, but I am thankful it's been generally accepted with the 20+ year timeline gap in mind. It's a long time for a character to grow and change, and perhaps we'll see glimpses of that later on.
"Redemption Arc Speedrun lol. Shouldn't have tried to go glitchless."
Pfft, yeah. Future Vegeta kinda put all his eggs in one basket there, didn't he? xD
"Any chance Future Vegeta will bring Pybara back? Can't wait for next chapter!"
Honestly...yeah, I think he would, seeing as Pybara died even more senselessly in the present timeline. It'll take a bit for him to do that, but hopefully the Namekian balls will have enough wishes left over the next time they come online. ;)
mastercheif1229 says: "Incredible story so far! Can't wait for the next chapter! Just reread the whole thing and finished at 1:38 am."
Jeez, knowing how long this sucker is, I really ought to thank you for your persistence if nothing else. I'm glad you appreciate it, but please get some sleep! xD
And finally, Anon asks:
"I think this idea is a bit extreme, but since they are in the present, couldn't they remove 's implants, damage his organs a bit, and give him a senzu to get his body back to 100%? Since Yamcha got his arm back after his wound opened on Namek, I think the same could apply to [this]."
The main issue is that, like I explained last chapter, the implants aren't just where his stomach used to be, but lined throughout his body in a way that makes them difficult to remove and difficult for newly healed organs to properly fit themselves back into place after two decades of being dependent on the implants. The only method I can really think of to remove them would be just frying him with a ki blast to burn the little widgets out, but that'd also probably kill him in the process, and they'd rather avoid that while we're waiting on two separate Dragon Ball cooldowns. Besides, their continued presence makes the integration of the new cyborg technology into Future Vegeta's body easier than it would be otherwise, so leaving them in is actually somewhat beneficial here.
Anywho, with all that said, I'm not really coming up with any new power levels for this chapter, so without any further ado, let me know what y'all think in the comments. Thank you all for reading, stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask and get vaccinated if possible, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.