Alright… I plan on doing part of this next section slightly different then before, sort of like a preview. Going to do an overview of what happens during the trip, but with little bits here and there within it detailing specific events and stuff. Also doing it this way allows me to skip the '6 months' or '12 months later…' type deal.
I thought I should mention this here… although it probably shoulda been said a lot earlier. You know how I made Vil'Tani's power level at 950,000? That may seem high right? Well it's not, not for her race. She's in the upper range but there are many stronger then her. The strongest of her race can safely draw enough power from the crystal to have a power level equivalent to 3,000,000 in the saiyan charts.
Oh, if you can guess Arthain's age, body age before he was split apart, I'll give you a medal or something. I haven't given any clues to it but give a guess… Ok forget it you won't have any idea. He's actually about 672 years old and he was young. Massive amounts of life force plus the life extension granted by the world crystal made him near immortal. The crystal enhances the age of the creatures it empowers by a power of 1.5. So a human would live to be 1,000 years old if they would normally live to be 100 which means a saiyan would live much longer.
Another thing, I'll probably post power levels just before the final battle or around that time. I don't see any reason posting them afterwards because the story is finished then and no one cares anymore or at least I wouldn't care if I was reading the story.
Ok, I made a BIG mistake, which I have now fixed. I had Bardock in two places at once. I need him on the ship more then back home so I got Landyn as the Administrator of the academy. Sorry for ruining your Omake Dany but… I kinda really need Bardock on the ship. I need him to go super and well that's that. Sorry for the people that got confused when reading this.
Chapter 16: The End of a Beginning
As per Vegeta's instructions Arthain commenced training and teaching of old techniques to Gohan, Karie, Vegeta and Bardock. Bardock wasn't able to do many of them himself due to the lack of energy required to power it… in the beginning. The days past by in a regular patterns, the four woke up at 6:00 am, training in separate gravity chambers until lunch at noon, had their meal, went to the training area where they were taught techniques until supper which was at 6:00 pm and then train in the gravity chambers until they went to bed. The first day after the history lesson they didn't train that hard thinking the techniques easy to learn.
Arthain looked at the saiyans in disgust, "I looked in upon your training this morning… What kind of bullshit are you doing? You call that training? You're all barely tired. You just did what you could and didn't bother pushing your limits! You only truly gain strength and endurance when you work BEYOND your natural levels." Arthain snarled out.
Vegeta got really upset at this, "WHAT! How DARE you talk to me like that! You're here to teach us the techniques you know and that's it, not to give us 'pointers' on how we should or shouldn't train our bodies." Vegeta growled back.
Arthain glared at him, "Do you honestly think you are able to learn my techniques at the pathetic levels you are at now? Let me remind you that the 'normal' saiyans in my time were as strong as Gohan is at his maximum in his 'evolved' level. The techniques I'm about to teach you are meant for people with that kind of ability and strength. If 'lesser' people tried to use them they could very well tire themselves out or even die before they summon up enough energy to make them work. I was ALSO planning on teaching you techniques that not even the normal saiyans of my time could use because they were to weak, the ones where they had to fuse to use." Arthain snarled at Vegeta.
The four looked at Arthain in surprise, "Are you telling me I'm not strong enough to use some of your techniques?" Gohan asked in incredulity.
Arthain just gave him a very pointed look and the message wasn't lost on any of them.
That day Arthain refused to teach them anything and they, astonishingly considering Vegeta was one of them, didn't argue. They just went back to their gravity chambers and trained until they dropped and then went on training afterwards on their hands and knees. By the next day they had fully learned their lesson and from that day forward they never arrived at the training session in any condition less then dead tired, or sometimes, wounded.
Arthain kept his word about teaching his techniques to the saiyans and his pupils soon learned that his techniques were anything but easy.
"You said you wanted to know how to fuse right?" Arthain asked but went on not waiting for an answer, he already knew it after all, "Well, first you must understand there are multiple ways of fusing, four in total. There are two permanent, and two non permanent although one of them could be if the two fused people wished it so. The permanent ones I'm not going to teach because one requires earrings, a pair of earrings of the immortals, which no one has because I highly doubt the immortals, would lend them to anyone for any reason. It's not known how much stronger the person gets with these earrings when they fuse. No one I know has ever seen them other then on anyone other then the gods and they are tight lipped about that. The other permanent fusion is so pathetic I really don't want to talk about it. Of the other two one requires a stupid little dance and only lasts 30 minutes, the dance makes you look like an ass, you only increase your power half as much as the strongest person and lasts for such a short time its not really of any use. The one I am about to teach you lasts until one or the other inside the fusion wish to be released so it could last anywhere from 10 seconds to a life time. This is the fusion the saiyan race used in the war against Aerie. What you do is you place your hands together, fingers and palm all aligned perfectly straight and together, or together as you can make it because of the difference in finger length and hand size. Then you adjust everything to be exactly as the other person. This means you must reduce or increase you life force to match the others as well as breathing in sync and thinking in sync. Everything must be equal and then you both think of the body you want to be in and use your energy to try to place yourself within it. If it works right you'll both be in the same body, if it doesn't work, nothing will happen. To break out of the fusion just think of your old body and think of yourself flowing into and it will break the fusion." Arthain said and gauged their reactions.
"You expect us to be able to do this?" Vegeta demanded.
"No, actually I don't, because this was usually used between bond mates or very close friends. Trunks and Goten could probably do it, once they form their own little bond. Gohan could do it with his mate, and you could fuse with yours. There has been the odd instances where two people were able to fuse when they didn't have any of those connections, but both were extremely skilled at reading people and were experts, better then even me, at ki manipulation." Arthain said.
Vegeta grumbled to himself, "I'm teaching this to you not so you can use it on our journey; you probably won't need it, it's suppose to help you when you square off against Aerie and…" Arthain trails off.
Only Gohan wondered what he was going to add, the other three were thinking to hard on the fusion technique.
"Don't worry, I'll teach you others in the mean time. You can practice it if you wish but I'll reveal a few more techniques for you to work upon if you get frustrated and give up on it… which will more then likely happen." Arthain said he was about to teach them when something occurred to him, "Oh Gohan… Your mate will have a surprise for you when you come home…"
Gohan's eyes bugged out of his head, "Y-You don't mean…" He stammered.
Arthain grinned, "I sensed it within her as we left. I like being aware of everything around me. She'll have an extremely long pregnancy… well long compared to your standards, but… heh... You'll have to wait to get home for any more information." Arthain said.
Once Gohan had recovered he found he had yet another reason to become stronger and his will to become stronger increased just that much more.
The training of the techniques continued from there with Arthain teaching one or two at a time. Over the duration of the trip to the saiyan old home world he only taught four techniques all together, but no more was really needed, because none of them had mastered all four by the time they had arrived. Gohan had learnt three of them but struggled with the fourth, he couldn't summon up enough energy to use it, not even at his maximum, and this only fuelled his gravity training in the morning and night.
Karie trained just as strong but was only able to master the first technique, not being strong enough for the other three although she came close to using the second. Although she had nearly doubled her internal energy since her fight with Brolly she still had couldn't quite come close enough to use it.
Vegeta, with his determination, mastered the first two techniques before anyone else but couldn't use the third or fourth for the same reason as Karie. He, like Karie, could feel that he was on the verge of being able to use the third technique properly since he was getting small results and this fuelled his resolve to become stronger making his training in the gravity chambers more intense then anyone. He pushed his endurance and physical strength far past their normal boundaries in his effort to use the technique, and in the back of his mind, reach the next level so he could beat Gohan.
Bardock had the most trouble out of any of them. He couldn't use any of the techniques, let alone master them. He trained almost as hard as Vegeta, but more in frustration than determination. He surprised everyone when, six months after launch, he walked into the technique training session with yellow hair and teal eyes.
"You had better believe it!" was all he said as he walked to join them.
Arthain didn't show any emotions on the outside but on the inside he was grinning, It seems the saiyan race may once again become what it once was, lets hope they don't make the same mistakes… if they survive.
From that point on Bardock, with renewed hope at evolving, quickly sought to catch up with the others, although since he transformed out of necessity, as in his body couldn't hold any more energy in its devolved state, rather then rage he was close behind Karie in strength instead of ahead. With his increase in strength he quickly learned the first technique and started working on the second. Karie and Bardock quickly found that if they combined their energy together they could produce a satisfying result with the technique so worked in that direction.
Nearly a year after the ship had left the planet their training session with Arthain was cut off short when the intercom clicked on. "I'm sorry for disturbing you Sire but you wanted to know when we reached our destination and…" The communications officer trailed off.
Vegeta grinned, "Don't worry; I won't blast you for interrupting my training. I'll be there in a second, just hold steady where we are now or I will kill you. Arthain said he had to personally direct this part of the journey or we'd never find the planet." Vegeta replied, argh, I hate depending on someone else thought Vegeta.
A sigh of relief was audibly heard over the intercom forcing everyone inside the room, aside from Vegeta, stifle a laugh. Vegeta glared at them, to no affect, before he left the room. Arthain and the rest left right after, all of them wanting to see the planet for themselves.
As they appeared on the bridge Arthain immediately went to the sensor controls and started directing the saiyan there on what to do. By now everyone had gotten use to the ethereal form of Arthain and treated him as if he was flesh and blood, which meant they still revered him as a god due to the fact that he would outclass Gohan by far if he had his body. The nervous yet happy saiyan obeyed Arthain to the letter and ten minutes later a display screen popped up and replaced the existing one. They were the same except this one had one slight difference. There were bunches of arrows and numbers showing where they should go, the speed they should be moving and how much time they had to get through the entire thing. The thing was a giant cloud of nebulous gas that, unless sensors were configured properly, concealed everything within, and behind it.
Arthain looked up at Vegeta, "That's the best I could do with the primitive technology you have here, you had better go now or the opening in the cloud will shift to somewhere else and by the time we find it… well we won't have to worry about that if we go now." Arthain said.
Vegeta nodded, "Alright men, this is it, time to see our true home world. I want you to obey Arthain's every order relating to the manoeuvring of this ship through the nebula." Vegeta said.
The crew nodded and began to work furiously as Arthain began to give orders. The ship was soon underway again and this time there was no stopping it, not until it reached the old saiyan home world. Vegeta sat back and his seat and kept his eyes fixed upon his monitor. He was determined that he was going to be the first to see the home of his ancestors.
Arthain, after giving his initial commands, turned to Gohan. "Gohan, does Pan do any sort of intensive training?" Arthain asked curiously, "She seemed to be… a lot stronger then most devolved saiyans and she was only 3 when we left…" He trailed off.
Gohan looked at him curiously, "Yes, she has… Is there something wrong with that? She seems to enjoy training with me and Videl in the gravity chamber." Gohan responded.
Arthain frowned thoughtfully, "Depends… Depends… You see children aren't meant to do intensive training… not until their body has grown enough naturally to handle it…" Arthain said.
Gohan began to look worried, "I think I can see where this is going…" He started to say but was cut off.
"No, you don't. You see, if your daughter has been training intensively and growing at the same time one of two things can happen… One is your daughter's physical structure can screw up, as in her bones will not grow properly… hell, she'd stop growing entirely because her body is to focused on healing itself and recovering from the training to concentrate on her growth. That means she'll be a child forever." Gohan's eyes widened in horror and tried to contact his mate but realized he was to far away. He could still sense her moods vaguely but telepathic contact was impossible. "Or your daughter's body will under go a change that will make her a mutant saiyan. Most mutant saiyans are born that way… but a few have developed into one due to extreme circumstances. No one has ever let their child train, and in fact most children don't like training intensively. They'd rather be playing then training. How exactly she'll change is unknown. There is a slight chance nothing will come of it but… you'd better hope for the best." When Arthain finished Gohan was staring at him in shock. For the first time since leaving on the journey he wanted to go home.
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A week earlier back upon Planet Vegeta…
Goten turned back from the cliff that he had been gazing off from and towards a group of people that stood hidden below. With a sigh Goten trotted back towards the group. As he neared a person detached themselves from the mass of people.
Vil'Tani smiled at him as she reached him and wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, what did you see?" She asked as she caressed her hand across his back.
Goten gave a half hearted smile back at her, he tolerated her actions because he knew what she was going through but he really wasn't in the mood for it this day. Although he had been told almost a year earlier by Landyn that this would happen he just wished she would give it a rest for today. Goten looked up from her face and addressed the crowd, "The coast is clear, we can proceed now. I can't see, or sense, anyone between here and the city of Spire. We're almost to our goal so let's stay low and stay fast, got it?" Goten said in an weary voice.
The group was conducting a field exercise in military strategy. They were supposed to make it to their goal while at the same time avoiding all contact with the 'enemy.' The enemy were other groups comprised of upper year students. All the lower year students tried to get to the goal while the upper year students tried to prevent them. So far most of the lower year groups had been captured and, aside from Goten's, only one other group was still out there. That group was headed by Trunks. Many of the people in Goten's group he didn't recognize. Aside from Vil'Tani, the only other two people he knew well were Varitech and Cain. Riho and Arsenic had gone with Trunks.
The devolved saiyan standing beside Varitech glared at Goten, "Why do we have to take orders from you? You're just newly come to your 'elite' status. I should be leading this expedition, not you. My family has been elites since the ancient days." The lesser saiyan spat out, "I can't believe YOU were assigned to take charge, our Instructor must be insane or something. What makes you any different then us? Look at you, what the hell is wrong with you today? You're intolerable most days but this week… I can't stand this… I should be the leader; you've led a sheltered life, I on the other hand, have gone through much more then you and have the scars to prove it!" He was about to prove it when all of a sudden Goten held him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
Vil'Tani had also noticed Goten being down all day and wondered why. It never really occurred to her until that moment. It was that week, exactly one year after he nearly died, a year after he had to watch his mother torn apart; the same week where he had to watch his brother genocide an entire race. Vil'Tani suddenly felt horrible for not noticing sooner and for acting as if nothing was wrong.
Goten glared at the offending person as his face twisted into rage. "Sheltered?! SHELTERED?!" Goten roared in the poor devolved saiyans face, "LET ME TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF SHELTERED LIFE I HAVE LIVED!" Goten threw the suffocating devolved saiyan to the ground and proceeded to glare down at him. "At the age of 7 I DIED! I was torn apart by the rebel saiyans that attacked our planet while YOU stayed nice and safe within your underground bunker! I FOUGHT for this planet that day, and I DIED for the planet. Do you know what's on the other side? OF COURSE NOT! Beauty exists there beyond ANYTHING you can possibly imagine! But that heaven was torn from me as well, just as my life was, when my brother brought me back! I would have killed myself immediately if it weren't for two things! My big brother and my new goal to become the strongest! To EVOLVE! I now have another reason not to die, and if THAT'S not apparent then you shouldn't even be here and I'll kill you myself right now!" Goten said in a chilling voice. The lesser saiyan on the ground was now visibly shaking in fear, and no one blamed him one bit, he expected to be annihilated any moment if he made the wrong move or said the wrong thing and he was right. "If THAT wasn't enough I had to go through something even worse just a year ago! Have you ever seen your mother killed? Sure you've seen her beaten, but have you seen her TORN APART IN FRONT OF YOUR VERY OWN FUCKING EYES! NO! SHELTERED UPBRINGING MY FUCKING ASS! I HAD TO WATCH AS BROLLY RIPPED HER INSIDES OUT AND THROW THEM ALL OVER THE GROUND WHILE LAUGHING THE ENTIRE TIME! If that's not enough for you, how about this! That was also when I evolved beyond you pathetic shits! But despite all that power, despite enough power to scorch entire planets, I was mauled and beaten into the ground! My entire torso was mangled almost beyond repair with every bone in it shattered and every organ torn apart! Oh but that's not all, you want to know what? I had to participate in GENOCIDE! Oh killing the odd person here and there in self defence doesn't bother me but… I HAD A HELPING HAND IN KILLING AN ENTIRE SPECIES AND DESTROYING A PLANET! DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT FEELS!? TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE PART OF THE REASON WHY SEVERAL BILLION BEINGS WERE KILLED! Do you have any idea what it feels like… to feel the life force of several billion creatures wink out in an INSTANT!? Sheltered life my fucking ass! When you can claim to go through even HALF of what I have, THEN you can come speak to me about a harsh life!" Goten finished, the last bit coming out in a hiss.
By this time everyone had backed away from him, partly due to the fact that they didn't want to be involved in the incident and partly because they couldn't due to the fact that Goten had flared out his entire life force and his aura was billowing out around him. The very ground itself was trembling slightly which unnerved many considering they were on solid rock.
It was during the speech that Vil'Tani truly understood why the genocide upset him so much. It wasn't simply because his brother had committed it, he knew the reason, it was simply because he felt as if he had had a direct hand in the destruction. Vil'Tani made a vow to herself to keep her urges reigned in completely during this week in the future.
Goten glared lifted his glare from the poor devolved saiyan and looked around, "Now, if anyone ELSE has a problem with my lead…" Everyone was quick to nod in confirmation. Cain had never seen him like this and Varitech was now afraid of what would happen if he ever found out. Despite that fear a new plan began to grow in his mind.
"I for one support Goten, he hasn't let us down yet." Varitech said as he stepped forward. Vil'Tani gave him a grateful smile and turned her attention back to Goten.
Goten nodded, "Alright, now that that is all settled, let's get the fuck out of here. Because of you…" Goten glared down at the guy still on the ground and no one tried to tell him it was his own fault, "Everyone on this side of the planet probably knows where we are now. We had best be going, it's going to be extremely hard to keep out of the older students reach, but I have a few plans in case this kind of thing happened." Goten said as he left, "Remember, stay low, and stay fast." He commanded, every inch a general, as he sped away. Everyone followed him, no one dared to speak out against him. He had them all within his grasp, his own miniature army… all but one.
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1 week later…
Goten and Vil'Tani walked into Vegeta's study, or now as it's called while Vegeta is gone, Trunks' study.
"Goten, we have a problem." Trunks said before Goten had even sat down.
Goten raised his eyebrow, "Hmm? And you need my help why?" Goten asked teasingly as he and Vil'Tani took their seats. The events of the previous week had gone into hiding as did the horrible memories of the past once the week had gone by. They were still there, just buried for another place, another time.
Trunks glared at him in mock anger, "Goten, I don't NEED your help, I just want it. I have my people out already, and I'm hoping to get yours out as well." Trunks said.
Vil'Tani spoke up at this point, "And just what do you want us to do?" She asked. There was no separating the two, what one knew the other learned soon after.
Trunks looked around like there were spies hiding everywhere and slid a piece of paper across the table to Goten and Vil'Tani.
Goten picked it up and read it and his eyes widen a bit before they narrowed. "I see." He said.
"Do you have any idea how this information got out?" Trunks asked.
Goten nodded, "I have an idea, and I think I know who spoke up about it. One of my own men I do believe. He'll be useful to keep around though, to feed false information." Goten said.
Trunks nodded, "Alright, now that we know the 'who' and the 'how'. What we need to do is stop it. We can't have this getting out of hand, if it did I may hand back to my father a split empire." Trunks said.
Goten and Vil'Tani exchanged glances, "Way to many people know and are speaking out about it to do what Vegeta did and have some 'disappearances.'" Goten said, "So this is what I have in mind, it's just in its rough stages but it's a good starting considering I just thought of it." Goten said.
Trunks nodded and leaned forward as did Vil'Tani."
Goten smirked, "Well as I see it…"
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Inside a small cottage in the woods south of the Capital…
Videl walked out of the gravity chamber with a satisfied look on her face.
"That was a good training session wasn't it Pan?" Videl asked her daughter.
"Ya" A now 4 year old Pan said wearily from her perch on top of her mother's yellow hair. "We must be strong for when daddy comes home! Then I'll show him how strong I am!" Pan cried out, suddenly getting a renewed burst of energy.
Videl smiled at her daughter, "I take it you're ready for more training?" Videl asked and Pan just answered by running back into the gravity chamber.
Videl smiled just smiled as she wrapped her arms around her large abdomen, I feel like I've been left behind by you Gohan… I don't want to feel that way… I'll make you proud. When you come back I, no we, swear we won't be your lesser… but your equal… She thought to herself as she followed Pan back into the gravity chamber.
To be continued….
Heh, yup, Videl has evolved and is strong, stronger then Bardock and Karie and as for Pan… well that'll be kept a secret until Gohan gets back, no point in ruining it by letting hints drop now, who knows… she may have even evolve by the time Gohan gets back, but in what way? Hehe, a lot can happen in 4 years time. Think about this, Karie, Gohan, Vegeta and Bardock will stop their intensive training for 3 years as they journey in the other reality and only start up their intense training on their way back. Videl and Pan though… They have 4 more, 5 in total, years to do hardcore training, and what about the unborn child? OOOooo… Ah, I'm gonna shut up now :).
The next chapter will begin the journey to the other reality and from here on out the main focus will be on Gohan, Vegeta, Karie, Bardock and Arthain.
Yes, the chapter was rather short in comparison to my other ones but if you think about it many of the ones I've been pumping out lately were very long. I consider a 3,000 word chapter a good sized length and I've been nearly doubling that lately. Anyways hope you liked the chapter :).