My problems with Windows XP (other than on a code basis) lie in its handling of diskettes, not in formatting. Various circumstances require me to transfer each chapter to a computer with internet access... and XP computers insist upon certain formatting specifications most operating systems do not meet. This problem will be dealt with shortly.

Meanwhile, I apologize, due to the fact that the chapters will shortly become smaller then usual. I did so in an attempt to make the story be fifty two chapters (a perfect year, you see). More was added at a later date, rendering this effort futile. However, I feel I make up for this in the last two chapters, which are lengthy.

A certain individual gave me a lengthy review, and I have prepared an unfortunately lengthier response. Rather than waste most of my reader's time here, I will place this after the chapter. Meanwhile, the individual in question should read the response first.

-

It was not the best of situations. Not after a defeat like it had suffered. There was little power. But there was hate. There was always hate. Perhaps power was not the best path to travel. Not yet. There were other ways of accomplishing goals. Yes. Darkness shifted, stretching its influence in different, subtle ways. This would require a shifting of values, and complete change in priorities.

But the result would be the same.

A series of ki arcs sped through the air, slicing a rock pillar into several smaller stones. Before they could even reach the ground, a series of blows shattered them to a shower of pebbles. 18 landed amid the stones, and raised a finger. The shattered stones around her rose into the air and began rotating in a violent sandstorm. Slowly a ring of energy formed around 18, and on her mental command it sped out from the center.

The energy blasted everything in a large radius to rubble, effectively clearing the area. Not a bad technique. Not necessarily very effective for combat, though. Leaping into the air, she continued her training. Goku was back in the house working on something, but he had said he'd come out to spar with her soon. She might as well use the time she waited for some good.

She froze the instant something changed. There was a dark presence, one that seemed to coat everything. It vanished a second later, but she had gotten a good feel for it. Darkness. There were a few more kis off in the direction the dark power had been felt, and all seemed to be coated with a dark power.

Skimming just over the ground, 18 headed for the source. In less than a few seconds, she had located the problem itself, amid a group of hills. Raising her angle of ascent, she rose high enough to see what had happened. Four individuals stood below, and she quickly identified all of them. The humans of the original Z-warriors. Except one, the one known as Tien was gone. Odd. More importantly, why were they back?

"There!" She'd been spotted. All of them rose up into the air on her level. There was no point trying to hide, even if she had felt it necessary. The four of them spread out around her.

"Ah, fortunate," Krillin was saying. "We don't even have to go far to find one of our objectives."

What made them think they could beat her? All of them were significantly stronger, true, but that boost was nothing compared to the power that she held. Unless they had some sort of secret weapon, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"If you give up, we'll make this simpler," Yamcha added. 18 continued to ignore them, focusing on what seemed different. After a while, she understood what exactly it was. All of them had a tinge of Darkness, as if they were possessed. But not quite, it wasn't the same. Focusing her eyesight on one, 18 magnified the image several times. They had no pupils, just an empty Darkness. So this was either a partial possession, or a new kind.

Actually, she realized, they were in the perfect position for her ring attack. It would be so easy to pull one off. None of them could dodge, and the ring could destroy all of them. Not yet. Goku wouldn't want her to just kill all of them. Besides, that wouldn't be much fun. Give them a chance. That was fair.

And if they didn't take it...

Gazing down at the landscape below, Tien located what he was looking for. The house. There was no other area of activity nearby, so this had to be it. This had taken him longer than he had initially anticipated; he had thought they were in the city. But still, he had found them here.

Raising his hands in a triangular position, Tien began gathering energy. He could feel Goku's relaxed ki below in the house. This blast couldn't kill him, he knew that full well. But it'd destroy all that he had worked so hard for. Everything he had tried to rebuild would be gone. The Darkness in his eyes glowed brighter briefly. There was enough energy now, Tien zoomed in on his target and prepared to fire.

A ki was raised. Goku glanced up from the book he had been reading. Very unnatural.

"Die!" Tien screamed, while simultaneously firing the massive blast he had collected.

Leaping from his chair, Goku rushed for the ceiling. At the last second before impact he shifted to mist form and passed through it. On the other side, he snapped back into reality in time to intercept the blast. It deflected off him and was flung into the air.

It was a Triangle Cannon. Goku hadn't felt that attack in a long time. Other than Cell, there was only one other person who knew that technique. So Tien was here. How could that be? Above him, Goku saw a form in the air gathering energy, with one arm raised behind his head.

Attempting to swing his arm down and launch his blast, Tien found his arm suddenly stopped in mid-swing. He could feel a strong hand holding him back. Twisting in midair, Tien used the hand as a springboard to get him away from the conflict. So Goku had sensed him. Not what he needed.

"Tien?"

"Of course it's me, you fool."

"Why are you here? How did you get back?"

"That is not for you to know. Die!"

Rushing forward, Tien stabbed at the air a few times. Each time, Goku easily evaded the attack. Catching Tien's arm, he ducked under the other warrior and came out on the other side. As they passed, though, Goku saw what he had suspected.

"You sold out to Darkness, didn't you? Why would you do that?"

"I have life again. I have more power than ever before. Now I have a chance to destroy you."

"But you forfeited something of yourself. Is it really worth it?"

"Yes!" Multiple blasted sped toward Goku, who calmly batted them aside. Leaping forward, Tien attacked a few dozen more times before jumping back. He had forgotten how good Goku's defenses were. And the saiyan hadn't even attacked yet.

"Listen, you can't win," Goku told him. "Don't bother attacking me."

"Maybe I can't beat you," Tien's eyes narrowed, "but we can!"

Turning, he sped off through the air. It had taken Goku by surprise, so he got a late start. Instead of catching up with him instantly, however, Goku let him fly further. He had said 'we', which meant there were more. Were the other humans here, too? If they weren't stopped, they could wreck a lot of damage. And where was 18?

Krillin rushed forward, only to find white flames burst from the ground, barring his path. He screeched to halt, barely on the edge of the tall wall of flames. Why would he stop for flames? They couldn't hurt him. The Darkness inside of him screamed otherwise. Backing away, Krillin tried to look through the flames, to see what was going on. Someone had been trapped on the other side. So that was her game.

Chou-su slunk around the nearby hill, darting from shadow to shadow. She hadn't seen him yet, so he had a chance to sneak attack. Somehow, the others had been blocked from the fight. There she was; Chou-su crouched low. Gathering everything he could muster, he charged forward at her back.

A yard from her he struck something and bounced back, as if he had run into an invisible wall. 18 turned to look at him.

"Don't even think about it. There's nothing you can do. Just give up now."

"No! I'll fight to the bitter end!"

"You wouldn't accomplish anything. Look, I'd love to kill you, but I'm sure Goku wants you alive. So just cool it until he gets here, and things will be alright."

He glared defiance. 18 shook her head.

"I don't think you understand."

"Nappa seemed far more powerful than all of us! We still defeated him!"

"This is nothing like that." 18 raised a finger. Chou-su felt nothing for a second, then sensed tendrils of ki creeping up from underneath him. He tried to fly up, but he was instantly encased in 18's ki. Rendered powerless, Chou-su could do nothing as the ki bent him over backward.

Spinning around so he was upside down, not of his own will, Chou-su found himself facing 18. She folded her arms.

"You're helpless. I could do whatever I wanted. I could even activate your own self destruction technique." Chou-su's eyes widened in horror. "Like I said, I'm not going to kill you. But I will do this."

There was a profound pain, and Chou-su slumped to the ground. Where he had hung, a crystal hovered in midair. Inside it, Darkness wreathed, but could not escape. Just then, 18 felt Goku's ki as it appeared over the horizon. Another ki was near it, that was probably Tien. Ignoring the crystal, she floated back to where Goku was. Meanwhile, the five humans assembled opposite them.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Goku asked her. 18 shook her head.

"I just saw them appear."

"Tien attacked me, then ran off."

"All of them are possessed by Darkness."

"The other four, too? I see. I'm pretty sure that's how they came back to life again."

"Hm. I haven't killed any of them."

"Well, that's kind of you. I'll try to talk to them, but I doubt anything will be accomplished. Listen," he paused, glancing at her eyes, "if they refuse to change, could you do this? They might be evil, but they were still my friends."

"Sure."

"Both of them." Yamcha smirked. "This gets better and better."

"Yeah," Tien grunted. "I found the other one. Let's take them both down."

"Wait." Goku intervened, stopping their conversation. Five pairs of black eyes turned to look at him.

"What do you want?" Krillin growled.

"This will be a pointless conflict," Goku told them. "None of us need to be fighting. I know that Darkness has possessed you, but I'm willing to forgive that. Just don't hurt anyone and leave us alone."

"We're here to destroy you!"

"But you don't have to. Chou-su's Darkness has already been taken from his body. He's still living. We could do that for the rest of you, and you could be free."

"Nah." Yajirobe smirked. "Darkness is most of our power. We're gonna take you down!"

"Don't throw your lives away! Surely you understand that an attack like this is pointless. We don't even have to like each other, but the least we can do is not be at each other's throats. If you take my offer, we can both leave, and we don't have to see each other again."

"Actually," Yamcha leered at 18, "I'd like to see one of you again."

Goku threw up his hands and turned away.

"I can't believe you guys are doing this."

"You'd better believe it!" Goku stopped in mid-step. 18 could see his eyes glow for a second, a sad glow.

"No. I can believe it. I always have." His voice was sad. Goku began walking away from the area.

"You're just going to leave?"

"18, do this." Goku didn't stop walking.

"You coward!" Krillin yelled. "Hiding behind someone else!"

"What am I hiding from? You?"

"Yah!" Yajirobe took a different approach and attacked, sword swinging. Goku didn't turn, but raised a hand behind him to block the attack. The portly samurai's blade hit Goku's arm at an odd angle and slid off. His momentum kept him going, and Yajirobe slammed into the back of Goku's hand. There was a distinctive crack, and Yajirobe fell to the ground.

This finally moved Goku. He whirled and knelt down by Yajirobe's body, his look horrified.

"Look what you have become!" Tien told him. "You're nothing but a killing machine!"

Goku didn't move. 18 watched him, wishing he didn't have to go through this. The remaining four warriors attacked, and 18 let them go. It didn't matter. All of them slammed into Goku, who didn't move. A whirlwind of movement stormed around Goku as the others struck him from all sides.

Amid the flurry of attacks, Goku stood, staring down at the body of Yajirobe. He felt the blows that struck him, but there was no pain. None of them had enough power to do any damage. Let them attack, if it made them feel better. How had something like this happened? All he had meant to do was block the strike, perhaps break the sword. Not kill him. It had been so long since he'd been around anyone but 18 that he had gotten used to using a lot of power in everything. But what did this say about him? Effortless. That was what the killing had been.

Standing, Goku expanded his ki around him, taking a deep breath. The warriors were tossed away a short distance, where they landed on their feet. Turning finally, Goku glanced back at them. He sighed again.

"If you insist. Let's fight."

Tien fired a Solar Flare, but both Goku and 18 nullified the attack. Rushing forward, Goku caught Tien in the midriff and threw him into one of the nearby hills. 18 rushed through the group, sending the other three flying. Chou-su failed to get up. Whirling, Yamcha smashed the ground where 18 had been a second earlier. A backhand to the side of the face sent him over the horizon.

Ducking, Goku avoided another of Tien's blows. He noticed that as they fought, Tien was performing the same four-armed technique he had so many years ago. When two more arms suddenly appeared on Tien, the ferocity of his attack doubled. Weaving in between the flying limbs, Goku easily evaded every attack that came his way. When Tien split into four different forms, Goku continued dodging.

All four surrounded Goku, and fired blasts toward the center. Calmly raising his hands on either side of him, Goku absorbed the energy from those beams. The beams aimed for his chest and back splashed against his ki shield harmlessly.

Sweat dripping down all four of his bodies, Tien realized that his beams were being pushed back. Unable to break away from the conflict, he could only take the damage as his own energy smashed back into him. Knocked onto the ground, Tien concentrated and collected all of his bodies again. They moved back into him, and he felt energized once again. Then there was a cold boot on his neck.

Opening his eyes, Tien saw Goku standing over him.

"You've used all your tricks," Goku told him. "They haven't worked. This is over."

Instead of killing him, Goku merely rapped him lightly on the side of the head. Enough to knock him out. He turned back to the battle.

Yamcha flew through the air, unable to stabilize himself. Hey look, he thought, what's an elbow doing in-

The blow smashed him down, and he found himself embedded several feet into the ground. It hadn't hurt as much as he had thought. Getting out of the impression he had made, Yamcha brushed himself off. So either she wasn't as powerful as he had thought, or she was trying something else. Raising his head, he caught a glimpse of 18 looking at him. Definitely the latter.

A kick racked him painfully, and Yamcha doubled over on the ground, unable to move. 18 didn't bother to finish him, and blasted away from the battle. There was one of them yet unaccounted for. He wasn't dangerous to her, but given a chance he could destroy the city pretty easily. Couldn't let that happen. Yamcha would be incapacitated for now.

He was moving sporadically, going from place to place. Almost like he had a specific goal. There was something odd going on with his ki, a very dark feeling. Also, he was getting faster. Just as she finally zeroed in on Krillin's ki, 18 saw a sight that made her skid to a halt. A second later Goku skidded in beside her. Both stood silently, unable to voice their deep disgust.

Krillin bent his head up from Tien's body. There was blood on his lips.

"What have you done?" Goku's voice was odd. It held a tone that rang of rightful contempt.

"What was necessary." Krillin got up and wiped off his lips. "I have absorbed their Darkness and power into my own. Now at last I can reach my full potential."

"You killed them! 18 and I had both let them live!"

"They are unimportant." The Darkness in Krillin's eyes was burning darkly. "Now I'm going to finish you."

"Let me do this," Goku told 18 softly, "I can't allow that to stand."

"Go ahead."

Just then Krillin attacked, but both of them easily escaped his blast. Goku appeared above him, his foot clipping him on the chin, sending him backward. Slamming across the ground, Krillin rolled to his feet and launched a massive blast toward Goku, who calmly deflected the blast.

"You were always stronger than me," Krillin hissed. "No matter how hard I tried, you'd always be superior to me."

"Is that what this is all about? Wanting to be better than me?"

"Yes! I can finally attain my face as the most powerful warrior on the planet!"

"And I was the only thing that was in the way."

"It isn't fair! You were always stronger!"

"You're lying to yourself." Goku's eyes were hard. "You'd like to claim that it's the galaxy working against you, a matter of genes. But there is a simple reason you were never stronger than me: because you didn't deserve it. You never worked hard enough, never pushed yourself very far. At some point you would always find a reason to get out, or claim that was the most you could do. In all the years we fought together, I only saw you use your full potential when your life was in danger. When I won, it was because of hard work. Nothing more."

"No! You lie! I'll kill you now and prove it!"

"Foolish. Do you realize your power doesn't exceed four million?"

"Four million? I am invincible!"

"There is nothing you could do to me." Goku did not smile, because of the seriousness of the situation. 18 could sense that he felt like it, and knew why he found that amusing, however. He had to rate at least three and a half billion by the system Krillin was using.

"Not again! You were always so much stronger!"

"Alright then. I'll lower my power to your level. We're equals in power and speed."

"You fool! I'll kill you!"

"No. If I win, it will be because of skill."

"Get ready to die! Darkness is waiting for you!"

-

I am pleased to see a thoughtful, intelligent review from an apparently new patron of this work. Please, allow me to reciprocate at length by clarifying/extrapolating/refuting. While this missive may contain interesting information for others, none of it will be essential.

In regard to Goku and the Light: the distinction is an extremely fine one. I understand it fully, but I can only hope I have fully expressed this in the story. At the moment I will merely direct you to the part of the story in which Piccolo explains it, and say that the various events you mentioned are a direct result of extreme willpower altering reality. However, there are things occurring about which you know absolutely nothing, so do not formulate too much at this point.

You are correct in saying that the Buu Saga is the subsequent plot arc, though not immediately. Of course, the scope is quite different and perhaps somewhat broader. In regard to Bibidi... later events will shed some light, and I believe you can deduce what happened.

Seven more years? Hardly. Do not limit your thinking in any form by the timeline of the cannon universe. Darkness is outside of reality, and can change it completely. At this moment I will truncate my commentary by saying that the holding of breath would not be futile.

The inclusion of Goten by biological means would, in my opinion, remove any shred of credulity this story may possess. Even just scratching biological issues reveals a great many problems. The preceding statement is ironic in that we've already broken biological laws such as genetic inheritance. So allow me to say now that you shouldn't wait.

Redemption is a worthy theme... but it is not this story's theme. If this story has any higher purpose, it is a very interesting look at the nature of evil. At the very least, you understand this: evil is hardly evil unless it causes pain, does it?

Certain events yet to come (and some already far behind us), may seem relatively needless at first glance. To assume this is a fault on my part would be to overlook the fact that they have been written for the very purpose of being needless. All too often we trivialize evils (especially war) by dramatizing them. This is, in my humble opinion, a very important part of the story.

I can understand how Piccolo's destruction of Bardock could cause Eh-esque thoughts. Indeed, it was something that could have been avoided on my part. However, I decided to accent the reach of Darkness... on this issue let me merely say that had Bardock's path been allowed to continue, the adjective "harmless" would not be accurate. I realize this may seem ad hoc, but please allow me a few concessions.

In regard to everything relating to power levels: not only do I not approve of Toriyama's power levels, I dismissed them out of hand for the creation of this story. My system is completely different. Make no attempt to rationalize these with those given in the series or in the official lists: they exist solely for the purposes of this story.

Perhaps I can provide somewhat of a revelation about the lesser quality of this work's prose: by literary terms, it is ancient. The oldest parts of the story are greater than four years old. While I intentionally omit my age at the time, allow me to say that my literary abilities at the time were infantile, in comparison to my work today.

Dragonball GT... sorry. At the time I didn't know enough, and at the moment I cannot afford to squander time on such pursuits. I don't find DBGT worth the effort in any case. Also, an event that has not yet occurred would render such events somewhat trivial.

You mention Kaioshins... I don't seem to remember having any in my story. We're referring to different beings, my friend. When I spell a word as "Kioshin" it is exactly what I intended. This is a small detail to show the difference in worlds... you will notice another, more obvious, later on in the story, inserted for the same reason. Let me reiterate that Dai Kioshin is an entirely new character.

I find your comments regarding "cosmic" and "petty" amusing, though not in the same sense as yourself. Truly, I added the line in question solely because at the time of writing I glanced back and felt that what had already gone on was somewhat petty. Allow me to extrapolate, in this paragraph and two others.

My logic at the time worked along these lines: So far Dai Kioshin has been attempting to ruin Goku's life, apparently just out of nastiness (though this is not the case). Piccolo has merely been trying to stop him. This strikes me as squabbling, nothing more. True, we've had extremely powerful villains... for a single planet, in a single solar system, in a single galaxy.

Secondly, you neglect to mention that being master of the universe does not make Dai Kioshin master of all there is. Darkness and Light are both outside of the universe, as well as the apparently thousands of alternate timelines running parallel. Compared to a force that has consumed countless universes, one little dimensions doesn't seem so important, does it? Of course, this is an oversimplification... this one reality is more important than this paragraph has made it appear.

Lastly, I must shake my head at your anti-dualistic view. I may disagree with the Gnostics on many accounts, but their views are preferable to physicalism. In case this doesn't make sense to you: you assume that the physical reality is all that there is. Just because the entire universe is involved does not mean that the conflict has any worth. The relatively value of the universe is overestimated. Perhaps this issue stems from conflicting definitions of cosmic. I would, however, strongly suggest that the word does not connote merely the collection of atoms that makes up a universe.

A fusion between Goku and 18 wouldn't work in any case (presuming the dance method, presupposing they have no method of obtaining Portura Earrings). An interesting idea, but one discarded long ago. I fear there will be no fusion in this story.

From the beginning I have decided that Master Roshi would not appear. Don't expect even a cameo in this story on his part. Of all characters in DBZ, the good Muten is probably my least favorite... he was far too much of a crutch and plot device for Akira Toriyama, in addition to possessing other negative qualities. Master Roshi? No.