-----DISCLAIMER-----
Nina © Capcom
Clint, Alex, Jason, Vernon, Devin, Dusty, Dan © Themselves
Goku, Radditz, Vegeta, Piccolo, Juuanagou/#17, Mr. Buu © Akira Toriyama
Heero Yuy © Sotsu Agency Co. Ltd
Steve Williams, Dwayne Johnson © Themselves (Their ring names are © WWE)
Paula © Shigesto Itoi
-----------------------------

Part 3 - A Long Road Begins at Last

(September 2, 2001 A.D.; 11:34am EST; Canton, Ohio)

It was odd to say the least that Goku and Vegeta had decided to move into the house they picked. It was also odd that they were the only ones living there, however their accommodations were Alex's own responsibility, his dad owning the house, and the two Saiya-jin had been renting it out for the time being. They had been somewhat confused to why they, as well as Piccolo, #17 and Buu had been the only ones of their own group to have arrived in this strange situation. Goku tried to sense out a few times for his family, including his wife Chichi, his sons Goten and Gohan, his daughter-in-law Videl, and his granddaughter Pan, but to no avail, it was as if they had truly crossed worlds, instead of them merging as one, as Goku himself had figured out.

Vegeta was as perplexed. He couldn't sense Bulma, Trunks, Mirai or Bra on his end of ki-sensing, just as Goku, and was a bit worried to what might happen. However, worry of enemy attack wasn't a main problem. Buu was the last major problem, and that had been over 10 years ago. Also, Vegeta felt it ironic that only weeks after the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai, that all of this would happen. Vegeta was starting to get a bit nervous about all of it.

And what about Radditz? Goku and Vegeta were just a bit shaky on the subject of him. Sure he seemed to be more or less good-natured after his trip back from Hell with Nina, and it had been 20 years since he came back, however they had their concerns about him. While he wasn't too strong yet, he could easily kill a lot of their new friends if he turned on them. Also, what of these other people? They called themselves "The Misfits" or something. For the most power, a group of weak teenage high-schoolers, with only one exception, that strange winged-girl, and even then, they knew her origins were not the same as the other 7.

Vegeta had a strange nagging feeling about the one called Alex, since he acted in ways a lot like Vegeta in his older days. Something told him that he and Kakarott would have to do something to both improve these fools, as well as keep THEM from getting bored to tears. There were no training devices of ANY kind within miles, apparently. Having Alex living next door helped a bit with understanding a bit about the world around them, but they had only been in this new world for a bit over 3 or 4 days now.

Also, what about the other part of the bunch? Specifically, Vegeta had referred to Heero, The Rock, Stone Cold and Paula. These four were in a way wildcards in the whole bunch of new acquaintances. The Rock and Stone Cold were native to the same version of Earth as Alex's part of the Misfits, except they were apparently much stronger than the common human, at least 3-4 times, by his ki-sensing standards. Still weak compared to him and Kakarott, but greater than what most humans on the world were expected to reach. Heero was also strange. His powerlevel was higher than the average human, around that of the two previously mentioned wrestlers. He was also a moody individual, and he tended to get very paranoid too fast.

The main thing that confused him was that like Nina, he was not from either Alex or Vegeta's versions of Earthbefore the merger. And finally, Paula was to Vegeta, a major question mark. Somehow, she and Kakarott had met in past times, and even Piccolo had some knowledge of her. From the vague mentions Goku gave to Vegeta, it seemed they had met in childhood, some time after he had met Bulma and was on his first dragonball hunt, but not much else was divulged. From the gauge of her powerlevel, she was almost as strong as the winged girl with Alex's part of the group, except that she wasn't quite as irritable as the other girl seemed to be.

Goku was curious about something though. We have all of these people running around, acting like we're some phenomenon to them. Many of the weaker ones seem to almost... worship us, and that Alex boy reminds me a bit of Vegeta for one. Maybe we're here for a reason, as that voice Dusty spoke of mentioned. It must want us here, and needs our help. Its' words about a higher power make me wonder what life is trying to tell us. You know... it's a great idea. I've been dying to teach someone for 10 years or more! I think we should try to train all of these guys, and make them better off for it. I'm sure with all that's happened, and the fact they seem to be aware of our powers, that eventually at least one of them will ask us anyways.

Goku walked downstairs and found Vegeta at one of the tables in their new house, watching televisionsince living with Bulma had gave him a small addiction to it, as well as his bone to know what's going on in the world, and eating apparently a type of cereal he had never seen before. "Cookie Crisp" apparently, as it said on the box.

"Hey Vegeta, you got a minute?" Goku asked, but Vegeta put his hand out in an open palm, indicating he was looking at something interesting on TV.

Goku decided to take a look himself, looking at it. What he saw made his jaw almost fall to the floor. The TV was on a channel called "Cartoon Network", and on screen was apparently a commercial of sorts, but it was the content that got his and Vegeta's attention. Goku saw scenes of himself, Vegeta, and even Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Piccolo flashing around on screen, apparently for a show of sorts called "Dragonball Z".

When the commercial lifted, Vegeta turned to Goku, with a look of both shock and amusement, part of that amusement at Goku's hanging jaw, "Kakarott, put your mouth back in place. I know it's strange, but it's nothing to get worked up about now. I think I understand where those brats Alex and Vernon tend to know us from now."

"Yes, you see that's kinda what I wanted to talk about Vegeta. These people seem to know us quite well, and they see us as some act of Kami or something, since we seemed to be once imaginary to them. I also got a strange feeling. I think it's time we go back to our old guns." Goku replied.

Vegeta forced back a smirk, knowing Goku referred to training, the reason for forcing back the smirk was curiosity, "Exactly why do you want to train these baboons, Kakarott?"

"Well, you know how I was when I've trained Gohan, and later Goten to their limits of my knowledge, and Pan's not fully grown yet for the full training course. I tend to go into a slight training withdrawal. I know YOU had Mirai and Bra to keep you from the same problems as me, but now that we're here, we don't have them to train. So I suggest an alternative. Besides, maybe they'll have more application for us if we do."

Vegeta let his smirk show now, "You're becoming a bit more Saiya-jin every day, you know right Kakarott? Very well, but how do we retrieve all of them?"

(September 2, 2001 A.D.; 12:16pm EST; Canton, Ohio)

It has taken about 40 minutes, but with a bit of help from Alex, who himself was easily excited at the prospect of some training, Goku and Vegeta had been able to retrieve a large part of their other new acquaintances. Soon, Alex, Clint, Jason, Nina, The Rock, Dusty, Stone Cold, Dan, Vernon, #17, Piccolo, Mr. Buu, Paula, Heero, Radditz, and Devin had finally gathered up. Piccolo had gone over and joined up with Goku and Vegeta, already knowing what was to come from this. He had also asked Mr. Buu and #17 to come to the sidelines. The first parts of this were not going to be required for them to go through.

"So what exactly did they gather us all up for anyways?" asked Jason to Alex.

"I think they're gonna finally start training us! Just think, soon we'll be running around, saving people and being heroes ourselves! We'll finally get to do what we only once dreamed." the smaller of the two replied.

"Yeah, but remember this, I'll be the bigger hero than you." Vernon replied to their conversation by boasting to Alex.

"Hah! Vernon, you're just jealous that I'll be the one who benefits best from this." Alex replied in annoyance, And I'll prove it too by beating the hell out of you after all of this passes!

"Just remember this: Who's your daddy Alex? Who's your daddy?" Vernon replied with a smirk.

"Uh, he lives over there," Alex pointed to his house, "inside MY house, and not in front of me like you... Ah! Damn you Vernon!" Alex replied as he turned back to Vernon to see him doing what he called the circle, a method Vernon had of annoying people by making them look at a circular shape with his fingers.

The result was Vernon gave the victim 5 light punches in the shoulder. POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! Alex grumbled, clutching his sore shoulder.

"Trust me Vernon, you'll get yours for that stunt soon enough!" Alex grumbled venomously.

One the other hand, Dusty, the Rock and Stone Cold were quickly attracted to the idea of training. The three of them recalled the strange voice that had told them to band together and to grow stronger, and when all three of them had heard the news about Goku and Vegeta's training session, they had bolted off to the nearest bus and offered $20 just for them to put their foot down and get to Gambrinus Ave quickly, where Alex lived, and were also Goku and Vegeta were staying for the time being.

Clint had primarily came to see if they were going to teach flying as well. That was the main reason he had decided to come, but then the others began to mention of the other dreams they had using their powers, and he decided to go further than that. He figured maybe he too was supposed to become strong.

The first part of the entire training regimen was simple enough. The three teachers decided to go into detail about Ki, or spiritual energy, even though a good number of the others already understood that much. After all the boring jabber was done, Goku had begun demonstrating to the lot of them of how to tap into their own ki, that it was like a cauldron of power in the soul that you had to connect yourself to. At first, only Heero, The Rock and Paula had been able to tap into this power within the first minutes of his.

However, as time passed, eventually Devin, Stone Cold, Vernon, Jason, Alex, Dusty and Dan had finally been able to figure it out, as the small flame of ki energy between their own hands had demonstrated. For the next two hours, they mainly went to work trying to keep hold over the energy for as long as possible, trying to get the weaker Misfits more linked permanently to their latent kis.

(September 2, 2001 A.D.; 3:30pm EST; Canton, Ohio)

Goku and Vegeta were actually to say the least, impressed by this show of determination of the part of the other Misfits. Now they believed it was time to go another step forward.

"Alright, it's time we taught you then next level. We are going to teach you the art of Bukujutsu, or in your more local tongue, flight with ki energy." Goku explained.

Needless to say, even the more drained of the Misfits, including Jason and Dan, easily perked up at the chance to learn how to fly. Clint was also just as eager, as Goku began to explain to the process of using ki to propel a downward thrust to life the user into the air. It took about 10 minutes before some people started to get the hang of it. Paula had been one of the fast learners, since she had apparently remember this ability from her ordeal helping Goku fight Piccolo Damiaou, and had helped her speed up the learning process. Nina was also doing better due to her own natural flight abilities, and understood how the down thrust lifted her into the air. Also, Heero again was a fast learner, now flying around at 30 MPH around the area. However he had been so enraptured with this he had failed to notice the tree in front of him, as he smacked right into it, and falling to the ground, dazed and almost unconscious from both the ki drain and impact.

Alex had cringed when he saw Heero hit the tree, but not at Heero, but the large crack that had formed in the tree upon impact. "Well, that tree's gonna need clearing soon." he stated to himself, however he wasn't so interested in it, as he himself had just recently began lifting himself off the ground.

Strangely, he decided to take this slowly, as to not screw up and crash like Heero did. After another 4 minutes, Alex was flying loops around the dazed Heero, snickering at him. Heero grumbled at him, and got up, walking back over to most of the others, who had by then had been floating around, trying to keep hold over their latent powers and keep from falling. Dan was one of the unluckier ones, almost crashing 3 different times due to different breaks in his concentration.

After a total of another hour, all of the Misfits had finally gotten near-mastery over their movements. However a few of them fell out of the sky after so long, their Ki having ran out. However, many of them decided that they would go back and fly around with their new powers, not even realizing that Goku and Vegeta had tended to train them further.

"Wait! Guys, where're you all going!" Goku called in disbelief at many of the fleeing Misfits.

"Imbeciles! We teach flight to them and they get all giddy with it and run off like the wind!" Vegeta grumbled in reply.

"Well, you still have us over here." Alex replied, still present, partially because he was right about in his own backyard already, and the other because he had heard the two Saiya-jin mentioning they had more to teach, "Not our fault Jason and them are morons and ran off!"

Goku and Vegeta noticed that Alex, Devin, Heero, Radditz, and Paula had still remained behind, and had more sense then to run off early on.

"Very well. You five will now be taught how to sense ki signatures. Now pay close attention, because it may be a bit more difficult than you think..." Goku trailed off.

(September 2, 2001 A.D.; 5:10pm EST; Canton, Ohio)

After another hour and a half Alex, Devin, Heero, Radditz and Paula had finally mastered the full art of sensing Ki, and had just completed their basic class on masking ki. Goku and Vegeta were specifically impressed with those five. Too bad Piccolo, #17, and Mr. Buu had decided to leave, saying they'd let the two saviors of the universe handle the rest of the training.

"So, now at least we can tell where the other dumbasses flew off to, and they have no clue." Devin smirked.

Alex looked at him suspiciously, Devin... what the hell are you up to?

Heero yawned, which was understandable considering how much energy he had used up that day. "If you five don't mind, I'm heading off." he said to them, as he got into the new car he had got a couple of days ago, and drove off, apparently back towards home.

Devin looked over to the rest of them, "I'll head off as well. Talk to you all later. I got rest to get, and training to do of my own. I'm going to make good use of this." Devin lifted into the air a few feet above the ground, and flew off slowly towards his own home to the west, still having some energy left.

Radditz also looked over, and said, "Hey Vegeta, little brother. I know you're still a little worried about me, but now that I understand how to sense and mask ki, I can definitely tell there's no point in doing anything dumb. You'd pick me off in a heartbeat. So I'm just gonna say thanks, and I'll go for now." he said, and then lifted up into the air.

He began to fly off, when Goku called. "Radditz! Wait a sec." the older brother turned to the younger, and Goku continued, "Do your best to train hard. I'm sure you'll want to become a Super Saiya-jin soon. Just know this. You'll need to at least have a powerlevel of 200,000, and a great deal of anger at loss to attain it. Good luck."

Radditz nodded, "Thanks Kakarott, and you too Vegeta..." and he continued to float off into the distance, disappearing quickly.

Paula looked at them, "Hey thanks for the training Goku. I was always wanting to figure out how Tenshinhan and Chaozu trained to fly, but I had to leave before I could. Also, you two," She looked to Alex and Vegeta, "Make sure you watch him well for me when I'm not around. He can be quite the naive one at times, and I'm sure this new world will confuse him even more than before." she said with a smile of mischievousness, as she lifted off into the air and blasted off at high speeds, still having plenty of ki energy due to her higher powerlevel lessening the drain.

Goku looked towards her shrinking form with a pout on his face, "Hey, no fair! I've gotten better at that! I'm not a country boy anymore!"

Vegeta laughed heartily, "Oh Kakarott, that was rich! You have got to explain your connection with her more later on! Hahaha!"

Goku grumbled to himself, "Yeah, I will... someday." he then turned to Alex, "So, aren't you going to go to bed as well?"

Alex looked back, "I am, but... I want to make a personal request. I know you two have lots of stuff to do..." Yeah, right. he then afterthought, "But I want to train more as well... and well, considering you two live right nex..."

Vegeta interrupted him mid-sentence, "You want me and Kakarott to train YOU? HAHAHA! That's a good one!"

"I'm serious Vegeta! I mean it! I've always lived for his kind of thing. It's a big dream of mine to learn how to fight like a Saiya-jin. I do admire them, you know. I'm sure you two realize that by now." Alex replied.

Goku rubbed his chin, "You know, I'm sure you realize the hardships you'll endure through this. You've probably watched us train before on your little Dragonball Z show, so it's honestly up to you."

Alex smirked at Goku's mentioning of DBZ, "So, you finally got to see that, I take it."

"Just a commercial, brat. But are you sure you're ready to get beat up a lot, and suffer lots of pain?" Vegeta said half-jokingly.

"Yes, Vegeta! I'm not Vernon. I don't just weasel on by to get where I want. I also love pain! I'm a fuckin' masochist for crying out loud!"

"Very well Alex. You will meet with us tomorrow morning at 5:30am in your time. If you wish to train like a Saiya-jin, you must also learn how to wake up fast like one. At 5:40am you will start your training session. It will not be easy, and we will not accept simpering puppies. If you can last for a full week with us, then you might yet have potential for some things." Vegeta replied sternly.

"Fine, yeah yeah, I know the routine Vegeta..." Alex replied.

"Now you should probably get rested up within the next couple of hours, since you will be getting up very early tomorrow morning." Goku suggested.

"Yeah... yeah I'm going. I'll see you two clowns tomorrow." Alex replied in a joking tone, as he walked back into his house.

Vegeta gave Goku a small jab to the ribs to get his direct attention, "You ever notice he acts quite a bit like a Saiya-jin, Kakarott?"

"You know Vegeta, I kinda have now that you mentioned it. Makes me wonder if he IS a Saiya-jin." Goku had began to wondered to himself at Vegeta's declaration.

"Impossible. Vegeta-sei was destroyed by Frieza over 30 years ago, as you know, and only you, me and Radditz are the surviving full bloods. Besides, he lived once in a world where stuff like Saiya-jin didn't exist. It's not possible he could be one, even IF Vegeta-sei WAS intact still." Vegeta argued with his logic of the past.

"I see what you mean." Goku agreed with his ally, as they began to walk back over to their house, "Hey Vegeta, since we still have time before we need to rest, how about I introduce you to this one thing Alex showed me the other day. He let me borrow it for the time being." Goku trailed off as he and Vegeta closed their door behind them.

Footnotes:

None for this part :P