Hello, how are you all doing? So, a little behind the scenes: I almost finished writing this chapter, but for some reason, the file disappeared. I believe it's because I wrote it offline first and it disappeared once I connected to the internet and refreshed the page.

Maybe it's just a mobile issue? I don't know. It sucked either way and it made me not want to continue writing this chapter for a while. But, I got it done eventually. I hope that never happens again. Also, this title isn't meant to be taken seriously. Love you, Toriyama.

Without any further ado, enjoy!

Toriyama and his Issues with Math

Goku: "Hey, guys! It's me, Goku. Welcome to Talks of Destruction," he said in his usual cheerful way, hand raised in the air. He's sitting on the couch across from me and Liquiir and he's on Bulma's left. "There haven't been a lot of guests on the show, so that's why I'm here." He put his hand behind his head and rubbed it, looking confused. "But the show today has to do with math. I'm not good at math, so I think it's weird that I'm here."

Lord Beerus: "It's just as much a mystery to us as it is to you." He lowered his hand and smiled at me.

Goku: "Before I forget, congratulations on your ceremony...mate...life marriage thing." He's not only a farmer, he's a butcher on the side. That was terrible. "What should I call it?"

Lord Liquiir: "Marriage is fine. And thank you." Goku nodded.

Goku: "No problem. So, uh...when are you planning to have kids?" My eyes and Liquiir's eyes bugged out. I-I-uh...w-what? Why would he-what? Blushing furiously, I crossed my arms and sunk into the couch. Bulma smiled at us, obviously enjoying that we've been put in the hot seat.

Lord Liquiir: "We...we haven't talked about it yet." Liquiir's crossed one of his legs over the other and his arms are also crossed. He's trying to concentrate on Goku but to no avail. He keeps switching between Goku, the floor, and his lap.

Lord Beerus: "Damn it, Goku! You don't just ask a couple when they're going to have kids. Why would you even ask that in the first place?"

Goku: "I asked 'cause I figured it would be nice if they played with Pan and Bra and they all became best friends." He drew a triangle in the air with his finger. "They could be a trio, just like the Trio de Dangers! Except...they wouldn't be related and they wouldn't be wolf guys. And maybe you'd have more than one, so it could be more like a square..."

Lord Beerus: "You didn't think that through. Like most things."

Goku: "Maybe that wasn't the best example, but you know what I meant. I swear, I didn't mean to make you feel weird. I just thought it'd be awesome if you ended up having kids soon." Goku thought for a second and let out a laugh. "Hey, it sounds like I'm saying 'kitsune' when I say 'kids soon'!" Liquiir smiled in spite of his clear embarrassment at the thought of children this early.

Lord Liquiir: "I was wondering if anyone else was going to catch it." I sat up straight, arms still crossed. I caught Liquiir's gaze and sure enough, my blush has returned with a vengeance. That's just perfect. This is going to be the rest of the show. I looked back at Goku.

Lord Beerus: "If we're finished, let's get on with today's topic." Goku quickly raised his hand and then put it back down.

Goku: "I still got one more thing I wanted to ask Liquiir." Oh, no.

Lord Liquiir: "What is it?" he asked nervously.

Goku: "Can you talk to foxes? Like, wild foxes?" Liquiir quietly sighed in relief.

Lord Liquiir: "I can't, but some Kitusnians have that ability and this applies to all animals. Well, it's not talking in the traditional sense. They don't use their vocal cords or anything like that."

Bulma: "That sounds really interesting. How does it work exactly?" He uncrossed his legs and his arms followed suit a few seconds later.

Lord Liquiir: "From what I've been told, they communicate using their souls. They say that they can see, feel, and hear the soul of whatever animal they try to communicate with. It's surreal to see because they're motionless like statues and they don't react to the outside world at all anymore. The strangest thing is that no Kitsunian can communicate with the soul of a person. They've all tried, but it's never worked."

Bulma: "That is weird."

Goku: "Do you wish you could do it? Because after hearing how it works, I kinda do."

Lord Liquiir: "Of course, but I can't have every ability in existence. I'm not a Gary Stu kind of character."

Goku: "What's a Gary Stu?"

Lord Liquiir: "They're the kind of character where they are perfect in every possible way and they can do anything and everything effortlessly."

Goku: "That sounds really boring."

Lord Liquiir: "It is. And for future reference, a female character who's like this is called a Mary Sue." Liquiir focused on me and smiled. "I love you, Beerus." I-oh. I wasn't expecting that. I smiled back and relaxed.

Lord Beerus: "I love you, too, Liquiir. Now, it's time to get on with the topic. As we all know, Toriyama isn't the greatest writer. With that comes discrepancies. Let's look at gravity training and how it's portrayed in the series. I'm sure we all remember. Goku trained in ten times gravity on King Kai's planet. That's not the issue, though. The issue is that Goku trained in twenty times gravity on his way to Namek...and he struggled with it. Bulma, you can explain why it makes no sense because this is your area of expertise." She nodded.

Bulma: "Okay. Simply put, that's not how math works. He must have thought 'Oh, ten plus ten is twenty, so that would be a ten times increase. It's just like going from normal Earth gravity to ten times gravity.' That's not correct. A twenty times increase in gravity would really only be a two-times increase because ten times two is twenty. He's adding two tens. If Goku wanted to see the same results as he did on King Kai's planet, then he could have jumped straight up to a hundred times gravity. Because ten times ten is one hundred."

Lord Liquiir: "What makes this worse is that Goku kept increasing the gravity. He went straight to fifty times gravity after twenty. It's terrible because, using Goku's power level of 8,000 in the manga, training under twenty times gravity would give him a power level of 16,000. Because, again, it's a two-times increase. Then, if he trains under fifty times gravity, it would multiply his power by five, making it 80,000."

Bulma: "Goku eventually mastered 100x gravity, but we're never shown if he went straight to it or if he went up in increments or something else. Whatever the case is, his final power level would be around 800,000. Who knows how strong he'd be with the zenkai boost he got and Kaioken times twenty on top of that."

Lord Beerus: "Basically what we're getting at is because Toriyama didn't understand the math here, all of the power levels he throws out in the Namek arc, like Freeza's 1,000,000, is irrelevant and a complete and utter joke. Goku could have flown over to Freeza as soon as he landed and killed him just by slapping his dick across his face. He wouldn't have even needed to go Super Saiyan."

Goku: "Why would I do that? That's gross! Couldn't I just punch him?"

Lord Beerus: "No, I said that to show how easy it would have been to beat him."

Goku: "I know, but you could've said something else. Like, I would have been able to beat him by flicking his forehead with my finger."

Lord Beerus: "You still remember that?"

Goku: "Yeah! You're one of the most fun people I've ever fought." He chuckled and flicked his finger several times. "And I flicked you back, too. Remember?" I returned the chuckle.

Lord Beerus: "I remember."

Goku: "It's crazy to think that I could have beaten Freeza that easy, though. Is math that hard?"

Bulma: "It can be, but that was incredibly basic math. To be fair, I assume he thought he was adding, not multiplying each time, and I guess that might confuse people. It's still annoying because, again, it's incredibly basic and it affected the story so drastically."

Lord Beerus: "I don't want to keep picking on Toriyama, but there's another example that affected the story immensely. This involves Kaioken and when Goku first fought Vegeta. The head-scratcher here is Kaioken times three should have kicked Vegeta's ass, let alone Kaioken times four."

Lord Liquiir: "We learn later down the road that Vegeta's power level when he was on Earth was 18,000. Goku had a power level of 8,000. Vegeta's power level maxed out at 24,000 on Namek after his first zenkai boost. A three times boost to 8,000 would be 24,000. Considering he gave us a perfect demonstration of how only a slight power gap will allow you to dominate an opponent in the Namek arc, that's definitely enough to beat him."

Lord Beerus: "Even so, they found themselves in a stalemate during their beam struggle. Goku had to use Kaioken times four, despite not needing to, and it was enough to overpower Vegeta. Yet, magically, Goku didn't incapacitate him, let alone obliter-beat him like he should have."

Bulma: "Thank you for catching yourself there."

Lord Beerus: "You're welcome. Now, not only did he survive, he somehow still had enough strength left to make a moon. And survive a Spirit Bomb."

Lord Liquiir: "We know why. Popularity." I nodded.

Lord Beerus: "That's true. Toriyama was intending to have Goku kill Vegeta, but he'd gotten so popular that he survived and became a major character in the Namek arc."

Goku: "Really? That's cool. Thank you, Vegeta fans!"

Bulma: "Really, thank you all so much."

Lord Beerus: "I feel like it's a fact worth mentioning that when Vegeta's fans asked Toriyama not to kill Vegeta, he killed Vegeta anyway."

Goku: "That's...not cool. That happened?"

Lord Beerus: "That's what Toriyama said in one of his interviews."

Goku: "Oh." Bulma crossed her arms angrily.

Bulma: "I have a much stronger word than 'Oh', but I'm not going to say it out loud. And for the record, that wasn't worth mentioning."

Lord Beerus: "Some people might not know that fact. I never said it was a fun fact."

Bulma: "Mm-hm. We still have a little more to talk about."

Lord Liquiir: "That's right, we do. I'm sorry, Bulma. Um...this has nothing to do with math, but here's something about that fight nobody ever considers. The benefits you get from Kaioken are instant, meaning that the very first time Goku used it he could have and realistically should have knocked out Vegeta in an instant. Vegeta was completely unprepared for Kaioken times three."

Lord Beerus: "This also has nothing to do with math, but it needs to be cleared up. At one point, Goku says 'Kaioken times two!', which might lead you to think that Kaioken and Kaioken times two are different. They're not, they're the same thing. The consensus is that he did this because he thought skipping times two and jumping to times three and then times four would have been off-putting for the reader. Whatever the case, it causes unnecessary confusion. The author would know, it confused him." Bulma sighed.

Bulma: "That's everything and that's why putting specific numbers like that can be a writer's downfall. You have to keep track of a lot of different things and make sure they're correct and consistent as the story goes forward. It's a nightmare. I'm happy he stopped after the Namek arc, but the damage was already done." Goku put his hands behind his head.

Goku: "Man. If Toriyama didn't mess up, I would have won those fights a lot easier and faster. But they wouldn't have been as fun, and everything still worked out in the end, so I'm okay with him messing up."

Lord Beerus: "I'm not surprised you feel that way." Goku put his hands down.

Goku: "You know, hearing about this makes me want to train with Vegeta after the show's over. Maybe you can join us!"

Lord Beerus: "Tempting, but no, thank you. Liquiir and I still have much to discuss."

Goku: "Your marriage?"

Lord Beerus: "Yes, our marriage."

Goku: "All right. How about after you get married?"

Lord Beerus: "After our honeymoon."

Goku: "Honeymoon? I remember mine. I ate so much food that I got sick." He laughed.

Bulma: "Did you do anything else? With Chi-Chi? At night?" Ah, yes. I, too, want to know if Goku had sex. Not really, but I am curious if he even knows what sex is.

Goku: "No, I just told you. I got sick."

Bulma: "I mean after you got better."

Goku: "After I got better...not really. All we did at night was sleep while hugging each other. It was nice, but I did miss training. Chi-Chi made me promise that I wouldn't train."

Lord Beerus: "And you actually kept it?" I asked, shocked.

Goku: "Yeah. Chi-Chi wanted to spend a lot of time with me without training or anything like that. I wanted to make her happy. I know, I train a lot now, but I'll still do things with Chi-Chi and Goten."

Bulma: "Fighting is in your DNA. You can't help it. You'd be miserable if you couldn't train and fight."

Goku: "I'd hate it."

Lord Beerus: "Trust us, we know. Since we're finished, what should we talk about in the next show?"

Bulma: "There's so much to choose from. I don't know."

Lord Liquiir: "I can't think of anything off the top of my head."

Goku: "You could talk about what comes after OCAK is done."

Lord Beerus: "You mean sequels and prequels?"

Goku: "Uh-huh. You could talk about stories that aren't related to OCAK, too."

Lord Liquiir: "I'm certain the audience would love to hear what the author has planned. Excellent idea."

Goku: "Thanks. I'm not used to sitting around for a long time and listening to people talk, but I had fun being a guest."

Bulma: "I hope you come back soon. I liked having you here. You were a great guest."

Goku: "Are you sure? I feel like I should have talked more. I mean, I did talk at the end, but I'm talking about what you guys were talking about."

Bulma: "You embarrassed Beerus and Liquiir. That's all anyone can ask."

Lord Beerus: "That's not what we ask."

Bulma: "No, but that's what I ask. If you want to see them embarrassed again, I would love it if you asked them some questions. Or Goku. Or me. Or anyone. Ask away."

Lord Liquiir: "Can you tell that the author wants you all to ask questions? We haven't gotten any in a while and it would be great if we had some. They were fun."

Lord Beerus: "Unfortunately, there isn't going to be a scene from the next chapter of OCAK this time. We all apologize. I am Beerus and for Liquiir, Bulma, and Goku, goodbye and we hope you come back. We'll see you in the next show." All of us waved to the audience.

It is what it is. We can't change the math. Some people might view this as pointless nitpicking because it's over twenty years old, but that doesn't mean it can't be criticized. Everything, regardless of age, should be criticized.

Also, if you're one of those people who say "It invented those clichés! You can't judge it off of those!" as a defense for any story, please stop. If it's bad writing, it's bad writing. It deserves criticism. End of discussion.

Lastly, I really hate to look needy and to beg, but I would seriously appreciate it if you asked Beerus or Liquiir or anyone questions. Even just ask me a question or two.

I love writing Talks of Destruction, especially Of Cats and Kitsunes, but getting little to no reviews on either story sometimes chapters at a time bothers me and kind of hurts.

I wrote a fight between Beerus and Gohan and no one said anything. I had Beerus and Liquiir getting risqué and no one said anything. I don't know if people hated them, liked them, if they had advice, or what.

I'm really sorry for how long this has gotten and to be venting all of a sudden, but I've been feeling this way for a long time. I haven't said anything until now because I was afraid it might come off as whiny and annoying, but I crave feedback. I think anyone who writes craves feedback.

I'm not trying to guilt anyone into reviewing my stories, but I have to be completely honest with all of you. That's what I always strive to be. Completely honest. If you could review my stories, that would be awesome. If you don't want to, that's okay.

This may look disingenuous after all of that, but I swear it's not. As always, until the next show, D.F.T.B.A. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome!) Have an awesome day!