Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.
The Long Road
Chapter 55: Only
Garlic Junior:
He could still feel it, sense it, when he closed his eyes and dreamed. The entirety of his attack collapsing in on itself, as a great golden dragon emerged on the other side, roaring at him right along with Son Goku. The very sky itself seemed to change colour even before he was sent to this miserable Hell. After he'd obtained so much, so much joy from having crushed Gohan and everyone else he always dreamed of stopping... he was stopped by Goku.
Even now as his red eyes scanned the endless grey and yellow wasteland around him, Garlic could still feel his rage simmering at what Goku had left him to. Everything in him demanded he lashed out, and he intended to. The utterly destruction of Gohan, someone with whom he despised more than Goku himself in many respects, would be the beginning of his revenge. It was his only means of immediately retaliating right now, against Goku himself.
Because now, the days, and days, and DAYS that passed were convincing him of something he was slow to grasp. He was stuck here until he found a way out. Of course, he had an eternity to do it, so the odds were in his his favour... but eternity... eternity was such a long, long time. It was longer than the timeless hell of the Dead Zone. It was longer than his life multiplied a thousand fold. It was an eternity... and at some point inside that mass of time, he would get his chance to leave here. The thought was comforting... and infuriating all at once. This wouldn't be his end, but this would be his present.
Only it will be my present, perhaps for centuries.
Behind him, he knew the others were clustered about Babidi and Dabura, but they were all fodder anyway. Out of all of them here, he was the only one who could reasonably fight Gohan. The others just simply put, didn't receive all the benefits he'd gathered from the eternal dragon. The power of the Makyo star still resonated from within his body itself, and his strength, funnily enough, had increased since his battle with Gohan, if only marginally. Unlike all the other fighters down here, his power would continue to grow as he expanded his ki. Training and battle were like jet-fuel for Saiyans, however even he, just like any other species, benefited it, if only less so.
All of the fools back there haven't the slightest clue about the power we'll be facing. Well, perhaps Dabura and Babidi do, but the others? This will be dangerous. Worse yet... Turles.
Even if he was the greatest creature in the history of creation, Garlic knew when a situation looked bad. One reason he'd avoided cashing in his revenge for so long, was that he needed a plan. He needed opportunity, and he needed weaknesses. Right now, Gohan's greatest weaknesses were alive and "well" on Earth, given that his family was safe from their wrath. Turles on the other hand? What was his weakness? Quite frankly, the only thing Garlic knew about him, was that he was an intensely powerful warrior.
That meant this entire ordeal could be jeopardized because they couldn't lay the foundation for a plan. A plan was what mattered the most, and of course, much like Goku on Earth... they needed a means of keeping Turles away from any battle which happened. That was going to be the primary thing to determine before they moved to engage.
That was one reason they'd delayed for these days after days.
How long of an opportunity did they have? If this went sideways, Gohan would be forever wary of them, until he was wished back to life with the Dragon Balls. For decades he'd be out of their grasp, and when he returned? He might be so much more powerful he could never be touched by them. No, this had to be executed the first time, correctly.
"Garlic! Garlic you idiot! What are you doing over there?! We're trying to work out the Turles problem in our plan! Get back here and stop staring into the wasteland!"
Babidi... a creature after my own heart, were he not an annoying vulture who frustrated me more and more after every minute.
The yellow goblin was a frustrating thing to deal with. The magic he brought to their little alliance was a very heavy burden for Garlic to carry at this point. In small doses, Garlic would even go as far as to say he liked Babidi. Certainly the Sorcerer's vindictiveness and hatred matched his own... but in this prolonged, weeks long experiment? No, no he was getting very tired of his new friend.
Only now wasn't the time to be thinking about killing Babidi, that was pointless unless he wanted to toss his body into the next layer of Hell. No, now was the time to attempt to find a means of dealing with their good friend Turles. Of course, he and the Saiyan had never met, but he recalled sensing his power on the Earth... which should have been inferior to that of theirs now, though the way which Cell and the others spoke, it was as if he was some kind of Saiyan god now.
"We've had the same arguments for days. No one here has any clue how to stop this terrifying Golden monster you're all so scared of," Garlic snapped back, letting his disdain show through for a moment before slowly smiling. "Unless of course, we find a means to neutralize the Saiyan which doesn't involve fighting."
"Someone could fight a diversion against him," Frieza remarked. "I'm certain the Ginyu Force would be more than pleased to meet them in battle."
Terrified looks were met across the five warriors, and even Garlic rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the idea. How long could these insects hold off a Super Saiyan?
"I hardly think any of us here would be a challenge for that Saiyan," Cell remarked bluntly, frowning while he did. "I felt his power when he crushed Broly. It would be a foolish decision to directly confront him. I've sensed Son Gohan's power as well, and even with our numbers this will certainly be an interesting scenario to exercise. Even in my most perfect of forms, my power seems... diminished, when standing next to his."
Well, he at least couldn't accuse the green bug with being stupid. Bojack, Dabura, and Cell were all equals in respects to raw power, as far as the demon could tell, but in terms of intelligence? It was obvious who was the greatest asset among the three. Cell had a streak of cunning and brutal intellect he would admit perhaps could come close to rivalling his own.
"I may have a solution to this brutish Saiyan," Babidi chimed in finally, looking ever more sinister with every moment. "Need I remind all of you, that the Saiyan Broly was my slave for decades? My magic is without limits."
An unimpressed look crossed all of their faces', save Dabura's.
"Master Babidi, you will use Turles's darker nature against himself, to rally him to our cause?" Dabura asked.
There was immediately a nervous sweat which formed on Babidi's brow, and Garlic could tell why. Internally, Garlic grinned at what he knew was true. Garlic couldn't control people with a certain level of power reliably. That was why Broly slipped from his grasp. There was something else he knew as well...
"If you can control this Saiyan, why didn't you control Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, and Gohan on Earth when they came and ruined all those plans of yours?" he asked. "After all, they did manage to steal that creature you've mentioned before, Majin Buu, from you. Then there is the fact that I was on Earth while Broly was annihilating cities and killing the defenders of the Earth. So, was he under your control then? Or had the monster broken free by then?"
As he spoke, more and more frustration and anger swelled to the surface behind the yellow skinned creature.
"How dare you question the extent of my powers?" Babidi sneered. "Don't you have any idea who you're talking to? You're just some no count who used ancient artifacts to steal your power! I am the greatest sorcerer in the history of the galaxy!"
That touched the nerve it was intended to. Gritting his teeth, Garlic felt his power surging to the surface as veins began to pop up around his muscles as his form began to let off a small wave of force. The anger didn't disappear from Babidi's face, and that only further fuelled Garlic's own distaste. Before his frame could expand however, it was Cell again who spoke up, this time walking between the two.
"The two of you are not going to fight one another, over some petty rivalry of who feels the other is more pathetic," Cell commented bluntly, turning violet eyes first towards Babidi, and then towards him. "You see, I've waited far, far too long to acquire a small taste of revenge against Son Goku, and I'm not about to let the two of you ruin it over some petty rivalry. Especially, as I recall, that it was the two of you working together who assembled this little cadre of Hell bound warriors."
Turning his head towards him a moment later, Garlic just felt his sneer edge into place, but didn't push himself forward. What would killing Babidi, and potentially Dabura, get him anyway? They'd be back, and everything would just fall apart... which of course, meant that Cell was right. Swallowing his pride, for the moment, Garlic just turned his head and hmphed.
"Fine, you've made your point... but I fail to see how this pathetic little yellow stain is going to subdue Turles."
"What do you need, sorcerer, in order to put Turles out of commission, in order to allow us our opportunity to... speak... with Goku's son, more privately."
Thinking for several seconds, the wizard seemed to stall. Of course he did, after all, he wasn't going to be able to control anyone who didn't want to be controlled.
Still, the wizard's demeanour changed as he was put on the spot, with the ever more critical eyes from everyone drawing onto him. Beads of sweat continued to roll down his forehead before something struck him, smiling, he slowly let his hands reach back behind his back.
"Well, I'm going to need a volunteer who is much faster than any of our resident weaklings, yet is weaker than our primary fighters. Also, preferably someone hated enough by the Saiyan that I can use them as a distraction for my incredibly brilliant plan."
I'm surprised, he actually is coming up with a plan.
"Oh? And who are you going to find whose that fast, yet is weak?" Frieza asked, mockingly as he brought his hand to his lips as he smiled.
Immediately, Garlic's eyes shifted to Frieza, before looking to Bojack, Cell, Dabura, and then Babidi himself, before shifting back to Frieza. The arcosian didn't seem to fully understand, until reluctantly his father took one step away from him.
"What?" Frieza asked, looking towards his father, before looking at everyone else staring at him.
"... Frieza," Cell started, before slowly starting to smirk. "I think we have a very important role for you."
It was only when Cell spoke, that Frieza's red eyes seemed to widen as the realization that everyone was staring at him.
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Gohan:
It was relaxing.
The wind was gentle, and brushed past him. This place was heaven, wasn't it? It was an endless expanse of something... better, than what he had. Birds chirped from the trees and the branches all around them. The air was fresh too, not stale and lifeless like every breath he'd taken for months now. Moving his hand out, he rested it on the living tree to his right. It was a thick, old looking plant, and its bark was almost like armour.
Turning his head to look around the expanse all around him, he had to raise his left arm to shield his eyes from the piercing sun which started to break through the canopy above.
"This has to be a dream," he murmured to himself, stepping past a fallen log at the base of his feet, before stepping through a patchwork of mighty tree roots. "This can't be real."
With his pace deliberately slow, Gohan slowly began to walk through the lush forest around him. When his eyes scanned up, or about, he saw a place brimming with life. Birds were chirping as they looked down at him from the branches, before fluttering off into the air. When the breeze picked up again, there was a chorus among the tree branches and their leaves. Hiking to higher ground, he wanted to get a better lay of the land. The idea of flying didn't seem to cross his mind in these peaceful moments. This seemed so normal, it felt so mundane, and it almost made him forget what he was. This was a simple existence, wasn't it?
For anything that lived here, this was a paradise, even with the perils that a forest brought. You had no worry about impending destruction for the majority of your life. It had no rules and rigid orders to follow. Even when there was violence, it was violence born of necessity, not born of malice and greed. It was the calmness he wished for most of his life. It was the calmness he found when he wandered the Earth on his own after Turles died. Even then though, his guilt and strife had overshadowed so much of what he could have felt.
When he reached the top of the ridge, he looked out to see yet more trees, and a sparkling lake in the distance. Breathing in and out once, he just let it all sink in. Leaning his shoulder up against one of the trees next to him, he just crossed his arms and looked ahead, seeing the clouds drifting overhead as the wind gently continued to brush against the forest all around him. Even when the massive collections of vapour pulled in front of the sun, it was a view which he had appreciated in his life before.
This place... it's somewhere I never want to leave.
The thought settled in, if only because he knew what would happen when he woke up, when he 'left' as it were. This place would evaporate into a grey-yellow nightmare. The soil wouldn't be alive and vibrant. The trees would be replaced by spiked mountains. The lake would be replaced by blood. All of this would melt away and all of this warmth and safety, all of this would just... die. It would die, and he would die along with it, until he returned to the place he'd been condemned to.
Sighing, he tried not to dwell on it, knowing to do so would ruin his first moments of peace since he'd died. But they were already ruined, because even in this peaceful oasis, his mind itself couldn't escape his condemnation. When he stared out at it, he already knew this wasn't real. This wasn't a new life, and it wasn't a reunion with the people he cared about most. It told him nothing, leaving him in the shadows again.
However, something set off his own senses. The ki around him seemed to change and shift gently. It was different than anything he normally detected, and it was close. Slowly, he looked to his right, and then turned to his left. When he did, he was greeted by something he thought he'd not see for a lifetime. Sitting there on the edge of the ridge, her frame looking tired and worn, was Pan.
Pan?
Taking a few careful steps, he slowly moved next to her, before sitting down. The sun broke through the clouds in its full brilliance as soon as his legs began dangling off the side. Turning his head to her again, he looked for any signs of recognition from her, any signs of life. Slowly, her head turned towards him as well, and it was like watching a machine turn into a living person. Emotions filled once sterile features as her eyes widened and shock slowly set in.
"D-dad?" she whispered, her hands trembling as she seemed to come to the full realization of who he was. "D-... DAD!"
Immediately two arms wrapped around his waist before she buried her face into his side. Sobs started to quiver out of her seconds later as her entire frame shook. This was all just a dream, wasn't it? His throat suddenly felt tense, almost swollen, and he felt the edges of his eyes begin to swell with tears. In all of this, his heart started to race, racing with a real pulse, a real beat. Slowly, everything around him began to morph in his mind. It went from being just some distraction from his punishment, to something that really... really... started to look real.
Inside this place, he felt alive.
Swallowing hard, he slowly rubbed his daughter's back. Her hair looked uncut and unkempt, and her clothes looked shaggy and worn. Whatever had happened, she looked... neglected, and much more neglected than before.
"Hey, hey c'mon, don't cry on me," he urged gently, trying to keep his own voice in check, clearing his throat at least once while he spoke. "I'm just around. I don't want you to be so sad just because I'm here."
The sobbing slowly started to die, as her breathing became more and more slow and even. Dozens of seconds passed while she tried to pull herself together, her tiny hands still clinging tightly to him, as if afraid that if she let him go, he'd disappear. Finally, he moved his hand off her back and just looked out across the horizon again.
"Crazy view up here, it's beautiful out here," he remarked. "Definitely a lot better looking than what I've been looking at lately. Pan?... Pan?"
Turning his head back down towards her, he finally started to see her pulling her head back. Her eyes were red and irritated from the tears, and she'd left stains all along his shirt, but really that didn't matter.
"I-I... I missed you so much," she breathed. "I saw. I saw. I. I. I saw him... he. You. He killed you."
With haste, his throat contracted again, tightening at the very sight of all the pain he could see in her eyes. She'd been there up until his last few moments. All of the pain of knowing that he had died, and died protecting her, was something he never could have accounted for. He'd told her to just forget about it all and go on, but that must have been easier said than done, hadn't it? Reaching out with his hand again, he brushed away a few of her tears, which were already slowly beginning to advance again.
"Yea, I know," he whispered back, trying to conceal his hoarse voice as his vision began to blur. "But I saved you. That's what really matters. I wanted to make sure you were alright, huh? You'll turn out okay."
Swallowing hard again, he put on the best smile he could as he forced his tears back, internally almost threatening them to dare show themselves around him again. He wasn't going to break down in front of his daughter, he was stronger than that. For months he'd missed out on everything. How many more months would he miss? Could he miss years?
"You've been keeping up with your studies, right? You're mom is making you?"
The face staring back at him was almost blank, save for a mixture of fright and something all too familiar. There was an edge of desperation behind her eyes, something he could recognize from his own life. Suddenly, the torn and worn clothes started to fill another narrative. There was pain there as well, new, and fresh, just like the pain that brought her tears before.
"He took me away from mom," she managed to say, trying to harden as she spoke, trying to situp straighter as if to build herself up to defend herself. "I... he hurt her. He left me here, in the woods. I think... I think I'm... he said he'd wait three months before he started to train me."
Someone took his daughter.
Someone took my daughter.
It was impossible to hide his anger. Something hot built up in his chest as he felt his heart immediately starting to race. For a second he almost lost it. The only thing keeping him from it, was the fact Pan was here, with him, right now. All he'd ever wanted for Pan was some fucking peace, and now he could see just how desperate she looked. Worse, even Videl may be dead given that he knew she'd never just let someone take Pan from her. Someone was going to have to die.
He didn't care who it was. Whoever it was he was going to rip their heart out of their chest and feed it to them. The idea of shredding limbs and breaking bones in vicious ways were already playing behind his eyes.
"Pan," he said, his voice tense, his emotions still running high behind his anger as well. "I'm going to find who took you from you're mom, and I'm going to make sure they can't hurt you anymore. I need you to promise to stay strong for me, okay?"
Quickly, pan nodded, her head bobbing up and down almost frantically, he could see hope beaming through her eyes as she came to the realization that he was going to save her. Of course he was going to save her, nothing in this world could stop him from keeping her safe from monsters out there. He'd thought when he died, she would be looked after, but now that was wrong. Someone on the Earth had-
Slowly, he felt things beginning to shift to darkness. The warmth of his daughter's arms began to withdraw as she looked around desperately, looking to hold on to him somehow.
"Dad! Dad don't go, please!"
Suddenly, there was more than darkness. There was a pull. It was like something grabbed his feet and pulled him away, slipping him from her grasp. The ridge was gone, the trees had withered to nothing all around him. The soil inside the forest was bleeding its colour as the entire world began to shift to grey. Reaching out desperately, his hand snatched hers, and he felt her fingers around his as she desperately held on herself. Determination came over her as she fiercely held on, trying her best to stop it all.
"No! Please!"
With all his strength, Gohan tried to hold on, he tried to break free from whatever was dragging him away from all this, until his fingers simply slipped free, and he fell.
The moment her hand broke his, he felt his eyes open.
Across the world in front of him, he spied a world of ash, with mountains of spikes pulling into the air. Instead of a lake, he could only see blood.
It was impossible to stop trembling as he felt fire enter his lungs seemingly. That was his daughter.
That was his daughter back there. Was it a dream?! Was it real!? Did it matter? FUCK!
Pulling himself up, Gohan felt his power rise with his body and his anger.
"Son of a FUCKING BITCH!"
The world itself seemed to quake a moment later as he roared furiously, lashing out at the prison he was within. If that had been a dream... perhaps it had slowly morphed into what this Hell already was.
A nightmare.
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Goku:
Wow, he was a jerk.
The relatively lean looking kai had disappeared, leaving them behind and with little to show for it. That meant he didn't have anywhere to train right now, unless the Supreme Kai was willing, but to be honest he already knew how strong the Supreme Kai was. The fact was, he wasn't that strong at all, but apparently training in the afterlife was going to teach him how to become a Super Saiyan III. He needed something.
"I'm not sure what I can teach you, Son Goku, you're abilities have long since outstripped my own," Shin admitted to him, his position very forward. "Kibito and I would be glad to offer you any support we can before these Saiyans arrive. If there is anywhere-"
"The only place I can think where you might be able to train and learn something over the next few months would be with the Other World Fighters," King Kai sounded off. "But even that's a long shot. I mean, you're world's beyond Olibu. You might even be stronger than Pikkon."
The names didn't mean anything to him, right now, of course. But if King Kai was mentioning anyone in his range of power, he was more than willing to learn. An eager smile crossed his face before he found himself jumping for joy.
"Yes! This is going to be great! Whose this Pikkon anyway? Are there other fighters too? I can't wait-"
"Goku, this is very serious, remember?" Shin interrupted himself. "And letting you into the Other World's Training grounds would be highly inappropriate. Before we let you simply go to fight and train among the greatest warriors to have ever lived, we need to make sure we clear this with the Grand Kai."
"I thought we already talked with Daio-whatever-"
"No, Goku, he means the Grand Kai. He's the Kai whose above me and the other lesser Kais. He runs the Other World Fighting-"
Everything else seemed to slowly drone on into words Goku couldn't find himself caring about. For a brief moment, it was like an old record player was just making noise as he stared back at his friend, King Kai. The real problem was, he needed to train, and he needed to become a Super Saiyan III, and he needed to meet other strong warriors to fight because that would be amazing. It didn't hurt anyway, and by the time he'd finished thinking about it, Goku just grinned broadly, noticing King Kai had finished talking and was staring at him with a raised brow.
"Wow, so I'm going to get to train with some of the greatest fighters in history?"
Slowly, all three Kai's lips cracked open, as if in shock.
"Sorry, I was just thinking of meeting all these strong warriors, and kinda just got lost in my own little world, you know? Anyway, it'd be awesome to meet all of them, and I could learn so much! I know I'd learn to become a Super Saiyan three before those new Saiyans arrived and threatened everyone! You've got to give me a chance!"
Stares were exchanged between all of them before Shin composed himself.
"We will petition the Grand Kai to make an exception for you, and allow you to train there. However, you can't go until we speak with him in person."
Immediately a frown replaced Goku's grin, before he sighed. He knew he'd for sure get in if he talked to the Grand Kai himself. Looking over to King Kai however, he smiled broadly again. If anyone was going to convince the Grand Kai for him though, it was going to be King Kai! How many times had they saved the universe together?
"You're going to put in a good word for me, right?" he asked, almost beginning.
"Of course, Goku! We need you to get as strong as you can. But the Grand Kai is sometimes a bit difficult to approach, and we don't want your charm to uhm... well... convince him to make the wrong decision," King Kai explained. "Besides, I'm sure you'll have more than a few fans there given you're the one who put Frieza's reign of terror to an end."
It felt so strange that all these years later, people outside of the Earth still remembered him most for stopping Frieza. It wasn't Vegeta, Cell, or Bojack, but Frieza. It also felt strange that he was somehow indebted to the fact that he stopped Frieza. How many times had he managed to get help because of the act? But he never fought Frieza for the glory of being the one to stop him. He fought Frieza to save his friends, and to stop him from hurting anyone else.
"I appreciate it. But you've gotta get a hold of me the second you know. We can't afford to waste even a minute."
Nodding, King Kai then walked next to Kibito and the Supreme Kai.
"Oh, by the way King Kai?" Goku asked, staring at the three gods before he placed his own fingers to his forehead. "Can you do one more favour for me?"
Raising both his eyebrows, the short and chubby Kai just tilted his head to one side.
"I think I'm doing something important already, Goku-"
"No, it's when you're done," Goku reassured, putting both his hands up. "Can you watch out for Gohan while he's... stuck, you know, before we can gather the Dragon Balls to fix-"
"You're going to drive me to an early grave with all these kinds of requests," King Kai sighed, before nodding. "Alright. I'm not making any promises though. That son of yours creates a lot of problems for himself, and everyone else. One might even call him a problem causer..."
Giggling to himself a second later, King Kai started to tremble with laughter.
"Get it, because he causes so many problems for everyone? A problem causer?"
...
Everyone save King Kai himself seemed to be left at a loss for what was actually funny, looking towards Kibito and the Supreme Kai however, Goku gave them glances implying that they should all consider playing along.
"Oh, yea! A problem causer! That's a good one King Kai," Goku said, trying his best to appear amused.
"Oh. Yes! Yes what an amusing joke, North Kai," Shin added, smiling falsely himself and eyeing Kibito to do the same.
"Hah! Haha, *snort*I knew I still had it," the Kai chuckled finally, calming down while pretending to wipe tears from his glasses. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."
With that, the three figures disappeared.
Looking towards the yellow clouds spanning across the heavens all around him, Goku placed his fingers to his forehead, attempting for a brief moment to detect Gohan's energy across the vastness of the eternity around them. Of course, he didn't detect it, but still, he needed to try before he went home. In a blink of an eye, Goku reappeared on the Earth.
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Turles:
He didn't understand how Gohan was sleeping right now, given that he was dead. They weren't in the midst of an inferno, they weren't deceased in their dead forms. They had trained for hours before taking a 'break', and they both hated training. It was obvious the entire time they were, that Gohan was frustrated by his inability to understand what he meant when he told him to go through the barriers of his power, without fighting the barrier. So perhaps he was meditating? That would be a first.
Crossing his arms as he stared down at the still, closed eyed Saiyan, he couldn't help but remember 'better' times.
It was always great to see the boy embrace his Saiyan roots when they took planets. Battles were met violently and viciously, and mercy was out of the question. He'd watched him destroy hundreds of worthy opponents for his own level, but it was when he was outclassed and taken to the brink that Turles felt the most pride. How many times had the kid refused to give up? Just like them all, the most Saiyan thing there was, was to struggle against death itself. Their race teetered on the edge of oblivion, without hope, but those who still lived struggled to not only remain alive, but not forget who they were.
They were warriors, and just because they were almost extinct, didn't mean they wouldn't fight and win. Battles waged across the galaxy were each stories in and of themselves. It was hard to decide when he thought of Gohan as his son, but he knew for years before they were split apart, that Gohan was the son he never had. Even now seeing the boy in such a state of meditation and oblivious to the world around him, made Turles think of how helpless he used to seem. Certainly, his power level rose from the moment they met. He remembered before they separated rather forcefully, Gohan, barely a teenager, had a power level which nearly rose as high as a million.
When he'd confronted Slug, and lost on that nightmarish planet, when he was left dying on the other side of a barren world, he knew that Gohan was doomed when he faced off against the green beast. The only things he clung to when he pulled himself up, were his pride, and the idea that if he couldn't bring himself to his feet, the kid would die. Every time he pulled Gohan out of the fire before that, he'd always felt some kind of weight lift off his shoulders. The kid had been the future of their race, a race that was doomed, but better the legacy last a few decades longer than he imagined.
It was pathetic in a way, that he'd hoped that their legacy lasted only a little longer, given that Cooler's brother Frieza had annihilated their home, and their species. Even while working for Cooler, he'd heard that Frieza had been defeated, but he never believed the rumours that a Saiyan had been the catalyst for his defeat. Prince Vegeta and he had never crossed paths either, not until he arrived on Earth and found out just how pathetic he was, but he'd had hope before he heard he'd been killed by Frieza, that perhaps the Prince could have found a way to save their species.
The thing that broke his thoughts however, was an unfamiliar laugh, but one he knew all too well.
"Ha, ha, ha... I still cannot believe your resemblance to that foul monkey, Goku. I imagine that all of your kind however, must beat some similarity to one another in appearance. I mean, that society of yours was so primitive, it must have devolved to inbreedingon a routine basis."
Frieza.
Slowly, Turles turned his head upward, only to see a single figure hanging in the sky above. White skinned with purple reflective gem like pieces, was the tyrant who had destroyed any hope the Saiyan race had.
"You'll be pleased to know, Frieza, that it was my twin who bested you on Namek," Turles remarked, slowly hovering into the air.
What kind of fool was this arrogant lizard? Didn't he understand just who he was making conflict with? He had to have heard, along with any other significant player across this realm, that he, Turles, had been the one to finally stop Broly. It was absolutely foolish to think himself somehow his equal. It was almost embarrassing that Frieza was looking to mock him. Just what the Hell did he expect to accomplish? Not that it mattered, regardless of how this conversation went, Turles was looking forward to killing Frieza with a minimal effort.
Still, the arcosian's smile didn't leave him, even if it inched slightly down, showing his even greater disdain.
"Well, I thank you for your explanation, monkey, however I believe the nature of my visit is rather more about you than about that pathetic simian brother of yours," the snake of a tyrant remarked. "I came here to see if you really are as powerful as you claim to be. All of the others are intimidated by your rather harsh reputation after Broly disappeared."
Cracking his knuckles, Turles only smirked.
"So, let me show you, Frieza. This is only going to take-"
"Not here, you impish monkey. My power is so overwhelming, that I do not wish to unleash in such a proximity as to wake your dear sleeping friend over there. It wouldn't be fair to have two monkeys fighting me, now would it?"
Turning his eyes down towards Gohan, before looking back up towards Frieza, Turles just smirked again before nodding.
"Alright, you miserable wretch. Why don't you show me where we're going to fight?" Turles asked, gesturing all around them. "I'm sure only a minute in any direction will do."
With an increasingly arrogant demeanour and expression, Frieza inclined his head back.
"Oh I can assure you, monkey, it won't take long for us to get to my chosen battlefield."
With those words, the white and purple whelp blasted off, his red aura trailing behind him. Humouring him, Turles charged his own aura before blasting off after him, a trail of dark purple left in his wake. The journey was hardly exhausting to either of them as they flew for perhaps a minute, maybe two. Looking over towards Frieza's face, he could see the despot's confidence, and it was something Turles didn't understand. This had to be some kind of act, or perhaps Frieza's sanity had been stolen by this place. Not that he minded killing and maiming a crazed lunatic. If anything, it might make this funny when Frieza realized how pathetic he was.
"Enough flying," Turles sneered. "Time to fight."
With little warning, he flew above Frieza, before backhanding the arcosian in the back. A yelp of pain rang out from the changling as he plummeted to the grey floor of the nightmare they all persisted in. An explosion of debris came up from below as Turles simply hung in the air for several moments, before slowly descending down towards the wreckage.
I'm not even transformed yet, and he couldn't do anything. And he's expecting to fight me? This will be entertainment at its best.
Grey dust hovered in the air, there was no breeze to truly disturb it as it slowly descended upward. In a flash of red however, it picked up into a wind generated from within, before it scattered. Standing in the middle of the small crater, Frieza just smiled back at him coldly.
"You know, Turles, I hadn't thought you all that similar to that brother of yours, but now I'm beginning to see the resemblance beyond just the physical. You and that monkey both don't know when to reach out and take an easy victory. You're both looking for amusement, and a justification for all that power of yours," Frieza remarked, closing his eyes and placing his hands on his hips. "At first I thought it was a foolish enterprise to confront the most powerful being in the entirety of this realm, however I then came to the realization..."
Slowly, his eyes opened again, revealing a vicious crimson as something glinted behind them. Slowly, he raised one hand and then extended his index finger, clearly gloating before he'd managed to enact whatever plan he had.
Of course he has a plan. He's just an idiot if he thinks he can stop me.
"That a monkey is still a monkey, no matter how strong it gets. You see, ape, I would never challenge you without of course, already having defeated you," Frieza commented, shifting his entire stance as a grin slowly stretched across his face. "Tell me, Turles, do you really think I wanted to challenge you, when Son Goku's son is allowed to simply walk through this realm, free of any real worry or concern?"
This little bastard wasn't here to fight him. He was coming to fight Gohan? Just what the fuck was going on here? It wasn't like Frieza could fight Gohan either-
The tyrant's eyes flashed, and as soon as they did, Turles immediately surged his power to the surface, letting his golden aura overwhelm him as his golden hair spiked up. The arcosian immediately moved to dash up.
"Don't think you get to run, Frieza-!"
"NOW!" Frieza's voice shrieked out.
Now?
"Paparapapa!"
Turning his head violently, sneering as he did, Turles saw the lone figure of a grinning little yellow monster. That was Babidi, the one who'd controlled...
Everything started to slow down. It was as if there was a transparent bubble around him as time began to warp and slow, the world around him moving ever increasingly faster. Even as he tried to harness his ki, just to move, it did nothing. Frieza was gone in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the world outside this prison began to speed up more and more. More frightening, just to move his arm up felt like a thousand tons of weights were on it.
It was when flashes began to rapidly explode in the distance, that he started to realize what happened.
And then his fury started to build.
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Gohan:
"FUCK!" one last swear blasted out of Gohan's lips as he shattered the side of a ridgeline which had once spanned out for hundreds of kilometres seemingly. Now it was a sinking ruin of already ruined rock.
Even now as his rage slowly began to calm, Gohan let his purple aura bleed away. What the Hell was all of that? Was that just another way for this place to torment him? By giving him some kind of nightmare to live in that seemed perfect, just to pervert it and then strip it all away from him? Was he started to lose his mind? The weirdest thing though, was the fact Turles was missing.
In fact, everything felt very, very quiet. It was too quiet even. As the last bit of rubble came crashing down in the disaster site he'd just made, he realized he couldn't sense Turles at all, and given that his mentor always left some power to idle on, it was very unusual. Where the hell would Turles have gone anyway? They were supposed to be training so he could reach the 'beyond' ascended state, something Gohan had yet to see Turles himself demonstrate.
Of course, when he turned to begin his flight to find another familiar power source, a huge distance away, in this case Bardock, he was greeted with the sight of something else.
Slowly descending from the air, a power deliberately kept as faint as possible began to lower himself.
"So, you're the worm's son, Son Gohan," the hulking blue skinned man remarked. Orange hair danced in a wind which picked up across the hostile wasteland as the giant began to smile. "I've been waiting patiently to get my hands on you."
In a flash of motion, four other figures, all of the same species, came rapidly to his side.
"My crew has been waiting some time to get revenge on Goku, so dealing with you is the closest thing we're going to get to revenge."
It wasn't difficult to harden his stare. Really, he had no idea who this idiot was, and to be honest he didn't care. Wanting to attack him, in Hell of all places, to get back at his father, was a stupid idea. Especially since if Goku beat this moron before, what odds did he have against him?
"Well, you and your crew are a bunch of blue skinned idiots then. Look, I'm not interested in fighting you. What's your name even? You know what, fuck it, you're name doesn't even matter. I'm going to call you, the big guy, Big Blue Bitch. The rest of you I'm going to call chum," Gohan remarked, breathing in angrily as he cracked his neck from side to side. "This isn't going to take long."
There was no rage on his soon to be crippled opponent's faces though, just amusement. The reason why of course, came as he sensed more power, this time more pronounced. Turning his head and looking up, he could see three figures hovering in the air, and these ones he recognized immediately.
"Now, now, Bojack. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's not just your crew which has been waiting for this moment. I've been waiting for a long time as well. In fact, I think I've been waiting even longer than you," he remarked, seemingly amused in the same manner as Bojack.
Slowly, the strange creature descended, but it was only unfamiliar, not alien. This was the creature known as Cell. This was the monster his father, Piccolo, Trunks, and Vegeta vanquished on Earth years before his arrival.
With two ka-tchinks as his feet landed on the ground, Cell just levelled his gaze on him. Placing his right arm over his chest, the strange, carapace clad figure at the heart of the trio of bug-freaks, inclined his body forward into a mild bow.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Cell. I am perfect, and I am going to be the one to extract the majority of vengeance upon you," he commented with his smirk becoming even more obnoxious. "I'm going to allow you several moments to contemplate your demise. No one can say I'm without any sympathy for lesser beings."
"Yea, you're all yesterdays news," Gohan countered, before rolling his eyes. "If your Bojack, and your Cell, than the eight of you are nothing to me. I don't even get why you are bothering with all this, it's not like any of us are going to stay dead."
"Oh but you are, monkey," a new, harsh whisper came from behind him.
That was a familiar face, one he grew up seeing quite often in a numerous number of records. Conditioning which had taken effect over half his lifetime kicked in almost immediately. Stepping back, Gohan felt his heart beginning to race.
"Lord Frieza?" he asked, breathing in and out evenly as he began to compose himself.
You're not on Cooler's ship anymore. You're not employed by these people. Get it together.
"Lord Frieza?" King Cold uttered, looking towards his son before smiling. "Oh my, I must say, it is relieving that this Saiyan at least is aware of your prestigious title, son. And even has the manners to use them. For a monkey he certainly is well behaved."
Five figures immediately appeared above the two of them, and Gohan picked out each one without trouble. That was the Ginyu Force. Had this been twenty years ago, he'd be worried, but right now he was hardly concerned with the Elite Ginyu Forces. He made eye contact with Ginyu himself briefly, before just letting one half of his own lip curve, giving a one sided smirk. To reuse planet trade terminology, the Ginyu Force and all these other minions were going to be chum. Hell, Frieza and Cold would be as well.
"I agree father, tell me Monkey, where did you learn such good manners?"
"I served Lord Cooler as his left hand for the better part of a decade," Gohan commented. "I almost broke Vegeta's old record for purging worlds in the name of the organization."
Frieza himself just continued to smile.
"What a well trained monkey then. I am surprised Cooler would have trusted a simean not to become more powerful than himself. Foolish as always."
"You served my son, Cooler did you?" Cold asked, his arms crossed as he seemed to be thinking. "Hmmmmm... Frieza, I won't be participating in this little engagement."
Slowly, the King began to back away, leading to Frieza turning and sneering childishly.
"What? Why not father? Don't tell me you've lost your nerve for this!"
"Hardly," King Cold responded. "However, I have more questions for the boy should he actually defeat our little plan. And it is much easier to get answers from a more powerful being when you are on better terms. Of course, I am still cheering for you son."
Moving one arm out, he gestured his hand gently.
"How pitiful," Frieza spat back, before smiling confidently again. "Well, monkey. It would appear that you are going to be spared my father's weakness this battle, how fortunate you must feel."
"I think your dad wants to know about Cooler," Gohan remarked, before turning to look towards Cell and Bojack. "He's still alive. Which I guess makes him a more successful offspring of the family than you, Frieza, doesn't it?"
"How DARE you!?" Frieza roared, blasting down to another of his flanks, the ground beneath him ripping upward as he made impact with the surface, his face twisted with anger. "I'll rip you piece from piece, simian trash! Do you not realize that I am LORD Frieza?!"
"I thought that was why I called you first, actually. So, it's just the batch of you idiots come to fight then?" Gohan chuckled. "Well, let's see if I break a sweat-"
"I don't think we're done yet," another voice boomed.
Another? What the Hell is this, screw with Gohan day?
Walking into view from his other side, Gohan realized he was boxed in on all sides as Dabura himself walked tall towards him. This was one of Babidi's minions, and the one who hurt his mother. Hell, he never paid this son of a bitch back for doing that. Cracking his neck again, Gohan just stared hatefully towards the red devil.
"Oh, it's you. I've been meaning to kill you viciously," the Saiyan spat. "You know what? I'm going to tear your throat out the first chance I get, and watch you gag to death, Dabura."
Preparing himself, Gohan readied his power to rise, before two sets of cackles interrupted him.
Are. You. Kidding?
Appearing in a warped bubble a second later, two tiny figures hovered above Bojack and his crew. Garlic junior and Babidi both appeared, snickering devilishly. Of course these two were here, and it all started to make sense now. This was all assembled by Garlic and Babidi. He suspected Babidi was angry that his monsters were locked away or denied from him, and Garlic of course, for the obvious reasons. If Gohan could hate Garlic more than he already did, he would. It was impossible to hide his own bleak death glare towards the only living resident of this nightmare, and his yellow lackey.
But also, suddenly the odds started to feel more... stacked. Before these two appeared, he was certain he could deal with a bunch of washouts. But now when he looked around, he saw a tactical situation in decline. That meant he needed to be fast once this started. Dealing with annoyances as quickly as he could before moving on to bigger fish, if he could.
"Hello again, Gohan. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Garlic asked, chuckling shortly after he did. "My friends and I, as you know, are all looking for an opportunity to send a message to your father, or you."
"And if you think you have any friends coming, you are sorely mistaken!" Babidi laughed. "It looks like you're going to have to deal with all of us, on your own, Gohan. What do you have to say to that?"
One thing Piccolo had taught him was something he used to be guilty of.
Talk is cheap.
Bracing his body, Gohan let his eyes flash blue-green, and his hair shift to Gold, before his entire frame was overwhelmed by golden light. With the familiar pulse of the Super Saiyan aura, Gohan breathed in sharply, before he began to let his real power out.
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Taro:
This was taking too long. It wasn't the problem of knowing where to go, but finding the avenue to get to the space they needed to arrive in. They needed to land in an exact piece of space and time. Go back too far? And you end up in another world than you intended. Go too short? And you end up in a place and time totally useless. But this wasn't the thing that gnawed at the back of his mind right now. Right now what gnawed at him was the interior of the ship.
The ship.
He needed to concentrate on the fact it was a ship. It was a vessel, crafted in the image of something his 'mother' would have made. Perhaps it was constructed that way. But the truth of course, was that this ship was nothing. It was simply a mechanism that his mind used to allow him to slip in and out of difference spaces and times. Even then, those places were just air, they were nothing. They were just things, and he'd come to realize a long time ago that things were closer to nothing, than they were to things. And inside this nothingness that he'd created, he was standing in front of a mirror, naked.
The armour and clothes were only assets he wore when it served him, and even then, he willed them into existence as well. Every moment of every day, he had to concentrate more and more on what was actually real, and what was all apart of the fantasy he'd created around himself. How much of all of this was real? The only thing he knew for certain was that he was real... and he loved himself.
Each piece of himself which he drew back in, showed him an entire world which he'd imagined in another place. Every second of their lives were just pieces of his mind creating an imaginary world to experience more. It was all created just to serve him. Every moment of this was just apart of his imagination. No, it was something even less than that. This was all just the idle fragments of a daydream.
When he pulled a missing piece of himself back into himself, he could taste, touch, see, and smell every moment that they ever 'lived'. Each one of them screamed and howled into the darkness as they were drawn in, but they all soon were made one with him. Why? Because there was no them, there was only him.
I want to tell all of you a story, all of you sitting there behind your screens reading this. I invented all of you to witness me. Junia and Brass stopped being eyes and ears to my greatness a long time ago. They're spoiled, and perhaps even ruined. They aren't even real, I just made them up, but I can't remember them for what they're meant to be, so they're ruined now.
I always wanted a brother and sister, so I made them.
I always wanted a mother, so I created Bulma.
And of course, I always wanted an audience, so I created you.
I need you to tell me that I'm real. I need to know that I'm the only real thing in this whole miserable existence. I am Taro... I am Trunks... no one else is. There is no you, there is no Trunks, there aren't any walls around me, there is only me. I'm the only real thing there could be.
Slowly, his arm reached up as he traced his hand down his bare chest, breathing evenly as he did, his long black hair shifting as he titled his head, looking at his own reflection in the mirror to his very small living quarters in the time ship. When he looked at himself, not only did he see the only real thing there was, but he saw the only thing which could be beautiful, himself. His own eyes were mesmerizing, drawing him into two pools of blue which seemed to live a hundred lives. In fact, they'd lived three times that.
When I see myself, I see myself in three hundred mirrors. I am becoming less defined with every few passing hour, but I'm becoming so much more... I keep losing focus on this world I've made, because I can't stop looking in the other mirrors. But I know the cure... I can only focus on myself... Because no matter how many perspectives I see it from, I can see how fucking incredible I am. How couldn't I be? I'm the only thing that's real in this entire fake universe.
And you know it too, don't you? You know all the others are fake. Not just my wretched father, Turles, or my useless uncles Raditz and Kakarot... no, your all fake, even you reading this from behind the screen. FAKE, not real! Why did you I need to make you? What are you but a figment of my mind, created and destroyed at my whim? Do you like what you see when you stare into my reflection?... You must, because I always imagined you all would.
Slowly, he closed his eyes for a brief second, breathing in again, this time more relaxed, more deeply as he drew his tongue over his own lips for a second. The same tongue which he'd tasted his own flesh and blood, just to know that he'd created something that felt real for himself. When he brought one of the rogue parts of his mind to heel, he needed to know everything about them, even the taste of the fleshy housing they picked for themselves.
All around him, he could feel suddenly a chill in the air. As soon as his eyes opened, he could see nothing but jealousy staring back at him, all around him. Inside this tiny space he allowed himself, at this moment, he could see a familiar, purple haired figure to his left, and to his right, and in front of him. Trunks, the weaker visions of himself, all around him. Sometimes they forgot that they were him. In truth, he'd created them all to hurt himself, to let him know that he hadn't been deserving of their lives. He'd not been deserving of imaging a mother who loved him. He'd not been deserving of having a father who had honour. He could see things clearly, and because of that, he understood what he deserved.
He deserved to be one. He deserved to be whole.
There is no you, there is only me. I keep on forgetting to let you remember that. I keep on wanting all of you to just... accept that I'm the only real one here. All of you were a lie, all of you are a lie. None of you were ever real to begin with. I just made you up, to hurt myself.
And it worked, didn't it?
I made it up, when you fought Cell and died. I made it up when the Androids killed Gohan. I made up Gohan too. I made it all up. I made this all up. Once I'm whole... once I'm complete, you'll all finally accept that there is no you, there is only me. Just like all of you reading this inside the safe little world I've built for all of you, will realize it too. You'll realize that your whole world is nothing. You don't understand it and you don't need to, why? Because I imagined you never would understand it, so you can't. You can't do it without my help, and you only even exist because I fucking want you to.
You're all such fucking ingrates.
Only I exist in all this. Did you read that? Did you hear that, Trunks? Did you hear that Kakarot, father? DID YOU HEAR ME!? Listen to me!
Suddenly, his face twisted into a hateful scowl as he pulled his hand up to the mirror, pressing his flesh against the reflection, staring resentfully towards the judging gazes from the pieces of himself which were looking at him.
Do you know what its like to realize you are alone? Do you realize what it is when you realize that everything you've ever known is a lie? Did you ever wake up one morning and see this pitiful excuse for reality for what it was?... Of course not.
I imagined the other day, that Gohan killed Turles. I imagined he killed Broly. I imagined he died fighting Garlic... and I dreamed of him going to Hell. I know it's all happened. But its all happened in my mind.
Just like all of this is.
I love how much it hurts when I kill him. The same way that I love how much it hurts when I kill myself. I love to feel the pain.
I created pain so everyone would know what it feels like to be alive.
Behind him, the door slid open as a familiar looking creature stepped in.
I just made you up, to hurt myself. I know that you think you're going to be safe in this world you've made for yourself, Trunks. I know you think that this is all real, and that this all matters... but it doesn't really matter anymore. The only thing that matters is becoming whole again, and you will be whole again. I need to find you, because I can't let you get away. I can't have just made you just to let you get away.
"Taro?"a voice broke through.
"I can see right through you," he almost whispered, before leaning into the glass, wishing he could feel himself through it.
He could if he just imagined it. He could do anything. After all, this was all just apart of something he'd made. Slowly, he drew his tongue across the glass, trying to almost lick himself, trying to bite into his own flesh, as if to prove it was more real than anything he'd ever imagined.
"Taro," the voice repeated, causing a growl to escape him.
Part of me wants to draw me away from this... this truth I know. Every time I dive in, they just want me to come back up from the water.
"What?" he whispered, almost hatefully towards Junia behind him.
You aren't real, Junia. What question did I want you to ask?... I want to feel it out. I want to see it before you speak it, because then I can know myself. I can know myself. I can know everything that I am. I can know every fibre of myself. I can fucking... I just... I just want to have myself.
"Don't do this." a voice cut into his mind, a thousand times more familiar than Junia's voice. It was Trunks... "You can stop all of this now, Taro."
I FUCKING TOLD YOU! There is no YOU, there is only ME! You don't get to SPEAK! None of you do! Only I speak, only I can. I am alone, but I always have been. You were never real, you're just a piece of me, and only I decide. Only I am Trunks, not YOU!
Furiously, he turned about, still standing there in all his nakedness. Stepping forward, he breathed angrily as, as if they'd never been there, because they hadn't, there wasn't a Trunks in sight. The only thing standing there was his dear sister. The only thing he could do now, was play with his imagination, and pretend that she was real.
"What?" he asked, his eyes peering as deeply into her as he could, looking for any signs that he was going to let her lie to him again.
"We're at the next planet," she answered roughly.
Immediately, he could almost taste another piece of himself... another piece he let escape.
Time to come home, Trunks. I won't let you suffer away from me.
Because there is no you... there is only me.
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Author's Notes:
Breakin' the Wall, Breakin' the Wall! The 4th Wall!
I've found that I've had the good fortune of enough spare time to write this chapter. Which actually took me a lot more time than you might imagine. I was originally going to make this chapter the big confrontation chapter, but to be honest I really felt it needed more of a buildup. I really wanted to give the villains a bit more development on their way in, especially Cell and Frieza. It also let me develop Turles some, which is helpful.
Writing Taro's part was really hard, I rewrote it twice, and heavily rewrote it in its current form because I really wanted to express how chaotic, paranoid, and psychotic this "Trunks" has become. There is still a lot of development coming their way before we actually get to the launch point for any kind of climax. So if you're worried that I'm going to be rushing into more action, fear not, for the end is not now. I've got a lot of development chapters for the core cast and for the baddies planned before we actually hit any confrontation.
So, Chapter 57 is going to be an action chapter. But Chapter 56 is not. I've been wanting to have the Hell villains lock horns with Gohan for a long time now. It's quite a wide spectrum of power there, but just because someone is weak, doesn't mean they are useless. As we just saw, Frieza and Babidi working together just did a number on Turles. Which of course... is going to play into things going forward as well.
On a fun note, I figured we'd do another small segment going over music for different characters which I find helpful. Today, we're going to go over the villains themselves. I tend to find music which inspires me towards a character when I write, as you guys know. But for the most part I've talked about heroes and the like so far. Today, we're going to write about the villains, given how one song pretty heavily influenced how I wrote one segment of this very chapter. But yea, I put this list together to let people kinda know how I 'tick' I suppose.
Also, on a fun note. Chapter 57's "Theme" music so far, as I've planned the chapter, has been planned to Seether's "Out of the Way". It's going to be messy, it's going to be violent, and I hope everyone is looking forward to it. In fact... you might see a lot of the people on this list participating and more...
Abaddon: Just by Radiohead. Easily.
Babidi: Funnily enough, the Falconer soundtrack's "Babidi Casts a Spell" is something that really brings out the Babidi in my head.
Bojack: So far, I've found no music that makes me really think "Bojack". He was a really, really two dimensional character in his movies, unfortunately.
Brass: Brass's end objectives are to be the most powerful being who has ever lived, not just in one universe, but in the multiverse. Even if he's fallen behind, he'll dive himself into any danger or any situation, as long as it leads to the prospect of having more power, to one day rule at the top. Saliva's "I Walk Alone" has been a good one when I've needed inspiration.
Broly: I've actually got a few which help me channel him, but the one I find the most helpful is the one from his first movie in English.Pantera's 10. It fits the demeanour of his character very well. I've got a few others too, but that really sums him up when I need to write what he's "thinking".
Cell: The Falconer soundtrack fits the character so perfectly it is hard to add anything. Also, Mass Effect 1's Soundtrack "The Thorian".
Cell Junior (alive): In the few things I've written for him, the T-1000's soundtrack and remixes of it, have been pretty influential in how I approach him. Another one, is also "Copy of A" by Nine Inch Nails.
Cooler: I've yet to find any music that really makes me think "Cooler", sadly. It's unfortunate, as he's one of my favourite characters. The closest I've found is the music from the English soundtrack of Movie 5 so far.
Dabura: Sadly, I've not really found any music to "fit" the demon, as in many ways he's so subservient to Babidi.
Frieza: Sadly, Frieza falls into the same boat as Cooler. I get music which fits scenes, but never makes me think of the characters. Nothing really fits his smooth, cool, arrogant attitude, and its flip to pure rage.
Gaia, Divine Empress of the Light: Cult of Personality, by Living Colour.
Garlic Junior: Blackhole Sun... kinda sadly obvious, lol. A World So Cold, by Mudvayne
Junia: Ultra by KMFDM. Whatever by Godsmack.
Mira: Nothing yet. :\
Taro: Only by Nine Inch Nails, and Pretty When You Cry by VAST.
Towa: Nothing yet. :\
Turles: As of being in Hell, Every Day is The Same by Nine Inch Nails. In general? Turn me on Mister Deadman by The Union Underground.
Reviewers:
Perfect Carnage: I suspect that those Tree of Might Seeds, won't be limited in the number of new seeds they produce...
However, as to Piccolo? I'm not looking to copy the games and have him wish back his dead self to reunite with him. I just don't like the feel of it. Also, despite being an important supporting character, and thinking the world of him, it's just hard to make him relevant in terms of raw power. I've already pushed his power level well past where he was in the canon. There is only so much he's going to get. I'm not going to keep him on par with SS3's, it's just not in the cards.
It's going to take months for the trio to arrive, also. :D
DBZFan: I don't really know fully how to respond to this. I don't see Videl being someone who gets deeply attached to things without cause. I don't think she'd be overly emotional about an abortion, beyond really any kind of shame that others might press on her, but given how much of that she already has, I doubt she's going to be all that strained by it. As for why do it unless the kid is born? Because there are consequences. Those consequences don't always mean giving up your body for 9 months plus recovery time either, especially for a kid that's not wanted, and for a man whose not loved. But, we'll see. That part of the story isn't set in stone by any means. We'll see how the next series of chapters pan out.
MaxPain32: Don't expect Cooler to be the big bad quite yet. Lots of buildup mate. Lots!
Maximussj: Thanks! Hopefully you enjoyed this one too.
Pyromania101: Abaddon is livid right now.
DBZ fan the First: Great review :D
DarkKnightShiva: Gohan's timeline to get out of Hell is going to be closely linked to the Dragon Balls.
SilverHawk88: Though I'm sure its a lot of fun, I'm genuinely trying to avoid borrowing from other authors. I've got an idea of how people become Super Saiyan III, and I've deliberately made it somewhat vague. I think it'll work for the story.
ShadowFFD: Brass has his own problems as well. He and Junia will be getting perspective pieces either in Chapter 56, or Chapter 58.
Sekhelmet: It's all going to branch and grow until it all converges. It'll be great. :)
Water Knight Kit: I think I answered by PM. But, for everyone else, the Kais do get replaced over time. The Supreme Kais killed by Buu were replaced... briefly. When we get to a more Abaddon centric Saga, it'll get explained in more depth.
MasenkoX: I was aiming for that. I write with a very visual style in mind. I wanted it to feel almost magical in a way. I had hoped I'd get this kind of response. I also wanted it to contrast everything else in the chapter so far. Pan's a very special character, so her scenes really do need to feel that way.
Tomorrow4eva: Yea, Goku is definitely gonna train with Turles. If Turles grows as a person, learns to care and respect him, and changes his evil ways... In other words, no. Lol
VuvuzelaHero: Yea, I find it amusing how people square away different tropes in the story for different characters and events. I genuinely find it amusing. Also, yes, there are many plot bombs dropping!
RustKnight: I sincerely doubt we'll be getting Golden Arcosians.
DarknessRising11: If she does keep the kid, the most likely outcome would be letting her friends have it. But there is a lot more to a person's thought process on this matter than what's logical. Emotions have a huge role to play in it, views of children and life in general, as well as remembering that the kid would be a Saiyan. I also hadn't thought of the Wolf Fang Fist XD
Guest1: You're allowed to not like Abaddon and my origin of the Saiyans. As for all the power level stuff? I don't really acknowledge them, or really care about them. I know the multipliers very, very well, it just doesn't matter for the story I'm writing. I think I've had this discussion multiple times in my story, power levels are bullshit for the most part. :\
Guest2: It really only makes sense. Saiyans couldn't reproduce with humans unless they were closely related. :\
Ronden Kiagre: Answered by PM.