Dragon Ball Gine

by Exists In Theory

AU: What if Goku's mother went to Earth with him when he was a baby? How will one decision at the very beginning of the story ripple throughout the DBZ universe's timeline?

22. CHAPTER 21: GINE'S TRUE STRENGTH

Hello again! Thank you all so much for each of your reviews, follows, and favorites :) I'm really glad you all like the story so far, and I will keep at it to post new chapters as often as I can for you!

And now it's time for the final segment of Gine's spirit quest! This chapter is a long one, but it has some very important character moments so fair warning.

Based on MasakoX's What If series "What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?", but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.

Please support the official release!

Also, read and review!

---

CHAPTER 21: GINE'S TRUE STRENGTH

Gine jumped to her feet and sprinted to the corner. She looked towards the south where she came, and her face paled.

Three dots flying over the skyrise. They were moving fast, and right for her position.

"Run!" She yelled back urgently, startling her younger self and the Celnussians.

They remained frozen in place, terrified. Seeing this, Gine sprinted back to them, scooping them up in her hands and continuing down the alleyway.

She didn't know if the Saiyans were hunting with a scouter she failed to destroy, or if they were just combing the city street by street. But she couldn't risk flying or using super speed without having them detect her ki, so she kept her energy low.

Gine made a hard turn, then another, and reached an open intersection. She looked down each alley desperately for anything they could conceal under. She tried to stave off the onset of panic when the three energy signatures grew closer, feeling only moments away. She randomly picked left and ran.

The Saiyans didn't head directly towards her as she feared, and it felt like they were flying parallel to the direction of her running...

Suddenly, the three energy signatures bolted straight towards her. The building to her left shuddered, then the wall in front of Gine exploded. She tried to skid to a stop, but was forced back by the shock of the blast.

Gine ungraciously fell on her back, momentarily stunned and dropping her younger self and the Celnussians hard to the ground. They were pelted by the flying chunks of concrete, and raised their arms to shield themselves.

The rain of debris stopped, and Gine sat up quickly. They were engulfed in grey dust.

Dark shadows that appeared through the cloud grew into the full-sized figures of Naga, Banno, and Onio. The air displaced by the trio plowing through the building blew past them, blowing away the dust and ruffling their hair.

"Nice try, bitch. But you can't get away from us." Naga hissed, with the brothers flanking his sides. They blocked the path ahead, and both Gines and Celnussians stared back up at the Saiyans in shock and terror.

Onio's face had scorch marks from his disintegrated scouter. Banno, however, still had his scouter intact.

"Ya missed!" He snarled, pointing at his still functioning device.

Gine's shoulders slumped in resignation. Her plan had failed.

"You can't save those runts. So do yourself and everyone here a favor and give up already! Or else your deaths will not be as quick and painless as you'd like!" Naga ordered.

Gine cursed to herself under her breath, that she should have kept going. Why did she let herself get distracted?! She could have had that emotional moment with her past self later if they escaped.

No use regretting it now. She thought defeatedly. So Gine stood back up to face Naga and the brothers. She crouched into her defensive stance, putting herself between the Saiyans and the Celnussians with her younger self cowering behind her.

"No. I still won't let you harm them!" She declared defiantly.

"Hmph. Fine, long and painful it is." Naga chuckled sadistically, slamming a fist into his open palm and cracking his knuckles. "Ya know, I'm not sure how you managed to survive this long against us, and I must say that I'm a little impressed."

That statement from her former squad leader made Gine feel unsure whether she should feel proud at herself or revolted.

"But!..." He added in disgust-laced mockery. "...only by a little. You are still weak like the pathetic low-class trash that you are, and you ran like a coward still."

Banno and Onio suddenly phased forward, past Naga and past Gine with a rush of wind. She nearly gaged from Onio's pungent stench flying by her.

Gine whipped her head around to follow their movement, only to see that they had stopped right behind her a few yards. The brother Saiyans stood side by side, their round forms barricading the exit backwards down the alley while Naga stood in front of her a few yards as well, effectively trapping them.

"Good luck with running again this time, filth!" Onio jabbed, cruelly laughing with his brother Banno.

The Celnussian mother whimpered, she clutched her child tighter and huddled closer to Gine as they felt surrounded. Young Gine clutched her older self too.

"Looks like you sorry bunch got nowhere to go." Naga gloated, staring down at the helpless Celnussians and Gine doppelgangers like a hunter staring down cornered prey.

Gine tried to think of a way out, but was drawing a blank. Flying up was not an option, and neither was blasting into the ground below if these three were willing to charge through walls. She couldn't just attack them either. Any hit she lands won't do anything, and she'll run out of steam eventually with just trying to defend herself...

"Well, bitch, you made it this far. But it's time for you to pay up for your traitorous actions." His remaining eye narrowed evilly.

"First thing's first: to take care of some business."

Naga lifted his right arm and pointed two fingers at Gine's face, a yellow glow of electricity flared from them.

Gine felt a sickening sense that he was about to shoot out one of her eyes. She instinctively crossed her arms in front of her face to shield herself from his retribution.

"Ha! Don't worry! I'm not aiming for your face." Laughed Naga.

Gine knew she shouldn't believe a word he said, but that odd assurance made her lower her guard enough to peak over her crossed arms at him warily.

Without warning, Naga aimed his two fingertips downward at the Celnussians and fired.

She could only watch as a beam of yellow energy shot straight through both torsos of the mother and child huddled together.

Gine gasped sharply, her eyes widened in horror.

The aliens collapsed to the ground. The mother clutched the gaping hole in it's chest with one hand, looking shocked and gasping for air. Blueish blood poured from the wound and stained the ground. The other arm clasped the child, but it was already dead. The strike incinerated it's tiny organs, which killed it quickly, and painlessly.

The Celnussian mother let out a weak cry that got fainter as it's life force drained away. It struggled to look up at Gine, who was paralyzed in place staring down at the mother.

As the last bit of living energy faded from the creature's eyes, it faintly curled it's lips into a smile of gratitude towards her. All was lost, but this tailed woman had risked herself to save them and it's offspring. And for that, it used it's last act to show thanks.

It's body fell still, and the last Celnussian in existence was dead.

"God they make terrible sounds when they die. Make's my ears hurt." Banno joked irritably. Onio chuckled at that.

Young Gine wailed in horror, falling to her knees and weeping by the bodies of the mother and child.

Naga looked back up at Gine, smirking.

"There. Now our job on this mudball planet is finally done, and your little effort to save these pieces of trash was all for nothin'."

Gine looked down at the fallen forms of the mother and child with her mouth agape and unable to breathe. Her lower lip trembled. Whether this was a projection or not, it was far too much for her to handle.

She had always known that Naga was evil with the pleasure he took in slaughtering. But this... this was beyond that. He murdered the poor defenseless creatures she wanted so desperately to save just to spite her.

And she couldn't do anything to stop it.

She had failed them, even with her newfound resolution, Gine felt just as powerless. Now she herself was going to be slowly and painful killed alongside her past self. To be beaten and gods-knew what else this projection of Naga would do. And her past self will never get to live on, to grow as she did, to have met the love of her life, or to have her sons...

Something red hot began to stir within her.

Gine gritted her teeth like a vise, feeling a familiar power soaring through her veins. She clenched her fists hard, the inside of her palms already raw and cut from her clenching them before. But she didn't care. She was too lost in the rage building inside her.

"I told you: long an painful I'd make this!" Naga chided condescendingly.

Gine didn't hear him, as the sound of her own blood pumping in her ears drowned him out.

How could she be so foolish?! Why did she have to charge at him so blindly in the first place?! She had cost her past incarnation AND her current self their lives, and the Celnussians still died. She couldn't change a damn thing! And she'll never see Kakarot again! Damn her weak emotions! Damn herself for being such a pathetic failure! Damn Naga! DAMN IT ALL!

"Next, I take out this little runt here." Naga pointed at the inconsolable Young Gine on her knees still, who looked back at him with tear-streaked eyes. She looked as if she didn't care if she died alongside the poor Celnussians, and part of her wished she could.

"And then I'll take your eye before I kill you. Gotta make sure you watch, right?!" Naga joked back at Gine, oblivious to her enraged state.

Her whole body shook violently, seething through her nose and clenched teeth.

From behind her, Banno's scouter beeped rapidly. His face lit up in alarm.

"What the?! Her power level just jumped to-"

"YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!"

Gine let out a feral scream that echoed throughout the alleyway. A white aura suddenly flared up around her that startled her younger self and Naga.

Before anyone could even blink, she rocketed straight at Naga and drove her fist into Naga's abdomen. The force of the punch was so powerful that his armor splintered around her balled-up hand as she drove it into him, yanking him off his feet and flying at supersonic speed with him folded over her arm lodged in his stomach. His good eye bulged in shock and his scream of pain a mere wheezing from all the air forced out of his lungs.

Banno and Onio were thrown back from the sonic boom released by Gine blasting off, while her younger self was blown aside from her energy wake.

Gine with her fist plowed into Naga's gut, crashed him straight through a ruined building at the end of the alley, blasting through it's metal and stone interior, and exploding out the other side in a single moment. Then drove him through the building behind that, and then another... Her vision blurred with rage.

She then drew her fist out from him, leaving him flying backwards from his own momentum. Gine shot upwards and arched over to appear behind Naga as he flew at her. Pulling her leg back, she kicked Naga hard right between the shoulder blades as he reached her. Gine heard both his arms snap backwards with two loud "pops", dislocating them from their sockets with his spine hitting her foot. Naga flew helpless off a different way, shrieking in agony.

Gine then phased in front of him, her fists balled together and held high. She brought her fists down fast and spiked the top of Naga's head so hard that it nearly snapped his neck and cracked his skull.

He plummeted into the ground below, the impact of his body blasted away chunks of street and sent out a shockwave that caused several surrounding buildings to collapse.

"BOSS!" Gine heard Banno and Onio crying out in dismay to their leader amidst the cascade of crumbling structures. She then looked down below at the cloud of ash and dust thrown up from the destroyed block that she pummeled Naga into.

The white aura that surrounded her dissipated, and her body suddenly stiffened.

"Ack." Gine groaned painfully, all of her muscles and bones aching simultaneously. She also felt dizzy again, and a little faint.

She didn't know what it was, but it felt like she had been sapped of energy. It took an effort for her to just keep her eyes open.

Gine slowly floated to the ground, trying not to lose consciousness and fall uncontrollably. She touched down in the rubble and fell to her knees, her right hand was red with Naga's blood.

What the hell happened to me? Gine thought worriedly, trying to catch her breath and stay awake. It also occurred to her that she had just attacked Naga. But... how did she?

Through the fog of her consciousness she remembered the feeling of seeing red, that he was taunting her for murdering the Celnussians. And then... it felt like she blacked out for a few seconds.

Did she go berserk? Like when she first charged him?

Gine unsteadily got back to her feet and walked to the edge of the crater that a dazed Naga was laying in. He looked as if he had been in the worst fight of his life.

He was on his back with both his arms splayed out limply, unable to move them. His armor was fragmented, a large segment of padding covering his abdomen gone and now had a fist-sized bloody hole in his stomach that did not go all the way through him. A red indent on Naga's head formed from where she spiked him.

"O-Ow..." Naga groaned hoarsely, his good eye wide in utter disbelief and teary in pain. He rolled over to his side, coughing up blood and breathing raggedly. As he coughed he winched from an extremely painful blow-induced headache. He tried to move one arm, crying as he did so. He nearly passed out when he managed to flop one over himself and use it to clutch his bleeding midsection.

Gine looked down at Naga astonished. I did that?! She wondered to herself.

Hitting him that first time in his scouter seemed like a lucky shot to her. But this was something else entirely. Gine had somehow managed to beat him senseless into the ground in the span of a few seconds. There was no way she could have ever dreamed of taking on someone as strong as Naga like that, or fight as viciously as to leave him in such bad shape.

But she could barely remember any of it. Except for the soul-consuming, red hot rage that filled her from it and left her out of breath. Then another thought came to her, something about hidden strength that Kami kept telling her about...

Banno and Onio leapt over a fallen slab off to the side of the crater. Gine saw them both, breaking her train of thought.

"Boss!" Banno called out. Gine, despite her weakened state, got back into defensive stance. Seeing them also made her remember in a panic, where was her younger self? Wasn't she there with them a moment ago?

Naga crawled up the inside wall of the crater, moaning in pain as he tried to pull himself up with his dislocated arms. He resorted to digging his feet into the dirt to push himself up the slope, leaving a trail of blood from his open stomach wound. When he reached the lip of the crater rim, he laid his good eye on her standing nearby. He suddenly looked very distressed.

"H-How?! How did you do that?!" He asked in horror, coughing and hiding his head low in the cover of the crater rim.

The kind heart of Gine felt a twinge of guilt for seeing Naga so pathetic and hurt like this. The knowledge that she did this to him made the guilt that much more strong. She almost felt sorry for him... almost.

The image of the his wicked grin when he shot the defenseless alien mother and her child went through her mind. The feeling of guilt immediately vanished, and was replaced with pure hate. Naga deserved more than to be reduced to a bloody pulp. Naga, who had broken her spirit as a child and murdered countless innocent people before her very eyes, deserved to die.

And in some dark corner within Gine, she also felt satisfied. The sight of her old squad leader cowering before her, even though he was supposed to be far stronger than her, was so ironic.

"Boss?!" Banno called out again.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Naga snarled over his shoulder impatiently.

"Are you alright?!" They asked.

"NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Naga practically screeched at his subordinates, despite his broken jaw.

He then nodded at Gine in place of pointing a finger. "SHE SHOULD BE WEAKER THAN ME! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Gine looked towards Banno's direction curiously. As much as she was secretly enjoying Naga being so frightened of her now, she also wanted to know what happened as well.

"Uh, well, I-I was about to say before she..." Banno stammered nervously when he saw Gine looking at him.

"Well, her power level suddenly jumped to over three thousand!"

Both Gine and Naga felt their jaws drop.

"WHAT? THREE THOUSAND?!" Naga bellowed.

Banno nodded in stunned silence, Onio just stared at Gine in shock from where he stood.

"THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!"

"But that's what my scouter read, sir!" Banno answered back urgently.

Naga shook his head. As much as it hurt to do that action from the possible whiplash he had, he refused to acknowledge the scouter's readings.

Gine couldn't believe it either.

Three thousand?! She repeated to herself. That was nearly a third as strong as Bardock was when she last saw him. Never had Gine imagined of reaching something like that in her life.

Had she gotten stronger afterall somehow? But what about the six-fifty reading they got from her earlier?

Was it... she dared to think of what her train of thought from before was leading too. Before Banno and Onio distracted her.

Was it the hidden power Kami told her about? Was she wrong about her strenght all this time? Was she far stronger than she realized? So many questions flooded her mind, so many implications...

But she didn't feel that strong right now, which confused Gine. Was it temporary? Like when she first charged Naga?

Speaking of whom, the Saiyan squad leader looked back at Gine, growling furiously.

"Scan her again!" Naga ordered Banno.

The youngest of the brother Saiyans dutifully activated his scouter, pointing it at Gine. When it chimed it's numbers, Banno's face lit up again in bewilderment.

"W-what's her power level now?!" Onio asked reluctantly, afraid of the answer.

"Uh...six-fifty again!" He answered back with confusion.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Naga asked, just as lost as Gine. "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Banno shrugged. "I dunno, sir!"

Gine looked at Banno as dumbstruck as everyone else. Whatever power was temporarily unleashed from within her, she now knew that she HAD hidden power nonetheless. That first attack to Naga's eye was not a fluke afterall.

But it was still only temporary, and now she was back to her normal strength again. Where did all that power go? How did she bring it out?

Naga stumbled trying to stand up, but got back onto his feet. He held the limp arm with his semi-useable one and covered his wounded belly with his elbow. He glared at Gine with his good eye, and she realized how vulnerable she was at that moment. Even wounded, he was still stronger than her.

"I'm not takin' any more chances with you!" Naga hissed at her. He twisted around to bark over his shoulder.

"Banno! Onio! Help me out, you idiots!" He ordered the brothers.

Gine now felt alarmed.

She never thought these three Saiyans would ever team up against anything. Their fierce independency and savage tactics were not meant for teamwork, and she remembered how poorly, if ever, they got along without killing each other.

But could they work together? Normally, any Saiyan would rather die charging alone than ask for help. But if the situation was desperate enough...

"What?!" They both yelled in worry. Onio started to protest, "But Naga, what if... I mean, we're only one thou-"

"I know, I know." Naga interrupted agitatedly. "But she can't stop all three of us!"

Banno and Onio stared at each other for a few moments longer than any intelligent being with a brain should.

"Oh, right!" They finally concluded.

Uh oh. Gine thought.

Any other day, Gine would have felt some pride for having her former superiors feel threatened enough by her to team up. But now, she wasn't appreciating that idea. All three of them were too eager to kill her.

Without wasting time, Gine placed some of her ki into her legs and jumped backwards as hard as she could. She had to get away from them.

"Attack now you idiots! We have her on the run!" Naga shouted.

Banno and Onio leapt into the air after her, Naga following behind. Meanwhile, hiding in the shadows of the rubble, forgotten by either of the Saiyans from her older counterpart's rampage, Young Gine looked out to where everyone took off...

Gine arched over her flight path and flew high over the city away from the trio chasing her. Gine didn't look back, but she could feel they were gaining on her quick. She tried not to lose her grip on her composure, she had to find her younger self and get out of here. Gine tried to focus on finding the girl's ki...

Suddenly, Banno and Onio phased in front of her, blocking her path in midair.

"Not so fast, bitch!" Onio yelled, pulling back a punch simultaneously with his brother to meet with Gine's face. She tried to stop her collision with them, but realized that Naga was right behind her and ready to blast her with a ki attack.

A split-second idea came to her and went with it. As Banno and Onio threw their combined punches at her, she let herself fall. She missed their attack that flew over her head, and the Saiyan brothers realized their mistake too late when their fists met the face of Naga instead with a loud smash of flesh and cartilage.

Gine dropped from under the feet of the brothers and came up behind them. Naga flew backwards, howling in pain and shouting expletives. Banno and Onio's faces were that of deer caught in headlights.

"WHY'D YOU DO THAT YOU IDIOTS?!" He screamed at the brothers, holding his now bleeding nose and broken cheekbone.

The brothers sputtered clumsily, thinking of an explanation until they remembered about Gine. They spun around just in time to see her take off again.

"Hey! She's getting away!" Banno cried out, ready to blast off after her.

Before he or his brother Onio could do that, Naga appeared between both of them. With the fist of his good arm, Naga drove it first into the side of Banno's face, then swung out to hit Onio's face with the back end of his closed hand.

"That's for being morons! NOW GET HER!" Naga spat at them, before rocketing off after Gine. The brothers each rubbed their bruised faces, glaring after Naga with as much murderous intent as they did for Gine. They would deal with that later, so they powered up and flew after her as well.

Gine tried to refocus on finding Young Gine again. As she flew, she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the three Saiyans gaining on her. She reached out across the ruined megacity with her mind...she should be the only living thing left down...

There! Gine realized. Right back where they came from. She twisted around, making a long arcing turn back towards Young Gine's position...

As if by instinct, Gine suddenly stopped just as Onio dived past right in front her. Had she kept flying, he would have skewered both of his extended fists right through her.

Gine's heart thundered in her ears. She tried to regain her wits from that scare, having nearly dodged certain death. But to her horror, she saw that Naga and Banno were already right on top of her. Stopping had costed her too much time.

Naga snickered manically down at her, "No escape for you now!"

Not wasting any time, the two larger Saiyans pounced by thrusting their punches at her.

Gine quickly phased out of sight, making Naga and Banno collide with each other, crying out in pain. She appeared right behind them as they rubbed their craniums and cursed at each other.

Just then, Onio came rocketing back up from below and straight at Gine. She saw this and moved out of the way just in time again.

He stopped and spun towards her just as the other two stopped bickering. Now all three Saiyans glared her angrily, like a pack of starving wolves eying a lone rabbit.

Gine felt trapped, and briefly wondered if her life was supposed to flash before her eyes if this was how she was to end.

Before she could ponder further, Naga shouted out, "KILL HER!"

They all charged her at once, meeting her in midair. The three Saiyans surrounded her, throwing punches and kicks at her in the center with no exit route from the circle.

But they couldn't hit her. Naga went for front kick that Gine twisted her body around to just barely miss, then bent forward to dodge a punch from behind by Banno, and using Naga's leg to twirl herself over and up to avoid another kick from Onio.

Although she was outnumbered, and extremely outclassed, Gine was amazed that she still moved around each strike they threw at her.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naga and the brothers exclaimed repeatedly, growing more enraged when their prey refused to get hit. They tried to increase the speed of their attacks, the punches thrown got a little closer to their target, but they still missed as she simply moved quicker.

Gine reacted to every move at break-neck speed to stay ahead of them. With three opponents on her, she was barely keeping up, while inwardly she was frantically looking at their attacks for a way out. But she still gracefully maneuvered like in a delicate dancer around the flying fists and boots meant to break her thin body. All it would take was one blow from any of them, but blunt force was all they had going for them.

The fat, lumbering Saiyans of Banno and Onio fought even more sluggishly than Naga did in her first battle with him. Naga himself was at a disadvantage now with one arm out of action, and his other one was barely functioning for rudimentary side swings, so he could only rely on kicks for sure strikes.

And there was no coordination, no plan from either of them. Just blindly attacking her. Gine could see that these three definitely did not work well as a team.

Cumulatively they should outmatch her, but...

"You think that with enough of it you can destroy any obstacle or pound any foe into submission, but all of your strength will mean nothing if you cannot hit your opponent. On top of that, by getting angrier when you don't get your way, you tend to get quite sloppy."

Despite not having time to blink, Mr. Popo's words rang through Gine's head during the fight, now feeling truer than ever before.

But Gine still had to get out of this deadlock, she knew it was only a matter of time before she tired out.

Gine threw her head back to dodge an elbow from Banno meant for her head, only to accidentally hit Onio's skull instead. The stunning of one of her opponents gave her a brief respite, but still no opening to escape. Though in the one/tenth second breather-room moment she had, two single thoughts went through Gine's brain at the superspeed of Saiyan synapses...

Her non-redundant movements... the pre-existing animosity between the Saiyans...

Gine realized she was basically in control of the fight, and could get out if she could turn them against each other for just a moment.

Switching tactics, Gine used the opportunity to kick a surprised and embarrassed Banno in the face while she was still focused on dodging Naga. The strike did nothing but to anger Banno further, making him throw another punch at her. But Gine counted on this, and swiped his arm away from her by directing it toward Naga's neck, striking his Adam's apple. He recoiled from blow to his windpipe, chocking. But still not enough for Gine to squeeze through.

She would've laughed at the hilarious sight of them turning against each other, but now was NOT the time.

"WATCH IT!" The Saiyan squad leader croaked out, his eyes lit up in fury, making him slam his foot into Banno's gut just as Onio retaliated on his brother with a punch of his own for the earlier friendly-fire.

The double strike sent Banno backwards a few yards. Finally, an opening!

Gine leapt at the chance and flew after the flung back Banno. So overjoyed at having finally found an escape route, that she dropped her guard...

Onio threw a kick at her just as she flew past him, the tip of his boot grazing Gine's right temple. It was not a direct hit, but from someone who was nearly twice as powerful as herself, it was enough to gash the flesh of her forehead and snap her head back.

Blinding light seemed to flash inside Gine's head from an explosion of pain, leaving her stunned.

She cried out, reflexively clutching her concussed head as she lost forward momentum and fell freely. Her neck flared up in a sharp ache, as if it sprung back after being stretched to it's limits.

Gine felt something wet leaking between her fingers pressed against her gashed temple. Even with her eyes shut tight in pain, they still stung as the blood dripped down her face.

But then her eyes snapped open as she felt Banno suddenly phase right beside her.

He swung a leg at her side. Dazed and bleeding, Gine raised her left arm to block it without thinking...

A loud snap came from her forearm breaking diagonally under the force of his kick. His foot drove her bent forearm into her upper arm, another snap came from that. And finally, driving the rest of Gine's mangled arm into her own ribcage.

All of the air in her lungs was forced out in a scream of agony so powerful that she feared her vocal chords would tear.

Before she knew it, Gine felt herself fold over sideways around Banno's kick, and was sent flying away at blinding speed.

As fast as the blow of extreme pain came, it went. Everything went quiet, all she could hear was her own shallow breathing...

She didn't feel anything anymore, not even the sensation of freefall. Gine was left in a haze of numbness, her eyes blank and unblinking as the sprawl of the megacity came up to greet her...

Her body crashed into the glass exterior of a ruined building, through several layers of walls, and out the other side like a missile. But she did not feel any of it...

Then she hit the ground hard. The world tumbled around in her vision as her limp body bounced out of the crater she made from the initial impact, throwing a trail of debris, before finally skidding to a stop on her back.

Gine lay there, battered and stunned. Her nervous system was so overwhelmed from shock and pain that it did not register in her brain. She stared up into the purple sky of Xai Celnussia VI, the planet's rings and the blue sun high overhead. It looked so beautiful...

Gine's ears started ringing. It slowly grew louder alongside the sound of her own heartbeat, and other noises started coming back to her. The crackle of raging fires burning throughout the city, and the rubble of collapsing buildings.

Then the pain returned... the entire left side of her body from her shoulder to her leg felt like its was freezing cold and on fire at the same time. There was also a dull ache in her forehead that wouldn't go away, and it grew into an unbearable migraine.

Slowly, all the pain of her injuries intensified and drove the haze away from inside Gine's head.

Pain is good... Some part of her mind told her. It means you're still alive...

Her vision came back into focus, half obscured in opaque red. The ache in her head was now skull-splitting. She winched from it, and from the sting of blood dripping down her head gash into her eye. With that, Gine shook her head and returned to full consciousness.

What... what happened? She thought to herself before the image of Onio's boot to her face and Banno's kick into her side flashed in her mind... Oh...

She could barely breathe. It hurt to do so and couldn't keep all the air in, making it almost feel like she was suffocating.

Her eyes drifted down the length of her body to take stock. She was cut from glass shards and patches of her skin scraped raw from the crash landing into the gravel. Her dress gi was shredded too.

Testing her extremities, Gine flexed all of her digits. Her right hand was still there and moving fine, so she brought it to her face. She wiped away the blood and tears from her eye, then pressed her hand against the deep wound on her right temple.

She then curled both legs and her tail back to her. Good. They still worked too. But her left arm...

Gine grunted, rolling her head over to look. It was still all there, but it was useless now. The upper humerus was broken cleanly, but fragments of her radius and ulna protruded from her sleeve, making her forearm appear bent as if she had two elbows.

Nothing new. She had these injuries before, but it was still not pleasant to see.

Gine drew in a deep breath, but sharply gasped involuntarily. Immediately she knew some ribs were broken. It felt like she was being stabbed in her left side.

She tried to sit up, struggling to prop herself with one good arm. Once she was in a comfortable position, Gine let go of her bleeding head for a moment to inspect her side with her free hand. Her destroyed left arm hung limply to the side, her fingers unresponsive to her brain's command.

The side of her gi was soaked too in oozing blood, and something jagged poked underneath the fabric.

Her fingertips brushed the ridges of the cracked rib, then her pupils shrank to dots and Gine shut her eyes tight. Waves of nausea swept through her.

She rocked herself back and forward, trying to ride out the pain and queasiness. Protruding ribs wasn't an injury she would wish on anyone, except Naga maybe.

But then her eyes shot open again. Wait. Where was Naga?

"Ah-ha!" A distant, rough voice seemed to answer her.

It was followed by the sound of three large figures charging through the air at high velocity, and suddenly stopping right in front of her. A rush of air blew dust her way.

"We finally got ya, you stupid bitch!" Naga snarled at her in contempt.

Gine shrank back in fear as the three of them looked down at her laying broken and helpless on the ground. But they kept their distance from her. As much as neither Naga or the brothers would ever admit it, how she managed to outfight them along with her fluctuating power had them worried.

Banno pressed the button on his scouter. Just to make sure she was indeed beaten. After a second, it chimed.

"Ha! Her power level is falling off rapidly!" He called out ecstatically.

The three Saiyans let out a breath of relief they didn't realize they were holding. Then their looks turned into satisfied smirks.

"Not so tough anymore now, are ya?!" Naga jibbed. He walked up to her fallen form, standing right next to her broken left arm. Gine glanced up at him staring down at her, looking contemplative. She felt frozen in terror, afraid of what he was about to do her next.

Naga stood there for a moment. He never grew tired of the reactions of weaklings facing their destroyers at the moment of their doom and them feeling so powerless to stop it. It always filled him with so much joy and purpose. This time, however, had been made too bittersweet for him to fully enjoy that look of pure fright on this traitor's face after all the trouble they had in dealing with her.

She took his eye, knocked out some of his teeth, put a hole in his stomach, and nearly ripped both of his damn arms off. If all that wasn't enough, she utterly humiliated him by outwitting him and tossing him around like a rag doll in front of his own subordinates. The blow to his pride at the hands of this filth and having to ask for help like a coward made his blood boil as much as the high treason this pacifistic bitch committed against the Saiyan race and Lord Frieza both.

Above all, he didn't understand how this piece of trash got strong enough to overpower him. By all rights she should never be able to do that, but she did somehow. That idea lead to things and implications that subconsciously frightened him when he thought of them...

But he blocked those fears. Gine had been beaten, which was all that mattered to him. She was now the one cowering at his feet as she should.

Naga clenched his fists, and rammed his boot into the defenseless Gine's side.

The kick to her broken arm and ribs together sent a wave of pain so intense she nearly passed out from the shock, and the force of it sent her flying back a few feet.

"Where'd all that power go, huh?!" Naga mocked. The brothers laughed behind him.

Gine landed on her broken arm, it was too painful to even scream. It made her want to throw up.

"You are nothing but a worthless weakling like you always were. And I shoulda killed you when I found you on that jungle mudball long ago." Naga remarked darkly at her.

"So, I'm about to do just that. And then I'll go find your past self and off her too. Then the Saiyan race will be rid of your trash blood for good."

She was in an incredible amount of agony, but Gine's grimace turned into that of rage when she heard Naga's words.

Naga raised a hand, about to charge up a lethal ki blast. In her overwrought state, she still tried to think of some way out of this.

Think, Gine. THINK! But nothing came to her. Either the pain was clouding her mind, or there really was no way out except for a miracle.

She turned her head towards Naga with a mix of resignation and hatred.

"Goodbye, scum." He said coldly, a ball of ki forming in his open hand.

So much for a last stand, she thought pessimistically.

Her eyes drifted upwards, past Naga to the burning skyscrapers and up at the blue sun hanging overhead high in the purple sky. She was right, it did look so beautiful...

But then a light went on in Gine's head.

"Wait! Don't kill me just yet!" She called out desperately, raising her good arm up in a stopping motion.

Naga narrowed his eyes, just about to fire.

"Why? Is this you begging for your life?" He retorted in disgust, holding back the blast to end her.

Gine tried to move the fingers of her broken left arm, but remembered the nerve damage. So she manually pried them open with her right hand.

"No...I just... have something to say before you kill me!" Gine said. She had to distract them long enough to get herself ready for what she had to do.

"Oh?" Naga raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "And what's that?"

Spreading her deadened fingers apart, Gine took deep encouraging breaths to brace herself for the next step. It had to be perfect for it to work, and she had to be quick.

She leaned on her left side, crying out hard from the pain on her arm and ribs, but she managed to place her left hand where it needed to be in front of her face.

With that, she spread the fingers of her right hand and held it in front of her face in similar fashion to her left.

The Saiyans looked perplexedly at her. Of all the things they'd seen their fallen opponents do in their last moments, this was surely unexpected. Was she... posing?

Naga felt curious enough to ask. "What the hell are you doing?"

Wherever Tien was, Gine mentally thanked him for demonstrating this technique. She closed her eyes.

Naga asked again, "I said, what the hell are you-"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

Even through her closed eyelids, Gine could see the bright flash of light generated by her ki. The Saiyans cried out in surprise and pain.

When the flashing subsided, Gine opened her eyes again to see the three of them writhing on the ground, clasping their eyes and cursing.

It worked! But she wasn't sure how long they would stay blinded. Now to make a run for it.

Gine pushed herself off the ground and flew off as fast as she could. Soon the three Saiyans disappeared behind her as she fled deeper into the city center.

She reached out with her mind to feel the energy signature of her younger self. She had to find her!

Seconds felt like hours as she zoomed past toppled structures and burning hulks of skyscrapers. She used more ki to go faster, combing the last major street she remembered...

There! Gine stopped midflight to find her younger self wandering the wreckage on the street.

"Hey! Gine!"

Young Gine looked up to see her older counterpart appear out of nowhere, and her eyes lit up in joy.

"You're alive!"

Gine lowered herself to the street, and collapsed to her knees when she touched down. Young Gine ran up to her, immediately shrieking when she saw her bloodied state and damaged arm.

"What happened?!" Young Gine cried as she held out her hands to help steady her older counterpart. Gine herself wrapped her good arm around her waist to press against her rib wound. It stung like a flaming knife when she touched it, but kept it from bleeding further.

"I saw you charge after Naga, then Banno and Onio just left me behind." Young Gine explained. "I thought they might have killed you!"

"They almost did." Gine looked up at her younger self with pained eyes. "I got away... but, not for long."

"Huh?" Her younger self asked in alarm.

"Listen, we need to get off this planet quick! Do you know how far the attack pods are?"

Young Gine nodded. "Yeah, just a few clicks east that way!" She pointed.

"Good." Said Gine. "Then lets grab one before they come after us!"

"Alright!"

Young Gine helped her older self stand up, and took off expecting her to follow. But Gine groaned and fell over when she tried to get off the ground.

Her younger self wheeled around to see the elder Gine clutching herself and coughing. "What's wrong?!" She asked in a panic.

Gine felt like she could barely breathe. It hurt so horribly bad when she did, the flaming knife replaced with a flaming sledgehammer. She coughed again, traces of blood in it.

Punctured lung, she realized.

Young Gine landed by her side again. "Come on, get up!"

Gine grunted, fighting against the pain. "I-I can't!" She said through tears of excruciating pain, her voice had also turned raspy.

"I'm hurt more badly than I thought..." She tried to explain with short breath. "You're gonna have to carry me!"

"Okay!" Young Gine complied and lifted the elder Gine up from under her good arm. Slowly they flew eastward to where the open flatlands were, where the purging crew landed.

"Not too far, Gine! Just hang on!" Her younger self reassured. They were still in the city, but already halfway to the landing site.

Gine's eyes widened in horror.

"They're back already!" She yelled at her younger self, who jumped in shock.

Gine could feel the three energy signatures coming their way. The blindness had worn off at last...

"QUICK! HIDE!"

Young Gine looked around frantically, and saw a dark opening into a pile of rubble to their right. Without waiting, she threw elder Gine into the yawning hole and ducked in after her.

Gine landed unceremoniously on her back. She screamed in pain when she rolled to her side, but was quickly silenced by her younger counterpart's hand pressed to her mouth.

Slowly, Gine's eyes adjusted to the dark interior. They were taking refuge inside the ground floor of a toppled building, with all of it's entrances buried in rubble save for the one they dove through. But as Gine looked around, she noticed a hole in the corner slabs just big enough for her small counterpart to fit through.

The three signatures got closer, and almost seemed to be steering towards their general direction.

"Keep still and lower your ki!" Gine urgently whispered.

Her younger self nodded affrightedly and did as she was told. Gine closed her eyes and suppressed her own ki as well, trying to stay conscious while doing so from her injuries.

The flying energy signatures of Naga, Banno, and Onio suddenly stopped in their tracks a few ways off from their location. They stayed there for a good while.

"FIND HER!" Naga's voice rang out. He sounded absolutely livid.

The three signatures split up, each one flying off on a heading ninety degrees apart from one another.

Gine sighed in momentarily relief. Banno still had the only remaining scouter, but they couldn't track their ki anymore. Now they were resorting to searching the whole city. That worked just fine for her. It was a ruined megacity that spanned hundreds of miles across. There were plenty of places to hide and it would take hours to find them. Maybe she and her younger self could sneak their way to-

The ground shook, startling both Gines. The elder one reached out with her mind to sense the sudden release of ki from Banno and Onio. Firing large ki blasts at random sections of intact buildings.

"They're blowing up the city!" Young Gine whispered worriedly.

Gine's heart sank. It now seemed that Naga would forgo his mission of keeping some of the infrastructure intact just to flush her out anyway. She knew it was a matter of time until they narrowed down her location. She could escape the blasts, but she would be finished off for sure.

"What are we gonna do?" Yong Gine asked her elder counterpart. But Gine just started blankly off into the distance in sorrow.

"Hey!" Young Gine shook her older self, but Gine still didn't pay attention.

They were trapped with no way out, plain and simple. But Gine couldn't bring herself to say it out loud to her younger self, and the realization that she would be unable to save her brought Gine to tears. Worse still, she couldn't even save the Celnussians anyway. She had to watch them die all over again, powerless to stop it.

Now she was going to get Young Gine killed along with herself. All that her efforts would amount to were to die hiding from her tormentors as she always had.

She felt like such a failure.

"HEY!" Young Gine gently slapped her older self across the back of the head. With her concussion, it felt like a grenade going off inside her skull. But it snapped Gine out of her dread and looked at her younger self in the eye.

"We need to get out of here!" Her younger self urged. Gine's expression turned sorrowful, and looked down at the ground.

"There is no way out of here." She said hopelessly.

Young Gine couldn't believe it. "But there has to! We can't just stay here and die!"

Gine shook her downturned head. "They are blasting the whole city apart. And I'm too busted up. If we run, I'll only slow us down. They'll find us and kill us for sure."

Young Gine took in her blunt words in silence, unable to think of anything that could refute the facts. She stared at the ground for a few seconds. The hopelessness of the situation weighed on her too.

"I'm so sorry, Gine." Her older self offered sadly. "I tried..."

Young Gine nodded solemnly. "Yeah, you did." She said in a soft voice. "Like how I tried to save those aliens..." She trailed off, her voice cracking.

Neither past or present Gine spoke for good long moment, knowing full well their inability to save the aliens they were thinking of.

"It's still not your fault." Present Gine said. "You were forced to do something that was beyond your control."

Young Gine nodded, she knew what she was saying. But she still had a hard time believing it.

"If anyone is to blame, it's me." Gine looked away. "I was sent back in time to try and stop it. But I still wasn't strong enough to change anything."

That got Young Gine's attention, and she looked at her older counterpart curiously. "You were sent back in time? By who?"

Gine eyed her past self hesitantly. Whatever she told her past self would not change the timeline of history, yet she felt some implied aversion to keep the future a secret from herself even if this all wasn't real...

Screw it, she relented. "By a Namekian who was a Guardian of some frontier planet."

With their imminent doom, she saw no further reason to not tell the truth to her own past self.

"He sent me back here against my will..." Gine felt anger rising within her as she said that out loud. "He wanted me to see something or learn whatever kind of lesson he was trying to teach me. I really don't know what it was, as he was really vague. But I knew that this was the place that Naga would have had me kill those poor creatures. I tried to stop it but I failed anyway."

Whether it was the knowledge that they were about to die or the ominous implications of her older self's words, Young Gine decided to ask, "What was my future like? Or, what was our future like?"

Gine looked at her younger self sadly, "After I... I mean, after you would have killed the Celnussians, you would have lived a life of misery."

Young Gine gasped in horror, but present Gine continued.

"You would still have been forced to partake on planetary purging missions for at least another ten years. You would've done your best to not kill, but you would watch all that pain and suffering nonetheless. Dozens of planets and billions of people dead..." Gine stopped for a moment, remembering the sights and sounds of each planet she helped destroy.

"Eventually you would have gotten out of the frontlines to become a cook back home on planet Vegeta. But you would never have been able to escape the bullying and targeted abuse by every other Saiyan for how weak you and I were."

Then a smile crept across Gine's face. "But one day... you would have met Bardock. He wasn't just an average Saiyan warrior looking for a mate, he was truly something special. He didn't believe in having his place set in stone from his power level at birth. He fought hard and bravely to get stronger, to rise above his station and be the best among us..." Gine's heart warmed at the memory of the love of her life.

"He was cold and ruthless like everyone else, but he believed in something better. He would have seen past your weakness and saw something wonderful in you. He would've shown you companionship. And from it, he would have given you two beautiful sons. Raditz and Kakarot."

Her younger self sat there in silence, digesting every word with awe.

Then Gine's expression turned sad again. "But one day, Frieza would turn against the Saiyans. He would destroy our home planet, and-"

"What?! Frieza turned against us?! Why?!" Young Gine exclaimed in shock.

Gine shook her head. "No one knows for sure. Bardock thought he was afraid of us somehow, that we would pose a threat to his rule maybe. But, whatever the case, he destroyed our world. You and your youngest child, Kakarot, would be the only survivors."

She tried not to cry. No matter how many years had passed, the pain of losing everything she knew and cared about on that day never went away.

Young Gine sensed the omission of her future partner Bardock and firstborn Raditz, and knew what that meant. She could almost feel the grief from her older self for them.

After a moment to regain herself, Gine continued. "You would eventually find your way to a distant planet in the northern quadrant of the galaxy, called Earth. And there..."

Gine's smile returned, this time it was warm and heartfelt. "There... a wonderful man named Son Gohan would have taken you in. He would have given you and your son a new life. One where you would never have to live in fear, or be made fun of, or have to conquer ever again. And he would have taught you so many things that you never would have imagined possible..." She reminisced, finding the irony in how she was telling her past self the true power of Gohan teachings even when she herself didn't believe them.

"You would have watched your son grow, protected the people of that world, and you would have known true peace..." Gine's voice trailed off when she finished.

Young Gine looked off to a spot on the far wall in deep contemplation of everything her older self said.

She was amazed how the elder Gine managed to endure the hardships she experienced, from the genocides of countless worlds to a lifetime of abuse. With the added knowledge that she was to be orphaned from the rest of her family and their species by the very person they served, Young Gine wondered how any sentient being could still have a will to go on living after that. It filled her with dread that she was about to experience it all herself had she not been spared from the unforgivable act of executing those prisoners, and she wanted to weep for her older self and everything she suffered through.

But most all, there was such a thing as true peace? There was a planet out there where she could live and never have to be tormented, or be afraid?! And she would be a protector instead of a destroyer?! The idea was so foreign, profound, and sounded too good to even be true. But, she knew her older self wouldn't lie to her about that, for she couldn't lie to herself.

To her, all of that is what she always wanted. Whatever this "Earth" was, the fact that such a wonderful place existed filled her with hope. That despite this cruel universe, her older self had managed to find her true home.

"Your youngest son made it with you to this "Earth"?" Young Gine asked.

Her older self nodded, turning sad that she will never get to see him again.

"What was he like?" She pressed.

Gine looked at her younger self and smiled warmer at her than she had ever did.

"He was the sweetest Saiyan boy who ever lived..." She said with motherly love. "A kind, gentle soul who was so goofy, full of life, and always strived to be the best he could be. Just like his father..."

Young Gine smiled at that, feeling a twinge of happiness that her offspring would be so inspiring.

"He was what made the peace on Earth so worthwhile. To see him grow up completely away from the life we had..." Gine added.

The ground around them shook again, a reminder that Naga and the brothers were still outside bombing the city.

And it was sharp jolt of reality to Gine that now her younger self will never get to experience the true paradise of the cosmos that was Earth. That she was going to die here in this godforsaken place instead. Her next words came to her just as the truth of her actions did.

"And it's my fault that you will never get to experience that peace. Because I couldn't stand to relive the past all over again."

It made Gine's throat clench from unbearable guilt, and tears fell from her eyes. "I'm so sorry... I'm such a coward!"

Gine wept hard in choking sobs. The pain in her broken ribs flared up from her crying, which made her weep even harder and making her more enraged at herself. But she guessed she deserved it. Perhaps this was the lesson Kami had been trying to show her, that she couldn't change the past? And by interfering with it to save the Celnussians, she only doomed herself? How could she be so foolish to not see that?! And how could Kami do something so cruel to her?!

She felt small, comforting hands on her back as Young Gine held her older self while she cried.

"You are not a coward, Gine." Her younger self said soothingly.

"No, I am!" Gine hiccupped out.

"No, you are not!" Her younger self countered again. "You told me that I was forced to do something against my will, and I couldn't stop it... well, I believe you now."

Gine didn't answer, but her crying slowed.

Young Gine added, "I can see now that you yourself had went through so much and couldn't do anything to prevent it either. It all makes sense to me now. And if I couldn't help myself from something beyond my power, well neither could you. For that, there's no need to forgive."

Gine turned her tear-streaked face to her younger self. She felt so ashamed of looking pathetic in front of a child even if that child was herself.

"R-really?" She asked hesitantly.

Her younger self nodded. "I knew what I was feeling when Naga was about to make me kill those poor creatures. You knew that feeling too, and you... had to do it..."

They both regarded each other solemnly at that unspeakable act, and the elder Gine felt herself go cold since she actually did kill them. Then Young Gine looked at her sadly, "No one should ever have to do such a thing. Naga made you do it, and I hold nothing against you for trying to stop it when you saw an opportunity to do so. If anything, I should say thank you for saving me from killing them."

Young Gine then smiled, "And I'm happy that you survived through all of that pain to find "Earth". It sounded so wonderful, and I wish I could have seen it myself..." She sounded so wistful and longing. "...but since you and I are the same person, at least one of us got to find peace and happiness in the end."

Gine looked up at her younger self in awe. She had no idea that she could have been so wise at such a young age, and it felt so weird to be on the receiving end of it. But... it made sense.

The elder Gine's expression softened. "Thank you." She whispered, and hugged her younger self tightly with her one good arm.

The two Gines held each other as the building shook violently, dust falling around them from the ceiling that contained thousands of tons of rubble about to crush the two Saiyans at any moment, turning their hiding spot into their grave. But they paid no mind to it, for this moment of was something that the soul of this one person, past and present, sorely longed for.

After a while, Young Gine spoke first by adding, "And at least I got to see you beat the crap out of Naga."

Gine chuckled at that, breaking the dark atmosphere.

Young Gine let go of their hug and said, "You said that I was strong too. Well I believe that now too after seeing you fight!"

"Seeing me fight?" Gine asked.

"Yeah! I saw how you launched yourself at Naga! You beat the crap out of him!" Her younger self punched air with her fists, imitating Gine's moves during the earlier battle. "Now I believe you that I could have gotten stronger if you somehow managed to!"

The elder Gine smiled. She guessed that if she could have seen herself from the future go toe to toe with Naga, then surely she could train herself to get out of the outcast hole she had been in her whole life.

"How did you do that?" Young Gine asked excitedly.

"Um, well I..." Gine paused, the ground still shaking form the bombardment. "I trained... I learned that strength was not..." She trailed off, unable to believe her own words. Ones which until recently she didn't fully believe in until Mr. Popo demonstrated otherwise to her.

"Was not what?" Her young self asked for her to finish, which she did.

"That strength was not everything. I learned to fight effectively, from Gohan... and another great teacher named Popo. They taught me that... you could overcome anything if you are brave and quick enough."

The young girl's eyes widened in disbelief. "Getting stronger doesn't mean everything?!"

Gine shrugged. "I wish that were true. As much as I could outwit Naga... I still wasn't strong enough to beat him entirely." Gine scoffed to herself. "Guess that I still lacked the power to actually beat them when I needed to."

"But that's not true! You do have the power!" Young Gine tried to emphasize. "I saw how angry you were when you pummeled him into the ground!"

Gine shook her head. "Not exactly. I just got so angry when..." She tried to continue, then paused from the pain of the memories. And a realization hit her.

"When Naga was about to force you to execute the Celnussians…. and when he murdered them anyway..." Her voice faint.

She remembered now... in those moments she could only remember images of pounding on Naga through the blinding rage. Moments that also happened during her life on planet Vegeta. Times when she was publicly beaten and humilated for being what she was. When she couldn't take it anymore, something within her gave her a small boast to keep fighting, to give her strength to make her tormentors hurt. But the power never fully came out, and the exact reason why eluded her in those moments. Until now.

"When I got angry enough." She thought out loud.

Young Gine asked, "Angry enough?"

Gine remembered more. The raw power soaring through her veins when she felt herself snap from overwhelming rage, which was brought on when she felt so powerless to stop those atrocious acts of Naga. And when she snapped, nothing mattered to her but stomping his brains out or to rip him into bloody shreds. She didn't feel pain or the passage of time in that state, she only felt unstoppable.

But it only lasted a few moments, and it was just blind rage. She remembered how she almost attacked Kakarot for getting in her way. If only she could focus her rage...

Kami's words suddenly came to her.

"You must be like a stone. Calm and still, so that rain and wind cannot move you." Kami's soft voice said...

"Think of the emotions and thoughts that gave you that power, then try to isolate it from the rest of your mind so you can maintain conscious control." Kami's voice sounded like a whisper in a dream. It echoed and faded, and sounded as if coming from everywhere.

"It will allow you to clear your mind of all anxiety, and thus become more attuned to the world around you. Easier to solve problems at hand than let your mind get clouded with doubt that enemies could take advantage of."

"Feel the one thing that brings you righteous anger... something that burns like a fire inside your heart... Don't think. Feel..."

Of course! It all made sense to her now...

Popo's teachings of using ki to sense her opponents in a fight, and Kami's teaching's of harnessing her anger... It all worked on the same principle of clearing her head of all of her physical, mental, and emotional anchors. The screaming pain of her frail body and the heavy chains of her doubts about herself did not matter. She just need to let them all go, and then...

Gine said with regret in her voice, "If I could make myself angry over those things... that would have given me the strength to fight?"

Young Gine looked at her with hope that her older self may have remembered something important and useful now. But Gine just sat there despairingly.

If she had known that, would that have made a difference in the outcome of her battle with Naga? Would that have allowed her to defeat him and let her past self escape this hell hole?

The shaking suddenly ceased, snapping the both of them back to reality and reminding them that they were still in hiding. Minutes passed, nothing else happened.

"They stopped blasting the city!" Young Gine whispered. This should have been good, but they both felt worried. Naga and the brothers were determined to find them. Why did they stop? Not even half an hour had passed, and even with that amount of time they could have carpet bombed a good portion of the city. Did they give up?

Gine reached out with her senses, their immediate area was empty so she felt further out...

Then, she felt the energy signatures of Naga, Banno, and Onio converging together high in the sky over the city. Gine and her younger self instinctively froze in place to keep quiet, and suppressed their ki.

The three Saiyans came together and stopped not far from where they split up earlier, but much higher up.

"GINE, YOU BITCH! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF IN THE NEXT SIXTY SECONDS, WE'RE GONNA FLATTEN THIS WHOLE CITY!" Naga's voice boomed from above.

"Oh no..." Young Gine whispered in terror.

Present Gine felt a cold chill run down her spine. They had given up and were set to incinerate everything. Their mission objectives be damned.

Was this it? Was this how she was going to end?

Gine looked down at her younger self in the eye. Eyes that stared back up at her with fear, but with an acceptance that the end was near.

Something stirred with Gine as she looked in the seven year old's eyes too. She saw there was a longing in Young Gine for everything her older self from the future shared about the life of peace she had managed to find. A life that she would never get to live...

As hopeless as their chances of survival were, the thought of she and her past self just giving up to Naga and dying didn't sit right with Gine. Not after everything she shared.

Her younger self deserved a chance to live, to have a better life. Not to die like this.

She remembered something and looked towards the corner of the dark room they were hiding in. After looking for a few seconds, trying to remember what it was she saw earlier, Gine spotted the corner slabs of the room. The hole in the rubble looked just big enough for her younger self to slip through.

With their talk about her anger from earlier, a plan began to form in Gine's mind. And with that, a sense of calm washed over her. She knew what she had to do...

"You see that hole over there?" Gine pointed with her good arm. Her younger self followed it and saw the opening. She immediately turned hopeful.

"I want you to crawl through there, and make your way to the attack pods as quickly but as quietly as you can. Don't let them see you." Gine ordered, she had to act fast.

Young Gine nodded, but then looked confused. "But, what about Naga? He said he's going to destroy the entire city!"

"Not if I distract him." Gine said resolutely.

With strength she did not know where it came from, Gine pressed her good hand and knees against the ground and stood up. She felt wobbly and light headed from blood loss, but stood tall and determined.

At first, her younger self didn't understand, then looked at her in realization. "Wait, you're gonna fight them?!"

Gine nodded, and used her sleeve to wipe away the blood from her eye. "Yes."

"But... you'll die! You only have one arm!" Young Gine protested.

Gine nodded again, solemnly. "I know."

Her younger self looked up at her stunned and horrified, but Gine remained firm.

"There's no way I can escape. I'm hurt too badly and I may not get any treatment in time. But you may still have a chance."

Young Gine stared up at her future self with tears forming in her eyes.

"I understand that you don't want me to die, but the truth is that if we both run or if we fight them together, they'll kill us for sure. But if I can keep them busy long enough, you can escape this planet. " Gine explained.

"No. Please! Don't..." Her younger self tried to protest, but Gine knelt in front of her and placed her good hand on her shoulder.

"You deserve a better life than mine, Gine. I want you to leave this place, leave this life under Frieza's rule behind, and go to planet Earth. There, you will have a chance to find the peace I wished I always had." She said gently to Young Gine. This still was an act that would change nothing in history, but Gine felt compelled to say it to herself. It was something she long wondered in her heart what would have been had she known of Earth and a life without killing. So in these last moments of hers, she decided to entertain that idea. With how real this projection was or how long it lasted, perhaps this quasi-Gine could go on to live peacefully. And who knew the life she could live...

Gine brought herself back into focus. She had only thirty seconds now. "Go now. I will distract them long enough for you to make it to a pod. Don't come back for me, okay? I alone need to face Naga, and I will NOT just give up and let them kill you."

Young Gine tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. She didn't want her older self to throw away her life to save her save her past self, but they both knew the situation and how little time was left. If any of them were to live, this was the only way.

So she respected her older self's decision, and nodded. "Okay."

She looked up at her older self and smiled, "Thank you, Gine."

Her older self smiled warmly in return. "Thank you, Gine. Now go, quick!"

Young Gine sprinted for the opening, her older self looked on and thought of something else.

"Wait! One more thing!" She called out.

Young Gine stopped in her tracks and looked back at her older self.

"Promise me one more thing." Gine asked. She then said with conviction what she had now just come to realize was true for her all along.

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are weak. You are strong, and you CAN get stronger if you train hard and never, ever give up. Will you do that for me?"

She now learned so late in life that she indeed had the power to get stronger like every other Saiyan, that everything said about her was wrong. Gine wished she didn't have to live to be almost forty, have a conversation with a talking cat, and face down her own death here to figure that out. But here, she could do that for her younger self. She could give her the hope that she never had.

Young Gine took in her words, and needed only a second to smile back at her with determination. "I promise."

The elder Gine nodded in thanks, and the two regarded each other for the final time.

Young Gine turned around and dashed into the opening, her tail was the last thing to disappear into the dark aperture.

"FINE THEN! FIVE MORE SECONDS AND YOU CAN BURN WITH THE REST OF THIS PLACE!" Naga screamed outside, breaking Gine out of seeing off her past self.

High up above, she could sense Naga charging up a massive ki blast with enough energy to vaporize the entire city.

Focusing on the task that lay before her, Gine clenched her good fist and cracked her knuckles.

"FOUR!"

Internally, Gine was scared. She was willing going to her death by facing Naga like this. But she didn't care. She will not die like a coward, but going down fighting.

To her, It's what Bardock would've done...

"THREE!"

Not caring for stealth anymore, Gine stepped out of the ruined building and into the street. She looked up towards where she felt the three of them hovering high up above. Naga had a hand raised over his head, and with it was a giant bright sphere of yellow energy that was several yards wide. It looked more than powerful enough to destroy the city, for it may destroy a chunk of the planet too.

"TWO!" Naga screamed out, ready to fire the blast with Banno and Onio inching back worriedly. They were well within the blast zone, but Naga didn't seem to mind. He looked too mad with rage to care.

Banno's scouter beeped just as Gine called up to them.

"HEY NAGA!"

The Saiyan squad leader and his goons looked down in puzzlement at the ground as her voice reached them.

"There!" She heard Banno, and saw him pointing at her.

Even from several hundred feet in the air, she could see Naga grinning evilly down at her.

"Ah, way to wait until the last moment to finally show yourself!" He snarled. "Tell me, are you ready to die like the rest of the scum on this rock?!"

Gine didn't answer, and just glared at Naga with daggers. She hoped that her younger self hadn't stopped to watch the spectacle of that planet-destroying ki blast, but she was beyond worrying about that now.

"Too scared to talk, eh? Shoulda figured for a coward who pulls cheap tricks to run!" Naga mocked. "As I said, pathetic to the end like you always were. Weakling."

The mention of those words, weakling and coward, were enough to make Gine's blood start boiling. The words spat at her when her own fellow Saiyans pushed her around while she was unable to defend herself, when she could only watch as the Celnussians she was trying so desperately to save were murdered before her very eyes, and when her seven year old self was being initiated into a lifetime of servitude with a summary execution under threat of death. Now, they were going to be the last words she would ever hear in her mortal life.

They made her feel powerless. They made her feel angry. And that anger was now turning red hot.

It's now or never, she thought. With that, Gine closed her eyes and concentrated.

Empty your mind. She told herself as Popo taught her.

Breathe...

She pushed away everything. The stabbing pain of her broken left arm and ribs, the nauseating feeling of an empty stomach and lost blood from her head wound, the grief at the knowledge she will never see Kakarot ever again, the knowledge that she was about die very soon, and the doubts of whether or not she could have enough strength to fight...

Slowly but surely as it did in her fight against Popo, time slowed down...sounds and sensations faded to murmurs, leaving only her heartbeat... and her own aura... and the heartbeats and aura's of Naga, Banno, Onio, and her younger self off in the distance appeared in her mind's eye...

Soon, her mind was calm and blank... save for one burning emotion.

Naga saw this and laughed, the brothers saw and laughed too at her standing there with her eyes closed. To them, it seemed like she was surrendering to death.

"Well, well. It looks like you've accepted your fate! Good, because now it's time to take out the trash once and for all!"

Feel the one thing that brings you righteous anger... something that burns like a fire inside your heart... Don't think. Feel... Kami's words echoed through her mind too just as Naga's spiteful words reached her.

His words did nothing to rouse Gine, now that she had reached her meditative state. But Naga's words translated to feeling, in order to keep thoughts from breaking through the barrier she put up in order to focus...

She felt the red hot anger from before, growing hotter and turning into pure hatred.

It was like fire, it burned. It seethed. It...

...Reminded her of helplessness...How angry she was at those who made her feel it...And anger at herself...How she couldn't defend herself from everyone who took advantage of her...How they beat her, ridiculed her, branded her, forced her to do things she never wanted to do...

Naga threw his hand forward and launched the citybusting ki blast.

"DIE!" He screamed, Banno and Onio flew backwards to clear the oncoming explosion.

The ki blast flew right at Gine, but she did not register it. The hatred she felt for that Saiyan from his bile at her was all that was needed for Gine to feel the memories his words triggered...

"Do it, or I'll kill you alongside them too. Might be better off that way anyways, one less weakling. You are a disgrace and this is your only chance to prove otherwise. So, I'm ordering you one last time:" He raised a hand in her direction. Gine saw it through the blur of her tears and knew he was about to charge a ki blast aimed at her.

"Execute them." He demanded slowly.

There was nothing she could do now. Despite her grief-wracked state, she knew. She had to do it if she wanted to live. But how could she live with herself? She was about to commit murder. Not only a person, a defenseless mother and child. And the last two survivors of an entire species. It was the final act of genocide.

The mother and child looked at her as if expectantly. They knew that she was supposed to kill them, but... they did not look angry at her. Strangely, it was comforting.

She couldn't understand their language, but they must have known she did not want to kill them. That she was being forced to. And that there was no escape for them.

The mother made a mournful sound directed for Gine, crying in it's alien language. The mother covered the eyes of the child who was panicking and struggling to escape.

Reluctantly, Gine raised a shaking hand.

"DO IT!" Yelled Naga, a threat more than a command.

A ball of white ki emerged in Gine's palm, it hummed louder as she feed it all of the energy she could muster to make their deaths as quick and painless as possible. The Celnussian mother cried out again, this time in what sounded like a plea of mercy in their native language. One last chance to live.

But there was no going back now.

"I-I- I'm sorry!" Gine choked out.

She couldn't look them in eye, and at the last second Gine closed hers shut.

And fired.

Gine felt the overwhelming despair wash through her like a flood, feeling sick for what she had done. She had the blood of the last of an entire civilization on her hands.

She killed them... because of Naga.

The drowning sadness evaporated, and was replaced with white hot rage.

Naga had made her commit murder. Me made her suffer through a lifetime of abuse, forced to aid in burning countless worlds, spread unimaginable suffering across the galaxy, and destroyed her spirit.

All because of him. She hated him! SHE HATED HIM!

She felt white hot rage burning within her heart. Both her fists, including that of her ruined arm, clenched hard. Raw power soared through her veins again, a white aura enveloped her...

Deep in her subconscious state, she was dreading that it would throw her out of her focus. But it didn't. No, this rage was not blind and all consuming. And she did not scream like a feral animal, letting all that hatful energy out wastefully.

It was contained, all of its energy concentrated. Focused razor sharp. Aimed directly for Naga. For all he stood for, for all he had done, to this world, to many worlds, and to her.

She didn't hear the ki blast getting closer to her, nor did she hear Banno screaming in alarm over his scouter. Nothing mattered. Not even the burning in her arm and ribs.

All she saw was Naga in her mind's eye. His aura was bright and fiery, a violent and evil spirit that was brash, thirsty for her blood, and tainted with the blood of billions of victims from across the galaxy.

And now he was going to pay.

Faster than either of the three Saiyans could blink, Gine shot directly towards the ki blast meant to destroy the city. It shattered like glass into a shower of harmless sparks as she flew right through the blast, and straight at Naga.

His face contorted into a mix of shock and terror when he saw Gine rocketing towards him. He was too dumbstruck to dodge, frozen in place for the split second it took for Gine to reach him.

She drove her fist into his abdomen. With the damage she inflicted in their last battle, Gine's arm went straight through Naga's torso and out his back in a bloody heap.

He let out a agonizing shriek as she took him off on a ride for several miles, doubled over and skewered to her.

Gine drew out her arm from him, and attacked in a flurry as he flew backwards from the momentum. He was too shocked and weakened from the hole in his stomach to defend himself properly, and see moved around him too quickly.

She saw his openings, and went for them. Fast, unforgiving, and with the precision of a surgical scalpel. Driving a punch to the side of his torso, snapping a rib loudly. Plowing a fist into his jaw again, shattering more teeth and biting off chunks of his tongue. A hand chop to his throat, crushing his windpipe. A kick to his lower back, bursting a kidney. A knee to the groin, shattering his pelvis and sending shockwaves of pain throughout his entire body. A punch into his armpit, shattering the bone of his shoulder joint. An elbow to the side of the head, cracking his skul...

The power of her rage and adrenaline gave her the strenght to inflict injury after injury into Naga, slowly breaking him apart and not blinded by red mist. She didn't even feel any pain from her own broken ribs moving or from her broken arm that she was using to punch. In her unconscious mind, Gine could sense that her body was screaming at her that it was about to fail from overexersion, and for aggrivating her own injuries. But she paid no mind to her own body's failing, concentrated entirely on Naga.

She heard him screaming in pain, and even begging for mercy. Gine was surprised, even in her enraged state. But it only fueled her rage to make him hurt more. To make him feel as powerless as he made her feel. To make him suffer like all those he had slaughtered before this world.

Gine phased behind him, cocked a leg back and kicked Naga sharply in the middle of his back, sheering his spinal cord. He wailed helplessly as he plowed through rows of skyscrapers, they collapsed from the impact of his body through their ruined frames.

She caught up to Naga at hypersonic speed, grabbed his dislocated arm and spun him around. They spun at dizzying speed, creating a blast of wind away from them in a cyclonic fashion.

With Naga's arm dislocated from his shoulder, and the bones shattered at the joint, all that held his arm to his body was the flesh. It stretched, and tore as Gine spun faster and faster. Until finally, Naga was ripped from his own arm, and thrown high into the sky.

Gine stopped spinning, and discarded Naga's severed arm. She watched him screaming and tumbling end over end as he was flew higher into the stratosphere.

She had humbled, beaten, and broken Naga. By her estimates of the damage she dealt to him, he was probably weaker than she normally was.

Now to finish him off, and she knew just the attack to use. She had never used it before, but had seen it plenty of times to know how to utilize it. Plus it seemed fitting.

Gine raised both hands in the air, her brain not registering that her left arm was on the verge of collapsing from no skeletal support. She cupped her hands, aiming at Naga. All of her rage and every drop of ki was poured into her fingertips.

"KAAAAAA... MEEEEEE..."

She said the incantation, her voice amplified by her ki despite one of her lungs partially deflated. A white-hot blue sphere of energy formed in her joined palms. As hot as her hatred for Naga.

"HAAAAAA... MEEEEEE..."

Images flashed through Gine's mind. Of her younger self being forced to kill under Naga's boot. Of the Celnussians laying dead before her, killed by Naga's hand. Of the two decades of suffering inflicted on her from him, from Banno and Onio, and from every Saiyan on planet Vegeta. Of her every doubt about her worth. And of Young Gine...

This was for herself.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Gine fired. A pillar of blue and white light rose into the sky, it was so bright it outshone the sun. Naga screamed in despair as the beam engulfed him, and slowly vaporized the Saiyan squad leader out of existence.

When the light and smoke faded, all was calm again. Gine hovered there with her arms still posed skyward, but Naga was no more.

She did it...

Before Gine could celebrate her victory, she stiffened. Her rage evaporated away, and with it, all of the power flowing through her. The white aura dissipated, and she fell out of her meditative state.

All of the pain that Gine's brain had blocked from feeling suddenly hit her, their intensity having increased ten-fold from being ignored before.

So powerful and overwhelming it was, that Gine fainted. Her unconscious body fell from high in the air, plummeting to the ruined streets of the megacity below.

She hit the ground hard, creating a shallow crater and flinging up chunks of asphalt and concrete everywhere. And laid splayed out in the crater for a long while...

...

Wake up, dammit! WAKE UP!

Gine's voice rang inside her own head. But her mind and her body were unresponsive...

But then she stirred and grimaced sharply. Something burning and aching woke her up. Her eyes fluttered, her fogged over eyes looked drearily through slits. As she came to, all the pain she felt earlier returned in full force. She may have passed out again, for she opened her eyes to see the sun at a different angle.

Gine couldn't focus on anything, her mind in a haze of pure exhaustion. She didn't know how long she laid in the crater, but her mind was slowly brought back into reality when images flashed through her mind of the final battle with Naga. And how she had disintegrated him with her son's signature attack.

She had done it. She had killed the main tormentor of her life.

As she regained more of her consciousness and senses, Gine still didn't move from where she lay. Soaking in what she had done. She knew deep down that the real Naga most likely died on planet Vegeta when Frieza destroyed it. But she dearly wished he meet his end this way. It was so cathartic...

Gine tried to force her extremities to move, but she suddenly spasmed and let out a weak scream.

It hurts. By the gods, it hurt so bad!

It was the worst full body Charlie-horse she could ever imagine. Like every muscle was bursting and tearing themselves from her skeleton. Every bone themselves felt brittle and could shatter at any moment. But all of that was nothing compared to her arm and her ribs.

Her broken left arm was now swollen to twice its size. The bones in it were horribly misaligned from her using it for punching still, and the hand now almost bend at an unnatural right angle.

The entire left side of her body felt as if it was being dissolved with acid. The broken rib now low lodged into her lung, collapsing it and filling it with blood that she noticed was pooling in the back of her throat. She rolled her head sideways and coughed it out, it was an alarmingly large amount, and it was excruciating with every hack that stung her insides.

She also felt sooooooo tired. Gine was conscious again, but only barely. The adrenaline rush from the battle was gone, that rage boost had drained most of her energy, and what little she had left in her body was used for that final attack. And by now she had lost a lot of blood, her life force was dangerously low.

Still... what a way to go. Gine thought to herself.

A few more minutes passed, and as the full body pain subsided to a somewhat tolerable level, she rolled onto her right side. Gine struggled against the fatigue and agony with calm vigor to prop herself up, and wondered what she would do next...

Just then, Banno and Onio appeared off to the side, hovering just a few feet away.

She had entirely forgotten about them during her battle. But instead of feeling scared, Gine just regarded them curiously as if she had found a strange insect. It must have been from the blood loss.

They saw her, and their eyes nearly bulged with terror at seeing that she was still alive.

Gine couldn't fight them. She had no ki left in her, and lost so much blood, it was an effort to stay awake. She wouldn't stand a chance. But she still wasn't going to just lay down and die in front of them. No matter how much she thought she deserved a rest.

Using the last of her reserves of physical strength, she uncoiled her wobbly legs beneath her and propped up her upper body with her arm, trying to stand.

The fat brother Saiyans gasped. Then, when Gine was not even fully standing, Onio just turned around and sped away.

Both Gine and Banno stared at where Onio fled off to slack jawed. Such an action wasn't just cowardice, it was social suicide in Saiyan culture. They would never let him live it down for the rest of his life that he just up and ran.

Gine scoffed to herself. To think that she used to be afraid of them. But Banno remained, and looked back at Gine. He looked afraid of her, but contemplative.

All Gine could do was stare him down. Maybe she might win and scare him off too? But she started coughing. As she did, blood started dripping out of her mouth.

She didn't have much time left. But at least it didn't hurt to cough anymore. That itself however, worried her more. And as if on cue, her legs couldn't support her weight, and she fell to her knees. Her upper body fell forward, her back muscles too sore hold her upright as well.

Banno eyed her cautiously, and hopefully that she was indeed helpless.

Still determined to do something to at least scare him, Gine tried to raise her good arm as if to fire a blast at him. But her arm trembled and only budged an inch before it fell limply to the ground again. Her body had finally given out.

Well... shit. She though.

Banno half-laughed/half-cried in relief to himself. He would never admit that he was scared witless of what she could do, and that he was close to turning tail and running like his brother.

"Looks like this is the end of the line for ya, runt!" He mocked at her. Gine just stared at him blankly, feeling lethargy starting to overtake her.

There was nothing more she could do. Bleeding profusely and internally, broken with every drop of energy spent, and with no escape. In the end, she still lost...

Wait. No... not entirely beaten.

She killed Naga.

For the very first time in Gine's life, she took on someone much more powerful than herself. And she won! AND she ended up being far stronger than him even if it was for a brief moment. On top of besting him by using only her wits and training from Earth. Just as Kami and Popo and Kakarot said they could. She fought him like a true warrior, as Bardock would... She sorely wished he could see this. But she will see him soon, no doubt. And Raditz...

And as sad as it made her that she failed to save the Celnussians, her younger self was right that she at least tried to undo a wrong. And that was what mattered anyway...

Banno triumphantly lumbered up to her as if he owned the ground he walked on. It seemed like he got his wish afterall to finish Gine off. The fallen female Saiyan didn't react, and just sat there reminiscing in her final moments.

The words "worthless weakling" were words that had been used to define her by almost everyone she ever worked with throughout her life. In a way they were true. She was the weakest Saiyan born in a thousand years, and for that she amounted to nothing. Not on the battlefield and not a home, save for the one man who saw anything redeemable within her. But despite that companionship of passion, Bardock was a warrior first and foremost, and he saw that she was the epitome of outcasts.

And now she was going to die like one: executed like the defenseless inhabitants they were conquering.

But, she was okay with it.

She defeated Naga, made him hurt for the pain he caused, proved to everyone especially herself that she wasn't garbage. That she truly could improve, and defeat evil. Even if it was only once, but it felt damn good.

"Time to die, scum." Banno said coldly. He raised a hand to her face and to charge a ki blast. Her vision started to narrow into a dark tunnel. At least the pain didn't hurt anymore. She was also getting sleepy, and wondered curiously if she could bleed to death before he can kill her himself.

Gine looked up, trying to stay awake. Then something in the distance caught her eye.

Through the haze in her vision, she saw a contrail rising into the atmosphere. An attack pod, flying out of where they landed. It was too far for Onio to make it from here at his top speed.

She reached out with her senses, and tears of joy streaked down her cheeks as she felt Young Gine aboard it.

"Any last words?" Banno asked. A bright yellow sphere of deadly ki formed in his open palm. But Gine didn't pay him any mind. She watched as the attack pod cleared above the rings of Xai Celnussia IV, and disappeared in a flash as it rocketed away at lightspeed to freedom among the stars.

"Never give up..." She whispered.

"Huh?"

Gine chuckled, spitting up blood. "I said: Never give up."

Banno gave her a look of mixed emotions. He detested her for all that she was as a weakling, and for killing their commander as a traitor... but, she somehow defied all odds and beat him. He didn't know how or why, but he felt a flicker of respect for Gine. That she was going down fighting, even in her last moments her words embodied that warrior spirit. That was something any proud Saiyan could take with them to the grave, unlike himself who was briefly considering running away.

But that thought left him uncomfortable and he shook that feeling off.

"Whatever." He grunted out, as if to show that he disregarded what he heard. Gine didn't mind, and looked up at her executioner with a satisfied smirk.

It felt so weird that her life would end where a path for her was set after it begun. But she prevented her counterpart from committing an act that set her down a lifetime of nihilism and pain that was broken by a chance encounter with a man she may never had met unless she was so lucky. And from him, spawned two sons. One of which would have to go on to be the defender of the only planet she ever called home. And there was no one better for it.

As for Young Gine? Who knew, perhaps in this little pocket universe if it kept going without her, she may grow up to become just like Kakarot. Strong, brave, and a defender of what she believed. The possibilities for her were endless.

And Gine was happy. Her only regret was that she would never get to say goodbye to Kakarot. Her little boy that gave her a purpose in her new life, that made living worthwhile, and whom she will never get to watch grow up. But the important thing was that he will grow up.

Bardock... Raditz... Gohan... Then Kakarot's smiling face was the last thing that flashed through Son Gine's mind as Banno fired the blast at her.

Bright, blinding light enveloped her. She felt searing heat...

---

Gine screamed, her eyes opened with a jolt.

She found herself facing a white wall, hyperventilating. She wheeled around and gasped, seeing that she was standing in a round room of ticking grandfather clocks, a massive bronze pendulum swinging slowly in the middle of the space. It took her a moment to realize that this was the Pendulum Room on the Lookout, back on Earth.

What the? Her mind reeled. Didn't I just die?!

The memory of Banno vaporizing her was still fresh in her mind. As well as her last thoughts and physical sensations. She frantically checked over herself. Her arm was not broken, nor were her ribs. Feeling her whole body, she didn't have any injury she suffered at the hands of Naga. But she still remembered everything, including the pain.

Questions shot through her mind at a rapid fire rate. She was indeed alive. But how? Did she experience dying without actually dying for real? Was any of what she saw real?

The sound of the marble walls sliding open made her tense up, and spun around in her defensive stance.

"MOM!" A blur of orange and black ran up to her, wrapping himself around her waist.

"K-Kakarot?" She stuttered out, unable to believe her eyes.

Gine wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. It felt like she was really here back on Earth, in the present as if nothing had happened. But she was just on Xai Celnussia IV. Wasn't she?

Her son looked up at her with large, worried eyes. "Are you alright? Kami sensed that you were in there for a long time, and that you were killed!"

The feeling of her son hugging and Kami's name settled it for her that yes, she was indeed back at the Lookout and not dreaming.

At first, Gine just stood there in a state of shock, staring down at her son. She found herself mesmerized by his wild palm tree-esque hair, and the large innocent eyes that were the last thing she saw before Banno killed her...

Then, Gine dropped to her knees and clutched Kakarot with all of her might. She wept hard onto his shoulder.

"Oh, Kakarot! I love you so much!" She wailed.

Kakarot was as surprised at her outburst as he was worried at how much she was suffocating him with her iron grip.

"Uh, I love you too, Mom." He said nervously, trying to pull away her arms around his neck to ease the choking.

Through her sobs, Gine hiccupped out. "I thought I would never see you again!" She still didn't let go of him, and rocked them both back and forth.

Kakarot forgot his discomfort and immediately looked at his mother in grave concern. "W-what happened?"

Gine didn't answer for a few long moments, letting out all of her joy and sorrow at once.

"Mom, what happened?!" He asked again, shriller this time.

Gine shook her head, her cries subsiding. "Oh sweetheart..."

She let go of her son at last. Gine sniffled and wiped away her tears as she regarded Kakarot as if seeing him for the first time again.

"I..." she began but had trouble continuing. She didn't know where to start, or how to explain to her son what everything she felt on that strange experience meant to her.

"I was..." Gine tried again to say what she meant to, but still couldn't. Then she tried a third time...

"I was in a bad place from when I was very young. I saw so many bad things that I used to... be part of."

Kakarot looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, "You mean, the conquering stuff that Saiyans used to do for Frieza?" He said tactfully.

Gine nodded, then went on. "I saw myself back there..." She said in a distant voice, her eyes trailing to the clock she had originally fallen through into the past.

"From when I was just a little girl, fighting on a distant planet where I was forced to do something terrible..." She said with a shaky voice, trying not to get too emotional again in front of her son at the thought of the Celnussians. But her eyes moistened and her throat constricted.

Kakarot listened intently. He had never known his mother to talk openly and in detail of the things she had done in her life. He only heard bits and pieces from the occasional eavesdropping on her late night conversations with Grandpa Gohan.

But that tidbit of his mother being forced to do something like some slave made Kakarot's tail fray in anger. "Forced? By who?"

Gine looked at her son, and her sadness gave way to rage. "By an evil Saiyan, named Naga. He forced me to... to kill."

Kakarot inhaled sharply, then held his mother's hands and squeezed them as if protect her. The subtle action helped prevent her from crying, and Gine looked at her son gratefully. Then remembered something even better feeling than that.

"But I didn't do it this time. I fought him, and I beat him." She said with a smile.

Kakarot's face lit up. "Really? Wow! Was he really strong?"

Gine shook her head internally. No matter the harrowing journey for her own psyche, her son would always be drawn to how strong the enemy she fought was. But she grinned regardless, for it truly was an accomplishment. And it was so good to be back with the son she knew and loved.

"He was, actually. Almost five times as much as I was."

"What?!" The look of amazement that Kakarot always gave her for her strength was replaced with sheer incredulity. The idea that he could fight someone twice or three times as strong was extremely rare here on Earth, and the times he did he almost died. But five times...

He looked at his mother as if she was a mystical figure, his sense of awe in her totally renewed.

"Mom, that's amazing! How did you do it?!" He asked excitedly. Gine scratched the back of her head bashfully, the same way her son would.

"Well I... guess I got lucky. He didn't fight really well."

"But, how did you manage to beat him with that wide of a power gap?" He then asked.

Gine looked at her feet thoughtfully, she wasn't expecting that question. But Kakarot was thorough in studying martial arts, and wanted to learn all the answers.

She then looked back up at her son. "I did what Kami told me to do when we were meditating. I focused really hard, and I got angry. Then..."

She remembered the power of the rage flowing through her when she unleashed herself on Naga. How she viciously decimated him with every blow, and destroyed him in the end. And it was all from power hidden within her somewhere...

It was so alien to her that she was had such strenght, that she could use it to bring a world of pain to someone even stronger than herself. The efficacy of her attacks and the boost of power was so pronounced, it felt scary.

"And then what?" Kakarot asked, leading her to finish her story.

Gine looked serious at him. "I was able to harness the hidden power that Kami told me about."

"Whoa..." Kakarot gasped, then lept in a cheer. "Yeah! See? I told you that you could do it!"

Gine smiled to herself. Despite how unbelievable it was to herself that she had such incredible strenght, it felt good that she had proven to herself that she was not a worthless fighter after all.

"Yeah... I guess you're right, sweetheart." She said as she ruffled her son's hair happily.

"I'm glad to hear that too, Gine." Came Kami's voice. Gine looked over to see him standing at the entrance with Mr. Popo by his side.

She regarded Kami for a long moment, not moving or saying anything.

"Kami..." She said softly, tears falling down her eyes. Not just for the joy of being alive, or gratitude for the invaluable revelations he had shown her, but also out of fury. He put her through all that...

Kami could sense the emotional turmoil that Gine was in, and addressed her gently.

"I understand if you are angry at me, Gine. I neglected to tell you that death in your temporal vision would not actually mean you would perish in the real world. And for that, I sincerely apologize for putting you through such anguish without your consent." He bowed to her respectfully,.

The gesture seemed like a pitiful consolation to Gine, and she was half-tempted to throttle Kami for tricking her into such a traumatic experience. But her anger at the Namekian subsided when she thought of everything that happened, and what she had learned...

"But please know that I had to withhold the nature of your trial in order for you to see what you needed to see for yourself." He said as he entered the room, the clanking of his staff echoing throughout the room.

"It was a demonstration meant to show you that physical strength alone is not the universal measurement of worth in a warrior. That with just the training that you have received during your time here on Earth, your combat capabilities have far exceeded those of your former Saiyan comrades."

"Oh wow! That's amazing, Mom!" Kakarot said happily up to her.

Gine thought the first battle with Naga, how she outmaneuvered him at every turn. Then of their second battle which she beat him into the ground, and took on two other Saiyans. And finally she remembered their third fight, where she destroyed him...

"Yeah... I guess it was." She repeated to herself in as much amazement.

Who would have thought that the might of the Saiyan race could mostly have been doped by anyone who knew the basics of martial arts? She also thought of a morbidly curious idea that if every civilization the Saiyans conquered had fought like her and Kakarot, the Saiyans would have never taken over more than their own home planet. They truly were nothing but brutes. And that's not even including the matter of her hidden power...

The memory of her little argument with Kami from earlier resurfaced. How he kept telling her that she had a power she wasn't aware of, and how ridiculous she thought it was for Kami to say that meditation of all things would bring out something that came to her from rage.

Oh boy, was she proven wrong... "I should be thanking you, Kami." Said Gine. "For a lot of things today. But.. Most of all: for showing me that meditating is more than just sitting around with my eyes closed afterall."

Kami didn't laugh at the joke, but saw what she meant and appreciated that she had unlocked what he had already saw in her. "Ah, so you harnessed your rage with the meditation technique I taught you?"

"Yep." She nodded.

"Excellent." He smiled. "How did it work out for you?"

"It was..." Gine thought for a long moment. The feelings of invincibility, how she wanted to destroy Naga, and how the world around her faded were fresh in her mind as well. It was a taste of power that Gine didn't know how to describe...

"...overwhelming, I would say." Gine answered. It was as close as to what she felt about as she could get. In a way it was. She knew now for sure that she was not weak at all. More than that, she had a power that was so fierce and violent that it was terrifying to think of. Like, what if she lost herself to it entirely? Like she almost did against her own son when she got angry at Baba?

Kami hummed in understanding. "I see... Well it does bring out the raw power from any sentient being who concentrates it from anger. And you Gine, have a tremendous amount of power lying dormant within you. This trial was also to show that you are far stronger than you realize, and that you can tap into that power when you channeled your rage."

"Now that you grasped how it works, I could teach you how to refine it safely with enough practice and discipline. With it, you would be a force to be reckoned with." He offered.

She stood there speechless. For someone like her to experience firsthand going from a weakling to an unstoppable force was damn near impossible to wrap her head around. The fact that she defeated Naga at all was still unbelievable to her. Now with Kami's offer to keep up her training to help her bring out that power, to make her stronger than ever before and to a level she couldn't imagine, it was unthinkable. Gine wondered if she could even handle that power, not being used to having it her whole life.

But, as she has learned over and over again, the world was full of surprises. If she could have the strength and patience to giving meditation training a chance, who knew what she could accomplish... the strength to never feel powerless again, she thought.

A smile spread across her face. "I think I would like that very much."

"Alright, Mom! Now we can get some real training in!"

"Looks like it, son." Gine replied.

"Wow, I still can't get over it. You took on three much more powerful Saiyans when you just got angry!" Kakarot exclaimed. "Guess, I'm gonna have to watch out if you ever get mad at me again!"

She laughed heartedly with him at his little joke.

"I just wish I was there with Kami to see it!" Her son mentioned.

Gine suddenly looked to Kami. "Wait, you saw everything?!"

"Just me and Mr. Popo. Kakarot here, was barred from the viewing glass since only myself can witness my student's spirit journey to evaluate their progress." The Namekian acknowledged.

She was about to speak in indignant protest over how they could just watch her go through so much personal torment...

"You were safe, Gine." He said reassuringly, sensing her unease. "Again, I'm sorry that I had put you in that position to face something that was very personal to you. But as a teacher of martial arts and a Guardian, sometimes a student must confront things that weigh their souls down the most if they are to master themselves."

Gine still felt angry, but didn't say anything more. Kami was right, he was a teacher to afterall, and was evaluating her as he would any other student. And she couldn't be too mad, she didn't really get killed. It was nothing more than a simulation, not unlike some training facilities planet Vegeta used to have...

"Yeah... I guess you're right about that." She conceded. "But I lost the fight thought." Gine reluctantly said, even if she thought that they already knew. She wondered if she failed the whole trial for that little detail.

"Whether you defeated all of the Saiyans or not was not the goal of your quest. It was a test of the spirit to show your true strength, and you showed incredible bravery against impossible odds in your battle against the Saiyans." Kami said genuinely.

Gine looked up the Guardian of the Earth incredulously. "I did?"

He nodded. "That's right. You stood up against Naga even when you knew he was far stronger than you, because you would not let him slaughter the defenseless inhabitants. You protected them even when you were cornered, you faced death without fear, and even sacrificed yourself to allow your past counterpart to escape. You have shown that you have true strength by not giving up."

Kakarot felt pride swell up within his heart after hearing how selflessly his mother fought, and Gine felt a great sense of humility wash over her.

"You fought with all your heart for what you believed in was right: to never give up on protecting those you cared about. That, is one's true strength." Said Kami.

Tears came to Gine's eyes. "Thank you." She whispered. The Guardian regarded her with a great amount of respect.

"I still hope you can forgive me for omitting that you couldn't die. I didn't mean to frighten you so much, though it wouldn't be much of a learning experience if there wasn't any real danger." He said, breaking the moment.

Gine chuckled lightly. "No, I suppose not."

She then thought of something. "Say, Kami, everything that happened back there was all part of a vision, right? That it would have ended as soon as I was out of it?"

"Correct." Said Kami.

"Oh. I see." Gine said distantly. Her thoughts drifted back to her younger self, how she saw her escaping Xai Celnussia IV on the attack pod...

"Why? You want to know what would have happened if your counterpart in that vision lived on?" He asked out of the blue.

Gine was taken aback on how he could guess what she was thinking, but nodded.

Kami walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The vision is only temporary as long as you were inside of it. But if it played out long enough, she would have found her way to Earth, sought out the martial arts masters of this world, and become stronger as she promised to..."

A rush of emotions filled Gine's heart. Even if that version of Young Gine wasn't real, a tiny part of her wished that she was. She was the Gine that she could have been if she lived a life without experiencing things that no child should ever have to witness. Free from fear and oppression, to live as she pleased, and grew stronger than she could ever dream of...

"You can get stronger too, Gine." Kami said to her. "That version of you and the you right here are one and the same. You both have the same potential and willpower to train and become the greatest martial artists in existence. And you can become strong, just like her..."

A tear came to her eye. For the longest time, she had never believed she would hear those words directed at her truthfully. And she wouldn't have believed them even if they were truthful...

But not this time.

The transformative experience within her vision, everything against the Saiyan caste system finally setting in, and finally having seen the proof of her hidden strength, something shifted inside Gine. Like a river flowing uphill, her perspective of her place in the world was now changed forever.

She was not just the Saiyan woman born with the lowest power level before her second son. She had the potential to be much, much more...

Everyone has the potential to be great if they set their minds to it. Gohan's words went through her mind.

It finally dawned on her that she had never truly appreciated his advise. That she had the power all along to mold herself into something better, to become the best fighter she could be. But she couldn't see it since the doubts inflicted upon her over the years held her back, that Saiyan society dictated her destiny for her. And because of it, she was too scared to even try to learn and grow...

Not anymore. Now she was free from those self-imposed shackles. She can grow, train with her master and her son.

She can get stronger.

"I will." Gine said with absoluteness.

Kakarot hugged her leg, and looked at her with a rare glimpse of mutual understanding. She now understood that look of his. It was his eagerness for a good fight and challenge up ahead. Now she was feeling it too... Her Saiyan blood was now flowing.

"Well, for starters, would you feel up to giving meditation another try?" Kami offered.

Gine turned to him enthusiastically. "Sure thing!"

Kami smiled widely. "Very well then."

A loud grumble filled the Pendulum Room, startling everyone except Gine who turned red with embarrassment.

"Uh, how about we eat first?" She asked shyly. Everyone laughed at that, and agreed.

They all filed out of the Pendulum Room, on the way outside Gine scooped up Kakarot and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.

Just before she left the room, Gine took one last glimpse of the clock she had fallen through. And she thought of her younger self...

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are weak. You are strong, and you CAN get stronger if you train hard and never, ever give up. Will you do that for me?"

I promise, she mentally said to herself before exiting down the hall.

...

After a hearty meal together, mother and son resumed their training again. They spent the remainder of the day with Kami, learning the power of meditation and energy channeling. They still made little progress, but Gine was fine with that. They had three years to master this.

She cried hard later that night, reliving the events of the Pendulum Room in her dreams. But her crying was not in sorrow for all of her regrets anymore, but in joy. Joy that Gine felt for being truly free for the first time in her life.

Despite how difficult it was, Gine thanked Kami for putting her in that room. For in such a short period of time it changed everything she believed in.

Hard work and willpower was what really mattered, not strength and destiny... That she can forgive herself for the things she has done... And that no matter what, no matter the obstacles, she will never give up, nor stop fighting for what was right, or stop bettering herself.

And she resolved to do just that.

From that day forward, Gine was not the same person as she was before she entered that round room of clocks. Now, she was a Saiyan woman who was fully dedicated to learn everything each of the inhabitants of the Lookout had to offer, and to become stronger than ever before.

She trained herself hard and pushed her son to his limits in every sparring match they had. She was far stronger than he was, but she had a lot to learn from him. So he taught her the finer points of advanced combat and special techniques, and she in return fought him to near death to make him stronger.

Kakarot himself was used to his mother's overprotectiveness that grew ever since he first left home with Bulma, and had no issue with the extra attentiveness she had for him after her spirit quest. In fact, he welcomed it. For he knew his mother was different now... someone who wanted a good fight as much as he did. He had never been happier, and neither had she.

...

Mother and son squared off with each other on the tiled grounds of the Lookout. Both of their gis were tattered and both combatants were badly bruised, but neither of them were concerned. They were just warming up, and had a spring in their respective fighting stances.

"Are you ready, Mom?" Kakarot asked excitedly. He was getting taller every day, his adult growth spurt in full effect. It won't be long until he was taller than her, and as strong.

Gine knew this, but was counting on it. Soon she will have a real challenge in fighting him, one she had been aching for her.

She grinned at her son with a smirk, having never been more excited for a fight in her life."You betchya, son! Now show me what you got!"

Gine and Kakarot charged at each other and clashed with a force that shook the grounds. The two Saiyans engaged in battle above the clouds, day in and day out, waiting for the next stage of training from Kami...

---

A/N: There we go! A complete emotional journey for Gine! Having faced the past so she can acknowledge what she is, and can go forward to build a future! Next chapter is a time jump forward, so yay!

Sorry that it was a brick, and that the training seemed to take a while especially since the Pendulum Room was from a filler episode, but I saw it as an opportunity for some character building. And I hope it pays off, since it could have more ramifications further down the timeline.

Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement and your truthful reviews about my work, be it appraising or critical. It helped me see how my story is doing and how I could make changes if I needed to. And for that, thank you so much!

See you in the next chapter!