(Goku and Chi Chi's house, afternoon)
Inside the tent, the meditating warriors all woke up at once. Videl rose to her feet and immediately ran to her daughter, while Goku, Vegeta and Tien reacted more slowly, clearly in pain. The watchful Dende began healing them, starting with Tien.
Chi Chi and Goten surrounded Goku, their hugs almost forcing the laughing saiyan back to the ground. "Everything's alright now, guys. I can feel Gohan sleeping peacefully out there, he stopped powering up."
Bulma approached Vegeta and waved her finger at him. "Next time you decide to push a living bomb out into space, make sure you do it right!" Reacting to Vegeta's puzzled frown, she quickly explained what happened while they were meditating. Moments later she was joined by Trunks, who left Goten's room inside the house and came over to the tent along with Mai, Shu and Pilaf.
Chaotzu hovered next to Tien while he was being healed by Dende. "Tien! Are you alright?"
Tien smiled at his friend. "Just perfect now. Thanks, Dende."
Dende nodded. "Happy to help. But how is Gohan?
"I don't know exactly," Tien said. "The mental contact was severed, that probably means Gohan got back in control and forced us out." He reached out with his ki sense, locating Piccolo high above them. "Strange, it looks like Piccolo is right next to... is that Buu?"
Goku, Vegeta and Tien looked up suddenly. "The namekian's energy is dropping, but slowly" said Vegeta, "is he fighting Buu?"
"Let's go see," said Goku, "I don't think they're fighting." Now healed, Goku exited the tent rose into the air. "Be right back, everyone!" Vegeta, Tien and Krillin followed Goku, and the four vanished from sight. A few moments later the robotic version of Goku flew up after them, ordered to do so by Bulma.
(Upper atmosphere)
Majin Buu's global barrier was beginning to crack. Gohan's power was increasing steadily, and the load on Buu's force field increased along with it. Down below, people who were looking anxiously at the green sky could see jagged scars spreading across the horizon.
Then Buu sensed Piccolo regaining consciousness below him, and followed the namekian's path as he came closer.
The curious Piccolo reached Buu after a few moments of flight. "Buu?" Piccolo was stunned by Buu's new form. "Is that you? What happened?"
"Gohan's power increased too much." Buu kept looking out into space as he answered. "I had to absorb Seventeen so I could use his barrier to protect the planet."
"I... I see." The namekian was caught off guard by Buu's new way of speaking. "Do you need help? I can see your barrier beginning to fail."
"Sure, I could use more energy."
"Very well. Here." Piccolo extended his arm toward the slender majin and began transferring his energy, causing a softly glowing beam of light to appear between the two. "It should be fine in a few minutes anyway, Gohan is still unconscious but back in control. We just need to deflect the energy he already released."
Soon after they were joined by Goku, Vegeta, Tien and Krillin. Initially surprised by Buu's new appearance, they quickly joined Piccolo in transferring their ki to the majin. The cracks in Buu's barrier became smaller and smaller, eventually vanishing completely. A few minutes later the last vestiges of Gohan's fury were spent, and the danger to Earth had passed.
(The King's office, afternoon)
The king and his assistant were waiting to hear from the royal observatory, the young man pacing nervously while the much older king relaxed in his comfortable chair.
The king was just about to note that they were still alive, so the assistant could relax a little and stop that annoying pacing, but then the telephone rang.
The king immediately picked up the phone. "Yes? Yes... I see... Oh, that's a shame. Well, thank you, please send me a detailed incident report by tomorrow. Goodbye." He ended the call, leaned back in his chair and sighed.
"My lord?" asked the frightened assistant after a few moments.
"Yes? Oh. Everything is fine now. We lost contact with half of our satellites out in space, but the temperatures are dropping back to normal and it looks like that new sun vanished."
The assistant breathed out in relief, and a few moments later the king continued. "You know, I had my doubts about Mr. Satan. He's always so bombastic, and he makes so much money it's difficult not to be at least a little bit suspicious. But all that is in the past, consider me a true believer now."
The king stood up, walked to the office window and looked out at the capital city. "The man is clearly the greatest hero in Earth's history. I should never have doubted him."
(Mental landscape, unknown time)
Gohan found himself standing in a strange place. Above him towered a gigantic tree, casting its shadow on the entire area. Gohan stood between two massive roots that led to the main trunk, and a hooded figure sat a short distance away from him.
"Am... am I dreaming?" Gohan thought to himself, "this looks like supreme kai's planet, but I have never seen this tree."
"Err... hello?" Gohan addressed the hooded figure, who didn't answer. Gohan sighed and started walking closer. When he was just a few feet away, the figure took down its hood and stood up, looking at Gohan with a serene expression.
Gohan took a step back, completely surprised. "You... you're me?!"
The other shook his head. "No, I am merely a shard."
"A shard?" asked the confused Gohan. "Can you tell me what is going on?"
"Of course," the other answered calmly and nodded, "you need only ask. I will tell you everything I know."
"Okay," said Gohan. "Let's start with the obvious, who are you?"
"I..." the other stopped speaking and tilted his head. "My name is long forgotten. I am... I was... the master tender of the kaiju grove," he raised his left hand and pointed up, "the divine trees of which all gods are born."
"The kaiju grove..." Gohan murmured, "I remember studying legends about divine trees. Why would I be dreaming about them now?"
"This is not a dream, young one," the figure stated calmly.
Gohan sighed. He concentrated and tried to wake up, but nothing happened. "Huh, this usually works when I know I'm dreaming."
"We are both inside your mind, in a deeply locked facet of your consciousness, but I assure you this is no dream."
Gohan had no choice but to humor his strange twin, at least for the moment. "Alright, let's see where this goes. So why are you here, exactly?"
"I am here because you have awakened me. Until now I was merely a shard of consciousness embedded deep within you, but your recent actions caused me to stir from my slumber."
The surprised Gohan continued with his questions. "Embedded? When did this embedding happen?"
"It happened long before you were born. You see, a long time ago I decided to leave my post in the high realms and live my life as a mortal. I had sons and daughters, grew old and eventually died, but each of my descendants carried a tiny shard of me inside them."
"Why would a god do something like that?" Gohan asked, curious. Even if this was a dream, it was still a pretty good story. He was proud that his subconscious mind could come up with something as complex as this.
The figure remained silent for a few moments, and for the first time his expression changed from serene to serious. "Long before my time, the god of destruction had gone insane. He routinely slaughtered innocent mortals by the billions, without giving it a second thought. The grand supreme kai at the time was powerless to stop him, and the rest of the supreme kais didn't consider it a problem. I had no way to affect the actions of the gods, for even a master tender is lower in rank than one of the kais."
The stranger stopped for a few moments, as if gathering his thoughts. "And then everything changed. During one of the destroyer's long sleeping spells, a new threat arose. The wizard Bibidy created Majin Buu, a terrifying creature that threatened all of creation, even the gods themselves."
His tone became angry and bitter. "Dozens of my own people, the shinjin, were murdered by the brutish monster, but the supreme kais chose to interfere only when it began threatening them. One by one they were destroyed, even the grand supreme kai himself, until the last of them managed to seal the beast away. I... my grief overpowered me, and dark thoughts began clouding my mind. The serenity of the divine grove could not drive those thoughts away, until eventually I came to the realization that something must change. Things cannot go on as they did. The gods... we... we failed the lower realms. We were supposed to create and guide, but we didn't. We just existed, we engaged in all sorts of games and amused ourselves with competitions and tournaments. Even I was guilty of this, as I spent so many years researching the kaiju trees when I could have done more. The supreme kais were barely able to stop a mortal wizard, and they didn't even consider opposing Beerus himself."
"Wait," asked Gohan "that insane god of destruction you were talking about, his name was Beerus?" This information mirrored his own opinion about the catlike god, but it was still surprising to see it expressed by another.
"Yes," replied the stranger, "the same god of destruction you have encountered."
"Okay, so what happened next?"
The stranger lowered his eyes. "I... I did something shameful. You see, I am one of the shinjin, the race of gods who oversee the universe. When one of us dies, even a kai or a supreme kai, his soul eventually returns to the kaiju trees and is reborn out of the tree fruits. Most fruits are red, giving birth to common shinjin like I was. Kais, like the North Kai who trained your father and friends, are shinjin who were chosen for the position. It is the highest rank a normal shinjin can achieve. But very rarely a golden fruit appears, and out of those fruits are born the supreme kais themselves, the most powerful and exalted members of our race."
Gohan reflected on how much this story drew from the ancient legends of various cultures. It was as if his unconscious mind decided to pick various elements of legend and construct a new one that was a mixture of them all. "This is pretty elaborate for a dream," he said.
The other sighed. "I told you, this is not a dream."
"I'm sorry," Gohan said, "please continue." The fact that he was dreaming didn't allow him to be impolite to people.
The other nodded. "Very well. It was then that I decided to steal all the golden kaiju fruits. I took them and escaped to the lower realms, and no one noticed. My people were so oblivious, so deeply ensnared by their habits and petty issues, that they never even noticed the fruits were gone."
Gohan was confused. "Wait, why did you take the golden fruits? How would new supreme kais be born?"
"They wouldn't," said the stranger, his voice now cold and determined. "The cycle of reincarnation and chaotic destruction had to stop, and I decided that the only way to do that was to infuse the races of mortals with a sliver of divine power. If my plan worked, the combination of divine power and mortal drive would eventually produce beings able to resist even Beerus. Using my knowledge of the trees, I absorbed the power from the fruits, renounced my divinity and became fully mortal. I then implanted a shard of myself into the essence that I passed on to my children."
"Your DNA..." murmured Gohan.
"Dee-en-aay?" asked the figure. "Ah, that is how your scholars refer to the physical aspect of the essence. Since I chose a planet in the north galaxy as my new home, my children eventually spread across that galaxy. Over time, many of the races there became more powerful, and more similar to the shinjin. Not all, of course, some were too alien, but some of them did."
"Well, this story sounds completely crazy, but it answers two question," said Gohan. "I always wondered why all of the most powerful beings in the universe seemed to live in the north galaxy. And another puzzle was why saiyans and humans could even reproduce. Turns out it's because they have a common ancestor."
The stranger nodded. "Saiyans are magnificent creatures, with their immense power and potential for improvement. However, they are stunted by their savage nature and craving for battle. Humans, on the other hand, are capable of great acts of heroism while lacking in power." He paused for a few moments. "Do you believe me now, Gohan?"
"I still have a few questions." Gohan's tone grew more serious. "Did you manipulate people behind the scenes all these years? Did my choices actually matter, or was it you the entire time?"
The nameless stranger shook his head. "No, I didn't manipulate anyone. The shards of my consciousness were set to awaken under certain conditions, and before my awakening I was just a few bits of dormant essence. Your actions and your choices were your own, always. This applies to your father, your friends and all other mortals who carry my shard. The very idea of manipulating mortals that way is abhorrent to all shinjin."
"But wasn't your plan another form of manipulating mortals?"
"Yes, it was," the stranger answered in sad tone. "I chose to sacrifice my divine status and become a mortal myself just to enact this plan. Our unwillingness to interfere with mortals is part of the reason for all the senseless death and destruction in the universe. I had to do something, but I didn't want to openly interfere and... direct mental control was out of the question." Gohan's nameless twin shuddered as he said the words "direct mental control", and continued. "I did what I did, hoping that one day a mortal would rise to challenge the gods before everything was destroyed."
Gohan processed all this, no longer confident that this was a dream. "You said there were conditions," he said after a few moments. "What were they?"
"The first condition is power," answered the stranger. "The mortal had to be powerful enough to challenge Beerus. Not necessarily more powerful, but on a similar level."
"What about dad and Vegeta, then?" asked Gohan.
"This brings me to the second condition, which is intent. The mortal had to be driven by a need to protect innocents and prevent injustice. Your father and Vegeta are driven by a lust for battle that few in the universe possess, and their drive to protect is mostly limited to their own loved ones. No, I hoped for a mortal who would feel the injustice deep in his or her heart, and would be driven to act to prevent it."
Gohan remained silent. The stranger looked at the half-saiyan in silence while Gohan considered his next words.
"What happens now?" he asked after a long while. "What does this revelation change?"
The stranger smiled. "Nothing changes as far as your plan is concerned, your mind is still your own and your body remains that a of saiyan-human hybrid. Your soul, however, or spirit, is now that of a supreme kai."
Gohan's eyes opened in surprise. "What? What does that mean, exactly?"
"Your spiritual ascension doesn't affect your strength or any physical aspects of your being. However, you now possess the status and authority of the supreme kais slain by Majin Buu, and the intrinsic power to oppose destruction. When your ascension is complete, you will gain the power of creation."
Gohan took a few steps back and shook his head. "This is getting too wild. I'm really sorry, but I'm pretty sure this is a dream. How do I wake up?"
The stranger sighed again, but looked at Gohan and smiled. "If this is a dream then you have nothing to worry about, don't you? Just continue on your path. And if you find a new power that you have trouble controlling, look for a kai or a supreme kai to train you."
The shadows under the tree became deeper, as if night was falling. It became harder and harder to see, and the stranger's voice became muted and distant.
"The dream is over?" Gohan asked while looking around at the fading scenery. "Wait! What about you? I have so many questions!"
The stranger slowly faded from sight, his voice reduced to a whisper. "I'm sorry, Gohan, my time is over. I did all I could, and my consciousness is fading into your soul along with the essence of the golden fruits. The responsibility is now yours, not because I passed it to you, but because you chose to make it your destiny on your own."
With a final, barely audible "farewell," the nameless stranger vanished and everything went dark.
(Earth, upper atmosphere)
The danger was over. Majin Buu no longer felt any load on his barriers, and slowly lowered his arms. The barrier began contracting again, growing smaller and smaller until it became a small sheet of energy just above Buu's head, and then vanished completely.
At the same moment, before anyone could say anything, Goku and Vegeta looked up in surprise.
"Kakarot, what is that?" Vegeta asked. He felt Gohan's ki change in a strange way, as if he was a completely different person. He could still recognize Gohan somehow, but the sensation was both bizarre and familiar.
"Huh?" Krillin interfered, "What's wrong?"
"Err, I don't know," Goku answered while scratching the back of his head. "I should go see if Gohan is alright." Goku changed into his blue form, took a few deep breaths, closed his mouth and vanished.
(Deep space)
Goku appeared in the void, surrounded by the faraway stars. His flaming blue aura protected him from the hazards of deep space, but his air supply was limited. He could stay here only for a few minutes.
Gohan was hurtling through space at an incredible speed, but much slower than the initial speed of Vegeta's telekinetic push. After a few seconds of adjusting his own velocity and trajectory, Goku managed to match Gohan's path and approach his son.
He could see Gohan stirring in his sleep, about to wake up. The young man must have transformed while in his enraged state, then transformed back. His aura was fading slowly, but it was still visible for a few moments – and Goku was shocked to see it was no longer Gohan's usual aura of white ki, nor one of the usual colors of a super saiyan aura.
Gohan's vanishing aura was a deep shade of pink closer to his body, fading into a dark red outline. It was the same aura that surrounded Goku Black, the mark of Super Saiyan Rosé.
