(Deep space)
Gohan flew through the void, moving far faster than the speed of light. Distant stars seemed to fly past him in the other direction, becoming rainbow-colored beams of light all across his field of vision. At first Gohan's scientific mind was puzzled by the pretty light show, but he quickly realized his sight was now enhanced by divine ki, and that ki allowed him to perceive the universe even after overcoming some of its natural laws. He could even see colorful sparks ignite around and behind him, leaving a blue-green trail of light created by the interaction between his divine ki aura, random particles in space and the magical energies of Shenron's power.
After a few minutes of flying the entire view became captivating, almost hypnotically beautiful. It was completely quiet out here, and the strangely comfortable sensation of outer space combined with the shifting star-scape to create a truly unique experience. Gohan allowed himself a few minutes to simply enjoy it all, and then his mind turned to more serious matters.
Even with his newly enhanced senses he found it difficult to locate his target. He had to fly away deep into interstellar space, where the empty void was completely free of distractions. Gohan stopped there to meditate and stretch his perception, and after a few minutes his efforts were successful - the ki he was looking for was there, tens of thousands of light years away. Gohan immediately understood why it was initially so difficult to find – the task could be compared to looking for a candle in a brightly lit area at high noon.
Inside a dense cluster of stars lay a solar system with three suns. Two of the suns were gigantic spheres, dwarfing Earth's own sun by several orders of magnitude. These two titans orbited each other like a pair of dancers, and a third, smaller sun orbited the first two at a much greater distance. Three planets orbited the smaller third sun, one of which was the world Gohan was looking for. It was a peaceful world covered in plains of blue grass and green oceans, and among its strange spires of rock Gohan could sense the calm, strong ki of the namekian race.
His white aura flared around him, and Gohan sped away towards New Namek. It took him a few minutes of effortless flight to leave Earth's solar system and reach his current location, but this time the distances were too great and even at his great speed he hardly seemed to be making any progress. It was time to test Shenron's power to the fullest. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster as he got used to the feeling, Gohan began to push past the limits of the dragon's granted power, continuously burning some of his own ki to increase his speed.
The effect was dramatic. His speed increased exponentially with the additional ki, and the universe began to shift and change. The faster he flew, the smaller his field of vision became, as if the entire universe was contained in a narrowing tunnel of reality through which he was flying. The walls of the tunnel, above, below and to the sides, were a strange empty space of total nothingness, not even the darkness of space. The two ends of the tunnel, in front of Gohan and behind him, contained the entire universe. This bizarre warping of his senses made it almost impossible to focus on anything else other than his intended target. It was a side effect of accelerating Shenron's space flight that was completely unexpected, but Gohan realized he didn't have enough time to get used to it or try to overcome it. There was nothing to do but fly forward.
It took about three hours to reach New Namek even at Gohan's ridiculous speed. When he slowed down at the limits of the planet's atmosphere Gohan felt slightly winded. He stopped for a few moments to catch his breath, as it were, when another aspect of Shenron's survival ability made itself clear – Gohan could survive in space, but his stamina returned at a much slower rate. Shenron's magic sustained him, but Gohan couldn't regain ki at the same speed while resting in the void.
(New Namek, Elder Moori's village)
The villagers were tending their expanding grove of Ajisa trees when the stranger landed down in the middle of the village. Many of them identified the young man's orange outfit, but he was otherwise unfamiliar. They couldn't sense his ki at all, which the perceptive namekians found unsettling.
A young, relatively short namekian wearing a plain, brown robe approached the stranger, who bowed in respect. The namekian, slightly surprised but appreciating the young man's polite demeanor, returned the bow.
"Greetings, stranger. Can we help you?"
"Hello. Yes, I'm looking for Elder Moori," the man said. "Can you take me to him?"
"Forgive me, but I have to ask, why do you need to see Elder Moori?"
"Well..." the stranger hesitated, "I wanted to ask him to use the dragon balls. I need to summon Porunga."
The namekian was surprised the stranger knew the revered dragon's name. "Oh, well... I see no reason not to take you to him. Please, follow me."
It took a few minutes to reach Moori's house, its white, shell-like dome slightly larger than the other houses in the village. The stranger looked around, smiling.
"It looks like your people are prospering here, I'm happy for you."
"Oh?" the namekian was curious now, "you know of our people's past? Were you one of the earthlings who came to Namek before?"
The stranger nodded. "Yes, I'm Gohan, son of Goku. Dende and Piccolo are good friends of mine back on Earth."
The flustered namekian couldn't speak for a few moments. "Well, why didn't you reveal your identity earlier!" He immediately went into the tent and returned a few moments later with a surprised Elder Moori in tow. The older, heavier namekian smiled when he saw Gohan, who bowed again in respect. Moori inspected the young man for a few moments before speaking.
"Gohan, it's good to see you again. You have grown and changed in many ways, it seems. Why have you come to our little village?"
"It's good to see you too, Elder," Gohan smiled. "I wanted to ask you to use the dragon balls."
"Hmm..." the elder hesitated, but then nodded. "Your father and you are counted as heroes among our people, and I don't sense any malice from you. Tell me, Gohan, what do you intend to wish for?"
"Well," Gohan looked slightly uncomfortable, "I'm afraid my wish might sound selfish, but I promise you it's for a good cause. I need to be able to travel between our universe and otherworld, the realms of the gods."
Moori was silent for a while, considering Gohan's request. "Strange... tell me, why have you not asked your father to teach you his traveling technique? When he came to us to ask for a new guardian, I could sense him appear from otherworld using his own ki. Did anything happen to him?"
Gohan shook his head. "I actually tried learning it, but it was too... alien, I guess. My dad's mind is unique. He may not be the smartest person around, but he can master strange techniques relatively easily even if saiyans normally can't use them." Gohan hesitated, slightly embarrassed, and added "and he's not exactly the best teacher..."
Moori sighed. "Your wish seems inappropriate, mortals are not meant to travel freely to the other side. However, considering your family's great deeds, I will grant your request." He looked around, then back at Gohan. "Please allow us a few hours to gather the dragon balls."
Gohan nodded. The elder called a few other namekians and sent them to gather the dragon balls, while Gohan flew into the wilderness to hunt and rest. A few hours later he felt the namekians gather in one place and returned to the village, feeling fully restored.
The elder and the rest of the villagers were waiting for him outside Moori's house. The huge, gleaming dragon balls lay on the ground, each glowing in the presence of the others.
The gathered namekians took a few steps back so that only Gohan and Elder Moori remained near the dragon balls. "Are you ready, Gohan?" asked Moori.
"I am, elder," Gohan nodded.
"Very well, let us begin." The elder raised his voice and said "takkaraputo popurunga pupirittoparo!"
The wind picked up as the dragon balls began to shine, and the sky turned black all around the world. With a powerful flash of light and a thundering roar, the massive form of Porunga rose out of the seven shining orbs and settled in the sky. Gohan could follow the process with his enhanced senses, and he was surprised to sense just a tiny touch of god ki flow from the dragon balls and into the gigantic dragon itself. Is Shenron the same, or is it a unique quality of the namekian dragon? Gohan didn't know, and there was no more time to ponder the issue.
Strangely, instead of speaking in Namekian, Porunga looked at Gohan for a few moments and spoke in the common language.
"Speak your wishes, young god, and I will grant any three requests that are within my power," Porunga's powerful, deep voice caused the entire area to shake.
Reacting to the dragon's words, all the namekians stared at Gohan in complete surprise. Even the usually calm and collected Moori was shaken. Since the dragon addressed him personally, Gohan answered Porunga directly without referring to Moori, but he did look at the surprised elder apologetically.
"Thank you, Porunga." Gohan considered his words carefully. "I want the power to travel freely between our universe and the realms of the gods. Is that possible?"
The dragon paused for a few tense moments, and eventually answered. "No, I cannot grant you free travel between the realms." Elder Moori opened his mouth to speak after Porunga's refusal, but once again the dragon spoke first.
"However," Porunga said, "I can grant you the power to move between any point in the universe and the place of judgment, where the judge of the dead rules. From there you can find your own way or return to the place that you came from."
Gohan considered this for a moment, and almost immediately nodded. "That would be great, thank you." He wondered if the place of judgment was King Yemma's palace or some other location, but with his increased speed he didn't think it would make a difference.
"Very well," the dragon continued, "your wish is granted!" After a few moments, Gohan started feeling a strange pull on his ki sense, as if a source of god ki appeared right next to him. He turned around instinctively to look at the new ki source, but there was nothing there. It also moved around as he reached with his sense, much like a mote floating inside one's eye. Gohan understood this was some kind of manifestation caused by his wish, but didn't know how to interpret it just yet.
"Speak your second and third wishes," the massive dragon continued, his thundering voice forcing Gohan to focus. "I will grant any request that is within my power."
"Thank you," said Gohan. "I wish to be able to travel to other universes," he said simply. This part was a glaring unknown in his plan, but he had to try.
"That wish is beyond my power," the dragon answered almost immediately. "Only the most powerful of the gods have that ability."
Gohan was disappointed, but tried not to show it. "I see, thank you. May I have some time to consider my second wish?"
"Yes," said Porunga, "I will wait for as long as I can, young god."
Most of the namekians left slowly as Gohan considered his next move, until he, Moori and a few others were the only ones who remained next to the dragon balls.
"I can see you're unsure," said Moori. "Perhaps I can help you with anything?"
"I don't know," said Gohan. "To be honest, I planned to give the second and third wishes to you and your people, but now I'm not sure. Maybe there's another wish that could make a difference."
"Tell me," said Moori with some awkwardness, "why did the dragon refer to you as 'young god'?"
Gohan scratched the back of his head. "Well, I've gone through a ritual my saiyan heritage allows me to do, and it gave me the power of a god."
"The power of a god..." murmured Moori in surprise. "And what are you going to do next?"
"I'm going after someone very evil and very powerful," said Gohan. "but if I tell you more it may endanger you and your people. It's best if you do not become involved more than you already have."
"I see," nodded the aging namekian. "And what will you do after you defeat this mysterious enemy?"
Gohan smiled sadly. "Go after even worse enemies."
Moori shook his had. "You're on a path to war, this is not a fate I would wish for the son of Goku. I know you have a warrior's spirit and I mean no disrespect, but what if you simply stopped and went back home? Are you facing an immediate threat right now? You don't seem to be in a hurry."
Gohan shook his head. "I can't stop. You didn't see what I saw, Elder Moori. My mind is made up." He thought about the namekian warriors from universe six, the ones he and Piccolo faced in the tournament. Although the universes were brought back, those other namekians who chose to fuse with their warrior brothers will never return to life. But Moori can't know any of that. This new world is untouched by war and sorrow and Gohan wanted it to remain that way.
Gohan thought about other wishes he could make to gain more power. He had gone over the possibilities in the past, but always came to the same conclusion after considering the implications. He could ask for fast regeneration, eternal youth, speedy stamina recovery and much more, but these wishes interfered with his natural abilities too much. It was part of the reason why Vegeta had stopped pursuing immortality, there was something about the natural abilities of saiyans that seemed... right, something that shouldn't be tampered with.
These wishes for personal power made him rely on their magic and grow even farther away from his heritage, possibly preventing him from tapping any more of his hidden potential. He could ask the dragon for an increasingly more complex series of wishes and avoid all negative implications through precise wording, only to have some unknown wizard or angel dispel them, and reduce him back to the level of a weakling as he struggled to cope with the magic's loss. No. He had done enough to himself through Shenron's wishes, that will have to be enough.
"Great dragon," Gohan said with determination, "I leave the next wishes to Elder Moori. Thank you for your help." The young half-saiyan bowed in respect.
"Very well," boomed Porunga.
"Are you sure, Gohan?" asked Moori.
"Yes, thank you, elder," said Gohan.
"We owe your family a great debt, child," said Moori. "the namekian people will always be your allies."
Gohan nodded and looked up at the sky. "I have to go now, Elder."
Moori nodded, "just one last thing. How is Dende? Everyone here misses him."
"He's doing a great job as a Guardian, and Piccolo spends most of his time at Dende's lookout. Perhaps dad can bring them here for a visit, I'll ask Dende about it when I return to Earth."
"Thank you, it will be great to see him again."
Gohan bowed in respect one last time. "Goodbye, elder." He then rose into the air and vanished from sight.
Elder Moori looked up at the looming dragon and considered his next move. Gohan might need help very soon, perhaps the best course of action will be to have Porunga wait for as long as possible.
When Gohan looked at New Namek one last time before flying away, he could still feel Porunga's aura down below, waiting.
[A/N: Update, April 25th: Changed my mind about Gohan's wishes. Eventually made him ask for the one thing that was critical to his plan, and that's it.]
