(Satan City, the next day, afternoon)

Videl and Erasa just finished their meal and left the restaurant. The two women were standing on the sidewalk outside, saying their goodbyes. "Hey," Erasa said, "maybe we should do something with our families on the weekend, like visit the zoo? It might be fun, and my babies will love to play with Pan again."
Videl's answer was interrupted by a distant thunder. Gohan suddenly appeared behind his wife and hugged her, causing the young woman to jump in surprise.

"Hey, Erasa," smiled Gohan while holding on to the startled woman. "Sorry for interrupting your get together, but I really have to talk to Videl."

"Sure, Gohan," nodded Erasa, her heart rate slowly returning to normal after Gohan's sudden appearance. His orange gi seemed out of place in the city streets and just added to the strangeness. "See you two later," Erasa waved goodbye. "Call me!"

As the blond woman entered a waiting taxi, Videl turned around in Gohan's arms and looked up into his eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Sure," Gohan nodded. "Let's go somewhere else to talk." The pair flew up and away, leaving behind dozens of bewildered passersby.

(Capsule Corp. HQ, evening)

After a long talk with Videl, Gohan returned to Capsule Corp. The compound was quiet, and the only lights came from inside the main house. Gohan could feel Vegeta training in his gravity chamber, but his first target was in the living room. Jaco's ki was much higher than a normal human's, and seemed extremely similar to the ki of his currently-deceased girlfriend, Mako.

Of course, Gohan had no intention of leaving the galactic capital destroyed. He would use the namekian dragon balls to wish the world back, then use two of Shenron's wishes to bring back all of its inhabitants. After coming back from King Yemma's palace Gohan even destroyed that massive rock formation he had created, to prevent any issues during the world's reconstruction.

Before Gohan had a chance to ring the bell, the door opened from inside and an extremely happy Trunks barreled into him, almost turning super saiyan from excitement. "Gohan! You're alright!" Trunks smiled at the young man, them looked at him in wonder. "This is so strange. I can't feel your ki at all, but there's something else..."

"Hey, Trunks," Gohan smiled, "Umm... can I come in?"

"Oh! Sure, come in." Trunks moved aside to let Gohan pass. "Dad sent me to open the door for you, he wants to see you in the gravity chamber as soon as possible."

"I'll be there in a few, there's someone I need to talk to first."

"Okay," Trunks nodded, still excited to see his older friend. "Later!"

Gohan made his way to the living room, where Bulma and Jaco were sitting on the couch and watching some reality TV show. Both alien cop and blue-haired genius were laughing at the expense of one of the participants when Gohan came in.

"Hey, Gohan!" Bulma smiled. "What's up? Is everything alright?"

"Sort of," Gohan nodded, "but I need to talk to Jaco."

Jaco looked at the young man in surprise. "Oh? What is it?"

Gohan looked away for a moment. These things were never pleasant, but they had to be done. "Jaco, I'm sorry, but I have some bad news."

Bulma looked at Gohan curiously. "Should I go, or.."

Gohan shooked his head. "You can stay if you want, Bulma."

"Well," Jaco asked impatiently, "what is it? The show is getting to the good part."

Jaco took the news relatively well, or perhaps his mask-like face couldn't express a wide range of emotions. After hearing that the galactic capital was destroyed during Gohan's fight with Freeza, he only sat there and looked into the air without moving.

Bulma left to bring him a cold glass of milk, the only thing he consumed, and while she was gone Jaco turned to Gohan and asked "you can bring everyone back, right?"

"Yes," Gohan nodded. "The dragon balls on New Namek will become active again in a few months, and I'm going to wish the world back first. The people will have to wait a little bit longer."

Jaco stood up just as Bulma came back with the milk. "Okay. I have to go set up a quarantine zone, we don't want too many curious bystanders there when the planet pops back into existence, they might be in danger." He emptied the glass in a few quick gulps, then gave it back to Bulma. "Thanks."

"I have something else to ask you," Gohan said. "Did you know that people in the galactic capital were buying planets from Freeza?"

Jaco looked at Gohan for a while, hesitating. "I heard about it, yes. Some higher ups in the king's government had dealings with Freeza over the years."

Gohan's tone became angrier. "So your king or his government actually benefited from all the genocide that was going on?"

"Hey, it had nothing to do with me," Jaco's tone rose as well. "As far as I know Freeza basically forced us to buy from him, it was more like blackmail than anything else."

Gohan noticed that Bulma looked extremely uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped and looked away.

"What is it, Bulma?" Gohan asked, trying to relax. As was the case with King Yemma, getting angry at Jaco was pointless.

"Well, I don't know if I should say this, but Tights told me a few things about the galactic patrol when we were younger, and now that I think about it they look pretty bad."

"What do you mean?"

"I always thought they were just wacky stories Tights came up with, until now. She told me that Jaco had some kind of biological weapon when he came to Earth the first time, and he was prepared to use it for no good reason. Jaco even said he did use it in the past to kill off an entire world full of people." Bulma turned to Jaco. "But, I mean, that can't be true, right?"

Jaco looked stone-faced as always. "Jaco," Gohan looked down at the slender alien, "is this true?"

"What if it is?" Jaco answered defiantly, "I was doing my job. Some races shouldn't be allowed to live, and you know it."

Bulma lowered her head. "I mean, Vegeta used to be like that, and we forgave him..."

"No," said Gohan icily. "Vegeta grew up under Freeza's rule and knew nothing but war his entire life. He changed, he sacrificed his life to protect others. He's not even remotely similar to the saiyan who came to Earth when I was a child."

"Oh, I get it," said Jaco sarcastically. "So now you're a galactic judge, and you just decide which genocide was alright and which wasn't."

"Jaco..." Bulma said, trying to get her friend to relax. "Stop." How was antagonizing Gohan a good idea?

"I never said that," Gohan answered in anger. "I said Vegeta changed, really changed. How many times did you sacrifice yourself for others, Jaco? You're still exactly the same, you don't even think your people did anything wrong."

"Because they didn't." Jaco looked at Bulma. "Thanks for the milk, Bulma, I'm leaving."

"Yeah," said Bulma, "maybe you should go and everyone can just cool off for a little bit."

Gohan barely held his anger in check, and faint outlines of his aura appeared around his body. "You can leave, Jaco, but the galactic patrol is done. If I hear about any more incidents, I'll hold every galactic patrolman responsible along with the king and his government. After the capital is brought back I'll come visit again, and this time I want to know exactly who bought planets from Freeza and where are they now."

Gohan's aura increased further, now letting off waves of force that shook the entire house. "And if you or anyone else ever threaten Earth again, nothing in this universe will be able to save you."

Jaco gulped, his earlier bravado fading away. Most of his people had trouble reading the emotions of alien races, but Jaco served as a galactic patrolman for decades. He knew what intent to kill looked like.

"Look, maybe you're right," Jaco admitted, "but you're starting a war here. You should know that the galactic patrol has access to very powerful biological weapons, and if you start threatening them at least some of the leaders will want to attack Earth. I'm pretty sure even you and your warrior buddies aren't immune to viruses."

"Jaco," Gohan said sternly, "you have no idea what you're dealing with. Tell them about Majin Buu, Seventeen and Eighteen. Even if Seventeen and his sister somehow die along with the rest of us, how will they stop Buu from destroying them all?"

"Hey, you don't have to convince me," Jaco said defensively, "I'm just telling you what they will probably say. These are very powerful, experienced people, I don't think intimidation will work."

Gohan thought about it for a few moments. "Fine. Thanks for the warning, I'll think about it."

Jaco nodded and left without saying another word. "Gohan," said Bulma, "are you alright? I don't remember you being this angry recently."

"Yes," Vegeta's voice came from the corridor. The older saiyan was smiling. "If you're done shaking my house apart, come with me to the gravity chamber."

"Sorry about that," Gohan apologized to the couple. "I just can't stand people with that attitude."

Vegeta nodded and started walking away, followed closely by Gohan.

(Vegeta's gravity chamber, evening)

The chamber was inactive and bare. All of the different training systems were retracted, and there was plenty of room to just sit and talk. Presently Vegeta and Gohan were sitting next to each other on a bench just inside the entrance.

"So, what happened out there?" asked Vegeta.

"I went to see Freeza." Gohan proceeded to tell Vegeta everything that happened, including Freeza's interrogation at King Yemma's palace and the surprising information it revealed. Vegeta listened patiently throughout the entire story, and revealed his anger only at the very end.

"Beerus told him to destroy the saiyans?!" Vegeta was fuming. "What is that bastard playing at?"

"Freeza couldn't have been lying," said Gohan. "It's impossible for a soul to lie to King Yemma."

"Not Freeza, Beerus." Vegeta was growing angrier by the minute. "And Whis. They trained us, they were our guests, they recruited us to fight for them..." The prince's face was twisted in anger now. "Beerus will pay for this. I don't know if I can defeat him, but I'll make him pay."

"You don't think we're strong enough to take Beerus on?" asked Gohan.

"No," Vegeta shook his head, "not even close. Kakarot in his latest transformation might stand a chance, but your father insists he can't perform it anymore."

Both of them were silent for a few moments, remembering the way Goku's body failed at the end of the tournament.

"What does he want?" Gohan asked. "Why would he do all that? Why keep Freeza's soul intact, why train father and you? What's his goal?"

"I always assumed he was bored and wanted a challenge." The saiyan looked at Gohan as if it was the most obvious thing. "It looked like he was grooming us to be his sparring partners."

Gohan considered it, but something felt wrong. "I don't know, Whis is always there to fight him, and Whis is even more powerful than Beerus."

"True," Vegeta nodded and crossed his arms, thinking. "Perhaps he wants more soldiers for his games with Champa and the other gods."

"That might be it," said Gohan. The gods and their games. Even the stranger in his dream mentioned the divine proclivity for tournaments and competitions.

"There's another option," Vegeta continued, looking at Gohan. "He may be looking for a replacement. Both Whis and Beerus mentioned replacements a few times, and we were all there when that clown god granted Toppo the powers of destruction."

Gohan nodded, thinking it over. It made sense. Beerus seemed to have a special connection to both Goku and Freeza, and, come to think of it, both him and Whis were unusually close to Vegeta and his family.

"He's probably going to be angry that I removed Freeza as candidate, then." Gohan sighed.

"Yes." Vegeta nodded. "We need to train harder than ever to stand a chance against him, in case Beerus decides to attack us." Then the prince frowned. "Except additional training might not help. I've been stuck at this level for a while now, and I can't seem to make any significant improvements. Whis mentioned something about me and Kakarot reaching our limit, and he might have been right."

Vegeta looked at Gohan curiously. "What about you? Do feel you've reached your limit?"

"To be honest, no." Gohan shook his head. "And it's not only that. After the battle with Freeza I realized he was so much better than us at controlling energy. On the way back to Earth I started thinking about it, and maybe we should train like him instead of our usual methods."

"Bah," Vegeta looked disgusted. "Watching him fight alongside Kakarot was one thing, but adopting that lunatic's training methods?"

"I know," said Gohan, "but what choice do we have? If our normal training will only get us so far, we have to improve in other ways. The answer has to be new techniques and better energy control."

Vegeta automatically started going through the options. Fusion was a possibility, but Vegeta absolutely detested the idea. The forced intimacy and loss of privacy were nightmarish prospects, not to mention that horrible, humiliating dance. Still, the effects of fusion were significant, it might serve as a power boost in emergencies. Kakarot's kaioken was out of the question, as was the great and mighty "ultra instinct". Both of these forms of fighting were incredibly self-destructive, and while Kakarot would jump at the opportunity to damage himself, Vegeta usually favored a more stable fighting style.

Suddenly, a familiar sound heralded Goku's teleportation into the gravity chamber.

"Hey, Vegeta, hey Gohan!" said Goku cheerfully.

"Kakarot!" Vegeta exclaimed angrily, startled by his rival's appearance at the exact moment he was thinking about him. "What makes you think you can just teleport into people's houses like that?!"

"Come on, Vegeta. I just wanted to say hello to Gohan."

"Hey, dad" Gohan smiled. Somehow his mood always improved when his father started performing his usual antics. Gohan and Vegeta proceeded to tell Goku about what happened, pausing every once in a while to answer his questions.

"I'm not happy about the way you treated King Yemma," said Goku, "but what's done is done. Can you show us what you meant when Freeza used his ki in a strange way? You said Freeza had very little ki inside that cocoon, but somehow still managed to do things with it."

Vegeta grunted in annoyance. Of course Kakarot wouldn't care about Beerus' encounter with Freeza decades ago, and go straight to the parts that involved training.

"I don't think I can," Gohan shook his head. "I can't suppress my energy that low and still use it with that level of precision. But we can try meditating again, I'm pretty sure I can show you what he did in an image training session."

A few hours later, Bulma came down to the gravity chamber to see how Vegeta was doing. He usually came to bed at this hour, it was strange for him to still be training. The gravity chamber was unlocked and inactive, and when Bulma opened the door she was surprised to see Goku, Vegeta and Gohan in deep meditation. All three were sweating, obviously exerting immense effort, and completely oblivious. Sighing, Bulma went to the kitchen, brought back several bottles of water and left them in the chamber. The three warriors looked like they were going to be at it for a while.