Chapter 1: Distortion
The Distortion World was an ominous dimension incomprehensible by the standard laws of physics. Land masses floated aimlessly throughout a dark purple void, whole waterfalls flowing in the opposite direction towards an anti-gravitated platform. Among spiky trees that grew out of rust-tinged soil resided this alternate dimension's only known inhabitant.
It was a gray, serpentine creature with six elongated black tendrils, each one sporting red horns on their tips. The draconic being also had three golden-gray spikes on each side of its body in place of legs, four shorter ones extending from the snaking tail backward. Along with a striped chest of red and black, it had a trio of sharp half-rings wrapped around its neck and a highly imposing faceplate with horns that faced the back of its head to match. This was Giratina, a Legendary Pokémon that represented all antimatter in its own habitat and respective universe of origin.
"Ooohgraaah!" roared the Ghost/Dragon type as it floated aimlessly throughout the endless horizon.
Its beady red and black eyes narrowed into what seemed like pure infuriation, visibly bothered by some unknown source of energy able to be sensed nearby. Growing more annoyed by this immense intake of incalculable power, Giratina opened up its faceplate to reveal a tongued mouth, and materialized a blue sphere of compressed aura.
As a coping mechanism, the Renegade Pokémon whaled lowly and shot this projected attack at a proximate strip of earth. Said levitating platform spontaneously combusted upon impact, merely shattering into several different pieces due to a lack of oxygen necessary to produce a fiery explosion.
"Grrrrr…" Giratina rumbled lowly, glancing from left to right at the Distortion World's encircling "walls". To its surprise, one area seemed to be lit up with glowing yellow energy, radiating with an abundant sensation of power.
Targeting the specific gateway to another world outside of its primary home, Giratina blasted a whirlwind of air at the aforementioned power surge to create itself an interdimensional portal. Within this proverbial hole in the space-time continuum were three individuals of varying sizes, seemingly positioned near seven orange spheres.
"Screeeah!" Giratina bellowed angrily, seeking to personally deal with the source of its prior ailment. With that, it slithered through the artificial rift and vanished.
In Universe 7…
After managing to save Earth from the God of Destruction, Beerus, Son Goku's life seemed to be getting more complicated by the second. For one thing, he would be able to gain full control of his newly acquired Super Saiyan God form by training with Whis and find out what God Ki was truly capable of. However, the stronger Goku wished to become, the more he seemed to distance himself from those closest to him, especially his wife, Chi-Chi.
Due to almost dying a third time in the battle against said purple sphinx cat, the Ox-Princess had just about enough of worrying herself to the bone after so many years and decided to, reluctantly, put their relationship on hold until further notice. This sent Goku into an existential crisis that he had no clue how to get out of, interfering with his plans to visit Beerus's personal domain as previously intended. All the Saiyan goofball could do now was sit outside of Capsule Corp, staring blankly into space in an attempt to figure out what he should do to fix this.
"You should talk to him." suggested the blue-haired scientist, Bulma Brief, to her highly annoyed husband. Vegeta was extra pissed off at this point, enraged by the fact that Goku's incessive moping got in the way of his own chance to spar with Beerus' angel. His arms were crossed indecisively, tapping his foot at rapid speeds.
"Why do I have to comfort the idiot?! He only has himself to blame for what happened." The Saiyan Prince objected matter-of-factly. Not at all pleased with his attitude, Bulma mercilessly pinched Vegeta's earlobe. Surprisingly, this hurt more than it should have.
"He's our friend and his marriage is at stake! Now, get over there and ask him to spar or something! Do I make myself clear?!" Bulma hissed maliciously into her husband's ear, an action which caused his skin to pale considerably.
"F-fine, I'll do it! Just let go of me, you crazy Earth woman!" Vegeta surrendered in utter defeat, seething with aching pain. Bulma decided he had enough and released him from her death grip, smiling victoriously.
"Good. Lunch will be ready soon, so hurry back." Bulma beamed happily, kissing Vegeta's cheek in appreciation for what he agreed to do. The prince rubbed his beat red earlobe and sighed heavily.
"Yes, dear…" Vegeta muttered in reluctant agreement, begrudgingly stomping towards Goku's direction.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned son of Bardock held a fist under his chin in deep concentration.
"Was Chi-Chi, right? Do I take too many risks?" Goku whispered to himself in growing disbelief, thinking back to each time he died or was close to death.
Admittedly, even with the Super Saiyan God transformation, he wasn't even close to reaching Beerus's full potential. If the feline god did go through with destroying Earth as planned, he technically wouldn't have the strength necessary to stop it. Meaning, the seven years he spent in Other World after the defeat of Cell was pointless since Beerus was always going to come someday.
It just dawned on him that seven whole years he could have spent with his family and friends were unable to be taken back. Goku missed the birth of his second son and most of Gohan's later childhood just for the sake of getting stronger.
"I-I never realized that…what Chi-Chi could have felt during that time…it's…" Goku stammered in building sorrow, thinking of how lonely she must have felt during that time. Goku slumped down into his seat exasperatedly, placing a hand on his spiked, black hair.
"Maybe I really don't think stuff through. If only I could start over somehow…do things…I don't know anymore." Goku sighed, thinking back to the first time he married Chi-Chi many years ago.
Even their proposal was a result of his tendency to not put much thought into what he was saying or doing; directly resulting from his wrongful belief that "marriage" was a food after first meeting her. Come to think of it, "love" itself was a difficult subject to decipher for the poor Saiyan as well.
"Are you going to spend all day moping, Kakarot? You really are pathetic." Vegeta chastised in disgust, narrowing his eyes downward to look at Goku's.
Goku, used to his rival's daily bitterness, just absentmindedly waved at Vegeta as a sign of greeting.
"Oh…hey, Vegeta. Shouldn't you be training with Whis?" Goku asked curiously, trying to gather his clattered thoughts back to some semblance of normality.
Vegeta twitched his right eye in anger at Goku's obliviousness, but kept calm for the time being.
"Think, Kakarot. Don't you think I would if I could right now?" Vegeta rhetorically inquired, knowing full well that he needed Goku's Instant Transmission ability to travel there. Goku sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.
"Look, the point I'm trying to make is that maybe it's time to take a break from Chi-Chi." Vegeta simply proclaimed, displaying a stone-cold scowl of seriousness to show that he wasn't fooling around. Goku's eyes both widened at what Vegeta just told him to do and the rare mention of his wife by name.
"Take a break? But, we've been together for so long…" Goku forlornly argued, reminiscing about the time they spent together as children, and teenagers in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Vegeta scoffed at this excuse and grabbed a fistful of Goku's gi in unrepentant rage.
"Look at yourself, Kakarot! You're a Saiyan warrior who lives and breathes to fight! Now, because of that woman, you're whining and complaining like one of those pansies on Bulma's asinine soap operas! Whis and Beerus the Destroyer have agreed to train us for crying out loud! Snap out of it, you clown, and realize what actually matters!" Vegeta shouted in a passionate temper tantrum, shaking Goku back and forth like a weightless rag doll.
Goku, a bit dizzy from Vegeta's tugging, was about to respond to the prince's rant, but was distracted by the sky's clouds turning a dark black.
"Someone's using the Dragon Balls?" Goku murmured aloud, distracted by the prospect of what the mysterious user or users could be wishing for. Suddenly, Goku leaped out of his seat and parted from Vegeta.
"Hey, Bulma! Do you have the Dragon Radar?!" Goku asked loudly in front of Capsule Corp's main entryway. Bulma peered out from the kitchen and rummaged through her belongings, locating the pocket watch-looking device.
"Here you go! Glad to see you're a bit livelier than before." Bulma chirped in relief. Vegeta walked up to Goku assertively, ready to rip him a new one for not finishing their conversation.
"We're not done here, Kakarot! Did you get what I was—" Vegeta's rant was cut off by the sound of the Dragon Radar's bleeping noise, depicting the Dragon Balls as glowing yellow dots. As implied with the abrupt weather change, all seven were gathered in one single location. Not wanting to waste any more time, Goku grabbed Vegeta's shoulder while he was still in the middle of shouting.
"See ya later, Bulma. We'll be back soon!" Goku cheerfully said. He placed two fingers on the bridge of his nose and singled out Shenron's ki signature, also taking time to sense the ones summoning said Eternal Dragon.
"Wait—" Vegeta attempted to stop himself from going with Goku but was materialized into thin air alongside him anyways.
After seeing the two off, Bulma felt an ever-so-slight shiver go down her spine as if something bad was about to happen. She squinted her eyes in worry before slowly walking back into the kitchen.
"I'll check the spare radar just in case." Bulma cautiously noted, wanting to keep track of the Dragon Balls' current positions herself.
In the middle of a desert…
After years of constant failure, Emperor Pilaf was finally going to achieve what he's always wished for: wealth and power of the highest magnitude! After being thwarted the first time around by Goku's friend, Oolong, humiliated by King Piccolo the second time, and regressed into that of an infant through a poorly phrased wish, he successfully managed to regather the Dragon Balls.
With the help of his loyal subjects, Mai and Shu, Pilaf could obtain anything he desired with no such intervention from outside forces. Since none of the Z-Fighters seemed to recognize the three due to their younger appearances, the blue dwarf was free to claim what was rightfully his at long last.
"Bahahaha! We did it! The Pilaf Empire shall finally live again!" Pilaf guffawed in gleeful euphoria.
He was even shorter than his usual self from a few decades ago, but still wore a blue and red striped beanie with a star in the center on top of his elfish head. His general attire consisted of a black tunic with green sleeves and a white frill wrapped around his neck, wearing yellow sandals on both feet. Pilaf's shirt also displayed the Japanese kanji for "fried rice" in red font.
"Uh, sire? Not to be rude, but I don't think the Pilaf Empire was really alive to begin with." Shu nervously informed while scratching the back of his head. He was a Shiba Inu wearing a purple ninja uniform that completely covered his ears. A katana was also positioned on his back in a blue sheath.
Angered by his minion's little "correction", Pilaf conked Shu on the head in annoyance.
"Shut up, Shu! Don't you think I know that already?! I was referring to my dream for the Pilaf Empire, you simpleton!" Pilaf comically lambasted his canine lackey. Shu whined pathetically, holding onto the large blemish jutting out from his hood.
"Sorry, sire…" Shu winced apologetically, groveling at his feet like…well, a dog.
Nearby, Mai held a noticeable grimace on her face that could be mistaken for pouting. She had long black hair with two rectangular bangs covering each ear, and wore a green gymnasterka, or Russian battle uniform, with black boots on each foot. Along her waist lied a brown belt reminiscent of her older self from a few years ago.
"Mai, what are you doing?! Get over here and set up the Dragon Balls!" Pilaf commanded his only female follower. Snapped back to reality, Mai frantically rolled each of the individually red-starred Dragon Balls into a neat circle as instructed. In response, each sphere glowed exuberantly to life.
"My apologies, sire! I got…got distracted by something. Won't happen again." Mai timidly excused her behavior. Her cheeks seemed to be blushing a rosy red.
Shu and Pilaf looked at each other for a moment, both grinning stupidly from ear to ear.
"Thinking about your boyfriend?" Shu questioned mockingly, failing to hold back uproarious laughter from breaking out. Pilaf shortly joined in, slapping his knee and keeling over on the desert sand.
Mai, extremely flustered, coughed a few times and placed two hands on her hips.
"He's not my boyfriend! I'm technically older than his mom, so why would I be interested in a brat like him anyways?" Mai denied her boss and colleague's dumb suspicions. She exhaled uneasily and looked out into the distant skyline once more.
"There's just something…strange about this place. I don't know how to describe it. It's like we're being watched somehow." Mai elaborated her insecurities, a single gust of wind blowing forward in the breeze. Shu and Pilaf ceased their fits of laughter, gulping down insecure lumps in each of their throats.
"Let's just get our wishes over with then. We've waited too long for this!" Pilaf authoritatively proclaimed.
As Shu and Mai excitedly positioned themselves behind each side of their leader's body, Emperor Pilaf raised up his arms and prepared to call upon Shenron for the third time in his life.
"RISE, ETERNAL DRAGON, AND HE—" Pilaf's summoning chant was cut short by the inexplicable appearance of Goku and Vegeta through Instant Transmission.
Pilaf, recognizing the black spiky hair, began shaking uncontrollably in fear. Shu and Mai did the same, hugging each other for dear life.
"Wait just a seco—Oh…great." Vegeta scoffed in a bored tone, facepalming his forehead. "It's these morons."
Goku, on the other hand, slightly recognized the three from his adventures as a kid and waved at them.
"Hey, Emperor Pilaf, right? You're not trying to take over the world again, are you?" Goku naively asked, wagging his finger as if he were a scolding parent.
Pilaf felt as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown and thus, could only stand frozen in place from shock.
"No, no, no, no, no, no…NO! That Goku kid always gets in my way! Every. Single. Time!" Emperor Pilaf shouted scornfully within his subconscious, grinding his teeth in a back and forth motion with bloodshot eyes.
Seeing the Dragon Balls awaiting activation, Pilaf sported a conniving sneer laced with sinister intentions.
"M-Mai, I think the boss has finally lost it." Shu whispered fearfully, still huddled close to her in a locked embrace.
"I-I think you're right, Shu. This can't be good." Mai responded with the same sense of abject horror.
Vegeta, much to Goku's disagreement, imposingly shuffled up to Pilaf and outstretched one of his hands in preparation for ki-blasting.
"Step away from the Dragon Balls, shortstack. Or else I'll step on you." Vegeta warned intimidatingly, charging up a ball of ki from his fingertips and placing it near the blue elf's head.
With that last threat, Emperor Pilaf's sanity utterly snapped in two.
"Shortstack…I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S SHORT WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU! RISE, ETERNAL DRAGON, AND HEAR THE WISH OF HE WHO SUMMONS YOU!" Emperor Pilaf blindly screamed in an attempt to stand up for himself.
Each Dragon Ball shined brightly before a streak of lightning erupted from the center and grew to elevated heights. It took the form of a massive, serpentine dragon with green scales and brown deer antlers that grew out of his head like horns. The Eternal Dragon, Shenron, narrowed his red eyes and peered down at Emperor Pilaf.
Scoffing, Vegeta disengaged his ki and silently signaled for Goku to intervene if need be.
"WHO DARES DISTURB ME—Oh it's you again. What do you want to wish for this time?" Shenron sighed monotonously, waiting for the foolish blue midget to mess up again somehow.
Sneering, Emperor Pilaf pointed accusingly at Vegeta and Goku, which caught the two Saiyans off-guard.
"These two nuisances need to be taught a lesson! I want them to be put in the same situation as I am now. I wish for them to be turned back into kids, so they can learn some proper respect for their superiors!" Emperor Pilaf haughtily declared, cackling evilly as he uttered his first wish. Shu and Mai gazed at each other in awe while Vegeta was absolutely livid by this bold request.
"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU BLUE-BALLED BASTARD?! TAKE IT BACK! TAKE IT BACK BEFORE I BLAST YOU BACK INTO THE INSIGNIFCANT HOLE YOU CRAWLED OUT OF!" Vegeta screeched vexingly, getting close to punching his fist straight through the impish monarch's face.
Goku, not knowing what else to do, caught sight of a wind tunnel being created above Shenron and the Dragon Balls!
"Vegeta, look!" Goku called out, sensing an extremely hostile ki approaching fast from within the portal. Vegeta, Pilaf, Shu, and Mai all looked up to see an inky black shadow gradually picking up speed. Hearing the details of Pilaf's wish, Shenron, none the wiser to what was taking place, had his eyes glow a red hue and prepared to grant what was asked of him.
"Your wish has been grante—Huh?" Shenron stopped mid-sentence to turn his head upward, red eyes widening at the appearance of Giratina in an entirely new form. It now had two bat-like dragon wings with three red spikes each and six dinosaurian legs that had yellow claws. Also much bigger than before, Giratina caught Shenron off-guard and roughly slammed into his body.
"Ooof! Um…Fareweeellll!" Shenron shouted in awkward pain as it was forcefully transported back into the Dragon Balls in a translucent beam of light. Due to this never happening before, the orange spheres remain as they were, but were helplessly dragged into Giratina's dimensional rip one by one.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" The Pilaf Gang screamed in unison. All three of them were pulled in by the portal's highspeed winds.
Goku and Vegeta used their mastery of ki manipulation to keep themselves attached to the ground, but could still feel themselves slipping by the second. In fact, while they maintained the same level of strength, their bodies seemed to grow lighter all of a sudden.
"V-Vegeta! I can't hold on much longer!" Goku grunted in exasperation, his blue and red boots dragging against the sand.
Vegeta, his eyes starting to close from fatigue, slumped over unconscious and was picked up by a watchful Giratina.
"NOOOO!" Goku gasped distressfully, utilizing every last bit of his ki to fly into the portal and tackle the unsuspecting creature.
Once Goku and Giratina flew into the Distortion World, the portal leading there dissipated without any other trace. Universe 7's strongest fighters and the Pilaf Gang were gone in an instant.
Back at Capsule Corp…
Bulma was still making lunch for Vegeta, her, and Trunks in the kitchen, currently keeping an eye on her own Dragon Radar to make sure things were going okay. However, what caught the heiress' attention was the fact all seven icons representing the Dragon Balls vanished in only about five minutes time.
This struck her as odd since it should take longer for the Dragon Balls to deactivate because of the new 3 wish-limit bestowed by Dende.
She paused for a moment or two to look out into the horizon, but ultimately brushed aside her worries.
"They should be fine. What could possibly go wrong?" Bulma jokingly wondered to herself as she got back to cooking. For Goku and Vegeta, everything was almost unanimously the answer to that question.
Hi this is Doodleboy565! This is a story I've been meaning to write for a long time! It will mainly follow the story of Pokémon Platinum with some elements of Heartgold/Soulsilver and other games thrown in. Originally, I was just going to have this be a Goku-centric story, but I thought Vegeta being his rival could be both funny and interesting. Anyways, please leave a favorite, follow, and/or review to tell me what you think so far. See ya! :)
Also, if you want to see both Vegeta and Goku's possible teams, just look on my profile. I have them all listed for future use.