DISCLAIMER: notminenotminenotmine...
CHAPTER 7: Around The Way
Goku leaned his back against the wall as he sat on the bench and waited for Tatalia's match to start. He smiled nervously as he noticed Anyun lifting her blindfold to check out his half naked body. He cringed when she licked her lips. Lately, with growing up and being around pubescent girls, he felt more and more like an object the way women looked at him, especially Tatalia. Fighting her off had become more than just a regular occurance, it was now a routine. Every morning he'd wake up on pure instinct just in time to avoid a crazed Tatalia glomp. She'd break his door down at the crack of dawn with a rope in hand and try to catch him and tie him down. Going through the whole ordeal repeatedly was unnerving and as such he had been forced to keep his guard up regardless of location or situation. Although, it wasn't like he hadn't been warned. His dad had informed him of how the females only get worse as they get older.
"Um, excuse me Curi-Sensei," Goku called out to her as he raised his hand.
Curi had just finished checking Kinto's and Tatalia's blindfolds and was about to initiate the match. She paused and turned around to see Goku waving his hand around. "What is it?"
"Could I please get a change of clothes? It's...kind of chilly in here," he quickly added as an excuse. In truth, he could feel the gazes of every girl in the class through the thin blindfolds and was tired of the attention.
"Do I look like a closet to you?"
"Well, no, but I-"
"But what? You can't handle a little exposure? If you don't want them to look at you then go get clothes yourself. Geez, kids these days don't want to do anything themselves. Lazy bastards..." she mumbled to herself before returning her attention to the match that had yet to start.
'She's pretty good,' he thought. 'I guess an excuse was pointless...' He got up and prepared to leave.
"Kakarot, if you miss my match I'll never forgive you!" Tatalia yelled as he opened one of the gym doors.
Goku paused and turned around. "Relax, I'll be back in no time. As long as you don't lose right away there should be plenty for me to see."
"But I will if I can't take these off!" she yelled as she shook a leg, indicating the weights.
"Fine, whatever. You can take 'em off for now. But they go back on as soon as it's over, alright?"
"Yes!! Yes!! Yes!!" Tatalia cheered as she hopped up and down in excitement.
"Later," Goku waved before shutting the door behind him.
He wasted no time and blasted off at full speed, deciding to get a safe distance away so Curi wouldn't sense his instant transmission. As soon as he could no longer see the school he transmitted himself directly back to his bedroom and went for his closet. What he had failed to remember however was the fact that the only other outfit he owned besides his elite suit was his low class one. And he had significantly outgrown it since his arrival two years ago. He just hadn't changed it since he never went anywhere. He then went for a box in the top of his closet where he kept the money left over from his second prize at the tournament. He wasn't much of a spender but he knew it might come in handy later so he kept it there for times like this.
"I wonder what kind of street clothes the poeple on this planet wear..." he said aloud. "Well, whatever. I guess I'll see what the stores in the city have."
He grabbed a wad of cash, folded it up, and stuffed it into one of his boots. He then closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses until he found the city again. With his target identified, he transmitted.
He materialized in the sky over downtown and immediately decended to the streets, taking notice of people carrying shopping bags. They entered a multi story building across the street with manequins in the windows. That was good enough for him. He waited until there were no hover cars coming and crossed the street. When he reached the revolving doors he was stopped by a doorman clad in a ruffled black coat and brown slacks. He pointed to a sign in the window.
"I don't get it," Goku said ignorantly. He hadn't taken the time to learn how to read Saiyan since it wasn't essential to his training.
"No shirt, no shoes, no enter," the doorman stated plainly.
"For real?" Goku asked. After receiving a nod from the doorman he pulled a bill from his boot and waved it at him. He was immediately let in after a series of bows and 'thank you's' from the guy. 'Hm, must've been a lot. Well, there's plenty more where that came from.'
He was immediately swamped by the sales people who had seen him wave the big bucks around and escorted around the first floor while they attempted to sell him on the high quality merchandise they carried.
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'Where are you?' Tatalia thought as she dodged yet another blow from Kinto. 'It shouldn't take this long, unless you didn't use instant transmission.' She leapt easily over Kinto's head and, with a well placed kick to the back of his neck, knocked him into one of the craters left by her weights. 'I can't drag this out forever, it's starting to get boring.'
Kinto pulled himself out of the crater within the crater he had created when he slammed into the floor. He knew he had no chance left. The moment she took the weights off he knew he was in trouble. All he could do now was continue to fight until Tatalia got bored and stopped or Curi interrupted. He doubted either would happen anytime soon. Just as he began to shake the dust and chunks of floor out of his hair he was bombarded with a barrage of hand blasts. 'Will this never end?'
Tatalia hovered above the crater and continued to let loose wave after wave of hand blasts while she decided what to do to next to make it interesting. After about five minutes of straight blasts she ceased and dropped into the crater. She landed beside Kinto and bitch slapped him upside the head with the back of her hand, sending him sailing upwards. When he got high enough she flashed to his location and flipped his body horizontally so she could sit on his back while he fell. She directed his decent like a sled while using his arms as reigns and made sure he slammed face first into the floor. She flipped off just in time to avoid feeling any impact herself. She then grabbed his ankles as he laid sprawled out on the gym floor and proceeded to swing him around wildly, making sure to hit pillars along the way.
Kinto faded in and out of consciousness as his body was utilized as a tool by Tatalia. He was so out of it that he didn't notice when she let go of him and sent his body flying into a wall at the far end of the gym.
Just as Tatalia was about to fly after Kinto and resume the beat down of the century she was stopped when Curi called an end to the match.
"Aw, come on, please Curi-Sensei," Tatalia begged, "Kinto's fine, isn't that right?" she laughed lightly as she turned to Kinto.
Kinto shakily rose to his feet and took several steps while leaning against the wall. "Curi-Sensei, thank god. I didn't know how much more I could stand. Tatalia's insane! Insane I tell you! Please, call an ambulance. I think my arm is broken..." he said, indicating his limp left arm with the elbow bent in the wrong direction.
"I didn't end it to help you out Kinto," Curi explained, "It was simply because you violated the rules when you allowed yourself to be thrown out of bounds. Remember, our class was supposed to be limited to this side of the gym. You fail."
"What?" Kinto yelled in surprise. "B-but Tatalia's the one who threw me out of bounds!"
"Indeed she did. However, did I not state at the beginning of this exam that it was up to each individual to be aware of the boundaries using their senses and to keep themselves within the limits? I'm afraid that this is on you, Kinto. Please leave immediately. The attendants in the office will see to your injuries. See you next year."
"Ooh, that was pretty harsh, huh?" Nomato whispered into Anyun's ear as they observed from the benches with the rest of the class.
"Yeah, she's cold," Anyun replied.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" Tatalia shouted. "Stupid Kakarot! Why'd you have to miss my spectacular display of prowess! You hear me, you idiot!"
"Of course I can hear you, there's no need to shout," Goku said as he shut the door behind him. "What'd I miss?"
The first response he got from Tatalia was one of her wrist weights thrown straight at his face. He side stepped and caught it easily in the palm of his hand. As he twirled it around his index finger he surveyed Tatalia as she trembled in anger. She appeared to be pretty mad. Although, she was sort of justified since he had failed to keep his word yet again.
"You...lowsy...unreliable...piece of..." Tatalia mumbled as she slowly approached Goku with a raised fist.
'Shit...' Goku thought as she neared. 'This isn't good. She does have a point about me being unreliable though. Maybe I'm not completely the same as I originally was in the other universe. I guess this version of myself must have deep seeded issues with taking stuff seriously. I've been here so long that I've literally become this other person! How weird. Well, at least my sense to judge things objectively hasn't been affected. What am I saying? I shouldn't be analyzing stuff at a time like this, I'm about to get my ass beat!'
"Kakarot..." Tatalia said through clenched teeth after stopping directly in front of him.
Goku swallowed the lump in his throat. 'Here it comes. I'll just dodge until she gets tired. Get ready for it, get ready for it, get ready for it...'
Just as Goku had finished steeling himself for a case of spousal abuse, Tatalia dropped her fists and let her shoulders slump. She took a few steps back as she inhaled several slow deep breaths to calm herself. Goku held his position and watched her carefully making sure not to let his guard down. After several minutes of suspense Tatalia's frown disappeared and was replaced with a light smile.
"Curi-Sensei," Tatalia started as she removed her blindfold, "Is it okay to leave now that I've completed today's exam?"
Curi thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I suppose it doesn't matter since you're already done. Go on ahead."
"Thanks," Tatalia said with a smile before running happily over to Goku and grabbing his hand. "Let's go," she said without a trace of anger towards him.
"Um, okay," Goku said, thoroughly confused. He followed Tatalia outside as she pulled him by the hand.
Anyun, Nomato, and Ander immediately raised their hands as soon as Goku and Tatalia were gone.
"Yes?" Curi asked.
"Um...does that mean we can go too?" Anyun asked with her hand still in the air.
Curi shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."
"Alright!!"
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Goku nervously looked over at Tatalia periodically as they flew back towards Bardock's land. She appeared to be in a pleasant mood. For what reason, he was completely clueless. Whatever it was he was just glad to avoid another confrontation with her. While it was a given that Goku could easily defeat her without breaking a sweat, one thing which had him always dreading a fight with her was that she'd cry everytime she would lose. And trying to console her was out of the question because whenever he'd make an attempt at cheering her up she'd get all touchy feely and try to make a move on him. So usually he'd just not fight back.
"Nice threads," Tatalia complimented as she inspected his new clothes for the first time. He had a skin tight black sleeveless turtleneck which appeared to be made of the same material as his blue elite suit. For bottoms he wore black cargo pants with pockets near the knees and tucked them into black military style boots which, instead of laces, had three evenly spaced adjustable metal straps on the front to make a snug fit.
"Uh...thanks," Goku replied.
"Crap, I forgot my weights!" Tatalia suddenly gasped.
"Don't worry about it. We've got plenty more at home." Goku paused before continuing. "I'm sorry for missing your match..."
"Yeah, well...what's done is done. We shouldn't dwell on the past. Let's just move forward."
"Tatalia, I've got to be honest. You're really confusing me. I mean, you should be angry right now. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I really do feel guilty about missing your match and I want to make it up to you. I'll even let you hit me if you want to."
"Relax, Kakarot. I was mad at first, but then I realized that hitting you wouldn't change anything so I let it go."
"Just like that?" Goku asked skeptically.
"It was difficult, but yeah. Although, I'm not gonna completely forget this so easily. I may have been able to let go of the anger then, but that doesn't mean that I don't want retribution. I'm just saving it up for the right time. Just keep in mind that you owe me and if you don't want it to pile up you'd better behave."
"I get it now. That's why she was smiling," Goku mumbled to himself. 'She's definitely planning something. I knew there was no way she would let me get off scott free.'
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Vegeta sweat bullets as he neared his fifteen hundredth sit up. He had recently upgraded his personal training chamber to handle one thousand times gravity and currently had it set on six hundred. Five hundred was the farthest he'd ever been able to train normally as a Super Saiyan one and he was now trying to up the ante. His proven method of increasing the gravity twenty points after every two thousand repetitions of whatever exercise seemed to be working just fine. If he had pushed it all the way to six hundred from the start and tried to train normally his body would have naturally went into Super Saiyan two to accommodate the strain. But it was all in the pursuit of a greater goal. The further he increased the limits of his Super forms, the stronger his normal form became. And having an inconspicuously strong normal form was a great advantage on the battle field. The strength of his normal form was currently about one and a half times stronger than that of his Super Saiyan form when he tranformed for the first time. With results like that, it's a wonder why everyone didn't train as thoroughly as him.
After reaching his goal of two thousand he decided to call it a day. Increasing his limit another hundred times in less than half a day seemed to satisfy him. He stood up and after toweling himself off walked lightly over to the console. He stared at the numbers while he thought. The meter was able to go to one thousand now. While he had trained in one thousand before it had only been while in his Super Saiyan three state. He wondered if he could now take his level two to one thousand. He was already kind of winded but it nagged at him from deep down. He hadn't gone past level one since he and Goku had arrived.
"Aw, what the hell," he said aloud. He threw down his towel and ignited his aura. Since he was sure his level one couldn't stand it, he decided that powering up before increasing the gravity to max was a better idea. He spread his feet shoulder's width apart and grit his teeth as his energy climbed higher and higher. However, the well of energy he expected to feel just before the transformation into level two was missing. 'Impossible!' He furrowed his brow and closed his eyes as he searched for the missing power. He withdrew into himself and searched frantically for any sign of his next levels. When he found nothing, he opened his eyes and walked back to the console. He immediately shut it down and grabbed his shirt and towel before running out, not even bothering to power down.
'This is bad, very bad!' he screamed internally while putting his shirt back on as he made his way through the palace halls. Every maid and palace guard he passed by stared at him with wide eyes as the fully ignited aura of his Super Saiyan form disentigrated their scouters. Once he made it into the palace court yard he threw his towel down on a bench and blasted off in the direction of Bardock's land. He flew like his life depended on it. He literally maxed his speed out as crossed half the continent in under thirty seconds.
"Kakarot!!" he called out as soon as he landed. "Come outside, it's an emergency!!"
As he yelled, Goku rushed outside to greet him, sensing the panic in his aura. "What is it? Is everything alright?" he asked in a tone just as urgent as Vegeta had. "Why do have your aura expanded like that?"
"Kakarot, I strongly advise that you power up as high as you can go and keep your aura expanded indefinitely."
"What? Why?"
Vegeta grabbed Goku's shoulders and stared him square in the eyes. "Just trust me and do it. I have to be sure it's not just me. I'll explain afterwards."
Goku looked at him questionably before nodding. "Okay, man. If you really want me to." He then backed away several feet and prepared to unleash the full force of his aura. "Haaaaaa!!!!!!!!!" he yelled as the familiar golden aura erupted around him. "Level one, check." He took a deep breath then resumed the climb. He grit his teeth as he called forth the next level.
Vegeta stood in suspense as he waited to see if Super Saiyan two would come for Goku.
Goku's muscles twitched as electricity began to dance around his body. His already gravity defying hair became even more spikey and left only a couple of spikes hanging in front of his face. "Level two, check." He noticed Vegeta's shoulders sink and the confused reaction on his face. "Was something supposed to happen?"
"I don't get it..." Vegeta trailed off.
"Should I continue all the way to four?" Goku asked.
"Huh?" Vegeta asked after a short daze.
"Do you really want me to go all the way to level four?"
Suddenly it clicked in Vegeta's mind. "That's it! It must be because I couldn't go as high to begin with! Yeah, keep going Kakarot!"
"Alright. Here goes," he said before hunching over and pulling out even more power. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Here it comes," he said, expecting the sudden growth of his hair and the rush of level three power.
Vegeta was not surprised when it didn't come. He figured since Goku already had one more level than him, and the fact that he'd spent the past two years in his level one form, that it contributed to keeping him from losing as much power as himself.
"What the hell?" Goku shouted as he kept his aura at full blast while he scanned himself.
"You won't find anything, Kakarot," Vegeta said as he approached. "The same thing happened to me. Right now, level one is the highest I can go. You should be grateful that you can still go that high."
"What the hell's going on out here?" Tatalia yelled as she rushed outside after having sensed the intense power of Goku's second level of Super Saiyan. "Kakarot, this is your power?" she asked in awe.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"When did you become so strong? In the entire two years you spent as a Super Saiyan, I never once felt this immense amount of strength from you."
"I guess that means he didn't explain everything to you," Vegeta cut in.
"Explain what?" Tatalia asked Vegeta.
"The true depths of a Super Saiyan's power," he said after folding his arms over his chest. "I'll let you tell her since she's your wife, Kakarot."
"Thanks." Goku walked over to Tatalia and placed a hand on her shoulder. "There is more than one type of Super Saiyan. Right now I'm what you'd call a Super Saiyan two. There are two more levels beyond this one. The third looks similar to this with blond hair and all, however the fourth is the most unique. You've seen what the oozaru form looks like right?"
"Yeah, of course. Who hasn't?"
"Well, level four is based on a similar principle. It requires a tail and light reflected from the moon or some other celestial body. It is essentially the ultimate and complete form of the oozaru. While it appears to take the body back to a slighty more primitive state, it is the most powerful."
"So what you're saying is, that the oozaru is the pinnacle of Super Saiyan?" she asked.
"Well, we don't actually become the oozaru. It's more like our normal bodies take on the characteristics of the oozaru."
Tatalia tried to picture it in her mind but failed miserably as all she could imagine was a human sized oozaru. "Really? So, both you and Vegeta have this power?"
"Not anymore," Vegeta said with a sigh.
"What? How come?"
"No idea," Goku said, powering down.
"Hey," Vegeta shouted at Goku, "I thought I told you to stay powered up! From now on, both of us must maintain our maximum forms for as long as it takes to recover what we've lost. We are going to do what you and Gohan did before the Cell games and what you did while you trained your father. And each time we manage to recover another form, we'll stay in that one until we have the next one, understood?"
Goku looked at Vegeta reluctantly. "I don't know...I mean, staying at level one for a long time isn't that big a deal, but level two? I don't know if it'd be safe to be in close proximity to people while fully powered up like that. And I don't even want to think about three..."
Goku's words did nothing but agitate Vegeta further. "Listen to you! You've become soft! What happened to your endless supply of motivation? You're pathetic! Or are you content with being reduced to nothing but a helpless child! If that's how you're gonna be, then I don't care what happens to you! But know this, I intend to go ahead with my training, so if you don't want to fall behind then I suggest you rethink the situation!"
Goku stood in stunned silence for a few seconds. 'He's right, what was I thinking? I was always moving forward in pursuit of the unknown depths of power before. Just because I already know what lies ahead right now doesn't mean it won't be meaningful.' Goku quickly regained his wits and jumped straight into his level two form. "Thank you, Vegeta."
"Heh, it seems you've developed lazy tendencies. Don't expect me to come lecture you everytime you need motivation," Vegeta smirked.
"I feel refreshed," Goku said after taking a deep breath. "It looks like we've got an old fashioned race on our hands and I have a head start. I don't think you should waste your time lecturing me either. You're gonna need as little distraction as possible because I'm heading straight for the top and I expect you to meet me there on time."
Vegeta's smirk turned into a grin. "You're on."
Tatalia shivered. 'It's weird to see Prince Vegeta smiling like that. It feels wrong somehow.' "Um, hey, now that you guys are all done do you want to come in for some tea and cookies while we wait for the rice to be done?"
Both Goku and Vegeta paused and turned their attention to Tatalia.
"Kakarot," Vegeta whispered to Goku from the side of his mouth, "You didn't tell me she knew her way around the kitchen."
"It's news to me," he whispered back.
"Come on," she said, waving them over.
Five minutes later, Goku and Vegeta sat at the kitchen table while waiting for Tatalia to bring the tea and cookies.
"So, this is the inside of Bardock's home..." Vegeta observed. "How quaint."
"Dude, you live in a palace," Goku started, "it's impossible for everything else to be anything but quaint from your perspective."
"You may have a point there..."
"Here we are," Tatalia said as she carried over the tray with the tea and cookies on it and set it down at the table. She placed a cup in front of Vegeta and poured his tea first. "Sugar cubes?"
"Sure, make it three," Vegeta said before grabbing a cookie.
"Hey," Goku interrupted, "How come you're serving Vegeta before me?"
"Because he's the Prince, dear, and you're just my lousy, good for nothing husband," she said in the sweetest tone she could manage.
"Ha ha, you lose Kakarot," Vegeta laughed with a mouthful of cookie.
"There you go," she said to Vegeta before setting the teapot back onto the tray and closing the lid on the sugar.
"Thanks."
Tatalia moved the cookie plate from the tray to the table then took the teapot and everything else away.
"Hey, what about me?" Goku asked.
"Relax, I've got something for you right here," Tatalia said as she placed a cup with a different kind of tea in front of him.
"What's this, how come I can't have what Vegeta's having?"
"Because that tea's for him and this one's for you, now drink up before it starts to cool down. You'll like it, trust me."
"Oh, too bad, Kakarot. I guess when normal people are around royalty like me they just sort of tend to neglect everything else."
"I'm sorry, could you rephrase that, Vegeta. I don't think it was quite arrogant enough."
"Calm down you two," Tatalia interrupted, deciding to end Goku and Vegeta's verbal sparring match before it started. "It's just tea for crying out loud. Stop bickering and drink it."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," Goku mumbled before picking up his cup and taking a sip.
"This is pretty good," Vegeta complimented, after having tasted his as well. He then turned to Goku. "How's your-" he cut himself off when he saw Goku gulping down the scalding hot tea at a rapid pace. "What the..."
"Wow!" Goku breathed after finishing the cup and setting it down. "That was delicious! Tal, what kind of tea was that? I've never had any that good before!"
"It's a secret recipe." she said as she winked at Goku. "You want another cup?"
"Absolutely!" Goku yelled in glee as he fidgeted around.
Vegeta sat silently and watched as Tatalia brought cup after cup of the special tea for Goku to inhale. 'Something's not right about this. She's put something into that tea to affect Kakarot in some way, I just know it. The question is, why and to what end? It's like he's become instantly addicted to it or something. Watch yourself, Kakarot. That woman is up to something...'
"Man, that's good!" Goku said, catching his breath after downing his eighth cup of tea. He was so wired that the little sparks of electricity that normally lingered around his body as a Super Saiyan two spread to the cups he had been touching and even to the chair he was sitting in. "Vegeta, you gotta try this, man! I don't know what she gave you, but this is sure to beat it out!"
"No!! He can't!" Tatalia quickly raised her voice, stopping Goku from sliding one of his cups over to Vegeta.
"Why not?"
"Like I said before," she said, trying not to appear nervous, "This is yours and that is his."
"Thanks anyway Kakarot, but I'd rather not," Vegeta said, pulling out his chair and standing up. 'Definitely suspicious...she nearly freaked out when he offered it to me.' "I'm just gonna head home now and do a little light training after I eat lunch. I'll see you later."
"Okay, later," Goku waved as Vegeta stepped out onto the patio and blasted off. "I guess that means I should start training as well. You wanna train with me?"
"Can I?"
"Of course," Goku smiled while leaning back in his chair. "Now that my dad's a Super Saiyan I don't have to worry about him, so you and I can work together to help you reach Super Saiyan while I try to regain my lost power. How does that sound?"
"Awesome!" Tatalia shouted as she jumped for joy. "From now on we'll be the ultimate team!"
"Are you ready?" he asked. When she nodded he got up and grabbed her hand, taking her upstairs.
"Where are we going?" she asked curiously.
"My room."
Tatalia immediately blushed. This was the first time that Goku had actaully invited her into his room. "Oh, Kakarot, we shouldn't. I mean, I want to...but maybe it's just too soon..." She giggled in excitement at the thought of what they might do while alone in his room. "I know that if we did that, we'd become much closer, but I'm still so nervous. Please, be gentle with me."
"What're you talking about?" Goku asked after they reached his door.
"You know..." Tatalia nervously mumbled while twidling her thumbs and blushing a bright red. "Doing...it..." she said very quietly. "Why else would we come up to your room together?"
Just then, it clicked with Goku's brain. "Oh shit! You mean doing it? How in the hell did you get a crazy idea like that in your head! We're just here to get the weights out of my closet. I have wristband weights, belt weights, and shin weights of different densities that I wanted you to try on. And since I can't possibly carry all of them outside at once, I brought you up here. Damn, you really jump to your own conclusions don't you."
"Oh...my bad," she said, dissapointment written all over her face.
"Don't worry about it, Tal. Just don't try to grow up too fast." Goku paused and closed his eyes, letting a slight smile come across his face as a feeling of nostalgia came over him. "I remember my first time pretty clearly. Prior to that I had no clue about anything remotely related to the subject. So the girl basically gave me a crash course on the basic idea of what was supposed to happen. Man, was I surprised. Looking back on it now, I think I couldv'e waited longer."
"Wait a second!!!" Tatalia shouted. "You mean to say that you're not a virgin? Nooooo!!!!! It's not fair!!!!" she cried. Her tears vanished as quickly as they had appeared and were replaced by anger. "Who is this girl? Where is she? I'll beat the shit outta her! Just point the way and lemme at her! You're mine and no one elses!"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Tal," Goku said, trying to appease her by rubbing her back. "I didn't cheat on you with her. That happened long before I ever met you. I'm from earth, remember? That's over half a galaxy away, not to mention that Vegeta and I came through some sort of rift in space. So the earth in this universe probably isn't even the same."
"But...I wanted to be your first..." she said, losing grasp of the anger rapidly.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm technically a virgin since I was reverted to a state before I ever did anything like that. So you could say that I'm a virgin of this universe."
"Yeah, I guess...but still..."
"Just forget about nonsense like that for now and let's focus on training, alright?"
Tatalia sighed and shook the images of Goku with another woman out of her head. "Fine. I'll train like I've never trained before to become the strongest woman on this planet. Not even that ex-girlfriend of yours will be able to top me. I'll become the best!"
"That's the spirit!" Goku encouraged. "Find a purpose that motivates you and hold onto it!"
Tatalia took on the guise of a serious person and walked into Goku's room first. She went straight for his closet and the weights. "What's the heaviest thing you have?" she asked over her shoulder.
"I don't think you'd want to wear those...unless of course you think you can walk around weighing several hundred tons. In which case I'd say be my guest. However, even in my level two form I can't wear a full set of weights that heavy. That's why I have the weights in pieces. So I can move them around easily. The weights you had on before are ideal for your current state, but you did seem to adjust pretty quickly to them. You could probably handle the next stage and be okay. But I warn you, you seriously won't be able to do anything but walk around for the first month. It's not like I'll be forbidding you to run or jump or do any other exercise. It's just that those activities will be physically impossible for you at first."
Tatalia's determination did not waver. "I'll take 'em."
Goku picked them up for her and loaded them into a duffle bag, then chose his weights and did the same. "Alright, the first goal for today is to hike the perimeter of my dad's land while wearing our weights. It's about noon now so we've got until midnight to meet our goal. Shall we?"
"I'm ready!"
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"Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety, ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, nin-"
"Raditz, honey! The news is on!"
Raditz immediately set the weight bar down and rushed upstairs to the living room, leaving his private workout basement behind. "The King hasn't started his state of the planet address yet has he?" he asked as he approached Anko from behind the couch.
"They're just about to show him now," she said, turning the volume up on the holo screen.
"Hold on a second," he said before running into the kitchen to get a bottle of water out of the fridge. He quickly returned to the couch and took a seat next to his wife. "Alright."
On screen, a podium with several microphones stood in front of a crowd of reporters. It appeared to be in the palace's conference hall. Behind the podium hung a massive red curtain with the royal seal embroidered on it.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a royal advisor's voice announced over the intercom in the room, "The noble ruler of all Saiyans, King Vegita."
Vegita walked out from behind the red curtain following his introduction. "Thank you." He took a few seconds to clear his throat. "My fellow Saiyans! As you know, we've been tirelessly pursuing the elusive legend of the Super Saiyan, trying to unlock it's secrets in hope of strengthening our race and weighing the odds in our favor in the conflict against Frieza's Empire and his reptilian armies. As your king I believe I speak for all of us when I say that it is our evolutionary right to have full access to the Super Saiyan powers which our forefathers relied so heavily on when building up our race. However, we will not make the same mistake they did when they failed to spread the knowledge to the entire populous of our species and lost the way when the last Super passed away.
"I stand before you today with news that will forever alter the path that we as a race have been following. The Super Saiyan is no longer just a legend with sketchy details scribbled in the ancient archives of our ancestor's temples. We now have a living example of what we hope will be the key to ending the monopoly that Frieza holds over this quadrant of our galaxy. We have Super Saiyans at last!"
The room was immediately filled with the roar of reporters shouting out their questions and relaying their opinions over the broadcast. Several seconds later, Bardock was escorted to the podium and greeted by King Vegita, who raised his hands and silenced the crowd.
"I believe you already know who I am about to introduce to you," Vegita started. "The man who devised the plan to fool Frieza, one of the leading scientists in the entire planet, and an elite warrior. I give you Bardock, the Super Saiyan!"
The crowd once again broke into an uproar but silenced themselves as soon as Bardock began to speak.
"Thank you, your majesty. I must say what an honor it is to be here today and have the pleasure to be the one to deliver the news personally on the greatest project of my life." He paused and took a sip from a water bottle on a nearby table. "I will now show you all the Super Saiyan transformation which I have been perfecting for the last two years. Feel free to direct any questions you have towards me following the demonstration."
With that, a couple of attendants came and removed the podium from the stage to make a clear view for the spectators.
"Behold!" Bardock yelled, "Haaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!! Super Saiyan!" In an instant his skin became slightly more pale, his hair a gravity defying blonde, a shining golden aura, and piercing teal eyes.
Just before they could refocus their eyes from the bright light, the screen turned to static.
"What the hell?" Raditz shouted at the screen.
"I don't know what's up with this thing," Anko said as she fiddled with the remote. She changed channels and it appeared to be working. "Hm, must just be a problem with the broadcast."
"Dad finally did it..." Raditz breathed in awe. "Man, I wonder what's gonna happen now that it's gone public..."