Chapter 7

"What do you mean?" Vegeta demanded. "Talk sense. What about, say, Freeza? I hate to compare myself to trash like him, but surely I'm no worse." Grrrr.

"I should explain myself better," Ro said. "It's true, you are about even with the likes of Freeza and those before him, but there is one crucial thing that happened to you that sets you apart. Can you guess?"

Oh, please. Vegeta fixed him with a cold stare. "Don't play games with me, Ro. Just spit it out."

Ro nodded. "It was your time on Earth."

Vegeta had to allow himself a quick bark of laughter at this. "Hah! As if! In all the fourteen years that I've been there, I've hardly killed anyone."

Ro tilted his head to the side and regarded Vegeta thoughtfully. "That may be so... but just tell me something. Where is your home?"

"I don't have one."

"Is there anyone that you love or are attached to in any way?"

"No."

"Let's make it a little easier. Is there anyone that you would hesitate to kill?"

"No."

"No one? Not even a little?"

"No one."

Ro pointed at Vegeta. "And that is why I chose you. In all of history, not one person has spent such a long time among such pure beings as that group of Earthlings and not been infected by their good. But you... you are exactly the same as you were the day you first got to Earth. All you did was learn to hide it. I admire the way you picked up the social norms and taboos of Earth so quickly. You did a very good job of appearing to have switched sides. But still to this day, there is not a single life you would preserve unless you needed them alive." Ro made that odd little heh again. "Or if the need to kill them was weaker than the effort it would take. Your inborn cruelty and your drive to serve no one but yourself are incorrigible."

Vegeta smiled slightly. "Is that so..." The being's words were true enough.

"And my reason for bringing you here is one that I'm sure you can sympathize with: boredom. As the strongest person in the universe, there is no one who can put up a decent fight and entertain me."

Vegeta frowned. "Tell me that again. You're the strongest in the universe? What about Boo?"

"Oh, that pink thing," Ro said dismissively. "Not strong enough to even bother with. Especially the way he is now."

"Now?"

"When he was first created, he was evil like you and me. But he absorbed one of the Lord of Lords, and took on his happy, childlike nature. He still killed without a thought, but only because he didn't know any better. He got soft. Nowadays, I'm sure you could quench his thirst for blood just by telling him that it's 'wrong' to hurt people."

Vegeta was troubled. "You mean he was even stronger before?" A nod. He closed his eyes. "So he had a whole other level of power. Then I didn't really defeat him... killing him that way doesn't even count."

"Now's probably a good time to tell you... you didn't kill him."

"What?!"

"You need to completely vaporize every particle of his body. Otherwise, he'll just bounce back again. Djinns are annoying that way."

Vegeta's eyes widened in anger. "You mean I died for NOTHING?"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Ro shook a finger at Vegeta. "Don't get too upset. You're here with me now."

Vegeta was about to roll his eyes but stopped. This man was more powerful than Kakarrot and Boo... and he wanted to fight him.

...

He wanted to fight him?

"If you're the strongest, why bother with me? You know that I'm no better than Kakarrot," rrrrrrr... "and definitely worse than Boo. Why?"

Ro grinned. "As a matter of fact, you are inferior to both. Oh, you're going to love this. Son Goku actually could go to Super Saiyan 3, he just chose not to. That puts him... about as strong as Boo, maybe more so."

Vegeta's blood froze. "SUPER SAIYAN 3?! You're telling me he had an entire transformation up his sleeve and he didn't use it in our battle?! SCUM!" he shouted, livid. Kakarrot hadn't been taking their entire fight seriously! He lied! He was mocking him! And worst of all... Vegeta hadn't been anywhere near his power! What the hell did it take?!

"Relax," Ro said, fingers twitching. "He didn't use it because its power used up the time he had on Earth and he was saving it. I'm sure he wasn't thinking about you." Ro failed to notice Vegeta glowering at him. "Besides..." He grinned. "After what I'm going to teach you, that will be nothing."

"...What is it?" Vegeta asked, anger turning fast into gloom. After all those years slaving away... he knew he had reached his limits.

"First, we are going to spar. After that, I'll teach you the technique," Ro said.

"... Ro, technique or not, I don't think I have anything left."

"Oh, quit your sniveling. Everyone's had fighters' block at some point. You've never let it get in your way before, haven't you? Besides, you've never had me before. I promise you, you will thank me after. So just make your chi as big as you can," Ro said, "or I'll break your legs."

Vegeta frowned. Sniveling? He'd show Ro. He stood up straight and released his chi.

"No, no, don't just release it," Ro said impatiently. "Make it bigger. And don't go Super Saiyan. If you ever go Super Saiyan in my presence, I'll kill you on the spot."

Vegeta really did roll his eyes this time. Impatient dog. "I was getting there," he muttered, before expanding his chi to his base form's maximum power. He wasn't good enough to beat perfect Cell the way he was now, but he was stronger than the early days when he had first achieved Super Saiyan 2.

"Good," said Ro, "now keep it there until I say." He started pacing, hands behind his back, as if he were giving a lecture in university. "As you know, after Son Goku was killed by Piccolo he trained in the Afterlife with Kaiō in order to defeat you. Kaiō's planet had heavy gravity, yes, and Son Goku learned the Genki Dama, but there was something else." He glanced up at Vegeta. "He learned a legendary technique... called the Kaiō-Ken."

"I've heard that name before..." Vegeta muttered, the name sparking a distant memory...

He stood smugly on the tower of stone, staring down at Kakarrot. The boy was strong... stronger than Vegeta had anticipated... but still no match. Waiting for him to make the next move, Vegeta noticed a strange glint in Kakarrot's eye. He gave a tight smile and shouted something...

"Kaiō-Ken... times three!"

Vegeta could actually see the power exploding out from Kakarrot and, before he could process what was happening, Kakarrot blasted off from the ground and slammed his fist into Vegeta's cheek.

That was the very first time Kakarrot had surpassed him.

"Do you understand what it does?" Ro asked.

Vegeta shrugged. "Well... not exactly. It made him stronger, much stronger than he should have been."

"Son Goku was tapping into the emergency reservoirs of chi in his body. You have experience with this- it caused your death. But he was taught to do it only for an instant, before his body had the chance to die. The Kaiō-Ken multiplied his base power level. At first, even taking the Kaiō-Ken up to the threefold was almost too much for him, but he kept getting stronger... and with experience he was able to take the Kaiō-Ken farther than he was ever meant to. You know how Goku is, always acting like the laws don't apply to him. An effective philosophy."

"... I see... so why did he stop? Did he just get too strong to be able to use it anymore?" If this "Kaiō-Ken" multiplied power, at their current level using it could mean the destruction of the universe.

"What do you mean?" Ro looked at Vegeta curiously. "Son Goku never stopped. To this day, he still uses the Kaiō-Ken."

"Don't play games with me, Ro. Kakarrot hasn't had such a sudden burst since I first fought him on Earth."

"That's because he's absorbed it. When you use the Kaiō-Ken for long enough, when you've gotten to the maximum multiple, it just gets added to your power for good. You can't use it again, but you don't have to worry about wrecking your body."

"... Added to...?" Then that must mean... "How high can Kakarrot multiply his power by? Using the Kaiō-Ken."

"Kaiō only ever intended it to be used at x2, but now... Son Goku is effectively using Kaiō-Ken x20."

Which must mean... "Kakarrot has been fighting at x20 his normal power this whole time."

"Correct." Ro clicked his tongue.

"Kakarrot has been fighting at x20 his normal power this whole time. He's nowhere NEAR as strong as me! He cheated!"

"No, no, you're getting it wrong," Ro said. "Don't say that learning the Kaiō-Ken is cheating. It's one of the most difficult techniques to learn. All the power you've seen from Son Goku, he earned. I'm just telling you how he got it."

"...I understand."

"Now, we're going to start on the path to you learning this technique. We won't call it the Kaiō-Ken. That's what the Lord of the Worlds teaches. You are going to learn the Sabaku-Kaze."

Vegeta stared at Ro, eyes alive but mouth silent. Ro continued, uninterrupted. "Even though you're dealing with a much higher base power level than when Son Goku first learned, you should still be able to take it up to x20." Vegeta's eyes widened. "That should be enough for you to get up to my level."

Vegeta finally found his voice. "But how strong are you, really? How do I know you're not just full of it? This whole situation seems a little eccentric..."

"I didn't think you were this shrewd, Vegeta..." Ro slowly turned in a circle. "How strong am I? THIS IS HOW STRONG I AM."

All the red lightning plunged down toward them and exploded, forcing Vegeta to shield his eyes from the blinding light. And the chi. He didn't so much sense it as get attacked by it. It was pounding all around him... he could almost feel collisions on his arms and chest as if it was a warrior in itself... and his head, it was like it was trying to smash through his skull. He gritted his teeth, trying to block out the agonizing power, and after a few seconds it began to ebb away.

Even after he recovered, Vegeta's heart was still pounding frantically. He couldn't feel fear... somehow, all he knew was joy. Picturing this monolithic power fighting him was inconceivable. No matter what he did, no matter how long he trained for, he would never be able to make it past the first blow. And yet... "... You said I could get this strong...?"

"Sure," Ro said easily.

Vegeta withdrew for a minute then, needing to luxuriate in the knowledge that this, this monstrous power, would also be his. The look on Kakarrot's face... mmmm.

When he was finished, Vegeta spoke. "I'm glad you told me... after all these years of waiting... suffering... This is it, isn't it? This is the Moment I've been waiting for... heh heh heh..." He was so overcome with delight that his laughter kept building until he could hardly stay on his feet. Ro waited patiently for him to finish.

"Let's start now," Vegeta said eagerly. He couldn't wait. He wasn't letting Kakarrot remain better than him for a second longer than he had to.

"Later. Not now," Ro said.

"... And why it that?" Vegeta said, jaw clenched in disappointment and frustration. "Kakarrot learned it when he was about as strong as Raditz, fourteen years ago. Teach it to me now so I can finally beat him!"

Ro shrugged. "You can't learn it right now. When Son Goku learned it, his power was much smaller and easier to manage. We're going to have to be very careful with you. Besides, his grasp of chi is fundamentally different than yours, so that's already an obstacle."

Vegeta frowned. "What are you talking about? I've researched the way Earthlings use chi, there's nothing Kakarrot can do with it that I can't."

"Maybe so, but it's not really about knowledge. It's about instincts. You see, you were raised believing that a person's chi level was a fixed number. The only way it could go up was by training, or in your case, recovering from a near-death experience. Correct?"

"Yeah," Vegeta agreed.

"Son Goku, on the other hand, never had such a constricted view of chi. He never was taught that he had a limit as to how much he could improve. So when Kaiō told him to explode his chi, it was easy enough for him. You, on the other hand... well, I'll let you find out for yourself. Your chi is still raised to the maximum?"

Vegeta nodded.

"Force it past those limits. You can't build up to it, you have to do it all at once. Go."

Vegeta shut his eyes and tried to raise it further. It stubbornly stayed at the same level. Taking a deep breath in, he tried to do it all at once like Ro said. One... two... three...

"DYAH!"

His whole body spasmed and he let go without thinking. If he kept going, he would die- permanently this time. "It's no good. I can't-"

Ro's elbow smashed into Vegeta's jaw and knocked him to the ground. "What the hell was that for?!" he yelled, eyes wide.

"Keep your chi raised or I'll attack again," Ro said. "When we spar, I'll lower the power of my attacks so you have at least some chance... but from now on, every time your chi isn't as big as it can get, I'll hit you for real. Got that?"

Vegeta glared at him as he got up, wiping a trickle of blood off his lip. Ro was bluffing- if he hit Vegeta with all his strength there would be nothing left of him. Still, Vegeta knew that it would hurt.

"We are going to spar now," Ro said, throwing another punch. Vegeta saw it coming and blocked it. "After I finish talking, I'll be fighting at twice your base form's power level. Again, if you go Super, I am going to kill you. The only way to beat me is to master the Sabaku-Kaze times two."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Vegeta asked, breathing heavily. As he was talking, Ro had been calmly, almost methodically, attacking him.

"Just practice going past your limits. At first, you won't be able to do it long enough to attack. And you have to know exactly how much your body can handle, otherwise... you know what happens."

"How can I raise my chi if you keep getting in my way?" Vegeta left an afterimage and skipped around behind Ro, who blocked him without looking.

"I'm going to give you a few five-minute breaks every day to practice. You also get three hours to sleep, but if your chi goes down I'll give you another beating."

"I see... so I'll have to learn how to raise it without any effort." That was going to be tough... Vegeta was going to get injured at some point. "One last question. Suppose I just wanted to rest in peace and I told you to take me to be Judged. Would you? Do I have any choice to be trained by you?"

"None at all," Ro grinned. "But you wouldn't refuse, not after what you've learned..."

Vegeta laughed. "No, I guess not..."

"Besides, after you've fought me, I'll take you back to Earth. I know what you want."

"Thanks..."

This was going to be the greatest training session of Vegeta's life.

He had no inkling of the sea of pain that was approaching on the horizon. Even if he had, he wouldn't have lost one drop of enthusiasm. Seeing Kakarrot finally, finally fall before him would be worth it. It would be worth anything.

So Vegeta cracked his knuckles, eyes shining with anticipation, and said the magic words...

"Come at me."

OoO

"So Vegeta," Ro said, fist centimetres from Vegeta's nose, "what's the first thing you're going to do once you kill Son Goku?"

Vegeta hesitated to consider and nearly got his face bashed in for his trouble. "That was cheap!"

"You're just too used to the Earthlings," Ro said, blurring out of sight. Vegeta could hear the smile in his ghostly voice as it came from all around him. "They're all pretty straight-laced, aren't they?"

"Ha!" Vegeta's eyes darted back and forth as he caught little hits of where Rokuma was. All he could do was stay on his guard and try to anticipate the instant Ro would attack. "Two years ago, I was sparring with Kakarrot's son... it was getting heated... I blew away a chi blast that nearly cut my skin... but just as I was finally waking up, he asked to pause the battle so he could tie his shoe."

Ro's disembodied laughter came from all sides. "What did you do?"

"Kicked him in the stomach. Hard." Vegeta smirked. "I was just trying to help. It would be easier for him to reach his shoelace lying on the ground like that." Vegeta couldn't help but relive the hilarious way Gohan had crumpled to his knees, gasping for breath. Had that doormat of a person really faced off against Perfect Cell?

In the instant that Vegeta's concentration wavered, Ro materialized in front of Vegeta and knocked his legs out from under him. On his way down, Vegeta grabbed his foot and switched their momentum, smashing Ro into the ground face-first.

"It's just disrespect, really," Ro said casually, getting up like nothing had happened.

"That's exactly it...!" Vegeta sidestepped the beam that Ro had been charging while he was down. "None of these Earth-bred Saiyans know what an honor it used to be just to spar with me... even as a child, some of our subjects would always be clamoring for my father to let them fight me... I was quite the prodigy, you see..." If there was any bitterness in Vegeta's voice, it was well-hidden. "... Earth was humiliating... but at least I turned it into humility..." Vegeta paused to launch a barrage of chi bullets at Ro. "Gohan... if he learned the Sabaku-Kaze... would he be stronger than me?"

Far above Vegeta, Ro shouted his answer. "No! Son Goku taught his son the Kaiō-Ken, too!"

Vegeta gritted his teeth and directed his attack upwards. Ro disappeared from midair before the projectiles could touch him. "Of course! So Gohan has the potential to be stronger than Goku, but he's still a lot weaker than you."

"That's right." Ro appeared in front of Vegeta and landed a solid punch. "And like I said, you should be about as good as me once you learn it." His eyes glazed for a second. "Speaking of which, it's practice time."

Vegeta nodded and took a few seconds to catch his breath. He was only a few days in and he was already running low on energy. He tried not to think what was going to happen in the future. But Ro obviously had a plan, and Vegeta was sure it didn't involve getting him killed.

Ummmm, killed again.

"I used to think... that my three years in the gravity room... was the worst period... of my life..." Vegeta said with difficulty. It had been a week... at least he thought so... the light never changed here.

"Stop being such a whiner," Ro said, head tilted to the side and arms crossed. He looked bored. "I could be making things a hundred times harder on you and you know it."

Despite the pain that danced up and down him, especially in his side, Vegeta grinned. "I know... I'm not complaining... after all... those three years led to me becoming a Super Saiyan..."

"That's the spirit," Ro said, right before everything went black.