I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 12: Training methods
"Alright hun, let's test this program. I've been working almost non-stop on it after all!" Bulma said. I was standing in the control room for the new and improved gravity room that had been built separate from the new Capsule Corp. Only a long hallway connected it to the house, and it was much larger and specially reinforced. According to just about everyone, Vegeta had been dying to test everything for himself, and Bulma had pulled the plug on the whole thing until he agreed to leave it alone for the time being. It was probably about half as big around as the capsule corp. building, clearly designed for larger sparring and training bouts. Only a small control room stood off to the side, and it controlled all of the enhanced gravity and the hologram settings. It was also a safe place for people to watch from if needs be.
"First thing we do is enter your name and all the important stuff. This also adjusts the program to your settings. You wouldn't want some weakling like me to walk in and start on a high level program without realizing it. They are pretty ruthless," Bulma explained as she punched up some basic information onto the screen.
"Surely you have some commands for the program to stop, otherwise it wouldn't be very safe," I suggested.
"Oh of course, everything is set on voice command. Stop, begin, pause and proceed are the key words you need to remember while inside the chamber. The programs will not change their current status until one of those words is spoken," she said.
"Good, how many different programs are there?" I asked.
"Only six, but they have can have various settings that really affect the way they fight. There are five key settings that have to be inputted: Difficulty level, agility level, intelligence level and ability level. Difficulty determines how strong they are and how long they can last. Agility is obvious; it's their quickness, speed and accuracy. Intelligence determines how smart they are and accordingly how well they adapt to a fighting style as well as adjusting their own strategies to combat you. Ability levels install various abilities into each fighter with fighting styles, energy blasts and techniques. None of the fighting programs are exactly the same though," she explained.
"I thought you said there were five settings?" I asked.
"Gravity level, silly. If the program is set to the highest level and you are still beating them easily, try turning up the gravity and see if you can keep up. Remember, none of them are affected by the gravity plating!" she warned.
"Well you said there was a lot of variety depending on those settings, what are the highest and lowest settings?" I asked.
"Wow, you are keeping up after all. Well I have different settings installed on each fighter with a default level and established minimum and maximum levels unique to each program. Before you ask why there is a cap on it, the programs were too unstable on other settings rather they were too high or too low. They will work best under the established parameters. Not to worry though, I've managed to create some pretty tough fighters, and like I said, you can simply turn up the gravity if it's too easy! Here I'll show you," she explained.
"Before we start, I am kind of curious how you managed to get all this going in a short time. I know I was away for a while, but way you acted like the project was going to take years to do. Plus you had to get the whole compound rebuilt while you had a baby on the way," I pointed out.
"Oh that, well when the Protoss left Earth in such a hurry, they left behind a lot of technology. With it I was able to make these hologram emitters and with Eighteen's help, carefully install each fighter's movement, adaptation and other goodies. The power system here is also based on their pylon clusters, though I was only able to get a hold of a few crystals. I was also able to make a much stronger Saiyan proof alloy that makes up the entire room. I haven't tested how much it can take, but it stood up to Gotenks pretty well," she continued. So that's how she did it, figures. Oh well, I won't call her out for cheating or anything if she managed to get it all first. Hell she was already trading some technology with them as it was, I should probably hope that no one else discovered their crap left out to rust.
"Okay, let's do this," I said as I walked into the chamber.
"Fighter number one is Brock," she announced as she typed something in. Instantly a large muscled man dressed in brown appeared with boxing gloves on.
"The most basic fighter of the group. He's mostly just a big dumb brute who talks a lot and prefers pure strength verses speed and technique. Only at the highest ability levels can he even use energy blasts, but even then he can't fly. He can be tough to bring down for any beginner, but overall isn't much of a problem. Great for starters," she explained as I looked over the hologram. He did indeed look very stupid; I doubted that Mr. Satan could lose to this guy even if he was still wearing a diaper.
"Next up, Amine!" Bulma announced as Brock vanished and a thin and tomboyish girl appeared in his place.
"Ooo, a girl this time," I said sarcastically.
"Amine is another basic fighter, only this one relies on speed and strategy rather than pure strength. Basically the same as Brock, but is a little bit smarter and obviously much better looking. She can pack a decent punch at a high level and due to her speed can be hard to track for a novice, but once you score solid hits on her, she will go down quick. She is more likely to use an energy wave than Brock, but they aren't very strong. She also can't fly, but she moves along the ground very well for someone who is normal," Bulma said with a wink. I frowned at the cheap shot, but let it slide.
"I think you know who this is," she said as Amine vanished and suddenly a very familiar figure appeared. But he had no power signal to go with him, thus I knew it wasn't the real thing.
"You know Vegeta isn't going to like this one. But you nailed it; he even has Goku's goofy grin," I said.
"Actually Vegeta requested it; I think it's his way of practicing to beat him like he always claims he will. Could be a good way to get his confidence up, assuming the prince of arrogance ever needs a boost. This guy can fight just as well as Goku. If you want a good and long workout, this is the one to tangle with," she pointed out. The image of Goku vanished and another brown haired girl took his place. This one was much more attractive than the first girl, but also seemed to have a deadly edge to her.
"This is Tamari. She is much harder to catch than the previous fighters and she is also a great deal smarter than all of them. She relies on keeping her distance and using energy attacks until she sees an opening. She isn't as potentially tough as Goku, but she can certainly hang with anyone. I must say, I did a really good job with her image profile, don't you agree?" Bulma asked with one of her fake and innocent smiles.
"She won't look so good when I'm done beating the tar out of her," I said as I grinned slightly.
"Yeah, probably not, here's the next to last one," Bulma said as Tamari vanished and a tall and lean blonde man took her place. He had the look of a warrior on him, and the added effect of a fake blue aura helped to establish that.
"This stud is Bullard. Vegeta wanted me to make someone that could be just as good as Cell in all aspects, and I think I made the answer. He is at the top of all the categories in terms of strength, speed, intelligence and ability. Out of all the basic holo-fighters, he is the hardest one to beat as he adapts to his opponent's moves very quickly," she explained.
"I take it the one you haven't introduced is the lone advanced one," I said, unimpressed by the mountain of electricity in front of me.
"Well, actually Bullard is to be the lone advanced one. The very last one is the toughest one out of all, as he should be," she said with a nervous smile. Bullard vanished, and then another copied warrior came into view.
"Let me guess, to baby sit us while he's out?" I asked with a deep frown. Before me was a perfect copy of Vegeta, right down to the smirk.
"In a matter of speaking, yes. Vegeta requested this one too, but he also wanted to make sure that no one else could turn it on. I only included it in your program so you know about it; I'll be taking it off soon. This one is only meant for the tutorial and guide. He talks just as rudely though, so try not to get too angry. All of the default settings are jacked up on this one, so if you ever have to fight this one, be very careful. This is the only one I haven't tested in a real situation," she warned.
"Want me to give it a crack then?" I asked, cracking my knuckles a bit.
"Sure if you want to, we've got a few minutes," she said. The image of Vegeta suddenly flashed and vanished, before he reappeared and dropped into a stance.
"Ready for the pain weakling?" he asked.
"Nice touch," I said as I matched his stance.
"That isn't the worst of it, but thanks," she grinned. Suddenly another figure popped in, matching Goku's look.
"Whoops, must have pressed the wrong button," she said.
"Nope," I said as I detected the real Goku's energy level.
"Kakarot!" Holo-Vegeta growled. Oh god, she's got reactions to Goku programmed in.
"Hey Vegeta, mind if I borrow Verto for a little while, Gohan really wants to spar with him today!" Goku announced in an excited voice.
"Silence clown! Prepare to die!" Holo-Vegeta shouted as he charged in.
"Whoa, calm down!" Goku cried out as he dodged the first few punches. A flurry erupted as the fake Vegeta attacked mercilessly with strong punches and kicks while Goku only dodged aside. Even though the hologram had no power level to detect, I could tell that at this point he was no match for the real Goku without extra gravity.
"Man Vegeta, you sure are getting slow!" Goku commented midway through the flurry.
"Be gone you buffoon!" Holo-Vegeta roared as he jumped back and fired off several energy blasts. Goku phased out just as they were about to hit him and reappeared at Vegeta's side, punching him there and grounding him.
"Wow, that's the easiest you've ever gone on me Vegeta! I didn't sense any power from you at all! You haven't gone soft have you?" Goku asked as the door suddenly opened. This time a real power signal appeared, and Goku's confusion tripled.
"Soft?" the real Vegeta growled.
"Whoa! Two Vegeta's? Is one of you an android?" Goku asked innocently.
"Goku, that's a hologram you beat! It wasn't the real thing!" Bulma said, trying not to laugh too hard.
"Oh, I guess that explains why he was so weak!" Goku said without a thought in the world as the holographic version of the prince vanished.
"Weak?" Vegeta growled again as his eyebrow twitched.
"Well anyway, let's get going! If Gohan has to wait any longer, Chichi will probably banish him to the study corner again! You wouldn't want to spar all day with that fake Vegeta; that would be just a silly waste of time!" Goku smiled as he held out his hand.
"That's not very nice Goku; I worked hard on these programs!"
"Waste of time?" Vegeta snarled as I sensed his anger level flirting with explosion.
"This might be a good time to leave if we're going," I suggested.
"Okay, see you later Bulma and Vegeta! And try not to beat up these weaklings too hard, I wouldn't want you to break a leg or something before we spar again!" Goku suggested as he grabbed my hand and prepared for teleportation.
"Break a leg? Argh, I'll break every bone in your body!" Vegeta roared as he flew towards us. Goku panicked and teleported quickly, putting us next to his house within a second or two. I felt Vegeta's power signal rising violently before he rushed towards us from several hundred miles away.
"Uh oh, I think he's a little angry," Goku noticed.
"I think you just gave yourself an impromptu match, have fun," I said as Goku nodded and blasted off into the air and searched for somewhere to hide. About two and a half minutes later, Vegeta arrived at Super Saiyan two, and to say he was angry is an understatement. He panted just slightly as he had likely flew at top speed just so Goku wouldn't get away.
"Which way did he go?" Vegeta asked, apparently not checking his own senses.
"That way," I pointed to the east.
"You're mine clown!" Vegeta shouted as he blew down some trees on the way out. That'll be a good chase.
"Hey, feeling any better?" Gohan asked as he walked out of his house a few seconds later.
"Yeah, I guess," I said with a questioning eyebrow.
"Well, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling up to this. I heard about the past few days, must have been rough. I'll bet the Supreme Kai is watching you right now," he said.
"Let's not go there. I only did what should have been done in the first place. But enough about that, I'm in a bad enough mood over it," I said.
"Is it that energy field Kibito set up around Capsule Corp? I can just barely sense it with you, feels a little dark," he commented.
"Drop it," I retorted sharply. The truth was, I had been trying to block out everything that Kibito's little toy had sent at me ever since I started feeling its effects. It was very subtle about its outpour of emotional punishment, and tended to wait until I was not ready for the assault, causing me to lose a bit of sleep during the night. Fortunately, its effect was just as subtle, and I was able to deal with most of it. The only problem was that it tended to make me a bit moody at times.
"All right then, feel like training me for once?" he asked, surprising me.
"And what would I have to teach you?"
"Well you know that your training with Psi and Chi energy was much more in depth than mine. You've got more techniques and more practice than I do. All I can do with my Psi energy is detect it, use instant transmission and recharge my ki power when I'm running low. Other than use it for energy blasts of course," he explained.
"And the sword," I commented.
"Oh yeah, that. Well I was just practicing one day after we got back when I figured it out. I guess that Viro guy perfected it," Gohan grinned slightly.
"Well, it did save his ass a few times in that fight, or should I say, your ass," I smirked back.
"Well anyway, I know I can't concentrate it as well as you, but I need to be able to get more out of it. I've fought with Frost, and he is stronger than both of us. Aside from absorbing a lot of extra energy to power up with, I can't figure out how I'm going to keep up with him if and when he comes to Earth. I thought that maybe you had some ideas," Gohan said, looking to me for input.
"Absorbing a lot of power only does you so much good. As you know, to stay at Super Mystic requires that near perfect balance of the two energies. When I was fighting in the Other World tournament, I absorbed a big time ki attack, kind of like the evil version of me did against you guys back on Char. Well I wasn't Super Mystic at the time, nor did I have enough Psi energy to match it. So when I used the extra energy to power up, I transformed into an ascended Super Saiyan instead, and I was still able to use my Psi energy separately just like normal form," I explained.
"Really? Wow," Gohan said in amazement.
"The point is, I can't quite convert my Psi energy to ki like you and Aldaris did, nor would I want to. I can do it to others with my healing power, but why waste it if I don't have to? Besides the other kind of healing is better if it's just wounds and not something weird. But if you were to use your recharge ability while at maximum power in this state, you might be able to push that Super Saiyan level again like I did. And this time it would probably be stronger than your Super Mystic level. The same could happen if you use the sword to absorb enough power. Give it a try," I suggested.
"Maybe we should go somewhere a little more distant, Bulma got a little upset the other day when me and dad powered up a little too much," Gohan said nervously. I glanced at the house, seeing some fresh looking cracks in the sidewalls.
"Good idea," I said as we took to the air, heading south and east towards the sea.
"Hey, I know! The perfect training for Frost is to train in space! In Super Mystic form we can survive up there just like he can! And we can go all out without worrying about damaging Earth!" Gohan pointed out midway through the flight.
"A couple things wrong with that theory. If either one of us runs out of power, there goes the ability to breathe. And if the other one is too tired to maintain power for air on the way back, well you know what that could mean," I said.
"We can take a ship up there though and park it out of the way," Gohan suggested.
"Yeah, and hopefully not blow it up. Surely you remember just how rough things got before Viro used that damn virus on me?" I asked.
"Ugh, how could I forget? I'm still sore from that Galic punch of yours; I think you missed a spot," Gohan said as he rubbed his stomach.
"The one punch, or the fifty that followed? Anyway, all I'm saying is let's keep the rough sessions in the time chamber so we don't have to worry about air. As you probably noticed, I fight a little differently now," I explained.
"Yeah I'll say, cool trick with the glowing fists though. You had Viro stumped most of the time since you can virtually attack or defend in almost any possible way with that ability," Gohan chuckled.
"Funny thing is, I had already learned it before I figured out how to effectively use it. Dabura and the Kais called it mastering my power, though all it really does is allow me to concentrate a lot of energy without much effort. I really didn't spar as much as you would think, most of it was a lot of meditation," I continued.
"Yeah, Videl mentioned that. Good to see that she got a lot stronger too," Gohan said with a grin.
"Good as in you won't have to save her all the time? Or good as in she's a little rougher in the bedroom?" I asked, returning the grin and kicking off the start of a verbal sparring match.
"You don't have much room to talk with that knockout you brought back!" Gohan said.
"Technically, you brought her into the fold, I trained her. If Videl wasn't around, I think you and her would be taking care of some business judging by the look over she gave you at the last party," I pointed out.
"Yeah, well it appears that she shows a lot of affection toward the younger generation. I guess you got the inside track being her teacher and all," Gohan said.
"It seems that way at times. I really need to chisel it into her head that she and I are not an item no matter what her personal beliefs are. It might be because Vegeta is dishing out that future mate crap again, but this time I'm avoiding the subject if at all possible. Besides, as strong as she is now, the combined effort between the legs of steel and the hot air balloons could probably make even Broly suffocate," I laughed along with Gohan.
"Now that would be something to see," Gohan said.
"Ugh, no it wouldn't!" I gasped with a horrified glare.
"I was just joking bro," he chuckled.
"I know, but I've already gotten a bad image of Broly with someone just by knowing who it's with, and it isn't with someone who is that much smaller than him if you get my drift," I said.
"Really, who is that? Describe her, assuming it is a female," Gohan requested.
"Now that is just wrong. You just had to go there didn't you?"
"Maximum suffering," he added.
"Fine, imagine Videl with shoulder length hair, black eyes and quite a bit bigger in all places, especially in the chest and arms. Now imagine eight feet of that and a general desire to screw anything in sight," I described.
He went slightly pale, "You're right, that is a bad image when you stick it next to Broly!"
"Well take Broly out of the picture and it's not quite as bad. I'm sure you could imagine that easily, assuming you don't already," I chuckled.
"I guess its better to imagine it than live it, shrimp," he fired back.
I snorted slightly, "The height comeback is getting pretty worn out. In a few years it won't even be valid!"
"Oh really, I seem to recall you were still pretty short even when you were older, a sign of things to come maybe?" he asked with a deep grin.
"Nah, I've always been a little behind on the growth curve. That damn growth ray thing was probably malfunctioning that day," I said.
"It looked on target to me," he said, trying to keep the match going, or at least try for a win. Unfortunately for him, I had already spotted the counter.
"I agree that it was accurate for its setting. Looks like you better not use it though, I think I see a gray hair or two, old man," I joked. Gohan glared hard at his hair, pulling one small and dull strand out and throwing it aside.
"Fine, you win that round. This looks far enough anyway, let's try this out here!" Gohan said as we stopped over the far reaches of the open sea.
"We should be at least two hundred miles from the nearest landmass, that should keep things nice and calm for everyone," Gohan said as he drifted above the water.
"Gohan, maybe you should do this a little higher in the sky," I suggested.
"Why, we're far enough away aren't we?" he asked.
"It's called a tidal wave," I said as I pointed towards the water.
He glanced down and immediately rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin, "Oh yeah, guess you're right!" And the goofy Goku genes are active once again. Once settled several thousand feet in the air, Gohan powered up to his maximum in normal form quickly. He brought out his Psi energy next, turning his eyes blue.
"Okay, now at this point it's your option rather you would prefer to try to absorb energy through the sword, or use that recharge ability. Using the Super Mystic transformation will just burn up the Psi energy. Instead of combining the power, convert it. Try to crank it up as far as you can and I'll monitor how far up you can go!" I ordered, feeling a bit strange by telling him what to do.
"Haaaaaa…" he shouted as his aura reappeared and flashed with Psi lightning. His ki level rose up slowly as his Psi energy drained. As the winds increased and pushed against me, I could sense something wrong. Gohan's recharge ability was using twice as much Psi energy than it should have been. He was filling up with plenty of extra ki power, but his Psi energy was nearly gone. Then he stopped and struggled for a moment. He wasn't quite out of gas yet, so this was slightly unexpected. Then I recalled what had happened with me.
"Push with your anger and rage while you power up, you still gotta do that," I suggested. Golden light exploded around Gohan a moment later as the force of the wind nearly sent me flying. I managed to block against it as I released more power just to stay in the air. Psi lightning changed to ki lightning as Gohan kept going, and soon he stopped, topped out at an absolute maximum. Wow, that was effective. He may lose Psi energy this way, but he doesn't have to worry about a time limit. Gohan looked slightly disappointed though in his new Super Saiyan two form.
"I thought it would be better than this. This is barely above my Super Mystic power level and not quite even with Frost's fifth form, though it's very close," he explained.
"Then what are you complaining about? You know I'll be here to help if he shows up. And you know the others will be too," I said.
"It's not that, sure this would be enough to fight him even without help. But..." he trailed off when his aura started to flicker. I scanned his energy and found the problem, his ki was draining slightly. It drained noticeably until it fell back to around where his power would be at Super Mystic and remained stationary.
"My body isn't used to this, and I'll lose a little bit of power. Enough to have an impact on a battle with Frost anyway," Gohan explained.
"I noticed that you lost a lot more Psi energy when you converted it. Like it took almost twice as much power to convert it," I said.
"Yeah, it's been like that every time for me ever since I figured out how to do it. Of course not being used to that kind of power didn't help either," he said.
"Okay, then try a lot more mediation then straight up sparring. Work on this technique a lot too. Maybe you can improve its effectiveness and use a lot less power to advance further. If this Frost is as strong as you say, then you can't have any drain on your energy, nor can you be holding back anything," I suggested.
"That's a good idea. I guess I've been slacking that a lot lately. It was hard to resist a challenge when traveling with the other Saiyans," he replied.
"Yeah, I have no doubt about that. I'm sure you really tried to stay in the study corner everyday in space," I said sarcastically. Just as we laughed it off we both detected two power signals headed our way.
"Gohan, save me, he's a madman!" Goku cried out as he flew in and hid behind his son. I could hear Vegeta screaming in rage as he blazed in like a man possessed. He came to a halt and panted slightly as he spotted Goku again. Both Saiyans were back down to Super Saiyan, and both felt tired as they were likely flying around the planet several times over in the game of cat and mouse.
"I'll teach you to insult my woman's work!" Vegeta bellowed as Goku took off into the distance again and Vegeta blew by in full pursuit.
"You think they might have gone a little over board with this one?" Gohan asked as he spotted a long line of displaced water far below us. He was probably thinking about how much damage they could have caused to the countryside; the picture was pretty frightening.
"Maybe, but I think we just found a really good way to wear out the boys next time they find the candy stash," I pointed out as we both laughed loudly.
"So, want to mix it up a little bit while I'm still so powered up. I promise I'll go easy on you," Gohan said with a deep grin.
"I think I'll pass, I'm still a little low on energy due to yesterday's grand event. I probably used more power than necessary on that freak," I groaned slightly.
"Funny, you feel stronger than you were on planet Auir, at least your ki level does. Hell even a little more since the fight with Viro, I can feel it," he pointed out.
"Effective training pays off," I grinned.
"Wish I could say that, my power hasn't budged since I mastered the Super Mystic transformation, and that was almost a year ago. I think I've topped out," he said with a frown.
"Well, maybe you have. Maybe the reason mine is gradually going up is because I'm still growing up. I guess the shrimp syndrome isn't so bad. Old Kai mentioned that it would go up slowly as I matured, but maybe there is a cap for it. Master that Psi energy a little better and you might be able to break that cap," I suggested.
"Not sure I want to have permanent blue eyes, kind of a big step down in the world," Gohan chuckled.
"Laugh it up, look who had to save the day the last few times when you were down and out," I smirked.
"Speaking of which, I gotta burn this up somewhere, otherwise I won't sleep tonight. I guess I could just blast an asteroid or two, if I could breathe up there at this point. You think you could point one out for me with that special sense of yours?" he asked.
"One target coming right up," I grinned as I closed my eyes. I willed my spiritual vision to take me beyond the atmosphere and into space, where I began to search for the nearest hunk of worthless rock. I noticed a problem though; my vision became cloudy once I got beyond the atmosphere. I scanned around quickly and found something floating harmlessly by quickly and traced it back to our position.
"Something wrong?" Gohan asked.
"No, just had to look a little further than I should be able to. I've got your target by the way, turn slightly right and angle your blast at about sixty three point five eight degrees straight ahead and above you," I said.
"You can narrow it down that well?" he asked as he charged up a large attack.
"No, just a guess, and I was pretty good at measuring angles back in my school days. Just aim it straight that way," I said with a grin as I opened my eyes and pointed.
"Masenko, HA!" he shouted, firing a very large and powerful gold beam into the skies and beyond. I sensed it leave orbit quickly before I saw an early explosion a few seconds later.
"That one seemed a little close," Gohan commented.
"Hmmm, it was hard to see that far up there. I don't think that spirit vision technique is meant to go very far away. But I thought for sure that rock was further away than that. Want me to check again and find a more distant target?" I asked.
"Nah, I don't sense anything. Maybe I hit some debris or something, besides, it was enough," he said as he powered down to normal and we flew back towards the Son house. We got a nice laugh out of seeing and exhausted Goku and Vegeta fly around recklessly before Goku finally used instant transmission to get away from the tired prince.
I said goodbye to Gohan and flew back home quickly as twilight took over the skies. While it wasn't quite evening time when I got home due to the differing sunlight, I walked into what seemed like a dinner rush. Only this time, Bulma had a bunch of scientists running around in a frenzy.
"It's incredible I tell you!" one shouted as I walked in the door.
"But how could something be there? It's nothing but ice on the edge of the world!" another yelled back.
"That's what makes this so exciting!" the first one called out.
"Okay, just what is so exciting?" I asked as the second one came to a brief halt.
"Oh, uh, yeah this isn't for kids," he stuttered as he ran by carrying maps.
"Fine, I'll just go ask the real genius then," I said as I walked down towards Bulma's lab. About twenty to thirty more scientists and other workers were crammed into her lab, looking at various displays with an astounded gaze. I quickly got tired of pushing my way through and simply jumped over all of them and landed next to Bulma, who was sitting at the control console, looking just as amazed.
"Well, what is the big deal?" I asked.
"Hard to say, but we detected a heat signature along the big glacier to the south. Past Baba's place and around the south pole," she pointed out on the world map.
"I take it that it isn't supposed to be there; you happen to know what is causing it?" I asked.
"Nope, no clue," she said simply. I reached out with my energy senses and scanned with all my effort, not picking up a single blip from that direction.
"Well, I can't sense anything either, maybe it's some abandoned town and someone got stuck and started a camp fire," I suggested.
"That would be pretty hard kiddo; it's not on top of the ice. It's a few thousand feet below the surface," she explained. I glanced at the image again, seeing an outline of some sort of building the satellite was picking up.
"I'd call this a major scientific discovery. Wanna come check it out with me?" she asked with an amused look on her face.
"Nah, that's okay. Probably just some buried temple or something that froze over way back when," I pointed out.
"Well, that's part of the mystery! I want to find out who built it and when. I've always been interested in ancient Earth history!" she said happily.
"You would have had a field day on my world then. Count me out on this one, unless you get into some trouble that is," I replied.
"Nah, I'm gonna get Vegeta and Trunks to go with me along with a big drilling crew we're going to hire. If Gohan didn't have school I would have invited him too. Probably take a week worth of drilling just to get down there, unless I let Vegeta blow the whole thing up of course. Might be kind of boring around here," she hinted.
"A week in the cold and ice doesn't sound that fun. Besides, I'm supposed to be on house arrest, remember?" I said.
"Yeah that's true. I guess you could just stay and keep warm with Lenz, you'll have the whole place to yourselves after all," she said slyly. I stopped for a moment; the offer was suddenly tempting.
"Nice try, but no. I've been in enough trouble for one week back on Earth. No need to go looking for it again," I replied.
"Oh fine, I just didn't want you to be left out in case we find something valuable," she snorted slightly in disappointment.
"I'm not a treasure hunter. What's the big hurry anyway?" I asked.
"Well, I'm not the only one with a satellite you know. It's only a matter of time before a rival company discovers it and gets their people down there before we do. After all, it's a first come first serve method of science. Sure I could come right out in public and claim it as my find, but then you know someone will dispute it. Better to go check it out for myself," she said.
"Bet things can get pretty rough if multiple teams show up," I suggested.
"That's why I have Vegeta. He keeps them, entertained," she grinned.
"Yeah I'm sure, have fun," I said as I promptly left the room and headed for the kitchen.
Power levels
Mystic Gohan: 580,000,000; Super Saiyan 2 maximum power: 755,000,000 (drains slightly)
A/N: Been awhile since I released what I would consider a very laid back and mostly humor filled chapter. I don't imagine there will be too many of those in the near future, but I try to have some humor in every chapter to take some of the edge off…or add to it.
WDG: Hmm… Heat source and temple on the South Pole? … Do I sense another cross-over-y-thing coming up? :P
VB: Whew, sure is warm in here.
Next time on DBV: While Verto stays home; Bulma, Trunks and Vegeta head to the snow filled lands near the South Pole. There, they explore a buried temple below the ice. But all is not well, for the hired drilling team has their own agenda, and the temple holds a dangerous secret.