Chapter 41: Into the Future

Well, I'm feeling a little down right now, but you don't want to hear that-if every writer spent their audience's time talking about their feelings, books wouldn't sell very well. So don't feel like you have to read this bit (seriously, if you want to skip to the story, go ahead, I'm just bitching here), but...egh. Negative reviews really put a dent in my ego. Maybe I'm too sensitive, maybe it's that I don't get them very often-most reviews are extremely supportive (thanks for that, by the way; you guys are the best)...maybe I don't like being wrong, or making people unhappy. I don't know. But anyway, the review said I'm being unoriginal, ripping off Bringer of Death, Team Four Star, etc. Am I? Tell me honestly if I am. I thought I was just making references every now and then. In the author's commentary, more commonly, yeah, but I don't mean these to be taken nearly as seriously as the actual story. I mean, both TFS and BoD make references. Akira Toriyama made references, not that I'd compare myself to the man or anything, all hail the great creator and so forth. Are there too many in-jokes and things in the actual story? If so-tell me! I'll change it. At the end of the day, I just want to write something you want to read. Now. I've used up enough of your time with this, so onwards! Into the future (title drop)!

P.S. Almost forgot. This chapter begins what I'm going to call the Countdown Saga.

P.P.S. The future, evil androids will now be known as 17 and 18, and the present, reformed ones Seventeen and Eighteen.

Bulma, of course, didn't know. Nobody knew. Not even Porunga knew-this had been an entirely new and untested use of its powers. But Bulma had been standing rather close while the dragon had been using its magical powers across time, and there had been some...leakage. Excess radiation, a scientist might call it. A mere flash, a single event, a black, twisted day in their future, so meaningful and terrible it was etched into the timestream itself, the day the entire universe cried out in pain-so strong that even the brief, limited exposure to raw temporal energy she'd experienced had burned it into her subconscious.

Bulma first got a hint that something was amiss when she woke up the next morning, having finally gotten some sleep. She felt...strange. Still tired, as if she'd barely rested at all. She looked down. There was a pen in her left hand. Scrawled on her right palm was a number 7. Then again, further up her arm. One more on her shoulder. She tilted her mirror towards her-three more inky 7's dotted her face. Worried, she let the pen drop, jumping out of bed and flicking on the lights.

Empty, dry pens littered the floor. The walls and ceiling were covered in 7's. "What the hell?" she breathed.

Vegeta stood over the green, bloodied corpse, slowly crushing Bojack's ribs with his foot for good measure. I suppose I should thank whichever of the Earth maggots achieved this power before me, he thought to himself as he vapourised the body with a wave of his hand. Bright blue electric sparks crackled through his aura. Just knowing it existed made it far easier to attain. Perhaps 'easy' is the wrong word...it wasn't easy. Realising the foundations I'd built my world upon...were meaningless...it doesn't matter now. He put it out of his mind, trying not to acknowledge the pain he'd felt, inside and out. I'm sure Kakarot or Raditz or whoever has got a head start...I'll have to train, and master this new level. Then I'll return, and once the traitors are dealt with, I shall realise my true destiny...I'll carve out a new saiyan empire, by my own strength! I won't ever have to rely on anyone again.

Powering down, he flew over to his pod, ignoring the empty ones previously used by his squad. He climbed inside, tapping in the co-ordinates of a nearby trade planet. No use destroying this world-I'll leave it like this. Let them find it...and wonder.

Alternate timeline, 17 years in the future...

Break stepped out of the time machine, taking a deep breath and tasting ash and dust on the wind. Even the air is sick here... Seventeen and Eighteen followed, looking around at the devastated landscape. Crumbled remnants of burned-out buildings lay all around. No greenery was visible. The occasional skeleton or scavenging animal dotted the area. This is the place I left... Break thought. But where are Gohan, Bulma and the other androids? I guess they must have moved on-I had to return a day later, to avoid temporal interference, which would create another timeline. I can't see any fresh bodies, at least, so that's promising.

"This...this is wrong..." Eighteen whispered, shaking her head. "How could we have done this?!"

"Is the whole world like this?" Seventeen asked, only slightly more detached.

Break nodded. "Pretty much." Her head whipped around, and her eyes narrowed-a group of human ki signatures was starting to vanish, one by one. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Gohan winced as his improvised bandage rubbed on his raw wound. His shoulder was a bleeding stump, his severed left arm abandoned several miles back. In the distraction caused by Trunks' self-destruction, he'd managed to escape death, but 18 had been holding him by the arm and he'd had to literally tear himself free. Since then, he'd been wandering, trying to find some sign of them. He knew it was stupid. He should return to their shelter, not go looking for another fight he couldn't win. But he couldn't let it go. The battle wasn't over. He'd almost certainly die, when the time came, but so be it. He'd failed the task he'd been appointed so many years ago...Launch's final words to him rang accusingly in his mind.

"Our children, Gohan. They're the only hope for the future. Take care of them...here they come! Gohan-go, NOW!"

His face hardened at the memory, and he trudged on, towards the disappearing human energies. He crested the hill, and a frightened woman ran past him, shrieking. Android 17 stalked after her, firing a large-calibre pistol at his fleeing victim. Gohan caught the bullet in mid-flight, popping it in his mouth and grinding it to dust between his teeth. He nodded towards the gun. "A grown man like you, still playing with toys. It's disgraceful."

17 smiled. "Oh, look who it is. You know, I'm actually glad you survived losing your arm. So you can see..." he turned so that the light from a burning ruin illuminated him from behind, revealing his own damaged arm, the human exterior skin and clothing completely melted off to reveal a metallic skeleton beneath. The cyborg flexed his visibly-robot hand, scowling. "That brat did this to me! Look at it...now that is disgraceful."

"Leave these people alone, 17," Gohan growled, turning Super Saiyan. "Your fight is with me now."

17 shrugged. "I was just having a bit of fun. But have it your way, I won't hurt them. My sister, on the other hand..."

There was a flicker of high-speed motion, and 18 appeared in mid-air, grabbing the escaping woman and preparing to snap her neck. Gohan grimaced. They're so fast! "Go ahead and take Gohan out, 17," the second android said, grinning ferally. "I've already taken my pound of flesh from him."

"How generous of you." 17 raised an arm, a bright yellow ball of energy forming easily, drawing on his infinite energy reactor. "Now, Gohan, are you going to try and actually fight in your condition? Or can we make this easier for all of us, and you just let me end it? Or, I guess, you could make a futile attempt to save that poor innocent my sister's got hold of, but you'd leave yourself quite open to attack..."

Gohan trembled. Damn! This would be so much simpler if it was just me and them...I'd just go out fighting. Can I save this person and hold the androids off long enough for them to escape? If I'm resigned to not being able to save them, can I bring myself to let them die to give me an advantage? How did my father do this kind of thing all his life and come out smiling?!

"Time's running out, my friend," 17 said, in a mock-parental tone. "Now, you haven't made a decision, so I'll make one for you. It's been fun, but this is the end-" There was an almighty CRACK, and 17 folded up, wheezing quietly and dropping to the ground. In that instant, his energy ball had been deflected harmlessly into an empty office block, and the woman 18 had been about to kill had vanished, finding herself placed safely out of harm's way, a mile away.

"What the hell?" 18 asked, glancing left and right.

"Hi there," said a voice. 18 gasped, jumping away and raising her guard to see Break, in a fresh suit of her replicated saiyan-style armour, golden hair blowing softly in the wind, completely calm. "Miss me?"

"Break!" Gohan shouted, overjoyed. "You're back! Well," he said grimly, not noticing that she was concealing her power, "I suppose that we can at least die together..."

Break shook her head. "No-one's dying today." Her eyes narrowed. "Except these two."

"What are you talking about? Even with all of us at our best, we've never-"

"HYAAAAAAAH!" Break yelled as she powered up to her maximum Super Saiyan strength. There was the level beyond that she and Broly had used, but that wasn't necessary. The androids weren't worth bothering with it.

Gohan and the androids took a step back, the information Gohan's ki sense gave him filling him with awe. "Is that...really you?" She looks older, he realised. Tougher, even.

Break turned her attention to the androids. "Of course I'd find you trying to murder someone...someone who hasn't done anything to you!" she snarled, barely able to contain her anger. "Not only her...but one of the only still-living friends I have!" I've seen what the world could have been like without you...how far you've dragged us all into the dirt...maybe a true hero would find it in their heart to try and forgive you, but...you two, you made me what I am, and I'm no hero. The air crackled with the heat of her power as she fumed, the rocks at her feet buckling and melting under the immense pressure. Goku asked Cell something...'how many more?' Well, I know the answer to that now. "NOT ONE MORE, YOU ANIMALS!"

"What-" 18 was cut off as a fist, hard and unyielding, smashed into her face, driving her back. She stumbled, clutching her broken nose, screeching in pain. "Ahh! Bitch! My...aaagh!" Without responding, Break thrust her hand into the android's midsection, reaching inside, feeling for some mechanical part that seemed large and important and ripping it out, leaving a gaping, sparking hole in 18's stomach. She fell, lying still, eyes going blank, mouth twitching slightly. As she died, a sudden change of expression swept her face...an immense sadness seemed to come over her...perhaps even regret.

But Break wasn't focused on her. Tossing the piece of 18 away, she turned to 17. "This...this can't be happening..." he stuttered. "There's no way...you killed her! You just stabbed right through her!"

In an instant, Break stood in front of him, smiling coldly as she began to speak in sugar-sweet, mocking tones. "Oh, that's funny. Is that what I did? That's real funny." She grabbed 17 by the shoulders, pressing down with impossibly strong fingers and digging great rents into his skin, making him cry out in pain. "Stabbed right through her, you say? You know, that sounds kind of familiar...Do you," she hissed, almost spitting in his face, "by any chance, remember someone called Trunks?!" Without another word, she sent a gigantic wave of ki out through her hands, shattering 17's body like glass. Broken pieces of metal and flesh rained down in front of her as she powered down.

Gohan, having also reverted to his normal state, staggered over to her. "Break, you...you're incredible! How did you get so powerful? And you were in control, too..."

She grinned. "I'll tell you the whole story later, okay? You just see if you can get a real doctor for that wound, and then we'll go tell Bulma what's happened. What's important now is that it's over." She smiled to herself, realising the truth of the words as she said them. It's finally over...they're gone. We're free now. "I'll join you soon."

"Soon?" he asked. "Where are you going?"

Break sighed. "Oh, this is going to be awkward...there's a couple of people I'd like you to meet."

Main timeline, present day, Otherworld...

Raditz dusted off his hands, frowning at his downed opponent-a large, toga-wearing fighter with a floppy blond mane of hair named Olibu. "Honestly. I've only been here for ten minutes, and already I have to prove I'm not just idly boasting about my power."

"Well," Olibu said as Raditz helped him up, "when one claims to be many times stronger than Frieza, tyrant of the North Galaxy...it's not always easy to believe that, especially since you haven't had thousands of years of training like we have."

"Good point," Raditz replied eagerly. "We've got the whole of infinity to train-there's no limit to the power I can achieve!"

"I wouldn't bet on it...everyone meets their limits eventually."

"Believe what you want. I'm a saiyan-we're all about getting stronger." They both looked around as a tall figure landed on the heavenly world, approaching the training grounds. The stranger had green skin and no visible nose, and wore white and blue robes, topped off by a turban. "Who's that?" asked Raditz. He managed to avoid commenting on the stranger's halo, having finally got used to the fact that everyone but the Kais (there were indeed multiple Kais-another new discovery, though he had yet to meet any other than their own familiar King Kai) had them here.

"That's Pikkon," Olibu replied. "He's the strongest of us all, easily." He read the expression on Raditz's face. "Don't even think about it. He's way above even your level, my friend. He's just returning from a special mission from the Kais-Frieza and his family were stirring up trouble in Hell."

"Not Cell?" Raditz asked. "I know he hasn't been here for long, but it sounds like just the kind of trouble he'd love to get in on."

"No..." the heavenly warrior's expression darkened. "King Yemma was afraid of just such an occurence, and there's nobody in Otherworld who can match Cell, so a special prison was constructed for him in the depths of Hell. The only two people on his level are still living."

Goku and Gohan, right. Raditz weighed this up in his mind, but it didn't add up. "Why not just take away Cell's body? And Frieza and the rest of them, for that matter."

"It's not that simple, or so I'm told," Olibu explained. "You see, King Yemma doesn't quite have the power he likes to advertise. He can separate a person's soul from their Otherworld body, but if the person is an exceptional hero or villain, if they rise above the masses through force of character, their soul and body gravitate together. That's the reason for the whole system."

"I don't understand."

"It's like this...What you might know as heaven is where most people go. Their souls drift away from their bodies, and they lose some of themselves when they die, but as generally decent people on the whole, and as long as any crimes they committed were justified or minor enough to be excusable, they are allowed a pleasant afterlife. The despicable wretches who commit mindless acts of evil, and are not strong of mind enough to retain their bodies, are fed into a negative energy machine, where their essence coalesces into a useful fuel source-for instance, it is this constant stream of energy that fuels Cell's prison." He paused, making sure he had everything the right way around. "The strong of will, it is impossible to keep from their bodies forever. The evil ones are cast down into Hell, and the great and good allowed to ascend to here, the world above even the heavens...I like to call it the true heaven."

Raditz tried to take this all in, but he was sure he'd forget most of it soon. "All right then...well, that's nice. I'm gonna go take a look at this Pikkon guy. Do you think he took down Frieza's family easily?"

Olibu nodded. "I am sure that it barely deserved to be called a battle."

"Excellent!" Raditz cracked his knuckles, walking away towards the distant form of Pikkon. "Who knows, maybe I'll even spar with the guy a bit."

"Don't! Trust me on this." Olibu laid a restraining hand on Raditz's shoulder. "You are powerful, I grant you that. But no more than about twice Frieza's strength at most, judging by the way you beat me, and I can tell you weren't holding any power in reserve."

Raditz grinned. "No, I wasn't holding anything back...in this form, anyway."

"This...form?"

"See ya!" Raditz waved a dismissive hand, heading for Pikkon. Hah! He already thought I was something special, and I haven't even turned Super Saiyan yet! This Pikkon had better be a bit more challenging.

He approached the green-skinned warrior. "Hey there!"

Pikkon looked him up and down. "And you are?"

"Raditz. I'm new here. I was told you beat Frieza and his family?"

"That is correct. What of it?"

"Was it easy?"

"Yes. Again...why do you ask?" Pikkon was beginning to get annoyed by the newcomer's constant questions.

"Awesome!" Raditz grinned. "Because that Olibu guy over there is helpful and all, but he's not much of a sparring partner. Then I heard you were pretty strong, and this is supposed to be a training ground..." he grinned hopefully, but Pikkon turned and walked away.

He did beat Olibu...that counts for something, but...no. I'm getting tired of easy victories-I can already tell this one would be no challenge at all. "Sorry," he said. "I don't spar with weaklings. And especially not newcomers."

"Is that so...?" Raditz took a deep breath. Stay calm...stay calm...stay...ah, the hell with it. "Hey, Pikkon!"

"Wha-"

"BLITZ CANNON!"

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

Goku tightened his belt.

"The fight you've all been waiting for!"

Hercule fluffed up his afro.

"Both declare themselves to be the strongest in the world...one claiming the existence of a supernatural ki force, the other denouncing it as a pack of lies...now together in the ring for your entertainment!"

The fighters entered the ring, standing opposite each other, an intense stare passing between the two.

"Son Goku! Hercule Satan! Are you ready?" They nodded simultaneously, and the announcer backed out of the ring, then said with a dramatic flourish, "then let the match begin!"

Instantly, Hercule leapt forwards, leading with a strong right jab that sailed straight at Goku's face. The saiyan didn't move as the wrestler's fist approached. Hah! Hercule thought. He's way too slow-hasn't even moved yet!

At the last moment, Goku stepped aside, Hercule's fist hissing past his face. To the ki-trained martial artist, the world champion might as well have been standing still. Nothing too fancy, Goku reminded himself. Nothing he can claim as a 'trick'. He took a step backwards, moving just out of range of Hercule's follow-up elbow jab and subsequent volley of kicks. "Nice technique you've got there," he said. "You're quite skilled. But you're way too slow to hit me."

"We'll see about that!" Hercule tensed up, and launched himself forwards, pushing himself off the ground with all his might.

To the audience, Hercule appeared to vanish as he charged. Goku smiled, impressed as he recognised a primitive version of the high-speed movement technique ki-trained fighters used to instantly leap around the battlefield. In fact, he could even detect the tiniest flicker of ki from the moustachioed martial artist-a natural, but still impressive, result of training one's body to the peak of normal human fitness. To Goku's eyes, of course, Hercule still moved painfully slowly. The saiyan swung one fist up, catching Hercule on the jaw and flooring him with ease-appearing to the audience to have punched his opponent out of thin air. All right, that was good. Remember, don't tap him-make it look like a punch. Not that I have to pretend to be weaker than I am or anything; I just have to make it look like I'm actually fighting.

"Hey, not bad." Goku grinned. "You were movin' pretty fast there, champ."

"Hrrr..." Hercule climbed to his feet, rubbing his chin. "Nice shot, punk."

"I try."

"Oh, and the first blow goes to Goku!" the commentator shouted into his microphone. "Hercule seemed to have the advantage, moving faster than the human eye could follow to strike, but it appears Goku's reflexes are even faster!"

Sitting in the front row as the audience around them watched eagerly, Gohan nudged Videl. "See? He isn't even trying."

"Oh, just wait," Videl retorted, folding her arms. "My dad's just warming up."

Hercule nodded. "Hmm...well, I guess you weren't lyin', at least not entirely. Whatever that power you're always on about is, you're a fast one, huh?"

"You could say that," Goku replied with a nonchalant look. Oh, just get on with it already!

"Well, fine. You're pretty quick, I'll give you that. But they don't call me the strongest man in the world for nothin', you know!"

"Oh?"

"That's right!" Hercule shifted into an attack-ready stance. "I bet you one hit from my fists of steel and you'll fold right up!"

"You bet, huh?" Goku considered this. "All right, then. Hit me."

"What?"

"You heard me. I'll prove I've got strength as well as speed, if you like."

"Why you..." Hercule spluttered, gritting his teeth. Thinks he can play with me like that...well, fine. "All right, but remember-you asked for it! Hai-yaaah!" He sprang at Goku again, planting his fist firmly in the alien warrior's chest. Goku stood unflinching, still smiling.

Hercule hopped away, clutching his throbbing hand. "Ow! Owwww! What are you made of?!" T-they checked us before the match, he isn't wearing body armour or anything...could it be? He's...telling the truth? His eyes narrowed. "Nah. I'd have heard about something like this long before now. This fight isn't over, you hear?"

"I hear you," Goku said. This fight was over before it begun...

"Now you pay attention, Go-ku, 'cause I'm gonna show you why one of us has thousands of adoring fans!" He lifted his arms into the air, extending two fingers on each hand in 'V' victory signs. "BECAUSE I. AM. THE. GREATEST!" Half the crowd cheered wildly, the rest sat silently in suspense, waiting for the final verdict.

"Come on, Dad..." Videl said quietly.

This is pointless, Gohan thought.

"Now, you..." Hercule rolled up his sleeve, swinging his arm around in a wide arc and finally tapping his leg. Looking up at Goku, he leapt to the attack again, leading with his foot. "Dynamic Rolling Thunder Dynamite Super Champion Style Mess 'Em Up...Kick-ooofff!"

Goku held Hercule's foot, mid-kick, by the ankle, inches away from his face. Meanwhile, his own foot was buried in the champion's stomach. Hercule fell back as Goku released him, landing in an unconscious heap on the ground for the second time in three days.

"And the winner is Goku! Let's have a big hand for our champion!"

"Videl? Hey, Videl!" Gohan ran left and right, dashing back and forth around the arena grounds as the press swamped the ring, finally finding Hercule's daughter standing on the same hill they'd met up behind earlier, staring up into the sky. "You okay?"

"No."

"Hey, look...it's not his fault. Most people weren't even aware ki existed...we're just trying to get the truth out to people." He stood next to her. "I bet your dad's the strongest non-ki-user on the planet, though."

"Hmph." She shook her head. "I'm gonna learn it, you know. All your techniques and powers...I'm gonna get stronger than any of you."

"Sorry, but I don't think you can," Gohan replied, sighing. It was a weird feeling-normally, he enjoyed his saiyan heritage and the power it gave him, but now he just felt like he had an unfair advantage.

"Oh? And why's that?" Her eyes narrowed.

"I...I can't say."

"Uh..." suddenly she sounded hesitant, pointing at a spot just to the left of his waist. "Does it have anything to do with that?"

"What?" Gohan looked down, doing a double-take as he realised his tail was swishing back and forth in the air behind him-something that often happened when he felt tense or awkward. "Uh...I, uh...nice costume huh? Had you fooled, haha!" Her expression told him she wasn't fooled. "Okay...uh, how do I start..." For some reason, I feel like telling the truth...somehow, I know she'll keep this a secret. "Well...do you mind if I fly us somewhere a bit more remote?"

Gohan and Videl stood on the plains as night fell, amidst the ruins of Korin Tower, several miles from the media circus. "All right," he said. "Sorry, but some of this isn't exactly stealthy..."

She sat down on a chunk of rubble. "Go ahead. I'm listening. What's up with the tail?"

"Well...I'm not exactly human." He scratched his head. "Sorta. I mean, I'm half-human. My dad's a saiyan-they're a very powerful warrior race, and they all have tails like this. And there's one other thing-some saiyans can transform." Golden energy burst out of Gohan's body, lighting up the night. "Now you can see why we needed to come out here."

"Yeah, that'd attract attention," Videl agreed. "I like the hair, but is there a point?"

"Sure. This is called Super Saiyan...and in this form, I get a lot more powerful. Maybe ten, fifty times, I don't know exactly. And here's something we discovered in the last few days..." He powered up to the higher level he and Goku had used, watching as Videl marvelled at the mingling blue sparks and golden aura. "This is twice as strong as Super Saiyan...'Super Saiyan 2', I guess."

Videl nodded. "Right. I guess that answers why a bunch of you were blond in the news footage. That's pretty cool, but...does that mean your dad only beat mine because he's an alien?" The existence of aliens wasn't so much of a shock-Earth had, in fact, been invaded by the saiyans a few years back, and the destruction of a whole city was hard to ignore.

Gohan relaxed, powering down. "Sorry, no. Any ki-trained human fighter could have beaten him. But my dad's the strongest out of us, and the one who beat Cell, so it seemed...right, I guess. Fitting, somehow."

Videl blinked. "You talk like someone much older than you are, you know?"

Gohan laughed nervously, his tail curling behind his back. "Yeah, I guess so! My mom's always making me study..."

"Well, let's get back over there," the long-haired girl said with an awkward smile, "and see if I can salvage some of my dad's dignity before he does something stupid..."

Gohan took her arm, preparing to take off. "If I know him at all, it's going to be too late for that."

And there we go! Things are moving. Haven't got much time to write this commentary, so Q&A next week will be combined for this and next chapter.

The next 'special' or 'bonus' thing will be the Dead Zone special, and I'll tack it on to the end of some future chapter. The next extra after that will be BTtL Kai chapter 4. Most of the movies, though, will not be specials, they'll be incorporated into the main storyline like Cooler, the Meta-Cooler/Frieza plotline Broly, and Bojack were.