Chapter 45: Scum and Villainy
Yes, you all know where I got that title from. Shh. It's a reference to the more sci-fi nature of this chapter (and the next few).
Also! Recommended reading on this site. Sins of the Father. It's a kind of anti-Break Through the Limit, in that Goku becomes a saiyan warrior alongside Raditz (due to brain damage. Yes, for the second time. He's kind of messed up at this point.) I've talked with one of the authors, and apparently it was inspired by this very story (which is awesome) and another called Piccolo's Choice, which is also good (Piccolo, during the year training Gohan, indoctrinates him to become his disciple). There may even be a Break Through the Limit/Sins of the Father crossover at some point, but I'm still discussing that with said author (Super Vegetarott). It would be pretty cool.
Another also: I am informed that Bulma's family name is 'Briefs' not 'Brief'. Is this correct? Which one is it? Because the DB wiki said one, and a reviewer said the other. I'm pretty sure they're right, they seemed fairly certain, but I'd like to check: Are they the Brief or Briefs family?
(I keep thinking of stuff to put here...) And another thing! I kind of made up some stuff for Zarbon's race here. Hope that's okay with you guys, his species wasn't really explored in canon. Basically an ability they share that I've come up with—nothing to do with combat though—and although there's one moment in canon where you might think would have been the perfect time for Zarbon to use it, yet he didn't (really because, well, I just came up with it), but I have an explanation at the end of the chapter.
"Say," Dr. Briefs was saying as Bulma fiddled with some wiring, "where'd you come up with the idea for that anti-Cell device, anyway? I thought it was rather ingenious."
"Oh, that thing?" Bulma grimaced as her fingers slipped and a spark jumped up from the mechanism she was working on. "Well, you probably never witnessed it, but old man Roshi, and some others, had a technique called the Evil Containment Wave. Did just what it said on the tin. Captured and imprisoned an evil being in a small container. Only problem is, soon the enemies we faced had so much evil energy it was impossible to keep them contained, so I came up with a technological equivalent...much more durable, and with the added bonus that once inside I could disintegrate the captured being."
"Oh...I see. Well, you certainly managed to keep it small," the older scientist remarked. "I'd have expected the power source to be enormous!"
"Just a reverse-engineered, localised use of the miniaturising technology we use in the capsules," Bulma explained. "The only problem wasn't with the machine, it was with Cell! Instant bloody Transmission. What's a girl supposed to do?"
Gohan was enjoying space travel. He could leave his tail unconcealed, for one thing, and he got to spend a lot of time with Kuriza and Videl, his two best friends. Having only just got up for the day, he slouched over to Zarbon, who was at the helm.
"So what planet are we heading for first?" Although it was nominally Gohan's 'expedition', he deferred to Bulma's maps, and Zarbon and Kuriza's experience, on matters such as these.
"Well, it's no use blundering around in the dark," Zarbon replied. "I'm taking us to the business capital of what used to be Frieza's empire—though who knows what state it's in. We used to call it planet Frieza 17, but I'm sure they've come up with something more imaginative now." He yawned. "It'll be interesting to find out who's risen to fill the power vacuum the frost demons left behind. Maybe even more of their race, although I hope not...well, whoever it is, with you around we've got nothing to worry about, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Gohan nodded. He wasn't always comfortable with his status as, as far as he knew, the second-strongest being in the universe, but his powers were a fact of life, and often very useful.
"Well, we'll be able to get detailed answers once we land and can ask around, face to face, but for now, this ought to suffice..." he tapped a few buttons, bringing up a holographic display, dozens of screens forming a 180 degree semicircle around the Earth convert's head. "We're now in range of galactic news stations...I've asked to have this feature custom-installed," he said, indicating the dizzying array of news channels surrounding him.
"Huh? Why?" Gohan squinted at the multilingual buzz (although there is a certain manner of speech that immediately distinguishes a news anchor, no matter their language or species). "How can you understand all that at once?"
"It's an ability of my race," Zarbon answered, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. "To take in and process...every bit of sensory information that we receive at one time, comprehend it, and store it. Most of the time, you only store about 5% of the sensory information you receive, and most of that is quickly forgotten..." his body fell completely still as certain neural pathways were activated, releasing certain hormones into his bloodstream, dramatically altering the function of his sensory organs. "It can only be used in a state of perfect calm...we call it Deep Sight."
His eyes opened. And he Saw.
The thing he wanted to find out was what, exactly, all the news anchors were saying, simultaneously, to get a complete picture of galactic current events. But when you Saw, you saw everything—no filtering anything out, consciously or unconsciously. He saw, and remembered, every fleck of spittle in every reporter's mouth, every screw in every table, the subtle pattern on one anchor's neck that indicated the onset of a certain virulent disease. He saw the single strand of hair falling in front of his face, saw the way the light silhouetted it in the centre of his left eye's field of vision, took in its exact shade of purple-pink. He saw the dust on the floor, the way it rippled and flowed slightly due to air currents caused by ventilation systems. Peripheral vision, too—he saw Gohan's arm poking into his field of vision, noted and involuntarily recorded every curve of muscle, every fold in the fabric of his shirt. He could see out of the view-port too; and he knew now that there were 358 stars in his field of vision, some barely visible patches of blurred light, some shining pinpoints against the blackness of space.
It wasn't just sight, of course. It was Sight. And that meant all senses. He had, of course, used it primarily for hearing, to be able to separate out, identify, and memorise the streams of conversation of dozens of news anchors simultaneously, while mentally translating them. This he did, as well as noticing the slight crackle indicating a slightly distorted signal, and based on this data he near-instantaneously performed calculations and deduced how far each transmitting station was from his current location. He heard his own breathing, and Gohan's; his heartbeat was close enough that he heard that, too. He heard air currents (again, caused by ventilation), and the creaking of a door on the other side of the ship as Kuriza moved around (Videl's footfalls had a slightly different quality of sound, due to the material of her shoes being more conducive to echoes than Kuriza's bare feet).
It didn't end there. He could feel his clothes resting on his body, the air gently brushing by him, the pressure his own feet exerted on the floor—he was even dimly aware of the pull of the ship's artificial gravity. He could smell the very chemicals within his body that fuelled the Deep Sight, which mingled with his natural scent, and those of human, saiyan and frost demon; and the slight hint of food (perhaps Kuriza was raiding the freezer?). He could taste the remnants of his breakfast, hours ago, almost hidden under the flouride compounds he'd cleaned his mouth out with afterwards.
In short, it was overwhelming, or it would have been without the proper training. All this data, this immense input, had flooded his mind in just the first second, and he planned to continue Seeing for perhaps an hour. This required an intense juggling act on his mind's part; when using Deep Sight, the normal short-term/long-term memory boundary was destroyed, and all data fast-tracked to the long-term store. This could be troublesome later, when trying to extract meaningful information from the vast amount of clutter. So he had to simultaneously continue Seeing and 'manually', consciously jettison all unnecessary information. It was not entirely unlike panning for gold in a tsunami.
Gohan, seeing Zarbon 'zone out' as he concentrated intensely on this task, absorbing the streams of news that was meaningless babble to the half-saiyan, decided to leave his companion to it, and wandered back into the living quarters of the ship.
"Well." Zarbon addressed the occupants of the eating area as he entered. Kuriza was sprawled over the top of the table, Videl was hovering near the ceiling and reading a magazine, and Gohan was wolfing down his third bowl of cereal (none of them ever washed up, of course—sometimes, Zarbon felt like a babysitter). "I've taken a look." Or a Look, you might say... "And here's the state of the galaxy right now:
After the Cold dynasty fell, the empire splintered. Generals, warlords and politicians all tried to cling onto whatever territory they controlled, and for a year or so communication between these quasi-military states was almost nil. Then the secluded system just sort of fell apart...the people were all against isolation, and the leaders couldn't hold them all in check. A fair government of sorts—not elected, but held in check by an elected council of representatives—emerged, and for a while things worked fairly well. Then recently, a terrorist strike at the heart of the government took out every major leading figure at once. What's interesting is the perpetrator—one Prince Vegeta—did not then seize power, but vanished and hasn't been seen since. In his place, a new breed of warlords has emerged. Isolation hasn't come back into force—that's sure to incite another popular uprising. So they've mostly settled into their territories now, with occasional skirmishes moving the border back and forth a system or two."
"So does that affect our destination?" Videl asked.
"Not our first stop, no," Zarbon said. "We still need to dock somewhere, maybe pick up supplies...I'll ask around and see if any of my old contacts are still active. The planet's been renamed, as I suspected—it's now Nemea. The political situation is...interesting, to say the least." He tapped into the memorised data in his mind, 'expanding' the section on the planet's rulership. "It's divided, roughly, into northern and southern hemispheres. The interesting part is this—the north is ruled by a saiyan tyrant...the south by a Namekian one."
"Come again?" Gohan looked Zarbon in the eye. "The phrase 'Namekian tyrant' just doesn't seem right, for one thing...I thought they were a peaceful race. In fact, I didn't think they travelled off-planet at all."
"And a saiyan?" Videl asked. "There are only a few left alive, right? So is it one you've met before?"
"One thing at a time!" Zarbon held up his hands for silence, then continued. "All right. The saiyan...no, it isn't one we've seen. Goku, Raditz, Vegeta and Nappa were all on missions when their planet went up in flames, and and Broly and Paragus escaped thanks to the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan...but it's reasonable that one or two might have been off-planet, but off the record too, for one reason or another." He scratched his head. "As for the Namekian...I don't know. The only selfish or evil one we've ever encountered was Piccolo—from what I gather he made his own attempt at world domination before I met any of you—but he was a special case, I believe...Kami created him as a manifestation of the evil in his heart. That doesn't seem like the kind of thing that happens too often. But by all accounts this Namek is as bad as the saiyan."
"Right..." Gohan shrugged. "Well, we'll find out when we get there. How long?"
"Twenty minutes or so. While you probably won't find any of those exotic fighting techniques you're hoping to run into, this world's populated by a whole mix of races, so you should find plenty of stuff on alien culture for your book."
Gohan brightened up. "Cool! I'll get my stuff together..." he stood up, heading for the door.
Kuriza stirred, rolling off the table but reflexively activating his flight, hovering at table height as he rubbed his eys, slowly waking up. "Hey 'vrybody...so where are we going?"
"Turles, sir...their forces are moving again. They're massing in the Eastern capital," the soldier reported.
Turles, reclining in his custom-made throne, grunted. "I don't care. Just send our own troops to do the same. They'll back off, and the cat-and-mouse game will continue."
"But, sir!" the soldier protested. "If we launch an attack to the West, we could outflank—"
"ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?!" Turles snarled, involuntarily throwing out a wave of force as his muscles tensed, shaking the walls of the palace. The unfortunate, low-level servant was smashed to a bloody pulp against the floor, every bone in his body shattered.
Turles took a deep breath. I've got to get control...control...it's the fruit! The damn fruit...I can't not eat it, the power is overwhelming. It makes me unstoppable, but...sometimes I feel like it's not my power I'm using. It's so hard to control it, not to destroy everything around me. Still...just a little longer...a little longer. The Tree is almost ready. I've measured that green bastard's power from afar, and I know with just one more fruit, I'll be able to crush him. Finally, I'll have this damn planet to myself. He sighed, glancing at the puddle that was formerly his soldier. "Somebody clean this up!"
"Try it again," Zarbon said, one eyebrow raised. "Only this time, when you open your mouth, try saying something that makes sense."
"Didn't you hear me?!" the soldier growled, gesturing with his laser rifle, as the five others behind him did the same. "We're commandeering your ship for Lord Turles' fleet! It's a tax, you hear? Now stand aside!"
"Hmm...no." Zarbon folded his arms, standing resolutely on the docking ramp. "We just docked here. We're not caving in to a bunch of common thieves. Even government-sponsored common thieves..."
"Why, you...!" The thug grimaced, tapping his scouter. After a few seconds of analysing the threat, it bleeped. The soldier grinned. "Heh heh...power level's only 500. Not your day, is it? Low power level, outnumbered five to one, ship just begging to be stolen...and wearing that stupid pink shirt, to top it all off."
Silence fell.
Zarbon took a deep breath. Calm...calm...keep calm...
Nope.
"What."
"What 'what'?!" The grunt grunted.
"What. Did. You say. About. My shirt."
"Oh, is that it?" He laughed. "You're really pissed off now, aren't you? Well, come on. It looks ridiculous!"
"Stop talking now." Zarbon's fists clenched. "I'm going to have to hurt you if you keep talking..."
"Oh, what? What are you gonna do, Mr. 500-power-level-and-no-fashion-sense-to-boot..." Perhaps, if his internal organs hadn't just been ruptured by Zarbon's foot, the soldier would have found it ironic how a shoe travelling at supersonic speeds had collided with his midsection right as he'd said the word 'boot'. But, of course he didn't, due to aforementioned ruptured internal organs.
Emitting a faintly pathetic squeak, the soldier folded up and dropped to the floor. Zarbon landed, looking around at the other five, wondering who would make the first move.
"What the hell?!" a short, scaly creature to his left shrieked, furiously tapping its scouter. "It's no lie, his power level's only 500! Cali's was twice that—how'd this guy get the drop on him?!"
Zarbon sighed, tilting his head. "Is it such a stretch of the imagination that your scouter doesn't tell the whole story? Honestly, people rely on them too much..."
"Shut up!" the second trooper hissed, raising his customised, souped-up rifle and firing a supercharged shot. "You took Cali by surprise, that's all!"
"Did I?" Zarbon's hand shot up, and he caught the blast in mid-air, not even taking a scratch from the impact.
"What the—" the alien soldier backed off a step, trembling. "I built this weapon myself...shot's as strong as a 3,000 power! Guys...what's going on?!"
"I don't know..." a third soldier muttered. "I'm still getting 500 here. It's so weird." Nods of agreement came from the other three.
"You fools..." Zarbon chuckled. "Battle power can easily change."
"What?"
Without a word, the former servant of Frieza sent a rush of power flowing through his body. It didn't appear to take any considerable effort on his part—he wouldn't need to power up to anywhere near his maximum. Those are old-model scouters...their maximum tolerance is around 24,000, so...I'll just use about that much. With no further ceremony, he did just that, rewarded with five small explosions as the scouters detonated, their tolerance circuits overloading.
As one, the soldiers began to edge away. Zarbon cracked his knuckles, taking a step forwards. "Now, I'm about to show you why the colour of a man's shirt is none of your damn business. Also, the whole daylight robbery thing."
Gohan, Videl and Kuriza descended the round ship's boarding ramp, Gohan waving to Zarbon. "Hey! D'you get a pass or permit or whatever it is we needed?"
Zarbon indicated the pile of bruised, uniformed bodies behind him. "Well, they seem okay with it, so I guess I did."
"Right...who, exactly, are they?"
He tried to think of the most appropriate Earth analogue. "The local Gestapo. We had a disagreement."
"What about?" Videl asked.
"Oh, various things...the definition of a 'tax'...the reliability of outdated technology...the politeness of waving guns in one's face...the colour pink...don't worry about it, I think they've come around. Let's just get going—the northern hemisphere's Western capital is a couple miles from here. There's a mag-lev line there, but we can fly faster."
"All right!" Kuriza licked his lips. "Let's find a marketplace there, I'm starving!"
"Starving?!" Gohan snapped. "You already ate more than the three of us combined! Are you ever full?"
Zarbon massaged his forehead. Good lord, I am babysitting...
Okay then! I said I'd give an explanation as to why Zarbon never used Deep Sight in canon (yes, I know the real reason is Akira Toriyama never came up with it, but he barely gave us any details on Zarbon's race, so I can't just go on canon). Basically, the only time it'd ever have been useful in canon DBZ was when he was searching for Vegeta (after Vegeta escaped Frieza's ship)—he'd have been able to search the whole area in an instant. But to use Deep Sight, you have to be in a state of total, perfect calm. He...wasn't. Especially with Frieza threatening to kill him if he failed.
So! Our heroes are crossing paths with Turles and some as-yet un-named Namekian warlord. I WONDER WHO THAT COULD BE.
Anyway, the views are now over 100,000, and favourites and follows are approaching 200 each (not to mention the 600+ reviews, and a few groups/communities have deemed this good enough to be included). Which is pretty awesome. Thanks, everybody, for continuing to support this story, responding positively, and when needed giving me constructive criticism (I've overhauled whole plotlines on casual remarks by reviewers*).
*Don't ask me which, I can't remember.
And a mini-special:
THINGS I SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED IN BREAK THROUGH THE LIMIT BUT KIND OF FORGOT TO:
#1: In Kai, when they went to Namek, this scene should have happened:
Tien: Well, we're on Namek—
Dodoria: I'm an alien!
Zarbon: I'm an alien!
Yamcha: Are you an alien?
Tien: According to one of the guidebooks—
Frieza: Nobody cares. Anyway, I'm an—
Gohan: Alien? Do you really need to say it? You've got a friggin' gemstone for a forehead, devil-horns, pink skin, and a tail that's as long as you are tall!
Frieza: Well, there's no need to be rude.
Gohan: Says the mass-murdering tyrant.
Frieza: Hey, we can't all be perfect.
Namekians: We're aliens!
Frieza: A little slow, aren't they?
And #2, in the main story: I should have written more into Cell's death scene, elaborated on his thoughts, the death of perfection, his regret that he never got to fulfil his potential, and so on.
Q: I really think it would have been funnier if Trunks showed up, then had no idea what was going on.
A: Okay, that's another thing that's going in BTtL Kai sometime. Canon DBZ future Trunks appears, and is utterly confused.
Q: Awesome chapter as always, and there is a pretty good story called "True Saiyans" on this site by the author Vegetrunks. It hasn't been updated in months, but it's a story of Kid Goku becoming a Super Saiyan based off events from "The Path to Power." Sound familiar? Anyway, I'm sure you could make it an amazing story and I recommend checking his out to give you some ideas.
A: Huh. Well, that was pretty much exactly my idea. NEVER MIND.
Q: Is it really a good idea to send a known genocide and the son of a know genocide to space in a peaceful mission? Some people out there might get the wrong idea as soon as they see them. Like, for example, avenging millions of innocents.
A: Good guess. This will probably be a problem.
Q: There's a popular on-going fanfic that uses the seven deadly sins Shadow Dragon idea. It's called Dragon Ball AF: The Alpha Tour Saga, you can find it in my favorites. Although the dragons are actually from Namek's Dragon Balls, and they're dead villains resurrected (Freeza, Cell etc.).
A: Stop beating me to thinking of good ideas, Internet!
Q: I don't agree with "Tortordicin's" suggestion of using 'The bringer of death' idea. Super Saiyan doesn't work like that, so why use the idea. I know one can exercise imagination in fanfic, but I never saw the point of changing some things. There is no ceiling in a SSJ form. If you increase your base, then you increase your SSJ power. If the base increased, while the SSJ power remained constant, then that would mean that the base power wasn't multiplied by X50. SSJ always multiplies power by X50. Why use numerical PLs in a fic? Just forget about them.
There's this fic I read once where SSJ2 multiplied SSJ1 power by X20 instead of X2. I was like "wow".
A: Well...I'm not using numerical PLs past the Namek arc anyway, so this won't be an issue in the story itself...but I should just point out it was just the Daizenshuu and issues of Jump that came up with the x50, x2 and x4 numbers for the SSJ levels. There's nothing one way or the other in the manga or anime.
Q: Great story so far! Love it! And I just wanna guess: Raditz ends up with Bulma!?
A: If you can read the following, GVLuver, I can assume this isn't a spoiler anymore: Nope.