Chapter 59: Break the Cycle

Wow, there goes 1,000 reviews! That was quicker than I expected. I guess I'd better start on the anniversary special. If all goes to plan, it'll be up on the 6th of August. Here's some details: It will take place in the future timeline. It will feature an opening segment which briefly covers the events between the android 13 special and this upcoming one, including the fate of Dr. Gero's labarotory after 13's defeat, and the fates of characters like Turles and Slug in the future timeline. The second part will cover the appearance of Broly, and the third and final part will feature a new villain, without a doubt the most threatening foe the future team has ever encountered. Note that this three-part division is just the current plan, and it may end up as more or less if certain scenes end longer or shorter than I'm planning.

Also, kind of a short chapter here, I know, but I just ended it when it seemed appropriate. Actually, I was going to end it even sooner, but the low word count made me carry it on a bit longer.

Goku sighed, crouching over Vegeta's still body. He's gone. "I'm sorry about all this, Vegeta. I wish I'd been stronger...you wouldn't have had to die...I hope you'd understand, but I can't risk bringing you back to life with the Dragon Balls. You've caused too much pain." As he reached forward and closed the fallen prince's eyes, Vegeta's final words played over and over in his mind. You had your own code of honour...and I understand it...respect it, even...but I can never follow it. It just isn't in me to become like you. Whether that's a strength or a weakness, it's just who I am. Still...I won't forget you, or what you used your last breaths to tell me. You were ruthless, yes...but you had the heart and soul of a true saiyan.

When his internal monologue was done, he spoke, seemingly to the air. "To answer the questions I know you must have...yes, I know you're there. No, I didn't tell Vegeta. I figured he deserved to think he'd won. And no, unless you give me a reason, Dr. Myuu, I'm not going to finish you...yet."

Dr. Myuu, now back in his original 'Baby' body, having evidently abandoned Broly's, climbed out from behind a boulder. "You're good...I though I was concealing my energy..."

Goku smiled. "Not very well. You might want to work on that. Hmm...looks like you aren't immune to the injury suffered by your hosts. You look pretty beat up."

"My main host, yes." Myuu shrugged. "When I'm just remotely controlling a group, I feel their pain, but don't actually suffer the injury. With full possession...it's different."

"And I'm guessing 'bailing out' of Broly's body at the last second used up a lot of energy, too, right?"

Myuu nodded with resignation. "I know what you're getting at. If we were to fight, you'd win, even as damaged as you are—with ease—unless I possessed you. Fortunately for you, being half-dead like I am interferes with my abilities a little."

"Then we know where we stand. Way I see it, there's been enough blood shed today." Goku extended a hand. "Let's talk."

Myuu stared at the symbol of peace like it was some kind of mysterious foreign object. "...What?"

"...I see." Goku, Gohan and Myuu sat in a small circle. Goku had just finished telling a brief version of his life story. "It's incredible...that even a born-and-raised saiyan like your brother could become so noble. I'm not sure if I can believe that he sacrificed himself for a planet of innocents..."

"It's all true," Goku insisted. "Your continued existence is proof enough of that."

"Hmph."

"Look...are you going to continue your vendetta?" the weary fighter asked. "I mean, there aren't any evil saiyans left in the universe."

Myuu took a long time to respond. "I...truly don't know. I think I would quite like to move on, perhaps re-dedicate my life to creation, not destruction. But I am not sure if I can ever let go...of so much hate. When I look at the two of you, so many emotions are warring within me...! I just don't know what to think."

"And while we're asking questions," Goku mused, "is Broly really dead this time? We thought we'd seen the last of him before, but he came back from that..."

Myuu nodded. "He's gone. I didn't abandon his body until after his passing...I felt the pain. Trust me when I say the universe is rid of that beast, and better for it."

"I don't disagree with you there. He only lived to cause pain."

"Hey," Gohan interjected, "what about my friends? They were with me when Hatchiyak took me out—are they here? Or..." He didn't dare say it.

"They're alive," Myuu assured him. "They're sedated in a chamber beneath where the tower stood. It was underground, so our battle shouldn't have damaged it too much...those three, at least, I have no doubt are blameless."

"And Vegeta's brother should be around there too," Gohan reminded them. "It sounded like he wasn't a bad guy, really...we should try and help him, too."

Myuu shrugged. "If you must."

"Hold it." The younger saiyan put up one hand. "Do you hear that?"

"That's right, viewers!" The bird-like creature spoke excitedly into its headset, speeding towards the moon aboard the small news ship. "Initial scans have revealed several extremely high energy sources on the surface. Some of them seem to match almost exactly that of the Super Saiyan when he appeared on planet Nemea recently! However, as of a few minutes ago these signals have all vanished. We're going in for a closer look...you saw it here first, folks."

The roughly oblong ship touched down ungracefully, landing jets sputtering as they struggled to support its weight. The news crew cautiously descended the ramp, brandishing recording devices and instruments of all kinds. "Well...seems to be deserted so far...I'll start exploring. Wish me luck—gah!" he squawked, as Goku, in his Super Saiyan form (he knew it'd be recognised), appeared in front of him, Vegeta's body in the surviving saiyan's arms. Slowly, Goku laid the body at the reporter's feet, stood up, and vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared, all without a word.

"T-The Super Saiyan..." the reporter swallowed nervously. "What speed..." Abruptly, he remembered his audience, turning to the camera behind him. "Well, you all saw it! Whatever events have transpired here, he looked like he'd just come out of the fight of his life! And it seems our mysterious protector has come out on top! D'aanth! Scouter?"

The brown-skinned alien to the left of the cameraman shook her head. "Busted. Thing's got a two-fifty mil tolerance, too. Guess he really is that powerful..."

Nodding, the reporter turned his attention to Vegeta. He knelt by the body, examining the face. "Say! Isn't that...Vegeta...?"

"The saiyan prince?" The cameraman asked, zooming in on the fallen warrior.

"Yeah, that's the one. Took out the First Republic." The reporter looked up at the camera, facing the audience. "Was Vegeta the Super Saiyan's opponent today? Or did the two saiyans join forces against some third party? We may never know the answer. But...whether he fought for good or evil on this, his last day...Prince Vegeta will not be soon forgotten. Somebody take that..." He indicated the body. "...and put it on ice. He's getting a proper burial. This is Eld-Tur III, Interstel News, signing off." The camera was duly switched off.

"Come on, man," the scouter operator protested. "We're leaving already? Don't you want to examine the battle site?"

The reporter shrugged. "We're hardly the only news crew who's going to come here. Let the vultures take their pickings...we got an exclusive with the Super Saiyan, and the galaxy's most wanted man. Er, corpse."

"I'd hardly call that an 'exclusive'."

"It'll do."

The saiyans and the Tuffle watched the barren moon recede as Goku's ship drifted slowly away from their unnamed battleground. In the back, still unconscious, lay Zarbon, Kuriza, Videl and Tarble.

"So, where d'you want us to take you?" Gohan asked. "Did you ever think of what you'd do after all this was over?"

"No..." Myuu sighed. "Not really. Raichi had a one-track mind, and I suppose his drive was infectious. This was everything. I felt like I was living on borrowed time already...somehow I didn't expect there to be anything afterwards. Is it even over?" He put a hand up to the porthole by his head, his fingers inches from the void, separated by a thin plastic sheet. "There are still three of you alive. But I don't have the power to kill you...does that mean I've failed? But...you're not like the others. Was it just circumstance that created the barbaric saiyans I hated so much? If I was in the position of strength here, knowing what I know now, could I bring myself to kill you? I just..." he shut his eyes, resting his head on the wall. "...so many questions. I'm empty, I'm lost."

"If it makes you feel better, we think of ourselves as humans first," Goku said, puzzling over the controls (mainly out of curiosity—there was an autopilot setting for an automatic return to Earth). "I wish I could say I would never have done what the others did, but I really don't know what kind of person I would've been before I hit my head..."

"If only things hadn't turned out this way..." Myuu whispered. "We shouldn't have always been at odds...imagine what our races could have done together. All those deaths...billions of lives...and for what? The only reward for the victors was slavery to Frieza...before he did the same to them. I just...don't know what to do..." He looked up, a strange look in his eyes.

"Are...you all right...?" Gohan asked slowly, carefully.

"Oh, it's just...I just discovered. This body can't cry."

"Hey...anybody home? Hello?" The ship sat parked on the Lookout, as Goku's voice echoed round the cavernous interiors. "Huh...Dende and Mr. Popo aren't here." He frowned as he walked back over to Gohan and Myuu. "There's nobody around...it's faint, but I sense several energy sources to the north. I'm gonna check it out. Gohan, go down to Korin's and meet me there with some senzu. Myuu...can you stay and watch the ship, please? If anyone comes along, explain where we are. I know you need to decide where you're going with your life right now, but I think something just came up."

Myuu nodded, re-entering the ship. "I understand."

"You really think this is serious, Dad?" Gohan asked fearfully, voice almost cracking. "I really don't want another fight now..."

"I know, son. Let's hope everything's all right. But if somebody needs help..." Goku smiled. "Just get those beans, okay?" He resumed his serious expression, summoning his dwindling energy reserves to turn Super Saiyan before flying off north, Gohan's hair whipping wildly about in the shockwave left behind him.

I really didn't need this right now...I hope nobody's been hurt! Goku thought grimly as he neared the frozen north of the world, leaving a golden streak of light behind him. He flew low, passing closely over a countryside town and startling the locals.

"That's no bird!"

"A plane?"

"Cruise missile, perhaps?"

Now that I'm getting closer, he realised, yeah...that's definitely Nail's energy. Tien's too, and some smaller ones...but they're all really low. Something must have taken the fight out of them. I can't sense any kind of enemy...did they win? Were they fighting each other? Maybe I just can't sense them, like with the androids...? Gotta hurry! He poured on the speed, arriving shortly and touching down in what had presumably once been a mountain range. Now, it was a collapsed hillside of snow, apparently post-avalanche.

Even as he watched, Tien's distinctive head poked out from under the snow, spluttering and spitting out a mouthful of frozen water. "Uh...Goku?"

"What happened here?" Goku asked, relaxing to his normal form—Tien evidently wasn't feeling threatened, so whatever it was had been dealt with.

"Oh, wow, my head..." the three-eyed martial artist groaned, pulling himself out of the snow. With one hand, he pulled Krillin out with him, and Yamcha with the other. Both were breathing heavily, eyes half-closed, scratched and bruised all over. "Wish you'd got here sooner...that was not easy."

"What wasn't?" Goku helped the three fighters up. "And who else is here?"

"Quite a lot of people, actually," Tien said wearily. "C'mon, let's go pick them up, and I'll tell you what happened." They began to trudge through the snow, soon spying the tip of a brown shoe rising above the snow. Together, they heaved Nail up. "To sum up..." Tien continued. "We had to fight an evil scientist and his robots...and he also kept trying to brainwash us and control our minds to make us fight each other. Actually, I think there were two scientists—they'd both kind of died and been brought back to life, but each in a different way."

"You're kidding..." Goku stopped dead in his tracks, trying and failing to think of a single word in that whole description that didn't match exactly what had happened to him. "You too? That's...eerily specific."

Holy cliffhanger, Batman!

DBZ seems to have been having a sort of resurgence this year. Kai is continuing, Battle of the Gods came out, J-Stars Victory VS and Battle of Z (two new video games, for those not in the know) are in development, and DB Absalon (an excellent animated fan-series) is getting going.

Has anybody else noticed the plot for the new Man of Steel movie/the first two Superman movies in the previous series...is kind of similar to DBZ up to the saiyan saga?

In fact, is it just me or are Superman, Goku and the Doctor all really similar? Is it weird that probably the greatest iconic modern hero of these three cultures, the UK, the US, and Japan, are all the same archetype? Perhaps that's the kind of hero we all aspire to have, or to be even, deep down. Or maybe TV and manga writers just like Superman, I don't know.

Hmm...I wonder what the stand-out fictional hero from other countries is? Er...France...I was going to say Tintin, but that's actually Belgian, isn't it? Then...Asterix...? Arsene Lupin (well, only in the sense that Sherlock Holmes is the British one, which he really isn't, awesome as he is)? Not really finding this same archetype. I guess I need to get more culturally diverse. Hercules kind of fits, but...common sense would suggest that it's likely that Greece has some newer famous stories than ancient myths. And actually, no, Hercules doesn't fit, never mind. Only in the Disney movie, and even then only a little bit.

Or...my story traffic graph thing indicates I have readers from many, many countries. So! All of you people out there not from the UK, America or Japan! Who is the iconic fictional hero of your culture? Who is your Superman, Doctor, Goku? This month alone I have had 344 views from Brazil—that's 128 unique people. There are Argentinians, Israelians (wait, is it Israelites?), Russians, Danes, Vietnamese, people from Pakistan, Portugal, Germany, Egypt, China, the list goes on! Let's get on this, shall we? PM me. Leave a review. All those lovely things. I'm curious now. I want to see if this archetype is a global phenomenon.

All right. Onwards.

SO MANY REVIEWS (First thought: Thank you so much for the reviews! Second thought: Oh no, I've got to trawl through 6 pages of reviews...)

(Okay, that's a lie. My first thought, sometime from Friday to Saturday, I forget when, was: IT'S OVER1,000!)

Q:Will vegetas speech change goku?

A:Not overtly. Not immediately. But yes. Definitely yes.

Q:who the strongest sayien at the moment goku or radits ? and do you think you have one strongest out off all the sayien my a large amount or just by a small margin ?

A: Currently, Goku. Not by a huge amount. Due to more experience with SSJ2. And his 10x Kamehameha definitely gives him an edge (though you could say the same about Raditz's Instant Transmission).

Q:Ah, so the Countdown Saga still isn't over? Interesting. While I'm looking forward to seeing how Fusion Reborn/Janemba plays out, I'm still very intrigued to see the ending of the Countdown Saga. I'm still not exactly sure of why you called it the Countdown Saga, though. Perhaps that'll be extrapolated upon in these next few chapters.

A:Soooooooooooon. (If it's not clear already. I know some people have figured it out.)

Q:"Of course not," Myuu said quietly. "Perhaps, if I was the man I once was, I could have walked away. Two of you are, after all, innocent of this crime. But I am too far down this road to turn back. I will kill you. All of you."

When he refers to himself as the man he once was, does he mean that was when he was in his original body, not being in the body of his creations/Broly? That line was somewhat confusing to follow... or perhaps he could've been referring to his own mental sanity after losing his race. I'm not positive.

A:In terms of having come so far down this road of violence and revenge. He's still not sure what to do with himself.

Q: I liked what you did with Vegeta. While many people enjoy using Vegeta as a pivotal character, you've gone the other way and made him a supporting character. That made him actually more enjoyable, in my view.

Here's the thing, though: I feel he was TOO insignificant towards the story. Allow me to elaborate.

Vegeta hasn't shown up many times during BTtL. We've seen him when he invaded Earth with Nappa; after that, on Namek(for really only a few moments when he battled Tien, the Armoured Squadron, and Goku), on New Namek(against Frieza), against Bojack, and now, against Raichi, Hatchiyack, and Myuu.

During these times, there wasn't much room for character development. Vegeta really didn't do much but display his brash arrogance and his fighting ability. I never really felt that his character progressed all that much—he seemed rather one-dimensional in that sense. It was always "I'm Vegeta, Prince of All Saiyans! You're nothing compared to me!"

Now, I recognize that, as a villain, it's rather difficult to really add more to Vegeta. However, in the way that you characterized Raditz's slow change, I think you could've shown us more into his mindset—like you did this chapter. I feel like it's just now that I'm seeing BTtL Vegeta's true character, not before.

In this chapter, you did what you haven't done with Vegeta for the entirety of the story: you showed us his real thought process. You showed his reasoning for sacrificing himself to save Goku's life; also, you demonstrated how Vegeta entrusted Goku with the honor of the Saiyan race. It was a beautiful piece of characterization. I feel like, with more of those moments, Vegeta would've been a more well-rounded character.

A:It's a good point. I agree that I could have done much better with his character. I often tried to take him in a new direction—originally, he was going to get motivation to become SSJ2 by renouncing his heritage, throwing away his title in pursuit of self-betterment and strength, to give just one example. But whatever I tried, it never seemed to work. I couldn't write it convincingly. So back it was to "I'm the Prince of All Saiyans!" Last chapter...you could almost see that as me acting in desperation. It was like I was trying to get into Vegeta's head and he wasn't letting me. When in canon does he let his guard down? Only on the brink of death. Not that this was the intention, but it's almost like that was the only way I could get him to open his character up not just to Goku, but to me.

Sorry.

I get way too into these things. The line between fiction and reality can get somewhat blurred for me. Take all the above with a pinch of salt. If not several heapings.

On a side note. One of the reasons that I like Vegeta is how he starts off one-dimensional in canon, and not only does he grow as a character, not only does he become more layered and developed, you find out why he was one-dimensional in the first place. Given all the crap he went through...becoming the cliché Arrogant Villain he was in the saiyan saga makes perfect sense. Man, I love DBZ.

Q: Now, I figured I may as well write these concluding predictions: I wasn't sure of how you planned to handle Janemba with only SSJ2 characters, but I'm going to say that Mystic/Ultimate Raditz will be the heavy hitter for the heroes. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see.

A:Mystic Raditz? Who said anything about that...?

Q:So, he's dead(Broly), or are we up for Second Coming?

A:Let me confirm this. BROLY IS DEAD.

Q: what about his [Tarble's] wife, anyway? she ok?

A: He hasn't met her yet. This takes place a long time before his "canon" (if that's what you call the special) appearance.

Q:I like that you are giving some characters special abilities not seen before like Gohan and zarbon but it seems like you gave everyone kaioken. I think it works better when each character has their own unique ability on their own. Gohan the 5th dimension stuff, then kaioken, goku 10x's kamehameha, etc. that way even if their power isn't relevant in a fight then perhaps they can add their special ability to that. I've seen you do it a little recently but in the past it seems you got a little out of hand. Kaioken for everyone! Anyway I hope this gives you ideas and that my review is of some use. Keep up the good work and ill keep reading

A:I figured, given how Tien—a human—got it first, it wouldn't seem quite so inaccessible to the rest as when Goku learned it in canon. I mean, Goku's Goku, right? He's always a step ahead, they don't expect to keep up with him. But if Tien can do it...it isn't too much of a stretch for Krillin and Yamcha to do just as well, or almost as well in Yamcha's case (sorry Yamcha, but you know it's true).

Q:1. I strongly hope you don't keep broly alive. That would just be one more character in a long line of powerful characters that you already have.
2. Please keep vegeta evil and only teaming up when it's benificial for him too. You have enough sayain good guys and reformed bad guys.
3. Please please please don't do what battle of the gods did with enraged ssj2 vegeta being stronger than ssj3 goku. Ssj2 is ssj2 for a reason and should not be able to surpass ssj3.
4. Please don't make raditz or goku the ssj god. If you wanna balance things out you could give goku a ssj4 or maybe a full powered ssj3, raditz a super mystic form, and Gohan could be the ssj god. It would be predictable if you gave ssj god to raditz or goku and since Gohan should be weaker than both of them then it should even things out. As for vegeta, he could get maybe a golden oozaru hybrid that only elite sayians can reach or maybe keep him in majin and give him ssj3, keeping him up there with the rest. I think majin vegeta would still do nicely in your story.

A:1. He's dead.

2. He was evil. Now he's dead.

3. I'll reserve judgement until I've seen the movie.

4. S-S-S-S-Spoilers!

Q: Very good chapter, the best part was Vegeta's desmissed, I wonder if Goku will ressurect him but I remember you stating that Vegeta will be between one of warriors of BTtL universe(Don't recall the page in DBM English section) in DBM2 so I will have faith for now but a universe where Vegeta is completely gone with Raditz replacing him is not that bad either.

A:That was either before I had this planned, or deliberate misdirection on my part. Not sure which. I have done both.

Q:I finally caught up and are we finally near the majin buu saga? Parts of this post Cell saga have been a little weak no offense

A: Fair enough. We've got the rest of this and Fusion Reborn to go. Then, barring the 1k review special, we're done.

Sorry, no EFB preview this week, ran out of time. Next week: Kronos Shenron.