Chapter 66: Reborn
Q: Pretty good as always, but I wish you wouldnt take up like a third of every chapter with Q and A and that other stuff
A: I assure you that it doesn't detract from the length of the main story. I only ever start on this stuff when the actual chapter is finished and I'm satisfied with it. So if you don't like the Q & A and such, you can always skip it, thought you may miss information and answers that you would otherwise have known. Then again, anything hugely important will go in the chapter itself, so I guess it's not essential.
And check back in here on Tuesday for the 1-year special, part 2!
"…and it appears that these mysterious warriors have appeared at every major attack location, and are engaging the invaders," the news anchor was saying. "So far, these engagements are all ongoing, but we'll be broadcasting all news live, so don't turn of your televisions, folks. And now, a word from our sponsors…"
The people of Central City cowered in their houses as the storm intensified, blowing away anything out on the street that wasn't nailed down. Some kind of repeated crashing noise was coming from high above them, like rapid-fire thunder—impact after impact as Gohan and Turles rebounded off of each other, then charged back in again. They'd appear for brief moments at the heart of the storm, fists and feet swinging, then vanish again and race off through the air. There was a staccato burst of impacts, and Gohan appeared, plummeting down to the ground. He landed in the town's main square, throwing out a huge crater and shattering the concrete around him, completely obliterating the decorative fountain.
He struggled to his feet, wiping away a trickle of blood that dripped from his nose. "Urggh..."
"Having fun?" Turles floated down to the ground on the opposite side of the square. "I guess you were all talk after all." His golden, spiked-up hair blew gently back and forth in the raging wind.
Gohan scowled. He's a mockery to the whole idea of a Super Saiyan…a warrior of light…a beacon of hope…he just cheated his way up. No effort involved.
Turles laughed. "What, no clever comeback? Or maybe you're wondering if that's really all the power you can muster? I remember you got a lot stronger when I made you mad before. But it's not something you can just use on command, is it?"
"No…" Gohan growled. "It isn't. I've always been unable to access my full power without getting angry. Simply fighting isn't enough. But…" His fist pounded into the ground, sending a shockwave rippling out through the city. Cars flipped into the air, street signs were flattened to the ground, windows shattered. The sound and fury of the storm halted, settling into an eerie, enforced stillness for a few brief moments. Gohan looked up at Turles, his eyes hard. "…you're giving me a lot of reasons to be angry." Faces flashed through his mind. Videl, Goku, Chi-Chi, Goten. "I know what you're like…and I can imagine what'll happen if I don't stop you." He felt a familiar anger, and a familiar power, rise to the surface. "You think…you're something special…huh?" His voice became lower, almost a snarl. "I…haven't even begun…to fight!" Finally, it reached the surface, and his Super Saiyan 2 aura blazed to life around him. His hair stood up on end; lightning arced around his body. "Do you remember this?" His eyes burned with quiet fury.
"I certainly do," Turles replied. "I've been waiting for this…"
Fortuneteller Baba's palace was a place sometimes visited by the living who sought spiritual advice; and sometimes by the dead who needed to settle their affairs in the living world. At the moment, though, the rift between Earth and the afterlife had been torn open, and Hell's escapees streamed out through it.
One such person alighted on the ground outside the palace. "Back here again…" he muttered, tapping the device over his eyes. "Now, let's see…hey! Somebody's left their scouter on…up above me somewhere…" he grinned, taking off and soaring up into the sky. "Long time no see, Tarble!"
Goku and King Cold circled each other, each trying to get the full measure of each other's strength. "Mind if we take this out of the city?" Goku asked. "I'll be able to focus on fighting you, and if anybody else shows up I'd like to intercept them once I'm done with you, before they can get to the city…"
"Once you're done with me? You've got some nerve," Cold replied. "Very well, if it makes you happy. I've no wish to annihilate this planet's population in any case, not when they could make such excellent subjects." The monkey's right to fear for these people... He was still unable to completely control his fourth form's power, and was prone to causing collateral damage when going all-out.
"We'll see about that," the saiyan laughed as they flew north, landing on a couple of adjacent cars fleeing the city. "Well? Are you ready?"
"Abundantly so." With that, Cold attacked, throwing a high kick. Goku just barely dodged, hopping down onto the car's hood just as it reached the back end of a traffic jam.
"What in tarnation?!" the driver yelled as the two figures danced back and forth on his vehicle. Goku backflipped away, leaping from vehicle to vehicle, and Cold followed, launching quick strikes that Goku continued to dodge. Finally, Cold feinted low, catching Goku off-guard and following up with an elbow strike. Goku saw it too late to dodge, and threw up both arms to block it. The attack rebounded off his defences, sending him skidding backwards, his feet tearing up the roof of an eighteen-wheeler.
"Pretty good," he said. "I've got a good look at your speed, and now your strength, too. I honestly don't know if I can beat you as I am now..."
"I've got time," Cold replied. "Let's find out." He drew a fist back, seemingly telegraphing a punch. Something instantly seemed off to Goku. From what I've seen so far, he isn't the kind to get sloppy. He's trying to draw my attention, but from what...ah, I see. Frieza's energy—now at 100% of his power, evidently having powered up while back in the city—was fast approaching behind Earth's defender, and tipped him off to Cold's bluff. The saiyan swivelled on the spot, deflecting Frieza's ki beam with a spinning kick. "Nice try, but you forgot I could sense your energy!"
However, a second blast came seemingly from nowhere, smashing head-on into Goku's chest. "As a matter of fact, we didn't!" Cooler, in his fifth form snarled, and the attack, while substantially less than his own power level, took him by surprise, winding him. Before he could recover, Cold materialised above him, swinging his leg down and kicking Goku down to the road below. He bounced once, feeling the torn-up tarmac dig into his skin, then skidded onto his feet with the second bounce, coming to a halt amidst the panicked traffic jam. Voices washed past his ears over the steady hum of car engines.
"Hey, what's the hold up?"
"Who's that guy?"
"Those things are flyin'!"
"Wasn't he on the news?"
King Cold nodded to his sons. "Now, boys, you know the weakness of such tragically noble creatures, do you not?"
"Naturally, Father," Frieza said, smirking. "It's those pathetic lower life-forms they waste all their energy protecting."
"I like the way you're thinking!" Cooler growled, grinning bestially behind his facemask.
The three frost demons each raised a hand, combining their power into a large energy ball—certainly large enough to engulf the huge line of traffic, if not the entire continent.
"Fire!" Cold ordered, and they did so. Goku frowned.
Guess dodging's out of the question, with all these people around me. He flew up into the air, throwing both hands out above him and crashing head-on into the blast, the impact knocking him straight back down to the ground in front of the traffic before detonating.
The family resemblance in the Cold dynasty was clear as they watched the resulting explosion; that the three of them had the same self-satisfied confidence was unmistakeable. These children of mine are quite something, the eldest realised. Once we've established dominance over this planet, I might have to turn my attention to attaining Frieza's bulky state, or Cooler's fifth form. Luckily, my power is naturally so much greater than theirs that, for now, I need not worry about them challenging—eh?!
The smoke had cleared. A shimmering blue wall of energy was revealed. Goku was sweating buckets, he'd been driven down onto one knee, and his feet had gouged great rents into the road, but the barrier had held and the people behind him were protected. "I...told you..." he gasped, lowering the shield and standing up. "I will not tolerate you endangering these people's lives!" I may have to transform here...but let's give it some time. I don't detect any more attackers in this area yet, anyway...
Frieza chuckled. "Oh, you won't tolerate it, will you? Well, my apologies if what you want isn't high on my list of priorities right now, ape!"
Goku sighed. "Your insults are as repetitive as they are mindless. When you try and hurt someone with words, it's a sure sign you've run out of other ways to attack them."
"What are you—" Frieza began, before a blur of orange light rushed past him. Goku collided with Cold, the two throwing lightning-fast attacks back and forth at each other, neither getting a decisive hit in.
"Don't just float there like a pair of balloons!" Cold demanded. "Attack already, damn you!"
"R...Right!" Cooler gulped. The speed they're moving... He and Frieza nodded to each other, then charged in.
Suddenly, Goku found himself under attack from three fronts. Two of them were a long way below his own power, true, but they served as adequate distractions from Cold, forcing him to lay off on his attacks and go on the defensive. By focusing on defence, he found his superior martial arts skill allowed him to fend off Cold's attacks while still avoiding the minor threats Frieza and Cooler presented.
He gradually directed the battle away from the road, keeping up his retreat and parrying a particularly determined series of blows from the younger pair while jumping over Cold's tail swipe. All right...I'm not going to use up all my strength here. "Time to kick things up a notch!" he declared. "HYAAA!" He summoned up his inner strength, transforming to his Super Saiyan state.
"W-Wha...!" Cold took a step back under the enormous pressure of Goku's ki, as his sons were literally blown away by its magnitude. Surely I was only killed by a Super Saiyan before because I never got the chance to transform...and yet...this one seems different, somehow.
"You wanted a Super Saiyan—you got one!" Goku vanished, appearing inches away from Cold, arm poised mid-swing for a devastating stomach punch. Even before he made the attack, the difference in their levels was obvious. To Cold, Goku's movement was instantaneous; to Goku, Cold was barely moving at all. However, the Super Saiyan stopped his punch at the last second, hearing a voice cry out.
"Goku! Wait!"
Goku complied, stopping his fist half an inch from Cold's stomach. The shockwave was still immensely powerful, the sheer air pressure of the attack launching an unintentional kiai that knocked Cold flat on his back. "Oops, uh...sorry..." he turned to face the newcomer. "...Kuriza."
"Don't worry about it." The juvenile frost demon looked around disdainfully as his grandfather picked himself up. His gaze swept over his uncle, then settled on his father. "Well...it's been a long time, everyone. How have you been?"
Raditz and Pikkon swooped down, making a controlled descent into Hell, tracking the source of the universal disruption.
"Strange…" Raditz muttered. "I've never felt a ki quite like this…" He looked quite different to when Pikkon had last seen him. The most immediately striking change was his hair—cut to just past shoulder-length, and kept that way thanks to magical assistance from Supreme Kai (normally, saiyan hair never changes in shape or length, quickly growing back to normal if cut). Pikkon had questioned this, and Raditz had brushed it off, saying 'oh, that? It gets in the way when—you know what, never mind.' His outfit had changed, too. He wore a simple dark blue shirt, the kind Goku and the others had worn under their orange uniforms for a while now, this provided by King Kai. His pants vaguely resembled Pikkon's, loose and white; they were topped with a sash-like belt, upon which was emblazoned three symbols—the Turtle School's, King Kai's, and the saiyan royal crest, to pay homage to his saiyan, human and Otherworld comrades. Finally, his red arm, leg and head bands were gone. Being dead himself, he no longer felt the need to pay tribute to the fallen of the past. Pikkon couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed a great weight off the saiyan's mind.
Pikkon, for his part, hadn't changed a bit, but to be fair to him he'd been in the afterlife for several hundred years, and the white-robed look was evidently one he'd settled on and stuck with after a while.
King Kai's voice chimed in telepathically. "Hello? Raditz, Pikkon? You might want to hurry. Or do I have to remind you that the entire structure of the universe is collapsing?!"
"All right, calm down, we're here," Raditz said evenly. Forget appearance, Pikkon realised, this was the real change in the man—the deep sense of tranquility. He was totally at ease, and calm seemed to radiate from his body.
"And come to that, couldn't you just teleport there?" the North Kai demanded.
"Don't worry, we've got time. I wanted to admire the scenery…" he gazed around at Hell. "…the lakes of blood, mountains carved with demonic faces, random clusters of spikes…the, er, the giant jellybeans…" he paused. "Did I just say that?"
"I think you did." Pikkon stared at what appeared, indeed, to be a giant floating jellybean. "Odd. Not what I picture when I think of Hell."
"Exactly! Those aren't meant to be there!" King Kai shouted, making them wince. "And King Yemma's palace has been encased in one of them! If he isn't freed, he can't start sorting out all the loosed souls and restore everything to normal—and come to it, even if we do that, whatever caused this could just do it all over again! So you two go stop it, right now!"
"He's going to give himself a stroke someday, I swear," Raditz said. "I mean, it's not like it's the end of the world…all right, technically it's worse than…well. Figure of speech." He shrugged. "Let's just get it over with."
"I believe we don't have a choice." Pikkon powered up, throwing off his training weights. "Whatever it is, it's heading this way, fast!" This energy...I've never felt anything like it! It's like a storm of chaos, spreading out over this entire area...
"Good." Raditz cracked his knuckles, flashing effortlessly into Super Saiyan 2.
Shortly, it came lumbering over a hill; not at all what they were expecting. To be precise, an enormous, fat yellow creature, with a vacant smile and four round openings on its torso. As soon as it spotted them, it let out a childish laugh, firing a stream of hundreds of yellow energy bullets from the 'vents'.
"Whoa!" The two fighters leapt out of the way, dodging and weaving through the air, as the rapid-fire volley demolished the landscape where they'd just been standing. "Whatever it is, it isn't intelligent…" Pikkon decided. "More like a child or an animal lashing out at whatever it sees. Is this really what's causing all this damage to reality?"
"I don't see anyone else, do you?" Raditz replied.
"Janemba! Janemba!" It giggled, clapping its hands together. "Janemba!"
"Well." The saiyan shrugged. "We know its name."
"I couldn't care less," Pikkon grumbled. "Just kill it."
"Right you are." The two fired quick energy blasts, bowling the Janemba creature over and sending it skidding back through a mountain, crushing the edifice under its massive bulk. However, it quickly leapt back to its feet, unharmed. "Huh," Raditz said. "Tough one, eh?"
"Seems that way," Pikkon concurred. "Slow, though. We can use that."
However, just as he said this it thrust its right arm into the air, and its forearm vanished into a round portal that appeared in mid-air. Simultaneously, it stretched its left arm out, Namekian-style, directly towards them. They prepared to block, when another swirling portal opened right above them, Janemba's right fist flying straight down at their heads. Pikkon took a punch from the overhead right arm, crashing down into the ground below, and Raditz was grabbed and held between the left's massive fingers. "Rrrgh…" he struggled, but couldn't break free. "Strong, aren't you? Well!" His eyes narrowed, and he disappeared from its grasp, Instant Transmission carrying him up to its face, where he threw a kick that snapped its head to the side, taking it down again.
A punch, a kick, an elbow, a knee, a headbutt—Gohan and Turles struck each other vicious, merciless blows, back and forth, both forgoing defence for an all-out attack. Gohan jumped back, panting, then paused. What was that…? It came from the rift where all these people are escaping Hell, but…it felt like a fifth-dimensional presence. Like someone was Shifting. Only, not a whole person. How could someone only Shift part of themselves? He didn't let it distract him, though; he dodged Turles' next strike, then locked arms with the unrepentant saiyan. They pushed against each other, the air warping and crackling under the immense force of their ki.
"Yes, you may have beaten me with that power before," Turles said, a hungry glint in his eyes, "but I'm far stronger now! I'll crush you!
"Is that so?" Gohan growled. "You might have noticed that I'm not a little kid anymore!" He took a slow step forwards, beginning to push Turles back. "I've grown a little stronger myself!" he shouted, throwing Turles away and hurling an energy bolt after him.
"Nice shot," Pikkon said, clambering up off the ground as Raditz landed next to him. Amazing…such force in that one kick…his Super Saiyan 2 form was unbelievably strong already, but he's improved an incredible amount in these last few years.
"Thanks." Raditz frowned. "But it won't stay down. Our attacks aren't really hurting it, just ticking it off. If that."
Sure enough, the creature was back on its feet, bobbing up and down with glee. "Janemba! Janemba! Janemba!"
"Right." Pikkon nodded. "We need to try our strongest attacks, even if that means taking a minute to charge up."
"Sounds like a plan," Raditz replied. "I'll take the lead. As soon as you see an opening, hit it hard."
"Got it."
Raditz flew up to a few hundred yards away from Janemba, waving nonchalantly. "Hey! Fun-size!" It stared at him, blinking. "Yeah, I'm talking to you. Come get it." Janemba grinned from ear to ear, bouncing eagerly at the Super Saiyan. He fired another quick energy beam to distract it and give him time to charge up, but the creature had its own plans. "Ja-Ja-Ja-Janembaaaaa!" It held up both hands, palms-up, and astonishingly, twin identical, life-sized copies of Raditz appeared, one in each hand, bathed in a pink glow. They each launched their own, pink energy blasts, smashing Raditz's out of the way and hitting him head-on before he got any further than "Wha...?"
Pikkon saw his chance, taking position behind it, but it flipped over backwards, cartwheeling towards him and kicking him to the ground. Even as he stood, coughing through a cloud of dust, it was facing him, scooping up a double handful of rocks. Now what's it playing at?
It beamed wordlessly, filling the rocks with waves of swirling, chaotic power. Each one, in a brilliant flare of light, was transformed into a miniature copy of Janemba. Giggling, the original threw its arms forwards, sending the swarm hurtling towards Pikkon. He braced himself as they scattered, then flew at him from all directions. He lashed out with all four limbs, sending them flying away, but they'd just bounce back for more. He knew he couldn't keep it up forever, so he suddenly broke off his frenzied defence, beginning to spin in increasingly rapid circles. Finally, when his attackers were inches away, he initiated the technique.
"Hyper Tornado!" He vanished, becoming one with the hypersonic, swirling currents he'd created. In a matter of seconds, the high-speed attack had incapacitated all the tiny Janemba's, each one fading from existence with a mewling cry.
However, just as he stopped, foes defeated, to catch his breath, the real Janemba loomed over him, foot raised to stamp him out. "D-Damn it!"
Just then, a voice called out from behind Janemba. "KA…ME…HA…ME…"
"JANEMBA!" It spun and leapt forwards, swinging its flabby arms at Raditz, one from each side in an attempt to swat him like an insect. However, he used Instant Transmission again, appearing behind and slightly above it. "…HA!" The energy beam punched right through Janemba's back and out through its stomach. It swayed slightly on its feet, then looked down at the gaping hole in its abdomen, puzzled. "J...Janemba?"
"Thunder Flash!" Pikkon yelled, throwing both hands forwards and discharging the massive build-up of electricity he'd quickly accumulated. Janemba was taken by surprise, and the attack coursed through its body, finally dissipating and leaving it a charred, smoking wreck that slowly toppled, splashing into a nearby ocean of blood and lying still.
"Well, that wasn't too hard," Raditz said, dusting off his hands and preparing to power down to his normal form.
Pikkon floated up next to him. "Right. Now that that's dealt with, we can free King Yemma, restore everything, and maybe find out just what that thing was and where it came from. Although...I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do with the rest of it. It does take up a lot of space."
"Sell it by the pound? Seriously, though, let's…" Raditz trailed off, his eyes widening. Janemba's ki was still there. More than that—it was rising, at an alarming rate. Its corpse began to glow a brilliant green. "Pikkon." Raditz said, suddenly serious for the first time. "Go."
"What…?"
"I said get out of here!" The saiyan flared up his aura, the air around him burning gold and blue. "This is beyond you!"
"Y…Yes. Right." Pikkon flew back up towards the mouth of Hell. "I'll go see if I can free Yemma."
"You do that." Raditz stared down at Janemba's shining corpse. Now…I get to see your true face, Janemba. And maybe…if you're lucky…you might get to see mine.
"Hey Goku," Kuriza said, feigning cheerfulness. "Can you sense those two power levels heading our way from the north?"
"Hmm?" Goku, still a Super Saiyan, nodded. "Yeah. You want me to go head them off?"
"Yeah." Kuriza's eyes narrowed. "Don't worry about me. I've got things under control here."
"Right! I trust you!" Besides, Goku thought as he headed up into the air, leaving a burning golden trail behind him, he never got to see any of his family since coming here. I think it's important he gets some closure...though knowing that family, who knows what kind of closure that'll be.
He headed straight for the two ki signals, flying straight up into the rain-swept sky. There you are! "Hi there!" he said cheerily, as he approached the smaller of the two.
"Wha…" Lord Slug just had enough time to gape in surprise before a chop to the neck sent him plummeting to the ground, miles below.
"And now, for contestant number two…" Goku glanced left and right. "Hey, they're moving quickly…in fact…right on top of me! And wow, I couldn't forget that ki…"
"KAKAROT!" A gigantic hand swiped at Goku from within the clouds.
"…Broly—awwlp!" Goku was unable to dodge, and the Legendary Super Saiyan gripped him by the leg, swinging his arm around and positioning Goku beneath him, before sending them both hurtling towards the ground in a high-speed piledriver. The impact was tremendous, and sent Goku drilling hundreds of feet into the ground. Broly stood over the crater, smiling.
"Haaaa—YAAAHHH!" A golden column of light burst out of the ground, shortly followed by Super Saiyan 2 Goku. His fist cracked into Broly's face with enough force to level a mountain range a hundred times over. "All right, Broly, you want a rematch?"
Broly skidded back, shaking his head to clear his vision. "Kakarot…I'll kill you this time!"
"Just try it!"
Nappa walked cautiously forwards towards the centre of the Lookout. "Hey, Tarble, where ya got to? Come out, come out, wherever—"
"I'm right here," came Tarble's voice. Nappa turned, seeing the smaller saiyan approaching, Dr. Myuu a couple of steps behind him.
"Aww, and you've got a little friend," Nappa chuckled. "That's cute."
Tarble smiled innocently. "I'm glad you're here, Nappa. There are so few saiyans left—I'm happy for you."
"Happy for me?" The bald brute snorted. "You don't resent me?" He'd always used to pick on Tarble, before he'd been exiled, whenever Vegeta wasn't around—as many saiyans did, always finding the peaceful 'wimp' a source of amusement—but Tarble had been too shy to tell Vegeta. Besides, the older prince would probably have just told him to fight his own battles.
"Of course not!" Tarble replied. "You just had a lot of pent-up aggression is all. I'm sure being a soldier helped you relieve a lot of that."
"Get a load of this." Nappa shook his head. "Got a psychologist over here."
"It would be wise to stop mocking him." Myuu's voice cut through the air like a knife.
"Hey, mind your own, freak," Nappa growled. He tapped his scouter—the thing's power level barely registered. Not a threat.
"Myuu, please." Tarble put a hand on the Tuffle's shoulder. "No threats here. I'm trying to help my old acquaintance readjust to the land of the living."
"Are you? That's nice." Nappa clenched his right hand into a fist. "You know…I always hated you, Tarble. If Vegeta wasn't around I'd have done this a long time ago…" Energy started to crackle between his fingers.
Tarble's eyes widened. "W-What are you doing?"
Nappa drew his fist back. "You're a mockery to our warrior race! So say goodbye, short stuff!"
"Nappa, don't! This is insane! I'm not your enemy!"
"I'll decide who my enemies are!" Nappa swung at Tarble, but Myuu stepped in and caught the attack effortlessly.
"I believe I warned you, saiyan." The doctor's grip tightened, and bones creaked in Nappa's hand.
"Aagh…aah…what…but…" Nappa let out a growl of pain. Doesn't make any sense! The scouter said… Just at this moment, his scouter beeped urgently as Myuu released some of his power. The noise rose in pitch and frequency, until finally the scouter exploded. Nappa flinched, staring at Myuu. "Who…what…are you?!"
"I was, like you, dead…" Myuu said, shoving Nappa away with a gentle flick of his arm. "…without purpose, mindlessly pursuing old grudges. I have been reborn."
Nappa rubbed his aching hand. "Feh…you're crazy. I guess it makes sense Tarble would like you—he's crazy too…peaceful saiyan, what kind of crap is that…"
Myuu's eyes narrowed. "Every time you open your mouth, you confirm my first impression: you are everything that I hate about your race." He began to advance slowly, his voice growing harsh. "Arrogant, boisterous, violent, callous, intellectually vacant…" his hands twitched. "Do you know, I could rip you limb from limb right now. It's what yours did to plenty of mine. You're already dead. Surely it wouldn't be…"
"That's enough, Myuu!" Tarble shouted. "I won't allow you to kill him!"
"Won't allow it? What could you do to stop me? Why do you even care, when I'm acting in your defence?"
"Because you're done," Tarble insisted, putting a hand on Myuu's shoulder. "No more of the cycle of revenge. You can't start down that road again. I'm not saying there's never a reason to kill anybody...but this is about you, all right?"
Myuu's whole body trembled. "You…I…" He glared at Nappa. This is the butcher of my people. Have I changed? Have I moved on? His arm swung up. "DAMN IT!" He let out a kiai, enough to knock Nappa out cold but leave him alive. "There, are you happy?"
"Yes." Tarble smiled, bowing slightly. "Thank you."
"Did you really care that much for the existence of someone already condemned to Hell?"
"Well, I don't know what happens if you die a second time while already in Hell…or, escaped from it…or whatever." They began to walk back into the Lookout. "But like I said, it was more for your sake than his. I need you to understand that revenge killings are essentially pointless. He was no threat to you, and it wouldn't have gained anything."
Myuu still seemed concerned. "He could be a problem when he wakes up."
"Unlikely. By the time he's conscious, this will all have blown over."
"How can you possibly know that?"
"I don't know it. But there's a lot of amazing people out there, protecting the Earth. They'll take care of it. Have a little faith, will you?"
"It's a shame…" Goku said, dodging Broly's furious swipes. "I always felt kind of sorry for you, Broly. You never got to be your own person."
"STAND STILL!" Broly roared, continuing to miss his light-footed opponent.
"Still…I guess it's too late for you now," Goku decided. "You're too far gone—just a monster." He flipped over another punch, turning the jumping motion into a double-footed kick to the Legendary saiyan's stomach.
"Monster? Me?" Broly cackled, barely feeling the pain. "No…I am a devil!"
"Whatever you say." Goku spun around a leg sweep, ramming his elbow into Broly's neck. Broly stumbled but stayed on his feet. "Damn, you just don't give up!" Goku complained.
Janemba's bloated corpse was gone. The glow had died. In its place hung a man-sized figure; red skin with purple armour plates; a long, twisting tail; swept-back horns protruding from its forehead. Slowly, raising its eyes and locking its gaze on Raditz, it breathed out, a noise like crunching glass.
"So…this is your real power, Janemba." Raditz dropped down out of the air to face it, touching down gracefully on the tip of a spike jutting out of the ground. "The weight of this ki…it's enormous. This thing is, without a doubt, the strongest enemy I've ever had to face."
He slid one foot back along the spike, clenching his fists and furrowing his brow as he prepared to summon up his energy. "Quite an impressive transformation.
"My turn."
I've been looking forwards to this bit for quite some time. Janemba's fun. Next chapter should be epic.
For anybody wondering, Raditz's pants look very similar to the ones fusion dance characters wear (Gotenks', Gogeta's). This is not a coincidence.
Q&A from chapters 64 and 65 (so…sorry, person who doesn't like the long Q & A, this is going to be double-length...):
Q: I like your explanation of Launch by the way, very original. Leads me to wonder what the heck would happen if she died; would she defuse her two souls? Would she revert to a schizophrenic single entity? I'm intrigued. Makes sense it would happen in an arc about FUSION though.
A: I'm not sure...I'll deal with it if/when it comes up.
Q: I see you went with the Janemba movie. Raditz' glorious return in stunning HD? alright then.
A:For some reason I love this phrase...
Q:Although now I am a bit confused about Gohan's hairstyle as you didn't go into great deal about it. Is it a longer version of his adult canon, spiky hair or is it something else altogether?
A:It's pretty similar to his hair in the Cell saga, post-Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Q: You are a genius writer. Have a virtual burrito. Its my favorite food.
A:Excellent.
Q: Hasn't Gohan published his book on ki yet?
A: Nope. It is taking him quite a while, yeah, but he's never written one before, there's quite a lot of new information to learn, and the 'research' takes some time.
Q: 2 super sayain 2's and a legendary super sayain, that's going to be hard for an android to beat, will you do the majin buu saga for the future timeline?
A: Yes. After the special concludes, the Buu saga will be the next future-timeline story. I don't know exactly when I'll write it, though...
Q: Nice chapter! I don't see too much of a similarity between this & BoD, so you shouldn't worry about accidental plagiarism.
Q: also I didn't see much bringer off death in this you just let broly change from being a monster to being a normal syaien warrior
A: Thanks, guys, that's a relief. Guess I was just being paranoid.
Q: Although this chapter seemed to span...what, a few months?..it still felt like Break's falling for Broly a bit too easily. It'd be a nice twist if it isn't love so much as just a sense of kinship with the only other LSSJ in existence. Then again, what do I know of romance, I'm better at writing other emotions...
Q: Great Chapter. But I hope the Break Broly thing is kinship as the only Legendary Super Saiyans in the modern era not that of romance but hey it's your story so my opinion means nothing.
Q: I like the special so far I was hopping you was going to pair break with broly that would off been good maybe in the up coming chapters.
Q: Wow! Break/Broly!? Awesome!
Q: Although I must say, this possible romance of Break and Brolly seems intriguing but if I were her, I would go see someone about that voice in her head :P
A: Well, crap, I've got two ways of playing this and multiple people advocating both sides.
Q: What did Tarble do to change Myuu's mind? Hold old is Tarble anyway?
A: First question: see this chapter. He may or may not have succeeded. Second question: Don't know. Younger than Vegeta.
Q: Is Vegeta going to be a one off supporting character in this saga (to make Vaditza or Regitz)? Or will he return for the Buu arc?
A: Who said anything about Vegeta?
Q: Great chapter, im glad broly found some kind of kinship with break amd is even starting to train. Is it possible for legendary ssj to become more powerful than ssj2 in anyway or is it like how ssj is with ssj2 or lssj, its always weaker.
A: I think it's always weaker. In this form of LSSJ, anyway. Which links nicely on to this next question:
Q: I don't understand why SS2 and LSS can't combine. I mean, Broly turned into a LSS3 in a what-if scenario, so shouldn't there be a LSS2 as well?
A: I'll say this: It's not impossible to go beyond LSSJ. It's just not easy by any means. (But then, when is attaining a new transformation ever easy?)
Q:[chapter 5 review, has read up to chapter 6]I don't like how piccolo got such a ridiculous boost in power(around 3x Goku) maybe 1,100 or so would have made more sense to me but I can see why you did it in order for raditz to have reason to worry.
A: I was going by the logic that 'if he can increase to 3500 in just one year, he can increase to 1800 in five. Especially if he thinks Goku has truly surpassed him, and he doesn't spend time developing the Makankoppotapotasoppo...makansappaposa...er, the Special Beam Cannon.'
Q:Also, isn't Broly about 40 and Break about 18 (or 16)? I don't really see a relationship between the two...
A:Got a couple of people asking this. Broly was frozen for years. He's about 30. Break is in her early twenties (including time in the HTC and a couple years since getting back from the past).
Q:But I do have to ask; were parts of the 'Kai' section inspired or based off of the HISHE version of Terminator?
A:Parts, yeah. Though originally the idea was that the Terminator needed better time travel than that which appears in the Terminator movies. Then I remembered that video, and hey, idea.
Q:1)OK about Bojack, but Turles and Slug?! C'mon, if what they'd "sensed" was right, why'd they even come here?!
2)The Royal Army?! Why didn't THAT happen in Canon?! And I was kinda disappointed that Trunks/Goten/Break didn't show up...(Wait, how are THEY gonna be able to use Fusion O.o?!)
A:1. How many times have you seen, in DBZ, a villain charging in to fight a superior foe due to arrogance, eh? The answer, by the way, is 'a lot'.
2. I don't know why the military sat on their asses in the movie. And who ever said they'd use fusion?
Q:just HOW Strong is Hercule anyway O.o?!
A:Not very. Even in canon Videl had passed him with just 'normal' martial arts well before the Buu saga. So now she's had a head start in ki training, and what he's learned is second-hand...I'm going to be fairly vague on that, though, so as not to create plot holes...
And now, the epic continues:
Break Through the Limit Kai, Part 12,845: Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey
Last time on Break Through the Limit Kai, the plot was completely derailed, and it now no longer resembles the main story at all. Also, time travel. Much time travel. We join our heroes...some of them, anyway...in the DC universe.
Hal Jordan: Come quietly! You're under arrest in the name of the Green Lantern Corps!
Doctor: Hey, what year is this?
Hal: Uh, 1978, why?
Doctor: Excellent. I knew my mental encyclopaedia of the DC universe timeline would come in handy someday! Sonic screwdriver—yellow filter!
Hal: Crap, my one really exploitable weakness!
Break: Punchety punch.
Hal: Bleagh.
Doctor: Well, that's all well and good, but before you crashed into me, I was on the trail of the Daleks in their own time machine!
Break: Since when do the Daleks have one of those?
Doctor: Since, uh, tomorrow, I think. I lose track. Anyway, now I've lost their trail, there's no telling where they'll end up!
Break: Ah, come on, how bad could it be?
(Meanwhile, the siege of Minas Tirith, Middle-Earth)
Gandalf: Hold fast, men of Gondor! Whatever comes through that gate, you will hold the line!
(Daleks crash through the gate)
Daleks: EXTERMINATE!
German Daleks: EXTERMINATEN!
Men of Gondor: Aah with the dying.
Gandalf: Well, crap.
(Meanwhile, in the canon DBZ timeline…Or what used to be the canon DBZ timeline…)
Marty: Goku, quick, get in the car!
Goku: Why?
Arnie: Robots.
Goku: Robots?
Arnie: Yah, that is what I said.
Goku: Eh, sure. Not androids? 'Androids' sounds better somehow.
Marty: No, definitely robots.
(T-1000 reforms)
Arnie: Drive!
Marty: Driving!
(They hit 88 mph, vanish into the timestream)
(DC universe)
Doctor: All right, the TARDIS is fixed. Come on, hop in, it sounds like we've both got a lot on our plates.
Break: You can say that again. How do we track down your Daleks, and/or the canon DBZ timeline?
Doctor: Well, I'll just search for other sources of temporal energy, indicating time travel, and that should do for the Daleks. As for your problem, I'm working on it. Ah, here's the nearest signal.
(Middle-Earth)
Gandalf: Pippin! Save yourself! Sauron has summoned forth an army of invincible metal creatures!
Daleks: EXTERMINATE!
Pippin: Too late! Here they come!
(DeLorean appears)
Marty: Goku! Evil robots! Punch!
Goku (turns Super Saiyan): Will do!
(He does. To the Daleks, and the Orc army.)
Gandalf: Thank you, kind stranger. But the war of the Ring is far from over…
Goku: Hold on. (Reads Gandalf's mind.) Oh, so that's what this is all about. Give me a second.
(Several Instant Transmission hops later, he returns with Frodo and Sam)
Goku: so yeah, I dropped the ring in the volcano, and fired a big Kamehameha at that Mordor place just to be sure.
Frodo: And the ring…it didn't try to tempt you?
Goku: Well, it tried, but...I already know a guy who can materialise food with his mind, so…yeah, it was kinda stuck there. Now, (to Marty and Arnie), will you please explain to me what's going on here?
Arnie: In your timeline, you weren't supposed to kill Frieza. A Super Saiyan from the future was to do that. But something went wrong—we still don't know what—and he went to the wrong timeline, where he was killed. In order to set your history back on course, you need to know that in three years, a pair of evil androids—
Goku: Androids! I knew it!
Arnie: —will appear and attack you. In the future timeline, they killed everyone, except you—you died of a heart virus during the three years. We know the Super Saiyan from the future had a cure, but we still haven't found it. Once we've located a cure, we can send you home, and hopefully with three years training, you can defeat the androids.
Marty: And he needed my time machine because the Terminator ones kinda suck. Apparently it is my one from the future, and after we're done he's going to give it back to me so I can give it to him in the past...or something...
Goku: Sounds good! But where do we look for a cure for the virus?
Arnie: Where everyone ends up eventually: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Goku: All right, let's go!
(Meanwhile, in the canon DBZ timeline)
(TARDIS materialises)
Doctor: All right, this is where the temporal signature came from, but it looks like they've already left.
Break: Hold on, look at the art style. We're in DBZ. That's King Cold's ship…there's some pieces of Cold and Frieza…must be canon DBZ, but where's Goku? Trunks is dead, so Goku must have killed these two like in the future timeline…
Doctor: You'd better come take a look at this!
Break: Dear God! That's the whole cast of DBZ, minus Goku…and they're all dead! Who did this?!
T-1000, forming out of a puddle: That would be me.
Break: You? Don't be ridiculous. I've seen Terminator. You couldn't kill Yamcha, let alone Vegeta.
T-1000: I must disagree. I am not the same T-1000 you are aware of. I have been…upgraded. Shall I show you my true form?
(Morphs into Super 17)
Break: What the…Super 17 out of f****** nowhere? What is this bullcrap?! Where did you even come from?
Super 17: You should know, you read it. It's how I was written…to appear out of nowhere.
Break: You escaped from the original draft of Break Through the Limit?!
S17: Indeed. And now I'm going to have my revenge on Captain Space…by destroying not only his own story, but the show it's based on that he loves so much! And as for the world that hates me for my crappy appearance in GT, shoddy backstory and ass-pull defeat…I'll get them, too! I'll destroy all the great works of fiction they act so superior about!
Doctor: So, you're the cause of all this! Did you sabotage Trunks' time machine?
S17: No, not nearly that simple, I'm afraid. You'd have to look pretty hard to find the change I made. Not that you'll get the chance.
(Shoots Break and the Doctor, climbs into the TARDIS)
S17: Excellent. Now, what to destroy next…Star Wars or Star Trek?