This delay was getting obscene, so I'm using a restaurant's free wi-fi to upload this. Chapter 100 will hopefully be up on Sunday as normal.
Chapter 99: God and God
Music for this chapter is Bills' Theme by TheEnigmaTNG (I may have got that name wrong, just Youtube search 'Bills theme' and look for a username vaguely similar to the one I put).
Hey, I wrote a decent-length chapter! That happens about as often as Bringer of Death writes, well, any chapter! (I'm just joking around, don't worry, I love those guys. Maybe I should've said "as often as Team Four Star releases an episode").
Important note FROM THE FUTURE (story is 121 chapters long as of writing this paragraph): Okay, so there's a new DBZ movie coming out in 2015. That's great, and I'm really excited for it, since as is probably already clear, I loved Battle of Gods and can't wait for the follow-up. However, as far as this story goes, I simply cannot incorporate the new movie. Why? Because it will no doubt expand on the Dragon Ball mythos and multiverse, introducing more Gods of Destruction, more universes, and revealing more about the elements BoG introduced.
...however, this story progressed past BoG well before the 2015 movie was even announced. So I had to come up with a DB multiversal mythos of my own. If there's anything cool in the new movie that the stuff I introduced leaves room for, then hell yeah, I'll find a way to put it in. But I have a very strong suspicion that my way of following up BoG and Toriyama/Toei's way of doing so will be largely incompatible. Largely because I'm not Akira Toriyama and have no way of guessing what he'd do in a given situation. Okay? Are we cool? We're clear that I'm not leaving it due to bias or prejudice or anything, I just kind of can't include it due to timing? Okay. Thanks for your time. I'll stop getting in the way of past-me's chapter and let you read now. He hates it when I pull time-travel crap like this anyway.
"…I still think it was a shame that little Vegeta Jr. didn't turn up," Bulma was saying, putting her glass down.
"Well, you know what he's like," Chi-Chi said crossly. "I don't think he even lives with us anymore—he only spends about one night a week in our house. That boy's just the antisocial type—I can see why he was named other, well, the other one."
"Yeah, he's hardly ever around," Goku agreed. "But he's still good friends with Goten and they meet up a lot in the mountains, so I'm fine with him being independent like that."
"I'm sure you wouldn't be saying that if he was a normal child," Bulma laughed.
"Of course!" He agreed hastily. "But he's about the most dangerous thing roaming those mountains, so there's no need to worry."
"Heh, I bet—" Bulma paused as a pair of unfamiliar figures came into view across the green. "Um, friends of yours?"
"Never seen them before," Chi-Chi said, her husband nodding in agreement.
Bills approached them, but Whis didn't make it over—he ended up taking off after an enticing-looking table of sweetmeats. Bills ignored his sidetracked attendant, clearing his throat. "Are you one of the saiyans who defeated Frieza and his family?" he asked.
"Uh…that's me," Goku answered warily. Absolutely no ki at all that I can sense…but what's this strange aura of menace…? "Who's asking?"
"That's what I'd like to know," came Raditz's voice from behind. He was glaring at Bills, one hand locked around Whis' neck.
"Raditz!" Bulma snapped. "Let him go! You've just met these people!"
"Not exactly," Raditz growled, something dangerous in his eyes—something none of them had seen for a long while.
Whis swallowed the mouthful he was eating, gently placing a hand on Raditz's. "I'm afraid I must ask you to stop that," he said calmly.
"And what if I don't?"
"I—" Whis didn't get any further. Bills' head turned to face them, and a glow of energy came from behind his eyes. A wall of force smacked into Raditz, tossing him back into the air, through a small row of decorative trees and into the lake behind.
"Thank you, Lord Bills," Whis said, smiling and standing up straight. "That should give him a minute to cool off."
However, with the signature hiss of Instant Transmission, Raditz appeared in front of Bills, skidding to a halt, dripping wet. "Huh…huh…you…"
"If you want to ask me something, there are better ways than threat," Bills chided. "Either you don't know who I am, or you have a deathwish, mortal."
"No, I don't know your name," Raditz answered, shaking off like a dog coming in from the rain. "But I want to know what you were doing on Planet Vegeta all those years ago."
"Planet Vegeta…?" Launch asked, walking over towards the commotion. "You've seen this guy before?"
"I didn't—but Prince Vegeta did. For a long time, it was just him, Nappa and myself. The prince was never our comrade—you saw how quick he was to abandon us—but he did become more talkative after a while. And he told me about a time, back before our homeworld's destruction…he stumbled across the dining hall one day. And there, sitting in the King's throne, eating our finest food, and resting on the King like a footstool…" He stared Bills down. "There you were. The memory stuck, and with the detail he described you in, I can't mistake you."
Bills snorted, "That's all? Yes, I visited that planet just a few decades ago. Just visiting, you understand. I wasn't working."
"Lord Bills is the God of Destruction," Whis explained, stepping forwards. "It's his duty to destroy planets at the rate the Kaioshin create them, to maintain balance in the universe."
"Wait, don't tell me…" Chi-Chi grimaced. "You're not here to destroy Earth, are you? Because that's been tried."
"I'm not here on business either, no," Bills replied. "I'm looking for something called the Super Saiyan God."
Goku frowned. "Hmm…I know Super Saiyan, but 'God'?" Bills cast questioning glances around, but the general consensus was reached: nobody knew what he was talking about. "Hrgh…maybe I've come too soon?"
"Don't worry," Whis advised, "perhaps if you wait around for a little while, the Super Saiyan God will appear? And in the meantime, I've found this delicious dessert called 'pudding' they have on this planet…"
Bills did indeed find pudding to be delicious, and many other Earth delicacies besides; and eventually calmed down enough to at least leave them alone for the rest of the party, after being repeatedly assured that there weren't going to be any other saiyans turning up who might have a clue about what he was looking for.
Soon all gathered for Bulma's bingo competition, which is apparently some people's idea of fun—however, it was plenty of people's idea of winning fabulously extravagant prizes from the world's richest family, including vehicles, miniature buildings, lifetime supplies of everything under the sun, and the grand prize—a wish on the Dragon Balls.
Bills gave a slight start at this. "Dragon Balls…? Sounds familiar."
"They must be those wishing spheres from Namek," Whis reminded him. "You remember the Namekians?"
"No."
"Of course you don't. Say, have you tried the takoyaki?"
"Is that like a taco?"
"Not even remotely."
The grand prize in question was, in fact, about to be unveiled. Bulma gave a grand sweep with her microphone, indicating a curtained-off section of the stage. "And now, may I present to you the main event, although I'm sure you all came along not for this, but because you're such good friends and want to celebrate my birthday—"
"How old are you, anyway?" Krillin called out.
Once the wreckage had been swept away, Bulma had put the submachine gun away and Krillin had come out from under the table, she continued. "…the main event, as I was saying—the Dragon Balls! The winner gets to make a wish on the Eternal Dragon!"
Goku leaned over to Chi-Chi. "Say, doesn't Shenron grant two wishes now?" he whispered.
"She's probably saving one for herself," Chi-Chi said snidely. "I reckon she wants to be young again."
"I don't know, she's barely aged a day since Trunks was born," Goku observed, earning him a glare that, if looks could kill, would have atomised Frieza. "Er, that is to say, and neither have you! Since uh. Around. That time."
Goku. The Earth-raised saiyan heard his brother's voice in his mind, cutting off his audible speech as he stopped to listen.
What's up, Raditz?
No need to tell you to be careful, I know, but…you can't feel that god's ki, right?
Right—but when he gets close, I get this weird feeling of…threat, I guess.
Exactly. But…when I had that assistant guy in a headlock…I got the same feeling from him. Maybe even more so. If Bills hadn't acted first, I got the feeling he was about to do something himself.
Goku paused. You think he's…?
I don't know. Just keep an eye on them—both of them.
"The curtain, please!" Bulma announced, oblivious to these conversations. At her words, the curtain was drawn back by some unseen assistant, revealing…well, it was supposed to reveal the seven Dragon Balls, neatly stacked on a red velvet cushion.
What they got was three children, looking remarkably like Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu, a trio of ne'er-do-wells Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar had come up against what seemed like an aeon ago now.
"Gah!" The uncannily Pilaf-looking child squawked. Perhaps if Bulma had been entirely sober she would have recognised them, and then again perhaps not—it had been a long time ago, and the three had been adults then. "They've found us! This wouldn't have taken so long if we'd taken the plane!"
"I told you," Mai shot back as they each scrambled for a Dragon Ball, "I'm too short to fly right now! And this wouldn't have happened at all if you'd been more specific! 'Eternal dragon, please make us young again!', huh?"
"Well, you were the one who were so shocked you said 'no' without thinking when the dragon asked us if we wanted a second wish," Shu pointed out. They suddenly froze, remembering their stunned audience.
"Uh…ah…" Pilaf's mind whirled. "Scatter!" he yelled, and the three tiny villains made a break for it.
Suffice to say, it did not go well. Pilaf, Dragon Ball held aloft, leapt off the stage, but was dragged out of the air as Bulma dive-tackled him to the ground, spurred into action by tipsy overconfidence. "And we'll be having those Dragon Balls back now, hmm?"
Shu skidded to a halt as Raditz appeared in front of him, grinning like a madman. The canine ninja growled, drawing his downsized sword from his back, but when Raditz responded by drawing his longsword, driving it into the ground in the narrow gap between them, Shu immediately fainted.
Mai, meanwhile, vaulted over a table, yelping as Break catapulted out of the air towards her. The 'young' minion drew a pistol and snapped off several shots, but hit nothing but air until Break landed opposite her, a kiai smashing the gun to pieces.
Break grinned, backing up and then charging, drawing back one fist.
"Hold it!" Launch called anxiously. "Don't hit a normal kid with that much strength!"
"Gah!" Break gave a start. "Sorry, I got carried away!" She tried to slow her acceleration, but had too much momentum going and had to leap out of a collision course with Mai, flying straight into the face of the God of Destruction, who along with his attendant had been watching proceedings up until now with mild amusement.
Now, as he picked up Break by the neck and held her out away from himself like someone's dirty laundry, a low growl rose from the depths of his throat. "That was annoying. And…you spilled my dessert."
"Oh, dear…" Whis put a hand over his face. "It's happened again. Just like with North Kai's planet all those years ago. I still think it wasn't worth blowing it to pieces…"
"I don't like losing, okay?!" Bills snapped. "And…I don't like having my meals ruined…"
"Let…go of me, you damn…" Break hissed, tugging at Bills' hand. "Grr…rrrRRAAAAH!" Her snarl grew into a shout as she transformed into a Super Saiyan 3, the blast wave sending the guests' tables and chairs, not to mention some of the weaker guests themselves, flying.
"Hey…" Goku noted. "She can transform a lot easier now."
"Yeah." Raditz nodded happily. "She's been working hard."
Break, emitting a noise like a cornered tiger, began to swing a rapid-fire hurricane of punches. Her arms were slightly too short to hit Bills' abdomen, but at this close range the shockwaves were just as strong without even having to consciously form a kiai. However, Bills merely stood there, absorbing the damage without flinching. When she was done, panting with her arms hanging limply at her sides, he sighed. "Is that all a Super Saiyan can do? Disappointing."
Raditz, who hadn't been interfering on account of Bills not making any offensive move yet, tensed up as Bills' grip tightened. "Egghhh…" Break clamped her teeth together, containing a pained scream.
"Get your hands off my daughter!" Raditz and Launch shouted in more-or-less unison.
"RAAAAAAH!"
"Spirit—KAIOKEN!"
A blazing double aura of red and Super Saiyan 3 gold sprung up around the couple, waves of power demolishing the stage behind them as they charged at Bills.
"This planet's starting to annoy me…" Bills grumbled. "I think I'll destroy it." He swung the arm holding Break away from them, facing them with his left side as he received their rushing attack. Raditz swung his sword down at the god's head, and Bills grabbed his wrist, stopping the blow, then spun again, jump-kicking Launch in the stomach. As she slid away and more fighters rushed in, he landed, ran a couple of steps dragging the pair of saiyans behind him, and hurled them into what remained of the stage, before turning to face the rest of his attackers.
"Kaioken, TIMES FOUR!" Barely had the cry escaped Goku's mouth when Bills slid a neat punch into his stomach and a second into the side of his face, sending him staggering away, the mighty warrior collapsing over an upturned table.
What followed was a succession of fighters almost as lengthy as those who had faced Majin Buu on the Lookout; however, at least for now, there were no fatalities. Each was dealt with using the minimum of effort; a flick of a finger, the tap of a few pressure points, a tiny kiai. Even Eighteen required only a simple kick to take down, and Goten was about to face the same fate when an energy blast from behind startled the Hakaishin. He turned to see Gohan, now at the third Super Saiyan level himself, guard raised.
"And what, exactly, was that supposed to accomplish?" Bills asked flatly.
"I don't know…it might give them enough time to fuse," Gohan suggested.
"Fuse…?"
"FUUU—SION—" Goten and the newly-arrived Vegeta Jr. were performing their dance.
Bills frowned. Where did the second boy come from? Perhaps he sensed his friends' energy dropping. "Futile." He crouched, preparing to stop them. "I can easily—"
"Can you?" Gohan shoulder-charged Bills, who dodged around it, flipping Gohan over and flooring him with his own momentum. However, the attack had stalled Bills for long enough—
"HAAAA!" With that, Gogeta was formed once again, and set about pulling off the most undignified pose he could think of (or, in the mind of a nine-year-old, the coolest pose).
"What a strange technique…" Whis observed.
"I don't care," Bills yawned. "His power's still tiny."
"T-Tiny?!" Gogeta screeched. "I'll show you—" He did not, however, show anyone anything, as Bills phased into view behind him before he could so much as flinch.
"Like I said," Bills continued quietly, "tiny. You couldn't even follow that, could you?"
"You—!" Gogeta whirled, throwing a punch and powering up to Super Saiyan 2 all at once, but to no avail—Bills dodged lazily, bringing both hands around and clapping them over the fusion's ears. After a sonic boom and a rush of air, Gogeta fell to the ground, yowling.
"Hmm. You burst his eardrums," Whis noted. "That was a little harsh—he may be deaf now."
"What does it matter?" Bills grunted. "I'm going to blow up the planet anyway."
"Not while I'm on it!" Gohan shouted up from below, taking off and arcing up towards the pair.
"Excuse me," Bills said politely, stopping Whis. "It seems I haven't quite finished them all yet." He caught Gohan's swinging hand and dived back towards the ground, slamming Gohan into the paving ahead of him and throwing a kick into his ribs for good measure.
"Y…You…!" Bills looked around, wondering who else could still be standing, and was surprised to see Videl struggling towards him, ugly bruises forming on her shoulder and shin from her earlier defeat. "Stop it…!"
"Stop what?" Bills asked, absent-mindedly kicking the downed Super Saiyan again.
"Don't you…how dare you do that…" her face contorted with rage. "…to my Gohan!"
"What…?" Bills' expression was blank as she fired off a two-handed energy beam at him. "Don't go saying heroic things like that—" He slapped it away, emerging unscathed. "—unless you can actually do something. These ridiculous humans…"
Nonchalantly, he launched a kiai with a flick of his wrist, blasting her through a tree. She lay twitching amidst the splintered wood. "G…Go…"
"All right," Bills growled, "are you finally all ready to lay down and die?!"
"Hey."
"Hmm?" Bills, with a weary sigh, went to look towards the sound of the voice, but got no further than, "who is it this—" before Gohan's fist smashed across his face with a force that would put a neutron bomb to shame. Videl…!
Yelling incoherently, the enraged saiyan dragged Bills' face down onto his rising knee, before grabbing him two-handed by the arm and tossing him away overhead. The god's mind was whirling, as was his field of vision. What—is—happening?!
"Oh dear," Whis muttered, "he seems to have got unreasonably strong from somewhere. This may take a while longer to wrap up…in which case…" He gave a sanguine smile. "I may as well try some of this 'wasabi' I've heard tell of on this planet…"
Over behind him, Videl managed to raise her head, the sounds of battle drifting down to her. Go…han…take my energy…beat him!
Take mine too! Goku thought, opening the floodgates and pouring his enormous reserves out towards his son. Somehow…he's fighting at a level beyond anything we've achieved before…do it, son!
Streams of energy extended from Chi-Chi and Gogeta as well. Get him…Gohan!
"YAAAAAH!" This was the old rage, the thing that had always lurked in the back of his mind as a child, the sanity-consuming fire that sent him over the edge and gave him power. This, Gohan would've thought if he was thinking at all, was perhaps the truest side of him; the ferocity of a saiyan and the emotionality of a human was a potent combination. His limbs were a blur, even to him; he hammered Bills unrelentingly, body aching from the strain of keeping up such a high-level chain of attacks for so long.
Bills wasn't taking any real damage from being knocked around like this, but he realised he'd have to power up a not-insignificant amount to defeat this boy. The sudden boost from his anger…and the energy from his comrades…the level he's at now is…well, not divine, but certainly beyond any mortal. He boosted his power slightly, catching both of Gohan's fists and struggling to push against the furious warrior. Is this…demigod ki?! They remained hanging in the air for quite some time, straining at each other's grip and temporarily turning their battle into a pure contest of strength, one which seemed even so far.
Finally, Bills shoved Gohan away, tapping a clawed finger into the centre of Gohan's chest. "I haven't hit any pressure points this life-threatening on your friends, but you're being difficult," he scolded. A ripple ran up Gohan's body from the point, and he doubled over, retching blood. "And as for this one…you probably won't recover for months, if at all." Bills gave a sharp tap to the back of Gohan's neck, eliciting a strangled cry and the saiyan's back abruptly straightening up, the wrenching movement tugging painfully on his bones. Bills smiled—that should do—but just as he was lowering his arm, another punch planted itself squarely in his face, and he fell away, gasping. Where is his strength coming from?!
Gohan pursued his reeling enemy, roaring now, filled with power the likes of which he'd never dreamed of, and brought his arm around for another blow.
"DAMN YOU!" Bills spat, a deep purple aura suddenly flaring up around his body as he brought his elbow down on Gohan's head, his offensive power now dramatically increased. Gohan rocketed down to earth, golden glow flickering out instantly as he was buried in his own collapsing impact crater from the single hit.
Bills breathed out, relaxing his aura. "That was 10% of my maximum power. You should be proud…I can't believe any saiyan could achieve that much. Now, though you fought well…" He held out a hand towards the Earth, preparing to form a blast that would wipe the planet from existence. "I never go back on my word. And…I'm just doing my job. Goodbye, planet Earth."
"DRAGON FIST!"
"Dragon—?!" Bills turned too late, and Raditz's strongest attack hit him head-on. He flung both hands out, skidding wildly back through the air as he struggled to stop the onrushing golden dragon. Demigod ki again! How do they do it?
With a yell, he wrestled it away, flinging it high into the air where it detonated. "Impressive…" he said, dusting himself down. "But you still couldn't make me go above 10%."
Unless he's bluffing… Raditz realised, even the Dragon Fist isn't even a tenth as powerful as him! "Wait!" He called out, powering down. "Hold up a second. We can't beat you like this, okay? That's clear."
"Admitting defeat already?" Bills asked, looking disappointed. "I only hit you once."
"Surrendering? Of course not." Raditz smiled. "But if it'll make you leave us alone, we'll show you your damn Super Saiyan God."
"I don't think you know anything about God," Bills said, but with a hint of curiosity. "You're just buying time."
"I don't, no," Raditz replied. "But I know some people who might, so gimme a minute." He descended to the ground, everyone picking themselves up around him. He calmed himself, reaching out with his mind and finding the familiar mental signal. King Kai? Can you hear me?
Huh? Oh, hey there, Raditz. Yes, I've been watching the whole thing, and to be frank I'm surprised you're all still alive.
Yeah, me too, Raditz agreed. But I need to know about Super Saiyan God. Got a clue?
I'm afraid not. Give me a second. There was a lengthy pause, during which Bills grew increasingly impatient. All right, I'm back. King Kai sighed. I've asked around, but none of the other Kais know anything—or the Kaioshin, for that matter.
Well, thanks anyway. Raditz frowned. I guess there's only one thing to do, then. "Hey, guys!" He said loudly. "Somebody help me pick up those Dragon Balls; we're summoning Shenron."
And so, to shorten an unnecessarily long portion of the story, they did.
"WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME?" Shenron boomed, luckily able to be summoned less than a year after Pilaf's crew's mess-up, since they'd only made one wish. "SPEAK YOUR WISHES AND THEY SHALL BE GRANTED."
"Uh, this guy wants to know about Super Saiyan God," Goku, still bruised and shaky, said, pointing a thumb over at Bills. "So…yeah, could you please—"
"Careful with the wording!" Raditz warned him. "Er…Shenron, please tell us everything you know about Super Saiyan God."
"VERY WELL." Shenron began the story, in its loud, ponderous way. In a somewhat less irritating manner to see typed, it went something like this:
Many years ago (of course), on Planet Vegeta, homeworld of the saiyans, there was a war amongst the race, between the pure-hearted and the evil. Rapidly losing ground, the noble saiyans performed a ritual passed down from generation to generation for millennia uncounted; five pure-hearted saiyans joined their power and passed it into one warrior, who became the Super Saiyan God; this hero began to turn the tide, but unfortunately their time in the mythical form ran out, and they were killed. The vastly-outnumbered good saiyans were wiped out shortly, and planet Vegeta fell once again into the hands of the evil ones.
"So…" Goku considered. "All we have to do is combine the power of five pure-hearted saiyans to make this Super Saiyan God?" He shrugged. "Okay then."
"Will you get on with it?!" Bills grumbled. "I've been waiting almost forty years for this!"
"Right, right," Goku laughed. "All right, thanks, Shenron!"
"YOU HAVE NO WISH?" The dragon asked.
"Nope! Not this time, but thanks all the same!"
Shenron seemed sceptical. "NO-ONE HAS BEEN KILLED AND NEEDS RESURRECTION? YOU ARE CERTAIN?" The Eternal Dragon knew its most frequent customers well, it seemed.
"Well, uh…not yet." Goku laughed. "See ya!" With no further ado, Shenron vanished into a beam of light, the Dragon Balls scattering across the Earth—in a sort of miffed way, if a set of inanimate objects could communicate that kind of emotion.
Raditz stepped forwards. "Well, let's not waste any time. Bills looks like he's about to burst."
"Right…" Goku frowned. "Do half-saiyans count?"
"They'd better. Lessee, you, me…Break, Gohan, Goten…uh, Vegeta Jr., and…Pan…"
"Well, Gogeta's still gonna be fused for twenty minutes or so," Gohan reminded him. "But we've still got five. I guess Pan doesn't have to join in."
Videl, holding the child in question, came up to them. "Yeah, she does…you heard Shenron, right? Five saiyans put their power into a sixth." Which means we just have to hope they all count as 'pure hearted'…
"Oh, right." Goku nodded. "Okay then! I guess you might want to hold her up…" In short order, the six saiyans, plus Videl, were assembled in a loose ring on the grass, all injured but doing their best to stay steady. "Thanks for waiting, Bil—er, that is, Lord Bills, O Mightiest of the Mighty, Except Possibly the Person We're About to Create," Raditz said to the god ambling up to them, anxiously tapping his foot and trailed as always by Whis. "Shall we begin?" Those with telepathy were currently relaying all speech directly into the still-deafened Gogeta's mind.
One by one they turned Super Saiyan, letting their energy flow from one to the next, forming a cohesive whole, a shining mass of power as they rose into the air. Even Goku transformed.
"Hey, you can still go Super Saiyan, dad?" Gohan asked.
"Yeah," Goku nodded. "There's just no point usually—it doesn't increase my power anymore, so it'd just waste energy. But right now it felt…right, I guess." Indeed, once he'd transformed, his energy mixed with the others much more naturally, flowing like a stream around and through them. "But forget about me—check out little Pan there."
The baby girl was oblivious, smiling happily at all the pretty lights around her—but though she certainly wasn't a Super Saiyan, around her body shone a faint golden glow, and the energy that emanated from her mingled with the rest just as easily as if she was.
"Weird…" Videl whispered, looking down at her daughter. "She's not gone Super Saiyan, but her energy is kind of like yours, almost as if she had transformed…"
"All right," Raditz said, moving the discussion on. "This is a big one, but…who gets to be the main?"
"Right—we need to turn one of us into the Super Saiyan God," Goku agreed. "Pan's too young—Gogeta will split in ten minutes, and who knows how that'll affect God, so he's out."
"How about you, dad?" Gohan suggested. "Aside from Gogeta, you're already the strongest one here…"
"Let me!" Break enthused. "I can't let him beat me that easy—I need another shot!"
Gogeta shrugged as best he could while holding hands with Raditz and Videl. "Raditz, what d'you think?"
"I…" Raditz swallowed, taking a deep breath. "I…am not in the right state of mind to choose. This power I can feel the edge of, it's…magnificent. Intoxicating. I'm getting drunk on it. I want it, I can practically feel it calling me…I can't think rationally. Goku!"
"Huh?"
"In a weird way, I think you've always been the wisest of us. C'mon, little brother. You choose."
Goku bit his lip. He knew he'd have to choose fairly soon. Should I…? I really do want to fight Bills again. Then again, I did get to beat Buu, and Aka wasn't really much compensation for Raditz…maybe I should let him…
And then it hit him. "All right." It was so obvious. Why hadn't the guy just asked for it already? "Guys…I think we all know the answer.
"Who, when we were all down for the count, stood back up—who started beating the crap out of the guy who was handling me and Gogeta like it was nothing?
"And why should we be surprised? We've always known he had a well—no, an ocean of hidden power inside him, and today we saw exactly what he can do when you push him too hard.
"It's you, son." He smiled over at Gohan. "It's gotta be you."
"Dad…I…" Tears welled in Gohan's eyes. "Thank you so much…I just don't know if—I mean, I'm not, y'know, like you…I don't have that instinct…"
"I think you do. You're my son, and…" He grinned. "Well, if you could make him sweat even before this thing…you'll be fine. Nobody's gonna steal your thunder this time, Gohan—I'm afraid it's all on you."
"Heh. You do have a way of showing up and saving the day…"
"Not this time. You're our hero now—Earth's hero. Everybody okay with this?" Universal assent. "Then—NOW!" The enormous storm of ki swirling around them now focused, streaming into Gohan and filling his body with ki—no, more than ki, more like what he'd felt when he was beating on Bills before—no, more than that, something new, different—incredible. Like crawling on your hands and knees your whole life, and suddenly learning that you could fly.
The others were standing on the ground now, watching him descend. The transformative feeling here was not like the other Super Saiyan forms—it didn't have the same desperate effort, like struggling to climb a perilous mountain with some precious prize at the top. This was like relaxing, falling into a pool of clear water, suddenly fitting into where you now realised you'd belonged all along.
Gohan was glowing with power, but it didn't flicker like an angry furnace; it shimmered, red tendrils of mist spreading a soft glow out from his body; indeed, the light red was emanating from him, lighting up every part of him, everything around him. He seemed overall more mellowed and less pronounced; slightly thinner, rounder-eyed, hair less spiky. And no ki at all could be sensed from him.
"Ah…that's more like it," Bills said, nodding.
"You wanted a god, you got one," Gohan replied slowly, raising his head and looking over at the Hakaishin. "You'd better not regret it when you lose."
Bills smirked. "That won't be a problem."
A note: I mentioned something called 'demigod ki' in this chapter AND YES I WILL FULLY EXPLAIN IT AND WHY GOHAN SUDDENLY TAPPED INTO IT, IN-STORY. Have patience. No, it wasn't mentioned in the movie, I made it up. It's what I like to theorise Vegeta tapped into in the movie to start beating up Bills briefly (hey, alliteration), and also what high-end Z characters (Vegetto) and some GT characters (SSJ4) may have achieved. It'll be a bigger deal in Even Further Beyond, so I'll fully explain what I mean—just note that this is pure fanon, and I obviously don't think that Toriyama, or any of the writers for BotG or GT, intended something like it. Just something I'm going to use to explain stuff and make the story work better from a narrative perspective.
Hopefully Gohan doing even better than Vegeta made sense here; his rage boosts are kind of legendary, he was SSJ3, and he had energy from his family.
Further edit FROM THE FUTURE: This next part is kind of stupid. It isn't well thought-out and took me all of five minutes to type up. Feel free to just skip to the Even Further Beyond preview and the Q&A. (I'm not gonna just delete it, though, because correcting grammar mistakes in past chapters is one thing, but I'm not going to pretend I never do anything bad *cough*mostofthestoryuntilchapter55*cough*)
Here's an exercise for the reader…if you're reading this, you know a thing or two about anime/manga alternate timelines. However, here's a different kind of manga alternate timeline…what would happen if (these are separate, by the way, not one combined timeline):
1. Dragon Ball never existed, in any form.
2. Tite Kubo's international smash hit had been not Bleach, but Zombie Powder (his first manga), and it had become a long-running series instead of stopping after four volumes to make way for Bleach. Thus, Bleach was eventually begun with more experience behind it, and in a different time period, with all the effects that entails.
3. Akira Toriyama's international smash hit had been not Dragon Ball, but Dr. Slump, which became a long-running series, mirroring our world's Dragon Ball, in that the focus shifted from comedy to epic battles, the characters grew up and developed, and it became deeply ingrained in the public psyche the world over. Thus, Dragon Ball was eventually begun with more experience behind it, and in a different time period, with all the effects that entails.
4. The current 'Holy Shonen Trinity' (One Piece, Bleach and Naruto, as they are sometimes known) were envisioned by different authors; One Piece was created by Tite Kubo, Bleach was created by Masashi Kishimoto (spelling?), and Naruto was created by Eiichiro Oda (spelling again?).
My guesses:
1. The 'void' of the world's favourite manga is filled by one of Dragon Ball's competitors of the 80s and 90s; namely, Yu Yu Hakusho or Saint Seiya. One of these, instead of being utterly crushed by DB's popularity and gaining only a cult following in English-speaking countries, becomes the anime series in influencing a generation of kids and teens. As a result, later shonen manga is less bright and optimistic (Saint Seiya's a little darker in tone than DBZ, and Yu Yu Hakusho much darker); series like Bleach are more common than those like Toriko and One Piece.
2. Zombie Powder becomes an epic of epic epicness. Inevitable Trigun comparisons occur. When Bleach comes around, it wastes less time with Ichigo faffing about in Karakura town doing bugger all and the Soul Society arc happens sooner; however, Tite Kubo's already had his long-running epic, and possibly it doesn't go any further than that, or at least no further than the defeat of the main villain introduced in that arc (haha, spoilers, but you know the guy I'm talking about if you've read Bleach).
3. Dr. Slump, well, grows up. Most of the silliness goes the way of Oolong; it's still there, but not mentioned or featured as much. Arale grows up as time goes on, and eventually starts to find enemies who can legitimately challenge her. Millions of spin-offs and movies are made, not to mention videogames and a crappy Hollywood attempt that makes Arale an angsty government cyborg project who spends the entire movie contemplating the inner battle of human versus machine, instead of punching things. When Dragon Ball is eventually created, the space theme is very much established and the time to the saiyan saga is reduced greatly, with hints regularly dropped at Goku's alien origin. Toriyama's already 'made it' with Dr. Slump, so the series ends at Frieza. Possibly a few years later somebody hires somebody else to write a sequel series, Dragon Ball Omega or something, to mixed reaction.
4. Tite Kubo's One Piece: Roronoa Zoro is the main character and the captain of the main crew, with Luffy being his unreliable but powerful first mate; the fanservice that became more prevalent partway through 'our' One Piece appears much earlier here, and somebody like, say, Nami quickly gets a redesign, ahem; each Devil Fruit has multiple 'stages' of power to unlock. People die more often. Kishimoto's Bleach: Teamwork is more common, and the vague unifying theme of swords as weapons is stuck to even less than in 'our' Bleach. The Soul Society is divided into several factions and more prone to war than to peacekeeping. Oda's Naruto: Naruto goofs off even more, but when serious, he's properly badass (pipe down Naruto fans, I'm sure he already is if you say so, just my opinion, shhh). The main cast is less variable and their loyalty to each other more fixed; they are, however, not affiliated with any particular village. People don't die very often, and fights are more physical and the tactics and plans less complex.
So yeah, that was a fairly lengthy tangent. Any thoughts? Got ideas of your own? Agree with me? Disagree? Got any other interesting suggestions? Leave it in a review (or a PM, I suppose) and I'll post the most interesting responses here next week.
As always, these are only tentative 'previews' according to my current plans, but here you go:
Even Further Beyond Preview
Raditz dived into the cover offered by the bushes, gunfire rattling behind him and tearing up the ground where he'd just stood. Shouts from his pursuers carried downwind to him. "Cross the boundary between universes unshielded, they said," he grumbled. "It'll be fine, they said."
Q: Have you gotten any legitimate offers from people looking to turn this into a fan manga yet?
A: Yep; Zeron and Trent are both offering to do the line-art, and Nassif is offering to do colours.
I'm currently leaning towards Zeron for the former, but Trent has done a couple of new pictures which I haven't seen yet and I'll reserve my final judgement until I have time to look at them later, when my Internet returns at home and I'm not so rushed to get everything done.
Q: Oh God...Bills...*deep breath* Okay let's get this over with. I really hope this isn't a copy and paste of the movie. I'll give you points that Pan is actually born and has some level of understanding so she could be one of the Saiyans to fuel someone to be Super Saiyan God. Although I think you need five Saiyans to fuel the sixth. So let's see...Goku, Gohan, Raditz, Break, Goten, Vegeta Jr...yup okay. I'm not sure Raditz could be the Super Saiyan God since I believe you would have to be 'pure good' for your entire life to attain it. But, I can't remember the specifics completely. All I know is you need six 'pure hearted good' Saiyans, which is stretching it even in cannon. Anyway can't wait to see how everyone gets destroyed next chapter.
A: The differences will make themselves more clear next chapter. But they have begun to show already, I think.
Q: Oh my gosh! This was a great chapter, indeed! I hope the battle of Gods gets awesome! Let's see what you're gonna do here! So is Trunks around Ginyu force level or something? Or higher? And is Gogeta like Gotenks in strength?
A: Probably stronger considering his fight with Break; and between canon Gotenks and canon Gogeta.
Q: Nice, but I gotta say, I thought the Ginyu Force would be Gohan's inspiration. LOL!
A: Me too, but it turns out the Kamen Rider homage was just something that got lost in translation, and was apparently as obvious in Japan as a Superman homage would be to English-speaking audiences.
Q: Also, just out of curiosity; where would you put Hirudegarn and this story's version of Gogeta on your scale? I would put Hirudegarn at about a 4 or something like that, since it was stronger that a Super Saiyan 3, but not stronger that Goku with Kaioken x3, and Gogeta at probably about a 3 or 4 at Super Saiyan, up to a 6 or 8 at Super Saiyan 2, but I'd like your opinion.
A: Hirudegarn at a 4 to 5, I'd say, and Gogeta SSJ2 at 8 or so, yeah, so you're about right.
Q: btw... did you watch Saint Seiya Omega?(too much emo for my tastes...)
A: Not yet, though I will at some point. I've only seen the intro, which looks promising, but I've heard quite a bit of negative opinions about it, so...who knows what I'll think of it.
Q: ah! you brought bills out early!
remember videl was pregnant with pan during battle of the gods. pan was 4 years old at the 28th budokai, which was 10 years after the buu arc. battle of the gods was set 5 years after the buu arc, so you moved him up 3 years.
i mean, you do still have pan around, so it's not a big deal, but you didn't change the date on how long he slept. in this world, he only slept 36 years, not 39.
A: Damn it, I screwed up somewhere.
...eh, whatever. Maybe someday I'll formulate a theory on how Bills' different sleeping times were part of a butterfly effect stretching back decades, that caused Goku to dodge Piccolo's fateful attack, and find the true divergence point of Break Through the Limit!
Q: p.s. i caught the "Speak of the devil" and Videl joke XD
A: Ah, cool! I didn't when writing it...
Q: Anyway my question is that, doesn't a LSSJ power increases at every moment? I don't know if this was said or I simply forgot but I am pretty sure it was mentioned somewhere (in the back of my mind maybe?) Also isn't LSSJ form 'special' which is why it's so different from all the other forms and only Broly can achieve it? So to make SSJ2 stronger than LSSJ is absurd. While I know in the movies that a simply FPSSJ (I think?) defeated Broly with the help of others energy... going based off what I said about the LSSJ form, wouldn't it come to grow even stronger than SSJ2? Of course that is if he's always in it. Now that is my speculation and I have no idea if what I said about LSSJ is correct, but if it is... I am pretty sure Broly could become unstoppable. His unriseable power increasing every second. If not, disregard all of this. Still... even if that does not apply to LSSJ still feels kind of a cheap way to make new forms like LSSJ2 etc.
A: Nope, not said anywhere. Except in the webcomic Dragon Ball Multiverse...
Q: I would love it if you made Gohan relevant again, for him to get taken out so easily in the last fight was a serious slap in the face for us fans. I know this is a raditz redemption story but come one let some one other then him and goku get some time to shine. You've spent so much time focusing on making Raditz the new face of DBZ you've thrown some of the other important characters under the bus.
A: Will this do?
Q: So, ummm, about that petition thing, ummm...A link or something? I mean, ummm, what's gonna happen here?!
A: Uh, try Googling 'stop SOPA 2014', I guess.