Chapter 4: Limit Break
Yokishinai tsuyosa! Uisu takatai ni sanka!
Recommended music for this chapter: Go Big or Go Extinct, from the Pacific Rim soundtrack.
Council of the Hakaishin…
"These Shadow Dragons," Bills was saying, "represent a being called the Eternal. I know very little of it, but it plans to—hard to believe as this is—consume the Seventh Universe in its entirety. It will then move on to the rest if it, and its heralds, are not stopped." He paused, allowing this to sink in. "This is the point, I believe, where you all jump up and start shouting 'impossible!' and suchlike."
Cadmus, the Red King, shifted on his throne. His opening speech, before he had invited Bills to present his case, had been long-winded, verbose, and as usual his natural charisma had made them actually pay attention to what was objectively rather a dull speech. "Hardly. We appreciate, Priest, that you would not have called a council on a trifle. My only concern is that you may have exaggerated or misinterpreted the scale of the threat of these dragons of which you speak."
"This himself concurs," the Warrior added, in its strange mode of speaking. The Warrior, god of the Second Universe, was perhaps the most skilled fighter in existence, if not quite the most powerful. It was a marble-black being, with no discernible facial features, dressed in a contrasting white gi. "Of known beings, Hakaishin exist above. Requirement for combined power? Unlikely."
The Scholar, knowledge-seeking god of the Eleventh Universe, nodded. "Indeed," she said. "I have never, in all my analyses, encountered mention of a being even equal in power to one of us. And now you say we must all go? With no implication upon your honesty or your character, Seven, I must view this with suspicion."
"Not necessarily all," Bills countered, frowning. "But several, yes. I realise that it is a tall order."
"Perhaps if we knew more about the situation," the Knight offered. "We should conduct a full inquiry—"
"What we should do," Cadmus said sternly, "is wait for the Sorcerer to arrive. He is not usually late like this. And in addition to keeping him informed as a sign of respect, I value his counsel in grave matters such as this."
"Potentially grave," the Pilot mumbled.
"Will you stop?" The Hunter snapped.
Cadmus shot a glare at the pair of them, instantly quieting them. "That will be enough. Discussion and debate will continue, but for informative purposes only. No definitive action will be taken without the whole council present."
Whis, leaning against the doorway, watched the debate continue with growing weariness. This will not resolve fast enough. Bills is failing to impress on them the urgency of the situation—the Eternal could be summoned in a matter of hours. Not that they would listen in any case…and even assuming the Sorcerer arrives in any decent kind of time, which is looking increasingly unlikely.
He sighed, a terrible pained expression, as one who has carried a heavy weight for time immeasurable, passing over his face, and walked slowly out of the room.
Perhaps this was fated. It is my responsibility, and I cannot allow my friend to suffer for it.
Alone, then; alone, as before. If it is within my power, I shall end this at last. Whispering a few words into his staff, he left it propped up on a pillar, glowing gently, and made for the portal.
Three steps to the left of reality…
"…ku! Goku! You in there?"
Goku's eyes rolled open lazily, and he found himself looking up into the face of another saiyan warrior. This one called him by his real name, though, and didn't seem to be trying to kill him. He blinked, and then raised a shaky hand. "…Raditz?"
"Yeah. It's coming back, huh?"
"In pieces." Goku let his brother help him to his feet. "Where are we? Who are we?"
"Hoping you'd tell me. The second's sorta coming together, at least, but…" Raditz shrugged. "Got no clue on the first. You, uh…kind of made a mess of that guy."
"Huh?" Goku looked down over at Broly's unmoving body. "…oh. I, uh, did a bad thing…"
"Don't worry yourself. Not yet. This isn't over. Whatever 'this' is. What are we doing here?"
Goku held up the Dragon Ball he'd found. "Gotta get these. I'm pretty sure."
Raditz nodded, fishing a second out of his pocket. "Like this one? It was lying right by me when I woke up…"
"Awesome! Only five left, then…closest one's this way—"
"Goku!" Raditz tensed up. "You feel that?"
"Feel? I…oh, like…yeah, I sense 'em now. Two of them, headed for us."
Raditz sighed. "More saiyans that want to kill us, more than likely."
"Seems that way. Is there even anybody else around?"
The older saiyan shook his head. "Not that I've seen…I'm kind of getting the feeling this isn't gonna end 'till we've taken 'em all down. However many there are. Now, play dead."
Goku frowned. "What?"
"You heard me." Raditz hurriedly shoved his brother to the ground. "Don't get up! You're in no state to fight anyway. This way, if I lose, they'll leave you alone."
"No, I can—" Goku tried to sit up, winced as something twinged, accepted the older child's judgement and lay back, eyes closed.
Raditz stood his ground, facing away from the approaching power levels, fists clenched at his sides, waiting until the pair of saiyans landed behind him in a billowing wave of dust. "And how can I help you fine gentlemen?"
"Hmph. Paragus assured me he and his monster spawn could deal with the traitors," one of the new arrivals grumbled.
"Goes to show what happens when you rely on lowlife like them, your highness," the other offered.
The first—King Vegeta, Raditz thought, eventually recognising the voice—nodded. "Quite so, Nappa. But it seems they didn't fail entirely—the child prodigy is dead; only the weakling brother remains. Speaking of which…" The king glanced down at Raditz as he would a speck of dust on his shoe. "You have a choice. You may kill yourself, or I shall have Nappa do it for you."
"I…" Raditz growled, voice trembling. "I-I'm…" Even speaking to his former ruler in such a manner had a mental block attached to it, instinct screaming at him to be subservient—but a stronger drive was overpowering them. A reaction to an old fear. "I'm not weak."
"If you say so!" Nappa laughed. "Have you made your choice?"
Raditz appeared directly in front of Nappa, fist swinging. "You tell me!"
Nappa sneered, jumping back and delivering a kick to the young saiyan's stomach in the same instant, knocking Raditz to the ground and skidding to a halt himself. A second later, though, Nappa took a staggering step backwards, blood pouring from his nose. "Graah!" he grunted, shaking his head. Wh-when'd he hit me…? Don't tell me that punch connected faster than I could follow…!
His eyes opened wide as he heard movement behind him, turning to see Raditz flying at him foot-first, but his attacker was jerked to a halt as King Vegeta's hand closed around his ankle, dragging him away and straight into the path of Nappa's descending elbow. Raditz cried out as he was released, hitting the floor again. Both of his enemies fired blasts at him in an attempt to finish him while he was down, and he kicked off the ground, blown back by the shockwave as he barely avoided them; however, Nappa was behind him again, grabbing hold of his neck and waist, then smashing Raditz's small body down onto his hugely-muscled knee, wrenching his back.
Nappa stepped back, letting Raditz fall once more, groaning and not rising this time. "Heh. Thanks for the help."
"Tch. Couldn't even finish one low-class on your own…" the king chided. He dusted off his hands, as if trying to forget that they had touched a commoner. "You may perform the execution, Nappa. I have no more time for this trash."
"Tough."
The saiyan ruler turned at the voice, seeing the other saiyan child on his feet. "Kakarot…alive?"
"Broly screwed up, like you said," Goku panted, wobbling slightly and rubbing his eyes. Damn, not good…too soon after the last fight, I can hardly walk… "Now…step away from my brother."
Eighteen reached the top of the long spiral staircase that had lead up from Eden Palace, flinging open the door before her and stepping through, Uub and Break close behind. They came to an abrupt halt, however, upon seeing what lay on the other side.
"Well…this is pleasant," Break observed.
"I would've gone with 'hell on Earth', but I guess 'pleasant' works too," Eighteen replied.
What lay before them was a scorched wasteland of blackened rock, crawling with streams of sluggishly-flowing lava. Geysers of fire erupted from the ground at random intervals. The sky was black with ash, the light of a red alien sun barely visible through it. A shower of meteors burning up in the atmosphere was just visible on the horizon.
"This is huge…" Uub whispered. "Are we even inside the tower anymore?"
"Good question." Eighteen surveyed the landscape. "There must be a way onwards somewhere."
"Indeed, an exit exists!" A deep voice boomed from above. The figure landed in front of them before they had time to look up—dressed in a cape and tunic, with messy hair and an expressionless steel mask obscuring his face. "And you will learn of its location, should you defeat the Shadow Dragons that inhabit this level—Inferno Gauntlet!"
Break edged sideways as the group spread out. "Wait, 'Shadow Dragons'? There's more than one here?"
The Shadow Dragon nodded. "Quite so. But they do not concern you—for you will meet your end at the hands of Hades Shenron!"
Eden Palace…
Gogeta gave a start as Gaia vanished from his sight. Where— His first guess would have behind 'behind me', and he would have been right, but he wasn't fast enough; the six spheres of Genki in her hands hit him all at once, drawing a pained hiss and driving him to his knees. He spun, lashing out with a backhand, but hit nothing. He jumped to his feet, spotting her touching down by the wall and running for her, but she continued her retreat around the spacious greenery, never letting him get into melee range.
"Fine!" he grunted, pulling his ki to the surface. "Guess I'll attack at range too, then!" He dug his heels into the ground, bringing his hands up in a smooth movement from his side to out in front, unleashing a ki wave of his own. "FINAL KAMEHAMEHA!"
Gaia came to a halt, flexing her six arms and forming a cross-armed shield in front of her face, taking the beam attack head-on, letting it burn out on her forearms. "Grrrh…not bad. But!" She leapt back at him, swinging a punch while simultaneously deflecting his desperate counterattacks. It took him in the face, throwing him back into the wall, and she followed up with a continuous barrage of 'Spirit Bombs'. "How do you like this, saiyan?" she laughed. "This will finish it! You can't survive this many direct hits!"
"Kyaaaah!" Gogeta's body spasmed as he was hammered by the onslaught of energy spheres. Once all resistance had gone completely out of him, Gaia lowered her six steaming hands, smiling as he slumped lifelessly to the floor, body blackened with ash.
"Tch." She grinned, turning away. "It was always foolish of a mortal to challenge us…"
"You wanna say that again?"
Gaia halted. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder—Gogeta's aura hadn't vanished; in fact, his energy was rapidly restoring itself to its previous level. He stood easily, shaking himself like a dog, ash cascading off his body and revealing him to be almost completely uninjured.
"W…What…?" Gaia stood still for a moment, staring at him, dumbfounded. I'm sure those were all direct hits…
"You knew all along that there was a way I could beat you, right, Gaia?" Gogeta grinned. "Hypothetically, at least."
"Are you referring to a higher Super Saiyan level?" Gaia shrugged, a complicated movement with more than two arms involved. "Your half-hour fusion time is fast running out. If you had a stronger form, you would have assumed it long ago. Hypothetically, though…I assume you mean 'Super Saiyan 3'?"
"Maybe." Gogeta's ki was continuing to rise. "But then, transforming to the third level requires a massive amount of energy expended to initiate it. Especially for someone with my existing high level, I couldn't easily magnify my power like that. Believe me, I've tried a lot during my training. But…you made a mistake."
His power's risen past his previous maximum! Gaia realised. Where's this new strength coming from?
Gogeta's fists, trembling with power, raised slowly from his sides. "Maybe I'm arrogant, cocky, full of myself…but not when the lives of everyone I care about are on the line. My ego can go jump off a cliff right now. And as for angering me…there's a form of purity in rage, don't you think? And trust me, right now I'm pretty pissed off with you, and I'm not thinking of anything else. Attacks that don't hurt the 'pure of heart'…lesson one, don't use 'em on the 'good guys'."
"Im…possible…" Gaia whispered. "You repelled my attacks, while feigning your dropping power?!"
"Repelled? Give me some credit," Gogeta growled, aura growing further still. "Where do you think I got all this energy from? I absorbed them." He clapped his hands together in front of him, closing his eyes. "People of the universe…I thank you for your sacrifice. I promise you, it was not in vain. I'm going to kill the one who did this to you."
"Bastard!" Gaia snapped, drawing a trio of hands back. "You can't stop me from—"
"GYAAAAAAH—!" A vortex of supercharged air swept out from Gogeta's body. Jagged bolts of light erupted from his skin, his hair flowing out in the unnatural gale. "—AAAAHHH—" He began to be lit by an internal glow, his entire body blazing incandescent yellow. Streams of fire poured out along the ground, carving barren tracks through the thick foliage and leaping up low-hanging creepers, bringing whole sections of burning greenery crashing down from the ceiling around them, the air between the two fighters warping and cracking under the strain of Gogeta's sharply-climbing ki. "—HAAAAAA!"
"H…He is…pure of heart, after all," Gaia said softly, as one who has experienced a great revelation. "…pure anger…I have never seen such a thing…what a warrior."
Gogeta lowered his head, closing his aching jaw and breathing heavily. There was pain elsewhere; the back of his head, as if something had been pulled down and stretched out of his scalp, which in fact it had. His forehead's unfamiliar shape hurt, too. "See? Like I told you…Super Saiyan 3…needs a lot of energy. Thanks for giving it to me, but…you've killed too many already. I'm not gonna let you form that attack again." Plus…energy's burning at an insane rate, and this form's gotta cut down on fusion time…I'll finish this with one attack.
Gaia nodded. "That technique would be useless against you, anyway; it has been all along. But I shall still fight." They charged, making straight for each other over the scorched meadow, limbs drawing back to strike. Gogeta's enraged face seemed to grow in Gaia's field of vision as they neared each other, strained features almost becoming purely Goten for a moment. "For my father—my brother—and all those others out there you've taken!"
Several impacts sounded at once as they made contact, striking surfaces colliding with targets in rapid succession. Gaia's arms shivered; all six had collided with various points on Gogeta's body, to little effect, and all now dropped limply to her side, fingers broken. One of Gogeta's arms was held back away from Gaia, the other was extended, fist in contact with her forehead. As he held it there, a trickle of blood rolled down from the point of impact, spreading down over her face. Her good eye rolled back into her head, and she keeled over, collapsing in a sprawled heap.
Gogeta fell to his knees, feeling his new power rapidly leaving him. Suppose it was never mine, anyway… "Th-Thank you…everyone…I'm sorry I was too weak…you shouldn't have had to die…!" With a final gasp, he defused, Goten and Vegeta slumping to the ground opposite each other, panting for breath.
"It's…done…" Vegeta Jr. breathed.
Goten nodded wearily. "Yeah…hope everybody's…all right…"
Outside…
Whis strolled up to the Shadow Dragons' imposing tower, craning his neck to peer up towards the top. "Well, this is a nice set-up they've got here. I suppose the least I can do is step in and say hello."
On top of the tower, Alpha stirred in her seat, noticing a familiar presence. "No, that can't be…not now, with the Eternal so close…he should be moving on, starting over, doing his job." She stood up, pacing carefully over to the edge of the tower. "What the hell is the Creator doing here?"
At the moment, the Japanese titles are kind of an Easter egg for those few who speak/read Japanese, but I'll post translations of them all at the end of the story arc.
I feel like I owe it to the people who keep asking for it to do another instalment of Kai. So, yeah, if you don't like BTtL Kai, skip this…if you do, happy birthday:
Break Through the Limit Kai: As I Was Saying Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted…
Hercule: Am I in this version?
Goku: No. By the way, Earth?
Earth: Yuh-huh?
Goku: Ki's a thing.
Earth: Cool. Care to elaborate?
Goku: Gohan, why don't you?
Gohan: Because, um, uh…bye. [flies off into space]
MEANWHILE, IN SPACE
Videl, Kuriza and Zarbon: We're in this arc too!
Gohan (to Videl): Who are you?!
Videl: There's no time to explain! Let's find a movie villain the author hasn't recycled yet!
Kuriza: Or better yet, two!
Gohan: Yeah, this'll be perfect! With this adventure in space, I'm bound to win the main-character contest that the readers probably don't even remember was a joke from last time!
[Planet Nemea. Ext. Day.]
Random soldiers: Pink shirt running joke.
Zarbon: Hulk smash!
Videl: Uh, think that was the local law.
Zarbon: I AM THE LAW!
Videl: …what?
Zarbon: Sorry, the reference-per-minute count was falling dangerously low.
Gohan: TO THE PLOT!
[The plot arrives]
More soldiers: We're stereotypically evil!
Gohan: Take me to your leader.
Turles: Whassup.
Kuriza: Gah! Evil Goku!
Turles: No, I'm—
Kuriza: Alternate-costume Bardock?
Turles: No! My name—
Kuriza: Adult Goten?
Turles: Damn it, so a lot of people look like me! But I'm—
Kuriza: Vic Mignogna?
Turles: SCREW THIS! *attacks*
Gohan: Nnnnope.
[Fights happen]
Gohan: Well, I've still got an adrenaline high from beating one guy to death. Let's do another.
Slug: Eh?
Gohan: Ah! You'll do.
[More fights happen]
Zarbon: Well, we've worked through every named character on this planet, so I guess we're done here…
Captain Space: Original Character planet time!
[Space travelling]
Alfheim people: Greetings. We're going to teach you a cool new technique.
Gohan: I just don't understand this whole dimension thing—
Alfheim individuals: Just remember: There is no spoon.
Gohan: Comprehension no jutsu!
MEANWHILE, IN A PLACE
Dr. Raichi: Hmm, this doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Deploy…THE PLOT!
Hatchiyak: Plot initiated. Target acquired.
MEANWHILE, AGAIN
Videl: …you ever get a weird, ominous feeling, like something terrible's about to happen out of nowhere?
Zarbon: Only when I sit down to watch Game of Thrones, why?
TO BE CONFABULATED
All right, I think that's enough stupidity for one week. Q&A time.
(Answered some other questions via PM.)
Q: I should ask whether there are forms beyond this story's SSJ4, since the way you put it in the Q&A makes it sound like there aren't, which would be disappointing as a matter of progression. So uh, that, but in a question form.
A: Probably not, seeing as I view SSJ4 as more of a combination of existing forms, but two SSJ4's can be very different: say one saiyan has only just unlocked SSJ, the other has had it for years and has unlocked SSJ3. The difference in power between those two in the "same" form can make it seem like a higher form altogether.
Q: A few more incidental questions which occurred to me just now: say there were three beings with mortal, demigod, and divine ki respectively, whose power levels were immensely high but otherwise similar (assuming comparisons of that sort can be made). Defeat in combat by other beings aside, what would be the most calamitous event each of them could survive, what would be the least calamitous event that they couldn't survive, and is there anything that a mortal could survive that those with divine or semi-divine ki couldn't, or that a demigod could survive where a full deity could not?
A: One of those questions is easy to answer: Comparisons can...sort of...be made. Since when you raise mortal ki past a certain (ridiculously high) threshold, it becomes demigod ki...that's what demigod ki is, mortal ki pushed past its normal limits. The latter is by definition stronger than the former, but the former can become the latter in various ways. (Divine ki, I'm inclined to think, is 'made' of a different kind of energy altogether.) But anyway...since I'm in the "Cell could solar system bust" camp, I guess I'm of the opinion that all three would be able to generate a sufficient ki shield to survive a supernova (true, I had Kid Buu almost killed with one, but Buu's endurance has always been less than his power level would otherwise indicate, and Goku shoved it inside of him, so he couldn't effectively shield against it).
I think it's fairly safe to say if hit with the force of, I don't know, a galaxy, no being that's so far appeared in BTtL would survive, not even Whis or Alpha Shenron (though her Void Banisher technique could maybe do something? I don't know exactly what its limits are). I mean, the Eternal maybe, but that hasn't really 'appeared' yet, and I'm still working out its exact capabilities in that sense.
A black hole would kill most beings, unless they had Instant Transmission or something like that to escape...a divine being with the capability to travel faster than light, maybe; because at that point they're pretty much breaking physics anyhow.
Q: I liked this chapter Gaia Shenron is amazing and well from what it seems like Gogeta is going to have a tough time also is Goku is still Pure Hearted or no.
A: Uh…yes.
Q: So do the shadow dragons look kinda like a dragon human fusion?
A: Yeah, though how dragon-like and how human-like depends on the dragon. As Alpha said when they were first summoned, they're more human-looking than usual, since they were unexpectedly summoned by Earth's Dragon Balls, not Namek's like they were expecting.
Q: Also, about that, how did Bulma now how everything with Ozaru worked? Not really her forte.
A: I would assume Raditz told her about it when he was trying it out.
Q: Gaia's power is really interesting and OP (against the impure). Judging by what was said, would Gaia's Spirit Bombs affect the pure of heart?
A: Nope, they wouldn't, they're just like normal Spirit Bombs. She and King Kai hit on pretty much the same idea for an attack over the years.
Q: Also i know its impossible to give power levels now (even on your linear except when it isnt scale)
But could you give a hierarchy type dealy so we can see whos stronger than who. Keep up the good work
A: I might, probably when the story's progressed some more and more characters can be put on there.
Q: So what's happening in the future timeline?
A: I don't know. As I've said, I'm leaving that open-ended.
Q: And caught up, after reading this I had to go back over what the pseudocannon Shadow Dragons that appeared in GT were capable of...huh, your ideas are much more interesting I have to say, weakest or no I'd give Gaia here pretty good odds against the lot of em sans Syn/Omega...and while I'm sure you won't answer for spoiler reasons is 'The Eternal' who the dragons are servants of, either the gone mad God of Destruction mentioned at the council or in some way related to him and the universal destruction that caused his insanity? Whether nay or yea I simply wish to say that thus far I'm finding this quite intriguing and look forward to more.
A: Heh, thanks. I would say that if it was 7 vs. 7, I'd lay odds on my dragons over GT's, thought I'm not sure how Gaia versus all of them would go.
As for your other question: Sort…of…indirectly? The mad Hakaishin is related to another thing, and that other thing is sort of related to the Eternal.