OPENING THEME

Episode 11:

MAGIC AND MIRACLES: HOPE PREVAILS

"No!" yelled Mela. She knew that that was the blow that took Vegeta's life.

Goku, however, used his instant transmission and received the full effect of the blow and pulled him back in an effort to make the scene look convincing. He used instant transmission again and appeared by Vegeta's side and he whispered quickly, "Play dead." And he was gone again.

Vegeta was at a loss as to what happened but he obeyed nonetheless and he slumped back his head on the sand and closed his eyes, lowering his power level to zero.

Fahren threw down the little girl and walked towards his father, the very edge of his aura ripping away everything in his way. As before, Master Roshi went to grab Pan but was blown back by a burst of wind sent from Fahren's hand. He fearfully picked himself up and stayed in a corner, not daring to make another move.

Making his way to his father, Fahren looked disappointed as he picked up his father's limp body, "Pity. I wanted to so follow through with beating you with your own leg, oh well." He dropped the still body, "Now that you're dead..."

As Fahren's aura surged immensely, his mighty yell reverberated about the island. The blue light encircling him grew and the force of it pushed back Vegeta's body easily and caused the very foundation of the house to pull apart and molten lava to bubble and rise. Lightning rained down on them and the water trembled.

"Fahren, stop!" Mela cried out.

Goku took this moment to reappear by Vegeta's side and he watched the blinding light radiating off of Fahren suddenly dip and grow in size repetitively as if it were a tug-of-war battle.

"If what you showed me was true, he wiped out our people. He should have chosen to die at your side but he didn't."

Trying to hold back her tears, Mela was overwhelmed with emotion as she tried desperately to get him to understand, "I was the one that convinced him to kill us."

"What?" Fahren's eyes widened with shock.

"I made him see that he was the only hope against Frieza. I made him choose to fight. He loved us, son. He would sooner lay down his own life for us but I begged him, I begged him that it was OK."

Tears came to Fahren's eyes and he held down his head in guilt, "Please forgive me. What a fool I've been."

"Your father was an even bigger fool than you were," she smiled, wiping away her tears and clasping her arms around her son, "Oh, my baby!"

Fahren's countenance relaxed and he genuinely smiled, giving a slight nod towards his mother.

"What?" Mela realised that the energy continued to grow, "Stop! Please, it's over!"

"It cannot be stopped," Fahren said calmly, "I will see you on the other side! Thank you, mother."

"No!" yelled Mela.

With one last yell, the ball of energy burst.

Looking about him, dazed and confused, Goku took a moment before he realised that they were back outside of Bulma's house. In fact, the familiar warmth of his wife's arms around him was the first indication that he had escaped to safety; that profound moment drowning out the celebratory chants and greetings circling around him.

"Uh, hi, honey," he greeted, tempted to return the hug but his body would not budge.

She was crying and her words came out in a choked mumble, "I'm so glad you made it, they explained the whole thing to me."

"Uh, yeah, how and when did you get here?"

Overjoyed, Krillin motioned to the yellow airplane a few feet behind them and he gave a thumbs up to his friend, "Great to see you, buddy."

Looking around, he noticed the two boys clearly broken and worn by intense injuries on the ground but his younger son was smiling from ear to ear and the other stood behind him and clasped an arm on his shoulder.

"Grandpa!" cried Pan, jumping out of her father's arms and into Goku's. He hugged her warmly, "Hey, when did you wake up?"

"I would totally hug you now, Dad, but I'm beat," Goten wearily said.

Goku laughed nervously, scratching his head, "I'm just glad I got you guys out of there the second the explosion started."

Goku looked up. Mela's back faced him and noticing her lowered head, his mood became somber. He understood that she was in mourning for her son's life. He looked down in sorrow, blind to the man laying before him. His wife had gotten the wrong impression upon witnessing this action.

"Is he...?" asked Chi-Chi.

"I was sure I got him just in time," he said reassuringly.

"You did?" Mela was looming over him with sorrow etched on her face and she stooped down and touched the man's face, "Either way, he suffered a lot of damage."

The celebratory mood went away and the silence thickened.

"Mela?" sputtered Vegeta weakly.

Her eyes widened with joy when she noticed that he had survived and everyone rejoiced to see that he was alive. Trunks forced himself up, fighting the pain of his wounds, to see his father and he smiled, "Dad!"

Mela took hold of his hand and with her eyes closed, "Our son. He didn't make it. I wanted him to have a chance at life, I didn't want his end to be like this but at the very least now he will have a chance to be with me in the Other World."

"How so?" he asked.

"Now knowing the truth, he realised what he was doing was wrong but he had no control of the blast. Had he killed himself so selfishly his soul would have been sent straight to hell without any chance at parole."

"Thank you, for everything," he tightened his grip on her arm and they smiled at one another.

"Hey, so are we supposed to know what the heck parole is!" whispered Krillin to no one in particular.

"You shouldn't thank me, it was all King Yemma's doing. You most certainly have a lot of clout in the Other World for him to go this far. And besides, I'm just glad I could be the one to help. I've been so helpless just standing by."

She took off her necklace and placed it in his hand, "Pass this on to my brother and he can be of great help to you. Through Fahren's memories I've determined that the Great Ruler is still alive - he twisted up the truth and faked his death knowing exactly what our son was going to do about what he showed him. I fear that bastard has taken siege over my people and I do believe he's not pretending this time around. And do me a favour and go say hello for me."

He smiled, "You don't have to ask twice." Then he cried out in pain as he tried to get up, "If I could...I don't have much time."

"Oh no," she sprang to her feet, realising the situation. She turned to face the dragon and then back again, "Hang in there, I've got an idea."

She placed her palm against Goku's forehead and he blushed a furious red much to his wife's disapproval.

"I see it. Catch you in few!" She removed her hand and waved it about and purple mist sprang to life and in an instant she disappeared along with it.

"Whoa!" Chi-Chi exclaimed at the spectacle. The others were stunned and in awe.

As though it had never happened she was back and she had something clasped firmly in her right hand. She revealed it to be the four star ball but it was in perfect condition.

"Magic!" Pan clapped excitedly, tugging at her grandfather's face to show him.

END THEME:

PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE

Mela gives Goku the broken four-star ball and they exchange warm smiles.

"Son Goku here! I'm really liking this Mela girl quite a lot. Did she just bring back the dragonball in one piece? Wow!"

Vegeta and Mela share a passionate kiss as the others look on wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"And I guess I'm not the only one who's liking her. He - he! See you NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL SUPER: TWICE LUCKY: TWO OF THE SAME"

END CREDITS : Author/Creator of the DBZ series and characters: Akira Toriyama

Author/Creator of this Story/Series; Creator of a villain that was not defeated by Goku, not even Gohan but in an unexpected twist, by himself; parole (part of my ideas about how the Other World works); and a Goku who is smitten with another woman despite himself (there's a good reason for this, all will be revealed in due time): Chrissi B (c) October 2015