Many Hours Earlier
"Are they finished? Are they here? Do you have them?!"
Chi Chi grasped Yajirobe's shoulders with as much force as she could possibly muster, which, unfortunately for Yajirobe, was greater than he could tolerate.
"Yes, yes! They're done! Now, will you please let go?!" he cried out in panic. Chi Chi hurriedly apologized and released him, allowing him to promptly walk towards Goku's hospital room in a huff. No sooner had he walked ten steps down the hall than he was stopped by Good Launch.
"Mr. Yajirobe, do you-?"
"YES! One guy at a time-jeez!"
He brushed past her angrily and stomped into the room tailed by the two women, as Oolong and Puar hovered near Goku's bed. Goku's eyes brightened as he gazed upon the samurai.
"Yajirobe! Oh, please tell me you have the-!"
His statement was cut short as he found himself having to catch one of the Senzu beans with his mouth after Yajirobe tossed it at him in a fit of rage. After successfully swallowing it, he let himself be still for a moment as everyone else waited in anticipation. Goku could feel the bean's healing properties at work in every region of his body-bones being grown back and replaced in their proper places, ligaments being restored, tendons being repaired-until finally he braced his newly rejuvenated muscles and leaped out of his hospital bed, still covered in casts and bandages as he landed. With a quick kiai, these were quickly torn off, and he was left in only his hospital robe, which he swiftly exchanged for his Turtle School blue and orange gi.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" he cried out excitedly as he aimed a handful of punches and kicks at the air in his immediate vicinity.
Yajirobe simply sighed, irritated, before pulling out an ancient-looking vial containing a lime green liquid. He handed it to Launch.
"Pour this into one of those tubes sticking into Tien-Korin didn't think it'd be safe to try and get him to swallow it."
Launch glanced at the vial before nodding somewhat timidly and leaving the room. Yajirobe then walked over to Goku, still exercising, before holding out the pouch containing the remaining beans. Goku took notice and stopped immediately, taking the pouch and hooking it to his gi at his right hip.
"Thanks, Yajirobe! I'm sure that these will come in handy!"
"Whatever. Oh, one other thing!" Yajirobe remarked just as he too was about to leave, turning towards Goku once more. "There's somebody who wanted to speak with you as soon as you got better. He'll be waiting for you up on the Lookout."
Goku paused before nodding, having an idea of who it was. "Gotcha."
"Just make sure that it doesn't take too long," Chi Chi added, her concern evident. "Our son's in danger, not to mention everyone else!"
"Don't worry, Chi Chi. I'll make sure he stays safe," Goku replied with his characteristic optimism.
Chi Chi merely huffed. "You better! If I see even the slightest hint that our boy's been hurt out there, you will be in for a world of pain!"
Goku chuckled as he stepped out towards the recently repaired window, opening it easily. "See you all soon, everyone!" he called out as he jumped out and landed on his old friend the Nimbus cloud, to take him directly to the Lookout.
Chi Chi sighed. "That boy and his father are going to be the death of me," she lamented before heading out of the hospital room along with the others, while the doctors on hand were left processing what the hell just happened.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived just outside of Tien's room. Upon hearing the sounds of an intense struggle, they hurried into the room to find Bad Launch lifting up the doctor on hand by the scruff of his coat, angrily demanding that she do what she said.
"Miss, listen, I understand your frustrations, but we simply can't introduce new substances into the patient's bloodstream without proper clearance!"
"You're a doctor! I have a medicine that will fix him! What's the difficulty here?!"
Chi Chi decided to intervene before things got out of hand. "Launch, will you please put the doctor down?" she said as sternly, yet politely as she could manage. Launch huffed angrily before obliging, roughly releasing the woman from her grasp. She quickly took a few steps backwards from the blonde woman, her fear evident, as Chi Chi attempted to resolve the situation. "We are prepared to follow whatever protocols your office deems necessary, if that is your wish."
The doctor took a deep breath before responding. "Miss, these kind of things take an extremely long time to sort out. There are specialists who must be contacted, clinical trials that must be done, inspections that must be completed. This isn't something we can have straightened out in a day, particularly not with such abrasive treatment of our staff-!"
"Done."
The group turned around to see Oolong, evidently having returned to his original form, standing right by Tien's bedside. He had already taken the vial from Launch's back pocket and placed it into one of Tien's IV drips, which was currently distributing the senzu solution throughout his bloodstream, while the three women were arguing. As soon as the doctor registered the pig's presence, she raced to remove the drip from Tien's arm, but was stopped in her tracks when Chi Chi grabbed her by the shoulder, keeping her rooted in place with little effort. Launch, meanwhile, hurried to Tien's bedside, hoping against hope that the solution worked.
"Are you people insane?! You could be placing the patient's life in jeopardy! You-!" the doctor attempted to get out in protest, yet took pause when Tien's remaining injuries began to heal themselves right before her eyes, his blood vessels returning to their proper state and his muscles and ligaments growing back. The doctor could only stare open-mouthed at the monitors placed near his bed, indicating that his previously faint vital signs were slowly returning to normal levels. After another minute of recovery, the three-eyed warrior finally managed to open his eyes, his vision blurred as he took in everything around him.
"Launch...?" he muttered weakly. Launch, tears threatening to cloud her vision, could only nod wordlessly as a wobbly smile played across her features. "Where...?"
"Hospital. You should probably just take it easy for a while, buddy," Oolong interrupted. Tien chose not to spend the energy trying to formulate a response, instead falling back into his pillow.
The doctor, meanwhile, continued to stare at the patient, who not minutes before had been regarded as a lost cause. Chi Chi gently steered her towards the door as Oolong and Puar followed suit.
"Why don't we give the two of them some alone time, hm?"
The doctor could only mutter something barely intelligible in response as Oolong closed the door behind them.
"You're later than I would've expected."
Piccolo stood over the edge of the Lookout, his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he ended his period of meditation. Goku took a step forward after he'd jumped off of his faithful cloud, before it too flew off to wherever it went when it wasn't needed.
"Yeah, well, figured it'd be better to ride Kintoun than burn any energy flying here," Goku said with a hand around the back of his head, chuckling sheepishly.
Piccolo nodded. "Fair enough."
Goku cocked his head. "...Huh. Is it just me, or have you mellowed out a bit?" When Piccolo showed the slightest traces of a smirk as he chuckled in response, Goku added, worried, "...Okay, now I know something's up."
Piccolo sighed in annoyance. "In the last ten days, I've found myself feeling...centered. Secure. I suppose it's made me appreciate a few things which I once found unbearably annoying. Either that, or my fusion with Kami has influenced my core personality far more than I realized."
Understanding dawned on Goku's face. "Oh yeah! He came by to...talk about that..." he began before cutting himself off with a twinge of melancholy.
Piccolo cocked an eyebrow at the sudden silence before he too understood. Kami sighed deeply in his mind before he responded. "Ah. It's understandable that you would still grieve even now."
"Yeah...I mean, I got most of that out when he first told me he was dying, but...I guess hearing that that day was the day, in a sense, it just felt like...that was it, you know?"
Piccolo nodded. "Well...if it's any consolation, he seemed to regard you quite highly."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just...I dunno," Goku said, thinking for a moment before deciding to return to a familiar subject. "I gotta say, though, that ki I felt while I was recovering was amazing! Had to have been even tougher than Vegeta!"
"Considerably," Piccolo replied, his satisfaction evident, before continuing. "I spoke with Bulma's father the day after I fused, and he informed me of the likely timetable for completion of his ship. Since then, I've been training up here on my own. It has been...surprisingly instructive."
"Really?"
"Yes. The air is almost as frigid as some of the deserts can get at night, and the reduced concentration of it has been a welcome change of pace as far as growing stronger is concerned. However, I still feel like I am barely even close to reaching the full potential of this power."
"So, you're serious about going?" Goku asked, to which Piccolo nodded. "Great! A sparring partner would help me out a lot!" However, his face fell. "Aw, but you haven't trained under ten times Earth gravity before. It'd take a while before you could adjust to gravity training, and we'd only have so much time."
It was at this point that Mr. Popo tapped Goku's shoulder from behind, causing both of them to turn to him. "If you are willing, Son Goku...I believe I know of a solution."
After nodding his head in affirmation, Goku was led by Mr. Popo alongside Piccolo down the halls of the Lookout's central chamber, before finally coming to a stop before a large oaken door. Goku and Piccolo's eyes both widened in recognition.
"Ah, yes, that would work, wouldn't it?" Kami remarked.
"Wait...so this is-?" Piccolo began.
"Indeed. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber, a gateway between our dimension and a parallel realm of Kami's own creation. Within its training area, the gravity is ten times that of Earth, and time moves approximately 365.24 times faster than in this dimension." As he recognized the look of Goku spacing out somewhat from the first time he'd brought the Saiyan to the chamber, Mr. Popo sighed and said, "One day out here, one year in there." Goku's expression cleared up as he nodded in understanding.
"Wait a second," Goku said as his head cleared. "Are you sure about this? I thought Kami said that you could only enter it twice in one lifetime?"
"True," Mr. Popo replied. "But, then again..." he winked slightly as a slight smile came to his lips, "You haven't lived just one lifetime, have you?"
Goku smirked. "No, I guess not."
"If we're going to use it, we shouldn't spend too much time. Your allies appear to be in grave peril."
Goku nodded, thinking. "It took me about a month to master walking around on King Kai's planet enough to catch Bubbles...but then again, you're a lot stronger than I was, so it shouldn't take you as long to adjust. Call it an hour? About two weeks inside?"
Piccolo considered this before nodding. "Very well. Open the door."
Mr. Popo complied, holding the door open as the two stepped forth into the chamber, before allowing it to slam shut and seal them in with a resounding clang.
"...So that's basically what you missed."
Good Launch, who had reverted between her forms several times over the last hour, concluded her retelling of everything which had occurred while Tien was unconscious. Still somewhat out of it, Tien eventually took a deep breath as he did his best to process everything.
"...I have a few questions."
"Sensible," Launch replied.
"So, Piccolo fought a climactic battle against Vegeta."
"Yup."
"Only to somehow become possessed by the consciousness of his dead father, which was still in his head after almost a decade."
"Mhm."
"So King Piccolo then tried to murder Goku."
"Yup."
"Only to be defeated by...Krillin."
"That's what I heard."
Tien chuckled. "I'll have to congratulate him when he gets back," he said idly before continuing. "So now King Piccolo isn't in his head anymore."
"According to Kami, yeah."
"Who was also dying."
"Yup."
"And so, Kami offered to re-join with Piccolo?"
"Mhm."
"Which, if the astounding ki signature I felt from the Lookout upon regaining consciousness is any indication...he did."
Launch chuckled. "I think he knew you and Goku would be up and wanted to show off."
Tien chuckled. "Well, Kami better have been right about there being no evil in his heart, or we're probably all dead."
"I don't know. I talked to him about you guys the night of the invasion. He seemed genuinely concerned."
Tien scoffed. "I'll believe that when I see it."
"I mean, he is going with Goku to save our friends."
"...True. And I'm still wishing I didn't have to sit in this hospital bed for another day to recover."
Launch chuckled, but Tien could see that her good humor didn't quite reach her eyes. He reached over slightly so that his hand rested in hers, gripping it softly as he smiled.
"But, with you here," he continued, "It's not so bad."
Launch began to blush extensively, causing Tien to chuckle slightly in spite of his own face becoming somewhat red. Eventually, she managed to calm down enough to smile herself.
"Glad to hear it," she said before leaning down and planting a kiss on his forehead. As Tien was left processing this, she added, "I'll be at that fast food place down the block. It's gotta have better food than here."
Tien wasn't quite sure what he mumbled in response, only that it seemed to amuse her as she walked out of the room, leaving him to chuckle at his own apparent foolishness as he gazed up at the ceiling.
As Mr. Popo glanced at the clock above the time chamber's door, he began to grow concerned.
"It's been ten minutes, and they haven't emerged yet. What could have possibly happened to-?"
The door opened in its usual dramatic fashion as Goku and Piccolo emerged from the chamber, neither of their clothes in disrepair to Mr. Popo's confusion, but a handful of light bruises on both of their bodies evidence of what they underwent.
"So, I trust that your time there was instructive?" Mr. Popo asked, already sensing how much their power had grown in the past hour.
"Yup!" "Extremely" "Quite so," the two warriors and Kami replied, their satisfaction evident. "Should be all ready to head out now!" Goku added.
"If you don't mind my asking, why the extra ten minutes?"
Goku chuckled. "Well, Piccolo suggested that I spend some time training on my own with the Kaio-ken while he got the hang of the gravity, and while I was doing that, I kept going a bit...overboard. That and the sprained ankle made me have to take a break to recover my energy before we got out."
Mr. Popo nodded. "I see. Well, I trust you'll wish to depart immediately for Capsule Corporation?"
"Yup!"
"Splendid," Mr. Popo replied as he let out a loud whistle. On command, a flying carpet flew down the hall as he leapt into the air, allowing him to land upon the carpet with ease. "Hop on," he commanded, to which the two warriors complied, Piccolo now being familiar with the magic carpet. Without another word, they teleported away from the Lookout, rematerializing directly in front of Dr. Briefs as he made one last inspection of the craft from within.
"HOLY-!" he cried out in surprise as he fell over backwards at the sight of the three of them.
"Heya, Doc!" Goku said cheerfully. Piccolo simply grunted in acknowledgment of his existence.
"Ah, right, you two..." he muttered as he got back up to his feet. "Don't go scaring me like that, will you?"
"Sorry," Goku replied. "So, is it ready?"
"Well, after Bulma explained the situation to me, I've had everyone burning the midnight oil to get this ship ready to fly."
"But...it's not midnight, though...?" Goku said, confused, causing both Mr. Popo and Dr. Briefs to blink a couple times.
Piccolo simply scowled as Kami groaned in annoyance in his head.
"A-anyway, I implemented a sophisticated autopilot based upon what I could gather of the Namekian ship's design. While Bulma was talking with your wife, Goku, she sent over Namek's coordinates. So, this ship should get you there in six days. Just push that big button over there," he said as he pointed it out.
"Awesome!"
"And the gravity generator?" Piccolo added.
"Should give you up to one hundred times Earth's gravity. Although...I would advise you both to pace yourselves."
"Naturally," Piccolo replied. "Now exit the vehicle."
"U-um, we still need to run a few tests before we can clear it for launch."
"There's no time for that. Exit immediately."
"I-I really don't think-" Dr. Briefs began before Piccolo glared into his eyes. "-that I should be taking up any more of your time good luck!"
As he hurried out of the ship along with Mr. Popo, Goku let his hand rest on his shoulder, causing him to turn around.
"Hey. Don't worry, Doc. We'll bring her back," he said, smiling as his eyes held a quiet look of determination. "I promise."
Dr. Briefs was stunned for a second before nodding, and allowing the ship's hatch to close behind him.
"That was a bit rude," Kami chided him.
"Tch. Whatever."
Meanwhile, Piccolo chuckled.
"You always were more of the heroic sort, huh?"
Goku chuckled in turn. "Heroic? Nah. I don't really consider myself much of a hero. But...when you see someone hurting, when someone's been hurt, you just...gotta do what you can to help them out, you know? That's how I see it."
As Goku moved over to the button Dr. Briefs had pointed out, Piccolo smirked.
"You know...I think I'm beginning to understand why my father took such a distaste to you, Son Goku," he thought as he felt the roar of the ship taking off and breaching the atmosphere, his earlier gravity training leaving him prepared for the shock as the ship flew en route to Namek.
Honestly, I went back and forth on what to do with this chapter. When I finally worked out the word count, I realized it was longer than any previous chapter by a fairly wide margin. It was comprised of two sections: this time with Goku and Piccolo on Earth, and a continuation of the events on Namek. I realized that that first section alone was large enough to make into a chapter of its own, and that combined with an upcoming project, and how I was only one chapter ahead of the schedule, motivated me to split the two. So, we've got the interlude on Earth becoming chapter 14, and the Namek scenes chapter 15. Apologies for making you all wait to get back to the action, but I figured it was the best solution available to allow me time to develop the other story, in addition to giving some wiggle room for when life gets more in my way going forward.
Also, you may have noticed the slight creative liberty I've decided to take regarding the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I figured the phrasing of that one restriction-only entering twice in one lifetime-left a little room for interpretation, particularly with the Dragon Balls factored in. So, yeah, basically, if you're resurrected, this gives you two new entrances into the chamber, and a fresh two year maximum time. Figured it'd help minimize the amount of times anyone would need to blow it up just to use it more, and also allow for a few new possibilities.
With all that said, time for some responses!
RKF22 says:
"AWESOME WORK CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!"
...
Okay, dude, we need to talk.
I didn't want to say anything before, because I generally am not a fan of confrontation, but it's kinda been bugging me these last few chapters, and at this point I really gotta just ask straight up: what's going on here? Because you've posted subtle variations of the exact same all caps comment string every single chapter, like the first review entered in, without fail. It's honestly getting kind of grating. I like your enthusiasm, but I would appreciate it if you varied the means by which you expressed your appreciation for my work. Again, sorry for putting you on the spot like this, but it's just really been bugging me.
Zeltch(assuming you pronounce that like "belch," but with a Z) says:
"Loving the fic so far, it's a breath of fresh air in a fandom that is obsessed with following the same stations of canon over and over again. The new material like Piccolo confronting his dad and the subsequent fusion with Kami is a great example of that. There are a couple of things that stood out negatively though. Sometimes your dialogue is too formal and long-winded; people just don't talk like that. The TFS homages can be a little jarring too and break the immersion, like you're sticking two incompatible stories together. Anyway, this fic keeps surprising me in good ways, so please keep up the good work!"
Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you appreciate the turns the story's taken thus far-definitely parallel to canon in a lot of respects, but still able to do its own thing and provide me, the author, with some creative liberties as a result of what was honestly a pretty minor alteration.
And, yeah, I've definitely been feeling that with the TFS lines, and I'll try to cut back on that, but with some scenes, it almost feels more wrong to *not* pay homage, if that makes any sense. Idk, definitely going to try and cut back on that in the future. As for the dialogue, I can understand where you're coming from on that, although I feel like it generally stays true to the dialogue of the manga and the personalities of the various characters. It explains what needs to be explained while allowing for some comedic jabs and dramatic flair where appropriate.
In any event, I appreciate that you took the time to leave such detailed feedback, and shall endeavor to keep your thoughts in mind going forward.
BarryManHigh says:
"I am going to assume Goku will be stronger in this story when he arrives on Namek because Dragon Ball has regularly shown that solo training is less effective than training with a partner."
Ohoho yeah. Wait and see on that-it'll be lit.
Anonymous says:
"Well nice chapter. Though dodoria dying was a surprise. What I didn't understand was that how Gohan even rage boosted at 3500 would even budge dodoria even if dodoria isn't paying attention to him. I mean it's like a 10 year old punching a 25 year old healthy and muscled guy which doesn't make sense to hurt him. Next being that Gohan seems much weaker. Saiyan saga Gohan should be about 2-3K I guess and the mental training shit that they did on spaceship should probably also have enhanced their power slightly. Wonder what Vegeta's doing"
Yeah, it surprised me too, lol-I hadn't been planning on it at first, but now I realized it actually changes a lot of stuff with this arc to have him die early, combined with Vegeta arriving late. Also, Krillin knocks him down in both this and the manga, and he's not much stronger here than in the Saiyan Saga, so there's definitely justification in canon for Gohan being able to do that if he's off guard and pissed enough. And I envisioned the mental training as more of a brushing up on technique and stuff, rather than any real power boost. Also, you'll see what Vegeta's doing next chapter.
Cerric says:
"Am I correct in assuming that the lines involving a single "-" are "-" hyphens converted from google docs? If so, I feel your pain. Other than that, I enjoyed Krillin actually fucking doing something with the Kienzan for a change. Keep on!"
I'm not quite sure what you mean? Perhaps you could elaborate in a pm. Also, yeah, one of my main things with this fic is making sure the humans stay relevant whenever they can. Obviously nobody's going to be unlocking some kind of Super Human form or something, but they definitely have unique talents that I hope to make good use of in the future.
(Side note, guys: his fic, Strength of Many, is really good! Featuring bloodthirsty Saiyan Kakarot and main protagonist Krillin, alongside the rest of the Dragon Ball gang. Good stuff-give it a read!)
Jepsie says:
"Despite following the regular story beats from the manga for now (although Dodoria died an early death), I really enjoyed this chapter of yours. It was really... chill, you know? Like, it didn't try to do anything more than it should've done."
Thanks! And yeah, this one was fairly by the book, but we're going to be seeing some pretty major changes coming up, don't you worry.
"I was hoping that Tien would surprise us and join them on their quest. That said, I understand that you'll want Tien to either recover on his own (barely) or get help somehow, perhaps from the Namekien Dragon Balls. Regardless, I hope that Tien becomes even stronger (now that he'll basically be skipping out on his training with King Kai)."
Yeah, sorry, Tien's going to be sitting this one out. He's just not tough enough to make it long going up against some of the foes we'll see later in this saga. But don't worry! He's hardly going to be forgotten in the coming arcs. I've got a lot of cool developments for him bouncing around in my brain. Stay tuned!
"That's right: if Roshi does train in King Kai's planet, he and his experience in training by his own will make him much stronger than, I think, Goku once he reached the Saiyans. And to continue on the topic of Roshi's time being a dead person, I'd suggest bringing Grandpa Gohan back. No, it doesn't have to be for an extended period of time, but maybe as a cameo appearance. Like, maybe Roshi and Grandpa Gohan will both talk about Goku and how they taught the boy. It would be a nice scene. With that said, I hope that Master Roshi will learn some new tricks in his time as a dead man. And who knows? Maybe he'll be at places besides King Kai's planet. Maybe meet Bardock and Gine."
Yeah, I'd say that's fair, although fair warning, he's not going to get up to "Deck Recoome in the face" levels like Yamcha did in the anime-at least, not without a little help. And I have given that some thought, but I still haven't decided. Wait and see on that.
Anywho, power levels:
Piccolo(pre-Time Chamber): 20,500
Goku(post-Time Chamber): 20,000; Kaio-ken x 5: 100,000. Mostly from sparring with Piccolo as well as getting himself used to ten times gravity on Earth, and some minor zenkai.
Piccolo(post-Time Chamber): 50,000. Combo of ten times gravity, sparring with Goku in Kaio-ken, and the improved potential of his fused form.
With all that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic day, and take care!