Chapter 30: New Namek, Ravaged
As Goten headed for New Namek, he took a look at the empty passengers' seats in the three-person spaceship and said, "I remember in the short while the future Trunks-kun and I were on the spaceship when our five-man team was really at its best... It was a long couple of weeks before we faced Baby for the second time, but now that none of them are here, this journey feels so lonely and vacant… Oh well, better to hurry up and get it over with than dwell on it."
Goten then raided the fridge to quickly consume the 40-person serving supply of food that was inside and said, "Oops, got kind of carried away and ate every piece of food that was inside… Got pretty stressed from all those sleepless nights. Oh well, if I stay suppressed for the next few weeks I won't starve to death, I guess…"
Goten then suppressed his Ki down to zero to prevent excessive Ki consumption and began meditating, intending to wait out the twenty days or so he had to spend on the ship before he reached his destination of New Namek honing his mind. Luckily, there was an equally significant supply of hot coffee on the ship, ensuring that he could avoid passing out due to the sleep disturbance caused by the endless nightmares he had of the dark Dragon.
This, however, proved a fatal mistake as Goten failed to notice on the ship's Super Radar that a familiar presence piloting the Namekian spaceship was following him close behind… And so, twenty days quickly elapsed as the Spaceship GT quickly came close to the stratosphere of New Namek.
"Finally, after twenty days I spent meditating, I get to land on the damn place! I can't wait to snack on some tasty Namekian fish, too! Yajirobe-san wrote in an interview Nii-san conducted that the Namekian warrior Cymbal was seriously tasty, as much as it pissed off Piccolo-san to hear that! Hahahaha!"
As the ship made its way on the surface, Goten looked outside and noticed that the once-lush wildlife and grasslands of New Namek were now almost completely barren, with the seas having gone almost completely dry as well.
"Whoa, what gives?! This isn't the New Namek I remember! I better teleport to the Grand Elder Muri-san to ask what's up!"
Goten then placed his index and middle fingers on his forehead and scoured for Muri's Ki, successfully locking onto it to find himself next to the elderly Namekian.
"H-Hmm? Who is this? Wait, this Ki…"
"Hello, Muri-san! It's me, Goten! It has been two years since our last meeting, sir! How have you been? Where is Redjic-san?"
"Redjic is away from this planet, conscripting scientists to bring advanced technology onto this world to produce water artificially. I'm afraid I have some bad news," said Muri.
"Yeah, I figured something terrible had happened, judging by the state of the earth here… Is it something related to the Dragon Balls?" asked Goten with a worried look.
"No, not quite. In fact, it was the Dragon Balls' power that barely saved our race from perishing from the tumultuous events that occurred over the past two years, since your parting with us. A cataclysm not unlike what nearly wiped out the original Namekians prior to your friend Piccolo's former incarnate, the Earth's Kami, leaving this planet occurred on this world once again. With Redjic's help, we managed to gather nearly all of the Namekian population onto this one village and form a shield with his barrier ability, after which the seven strongest Namekians we still had left trained relentlessly to acquire the power and resiliency to survive in the cataclysmic environment long enough to gather the seven Dragon Balls. By reducing the number of wishes Porunga could grant to a single one, we wished upon his power to speed up time until the cataclysm had passed in this planet alone, but in return nearly all of the water on this planet was wiped out, and the wildlife outside the very small radius of land and water surrounding this village was wiped out."
"Wow, that sounds like terrible news… And how long ago were you folks able to pull this off?"
"It happened ten days before your landing. I can sense from the way you brought up the Dragon Balls right away that you need to use the spheres for saving your world, but since 130 days are required as cooling periods between each summoning of Porunga, I am afraid you are going to have to wait for four months."
"Four months, huh… Well, I really don't have much to do on Earth but train my students, and your people's Ki really aren't large enough for me to home onto all the way from Earth… And I don't sense Kaio-sama or my dad's Ki on the tiny planet at the end of Snake Road anymore, either. They've probably taken to staying on Dai Kaio-sama's planet to spar with the deceased warriors there! Going to Earth and back won't be an option, I'll be staying here for the next four months training, if you don't mind!"
"You, my boy, were the one who saved the universe along with Pan-chan and Trunks-kun two years ago. I'd be happy to be of assistance. However, I would also ask that before you sleep every night, you gather any surviving animals that have not made it to this tiny sphere of survivable territory and let them reside here. Our wish to restore the grass and other plants of this planet will have to wait until you have made yours."
"I am indebted to your graciousness plenty, Grand Elder-sama! Since I won't have much to eat around here with there being so few animals, we can all enjoy a pot roast now and then when we find too many animals that are high up on the food chain and can disturb it!"
"That I am fine with. I also wouldn't mind if you whipped up some of our youngsters to shape, ever since Baby had your friend Piccolo invade this planet and merge with the Fighter-type Namekians here, we have been in a great shortage of capable warriors."
As Goten headed out to gather up animals struggling to find food and shelter outside Muri's village, Pilaf, Mai and Shu, who had been listening in on the conversation from afar using a tiny spy robot shaped like Ginyu's frog body, clapped in joy as they clamored, "Bwahahahahaha! So the Namekian Dragon Balls are so advanced, they can speed up time around an entire planet? And in four months, their wishing power will be in our grasp! Just four months, four months after forty years of constant failures! Universal domination is within our grasp, at last!"
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Bra and Pan were at it once again, several hundred meters above Muten Roshi's island home, transformed into Super Saiyans and fighting furiously as Tenshinhan, Kuririn, #18 and Roshi all watched.
"Haiyaaa! Ha! Haaaah!" yelled Bra as she shot a series of Galactic Donuts at Pan, prompting her to say, "Your Ki control's really improved, Bra-chan ! But it's too bad your aim's kinda lousy!"
"Bitch, I wasn't aiming at you, they're like boomerangs, waiting to come back!"
"Huh?"
"Psyche! Ya fell for it!" yelled Bra as she took the opportunity to use Zanzoken to move right below Pan and hit her straight in the gut as she turned around to take a look at the Galactic Donuts she shot earlier, after which she yelled, "Nyoi-bo, extend!" and recovered the Galactic Donuts, hanging them on her extended staff like chakrams before whacking Pan in the back of the head with it and then pinning her to the floor of the ocean with the power of the donuts.
"Now do you admit defeat, Pan-chan ? If ya don't admit ya lose, you're probably gonna suffocate down there! Just suppress your power back to your base form, that'll be the signal that you admit to losin' – "
Just as Bra gloated over her victory, Pan concentrated her power on the floor of the ocean and yelled furiously as an electric aura began encircling her, and a huge eruption of power dried up the water around her. In desperation, Pan had unlocked her Super Saiyan 2 state, shocking Bra.
"H-Holy shit! T-This is the form above Super Saiyan! I-I can't believe it! Goten-san said it was harder for fighters with little Saiyan blood to get past the normal form!"
"Haiyaaaaa!" yelled Pan as she quickly charged at Bra and headbutted her on her stomach, knocking her out of Super Saiyan instantly. Bra then fell on the floor of the ocean, forcing Tenshinhan to jump to her rescue. He then said, "You did well, Bra. If not for her suddenly ascending past the original Super Saiyan form, victory would have been assuredly yours," prompting Bra to break into tears and say, "I-It's no fair! *sniff* I-I had the fight in the bag! Waaaaaah!"
Kuririn, #18 and Roshi all clapped and said, "That was a great fight. Just what we would expect of the daughters of Gohan and Vegeta."
As Bra and Tenshinhan headed for Dende's palace intending to heal for Round Two, watching this event from a distance not so far was #17, who had recently quit his mountain ranger job after training a batch of successors and moved to an island adjacent to Kuririn's Shin Kamesennin-ryu to be closer to his extended family. He yawned and said, "What a boring fight. Those two are talented, but they've definitely not been in training for decades like the Piccolo I fought… Or Goku, for that matter. I really shouldn't have quit my day job, I feel like I'm getting pretty rusty doing nothing around the house other than watching TV, now that my kids are in Satan High School… And Goku's been dead a good three years now, I can't expect to have much more fun…"
Just then, #17 came upon an epiphany and said, "That's right! Vegeta! The guy who destroyed #19 and came close to giving #18 a good fight years ago! Now that Goku's gone, he's my best bet of having myself a good challenge! Bulma's family lives out in West City, if I were to want to fight him, hitting up Capsule Corp. is my best bet at killing some time and boredom!"
#17 then flew at lightspeed toward West City, where he quickly landed on the doorsteps of Vegeta's gravity chamber. Before he even opened the door, however, Vegeta stepped out and said, "I knew it was you that came at high speed toward this place… No one else could have flown here so fast without leaving behind a Ki signal. What brings you here, android?"
"Wow, I'm impressed. Normally people wouldn't notice my presence with my lack of Ki. You sensed I was coming here just off the noise I was making, eh? It seems I was right to place my faith that you'd be strong enough to give me a good fight," said #17 as he got into a fighting pose and flared up an aura, prompting Vegeta to say, "So, android… You've done some training of your own over the years, have you? I still can't sense your energy, but I sense your presence. Since you seem to be raring for a good fight, I'll give what you want and get serious right off the bat!"
Vegeta immediately went Super Saiyan 2 and yelled, "HAAAH!" before blasting #17 out of the city with a Kiai and landing in the outskirts, in a landscape not unlike the one Future Trunks fought his timeline's Cell in. #17 smirked and said, "I wouldn't have gone and damaged the city if you'd paid me to, Vegeta. Don't tell me you've gone sentimental?"
"Please, I just don't want the woman to bitch at me that I destroyed the Gravity Chamber again. Since you landed adroitly even after I blasted you with that Kiai, I presume you shan't disappoint me and give me a lackluster fight. So come on! I don't have all day to fight you!"
"Very well! This is where you realize us artificial humans are the apex race of the universe!"
#17 charged at Vegeta and attacked him with a swift array of kicks that Vegeta had trouble blocking, but Vegeta quickly managed to lock his legs into grips and pull them to his sides, after which #17 retaliated by headbutting him, causing blood to trickle down his forehead. Vegeta then threw him to a mountain and crushed it, after which he rubbed his thumb on his forehead and said, "You are strong… Very well, rather than drag out this fight in this lower Super Saiyan state, I will present you the honor of facing my final form!"
Vegeta then grunted and transformed to Super Saiyan 3, blasting all the rubble on #17 in the ruins of the mountain they destroyed off of him. #17 then said, "So, it's that long-haired form similar to Goku and the kids' Fusion, huh? But it's also the worst form to face a being like me with, its weakness is horrible stamina!"
"I wonder…" said Vegeta with a smirk. The sun had come down by the time the fight had finished, with Vegeta having barely begun to break a sweat and still remaining in his Super Saiyan 3 state. Meanwhile, #17, though still not tired due to his infinite stamina, had been mentally defeated, having failed to land a scratch on Vegeta in all that time and being pinned to the floor using Galactic Donuts not unlike Pan had been with Bra earlier.
"D-Damn… That form isn't supposed to last longer than a few minutes, how are you still in perfect condition after this kind of fight?!"
"Fool. It has been decades now since Kakarrot discovered this state. If it were Trunks' plan to get around this form's disadvantages with strengthening his Super Saiyan 2 state, mine was on an even grander scale! I went ahead and accustomed myself to remaining in this form over the last two years by honing my physical conditioning! No longer will the stamina drain of Super Saiyan 3 hold back the Prince of all Saiyans!"
"D-Damn… I-I really wasn't expecting you to have gotten this strong, Vegeta. It's like you're a completely different person than when you fought #18 so many years ago…"
"Feh. You have gotten stronger too, but from what my Trunks and Goten have told me, the other you must have been a far greater challenge still!"
"The other me? What are you talking about? Gero only made one of me, and I was originally a human. Though he wiped my memory of the name I had as a regular man clean…"
"The other you from a different timeline. The one that came from the future Trunks' time, whom Dr. Mu managed to abduct and modify into some kind of fused state. His name was… Super #17, if I recall correctly. My sons fought him on the planet M2."
"W-Wait! The future me?! And he was modified into a form even stronger than mine?! I-I have to see this for myself!" yelled #17 in an enthusiastic burst of energy as he broke himself free of Vegeta's energy restraints and got back onto his feet and asked, "Where is the planet M2? I want to see what became of the future me! I'd heard his personality was a complete 180 from mine, and I couldn't believe my ears until you'd told me!"
"Feh, you're insatiably curious, like a little child! Even if you knew where M2 was, how do you plan to get there, exactly?"
"That's where your son's company comes in, Vegeta! Dr. Briefs built a spaceship for Goku to get to Namek, didn't he?"
"Briefs is dead, he passed away last year of old age. Though, we did have a spaceship aside from the one Goten took parked on our backyard until a few weeks ago… But it was stolen. Another spaceship… There has to be one that I am overlooking…"
Vegeta realized there was another spaceship and reverted to his base form, after which he said, "That's right! Now that you remind me of our journey to Namek, I realized there is still Kakarrot's spaceship, the one he took from the Ginyu Force on Namek and used to arrive here when he escaped to the Planet Yardrat! My wife keeps it in Briefs' lab!"
"Great! And I'll have her lend me a spare capsule to find the future me's body and put inside, I've been waiting to get off this tiny dump of a planet and see what outer space was like for myself!"
"Feh. You're actually sharper than you look. I never said the future you was killed, you surmised that for yourself."
"And I could sense you were nudgin' me to go find his corpse, too, Vegeta! I take it you wouldn't mind taking a shot at my modified future self yourself, right? Why else would you be so helpful?"
"Feh. That's enough chit-chat, I've been fighting you into a submission all day, now! I'm going back to my Gravity Chamber to finish my quota of training for the day, and then treating myself to a large feast! I wish you luck in your quest, android! Although, the planet M2 is quite far from where we are… Even on a modified Attack Ball, it should take at least two months to make the trip there."
"I don't have time to dawdle, then! See ya, prince! And the next time we fight, victory will be mine!"
As #17 took off into Dr. Briefs' lab, Goten was training the most capable warriors of New Namek, and Bra began her training in earnest to learn to harness her rage to transform into Super Saiyan 2 to defeat her rival Pan once and for all. Each fighter, with their own plans and interests in mind, was hard at work to obtain what they desired. As #17 took off on Goku's Attack Ball toward the planet M2 where the battle against Super #17 took place, the Pilaf Crew was off on a flying motorboat looking for food on the barren planet New Namek. As they did this, however, a darkened, cracked orb containing but a single red star shook violently on a picnic table in their hideout in a remote Namekian cave….!
To be continued…