Chapter 31: Emergence of the One-Star Dragon
It has been one hundred and nineteen days since Son Goten's arrival on the planet New Namek. Having trained the Namekian youths who enlisted into his tutelage in swordsmanship to the best of his ability over the first couple of months he'd been on the planet, Goten then left them to their own devices, telling them that having absorbed as much of his techniques as they could, it was now their turn to hone their skills with their own knowledge and instincts based on their own anatomical traits, since Goten's Saiyan physiology was much different from theirs. This was Goten's reasoning for leaving them to their own devices, but in truth he was simply tired – very tired. He'd still been plagued by the nightmares of the dark Dragon rising from the Dragon Balls and eviscerating his family even on Namek, and in order to try and alleviate the stress with endorphins, had been exercising and training while mostly keeping to himself for eight weeks after discontinuing his instruction of the Namekians.
"Soon, soon… These nightmares will be over. Nii-san, Mother, Pan, Videl-san, Grandpa… It's almost time. Just you wait…"
Extremely fatigued after multiple months of sleep deprivation and excessive labor, Goten fell asleep for the next twenty hours, only to be woken up by the Super Radar he'd left on a table next to his Namekian-styled bed ringing, signaling that the seven Dragon Balls of Namek had been gathered in one place.
"H-Huh? It's ringing? Oh yeah, we installed a function on this radar so that it would beep when seven Dragon Balls of the same set were gathered in one spot… It was a countermeasure in case Baby would ever get the better of us, so that we could teleport to his location if he were to ever gather the full set first… The time is finally here!"
Goten did a few stretching exercises before barging through the Namekian door out of the shack that Muri had made for him on an island just a few miles south of his village, and sprinted to the location of the Dragon Balls, walking over water in his hurry. There, Muri, Cargo and the others were awaiting his arrival, with the seven Dragon Balls gathered in one spot.
"What took you so long, Goten-kun? We had them ready for you, for a while now!" said Muri.
"H-Hahahaha, I'd been a bit tired, that's all, Grand Elder-sama. Now, I'll do the honors. Dragon God, come forth and grant my wish!"
"Hahaha! That may be the way to summon the Dragon Balls of Earth, but here, we speak out the chant in the Namekian tongue! Allow me to speak it out for you, it's Takarappto Poporunga – "
"No, Elder. The problems on Earth are my burden to solve, allow me to speak it out," said Goten, "Takarappto Poporunga – "
"Very well, recite these words, I will write them out on the ground for you, in Earth's language!"
Muri blasted the ground below Goten's feet lightly to write "Pupiritto Paro" in Katakana, allowing him to recite the rest of the chant.
"Pupiritto Paro!"
A blinding, enormous flash of light erupted from the seven Namekian Dragon Balls and crackled with massive bolts of electricity, and from the pillar of light a green-skinned, scaly dragon with massive arms and a large, amphibian-like fin on its back emerged from the seven-Dragon set.
"O Gatherer of The Dragon Balls, Speak Your Wish… I Will Grant Just One Wish of Your Desire…"
Goten then took a deep breath and was about to speak out his wish, only for the Pilaf Crew, in a three-man robot suit, to then attempt to hog the wish over a massive speaker that had been installed over Pilaf's portion of the suit.
"Eternal Dragon God! We beseech you, make us the rulers of the entire universe! Make Pilaf-sama the grand emperor of all beings!"
"I Am Afraid I Cannot Grant Your Wish… Your Desire Must Be Spoken In The Namekian Tongue – "
Just as Porunga was about to specify this technicality, the One-star Dragon Ball that Pilaf had been keeping in a box just like the one he'd used to keep it away from Bulma's Dragon Radar's detection during the conflict against the Red Ribbon Army suddenly exploded with massive, black and purple negative energy, destroying the robot suit the Pilaf Trio were using and then latching onto Porunga. Screaming out in intense pain, Porunga suddenly transformed into a blue-scaled, teal-colored Dragon with a massive amount of smoke emerging from its mouth, and the smoke then swallowed him up completely and transformed him into a humongous mass of dark plasma energy, which then shrank to a height of about eight feet before taking the form of a white-skinned Dragon with two horns of the same color as its skin, with whiskers resembling Shenlong's and a blue, cracked Dragon Ball sitting atop its forehead. The Dragon then said, "Ah… How good it feels to have a body of my own, at last…"
"W-What is this?! H-He's got a humongous Ki! IS this the Dragon that I'd been having nightmares of this whole time?! The one that would kill my family?!"
"My interests lie in things far grander than a mere family of six, boy. I am the mightiest of the Evil Dragons, the Dragon of the One-Star Dragon Ball, Yi Xing Long! I see that the planet I've managed to emerge in has few residents, but with the host you've given me to inhabit, destroying this universe and spreading pain and darkness in my wake is but a matter of time!"
"D-Dammit! But ironic as this all is, it's the perfect opportunity to test the results of my training! Sorry to end you so quickly after your birth, but you die here, Yi Xing Long! I won't let you harm any innocent lives!"
"HAAAAAAAH!"
Goten's body was surrounded by a pure white glow, which then took a golden hue as his hair stood up on end and his eyes lightened to an emerald green. His hair spiked up further as white lightning bolts surrounded his body, and his aura expanded massively as his hair lengthened, completing his transformation into Super Saiyan 3.
"You die right here, right now!" yelled Goten as he quickly jumped to Yi Xing Long's side and kicked him aside, causing Yi Xing Long to then stop himself in mid-air by flaring up a flight aura. Goten then teleported to his posterior, causing Yi Xing Long to react by lengthening the spikes on his back and attempting to stab Goten, to which he reacted by shooting a Kamehameha at close range. Yi Xing Long was mildly hurt, but then went and copied the move, shooting a Kamehameha of his own, only it was red-colored. Goten countered it with an even stronger Kamehameha, blasting Yi Xing Long to where his shack had been. There, Yi Xing long picked up his house and flung it at him, at which point Goten simply positioned himself so that he would slip him harmlessly into an open window, and Yi Xing Long destroyed the house with eye lasers. From inside the house, Goten emerged with Future Trunks' sword on his back and drew the blade, forcing Yi Xing long to quickly grow a pair of spikes on his wrists to block it. However, Goten had the edge in strength and managed to cut the spikes off, which then transformed back into small masses of dark energy before dissipating.
"Huh? So when I cut off parts of you, they dissipate back into dark energy and then disperse, huh? I've figured out your weakness, I can slice and dice you until I hack away at your stamina completely!"
"Grrr…" grunted the Evil Dragon as he then formed new spikes on his arms once again, and the two went into an extensive battle. About ten minutes later, both parties were panting and exhausted, with Goten thinking, "D-Dammit. I said that was his weakness, his severed body parts chipping away at his stamina… But the Super Saiyan 3 form drains my stamina even faster! I have to do more decisive damage, or my form will run out in the next few seconds!"
"What's wrong? I thought you'd found my weakness?!"
"I did, and I'm going to prove it!" yelled Goten as he charged a large amount of energy into his blade, causing it to take on a golden hue, at which point Yi Xing Long sidestepped the massive swing, causing Goten to smirk and then manipulate his energy so that it took the shape of a blade pointed sideways, and managed to cut off Yi Xing Long's left arm as he haphazardly attempted to dodge. Goten then absorbed the energy back into his fist and said, "You're through!" and attempted to launch a Ryu-ken attack, only for the energy that dissipated from Yi Xing Long's severed arm to transform into a giant hand and pin him to the ground.
"Uwaaaark!"
"Fwhahaahahahahahaha! I've beguiled you, boy!"
"W-What?!"
"You really think the mighty One-Star Dragon had such an obvious weakness?! It is true that my body is formed of negative energy, but the energy is mine to control! The only way to disperse my entire being is to attack me with a force exceeding the energy contained in my body! All your swing did was allow me the opening to regather the negative energy you released into the atmosphere from your prior attempts at hacking away at my body and take you by surprise!"
"G-Grrrr…. M-My body… It-It can't hold onto Super Saiyan 3 anymore, I'm running out of power… Damn it!"
Goten powerlessly transformed down into his base form, and Yi Xing Long then absorbed the large hand back into his body and transformed it down to its regular shape and size as he held Goten in a choking motion by his left hand, completely absorbed in his victory.
"I could have ended you then and there by stabbing you in the neck… But this is much more fulfilling. I shall kill you in front of the Namekians, crush their heads with the stone form of the seven orbs of hope they'd clung to in their near-extinction events now that I have possessed their mighty Dragon God… And then go on to destroy this universe, one planet at a time! Bwahahahahaha!"
"J-Just tell me this… H-How… How were you born, exactly?! Just three years ago when the Dragon Balls granted Kaiba's wish to make him rich, the negative energy or whatever you said you were formed with was nowhere around… Are you-Are you the embodiment of some deep grudge against my family?!"
"Afraid not. Like all things, there is a karmic balance between good and evil. Ever time a selfless wish is made upon the Dragon Balls, an evil energy is released as a balancer to produce the kind of positive energy required for the deed, and after decades upon decades of granting wishes, the Dragon Balls had reached their breaking point. An event where wishes would be granted was all that I needed to materialize."
"I see…. You've been quite informative, 'evil dragon.' Now that takes some of the burden I've been carryin' on my shoulder, right off!"
Goten gathered his palms above his forehead and yelled, "Taiyo-ken!", releasing a massive spark of light that completely blinded Yi Xing Long and the Namekians around them. He then took a deep breath and went Super Saiyan 2 with the last of his energy, releasing a two-handed blast that shot Yi Xing Long several miles away. He then yelled, "Take my hand now!" and gathered up everyone he could on Muri's village, teleporting to a planet several light years away where he could sense the presence of living beings. The Namekians landed on a planet with yellow-colored crops all around, where red pterodactyl-like creatures with five yellow-colored eyes with black slits for pupils inhabited it.
"Lucky these giant pterodactyls had large enough Ki for me to sense… I'd better suppress my Ki so that the Dragon doesn't sense me right away," said Goten as he dropped back to base form, at which point he started massaging his neck and said, "Whew… It's a good thing he threw my house on me, I have the spaceship in capsule form in my pocket from when I grabbed the future Trunks-kun's sword. It's too bad I dropped it during the fight earlier, though…"
"W-What a horrendous turn of events! That Dragon was left on the planet along with over a dozen of our fellow Namekian countrymen! With the Earth's Dragon Balls corrupted and our God of Dreams swallowed up in his evil, I am afraid there may not be a way to wish them back if the worst were to happen..." said Muri while sweating heavily.
"Don't worry, Grand Elder-sama. I swear on my very family name that that won't happen. We have some seriously amazing fighters on Earth, if we enlist their help, we should be able to kill that Dragon bastard no problem! This planet should be far enough that he shouldn't be able to find you, I'm heading back to Earth now! I owe you a lot, but we're parting ways for now, sir!"
Goten then pressed the switch on the capsule containing Spaceship GT and threw it on the ground, getting it started in preparation for heading back to Earth. He then said, "This place is a tiny bit farther from Earth than New Namek is… It should take about sixty-six days for me to make the trip there. But if we fly even faster, at maximum speed, it should be sixty days! I can just refuel back on Earth, so there's no need to worry about fuel! Spaceship, put me in suspended animation! I didn't have time to restock on food when that Yi Xing Long asshole emerged, and I'm tired from the fight as it is!"
"Affirmative. Setting hibernation mode for 1,440 hours. Have a nice sleep," said the central CPU. Goten entered a deep sleep for two months, and blacked out. As he woke up from his sleep with Earth close by and the CPU screen reading, "Arriving on Earth in five minutes. Entering stratosphere," Goten suddenly felt a familiar Ki…
"Yi Xing Long! H-How?! How did he follow me here?!"
Goten looked outside the window of his spaceship to see that the Namekian spaceship that the Pilaf Crew had stolen to arrive on New Namek was being piloted by Yi Xing Long. The Evil Dragon then punched through the door of the spaceship and charged at Goten, who said, "Shit! I have no choice but to fight, I can't let him destroy our ships!"
Goten then teleported to Yi Xing Long's location and went Super Saiyan 3 instantly to knee him on the back of his head, only for Yi Xing Long to block the blow with his forearms, the clash sending shockwaves that threw both spaceships out of orbit and crashing right onto the surface of Earth. The location was close enough to Earth's surface that Goten could breathe, but he then thought to himself, "D-Dammit. I've had plenty of time to recover my stamina, but the stratosphere has hardly any oxygen! I can't hold my Super Saiyan 3 form long at all here!"
"I won't let you escape to the surface of Earth… I'll kill you right here and now, and go on to take the other six Dragon Balls for myself!" yelled Yi Xing Long, prompting Goten to yell, "No you won't! I'll win this fight even if I have to die trying!"
Goten then charged up a massive Kamehameha, prompting Yi Xing Long to then say, "So knowing you can't retain your full power for long in this place, you're predictably jumping in for the killing blow?! How worthless!"
Goten teleported to Yi Xing Long and attempted to release the blast in close range, only for Yi Xing Long to enlarge his arms and separate Goten's palms from each other, causing his Kamehameha to fly off in two directions. Yi Xing Long then blasted both the blue spheres Goten released with a mouth blast, giving Goten the opening to headbutt him, breaking out of Yi Xing Long's hold. In desperation, Goten formed a Ki blade and cut off Yi Xing Long's head, only for him to quickly transform his head into a mass of dark energy surrounding the One-star Earth Dragon Ball and reabsorb it into his neck, healing himself.
"D-Dammit… This… This is bad…"
Within the next minute, Goten ran out of energy and fell back into his base form, prompting Yi Xing Long to completely disable him with a Kiai. Now left with no choice but to escape, Goten brought his palms to his forehead again and tried to use a Taiyo-ken, only for Yi Xing Long to move faster and break his right arm.
"Gaaaaaaahhhh!"
"He-Hehehheheheheheh… Don't expect the same trick to work twice. You've fought well, Son Goten, but it ends here… But don't worry, I am going to absorb the other six Dragon Balls and obtain an unrivaled power, and soon your brother, mother, and all your Earthling and Saiyan friends will follow you to the grave… Of course, you won't find peace there either, because I will erase this entire universe soon!"
"Oh well, I guess this is it. But the other set of Dragon Balls, the Ultimate Dragon Balls… They're on that flipside dimension that Baby sent us to when we fought him, he won't ever get his hands on that… And if Trunks-kun sensed this battle, he and the others will avenge me soon before this guy can get the other Dragon Balls. I don't have any regrets," thought Goten as he prepared for his death. Just as he thought this, Yi Xing Long smirked lightly and looked behind his back, at which point Trunks and Future Trunks arrived, the former powered up into Super Saiyan 3 and the latter powered up into his full power Super Saiyan 2 form, and formed massive Ki blades on a set of samurai swords they'd brought, slicing Yi Xing Long into four pieces.
"Gwaaaaargh!" yelled the Evil Dragon as he then dispersed into a mass of evil energy that then scattered into the atmosphere before disappearing suddenly, and the One-star Earth Dragon Ball, returning to its natural form and color, dropped into a field on Earth.
"A friend in need is a friend indeed, friend! It's a good thing we weren't too late!" yelled Trunks as he then reverted back to his normal form as did the other Trunks, and Goten then thought, "Something's wrong, that was way too easy… But he did say a massive energy can disperse him… Oh well, better to not overthink it and stop the other six Dragon Balls from turning into monsters like him" before saying to Trunks, "You saved my ass, man. But that was too close for comfort!"
"Whatever the case, it seems like you were right about something evil going on with the Dragon Balls! We'd better go head to Dende's palace, him and Piccolo-san must know what to do!"
The two Trunks then carried the injured Goten on their shoulders and flew toward Dende's location…
To be continued…