Chapter 10: Lasting Effects

Kasghar Town – Jabayt Island

Another normal day in Uub's hometown. The martial artist had been taking plenty of time to mull over the dilemma he had been presented with by the man in charge of Alpha Industries, and the commander of the King's Secret Service, respectively. However, at that time, he was in the one place he wanted to be. His home. With his family.

Uub's niece, the young Kamala, was sitting at the kitchen table with a few pieces of paper laid out in front of her, with plenty of colouring pencils strewn around her, and a red pencil in her hand at that moment. Sitting almost completely opposite her was the matriarch of this family, Uub's mother.

Amir, Uub's brother, was standing at the kitchen sink, washing up the dishes from their lunch, with his back to the rest of the room. Another woman entered the room and approached Uub's mother. This woman was Amir's wife, Uub's sister-in-law. Her name was Lekha. Brown skinned like her family, although she wasn't originally from Jabayt island and moved from Namu City upon meeting her now husband when they were in college together.

Lekha leaned down beside the older woman, placing her hands on the matriarch's shoulders softly.

"Come on, mama," Lekha said, sweetly. "Shall we get you back to your window?"

She was, of course, referring to the place where the older woman liked to spend much of her time, looking out on the garden. She helped the mother to her feet and slowly started to walk across the room. Amir continued to wash dishes, while Kamala continued to scribble on her paper.

While the family went about their business, Uub was standing by the kitchen window, just staring up at the sky. Something had distracted him, it drew his attention away from his surroundings, and it had been rather unnoticed by everyone else in the house.

Kamala, pleased with what was going on with her drawing, made an excited exclamation and turned around.

"Uncle, look!" she called out.

Amir turned to look over his shoulder, smirking at his daughter, and as he turned to look back at the dishes his eyes passed over Uub. His younger brother hadn't moved an inch. He was still focussed on the sky.

"Uub," Amir said, leaning over to nudge his brother, gently.

Uub blinked and shook his head, then turned to look at his brother, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Kamala wants to show you something," Amir said.

"Oh," Uub said, switching back to family mode, and chuckling softly. "I'm sorry Kamala, what is it?"

"What do you think of my dragon?" Kamala asked, showing him the paper.

"A dragon?" Uub questioned, not because the drawing was bad, but because he was surprised by her choice of subject matter. His brow remained furrowed as he looked at it.

"You don't like it?" Kamala questioned, with a pout.

"Oh, no, it's not that, I just think maybe you've used a little too much red," Uub said, as he moved over to the table beside her. "Here, use some yellow and orange too."

"Ok!" Kamala exclaimed.

Amir chuckled quietly to himself as Uub went to take a seat beside his niece, but something grabbed the fighter's attention again. He stopped before he could sit down, with his hand on the back of the chair, and he turned to stare into the middle-distance, his frown returning. He was still holding one of Kamala's pencils, something he hadn't noticed, and his grip was starting to get a little too tight.

Then, suddenly, the house and the ground began to rumble. Everyone snapped to attention when that happened.

"Kamala!" Amir exclaimed as he rushed over to his daughter and the two of them dove under the table, "it's an earthquake."

"No…" Uub muttered to himself.

At the same time, Uub's mother and Lekha were half-way through the house, and with Lekha already having to help the matriarch to stay on her feet she wasn't able to maintain her balance as things started to shake. The two women began to fall and Uub, wide-eyed, snapped the pencil in his hand as he swiftly phased across the house towards them and caught them as gently as he could, holding them just off the ground so they wouldn't feel any of the effects.

They all had to wait until the quake had stopped, and once it did, Uub gently set his mother and Lekha down then rushed outside.

He was met with panic around as the people left their homes to see if any major damage had been caused. Fortunately, there was nothing big. Everyone was wondering if it was actually an earthquake or if something else had caused it, but Uub was already focussed on his own senses again, knowing something had been happening in the distance.

That's when everybody heard the sound of a distant explosion rumbling through the air. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and could see a big glow of light in the distance. Amir rushed outside, still holding Kamala in his arms, and stepped up beside Uub.

"What is happening?" Amir asked his brother.

Uub didn't answer, he just glared at the glowing ball of light as it slowly dissipated.


The fight continued after the explosion, as if nothing else had happened. Noca's clothes were beginning to get more and more shredded, and there were bloodstains on his shirt. Vegeta was also sporting some injuries; cuts and bruises, with a little bit of damage to his clothes, but not as much as Noca's. The younger Saiyan had walked into this fight wearing his work clothes, while Vegeta had already been in training gear.

Noca was backing away from Vegeta yet again, moving swiftly, but the Prince had soared into another attack. He attempted to smash two powerful punches into Noca's head, like a quick one-two, but the younger Saiyan managed to get his arms up and blocked against both punches. Vegeta switched up his movement in an instant and flipped forward, trying to bring his foot down on Noca's head.

The young Saiyan looked up and moved his arms in a cross-block and stopped the kick, but it did put some pressure on the young man. That pressure was relieved rather quickly as Vegeta pulled away, flipping back into a roll, and he descended, moving into a position below Noca. He then rapidly charged back up at Noca, finding that he had a clear and open target. Noca couldn't bring his arms back down in time and Vegeta connected with a tackle around Noca's waist and he flew up further into the sky.

It had happened so quickly, and Noca was unable to react right away, but as soon as he could the young Saiyan brought his hands together and hammered them down on Vegeta's back, causing the Prince to let go. Then, with his hands still together, Noca threw them forward and fired a pulse of energy that smashed into Vegeta and sent him flying towards the ground. Noca, with his eyes narrowed and his focus purely on Vegeta, followed the Prince down through the air, flying around him, and he managed to strike a powerful kick into Vegeta's gut while they were both a few metres away from the ground.

That kick halted Vegeta's movement and then Noca followed it up with another hammer down on the Prince's back that smashed him into the ground of the small island. However, Vegeta wasn't down for long, and he certainly wasn't out. There was a bright flash and an explosion as Vegeta shot up from the ground, charging at a blistering pace.

Even though they were very close Noca phased very quickly, just narrowly avoiding a hit from Vegeta, but the Prince phased too. Noca appeared somewhere in the air only for Vegeta to appear right in front of him, and the young Saiyan had to act quickly as there was already a punch coming straight for his face.

Noca ducked underneath the attempt and managed to pull off an uppercut into Vegeta's gut, and with that punch Noca pushed his energy through his arm and released another pulse that fired Vegeta higher into the air.

Vegeta had to power-up and let out an energy pulse of his own to halt himself, but as soon as he stopped, with his eyes wide, Vegeta let out a guttural scream with his aura flaring around him, and he prepared to fire an energy blast in the same form as a Galick Gun. It wasn't as strong, simply because he didn't charge it for a long time, but it was by no means weak either. He fired the blast down on Noca, striking the target perfectly.

The young Saiyan was pushed all the way down towards the water, but he never met the surface, and instead managed to roll out of the way of the attack and charged up, flying along the energy wave towards Vegeta. The Prince noticed this was happening and released the attack so that he could be ready for whatever Noca tried next.

Vegeta was right to do that, as he had just enough time to move out of the way of Noca's attempted uppercut, and then he found the space to go for a kick that was aiming for Noca's chest. The younger Saiyan managed to adjust his body and moved his arms in front of him to block the kick with ease, then using a smaller pulse of energy Noca broke the block and threw a punch straight for Vegeta's face.

The Prince phased quickly, appearing behind Noca, but the young Saiyan sensed it and tried to throw his right arm back and strike Vegeta with his elbow. Vegeta caught Noca's arm with his own right hand, and then with his left he shot a punch into Vegeta's lower back, and then kicked Noca in the gut with his right leg. The kick sent the younger Saiyan flying across the air again, and Vegeta followed.

Although, Noca was able to recover quickly and halted himself, but the Prince was soaring towards him. Noca's eyes widened, and he managed to duck backwards to avoid an attempted punch. Vegeta's arm sailed over Noca, just missing his face. Noca quickly straightened up and phased away, appearing directly in front of Vegeta. He fired a Ki blast at point blank range, and it carried Vegeta back through the air, then exploded, launching Vegeta off in another direction.

The Prince was falling towards the ground but stopped himself with ease, but Noca dropped down right in front of him and held a hand against Vegeta's chest. He met Noca's eyes, and they were narrowed. Vegeta tried to react, but it was too late. Noca fired his attack, another Ki blast, and it fired Vegeta down through the air again, all the way down until he splashed into the water.

There was a brief, small explosion beneath the surface, and then everything fell silent. Noca let his aura disappear, but he remained in his Super Saiyan form. There was hope that he had ended the fight, that Vegeta would realise he couldn't win. Everything seemed, for the moment, like it was going to settle.

But then, the water began to churn and turn into a whirlpool. Noca frowned as he kept his stare fixed on the water. Then, suddenly, there was another explosion beneath the surface, only this one was bigger, and full of aggression. And then, with a massive flash of light, Vegeta blasted out of the water, and with a huge burst of pace, he flew towards Noca, surrounded by his pulsing golden aura… and blue sparks. Vegeta had jumped to Super Saiyan 2.

Noca was still only in his Super Saiyan form, and he wasn't afforded the time to power-up any further. With his blistering pace, Vegeta flew right at Noca and smashed a powerful punch deep into the young man's gut. Noca, unprepared for the strike, coughed up saliva and blood. Vegeta pulled his fist away and then cracked it across Noca's face, with a fierce right hook. It sent him flying away through the air, but Vegeta flew alongside him with his newfound speed increase.

The Prince moved into an overhead kick and sent Noca down towards the water, but he phased to meet him before he could splash down and he kicked Noca across the surface, and the water seemed to just part as Noca flew along. There was so much power coming from Vegeta that Noca was carried as far as the next island, and he flew across the land, creating a trench with his body, ruining the island.

Then, as Noca reached the end, he hit a large, sturdy rock formation, and it flipped him up into the air. Vegeta phased again to meet Noca and smacked him down towards the water, but like before, he phased to stop Noca from touching it. Vegeta punched Noca in the back and it sent him flying towards the same land mass again, and Noca smashed into the cliff face, front first. But, as he started to slowly fall away from the cliff, Vegeta flew up behind Noca and pressed his face against the rock.

"I told you," Vegeta whispered into Noca's ear, "that you're too weak," he continued, "and you'll never beat me."

With his right hand still on the back of Noca's head, Vegeta lifted his left hand and pressed it to Noca's back. He began to power up some more energy and then released it. The blast exploded and it destroyed the whole of that small unoccupied island and Vegeta was left to float there, with his hand still out, and the static sparking around his body.

Rocks and debris fell into the ocean around him and Noca was nowhere to be found. Vegeta had a scowl on his face.

Suddenly, emerging from the water, Noca jumped up, his face cut and bloody, his whole shirt torn away, and fire in his eyes. He threw a punch for Vegeta's face, but before he could connect, a small Ki bubble appeared in-between him and Vegeta. They both halted and looked down, confused. The bubble was pink.

It started to expand and then burst, letting out a small pulse of energy as it did, and it was enough to throw both Noca and Vegeta away from each other. It was reasonably safe and gentle, and both Saiyans could sense the source of the bubble. They both looked up into the air beside them and saw someone floating with their hand outstretched.

It was Uub, and he didn't look pleased. Vegeta's scowl didn't soften, but he did allow his aura to fall away. Noca, on the other hand, completely dropped to his base form as Uub slowly descended to their level.

"The two of you are causing too much commotion out here and it needs to stop!" Uub demanded. "I thought you had a training room, why do you feel the need to destroy these islands?"

Vegeta spat to the side.

"This is of no concern to you, so run along, if you know what's good for you," Vegeta threatened.

Uub's brow furrowed, and he glared at the Prince.

"It's ok, Uub," Noca said, drawing the attention back his way.

Uub turned to face Noca, but he was still glaring. Vegeta just scoffed.

"I proved my point anyway," he huffed, and then without another word he blasted away.

Noca released a huge sigh, while Uub turned away from him and looked over what was left of the small island group. The sea had been disturbed, as had the peace, and the islands bore the scars from the fight of the Saiyans.

"I think you should leave," Uub said, his tone filled with venom.

Noca frowned, and wanted to try and defend himself, but he didn't say another word. Things were already tense between the two men and Noca had just gone through one fight, he didn't need to push things further and go through another. He just turned away and blasted off, seemingly in the same direction as Vegeta.

Uub was left to contemplate things by himself. He spent some time looking over the damage and wondered what could have happened if he had allowed the fight to continue. It could have moved closer to his home, to his family, to the people he cared about. It all drew Uub back to his conversation at Alpha, little over a month ago.

His fists clenched, he closed his eyes, and he spoke aloud to himself.

"This cannot be allowed to continue…"


West City – Pan's and Noca's Apartment

It was nearing 9pm and Pan had been home from work for nearly four hours, she had spent some time pacing around the apartment, but at that moment she was sitting on the couch, staring ahead at the blank TV screen. Her phone was sitting on the coffee table in front of her, with the screen facing up so she could see any notifications or calls as they came through. She had heard nothing from Noca.

Pan had been able to sense everything that was going on in his fight with Vegeta, she didn't know the situation but could only imagine that the two of them somehow got into a very heated spar. Although, it certainly felt like it had gone a little bit too far, as both of them were pushing past their Super Saiyan limits. She couldn't understand how Noca had been swayed by Vegeta, even if she knew how often the Saiyan Prince tried to goad Noca into joining him in the gravity room every time they saw each other. She just thought that Noca was learning how to show resolve.

Pan glanced down at her phone and immediately looked back to the blank TV screen. A watched pot never boils, but it was getting ridiculous. She had tried calling Noca numerous times and yet received nothing in return. It had been hours since the spar had finished, but Noca seemed to have vanished off the map. Pan found herself biting her nails while her foot wiggled wildly. The anxiety was getting to her.

She soon sensed him once again, and he felt close. She stood up at the exact moment that Noca opened the door. She stayed in the spot between the couch and the coffee table until Noca walked around the corner from the front door and into view. As soon as she saw him her hand went to her mouth.

"What the Hell happened to you?" was the first question she asked, which wasn't the first question she had her mind, but upon seeing Noca's condition it was the only thing that came out.

Noca didn't look happy, but he didn't quite look angry. His expression was blank, yet Pan could read the frustration in the way he held himself. He wasn't wearing a shirt and he had cuts and scrapes all across his torso, as well as some on his face. There were some blood and mud stains on his body and face also. His trousers were ripped and torn in places too, and his shoes were scuffed and ripped. Noca looked as if he had been through a blender.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Noca uttered, and he proceeded to walk through the apartment, making it only as far as the kitchen before Pan stopped him.

"Wait!" she said, with her demeanour shifting. "Why did you ignore all my calls?"

Noca stopped.

"I left my phone at the compound," Noca replied, without turning around.

It was a blunt answer, but it was the truth. Noca had dropped his jacket on the ground of the gravity room before his fight with Vegeta, and his phone was in his pocket there. He hadn't returned to the compound after the fight, so he never collected his stuff.

"Why are you being short with me?" Pan asked, genuine confusion in her tone, but perhaps her frustration was showing too much.

"I'm not," Noca replied. Blunt, again.

"Well, there's clearly something wrong. Tell me," Pan pushed, but she managed to change her tone and spoke softly.

She cared, and she hated seeing Noca in such a messed-up state. It was difficult for her to stand there and look at him like that.

Noca inhaled and let the breath out through his nose, the air of frustration growing around him. It culminated in a scoff.

"It wasn't a spar," he threw back over his shoulder, and the continued to walk up the hall. "That was a real fight."

Pan moved around the couch and started up the hall a little bit but stopped herself from chasing Noca all the way to the bedroom.

"Wait a minute, what is going on with you?" Pan called after him.

"What do you think?" Noca snapped, turning around, motioning to his body. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now," he said, with his voice raising, and the blank expression on his face shifted to show his frustration. "I just want to clean myself up."

Noca turned away again, with a huff, and he stormed up the hall towards the bedroom. He pushed the door behind him as he entered the room but didn't do it enough for the door to slam. He went through to their bathroom off their bedroom, closing and locking that door behind him.

It just left Pan to stand in the middle of the apartment by herself, silently, with her arms by her sides. She remained still, shocked and confused by the interaction with Noca. A frown grew on her face as she stared up the hall. She soon heard the shower switch on and turned away, moving back to the couch, and sat down again. She went right back to staring ahead at the blank TV screen.


Noca had a deep clean while he was in the shower, and he spent quite a long time in the bathroom. The first five minutes or so he just stood under the hot water, with his eyes closed, staying still, but none of that helped to ease him, or calm him. The cuts on his body were stinging as the water cleansed them, and they stung even more when he started using soap. With his jaw clenched and his muscles tensed Noca did his best to clean without overreacting and breaking anything within his reach.

He was so angry, but he didn't know who or what he was really angry at. Yes, Vegeta obviously deserved some of that anger, but for some reason Noca was directing a lot of it to himself as he stood there, absorbed by his own thoughts, telling himself things that Vegeta might say. He had truly let the Prince get into his head in the worst way, and Noca wanted nothing more than to rip it out.

However, there was still a part of him that felt like Vegeta was right, that he had a good point, and that he should listen to what the Prince had to say. Noca had heaped so much respect on Vegeta in the time that he knew him, and sometimes he felt like it was unwarranted.

After spending about thirty minutes, Noca finally felt clean and stepped out of the shower, but his body was still in pain, and he was aching all over. He groaned as he reached for his towel and wrapped it around his waist. He let out a deep sigh before stepping out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

He looked up to see that Pan was sitting there with her arms folded and her legs crossed. She didn't look at him as he entered the bedroom, and it clear that she was angry with him. Noca started to think back to how he acted when he first entered the apartment, and he immediately knew why Pan was angry.

"I'm really sick of this, Noca," Pan started, shaking her head. "You always say to me how much you want a normal life; how you just want to live your life, but then you go crawling back to Vegeta for a fight at the first chance you get… or you keep letting him get to you, and I just…"

Pan clenched her fists and her knuckles cracked, and then she stood up and paced towards the other side of the room, and then turned around to face Noca again.

"I just can't keep seeing you put yourself through this," Pan exclaimed, motioning to Noca, letting her words just pour out of her. "And for you to come home and be so blunt with me, and treat me the way you just did, while I've been sitting here worrying for the last four hours wondering where the hell you were," Pan continued, not allowing Noca the chance to interject, but it didn't seem like he was going to.

He just watched her as she threw her words at him.

"Your fight finished while I was still at work and I have tried calling and texting you so many times since then," Pan yelled, throwing her phone and bed. "And then you come home and have the nerve to snap at me, and then walk away from me without even the tiniest explanation."

"You had a fight with Vegeta, that much is obvious on the surface. But why? And why did it take so long for you to come home? Why did you let it go that far?" Pan kept asking her questions, but she still wasn't giving Noca the time to answer the questions, and she was getting more and more riled up. "Why didn't you just come home, sit down, and talk to me?!"

"I gave you the chances, I gave you time," Pan snapped, "do you know how hard it is for me to see you walk in here looking like that, covered in blood and bruises, and then you give me no explanation? Do you know how hard it is for me to sit with you and clean you up time and time again?"

Noca's frustration grew as Pan kept speaking and started yelling at him. He was getting annoyed.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" she asked.

"I've been bored! Ok?" Noca snapped, raising his voice, but he regretted it immediately.

Pan fell silent, for a moment, and she was shocked by the tone he took with her, but then she scoffed.

"Bored? You've been bored?" she said, questioning what he said, clearly not satisfied with that response.

Pan started laughing, ironically, as she turned and walked towards the bedroom door.

"I'm sorry that our lives are so boring; sorry that we're not always fighting against threats from outer space that want to kill us all, but you're the one that said you wanted to live a normal life, well, guess what? This is it!" Pan said, turning around one last time and leaving the bedroom, heading up the hall.

Noca sighed to himself but then it grew into a loud grown as he rushed out of the room and followed Pan back into the hallway.

"I didn't mean that you're boring, or that this is boring, I just mean that the monotony of these repetitive days is getting to me a bit," Noca explained further, although it wasn't enough to help his case.

"Ok, getting up and going to work is repetitive, yes, I get that, but walking into a gravity room and smashing your head against the brick wall that is Vegeta all the time isn't repetitive? No, that's just what you need to shake up those days where you don't feel like living our normal, boring lives," Pan yelled.

Clearly, what Noca had said was enough to set Pan over the edge, but he couldn't act like her reaction wasn't warranted. Noca sighed again, unable to find the right thing to say.

"Oh, am I boring you?" Pan said, turning to face Noca again.

"What? I just sighed," Noca said, although that wasn't the defence that he thought it was.

"You know, I really don't get it anymore, why do you let him get to you?" Pan asked.

Her tone had shifted again, and she sounded genuinely curious. Yes, she had been pushed into the boundary of anger, but that didn't mean she wanted to dismiss Noca. She still wanted to know what was truly going on with him and why he felt stuck, or bored.

"Why do you let that man provoke and control you?" Pan asked.

"I don't let him control me," Noca snapped back, frowning again.

"Then please, help me understand, explain to me why you tell me that you don't want to fight anymore, you just want to spend time with me and live a normal life, build a life, and then walk back into that stupid training room and do this to yourself?" Pan asked, motioning to Noca's injuries again.

He didn't have the answer.

"Do you ever stop to think about it, how hard it is to see you like this? Do you consider that?" Pan asked, repeating a question, but her tone had softened a little bit. She wasn't yelling anymore.

Noca remained silent.

"You say so much to me, but you're not really telling me anything. I don't know what you want anymore," Pan continued, tears welling up in her eyes.

Noca watched her and seeing her get upset was making him feel upset too, but he didn't express that with what he said next.

"You don't even know what you want," Noca said.

"What?" Pan questioned.

"Yeah, you didn't even tell me that you weren't happy with your course, you only did because it slipped out that night with the others," Noca said, his voice slowly raising again. "How can you criticise me for not knowing what I want out of life when you don't know what you want from your own life?"

"Well, at least I don't think that putting myself at the brink of death is a substitute for a good life," Pan snapped bank.

"Oh, don't pretend you wouldn't do the same if you were in my shoes and it was Goku you were training with," Noca threw back.

Pan stopped and gave Noca a look that told him he shouldn't have gone there. She scoffed and shook her head, turning around and walking into the kitchen. She opened the fridge, grabbed herself a bottle of water and headed up the hallway to the bedroom.

"I'm going to bed, don't forget to eat something," she said as she entered the room and slammed the door behind her.

Noca was left to remain standing in the middle of the apartment, staring up the hallway, but his head dropped, and he sighed again. They had never fought like that before.