Guess Who's Coming Back to Life! The Budoukai Approaches!
It was a normal day in the Otherworld which meant that Son Goku was training. West Kaiou watched alongside North Kaiou as his slightly-larger cosmic counterpart's star pupil moved effortlessly through the air, punching, kicking, and flipping around, despite the one-ton weights on each of her limbs. The red, tube-like weights covered her arms from elbow to wrist and her legs from knee to ankle. The monocled deity was unimpressed by what he saw.
"So she can move around with four tons holding her down," he said with a shrug. "Hardly that impressive. I bet she couldn't even handle twice that much. And this is your star pupil, Kita? Pshaw," he scoffed.
"You think so, Nishi?" North Kaiou asked with a grin. "Hey, Goku!" he called up to the Saiyan woman as she fired off a series of quick jabs through the air. "How about we ramp it up to ten tons?"
"Sure thing!" Goku called down while flashing North Kaiou the thumbs up. West Kaiou chuckled and adjusted his monocle while North Kaiou snapped his fingers. The weights instantly inflated in size and now Goku was trying to support forty tons, her arms and legs quickly being yanked down as she started to drop out of the sky. West Kaiou gave North Kaiou a sly look but North just pointed up and chuckled. West looked up and watched as Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan. His jaw slacked, the curly-q of his antenna sprang straight up, and his monocle popped off of his head as Goku moved effortlessly again with such swift and precise movements that, if not for their change in size, one could hardly have believed the weights had actually been increased.
"Wanna know somethin' else?" North added slyly. "She can still get eight times stronger than that." West fainted, making North chuckle again. As he continued to watch Goku train, Uranai Baba popped into the Otherworld, nearly startling Kaiou out of his loafers. "Jeez!" he exclaimed as she floated idly past him. "Somebody oughta replace that witch's hat with a dang bell or something!"
"Zip it, ya blue cricket," Baba told him dryly as she looked back at him over her shoulder before calling up to Goku. "Goku! Get down here!" The weights promptly vanished and Goku powered down as she descended.
"Hey, Baba!" she said happily with a wave before Baba reached a hand up and ruffled a hand in Goku's thick black hair. "What's up?" While Baba spoke, Goku found a ribbon candy in her hair. With a shrug, she popped it into her mouth.
"Your paperwork's finally gone through," she explained, "And Enma has decided to give you your one day back on Earth."
"It took Enma seven years to decide?" Kaiou asked sardonically. "What, did Goku not tip a guy at a restaurant once and that messed with the metrics despite her saving billions of lives on multiple occasions?"
"Goku didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave," Baba explained, "And Enma's got a lot on his plate as it is, having to sort all the people who die every minute of the day," she reminded him. "So it was kind of pushed off to the side. However," she added, "Orders came from the very tip-top to have the process expedited." The very tip top? Kaiou wondered what the heck that meant. Once he figured it out, he couldn't repress the shudder that went through him. Why would the Kaioushin care if Goku went to Earth or not?
"So I can go to Earth like Grandpa Gohan did when you had him fight me, right?" Goku asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"That's right," Baba replied with a nod.
"Hmmm… What's today?" Goku asked.
"Today?" Baba echoed curiously as she pulled a pocket calendar out of one of the sleeves of her robe. "Today is April 12th," she confirmed. A grin started to spread across Goku's face.
"When's the next Budoukai?" she asked eagerly. Baba stared at Goku in blank disbelief before sighing and flipping through her pocket calendar.
"The 25th Budoukai," she answered wearily, "Is on May 7th." Goku beamed as Baba put her calendar away before rubbing her temples wearily. "So let me see if I understand this," she muttered. "After spending seven years in the afterlife doing nothing -literally nothing- but training and fighting, you want to go back to Earth… to fight?"
"Well sure!" Goku exclaimed eagerly. "Why not? That's what we all always used to do; we got together at the Budoukai! It was how we caught up and saw what we'd all learned and stuff!" Baba sighed and rubbed at her temples again before turning and floating off again.
"I suppose I'll go tell Enma," she muttered before blinking right out of sight.
"So," Kaiou asked with a bemused expression on his face. "I suppose you want me to tell someone on Earth?"
"Yeah!" Goku replied with an enthusiastic nod before turning and hopping up into the air to fly off. "I'm gonna go see what Pikkon's up to! Maybe he'll be up for a spar!"
"Yeah," Kaiou replied sarcastically as he watched her fly off. "I'm sure he's gotten much stronger in the last two hours." He just hoped that whatever the Kaioushin apparently needed Goku for didn't attack before the month was up. Goku was pretty much unshakeable once her mind was made up.
OoOoOoO
"She's WHAT?!" Xī hollered as she pressed her face against the crystal ball, glaring at Enma's terrified reflection in it.
"I–I'm sorry, your highest," the giant, bearded horned man stammered out as he seemed to shrink down under his desk to try and hide from her fury. "Goku said she wanted to go back to Earth in about a month for their Tenkaichi Budoukai and I, well, I already finished the paperwork…" Xī sighed and rolled her eyes, pushing the crystal ball away and watching it roll down a hill.
"I swear to crap," Xī murmured as she tucked her arms back under her chin. "If Babidi attacks in the next week, I'm going to erase Goku's soul." This entire time she'd been lying on her stomach in the grass, a towel wrapped around her middle.
"Can you do that, Xī?" Saike asked as he pushed his elbow down into Xī's shoulder blade. The red skinned brunette young ogre had certainly matured physically in the last several thousand years.
"Less backsass," Xī murmured as her eyes fluttered shut. "More elbow grease."
OoOoOoO
"Careful, Goten!" Gohan called up to his little sister as she flew through the ki rings he'd made for her to practice her control and turns. "Those rings won't hurt you but mother'll still get mad at us if you burn your gi!" The trio had moved their training from the Son Family's backyard to a clearing toward the southern tip of the main continent. Appropriately enough, it was only a short flight away from the Southern Continent and Papaya Island.
"Hey, Gohan!" Videl exclaimed. She concentrated with all her might and formed a single tennis ball-sized white ki ball in her left hand. "Think fast!" she called out and hurled the ball as hard as she could. Gohan turned slowly around and the ball exploded harmlessly against his face as if it were made of cotton balls.
"Very nice," he encouraged playfully as Videl floated down to the ground. "I think you exfoliated the first layer off my nose." Videl huffed and folded her arms angrily as she stomped a foot down on the grass.
"Come on!" she groaned in exasperation. "I spent like two days trying to figure out how to do that! I was hoping it'd do something!" She'd gone online and watched grainy footage of the 22nd Budoukai and somewhat-less-grainy footage of the 23rd Budoukai, trying to brute-force figure out how to correlate what Gohan had told them about ki and flight and how to make lasers shoot out of her hands. "How friggin' strong are you, anyway?"
"Pretty strong," Gohan admitted bashfully with a bit of a shrug. "Still," he encouraged, "That's pretty impressive that you were able to figure out ki manipulation by yourself, even on a rudimentary level. We'll focus on that after you get the hang of flying." Gohan's face flushed as he bashfully added, "Uh, I mean… i-if you wanna keep training with me, that is."
"Yeah," Videl replied as a light blush crept across her own cheeks. "That'd be nice."
"Okay," Gohan said with a grin. "But for now–"
'Gohan!' Gohan stopped as he heard Kaiou's voice in his head. I've got some big news!'
"What's up, Kaiou?" Gohan asked aloud. Videl could only watch in confusion as Gohan suddenly seemed to be talking to… no one.
"Uhhhh… Gohan?" she asked while cocking her head to one side. He didn't seem to hear her, though.
'Your mom got her one day back on Earth,' Kaiou explained. 'She's coming back for the 25th Budoukai!' Gohan's mouth fell open slightly and he felt more than a little lightheaded. 'Well, I'll let ya get back to what you were doin'. Just thought I'd let you know!'
"Gohan?" Videl asked again, poking Gohan's cheek a few times to make sure he hadn't died on his feet. "Do you smell burnt toast or… taste pennies or anything?"
"My mom's coming back!" Gohan exclaimed suddenly, nearly knocking Videl off her feet in surprise. He grabbed her by the arms and lifted her off the ground, causing Videl to squeal out in surprise as he spun her around, laughing jubilantly.
"W-wait, what?" Videl asked in confusion. "C-coming back?! What are you talking about?!" Gohan set her down before shaking his fists eagerly, grinning from ear to ear and making a sound that was undeniably squeeing.
"My mom's coming back to Earth!" Gohan repeated as though it were a thing that made sense. "She's coming back for the Budoukai!" Then he turned his head skyward and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Goten!" he cried. "Get the heck down here!" Goten flew down eagerly, throwing herself into her big brother's waiting arms. "Guess what!" he told her enthusiastically. "You're gonna meet your mom!" Goten gasped and her eyes went starry as she, too, squeed.
"Really?!" she asked excitedly. Gohan nodded and she clapped so exuberantly that her hands sounded like firecrackers. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"
"Wait, hold on," Videl tried in vain to interrupt. "The heck is going on?!"
"Sorry, Videl!" Gohan said hurriedly as he put Goten up on his shoulders. "We gotta cut practice a little early today! I gotta go tell mother!" Then Videl blinked and the Son siblings were gone.
"Wait…" Videl muttered in the silence as a breeze blew across the plains and stirred the grass. "How the heck am I supposed to get home?!" She sighed and took out her smartphone, scrolling through her apps. "Guess I'm callin' a ride," she muttered. She was definitely gonna make Gohan pay her back for this. Maybe she'd make him take her out to lunch or something. "Wait," she said aloud. "What did I just think?"
OoOoOoO
Suno had been watching television and was startled by her children suddenly popping up in the living room, causing her to fall backward and knock the couch back.
"Gohan!" she exclaimed as son and daughter rushed to help her to her feet. "What're you doing back already? I thought you guys would be gone a couple more hours with your flying lesson."
"We were," Gohan admitted, "But I got the best news from Kaiou!" A smile started creeping across Suno's face as she already began to guess what it was. She wouldn't let herself get too excited, though. She had to let Gohan say it first so she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was happening and she wasn't just dreaming. "Mom's coming back!" Gohan exclaimed.
"That's wonderful!" Suno cried out with joy and threw her arms around Gohan, hugging her son tight. Goten flew up to be up with them, getting in on the hug. "Did Kaiou say when she was coming?"
"Mom's coming for the Budoukai," Gohan explained with a grin. Suno couldn't help but laugh.
"Of course she is," Suno laughed with a grin and a shake of her head. "Then I guess we're all entering!"
"Yeah!" Gohan agreed eagerly with an excited nod. "Only…" his smile faded and he rubbed at his chin thoughtfully.
"What is it?" Suno asked worriedly.
"I can't enter," Gohan explained.
"What?" Suno asked again. "Why not?"
"I'm trying to be, y'know, normal and stuff," Gohan reminded her. "Remember?"
"Oh," Suno said softly with a frown. "Right." Then Gohan snapped his fingers with a sudden idea and his smile exploded back onto his face.
"That's it!" he crowed triumphantly. "I can't enter," he repeated as he grabbed his watch and struck a pose. His costume appeared in a flash of light and he put on his 'stage' voice. "But the Great Saiyaman can!" he boomed. Suno laughed and Goten clapped excitedly as she always did when she saw Gohan put on his superhero clothes. Gohan grinned as he took off his helmet. "I'll have to do something else to disguise my identity," he admitted as he tapped his helmet. "I'm pretty sure this is against the rules." He pressed the button on his watch again and his costume vanished.
"We should tell everyone!" Suno declared eagerly. "You go up to Dende's and let Piccolo know," she told Gohan. "I'll go ahead and call Krillin and Lazuli. Then you call Bulma and I'll call Launch and Ten," Gohan nodded and put his fingertips to his forehead, disappearing with a flicker while Suno got out her phone.
OoOoOoO
Gohan appeared on Dende's Lookout to find Earth's Guardian watering some Asija trees. He tiptoed up behind Dende with a grin as Dende looked sneakily from side to side to make sure no one was watching him and started to discreetly take a drink from the watering can.
"Hi, Dende!" Gohan exclaimed right behind the teenaged Namekian. Dende gave a cry of shock and the watering can flew out of his hands, flipping end over end to land on Dende's head and drenching him. Gohan laughed loudly, clutching at his stomach as Dende pulled the watering can off of his head and shook the water off of his head.
"Very funny," Dende muttered playfully as he shook water off his clothes and onto Gohan. "And hello to you, too."
"Well look at you," Gohan teased as he looked at Dende. "When I was here last month, you were still about as tall as I was when I brought you back from Namek!" It was true. While still looking like a miniature Kami who'd had the wrinkles ironed out of him now that he was wearing Kami's clothes, he was at least as tall as his staff now. "Look who decided to grow!"
"Well we can't all grow like weeds," Dende retorted as he gave Gohan a good-natured poke in the ribs with his staff.
"Which is funny," Gohan shot right back, "Because I'm pretty sure you're more of a plant than I am." Dende rolled his eyes.
"So what brings you up to the top of the world?" Dende asked.
"I'm here to see Mr. Piccolo," Gohan explained. "There's something I need to tell him!" Dende pointed up with his staff and Gohan turned around to see Piccolo hovering over the temple in a cross-legged stance.
"He's been up there napping," Dende explained with a chuckle.
"I do not nap!" Piccolo insisted sternly, opening one eye to look down at them. "I focus!"
"Right, right," Dende called up to him. Then he leaned over to mutter conspiratorially to Gohan. "He was totally napping."
"You know I can hear you!" Dende and Gohan snickered as Piccolo descended from his point to stand in front of Gohan. Nothing made Gohan realize quite how tall he'd become more than when he stood in front of Piccolo and was nearly eye to eye with him. "Hello, Gohan," Piccolo said with a wry smile. "So what brings you up here? Trying to invite me to another 'game night'?" Gohan laughed and shook his head.
"Mother says you're still not allowed back after you nearly burned down the house over Trivial Pursuit," he told him. "I'm here to tell you mom's coming back to Earth to enter the Budoukai!" Piccolo chuckled.
"Oooof course she is," he remarked. "Are you entering as well?"
"Not me," Gohan explained. "But the Great Saiyaman is!" Piccolo stared at him.
"The Great… who?" If Piccolo had eyebrows, he would certainly be raising one of them.
"Aw, come on," Gohan whined, somewhat deflated. "Haven't you guys heard?"
"The paper boy's throwing arm isn't quite that good," Piccolo reminded him. Gohan grinned and pressed at his watch. Piccolo could only gawk as Gohan suddenly stood before him in some kind of absurd get-up with a red cape.
"Behold!" Gohan declared in a deep, put-on voice. "The Great Saiyaman!" Piccolo continued to stare at him. "Pretty cool, huh?" Piccolo kept right on staring.
"What… on Earth… are you wearing?" Gohan put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes behind his helmet.
"Sorry," Gohan retorted, stretching the word out. "Next time I talk to Bulma, I'll get her to put on some six-foot shoulder pads." Piccolo actually chuckled at that one.
"Why are you even wearing this get-up?" Piccolo asked.
"Because I want to try and live at least a somewhat normal life," Gohan replied. "If I keep all the crazy stuff I can do related to this," he gestured to his costume, "It'll be kinda like I'm everyone else, y'know?"
"You spent your formative years battling alien despots and self-worshipping, time-travelling killer robots," Piccolo reminded him. "You are not normal."
"I know," Gohan muttered. "It's nice to pretend, though, right?" Piccolo sighed and put a hand on Gohan's shoulder.
"Alright," he muttered, "Alright. I suppose I'll be entering this tournament as well." Gohan grinned. "But if I fight you," Piccolo warned him, "I'm going to hit you twice as hard for being dressed like an idiot," Gohan smirked and flicked Piccolo's turban off of his head.
"See you there, Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan said as he turned his costume off. "Bye, Dende!" Then he was gone again as quickly as he'd appeared.
OoOoOoO
When Suno called, Krillin had been fruitlessly trying to meditate with his daughter Marron climbing onto his head. He was almost glad for the phone call because it distracted him from the fact that she was pulling on his hair.
"Hey, Suno!" Krillin said with a grin. "What's up?"
"Hey, Turtle Hermit," Suno teased. "I'm not interrupting any lessons, am I?"
"Is that a serious question?" Krillin asked as he heard the front door open. "Or are you being funny?" Krillin had gotten himself a few students over the course of seven years, although none of them had stayed on the island itself for more than a year or two, although most of them still checked in on Krillin from time to time or at least called. None, of course, except for Lazuli, although at this point she was well beyond a student.
"Little of column A, little of column B," Suno replied. Krillin rolled his eyes as Lazuli walked into the house.
"Mama!" Marron cried, jumping off of Krillin's head and running to her mother. Lazuli smiled and scooped Marron up into her arms, switching to holding her with one arm as she took off her suit jacket with the other.
"Hey, Lazuli!" Krillin called as he turned the phone away from his mouth. "Suno's on the phone."
"Aww, yeah!" Lazuli replied as her smile widened. "Tell her I said hi!" She hung her jacket on the coat rack and undid her shoulder holster, hanging it over the back of a chair and safely out of Marron's reach. After seven years, Lazuli had worked her way quickly up from regular beat cop to plainclothes detective. She refused to be moved to a desk job, however, after rightfully pointing out that it would be a waste of her talents— namely being bulletproof— to spend the rest of her career pushing papers.
"Lazuli says hi," Krillin said as he turned the phone back to his ear again. "So what's up?"
"Well," Suno began. "Gohan got a message from Kaiou today."
"That's never good," Krillin interjected ruefully.
"It was this time," Suno assured him. "Because guess what?"
"Do you actually want me to–" Krill began to say before Suno interrupted him.
"GOKU'S COMING BACK!" Suno exclaimed so loudly that it nearly caused Krillin to drop his phone.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Krillin shouted in disbelief. What the heck did Suno mean 'back'?! Did somebody make a wish on the Dragon Balls without telling the rest of them?
"Goku's getting her one day back on Earth," Suno explained. "And she's using it to enter the Tenkaichi Budoukai! Gohan and I are entering now," she went on to say, "And Gohan just went to go see if Piccolo wanted to enter. You in?" Krillin grinned from ear to ear.
"Oh you know I'm there," Krillin assured her before turning the phone away. "Laz!" he called out. "Goku's comin' back to enter the Budoukai! I'm gonna enter, too!"
"Oh, cool!" Lazuli called back while flipping through the mail with Marron riding on her piggyback style. "I was gonna enter anyway!"
"But what if we end up fighting?" Krillin asked. Lazuli smirked as she reached back and covered Marron's ears.
"Then I guess you better be ready to get your ass kicked," she teased.
"Lazuli!"
"I covered her ears!"
OoOoOoO
"Wait," Suno asked, now talking to Launch while Gohan called Bulma, "So you guys aren't gonna enter the tournament?"
"Maybe," Launch said with a shrug. "We'll definitely be in attendance at least, to say hi to Goku." She covered her mouth and added a conspiratorial whisper. "I think Ten just doesn't want Goku to kick his butt again. He's all old and retired now."
"For your information," Ten replied hotly from the kitchen table where he was sitting with Kani, "I have many responsibilities to consider now as head of the Crane School. Several of my students are already planning to enter. I was going to attend anyway to measure their performance." Then, outwardly, he turned back to helping Kani with her math homework. However, he continued the conversation telepathically. 'I'd also like to add,' he continued, 'That you hardly seemed to think I was 'old' or 'retired' this morning.' Launch let out a sputtering laugh that left Suno terribly confused.
OoOoOoO
"Hey, Vegeta!" Bulma called as Vegeta sat in his office and looked at some preliminary sketch work for their signature fall outfits.
"What?" he called back irritably. The only main difference between the two outfit ideas was that one of them had a scarf. On the one hand, scarfs weren't in fashion. On the other hand, he could bring them back into fashion.
"Gohan called," Bulma replied. "Guess what!" Vegeta rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair as he poured himself a scotch.
"If Suno's going to invite us for brunch again," Vegeta muttered, "Tell her I'm not coming unless she learns how to actually make eggs florentine." Then he took a long sip as Bulma kept talking.
"Goku's coming back!" Bulma told him. Vegeta's eyes snapped open and he sucked and ice cube down his throat, hacking and spitting as he pounded his fist on the desk. Or, more accurately, through the desk. "Are you okay?"
"Are you…" Vegeta finally gasped once the ice cube had dislodged itself. "Are you telling me… that I can punch Kakarot in the face?!"
"I guess," Bulma replied with a chuckle. "She's entering the Budoukai–"
"Then so am I!" Vegeta roared triumphantly as he flipped over his desk. He ripped off his tie and walked over the desk as he strode down the hall toward the nearest door outside to the Gravity Chamber. "And have someone clean my office!"
OoOoOoO
When Gohan went to sleep that night, he found himself with Xī out in the infinite stardust abyss of space again.
'Guess I should be glad I'm not having another one of those naked dreams,' Gohan thought. Xī giggled and Gohan's face flushed when he remembered that Xī could hear his thoughts. "S-so," he said aloud, "I'm guessing you had something to do with my mom coming back?" Xī smirked.
"You could say that, yeah," Xī told him. "Because it's true."
"Did you pull some strings or something?" he asked. That actually made her laugh outright and she brought a hand up to her mouth for a dignified chuckle.
"Gohan," she reminded him, "I'm the Kaioushin. I don't 'pull strings'. I just tell people what to do."
"Oh, right," Gohan replied with a nervous chuckle. "So… you really think we'll need my mom's help? Is Majin Boo really that strong?"
"Gohan," Xī began. "I've been alive some thirty million years-"
"Really?" Gohan interjected with a smirk. "I wasn't gonna guess more than twenty thousand."
"Flattery'll get you somewhere," Xī teased him, "But this isn't that kind of dream." Gohan's face turned bright red as Xī continued. "I've been around a while," she continued, "And in all that time I've never seen anything that comes anywhere close to Majin Boo. We need all the help we can get."
"Oh," Gohan said softly. It was a bit of a sobering thought. "So how long do we have?" he asked. "My mom didn't mess anything up, right?"
"Thankfully, it doesn't look like it," Xī sighed, "But Babidi's dark fingers are drawing close around your world. He knows Boo is somewhere on Earth. We just have to hope it takes him a few more weeks to find it." Then she smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Worst comes to worst," she told him, "I can just make Enma let Goku go to Earth early."
"Right," Gohan nodded, "The whole 'tell people what to do' thing."
"You got it," Xī told him as she playfully flicked his nose. "Well, I've got a universe to run. I'll let you get back to your regular dreams." Then Xī was gone and Gohan found himself playing… underwater soccer. Then he was riding the back of a giant chicken. It was a very strange dream.
When Gohan awoke the next morning, he didn't really remember the dream except for a faint scribbling on his dream journal that just said "Eyy bruddah," which wasn't much help. No more late night snacks, Gohan decided. He did, however, remember his conversation with Xī. He had to step up his training. Which meant that it was time… to do something drastic.
OoOoOoO
"What is it, boy?" Vegeta asked as he tucked his cell phone between his shoulder and his ear. He wondered why he even had Gohan in his contacts. "Get another message from God?"
"No," Gohan began to say, "Well, I mean, yes. But that's not what this is about."
"Oh," Vegeta mocked. He didn't tease, he just mocked. "So we're having private conversations with God now, are we?"
"Look," Gohan sighed, "Do you remember that rocky outcrop in the Northern desert where my mom whooped your butt ten years ago?" Vegeta scoffed.
"That's hardly how I remember it," he muttered haughtily, "But yes, I could probably find it again. Why?"
"Meet me there this afternoon," Gohan told him. "I wanna spar." A cruel smirk curled its way onto Vegeta's lips.
"I wouldn't miss it."