Chapter Hundred-forty-six
Training Fit for a God! Prove Yourself, Goku!
It had only been a couple of days since Beerus had left Earth and Gohan and Vegeta were standing in Gohan's backyard, both dressed in their gis with serious expressions.
"No backing out now," Gohan reminded Vegeta. Vegeta smirked ever so slightly.
"Can't say I want to, truthfully," he admitted. "Even if Beerus wasn't a danger to us, I want to learn how to understand this power and grow stronger." Gohan gave a conciliatory nod since he was much the same. He already felt stronger this morning than he had the night before. Vegeta pulled the bell out of his pocket and rang it. The chime of the bell seemed to send a ripple through the air all around them, blowing through the trees, clouds, and water for miles even though the sound wasn't exceptionally loud.
Nothing happened for a few seconds and Gohan and Vegeta shared an awkward glance. Vegeta was about to ring the bell again when that increasingly-familiar rainbow bubble appeared in front of them and burst open into a shower of stardust to reveal Whis standing before them.
"Marvelous," the blue angel declared ecstatically, "Just marvelous! Lord Beerus and I are both so glad that you agreed to accept our offer for training!"
"Did we have much of a choice?" Gohan asked with the smallest smirk.
"No, you didn't!" Whis admitted in an entirely too cheerful tone. Vegeta and Gohan shared a look as Whis raised his staff, the head of which began to glow. "Now while I will be handling the majority of your training, Lord Beerus will still be supervising on occasion. So I expect you both to give your full effort! After all, Lord Beerus is always watching."
Before Vegeta could ask how Beerus would only be there "on occasion" if they were going to Beerus's planet, the three of them were interrupted by– "Hey, guys!" Goku greeted eagerly as she appeared between Gohan and Vegeta. "What's up? I sensed Vegeta here and figured I'd pop in to see if we were training!" she looked up at Whis and grinned. "Oh, hey, Whis! Whatcha doing here?" Vegeta looked annoyed and Gohan looked guilty.
"Oh, hello, Goku," Whis greeted pleasantly. "I'm taking Vegeta and Gohan with me to Lord Beerus's planet for training."
"Oh, sweet! Can I come?" Goku asked excitedly.
"I'm afraid not," Whis told her. "Lord Beerus only requested Gohan and Vegeta's presence. It seems that your brief fight on Kaiou's planet did not do enough to spark his interest." That gave Goku a moment's pause. Something like this had literally never happened to her before.
"Sorry, mom," Gohan said, "Maybe you can join up with us later." Vegeta only gave an impatient grunt.
"No, it's… it's cool," Goku assured her son hesitantly. This was such a weird feeling. "You guys go with Whis, I'll catch up on my own."
"I'm sure you will," Whis told her in a tone that was just a little bit condescending. "Off we go, then!" He waved his staff in a circle and the three of them– without Goku– were surrounded in another rainbow bubble that shot off in a blur of multicolored light. Goku was so perplexed that she just… sat down on the ground. She picked a blade of grass and rolled it absently between her fingertips.
"What the heck?" she muttered to herself.
A short time later, Whis, Gohan, and Vegeta arrived on Beerus's planet. The two Saiyans were struck by just how odd everything was. From the shape and structure of it, to the massive trees everywhere, to the glowing pink sky that stretched in all directions with distant pale planetoids as their only company. Even Vegeta, who had seen a not-insignificant amount of the galaxy, had never seen a world like this.
"I'll leave you two to adjust and get a little more familiar with the world," Whis said, "I have to check on Lord Beerus." Then he floated away, humming a little tune to himself.
Gohan and Vegeta took a few steps away from one another and threw a few practice kicks and punches in the air. "Air's normal," Gohan observed, "Gravity seems Earth-like; I'm not slowed down at all."
"As powerful as we are, that doesn't mean anything," Vegeta reminded him. "The gravity could be 100 times that of Earth's before either of us noticed a thing."
"Oh, yeah, right," Gohan remembered. He created a small ki ball on his fingertip and let it burst, watching the explosion. "Alright, so, there's not too much oxygen in the atmosphere, even with all these trees. That's good."
"You're thinking too much like a scientist," Vegeta cautioned. "Look at this planet and who we're dealing with. There's clearly magic involved," he pointed out and he didn't sound too pleased with the observation. Which Gohan figured was reasonable, given Vegeta's last involvement with magic.
"Hey, Vegeta, before I forget," Gohan said, "I… I need your help with something." Vegeta raised an eyebrow and waited for more. "I haven't had a tail since I was four years old," he continued, "I didn't think I'd ever get it back," he admitted while looking down at his tail. "I need you to help me train it. It's a pretty big weakness otherwise."
"I sent you an email," Vegeta reminded him, sounding almost offended.
"Vegeta, that was a literal decade ago," Gohan protested. "I've had a lot on my mind since then, I don't remember everything."
"Then you should consult. The email," Vegeta said pointedly.
"I… uh… I deleted it," Gohan admitted sheepishly.
"What?! Why?!"
"Like I said, it was a decade ago!" Gohan reminded him. "I didn't think there were would be any new Saiyans to worry about–"
"That's an embarrassingly low opinion of yourself," Vegeta scoffed.
"Anyway, I didn't see a need for it once Goten was able to defend herself." Although, if Gohan thought about it, which he tried desperately not to whenever possible, the fact that he didn't have a new sibling yet with how… active his mothers were was astonishing.
Vegeta rested his face in his hand and sighed. "Alright," he muttered, "Alright. But I'm not doing this for you," he told Gohan sternly, "I'm making sure you won't forget when your child's tail grows."
"Thanks, Vege–" Gohan was cut off by Vegeta's tail cracking like a bull whip a fraction of an inch from his face. "Hey!"
"The first thing you must remember is that your tail is covered in muscles," Vegeta told him. "It's not like the tail of a dog or a cat or something. You can move it, you can control it," Vegeta emphasized this by moving his tail this way and that, curling it, stiffening it, showing his complete control. Even though it had been nearly twenty years since he had lost his tail, having it again was like second nature to him. "That is the key to making it strong. You must work the muscles of your tail the way a martial artist works all the other muscles of their body. By making it strong, you beat the weakness out of it. The second thing," Vegeta continued, "Is that until you have mastered your tail, the safest thing to do is to keep it as close to your body as possible." Vegeta's tail wrapped snugly around his middle like a belt, which he gestured to with both hands. After a few seconds of awkwardness, Gohan figured out the mental command to control his tail and mirrored Vegeta by wrapping it around his waist. He smiled at Vegeta, who put his face in his hand again. "We have quite a bit of work to do," he grumbled.
"I should say so," Whis agreed, giving Vegeta a start. One minute, he hadn't been there and, in the next instant, he was. He tapped his staff on the ground and stepped away from it while the staff stayed perfectly still. It wasn't embedded in the ground or anything, it was just there.
"Actually, Whis, I had a question, if that's okay," Gohan said. "How long are we going to be here?"
Whis gave him a slightly quizzical look. "For as long as it takes for you to gain control of your God ki. It could take weeks, months, even years."
"Months?! Years?!" Gohan repeated in shock. "H-hang on a second, I never agreed to something like that! I can't be away from home that long, I have a baby on the way! I have responsibilities!"
"And I don't have responsibilities?" Vegeta asked, more than a little offended.
"You're rich," Gohan pointed out, "So no." Vegeta grumbled under his breath but gave a shrug of acquiescence.
"Well, you can sense my ki, correct?" Whis asked. Gohan nodded. "And you can still sense the ki of your loved ones on Earth, can't you?" Gohan closed his eyes for a moment to focus and gave a fond smile when he felt Videl's ki and the nascent, ethereal ki of their unborn child. "And you can do that…" he gave a dismissive gesture in the air, "That thing Goku can do, correct?"
"You mean Instant Transmission?" Gohan asked, trying his best to hide his irritation on his mom's behalf.
"Yes, that's the one," Whis confirmed. "So, you can return to Earth whenever you need to. As long as you don't mind Vegeta pulling ahead in your absence," he teased. Gohan looked at Vegeta, who folded his arms with a smirk.
Gohan glared at him for a moment before he smirked right back. "You think Bulma would be fine with you disappearing for months at a time?" he teased, calling the older Saiyan's bluff. "It was one thing back when you were never around but now it's different these days. You're a good dad and everything, remember?" he taunted.
Vegeta's expression darkened. "We'll… work something out," he grumbled.
Whis gave a tasteful chuckle and clapped his hands together. "Well then, if everything's all settled, assume your fighting stances and we can begin." Gohan and Vegeta shared a look of surprise for a moment that things would be this simple and direct before getting into their guards. Vegeta powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and tried to channel some of his God ki while Gohan raised his power as high as he could, his ki aura flaring up around him. They cried out in unison as they charged their foe.
OoOoOoO
Suno was startled from her work by a sound like a gunshot. She'd been proofreading Gohan's first book, "Principles of Ki Control and the Sciences Behind Them", but that clearly needed to be put on hold for the moment. Honestly, the biggest thing holding it back was that it needed a snappier title. Suno walked from the bedroom and out the backdoor to see Goku in the backyard, training. This wasn't out of the ordinary, nor was the fact that Goku wasn't wearing a shirt.
Seeing Goku as a Super Saiyan 3 in their backyard was certainly different, though. The source of the gunshot sound became clear once Suno realized that Goku was doing katas. Every strike carried a thunderclap of impact behind it that was almost louder than Goku's shouts of effort. Suno shook her head and walked up to her wife, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Not that I'm complaining at seeing you like this," Suno said as she ran a hand over Goku's thick, spiky golden locks, "But, uhhhh, whatcha doin'?" she asked, stretching out the last word.
"Training," Goku said matter-of-factly before spinning and throwing a roundhouse kick at the air, her hips driving the kick with enough force to shatter a planet.
"I can see that," Suno said. "But I've been around you a long time, Goku. I've seen you train a lot. I don't think I've ever seen you train… angry," she said after searching for the word.
"I'm not angry," Goku insisted even as she snapped off an upward elbow strike ferociously enough that the shockwave of its momentum ripped a chunk out of their lawn and sent Suno into the air. Suno caught herself and floated there with her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow. Goku sighed and dropped out of her stance but didn't drop out of Super Saiyan 3. "Okay," she sighed. "That Whis guy who was with Beerus showed up today and took Gohan and Vegeta to train with him. I asked if I could come and Whis said no. He… said I wasn't good enough," she muttered, her eyes downcast. "Nothing like that has ever happened before, it… it messed with me," she admitted. "So, yeah. I guess I'm a little angry."
"Aw, honey," Suno said softly, floating back to the ground and taking Goku's hands in both of hers. "Well, I know you. I'm guessing you've got some kind of plan."
"That's what this is," Goku said. "I'm trying to maintain Super Saiyan 3 for as long as I can, like I did with 1 and 2, so I can get stronger and use it more efficiently without straining myself or burning ki. Then I figured maybe I can ask Roshi or Kaiou about this God ki stuff. I definitely felt my body change after doing the ritual twice," Goku acknowledged as her tail absently wrapped around Suno's ankle, "But I don't know what to do with it."
"And I'm guessing doing the ritual again for yourself is out of the question," Suno remarked.
"Eh, you know me," Goku said with a shrug and a laugh. "Wouldn't feel like I'd earned it, you know?"
Suno nodded before letting go of Goku's hands, letting her hands slide up her wife's powerful arms and up to her shoulders. "Well," she said slowly, "Goten's hanging out with Trunks and Marron. If you want something to test your control of Super Saiyan 3 and maybe take your mind off of things for a while…" her hands moved to roam up and down Goku's chest and stomach and she looked up at her wife with a smile.
Goku smiled back at her and lifted her tail up to wrap around one of Suno's wrists. "Lead the way," she said. Suno chuckled and led Goku back into the house but she frowned for a moment when her back was to Goku. She'd noticed just the slightest hesitation from Goku at her offer. The fact that Goku hadn't been carrying her into the house as soon as Suno had touched her chest was as clear a signal as any just how out of sorts this God stuff had her.
OoOoOoO
Gohan and Vegeta were fine-tuned weapons of warfare masquerading as living beings. With vast reserves of ki and seemingly inexhaustible amounts of physical energy, they were men who could fight for days on end without stopping. Yet, after little more than an hour, they were both doubled over, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath and clutching their knees. Whis was sipping a cappuccino while he watched the two Saiyans try to collect themselves. He hadn't actually landed a single blow against them. He hadn't needed to, he had simply let them burn themselves out.
"Oh my God," Gohan panted between gulps of air. "Oh my God he's so… damn… fast!"
"Not… not just that," Vegeta wheezed, "But how slow he had to make himself just for us to see him dodging! I think… I think he started to doze off!" he pushed himself to look up and Whis raised his tiny mug to indicate that he had, in fact, needed the pick-me-up. Vegeta groaned and sat down heavily on the grass with Gohan following just a moment behind.
"How is speed like that even possible?" Gohan asked. "Is that all really from God ki?"
"That's part of it," Whis said as he finished his cappuccino. He pushed the little mug and saucer back inside the black sphere on top of his staff. "But it's more about being a God than anything." A mischievous smile curled onto the angel's lips. "Lord Beerus would hate to hear me explain it this way but part of fighting like a God is to act without thinking." Gohan and Vegeta looked at him with stupefied expressions. "You are trained martial artists and incredibly strong and fast, this is true, but you are still only mortals. You are fighting like mortals. However fast you make a decision," Whis explained, "You are still taking the time to make a conscious decision."
To demonstrate, Whis grabbed his staff and the black sphere glowed as he waved it in the air, causing a figure to appear in front of him that looked vaguely like a sketch of Whis himself that had jumped off the paper. "When someone throws a kick at you, for example," Whis slowly threw a high kick at the sketch's head as if he were demonstrating for children. "With your training, you know to block it with your arm, or lean back, or move inside their range, or duck." The sketch of Whis did all of these things as Whis listed them. "Then you know to counterattack with a straight jab to the face, or an uppercut to the stomach, or a knee, a kick of your own, a ki blast, any number of things." The sketch Whis did all of these things, each strike stopping just before making contact. "But that fraction of time where you're making the decision, however small, is all the difference when compared to a God." The sketch Whis threw a full-speed kick at the real Whis's head. Whis deflected the blow with his forearm and stabbed a spear strike into the sketch's throat, causing it to instantly dissolve into nothingness. He moved so fast that it all seemed to be a single motion. No hesitation, no thought, just action.
"Incredible," Gohan said breathlessly. Even when he was clearly slowing down so they'd be able to see his movements, Gohan still barely saw it.
"When you learn to fight as a God, your skills will be so finely honed that it will be like fighting without even thinking. Your body will practically move on its own. It's all about instinct," Whis explained helpfully.
"Fighting without thinking. Heh," Vegeta chuckled, "Maybe Kakarot was the best candidate of the three of us, after all."
Gohan allowed himself a little chuckle at that and thought about his mom briefly as he and Vegeta got back to their feet. He hoped that she wasn't taking this too hard. Then again, knowing his mom, she was already tackling the problem head-on and figuring out how to catch up on her own terms.
OoOoOoO
Goku and Suno were lost in the throes of passion, bodies intertwined in an intimately familiar dance. No matter how many times they did it, it never got old. The tingle of pleasure across their skin and inside their cores. The sweet gasps and seductive moans. The feeling of unity that was supremely addicting.
At least, that's what should have been happening. However, it was clear that Goku's frustration was spilling over into a time that was essentially sacred. Normally, neither one was particularly dominant with them constantly switching but, this time, Goku had practically pinned Suno to the bed from the start. What's more, while they were typically rather rough, this was a different level. While Suno wasn't in any pain, the waves of discomfort she was feeling were crashing against the waves of pleasure leading to her being unable to enjoy it.
Eventually, Suno got fed up with it. She wasn't going to put up with her wife treating her this way and she needed to get her to calm down. The entire point had been to take Goku's mind off of things and relieve some of her stress, after all. Given that, with a cry of "Kaiouken times ten," Suno managed to surprise Goku and flip their positions. Taking advantage of Goku's moment of being stunned, she cupped one hand on the side of Goku's face while the rest of her body was mostly working to keep Goku pinned down. "Hey," she said in a tone that was firm yet gentle, "Hey, hey. Just focus on me, okay? Focus on this. Don't worry about anything else for right now. The world outside this room doesn't exist for us." Goku's face, which had been serious and aggressive until that moment, softened considerably and she nodded before leaning up into a kiss. Goku let Suno stay in control even after the point where she could no longer maintain Kaiouken times ten and Suno's expert understanding of all of Goku's weak points made sure she stayed in control. Though, to her credit, Goku managed to go the entire time without dropping out of Super Saiyan 3.
Yet, as they cuddled together after the fact, Suno could tell something was still wrong. She could feel the tension in Goku's muscles that she was pretty good at melting out of her, Super Saiyan or not. She could feel the buzz of restless energy in Goku's body that, again, this should have handled. But there was more to it than that.
It wasn't that the sex was bad. It was that it was... okay. It was fine. It was good. At the risk of seeming crass and arrogant, Goku and Suno did not have "good" sex. So, something was clearly off. Suno was reluctant to mention it, as it would bring an end to the cuddles and this moment of comfort. Plus, Goku might move and then she wouldn't be able to lay in her wife's shockingly comfortable Super Saiyan 3 hair. Yet, at the same time, she knew she needed to say something.
"What is it?" Suno finally asked, putting a gentle hand on Goku's side. Goku sat up with a sigh and unceremoniously dropped out of Super Saiyan 3, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to put her back to Suno. Even though they were right next to each other, it suddenly felt like there was a wall between them.
"I'm trying," Goku said softly as she lowered her head and put her hands on her knees, "But it's not working. Even when I'm here, with you, where you're the only thing in the world that should matter to me, my mind's still… somewhere else. Thinking about training, worried about falling behind." She gave a sad little smile. "It's the only time I haven't liked that about myself. I… I know what I need to do. Or what I think I need, anyway," she admitted. "But I feel bad for wanting it. I know you've gotten used to having me around all the time. I've liked being around all the time. But I…"
Suno finished the thought for her. "But you need some time away," she said calmly as she sat up, not happy but not judging Goku, either. "So you can focus on your training and your goals without any distractions."
To Suno's surprise, this was enough to get Goku to turn around, grabbing both of her wife's hands in hers. "That's not it at all," Goku promised her. "Well, it is a little, but not the way you're thinking. I've told you before, Suno, you're not a distraction to me. Nothing about our family is. I don't like feeling like this. I need to get this figured out so that I can be who I'm supposed to be when I'm home. The Goku that's totally focused on you and our life." Suno looked down at their hands and then looked up at Goku's face, seeing an earnestness and a passion in her wife's expression that had her blushing like a newlywed all over again.
"I-I…" Suno stammered before clearing her throat and shaking her head to focus her thoughts again. "I understand, Goku," she assured her with a smile. "I may not be crazy about it but as long as you're gone less than seven years, I'll manage." Goku couldn't help but grin at her wife's teasing and they shared a brief kiss. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.
With Suno's permission ensured and her spirits lifted, Goku sprang up energetically from the bed and started to quickly pull her clothes back on. "I've got to know more about this 'God ki' stuff," she explained. "There's gotta be more ways to get it than the ritual. I mean, Korin was a cat and he was a God! So, I figure," she said while pulling her gi top over her head, "I'll talk to Kaiou or Master Roshi and see if either of them can give me some pointers about how to use it or get more of it."
"Maybe Dende," Suno offered, grinning as she watched Goku eagerly move around the room. She was looking more like the Goku Suno was used to already.
"Eh," Goku shrugged while pulling on her boots, "Dende's not really a fighter. I don't think he'd understand." She gave her wristbands a tug and was about to head out when Suno grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back toward the bed. "Eh?"
Suno gave a sultry smile and sat up on her knees, leaning closer to her. "When you figure this out, and I know you will, I think we should celebrate," Suno suggested as her voice dropped into a low, suggestive tone. "I think we should do something we've never tried before." Goku's mind raced with possibilities, trying to think of what the two of them possibly couldn't have tried yet. "We should go on a date!" Suno said brightly, grinning from ear to ear.
If Suno ever needed to be reminded why she loved this woman, she only needed to think about how Goku's reaction to such a sudden, deliberately jarring shift in tone was just to grin right back at her. "Sounds fun!" Goku said earnestly before giving Suno another quick kiss. "I'll be home soon!" Goku promised before flying out the window. Suno watched Goku fly away and sighed softly, already missing her.
OoOoOoO
Gohan and Vegeta had been on Beerus's planet for three days now. Three days of mostly dividing their time between sparring with each other, meditation, and Whis's bizarre ideas of body training. This largely appeared to involve cleaning Beerus's home and tending to his garden but it was the degree of difficulty that really made it a struggle.
Their unflattering maid outfits weighed down their bodies more than it should have been possible, the cleaning implements were impossibly heavy, and just the act of cleaning itself was a titanic struggle. The stone floors were covered in a dust that, when swept into a pile, required Vegeta to turn Super Saiyan 3 just to push it into the dustpan and then Gohan and Vegeta needed all their strength together to lift that dustpan into the trash. When they took the rugs in Beerus's house outside to hang them up and beat the dirt and dust out– Beerus despised vacuum cleaners, couldn't stand the noise– the rugs fought back. Watering the gardens involved wrestling the water out of enormous storm clouds and the grass and trees required ki blades to be cut and pruned. It was insanity.
Yet there did seem to be a method to the madness. Already in this short amount of time, they were growing stronger and their bodies were adjusting to the Divine ki that now slept within them. Gohan could call on more and more of it and Vegeta could actually maintain Super Saiyan God for extended periods. Though they were loathe to admit it, Whis was an effective teacher in his own strange way.
In the rare moments where they were left to their own devices– Whis was out shopping, getting lunch, or attending to Beerus– they were doing their own training as well.
Gohan glared at the massive boulder, his whole body tensing up as he coiled for the strike. Even for whatever stone Beerus's planet was made from, it would be easy to destroy with a punch, a kick, a blast, or even a flick of his finger. But that wasn't the blow Gohan intended to strike. Vegeta watched sternly with his arms folded, waiting to be impressed by Gohan's attack.
Gohan gave a cry of effort and lunged forward, pivoting his hips for the attack. There was a thunderous crack and the boulder split perfectly down the middle, cloven in twain by a whip-like strike from Gohan's tail. Gohan gave a cry of triumph and pumped his fists into the air, his tail raised overhead like that of a scorpion. Yet that triumph quickly turned into agony as all of the pain came blasting through Gohan's tail and hit the base of his spine. Gohan screamed as the sensation jolted through his body, making him temporarily numb before blinding him with searing pain from the tips of his toes, to the tips of his fingers, to the tip of his tail. He curled up into a ball on the ground and hugged himself tightly, causing Vegeta to huff and roll his eyes.
"Again," Vegeta ordered as he walked over to Gohan. "I said again!"
"G-gimme a second," Gohan pleaded, his voice straining, struggling just to be able to form those words.
"Your enemy will not 'give you a second!'" Vegeta snapped. "They will seize on the first moment of weakness and crush you where you stand. Again!" He drove a kick hard into Gohan's ribs. "Get up!" Vegeta kicked him again and this time Gohan moved. Anger and pride overwhelmed his pain and he shot up to his feet with a snarl, standing over Vegeta with teeth bared and eyes burning. Vegeta smirked and patted Gohan on the arm. "Heh, there's a Saiyan."
Gohan huffed as his rage gave way to irritation. "Hate when you get me to do that," he muttered as he pushed the hair out of his face.
"Less whining, more training," Vegeta shot back as he picked up one of the boulder halves and set it upright. "Again!"
Gohan put his annoyance away and got back into the fighting stance. He had to master this, he reminded himself. It would be one more weapon in his arsenal if he did. One less weakness for Beerus to exploit.
OoOoOoo
It had been just over a week since Goku had left home for this renewed, direct focus on her training. Though she missed Goten and Suno and talking to Kaiou had been a bit of a bust, there was something nice about this, something nostalgic.
Goku and Roshi were sitting meditatively on a pair of clouds high above the New Kame Island where the Turtle students were training. Not just Krillin's trainees but all her old friends, too. Krillin was sparring with Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Launch while Hercule was fighting Chaozu and Chi-Chi and holding his own. Lapis had essentially been bullied into this by Lazuli as she told him that she had no one else to train with and Shouronpo and Asuka were sparring, too. Goku could even sense Goten sparring with Trunks and Marron somewhere in the distance.
"So," Roshi said between puffs of his kiseru pipe, "What happened with Northern Kaiou, anyway?"
Goku, who had a pretty firm control on Super Saiyan 3, shrugged. "I tried to get him to show me how to gain and control my God ki but he said he didn't know how. He told me he was born a God so it would be like a fish trying to teach a bird to swim. I asked him what about ducks or penguins and he got real mad," she and Roshi shared a laugh. She went back to her meditation while Roshi blew rings and squares and dolphins of smoke that danced through the air before opening her eyes again. "I've been meaning to ask, what are we doing up here?" Roshi stopped to look at her. "I just mean we haven't really sparred more than once since I came to you for training," she explained. "It's been a while since I meditated."
"That might be part of where your problem is," Roshi suggested. "This isn't a thing that can be conquered by building physical strength, though that can certainly help. You need to go back to the basics," he said, lightly jabbing her in the forehead with the end of his pipe. "How else do you think I managed to build up my own God ki in secret? It wasn't all boxing with multiforms, you know. Meditation was key! You need to think of your God ki like a flame or an ember. If you make a spark and then blow on it a bunch to try and stoke it, that little ember isn't going to grow! That small fire–"
"You really don't have to keep calling it that," Goku said tersely. Roshi felt a tremble in the air and was reminded that, though he was the God of Martial Arts, Goku was still significantly stronger than him.
"Ahem, well," Roshi said after clearing his throat and adjusting his sunglasses. "That fire needs to be carefully nurtured with, you know, kindlings and wood shavings, dried leaves and things. That's… uh… that's what meditation is in this metaphor," he said, his voice trailing off. "My point is that you need to concentrate on your focus, on your inner peace. Reflect on the flame inside you so that it might grow."
Goku nodded at that and closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She turned her focus and her concentration inward. She pictured that flame and imagined cupping her hands around it, protecting it from the elements so that it could grow gently. She imagined feeding the flame dried moss and small twigs, repeating the mantra of 'Inner peace, inner peace…'
A rush of air ripped Goku out of her meditation and nearly knocked her off her cloud. Though she couldn't sense his ki and he was moving incredibly fast, Goku could just make out the blur of Gohan's white-and-blue gi. It had only been a week but she could tell that he'd changed. That he'd gotten stronger. That he was… leaving her behind.
Emotions started to bubble and roil in Goku's chest but she quickly pushed them aside as she recentered herself on the cloud. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her thighs, holding a meditative position. She breathed in slowly, held it, and let it out slowly. She was in control. She was carefully building her fire. She was… she was… Goku's eyes snapped open and she gave Roshi a look.
"...You wanna spar, don't you?" he asked cautiously. Goku nodded and he closed his hands around his pipe which disappeared when he opened his hands again and sighed, sitting up and stretching his back. "Alright, students inside!" Roshi called down. "Turtle and Crane masters, you're with me! No, Hercule, not you! Not yet, anyway." Hercule gave a frustrated snap of his fingers and flew inside the Turtle Academy with the other students, who then quickly crowded around the windows almost as soon as they were inside.
The Masters flew up to float beside Roshi, some with more reluctance than others. They all got into their fighting stances and, seeing the look on Goku's face, Yamcha swallowed thickly. "Ah, man," he muttered, "I knew I shoulda let Chi-Chi talk me into that fishing trip with her dad…"
At the Son household, Suno was pouring herself, Gohan, and Videl cups of tea after setting out a small plate of cookies.
"Jeez," Gohan said softly, "Not being picked for training has really messed with mom's head, huh?"
Suno nodded but, surprisingly, didn't seem terribly worried. "Goku'll figure her way out of this and get ahead," she assured her son, "She always does. But for the time being, I'd leave her alone until she does. Don't try to help, don't offer to spar, don't make any suggestions."
"Why?" Gohan asked while his mother sipped her tea.
"If I had to guess," Videl suggested, "One of the things your mom needs right now is some space. Seeing how far ahead you are might just make her more frustrated and get lost in her own head. Plus, if she's anything like Suno, you're still her baby." Gohan started to protest this before Suno reached across the table and wiped cookie crumbs off the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "So, she might feel patronized getting training advice from you. Your mother's right," Videl said.
"I knew I wanted you to marry my son for a reason," Suno said playfully. The two shared a laugh and started talking about the baby while Gohan, despite himself, spaced out and looked to the horizon where he could sense his mom's ki raging. This really was different…
OoOoOoO
After a few days at home, Gohan and Vegeta had returned to Beerus's planet. They were currently each locked in meditative states, each trying to grasp the concept of Instinct that Whis had spoken of before.
Gohan imagined himself… dissolving. No, melting. The rigid structures of his bones and muscles, his hair and teeth, everything solid about him from his organs to the skin that everything was wrapped in. He imagined himself becoming water. Water was formless, shapeless. It had no conscious thought, no drive, no direction. It could be a lazy, winding river, a calm lake, or a still ocean. Until the moment when it needed to not be those things anymore. Until it needed to be a raging rapid, a tidal wave, or a crushing, cascading waterfall! That explosive moment of transformation, that was the impact, that was the attack! That was the ideal that Gohan needed to strive for.
He quieted the scientist in his brain that tried to remind himself that there were specific environmental, geothermic, and barometric circumstances that changed water in this way, that it was impossible for these things to "suddenly" occur. Gohan had to stop thinking like a scientist and start thinking like a martial artist. Martial artists thought more in metaphor than in solid reality.
For his part, Vegeta entered a very different mindset. He imagined himself as a predator. He let his mind sink into evolutionary memories buried in the base of his tail of a savage beast in a primeval jungle. As an animal, he didn't have to worry about fall catalogs or board rooms, about PTA meetings or cutting the crusts off of sandwiches. There were no shopping trips or promised two-hour foot rub sessions. The only thing that mattered was survival, the constant cycle of rest and feed. The hunt. Knowing the trails his prey trod, knowing how to pursue them unnoticed, knowing to have the patience to wait for as long as was necessary, and knowing when that moment of weakness opened itself. Knowing when to strike.
Eventually, Gohan and Vegeta opened their eyes and moved from their meditative positions to stand upright and move into fighting stances, new stances. Gohan pivoted himself to one side with his legs wide and his stance low, minimizing his target and strengthening his base. He raised one arm behind him, bending slightly at the elbow and the wrist while the arm in front of him was lowered, bending at the elbow and wrist in a mirror. He leaned his body forward, rocking on the balls of his feet, simulating the motion of water as a wave, his tail even wriggling to contribute to the illusion. Vegeta was facing forward, hunching forward, low to the ground. He brought his hands forward with his fingers curled with such tension that fingers became like claws. His tail was raised up, flicking like a snake's tongue "tasting" the air. His mouth hung open, not slack but ready to snap shut at any moment for the strike. He even hissed.
Gohan's face was placid and his eyes unreadable, just like the calm surface of the water. Vegeta's pupils had actually narrowed into slits, his face a mask that read primordial, primitive danger.
A single droplet of water rolled to the edge of a leaf on a tree. In the exact same moment as the surface tension broke and the droplet began to fall to the ground, Gohan and Vegeta lunged at each other.
Whis and Beerus leaned over the railing of a balcony on Beerus's home overlooking the clearing in the forest where Vegeta and Gohan were locked in nearly mortal combat. Beerus had his back to them, thoroughly unimpressed, arms folded behind his head and already thinking about what he wanted to do for lunch. Whis, as their teacher, was at least giving them his attention, though his expression was puzzled.
"They're still not getting it," he muttered to himself. Gohan and Vegeta were certainly making progress and they had something resembling an idea of what Whis had tried to explain to them but they were still off the mark. He could see the constant effort it took for them to try and maintain these new mindsets of fighting, the will it took to focus their minds in this new direction. They were thinking too hard about not thinking. "It's like I handed them the book and they turned it sideways to read," Whis said glumly, putting an elbow up on the railing and pressing one cheek into his hand.
"Well, what can you expect, Whis?" Beerus asked smugly as he leaned back even more to stretch out. "They're only mortals. We should be thankful they can put one foot in front of the otheeeee-whoawhoawhoa!" Beerus had leaned backward too far and was starting to fall over the side. To keep him from falling further, Whis acted quickly to anchor Beerus… by standing on his tail. "Yeeeow! How was that your first idea?!" Beerus demanded, a vein of anger throbbing in his forehead.
On the ground, Gohan and Vegeta continued their battle, locked in combat and heedless of the divine squabble high above.
OoOoOoO
Goku stood on the Lookout for the first time in years and looked out onto the horizon. The view from up here was certainly something. After two weeks, she had Super Saiyan 3 pretty much under control, though she had powered down to normal at Popo's request.
"Put all that away!" Popo had ordered her as he pushed past her Super Saiyan 3 hair. "Honestly, someone's liable to trip. Not very considerate, are you?" he'd scolded before resuming his duties.
"I can only tell you what I know about being a god, Goku," Dende admitted as they walked around the edge of the Lookout together. "As you know, I'm no warrior. In fact, I'm surprised you came to me."
"Roshi and the others needed a break from me," Goku said, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "This… thing in me, it's the problem. I try to keep it under control, try not to get so wrapped up in it, but it keeps happening, I keep lashing out when I don't mean to."
"The first thing you need to do is to let go of control," Dende suggested. "Or at the very least, the illusion of control."
"I was always told that being in control of my emotions was part of being a martial artist," Goku said. "Not letting them overwhelm me or drive my actions. It's how I was able to control being a Super Saiyan."
"But you're not just thinking like a martial artist, Goku," Dende reminded her. "If you're going to understand God ki then you'll have to start thinking more like a God. Gods, in a sense, are people. We're not all indestructible, invincible warriors. You can't even sense God ki from me," he pointed out, "Because my God ki doesn't manifest as a warrior. My ki manifests," he let go of his staff and it stayed upright as he brought his hands together. There was a moment of bright light in his hands and Dende opened them to reveal a butterfly, which fluttered out into the open air, "As life."
"Whoa," Goku said softly as she watched the butterfly's path. Dende grabbed his staff and they continued walking.
"So acknowledge your frustration and your anger. After that, you need to turn your focus outward," he made a sweeping gesture with his staff over the horizon. "Cast your mind out to the ki of all living things, like when you're using Instant Transmission or gathering ki for the Genki Dama. Open yourself up," Dende offered. "From here, I can sense a baby being born in Jingle Village, an old woman passing away in peace in Yahhoy, or a family of birds building a nest in Yunzabit Heights. All things are open to me because I am open to all things."
"But how does that help me?" Goku asked, hoping she didn't sound impatient.
"I'm getting to that," Dende assured her. "Because, when you are open to others, when you see the ways in which we are all alike, that's what will bring what is unique about you and your ki into crystal clear focus. In that focus, you can find your God ki and harness it properly. Then," Dende said as he turned to face Goku, "You'll finally be able to move forward."
Goku stopped and looked at him with a quizzical expression. "What do you mean by that?"
"You've been faced with an unfamiliar problem; a scenario you've never encountered before," Dende said, "So, you retreat to the comfort of things that are familiar. To the Northern Kaiou, to Roshi, to me as a stand-in for your time training with Kami. But you'll never continue to grow by moving backward. The only way out of this is forward."
"Hey, I've never retreated from–" Goku started to say before she caught herself. She recognized her anger, her defensiveness, but it wasn't helping her now. "You're right," she said before bowing to Dende. "Show me the way forward." Dende smiled at her and nodded.
The three of them sat there for days on top of the world. Goku, Dende, and Mr. Popo, focused on opening Goku's mind, both in resting and active meditation, moving across the Lookout in slow and measured katas. For two days, Goku didn't open her eyes once. She relied purely on her ki senses, opening herself to the world, to all things. She recognized the ways in which all things were the same, recognized the spark of life in all things. In doing so, she could finally sense the things that were unique, the particular energies in Roshi, Dende, Popo… and herself. It wasn't much, it was a small flame, but it was her flame all the same. The flame of Godhood.
Goku stayed with Dende and Popo for a few more days, continuing her training, continuing to focus, and she could feel her God ki actually starting to grow larger. In fact, when Goku cast her mind outward, she could sense more beings with that same unique spark in them, that flame of God ki. She could sense four of them in a close grouping together, in fact. Which could only be one thing…
Goku's eyes snapped open to the beauty and color of the world, a glint in her eye and an ease in her smile that hadn't been there in weeks. She grinned and gave a little laugh before wrapping up Dende and Popo in a tight hug.
"Thank you both so much," she told them gratefully. "Gotta go!" She ran toward the edge of the Lookout as she focused on the largest ki in particular. Right as her foot went over the edge, she was gone.
OoOoOoO
Whis idly watched Vegeta and Gohan disappear into the tree line before going back to flipping through his magazine and slurping a delightfully tart slushed beverage from the planet Kankeetso.
"Heya, Whis!" Goku greeted as she suddenly appeared in front of him, causing him to suck the straw down his throat and shoot it out of his nose in shock. "Oh, jeez! You okay?"
"G… Goku!" Whis gasped, wiping his nose and checking for blood. "Wh-what are you… how did you get here?" he demanded. He was so startled that his hair had collapsed out of its perfect tower.
Goku grinned at that, proud to have caught a being as powerful as Whis off-guard. She was surprised that he was the highest ki out of all of them, honestly. "I used Instant Transmission," she said with her hands on her hips. "I was able to sense your ki!"
"But that doesn't… you shouldn't be able to…" Whis collected himself, straightened the collar of his robe, and pushed his hair back up. "Hmm, yes," he observed, taking his staff and waving it over her. "I do see that you actually have managed to cultivate some manner of God ki… entirely on your own," he hoped that Goku couldn't hear the slight hesitation in his voice since what she'd done shouldn't even be possible.
"Well, I didn't do it all on my own," Goku conceded. "I had some help from my friends. They gave me training and helped me get my head on straight."
"How nice," Whis said just a little too pleasantly. "So, what exactly are you doing here, Goku?" he asked.
"I'm here because I want to be trained," Goku said firmly.
Whis nodded, put the hand that wasn't holding his staff up to his chin… and then threw a jab at Goku. He wasn't in any sort of proper fighting form and the jab was just about as slow as he could throw it. Slow enough for Goku to know that an attack was coming but still too fast for her to do anything about it. By the time she'd made a decision on whether to duck, dodge, block, or counterattack, he'd have already struck her.
Goku powered up to Super Saiyan 3, slipped under Whis's jab, and exploded with an uppercut that impacted against Whis's ki barrier with enough force that the shockwave split the floor underneath them.
"...How did you do that?" Whis asked, fighting to hide how genuinely impressed he was.
Goku shrugged, still in Super Saiyan 3. "Iunno," she admitted. "It all just sorta happened."
That finally seemed to have Whis's attention and he regarded Goku with a slight smile. "Tell me, Goku. Why do you want me to train you? Is it just because you want to grow stronger?"
"No," Goku assured him. "I mean, I do want to get stronger. But it's not just that. Fighting Beerus, seeing what Gohan and Vegeta are capable of, it opened me up to a whole new world of power that I didn't know about before. My whole life, I've always pushed myself to my limits, always wanting to grow beyond where I am now. There's so much further to grow, so much more that I can do, than I ever realized. I want to keep moving forward to the best version of myself that I can be." She brought her hands together and bowed low in front of Whis. "I can only do that with your training."
Whis's smile broadened and he tapped the ground twice with his staff, healing the crack in the ground and signaling for her to stand up. "Very well, Son Goku," Whis said. "I will take you on as one of my students."
"Woohoo!" Goku crowed triumphantly as she leaped high into the air, pumping a fist. She hung in the air for a moment before she was struck with realization. "Oh! Be back in a sec!" Whis watched her pop out of existence with a chuckle and an amused shake of his head.
OoOoOoO
Though she missed Goku dearly, having so much extra time to herself had given Suno time to focus on her own training again. In particular, she was currently deep in focused thought about a new study of ki manipulation and control of the Odori school that she'd never tried before. She was in a real groove at the moment and if anyone interrupted her, she'd be severely cross with them.
Unless that someone was her wife, who popped into existence in front of Suno with the biggest smile that she'd ever seen. "Hu- Wha- Goku, wha-" she stammered out, completely bamboozled. Then Goku grabbed her by the face and planted a passionate kiss on her, the kind that made an audible sound when their lips parted.
"Start thinking of stuff for that date," Goku encouraged her. "I'll be back soon!" Then she was gone again.
Suno sat down heavily on their bedroom floor, her legs taken out from under her and her face bright red. She ran her finger over her lips, which were still tingling with the intensity of their kiss, and laughed. "There's my Goku," she sighed.
OoOoOoO
Gohan and Vegeta roared at one another in a charge, fists drawn back, ready to meet in an explosion of fists yet again.
Which was why they were so surprised when Goku appeared between them, doing a split that kicked them both in the face. The warriors went flying back in opposite directions and crashed into trees, holding their faces in shock.
"M-mom?!" Gohan stammered out.
"Kakarot?!" Vegeta demanded. They both noticed that she was maintaining Super Saiyan 3 without an ounce of strain. She grinned and flicked a finger under her nose.
"C'mon," she taunted them, "You didn't think you were getting rid of me that easy, did ya?! Show me what you've got!"
The duo grinned and charged forward at Goku, who met them head on. Gohan was excited to train with his mother again and happy to see her overcome her great obstacle. Vegeta hated to admit it but he had missed training with Kakarot.
Beerus sipped from his saucer of milk and watched three fighting figures emerge from the forest idly. "...Wait a minute," Beerus caught himself, "One… two…" his eyes narrowed and he threw the saucer on the ground. "Whis!" he snapped. His attendant appeared at his side in a flash. "My offer for training was extended to Vegeta and maybe Gohan! What… what is she doing here?!" he demanded, pointing a claw down to the battling Saiyans below.
Whis just smiled. "As I'm the one doing the training," he reminded Beerus, "It's ultimately my decision who receives training, Lord Beerus. Goku impressed me with both her humility and her tenacity. Why," he teased, "Does the mighty God of Destruction fear the prospect of Son Goku receiving Godly training?" Beerus scoffed.
"Don't be absurd," he huffed at Whis. "It's just an annoyance. She's an eyesore on my planet and she's going to be a colossal waste of time!" he turned and stomped back into the house, grumbling something about a lasagna. Whis just snickered to himself and turned his attention back down toward the sparring Saiyans. Yes indeed, things were going to get very interesting…