Chapter 32: Blood Over Water (Part 1)
(Just a heads up the chapter isn't as long as it seems, sorry if I got you excited. Long A/N this time.)
Destruction reigned all around them as Raditz stared down at his kneeling former commander. The later of whom's breathing was becoming more labored by the minute. As his hand clenched onto a gaping abdominal wound.
"Well get on with it. Are you with us or not." Raditz's new employer commanded from behind, as he tested the newest addition to his team.
Raditz's throat constricted slightly as he spoke, a purple ball of energy gathering in his hand. "Stand up Shizen." He ordered, as he made his decision, whether he was making the right call or not no longer matter there was no going back, back to the way it had been before, before the world he knew fell to pieces.
(Flashback)
3 weeks, 3 missions against elites, all of them victorious. Because the quality of the missions they were taking on were getting more difficult, and they were the only team proving victorious at all. Because the quality of mission was increasing, the quality of the reward was as well. The latest reward they were given was by far the most generous to date, a rich world, saved from impending destruction by Shizen and his team and sought to repay their saviors by not only meeting all of Pyros's demands but delivering a party to the base so luxurious that not even General Pyros himself could keep all the spoils to himself. It was on this night that the end of his new found life began.
Raditz laid on his triple storied cot staring up to the ceiling above him. His mind still lost in thought as it had been since that day. 'Permission for what?' He asked himself for seemingly the thousandth time. 'He already gave me permission to raze whatever worlds I would need to prepare the brat for the fight he saw. Was he just reminding me to make sure I wouldn't feel bad?'
A look of scorn appeared on his face. 'Why the hell would I feel bad about razing planets? I'm a Saiyan warrior, killing is much more my nature than protecting.' He assured himself. No matter how many times he told himself this though, he couldn't feel as if he was missing something. Or maybe just failing to read the situation correctly.
Further thought along this path was cut off though as a loud child's voice sounded like a foghorn directly in his ear. "I SAID HEY UNCLE CAN YOU HEAR ME!" Gohan asked, obviously not for the first time.
Raditz couldn't help but jerk slightly in surprise causing Gohan to laugh. His laughter at his Uncle's expense came at a price though as Raditz immediately lashed out. Swatting the floating child into the ground. "Don't yell in my ear brat!" He shouted as he jumped from his bunk. His guard unconsciously up from pushing the child too far one too many times.
Gohan bounded up rubbing his head, neither overly mad or crying like a baby like he had in when he first came into Raditz's care.
"Ow! That's mean why'd you hit me?" Gohan asked as he rubbed the lump that was already forming at the top of his head, somehow fighting back the tears that were trying to form in his eyes. It was taking considerable effort, the only reason he wasn't crying was because he knew it wouldn't fix anything. He was a warrior now, he had suffered awful injuries, injuries that would kill most people; somehow he survived them all though. It was remembering that fact that gave him the strength to strangle the tears before they could form.
Raditz slowly relaxed seeing Gohan mostly calm. "Like I said. Don't like getting hit? Then don't yell in my ears." Raditz responded his tone much calmer now.
"I tried asking you normally but you wouldn't answer. So then I yelled from over there but you still wouldn't answer so I got closer." Gohan explained in more detail than was necessary.
"Did it ever occur to you I might be busy?" Raditz continued his scolding just to prove a point.
"Well...no. You were lying so still like you were asleep and-". Seeming more like a scolded child now than the warrior he was just mentally reminding himself he was.
"Just what was so important that you couldn't wait anyway?" Raditz asked deciding the child had had enough as his eyes were now downtrodden.
"I was bored so I wanted to know if you'd play tag with me?" Gohan asked his eyes slightly hopeful, though in the back of his mind his efforts were doomed to fail from the start.
"What the hell is tag? Some kid's game?" Raditz asked, "I'm a Saiyan warrior I refuse to play kid games. Unless it is training, fighting or resting it would be a waste of time." He concluded.
Gohan thought for a moment. "You could call it training." He said with a hopefully smile.
"No." Raditz replied flatly about to climb back into his bunk.
"Why not?" Gohan asked his tone sounding just barely irritated.
"I already told you-" Gohan grabbed Raditz's tail causing the elder Saiyan to drop to the ground. With as busy as they had been the last few months he still had yet to train his tail.
"Let go!" Raditz shouted getting mad now.
"Not until you play with me." Gohan responded defiantly.
"Oh I'll play with you brat. Let go now or you'll be my punching bag the rest of the night!" Raditz snarled.
Gohan stood strong though. He knew Raditz wouldn't do that, because Gohan could fight back. "No deal." Gohan said sticking his tongue out.
Before Raditz could respond the door to their room burst open revealing the now drunk duo of Suma and Yubi.
Gohan dropped Raditz's tail at the surprise allowing the elder Saiyan to right himself, and secure his weakness firmly around his waist. 'Damn it, I let myself get lax with that.' He thought to himself before both his and Gohan's minds were suddenly assaulted by Yubi's telekinetic, drunk voice. "Come! The party is good! Entertainment has been provided!" Yubi announced with a beckoning motion of his hand. Yubi's species evolved with telekinetic powers, meaning his 'speech' sometimes didn't reflect his incredible intellect.
Additionally with his beckoning call he provided a mental picture of the 'Entertainment' the particularly rich world they had saved was providing them. He was still alert enough to limit the images to Raditz's mind only.
Raditz looked tempted. Gohan too looked excited not understanding the undertones of the conversation.'Ohhhh! I wonder if it is a movie! Or maybe a play! Or games!' A dozen other ideas rushed through the child as he was nearly bouncing with excitement.
Raditz smirked, he knew the perfect punishment for his nephew's defiance. "Brat you are ordered to stay in this room and not leave until I return. Do you understand me?" Raditz announced using his most authoritative tone.
Gohan looked horrified "Why I want to see the entertainment too!" Gohan whined pitifully revealing just how far he still had to go to be a true warrior.
Yubi's eyes widened, his mental words filling their minds. "Saiyans sure start their mating rituals young.' He wasn't sure if he was taken aback or impressed.
"Mating ritual?" Gohan asked looking puzzled.
Raditz had no inclination to explain the subject at the moment. "Doesn't matter you're not going. I'm leaving." Raditz announced as he pushed his two comrades back through the doorway kicking it shut before Gohan could complain, are ask any questions.
Gohan stared at the door pouting. "Who does he think he is?" He shouted to himself as he walked back to his bunk an irritated look on his face. "He isn't my daddy..." Gohan's eyes widened as he remember so much of the past that he had been able to push aside since coming here.
Tears began to form in his eyes as he thought of his parents. He squeezed his eyes shut, he wouldn't cry, he remembered his promise to himself, he would get stronger so no one could boss him around or hurt the ones he loved. 'Like Uncle Raditz did...'
That was when it hit him. He why should he listen to his uncle. He was the reason he was here to begin with.
Jumping to his feet Gohan made his way to the door. He would celebrate with everyone else, whether his uncle wanted him to or not.
At the far end of the base a lone figure sat in the ship he used as a home the majority of the time.
Shizen didn't like the main camp, it was far quieter in the ship; which allowed him more time to meditate. Right now he needed every second of meditation he could afford.
The future was in flux, incredible flux and Shizen suspected he knew why. Ever since he had told Raditz of Gohan's future, that very future began to slowly disintegrating away.
It was a frustrating turn of events, a frustration he had been able to avoid so far in his life, but now with the most important mission of his life on the line, the warning he had been given as a child was finally catching up with him.
It was considered a taboo to his people to attempt to change a future they saw. In their ancient traditions it was believed the power of foresight had been granted to his people so they could see the future and come to terms with it, so they could live a more prosperous and rational life.
He was told when he was young that his insistence on changing futures he didn't agree with would cause him to have to pay a great price someday.
He could see now he should've realized what his teacher was truly saying. His teacher wasn't one to break the very same sacred vow he was warning Shizen not to break for a trivial reason.
There had been so many warnings in his life, warnings he had sped past not wanting to see their true meanings for what they truly were.
Saving the life of a dear friend in his hometown had gotten him named a heretic and banished from his home world several months before he was to be mated. At the time Shizen had taken the punishment as the great price he would have to pay, it didn't matter though as his friend's life was more valuable than his own time on his home world.
It was just a year later that his world was purged and he was left as the last of his people. At the time he had figured that loneliness, the complete and utter isolation that came with knowing you were the last of your kind was the price he had been warned about so many years ago, or so he thought.
Instead of learning from his mistake though he had instead set out on this quest to give his life a meaning, certain that there was no debt greater than this he could incur. And so he took up the fight against the Planet Trade, saving the lives of many of his fellow resistance fighters over the past two plus decades.
Now though, it appeared all his efforts had been in vain, his debt had been building and now, in the end he would ultimately be reason life ended in the universe.
He had been focusing on this line of thought, trying to prompt a vision if not to tell himself what he should do, them at least to get an idea in what direction the universe was shifting.
That was when it happened, he felt the surge of images enter his mind.
Flashes of combat appeared before his eyes as warriors of several different races fell, just as they had in his previous visions. The only real difference he could notice was one warrior missing from before. He could only reach one conclusion that the universe had been officially set on a new path.
He was proven right a second later as instead of a mighty final battle unfolding before his eyes he saw Gohan fall to the titan of power even quicker than most of the others had, his appearance radically different than he had seen before, much more like the others, his aura so much weaker than it had been before. To make matters worse Raditz was nowhere to be seen. Fear gripped him as the entire universe fell into darkness.
Shizen's eyes flung open as he bounded to his feet. He had a feeling that Raditz or Gohan had just made a decision, likely resulting from his own foolish meddling, that would lead to the universe's demise.
He bounded from the ship, whatever was destined to happen he had to make sure it didn't, even if he changed the future again there was a better chance of fixing his mistake then could be otherwise expected.
He immediately noticed something was wrong as screams of terror echoed out from the base below. 'Hang in there Gohan! I'm coming!' He thought as he launched full speed toward the scene of chaos in the distance.
Raditz had followed his companions to the main part if camp, there many scantily dressed, foreign beings danced for the many exotic races of the camp.
"Now this is what I am talking about!" Raditz declared, suddenly very ready to shrug off the burden that Shizen had placed on him three weeks ago.
No sooner had he said that, that he noticed an imminent danger to his good time.
Barely a block from their current position stood another member of their squad, and the one that should least be out in a crowd of hot-tempered drunken warriors, especially unsupervised, the the very definition of a ticking time bomb, Shinga.
The sandstone colored Reptile's eyes were darting back and forth, they were the eyes of a predator eyeing his prey.
Raditz turned to Suma and Yubi who were still oblivious to the coming diaster. "Why the hell is Shinga here? Where's Shizen?" Raditz asked his tone hurried. If Shinga's mask was to come off all hell would break loose at the faintest hint of blood. Raditz sure as hell didn't want to escort the deranged dinosaur without competent backup.
"Shinga? Where?" Yubi asked confused, his 24 eyes unable to focus on anything more than a few feet from his face from the alcohol.
Raditz's words didn't even register with Suma though as the large oaf kept swaying back and forth, in danger of falling to the ground at any moment.
"Forget it. You two go find Shizen. I'll try to lure Shinga away from the base until he gets here." Raditz ordered hoping Yubi at least could stay focused in his current state.
With that the elder Saiyan took a deep breath and hurried towards his unstable ally hoping to fend off a disaster.
Gohan quickly made his way down the main road of the camp, all around him his fellow soldiers were stumbling around laughing and yelling. He had never seen anything like it in his young life.
So much happening all at once, he just wanted to see it all. So he immediately rushed forth into the crowd gathered near the center of camp, ready for all the excitement to begin.
"Shinga!" Raditz called out when he got close hoping to not take him by surprise.
"Ah...Raditz...what are you doing here..." Shinga halfheartedly asked as he continued to watch the other soldiers' movements.
"I was about to ask you the same thing. Did Shizen bring you here?" Raditz asked suspecting he knew the answer already.
Shinga seemed to shift uncomfortably for a second.
Raditz had to fight off the urge to back up defensively. Showing any sort of fear to Shinga would equate you to prey in his mind.
"No..." Shinga finally responded. "He was just sitting there, still for hours. Then I heard the noise and came here." Shinga explained hoping Raditz would understand. "I don't plan on eating them...yet..." Shinga continued to argue his case, poorly.
Just as Raditz was about to respond again the sky above the base lit up as 4 streaks of light shot across the landscape. Each moving to a separate corner of the base before colliding with the planet's surface in a meteor like explosion.
Raditz suddenly had a very bad feeling about that night. It got worse when Raditz remembered Shizen's warning about keeping Gohan alive at all costs. "Shit. Shinga follow me we gotta grab the brat and scram." He shouted leading his predatory ally through the still confused flock of fighters. He just hoped he was wrong about what was coming next.
Shizen's heart was pounding out of his chest as he rushed down the alleyway crowded with his soon to be dead comrades, he couldn't warn them though, not today. He could only focus on his main objective, finding Gohan and keeping him and Raditz alive. That had to be the key, Raditz's death somehow set up a chain reaction in the universe resulting in Gohan's failure to achieve the legendary status he had seen before.
'I can't fail!' The thought to himself driving himself onwards, they had to get off the planet immediately, after that he could only hope the universe could start to right itself. Immediately he gave up running through the crowds and took to the air just above head-height to accelerate his search.
"Alright boys, we're here. We might as well blow off some steam so have at it. It shouldn't take us too long to clear these miserable dogs out either way." Ginyu ordered grumpily as he and his men began to exit their pods. He immediately received three affirmatives through their scouters.
He looked out over the sandy camp, barely lit by the moon, and the various crude lighting systems that hung from the buildings being used as bunks for the gathered soldiers. 'Poor bastards aren't even going to know what hit 'em.' He thought to himself, mentally comparing the resistance group's arrangements with that of even the most antiquated PTO base.
He didn't stay still as he thought though, and had already closed half the distance between himself and the first buildings in the time it took for him to make his observations.
The sluggish defenders just now emerging from what he could only assume was the innermost section of the base where he had seen some sort of party or ritual being performed.
He wasted no time thinking about such trivial things though, with minimal effort the veteran mercenary had dispatched half a dozen fighters faster than the rest could follow. The next they saw of him he was still holding his latest victim in the position he had been in when his neck had been snapped.
"Alright who's next?" His malicious tone and incredible display of strength sent the rebel fighters fleeing away.
Ginyu let out a disappointed sigh. "At least show some pride, as you die." Ginyu growled at the shameful display. In the end a single small blast was all it took to vaporize the entire column of fleeing warriors.
Ginyu still look disgusted as he took off in search of someone else to kill. He had plenty of pent up rage to go around.
The latest explosion rocked the entire base hard enough that General Pyros could ignore the chaos outside no longer. Pushing his 'guests' for the night off of him he grabbed his pants and hurried outside to punish whatever drunk fools were wrecking his base.
As soon as he exited his de facto palace though he could immediately tell it wasn't simply a drunk fight. His men were scattering in all directions, screams of agony echoed across the base, mixed with the sounds of more explosions.
"Soldier, who's attacking us?" He asked physically stopping a fleeing half-dressed Reptilian fighter.
"The Planet Trade." He responded a look of terror in his eyes.
The General looked disgusted, "And you call yourselves warriors!" He boomed stopping many of the fighters in their tracks. The fear they held for their leader temporarily outweighing the fear they held for the attackers. "You all signed up for this line of work did you not?" His voice continued to boom. "You signed up to fight the Planet Trade, to avenge your families; your people; your planets!" His gaze cutting through his men like a buzz-saw as he continued. "If you run here, a fight we can win, how can you ever look those we've lost in the eyes again when we reach the other side?" It was time for his big finish. "I call on you, my brothers in arms, do not let fear sway your hearts, rise up, rise up and help me crush the plague attacking our home!" A great cheer echoed through the alley as his men felt their confidence surge. "Now then show me our enemies." Pyros finished with a smirk to his men's continued cheers.
A voice suddenly called from the back, "An inspiring speech, for sure. But let's see if you can back up your brave talk after you fight me, Burter, blue hurricane of the Ginyu Force." Burter said nonchalantly pushing his way through the swath of weakling soldiers now crowded around their leader.
Pyros face remained steady, on the inside though his mind was already thinking of escape routes if this new arrivals claims ended up being true. The Ginyu force was one of the few fighting forces in the universe he actually feared. He had hoped to avoid facing them until he had united all of the resistance groups, as things stood right now he was the only fighter who could even hope to survive a fight against even one of the legendary fighters, let alone the entire squad. "Well then, I guess we'll have to see if you Ginyu dogs live up to your reputation." He confidently boasted as his men cleared the path between the two titans about to throw down, with a bravado he didn't feel.
In a flash they had collided, to the many low leveled fighters looking on it appeared that each fighter landed a single blow to the other's face knocking each of them back. But the sound itself revealed much more about the skirmish that had unfolded as each fighter landed threw at least a dozen attacks in that fraction of a second. Unfortunately the gap between the two combatant's power had also been revealed to them both in that instant, as General Pyros had only managed to land one attack, the final blow to Burter's face, to Burter's ten on-target attacks.
Pyros though knew his men had no idea what had happened though as they cheered on triumphantly as if Pyros was Burter's equal. This misunderstanding of the situation gave Pyros an idea.
He rose to his feet facing the already standing Burter who couldn't help but hide his amused smirk, the Blue Hurricane was more than ready for this fight, he hadn't had anything even approaching an even match since the near disaster on Planet Namek. "Men! Join me in this fight so we can save your brothers in arms! Between all of us he cannot hope to win! Attack him now at once!" Pyros suddenly declared, his mostly drunken men completely buying into his logic rushed forward with the expectation of Pyros's power protecting them.
They were wrong, as soon as they launched their attacks towards Burter, Pyros did the only thing he could think of at the moment, firing one massive shot right at the blue elite, and rushing back into his palace.
He wasted no time with the harem he had amassed inside, instead he dove into the underground tunnels he had constructed beneath his home, faster than anyone in the room could follow.
Now safe underground he dropped his power level as low as he could manage and hurriedly made his way down the tunnel heading towards the secondary hanger base, his one chance of escape.
Raditz burst into the team's bunks, only to find the completely deserted. "Shit! I told the brat to sta-" the rest of his sentence was cut off by Shizen who literally punched through the outer wall of their room, not taking the time to go around to the door.
"Raditz, good I found you. Wait, where is he?" He asked frantically a look of worry etched into his face. Yubi and Suma could be seen behind him, confused about the whole situation.
Raditz's mouth couldn't work for a moment. Had he really failed this badly this early into his mission? The fear on Shizen's face was telling him exactly that.
Shizen didn't even need an answer at that point. It was all too clear. "We have to find him and get off this planet now. Move it." Shizen ordered as he rushed from the room, Raditz and a very confused trio following closely behind.
Explosions rang out all around him but Gohan couldn't move, nor could he care at the moment. His body was thrashed, caught in a massive explosion some minutes ago. He was just now coming to.
All around him, where the warriors he had fought beside for the last few months had once stood only ashes remained.
Gohan let out a quiet whimper as he tried to move the pile of debris that now covered his body. He could barely remember what had happened to lead him to be in this predicament. The last he remembered was a deep voice yelling "Eraser gun!" A bright light sweeping in towards him, completely enveloping everyone around him, and then just darkness.
"Hey!" A joyous voice shouted like a giant child finding a coin on the ground. "My scouter was right. There was someone strong enough to survive my attack ha!" The deep voice bellowed as it approached the still immobile Gohan.
Suddenly the pressure on Gohan's chest increased causing the child to let out a pain yelp as the air was forced from his lungs.
"Uh oops!" The Recoome said as he realized he was standing on Gohan.
"Found ya!" The giant shouted before grasping Gohan by his hair and pulling him from the rubble. "You're a puny one aren't ya?" He boomed as Gohan whimpered in pain.
"Darn looks like my Eraser gun took all the fight out of ya. If I had known you were there I would've played with ya a bit before blasting you." Recoome explained as if it made a difference.
"Oh well I guess I'll finish ya now and find someone else to play with." Recoome said as he cocked back his arm for the finishing hay-maker.
Gohan could barely keep one eye open to see the attack that would without a doubt end his life. He was completely drained, unable to even try and draw upon the reserve of power that had saved his life, and the lives of his teammates so many times.
"Bye, bye" Recoome said as his fist launched forward only for his attack to stop mid swing and the brute cry out in agony as a powerful acid began to eat into his arm just above his wrist..
He immediately dropped Gohan from the surprised pain, as he used his Ki to vaporize the caustic substance on his arm. In the brief second it had sat there the liquid had already eaten through his glove and begun to burn into his skin.
"Who did that?" The brute's voice boomed as he fired a blast at a random building, not even noticing his scouter had disappeared in the same instant his arm came under attack.
Behind a nearby building the final part of a hastily developed plan were taking shape. Yubi, using Suma as a sort of living battery directed his psychic powers to trap Recoome in a twisted fantasy world as he had done to so many other victims throughout the years.
Unfortunately in his intoxicated state, the best he could manage was to cause the world to seemingly tilt beneath the brute's feet, causing him to lose his balance and hit the ground.
Shizen quickly latched onto Yubi, using his own power to temporarily block his fellow psychic's intoxication induced handicap. Working together, with the time that Shinga's acid attack had bought them, they constructed the perfect mental trap for Recoome.
As the Orange warrior rose to his feet, he found himself in an entirely new world. Large trees surrounded him on all sides, each one filled with various aboriginal predators from Yubi's home world.
"What? You guys think you're tough?" Recoome shouted out to the sky as Raditz made a dash behind him to pick up Gohan's limp form.
The elder Saiyan didn't even bother to stop when he reached Gohan, he simply scooped him up and took off back towards his team as fast as his legs could carry him. Hoping to be gone before Recoome, who was now wrestling with the thin air realized what had happened.
With a quick nod Suma rose, wobbly, with Yubi and Shizen both still latched onto his back and together the group hastily made their way away from the suddenly very confused Recoome. Yubi's psychic ability being utilized as a sort of camouflage to anyone near them as they hurriedly made their way back to the ship.
When they arrived at the secondary launch pad, the group let out a collective sigh of relief, dropping their psychic guard just as they extended the ship's boarding ramp.
"Running away without me?" Pyros's voice rang out from behind them.
All of the fighters froze seeing the General eyeing them suspiciously, each wondering if the madman was about to finally kill them outright since he had sent them on so many suicide missions over the last couple of years for the veterans, and the last few months for the Saiyans.
General Pyros surprised them all though with what he said next. "Well don't just stand there gawking! Get this ship in the air now, we need to get out of here so we can seize on our remaining momentum from today as soon as possible." He ordered.
Although the fighters did as commanded, they couldn't help but think in the back of their minds, 'What momentum?' They knew better to ask the question out loud though since it appeared they were to survive today either way.
"Raditz take the pilot's chair. Yubi and I will continue to disguise our ship till we're in orbit." Shizen ordered.
"Yes sir." Was the only response
Pyros sat in the captain's chair looking distracted his mind lost in some far off corner of himself. 'Good...Good...some of my elite's survived. I will be able to sell this, surviving an attack from the Ginyu Force. We'll rebuild our army stronger than before...someplace further away from the border. Then I claim my rightful title as King of the Galaxy.' A deranged smile spread across the General's face as they left the atmosphere.
"Anyplace in particular you want to go sir?" Shizen asked, knowing better than to guess where the General wanted to go.
"Find a planet a few systems from here to go into orbit for a couple of days, I have some contacts I need to talk to before we decide where to go next." Pyros ordered with a wave of his hand.
"Very well sire.' Shizen responded, giving Raditz a nod to follow the order.
With that the ship took off towards the nearest system. Shizen wouldn't know it at the time but his actions had definitely shifted the future once more.
It became evident to him three days later when a new vision happened, its results left the psychic in a cold sweat. Fate had shifted again, before he could even hope to act Pyros burst into the main cabin in which the soldiers had been staying a bright smile on his face. "Good news, I booked us a nice easy job to get some supplies before we set out in search of a new base of operation. Most of my contacts wouldn't speak to me as they were too busy sucking up to the Planet Trade now that the Ginyu force is on the scene, but one planet did offer us a job. I guess they are concerned about some mysterious force taking out planets in a region. We should be able to handle it just fine though." Pyros said with a voice of utmost confidence. He then proceeded to hand over the directions to their new job. With that the universe's new path had been decided. Shizen could only hope it was the right direction.
(To be continued)
Hey everyone the flashback ended up being longer than expected so I cut it up between the two final Gohan chapters of the series of mini arcs.
Before I get to far into the author's note I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed this last chapter, Culture Shock has had 40 reviews since I last posted, which just blows my mind. I can't thank you guys enough for all that feedback. Especially T51b Moridin who went through and reviewed every chapter. I had a blast reading your thoughts on the story as you progressed through it.
Anyway thanks to everyone's last batch of reviews we're just two short of 200, barely 3 months after first breaking 100 reviews. Absolutely amazing!
Anyway back to the normal author's note, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, the next one especially will be an important one.
Now for the reviews.
Reviews:
anonymous-
t seems forever sijce the last update but well it is totally understandable and the chapter was good
So vegeta is in search for raditz and gohan
Goku is in search for raditz and gohan
There is goong to be a superpowered enemy coming who the kannassan believes can be defeated by gohan only(though I doubt the other warriors he mentioned were earthlings, they are tonnes stronger than gohan and I don't think the gap is going to be bridged anytime in the next few years even though he is brought back home in the next few months(after all he did not become a ssj before goin to the HTC and it always seemed unfair that he got ssj2 less than a year later when goku and vegeta did nt even have an inkling while training for three years)
So I suppose that monster could be buu, or maybe hirudegarn(if u include him) or some other OC villain
Also are they going to be crossing paths with goku, vegeta and nappa soon now? Seeing as goku is jumping all over the galaxy to get to him
Update soon
P.s. could not complete my review last time so yeah
Glad you enjoyed it, and I am sorry it took me so long to update last time. I think I did a bit better this time though. Yeah there will be a massive battle eventually, when it is coming though I cannot say. It was kinda unfair he got ssj2 when the other's didn't have a hint of it, but I think that Gohan was being set up to take the mantle of protector of the Earth from his father and then Toryima changed his mind. As for who the monster could be there are several possible candidates, you actually didn't mention one of the ones I figured most people might think it is. As for if he is meeting up with Goku or Vegeta soon, I can't reveal that it is part of the fun. From the small paragraph at the beginning of this chapter I think you'll see the group ran into someone new at least.
wheathermangohanssj4-
Okay nice bit of foreshadowing and set up.
Also I have since looked into it and it is in fact stated in chapter 125 of the Dragonball Z manga, yes DBZ because I have the physical book that I've looked this up it is marked as Dragball Z with numbering starting with Raditz. that the one year time limit is only in cases where groups of people are being brought back to life, it is the scene with Kami and King Kai talking.
And also according the DBZ wiki, which I can only assume go it's dates from the officall dragonbal Z timeline printed by Jump because that has it's own page on the sight, Goku was dead for 13 months.
Now this might of been pointless in the original series since they never tired to revive someone dead for more then that time, except for EVERYONE revived by the Namekian dragonballs not being limited to the Namekian year. However I feel that it does matter in this story, because I really want to have Nappa reunited with his wife and kid who are most defiantly dead. I feel the Nappa of this story deserves that.
Now I'm going to apologize for using the last couple of reviews on this point. I've just been loosing an argument on what I feel might be the stupidest part of fanon/cannon, the dragon being unable to revive someone killed by a desiese when there are other, better excuses for why the didn't wish Goku back to life in the Marai timline. I just needed this victory against fanon because I AM right about it. The Dragon CAN revive someone who's been dead for more then a year.
Glad you liked last chapter. Ok the 1 year time limit for groups being brought back makes sense. For some reason I was thinking that in the dragon ball show someone said something about a 1 year time limit for anyone being brought back but it has been awhile since I've seen normal dragon ball instead of dbz. Nappa's family will show up at some point in the story, I haven't completely finalized the role they take in it though. It is still a ways off. As for the Namekian dragon balls, I've always assumed they have their own set of rules completely different than the Earth's dragon balls have. Anyway glad we have the wish thing cleared up though, thanks for looking all that up, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
yes that one.
alright I'm going to say this, because I've been meaning to for several chapter and just kept forgetting
I think that everyone, baring maybe Gohan, should become a Super Sayain before Vegeta.
Yes I'm including Radtiz in this.
Vegeta not getting the transformation just because he thinks he deserse it is something too good from the series too change, I feel, and would have even more of an impact when people like Nappa and Raditz get it before him. People who he's been stronger then for literally all his life.
Now some might think it would take series power grinding to make vegeta
sorry accidently posted
Now some might think it would take series power grinding to make vegeta Raditz have the power needed to go super sayain that's not completely true. He'd just need to match Ginyu power and be at least 100,000, granted still a big leap from where he is but not as absurd as the 1,000,000 you've establish as the minimum to go SSJ. So If Raditz gets 100,000 then goes great Ape 1,000,000 he could then go super sayian, and would also explain why when He started getting to that power level that Vegeta thought he and goku were super sayians. And also why when it's brought up that old super sayain could only maintain the transformation when already transformed.
That would definitely add an interesting dynamic to the story. All valid points for Raditz, it very much would be doable, he would need a stress though, something that causes the emotional trigger needed to break down that barrier. In a lot of ways that is the harder part of the equation for the Saiyans to find. I guess we'll have to see how it plays out in the coming chapters.
RKF22-
Awesome work can't wait for more
I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
Son of Whitebeard-
good to see characterization on Chioatzu
I do try to keep everyone canonish if there isn't something that causes a change lol.
super mystic gohan-
Arhh don't have yamcha get beaten or not training to hard and I like the fact radits and gohan are still fairly weak but hoppfully they make leaps in power soon because everyone made big leaps on namake also turles is coming into play yea ;) aha
He'll train harder than he does in the show for sure, I mean he did suffer through Piccolo's training after all so i figure that would increase his work ethic some at least. Probably still not on par with Tien or Chi Chi. As for Raditz and Gohan being fairly week still I like the dynamic it adds to the story since everyone else's powerlevels got strapped to rockets starting in the Namek saga. Yup Turles will make an appearance soon.
T51b Moridin
I am going to keep my responses to alot of your reviews as short as I can unless I deem something necessary just so it doesn't keep me from posting the chapter tonight. If you feel like I didn't answer a question or concern of yours adequantely please let me know and I will be glad to go over a point in more detail either in the next A/n or by private message.
1. Interseting idea. To have the whole world involved in stopping the threat instead of just a few fighters like before. Its a smart move.
Yeah this was part of DBZ I never understood. The Idea that they would take on the burden of protecting the world entirely on their backs and not give everyone else a chance to prepare as well.
2. Oho. That was interesting. I like it. I like the whole idea quite a bit. Now everything won't be only relying on goku all the time.
That was a fun chapter to write, glad you enjoyed it :).
3. Haha someone arrived and showed them what for it meant to be a real warrior.
It would definitely be a shock to go from believing yourself unbeatable to being beaten by Chi Chi as bad as he did. A bit of a earth shattering discovery lol.
4. Man a stronger Master roshi is something I am looking forward to seeing. Flying outta be easy once he gets the trick of it.
Yeah he was an underused character in DBZ I felt like
5. Hm. I'm curious if Vegeta will realize what he said is a really powerful reason for gaining power instead of the weakling reason he normally has. The reason he gave the boy is one that could end dimensions.
It would be a very good reason, in fact that one conversation will continue to shape Gohan's thoughts throughout most if not all of the story. Whether Vegeta will come to understand the truth he unintentionally told Gohan though is questionable. I mean in a way that is a perverse version of the logic I feel like drives the heros of the show, Goku, Tien etc. They want to be strong enough to defeat their allies during their spars but at the same time strong enough to protect those they love when the time comes.
6. Demon school of training will do them worlds of good. I'm very glad for the much better planned resistance this time. The blue force is especially cool as well and they have become better men for it. I worry for those influenced by the crane school of martial arts since the master and mercenary tao are not the most well known for being good people.
I'm glad the character development I tried to give them is showing through. I like the Blue Force as well, although I feel like I have only given 2 of them real personalities now that I think about it lol. Also yeah the Crane School isn't the best influence on anyone.
7. Wow. So Gohan is being turned into the fighter he needs to be and Frieza is intending to kill Vegeta by the end here when he fails to meet his quota that was made far too high. And now it seems the earth will have little chance since vegeta won't be fucking around this time. Plus Dodoria and friends will be there too. Great. I'm curious to see what this does to Gohan in the end. I suspect he will either turn out worse than Frieza becoming something which makes men asphyxiate just by thinking about him or will become a jaded person from long term enslavement.
Yeah Gohan is definitely going through a transformation, I still can't really let anyone in on what his final personality will be like yet though.
8. Ah right. Well it looks like Dodoria will have an easy time. Or will he? Considering the androids just sent out. I"m curious to know what those androids power is at. If i recall the way they are made is to be able to absorb each other to gain multiplicative power growth meaning they could potentially depending on their base power individually be strong enough to defeat even Zarbon in his transformed state.
In case you didn't see the power levels I listed for on the next chapter they are each about 15,000. They aren't able to absorb one another's strength but basically they are two bodies sharing one computer. They know each other's moves before they do it giving themselves the perfect partner in their fight.
9. Heh. Vegeta lost his tail losing his pride. Funny. He will lose so much honor now. And Nappa is about to hit 10 x whatever his energy is at now I guess. Almost a shame Vegeta failed but then again it would have left other problems. Also, unless its a Dr. Gero Android Frieza I doubt Frieza would get much stronger than his original power. In fact it would likely be around 180,000,000 when he came to earth and was killed by trunks. I'd be curious to see what his fathers power is if his father's second form left him at equal to his sons organic final super buff form which was like 155million meaning King Cold should be like ...wow close to 1 billion considering the multiplication of their power per form. And Cooler was only at around 200-250 million in his special fifth form. I can see why they had King Cold killed so fast otherwise his power up woulda been something stupidly powerful.
Yeah I think the review you are talking about was a Dr. Gero made android Frieza. I think Cyber Frieza is probably around 130,000,000 tops, I list his organic max at 120,000,000ish. I've always felt like Frieza was back at his resting strength when he arrives on Earth so like 2.5% of his max or whatever it was. So his father's 2nd form would be about equal to that, which is roughly 3 million or so. So carrying that through his 4th form would be somewhere between 360,000,000 and 380,000,000 I believe.
10. Goku is so many levels of pussy. You don't have mercy on your enemies. Sigh. I really hate his stupidity. At least you managed to capture his behavior here. I can already tell gohan will surpass his father in both power and the ability to actually kill his opponents.
Yeah I tried to keep it a scene that canon Goku could be seen doing.
11. I'm glad to see Gohan changing. Its a necessary thing to make him a really awesome character. I note that the basic emotional issues that humans have seems to have a large effect on the saiyan blood which is why anger and rage can empower the half saiyans so much. I"m thinking that goku would be much stronger if he could truly experience real anger like he did in the namek arc. Unfortunately this is goku and the chance of him killing as he should is par none. Sigh I just want Goku to realize that sometimes ya gotta kill your enemies.
Goku may evolve a bit in Culture shock since his experiences would be different than those shared by his canon counterpart how much they evolve I can't say yet.
12. woah major change. It even went so far as to crush Hercules stupidity before it could even begin. And prevent him from doing his whole series of retardation later and then using buu to win multiple tournaments later too. Good stuff. I like this shift in things. The whole earth being made aware. I think another important thing would be to use the tech from the balls to try to advance earths technology as much as possible. I figure they could set up world defense arrays and anti super enemy weaponry. I'm sure not even ki could stop a molecular destruction bomb.
Yeah canon Hercule pisses me off lol. I also am fond of an Earth where everyone is aware, it'll make it funner to write later on. Since Ki is every the molecular destruction weapon would first have to peirce the ki shield of the opponent, not impossible but would be very difficult for tough adversaries.
13. Hm. I'm surprised that no one has thought to hand some beans over to Dr Briefs for mass production and genetic manipulation to make them grow faster.
That would be an interesting idea, I'm not sure if that would be possible though. The beans themselves are magical in origin so I think there are set rules that have to be met for them to grow.
14. Glad to see you taking the Kaioken seriously. I noted Piccolo taking it further and am happy to note that. The Kaioken always had so much potentially as it can technically be infinite times stronger. Meaning a human with the requisite power level in base form could potentially match a Super Saiyan with a x50 or higher Kaioken. Just requires the body training to become used to the greater force within the body bit by bit. I figure should they train enough they will get to the hundreds of multiplier for Kaioken.
Yeah Kaioken had a ton of potential in the show, and after Ssj was introduced it was completely abandoned which sucked. I'm sure you already saw this by now but I am using the idea that Super Saiyan is a well of untapped energy instead of a multiplier, so technically it would be possible for a Saiyan to use Kaioken and be stronger than a Super Saiyan given a specific set of circumstances. I do believe their are limits to how far you can take Kaioken though, eventually it just turns you into a human bomb.
15. Somewhat interesting changes. One thing I'm most glad for is the unlocking of Bulma's potential. THe increase in her scientific might will allow for some ingenious planetary and even solar system defence grids to be set up for the earth.
Bulma's potential unlock will come into play in the upcoming arcs for sure.
16. I like Bardock. A mass murderer like all the rest but at least he was willing to do what no other would. Though honestly training endlessly in secret would have been better. Or just getting Broly out of his father's hands. Hm thats another event that I'm curious about. How will they deal with broly? Kick his ass super hard or somehow recruit him or have many die to him. Plus its funny because broly's father could have helped defend vegeta but chose to leave to make his own kingdom. Always the crazies. Another interesting thing. How can everyone speak the same language but the reading language they have is totally different even across the galaxy? Universal Translator in play? lol.
Yeah the language thing is kinda tricky, I at least have it so there are translators in the scouters, but also there is sort of a universal language for a lot of species too, which just so happens to be the dominant language of Earth as well lol. Broly is going to be fun when he shows up, very fun. Bardock is one of my favorites as well, he's up there with Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien etc.
17. That was really cool. Nappa did some work there. I liked how that ended overall. I was hoping Goku would get the potential unlocked. It would certainly speed up his power gains. He seriously needs it.
Yup, I have to give Nappa some wins too since he is a major player in this story.
18. Goku...so many levels of stupid. Why he couldn't just insta kill the ginyu force, vegeta, and nappa with his superior speed and power then go and feed the sensu beans to his friends and wife. Ah well. And then in his fight with Frieza instead of using the underestimating frieza was doing to go Kaioken x7 like he said and insta kill frieza he lets frieza transform...sigh. Ya know i'm not surprised. I'm glad that your keeping him so close to his real happy go lucky retard personality as it makes his interactions interesting if not completely annoying haha. As for Gohan I can only hope he will not regress to his weak state after meeting daddy again.
That would be the route that would make the most sense for Goku to take, but what would be the fun in that (For me and Goku lol). He does love a challenge after all. Gohan is diverging from his canon state so far. Vegeta's words will continue to influence him for a long time to come. Besides he's already done and seen so many horrors, it'd be hard for anyone to just shrug off.
19. Man he almost broke the barrier. Shame he probably wasted all his senzu beans and is likely unable to even move an arm to eat one. If he could he might be able to finally break through. Well I can see it won't be that easy this time. Plus unless he gives into true rage hate and anger he won't be able to become a super saiyan anyways. I know he did it in canon kinda but he still failed to kill frieza even then so I'm not holding my hopes up. Maybe you will teach goku a lesson in pointless mercy here.
Yeah he was out of Senzu beans at this point, plus he was pretty much dead at this point.
20. Maybe now Goku won't be a litle bitch. Dreams are free I guess.
They are and sometimes they come true, whether this one does though we'll have to wait and see.
21. lol I havn't seen anyone do Potential unlock in any form for Goku let alone Piccolo before. I'd be curious to see a full Potential Unlocked for both. I'd guess it would be double that number letting goku match frieza with his x15 kaioken. In fact I wonder if he could somehow get a chance for one more zenkai to finally get to that point. Meh would still be badass as fuck if they somehow finished getting their potential unlocked.
I've never seen another story do that either, which just made me more excited for that idea when I came up with it. I was thinking there is some sort of barrier in power of the base form though that Goku would reach before he could reach that level. Kinda like how Goku, Vegeta, Trunks etc hit a wall in the hyperbolic time chamber.
22. Oh yeah. This is heating up. Still Goku doesn't remember the fount of power he had almost tapped before his sudden stabbing.
Almost dying can mess with your memory of things I am sure. Besides Goku is the kind of character who would probably forget it either way, i.e. not realizing Gohan's potential in the first episode of DBZ when he somehow gets on the branch way above the water fall.
23. And who survived the last attack. I feel like if Goku isn't the super saiyan at this point its gonna be quite odd considering his power level already being so high.
I definitely like to add suspense to my story as I am sure you've already noticed lol.
24. Woah. This goku's super saiyan form is as powerful as the androids you mentioned. He could currently go toe to toe with android 17 and 18. I recall yous stating their power was at 250mill. Goku's, if i'm doing the math right, would but 5mill times 50 for ssj equaling 250mil. But his severe injuries make this a real fight while otherwise he would have insta dominated. Goku needs to learn to accept he rage. The faggot killed his wife and he still wants to play soft ball.
Sorry I probably neglected to mention this before but I am using Super Saiyan as a kind of almost uniform well of energy that is released when you access it. You can train it up similarly to how Goku and Gohan created their mastered Ssj transformation in the hyperbolic time chamber but I am keeping the gains of the base form and ssj form seperate. Additionally yes his injuries do limit how much power he can access at any given time.
25. Woo that was crazy. Goku and Vegeta almost achieved super saiyan simultaneously. If they had I wonder oh I wonder. I feel like it woulda been highly interesting if they had achieved i at the same time. If goku's scream of raw rage had spurred on Vegeta's transformation further and caused it to complete. Once again Goku didn't properly finish his enemy. This will come back to bite him as usual. Love Chichi kicking ass in the Check in station. I'm glad the wish was different this time. Also, it helps nappa didn't die to self destruction or whatever it was in canon. I'm glad you also remembered about all the other living beings in the Galaxy that would come back to life with such a wish. Good forethought. I'm curious if Kami actually ups his power level will it up the power of the wishes the dragon can make? Meaning that wish for all people to be revived would work since more power is behind the dragon. Oh another interesting point. With Cell stuff coming up with gohan not there will they be able to use the feelings that Vegeta has been feeling to make him a man who sees family as more important? And finally will Goku finally consciously kill his enemy since it will need to be he who kills Cell instead of letting himself die and Gohan get the fight. Always thought he was a retard for letting himself die there. Coulda just insulted the shit outta him to enrage him instead.
I was seriously considering a double super Saiyan for a few days, but I figured out something more fun to do with Vegeta's ascension. Chi Chi is a fun character to write, especially in this story. Kami's power level won't affect the dragon's ability much, if his magic got stronger it might though. The gains he got from running snake way are minimal right now but will be important later on. Vegeta's character will diverge some from cannon as well, additionally the Cell saga is going to be a ride in this story for sure. I am pretty excited to write it, but there is an arc I am more excited for coming before that :).
26. Well these two are having some troubles. Raditz and Gohan don't have knowledge of what went down on Namek so there is no way to understand their apparent safety should they go to earth. Kinda sad really.
Yeah I definitely feel like it adds to the story overall. More time to develop Gohan and Raditz.
27. I'm looking forward to all the zenkais that will be needed to help Raditz and GOhan start catching up. They are behind by the millions and in the case of Vegeta and goku the 100's of millions.
Don't forget Nappa too who got the bonus from coming back from the dead.
28. highly interesting once again. I'm really liking the way this is turning out. They traded one jerk ruler for another. But on the other hand 37k is a much easier number to get to and kill than 530k to 150mil. Gotta say if Frieza had not been beaten then the entire resistance would be gone right now. Just in his first form he was stronger than most. Kinda crazy that there are so few super powers in comparison to what the show makes you think sometimes.
Yeah I feel like the show kinda failed to show the true depth of the universe really at all. I mean the Ginyu's were considered some of the most powerful fighters in the universe when they appeared after all. Dodoria and Zarbon were fighters feared around the entire galaxy etc. Also yeah had to give Gohan and Raditz an easier target to aim for.
29. Was that who I think it was? The character that was locked in the nega zone in one of the movies? Thats fucked up that he got a free power up. What a n****.
I think you had the wrong character there, the one you are thinking of will appear soon though.
30. Haha loved it. He thought he was people then got his ass handed to him. Good thing Piccolo didn't have more power though otherwise it would have been pretty bad.
Your 'He thought he was people' comment made me actually laugh out loud the first time I read it. That was awesome lol. Yeah I had to give Slug some sort of power up that made things interesting.
31. Cool as heck. Stuff is moving right along. And the tree of might event is going on. I'm curious if Goku could show them they don't need the tree of might to gain power. Also it helps he killed frieza. Sadly I think he will need to kill Turles if he refuses as such beings are simply too dangerous.
(Frieza isn't dead) I only am putting that here because I think i dropped that in the story chapter 28 I believe. It was kinda subtle but I think i had a member of the Armored Squadren say something about that. It'll be interesting if you are proven right.
Before I move on I just wanted to thank you again for your reviews, that made my night watching a new review come in every 30 minutes for hour after hour. Like I said before if you feel like I didn't answer a concern you raised somewhere just let me know. I hope I can continue to live up to the expectations you have for this story.
Guest- great story very good.
Glad you enjoyed it I hope you continue to enjoy it in the future.
Alright everyone, if any of you read all the way down here I am calling it a night. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and sorry the A/N this time was just 150 words shorter than the actual body of the chapter.