The Three Legendary Saiyans

Chapter 21: God Ki Training: The Forest of Terror

Several hours past before Raijin saw anyone again; Ewan had quickly arrived via the underground train connecting Capsule Corp and The Research Laboratory and rushed towards Bulma's Lab in an excited hurry at the prospect of rebuilding Cell's Time Machine and repurpose it for Future-Trunks.

Future-Trunks had been out visiting Gohan and Videl for hours; figuring that Gohan must have talked Future-Trunks into staying for a meal and/or playing with their new-born daughter Pan, though Raijin could imagine Future-Trunks reaction to meeting 18 again after all the years he'd been gone.

Trunks along with Goten, Mai, Pilaf and Shu had all vanished into the city; Raijin figured the little gang would be at either the ice cream parlour or the arcade, though Raijin didn't mind what they did since repairing his relationship with his son.

The sun was finally setting when Goku, Beerus and Whis returned from The Tenth Universe, Goku scratching at his head and complaining about not getting to finish his fight with somebody by the name of Zamasu; Beerus again radiated with a threatening purple energy to shut Goku up.

"Long trip? Seems like The Tenth Universe must be quite the nice place" Raijin raised an eyebrow upon locking eyes with Goku; remarking on how they'd been gone for the entire day.

"Ahh Raijin; so good to see you waited for us" Whis spoke with a smirk; his head tilting backwards upon gazing at Raijin; noting that Raijin was wearing his white training gi in preparation for the training Whis had in store for him.

"It was a poorly handled matter… no thanks to this idiotic Saiyan" Beerus spoke while scratching at the inside of his ears; only one of his yellow eyes glaring in Goku's direction with the other eye narrowed on Raijin.

"Hey Beerus… that's not very nice" Goku immediately disregarded Raijin's comments and turned his attention to Beerus; frowning towards The Destroyer God after his disrespectful attitude towards another Supreme Kai and Apprentice Kai.

"You said somebody there had energy that was similar to that of Black's …did you find this individual?" Raijin enquired; curious about the reason for their excursion to The Tenth Universe and meeting with Gowasu: that Universe's Supreme Kai.

"Yes; but he was not what we were expecting" Beerus lamented; sighing in exasperation at what felt like a wasted trip and a waste of the day when he could have been sampling more of Earth's delectable foods.

"Oh? So who was he? Is this is Zamasu?" Raijin slightly tilted his head while speaking; enquiring again on The Apprentice Kai named Zamasu and his supposed connection to Black.

"It is no longer our concern; what is… is your training Raijin; and I am most eager to begin" Whis shook his left hand to disregard the issue of Black's and Zamasu's connection; his right hand gripping his staff as Whis' enigmatic smile lit up his face once again upon giving his attention to Raijin.

"As am I! I want to be trained just like Goku and Vegeta were!" Raijin threw a left handed punch into his right palm; a wave of energy unwillingly surging out of him in his moment of confidence and eagerness to be trained in the usage of God Ki.

"I'm afraid their training does not suit you; I have something different planned for you" Whis spoke through a slight chuckle; dismissing the sudden wave of Raijin's energy though Beerus looked agitated at the idea of training a third Saiyan in using God Ki.

"What do you mean?" Raijin's confident expression faltered as he spoke; realising that not only would he not be trained like Goku and Vegeta were; but his training would be vastly different.

"You'd already succeeded in containing your energy when you ascended to your Super Saiyan 4; I plan on drawing out your God Ki by using a very particular method"

"And how are we going to do that?" Raijin felt an urge to enquire on Whis' methods; his brow slightly furrowing in irritation when he'd been desperate to discover what training Goku and Vegeta had done to achieve their Super Saiyan Blue Forms.

"In a very special place" Whis spoke, his enigmatic smile giving nothing away as he tapped his Staff on the ground twice; a blinding flash of light practically blinding Raijin when the three of them instantly transported to a separate plane of existence.

Raijin blinked out the black spots in his vision after such a blinding flash Whis had practically blinded him with; rubbing at his eyes until his vision readjusted only to find himself standing alongside Whis and Beerus inside of a pitch-black forest; purple and leafless tree trunks surrounded the three of them while the ground they stood on was as red as blood.

"Welcome to The Forest of Terror; we stand in a realm in-between The Living World and The Otherworld, the old man… Roshi sent Goku and that Krillin-person here once to gather the rare Paradise Herb; the experience proved most beneficial to them both" Beerus briefly explained; struggling to recall the names of anyone other than the Saiyans or Bulma.

"So what do I have to do here?" Raijin looked around at the hauntingly dark environment; feeling a cold shiver run down his spine as well as a feeling like dozens of cold and clammy hands were picking at his brain.

"Survive… for a full twenty-four hours" Beerus spoke with a hauntingly low voice; his yellow eyes and maw both leering and sneering at Raijin as if The Destroyer God expected to either never see him again or find his cold terrified corpse laying in the dirt by the time they returned.

Raijin instinctively raised his left arm to cover his eyes as Whis and Beerus vanished with another white flash of light; their method of travel was far different to Goku's Instant Transmission or Shin's Instantaneous Movement but for a Destroyer God's attendant; it was fitting.

Turning his attention to the densely-packed forest; the dead trees extending out for as far as the eye could see; the dirt under his feet didn't have so much as a footprint from either Whis or Beerus, Raijin reached out with his left hand and created a single orb from his energy; lighting the little clearing he stood in and waited for whatever would come to come.

An hour passed and Raijin waited; waited and waited for something to happen or a trial to present itself, thinking that was the trial just to stand in this haunting forest with only his mind to play tricks on him for a full day or was there really something here?.

Throughout the second hour Raijin felt the cold feeling of hands clawing at his brain cease; only the icy air within the forest blew between the dead-looking purple trees until a single shadow cast its figure within the radius of Raijin's light orb, Raijin quickly turned to face the shadow as the figure kept taking steps towards him; stepping into the light and revealing himself to be none other than Vegeta, though Vegeta was wearing the same battle-damaged armour he'd been wearing when the two rivals first met and fiercely fought together back on Planet Namek.

"Vegeta; you scared me… what are you doing here? And what's with the damaged armour" Raijin felt relieved to see a familiar face after nearly two hours of standing alone in this dimension; thought felt a little unnerved by the murderous look in Vegeta's eyes.

"Shut up you backwater Saiyan" Vegeta immediately barked; raising his hands and showing Raijin the Namekian blood that coated his gloves, a sight that forced Raijin into recalled the feelings of frustration and guilt for the Namekian lives lost to Vegeta's own hand.

"You haven't called me that since… Namek" Raijin's hands curled into fists as he spoke; his knees slightly bending in preparation to charge and beat down Vegeta for his actions.

"Yes; and it was on Namek… where you also failed to save that dear friend of yours from me" rang out a voice that Raijin never wanted to hear again during his living lifetime; the voice of Frieza.

"Frieza?! No… you died at Vegeta's hand" Raijin did a double take upon witnessing Frieza walk out from the darkness of the dead forest; Frieza's Golden Form glinting in the darkness.

"It's such a pity I never got to fight you in my Perfect Form… do you also regret not taking part in my Cell Games?" Perfect Cell stepped out; standing beside Vegeta, his smug smile lighting up his face; that smile unnerved Raijin even further as he'd only seen a serious Perfect Cell during the final Beam Struggle.

"Cell?! How? I saw Gohan destroy you down to very last cell" Raijin grimaced; having witnessed Perfect Cell be destroyed within the very core of a Kamehameha Wave at the hands of a teenage Gohan.

"You may only die when you have my permission… and right now; you do" Cooler's cold steel-like voice rasping through the mouthpiece his Transformed State caused him to have over his face; his huge and hulking figure standing beside his brother.

"Cooler? I shot you into the Sun!" Raijin spoke with disbelief; every life-threatening enemy he'd ever faced was somehow returning from the past or Hell to face him.

A sickening screech-like laugh rang over the dead trees as Kid Buu arose from the blood-red dirt; his head tilted to the side with his wide red eyes and berserker smile beaming directly at Raijin.

Raijin felt a cold lump in this throat upon seeing the manic look of Kid Buu's red eyes; recalling Goku's Spirit Bomb that not only finally put an end to Buu's evil and killed Kid Buu but also killed him.

Raijin stood surrounded by his past opponents; nearly all of whom Raijin had not personally defeated but merely assisted Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan and the other Z Fighters, though that lack of many monumental defeats irritated Raijin… he was still part of The Z Fighters, "So this is what Whis was planning on… well then… let's get started!".

With those word spoken Raijin instantly powered up and transformed directly into Super Saiyan 2 Full Power, the golden spikes that struck up primarily at the back of his head grew more defined while fierce golden flames and a white current of lightning crackled and pulsed around his body.

A unanimous smirk of confidence spread throughout the group of past foes; Frieza, Perfect Cell and Vegeta all smirking a menacing smile upon witnessing Raijin's transformation, Cooler and Kid Buu merely cackling while they both stood idlily by.

Raijin crouched down; his hands raised to block any incoming attack; though something felt strange to him, since he'd powered up and his energy levels had flared up to an overwhelming degree for all but one of these foes; none of them had stepped back from his power or directly challenged him yet… in fact they all seemed like they'd grown larger and stronger from his own energy.

"Would you allow me to go first?" Perfect Cell spoke; his unusually large body stepped forward from in-between Frieza and Vegeta.

"By all means; go ahead" Frieza neatly bowed his head to Perfect Cell; his red eyes centred solely on Raijin as if he was watching a caged rat desperately trying to scurry away from a predatory cat.

"Do as you like… I shall be the one killing this low-rank backwater trash" Vegeta scoffed and scowled at the Bio-Android; desiring the killing blow for none other than himself.

"My Thanks… allow me to show you the perfect power!" Perfect Cell proclaimed; his fists clenching as his own ominously darkened gold aura flared up; golden sparks of electricity coursed around his bio-mechanical body.

Raijin had felt this only once before; when returning from his battle with Cooler and finding Cell returning from Otherworld, Raijin had joined with his friends in firing beam after beam in an attempt to assist Gohan, but now he faced that incredible power alone.

Before Raijin could even blink; Perfect Cell lunged; landing a jab punch directly into Raijin's chest, Raijin coughed slightly after the impact of Perfect Cell's fist, the punch was nothing like Imperfect Cell's; the punch was harder, striking true and more well-placed… a perfect punch.

Raijin grimaced after suffering the pushback from Perfect Cell's punch and instantly noticing that a cackling Kid Buu was directly behind him; Kid Buu waving his stubby index finger at Raijin indicating that he should not look away from his foe, Raijin instantly regretted the amateur mistake upon being violently kicked in the stomach and ribs by Perfect Cell; falling to his knees and coughing up a tiny amount of blood.

"Raijin… you disappoint me; and here I thought you'd be a challenge after all that you have done to catch up to Goku and Vegeta… and yet you still stand behind them" Perfect Cell mocked with a coy smile while watching Raijin rise up to his feet.

Just as Raijin rose to his feet a beam passed by him; the beam's heat burning at his now-dirty gi and exposing the slight burn scar from Imperfect Cell's acid, looking for the source and only seeing Vegeta wearing an evil grin while Frieza chuckled with his finger pointing at Raijin's head; letting natural reflex take over just as a Death Beam passed right by his head.

"Mind if we cut in?" Frieza spoke; himself along with Vegeta, Cooler and Kid Buu all joining the fight whether Perfect Cell allowed it or not.

"Very well" Perfect Cell remarked; grimacing in pain just as he hunched over and ejected a long and thick tail from between his black wings, the needle noticeably dripping with the same acid that caused Raijin's scar.

"Bring it!" Raijin roared in a defiant voice; confident that at his current power level as a Super Saiyan 2 Full Power would be enough to defeat them all though Kid Buu would require the next level to defeat, booming off the dirt again with both feet joined by his own tail directly at Frieza and Cooler.

Frieza and Cooler both stood ready for the charge as Kid Buu leapt in front of Raijin's own Energy Punch and widening out his rubbery body to act a shield against Raijin; Buu's head popping out in front of Raijin's eyes only to laugh as his hands became stuck in Buu's body.

"Crap!" Raijin cursed with his hands stuck in Buu's body; Vegeta and Perfect Cell closing in on him and firing a combo Galick Gun into Raijin's back, flinching at the burning pain in his back after the beam attack; Raijin concentrated on getting free only for Kid Buu to suddenly release his grip and allow Raijin to fall backwards towards Perfect Cell.

Raijin fell backwards into a sudden wet darkness like something had just been blanketed over his head and entire upper body; hearing only the mocking laugh from Perfect Cell as Raijin instantly realised where he was: inside Perfect Cell's tail, Perfect Cell smiled as his tail began trying to suck up Raijin into his body; absorbing an entire Saiyan in the same manner that he'd absorbed The Androids; groaning in pain just as a golden blaze of flames burst out from under his flesh and destroyed his tail from the inside, Raijin bursting out by exploding his own Super Saiyan 2 powers from inside of Perfect Cell.

Raijin hated having to experience that disgusting tail and having a great deal more respect for 18 for surviving that; having to back on the defensive and dodging attacks for hours on end, losing track of time after taking a hit from Kid Buu's Orb Volley while knocking down an abnormally tall Cooler and driving Cooler's own Energy Blade into Frieza's chest.

Following up his dispatch of Frieza and Cooler with a scissor kick to Vegeta and taking off his head; sweeping his arms as he turned and firing a volley of ki blasts that took down both Perfect Cell and Kid Buu, only to find them all standing in a ring around him again and in perfect health while the bodies of the last group had been reduced down to dirt.

"Come on… can't you be more of a challenge?" Vegeta mocked; again smirking a murderous smirk just like the one he'd worn when murdering an entire village of Namekians.

"You want a challenge?!" Raijin bellowed at the top of his lungs; his aura burning harsher and brighter than ever before, his golden hair spiking even more and growing longer and thicker during his transformation; disregarding how his foes seemed to be growing taller with each passing second only with the intent to shut Perfect Cell up with a power than even he and his Super Perfect Form could not hope to stand against.

Raijin growled lowly upon finishing his transformation to Super Saiyan 3; though he didn't want to use his mastered version of the form so early in this fight as he still had another twenty hours to go before Whis and Beerus would return, tossing caution to the wind and kicking off the ground with both feet as well as his tail so much force that the ground shuddered under Raijin's power; Raijin twisted in the air upon meeting Perfect Cell and driving a flying roundhouse kick into Perfect Cell's head and taking it clean off with a single blow, rushing over to a smirking Golden Frieza and Vegeta and driving a two-handed hammer fist into Frieza and sending him crashing into the dirt; following up with a heel drop into Vegeta's head only to land the blow and break Vegeta's neck on impact.

"And now you two…" Raijin muttered; turning to Cooler and Kid Buu with both his arms raised, hurling his Golden Bomb headlong into the idly standing pair and reducing them both to ash in the ensuring explosion caused by his Golden Bomb.

Raijin panted for breath; releasing his transformation and changing back to his normal black-haired state after having exerted so much energy as a Super Saiyan 3 Full Power, allowing himself a smile for taking down so many powerful foes all at once until a chilling laughter rang out from beyond all the dead purple trees.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Perfect Cell's voice rang out from beyond the trees, the laughter of Frieza, Vegeta, Cooler and Kid Buu echoing all around the Forest of Terror.

"Shit…" Raijin muttered a curse under his breath; taking in a deep breath and flexing every muscle in his body upon engaging another transformation into a Super Saiyan 2.

Raijin turned to face Perfect Cell again only to be punched in the back by two separate fists; turning to face his attackers only to fight Final Form Frieza and Transformed Cooler leering down at him; the pair had somehow grown even taller and stronger after their previous defeat.

Raijin grit his teeth while facing Perfect Cell and Frieza; gulping slightly as Vegeta and Cooler joined their sides, the four villains eager to kill him.

Hours past when Raijin relentlessly fought against his past foes; having lost track of time and how many hours he'd been fighting for but he hadn't been able to access his God Ki like he had against Copy-Vegeta, Raijin stood with one knee down in the dirt; his white gi stained, burnt and torn from the bloodred mud, his own blood and the scorching volley of Death Beams being shot at him from both Perfect Cell and Frieza, his instincts kicking in and rolling to the side as Cooler came down on top of him and drove his Energy Blade into the mud where Raijin had just been kneeling.

Raijin felt his brow was wet with sweat after moving around and dodging so many attacks; Cooler's Blades, Frieza's and Cell's Death Beams, Vegeta's Energy Punches and Kid Buu merely just stood by and watched; cackling his bone-chilling shrill laugh.

Raijin crossed his arms in the x pattern across his now-bare chest as he always did when about to transform into his strongest form: The Super Saiyan 4, but he paused; finally after all these hours of fighting and the answer came to him now… it was his own energy that was making his opponents so tall and powerful.

"I am so stupid…" Raijin muttered to himself; allowing himself to smile and lower his arms from his chest, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath; the mocking laughter of his past foes echoing around him but ever so slowly the sound of laughter faded away into nothing.

Raijin thought I was strange that his enemies were not attacking him but only laughing at him while he meditated; something he had not done in many years and should return to doing again alongside Piccolo, but right now he needed to figure out what to do with his God Ki, his own energy flared less and became more withdrawn and contained within himself; the warm sensations he felt when defeating Copy-Vegeta suddenly returned… the power of God Ki returning to his body and filling him with a whole new strength like none he'd ever felt before.

Raijin opened his eyes to a sudden clapping sound; opening his eyes to find Whis and Beerus standing in the same place they were when they'd left; only the foes from his past had all vanished.

"Congratulations Raijin; you survived a day in this realm and called on your God Ki at will… now we just have to see how you use it" Whis spoke while clapping his hands together; a satisfied smile lighting up his face while his eyes had that analytical look in them.

"Your battle was quite entertaining; all those foes ganging up on you" Beerus opened his yellow eyes only slightly; his large cat eyes focussed solely on Raijin.

Raijin failed to supress a smile while being commended by both Whis and Beerus; but all he waited was a long rest, "Can I go home to rest now?" Raijin appeared to be weakened after a total of two hours sitting in a dark forest alone and twenty-two hours of near-constant combat.

"Of course; you have some matters to catch up on… and I believe The Time Machine is fully repaired now; I trust you'll be going?" Whis wore a slightly disapproving expression when mentioning The Time Machine; though he secretly admired Bulma's and Ewan's work in repairing the device.

Beerus rolled his yellow eyes as Whis remarked about The Time Machine; clearly displeased that there was a second one that had been kept hidden.

"Of course I will; I want a chance to take down Black myself" Raijin slammed his left fist into his right palm; a red God Ki aura flared around his body for a split second; an action that caused Whis to wear a pleased smile in Raijin's successful training.

"Very well; let us be off then" Whis closed his eyes; holding out his right hand and instantly materialising his staff, tapping the Staff down onto the dirt twice and beginning his Instantaneous Movement.

With another blinding flash of light; Raijin couldn't help but feel excited for the battle to come; the battle to uncover the truth about and defeat Goku Black.