January 2nd, Age 763
It was now the new year, and in space, a small spaceship was making it's way towards the planet Earth, set to arrive on it in 16 days. Inside, its occupants were all occupying themselves with various tasks. Gohan, Krillin and Future Gohan were all image training with each other, Piccolo was meditating in a corner, Vegeta was shadow boxing in another corner, Bulma was sitting in at the front of the ship reading her future self's notes on the time machine, and Goka was going situps in the middle of the ship.
Seeing this, Bulma looked away from the notes and asked her old friend,
"So, how're you doing?"
Goka stopped doing sit ups and looked at Bulma, telling her,
"Pretty good. I'm starting to feel my legs again, but not completely."
She then stood up and attempted to walk towards the Gohans and Krillin, holding her arms out beside her to keep her balance and stumbling towards them. However, she was only able to take a few steps before slipping and falling face first into the ground. Everyone on the ship was alerted by the thud of her landing and the Gohans ran to her in concern, helping her up.
However, Vegeta couldn't help but laugh at the situation. This caused Goka to pout at him in annoyance and stick her tongue out, amusing the saiyan prince further. Bulma then pointed out,
"Hey, that's actually not bad Goka. For someone who spent over a month floating in a weird healing pod while having her body constantly pumped full of anesthetics, you're moving around pretty well."
Upon hearing Bulma say this, Vegeta proudly explained that this was because of Goka's saiyan blood giving her superior muscle memory to humans. Goka was surprised by this indirect complement and replied,
"Wow, 'Geta. Didn't know you could be so flattering."
Everyone was shocked by what Goka had said, and Vegeta blushed profusely at the nickname she had given him. Flustered, he yelled at the saiyan woman,
"WH-WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"
Goka giggled at Vegeta's reaction, but then suddenly had an epiphany. She had finally thought of an answer to the problem of how to get strong enough to close the gap between her and the others. Punching her fists together, she excitedly said,
"I'VE GOT IT!!!"
A surprised Krillin asked what she was talking about, and with a gleam in her eyes Goka then eagerly began telling everyone what she had planned, saying to them
"I just remembered! When I was training with King Kai, his planet was really heavy! It was 9 I think…no, 10! 10 times heavier than Earth! I got way stronger thanks to that! If I trained under even heavier gravity, I could easily catch up to you boys!"
She then turned around and floated right up to Bulma, getting in her face and telling her,
"Bulma, you're smart! When we get home, can you make a room that can increase its gravity?"
Bulma pushed Goka's face away and replied by saying,
"Personal space, Goka!!! But yes, I can make a chamber like that."
Goka threw her arms up and cheered at this news, then turning around to face Vegeta and telling him,
"Once I'm done the gravity training, you owe me a rematch!"
Vegeta laughed and this statement and replied,
"Do you really think just training in higher gravity will be enough to surpass me?"
"Yeah! In fact, I bet I'd only need 10 days to beat you."
"Heh. Challenge accepted."
After this, Goka eagerly floated over to a corner, sitting down and beginning to image train, imagining herself training in this gravity chamber and fighting Vegeta. The rest of the trip after this was rather peaceful, nothing much really happening for the rest of it. Future Gohan did notice however how Vegeta would look at Goka whenever she didn't have her gi on, and was left weary of him and his intentions.
Luckily, Vegeta seemed to be just limiting his interactions with Goka to simple verbal sparring and stares, but Future Gohan still kept an eye on him…
2 weeks and 2 days later
On the planet Earth, Dr Briefs was standing in the backyard of Capsule Corp waiting for Future Gohan's ship to return. If his calculations were correct, they should be returning at that moment. As his wife walked up to him with a tray of food, Dr Briefs then noticed a small blip in the sky that was rapidly approaching. He looked at his wife and told her,
"Dear, I recommend you step back."
Dr Briefs' wife was confused on why her husband wanted her to step back, but did so as the falling object came into view. Sure enough, it was the ship he had built for Future Gohan. It landed with a small krakoom on the ground, kicking up a huge amount of dust. Once the dust cleared, the door lowered to reveal the heroes and Vegeta, who all then walked down (or in Goka's case floated down) the stairs to the grass below.
Once they set foot on the solid Earth, Bulma ran up to her parents and embraced them. As she cried and began to talk about what had happened on Namek, Kami suddenly teleported into the area. Piccolo looked at him in annoyance, with Kami doing the same before looking at the heroes and asking,
"So, who is this young man with you? And more importantly, why is Vegeta here?"
Future Gohan then humbly bowed to Kami and explained everything to both him and Doctor Briefs. Once he was done, neither old man could hide their shock. Kami muttered,
"So, not only would we have failed to save Goka, but we would have fallen to an even greater threat than this Frieza you mentioned. Oh, by the kais…"
Goka then floated up to Dr Briefs and began begging him,
"Mr. Brief guy! Could you and Bulma please, please, please, please PLEASE make a room with 10 times Earth's gravity! I really, really need to catch up to the others!"
Dr Brief was surprised by Goka's directness, but quickly recollected himself and told her,
"Y-Yes, ma'am. We can do that. However, it's going to take some time. Probably around as long as it took to build the spaceship, so about a month."
Goka slouched and groaned at this information, Piccolo rolling his eyes upon seeing this before looking at Kami and asking him,
"So, what about the others?"
"While you were returning to this planet, Mr Popo used the dragon balls to revive all those killed by the saiyans. The Namekian then appointed a new grand elder, and thanks to that their dragon balls were reactivated, allowing us to revive Chiaotzu. I will inform the other fighters about the androids so that they may begin training."
The god of Earth then teleported away as Dr Briefs and his family went inside Capsule Corp. Once they were left as the only ones still in Capsule Corp's backyard, the heroes all began discussing what they were going to do now. Present Gohan asked his future counterpart,
"So are you going to go back to your time now?"
Future Gohan looked at his younger self and sighed, replying,
"No. Not yet, anyway. You're all still really far behind me in terms of power, and you'll need to get even stronger than me if you want to have any chance of beating the androids. Not to mention that I'll need to get stronger, too. I'll stay here and help you all get stronger."
Everyone was surprised by this, but generally approved of this. Goka hugged her older son and expressed her excitement to train with him while Piccolo put a hand on his shoulder, showing a rare smile. Future Gohan grinned at this and embraced Piccolo with his one remaining arm, causing Goka to go,
"Awwwwwwww….."
Future Gohan blushed in embarrassment at this, and Krillin and his present counterpart laughed upon seeing his reaction. The bald monk then looked to the horizon and told his friends,
"Welp, I'm gonna go train with Roshi. Good luck, you guys!"
He then leaped into the air and flew off, leaving the others standing alongside each other. Piccolo then looked at them and said,
"I'll be training alone. And remember, don't show up if you think you don't stand a chance. We don't want anyone dragging us down."
The Son family smiled and nodded at him, but Vegeta smirked arrogantly and responded by telling the Namekian,
"You're one to talk about dragging people down, Namekian. Now that I'm fully rested, I could easily beat you when I'm transformed."
"Oh, you wanna try me?"
Piccolo and Vegeta both then assumed battle stances, ready to fight immediately. However, the Son family then ran between the two, attempting to stop the battle from escalating. Goka told the two,
"Hey, cut it out! We're supposed to be training for the androids, not beating each other to a pulp!"
She then turned around to look at Vegeta, putting her left hand on her hip and pointing at him while telling him in the tone of a angry mother,
"And you listen here, you jerk! We brought you here instead of finishing you back on the planet you left me on for a month, so your going to help us and not start fights, YOU GOT THAT?!"
Goka's ki flared at that last part and she subconsciously activated the kaioken. The Gohans both got on guard, expecting Vegeta to shove Goka aside. However, the saiyan prince instead crossed his arms in annoyance and turned away, surprising the two Gohans and Piccolo. As Vegeta was about to say something, Dende then suddenly piped in, telling the saiyans and Piccolo.
"Um…what about me? I don't have anywhere to go…"
Gohan's eyes widened and he swiftly apologized to Dende, telling him,
"Oh, I'm sorry Dende! We forgot about you in all of this!"
Thinking for a moment, the young boy then said on the spot,
"Why don't you come stay with us? At least until your dragon balls are recharged!"
Dende was shocked at Gohan's suggestion, but once he confirmed that he wasn't kidding, the young Namekian graciously accepted his offer. Once that was all sorted, the saiyans and Piccolo all flew off. Piccolo headed towards Yunzabit heights to begin training alone, while the saiyans all headed to Goka and Chi-Chi's place on Mount Paozu. Goka was especially eager to return home and have a nice meal.
However, Future Gohan was perplexed at why Vegeta was following them. When questioned, the saiyan prince simply said,
"Well, I plan to surpass you. And the only way I can do that is by training with you."
This explanation was good enough for Future Gohan, but unbeknownst to him, Vegeta had ulterior motives. Goka's aggressiveness when she had told him off had impressed him. Combined with that and her determination to grow stronger than all of them even when the gap between them had widened so extensively, Vegeta was starting to view her as more than a means to repopulate the saiyan race. However, only time could tell where these feelings would lead…
Author's note: Alright, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! This is my first chapter of this fic in the new year, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Before I start answering comments, I just want to say that I'm sorry if it seems like I'm begging for comments, but to be honest, I really do like the interaction. This is the first fanfic I've ever written that's gotten these many comments, and I love hearing your various thoughts and reactions to this story.
Well, that and the fact that the only other currently ongoing fanfic I have comments on was only commented on by bots. Alright then, here goes:
Anne 13 (Chapter 14): Thank you! Well, that first point should have been obvious. This fic is named after her, after all. As for the Z-Fighters learning Kaio-Ken and 21…I want to keep this fic at least somewhat grounded, so no game characters. As for King Cold and Cooler, that's an interesting thing. My idea for King Cold in this timeline is that without Frieza telling him about Earth being where the saiyans were, the king had no idea where the people that killed Frieza came from.
Because of this, after destroying future Namek in retribution, Cold took the empire back and went on with business as he once did. If we include Cooler, it's pretty much the same deal with him. He may attempt to challenge Cold in order to take over the power vacuum, but since in my headcanon King Cold can transform, Cooler would be killed by his father once he entered his final form. I'll probably cover Present Cold in the next few chapters…
DBZ Fan (Chapter 14): Thank you. Also yes, Vegeta's pride was very, very stung by Future Gohan's super saiyan form.
Guest (Chapter 14): Yeah, but it's lucky that he's arrived now. For that second thing, A: It should be pretty obvious considering the title of the fanfic, and B: If you're reading this fic now, you've figured that question out.
Jesse Chambers (Chapter 14): Yeah, I'm sort of disappointed in that fight too. I wasn't really sure how to write it at first, and I also don't like to drag out fights too long. As for the Future Videl and the others thing, everyone besides Future Gohan has pretty much the same status as in canon. If they're alive in the canon future timeline, they're alive in this fic's timeline.
Coldblue: First, Future Gohan explained what happened in his timeline where there was no interference in Vegeta and Piccolo's fight. As for both this question and Jesse Chamber's Future Gohan question, without Trunks this version of Future Gohan had to be smarter since he was the last hope. He never had to sacrifice his arm to protect Trunks, and when the Androids attacked Pepper Town, he reluctantly chose to stay put.
He seemingly knew in the original timeline that he wouldn't make it out of that fight alive, and with him being the only one who could take on the androids, he chose to put his faith in Bulma's time machine. However, he eventually lost his arm anyways to the androids at a later date. I hope that makes sense.
Guest (Pretty sure this isn't the same guy): Yes, there is sadly no Future Trunks in this timeline.
Coldblue and guest (Chapter 15): These are pretty much the same comments, so I'll just answer them both at the same time. Yes, they certainly did.
And before I go, here are the new power levels:
Goka (Muscle atrophy): 300
Vegeta (Rested): 250,000
Present Gohan (Full potential unlock Vegeta zenkai): 350,000
Krillin: (Full potential unlock): 75,000
Goka (Partially recovered): 5,000
Alright, that's it! I look forward to seeing you guys in the next chapter! Peace!