Dragon Ball idea - Broly-Type!Goku (Patreon)

Warning: Not for Chi-Chi fans. I disliked her as a kid growing up with Dragon Ball Z ever since Z Ch 48 and I really dislike her as an adult.

-]|[-

“Why don’t we just wish for the earth to be saved?” Oolong, ever the coward, was the one that asked this.

“What, and leave Goku dead?!” Bulma went from zero to a hundred quick.

“No, no, but we could just bring him back to life next time!” Oolong replied, holding up his hands as if to ward her off.

“Neither of these wishes would be possible.” Shenron’s thunderous voice shook their bones, as it always did. “I was made by a god. I cannot grant a wish that surpasses the power of God.”

Bulma had paled to the color of snow, “But why is the other wish impossible?! We’ve wished for people to be returned to life before!”

“The timeframe.” Shenron replied, “The mortal died nearly one year ago. Once a full year has elapsed, it is no longer within my ability to return them from oblivion. If you do not wish for his return now, you shall no longer be able to do so.”

“Then that’s our wish!” Bulma yelled back, “Bring Son-kun back to life and in perfect health!”

Shenron’s eyes flashed, “Your wish shall be granted!”

Bulma had no way of knowing what the wording of her wish had just caused.

-]|[-

The first sign that something was different was when Goku slapped a palm to his head, immediately followed by one to his back. He let out a snarled groan as he sank to his knees, pressing his forehead down on Kaiō’s planet.

“What?!” Kaiō gasped, “What’s wrong Goku?! This should be painless! Your halo is already gone!”

Goku huffed out a breath, before trying to speak, “Oh, jeez. What-” He froze as foreign memories from a lifetime ago invaded his mind. They were dim, distant, befitting how long ago they had been formed. But he remembered all the same. The instructions ordering the death of his world. His people’s vicious nature. His mother and father sending him away. Raditz was right. He did look much like their father. And his mother… such a gentle soul. More like Gohan than Raditz. The memories switched tracks. His unruly and vicious nature back before he fell into that ravine…

Crushing Grandpa Gohan to death with his bare hands as a giant monster.

There, on Kaiō’s planet, he let out a scream of sorrow and rage and punched the ground. His emotions were frayed, and he was feeling them more than he had. His thoughts seemed clearer too.

Kaiō wobbled as his world shook, “Goku, what is the matter?!”

Goku. Right. That was his name. Not Kakarot. The instructions he could easily ignore. They were from a lifetime ago, and a path that he had long since closed the door on. The memories he could discard. All but one. And if it had not been for the fact that he had met his grandpa after his fate and knew the man bore him no ill will, he would be a lot more devastated than he was now.

He took a deep breath, getting to his feet. Kaiō was looking at him warily for the first time, “Sorry, Kaiō.” Goku said, and tried to take a step, but felt himself unbalance, “What?” He looked back. He stared in stunned shock, “My tail…” He grabbed it, squeezing it. It still felt as tough as it had after he had trained it all those years ago. The weakness of the Saiyans was still overcome.

“I-it grew back?!” Kaiō gasped, looking very much like he wanted to order Goku to cut it off once more. Goku wasn’t sure he would have argued against it, knowing what he did now. He was almost tempted to just yank it right off.

No.

He let go of it and sighed as he wrapped his tail around his waist like he had seen Raditz do, knowing he didn’t have time to learn to walk properly with it again right now. He would master this curse just as he had mastered everything before. He would not run away from it!

He only felt the tiniest bits of resentment towards Kami, for having not told him why he had wanted to remove it.

“What happened, Goku?” Kaiō asked him, still cautious.

“Whatever they wished for did more than just bring me to life.” Goku said softly, “I think it healed that old head wound I had. I… remembered.” Kaiō’s eyes widened behind his shades, “I… I wish I didn’t. I… The giant monster that killed my Grandpa… it was me all along.” He clenched his fist.

“I’m sorry.” Kaiō said softly, “But I can still sense the good in you.”

“Oh no.” Goku shook his head, putting on his classic smile, “It’s been far too long for that programming to grab on.” He punched his palm, “And now that I feel even stronger… TIME TO SAVE THE EARTH!” He yelled, turning, and jumping down to Snake Way. “THANKS FOR EVERything, Kaiō!” His shout faded as he disappeared into the distance.

Kaiō smiled, “I can’t believe his soul managed to stay so crystal clear despite the memories that returned… I never thought such a being could exist in the mortal realm.”

-]|[-

Piccolo dove in front of Nappa’s Bomber DX, but when he got hit, he knew he had failed. As he screamed, he could hear Gohan scream in agony behind him. He didn’t even get to say goodbye to Gohan as his body was disintegrated. Up on the Lookout, Kami also didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Mr. Popo as he vanished from the Earth. Gohan’s clothes had been blasted away, and his entire body was covered in burns. ‘I’m sorry, daddy. We tried…’ Tears leaked from his eyes as his vision went dim. He fell forward, landing on his front, ‘G-Get them, daddy…’

Nappa laughed, “Well how about that! A two for one special!” He put his fists on his hips, now simply waiting. And he was rewarded when Goku arrived, not ten seconds too late. “Well now! Look who’s fashionably late!” He crowed, grinning madly, “It’s too bad! If only you had been here a few seconds earlier.”

But Goku ignored him, running over to his son and turning him over. “G-Gohan…” He said, his entire body trembling, “Damn it, no! Gohan!” He tried to press the final Senzu Bean to his son’s lips, but the boy was already dead. And then his body vanished, just like his own had almost a year ago now.

“S-Sorry, Goku.” Krillin managed to get out from his own heap, far away. He was too far for Goku to hear, but Krillin cried out all the same, “We-we just weren’t enough.” He rasped, before his head fell to the ground and he was knocked unconscious. He was the only survivor of the team that had attempted to hold the Saiyans off.

Vegeta and Nappa laughed, seeing the despair and the rage on Goku’s face. His fists were trembling on the ground, “They were an adequate warm-up for all that they were dregs coming from such a pitiful race.”

Goku’s teeth were grinding together as his whole body trembled with his growing fury. The only noises escaping him were these animalistic snarls. His son was dead because he just hadn’t been fast enough. And worse, he had felt Piccolo’s Ki vanished a bare few moments before Gohan’s had.

The Dragon Balls were no more. His son was gone forever.

“Oh, come now, Kakarot! Say something!” Nappa taunted him some more. “Say how we won’t get away with this! That you’ll avenge your friends and son!”

The two laughing Saiyans weren’t close enough anyway, but with Goku’s head bowed, they weren’t able to see his irises turn gold. The eruption of gold Ki that began bursting from him, however, was fair game. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Goku stood and howled out his fury loud enough that people thousands of miles away would be able to hear it. Winds blew from his body so strong that they knocked both Vegeta and Nappa back a bit, forcing them to brace themselves. Krillin’s unconscious body blew far away as well, though thankfully he wasn’t so weak that an impact like that could kill him.

The Earth shook from Goku’s fury.

“Wh-What the hell?!” Nappa shielded himself, his much stronger partner doing the same. They were no longer laughing, “V-Vegeta! What does the scouter say-” He turned his head, only to watch the fragments of a destroyed scouter blowing away from the stunned Vegeta’s face. “Wh-what?”

Vegeta trembled in shock. The only way for a first-generation scouter to explode like that was if the power level exceeded the maximum limit of 24,000. Neither of them had any way of knowing, but the only reason Bulma’s repaired scouter hadn’t done the same was that she had modified it so that it would simply cut power rather than fail explosively. This saved her pretty face as she shook in terror of Goku for only the second time in her life.

Before their stunned eyes, Goku changed. The glow around became not golden, but a neon green. His entire body bulged with power. It wasn’t just his muscles that grew bigger. His entire body literally grew to accommodate the explosive power building inside of him. His new gi top from Kaiō had already shredded off of his body, with the raggedy remains flopping down and hiding his regrown tail from view. His pants tightened to the point they seemed to almost mimic Vegeta’s own skintight outfit.

“I-it can’t be!” Vegeta rasped out, his mind almost skipping like a broken record as he witnessed what Goku had become. “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE! HE CAN’T BE THE ONE!” He blasted away, knowing he only had one shot at victory here.

“What?! Vegeta! Wha-” Nappa called out in shock that the Prince of Saiyans had fled before a foe. And especially a low-class piece of trash like Kakarot.

And then Goku moved.

Nappa didn’t know what had happened. One minute he was wondering what the hell Vegeta was fleeing for, as surely the both of them together could still take Goku out, and the next he was on the floor. “W-What?” He tried to get up, but something was wrong. Why couldn’t he get to his feet? He turned his head, and couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

Just where were his legs?

Or most of the rest of him, for that matter? Nappa’s thoughts spiraled as he opened his mouth and a fountain of blood poured out before his head dropped to the ground. He was dead.

Goku’s strike hadn’t just incapacitated Nappa, it had cut him in half. No, it was more than that. A significant portion of Nappa’s body had been annihilated. The air itself had momentarily turned into plasma from the sheer compression it had endured, and what looked like a tunnel through the atmosphere itself remained, discolored, and crackling with electricity.

Goku hadn’t skipped a beat, and had chased after Vegeta. Even as out of his damn mind with rage as he was, he could still feel Vegeta’s evil Ki. He chased and caught up to Vegeta in an instant, grabbing the man by the back of the head. “NO-!” Vegeta cried out before a sonic boom ripped through the air as he started moving way faster than he had been. Goku pounded Vegeta’s skull into the dirt below and the two slid for about three miles. Once they came to a stop Goku hauled Vegeta up and then slammed him down. And then grabbed his leg and whipped Vegeta up and slammed him again. And again. And again. And Vegeta could only howl in agony as what he believed was the Super Saiyan of legend shattered him against the planet’s crust.

Knowing he only had one hope, he charged every bit of Ki he could into his palm. A ball formed, which he threw at Goku’s head in the lull between impacts. Goku predictably dodged, and Vegeta smiled viciously, “BURST AND MIX!” He roared, before a brilliant light illuminated the area.

Immediately, Vegeta’s eyes turned red, and fur started to grow at a tremendous rate over his body. Goku kept madly raining blows on him, but Vegeta felt them less and less as his body continued to bulk up. “AHAHAHA!” The Ōzaru roared in laughter, “YOU LOSE, KAKAROT!” He snagged Goku in his now giant hand as he got up, “YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE! PITY YOU DON’T HAVE A TAIL ANY LONGER!” He started to squeeze down, and Goku howled in pain, which transformed into fury. The aura around him intensified as he began to try to pry Vegeta’s fingers apart, “WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU STILL BE GROWING STRONGER?!” Vegeta cried out, his massive jaw unhinging slightly, before fury engulfed him too. “DIE!” He reared back, holding Goku above his head, before spiking him into the ground.

The impact was massive. It caused a 9.3 earthquake in the surrounding areas, shattering land, plateaus, and nearby settlements alike. Goku lay in the crater, still growling, still alive. The stunned Vegeta realized something was different. Goku was bulking up even more. “WHAT?!” Vegeta growled out, “ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?! IRRITATING PEST!” He raised his foot, “I’LL- WAIT!” Vegeta’s eyes widened, “NO!” He roared as he stomped down, but his foot was caught as Goku was quickly growing, “SHIT! RADITZ, YOU USELESS FUCK!” Vegeta cried out as he was tossed away, landing on his back, and quickly rolling to his feet as Goku got up, now an Ōzaru too.

And Vegeta once again felt inadequate. Vegeta himself had grown to about thirty meters. He was a massive creature. And at about forty-five meters, Goku was making him feel tiny. And unlike Vegeta, that strange green aura was still surrounding him. Vegeta’s rage spiked, and he threw himself forward, “I’M NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT!” He realized quickly that Goku was still just as wild and untamed as he had been in his berserk form, and grinned as he dodged all of the beast’s wild blows before unleashing a haymaker that sent Goku flying across the landscape, “WHAT?” Vegeta was surprised, “HOW DID I-” He stopped, and then started to laugh evilly, almost maniacally, “I SEE NOW! YOU GOT ME GOOD, KAKAROT! I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU MANAGED TO UNLOCK THE POWER OF THE ŌZARU WHILE REMAINING IN YOUR NORMAL BODY, BUT YOU’RE NOT ANY STRONGER AT ALL NOW THAT YOU’VE TRANSFORMED! YOU’RE NO SUPER SAIYAN AT ALL, AND NOW IT’S TIME TO LEARN YOUR PLACE!”

He launched himself towards Goku, and pounded a double cross into his skull. Goku roared with anger and lashed out, but Vegeta was easily able to evade his wild strikes. He retaliated with a gut punch that knocked out a swimming pool’s worth of saliva from Goku’s maw, and then punched the other Ōzaru in the snout. Goku’s head whipped back, and he stumbled, before growling in ever-growing rage as he swung another wild strike at Vegeta. Vegeta laughed as he dodged, but then another strike came. And another. And soon, Vegeta couldn’t laugh as he was too busy concentrating on not being hit. “ENOUGH OF THIS!”

Vegeta landed his own haymaker, again launching Goku back. The ground roiled and shattered as the massive body of the Ōzaru slid back. Vegeta jumped in the air, before rocketing down and slamming both of his boots into the enemy’s stomach. “WEAK! TO THINK YOU OF ALL CREATURES MADE ME FLEE FOR MY LIFE!” Vegeta howled in fury as the enemy Ōzaru hacked. He raised his fist, not noticing the gleam in Goku’s bloody-red eyes. He punched down, and Goku’s maw opened and snapped down on his fist. “ARGH!” Vegeta cried as the fangs dug into his hand and wrist from both sides. Goku whipped his head from side-to-side as well as up and down, trying to rip Vegeta’s hand off. “YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” Vegeta jerked his arm back as he raised his leg and stomped on the other ape’s throat. Goku let go with a hack, and Vegeta opened his own maw. A bright light started to form in his throat, and he roared as he fired a titanic beam at Goku.

Again, the land around them detonated, massive earthquakes flowing from the explosive epicenter. When it ended and Vegeta waved away the cloud of smoke, he saw that Goku barely looked singed. Roaring, Vegeta grabbed his shoulder and leg and hauled him above his head, “LET’S SEE HOW YOU LIKE THIS!” He drove Goku down and his knee up, smashing the Ōzaru’s side into his kneecap. Goku howled in pain as he rolled down, and Vegeta climbed atop him. “DIE, KAKAROT!” Vegeta roared as he started raining blows on the immobilized ape’s face and chest.

Far away, but closer than they should have been, onlookers watched on Baba’s crystal ball in stunned horror as one Ōzaru savaged another.

“RAHHHHH!” Vegeta roared as he continued to try to beat the enemy to death. “THIS ONE WILL END IT!” The air churned as his fist descended, and smashed into Goku’s face one more time. A plume of dirt splashed into the air and rained down, covering Vegeta’s exposed fur, “WHAT?!”

Goku’s head hadn’t been whipped from that final blow. In fact, the Ōzaru’s head hadn’t even turned from the impact, and his eyes were locked on Vegeta’s! And now Goku was growling back at him, before his mouth widened and a neon green beam burst out and blasted Vegeta away.

“ARGH!” Vegeta landed roughly and rolled, looking completely singed. “WH-WHAT WAS THAT?! HIS BATTLE POWER WASN’T ANYWHERE NEAR ENOUGH TO HARM ME!” And then Goku landed next to him and proved exactly what he thought about Vegeta’s words. The great ape’s fist landed squarely in Vegeta’s chest and shattered his armor. Vegeta howled as ribs broke from the impact, but quickly started to wheeze as Goku rained blow after blow. Punches, stomps, even ‘off the turnbuckle’ elbow drops. And with every strike that landed, Vegeta’s screams became louder and shriller and raspier.

‘How is this POSSIBLE!’ Vegeta roared in the confines of his own mind, unable to even formulate words with lips that were too busy losing teeth to do so, ‘I am the Prince of all Saiyans! An ELITE WARRIOR! How is this low-class APE managing to harm me like this?! His battle power was nowhere near matching mine! It’s almost as if-’ The thought froze Vegeta with as much pain as the stomp that nearly blinded his right eye, ‘As if he’s getting Zenkai Boosts as he fights!’

But that was impossible! That wasn’t how their racial ability worked!

Clearly, Goku didn’t care about the impossible, and with one final blow, he shattered Vegeta’s face and knocked him out cold. Goku only rained a few more blows on him before realizing that Vegeta wasn’t even attempting to fight back. “RAGGGHGH!” The great ape roared in Vegeta’s face, and snorted as even that failed to get a reaction.

Stepping back, the beast roared in triumph, throwing his fists into the air. He pounded his chest a few times, before roaring again towards the sky and unleashing another devastating mouth beam into the stratosphere harmlessly. He turned back to finish the job, but the unconscious Vegeta had reverted back to his regular body, shrinking down to the point that the beast lost interest.

Snorting, Goku turned away, and started to smash the nearby mountains.

-]|[-

“How is this happening?!” Bulma cried out, nearly pulling her hair out. “Didn’t Kami remove his tail permanently?!”

Her plane was loaded up with people, and the only one not feeling at least a little bit of terror was Chi-Chi.

And that was because she had fallen unconscious as soon as Gohan had been hit by that devastating attack. She hadn’t even seen his death with her own eyes. Ox King was busy taking care of her, fat, pearly tears leaking into his beard.

“We need to stop him somehow.” Roshi said adamantly. “He’s just breaking things with his fists now, but if he fires another of those breath attacks at the earth itself…” He trailed off.

“But how?!” Oolong was shivering, “You better not be asking me to try to cut that stupid tail off. I don’t think anyone would be able to get even close!”

“How is he even transformed?! There’s no moon!” Bulma cried out, “It was destroyed again months ago!”

And then they all heard an unfamiliar voice inside of their minds, “The Saiyan he was facing did it.”

They all jumped, “Who was that?!” Bulma looked around, her head whirling from side-to-side.

“I am Kaiō. I was the one who trained Goku.” Kaiō introduced himself, “Now listen. The Saiyan Vegeta used a special technique which created an artificial moon. I don’t know how long it will last, so your best option to restore Goku’s sanity is to destroy it!” He did not say whether or not he believed that would be enough…

“I can do that.” Roshi said grimly, “I destroyed the real moon once. Surely a fake one won’t be much trouble.” He stood, “Let me out here!” He jumped from the plane and looked up, seeing the fake moon high in the air. Luckily, Goku was nowhere close. The fake moon was high enough in the air that they could see it easily even from here.

“Kaiō-sama, why does Goku have his tail?” Bulma asked, still feeling foolish about speaking to the air.

“Let me answer that question with one of my own: just what did you wish for?” Kaiō asked back.

“I was the one who made it.” She replied, “I said, ‘Bring Son-kun back to life and in perfect health.’ Why?”

Kaiō’s jaw dropped for a moment, “Bulma, a Saiyan can’t be in ‘perfect health’ without their tail!”

Bulma took half a second to process that before she clapped both hands to her head, “Then this is my fault?!”

“No, your wish may actually have been to our benefit. Goku could not have defeated Vegeta with only my training. I see that quite clearly now. Your wish had unintended consequences, but not necessarily negative ones.”

“HAAAAAAAAAAA!” Roshi’s voice interrupted the conversation, with his MAX-Power Kamehameha annihilating the Power Ball. In the far distance, Goku howled as he continued to rampage.

“It didn’t work?!” Bulma sounded aghast.

“It won’t be immediate.” Kaiō said, “It will take a few minutes for the Blutz Waves to vanish from his system.”

“…Blutz Waves?” Bulma, ever the scientist, had her curiosity piqued.

“Something for another time.” Kaiō responded, “And now we wait, and hope he doesn’t use the Mouth Cannon again.”

“Please Goku, come back to normal.” Bulma clasped her hands together to pray, and they all sighed in relief as Goku twitched and stumbled and began to shrink. They all let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh no.” The sheer dread that filled all of them from those simple two words could hardly be explained. “Everyone, has Goku ever seemed to…transform from sheer rage?”

“No.” Bulma said immediately, “Never. Not even when Krillin was killed by King Piccolo’s minions. The only transformation I ever saw was that giant ape!”

“I was afraid of this.” Kaiō said grimly, “Your wish also healed his old head wound.” Everyone gasped, “His thoughts were clearer… but his memories came back too. Most of them he could ignore… but not the terrible secret you all tried to keep from him.”

“!” Bulma let out a strangled noise as she clapped both hands to her mouth. She started to tear up, “What have I done?!”

“He would have figured it out anyway, Bulma.” Oolong said sadly, “As soon as he saw this asshole transform.”

“Correct.” Kaiō agreed, “That’s not the problem though. The problem is this… wrath-filled transformation he’s acquired. He never showed anything like it as far as any of us know, which likely means that head wound was preventing him from accessing it! And I have no idea what it is! I never saw any Saiyans do anything like this in hundreds of years! He’s back to being in his regular form, but he’s still raging. And like Vegeta said, he hasn’t lost any of the strength from his Ōzaru form! It’s like he’s still transformed without actually being transformed!” Indeed, they saw on Baba’s crystal ball that Goku hadn’t skipped a beat, and was now simply flinging Ki blasts everywhere. Rock spire after rock spire was annihilated in moments. Crater after crater was blasted into the crust. Goku was going to leave this little stretch of the planet a hellscape if no one stopped it. “We need to snap him out of it. Otherwise, he’s the one that’s going to destroy the planet!”

“But how?” Oolong asked, biting his fingernails.

“Whatever you figure out, do it quick.” Roshi said grimly as he sensed Goku’s motion, “I think he found us…”

“Gohan!” Bulma yelled, “Kaiō-sama, connect Gohan to Goku! Goku only freaked out because his son died! Maybe Gohan can break through to him!”

“You’re a genius!” Kaiō immediately sought Gohan’s mind out.  “Gohan!”

…

In the otherworld near the start of Snake Way, Gohan jumped a foot in the air, drawing the attention of all of his comrades, “Wh-what?! Who said that?!”

“There’s no time! Your death caused your father to lose control in sheer rage!” Gohan gasped as the voice screamed into his mind, “I’m going to link your minds together! You NEED to get his attention before he hurts someone!”

“Gohan, what is it?” Piccolo asked the young boy, still feeling nothing but regret for having been unable to save the lad.

Gohan gasped, “D-Do it quick!”

“Now!” Kaiō yelled. “NOWNOWNOW!”

Gohan took a deep breath, before screaming, “DADDY!”

…

Roshi got into a defensive stance despite knowing there was zero hope of even stalling Goku. Everyone in the plane froze momentarily as Goku leapt at them, a snarl on his lips, and his hands clawed as if to rend the plane to pieces.

Screams erupted as death approached… but then he just…stopped. He landed in the plane and stumbled a step into it. His master Roshi simply sidestepped, having sensed something had changed. Everyone could see his animalistic, golden eyes, even as they started to flash between those and his normal black ones. Goku just stood there for a moment, before a shaking hand rose to his head, “G-Gohan?” Even his voice sounded rough and hoarse.

They all sighed in relief, with Bulma even starting to nosebleed slightly as she relaxed and then took in Goku’s naked form.

“G-Gohan… where…” The haze of blood that covered his eyes was vanishing.

“Daddy, you need to calm down!” Gohan said in their heads, “You did it! You saved the earth!”

“B-But I…” Goku stumbled, his body shrinking about a foot in height and his muscles deflating, leaving him literally steaming before them. His eyes rolled back, and he fell forward, crashing onto the deck of Bulma’s plane.

“Oh, thank Kaiō.” Oolong almost peed himself from the sheer release of tension.

Bulma slumped, “I can’t believe a little bit of wording caused all of this!”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Kaiō said, “It’s like I said. All of the training Goku underwent wasn’t enough. He would not have been able to overcome this Prince Vegeta without the exact wish you made. We all will just have to deal with the unintended consequences.”

“If I know Goku half as well as I think I do, he’s not going to rest until he has himself back under control.” Master Roshi smiled slightly, “Though where he could practice is another matter.”

“We still need to find Krillin.” Baba spoke for the first time, “He’s still alive. Bulma, get us here.”

“Right!” Bulma took over manual steering, “Thank you, Kaiō.”

“You’re welcome. I must go now. Farewell.” With that, the Lord of Worlds disconnected from them.

Bulma looked at the sky, “…what do we do now?”

No one had an answer.

-]|[-

The first thing that Goku became aware of was screaming. He clenched his eyes shut, before they flickered open, and he was greeted by a tall ceiling and electronic lights. He groaned, focusing his ears, and realizing that it was definitely Chi-Chi doing the screaming. He groaned and grimaced hard as he tried to sit up, but his entire body felt tight.

“Goku!” He opened his eyes again as he saw Bulma. She let out a relieved sigh as she helped him sit up, “You’ve been out for three days.”

He grimaced, “Are we at the hospital? What…what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” She winced, and then decided to answer the other question first, “Uhh, well, not exactly. We brought you to Capsule Corp and just had the doctors come here. Your entire skeleton and musculature took a huge beating, but otherwise, you’re fine.”

“Wh-what happened? Where is everyone?” Goku asked, looking around to see if there were any other injured. But the room was basically empty.

Bulma hesitated, “Well…”

The door slammed open, making Bulma jump half a foot in the air, “YOU!” Chi-Chi snarled, “HOW COULD YOU?!”

“Shit!” Bulma hissed out, ‘How could they let the sedatives wear off so soon, damn it!’ She jumped to her feet, “Chi-Chi you need to-”

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!” Chi-Chi bellowed and Bulma backed away in fear.

“Ch-Chi-Chi?” Goku had never seen his wife like this. He’d seen her mad plenty of times, but never like this. Her appearance was completely ragged, her hair a mess, her clothes worn and stained… And her eyes. He had never seen such utter fury and despair on her face like this. She was all but foaming at the mouth.

“HOW COULD YOU LET MY SON DIE?!” She screamed at him.

It was like lightning had ripped through Goku as Bulma let out a horrified gasp. Everything came rushing back to him. His desperate race towards the battlefield from Korin’s Tower. Feeling the overwhelming power far away. Pushing the Flying Nimbus as fast and as hard as he could, to avoid exhausting himself. Finding Gohan’s corpse before it vanished in his arms…

And then nothing. It was like his mind was filled with red static. “Chi-Chi I-” He tried to say, but his wife was having absolutely none of it.

“OUR SON HAS BEEN ALONE WITH THAT MANIAC FOR OVER A YEAR!” She roared at him.

And that snapped Goku out of his mind fog, “Chi-Chi, Piccolo-” he tried to respond, but she just screamed over him some more.

“OVER A YEAR WITHOUT HIS MOMMY, WITH THE SAME GUY THAT TRIED TO MURDER YOU! WHO DID MURDER YOU!” Her voice was so loud that the windows were shaking. “AND THEN YOU LET HIM DIE!”

Goku’s fists clenched as Bulma found her spine and stomped in front of Chi-Chi, “You need to BACK OFF! You’re way out of line!”

Chi-Chi didn’t touch her as she sidestepped, her eyes glued to Goku’s, not noticing how angry he was getting, “AND THEN WE FIND YOU WITHOUT A SCRATCH ON YOU! DID YOU EVEN TRY TO GET THERE ON TIME?! YOU NEVER RESPECTED MY WISHES FOR HIM TO BE A SCHOLAR! YOU ALWAYS WANTED GOHAN TO BE A MUSCLEBOUND FOOL LIKE YOU! YOU PROBABLY TOOK YOUR DAMN TIME SO THAT HE COULD-”

“HE WAS MY SON TOO!” Goku did something he had never done before. He. Yelled. Back.

And as he did, Bulma let out a horrified gasp as his body started to grow slightly, with a dim green aura starting to flare around him as his eyes flickered gold. Bulma, knowing the extreme danger they were in, did the only thing she could. She flung herself on top of Goku and hugged him tight, screaming, “GOKU, CALM DOWN! PLEASE CALM DOWN!” Goku was still clenching his fists, “PLEASE! DON’T START LOSING IT AGAIN!” The aura died away and his eyes stopped flashing as he glared at his wife. Bulma let out a sigh of relief, sagging against him.

But that just seemed to make things worse because Chi-Chi had never seen what had happened to Goku because she had been unconscious. And so, her mind immediately went someplace it really shouldn’t have, and let out a snarl, “What’s this?!”

‘Oh no…’ Bulma thought to herself, ‘She’s not going to…’

“Have you been going behind my back with this harlot?!” Chi-Chi spat at him, and Goku’s teeth weren’t the only ones that started to grind. “Oh, I should have known! That black-haired jackass was cheating on her! Who else but her oldest friend to com-”

Bulma got off of Goku faster than she had ever moved in her life. She whirled around and caught a shocked-still Chi-Chi square on the face with the hardest slap she had ever delivered to anyone. Chi-Chi stumbled back, holding her face in shock, which was slowly morphing into more rage. Bulma bellowed as loud as she could, “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!” Chi-Chi sneered and opened her mouth, but Bulma just took another step forward, “GET. THE FUCK! OUT OF MY HOUSE!” Bulma sprayed the woman with spit as she bellowed so hard that her vocal cords started to tear. She started to cough and grabbed her throat, but continued to glare at Chi-Chi, “You are no longer welcome at Capsule Corp!” She rasped out, “And I’m putting you on the fucking blacklist for life!”

Chi-Chi tried to speak, but instead started to kick as she was lifted from behind, “DAD?!” She snarled, “LET ME GO!”

“You’ve done and said enough.” Ox King said, glaring at his fool of a daughter. He turned to Goku and Bulma, “I’m sorry. She won’t darken your doorstep again…” He said softly, before bowing, which made his snarling daughter bow as well, before he walked out. His daughter was not going to be happy when he was through with her.

Bulma sagged, “…How the hell did you put up with her for five years?” She turned and looked at him, “I’m so sorry, Goku…” Her bottom lip trembled a little as she took in the defeated look in his eyes.

Goku looked down at his hands, “I’ve… never seen her that mad. She’s yelled and screamed before, but it was never hurtful.” He said quietly, “She… The yelling never bothered me before. Not like that.” He raised his hand to his old scar, where only healthy tissue now sat. Bulma sat on the bed and hugged him, gently this time. “Bulma…what happened?”

Bulma let go of him and took a deep breath, “W-When you realized Gohan was dead, you lost it.” She swallowed heavily, “I’ve never seen anything like it. You grew like three feet in height and your muscles became as big as tree trunks. You killed that bald one in one blow, and then started beating the utter shit out of the other Saiyan.”

“I…I did?” Goku asked, sounding shocked, “I don’t remember any of that.”

“Yeah…” She said softly, “You… you were terrifying Goku. The Saiyan said that you had apparently unlocked the power of that giant ape form without actually turning into one. Ōzaru, I think he called it.”

“Ah…” Goku looked down at his hands, “Why did you all never tell me…?”

Bulma started to cry, “We didn’t want to hurt you, Goku. Especially after we met Gohan at Baba’s. He was actually relieved we hadn’t. He never held it against you, you know.”

He smiled lightly, “I get it.” he sighed, “I think it was a mistake… especially now. But I get it.” He grabbed her hand, “Thanks for always being there, Bulma.”

“Always.” She replied, smiling in relief that he wasn’t mad.

“So, what happened next?” He asked.

She winced, “Well, after you killed the bald one, you went chasing the small one. He had abandoned the other one even before you struck, and you caught up and started beating the life out of him, until he did some weird technique that made an artificial moon. He transformed and beat you up a bit until you transformed as well. You were huge by the way. Bigger than him by like fifteen meters.” She snickered for a moment, “But you weren’t stronger. That was when he figured out what had happened to you, and realized he was stronger. He started beating you up pretty badly, and we actually thought he was going to kill you… but slowly, you actually started overtaking him. And then you turned the tables and brutalized him so badly that he transformed back. You continued to rampage though, so Roshi destroyed the fake moon, and you turned back after a few minutes. But you were still out of it with rage, so Gohan had to contact you from the Otherworld to calm you down, and you immediately fell unconscious.”

“So… I killed him too.” He clenched his fists in frustration.

She winced, “Ah…I…don’t think so.” He looked at her in surprise, “We went to find his body… but there was nothing there. And one of the spaceships that they landed in apparently flew into the air of its own accord.”

“So, he escaped then.” Goku wasn’t sure how he felt about him surviving. However, he did know that he hated how he had won this fight. He couldn’t even remember it. “A lifetime of training and discipline, gone the instant my temper got away from me.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Bulma grabbed his face and made him look at her, “It was mine. I got fancy with the wish, and ended up removing that head wound of yours. Roshi told us that Gohan had told him that you’d been a wild child before you fell into that ravine. It was only after you got hurt that you calmed down.”

“The Saiyans were monsters.” He said quietly, “All the garbage they filled my head with inside my spaceship…”

She winced, but shook her head, “But you aren’t. You’re a good guy, Goku. The best of us. You spared Piccolo when literally no one else would have. Not even Kami. And if I know you half as well as I think I do, now that you know about that issue with rage, you’re not going to rest until you have it under control.”

Goku beamed at her, and she swore she let her heart skip a beat. “Thanks, Bulma.” His smile dimmed before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Did anyone make it?”

“Only Krillin. He’s still healing up in another room, but it won’t be too much longer.” She responded.

He flinched, “Gosh Bulma… I should have been fas-”

“No.” She put her finger on his lips, “You did everything you could. We should have prepared better, and Kaiō shouldn’t have forgotten that you would need to run back. It was a shit situation all around, and you did the best you could.”

“Still…” He grabbed her hand and held it softly, “I’m sorry. With Piccolo gone, the Dragon Balls are too. You’ll… never get to see Yamcha again…”

Bulma stared at him blankly for a moment, before she smiled ruefully, “Your bitch of a wife was out of line, but she wasn’t assuming everything. I broke up with Yamcha ages ago. Built a spy drone because I started to not trust him, and I was right not to. Caught him in bed with two of his damned fans from baseball.” Goku winced, “Next time I saw him I broke his nose and kicked him out of my house.”

“Ah…” Goku winced, “Sorry, Bulma.”

“I’m over it.” She said, and then put a hand on his shoulder, “But Goku… clearly my love life isn’t the only one that sucks.” she paused for a second to make sure the Saiyan was listening to her, “Everything I’ve seen between you and Chi-Chi is screaming ‘unhealthy’ to me. I can’t tell you how to live your life, but…” she breathed softly, looking away. This conversation was going to be hard, and somehow she felt she couldn’t do it while looking at the same wide eyes she met all those years ago.

“Look, you’re my oldest friend. My best friend. She was right about that. And I don’t want to see you unhappy. You married her because of a promise you didn’t even know the meaning of. One she doesn’t understand either from what I saw...”

Goku grimaced, “Things were… great for a while. We got to know each other. We sparred. We built our home…” He looked away, “But as soon as she got pregnant, it was like she became a completely different person. She was always loud and got angry easily, but…”

She took a sharp inhale and looked back into his eyes, her own getting glossy with emotion. “Goku, you were dead for a year, and she didn’t mourn you. Or at least not that we saw. She was always hyper-focused on Gohan.” She hummed softly, shaking her head a little. “Maybe it’s just because I’m not a mother, but she was obsessed with Gohan and how he was doing. If you asked me to tell you whether or not she even missed you, I wouldn’t have an answer to give you. I don’t think I heard her wonder how you were doing once. She didn’t even care to welcome you back, once everything was over. AND we had to keep her sedated when she woke up and realized Gohan was really dead.” She ran a hand under her nose, willing herself not to cry over the loss of the child. She’d done enough crying already, and with any luck, they’d be able to make it right. “Maybe there was love there at one point. But what we just saw… If I were you, I’d be getting divorced as soon as possible. I really don’t think there’s any salvaging it now. Not after that.”

“I…” Goku sighed, and shook his head, “I’ll think about it. I have more important things to focus on.” He clenched a fist, and Bulma didn’t need to ask to know what he was thinking.

She smiled, “Well, then let me fill your head with some potential good news.”

“Hmm?”

“You said, ‘With Piccolo gone, the Dragon Balls are too. You’ll… never get to see Yamcha again…’” She smiled cattily, “Except, that might not be the end of it.”

“What do you mean?” Goku gasped, hope filling his system.

“Let’s go see Krillin.” She held her hand out and helped him out of his bed, “He was the one who overheard the conversation, so he’ll fill you in.”

-]|[-

“Are you serious?!” Goku gaped, “Piccolo and Kami were from another world too?! And there’s a chance that Dragon Balls exist on their home planet!?”

“That’s what we think.” Bulma nodded.

Krillin was still wearing his cast, since he’d gotten a bit extra beat up from being launched by Goku’s transformation. “I overheard them talking.” He smiled faintly, “He said something like, ‘So, it’s true that wish-granting orbs exist on planet Namek. I suppose if we can’t get them here, we’ll just have to go there.’” He grinned, “It might be a long shot, but if it really is true and we can get to this planet Namek, then we could wish Piccolo back! And with Piccolo back, Kami-sama and our planet’s Dragon Balls would come back too!”

Goku sat heavily, almost tearing up a bit. There was a chance. There was a chance. “Then we need to go to Namek!”

“Hold your horses, buster.” Bulma sat next to him, “There are some issues. First, though I was able to recover the bald one’s spaceship, it’s a single seater. Honestly, we’re probably better off examining it and building our own spaceship out of it. That’s going to take time, and I don’t know how much time.”

“As long as it doesn’t take a full year, we should be good.” Goku replied, “If they work like ours, anyway.”

“Hopefully.” Bulma nodded, “But there’s a much bigger problem: finding the damn thing. We have no idea where Namek is!”

“I think I can solve that.” Goku said resolutely, before closing his eyes and reaching out to Kaiō, “Kaiō, can you hear me?”

It took a moment, but there was a response, “Oh good, you’re up, Goku. What do you need?” Krillin and Bulma smiled as they were included in the conversation.

Goku opened his eyes and smiled, “Can you help us find planet Namek?”

“Ha! ‘Can I,’ he says.” Kaiō’s nasally voice was heard laughing, “Of course I can. Let’s see… its bearing from earth is… SU83… N-9045YX.”

Bulma gulped, “Shit.” She grabbed a calculator, “Give me a moment. We need to figure out how long a trip would take, because we’d have to factor that into the time it would take to finish building the ship.”

Kaiō let her work, and talked to Goku and Krillin, “Planet Namek was once a paradise, but unless I’m confusing it with some other place, it suffered a terrible cataclysm hundreds of years ago. I actually thought the Namekians all died off.” The three stiffened, “Give me a few minutes. I need to check on the planet.”

Bulma continued to work while Kaiō searched, and she came to an answer, “Ugh, I’m so glad we were able to locate the Saiyan’s spaceship. With the most powerful ship my dad has ever made, it would have taken over 4300 years! With the speed of the Saiyan’s ship, if we can mimic it perfectly on the new ship we’re going to make based off of it, then it should take less than a week!”

“Wow, talk about being behind!” Krillin gasped.

“And I have better news! The Namekians are alive!” Kaiō declared, and the three of them cheered.

“WHOOO!” The trio (including Krillin, who immediately regretted it) cheered and punched the air. “Owww…” The bald one groaned.

“Heh, this’ll be easy! We just need to build that ship now! It should only take us a couple months!” Bulma declared, and opened her mouth to continue speaking, but a new voice cut her off.

“Excuse Popo.” Bulma screamed and jumped into Goku’s arms like a frightened cat as Mr. Popo entered the room silently.

“Oh, hey Mr. Popo!” Goku greeted one of his mentors, “What is it?”

“Goku, who is this?!” Bulma got out of his arms and looked at the genie a bit shiftily. To be fair to her, Popo was an extremely odd creature, with completely pitch-black skin, red lips, and circular, beady eyes.

“Oh, this is Mr. Popo. He was one of my mentors while I trained with Kami!” Goku told her, “What do you need, Mr. Popo?”

“Popo would like to present another option.” The genie declared. “There is another spaceship.”

“Seriously?!” Bulma gasped, “Where?! How?!”

“If you would follow Popo, Popo will guide them.” He said, before hopping out of the room back onto his flying carpet.

“Let’s go, Bulma!” Goku grabbed her and landed them on the carpet.

“Are you sure this is a spaceship?” Bulma asked hesitantly.

“No.” Popo said, “Popo is not sure. It is what makes the most sense, but Popo does not have the knowledge to confirm it to be true. Popo is off.”

And with that, the carpet and three riders completely vanished in the blink of an eye.

…

“WHAT THE HECK?!” Bulma gasped, and both she and Goku started to shiver a little from the cold.

“We are here. Get off Popo.” Popo said.

Bulma grumbled, “Is he Popo or the damn carpet?” She spoke louder, “Where the hell are we? The biggest freezer known to man?!”

“Yunzabit Highlands. Come.” With his hands behind his back, Popo led the shivering duo towards a small cliff. Bulma gasped, “What do you think? Is it a spaceship?”

“I’ll… get back to you on that.” Bulma said, leaping down unassisted. The cold forgotten, she started tapping on the structure, “What is this? It’s not metal.” She turned, “Mr. Popo, what do you know about this thing?”

“A century ago, Lord Kami spoke of his godly past to Popo for the first and only time. This was his home. His godship had landed here, in the Yunzabit highlands. It was no place for a child, so why would one be sent here? Kami-sama did not know. Even his lordly mind was confused. And so, Popo asked if his godship’s parents were here. But all Kami knew was that there was a note reading ‘We will come for you later.’ He was entirely alone. No parents. No siblings. Alone he stayed for a long time. Years. Decades maybe. Food was hard to come by, and the environment was harsh. He gave up, leaving Yunzabit.”

“Not that this isn’t interesting, but it’s fucking cold. What’s the point?” Bulma asked.

“So impatient, mortals are.” Popo sighed, “It did not occur to his godly mind at the time, because he knew no other houses. But as he came to know different worlds, he realized how odd his house was. It was round, and had four legs, not unlike some sort of creature. There was no knob or lock on the door to open it. Instead, only a spoken word was needed.” Popo turned to the structure, “Piccolo.”

Goku and Bulma’s eyes widened, and they turned as a VRRRR rang through the air, with the bottom of the ‘house’ floating downwards. “Sweet!” Goku grinned as he stepped onto the floor. Bulma eyed it warily, before jumping on. Popo joined them as she asked. “Does it close the same way?”

“Yes.” Popo said.

“Piccolo!” Bulma chimed in, and unbalanced a little as the floor rose up, sealing them away from the elements. “Of course! Kami-sama was a Namekian!” She gasped, “The cataclysm! His parents must have sent him away to save him, and failed to make it through themselves! This has to be his spaceship! There’s nothing else like it on earth!”

Popo smiled, “Popo heard Kaiō-sama speak, and he then remembered this story. That is why he thought looking for this house was worth doing.”

“This is awesome, Mr. Popo! And there’s definitely still power…somehow. But how does it fly?” She went around the chair, “It doesn’t seem like any of these are buttons or anything. How does this thing work?”

“The entrance was locked by voice command, right?” Goku came in with the surprisingly insightful answer, “Why would the controls be different?”

Bulma beamed, “Awesome!” She turned to the controls, “Fly! Lift! Zip!” Nothing happened. “Can’t make it easy for us, huh…” She pursed her lips, “Shoot, it must only work with Namekian. How are we supposed to make this thing work? None of us know Namekian!”

“Incorrect.” Popo said, smiling, “Popo learned from Kami. Now that Popo thinks about it, ‘Piccolo’ is the perfect entrance word. It means ‘Different World’ in that language.”

Bulma smirked fiercely, “Then make us fly, Popo! Have us swing by Jupiter or something!”

“Very well.” Popo spoke a very unfamiliar tongue, and all of them gasped as they were suddenly pulled to the floor.

Bulma screamed a bit, before they jerked to a stop, “What the hell?” She sat up, “Did it-” She stopped, staring outside the viewing port, “I-Is that?!” She pointed at the planet before them, “It’s THAT fast?! That couldn’t have been more than…” She bit her thumbnail, going through some mental math, “It needs some repairs for sure, and some things need to change, but this thing could get us to Namek in… a month! Ish! I’d just need a week or less with dad to get the modifications made!” She hugged Popo, “Thank you so much, Popo! This will be a great help!” She then whirled around to Goku, but froze when she saw he looked contemplative instead of excited, “Goku, what’s wrong?”

Goku looked out of the viewport, “Honestly Bulma… I think we definitely need to get this back to Capsule Corp so you can analyze it with your dad, but I don’t think we should go to Namek in this.”

“What?!” Bulma and Popo both gasped, “Why the hell not, Goku? We can get everyone revived the fastest with this!”

He crossed his arms, “Vegeta escaped.” He said, “Who’s to say he won’t be gunning for Namek too? With friends, even.” Bulma flinched, “There’s really no room to train on this ship. Image Training only goes so far. Even if it’s fast, we’re probably better off taking a bit more time and making something bigger. Especially if you and your dad can cook up a gravity manipulator. Planet Vegeta had ten times the gravity of Earth, and I trained under the same on Kaiō’s planet.”

She looked at his face, having deflated with his words. But she also knew her old friend well. There was something else on his mind, “That’s not the only reason…” She said softly.

He smiled wanly, “You always did know me best.” His expression closed up, “I need to get control over myself. Both over that… Ikari form, as well as the Ōzaru. And I’m going to need time for that.”

“Goku…” She sighed, and gave him a hug, “Even building a new one from scratch isn’t going to take too much longer than refurbishing this thing, you know.”

He hugged her back, “That’s fine. It’s actually a good thing Mr. Popo came to us.” He let go and faced the genie, “…I want to enter the Room.”

Popo looked at him without blinking, “It nearly killed you, all those years ago.”

“I’m stronger now.” Goku said, smiling slightly, “And I’d already be used to the gravity.”

“Wait, what room?!” Bulma asked, “How can a room almost kill you?!”

Goku opened his mouth, before a surprisingly playful grin crossed his face as he interrupted Popo, “The Hypoallergenic Thyme Flamer.”

“The what?” Bulma asked flatly as Popo let out a sigh of deep suffering.

“That was on purpose.” He said flatly as Goku let out a laugh.

“Sorry Popo, couldn’t’ resist.” He looked at Bulma, “It’s called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.”

“Or the Room of Spirit and Time.” Popo added on, “An endless white void as large as a planet itself. Featureless, but for the entrance room. Once you step beyond its borders, you are assaulted by thin air, gravity ten times stronger than that of the earth, and temperature swings that make the Yunzabit Highlands and Diablo Desert seem temperate. It is a hellish environment only the strongest can withstand.”

“But why the hell would anyone go in if it has such conditions?” Bulma asked, aghast.

Goku chuckled, “Because it has another name.”

“The Hyperbolic Time Chamber.” Popo agreed, “While one day passes out here, one year passes in there.”

Bulma gaped, “Holy shit.” She shook her head, pressing her palm to her face, “You’d think these things would have stopped surprising me by now.” She dragged her hand down, “But if a day out here is a year in there, do you really think you’ll need all that extra time? It’ll take me more than that to get this thing refurbished.”

“I won’t be going in immediately.” Goku said, “Plus, even with how much stronger I am now, we don’t know if I’ll actually be able to withstand it.”

“Ah.” Bulma sighed, “So a gravity chamber in the ship is the backup, then?”

“We don’t want to be caught by surprise again, right? I want to use both!” Goku declared.

“Alright then. We have our plan.” She turned to Popo, “Park us at Capsule Corp, please.” She smiled, “And please teach me Namekian. This is actually great. We shouldn’t assume the Namekians will speak Earthling, after all.” She let out a laugh.

-]|[-

Goku was atop the Lookout, sitting in calm meditation. Bulma was hard at work on their spaceship, so he was getting busy too, “Kaiō.”

“You rang?” Kaiō asked, “Good plan by the way, Goku. I approve. You’re certainly a bit more cautious than you were.”

“I think I have to be, if my anger can get away from me like that.” He said, “I can’t just keep losing it every time something gets me angry.” He opened his eyes and looked out at the blue yonder, “You were watching the fight. Do you think you can help me control that Ikari form?”

“We’ll see.” Kaiō responded, before smirking, “Perhaps we should have Gohan on speed dial?” He joked, “He’s making his way down Snake Way with the rest of your fallen friends.”

Goku chuckled, “Good idea.” He focused up, “Think you can help me recreate that technique that made the fake moon?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Kaiō asked, in a faux-haughty tone, “I’ll have that technique recreated in a hurry.”

“Awesome.” Goku smiled, “And Kaiō…” He said before drifting off, “I want to know everything about the Saiyans.”

“Well then, strap in, lad. You’re in for a long lesson.” Kaiō replied.

-]|[-