Well, I no longer consider this story any good, but a few users did like it. The writing is okay but the plot is subpar at best. Some parts of the story just do not make sense, either. I will not be writing a second saga.
If you like my writing style for whatever reason, you can read my other (better) stories. They are Tien: Origins and A Front. You can see my complete list of stories on my user page.
Anyways, try to enjoy this story if you can and take it as an example of how not to write a plot. It's still far from the worst on the wiki.
This article, Dragon Ball IP, is property of Destructivedisk. |
This article, Dragon Ball IP, takes place in an alternate universe or timeline,
and is not considered a part of the main Dragon Ball Timeline. |
Overview[]
"Once we accept our limits, we surpass them." |
Dragon Ball IP (Infinite Potential) is a fanfiction written by Destructivedisk. It stars the human Z Fighters as the main protagonists, with the narrator mainly staying with Krillin. It takes place approximately one year after the end of the Buu Saga and disregards GT, the last few episodes of Z, and the newest special entirely. Also, some of the characters will be absurdly powerful in the story (not as powerful as a SS, but still more powerful than you would expect), such as Yajirobe, which I do half-heartedly address in Chapter 3.
Tao Saga[]
Prelude[]
Chapter 1- Training Montage[]
"Come on now, Krillin," the short hero thought to himself, faced with the prospect of once more opposing, and actually taking down, Super Buu himself. He had been training incessantly for this moment, learning new techniques and increasing his physical ability. Despite this, being stared down by Buu's red eyes while atop Kami's Lookout brought forth a startling combination of Déjà vu and fear, the latter of which he almost succumbed to. Alas, Krillin has never been one to crumple to his knees at the faintest trace of fright, and he steadied himself, preparing to put up the best fight he could.
Krillin thrust one of his hands into the air as the pink monster stood still. Ki began to solidify itself in a circular shape above Krillin's open palm. This was, of course, the Destructo Disk, but Krillin had a different plan for it this time. As he began to throw it forward in a normal motion, he actually reached out and grabbed it with his left hand, essentially turning the already dangerous weapon into a round sword.
"Destructo Disc tomahawk!" Krillin shouted, lunging towards his adversary. He disappeared in a blur, confusing the opponent and giving Krillin the leeway needed to re-appear behind him and actually slice through his antennae.
Naturally, this was no threat to Super Buu. He could easily regenerate himself with no problem at all. He prepared to do just so, before getting hit with a sharp blow to his back. To his eternal surprise, this had a genuine effect on him, sending him flying forward towards the edge of The Lookout. Krillin cupped his hands together, generating a full power Ka-me-ha-me-ha which completely decimated Buu's antennae.
"Now, your Chocolate Beam is totally out of the picture. Let's see how tough you are without it."
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"So, what's all this nonsense about controlling your fighting spirit or whatever it is you're saying," Yajirobe asked his temporary sensei, Master Roshi
.
"We've been at this for THREE DAYS NOW! How do you not even remotely understand this concept? I know twelve-year olds that can utilize ki better than you!" Roshi declared with a frustrated tone, his patience thinning. Although he had previously held the belief that the Kamehame-ha took 50 years to perfect, he had been convinced otherwise once he saw virtually untrained warriors learn to do it with little to no practice.
"Listen, old man. I came here to learn how to create a katana out of ki. Not to be yelled at by you."
"Well, perhaps you could learn it by actually listening to me rather than just worrying about eating the whole time!"
Roshi and Yajirobe locked eyes with each other, each refusing to change their ways. It may now be too late for the two stubborn warriors to learn anything new.
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It was tough losing the paparazzi, Hercule thought to himself. He was now by himself for the first time in months, met with the bliss of the forest. He intended to find a place called Korin's tower, a mythical place rumored to extend far into the sky and tower (no pun intended) over even the tallest of skyscrapers. He had rumors of people getting all the way to the top and to have their power increased two-fold. In his own ignorance, Hercule had managed to convince himself that if he doubled his power he would surpass Goku and the likes, and for this reason had been trying to find the legendary place for quite a while, and he was now planning on realizing his dreams.
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There he was. That idiot Vegeta. His picture hung on the wall, fueling Yamcha's fury and hate. He slammed his fist into the wall, which both reddened his fist and put a sizeable hole into the concrete.
"You need to stop doing that, Yamcha. Your fines are taking away half your pay. That is something, considering your status as the highest paid baseball player in the league right now." It didn't matter, anyways. He was confident that he could win Bulma back if he simply won the tournament. He had been perfecting his Wolf Fang Fist technique and now it was far stronger than the Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha, yet it still couldn't surpass Vegeta in strength.
He planned on changing that.
Chapter 2- Sweet, Sweet Irony[]
Krillin's hands were glued firmly to the ground, his face tilted downwards and breath escaping his mouth like a criminal from a jail cell. Hastily. He felt no real pain; regardless of the terrible suffering he had gone through while in the Pendulum Room, it was solely in his mind and did not carry over to his physical body. That being said, the trauma it may have caused was perhaps worse than any painful stimulus that he would have normally gone through. Being turned into chocolate was no treat, but it was still far superior to to the merciless pounding he had recieved due to not being turned into chocolate.
"Weakling", Mr. Popo calmly stated, his pure black body standing above Krillin.
"I'd- like- to- see- you- do- any- better...", Krillin weakly croaked out, his body now collapsing out of exhaustion.
"I'm not the one being trained here, am I? No; it is your job and your job alone to defeat him." Mr. Popo paused, studying Krillin. "Hmm, perhaps I am being unrealistic here. Super Buu may be an unreasonable opponent for you. Shall we try, say, Frieza?" This idea appealed no more to Krillin, who genuinely flinched as he remembered Frieza's cold eyes as he hearlessly killed him with his telekinetic abilities.
"Wha-what? Frieza? No! Not-not him!" Alas, these pleas were too late. Krillin already saw the lights flashing around him, and felt himself quickly regain his strength.
That was one of the up sides of the Pendulum Room. It remedied any ailments you may have previously had, but only until you actually left the room.
And there he was. There was that tyrant, Frieza. He stood there, his annoying laugh seeming to loop and a smile spreading across his face. Krillin recomposed himself, his hands tightening into a fist and his knees bending. Frieza also put himself into his battle stance.
He pointed his index finger at Krillin.
Ki began to surround said index finger.
A narrow, purple beam shot out. It was the death beam.
Krillin jumped out of the way of the incoming attack, and charged towards the white and purple alien. He stopped moments before reaching the extraterrestial, who extended his fist out straight into Krillin's face, only to have the warrior's image fizzle away into nothingness.
"What? Where is he?" Frieza's hoarse voice rang out, as he performed a double take and backed up.
"Back here," Krillin said smoothly, somehow appearing directly behind Frieza and putting him in a headlock. Frieza's long fingernails crawled up in between his neck and Krillin's arms, but to no avail. Krillin's grasp remained firm, and Frieza's unstoppable wiggling did next to nothing.
Krillin was truly impressed as to how much stronger he had gotten. Sure, he may have been one of the strongest warriors in the universe prior to his training, but he may have even surpassed Goten and Trunks by now. It was hard for him to imagine either of those two kids dominating over Frieza as he was now.
The short warrior then remembered something. Now that he had Frieza trapped, what was he going to do with him?
He thought up the most poetic of ways to dispose of him.
He quickly released Frieza, and then grabbed him by the tail. Twirling around with the monster in his hands, he let go of him once more at the completion of his 360 degree spin, letting Frieza go flying through the air. He flew closer to him, and allowed Frieza the chance to regain his footing before letting a smile spread across his face.
"Y'know, Frieza, I picked up a little trick from a genie back on my home planet of Earth."
"Argh! Cursed genies! Is he the one who gave you this incredible power increase?"
"I wouldn't call it incredible; I'm no Saiyan, I'm relatively humble. But yes, it would be him who granted me this power."
"Hmph, it's of no matter. I simply had not properly prepared myself yet. I suppose it is probably time for me to utilize my full power." Frieza grunted, his physique buffening and his ego as well.
"That's your full-power? For whatever reason, I seem to remember you as being much more of a threat. What do you plan on doing now?"
"Killing you. What else?"
"Let us see about that."
Krillin remained entirely still. Frieza was somewhat taken aback by this, but nevertheless got ready to pounce. He jumped at Krillin with amazing speed, but it was no match for Krillin's trained eyes. He spotted Frieza's exact location, and merely extended his hand in the direction of him. Frieza was stopped in his tracks, his body rendered motionless.
"Wha-what are you doing to me? Gah!" Frieza's body was lifted up into the air, before Krillin clenched his fingers together, causing an explosion large enough to kill Frieza. Which it did, with relative ease.
Ah, sweet, sweet irony.
Chapter 3- A Mercenary by the Name of Tao[]
"I found it! I found the last ball!", Goten cried out in excitement, practically jumping up and down in glee.
"Please. I found the last five balls.", Trunks arrogantly declared.
"No! I found the last one, you just acted like you saw it first!" Goten pouted.
"Just forget it. Give me the ball, Goten." Goten did as told, and tossed the ball over to him. Trunks carefully layed the 7 Dragon Balls out, even though they were unbreakable. They began glowing. "Eternal Dragon, by your name, I summon you forth: Shenron" The green dragon rose out of the balls, luminously shining for miles and miles.
"Ah, Trunks, you said I could summon him this time!"
"Quit your whining, Goten. This is serious business. So, what are we going to wish for?"
"A million toys!"
"No, that would be stupid. We should wish for something awesome... something brand new.... Ah! I got it! I'm going to wish to be a Super Saiyan 4!"
"Uh, Trunks, what about m-", Goten asked, failing to remember that three wishes were available.
"My patience grows thin," Shenron boomed, his voice intimidating the Saiyan youngsters.
"Ok, ok, Mr. Shenron dragon person. I wish to be a Super Saiyan fou-"
"Not so fast," said a heavily accented voice.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tien’s training was going splendidly. Well, as splendidly as it ever went; he was beating up Chiaotzu as badly as he usually did. It was funny, truly. Over all the years, he hadn’t improved his training methods then from when he was with Master Shen.
“Dodon Ray!” Chiaotzu yelled out in desperation, the beam exploding from his fingertips and rushing towards Tien. Tien simply teleported out of the way, the beam blasting past him. Chiaotzu was left momentarily powerless after this, and Tien merely teleported behind him and spiked him down to the ground.
“Gosh, Chiaotzu, are you feeling okay? That was even worse than usual.” Chiaotzu staggered back up to his
feet, his anger increasing due to Tien’s taunting. An aura, as one would expect, began to form around him, and he started to shake all around his body. This was not to be expected. His power surged exponentially, and his aura started to push Tien away, even though he was hundreds of feet away. Once the aura finally calmed down and retracted back to Chiaotzu, but without any loss of power, the white-skinned warrior fainted, collapsing to the ground with the speed of a piranha’s jaw.
“Chiaotzu? What was that?” Tien flew over to him, nudging his body. He flipped him over, only to find him to be out cold. His eyes were still open, and a stupid grin was splattered across his face. “God, with power like that he could defeat us all in the tournament. I outta watch my back from now on.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Tien was not referring to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Krillin was not fighting Buu to go to the World Martial Arts Tournament and get beaten by a saiyan like Goku. Nor was Yamcha, or even Hercule and Yajirobe. They all had a common goal in mind:
Winning the Earth Martial Arts Tournament.
Despite the obvious similarities name-wise, they were not the same tournament. The latter was a tournament devised by Hercule that was virtually identical to the World Tournament, but only those who were human could join. Hercule, for whatever reason, assumed that every other human on earth was weaker than him, despite his knowledge of Krillin and the others being far, far stronger
Really, the motivation it had given the humans was amazing. Their powers soared upwards. Even Videl had improved dramatically. Through a combination of advanced training methods and pure will power, even Yajirobe now had a power level of over 1 million. Heck, Master Roshi was now well into the thousands.
Well, with Roshi…not too spectacular, but still better.
Tien and Krillin were now about equal in strength. Although Krillin had fallen behind after the conflict with the androids, he had made up lost ground by training with Mr. Popo.
In reality, they all still paled in comparison to the Super Saiyans. They may have been some of the most powerful beings in the univese, but they would still all be second best.
But enough about the tournament and the humans. Let us proceed with the tale of Goten and Trunks. __________________________________________________________________________________________
“Wha-? Who was that?” Goten asked confusedly, scanning the area. He failed to sense any significant power levels.
“It was I? The great Mercenary Tao! The one who is very pleased to kill you.”
“You? Kill us? Yeah right. You have the power level of a grain of dirt.” Trunks stated cockily with an annoyed expression.
“Argh! You youngsters these days. Always disrespecting your elders.” Tao paused for dramatic effect, before continuing with, “Let’s see how long that attitude lasts after this. Shenron! I wish to be the strongest thing that has ever existed-by far.”
Chapter 4- The Equal and Opposite Reaction[]
Disclaimer: This chapter contains death and mild gore. Do not read if you can handle such themes.
Naturally, this power increase did not go unnoticed. In fact, if you were in the same universe as Tao and could sense ki, chances were that you noticed it. This meant that the Z Fighters all felt it, which led to a rather embarassing incident where Yamcha dropped his bat during a baseball game, although we shall, for now, focus on everyone's favorite Namekian.
It was at this moment that Piccolo realized the fine distinction between knowing something and understanding something. He knew that there was a dramatic power increase, but he didn't understand why said power increase had occurred. Naturally, he first assumed that it was fusion, but he quickly realized the faults with this idea. Only a select few people knew the Fusion Dance, and those few would have no incentive to fuse. It's not like any Potara Earrings were just laying around, as well. Besides, the new power was even stronger than Super Saiyan Vegi-, well, he prepared not to ride that train of thought.
Clearly, this was not fusion; it was
something else. Perhaps a potential unlock, or maybe some form of Zenkai. Regardless, there was only one to find out, which was to ask the people near it.
He sensed around the area to find nearby kis, only to find none other than Goten and Trunks.
"Goten, what is going on?" Piccolo asked telepathically, shocking him.
"Pi-Piccolo? Where are you? I can't see you or sense you're power level anywhere...", Goten said, not understanding the telepathy.
"Ugh, Goten, just be quiet and think. What is happening?"
"Well, we found the seven Dragon Balls, and got Shenron to come out, and then this man came, and he wished to be like super strong, and now he's staring at Trunks, and-and, oh my god! He just killed Trunks! He just reached into his chest and took out his heart, and bloods all over the place, and- NO! NO! STAY AWAY FROM M-"
With this exclamation of fear, Goten's ki vanished, as did his thoughts which Piccolo had previously held a firm grip on. However, Piccolo was too worried about, say, the fate of the universe to truly concern himself with the death of his fomer pupil, and instead focused on taking action.
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"Krillin! You must kill Dende," Piccolo shouted into Krillin's mind, causing the bald warrior to slip up and fall onto the ground.
"Wha? Is this another one of your "world domination" stints, Piccolo?"
"Ugh, you idiot. You've got to listen to me here. Someone just wished with the Dragon Balls to be extremely strong, and now he's surpassed even Buu in strength. I'm sure you sensed it too."
"Yes, I did. But why should I kill Dende?"
"If you don't, that same person will have two more wishes at his disposal, of which I am sure he will make good use. If you do, the balls will become inert, and he won't be able to wish for anything more. I'm simply asking you because you're the fighter closest to him." "Er, I'm not very certai-"
"Krillin, if you don't kill him this instant, then I am going to come kill him myself. And then I'll kill you."
"Okey-dokey, then," Krillin responded, as he started running out of the Pendulum Room. Mr. Popo began reaching out towards him. Krillin, who saw this out of his peripheral vision, chose to not react, and instead continued rushing in the other direction. He turned left, and continued in Dende's direction, until he finally reached the Namekians room. It had no door, and thus he entered the Guardian of Earth's living place without disrupting a soul.
What was the most humane way to kill the pure soul? He supposed that it would be best to hit him with a blast without alerting him of his presence, and as such he briefly powered up a simple ki blast and launched it at him. It exploded upon impact, and the namekian fell to the ground and laid lifeless. Krillin leaned down next to him and placed his ear against his chest, only to be assured that no heart was beating. Finding this out was a confirmation of his wishes and his worst fears. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
"Truly, Shenron? I get two more wishes! Ahahaha! With my second wish, I wish for imortalit- Wait? Where are you?" Mercenary Tao declared to Shenron's vanishing figure, startled at his sudden disappearance.
Piccolo's heart rate quickly dropped, and he momentarily relaxed, until he realized his next problem: engaging the man in battle.
He began charging his Special Beam Cannon.
The Battle[]
Chapter 5- Sacrifice...if you can call it that[]
"No amount of strength can compensate for a lack of fighting expertise" |
As Piccolo charged his Special Beam Cannon, he sent out a telepathic message to the strongest heroes left on the planet; namely, Gohan, Mr. Buu, Tien, Android 18, Krillin, and even Yamcha. They could use any help they get. The message was as follows, "Help requested. Please come to location of massive power." For 18, he left an ending message simply telling her to follow one of the other Z Fighters.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Why didn't he invite Goku/Vegeta?" you cry, your eyes bulging with tears at the very idea of your favorite saiyans not having a prominent in the following fight. However, allow me a moment to explain; he invited them not because he had not the slightest idea as to where they were; one day, Vegeta had gone on another one of his "beating Goku" initiatives, and, due to Goku not wanting to harm the Earth, had borrowed a ship from Capsule Corp. and flown off to some remote planet. Piccolo could only hope that they would arrive in time to help in the fight against the tyrant.
However, their whereabouts are not the current concern of our story; no, let us resume with the fight between the Z Fighters and their bout with the Mercenary by the name of Tao.
Piccolo continued charging his finger up, hoping that the mysterious man down there would fail to notice him. Yes, yes; he seemed to remember the man. He recognized the face. Was he one of the fighters at the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament? Yes, that was certainly it....Piccolo searched his massive memory banks for even the slightest remembrance of the man's name, only to eventually recall the name of Tao...Mercenary Tao. Yes, he was the cyborg who that triclops had fought and beaten. That was it.
Regardless, his beam was finally complete, and he aimed it at him. He didn't understand who he was humoring, as the beam's chances of actually harming the man were quite slim. However, he still felt that it was a noble enough act, as he would rather attack him and die moments later than die with the majority of the planet without ever doing a thing about him. He could leave that to Yamcha.
He wished for the best, before yelling out, in his raspiest voice, "Special Beam Cannon!"
Due to Tao's inability to sense ki, he had not known that Piccolo had been anywhere near him, and thus was totally unable to prepare for the attack. After a brief double-take, he saw the beam spiraling towards him, and turned towards it, before countering it with his own move; the Dodon ray. Although he put little to no effort into it, it nevertheless completely overpowered the Special Beam Cannon and continued racing towards Piccolo. He ducked under it with great speed, mere moments before it whizzed over his head.
"I hope you're not the best left. I was truly hoping to have some fun killing someone." Tao called out to the namekian.
"Hmph. If it's fun you want, I'm sure that Goku and Vegeta will be more than happy to give it to you." Piccolo, who finished his descent to the ground, responded.
"I doubt that. I can tell you for a fact that I'm stronger than them."
"You may be stronger, but no amount of strength can compensate for a lack of fighting expertise," Piccolo risked, as he understood that insulting the most powerful being in the universe may have not been the wisest of decisions.
"Really? I, the amazing Mercenary Tao, lacking fighting experience? Don't be ridiculous. I trained for years to achieve my current level of perfection. In fact, the majority of Tien and Chiaotzu's technique comes from me! Up until this point I was considering letting you live, big green. Now, I don't believe that that is the case." The killer came running at Piccolo, taking out his sword, preparing to decapitate him. He swung his sword straight at the namekian's neck with unparalleled speed, but Piccolo was able to somehow stop the bade in it's track. While it cut off the tips of his finger, he was able to quickly regenerate and even managed to punch Tao in the stomach, with little to no effect. He then hopped backwards, got into a fighting position, and prepared for the next blow.
"Impressive. It appears you aren't neccesarily a normal human."
"Just now realizing that? The green skin wasn't exactly a giveaway? It appears my prior comment on your lack of fighting experience may have been more correct than you gave it credit for."
"Perhaps I just haven't been utilizing my new power properly. Maybe it's time to discard this material sword." Tao took his sword and flung it at Piccolo, only for Piccolo to dodge it with relative ease. Tao then stuck out both of his hands and formed to swords made purely out of ki, one in each hand, before rushing at Piccolo once more.
Piccolo, knowing it to be impossible to dodge both of these weapons, decided to counter offensively. Using his ability to stretch his arms to fantastic lengths, he threw a full-length punch at Tao, hoping to at least momentarily deter him. When it fially did collide with him, it had genuinely no impact, outside of Tao slicing his arms off at the elbow. He used most of his remaining time to regenerate once more and start ascending into the sky, causing Tao to simply rush past him, before sliding to a stop. The Namekian finally realized that the mercenary was incapable of flight, and started feeling better, as he realized he at least had an escape method if entirely neccesary. Tao, who, unbeknownst to him, could simply jump up there considering his massive strength, started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Piccolo asked.
"You probably thought that you could defeat me from up there, because I can not fly. You forgot one integral factor, though; I can use ki attacks," he stated, before triumphantly continuing with, "Super Dodon R-"
This attack was interrupted by a sharp kick to the back, delivered by none other than Krillin. Although it was weak in comparison to Tao, it was still strong enough to stun him and stop his attack. As Krillin started trying to fly over to Piccolo, Tao grabbed him by his ankles and flung him over to a nearby mountain.
Moments later, when Krillin finally picked himself back up, he looked over to the general location of the two only to see that Tao had grabbed Piccolo and was about to commit a violent act on him. Although Krillin began rushing back over to him, he knew full well that he lacked an chance of actually saving the namekian. He was thus overjoyed to see Yamcha arrive in the nick of time and fire an "extra large spirit ball", as he worded it, at Tao, and was even more so happy when it actually managed to momentarily stun him and stop his assault.
Tao was stunned long enough for the three protagonists to regroup about a hundred yards away from Tao.
"Er, anyone got a plan? We gotta come up with one if we don't want to die within the next few min-Yamcha, what are you doing?" Krillin asked, before being interrupted by Yamcha biting himself and drawing blood. The wolf eficianado ignored him, instead trying to pick up every speck of blood.
"The best I can think of is me stalling him and then you trying to hit him with a Destructo Disk. If that doesn't work, then we're screwed." Piccolo replied, who was also in awe at Yamcha's strange antics.
"Sounds, er, risky, but I suppose we can try it. I mean, I've never been particularly good with actually hitting people with the attack, but I can try it." The two warriors nodded at each other, before they started moving at Tao with exhilarating speed.
Krillin jumped up into the air and flew over Tao's head, while Piccolo rushed headstrong at Tao. Yamcha, on the other hand, started howling up at the moon, with loudness that rivaled a lion's roar. Piccolo threw a full-force punch at Tao, who grabbed the incoming punch with ease, before countering it with a punch from his non-dominant hand to Piccolo's stomach, causing immense pain.
"Destructo Disk!" Krillin shouted as he launched the circular ki blast at the killer. Tao was grabbed by Piccolo, who hoped that he could hold him in place just long enough to let the Disk seperate him in half. However, this was not to be the case, as Tao's fullest power, which he had been previously unable to use, came out for a brief moment in reaction to the actual threat that was being posed to him, and manifested itself in the form of a shield. The shield managed to block off the Destructo Disk after just a moment, causing it to fizzle away into nothingness.
Now they were truly screwed.
Yamcha came running at them, although something was different about him. He had some sort of black aura to him, and his entire body was hunched over, as though he was a wolf running on three legs. However, this was not the strangest part; his entire arm was covered in some sort of black smog, and his eyes had been turned a dark red. In fact, the black fog was in the shape of a...of a wolf? What was this new technique?
"I call this my Demon Wolf Fang Fist! It's your one way ticket-straight to H.F.I.L.!" This attack indeed presented the target with a one-way ticket straight to the aforementioned place, but not in the general way of killing. No, this attack genuinely sent the opponent down below, as it opened up a portal which could consume the opponent.
Although the barrier Tao had constructed was impenetrable by all ki, it could be easily infiltrated by physical beings, and thus Yamcha entered it without a problem, and he made quick contact with the mercenary. Tao felt himself being consumed by the attack, and, despite his unbelievable strength, he had no way to escape. He was trapped.
Howeverm the stubborn adversary refued to accept defeat that easily; instead, he resorted to a tehcnique he had taught to Tien many years prior; the Multi-Form technique. However, for the sake of ease, he only split himself up into two halves. While his original form stayed under the wrath of the Demon Wolf Fang Fist, his second self seperated from him, snuck behind Yamcha, and punched him across the face. This immediately halted Yamcha's attack, as well as knocking him out, and, due to the nature of the Demon Wolf Fang Fist, Yamcha's arm was burned off. He was now left with only one arm.
Tao quickly put himself back together, regaining his fullest strength. Krillin came rushing up behind him, only to be punched full on in the face by Tao. Krillin went sliding away in the other direction, before colliding with a rock and laying still.
Krillin was dead.
Chapter 6- Resurrection[]
You read the title of this chapter and thought to yourself, "Oh, great, he's reviving Krillin with Dragon Balls from some distant planet. And then, by some miracle, they defeat Tao." No. Thats not the case at all. This story requires no magical stones or any remote celestial bodies; this is an entirely different type of resurrection altogether. This rebirthing requires only one thing, which is an antagonist by the name of Mercenary Tao.
You see, he posesses small powers of mimicry, yet another move which was passed down to and expanded on by his pupils, Tien and Chiaotzu. While he had never been able to use it to replicate flying, he could occasionally use it on much more complicated attacks, such as the Demon Wolf Fang Fist.
If you would recall, Yamcha was biting himself for a reason. It was part of a summoning ritual. The demon wolf that had enveloped his arm was summoned from the very depths of H.F.I.L, and spreading the blood he had gotten from his own arm was a neccesity for summoning it. This had been discovered due to Yamcha's intense "study" of occultism, where he had been informed of this particular form of voodoo-ism which he had later combined with his already potent Wolf Fang Fist to create an extremely lethal attack.
However, Yamcha's peculiarities are not our current problems. Instead, we should focus on how Tao gains a new ability after witnessing the Demon Wolf Fang Fist.
"Hmmm, what an interesting attack that was. Not the bald one's, of course, but that long-haired one's. That one could've put me in. That's not to say it did, of course." Tao declared, before continuing with, "However, perhaps I should take a page out of his book, but on a much larger scale." Tao proceeded by picking his sword up from the ground, and then gently sraping himself across the chest just hard enough to draw a bit of blood. He then placed a little bit of it on his hand, and then raised said appendage into the air.
"From the deepest bowels of H.F.I.L., I summon only the foulest, most powerful, and most destructive creatures to come cause havoc upon this world! Come now!" This insane declaration was followed by the arrival of Gohan and Tien, who were both unable to comprehend exactly why this man with the ridiculously high power level had his hand raised into the. Oh, and why, you know, hundreds of dangerous villains were escaping through a huge hole in the ground.
Yajirobe and Chiaotzu[]
"Chiaotzu," Tien said telepathically, snapping the pyschic out of his worrying about Tien's mortality, "I need your assistance."
Chiaotzu was pleasantly surprised at this plea, as Tien very rarely actually asked for his help. "What do you need, Tien? Help with the really high power level?"
"No, no, that's Mercenary Tao. He's simply-simply much stronger now. No, that's not it at all. We need you and Yajirobe to," Tien hesitated to continue, as he disliked putting Chiaotzu into danger, "stall Frieza until one of us is able to leave here and attack him ourselves."
"The great tyrant Frieza! I'd be surprised if me and Yajirobe could even scratch him if we worked together. And that Yajirobe fellow probably won't even show up!"
"Look, Chiaotzu...I'm none too pleased with this either. I offered Yajirobe some food, so you can expect him to show up, I suppose. I just need you to hold him off for long enough for me or Piccolo to arrive. Until then, I'm sure that you can take him on...Look, Chiaotzu, I have to go fight now. If worst comes to worst, just use the-use the Self-Destruction technique." Chiaotzu was shocked at this. He didn't expect his best friend to basically tell him to kill himself; in fact, he had never even thought of such a thing. What was he getting himself into?
Chiaotzu and Yajirobe met up near Frieza. Although the smaller one had initially been surprised at Yajirobe's new ability to sense ki, the obese man just muttered that he would explain it later and that "it was not an easy thing to learn" before a floating Chiaotzu and a trembling Yajirobe began walking in Frieza's direction. Luckily enough for them, Frieza could not sense ki, and thus failed to see them coming. Yajirobe unsheathed his sword, while Chiaotzu began using his telekinesis on nearby rocks. Although he didn't pick any of them up, he still grasped them, so that at any time that it would be neccesary he would be able to start throwing them at him.
With a large gulp, Chiaotzu called out, "Hey, Frieza, you ready for this?"
Frieza turned around, while in mid-air, and stated, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I was too busy looking over the mountainside. This is such a wonderful world, is it not? I think I'm going to conquer it now. Perhaps you two should be the first people I kill at the start of my new reign?" As Frieza went on and on about this new land, his new land, Chiaotzu began concentrating on a mountain located almost directly behind Frieza. He slowly started unearthing it, before lifting it far into the air with his telekinesis, until it was almost directly behind Frieza.
They were located in something of a desert area, the type which Frieza would very much like due to his enjoyment of isolation, and they were currently on the edge of a cliff. It was a long fall down if you happened to fall off the side; a very long fall.
However, scenery is not our primary concern. What matters now is that as Frieza's lengthy evil monologue was near completion, and the mountain was directly over Frieza, Chiaotzu stopped holding it. He just let it drop right on top of Frieza's head.
During his speech, Frieza had completely let his guard down. Thus, the mountain, which usually would have had little to no impact, caused him to fall straight down to the ground. While his knees did not bend at all, he was nevertheless left in a position which was Yajirobe accessible. Yajirobe, in a short act of courageous insanity, rushed towards him, his sword swinging wildly. As Frieza chucked the mountain off the side of the cliff, Yajirobe finally reached him, and actually managed to slice a quick scratch into his chest. He then jumped back, his sword slanted across his body in a guarding position, and realized that he had just earned himself the title of the world's worst decision maker. This crazy Frieza guy would instantly kill him now that he had harmed him.
"Oh, gosh, I am sooo sorry about that, Mr. Frieza. You are a man right? I am simply such a huge admirer of your's that I wanted to try to get a slice in. And looky there, I did! Now come on, let's join up together and rule the world! How 'bout it?" I think that the person who said that requires no clarification.
"I...will... KILL YOU!" Frieza yelled, charging at Yajirobe, getting prepared to kill him with just a few punches. He threw one straight at Yajirobe, who managed to side-step it, before Frieza turned all the way around and smacked him across the face with his tail. Yajirobe was sent flying across the area, slowly sliding to a stop about 100 yards away. He managed to stagger back up to his feet, with his sword pointing in Frieza's direction. Frieza came rushing at him once more, only for Chiaotzu to pelt him with multiple small rocks coming from multiple directions. One particularly large rock hit him straight across the face, causing him to actually be knocked down.
"Kill him, Yajirobe! Your sword is sharp enough!" Chiaotzu called out. However, Yajirobe was too fearful to move even in the general direction of the extra-terrestial. This caused Frieza to soon stand up, which he followed with a resounding, "You humans are pitiful. This isn't a particularly desirable piece of land either way. I think it's time to just destroy it all and rule the rest of the world!" With this, he rose up into the air, and began forming a powerful ki ball.
"This is it," thought Chiaotzu, as he began flying up to Frieza's location. "This is the end of my life. For good this time." He latched onto Frieza's back, preparing to self-destruct. As the self destruction process continued, Chiaotzu began feeling innards expand, the ki overflowing his body. Frieza was squirming, trying to escape Chiaotzu's grasp, but his efforts were fruitless.
"Chiaotzu, before you blow yourself up up there, I'd like to tell you that being the honorable type isn't fun! Y'know, running is sometimes a lot better." With these warming words of encouragement, Yajirobe jumped off the side of the cliff, only to remember one thing:
He couldn't fly.
Chapter 7- Super Saiyan 3 Almost Never Fails[]
"Hahaha, Kakarot! I have achieved my fullest power! I am now a Super Saiyan 3, and I can dominate you in this fight." exclaimed Vegeta, who was as insane as ever. However, this was not to say that he wasn't a Super Saiyan 3
"Vegeta, something's not right...There's an unusually high power level on Earth. Multiple extremely high power levels...We need to return immediately," Super Saiyan 3 Goku responded.
"Oh, cowardly Kakarot. What a surprise. You're trying to escape fighting me, the Prince of all Saiyans!"
"This is no time for this, Vegeta. We must return to Earth and fight this threat. I fear that Goten and Trunks may have already been lost..."
"What! Trunks! Goku, we must return immediately!"
"Hold on, Vegeta." Goku ordered, before appearing behind him and using instant transmission. Although this was the fastest way to travel, Vegeta hadn't trusted Goku enough to let him use it to transport them away from Earth and thus they had used a spaceship instead. However, they arrived on Earth within seconds. Just, you know, in a bad location. As in, right next to a Saiyan brute named Broly who just happened to have previously achieved the Legendary Super Saiyan 3 transformation. But, you know, no big deal.
Well, that was, until Broly noticed Goku, I mean, Kakarot, and yelled out, "KKKAAAKKKARRROOTTTTT!" in his loudest voice.
"Hmph. Broly, we don't have time for you right now. Come on, Kakarot, transport us to the correct location." Broly reacted to this statement suprisingly negatively, rushing towards Goku and, well, smashing him down to the ground. He bounced backwards, before coming to a halt several yards away. He stepped back up with ease, his long hair draping across the ground.
"Broly, I'll let you kill me after this if you need to, but right now, we need to go." This plea had, unsurprisingly, no impact whatsoever, unless one considers Broly getting angrier an impact. But, in all honesty, it's impossible to tell with him. He always seems to be getting angrier and angrier.
Regardless, they had to combat this gargantuan foe, who now seemed to be charging some type of ki blast in his right hand. His power was incredible, dwarfing both Goku's and Vegeta's.
"So, how do we attack him, Vegeta?"
"We attack him from both sides. I hit him with a Galick Gun and you with a Kamehameha Wave. I doubt he'll be able to withstand it to well. I attack from the right, and you from his left." Rather than wasting valuable time waiting for a response, Vegeta rushed straight at him, with Goku following behind by mere moments. Broly, upon seeing this, stuck his hands out to the side like a cross, and began forming a simple ki blast. Goku and Vegeta fired their attacks simultaneously, only for there to be, surprise surprise, no damage caused at all. None. Nada.
Well, to Broly, at least. He continued nonchalantly charging his attacks, firing the yellow ball of ki at Goku, which sent him flying away, and a green, ultra-powerful blast at Vegeta. Vegeta guarded against the attack, but his defense was quickly penetrated.
Vegeta was obliterated immediately. Blown into oblivion, his body turned to nothingness, the green blast continued far out into space, eventually colliding with Mars and destroying it as well. Yeah, it was quite the strong attack.
Goku was stuck. His only plan for victory against that high power source was to fuse with Vegeta and go Super Saiyan 2 or 3. That would've been enough. But now, he was out of options; he would have to fight by pure will power alone. As of right now, though, he had one big problem in front of him. A legendary problem.
He considered a Spirit Bomb, but decided he would rather save that for when fighting the even higher power. He would try a punch with energy from all the Z Fighters, but he was kind of alone at the moment. What was there to do?
"I thought you could use some of my help."
Goku and Broly's heads both snapped over to the origin place of the voice, only to see an old, grey-haired man. However, he seemed to be very, very fit; almost ridiculously so. His muscles bulged and it almost seemed like his skin was going to rip. He was the captain of martial arts, the wizard of techniques, the fighting genius - he was the grand Master Roshi.
"Master, you're strong and everything, but you're just not in Broly's league. Get out of here!"
"You're right Goku; I'm not cut out for this. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." He lifted off his turtle shell, before looking into it to reveal an electric rice cooker and tossing it forward. He raced towards it, his opponent mystified. "Goku, after I do this, I need you to fight with all your heart to win, okay? I ain't doing this for no reason, you know. Defeat Tao, okay?" Despite not having had the information that it was Tao revealed, Roshi had managed to sense his ki and read his energy signature in order to figure out that it was him. Goku, as he knew not what Tao's signature was, simply knew that it existed, and was shocked to discover that it was Tao. Tao, in his mind, was just another human. "Okay, good. I'm gonna let you get to Tao a bit faster. Without any further ado, Evil Containment Wave!", he shouted, sacrificing his own life in the process.
The green swirl shot out of his hand, before finally making contact with Broly. He was then flung up into the air, before Roshi began to re-aim the attack in the direction of the container. His aim was impeccable, and the tyrant was inserted straight into the container, the green wave halting, and, with it, Roshi's life. As he slowly faded out of existence, he crawled towards the container, and, once he finally reached it, he slammed the opening shut, before collapsing upon the ground, dead.
As Yajirobe continued his disgraceful descent to the ground, flailing his arms around like a banshee, Chiaotzu realized something; he shouldn't be honorable. It was pointless. It was very unlikely that his attack would even so much as even damage Frieza. Instead, perhaps he should risk someone else's life. More specifically, aren't samurai supposed to be honorable people?
He detached from Frieza while on the brink of explosion, and somersaulted backwards following that. He hit Frieza in the back of the neck with a Dodon Ray, which stunned him, before pointing his finger at Yajirobe and holding him in midair with his telekinesis. He thrust the obese warrior into the air, straight at Frieza. Due to the shock of this sudden attack, Yajirobe's sword dropped out of his hand, leaving him unarmed, without control of his ki; essentially, he was just a heavy, human cannon ball.
Yajirobe panicked. This was more or less the same as falling to his death, except this way probably included more impaling. So, it actually managed to be worse. As he neared in on the monster, he held his hands above his head as if he still had his sword. Frieza was still stunned as Yajirobe came near, although Yajirobe knew full well this would quickly change. If he still had his sword, he could just stab him through his neck, but, alas, he had no sword. How very unfortunate.
Suddenly, almost randomly, he felt ki flow through his body. He was ridiculously stronger the moment that this happened, and he felt invincible as a sword, made purely out of ki, began to materialize in his hand. This was even sharper than his normal katana, and could cut through almost any substance in the universe.
"SPIRIT SWORD!", he hollered, jabbing his sword forward, and stabbing Frieza straight through his neck. It was an insane moment, where the dead tyrant's eyes blanked, and he lost all of his existence. As this happened, Yajirobe's sword vanished away, leaving Yajirobe to fall straight down to the ground. Luckily enough, Chiaotzu came diving underneath him, leaving Yajirobe with a place to land. As the samurai grasped onto him, he began flying full speed towards Tao, ready to fight.
"Ach, man! Let me down from here! I'm way too high up. I'm afraid of heights!", an inferrable someone yelled.
"Nah, Yajirobe. We have places to go. No time for that", Chiaotzu responded, soaring even higher up, which led to excruciating yells from Yajirobe.
Chapter 8- Triumph[]
“Oh, Tien. Do you remember our showdown at the twenty-third Budokai Tenkaichi? How you humiliated me? How you defeated me without even trying?”, stated Mercenary Tao before pausing, and then continuing with, “Now, it’s your turn for that. I’m going to kill you slowly, twist every bone in your body out of place, and then slowly remove all three of your eyes. How does that sound, Tien? How does it sound?” The cyborg had quickly gone mad with power, finding himself invincible. Undefeatable.
“I remember that, you fool. However, I’m sure there’s something you don’t remember. The Tri-Beam. The one move you never could master,” the triclops responded, already forming his hands into the tri-beam position. “The most powerful Crane School move, the only one superior to the Dodon Ray; oh, you must know what I’m referring to?
“Even if it is so powerful, I’m sure I could defeat it with a simple Dodon Ray. That’s how much more powerful than you I am!”
“Oh yeah? TRI-BEAM HA!”, Tien shouted, releasing a Neo Tri-Beam from his hands. Tao made no effort to dodge it, instead pointing a finger at it and shooting a Dodon Ray at the incoming wave. The two blasts collided, and it was immediately clear that the Dodon Ray would triumph. The Tri-Beam stood no chance.
Tien shot another blast with little to no effect. His life energy was quickly draining, but, even so, he shot another blast. No effect. Panting heavily, and with no chance of success, Tien took yet another chance; he stopped. He allowed the Dodon to close in on him. He planned on jumping away, but it was coming in too fast. Not even he, with his superhuman reflexes and third eye, could dodge it.
“You pathetic humans,” said a voice which clearly was Yamcha’s, but the tone was not. This vocal eruption caused Tao to stop, resulting in his Dodon’s dash towards Tien ceasing. Yamcha stood completely erect, although his missing arm was a definite abnormality. Upon saving his friend’s life, he continued with, “Yes, you mortals truly are pathetic. I, however, am a demon, the highest class of organism, and I shall raise this weakling’s power to something at least respectable.” After declaring this he tilted his head upwards, revealing his facial features to the Z Fighters. His hair was standing upright, and his eyes had turned black. A dark, dark black; encompassing all who looked into it, causing sadness, despair, self-pity, and so many more negative emotions. It was a horrific sight.
“This race truly is weak, is it not? I thought that he would have more power left to gain, but this meager strength he already had was the fullest of his abilities. Oh wait, it appears he has something earthed beneath him, power yet untapped….oh yes, here it comes…He shall take over from here.” With this declaration, a blue aura erupted from around Yamcha. It swirled around him, continually expanding, until it finally settled around him once more. The blackness in his eyes was replaced by an ocean-like blue, and his lips transitioned slowly to the same blue color.
He had become a Mega Human. He was the first to maintain it, and his power increased 15-fold, as did his angst. Power was now his, and he was going to cherish it.
As soon as Yamcha regained sentience, he sensed his own power. He was overjoyed, finally realizing that he was superior to all the others. Well, the other humans, at least. Most of the Saiyans could probably still destroy him.
“C’mon Tao, you can’t handle my Wolf Fang Fist! It’s unstoppable! HOOOOOWWWWLLLLL!!!” he howled, flying up into the air. He came diving towards Tao, fist extended, when a giant wolf image formed around him. In a fashion similar to a spirit bomb, all the wolves, dogs, and other related species across the world contributed their energy to his Ultimate Wolf Fang Fist, forming an ever-more powerful attack. He eventually hit the mercenary, who was blocking against the monster attack. The power was incredible, enough to topple almost any enemy.
Almost.
Tao was something else entirely. He was truly incredible. Over time, over a relatively brief period, he started to lift the Super Human Yamcha off of him, and, with his tongue, slapped him over to the side. Yamcha was sent flying to the side, sliding against the ground, before coming to a halt. Unlike Krillin, he was not killed by the attack, but he was still severely injured.
“That attack was actually decent. It scratched me,” stated the robot, dusting a little bit of blood off of his face. “Anybody else want to fruitlessly rush at me?”
Tien, Gohan, and Piccolo stood silent. None of them stood a chance. Gohan powered up to Super Saiyan 2, but his strength was still dwarfed by Tao’s. And that’s when hope finally came.
Strangely, there were two people; one diminutive in size and the other normal; one was Goku, and the other was, inexplicably, Krillin. While they arrived, a dying Fortuneteller Baba breathed her last gasps, having sacrificed her life to bring back a magnificent warrior to live out the rest of his life.
Regardless of Baba, this was not the same Krillin who had previously died. This was a far stronger version, one who had reached his fullest potential. He was Mystic Krillin.
While dead, Krillin had visited Supreme Kai and his potential unlocked. There was not as much available as with Gohan, so it had taken a far shorter period of time. However, he was now at his strongest, just as Yamcha had been moments earlier.
Anyways, these two went unnoticed by Tao. He was still trying to choose his next victim, and thus was left vulnerable for Goku to fire a True Kamehameha at. Which is precisely what he did, yelling the name of it as it went,
The wave burst towards Tao, and was noticed by him solely because it generated so much noise that he had no choice but to turn around. He stuck his finger at it once more, and then yelled, “True Dodon Ray!” It fired at the incoming wave, and overpowered it-slowly, but nevertheless surely. Goku, who was struggling to keep his attack up, felt himself slipping. He put yet more strain into it, but it was to no avail; moments later, he was hit. He was sent flying backwards, eventually hitting rock and laying still.
Like Krillin was mere hours earlier, Goku was dead.
Krillin and Gohan were both enraged. They came flying at Tao, with Krillin forming a Destructo Disk Tomahawk, ready to slice off the monster’s head. Tien and Piccolo simply sat there, shocked at their old rival’s death. As Krillin threw his disk around clumsily, hoping to hit the omni-powerful Tao, and Gohan threw aimless punches, unable to connect with him, Tao dodged easily. He had it all under control, and was now just playing around with his inferior enemies. It was a losing battle for our protagonists, and they knew it as well as he.
Success sometimes comes in strange forms. Like, per say, a samurai riding on the back of a floating Japanese zombie, if you know what I’m referring to. If not, then I’m talking about Yajirobe flying along on the back of Chiaotzu. Strange, eh?
Chiaotzu dropped Yajirobe right above Tao, and the fat warrior came diving straight down, his head coming first. He had his spirit sword extended past his head, ready to split straight down the middle of Tao’s skull.
Which, by the luck of the gods, it did.
________________________________________________________________________
Yajirobe had killed Tao, with just a little assistance from Chiaotzu. His corpse lay several miles away, as the remaining Z Fighters had already left the area. They were now celebrating their victory, albeit half-heartedly as they did not have Goku, Vegeta, and the other Saiyans besides Gohan left. Bulma was left weeping in a corner at her loss, and Chi-Chi was more or less used to it. That was, until she realized that the Dragon Balls no longer existed. When alerted of that, she wept for countless hours in an exasperated manner which I care not to further exaggerate on.
Several of the warriors had considered going off to Namek, but these plans were shot down when they found out that Earth had officially shut down all space operations for unknown reasons. If they were to attempt to fly into outer space, they would be destroyed immediately.
Yeah, it was kind of a sad party. But a party nonetheless.
Earth Tournament Saga[]
Saga Theme:
Coming soon!