Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I think we’ve all read enough of those reincarnation and isekai stories that we know how they usually start with decent enough accuracy. Usually, it’s some sort of vehicle or attacker that results in the death of the protagonist. Sometimes writers will decide on an incompetent or particularly dickish god that kills them by mistake. There are, of course, those times when no explanations were given, starting right as the main character is reborn in their new world.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to have some random omnipotent being show up to grant me wishes, or have a truck flatten me instantly and let me transport to a new reality. No, what ended up triggering my rebirth was just… infinitely more embarrassing.

A fucking Buzzfeed quiz. You know? Those idiotic online multichoice questions that tell me what kind of pancake or fruit I am? That’s the thing that sent me to this world. Not even that, I was unlucky enough to be dropped into Conton – formerly Toki Toki – City.

Also known as the wild timescape of Dragon Ball fucking Xenoverse…

Now, one might wonder why I’m upset about this whole situation? Regardless of the nonsense that led to my being dumped here, there should be quite a few upsides, right? And yeah, there were a few things that made life in this place surprisingly nice. There were of course capsules, making transportation and storage basically a nonissue, or the overabundance of food and medicine that basically comes at no cost – though Senzu Essence still costs a pretty Zeni. Even things like crime were practically nonexistent since nearly everyone in the city can fire off ten different versions of the Kamehameha.

That doesn’t mean it’s all peaches and cream, though. Let’s start from the beginning.

In this life I was named Leva, Gach Leva. I was born a pure Earthing male, with not a mutation or drop of Saiyan blood to be seen. Trust me, I’ve checked… multiple times. Now it’s not the worst thing in world to have Earthling blood, as a matter of fact most of the top Time Patrollers have some basic human in their veins.

The problems start with the fact that almost all those patrollers are also part Saiyan. As a matter of fact, a vast majority of the Time Patrol has some sort of Saiyan heritage, a whopping forty percent the last time I checked. Even with all of the Namekians, Majins, and the dozens of other races that took part in these duties, Saiyans were basically the backbone of the whole patrol.

As for full Earthlings like myself? We made up less than a percent of the Time Patrol’s numbers, just sixteen members in total. Five of those were one of the furred beast races, eight were a mutant of some sort, which left only three – three patrol members that were in the same boat as me…

Well, not entirely the same boat. They were rich enough to afford equipment and training that put them in the same realm as the other races, and had enough connections to acquire other means of increasing their power. Me on the other hand? I was dirt poor, and living off of the city’s welfare funds and whatever scraps I could take in Hero Colosseum tournaments. A downside of being abandoned by whatever parents I had in this life, I guess.

Half of the time I was eating what boiled down to instant meals… they were much better than any microwaved foods I could get in my past life, but that’s barely a compliment. And the times I wasn’t eating that, I was usually going hungry.

Look, all of this boils down to a simple fact, life is tough for the average Conton Earthling. Aside from the few of us that were rich enough the bridge the gap with mountains of cash, we were all stuck in service and maintenance jobs around the city. Working desk jobs, restaurant services, programming machines, and other things of that sort. There’s even a rotating group of people whose sole duty is to listen to Hercule’s tall tales.

Naturally with us stuck in these kinds of duties, there are unfortunately some who look down on us for being “weak”. Usually it’s the Saiyans – to no one’s surprise – who treat us worse. When you value power and fighting over everything else, you tend to forget the value a well-cooked meal has.

I hated the concept, being stuck waiting tables or doing paperwork. Having to just let a particularly cruel Saiyan trip me and dump a bowl of hot broth on my head for kicks. What was even the point of living in this incredible universe if you couldn’t even enjoy the things that make it special?

That’s not to say all Saiyans were like this, but it was just enough to where most humans tend to avoid them on the streets. Enough that I didn’t feel safe walking home at night because I thought a drunken tail-man was going to show up and start harassing me!

It was maddening, I wouldn’t – couldn’t – allow myself to live like this. I was young, and ambitious, and perhaps a little naïve, but I made decision to do whatever it took to get out of this rut. I would train harder than any Saiyan, meditate deeper than any Namekian, and cheat to hell and back better than Frieza’s entire species.

I would become strong, strong enough to join the Time Patrol.

It was an extremely difficult way of living, everything I had to cut out of my life just to squeeze a few extra Zeni out was arguably more difficult than the actual training. People may downplay Saitama’s training, but cutting out all of the remaining amenities in my life really made me understood how hard his routine could actually be.

I sold the little furniture I had, reducing my shitty one room apartment to just the kitchenette and an alarm clock. Every night I spend curled up on the hard concrete floors, trying to dream with only the clothes on my back. Every second not spent sleeping I spent training in some type of way, even when I was doing other things.

While flipping burger patties I honed my senses. When I ran errands I rented weighted clothes. Every time I bathed I trained my ki control. Everything I could think of to get the slightest edge I did, and then some.

And after fourteen long years, I had achieved a power level of 444. It was an absolutely pathetic number, one that would get me laughed at more than anything. It didn’t matter that Goku himself had a similar level of power at an older age, compared to the rest of the Time Patrol I might as well have been a fly.

But it was enough, just enough to scrape the bottom requirement to get into the TP Training Course. I couldn’t even express how much relief and joy I felt upon seeing my acceptance letter. By the hair on my back and the skin of my teeth, I did it. I may have been riding almost entirely on my academics, but I did it.

“I did it. I did it. I did it.” I kept repeating in a hushed whisper, almost hyperventilating from the rush of emotions. Something like this called for a celebration of some sort.

For the first time in a long time, I decided to buy something not for training. Something that I had always wanted to have since coming to this world. The clerk working at the store was nice enough, and set me up quickly. I held the item with a slight awe, shifting its weight in my hands to get a better feel of it.

A scouter. It was an older model – used most likely – with a blocky build and a bright pink screen. The cheapest model I could get while still being confident in its quality. I kept the device held close to my chest as I made my way home, making extra sure to avoid the sections of the cities where the Saiyans were known to hang out.

The door to my dinky apartment closed with a click, and I made a beeline for the bathroom. Panting breaths rushed in and out of my body as I tried to calm my nerves, they had almost become too much to handle. I know it might seem a little childish to get so excited, but this might as well have been Christmas for me; the first in fourteen years.

Shakily I unclasped my hands from the device, a finger tracing across the buttons adorning the device. I couldn’t help but let out an energetic giggle as I raised the piece of alien tech to my ear, feeling it attach snuggly to my head like a cozy earmuff.

It was a little tight. Not in a way that was uncomfortable, but more so like in the way a compression sleeve would feel… if they made those for ears, of course. I looked up to the bathroom mirror to get a look at how it looked on me.

The look was… acceptable. It didn’t match with my basic black shirt and red pants at all, but it went surprisingly well with my shoulder length brown hair and equally brown eyes. Guess those girls in my past life were right, pink goes with just about everything. The device did look a little big on my tanned five-foot seven-inch frame, but luckily it wasn’t too noticeable.

Maybe it belonged to a female Majin? They’re usually around my size, given how thin I am for my frame.

“Alright, enough fooling around. Let’s see how I turn this thing on.” I grabbed the machinery now attached to my head, pressing the first button I could find. “And then I was supposed to… huh?”

Congratulations! You have acquired the app Lost Timeline Gacha!

I stared at the popup on the screen, the bolded letters pasting themselves into my vision.

“What the hell? I thought the cashier said they wiped all the old data clean. What’s with this gambling shit?” I pressed a few more buttons, the text just continued without my input.

You have reached a milestone!

Strongest Under the Heavens: Achieve a Power Level of 416 or more, the highest power Son Goku achieved prior to his first death!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

“Hm? So it scans my PL and gives me rewards for it? I guess… I can see how that would be a good motivational tool. But why is it named “Lost Timeline”?” I pressed different button on the scouter, which prompted new text to roll in.

Due to not opening Lost Timeline Gacha in ******** Years, a new timeline will be selected for prizes.

Selecting timeline, please wait…

Timeline selected!

This month’s timeline is: Demon Slayer

Randomizing possible prizes…

Prize pool selected!

“Wait a second, Demon Slayer!? That’s a-” The prompts shifted once again, a list of items showing up of the semi-transparent screen.

Grand Prize: Water Breathing 10^th form: Constant Flux

Number 2 Prize: Serpent Breathing 5^th form: Slithering Serpent

Number 3 Prize: Thunder Breathing 3^rd form: Thunder Swarm

Consolation Prize: Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar

Number of Gacha Tickets: 1

“…Okay, I am completely fucking lost right now.” I stated with a flat tone. “How the hell does this app know anything about Demon Slayer? I haven’t seen a single volume or episode of that series since before I reincarnated! So what the hell is it doing on my scouter!?”

To be honest, I barely even remembered that those series even existed beyond their names. After spending a solid fourteen years of life without a single piece of media for the sake of saving money, those memories tend to start fading into the background. Like, I couldn’t even remember the name of the series main character. Gampachiro? Kamaboko?

Whatever, it didn’t matter.

“More importantly, is this app reading my memories or something?” I asked out loud. “Damn it, I should probably just take this back to the store and have it wiped… again.”

I walked out of the bathroom into the main room, making my way through the kitchenette towards the center of the room. On the floor was the single piece of “furniture” I had, a Flying Nimbus themed alarm clock. The time displayed was 7:00 PM, right as the store would be closing. I let out a small breath of air once I read the clock.

“Well isn’t this just my luck. As soon as something good starts coming my way, some other sort of freaky shit starts to pop up.” I hissed, pressing any button I could think of besides the main one. But when nothing seemed to close the app, I groaned and sat down against the wall.

“Well, I guess I could mess around with the app. Just this once though, I don’t want to get sent to another world… again. If it starts to glow like my computer did, I’ll throw it out of the window and destroy it with a ki blast, damn the consequences.” I know I might be an idiot for going through with this, but as much as curiosity killed the cat…

“Satisfaction went and brought it back,” I finished out loud as I pressed the scouter’s main button.

-1 Gacha Ticket

Spinning…

Spinning…

Ping!

You receive the Consolation Prize: Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar!

Distributing prize…

“Alright, I guess that’s the end of- AGH!?” A painful sensation crossed from the device and into my skull, lightning like tremors arcing from the device and across my head. I leaped up to my feet, a hand reaching up to grab onto the machinery. The moment my hand grabbed onto the device, my fingers were shocked until they turned numb.

A large bolt shot off of the machine and into the floor, leaving a massive black mark. Within the next moments, more and more sparks shot out all over the apartment damaging the small space even further.

“GHAAAHAA! STOP!” My head started burning as the device continued going haywire, my remaining hand desperately flailing about in an attempt to grab onto something – anything – to pry the scouter off of my face.

But man, did things only get freakier from there.

The pain in my head got worse and worse, turning from an electrifying headache to feeling like my head was about to outright explode off of my shoulders. My eyes shut tight, my teeth clenching as every part of my body was filled with pure unbridled agony.

Even with my eyes closed I could see… me? No, not me. I was getting flashes of somebody else’s perspective.

Wait! Shit, I can’t get distracted! I summoned my ki in an attempt to reinforce my arm, reaching up for the malfunctioning thing once more. The powerful energy surrounding my hand was enough to grab onto it, but no matter how much I pulled on it the more it seemed to stick to my head! I couldn’t get it off!

My hands moved to clutch my head as the pain somehow got even worse, as another flash of movement danced across my vision.

“L-Leave me alone! Agh!” That only prompted more images to appear, my brain abuzz with scenes I knew I had never lived.

Tengen-Sama!

DIIIEEE!

WE’RE GOING FOR THE WIN!

SOUND BREATHING, 1^st FORM: ROAR!!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” There was a final wave of pain and electricity that shot through the room, before vanishing entirely. The silence reigned for a minute; my body frozen as the agony was replaced with a dull aching. I didn’t even dare to open my eyes in fear of the whole thing starting all over again.

When I was more confident that it wasn’t going to start again, I slowly started relaxing my muscles. Every part of my body was stiffer than stone, the electricity having caused every fiber to tighten. My teeth ached from them being clenched too tight, and stars danced across my sight along with the blurred colors of my room.

Eventually my vision did return to normal, and I saw that the apartment had been covered in a veritable web of black burns that filled the air with the scents of smoke and ash. I sighed deeply at the thought of having to repair everything, but stopped when I felt something… off with the way I breathed just then.

It was deep – super deep – way deeper than I thought I could breathe. And as I breathed, I could feel the oxygen spread across my body and into the very tips of my fingers and toes. It made me feel… great? I could feel the blood pumping through my veins, but not in a weird way that made me worry about heart disease. No, it was the opposite in fact, seemingly soothing the remaining aches and letting my muscles unravel from the shock induced cramps.

“…What the hell?” I whispered, looking down at my hands. The pink tint in half of my vision reminded me of the thing that started the whole thing, the scouter! My hand shot up to rip the device off of my ear, but I was interrupted once more by the appearance of new text.

Prize distributed!

You have now acquired Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar!

“…What?” I couldn’t help but ask out loud, reading the words a few more times before realizing that I wasn’t seeing it wrong. “D-Did this thing download a technique into my brain!?”

I-I had to test this…

I closed my eyes and reached into the deep corners of my mind, trying to imagine the technique that I had seen in those flashes. Breathing deep once again, I felt a foreign muscle memory trying to guide me in certain ways. A clench of the hand here, a twist of the foot there, and a few more big gulps of air for good measure.

My hands begged me for dual swords, but I ignored the compulsion. I couldn’t afford one, let alone two of them for a technique I had never tried before. Rather, I circulated ki around my hands, an angry red aura surrounding them.

Being the cheap bastard that I was, I realized that trying to purchase techniques or learning them from trainers would take way too much of my meager savings. Instead, I decided it would be better if I carved out my own path with my own custom techniques. This one in particular was inspired by Goku Black’s various ki blades.

The desire for swords quieted down, the foreign instincts seemingly satisfied with the impromptu weapons. I took another breath, before letting the foreign memories take over.

“Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar!” My hands shot above me, before immediately crashing back down. Wind blasted all around me as I completed the technique, rattling the windows and making the cabinet doors clink and rattle as the gusts slammed into the walls.

I could feel it, the attack striking with a power I had never been able to muster before. That strike could put a nasty dent into Nappa! I could tell!

“Holy shit, that means that I struck with a force like… eight or nine times my normal strength!” I felt ecstasy filling my heart, all the new possibilities whispering in my ears. “This app, if it really is able to give me techniques and powers from other series…”

I clenched a fist, a massive grin forcing itself across my face.

“I can finally fill the gap between me and all those bastard Saiyans!” I said, experimentally going through the hand motions of the technique a few more times. Every time I did made me more and more pumped up.

Alert! A necessary update has been detected for the Lost Timeline Gacha!

This app will become unavailable until update has been completed!

Estimated update time is: 8 Hours 30 Minutes

And like that, all of the wind got taken out of my sails.

“What the fuck! You piece of shit! You can’t just give me something like that and then just cut me off!” I grumbled, finally removing the cursed object from my head. A wince went through me when I noticed that my hair was singed around my ear, and a quick trip back to the bathroom confirmed it in a mirror. I’d definitely need to get a trim first thing tomorrow.

“Actually, now that I think about it…” I paused, looking at some minor burn marks on my clothes. “It’s probably not a great idea to use that app too much. I still have no idea where it came from or who made it. Clearly it has some incredible power, but if it can access other series and worlds…”

I shook my head, the burnt strands of hair flaking as I did.

“I’ll use it for now, but the first sign of trouble and its gone.” I promised myself, taking one last look in the mirror. “It’ll be a tool for gaining strength, but it’s just that… a tool. There are already tons of ways to gain power in this world, relying on just one – one so suspicious – would be stupid.”

But before I even think about power, the first order of business was to clean the apartment, followed immediately by a well deserved rest.

The next day was started by the familiar sound of my alarm letting out the sounds of its inspiration, the Nimbus. Getting up groggily, I noticed the state of my apartment almost immediately,

“What the hell happened to my- …O-Oh yeah, that freaky scouter app.” I said to myself, recalling the events of the previous night. A sigh escaped my lips as I ran a hand through my hair, the crispy locks reminding me of the damage that was done to me as well.

“Ok, so first a haircut and then investigate the app some more.” I said to myself, grabbing the item in question.

A quick change later I left my semi-repaired apartment. The slight chill of the early morning filled my lungs with slightly humid air, a slight pep in my step as I walked into a small salon on the corner of the block.

“Well hello there Leva, it’s been a while since you’ve dropped by!” The short elderly woman greeted me when I opened the door. She was counting stacks of Zeni on the table, but I could tell she was looking up at me through her long white bangs.

“Hey Granny Waves. I’m just here to trim up some damage.” I said, pointing to my blackened hair.

“Tch, you only ever come here to fix whatever messes you get yourself into. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t outright blown yourself up yet.” She said with her familiar grouchy voice, making me wince as memories of the previous night resurfaced.

The woman stepped out from behind the desk, and I followed after her towards a chair. Once I was seated, the old lady quickly got to work. The sounds of scissors and razors started filling the small business as I felt chunks of hair fall to the ground.

“I thought I said only to trim the damaged parts,” I said which caused the granny to huff.

“And leave you with a buzz on one side? No! You should at least be presentable for your first day at the academy tomorrow, hmmm?” I blinked when I realized what she had said.

“How did you-“

“Figure out that an Earthling had been accepted into the Time Patrol Training Course for the first time in over nine years? And from this side of Conton too! Of course I’d known it would be the boy who used to constantly spout that he’d make it in. I know you Leva.” I blushed as the woman tutted from behind me. I did say that a lot when I was younger, didn’t I.

“That, and you made me a lot of money at the table.” Oh for god’s sake granny!

“You put bets on me getting into the academy!?” I yelled out, only to flinch when a snip came close to my ear.

“Of course I did, boy! I had the upmost confidence that you’d make it in, and any Saiyan worth half their pride would never back down on a bet like that! You made me a very rich lady that night, you did.” I huffed, crossing my arms as I did so.

“And I can assume I’ll never see a single bit of these profits, will I.”

“Nope, just a free trim.” I rolled my eyes at the greedy woman. She’d never change, would she?

“You’re lucky you’re the only one that gives haircuts so early in the morning or else I’d never put up with your gambling habits,” I explained with false sharpness, feeling the cutting and buzzing coming to a close soon after. Returning my attention to the mirror, I saw that my hair had been restyled to something similar to what Gohan had sported during the Cell Games, only a little less spiky. I ran a hand through my now shorter locks, the lightened weight noticeable on my head.

“That should about do it, now go out there and make me some more money why don’t you.” I leaped out of the chair, hiding a small smile as I ran out the door.

“Only if I actually get to have some next time!” I yelled out as the door closed behind me. I tugged at my shirt collar as I felt the suns rays starting to hit me. Now that I had fixed the damage to my hair, I needed to go to my usual training spot.

 “Maybe I can squeeze out a few extra points before the academy tomorrow?” I wondered out loud, before remembering something else. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the scouter, the pink glass quickly slipping over my eye and turned on with a click.

Lost Timeline Gacha has finished updating!

Notable improvements to: Prize Distribution, and System Stability!

“…Am I supposed to understand what any of that means?” I asked the app, feeling comfortable talking out loud due to the empty streets. Shaking my head, I continued. “Regardless, this little thing was able to give me the sound breathing technique. I didn’t even think something like that was possible in this world.”

I crossed the various streets and path until I reached a different sector of the city, the massive buildings slowly but surely giving way to a large bamboo forest. The peaceful sounds of small animals and rustling stalks of bamboo in place of the early bustling and hustling of the cityscape. My head tilted up as I saw clouds painted with the vibrant oranges and reds of the rising sun.

“Haaah, almost makes me feel like I’m back on- oomph?” I walked head first into a massive frame, getting knocked backwards a bit by the unexpected obstacle. “Sorry about that. I should have been paying attention to where I was going.”

“No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the road like that.” Came a strong yet quiet voice. The figure turned and I saw that it was a Namekian, colored a unique shade of teal and standing at a solid six-feet. He reached out a hand which I shook. “I hope that my mistake hasn’t colored your impressions of me in a negative light. My name is Mu, and you are?”

“Leva, Gach Leva.” I looked down to notice that he was still shaking my hand. “You uh… gonna let go?”

“Hm? Oh, sorry.” He said, releasing my hand. “I don’t have much experience with non-Namekian cultures. I wasn’t really sure how long to make that greeting.”

“…A little shorter than what you just did, but other than that you did fine.” Crossing my arms, I looked the large man up and down. He was clothed in a ruffled neck ring, along with a short red coat and baggy white leggings, not too far off from what I’ve seen other Namekians wearing. “So what brings you to this neck of the woods? Not many people tend to come this way.”

“I came here because I was looking for a place to train,” The alien responded quietly. “I decided to move closer to the academy while I attended, so I’m looking for a good place to practice while I do.”

“You’re going to the academy too?” I uncrossed my arms. “Looking to join the Time Patrol then.”

“Yes, it seemed like a good way to help my village.” Mu said as he began walking, slowly enough so that I could catch up. “We have not produced any warriors in a long time, so I felt that I should do whatever I could to help.”

“Wait, you’re Dragon Clan?” I couldn’t help but ask in surprise, my eyebrows raising. “I’ve never heard of a member of that clan trying to join the patrol.”

The not-warrior nodded slightly.

“Yes, I am a member of the Dragon Clan.” He explained, looking down at a four fingered hand. “Although I do not have the same direct strength that the Warrior Clan does, I have developed a few mystical techniques to give myself an advantage in battle.”

“Really…” I said, my mind alight with curiosity. “Say, Mu. Why don’t we train together. I know a spot not far from here that would work really well.”

“Us? Training together?” Mu asked surprised. “You don’t think that I’m wasting my time or something?”

“Ha!” I laughed out loud, seemingly confusing the green man. “If I thought that about you, then I’d have to give up training myself!”

“I… see.” The two of us continued walking, following the way to an open space in the forest. Mu looked around and noticed several spots where the grass had been burnt and rocks had been dented by punches and craters.

“You come here often, then?” He asked.

“Almost every day. I’ve been training to be in the Time Patrol for about as long as I can remember.” In this life at least, though that was left unsaid. “I don’t really have that high of a power level, so I’ve been training every chance I could get to catch up in any way I could.”

“Hm. What exactly is your power level?” I winced when he asked, not expecting him to be so blunt.

“444, you?”

“7,000.” Damn it, even a member of the peaceful Namekian clan is more than ten times stronger than me. Mu of course knew this too, his lips thinned into a line. “It’s not much higher in the grand scheme of things, but it’s enough to make a big difference. I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how beneficial this training will be for me with such a difference between us.”

“Tch. How about I just show you.” I growled, a sudden feeling of annoyance rising within me. This would be a good opportunity to test out that new technique against another fighter.

Crouching down, I entered into a battle stance. My hands erupted with a familiar red aura as I breathed in a massive gulp of air. With my body invigorated, I launched forwards at speeds I had never managed before. Mu’s eyes widened in shock at my sudden attack. My arms shot up into the air, before rushing back down.

“SOUND BREATHING 1^st FORM: ROAR!!!” I yelled out as my attack inched closer towards Mu. The Namekian just barely dodged to the side in time, and my ki blades crashed into the ground. The earth crumbled and shuttered all around us, the stone splitting in several directions before I stopped my attack.

“…Y-Yes, I can see how you’d be able to assist with my training. I’ve never seen an attack like that before.” Mu muttered. “I’m sorry I doubted you, Leva.”

I took a deep breath, calming my anger.

“No, no. I understand. It’s not every day someone can pull out an attack like that so quickly.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “So, what do you think of continuing?”

“I would like to continue.” Mu answered quickly. He shifted his weight into a fighting stance, one that seemed mostly defensive with arms shielding his vitals. “You have proven yourself to be capable of unique feats. Now that I’ve seen that, I can foresee many ways in which we may be able to help each other.”

“Then let’s get started.” I said, returning into my own stance. I was about to unleash another attack when a notification popped up on my scouter.

You have reached a milestone!

Impressing the Dragon Part 1: Make friends with and subsequently impress the young Dragon Warrior Mu!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

…I really need to investigate this app.

Chapter Text

Mu and I spent the rest of our morning training, pushing our bodies and minds to the limits as we clashed attacks against each other and tried to outmaneuver each other repeatedly. I felt myself strain new ways, the excitement of the mock battle making me push further and further. Having someone else to fight is a completely different ball game than shadow boxing; I can practically feel my power growing with every move!

The regular strikes that Mu dished out were far above my own, our differing power levels on full display as I barely dodged his lightning-fast punches and kicks. In contrast, my usage of ki seemed to be far more efficient, and with the new technique at my disposal Mu wasn’t interested in remaining at arm’s length.

At least, not my arm’s length. I had almost forgot that Namekians could stretch. That mistake gave me a few extra scuff marks and bruises, though I certainly returned the favor in kind.

I moved to intercept one of Mu’s stretched out arms with a ki blade, giving the teal man a small cut on his arm before he could pull it back. He winced in pain as he pulled back from his attempted attack.

Before he had time to recover I continued closing in on him, throwing another jab at him. The Namekian blocked it with his uncut forearm, pushing my attack harmlessly to the side.

But that was a feint!

While he was distracted by my arm, I lifted my back leg and jammed him with my knee. He let out a grunt of pain, his body pushed back slightly by the force of the strike. I tried to press him further, but he hit me right back with a knee of his own, straight in the stomach.

My position wasn’t advantageous anymore; I had to pull out before he lands any more attacks.

We both jumped back slightly, the wind blowing past us as we fell back into our stances. Yellow balls of ki manifested in my palms, the two blasts heading towards their target… until I noticed him close his eyes in concentration. A haze began to appear in the air, and the ki balls seemed to wobble on their path, before deviating entirely. The two balls of energy landed against the cliff face behind him, creating a large explosion.

Mu opened his eyes as his mouth twitched up into a grin, glad that his strange power had worked.

I’ll admit, that was pretty cool. I’d definitely need to remember to ask him how it works.

Before long, we decided to have another bout. Our energy flared as we prepared another string of attacks.

Time continued to pass, the sun reaching its peak and past it, and by this point both of us left barely able to stand. Our battle had left a massive mess in this section of forest, craters and piles of crumbled rock everywhere. It looked less like a normal spar, and more like a hurricane had torn through. A similar amount of damage had also been done to our clothes, barely hanging on after all of the stress we’d put them through.

Typical of a bout in Dragon Ball, but I’ve never done this much damage on my own.

“That was… a pretty good workout. Wouldn’t you say?” I said, the red glow of my ki blades disappearing. My hands fell limply to my sides, pushed far beyond their limits.

“I would say that. Your usage of ki is very interesting.” Mu commented, making a few blade-like motions with his hands. “Though I noticed you never used any special attacks apart from your… what was it, sound breathing technique? Why?”

“Because I can’t really afford to learn any, at least not from a master or from a store.” I answered, sitting down on the ground. Mu did the same, removing what remained of his massive collar as he did. “I don’t really have much to my name, so everything I can spare usually goes to equipment and learning ki control. When it comes to techniques, I only really have basic attacks and anything I make myself.”

I did also have the app, but that’s a secret I might be taking to my grave.

“That sounds like a difficult challenge to overcome.” The Namekian grabbed a handful of soil, letting the clumps slip through his fingers. “Namekians do not trade in currency with each other, so I’m not familiar with what it is like to not have your needs met. I do, however, understand what its like to have to forge your path to strength without any help.”

“Yeah, I guess we both share that burden. I don’t see there being many Dragon Clan abilities being helpful with fighting directly.” I nodded at him. As the Namekian dealt with his damaged clothing, my mind wandered to what I remembered about the Dragon Clan.

The first few to come to mind were Kami, Dende, and Guru. From what I remember from both the anime and regular study, the abilities of their clan was usually best at support or for humanitarian purposes. Healing, potential unlocking, and of course the Dragon Balls. And if I recalled correctly, there was those times when Piccolo used his signature Clothes Beam. Wasn’t that a mystical technique of some sort?

Well, I have a Namekian right here to tell me the answer, don’t I?

“Hey Mu, are you familiar with that technique that allows you to create clothing and object out of your energy?” His eyes sparked in recognition.

“I think I know what you’re talking about. Magic Materialization, right?” I nodded, excitement starting to build up.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Can you use it?” This time the teal man shook his head, and I sagged a little in disappointment. Tapping a finger on my leg a few times, I straightened back up to continue talking.

“It might be a good idea to learn it, and not just for training.” Mu raised a brow, but I pushed through before he could question my statement. “There was once a warrior called Gas who used Magic Materialization to create weapons during battle, and could even place restraints on his opponents in the middle of a fight.”

“Really?” Mu questioned, doubt evidence in his statement. “I’ve never heard of such a warrior before. Can such a technique really be so useful?”

“If you work hard enough, then probably.” I stretched my legs a bit, feeling blood flow through them before I went to stand up. My arms and shoulders still hurt a lot, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as before. And with the abundance of healing items, I should be back in tip top shape before I get home. “Just something to think about. It’s really up to you how you want to go about fighting. All I can do is make suggestions.”

“…Thank you, Leva. You’ve given me many things to think about.” Mu closed his eyes in concentration, and I watched with slight awe as the gash I had made on his arm earlier started to mend itself. After a minute of this process, the Dragon Clan member returned his focus to me. “I hope you would be interested in training more together. If we do, I hope I will be able to give you similar help to what you have provided me.”

“Of course we can Mu! Its way better to train with a partner.” I said, my smile widening as I held out a fist. Mu looked down at my outstretched arm in confusion, which made me chuckle weakly.

“I-It’s a fist bump. You just tap your fist against mine.” I explained. “It’s a gesture of friendship.”

The Namek blinked, understanding suddenly coming over his face. Experimentally he raised his hand, clasping it into a four fingered fist. With an awkward tap, his fist hit against my own.

“That’s the spirit!” I said encouragingly. Mu smiled slightly at my words and turned away.

“I must be off now. My new living space is still in need of uh… being ‘unpacked’ as you say.” I waved the alien off as he walked back towards the main part of the city. As his form began to fade away against the line of bamboo, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small vial. A small regen capsule, courtesy of Capsule Corp.

“Welp, bottoms up.” I activated the capsule, feeling the healing aura start to surround me. “I can never get used to the idea that you can just heal like this. It feels like I’m playing that fork knife game or whatever the heck it was called.”

I guess it doesn’t really matter, though. Now that I have some free time, I should really get into investigating this scouter of mine.

Unfortunately, going back to the shop I bought it from was a complete bust. Nobody there knew where the pink glassed device had come from. No name, no model number, and the external parts couldn’t be traced back to any production plant.

“We usually just get them from a donation box, so there’s usually no telling where any of the older ones come from.” One of the employees had explained, giving me a small shrug. It was a little upsetting, but I understood that there was nothing I could do about it.

Attempting to open up the scouter proved similarly fruitless. All of the pieces were perfectly meshed together, as if it were made all at once. It would actually be kind of impressive if it actually worked in my favor.

With both the source of the machine and its actual internals remaining unknown, I decided to temporarily shelve this short investigation until I had more clues.

Soon after I made the trip back to my apartment, wanting to repair the remaining bits of damage from last night. Buildings in Conton were made with some pretty good material, so most the marks were superficial and could be wiped off. The worst of it could probably be covered by a poster or something when I get the spare cash.

“Though if I ever move out though I’ll actually need to commit and fix up those cracks.” I said, running a hand over one of the bits of damage. “Damn, how much energy does a scouter need to use in order to make cracks in concrete?”

 Probably more than I was expecting, but more than what could be reasonably produced.

“Actually, while I’m thinking about it…” I said, opening the list of prizes on the scouter. “I got a new one of those tickets from meeting Mu. It’d probably be worthwhile to see if this whole thing wasn’t some freaky cosmic fluke.”

I chuckled awkwardly, knowing I was lying to myself. Really, I was hoping to see if I could win another prize. It might have caused a lot of pain to get it, but today had really shown me the potential this had.

-1 Gacha Ticket

Spinning…

Spinning…

Ping!

You receive the Consolation Prize: Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar!

Unfortunately, due to the user already receiving this prize, it cannot be distributed again.

Thank you for your understanding!

“…Oh… right… it’s gacha.” I said, my tone completely dead from what I’d just saw. “I got my hopes up all over nothing, and who knows how many times it’ll take before I get another prize!”

It doesn’t even give me back the ticket that I lost, meaning it was just wasted. I put the scouter away before my anger started getting the best of me. With not much else to do, I started pacing back and forth until I realized something.

“I haven’t eaten anything all day, have I?” Almost as if on cue, my stomach started groaning with demands for sustenance. “There’s food in the fridge, but I’ve been eating them for a long time. Do I really want to have more instant meals the night right before school?”

My heart answered with a resounding no; I really didn’t. But with my budget as stretched thin as it is, I really don’t want to waste funds when they could go towards something more useful.

“Really jealous that I’m not a Namekian. Only needing to drink water sounds like it’d be really useful right about now.” I grumbled, forcing my legs to take me to the apartment’s tiny kitchenette. “Cause at least then I wouldn’t be eating Capsule Corp. brand insta-meals for the thousandth time. How animals can handle eating the same thing their whole lives I could never understand.”

My complaints continued well into the night, only stopping once sleep finally took me.

The next morning started just the same as any other, with the sound of my trusty dusty Nimbus waking me from another dreamless night.

I stretched my limbs, making sure to loosen any stiff joints the best that I could before I cleaned up. My hair stood on its own, returning to the same Gohan-esque form no matter how many times I ran a comb through it.

“Granny Waves has to be some sort of magician or something, cause there’s no way this is natural.” It wasn’t long after that I went jogging out the door, the streets sparsely populated by the early risers and night shift workers heading home after work.

While I made my way to my destination, I decided to check up on my power level.

450

Holy shit! When they say that a partner helps with training they weren’t kidding. I’ve never had my power level shoot up by that many points so quickly! It’s taken weeks or even months to get my PL to rise more than two or three points, but I’ve grown more than double that just from one day of training with Mu.

“Damn it, imagine if I had a partner from the start.” I muttered to myself, lamenting the loss of so much potential strength. “No, don’t start with that. Don’t cry over spilled milk. I have someone to train with now, so it’s not a total waste.”

I didn’t end up spending much more time with my thoughts, reaching the academy grounds soon after. Orange Star High School was just about everything I remembered seeing in Xenoverse 2, a simple greyish building with a small extension acting as both the entrance and the school’s sign. A massive star symbol sat proudly, right over the school’s name in big bold letters.

Once I made my way inside, I saw a short line was starting to form.

“Man, I’m glad I got here early.” It was still about an hour and a half before classes actually started, but I knew that if I came any later there would be way too big of a wait. The line was already decently long, and I really didn’t want to stand while waiting for some Majin slowly read his class number one letter at a time and hold up the line.

I’ve made that mistake before, last time I ever go to eat at a Majin restaurant.

“Oh, an Earthling! You must be here for the mechanic’s course.” The receptionist said with a big cheery voice, her eyes remained closed while her head somehow looked me up and down. My calm smile twitched a bit as I went to correct her.

“No miss I’m not, you see I’m here for the-“

“Programming course? Of course, just tell me your-“ Another twitch.

“Miss, I’m in the-“

“Oh you must be in the General Education course then? That’s too bad. Maybe you can transfer late-“ The audacity of this-

“FOR KAI’S SAKE I’M IN THE FUCKING PATROL COURSE!” My ki surged as a blue aura flashed around me, sending stacks of paper flying all over the hall. The receptionist opened her eyes and jumped backwards, falling back in her chair with a scared yelp.

There was a pause that lasted for a moment, then another, and another.

“Th-The Patrol course?” She said weakly, grabbing onto her desk and pulling herself up slightly. “Y-You’re Gach Leva… I-I thought you were some sort of joke made up by Maguro-Sensei to embarrass me.”

“I believe I warned you not to make assumptions based on a student’s race and appearance, Shi.” I twitched slightly, and turned suddenly to see a fish like alien standing behind me, his energy hidden until now. I recognized his appearance, he’s the same race as the guy from the Bardock special! The one who gave him his future sight! “Now look at what’s happened, you’ve created a mess for me, and for our students. Who knows how long it will take for us to reorganize these papers?”

“I-I’m sorry Maguro-Sensei, I won’t do it again!” The fish man didn’t respond to her claim, instead focusing on me. A small sheen of sweat started forming on by brow.

“As for you, young man. You have caused a disturbance, before the first day has really even started.” I tilted my head down in shame, fragments of anger, and a little bit of embarrassment. A few others in the line behind me seemed to either whisper to each other or snicker at my misfortune.

“I’m… sorry, sir.”

“It’s ok. There was not much that you could do in your situation.” Huh?

“Huh?” I repeated out loud, only passively noticing similar noises from the group who were laughing before.

“I saw it before you even got here. There was no real scenario where you could have gotten Shi to listen without becoming irate. This way she’ll know not to look down on others in the future.” The alien man hummed slightly as he reached down to grab a sheet of paper. He handed it to me and I was shocked to see that it had my name and picture on it. His massive mouth quirked up into a teasing grin. “Though if you can help it, don’t make any more messes for her. She’s already got a lot on her plate.”

“Y-Yes Maguro-Sensei.” I said, looking back down at the paper to see him listed as my teacher. His face was painted with a satisfied expression, turning around and beginning to walk away.

“Come along now young Leva, I’ll show you the way to the classroom.” I hesitated in my steps for a moment, though I caught up with him soon enough. The receptionist, Shi, let out a sad whine and a mumble about cleaning up the mess.

If I were a little more vindictive, I’d say she deserved it for looking down on me. But I’m pretty sure it’d be bad for my growth to be that petty. Instead, I tried to let go of her bad first impression as the two of us entered a massive classroom.

“Now then, take any open seat. You’re early, so there’s quite a few.” The teacher made his way to the front of the room, placing his hands in a meditative position. “I foresee a great many things from you, young Leva. Do be sure so continue working hard as you no doubt have until now.”

I just nodded silently, feeling more than a little weirded out by the instructor’s words. Foreseeing? Was he looking into my future?

I’ll need to ask him later. Judging by his now closed eyes and meditative posture, he doesn’t seem like he’s interested in speaking right now.

Making my way further into the classroom, I saw some of those who had beaten me here. Most of them seemed to be aliens of some sort, but one gave me pause when I recognized what he was.

He was short, way shorter than me or the rest of the early birds. Even with that fact though, his energy seemed to hang over me in a way that stood above everyone else; it was a bright warm sun that was gently nudging down on my shoulders. He wore a familiar outfit contrasting against his pink skin and white mopped hair, the ensemble being sealed with a pair of Potara Earrings.

This man was a kai, a core person.

I hadn’t even sensed his energy until I was practically right next to him.

The young kai noticed my attention on me, and gave me a smile along with a small wave. Knocking myself out of my own thoughts I returned the wave awkwardly, then made my way to the back of the room and sat in the corner. As interesting as it might have been to talk with him, I’d much rather get a read on the rest of the members of the class.

It took some time for the rest of the class to trickle in, individuals and groups of strong fighters coming through the room’s single door. Each time I familiarized myself with their energy signatures as they came and sat down, building a mental log of where exactly I stood among them.

Even with all of them in a resting state, I was smack dab at the bottom. It hurt my pride a little to have it confirmed, but before I could really let myself get caught up with that idea I felt a familiar energy enter the room.

Mu felt just a tiny bit stronger than he did before. Not by any large amount, but in the same way as myself – a small sign that showed he made progress. The Namekian spotted me and sat himself down in the next seat over. Some of those around us were already making conversation, though none of it was particularly interesting.

“I looked into this Gas warrior you told me about yesterday.” The teal slug man started, continuing to look at the front of the room. “There wasn’t much information on him, unfortunately, but what abilities I did find in the record was impressive. How did you learn about him?”

I raised an eyebrow at his question. Shouldn’t information on Gas and the Heeters be known like the rest of the Super series is? Why would Gas be such an unknown figure?

“…I like to keep tabs on those with unique abilities. Knowing about them might be useful to me later.” Mu clearly wasn’t buying my non-answer, his eyes showing a glint of suspicion. He didn’t press though, which I was thankful for.

“Well, regardless of how you learned of Gas’s unique magics, I must extend my gratitude.” He looked over at me. “Not only have you shown me a potentially useful way to use my mystical abilities, but our training yesterday has already borne some fruit. If you’d allow it, I would like to continue our training together.”

“Yeah, of course. I already agreed.” I replied. “I have a few more ideas on what to do for our training, but it’ll take a bit of time before its read-“

Holy shit.

An oppressive power filled the room, and all conversation instantly ceased. Both of our eyes snapped to the entrance to see whoever it was who walked in. A girl with long purple hair made her way though the door, each individual steps thumping with a flair of unyielding, suffocating energy. Beads of sweat began to form on my brow as her power continued to rise further and further.

“Son Bra, restrain your energy. It is disturbing the rest of your classmates.” Maguro opened his eyes and relaxed his hands from his meditative stance. She didn’t look back at him, but eventually complied. A shaky breath escaped me as the girl finally pulled back her aura, a cocky smirk plastered on her lips.

“S-Son Bra?” I whispered to myself. That name seemed… familiar somehow, though it escaped me at the moment. Though, I did notice she looked like a more powerful version of Bulla, the entrance she made quickly painted her as being nothing like Vegeta’s daughter in either GT or Super. She had Goku’s family name, so is she a variant that’s his daughter?

Her demeaner seemed to say no, but then what could it be?

The school bells chimed, and everyone finished taking their seats. From behind I noticed several Saiyans shoot the kai intense glares, likely seeing him as some sort of rival. At the front of the room, a small door in the floor opened up, and what seemed to be a dummy rose up from beneath. Similarly, a screen emerged from the wall, and began displaying a series of zeros.

“Now then, as many of you may be aware, I am Maguro. I will be your instructor for the academic portions of your time in the Patroller course. You will meet the sensei for your practical lessons at a later date.” Maguro addressed the class, and I watched his eyes slowly move their way across the room. His attention stopped briefly on a few; Son Bra, the kai, and surprisingly myself.

Mu seemed to pick on it, looking at me confused. I just shrugged in reply.

“Due to this being the first day, it was decided that we will test everyone’s strength to get a general sense of where you stand.” The fish man pointed to the dummy. “This machine was designed to absorb damage and display the equivalent striking strength. Each of you will come to the front of the room and display your strongest attacks. Don’t hold back, the machine’s automatic shields will absorb whatever power is used to strike it completely. Do your best. Though do remember, this is not a competition. The only person whose strength you should be concerned about is your own.”

The man’s last statement went ignored by most of the people in the room, primarily the Saiyans and some like-minded fighters. The kai did seem to relax as his words though, and I unconsciously felt myself do the same.

“Wouldn’t a person’s striking power match their power level?” I heard a classmate ask ahead of me.

“Duh. They have all our most recent power levels on record. They’re obviously just wanting us to motivate each other but can’t say it out loud.” Came another. I rolled my eyes at their blatantly incorrect statement, but I also never bothered to correct them.

The first to volunteer themselves were obviously the class’s Saiyans, many of whom were practically running over each other to get to the machine first. Which given that they made up nearly half of the class, meant that there was quite the long line.

Once they did start actually using the dummy, I really started to get a sense of how far behind I was.

500,000

732,000

800,000

400,000

540,000

Powers in the hundreds of thousands continued to rack up, and I couldn’t help but feel just a little bit of doubt start to worm its way into my mind with each new number. Mu was also noticeably disturbed by their strength, the Dragon Clansmen clenching his four fingered hands tightly onto his shoulders.

Soon enough the Bulla lookalike – Bra, I had to remind myself – made her way to the front. The massively powerful aura returned to press down onto my body, her power reaching higher heights with every second. A bright blue ball of energy appeared in her hand, which she aimed at the armored object.

“BIG BANG ATTACK!” The blast blinded almost everyone in the room, as well as deafening those who sat in the front of the room. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to shield my eyes, so I was unaffected by it.

Looking back at the machine, I felt my heart shutter a bit at the number.

7,800,000

“Kais… She’s so strong.” I heard someone say.

“Yeah, she’s twice as strong as Goku was when he went Super Saiyan for the first time.” Another one spoke in awe.

“Well she is his daughter.” A third person chimed in, and I felt myself briefly looping back around to my question earlier.

Who is he?

Bra smirked happily, satisfied with her display of power. She practically skipped back to her seat, her energy returning to normal as she sat down. Everyone was too stunned to move due to her actions, all of them whispering to each other about her crazy power.

“…Come on Mu. Nobody’s in line right now. We should get it over with while we have the chance.” I stood up from my chair, grabbing the Namekian by his shoulder as I did so. He shook himself from his surprised state.

“R-Right.” He responded shortly, his voice even more subdued than it was before. With him like this, it wasn’t likely he was going to be hitting his best. I should probably go first so that he has a chance to get himself more mentally centered.

“H-Hey, isn’t that an Earthling?”

“I think it is. What’s he doing here?”

“He shouldn’t be here. He’ll just get killed out in the field.”

“He’d probably be safer working in a store front or something.” I ignored all of their comments, silently making my way to the front of the room. Maguro’s eyes sharpened slightly when he saw me step forwards. What is he planning?

“Ah, young Leva. If I recall correctly, you had a power level of 444, correct?” He said loudly, causing the hushed whispers to get louder.

“It’s 450, actually. But close enough.” I said curtly, deciding to follow along. The alien looked thankful, and looked up to address the class again.

“Since announcing this test to all of you today, many of you have assumed that we are comparing your power levels directly.” Everyone’s attention was now suddenly on him. “This is a misunderstanding that many fighters fall victim too. Young Leva, if you would?”

I hesitated for a second, until eventually nodding and taking a stance. I flared my power as much as I could, and took a deep breath. My ki blades manifested over my hands as I raised them up.

“SOUND BREATHING 1^st FORM: ROAR!” The blades smacked into the dummy, and I could feel it absorb every last bit of energy I had used on it. I could feel my bones shutter as the effort I put into the attack, from my hands all the way to my feet.

4,430

“Often times power can come from refinement and control, rather than one’s brute force. As you can see here, young Leva has the refinement to strike with nearly ten times his base power level. Many of our strongest Time Patrollers also understand the need for this talent, so it will do you all well if you trained this ability.”

Many of the students that were listening to Maguro earlier were also absorbing this teaching with immense focus. The kai in particular seemed to be looking at me with a new light, his eyes looking back and forth from me to the display.

“Tch, it’s only a power of forty-four hundred. He’s still weak.” Came a female voice, and I turned to see that it was Bra who spoke up. “Even if he used that attack he’s still weaker than Nappa and Vegeta when they first got to Earth. If he was smart he would just give up.”

“Well I guess both of us were unfortunate enough to miss out on those Brief brains, aren’t we?” I didn’t even realize I had said it until everyone looked at me, shocked. The statement didn’t even register in my brain, spilling out before I had a conscious response.

I didn’t take it back though; I didn’t care enough to. Instead, I motioned for Mu to follow up on me. His attack was a simple unnamed beam attack.

7,008

Pretty good improvement, especially for one day. I wonder how much we’d improve if we had better equipment?

You have reached a milestone!

Meet Your Match Part 1: Become a target of the prideful Half-Saiyan, Son Bra!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

I elected to ignore the hole that the girl was trying to put into the back of my head.

Chapter Text

About five days have passed since starting at Orange Star, and I have a few opinions on the place.

School was just about as annoying and boring as it had been the first time I did it, maybe a little bit more considering my head start in this life. Having already had a college education gave me a distinct edge that, while not making everything a total breeze, did allow me to get ahead of my academic pears quite quickly. I only had to study something occasionally and it would usually stick pretty well in my mind, which meant that our first week of lectures only classes went by with little difficulty.

Some of the classes did up the difficulty a little bit, such as our defense against magicians course. Though, that was largely due to the fact that I didn’t have the talent for the mystical arts.

There were, however, a few upsides.

“Mmmhmmm! Finally, some good food!” I exclaimed in-between mouthfuls of noodles. The cafeteria was abuzz with activity, different cliques forming at various tables in some sort of invisible pecking order. Mu and I elected to just sit down at a relatively empty corner of the room, away from the rowdier masses of students.

“Are you sure you’re not secretly a Saiyan?” Mu asked curiously, his own lunch being a simple glass of water. “You are uh… eating quite a lot.”

“Hmm?” I quirked an eyebrow and finished chewing. “No, I’m pretty sure. I eat a lot for a human, but it’s not anywhere near what the average Saiyan can shove down their gullets. Just look over there.”

I pointed to one table across the room, piled high with dozens of different dishes. Each plate and bowl being licked clean by a hoard of tailed warriors. The sight of so much food-based carnage could easily make someone lose their appetite, but thankfully I was used to the sight by now, and I just went back to my own plates of delicious grub.

Mu made a small noise of disgust, looking away and covering his peripherals with a hand.

“Can we just talk about something else right now? I don’t really want to look at… that, any longer than I already have.” I placed the tips of my chopsticks to my chin, thinking for a second.

“Well, I have been meaning to talk to you about using one of the gravity chambers. Getting used to fighting in higher gravity would go a long way in boosting our physical strength, if you haven’t already done it.”

Conton City actually did have some gravity chambers that were open to rent for Orange Star students and Time Patrollers alike, courtesy of Capsule Corp. (as usual). They costed a pretty Zeni to use, but thankfully that was by the hour rather than by how many people were using the chamber. If the two of us pooled our incomes together, we can rent one for a few days of the week.

“I haven’t had an opportunity to use the gravity rooms for myself, but I have heard of them. Usually they reach around 150 times Earth’s gravity, right?” At my nod, Mu continued. “When should we meet to use one?”

“Well, we have our first practical class this afternoon.” I took a dumpling from another plate, spinning it in front of my face as I spoke. “We have no idea what our teacher has planned for us, so we have to assume we’ll be thrown into the deep end. Which means it’s probably for the best if we have some recovery time, just in case.”

“It seems a little early to say that, but if you really think so then-“ Mu was cut off as a pair of fists slammed down onto our table, sending a couple of plates flying upwards.

“Oh shi-“ My hands blurred as I began snatching plates and food out of the air. Time seemed to freeze as I grabbed every dumpling and noodle one by one at a blazing speed. As I did so I vaguely remembered a scene from an anime long ago where something similar happened with a chip bag, though I remember it ending with someone getting hurt?

Eh, probably not important.

“Oh man, saved ‘em!” I exclaimed, only to look up to see Mu and a very angry looking Son Bra looking at me. “What? I don’t usually get good food at home, okay! And why are you even here lady? We’re not bothering anybody.”

“You! I- you! I can’t believe you’re acting like this!” A bright yellow aura briefly shined around the girl, causing all of the noise to instantly turn to silence. “Do you seriously think you can act like this and just not have consequences?”

“Consequences? For what?” I asked, feeling just a little annoyed by her… whatever this was. And boy, did my response tick her off. For a split second it looked like she was genuinely ready to explode, but she was able to get a handle on her emotions after a minute.

“Look, you’ve done nothing but be a sarcastic asshole since the moment we’ve all started here. You have no respect for anyone and expect to get a free ride into the Time Patrol just because you’re somewhat academic. If you actually think that you’ll be able to skirt by with a pathetic power like yours, then I will personally show you just how out of your depth you are.” I quirked an eyebrow, before lifting my chopsticks towards her.

“Actually, I think I know better than anybody here just what kind of shit I’m getting into.” After saying that I looked back to my food, picked up a bundle of noodles. “Out there in the sands of time there are demon kings, alien emperors, dark mystic, murderous androids, and thousands of other threats that have me beaten in almost every department. I don’t have the power of the Zenkai, the ability to make Dragon Balls, or absorb damage like a bunk of bubble gum. No, I’m a simple human.”

Bra raised her eyebrows, knocked off guard by my claim. “Then you-“

“But I also have an advantage they don’t.” I interrupted the girl. “This school. This place, gives me the once in a lifetime opportunity to grow past all those threats. To meet people and go places that will let me ascend past my current level. There are more powers in this vast universe than just Super Saiyan.”

“And on another note. You call me a sarcastic asshole, but wouldn’t you punch someone if they hit you first?” I put the chopsticks full of noodles in my mouth. “You haventh really been an embothyment of kinthness.”

“Please swallow before speaking.” Mu requested, his disgusted face returning. I obliged and swallowed.

“Right, sorry.”

“I-uh, you-I.” Bra cut herself off, deciding to cut her losses and began to storm off. Before she was out of ear shot, she looked over her shoulder with a one-eyed glare. “If you want to be that way, fine. But don’t get pissed at me when you get ripped limb from limb.”

Then she left the room, leaving everyone in stunned silence.

“…What’s her problem?” Mu asked, watching the door she left from.

“She’s a spoiled brat who thinks that she can do anything without consequences.” I say simply, picking up my nearly empty plates. I’d pack the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, since school will be off. “I doubt she even realizes her hypocrisy even though I threw it straight in her face.”

“I see…” Mu then looked back at me. “What is a ‘spoiled brat’?”

Oh boy…

“So, these parents don’t have any means of controlling their child’s poor behavior?”

“Oh they do, they’re just usually too afraid of the kid throwing a massive fit or just don’t care enough to stop it. At least that’s how it usually is. You can’t really make that kind of broad statement about every parent child dynamic.”

“Still, the whole idea that a child’s unchecked behavior can control so much of a family’s lives. Back in the village everyone usually worked together to get everything done, the children included. There isn’t really an environment for anyone to grow into a uhh, ‘spoiled brat’ as you say.”

“And that, Mu, is yet another reason Namekians have the superior society.” I chuckled a little as we walked back into the classroom, moving past the various gaggles of students in order to get back to our normal seats. Everything seemed to be more subdued than normal, and I noticed a couple of our classmates looking at us before trying to look away before we noticed.

That doesn’t work of course, I could see them trying to look anywhere but me. To be honest I’d rather have them glaring right at me than have to deal with these playground whispering games again.

Alright, if they’re gonna play, I’m gonna enjoy a little game of ninja.

I sent a trickle of ki into my ears, feeling the world open up to me. It was a little trick I had discovered when I was still experimenting with my powers, to enhance my senses through ki alone. It’s not exactly an easy power to use (I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve nearly blown out my eardrums), but the ability to listen in on secret conversations was still pretty useful.

“Did you hear that guy, talking to Bra like that?”

“I know right? He’s being so bold for a guy with a power level of only 400.”

“Bold is definitely a way to put it. If he’s not careful she might get her dad involved.”

“No way, man. Vegito wouldn’t waste his time on a guy like that.”

“Vegito?!” I hissed to myself in shock. How in the hell was she the daughter of Vegito? Wasn’t there supposed to be a time limit on the Potara for non-Kais? “First the Heeters and now this? What is going on?”

“Hm, what’s wrong?” I turned to see Mu with a concerned face.

“Oh no, it’s nothing.” An awkward smile forced its way onto my face, my fingers fidgeting as I tried to hide my slip-up.

Once again, the Namekian seemed to see through my lie.

“Riiiiight. Regardless, we should focus. The next class is going to be starting soon.” The ki flowing to my ears cut off as I leaned back. The reminder sent ideas abuzz in my brain about what exactly our teachers were planning. If I had to guess, it’d probably be something surrounding ki attacks or energy manipulation in general. The school’s website said that our curriculum included practical battles, but there’s no way they’d throw us off the deep end like that, right?

The door to the classroom swung open right as the bell rung, two pairs of footsteps echoing over the remaining whispers and gossip. Maguro-Sensei entered with the same calm and collected aura I’ve come to expect, but I was completely dumbfounded by the person walking in besides him.

“Hey everybody, hope you’re all ready for today’s lesson!” A cheery looking Saiyan exclaimed, giving us a small wave when he came to a stop. Nobody said anything for a moment, but I could tell that all thoughts ceased as the same sentence screamed in our minds.

Shallot, the Toki Toki City Hero, had just walked in the room.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!?” Even with my enhancement technique turned off, I had to cover my ears as all of the students erupted with noise. Next to me, Mu was also having a similar issue as he also covered his ears from the sudden noise.

“Alright alright everyone! Calm down please!” The Time Patroller pleaded; his hands held up in front of him to try to quiet the energetic students. I looked around to see that the only Bra and the kai were calm in the face of this surprise, besides the two of us. Though given the way Bra’s posture shot up, she wasn’t expecting the city’s most famous hero to stop by.

Shallot was… an interesting piece of lore, both in the Dragon Ball franchise and within Conton city. If my faded memory serves me right, Shallot wasn’t even a character in Xenoverse, instead being the main protagonist of Dragon Ball Legends. I don’t remember the actual story of Legends, but I’m sure he was crazy overpowered like all Dragon Ball game characters were.

Here though, Shallot’s life sounded like the plot of an anime – ironic, I know. He was originally born to low level Saiyans before Planet Vegeta’s destruction, and grew up mostly working as a chef since he was considered too weak to conquer planets.

That was until he was summoned by Trunk’s wish on the Dragon Balls, and he was immediately enrolled in the Time Patrol. The actual details get a little fuzzy from there, but Shallot went on to become the strongest member of the Time Patrol, defeating Demigra and saving Toki Toki.

To make a short explanation even shorter, Shallot is basically the Superman of Conton.

After what felt like several minutes of incoherent shouting and question’s being lobbed at the warrior, her was finally able to get the class quiet again. When he did, Maguro-Sensei stepped up and began speaking.

“As many of you are well aware, today marks the first day of practical lessons.” Everyone listened with rapt attention, the Saiyans in particular focusing for the first time since school started. Of course they’d lock in and focus at the first whiff of a fight. “Please follow us, this will require us to leave school grounds.”

We ended up hanging towards the back of the crowd, both because we were the last to leave as well as the fact that we didn’t want to get stuck in the crowd of people fawning over Shallot. Our class was being lead across the city, with a few ordinary citizens catching sight of the hero, and having a similar freakout as our fellow classmates.

Thankfully the general populous were kind enough not to crowd the man, and let him and Maguro lead us to a familiar area. I had spent days in my past life here, trying over and over again to get a Z score on missions, or just to get that one piece of clothing I wanted.

“Welcome everyone to the Time Desk!” Is that really what they call it? Nobody had a better name for this little section of the city? “This is the place where most Time Patrollers get their missions from, as well as take mock quests and rank examinations!”

Shallot’s boisterous announcement seemed to make most of the class even more excited, now actually seeming to pique the interests of the other species. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the kai wearing a gleeful smile. Huh, guess we might be getting into actual combat after all?

“For our first day together, we’ll de diving into one of the biggest difficulties Time Patrollers encounter while on duty.” A holographic display lit up, showing an image of a panicking Time Patroller accidentally punching a hole through Saiyan Saga Vegeta. A few people wince at the sight, and Shallot’s smile tones down into a more serious look.

“As a Time Patroller, you’ll be expected to join into battles across many points in history, and not every time period is created equal.” The screen changed again, showing a different patroller punching First Form Frieza’s head off… gross. “By the time you’ve graduated, you’ll all be a fair bit stronger than most enemies can handle. And that’s why we’re here.”

Once more a new image popped up on display, and I reeled back a bit at the sight of what seemed to be ten or so Saibamen all trying to swarm someone as they were in the middle of launching a ki blast. At first I wondered if the guy was too weak to beat them, but that look of concentration didn’t really look like someone who was out of his depth.

“This exercise is what we like to call Saiba Surprise-“

“Only you call it that.” Maguro muttered.

“-And in it you’ll be tasked with beating as many Saibamen as possible in a randomly chosen environment.” Shallot continued without missing a beat. A lot of the students suddenly seemed disappointed, likely since Saibamen… were really weak compared to almost all of the students here besides myself.

“The only restriction is that you’re not allowed to kill any of the Saibamen, only knock them unconscious. Kill more than three Saibamen and your time will be cut short.” So all of this is an exercise in control? That makes more sense than throwing us into mock missions. “You’re all free to partner up with someone or go at it alone, just let us know who you’re teaming up with before we send you in.”

Most of the class decided to take the challenge alone, only a few of the more passive races deciding to team up with each other. I noted how a few of the Namekian warriors gestured to Mu, but ultimately the didn’t invite him to join them. Oh well, their loss.

Thankfully, the Dragon Clan member wasn’t opposed to teaming up. While both of us were sure that he’s already strong enough to easily handle the power of a Saibaman, there was still a safety in having someone watching your back. Didn’t want to risk having one of them surprise us with a self-destruct move.

 “So the two of you are together?” Shallot looked at us with his arms crossed, a smile once more stuck to his face. “Pretty interesting combo you’ve got there! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Dragon Clan member ever take up fighting. I’m looking forward to what you guys have in store.”

“Thank you, Shallot-Sensei. We’ll be sure not to disappoint.” The man just waved my words off, his grin not moving an inch.

“Don’t worry about impressing me, kid. Just focus on doing your best. This exercise is a lot harder than most people think.” I didn’t reply anymore, just giving a simple nod and walking off towards the desk.

Oddly enough the setup was the same as it was in the game, with two different pairs of receptionists depending on whether or not you were with a group. As we waited in line, I noticed a few people in the solo line looking right at me, before looking away hurriedly.

“…Do these guys really think I can’t see them staring at me?” I asked out loud, and I could see a few people flinch.

“Well you don’t really pay attention to what people say most of the time, but a lot of them think you’re trying to rival Son Bra.” Mu said, and I raised an eyebrow in response.

“Why would I care about rivaling her? I barely know anything about her. If anything, you’re my rival. I only really compare myself to you and try to be a better fighter than I was yesterday.” Thankfully the girl in question had already been teleported to… wherever the robots are sending us to for this test. “Besides, she’s not really what’d I’d consider ‘rival material’. Yeah, she’s strong, but she doesn’t have any of the finesse or control I focus on in a rival. Power isn’t something I really look at.”

“Hmph.” Mu grunted in agreement. “I figured that’s what you’d say, but that doesn’t stop rumors from spreading.”

“Why do you even listen to them?”

“I can’t not listen to them.” He replied simply, pointing to his pointed ears.

“Ah, right.” Super hearing. Useful in most combat scenarios, but not when trying to ignore people. “On a different note, do you have any suggestions for strategies?”

“I have been learning Magic Materialization from our village elder, but all I can manage right now is making simple clothing. Nowhere near combat ready.” I clicked my tongue. Being able to weight down the little green creatures with giant weights would have been useful, but it seems life isn’t so simple.

“Too bad neither of us know the Galactic Donut technique either. We’ll just need to knock them out instead.” I stretched an arm over my chest, feeling the muscles pull juuuuust enough to loosen them. We stepped up to greet the little receptionist robot. There weren’t any words exchanged between the machine and us, and before we knew it we were covered by a flash of light.

When it dissipated we were standing in a long stretch of grassy fields, occasionally peppered with large plateaus. Both of us dropped into guarded stances, our senses spread out over the area. Reaching down, I pulled out and placed the scouter on my face.

“Alright, so I don’t know how long we have until those gremlins start showing up. So let’s try to plan things out while we still can.” I looked over the landscape again, trying to find anything of note. “There’s not very much terrain to take advantage of, but there are a few points we can use to loop around and lead the Saibamen into a trap.”

“There are also a few rivers out that way.” Mu pointed in a direction, and I squinted my eyes to see that, yes, there were indeed some small rivers in the distance. “We can dive into the water if we really need to, and create an opportunity to either run away or attack them from a different direction.”

“Problem is we don’t know how deep the water is from here, and there’s no way of knowing without going over to check which may not be a good-“

Beep! Be-Beep!

My senses alerted me just a split second after the scouter, different energies sprouting up all around us. Fingers tensed as a familiar red ki covered my hands. Earth started bursting upwards as little green men emerged from the newly created holes.

“GRNYAAAAAAH!!!” Oh god, they sound as guttural and disgusting as they did in the games too. Freaky cabbage heads erupted upwards into the air, their eyes quickly homing in on us. The cultivated lifeforms putting off an air of bloodlust that permeated their energy. I could feel their desire to kill us.

“Ge gah, grah!” My scouter pinged again, displaying a bunch of numbers over each of the Saibamen.

1,200

900

1,100

600

850

“Hey Mu, watch yourself. These things have totally different Power Levels.” I hadn’t even felt the difference. Was this intentional?

“Must be a way to test our ability to adapt our strength between different leveled opponents.” The Namek commented, and I definitely couldn’t deny the possibility.

“Regardless if it is or not, be careful. We don’t want to get stopped early because one of the weaker ones got caught up in our attacks.”

“What about you, Leva. Most of them are still way stronger than you.” I starred up at the teal man, checking my own power and his own.

475

7,030

“…If I can survive fighting you, even holding back… I think I’ll be fine against them.”

“Ah, sorry. I forgot.” He said awkwardly, and my eye twitched a bit at his admission. We didn’t focus on it, the cackling of the monsters taking up most of our attention. “I see eight so far. I’ll take the four on the left, and you take the four on the right?”

“Even split down the middle?” Well, it wasn’t exactly even. The ones on my side were mostly the stronger ones. I wasn’t gonna mention that, though. “Sounds like a plan to me!”

“Good.”

“HOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!” With a yell our combined power surged outwards, and we charged into the group of devilish creatures. The Saibamen responded in kind, running at us with the familiar clanking of their clawed feet. I held an aura encased palm in front of me, ready to deal the first blow.

A few moments later, and we were right in the fight.

“Hm? That Namekian is doing really good.” Shallot commented, standing up straighter as he and Maguro watched each student on the digital screen. “It’s only been a few minutes and he’s already gotten twelve Saibamen? It’s not the most I’ve seen, but he’s keeping up with Bra and Wairu.”

“It is impressive, yes. But don’t forget that Mu is partnered up with the Earthling, Leva. That number is from the combined efforts of the two of them.” Maguro admonished, and the Saiyan quirked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you say that. I just don’t get what you see in him. His ki control is fantastic, yes, but his power and number of techniques is way lower than everyone else in the class. His Power Level is the lowest ever recorded in an accepted student.” Shallot shook his head, eyes turning back to watch the various battles. “Maybe I’m just not as good of a mentor as you?”

“No,” the fishy alien denied immediately. “You just haven’t seen the things I’ve seen… Watch.”

The hero continued to keep an eye on Leva’s display, surrounded by a group of grinning Saibamen. The boy looked unimpressed, his red ki blades ready to strike. He took a deep breath, and Shallot noticed his Power Level fluctuate. It was spasming between a steady level of 475 and peaking near 4,700.

The second his power reached that peak, he rushed forwards. His sudden boost in speed taking the Saibamen off guard. Before any of his enemies could react, Leva slammed both of his ki blade encased hands down onto the cabbage like head of his opponent.

“SOUND BREATHING 1^st FORM: ROAR!” A small explosion was set off from the impact, obscuring the aftermath of the boy’s attack. Shallot watched the Saibaman’s Power Level drop from 900 to 300, whilst the Earthling’s own power continued to fluctuate above that.

When the smoke dissipated, Shallot saw the unconscious form of the little green man.

“He beat an opponent that was close to twice as strong as himself, and with one hit too.” He couldn’t help but mutter in surprise. Granted, it was just a Saibaman. They aren’t exactly known for being extremely durable, but still…

“You forget Shallot,” the tailed-man turned back to Maguro, who was now watching the Earthling start to dispatch the rest of his opponents one by one. “Many of the strongest martial artists are able to grow beyond their limits due to their ki control. I believe you’ve fought against Goku enough times to know how his Kamehameha works, yes?”

The Saiyan was about to respond, but stopped as his thoughts wandered to his time as a Patroller, before he was a hero. It was true, many of his greatest opponents became far more powerful when unleashing their strongest attacks. And it wasn’t just Goku that popped into Shallot’s mind. People like Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, and even Yamcha could practically double their power when unleashing their strongest attacks.

Then he realized something was different, different about the Earthling’s attack.

“Usually when people unleash those kinds of attacks, they’re left weaker than before. The power behind those technique put too much stress on their bodies.” The two teachers watched as Leva flew into another Saibaman, unleashing his powerful technique once more. “He doesn’t seem to be getting tired from his. If anything, it seems to make him a little bit stronger.”

“Correct, a very strange yet powerful technique. To be able to boost his strength so much with such little downside? But it’s not just the technique itself, its his mastery of his energy and body.” Maguro raised a hand before Shallot could question him. “Just watch.”

While Leva was attacking one of the cultivated creatures, another tried to leap up from behind him in a move intimately familiar to any Patroller who had travelled to the Saiyan attack on Earth. The Saibaman was going to try to blow itself up and take Leva down with it. Shallot’s eyes widened in a panic, there was no way he could survive being on the receiving end of that attack! He lunged forwards to try to stop the exercise before-

“HAAAAAAA!!” Leva’s upper body spun around without missing a beat, and he let out a one-handed blast that engulfed the monster in its entirety. Its death would count against them, but it would also be their first strike of three, so they still had some room for mistakes. Even as the Earthling’s attack was being unleashed on the one behind him, his legs still moved on the ground, bringing him closer to his original target even as they tried to make space.

“Woah…” Shallot couldn’t help but mutter, his hand still hovering over the emergency stop button. “He didn’t even hesitate. Did you see this happen already?”

“Hmm… Perhaps.” Maguro’s eye shined a little, a small give away of his power.

“Stupid future seeing psychics.” Shallot muttered quietly too himself, stepping away from the exercise’s emergency system to stand back next to said psychic.

“I am only looking out for our students. It was only a lucky opportunity that I get to teach my fellow instructor something along the way.” The fish man stood up straighter, catching the grumbling hero’s attention. “Now then, it appears our first round of students are about to go over their limits. I assume you have an end of class lecture ready for them?”

Shallot shuffled awkwardly under the alien’s knowing gaze, not saying anything.

“Haaaah, I thought so.” Maguro sighed in disappointment.

“Heey. It’s not like I didn’t want to.” The warrior defended. “Trunks and Lady Chronoa pulled me for a mission and I didn’t have time to write one! Come on! Don’t look at me like that! Come ooooonnn!”

Chapter Text

“SOUND BREATHING 1^st FORM: ROAR!” Cabbage colored flesh deformed under my attack, before completely collapsing onto the ground in a heap. It disappeared soon afterwards to join its brethren in… whatever was awaiting these things. Did Saibamen have souls? I’d assume so, but probably something more akin to a bear or dinosaur than a human being.

They were all relying entirely on instincts, unlike me. I was planning, strategizing, pacing. Anything I could think of to get one up over my opponents I did tenfold. Hell, screw ten! I’ll go a hundredfold!

“Hey Mu!” I shouted to the Namekian, grabbing another Saibaman and slamming him into the ground. The force of the impact upended grass and split the earth. “How many of these jolly green monsters have you gotten?”

“I have taken down 24 of them so far!” The taller warrior responded, before throwing out another blast. “Correction! I have taken down 25 Saibamen! What about you?”

“29!” I replied curtly, dodging between a pincer created by two charging enemies. Realizing that they’ve gone past me, they turned around to shoot synchronized beams out of their mouths. I contorted my body to just slip underneath the two blasts, using flight to keep me from losing my balance as I played this impromptu game of lethal limbo. “Hey there! Watch where you’re aiming those things! I almost had to start trying!”

The two little gremlins seemed to get pissed off by my loud taunting, which was enough of a distraction for them to be hit by each other’s beam attacks. Both were knocked out cold, heavy black burns across their bodies.

“Heh, too easy.” I laughed to myself, before throwing myself back into the fight. Just as fast as all of these things were falling, they were being replaced with fresh ones to keep the pressure on. If anything, the only threat to us at the moment wasn’t killing too many of them, but simply getting too fatigued from the constant combat.

“We’ll probably need to come up with a new strategy soon!” I called out to my teammate, blasting one of the Saibamen with a ki blast. “I can feel my reserves starting to hit the mid-point!”

“I agree, things could definitely be going better on my end as well.” Mu stretched his arm, letting out a sort of unarmed whip attack that knocked multiple Saibamen back. “From what I can tell so far, I think that these things can’t sense energy. I think we should retreat and regather our strength.”

“Not if we want to keep the points coming in!” I countered, backing up to avoid a poorly telegraphed lunge from one of the attackers. “In a real-world scenario, we can’t just stop and let whatever’s going on unfold. We need to push through to make sure whatever alterations to time are fixed!”

Mu was silent for a moment, eyes wide at the new perspective.

“Y-You’re right. We wouldn’t be able to just stop in the middle of a mission.” The Dragon Clan member shook his head before striking a Saibaman on the top of the head. “But we clearly can’t keep this up forever. We need to do something in order to give ourselves room to breathe!”

“Room to breathe?” Muttering the phrase to myself, an idea went off in my head. “Okay, that’s a bit of a gamble… but it’ll definitely help if it does work out.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just… buy me a minute to do this. There’s no guarantee that it’ll work, but if it does I can make you some space to recover.” I took off into the air, only briefly looking down to see Mu using his extended arms to wrap up the Siabamen into a hold. With a roar, arcs of electricity shot down his arms and burning up them to a crisp.

I pressed a button on my scouter, a familiar screen appearing in the pink tinted glass.

Grand Prize: Water Breathing 10^th form: Constant Flux

Number 2 Prize: Serpent Breathing 5^th form: Slithering Serpent

Number 3 Prize: Thunder Breathing 3^rd form: Thunder Swarm

Consolation Prize: Sound Breathing 1^st form: Roar

Number of Gacha Tickets: 1

“Alright,” I mumbled to myself. “Ninety-nine percent of gamblers quit before they win. Let’s just hope I’m in the other one percent and get the big bucks.”

“Huh, what’s this Leva guy doing?” Shallot asked with a furrowed brow. “He just left Mu to fight a whole wave of Saibamen all on his own. What could he be planning?”

The legendary hero’s eyes turned to the psychic, who could see the implied question coming even without his gift.

“Well don’t look at me, boy. I don’t have any clue what the boy is planning.” The fish like alien scoffed, the blatant disregard of his Saiyan colleague caught the attention of many of the losing students, who followed their attention towards the duo taking up one of the screens.

“What’s that guy doing? He’s just leaving his teammate on the ground to fight on his own.” Came one of the other Nameks, looking none too pleased with the Earthing’s action.

“Maybe he’s realizing just how out of his depth he is and is letting the stronger warrior fight for him?” A burly looking Saiyan said with a cackle. “Smarter to stay on the sidelines like the rest of his kind.”

“What do you mean by his kind?” Another Saiyan asked, giving his fellow warrior a stink eye.

“You know what I meant,” The bigger fighter said with confidence, in full view of the two teachers. “I mean, did you see his dinky little power level? He was lucky to take down some of the weaker ones, but now that he’s having to fight a real opponent, he’s gonna realize pretty quickly how in over his head he is.”

“Hmm, maybe…” Maguro said, stunning Shallot. But before the Time Patroller could reprimand him, he continued. “Maybe I ought to put you in detention for spouting such nonsense. If it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t have the authority, I’d expel you from the academy. The Time Patrol has no room for such ignorant and pathetic behavior.”

“Oh thank goodness!” Shallot shouted in relief. “I thought you had actually gone crazy for a second, but it just sounds like you’re spending too much time around Elder Kai and Roshi.”

“As much of a weird pair they are, they do possess a bit of wisdom hidden underneath their perverted behavior.” The instructor said. “But enough of that, it looks like Leva’s about ready to return to the fight.”

Shallot watched the Earthling closely, seeing his eyes closed in a relaxed posture. The only sign that he wasn’t asleep were the small sparks of electricity going off around his head.

You know. I had really been expecting fate to screw me here, as it had so many times before.

-1 Gacha Ticket

Spinning…

It could have been a hundred little things that could have gone wrong that prevented me from getting this far. Never would have accepted it, but it was stupid not to at least anticipate it.

Spinning…

But still…

Ping!

I would have never expected my gamble…

You receive the Grand Prize: Water Breathing 10^th form: Constant Flux

To work out so flawlessly!

Distributing prize…

This time there wasn’t a storm going off into my head, but instead a small sense of discomfort that really just felt like the after effects of a migraine. It didn’t feel great, but I could manage.

“Guess that update was good for something after all,” I muttered to myself as images flashed through my brain. Echoes whispered through my head in contrast to the nightmarish visions from my previous prize.

Giyuu…

Tanjiro!

I will make her a part of my family.

I’m sorry for all you went through…

“WATER BREATHING!” I shouted out, feeling oceans of air filling my lungs. “10^th FORM: CONSTANT FLUX!”

With a burst of power I charged right down at the crowd of Saibamen now surrounding Mu, slowly but surely beginning to overwhelm him. One of them was trying to grab onto him from behind, no doubt trying to use its infamous self-destruction attack.

“Damn it, guess we’re two to three strikes.” I muttered to myself as I cut the little munchkin’s head off, ki glowing red hot around my hands. “You go ahead and recover your strength. I’ve got this.”

“R-Right.” The Namekian looked towards the stunned crowd of monsters, likely hesitant from the sudden death of their ally. “One wrong move and we’ll be removed from the exercise.”

“Don’t worry about it man.” I said, watching him try to fly away in order to finally catch a break. “All that matters is that we do the best we can. And with this new technique?”

I slammed a fist into a cabbage-like skull, feeling power coursing through my blood as I took heavy beaths.

“I’m about to rake in the points like crazy.” Ki glowed even brighter as an aura of bloodlust surrounded me. “ALRIGHT YOU LITTLE GREEN SHITS! COME GET THESE HANDS!”

They responded to my yell with screams of their own, before leaping at me.

“Huh, his power level keeps rising.” Shallot said with slight shock in his voice, watching the numbers continue to climb with every swing of the Earthling’s ki blades. “What did he call that new attack, form 10? What happened to 2 through 9?”

“How am I supposed to know? What do I look like to you, a mind reader?”

“Kind of, yeah.” The Saiyan muttered, but didn’t dwell on it as they watched the number continue to rise. Each attack added more than a dozen points to his power level, something they had never seen before. “He’s just broken past 6,000. How much higher is it going to climb?”

“Well whatever it ends up being, it’s probably one of the strongest boosts I’ve ever heard from a ki based attack. If not the strongest.” Maguro mentioned, watching the number of points rise along with the Earthling’s power.

It wasn’t uncommon for one’s ki attack to increase their strength. In fact, it had practically been a staple of the practice since ki was discovered as a source of energy. Everything from the Kamehameha to the Dragon Fist, and beyond. It was a basic fact that if a ki attack didn’t hold any more power than a regular punch or kick, then there was clearly no point in using them.

It was one of the main reasons why Hercule’s techniques are rarely used for anything more than physical conditioning.

“What the hell man, is he trying to use the Kaio-ken or something?” One of the Saiyans asked, the same one who had insulted him just a few minutes ago. “He just went past 8,000! That’s more than a X20!”

“Kais, imagine if he had a stronger starting power when using it. Do you think he’d be able to match Bra or Wairu?” A Namekian asked, before the surrounding students immediately went up in arms.

“There’s no way!” A Frost Demon yelled, his tail straightening out like a cat. “Those two are by far the strongest in our year – maybe even the whole school! Do you have any idea how strong he’d need to be in order to even get close?”

“More than what he could probably get.” Another Namekian grumbled, not liking the situation. “But he’s done better than all of us even with how much lower his strength is. What does that say about all of us?”

At this point almost the entirety of the class had been ejected from the exercise. None of them were actually weaker than the Saibamen, but they had all been removed due to killing to many of the creatures. If they were being beaten out by someone who wasn’t even a third as strong as the average Saibaman…

All that was left in the exercise was the duo of Earthling and Namekian, and then the individual contestants of Bra and Wairu. Their points were all extremely close, 170, 173, and 171 respectively. All three screens showed warriors absolutely tearing up the battlefield, each only one mistake from being disqualified.

It was only a question of who would make that mistake first, and it was one that none of them expected.

Wairu was surrounded by what had to be more than two dozen Saibamen, practically tearing them to shreds with long, thin strands of ki being dispensed from her fingers. They tore through limbs like sharpened string, until one of them was cut just slightly in the wrong place, perishing before the system could reclaim it.

Her final score was 207 defeated Saibamen.

She had been ejected from the simulation, her feet landing gracefully on the ground with a slight frown on her face.

“How well did I do?” She asked, not even waiting for any sort of announcement. The two instructors looked to each other for a moment, before ultimately shrugging.

“You received a comfortable third place.” Shallot explained, looking back up to the two remaining screens. “Most of the students didn’t even get more than 100, so your score is pretty solidly above everyone else.”

“I see,” she said quietly, looking up to see Leva hit one of the enemies with a cross chop. Her eyes widened as she saw something strange about the technique.

It was a dragon made of what looked to be water. But it was strange, almost seeming to lack presence or matter. Even as the warrior’s muscles strained and power continued to rise, it seemed as though the dragon flowed through the air. Every time he attacked the dragon swung around, striking at the same time with its own body.

It was almost like the Dragon Fist, a technique that only those blessed by Eternal Dragons could ever hope to use. For something to even echo that incredible ability…

It was something utterly otherworldly, crafted by the hands of someone too gifted for their own good. And yet this Earthling was using this power like he had just pulled out of thin air. Why had he not used it during their first power examination? It didn’t make any sense!

“…I’ll need to investigate this,” She whispered to herself. “If only to make sure he’s not going to threaten Elder Sister’s patrol…”

“Ha ha! Hell yeah!” Son Bra yelled as soon as she stepped out of the simulator, a smug look on her face as she put her hands on her hips. “312 Saibamen! Not bad for a first time, but I think I did pretty well.”

“Yes, at the moment you hold the number 1 spot for today.” Maguro said, his hands placed behind his back.  “Now go wait with the rest of the class while we prepare for the ending lecture.”

Bra preened under the instructor’s praise, before blinking when she realized a particular part of what the man said.

“Huh?” She dumbly let out. “What do you mean ‘at the moment’?”

Shallot giggled a little bit, but covered it up well enough.

“Just take a look at the screen,” he stated, not explaining anything in the slightest. Still, the Half-Saiyan girl looked up at the monitor, only for her eyes to widen in horror when she realized what she was seeing.

Mu & Gach Leva: 304

Simulation: Active

“Wha- What the actual hell?!” She yelled, pointing at the Namekian and Earthling fighters continuing to tear up the battlefield. At this point the Dragon Clan member had more than recovered his strength enough to rejoin the fight, alleviating Leva as his power level finally maxed out at a flat 10,000. “How are those two still in there! It makes no sense!”

“Clearly it does make sense, because it’s happening.” Wairu said, stepping up next to the purple-haired girl. “I don’t exactly know how they’ve managed to stay in the fight for so long, but they have.”

And in the time the two had spoken those short sentences, the two remaining fighters managed to defeat three more Saibamen. The number increasing as it got ever closer to taking first place from Bra.

“C’moooon.” She muttered with a furrowed brow, almost trying to psychically trip them up from outside of the fight. It was in vain though, as the point counter continued to tick up, and up, and up.

310

“No…”

311

“Nooooo…”

312

“NO!” She practically yelled, getting the attention of everyone around them. Even Time Patrollers passing by paused when they felt the girl’s ki fluctuate slightly with rage. “They have to be cheating somehow! There’s no way that they could take down as many of those things as me!”

“You’re right, they haven’t taken down as many as you.” Maguro smiled, and interrupted Bra before she could revel in her correct assumption. “They took down more than you.”

“W-What?”

313

And almost as if to further taunt her, it was only after beating her by the smallest margin did either of the two warriors make a mistake. Mu, the supposedly stronger Namekian, accidentally shocked one of the cabbage-heads a little too hard, resulting in their final strike.

As soon as the two were returned to the outside of the simulation, they collapsed onto the ground, panting and groaning with a soul deep exhaustion. It was clear that the two of them had pushed far beyond any reasonable limitations, one in particular pushing to a point of absurdity.

Bra went to grab Leva – to figure out exactly how he cheated (he had to have!), but was stopped by Wairu. She opened her mouth to protest, but stopped at the practically withering look the shorter woman was giving her.

“Don’t,” she said plainly, before stepping back into the crowd of the class.

Bra didn’t move from her spot, just glaring at the retreating Kai. Anger boiled under her skin, but she knew that if she went any further she’d just get in trouble. Thus, she just crossed her arms and chose to just continue glaring at the Earthling and his little companion.

“Uuuuuuuuuugh, my bones feel like chicken… Does that make any sense?” I couldn’t help but ask, laying on the cold floor of the Time Desk.

“No, but I somehow understand and sympathize with it regardless.” Mu gave his reply, looking up at the massive, high to the sky ceiling hanging above us. “We really need to increase our raw power somehow, don’t we?”

“Without a doubt,” I replied instantly. Finally starting to regain my breath after what felt like hours of pure agony, I continued speaking. “We brought up the gravity rooms before, but maybe we should try to find a teacher to help us outside of the academy? Could even pick up a few pieces of weighted training clothes while we’re at it?”

“That sounds good. I’ll ask around the village, see who I could get to help out.” After that short conversation, the two of us finally sat up for our prone positions. We were still heavily drained, but I could at the very least move properly.

I pulled a recovery capsule out of my pocket, sighing in blissful relief as I felt the healing waves wash over my body. Without even looking, I tossed one over to Mu. The green man catching it with a bit of a stumble, before pressing the button with an uncertain expression. He was able to figure it out, though. The healing in a can basically returning us to full combat readiness.

Hell, our power levels even went up a bit!

500

7,300

It still wasn’t anywhere close to where we wanted them, but gaining 25 points in a single fight was a hell of a boost! Gambling for the win!

“Ah, it seems our winners have finally recovered.” We looked over to see Maguro and Shallot smiling at us. “Congratulations, you two just barely achieved the number 1 place in this test.”

“F-First place?” I asked, raising a finger towards myself. “Us? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.” Maguro stated. “You two one by the smallest of margins. And had you two had gone at it alone, neither of you would have reached the top half of the list.”

“…Thanks.” I muttered.

“You’re welcome.” Was the fishman’s smug response, before he turned to the rest of the class. “Let this be a lesson to all of you. As strong as all of you are alone, it will only be a fraction of what you can accomplish if you fight along side your fellow Time Patrollers. Remember this for when you struggle with a particular mission. There is no shame in needing a helping hand.”

“He’s right, everyone.” Shallot followed up, a serious look on his face that contrasted with his typical grin. “I would have never have been able to defeat Demigra if it wasn’t for Goku and the others all helping me out. They were the reason why I was able to take the win over what would have otherwise have been an unbeatable opponent.”

Everyone was only passively paying attention, clearly just waiting for the day to end so that everyone could either go home or do something else. I don’t know how long everyone had been waiting, but it was clear that they had at least been sitting in these groups for a while.

“Since today we spent so much time here, we’re just gonna end the school day out here. So once again, congratulations to our winners for today, and we’ll see you all next class!” The moment that Shallot let out that phrase with a thumbs up, the class began to disperse. Cliques formed as people walked off in various directions, small conversations continuing from where they were paused earlier.

“Hey, after we give the recovery capsules time to finish up, wanna go see if we can rent out a gravity room?” I asked Mu, who simply nodded. “Alright. Let’s strike while the iron is hot.”

You have reached a milestone!

Meet Your Match Part 2: Best Son Bra in the academy’s first major test of battle prowess!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

You have reached a milestone!

Fruit of the Core Part 1: Catch the attention of the young Kai in training, Wairu!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

You have reached a milestone!

Impressing the Dragon Part 2: Working together with Mu, reach the top position in the first academy test of battle prowess!

For your efforts you have acquired: 1 Gacha Ticket

I… decided to ignore those pop ups for now. At the moment there wasn’t even anything I really wanted from the Gacha – strange considering how well those techniques had helped me today, but with the two forms I already have I didn’t see much point in trying to get the other two.

“Alright, let’s get to it.” With a tap on Mu’s shoulder, we walked off towards our destination. Today was only the first day, and already we have already shown that we can throw down with the best of them, even though we were starting behind everyone else.

And soon enough, I was sure that we were going to surpass every single person here.

It wasn’t a possibility, or a suggestion, or even a promise. It was merely a fact.

Though, as we walked away, I couldn’t help but feel like there was a strange presence… somewhere around us. It was like someone was watching us from far away, but I couldn’t pinpoint any energy signatures that it could be.

Eh, who cares. They can watch. It wasn’t like we were doing anything weird.

“Those two are definitely doing something weird,” Wairu concluded as she watched her crystal ball. The image showing off the Earthling and Namekian turning up the gravity ten times, nearly stumbling over at the sudden shift in their weights. It was clearly their first times, so it would have been better for them if they just used double normal gravity to start with.

But Wairu supposed she wasn’t one to really judge. She wasn’t their sensei, after all.

“But then who is?” She asked herself, leaning closer to the figures displayed to her. They were starting to get used to it now, standing a little straighter and fighting against their own weights. “There’s no way that they could have developed that sort of technique, even if they were working together. That water dragon wasn’t just taking in energy from the user’s lungs, but from the environment itself. It’s a form of magic, just like the kind used by the Dragon Clan!”

The young Kai put a hand to her chin, the gears in her head now starting to spin with rapid speeds towards a theory.

“So was it a Namekian to taught him that power? No, members of the Dragon Clan don’t fight, aside from Kami. But he was a guardian, so it was a part of his duty to defend the Earth.” Wairu stepped around the crystal. “Maybe it was Elder Guru? No, he doesn’t have the strength to move, let alone battle. Moori? No, I don’t think there’s a variant of him in Conton that’s a Grand Elder…”

But then who could it be? Who was it that taught them these things?

The girl sighed, letting the image of Mu freeze on the mystical scrying tool.

“Maybe it’s someone related to you?” She asked, looking at the man. “You’re a member of the Dragon Clan, and yet you fight along side him. Was this originally your technique that he then developed into something new?”

“Hi Sister! How ya doin’?”

“AWAWAWAWAWA!!!!” Wairu desperately tried to cover up the crystal ball as the intruder walked in. “S-Sister Chronoa! H-Hi! What are you doing here?!”

“Oooh I just wanted to see how your first exercise at the academy went for my baby sister.” She said, curling her hair around a finger as she spoke. “So how’d it go? Did you win? It’ll be nice to hear that a Saiyan didn’t dominate this year.”

“O-Oh, umm…” Wairu shuffled around the ball, even as her elder sibling walked around the room. “I uhhh, got third place… It wasn’t even close.”

There was an embarrassed look on her face, but not as bad as the one she’d have if Chronoa figured out she was spying on her classmates. She’d never hear the end of it! She’ll be as old and wrinkly as that perverted Elder Kai before she finally stopped teasing her!

“Aw maaan, that sucks!” The older Kai turned around to look at her younger sibling. “So who did get the top spot then? Was it Bra? I knew that she was probably going to be strong but to beat a Kai at such a young age…”

“N-No, it wasn’t Son Bra either.” Wairu tapped her fingers together, momentarily forgetting how she was supposed to be hiding her activities. “It was an Earthling and his Namekian teammate that managed to get the highest score.”

“…eh?” In contrast to almost every other time, the Supreme Kai of Time was pretty quiet at this new factoid. Her hand gently brushed against her chin as she thought over the new information. “That’s a first. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an Earthling scoring in the top half of the first test, let alone getting number 1. Were they some sort of mutant?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.” The Kai in training huffed a little bit at the thought. “And they weren’t one of the animal-like ones either. He was basically as normal as one could get. The fact that he managed to win with a power level of 475 is a miracle I don’t think even the Dragon Balls can grant.”

“…475?” Chronoa asked, to which Wairu confirmed with a nod. “You’re telling me that an Earthling with a three-digit power level was able to score a higher number of points than Saiyans with powers well into the millions?”

“Well he was able to boost his strength quite a bit with some of his techniques, so I don’t think that’s a fair thing to ask.” Wairu stepped forwards, mind now completely focused on the conversation. “But Elder Sister, it felt like the Dragon Fist technique. It even had a dragon of its own, though I don’t think anyone other than myself saw it.”

“That’s not unheard of,” was the Supreme Kai’s answer. “Maybe he found a Namekian instructor to help him harness mystical arts? You did say he was teamed up with a member of their species, right?”

“I had, yes.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry too much about.” She shrugged. “While it is strange, maybe this will be good for you? There’s so many powers in the multiverse that you have yet to see and explore. So you should take this opportunity to learn more about the abilities and forces out there. It could be important in the future for you to know these things.”

“I understand, Sister.” The younger Kai responded quietly. Maybe she was being too suspicious about this? Conton City was a massive place, so maybe she could just ask where they learned about it? That should have been the first thing she thought to do instead of spying on them with the crystal ball.

Wait…

CRUD!

“Ohhhhh, what’s this!” The elder Kai cooed when she saw the unattended object at the center of the room. The display was still paused on the image of Mu the Namekian. “Does my little sister have a widdle crwushy wushy?”

“Oh by the Grand Priest’s name please stop!” She yelled, trying to run up and snatch away her scry. “I-I was just investigating the origins of that strange technique! I-I don’t have a crush on anyone!”

“Reaaaaaally?” Chronoa asked with a smile. “Is that true? Or are you just saying that so that I don’t try to go meet your little boyfrieeeend?”

“STOP IT! I MEAN IT!”

Chapter Text

The next two weeks passed without much of a fuss – well, aside from the expected ones anyways. Apparently I was somehow the talk of the whole school after Mu and I won the first ‘Saiba Surprise’ thing not too long ago. Though, the only reason I even knew that was because of my habit of listening in on other people’s conversations with my enhancement abilities.

Rumors were quickly becoming something of an abundance around the academy, which gave me some… mixed feelings. But I suppose so long as nobody was going to try and beat me up based on a rumor, I wasn’t too bothered by it.

Not that I’d let it get to that stage, but still.

It became quick for the students to realize that the fight against the Saibamen was a weekly thing for the time being. At the end of each week we would be sent back into the simulation to make another attempt at fighting them, which would hopefully improve the results of some of the students in the lower ends of the scores.

They even went as far as starting to lower the strength of the Saibamen to that of the ones seen in the Saiyan Saga, so they’re really trying to beat some control into the members of our class. Quite a few of the students were able to improve their results, though there were a few that ended up falling behind in spite of that.

Mostly the Saiyan students, saying that it was unfair because of the rest of our “lower powers” compared to them.

Pure, unbridled coping if you ask me. They just need to learn how to control their powers better; learn some actual technique instead of just blowing everything sky high. In a career that had you fighting gods as well as your run of the mill scrubs, it only made sense that you had a good amount of control over your strength.

Speaking of strength, my own had increased a fair amount due to all of the training that Mu and I had been getting in. It still paled in comparison to how strong our classmates were on average, but it was still pretty good progress.

780

8,000

That’s about good enough to put us on par with late Saiyan Saga characters. Well, Mu was on level in terms of power, but I could pretty easily catch up using my own techniques. These breathing techniques have been an insanely good help.

According to my Namekian friend’s own claims, the power of Constant Flux puts me above him in terms of Power Level. Quite an impressive statement considering the initial difference between us, and it’ll likely jest keep getting greater and greater as they go.

Not everything was going as great, though. Though we were able to remain within the top five of the next two simulations, we were slowly but surely eked out of first place by Bra and Wairu. When they did, the majority of the class started to write off our initial showing as some sort of fluke, ignoring the fact that we were still hot on their heels whenever we did the simulation.

It was a little upsetting to here some of the Saiyans laugh about the “Earthing losing his edge” at lunch, but I took it in stride and continued to improve.

And then the end of the month came…

The month of Demon Slayer has come to an end!

“Huh? Wazzat?” I asked out loud as a notification roused me from my sleep. Looking to the side from my place on the floor, I saw that my scouter was one and showing words on the screen. Putting it on groggily, I yawned whilst trying to see what this is all about. “What time even is it?”

00:00

“Literally midnight.” I grunted a bit. “You couldn’t have waited just a little bit longer? Or at least put notifications on silent until, like, six in the morning or something?”

As it is the start of a new month, a new Lost Timeline will be selected for the user to draw prizes on!

Selecting timeline, please wait…

Timeline selected!

This month’s timeline is: Naruto

Randomizing possible prizes…

Prize pool selected!

“Huh? Naruto?” I mumbled as I looked at the result. “Damn, there’s a lot to choose from there. I’ll be lucky if I get something if I get the Sharingan or Rinnegan, and even then the majority of skills in that series will have some level of use. Just have to hope my luck stays good.”

Grand Prize: Wood Release: True Several Hundred Hands

Number 2 Prize: Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Chant

Number 3 Prize: Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu

Consolation Prize: Taijutsu: Dynamic Entry

Number of Gacha Tickets: 3

“…I am not in the right state of mind to be looking at this right now.” I grumbled with a sigh, pulling off the scouter and putting it back down on the floor. “I’ll deal with the ninja shit in the morning before I meet Mu for our morning workout.”

I tried to plop back down on the floor and go to sleep, but as I did so curiosities and thoughts began to haunt me. It reminded me of the video games I had played in my last life, constantly trying to haunt me and beckon me back to my computer in order to make me play for just five more minutes.

Of course, it never ended up actually being five more minutes. Many sleepless nights were had because I couldn’t resist the calls of those damn computer screens.

And so, I continued to toss and turn throughout the night, wanting desperately to just go to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. All the while, that stupid scouter continued to call towards me with the promises of power and abilities that would rocket me to greater success.

By the time I finally faded into sleep, I knew for a fact that I would wake up feeling like absolute garbage.

“Haaaaahh…” I yawned while trying to splash water on my face. The lights of the tiny apartment bathroom felt tight as I did a couple of morning stretches, trying to shake off the sleepiness that I had been feeling from the harsh night before. It did a little bit to energize my body, but I still felt a little bit of weight from my slightly purple eyelids. “Why did it have to update the literal second it turned to the next day? If this is going to be how it works, it might be better to put it in a cupboard or something the day it’s supposed to change.”

Letting out another sigh, I walked back into the main room of my tiny apartment with a breakfast of a nutrition bar. Picking up the scouter, I basically slapped it onto the side of my head and secured it.

“Alright, let’s see what I can get from this.” I mumbled as I pressed the buttons on the device, pulling up the display of the gacha prizes. “Let’s see, none of the wacky eye powers, unfortunately. Would have loved to have all the wild abilities that the Rinnegan gives someone. Also, Several Hundred Hands? Isn’t is supposed to be thousands?”

I blinked a few times, trying to remember the details of a manga I haven’t been able to read in over a decade.

“Ah, right. This was the one used by that spiral guy who was obsessed with poop…” I shivered a little bit when I thought about it. “What a weird thing to write.”

Deciding not to think about the oddities of the Naruto manga, I continued looking down the list of prizes.

“That’s… the Genjutsu that Jiraya’s toad buds used against Pain, right?” I frowned as I read over the name a few times. “If what I can remember from this one, it was basically impossible for someone to escape the illusion without either dying or being released by the user.”

I smiled a little bit.

“I doubt there are many people in this universe that could reasonably fight back against these kinds of abilities, except the Destroyers and Angels.” I chuckled a little bit at the mental image of Whis being caught between four toads giving him a high five. “Knowing that toothpaste haired food-addict, he’d somehow be able to ‘dodge’ the illusion.”

That was assuming he would even give me the chance to cast it.

“And then we have the water prison… I don’t see that being too useful unless I can create or reinforce the water with my Ki. Even as early as Goku’s first martial arts tournament, characters were already strong enough to boil water with their ki attacks. Not only does this technique require an existing water source, but anyone I tried to use it on would just burn it all away with their energy.”

A beat of silence passed.

“But like I said, maybe I could reinforce it with my own ki.”

And if I didn’t have the energy to create a shield or something, reinforcing the water might be a feasible way to protect myself for a cheaper way. Though, none of that matters if I have no water in the area to manipulate, which very well could be a possibility considering Dragon Ball’s usual battlefields.

“But Dynamic Entry might be a pretty solid option.” I said, my mouth perking up a little bit into a semi-smile. “I don’t know if it’s an actual technique like the other ones used by Gai and Lee, or it it’s something more akin to a joke move used by Hercule, but either way it still might end up being useful.”

It might be less powerful overall compared to the potential applications of the water prison, but it wasn’t as niche. A fair trade off, if you ask me.

“Guess I should just go ahead and roll for all of these, then.” I said whilst pressing the button. “I guess I could save the rolls until later, but without any ways to boost the chance of getting a higher prize, I might as well use them right now and not get my hopes up.”

There wasn’t really any way to know if it would work out like it did in the Saibaman simulation, so I shouldn’t become over reliant on it to get me out of a sticky situation.

“Alright, let’s spend all these points!” I said, pressing the confirmation button.

-1 Gacha Ticket

Spinning…

Spinning…

Ping!

“Hm, what did I get?” I asked, watching the screen curiously.

You receive the Consolation Prize: Taijutsu: Dynamic Entry

Distributing prize…

I felt a slight ache and tingle in my head as small sparks of electricity shot directly into my brain. Memories began to jolt through my head as I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

Gai-sensei… You really are the best!

Kakashi, how about he have another match!

No! I won’t play rock paper scissors with you again!

Show them all what a splendid ninja you are! Show them the power of your youth!

“So it ended up being an actual technique after all…” I sighed with relief, feeling the last bits of information fill my brain. “The Strong Fist sure is a pretty impressive collection, though I don’t think I’d want to deal with the Eight Gates just for raw power.”

This’ll be plenty of that for now.

Unfortunately, the other two tickets ended up being a bust, leaving me with nothing and no new abilities. Was I a little upset? Yeah, yet I feel like it’s to be expected. Gacha isn’t exactly the easiest thing to wring anything good out of, especially without any sort of luck boosting items or payable spins.

Deciding that I had spent more than enough time on this, I put on my training Gi and to the streets. Mu and I had spent a pretty Zeni on these early hour Gravity Rooms, so I needed to get there on time and make sure we didn’t lose our spot.

As I ran out into the open air of the early morning city, I was glad to see that the streets were still mostly empty of their usual rabble. If I remember correctly, there was supposed to be some sort of small tournament going on today. I don’t know what kind yet, but those usually attract the brutes and martial artists by the hundreds. If not to show their superior strength, then to test their might against their fellow Time Patrollers.

The promises of a cash prize probably didn’t hurt either.

Either way, it didn’t really matter. The lack of people heading to the stadium meant that I was able to reach the Gravity Rooms in record time. Out front was Mu, who seemed to have gotten here even earlier than I had.

“So, do you just only have one set of training clothes, or multiple sets that just look the same?”

I raised an eyebrow at his question, confused.

“Don’t you?” I asked in return, looking over how his outfit was the same it had always been during our sessions together. Though I noticed he had added a pair of arm bands since the last time we trained.

“I use the Magic Materialization powers I learned to recreate the outfit when one gets destroyed. I have multiple of them that I wash frequently.” He said, smirking slightly. “So what, you just train in that thing every day?”

“I wash it every day too.” I grunted. “It’s why the colors so faded, putting it through so many runs caused the dyes to bleed out.”

“I guess that’s better than wearing bloody and dirty clothes for multiple days in a row.” Mu commented. “How about I make you a new set once we’re done here? I’ve been needing to do some more training with my mystic abilities.”

“He he~. Clothes beam.” I chuckled quietly, only for it to evolve into uproarious laughter when Mu punched me lightly on the arm.

“If you call it that again I’ll make sure your next set of clothes are bright pink.” His words were threatening, but his tone was anything but. It was all in good fun.

“Bring it, Namek. I’m comfortable in my masculinity.” I teased back, clenching a fist in defiance. “Pink’s a universal color anyways! I’ll be able to mix and match with anything!”

“Wait, really?” Mu asked, his brow raised. “I thought pink was just supposed to go with other pastel colors…”

“I mean, it usually is.” I confirmed a bit. “But that’s just because it’s typically associated with femininity and other stuff like that. In terms of color coordination, it can go with almost any color set. That’s why colors such as black are considered universal colors.”

“Interesting…” Mu said, putting a hand to his chin. “And on the topic of tie-dye shirts-“

“Those things are usually an eyesore.” I said. “Just because they go together doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as too much color.”

“Is there such a thing at not enough?”

“Yep.” I stated quickly, popping the p at the end.

“The more you know…”

“Ha!” Bra slammed a fist forwards into her opponent, imaginary as it may be. When his guard was bypassed, the girl landed a series of harsh blows all over his dumb head and stupid face. She could already imagine the bones cracking, teeth falling all over the ground as she stood over that smug little prick to behold her own ultimate victory over hi-

 “Bra, calm yourself!” A voice called out, authoritative as it was powerful. That was a lot of authority, by the way.

The girl froze mid-swing, her whole body feeling like it was locking up out of fear. Even her very breath, as ragged as it had been, was now not even intaking the shallowest of gasps.

“Y-Yes, Papa.” She nodded, before returning to her training. The gravity room was still set to its highest setting of 500, but even under this amount of pressure she didn’t feel the need to go Super Saiyan. Just pushing her normal limits would be enough to move through this pressure.

All the while, Vegito performed his own training as he lectured her.

“You know for a fact that letting your emotions get carried away will lead to you losing control completely. Getting distracted could end up causing you to hurt someone!” He grunted as he completed another one handed, handstand pushup. The weights around his arms and legs clinked lightly as he managed to push himself back up.

The red light of the room only made the sweat on his brow all the more apparent. He had been stacking up on his training ever since they were brought to Conton; ever since they had been introduced to powers further outside of their strength then they had ever seen before.

Bra had never thought she could see versions of her father’s components that could be stronger than the man himself, especially by so much. Super Saiyan 4 alone was enough of a shock to her, and even went as far as to make her wonder if she should try to get her tail back…

No, her father wouldn’t allow that. She didn’t have the control necessary to do that.

Is that why that Earthling was able to get one over on her? The rest of the class may not have noticed it, but even though he fell behind the last two times they did the simulation, he and his Namekian teammate managed to score in the top five. In fact, only her and that Kai were able to beat them out.

The rest of the class took that as a sign that it was all one collective screw up on the part of the class, but Bra wasn’t stupid. She did have her mother’s brains, after all.

No matter how much that jerk implied otherwise.

Those two were obviously a cut above the rest in terms of Ki control, and maybe in terms of their techniques as well. That last time they did the test, she noticed how the Earthling’s Power Level spiked when using certain techniques. Something about them seemed to do with his breathing, something she couldn’t replicate no matter how much she tried.

Thinking about it only really seemed to make her angry.

Seriously, what was up with those powers?! Even Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon only really doubled his power when he used it. But here it was essentially like he was using a Kaioken x10 with none of the draw backs! If anything, it only seemed to invigorate him more, what the hell?!

“Bra!” Her father admonished her once more, already getting fed up with her erratic emotions. “If you can’t keep control of yourself then just get out, you’re done for the day.”

The purple haired girl moved to protest, but her mouth locked up tight before she could get any words out. It didn’t even really matter. Vegito’s mind was made up.

So, she packed herself up, and walked out of the Capsule Corp Gravity Room. She stumbled a little bit as she had to readjust herself to normal gravity, but she was used to the sensation. Now that she was out, she just wanted to grab something to eat and distract herself from thinking about that Earthling fighter.

He was still weaker than Raditz, but he was still able to fight effectively against fighters several magnitudes higher in power. Even if it was just a simulation, defeating even one should have been outright impossible.

“Oh, Bra! You’re out early.” Bulma looked a bit surprised by the girl’s sudden entrance to the dining room. Trunks was checking his phone – probably texting Goten or Maron – but greeted her with a quick ‘hey’ nonetheless.

“Yeah, Papa kicked me out.” The girl grumbled, practically falling into her seat. The robot servants around the building hadn’t finished bringing out breakfast yet, but there was still a sizable amount of food on the table. Bra grabbed a few bagels and continued to vent. “I was getting distracted while training and he didn’t like how mad I was getting.”

“Sorry to hear that, hun.” Bulma said with a concerned expression. It was the same kind she got whenever stories of Vegito blocking Bra’s training reached her ears. “Maybe you can tell us about what’s bothering you, and we can get your father to cool down too?”

“Well I…” Bra hesitated for a second, and ultimately decided to change course. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s clearly not nothing.” Her mother pressed for a moment, but after seeing her daughter’s expression decides to back off. “Alright then, what about school? Are you keeping up with your classes well enough?”

“They’re going fine.” She said, grabbing some fruit to go along with the bagels. There was a large selection of them, and a few that were usually considered rare or expensive. All the same, they went on her plate. “I’m getting some of the highest scores on both the physical and academic tests.”

Though, the fact that she hasn’t been dominating either category completely was the thing that bothered her the most about all of this. She was born with a Power Level of nearly 20,000! Not to mention her high IQ from her mom’s side! Shouldn’t she have been the best by default?

“Well, it’s a big universe out there. Or multiverse, I suppose.” Bulma smiled a little bit. “With all of these alternate timelines and universes sending people here, it’s only natural that someone’s going to outpace us sometimes.”

“Us?” The younger woman blinked a few times. “You mean you’ve met people smarter than you?”

It was only then that Trunks looked up from his phone, if only to make sure he was hearing that right.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” Bulma smiled. “At a certain point it becomes less about how physically intelligent you are, and more about what kinds of things you can make with what resources. I mean, I had the fortune of meeting a scientist from the Demon Realm that had a hand in creating the Saibamen. It was interesting to hear about what little he had to work with when he originally started cultivating them.”

Bulma chuckled a little bit.

“Then there’s all the other variants of myself that I’ve met since we came here.” She her smirked turned a little wider as her ego began to show. “I mean, even with the resources I have with Capsule Corp, I haven’t been able to recreate the time machine’s abilities without some sort of blueprint. The me from Future Trunk’s timeline is a master of that particular craft, and I’ve even heard talks of her being brought along by the Supreme Kai of Time to help with improving the Time Nest.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Bra agreed, though she didn’t sound all too enthusiastic about it. “But all of those people are friends of yours. Some of them are literally you, just from different timelines! It doesn’t really feel the same.”

“So it is someone that’s bothering you?” The mother asked with a raised brow. “You’re not getting bullied are you? I can see if we can’t get the school involved if that’s the case.”

Trunks smiled and leaned over, now fully invested in their conversation.

“And if that doesn’t help, I’m sure Goten and I can deal with him!”

“No no! That won’t be necessary!” She waved her hands a few times. “It’s nothing like that, I swear! It’s just some rivalries with a couple of classmates, just not really ranking as high as I wanted to.”

The two other members of the family took a second to watch her expression, and ultimately agreed to let it be. A part of the whole situation still bothered then – they felt like Bra wasn’t really getting the whole story across – but they knew that if they pressed for any more details they would probably get shut down.

Hence, their breakfast continued in silence, the topic continuing to persist in the background of Bra’s thoughts.

“Ah, well I guess I gotta put my money where my mouth is now, eh?” I smiled wryly as I looked at the ensemble that Mu had created with his magics, essentially a full pink and black version of the standard turtle school Gi without the added Kanji. “Still, major upgrades. At least now I get to wear full colors again.”

“I’d say it looks pretty good on you.” Mu tacked on. “Not only that, but it matches with your scouter. Unlike your previous outfit.”

“Yeah, I guess I deserve that.” I chuckled a little bit as we left the Gravity Rooms, having gotten in a good work out and spar before today’s classes. “But hey, I’d say I rock the color pretty well all things considered.”

“I think it has something to do with the fact that you’re not all that bothered by wearing it.” The Namekian stated. “After all, confidence can be a key thing in making yourself look good.”

I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“At least, that’s what I’ve read in books about Earthling social interactions.” He muttered, rubbing a hand on the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m still not too sure about most of the ways you all interact with each other. Everything’s so… busy all the time. In the village there wasn’t much going on or very many changes, but since moving here it feels like that’s all I’ve been seeing.”

“You’re not alone on that front, Jolly Green Giant.” I said with a look, remembering my first few years in this life of mine. Every moment was a bid to thrive or improve myself in some form or fashion, and every day that I wasn’t doing that was a day I would risk falling into mediocrity and irrelevancy. It was an extremely hard thing to get used to, but experience soothed those issues…

Eventually.

“I’ve been thinking.” Mu started.

“Well there’s a shocker.” I joked.

“Shut up.” The green man said with a tiny grin, being good natured about it. “I’m serious though, I’ve been wondering about it ever since we first started training together.”

“What is it dude?” I asked with a raised brow, curious as to what he wanted to say.

“Why do you wear that thing?” He tilted his head slightly backwards as he spoke, looking at the accessory on my face. “You have some of the best energy control I know of, so I don’t see a reason you would need to scout out a person based on their power level.”

Shoot, I should have expected something like this to happen eventually. Quick, play dumb!

“…What scouter?”

Not that dumb!

“I mean, I don’t really use it to track people.” I said, my smile turning a bit forced as I tried to come up with some sort of explanation. “The only real reason I have it on me is so that I can check my progress. It really helps my motivation to get stronger if I can actually see how much I’m improving, you know?”

Mu kept his brow raised, but eventually nodded.

“Yes, I can see how that might help.” He cupped a hand to his chin, thinking for a second. “Perhaps I should get one for myself then, just to keep track of my level. I’ll admit, I do feel a little curious about how much I’ve grown after a long day of training.”

“Well if you want to know that, you can just ask me.” I responded, tapping the device on my ear. “It’s not as if I can’t use it to look at other people’s Power Levels. Though after a certain point it’ll probably be a moot thing to even keep track of.”

“If I remember correctly, after the events on planet Namek the levels got somewhere into the billions.” Mu pondered for a moment. “Do you think we’ll ever reach those levels? I feel like at our current stage, we’re still so far behind everyone else it feels like a joke.”

“Some might think it’s a joke, but anyone with a sliver of intelligence will understand how we’re still here.” I stated. “We’ve clawed our way into our places with tenacity and intelligence, and anyone who thinks otherwise clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about. We just need to take the time to build up and show off.”

“You mean like at the Sports Festival?” The Namekian asks the question with a bit of a nervous tick. “I don’t know about that. It’s one thing that we’re able to beat so many of our peers in the simulations, but it’s another thing entirely to say that we could beat them in an actual fight. We would probably be eliminated in the first few rounds.”

“We’d be eliminated if we go in the same as we are right now.” I supplemented, implying that there was a way for us to have a chance in the future. “Remember, most of our classmates are only focused on their strength. The vast majority of them can’t get the most out of that strength, which can leave them vulnerable.”

“How so?”

“Well if you see someone swing too wide, it’s only natural that you counter with your superior martial arms form, right?” When Mu nodded, I continued on. “Then we do the same with our energy, learn how to control it to the point where none of it gets wasted, that way we get more bang for our Ki buck.”

“That sounds like it’ll take a lot of effort.” My companion stated with a contemplative tone. “Are you sure that it’ll work?”

“I’ve seen examples of it a few times.” I commented, memories of a certain bald alien in my mind. “If you look at Jiren of the Pride Troopers, then you’ll find the kind of thing I’m talking about.”

“Another one of your obscure warriors, I presume?” Mu raised a brow again, but eventually sighed and shook his head. “Well, at least you’re not suggesting something insane like trying to summon Omega Shenron.”

I frowned, wondering what was up with this. Was there really nothing about Super being passed around? Did it just not exist here? Or was it just yet to happen?

I need to do a little research on this, preferably before class starts. It’s gonna bother me all day if I don’t.

“Hey, I’ll meet you in class.” I said, giving Mu a small wave. “I gotta head to the library!”

“…Alright then.” He nodded to me, before waving back. “Good luck then!”

I took off back into the streets of Conton, heading towards the school. If there was anywhere that contained the info on Super’s timeline, it’d be there.

Though, I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn’t end up finding anything.