Chapter Text
Universe 7
"WOOO-HOO!!!"
High up, at the altitude that most aircraft cruised at, was a young man with spiky black hair and onyx eyes with a dark blue tint. He had tanned skin and a lean build but was quite muscular for someone his age.
His name was Goku Jr., the great-great-grandson of Pan, who herself was the granddaughter of two of the world's greatest martial artists.
The first was none other Goku's namesake, Son Goku Sr., who was an ardent participant of the World Martial Arts Tournament known as the "Tenkaichi Budokai", becoming the champion during the 23rd tournament.
The other was Hercule Satan, champion of the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai and the Hero who defeated the monster known as Cell who had threatened to destroy the world centuries ago.
Though in truth, according to his grandmother Pan, it was actually her father, Son Gohan, who was also Son Goku's first born son, that defeated the abomination known as Cell.
Goku grinned his grandfather's grin and cut his chi, allowing himself to fall out of the sky. He sent himself into a series of tumbles and spins that would have made any normal human pilot pass out. Goku was anything but normal. In fact, he wasn't even pure human. He was Half Saiyan, a formerly powerful race of beings similar to Humans in appearance with the exception of a tail.
As far as Goku knew, he didn't have a tail and neither did his grandmother. But she told him back then that they had their tails cut off after childbirth to prevent them from becoming giants apes whenever they see a full moon. It happened a few times with Goku Sr. and later to his son Gohan, though not to his youngest son Goten.
He, along with most of his relatives from his grandmother's side, were hybrid Saiyans, with their bloodline beginning with Goku Sr. himself.
His rival, Vegeta Jr, and his family were also Saiyan hybrids through his ancestor's rival, the former Prince of Saiyans, Vegeta.
His face lit up at the sight of a cloud rushing straight up at him. The half-Saiyan cut his freefall and powered straight down, an aura of blue ki blazing into existence around him. The boost in power meant he could go even faster and he streaked down towards the airborne pocket of water vapor like a meteor falling through the sky. The cloud suddenly sprouted a tentacle as Goku's passage blew the white object in half. The boy himself emerged from the tentacle, heading straight down at a speed approaching Mach 1. Seconds before he hit the ground, he stopped dead before flashing off in another direction, blasting through undergrowth and making hurricane winds that shook leaves and rattled trees for close to a mile to either side of him.
Hercule City
The laughter of a elder woman drifted over the heavily forested land close to the Son residence. Son Pan, granddaughter of the legendary hero of Earth, Son Goku, stopped her work in the kitchen to look out the open window, awaiting the arrival of her grandson.
Despite looking like she was in her 60's, Son Pan was already 110 years old. Her long life-span could be attributed to her being quite the martial artist back in the day and staying healthy every day.
As she waited, she couldn't help but feel proud of her grandson. After all, how many grandmothers in the world could brag that their grandkid was the descendent of the hero who had single-handedly saved the world from countless threats?
Now her grandson was fifteen and was currently on his way back from school. Hopefully he didn't get into any trouble.
Suddenly, she saw a speck that was dancing in the sky with more agility than any bird or plan, and smiled as her grandson blazed out of the trees with a roaring wind right behind him. Goku touched down, skidding from the tree line nearly fifty yards away right up to the front door of the house. She caught a glimpse of his windswept face before the front door opened and Goku came in. The woman's face brightened as she heard his footsteps head up the stairs, followed by the door closing.
"I'm home!" Goku said as he entered the house.
Speaking of which, said home was rather a simple two story building. Despite their family's wealth, his grandmother Pan opted for him to live in such a simple home due to herself living in one with her family when she was younger.
Goku heard humming coming from the kitchen walked towards it. There, he saw his grandmother making dinner.
"Grandma, I'm home!" Goku called out, getting the elder woman to stop humming as she looked at him.
"Welcome back, Goku." Pan smiled. "Did anything interesting happen at school today?"
"Just the usual. Though I can't wait to see Vegeta again." Goku replied as he took a bottle of milk from the fridge and began drinking.
"Really? Is he already that excited for your rematch? That boy is just like his grandpa Vegeta then." Pan reminisced the old days.
"I can't exactly blame him, I'm excited too!" He said as Pan merely shook her head.
"Ah, it warms my heart to see that you're really coming to resemble Grandpa Goku." She said as she turned off the stove and began setting the table.
"Really? What makes you say that?" Goku Jr. asked as helped her.
"You've got that look in your eye. Back then, you'd just run away from fights. Heck, sometimes you'd even wet your pants too."
"R-Really?" He muttered, embarrassed at his past self's antics.
"But now you're different. The Goku I see right now is just like his grandpa Goku. Strong, brave, and a good person."
"Stop it Grandma, you're embarrassing me." The young man rubbed his nose a little in embarrassment. Before he thought about what she said. "I'm becoming more like Grandpa, huh?"
The young man remembered the time when his grandmother had become ill.
Back then, she had told him of a legend about seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls. When gathered together, the Dragon Balls would summon the eternal dragon Shenron, who also would grant the wish of whoever summoned him.
However at the time, Goku thought that only one of the Dragon Balls would work. Back when his family still lived in Satan City, he journeyed throughout the area of Mt. Paozu just to find his Grandpa Goku's old house, whom he was told by his grandmother to have once owned a Dragon Ball.
He had been accompanied by Puck, who back then was a school bully who's regular victim was Goku himself. It was because of this journey that they became friends in the first place.
'Now that I think about it... I haven't spoken to Puck for a while now. I wonder how he's doing?' He began thinking for a few moments before smiling.
'Hmm... He's probably fine. He survived falling down a cliff after all.'
It should also be noted that it was during this journey that Goku had first gained access to the Super Saiyan form as his grandmother called it.
The Super Saiyan form was supposedly the next stage of evolution for all Saiyans, he wasn't too sure about since his memory was fuzzy, but the requirements were high in order to achieve it. One needed a high power level and sufficient enough emotional trigger to do so.
He had gained it when he became angry at a Demon known as Lord Yao for hurting a bear cub at the time. He easily defeated the Demon Lord afterwards.
When he showed the form to his grandmother, it was an understatement to say how proud she had been at him for achieving it at a young age. And because of that, Goku's training as a martial artist became even more intense.
'Back then, I was probably crying about my training becoming even more harder.' He laughed to himself at the irony as he was now the type to look forward to such things after years of practice with his grandmother.
After defeating the demon, Goku continued on his way and eventually came across the old home of his ancestor.
There, he had found the Four-Star Dragon Ball as his knowledge on how to used the Dragon Balls at the time were limited, he couldn't use it.
It was at that time that he came across the spirit of his ancestor, Son Goku Sr., who had praised him for coming all this way just so he could cure his grandmother's illness despite being a coward back then.
He was later picked up by Grandmother, who looked as healthy as she was before her illness and that made him think that his ancestor might've had something to do with it.
'Still though... I wonder if I could become as strong as he was...'
"Goku!"
Hearing his name, Goku snapped out of his thoughts and saw Pan already sitting at the table.
"Geez, what are you doing staring off into space like that?" Pan teased. "If you keep doing that, you'll never get girls to like you."
"Hey!" Goku shot back.
"I'm just teasing." Pan laughed heartily. "Now then, let's get ready for dinner."
"ALRIGHT!!!" Goku cheered as he joined his grandmother at the table.
Later...
"Well, I'm off!" Goku said, as he headed for the door. After dinner, he headed up to his room and changed to his regular attire, which was a replica of his grandfather's old gi. It consisted of a orange gi, featured a black sash over his waist, as well as a black undershirt, black wristbands and black boots, but with a golden border and yellow/tan laces. He also wore his red headband that he had since he was a a kid
Strapped to his back was a red, magical, length-changing staff, known as the 'Power Pole,' his grandpa's infamous weapon.
He also made sure to grab his phone and a little item that looked like a makeup compact, thought it was actually his capsule case that he got from Bulma a while back. He also strapped his ancestor's red, magical, length-changing staff known as the 'Power Pole' around his back.
"Tell Vegeta and Bulma I said hi." Pan told him.
"Will do, Grandma." Goku nodded with a grin.
"Try not to doze off into space again!"
"Yes ma'am." Goku mocked, sticking his tongue out at her. "See ya!"
With that, Goku headed out the house. Sometime ago, Vegeta had invited him over to Capsule Corps to see a new invention that his mother, Bulma Leigh had come up with. The inventor had promised that the demi-Saiyan had never seen anything like this before. The owner of the world's leading capsule manufacturer had called Goku close to three months ago, asking him if he wanted to see the machine. He would have taken off during the flight he just had, but he was so caught up in his training that it slipped his mind.
The teen had agreed and promised the Leigh family that he would come just as soon as he could. He closed the door, and began to float a little bit to keep his footsteps nonexistent. Goku lifted into the sky and once he was finally above cloud level, he turned to face West City and blasted off in a flash of blue.
Caspule Corps.
Soon Goku finally made it to West City and landed down in front of the Capsule Corps building, which was a large house with a yellow color and the name capsule on the front. This house stands out among others in a giant metropolitan area that seems to sprawl out for miles.
Smiling up at the building, Goku walked up to it and stopped right at the doorstep. He then rang the doorbell.
Ding-dong!
A few moments later, a young man with spiky black hair standing up and widow's peak appeared behind him. He was wearing a blue tracksuit with both hands in his pockets.
"Hey Vegeta! Good to see ya!" Goku greeted with a wave.
Vegeta smirked at him. "Been a while Goku, ready for our rematch?" He asked, holding up a fist.
"Oh come on, right now?" Goku sighed as he laid a hand on his head. "You're a real sore loser aren't you?"
"Shut it! Last time didn't count since my mom distracted me during our fight. This time I'll even the score!" The other replied in an annoyed tone.
Vegeta Leigh, heir to the Capsule Corporation and Goku's most powerful rival.
The two first met six years ago during the 64th Tenkaichi Budokai where the two squared off during the finals in the Junior Division, having defeated all the other competitors there despite being mere nine-year olds.
Goku had won that match, and afterwards the two became good friends with each other, albeit a friendship where both sometimes insult and beat each other in good fun.
Both young men were startled to discover from their relatives that their ancestors, Goku Sr. and Vegeta Sr. were rivals themselves, and that their families were actually quite close to each other back then but became distant over time. Their meeting during the tournament eventually reopened old bonds between the two families.
The two both developed a competitive streak with each other since then. Both of them fighting each other in battles refereed by his grandmother Pan.
If Goku was right, then their current standing was 50-49, with him being in the lead thanks to their last fight.
"Do you think you can wait until later? I still have classes until this Friday." Goku reasoned.
"Tch. Nearly forgot about that." Vegeta clicked his tongue, the young man himself was home-schooled by his mother and various tutors and so never sought the need to go to school himself. "Why don't you just do the same as me then?" He asked his rival. "I mean, with your family's fortune, you could probably afford some of the best tutors."
"Yeah but my grandma never really liked the idea of tutors so she decided to send me to school instead." Goku replied.
"Fine, fair enough." Vegeta sighed as he turned to leave, but not before sparing one last look at his rival. "But, don't forget, our rematch will be soon."
Goku could only smile at him at that, his blood pumping as he replied. "Of course, wouldn't miss it."
Vegeta smirked in satisfaction as he walked off. By the time he disappeared around the corner, Goku made his way through the building.
Bulma Leigh was in a special room in Capsule Corps. It was her private lab, where she performed all her most dangerous experiments. She didn't even allow Vegeta in here. Not that the prideful young Saiyan hybrid ever bothered to take a break from his vicious training schedule to come and visit. She was expecting Goku to come and see this, but knew that it might be awhile. Especially with school and everything. The blue-haired genius felt glad that Vegeta trained as hard as he did. At least one of her family and friends would be able to step up to defend the planet should the need arise. Which it did every few years. The intercom buzzed, startling her.
Hitting the key she said, "Yes?"
"Ms. Bulma, a Son Goku Jr. is here to see you," her secretary said. Bulma grinned. Finally she would be able to have Goku's input. The boy learned fast, she would give him that, so she had started giving the half-Saiyan more 'hands-on' lessons in physics and things like that. Every now and again, she would invite him over to spend the day helping her with inventions.
"Thank you, send him down to lab 66A."
"Yes ma'am." The intercom clicked off and Bulma crossed over to the console that controlled the massive machine in the center of the lab. All the unnecessary things like the tables, beakers and flasks, basically everything that defined a lab, had been capsulized and put in a little bin sitting behind the console. The machine itself was a monster. A huge ring sat on a large steel plate, the edges of the slightly oval shaped ring reaching almost to the walls of the lab. It was steel gray with purple squares inset with blue gems of some kind at the top, bottom, and each end. Cables as thick as Vegeta's chest trailed from all over the bottom of the steel plate. Some held coolant, some siphoned off waste generated during the power up, and one brought power up from the nuclear generator that supplied the electricity to run this thing and tear the fabric of space-time.
A hiss sounded behind her, and Bulma turned to greet her visitor, a warm grin on her face.
"Hey Goku!"
"Hi Bulma!" The black-haired teen strode into the room, looking up at the massive machine. "Is this it?"
"Yep!" She said proudly. "This thing can open a doorway to other dimensions. It's still a little unstable, but I think that most of the bugs that would make the transition lethal to anyone below you guys' stamina are gone."
"Have you tried to send anything across?" Goku asked, interested with this pretty cool machine.
"No. Until now, I've been just trying to get a stable connection. Wanna see it work?"
"Sure!"
"Wait a sec." Bulma went to the console that ran the whole operation while Goku stood at the base of the steel plate that held the portal. Now the half-Saiyan noticed thick channels carved into the spaces in between the four gems. He had just enough time to wonder what the heck they were for when he heard a deep whine that quickly escalated straight up the scale and passed from the range of both human and Saiyan hearing. Goku looked back and saw Bulma hard at work, flicking switches and turning dials. The four gems lit up, glowing brighter and brighter before lighting surged from each gem and raced through the channels in the oval until a ring of pure energy outlined the thing and each gem glowed like a supernova.
Bits of energy coalesced in the ring, gathering in the center, making a spot that shone with the intensity of a sun. With a sharp crack, the sun erupted and formed a shimmering window that looked like water or mercury suspended in the air.
Next images began to flash across the 'screen'. There was a huge moon-sized space station blowing up. A swordsman with flaming red hair wielding a katana with supreme skill, an orange-haired guy that wore a black kimono and had a sword shaped like a kitchen knife. The images flashed faster and faster before stopping on a birds-view of a busy city full of people.
'This one looks normal.' Goku thought as he stepped up on the plate. His spiky hair stood up on end like it did when he transformed to Super Saiyan the closer he got to the portal. He was mere inches away from it, looking with great curiosity at the image displayed.
Bulma finished up at the control station, the portal finally stabilized, and looked up. What she saw froze her heart. Goku was inches from the portal and was slowly getting closer, centimeter by centimeter.
"GOKU! NO!" That was the wrong thing to do. Her shout startled him and that jerk was enough. Before her eyes, Goku pitched forward and fell through. The instant he did, the portal began to go critical. She had no choice. The generator wasn't meant for such a huge mass to be introduced at once. Now it was in danger of exploding which would only wipe out all of West City. Hating herself every moment, Bulma lifted a cover and exposed the emergency cutoff. She flicked it without hesitation, not willing to sacrifice a whole city just to get Goku back.
All the cables blew away, propelled by explosive bolts on the connectors and the resulting energy backlash from the sudden disconnection fried every circuit in the control panel, raising the acrid scent of melted silicone and wiring. Deprived of power, the portal winked out from existence almost immediately. Bulma could only hope that Goku had made it through in one piece. She didn't want to have him stuck between dimensions for eternity.
Goku hurtled down a swirling vortex of color and light. The tunnel seemed to stretch for eternity. The tunnel scintillated and sparked with every color in the rainbow and a few new ones too. Static electricity flared from the Saiyan's body as he flew forward. In front of him, long trains of glowing green balls of energy, looking like spirits hung on a rosary, twisted and contorted around him, making him dizzy. After what seemed like forever, a white light began to shine in the distance, growing ever closer. In the next instant, he was passing through the white light and into the world beyond, a world that would test him in more ways than one.
Japan, Sainan City, Earth, Unknown Universe
'Ugh, what happened? Why do I feel so disoriented? Also, why is there so much wind?'
As Goku opened his eyes and looked around, he found himself lying in a alley way that completely hid him from any passerby. As he got up and stood on his feet, he began to remember the last thing he saw.
"Where am I?" Goku asked, "Wait. Wasn't I in Capsule Corp helping Bulma with the mac-Oh, crap baskets!!!"
That's when he remembered what had happened. He was looking at a massive machine that Bulma had created when her scream startled him, causing to fall through the portal.
"I'm in another universe!" There was a moment of brief silence before-
"Oh Dende above! Grandma Pan!" He yelled and grabbed his head, as he paced back and forth in the alley. "She doesn't know what happened to me! She's going to be worried when she tris to call Bulma to pick me up and find out that I'm not even there! She'll wonder where I am, call the cops, and then they will tell her-"
SMACK!
Goku suddenly smacked himself across the face to get his thoughts in order.
"Get a hold of yourself, Goku. Take a deep breath and relax." Following his own instructions, he did just that. "Ok. I know how bad this looks, but, you're forgetting that Bulma is a very intelligent woman. She can find a way to get me out of here. Plus, if she needs to, she can probably figure a way to make a excuse to Grandma Pan."
Goku took another breath and exhaled slowly. "Ok, I'm calm. In the meantime, what the heck should I do?" He muttered. As he walked out of the alley, he took a look around at the new place. There he saw buildings with signs that were in Japanese.
It was a beautful city that had many different buidlings and the right amount of flora placement. From what he could tell, there wasn't many powerful ki aside from a few that felt alien.
"Well, so far it looks like I'm still on Earth so that's a good thing, even though it's not my own. I guess I should go take a look around." Goku told himself as he made his way by a park.
"Leave my brother alone!" A girl yelled, stopping Goku in his tracks.
Looking closely he could see a group of four guys standing over the form of a boy, and a young girl yelling at the group to leave the boy alone.
"Shut it, little girl!"
"Yeah! We'll deal with you once we're done with him."
The thugs went back to kicking and beating the boy as the girl begged them to stop. Said boy tried to stand but the continuous attacks stopped him from successfully doing so. All seemed hopeless for him as he just received the attacks.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?"
The four thugs stopped their assault and turned to see a 15 year old boy wearing a orange fighting gi and with a red staff on his back. The thing that made them stare weirdly at him was his hair that defied gravity.
"Go away, brat! It's none of your concern!" One guy yelled at Goku.
"But you're hurting that guy." Goku stated, pointing to the prone boy who was watching the scene nervously.
"Please help us! They started to beat my brother after he told them that he wouldn't give them any money! Please! Help him!" The girl begged Goku as she had tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
Goku proceeded to stare down the group as he dropped into his turtle hermit stance preparing to help the girl and boy.
"Hey, boss." One of the thugs called. "Look at this little shit. Tryin' to be a hero."
"Oh no! The hero knows Kung Fu! I'm shitting my pants!" The other thug mocked as the others laughed at the insult.
"Whatever. Let's just kick his ass." The boss of the thugs said, smirking.
The thugs moved to circle Goku as he just followed their movements, when they had Goku surrounded they began to taunt him with empty threats before making their moves. Not acknowledging what was being said, Goku prepared for a fight. It started with the guy, who was the boss, on his left attacking with a straight punch, Goku quickly grab the boss of the thugs' arm and tossed him over his shoulder. Seeing their buddy get thrown to the ground the other three began their advance.
Goku dodged a punch aimed for the back of his head while blocking the other two with his forearms. Kicking the guy in front of him in then he moved to slam his elbow into the guy's face behind him, breaking his nose. Turning to face off against the last guy, Goku eased his stance.
"S-Shit! This kid's a real deal!" The man started to back away.
"Consider this a warning. Get your friends and leave. I'm only giving you this one chance." Goku ordered, not willing to fight a guy who didn't want to.
Turning his attention away from the thugs as they made their quick exit, he got a better look at the people he saved. The girl had dark brown hair that reached her shoulders and golden eyes, she appeared to be four years younger than his body age. The boy had spiky orange hair and the same golden eyes as the girl. He looked the same age as himself.
Walking up to them Goku noticed that the boy was covered in bruises and had cuts on his arms from when he defended himself. Goku stopped before the boy and knelt next to him, looking over his injuries.
"Ow, those look pretty bad." He muttered, before perking up. "Don't worry, I'll have you fixed up in a jiffy!"
He then reached into his gi, seeming to search for something when he suddenly pulled out a small green bean and offered it to the boy. The boy just looked at it not sure what his savior wanted.
"Go on. Eat it. I promise it will make you feel better." Goku gave him a comforting smile to show that he meant no harm.
The boy hesitantly took the bean before putting it in his mouth, chewing it. As soon as he swallowed it he felt his strength return to him as his cuts and bruises healed, shocking him and the girl.
"W-W-What?" The boy asked, standing and looking over his arms only to see them all healed up not leaving any scars. "H-How?"
"It's called Senzu Bean. They're special beans that can heal almost any wound, and can also replenish a person's strength and stamina." Goku explained as the boy would be obviously curious about the bean. "By the way, my name is Son Goku Jr."
"Thanks for your help, Son-san. My name is Yuuki Rito." Rito thanked Goku as they walked over to the little girl who seemed much calmer now than earlier. "This is my little sister, Yuuki Mikan."
"Thank you for saving brother." Mikan bowed her head lightly getting a small laugh from Goku.
"It wasn't a problem." Goku said, scratching his cheek with a grin.
"Is there anything we can do for you?" Mikan asked hoping to repay the boy who saved them.
Before Goku could answer, his stomach started to growl loudly. There was a momentary silence between them. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. This got the siblings to chuckle at the boy prompting them to invite him over for dinner.
(Opening Theme: Hold my Hand)