Dragon Ball: After the End

You take several quick breaths, casting your thoughts to and fro. You could just get back in there. Help coordinate, tell them what's going on. Call in reinforcements. Spam solar flare? Nah. Well, yes, do, but you don't need that to be the driving, central focus of your plan, it works with everything. Magic. Willpower push. Or something with-

You blink. ...of...course.

You turn around. "Maya, I need you to watch my body."

She turns crimson. "Eep I mean yes pl- I mean what?!"

"I need to...visit somebody," you say, already clearing your mind for the jaunt. "They have advice that I can use. It might be the best way to beat Dazarel. He's already ignoring me; it's the safest time to check. But it uses my visions, so I'm not going to be here, and I need you to watch my body while I'm gone."

She gapes at you for a moment before shaking her head violently. "Um. I. Su- su- sure. Kar- Kakara." A somewhat lost expression crosses her face at that. "I..."

You wait for her to finish, but she never does.

A bang echoes from behind you. You glance that way, seeing Yammar dropping back and out of oozaru form, fumbling in his shredded clothing for a senzu bean.

You establish a link to them all. I'm awake, and I'm going to try something with the Sight. From where I'm standing, it's more obvious -- Dazarel is doing something to you. Take a look at how you're moving. He's obstructing you somehow. Try to work around it, and hold out until I'm back. I might be able to get us an advantage.

You turn before they respond, looking at Maya.

She's staring at you. "Who are you going to see?"

You duck your head with a soft smile, sliding down to the ground, cross-legged. "I'm going to talk to my grandpa."

And...

You land in the largest hug you've ever experienced.

Dozens of arms wrap around you, and abruptly you are warm and comfortable where just a moment before you were still faintly aching from the aftershocks of your maiming at Dazarel's claws. Ki signatures all around you radiate warmth and love and joy, and for a moment, you can do nothing but settle into the embrace, a smile crossing your lips as you let yourself truly relax, for the first time in a long time.

Then you remember the urgency, and your eyes open to-

-to-

-to-

...ancestors.

Literally.

You gape, staring at face after face out of the history books. Videl, staring down at you with a proud and excited grin. Chi Chi, looking worried as hell but so very joyful. Krillin, smiling at you with an expression that is at once both joyful and melancholy with recognition. Hercule, with a grin so large it looks fit to crack his face in half. By the wall, Tenshinhan, granting you an approving nod as you manage to tear your eyes away from the others and to your surroundings. Yamcha, who favors you with a sly wink. Chiaotzu-

Your eyes flicker around face after face, trying to capture them all, but there are dozens here and you can barely think at the magnitude of this moment-

And then somebody behind you clears their throat, and you turn your head.

Grandpa Gohan stands, and to either side of him are Son Goku and Son Mato.

Goku smiles at you. "Hey there, kiddo!"

You make a strangled noise.

"Watching the fight's been a tradition for ages," says Gohan. "That hasn't changed much just because we died."

"I know it seems like you've just been losing, but...you've done pretty well so far," says Mato with a smile. "Haven't died yet."

Somebody moves in the corner of your vision. You look over, at-

Endivan Mato.

You gape.

The legend looks you up and down, and nods once. "Good fight."

All at once, you remember that you need to breathe. "How do I win this? You have to know, you of anybody would know, how can I beat him without losing anybody what do I do you're the best fighter we've ever had please you have to tell me-"

In the corner, Goku glances at Gohan as you continue to ramble. "I am feeling a little left out."

"Exiles, Great-Grandfather," says Mato, folding his arms. "We have limited information. It's our thing."

Endivan raises his hand, and your chatter cuts off like a knife. You stare expectantly.

He kneels down in front of you. "What I did is not something you can replicate. Not now. When I...killed...Head Tarsus, it was not the result of any one technique." He winces as he mentions the deed. "Scion, I trained more than any saiyan has ever trained. For years I barely ate or slept. I made mastering my body and-"

"While I hate to interrupt my over-modest grandson," says Mato, stepping forward, "what he's trying to say is that he was just that good. He trained more than even Great-Grandfather Goku has the stomach for, with a single-minded focus I have never seen matched. And the result was him, good enough to take down a super saiyan in single combat."

You stare. "Nobody's that good."

"He is."

"There was also a willpower push larger than any other Exile has tried involved," says Endivan, scowling at Mato.

Mato shrugs. "And you would already have been dead were you not just that good." He looks at you. "But we have no time for this. Endivan cannot help you here. For that, you need me, Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather."

Goku nods, suddenly serious. "Come on, Kakara."

You look back at the gathering of people -- Ox King, Maron, the original Grandpa Gohan -- "But-"

"I'm sorry," says Mato. "We don't have time."

Abruptly, you remember your time limit. "...right. I..." You glance back -- Korin, Yajirobe, Bulma -- and pause. "I-" The depth of the gap between you and them suddenly strikes you. You knew, from the odd mannerisms you saw from Gohan over the years, that things had changed over the centuries, but now there are dozens of them in one place and all you can think about is how much your people have lost. "...I don't know what to say to you all," you finish, caught between urgency and this connection that no Exile has ever had.

And the crowd splits, and ancestor Vegeta steps forward.

He looks at you with a stern expression, and says, "That can wait. There will be another time, and another day. For now you have an enemy to defeat. Do us proud!"

Your spine snaps straight. "Y- yessir!"

He looks past you. "Don't screw this one up, Kakarot!"

Then a hand closes around your wrist, and you turn to look Gohan in the eye. "Time to go now," he says. "You only have so much longer."

Once more, you stand on the grassy plains of the Other World. "I never thought I'd see you all while I was alive-"

"Seers have special privileges," says Son Mato as your small group steps away from the house. "That said, it is unusual that you can cross this easily. Most seers wind up elsewhere."

You perk up. "Elsewhere? Where do they go?"

"Not my secret to tell," says Mato, as Goku grimaces in the background. "It's something of a mastery exam. Your sensei will tell you, when you're ready."

"Just like we have things to tell you," says Gohan, turning to face you. "We three know the Genki Dama, Kakara, and you desperately need to be able to break through. You're so close..."

"You're just snagging a bit, is all!" says Goku. "You're almost there."

You huff. "So why don't you just tell me?"

"Not that easy," says Mato. "It's worth nothing if somebody just tells you how to do it. They can lead you there, but they can't tell you outright. You need to take the final step yourself -- to fit the pieces together on your own -- to really make it click."

"Dad tried to teach me while we were both alive," says Gohan.

"Trouble is...I'm not too much of a teacher," says Goku, with a self-deprecating laugh. "And I just lost patience after a while and told him what it was all about."

"It took me centuries to come to it again, even with King Kai's help," says Gohan.

"But I don't get it!" you say, frustration boiling over. "'Feel the grass, Kakara!' 'Feel the trees, Kakara!' What difference does it make what they feel like when my ki is always right here?!" You slap yourself on the chest before wincing. "Ow."

"Ah, puberty," says Mato, rolling his eyes.

You turn red. "Hey!"

"Focus," says Gohan, stepping forward and placing his hands on your shoulders. "Kakara, you need to widen your focus. You're too focused on yourself. You need to spread out more."

"Son..." says Goku in a warning tone of voice.

"But I don't know what you mean," you say in a pleading tone of voice. "Grandpa, I need to figure this out now, I need to! If I don't come up with something, Dazarel is going to kill us all! What am I doing wrong?!"

"Feel the grass," says Mato.

You spin on him. "I TOLD YOU, THAT DOESN'T-!"

tsew

His hand settles in over your mouth as he stares at you through a suddenly-gold aura. "Feel. The. Grass."

You stare, wide-eyed, and silently nod. You close your eyes, reach out, and-

This time, stop thinking.

-feel the grass, every last stupid piece of it, ruffled by, as always-

I told you to stop that.

-the breeze, fine, fine, not thinking, even though you know that just like always, it's going to find-

You're missing the forest for-

-the trees, which are apparently not what you're actually supposed to be seeing, from their leaves right down to their roots which burrow into-

Do not interrupt me. You are not supposed to be seeing this because your ki is not coming from that rock, that tree, that blade of grass.

-the earth below, which spreads outandoutandoutandoutandout until it finally rises back up to meet-

It comes from them all, because they are a part of of the earth. What are you?

-your eyes snap open.

"Oh."

"Kar- Kakara?" says Maya, looking down at you.

You blink, reorienting yourself.

"I- it's not going too well," she says, pointing to the fight.

Trying and failing to shake cobwebs from your head, you sit up, looking towards the ki signatures you feel.

Yammar looks as bad as he did when he left, just in different places. Dad looks only slightly better. Grandma is on the ground, in base, barely a flicker of ki left after what feels like severe burnout from Tabe's trick, fumbling with numb fingers for a senzu bean. Dazarel stands above them all, actually somewhat hurt but still in fighting shape. He looks furious.

"Di- did you learn what you nee- need- needed?" she asks, looking at the fight with honest and open fear.

You haul yourself to you feet and stare at the fight, your head still echoing with the feeling of that distant Other World and Great-Grandfather Mato's words.

"Kakara?" asks Maya as Dazarel's tail catches your father across the chest, spikes raking a gash there. The dragon lets out a cruel screech of laughter. "Kakara, what are you going to do?"

---

[ ] Get in there.
[ ] Talk to the sorcerers.
[ ] Call reinforcements.
[ ] Willpower push.
[ ] Feel the grass.

TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM. THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.

...