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Rhyme & Reason (Dragon Ball AU)

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...I've officially decided that the next chapter will be the final one of this story arc. Therefore, in the spirit of goodwill, I am announcing the first Rhyme & Reason Q&A! The rules are simple. You may submit questions about the story or the world it exists in over the next week, and if I can answer without spoilers, I will do so. I will answer the questions next Sunday, the day after the update. I hope you all have a fantastic day.
 
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Cool, now I just gotta think up some questions. Actually, I got one already, none of the Saiyans have that horrific fandom of marking mates/going into heat. Only reason I ask is that in pretty much any story that features Saiyans/Saiyan culture heavily, that garbage canon has a tendency to pop up.
I believe that you have better taste than to actually choose that, but I gotta ask just in case.
 
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Okay... have 2 questions so far, one from here and one from fanfiction.net, any more? I want to at least have 5 questions to answer to make this worthwhile.
 
TC9078 said:
Okay... have 2 questions so far, one from here and one from fanfiction.net, any more? I want to at least have 5 questions to answer to make this worthwhile.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'll have a go.
What are the veiws of Saiyan Society (such as it is) on "shortcuts" to strength? I don't imagine they would have encountered much beyond vague zenkai abuse, but the thoughts on Potential Unlocks or the like would be interesting too.

What's up with different kinds of abilities here? Canon has Ki, Magic, Psychic powers, Life Force, seers, as well as weird additions like colored ki or divine energy or the like. You seem to have colored ki at a minimum, is there extra (non spoilers) premade depth there or just as the plot demands?
 
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Ch. 11- A Wish from the Eternal Dragon
  • Threadmarks
    • This is it- the arc finale! Thanks as always to @Ranma-sensei for editing! And with this first arc done, I am now hopefully one step closer to my ultimate dream: one of my works having a TVTropes page. I hope you have enjoyed and that you will continue to enjoy it!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    ​
    When she came to, a loud pounding noise was echoing in her head, and her ears were ringing. Slowly, the ringing faded, and Bulma was able to hear her surroundings.

    "-sure you shouldn't contact her family?" one person, female, said.

    "No, her family is in an enemy country. Hell, according to the law, she could be considered an enemy combatant," another voice, male this time, replied.

    "But… doesn't her family deserve to know?" the first voice asked.

    "If you wanna risk getting charged with treason, little girl, then go right ahead. Might take you around five or six days just to get to the personal secretary, though, that is assuming you manage to stay on hold the entire time," the second voice said.

    "But… you won't turn her in?" the first voice said.

    "No. Her, you, and the tyke-bomb saved our town. Because of that, we can finally live freely again, not suffering under a madman's tyranny," the second voice replied. Footsteps clicked on the ground and got fainted and fainter until they were no longer discernible. Taking a deep breath, Bulma forced her eyes open, and immediately regretted it. The bright light made her eyes struggle to adjust as she groaned at the pain.

    "Bulma!" the female voice cried. Bulma rubbed her eyes and looked to her right, seeing a small face, with long back hair framing it, and teary onyx black eyes staring at her.

    Bulma smiled at the small girl, "Hey, Chi-Chi," looking around, she noticed her other companion was nowhere to be found, "hey, where's Kakarot?"

    Chi-Chi leaned forward and hugged her carefully, sending a slight shot of pain through her side. Bulma winced, but hugged the girl back with a smile.

    "Kakarot is just grabbing some food, he'll be back soon. I'm glad you're okay, Bulma," Chi-Chi replied. Bulma nodded in understanding and lightly nudged the young girl, signaling her to let go, which she promptly did. Bulma then asked what exactly happened, and Chi-Chi filled her in on the details. Apparently, after she had been shot, Kakarot had obliterated the Boss Rabbit, while Chi-Chi had spent the time giving Yamcha a beat-down of epic proportions over his chosen method of distraction, which involved shooting the 11-year-old Princess to distract her. Kakarot came up a few minutes later, and while he tried to hide it, Bulma noticed a hint of a smile on his face to seeing that she was alright.

    About four days and seventeen clarifications that she wasn't going to be turned over to the World Government as an enemy combatant later, she was discharged from the hospital and the group got in their car. To a cheering crowd, the trio started their engine and drove out of the town, eager to finally move on and find the final Dragon Ball.

    -R&R-
    ​
    After nearly a day and a half, the grasslands gave way to a forest of giant mushrooms. The roads also became much more decrepit, being barely dirt paths. Kakarot pulled the Dragon Radar out of Bulma's pouch and activated it.

    "Just keep heading up this road Bulma. We're getting close to the One Star Ball!" he announced. Bulma cheered and pumped her left fist into the air.

    "That reminds me… what are you two going to wish for, anyway?" Chi-Chi asked. Kakarot blinked and thought for a minute. He really didn't know what to wish for, unless he wanted to be a smart-ass and wish to become King of the Saiyans. Yeah… not the best idea. Prince Vegeta would probably come and kill me once they find out where I am. Before he could say anything, Bulma chose to step in.

    "I was thinking maybe we could use it to bring your race back," Bulma stated simply. Chi-Chi blinked once. Then twice. Then freaked out.

    "Oh god no! Don't bring them back, they were crazy! Not only that but they tended to take anything that they thought was cool, so you can say goodbye to your Dragon Balls the moment they find out what brought them back! Let alone the fact that they were both irritable and powerful, and the slightest provocation could cause them to turn this entire planet to ash, and that's not the ones that go murder happy!" she stammered out.

    Before she could continue, Kakarot flicked her tail, causing her to shudder and stopped her for just long enough that he could get his words in. "What would you want to wish for Chi-Chi?"

    She smiled and put her hand over her heart, "I would wish for eternal youth and beauty." Kakarot narrowed his eyes at her. Such a wish was far too simple, and couldn't possibly be what she actually wanted to wish for.

    "Well," Bulma said, "it's better than doing something like wishing for a boyfriend or girlfriend."

    "Who would risk their lives on a stupid wish like that?!" Kakarot and Chi-Chi both yelled at the same time. Bulma felt a slight urge to sneeze, but managed to suppress it. As the three continued to throw out suggestions of what to use the wish for, an explosion rocked the car, sending all three of them flying through the air and tumbling to the ground.

    After his tumbling finally ceased, Kakarot sat up and rubbed his temples. Well, he thought, that happened. Turning his head, the others were around him in similar conditions, sitting up and getting their bearings. As Kakarot stood up, the ground shook, and from the smoking rubble of their car emerged a large robot with an opaque glass window.

    "Sorry!" it announced, "But we're taking the Dragon Balls. We hope you understand." The robot picked up the suitcase holding the Dragon Balls and rocketed off through the air, yelling "Sayonara!" Kakarot simply blinked in wonder. Well, that happened. He turned to Chi-Chi.

    "Get after them! They took the Dragon Balls!" he yelled, perhaps a bit more harsh then he meant to. Chi-Chi nodded and scrambled to her feet.

    "Nimbus!" she called. The cloud dutifully dropped from the sky as Chi-Chi boarded it, and it took off. Kakarot turned and walked over to where Bulma sat on the ground. She looked up at him and sighed.

    "This trip is really not being kind to me," she said, pointing at her left foot, which seemed to be facing way too far to the left, with the ankle bulging out. She got injured again? Are all humans this pathetic?!

    "What do I need to do to fix this one?" Kakarot asked.

    "You? Not much. Just pop my ankle back in, I'll get it looked at later," Bulma replied. Kakarot nodded and did as she requested. After the POP, Bulma shakily stood up, leaning heavily to the right. "Looks like I won't be moving much, I can barely stand, let alone walk," she said.

    Kakarot sighed, pulling out his Power Pole and extending it to the height of her elbow. "Here, use this to help you walk," he said, tossing it to her. Bulma smiled and nodded, he presumed in thanks, placing the pole down and using it to balance herself.

    Suddenly, a car horn sounded behind them. Turning, Kakarot saw a car pull up next to them, driven by Yamcha, who had his weird cat on his shoulder. Kakarot crossed his arms.

    "Look, if you want to try to rob us again, I'll save you the trouble, we don't have anything," he said.

    "I can see that," Yamcha confirmed, "but I can also see that you don't have a car. And if I'm not mistaking, you just lost those legendary shiny orbs that you guys were carrying around all the time." Yamcha pointed up the road. "This way leads to the castle of Emperor Pilaf, a local warlord who wants nothing more than to become King of Earth. If I'm correct, and I know I am, he'll use the Dragon Balls to wish for that very thing. Rumour has it that the last time the Dragon Balls were used was when King Furry's ancestor become King, nearly 300 years ago."

    "That's great and all," Kakarot said, "but what does this have to do with us?"

    Yamcha grinned. "You two do want that wish, don't you? I can give you a ride to the castle, on the condition that the wish does something that benefits me."

    Kakarot nodded, "Done deal. Easy enough." It would be so easy to simply make a wish that could theoretically make his life better in an incredibly vague way. But, hey, he wasn't being specific. Yamcha nodded back. "Good, then get in the car. Bulma can sit in the seat, you sit on the back." The two did as he said, and the car sped off. Only after they had been driving for some time did Kakarot suddenly remember something rather important. When no one was looking, he sent a ball of ki up into the air, where Chi-Chi could hopefully see it. Kakarot's intuition was correct, as within a couple of minutes he saw the yellow cloud tailing them in the distance. After nearly an hour of driving, the sun was setting, and a castle appeared on the horizon.

    "Wow!" Bulma said, "That castle is huge!" The castle did seem pretty big, though pretty weak compared to the castles and compounds from his own memories. Shaking his head before the darkness returned, he hopped out of the car and ran up to the huge front door with the others. He pushed on it, and it opened easily.

    "Guys, I think this might be a trap," Kakarot said.

    "And? We don't have much of a choice. Let's head in. And if they do trap us, you and Yamcha could blow us a way out," Bulma replied.

    "Could we at least wait so I can give my Dragon Ball to C-" he started, but Bulma, Yamcha, and Puar had already went in ahead of him. "Damn it..." he muttered, before running in after them. Catching up with them quickly, they walked down numerous hallways, each of which had only one exit.

    "Guys, I can now say for certain, this is absolutely, undoubtedly, a trap," he said as they turned around a corner and reached a dead end. As he finished saying it, the wall behind them closed. Kakarot sighed yet again. "Speak of Lord Beerus and he shall appear," he waited for five seconds, but nothing happened. "Oh well, it was worth a shot."

    "What was?" Yamcha asked him.

    "Nothing, nothing at all," Kakarot said, waving his hands back and forth, hopefully believably. Yamcha looked like he didn't believe him, but didn't press the issue.

    "Silence, commoners! Now hand over the Dragon Ball or you'll regret it!" a voice shouted over the loudspeaker. Kakarot's eyebrows flicked up. He was many things, but a commoner was not one of them. And to make note of this, he stood up, but it seemed Bulma had beaten him to it, albeit in a slightly different manner

    "Like we'd ever give that to you, beeeee," she said, sticking out her tongue at the camera. Kakarot giggled at her antics. A loud sigh emanated from the loudspeaker.

    "Fine, I guess we'll do this the boring way," the little imp said on the screen. Several points on the wall opened and filled the room with smoke. Kakarot felt lightheaded, before his limbs went numb, then everything went dark.

    -R&R-
    ​
    When he woke up, the room was lit up, but it was empty except for his companions. He felt behind him and noticed his Dragon Ball was gone. Fan-freaking-tastic. Now they have all 7, since Chi-Chi couldn't keep hers on her like I did mi- he blinked as he came to a realisation: they might not be able to stop it, but if he could somehow signal Chi-Chi, she could stop it. He looked at the wall, closing his eyes in concentration, drawing all the ki he had inside him to his hands. He took a deep breath. "Kaaaaa....Meeeeee... Haaaa.... Meeeeee..." he let the breath out as he cupped his hands at his side. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

    He let out a blast much bigger than the ones he'd let out before, making the entire room shake.

    When the light cleared, there was only a hole small enough to fit a small object, or maybe his hand, though, it was large enough. He put his hand in the hole and started firing small balls of ki out into the air outside. Sure enough, after about 10 blasts, he saw the yellow cloud flying around outside the hole, one more blast and it started flying closer. Within a minute, Chi-Chi, or at least her eye, could be seen outside the hole.

    "Oh god! Are you guys okay? I can get you out-"

    "You can let us out in a minute, Chi-Chi! Those idiots down there are about to make their wish! You have to stop them! I don't care what you wish for, just make sure they don't rule the world!" Bulma yelled out. Without words, Chi-Chi nodded, and zoomed off.

    -R&R-
    ​
    Emperor Pilaf looked at the blasts firing out from the prison cell, and knew he likely had little time before something happened. He took a deep breath and smiled. The day he had been dreaming of for nearly a decade had finally come to fruition. He had all seven dragon balls before him. He held out his hands and called out, "Rise now, Eternal Dragon! Come forth and grant my wish!"

    As soon as he said the phrase, the Dragon Balls began to glow. Clouds moved in and blocked the stars and moon, leaving only darkness in the great plain. A great burst of lightning shot from the Dragon Balls and up into the clouds, forming into a river-like shape... before solidifying into a giant green dragon. It let out a loud growling sound and stared down at Pilaf with its red eyes.

    "You have summoned the Eternal Dragon, make your wish and I shall grant it."

    The giant grin on Pilaf's face grew even wider. This was it, he was finally going to become King of the world, after all this time!

    "Yes, I wish fo-"

    "Eternal Dragon!" a voice rang out. Pilaf looked up and saw a small girl standing on a yellow cloud. "Grant myself and my companions eternal youth!"

    "W-Wait, this wish is my-" Pilaf began, but was interrupted by the Dragon rumbling. He looked up and saw the Dragon's eyes glow even brighter, and looked back to the girl to see a white glow appear around her, before dissipating.

    The Dragon then spoke, "Your wish has been granted. I shall take my leave now. Farewell!" The Dragon began to glow again, and the Dragon Balls rose slowly into the air until they touched the Dragon's head. When they reached that point, the Dragon vanished, and the Dragon Balls each shot off through the sky in a different direction.

    "N-n-n-no!" Pilaf screamed as the Dragon Balls disappeared.

    -R&R-
    ​
    Bulma watched as Chi-Chi, with her hands tied behind her back, was marched into their makeshift cell, then the rest of them were marched into a room made completely out of steel with a solid glass roof, and the door was locked behind them, before being sealed with another steel panel.

    "Nice, you steal the wish and then get yourself captured. How does that work?" Bulma asked, more than slightly annoyed.

    "It's not my fault! They had a laser gun!" Chi-Chi said, waving her arms up and down.

    "And that matters because? You and Kakarot can deflect bullets by smacking them!"

    "And yet," Kakarot interrupted, "lasers are pretty much the one thing our bodies cannot deflect. It's like a ridiculously focused one of our blasts. It'll cut through anything until it dissipates."

    "Yeah, and I found that out the hard way," Chi-Chi muttered, turning around to show that only a small portion of her tail remained.

    "Ouch," Kakarot said, wincing. He walked over to her and grabbed the stump, pulling on it as hard as he could, while holding her against the wall. Chi-Chi screamed loudly, and when Bulma ran over to help her, the stump simply popped off her. "See? Now that I did that, it won't get infected. It'll grow back eventually. I've lost mine before, it always comes back," Kakarot said.

    While her face was red and teary, she nodded and muttered a small thanks that sounded heartfelt. Bulma shook her head and sighed. She was never going to understand whatever race those two came from... nor did she really want to. She really needed to look into that when she went back home, the answers were eluding her and she hated that.

    "Well, enough of that! We need to figure out a plan to get out of- out of-out of-" Kakarot said as he looked upwards.

    Chi-Chi seemed to follow his eyes, before she went white in the face. "Oh... shit." Bulma looked up and saw a full moon.

    "Wait, what do you-" Bulma started, but was interrupted as Kakarot's entire body began to shudder and shake, seemingly with the beating of his heart. His body began to grow bigger and more muscular, as Chi-Chi dragged them over to underneath him. As the growing child hit the glass ceiling, it shattered. He continued growing until he loomed over the castle, a giant ape roaring under the light of the full moon.

    Bulma tried to stop her shaking body as she clung to Yamcha's back, with Chi-Chi on her cloud next to them with the Power Pole. "Wha-What is he?!" she squealed.

    Chi-Chi looked down at her feet. "That's why we are hated. That's why we were hunted," she looked Bulma dead in the eyes, "that's what we can do. When we look at a moon like that, our bodies transform and we're flooded with power. When we're young," she looked over at the Great Ape, "we cannot control it. Some amongst us were taught to, but only when we were older."

    "But, then why didn't you transform? Aren't you from the same race as him?" Bulma asked.

    Chi-Chi pointed at her back. "Yeah. I can do the same thing. But I don't have my tail, remember?" Bulma blinked. It made perfect sense. Kakarot still had his tail, so he transformed. But Chi-Chi, who didn't have hers since Kakarot removed it, didn't transform.

    "Then how do we stop him?!" Yamcha asked. Chi-Chi shook her head.

    "You don't! You either wait for the moon to go down or you cut off his tail! I mean, you could destroy the moon, too, but I doubt any one of us could do that!"

    "Wait, and there are people who could?!" Bulma screamed as a giant blast nearly disintegrated them, but vaporised a castle tower instead.

    "Are you going to avoid him all day or are you going to help take him down?!" Chi-Chi yelled as she fired a blast behind them, hitting the Great Ape Kakarot in the snout. Kakarot roared as he jumped out of the collapsing castle ruins, landing on the ground with a loud SMASH, causing the ground to shake.

    "Cat thing! Transform into scissors and wait for my mark!" Chi-Chi yelled, jumped off the cloud and landed on the Giant Ape's hand.

    "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" all three of them yelled in unison. Chi-Chi looked up at them and smiled before turning back to Kakarot.

    -R&R-
    ​
    Chi-Chi looked up at the red eyes of the boy who she'd accompanied for nearly 2 weeks now. "Kakarot," she said quietly, "I know you're still in there. Don't worry. It'll be over soon." Kakarot responded to this by trying to swat her away with his other hand. She took a deep breath and ran up his arm as fast as she could. When the slap came, she grabbed his hand and pulled herself onto his other arm. As it reached his shoulder, she bounced onto his snout and fired a Kamehameha right into the boy's left eye.

    The ape visibly recoiled and roared loudly, covering his eye with his left hand and swinging wildly. Chi-Chi ran up his head and jumped down his back. "I'm really sorry!" she called, grabbing his tail, "CAT! NOW, CUT OFF HIS TAIL!" The scissors appeared next to her and cut clean through the giant tail.

    The Ape roared and seemed to almost let out a scream, before slowly shrinking down, back to Kakarot's normal size, before losing balance and falling over. Bulma walked over and took off her vest, using it to cover the small naked child like a blanket.

    "I guess that proves it," Bulma whispered to Chi-Chi, "you two are definitely aliens." Chi-Chi nodded.

    "I wish it hadn't happened, it could be a roadmap right to us. We don't know where those who hunt us are, but this is like sending up a flare. We need to-" Chi-Chi suddenly felt a ringing in her head, and her vision began to fade in and out. Then, her whole body went numb. Not again! she screamed in her head as she fell over.

    -R&R-
    ​
    When the vision came into focus, the first thing she saw was a baby crying. Even before she could hear it. The baby was sitting in a cushioned crib as he sobbed. Looking at the baby, her heart almost stopped. It looked like a miniature version of Kakarot. She really wanted to sooth the baby, but she couldn't do anything in this vision. Then, the door opened lightly and a young boy with black hair walked in and picked up the baby.

    "There, there Toma, it's okay, it's okay. Mom will be home soon," he whispered to the baby, Toma, rocking the little thing in his arms. Chi-Chi didn't know what he did, but the baby's cries grew weaker, until little Toma was gurgling in the boy's arms, seeming to be happy. "I know mom will be home soon," the boy said, looking into the sunset outside his window, "she has to be."

    Smiling at the scene, Chi-Chi felt the familiar tug in the back of her mind, signalling the end of the vision.

    Chi-Chi woke up to a beautiful sunrise. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, finding that she'd been moved under a mushroom while she was asleep. Yawning, she looked around to find that everyone else was awake already. Even Kakarot, who had wrapped some piece of fabric around his waist.

    "Good morning, sleepyhead," Bulma said with a smile. She was standing there while holding Yamcha's hand. Well, that's different. Kakarot walked over to her and offered her a hand up, which she took. The boy had a large bruise around his left eye, which Chi-Chi looked away from.

    Kakarot turned to the others. "Hey, once the year's time limit is up, we should go find the Dragon Balls again. Maybe wish for immortality to go along with what Chi-Chi gave us?"

    "Wait, what did she wish for?" Bulma asked.

    "Really? She wished for Eternal Youth for all of us. Are you deaf or something?" Kakarot asked, only to be promptly smacked upside the head by Bulma.

    "...wait, so I'll be this young and beautiful forever?" Bulma asked. Chi-Chi nodded.

    "I think so... at least that's what I think it should do," Chi-Chi answered.

    "Huh... but anyway, no, I don't need the Dragon Balls, Kakarot," Bulma said.

    "But... how will I find them on my own?" Bulma smiled and handed him the Dragon Radar.

    "Just press the button on top of this, and it'll show where each Dragon Ball is located, twist it to change direction in standard measurements, I have it in metres right now. It goes can go up to yottometres theoretically, but I have it only up to gigametres and down to nanometres, since I doubt I'd ever need it to go higher or lower. Left to go lower, right to go higher," she explained in painstaking detail. While Chi-Chi wished she'd have simply explained it 'left go lower, right go higher, it's metric,' Kakarot seemed to lap up every detail, even inquiring about something called 'yoctometres,' which sent him and Bulma off on what seemed to be a nerd contest. Chi-Chi sighed. If those two had a kid, they would be the ultimate nerd. Kakarot turned and walked over to Chi-Chi.

    "Hey... remember when Roshi offered to let us train with him?" he asked. Chi-Chi nodded. "Well... I was thinking... since I don't have anything to do, I was gonna take him up on that offer... and was wondering if... you'd like to come with me."

    Chi-Chi blinked at the thought. Sure, it wasn't like she had anything to do either... but she didn't really have anything to counter it. She simply smiled.

    "I'd be happy to! I'll even give you a ride there!" she turned and looked up in the air. "Nimbus!" she called. The cloud immediately dropped from the sky and stopped next to her. "Come on then!"

    Yamcha nodded and threw a capsule, revealing a small plane. "We're heading to West City. This plane has Red Ribbon markings and IFF, so we can slip back in there no problem."

    "Good luck there, you guys!" Kakarot waved, grabbing Chi-Chi's gi and climbing onto the cloud.

    Chi-Chi took a deep breath. "Nimbus, soar!" she yelled, as Nimbus slowly circled into the air, following the plane, before the two groups waved goodbye for the last time as they turned in opposite directions. Chi-Chi smiled as Kakarot wrapped his arms around her as they flew into the sunrise. It wasn't exactly romance, but she did have to admit, it certainly felt nice.

    -R&R-
    ​
    "See? I told you it would all turn out okay!" Gine said cheerily to her companion.

    "I still don't like that you left my daughter to fend for herself against an Oozaru, Geen," Seripa replied, looking away from her long-time friend and comrade.

    "Come on, Sera! I didn't think that she would manage to lose her tail! I figured that if Kakarot transformed, Chi-Chi would, too, and they would duke it out while the others got out of the way! And that's perfectly fine, I did it with my brother when we were younger, and we were just fine," Gine said.

    "Gine, you're literally so cheery that I think you got knocked on the head too many times. I wouldn't say you turned out just fine," Seripa stated.

    "Excuse me, who has the Power Level of 4,000 and who has the Power Level of 70?" Gine asked sarcastically.

    "Give me a break, I've let myself go a bit! I'll work on training once my daughter is ready to train with me, which should be in around a year or so," Seripa said.

    "Fine, but just be careful, a lot can happen in a year. Take care of yourself, Sera!" Gine said as she flew off in to the east.

    "Yeah... I'll do that, Geen," Seripa muttered under her breath as she flew off back towards her home, her husband must have been worried sick about her. She hoped he'd made something good for food, she was in desperate need of some right now.
     
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    • I'm not sure why, but this chapter didn't feel nearly as strong as the last one, especially considering it was an arc finisher. I'm not sure how to describe it, or what else to say, though. If so had to nail down some specific gripe it would be that this felt rushed, but I don't think that's it / all of it.
     
    QTesseract said:
    I'm not sure why, but this chapter didn't feel nearly as strong as the last one, especially considering it was an arc finisher. I'm not sure how to describe it, or what else to say, though. If so had to nail down some specific gripe it would be that this felt rushed, but I don't think that's it / all of it.
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    I mean, I didn't end this one on as dramatic a note / cliffhanger because this was supposed to wrap up this story arc, but it didn't have an emotional conclusion for anyone in particular, Bulma is still confused about the 'unknown race' (Saiyans), Chi-Chi didn't lose it this time, and Kakarot hasn't been provoked recently, and in fact has been pretty chill around his companions. This arc isn't supposed to be much payoff because it's not so much an end as it is a beginning.

    That, or I just didn't write the chapter very well. That's always a possibility, albeit one I really hope that isn't true.
     
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    The wish for eternal youth.
    What did she have in mind with it? Staying a child forever? After reaching adulthood and never aging another day again past their prime? As far as I'm aware the dragon grants wishes as the wisher intended. If she intended to never age a day past what they are right now, stay as young as they are forever or if it was to grow up and stay young in that sense.
    It's a wish for immortality, isn't it? Unless killed. Eternal youth could also come with the addition of always regenerating to the prime of the body too. But looking how Bulma didn't get healed, always being in perfect health, I guess that was not included.
    Indestructibility, or immunity to harm, has to be wished separately, I'd guess. Or immortality in the form having a new body spawn somewhere random or specific when current one is destroyed.

    Eternal youth is a form of immortality assuming no harm comes to the user from outside sources.

    I would have expected Kakarot to wish for accelerated growth of his power. Speed up his ability to get stronger faster by whatever amount the dragon could allow. Isn't that what he truly desires, to get stronger?
    Than again, he doesn't really know what he wants. And a wish for power might make him feel like he cheated. :/ I certainly can't tell.
     
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    Q&A 1- (Arc 1 Conclusion)
  • Informational
    • Alright! This is the first Q&A for Rhyme & Reason! If you haven't finished reading Chapters 1-11, please click off this page and go read them, then you can come back.

    BurningSaiyan said:
    Cool, now I just gotta think up some questions. Actually, I got one already, none of the Saiyans have that horrific fandom of marking mates/going into heat. Only reason I ask is that in pretty much any story that features Saiyans/Saiyan culture heavily, that garbage canon has a tendency to pop up.
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    Nope. The closest thing to marking mates is the kiss on the neck during the ceremony, which is just symbolic, it does nothing by itself. I mainly included it so I could mock that fanfic trait. As for heat... Saiyans are apes/monkeys, not dogs, it makes no sense for them to have that, so they don't. End of story.
    QTesseract said:
    What are the views of Saiyan Society (such as it is) on "shortcuts" to strength?
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    Certain things they are fine with. For example, Potential Unlocks they'd likely be fine with. In fact, the only thing I think they'd have problems with is things like the Super Saiyan God form, since it's borrowed power in almost all instances.
    QTesseract said:
    What's up with different kinds of abilities here? Canon has Ki, Magic, Psychic powers, Life Force, seers, as well as weird additions like colored ki or divine energy or the like. You seem to have colored ki at a minimum, is there extra (non spoilers) premade depth there or just as the plot demands?
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    Coloured ki for mortals isn't really much of a thing, beyond the auras which I use for certain effects. Saiyan aura is naturally white, while Earthling Aura is naturally blue. There are exceptions of course (the orange flashes in Chi-Chi's aura in Chapter 10, which is like the lightning effect of Super Saiyan 2, it's kinda just there.)

    That's really it. And just to finally clear this up: In chapter 5, Kakarot's ki was not purple. He was trying to charge up a Gallick Gun, and he failed horribly. The Purple glow was the Gallick Gun.
    Edifier said:
    The wish for eternal youth.
    What did she have in mind with it? Staying a child forever? After reaching adulthood and never aging another day again past their prime? As far as I'm aware the dragon grants wishes as the wisher intended. If she intended to never age a day past what they are right now, stay as young as they are forever or if it was to grow up and stay young in that sense.
    It's a wish for immortality, isn't it? Unless killed. Eternal youth could also come with the addition of always regenerating to the prime of the body too. But looking how Bulma didn't get healed, always being in perfect health, I guess that was not included.
    Indestructibility, or immunity to harm, has to be wished separately, I'd guess. Or immortality in the form having a new body spawn somewhere random or specific when current one is destroyed.

    Eternal youth is a form of immortality assuming no harm comes to the user from outside sources.
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    Remember, Chi-Chi is 11 years old. She kinda just thought of the first thing that came to mind, and that was that she recently read a story about someone who drank from a fountain of youth and stayed beautiful forever. She doesn't know whether or not she'll be able to grow up or not, and is probably not even considering that thought.
    Edifier said:
    I would have expected Kakarot to wish for accelerated growth of his power. Speed up his ability to get stronger faster by whatever amount the dragon could allow. Isn't that what he truly desires, to get stronger?
    Than again, he doesn't really know what he wants. And a wish for power might make him feel like he cheated. :/ I certainly can't tell.
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    Goku in canon didn't like the Super Saiyan God power, because he didn't feel like he'd earned it. Kakarot would certainly feel like he cheated in that instance.
    Coolkidz (from Fanfiction.net) said:
    How many more Saiyans are out there?
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    More than one.
     
  • Informational
    • Not gonna lie, I thought the Q&A would generate some discussion... I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong, honestly.
     
    TC9078 said:
    Not gonna lie, I thought the Q&A would generate some discussion... I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong, honestly.
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    Honestly, I think the problem that a lot of small fics and quests suffer is that they don't hit a critical, sustainable mass of interest; even if a story is interesting, if there are only 3-4 people reading it in a place there's a limit to how much conversation there is to be had, especially since not every bit of info is equally engaging to everyone. The same thing is true in reverse for lower quality works; the more interested people there are, and the more they have to talk about, the more discussion there is to be had.

    As far as fixing this goes, I'm not sure what to do beyond simply advertise more. Like, I have it faved and followed on ff.net, and recommend it after updates on the dragon ball discord's I'm on, but the fact remains that it's just plain hard to break that initia hurdle; I certainly have had difficulties doing so myself.
     
    Ch. 12- Yin & Yang
  • Threadmarks
    • Note- this chapter is an arc transition. Arc II begins next Saturday. Thanks to @Ranma-sensei for editing. Just a note- before I settled on the chapter name, it was called 'Jumping to Conclusions.' Keep that in mind.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
    "IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPATHY LEFT, PLEASE STOP!" a young boy screamed out. And just like that, the spinning stopped.

    Chi-Chi smiled at her passenger. "Now, what do you say, Kakarot?" she asked with feigned politeness. The young Saiyan shivered.

    "I'm sorry for insulting Earthlings for being a backwards race, they're just unadvanced technologically, now please no more spinning!" he said. Chi-Chi smiled and faced forward. The two had just left Chi-Chi's home, where her mother was apparently still not home, and were now on their way towards Mount Paozu and Kakarot's small home in the mountains. Within minutes, they were flying over Mount Paozu's small range and looking down at the rivers and forests.

    "Where is your home, Kakarot?" she asked. He leaned over the side of cloud and directed her to the general area until she saw a clearing with a small house in the middle of it. With a smile, she maneuvered Nimbus into doing a small loop as they slowly descended, coming to a stop in front of the door of the small shrine-like house.

    Almost as soon as they stopped, Kakarot bounced off and ran into it. While she waited for the boy to gather his things, she hopped off Nimbus, leaving her floating in front of the house, as she walked around the clearing. While the grass was a bit long and the weeds growing a bit far, it was fairly unremarkable. A small stump, likely for splitting wood, rested just off the path. A gust of wind caused Chi-Chi to stumble forward, and when she turned around, there stood a young woman with onyx eyes, shoulder length shaggy hair, wearing a suit of armour like what her mother had in her storage.

    "W-Who are you?" Chi-Chi stuttered out, shocked by this woman's sudden appearance. The woman smiled lightly.

    "I suppose I have to introduce myself to you," she said, "my name is Daikyō Gine Onio, formerly a member of PTO Squad 81754 under Daikyō Bardock, who I later married. I am the mother of Daikyō Kakarot, your companion."

    Squad 81754… wait… "You worked with my mom?!" Chi-Chi exclaimed. Gine nodded.

    "Yes, your mother, Seripa, was one of the strongest members of the team," she explained. Chi-Chi tried to sort it out mentally, but kept confusing herself in the process.

    It's simple, really. Onio Gine was the group mechanic. She made sure all the ships worked properly, all the gear was set up, and of course, made sure explosives went off when they needed to. Seripa was a fighter, always at the front with Toma and Bardock. She was always eager to prove herself, after all, she was the only Second-Class Saiyan on the team. The rest were all First-Class nobility, new or old.

    And you know this, how?

    Some things you are really better off not knowing.

    So, basically, you don't feel like telling me.

    I'll tell you when I think you can handle it.

    Chi-Chi sighed, the voice in her head as unhelpful as ever. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she looked back at Gine. "That's great and all," the young princess said, "but why is this important?"

    Gine shook her head in exasperation, "Because procedure must be maintained, apparently, despite the fact that our race is practically extinct. As a hybrid, you're considered as the same caste as your Saiyan parent, Second Class. Yet you are a Companion to a First-Class noble child. This is… odd… to say the least. Now, I don't really care, my son is free to make his own choices in Companions, but your mother kept pestering me about it." She walked up to the young princess and tapped her on both cheeks with her forefingers. "I, Daikyō Gine Onio, in lieu of the Clan Head and as the last verified matriarch of Clan Daikyō, I do approve of and confirm young Chi-Chi's status as Companion to the child Daikyō Kakarot." She stepped back. "There. Done. Now hopefully your mother will quit bugging me about it."

    Chi-Chi blinked. What was that? she wondered. Though, not realizing it, she said that out loud.

    "That, my dear, was standard procedure. If a First-Class child takes on a companion of a lower class, it must be approved by their Clan. Dumb? Yes. Boring? Even more yes. But these types of things were probably invented so the nobility had something to do once they reached old age," Gine grumbled.

    "And yes I'll stop bothering you about it. I honestly just wanted to see if you remembered how it worked," a voice behind Chi-Chi said. But this voice she recognized instantly. A huge smile on her face, she spun around and dashed straight into the person, wrapping them in a giant hug, which was returned.

    "Hey, Chi-Chi. Have you been good for your father?" her mother asked. Chi-Chi nodded.

    "I've done everything he's asked to the best of my ability and I've made sure to not be too much trouble. I… I used that goodwill to get him to let me go with Bulma and Kakarot on their trip to find the Dragon Balls. Gather all seven and the Eternal Dragon will grant you a single wish. I used it to wish for eternal youth and beauty for myself and my companions," Chi-Chi explained.

    Seripa stepped back from her daughter and put her hand on her chin, thinking. "So," she began, "you wished that you'd be young forever… does that mean that you'll stay a little chibi forever, or does it mean that you'll stop aging once you hit your prime?"

    Chi-Chi stood still, as she felt the blood drain from her face. She didn't specify it at all. Now it was highly possible that she would be a little kid forever… and she had doomed poor Kakarot to the same fate.

    "I… I..." A thought suddenly came to her. "I don't know! But if I did make us children forever, I'll… I'll find the Dragon Balls again and ask the Dragon to let us grow up!"

    Seripa smiled and tousled Chi-Chi's hair. "I admire your loyalty to your friends."

    Behind them, Gine audibly sighed and simply walked into the house, likely to talk to her own child.

    "So, where do you go from here?" Seripa asked.

    "Well… I was gonna go and train under Master Roshi, the turtle hermit who trained dad," Chi-Chi said.

    "How long would that take?"

    Chi-Chi thought about it. "I don't know. Maybe a year? I could probably go longer if I wanted to." Seripa smiled and knelt down in front of her daughter.

    "Alright. Go train for the next year or so. The Tenkaichi Budokai is coming up in about a year, and when it comes, I'll take you to go see it and all the fighters. Maybe you can see something to augment my style there," Seripa promised.

    Chi-Chi let a smile cover her face, she'd wanted to go see it when she was seven, but never got a chance to. With the Tournament returning, she'd finally get a chance to see it. And since she was a Princess, she could easily get front row seats for the viewing of the quarter-finals onwards. It would finally be a chance to see how the greatest in the world fight, maybe even fight in the tournament itself one day.

    "Chi-Chi, you're daydreaming. I know you want to be the World Champion one day, and you very well might be, but for now, try to keep your feet on the ground. At least until you're strong enough that I can teach you how to fly," her mother said. Chi-Chi blushed at that, her mother could read her like an open book.

    -R&R-

    Of course he didn't have a gi. Kakarot walked around the small house digging through everything, only finding a pair a blue pants and a white undershirt, yet he couldn't find another gi anywhere. Which meant he'd have to either make one himself or find a way to purchase one. Quickly gathering a bunch of stuff, including his spare futon in the closet, he laid them by the door and continued grabbing stuff, hoping to find a spare gi to train in.

    But alas, all there was, were more white undershirts. Sighing, Kakarot recognized he wouldn't find a gi, and pulled his head out of the closet.

    "Kakarot!" a voice behind him called. His heart started beating rapidly, he didn't want her here, not now. But he knew he'd have to face the music eventually, might as well be now. With a deep breath he turned around and saw his mother standing there, arms crossed.

    "Mother," he replied simply. Onyx stared into onyx, as if daring the other to make a move. Gine's shoulders then slumped and she uncrossed her arms.

    "Come on, Kakarot. Outside," she said, turning back to the door. Cautiously, Kakarot followed her outside. She turned around and looked at him carefully.

    "Well? Explain what happened on your trip to see the world, Kakarot," she said. Kakarot nodded and explained how Bulma had recruited him to find seven legendary orbs that could grant you one wish when they were all gathered, and the course of the quest, from leaving the shrine all the way to the scattering of the Dragon Balls and him losing his tail. All the while, Gine just nodded and asked for clarification at certain parts.

    When Kakarot finished, Gine looked him over, before stepping back. "You seem like you have something to say. So say it."

    He took a breath, before beginning, "I… I don't know what to do." Gine raised an eyebrow at this. "I… I'm so confused right now. Journeying out with Bulma and later Chi-Chi… I don't want to kill either of them! But they would stop me from completing my mission, so I have to… I can't take it!" He felt tears threatening to spill, but he held them back. "For the first time in my life since coming to this world, I felt… something, I don't know what, but I wanted them to be safe! Can you believe that? My mission is to kill this entire race of humans, yet they're the first real people I've been able to tolerate since my Companions are almost certainly all dead!" His three companions had died in the same destruction of his planet. As far as he could tell, only himself, his mother, and now Chi-Chi and her mother were still alive. The tears were coming closer now, and there wasn't much more he'd be able to do. But, in this moment his mother surprised him. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "Don't worry," she smiled, "do as you wish. You're not wasting away here in the woods anymore, you're actually living. Just live the way you want to."

    "B-But… what about my mission?"

    "I really never cared about it. I just wanted you to leave and meet some people. I've suffered too long by myself, I never want you to feel that way." Kakarot's heartbeat increased as he felt his world crumble around him. He had wanted to finish his mission so badly, but why?

    He knew why, deep down. He'd wanted his mother to smile at him, to look at him with light in her eyes, to play with him and hug him, and her constant egging him on his mission drove him to believe that he had to finish the mission to earn her love… but she never cared. She wanted him to go out and meet people, and pushed him away for so long, just for that reason? He mattered so little that she felt that manipulating him was better than simply telling him that the mission didn't matter anymore, and to treat this place as his home?

    Rage filling him, he reached up and gripped his mother's hand on his shoulder tightly, enough to hurt most people.

    "So, I mattered that little to you, huh?" Kakarot asked sardonically.

    "Kakarot, no, I-" Gine tried to say, but Kakarot interrupted her.

    "No, I'm speaking here. What did you think, that once I killed everyone, you'd show up and say I never had to do it, and think everything would be fine? NO! You manipulated me! You never cared at all! I open everything I have to you, and all you have to say is that you don't care?!" Kakarot knew his voice was rising, but didn't care anymore. When he finished, Gine shoved him away from her and flew off quickly with a white aura trailing behind her.

    Kakarot, for his part, simply let himself fall into the grass and didn't bother to move. Why should he? He had no more purpose, nothing left. I should just head back out and start slaughtering the Earthlings, anyway. She wants to manipulate me, make me not want to kill them, I'll make her understand just how wrong she was! Yet, he couldn't even summon up the energy to sit up, let alone start leaving the clearing.

    As he lay contemplating, omnicide seemed like a more and more appealing option, until his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a stick snapping. He tilted his head to look in the direction and saw Chi-Chi standing there above him, a worried look on her face. Kakarot didn't know what to think, until she reached her hand out towards him. Looking at her hand, he finally released what he felt and let the tears fall. Even after all this, Chi-Chi was still here for him, and doubtless Bulma would be, too. Kakarot let himself smile and reached up his hand to accept Chi-Chi's. She helped him to his feet and the two of them walked, hand-in-hand, to the Flying Nimbus, where Chi-Chi had already loaded his futon for him. After climbing onto the cloud, it sped off to the south, towards the island of the Turtle Hermit.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Nice that he's getting past the "purpose". It's an important plot point sure, but not one I ever cared for. Also, I forget but what happened to Grandpa Gohan?
     
    I felt the need to post this since this thread doesn't exactly get much activity- Someone on fanfiction.net asked me where the title of this story comes from, and here's the answer:

    When I was describing the proto-outline of this story to a friend of mine (back then, I'd planned on having the Point of Divergence in the Piccolo Junior Saga, imagine that!), and I said "Kakarot's actions often have no rhyme or reason to them, he just kinda does them." After repeating that explanation a few times, I kinda just turned the 'or' into an ampersand and started using it as the working title for the story… I just never decided to change it, as I felt it kinda fit for the story, for reasons that, as of last chapter, should be fairly obvious.
     
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    Okay, can someone post something? I really want to get this onto the next page before Saturday's chapter, this page is already ungodly long to scroll down as it is.
     
    Something

    Couldn't resist. Seriously though, not much to talk about, at the mo.
     
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