Chapter 1

“Goku!”

It was the last thing Krillin said. The explosion obscured his appearance in a cloud of red and brown dust. Grayish-black pieces fell to the small isle below as Goku stared up in disbelief. In a moment, Krillin was gone, incinerated.

“Pop goes the weasel,” Freeza said. 

Goku was shivering in fear now. Piccolo looked to be dead and his qi was dropping faster than the Saiyan. The single attack was instantaneous and now only Gohan remained. Goku was now drowning in the fear of death.

“Father!” Gohan yelled. “Father! Do something! Do-Do something!”

I can’t. He wanted to say. The Spirit Bomb was my strongest attack.

Gohan’s words were distant to Goku. Like background music, as disparate and meaningless as wind. His gaze was transfixed on the altitude in which Krillin died. In that place in the air was every memory Goku had of Krillin.

To think I actually thought of you as my rival when we first met. He thought. When Roshi agreed to train us both…I thought I had to compete with you.

Goku could almost feel his heart stop.

I was selfish. He thought. Selfish to see you as a rival…rather than the best friend anyone could have. You tried…you tried so hard…always…always fighting and never giving up. No matter how hard it was…you wouldn’t back down…because you were braver than I am. If I could do it all over again…I’d rather be born your friend rather than the strongest in the universe. Krillin…

“Hmm,” Freeza said. “Down to two little rats. A monkey is nothing more than an overgrown rodent. Let’s see…the small one should amuse me, right?”

Goku snapped to attention to stare at Freeza.

“Father!” Gohan cried.

He looked down at his cowering son, the boy rushing over to his father as Freeza pointed at the half-Saiyan. Goku attempted to run towards his child but stopped as he did. He was frozen by fear.

The Spirit Bomb was the last technique in my arsenal. He thought. If that won’t defeat Freeza then…then what will?

Goku didn’t have time to contemplate further. Freeza squeezed his fingers together before Gohan disappeared in another explosion. When the dust settled, nothing remained of the child. 

My son…Goku thought. 

He immediately thought back to when Chi-Chi’s labor pains were ceasing. Her screaming died down and she began to relax. When Goku held the newborn it was like tasting honey for the first time. No sweet compared to the infant’s weak cries and the stretching of its small arms.

Miraculously enough, he actually stopped crying after Goku held him for a while. The safety that the child sensed as it was within his father’s grasp must have been instinctive. Even covered in blood and bodily fluid, the boy was a light to his eyes. The baby glowed brighter to Goku than any light in the room. A peace he’d never known washed over him and filled Goku’s soul. 

Love. He thought at that moment. It means more than anything.

And now he was devoid of it. With that last explosion, all the love in Goku’s life was destroyed. Even if he somehow made it back to Earth, Chi-Chi would die of grief if she knew her son was dead.

The dragon balls…He realized. They can’t be used on anyone…with Piccolo dead…and I can bet I won’t be able to get any from Namek with Freeza around.

He could see Chi-Chi’s face now. A hollow mask where once existed her domineering and bold expression. She’d be a shell of a person if her only child was killed. And Chi-Chi would never look at Goku with the faintest of adoration if he was gone. 

I have nothing! Goku thought.

Goku coughed in pain as his lungs felt like they were being squeezed dry. Freeza laughed as tears erupted from Goku’s eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes away from where Gohan had been incinerated.

“This is wonderful!” Freeza said. “Greater than immortality! To think I had Vegeta to toy with before you came along!”

The strength in his legs vanished as he fell face-first to the ground. 

“You make a far more amusing pet than Vegeta did!” he said. “To break him I had to wound his pride! But with you…all I had to do was kill some maggots around you. What a soft fool you are! Even bigger an idiot than Vegeta.”

Goku tried picking himself up but it didn’t work. Strength had vanished from his arms as well. He lay as flat as a corpse. Goku squinted as he attempted to lift himself upward but he could only do so for a few inches. The wind was knocked out of him as his lungs were empty, like a dry well.

“Brilliant, brat!” Freeza said as he clapped. “Brilliant!”

Goku had gotten to where he could lay his palms against the ground as he rose, only to elicit an even more excited reaction from Freeza.

“You know what?!” Freeza asked. “You can be my personal pet! A nice leash would suit you just nice! And how about a collar?! Written on it will be “the last defier of Lord Freeza”! How do you like that? It’s a kindness, really. A warning to whomever rebels against me again.”

Goku could not get to his feet no matter how hard he tried, Gohan’s shocked and frightened face being the only thing he could see.

“What do you think of your new role, Goku?” he asked.

Nothing…Goku thought. I have…nothing…

So will you give everything?

The voice was accompanied by new surroundings. He could see someone standing behind him. He was no longer kneeling before Freeza.

He was kneeling in front of someone else. He looked up to find that they were glowing with white light. They were less a person and more a white silhouette. They were shining with a light so bright it slightly hurt to look upon. Goku was even more shocked to see what wriggled out from behind them.

“A Saiyan tail?!” he shouted.

Indeed a brown tail waved in the air as it sprouted from the silhouette’s back. 

“B-But-!” Goku said. “I’m the last true Saiyan! How-?”

“Now you are with all us Saiyans,” he said. “No longer alone.”

The shining silhouette gestured for Goku to look around and find that he was no longer on planet Namek. He stood up to look at his new surroundings. The Saiyan found it the strangest place he’d ever stepped foot in.

The ground beneath him was a smooth, onyx-like gem that reflected bright light. Goku found his own reflection in the dark gem as well as the silhouette’s beside it. He looked above to find it looked more like a semi-solid than a proper ceiling. 

Murky shapes that looked like man-shaped shadows flowed along the surface like a pool of water. The current would sometimes fluctuate with an odd ripple that would reveal faces and skin-tone of the shadows. After observing the unblemished floor and odd ceiling, he looked around to find even stranger features.

Pillars of surging white light surrounded them. They flowed from the shiny black gem floor to the ceiling to the murking ceiling. There were possibly hundreds as far as the eye could see. The white light was similar to how the silhouette who spoke to Goku looked. But the closer he observed, the more familiar faces shown in it.

Piccolo…? He thought. No…no King Piccolo! And…and Krillin…

Goku raced toward the flowing pillar of white to find Krillin’s face within the white light. King Piccolo’s face had disappeared to the top of the pillar in the upward floating current while Krillin’s was still in the midsection. Goku stared at the moving face and followed it until it vanished above.

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“Krillin!” he screamed. “Krillin! Krillin!”

He almost touched the pillar to find another familiar face floating within a pillar to his right. 

“Gohan…” he said.

His son’s face floated within the white surge until it too vanished from sight. Goku looked back down at the base of the white pillar, hoping Gohan’s face would reemerge. Instead he found the head of a bald man with a thick mustache. A Saiyan responsible for all the trouble they’d endured on Namek.

“Nappa,” Goku seethed with anger.

“Yes,” the white silhouette said. “Here, the souls are drawn to those who remembered them in life.”

He turned to find the shining being walking toward him, every step lighting the black gem-like floor with white for a second. As he walked toward Goku, certain streams of light beamed toward him. The white pillars surrounding the room shot out and appeared on the surface of his body. Once they made contact with what could be called his skin, they connected into his body. Faces flowed from through the thin streams of light into the silhouetted Saiyan until those faces ran through his shining body. Upon closer inspection, the souls all had horrified expressions.

The souls of all these terrified people have joined with his own. Goku realized.

“Whether good or bad,” the silhouette said. “The memories will act as a magnet to them.”

“What is this place?!” Goku asked. “Who…who are you?”

“This place,” he said. “Is the Realm of Souls. It is where all deceased spirits flow after their physical bodies cease functioning.”

“But I’ve been to the afterlife!” Goku said. “It’s not like this!”

“No,” the silhouette said. “The afterlife you traveled was merely one layer of what lies in the life to come. Think of this as a place in between the mortal world and the afterlife.”

He then gestured to the pillar behind Goku.

“As you can see,” he said. “The spirits that died are converted to energy that makes up the life force of all known organisms in the universe.”

“You mean…” Goku said. “Qi? The souls here are…are qi?!”

“Yes!” he said. “Whenever an entity in the mortal realm draws upon their natural qi reserves they are drawing from the spirits of the dead. Some are born with more than others.”

“How can that be?” Goku said. “One doesn’t add to their qi potential by using spirits! They do so by training!”

“Hmm,” the silhouette laughed. “Shows what you know. The training for strength is really the user pumping more spirits from the Soul Realm into their body. These pillars, Spirit Pillars, channel the souls of the deceased into the living and as an organism grows, the more spirit they are filled with.”

“Just…” Goku said. “Just like my Spirit Bomb.”

“Yes,” the silhouette said. “And Saiyans have the greatest connection to the Soul Realm.”

“Saiyans?” he asked. 

“Yes,” he said. “Their connection is the reason their qi reserves are the greatest in the universe. As you can see…” 

He gestured to the beams of light making contact with him.

“Saiyans can connect to one another via the Soul Realm,” he said. “Dead Saiyans can visit the living this way.”

“Vegeta!” Goku said. “That–that’s how he was able to talk with me while I was drowning!”

“Yes,” the silhouette said. “When a Saiyan is at the brink of death they are closest to the Soul Realm. This is how Vegeta was able to communicate with you and increase your power while Freeza held you underwater.”

“But why am I here?” Goku asked. “How…how is this possible? Did Vegeta come here before Freeza killed him?”

“No,” the silhouette said. “Vegeta only arrived here after Freeza shot him dead. You, on the other hand, have a pure heart. Therefore, you can travel to the Soul Realm without having to be at the brink of death.”

“I have that ability?” Goku asked.

“Yes,” the shining being said. “But rather than be at the brink of death…you must be at the end of your rope. You must have given up on everything in your mortal life.”

Goku’s expression hardened.

“So I could only come here once everyone around me was dead?” he asked.

“A pure heart cares more so for others than themselves,” he said. “You are able to access this place because your heart has been awakened by wicked fury. An anger that cannot be quenched. You, Goku, can now become a Super Saiyan.”

“A Super Saiyan?” he asked. “Vegeta…”

He looked out of the corner of his eyes to find Vegeta’s face staring back at him out of one pillar of light.

“He wouldn’t stop talking about it,” Goku said.

He then turned back to the silhouette.

“So, Goku,” he said. “Do you wish to become a Super Saiyan?”

“No,” he said. “I wish to kill Freeza. And I wish my friends had never died. Not the ones who died on Earth, not the ones who died on Namek.”

“That is what I meant,” the silhouette said.

Goku’s stoic face softened.

“A Super Saiyan…?” he said. “Can you really do that?”

“Once a pure hearted Saiyan is brought to the pit of despair and arrives here…” he said. “Their limit becomes exponential. They are not only gifted with immense power but an ability of their choice that puts them on par with the Kais themselves. As a Super Saiyan you will have a power that surpasses King Kai who you trained with.”

He then laughed.

“But I warn you Goku,” he said. “You will not be the same afterward. You will never be the same again.”

“I don’t care,” Goku said. “If it means undoing all the horrible things Freeza and his evil soldiers have done…I’m willing to go above and beyond.”

“So you are okay with…?” the silhouette said.

A startling image appeared in Goku’s mind. A giant ape similar to the one Vegeta transformed into burned into his brain. However, this one was different. For one its fur was golden-yellow. And it was far stronger than Vegeta’s.

It grabbed up Saiyans by the handful and devoured them. Its fangs were bathed in blood as it knocked over buildings with a swing of its arms and stomped into dust houses. Its very presence created windstorms that flung Saiyans into the air, debris smashing them to a bloody paste. Thunder and lightning rained overhead as the great ape raced forward to find more victims to kill. When it was no longer flashing in Goku’s mind, he then stared back at the silhouette in front of him.

“What was that?” Goku asked.

“Me,” he said. “As the original Super Saiyan.”

“No!” Goku shouted. “You can’t be serious! One with a pure heart would never do that?!”

“Oh yes they would,” he said. “You see, Goku…when a Saiyan of pure heart travels to this place because their soul synchronizes with the Trampled Innocence.”

“Trampled…?” Goku asked. “Innocence?”

“Trampled Innocence is a particular collection of spirits whose lives were snuffed out by evil doers,” he said. “They are many in number. Tyrants from all over the galaxy destroy and plunder planets and those not strong enough to fight them off are driven mad with anger. They cry out for justice but gain no reply.”

He laughed again.

“Until we come along,” he said. “Us pure hearted Saiyans have a greater connection to the spirits of all the deceased rather than the regular, brutish Saiyans. Most Saiyans create victims as they have a love for battle and destruction. Suffering and unjust death are caused by the average Saiyan.”

His laughter increased.

“And when our cries of desperation and anger are as loud as the Trampled Innocence, those wounded souls drag us to the Soul Realm!” he said. “That is when we are closest to gaining unison with those innocent souls…and when they fuel our body, the rising increase in our qi causes the Super Saiyan transformation!”

“But…” Goku said. “But if we take on the pain of innocent souls…how do we become bloodthirsty monsters?”

“Because the wrath of the innocent is so great!” the silhouette said. “The fact that no one attempted to stop the tyrant beforehand! The fact that so many supported him despite his evil! The unfairness of living at peace only for your livelihood to be plundered by the wicked! These are the cries of the innocent and they wish to be vindicated! Otherwise, it is as though they deserved to be destroyed for their virtue!”

Goku felt hesitant as the shining being held out his hand. Every beam connected to him suddenly transferred into his open palm. Within, Goku could see the screams of innocents slaughtered en-masse, their corpses littering the ground.

“I felt no remorse slaughtering the Saiyans!” he said. “They deserved it and I relished their distress! I only wish our kind could be eliminated completely!”

“That’s terrible!” Goku shouted. “The genocide of any species is wrong! You-You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Ashamed?!” he asked. “The Saiyans were mindless killing machines long before Freeza showed up! And once he enslaved them, they became his strongest soldiers to spread misery across the universe. Tell me, would it be good to allow them to live?”

Goku couldn’t say anything. The Saiyan’s reasoning was perfect. He hung his head before turning away.

“Still, even if I do have the power to defeat Freeza and bring back my friends,” he said. “You said I’ll never be the same again. Will I be…like that monster you became?”

“All that and more,” he said. 

Goku looked down at the beams of light gathered in his palm. They danced wildly, showing pictures of soldiers in armor shooting civilians down with wild abandon. They laughed as they satiated their bloodlust, maniacal in their fervor. 

And standing prominently was Freeza. He was in a somewhat different form, one with horns and a pink tail but Goku still recognized him. Freeza’s expression was the worst of all. He smiled happily as his warriors pillaged the innocent. If Goku looked closely enough, he could see the tyrant killing stronger opponents himself. It caused Goku to grimace.

“The wrath of these innocent deceased is greater than even the rage caused by the Saiyans,” the silhouette said. “This is why I am so confident you will kill Freeza…because the more innocent souls killed by tyrants, the more souls fuel the Trampled Innocence and the more qi you will gain.” 

“So you're saying…?” Goku asked. “I’ll be more powerful than you were when you became a Super Saiyan?”

“Precisely,” the original Super Saiyan said. “There have been more innocent souls killed since the one thousand years I have been the Soul Realms’ guardian. You can take this power and destroy him…or live as Freeza’s pet, with the death of your friends burdening you to no end.”

“But…?” Goku said. “What will I become?”

“You will ascend,” he answered. “To a level beyond what even King Kai would be.”

“But what exactly is that?!” Goku asked.

“The form I took as a Super Saiyan will differ from the one you will take,” he said. “But to be honest with you…it is beyond description. All I can say is…Freeza will never bother anyone again. And you can return your loved ones to life.”

Goku shut his eyes hard, gritting his teeth in frustration. 

It’ll be just like the Kaio-Ken. He thought. Just another technique to increase my power level. I’ll make sure of it.

He then grasped the silhouette’s hand before being overwhelmed with anger.