“Kaaa… meeee… haaaa… meeee… HAAAA!”
Goku dodged left, pushed away from her beam attack by a pulse of ki that emerged from his palm. Face pinched in annoyance, Launch twisted her wrists and guided the attack in a wide arc. It spiralled, slightly unsteady but on course for the Saiyan’s back.
“You’ll never hit me like that…” Goku shook his head and retreated inside the limits of her attack’s curve. He placed his own palms together, settled in place behind his back. “Here, I’ll show you again!”
Launch abandoned her beam and darted to the side. They’d both made great progress since Kami had given them each some kind of divine fruit, but she was still behind. Goku’s strength seemed to grow with each of their battles, while she had to pull herself along through sheer force of will.
“Ka-meee…ha-meee… HAAAAA!”
A blue-white spear of ki lanced towards her, guided by Goku’s steady hands. Her bangs drifted into her vision, their single blond lock an admonition of her slow development. Her other self didn’t have this problem at all, her power simply a magnified reflection of her own.
Face set in determined lines, she raced in a sharp angled curve, a mimicry of Goku’s defence against her own beam attack. The Saiyan smiled and gave a sharp tug of his wrists, a pull that kept his ki on target with her body.
A sigh pushed past her lips as the attack closed from behind. In the end, she always had to rely on HER. Eyes shut, Launch reached to the place inside her where her other self spent most of her time. A mirror of her face looked back at her from the dark, twisted into a wicked smile.
“Is it that time of day already?” Blond-Launch stepped forward in her mind, hair marked by a single streak of blue. “That boy is only getting stronger.”
“Maybe if you didn’t beat him to within an inch of his life every day, he wouldn’t be so much stronger than me…” Blue-Launch settled into her sister-self’s seat and puffed out her cheeks. “One of these days, he’s going to be too much for even you to handle!”
A ripple passed over her true body, a shift that turned most of her hair gold. Launch stretched her muscles and spun to face Goku’s attack, one hand extended to slap the kamehameha into the sky. She turned to the bright-eyed Saiyan, teeth exposed by her cheshire grin.
“How many times am I going to have to beat you, before you stop bullying my other half?” Launch flexed her fingers, before they settled into comfortable fists. Eyes focused on her rival’s face, she floated into the air. “I won’t lose her to any man, especially not to such a smelly little monkey…”
“Excuse us,” a chipper voice interrupted her thoughts of the Saiyan’s inevitable defeat. “We’re looking for a boy named Hal? Master Roshi told us that he might be here?”
Launch spun to face a pair of black haired Saiyans, much older than her friend and dressed in unusual red-orange gi. The girl had a warm smile on her face, while the boy was focused on Goku.
“Who the hell are you guys?” Launch slipped forward, muscles tensed. She couldn’t sense a trace of ki from either of the intruders, but the woman’s eyes carried incredible weight. “Why are you looking for Hal?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“My name is Note, and this is Beat,” The woman floated down to the Lookout’s marble tile, followed by her companion. Her smile remained in place as she extended her hand. “We’re members of an organisation called the Time Patrol… we were hoping to have a chat with your friend Hal.”
Launch ignored the offered handshake and glanced between the two Saiyans, then back at Goku. His simple minded face was graced with a smile, as always. No thoughts in his head of the potential dangers of these unknown warriors.
“My brother isn’t on Earth right now,” Goku stepped forward and accepted Note’s hand. He turned and offered Beat the same, before he waved at the Lookout’s main building.”Kami might know where he is though!”
“It’s nice to meet you Goku,” Beat flashed the younger Saiyan a wolfish grin and nodded to the sparring stage. “How about we have a friendly match?”
Note’s hand flashed, faster than sight against Beat’s head. The poor Saiyan howled, hands pressed to a massive lump. He shot his companion a hurt look, before he shrugged and turned back to Goku.
“Sorry, but I’ll have to put a pause on that offer to spar,” Beat rubbed at his swollen skull, reluctance in his posture as he brought himself back to task. “We really do need to meet with your… brother, as soon as we can.”
“Hey!” Launch drifted between Goku and Beat, arms crossed over her chest as she scowled at the new arrivals. “Neither of you guys have answered my question… WHY are you looking for Hal?”
Yellow-blue ki rippled the air, her full power on display as she poked a finger between Beat and Note. The Lookout trembled under her pressure, the energy she released more than enough to dominate this planet.
“You’re probably the strongest Launch I’ve ever seen,” Note maintained her smile and waved a disinterested Beat to the side. “But the strongest minnow is still a minnow, when the cats come to play…”
A plain, wooden door popped into existence between them and killed the tension of Note’s words. Its aged surface opened toward them and a white haired Saiyan stepped onto the Lookout’s windswept surface.
“Hey Goku, Launch… who are your friends?”
----------------------------------------
Hal glanced between the two unfamiliar Saiyans, face held in a neutral mask. Their ki was nearly imperceptible, hidden behind a powerful self control. In every possibility within his three-minute-sight, if he attacked, all that waited was an instantaneous, unseen death.
“You must be Hal… no one mentioned you were a Saiyan,” Beat looked Hal up and down, expression dismissive. “You’re strong… why don’t we have a match?”
“Hal, is that you?” Goku scampered around Hal’s transformed body, ignorant of the tension in the air. “Your hair’s all white… and you have a tail!”
“I’ll explain later, little brother,” Hal ruffled Goku’s spiky hair and guided him to Launch’s side. Eyes focused on the powerful Saiyans, he waved his friends toward the Lookout’s buildings. “Why don’t you and your girlfriend go inside and get something to eat, I’ve got business with these fine people.”
“I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!” Launch’s face shifted between pale and crimson, fist raised over her shoulder as she scowled at Hal. “He can eat dirt, for all I care!”
The embarrassed girl scampered away, into the Lookout’s entrance and beyond. The young Goku tilted his head, clearly confused by Hal’s words. He rubbed the back of his head and gave his brother a serious look.
“Is Launch really my girlfriend?” Goku’s earnest question prompted a snort from Beat and a giggle from Note, both ignored as he met Hal’s eyes. As they had grown, Hal had taught the sheltered Goku more than his original self about the facts of life. “If she is, don’t I need to start taking her on dates and then get married?”
“That’s a bit of an oversimplification, and you’ll need to make sure she’s even interested in marriage,” Hal shooed Goku after Launch’s trail, a half smile on his lips, despite the potential danger from the strange arrivals. “Everyone’s relationship is different, now why don’t you run after her and ask her to a romantic dinner or something, before you jump straight to marriage.”
Goku nodded and scampered off, face set into unusually serious lines. A ping sounded in his mind, the arrival of a small bundle of Time Points, more than he’d ever received at once. Hal shook his head, unable to bask in the glow of his reward.
“I’m fine with sparring, but why don’t we go somewhere a bit less fragile?” Hal returned his focus to Beat’s question as he inserted his key into the air and summoned another door. He pulled open the faded wood and waved the pair towards the ravaged lawn on the other side.“King Kai’s world is as good a place as any…”
***Power Levels and other notes***
Hal: 6,500,000 (65 million with symbiote enhancement, Max kio-ken: 50x)
Note: ???
Beat: ???
Goku: 14,500 (After two years in the time chamber with Launch he reached 1,500 and then ate a fruit of might)
Launch: 7500 (22,000 after her blond transformation)
I decided to have the basic fruit of might give a 10x to 15x multiplier that becomes ineffective after the eater closes on 500,000 power level or so. Launch’s transformation will give a 3x multiplier, but it might increase or change as her twin souls become more and more synchronised.