“Biological match found, triangulating energy waves and isolating…” complex data forms took shape in his mind, resolved into a system with a yellow star. The display zoomed in as the A.I. within his fragmented mind traced the source of the energy that called to it. “Energy is densest on the third planet from the system’s sun, inhabited by a low level civilization…”
The course of the mechanical hulk that encased his body shifted, pointed toward the distant star. Fragmented memories drifted in and out of his consciousness, a combination of perspectives that created a schism in his mind. His name was lost, as was his purpose. The strongest memory he held was of a Saiyan warrior, fist extended to pierce his skull.
“I’ll find you…” his body twitched, a rumble of power that the machines around him absorbed. “I’ll do to you what you did to me, vengeance for the life I can’t remember…”
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“HAAAA!!!” Goku extended his arms, palms toward his blond haired nemesis as he released the most powerful blast of his life. Launch grit her teeth, hands extended to form a mirror of his attack.
The two kamehameha’s met in an explosion of light, evenly matched as they clashed under the glow of Namek’s suns. Nail clung to a rocky outcrop, several miles away, face pinched tight as a storm formed above.
“Stop, you battle hungry idiots!” The Namekian howled out, his voice almost lost to the winds. “This isn’t the place to go all out, you’ll destroy our planet!”
His words went unanswered as the pair continued their struggle. Soon, Launch staggered back, her beam swallowed by Goku’s in a rush of light. A flare of anger touched her heart and she activated her kio-ken. A rush of power surged under her skin and she turned Goku’s attack toward the heavens.
“I win!!!” Goku laughed as he landed before her, face light with an exuberant grin. “You had to use kio-ken, so my base is stronger than yours!”
“Fine!” Launch stamped her foot and turned her head away from his sight. “But don’t get cocky… we’ll overtake you eventually!”
A shimmer of light and Launch’s hair shifted back to blue. She turned a smile to meet Goku’s and extended her hands to grasp his.
“Congratulations Goku!” She spun the Saiyan around in a circle before she pulled him into the sky. “You finally got in a win!”
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Hal pulled himself from his time training, both his inner minds exhausted. He’d spent over three months adrift within the potential future, countless more if he counted time that passed within his visions.
He rolled his shoulders and gave Old Kai a sideways glance. The wrinkled crone of a Kai was asleep, his back to a tree as a snot bubble blossomed from his nose. A flick of his biofield and the orb of phlegm popped with a loud crack.
“AHHH!” Old Kai started awake, eyes wide as he gazed around the grassy outcropping. “Who’s there? What’s happening?”
“You tell me,” Hal shook his head and gestured to his body. “I still can’t sense any change, so I’m not sure if I’m done or not.”
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“Hmmmm… not ready yet!” Old Kai shook his head as he squinted at Hal’s chest. “Be patient, it may still take some time to…”
“Hal! Hal, can you hear me?” King Kai’s voice interrupted the wrinkled Kai’s musings, edged with a serious tone. “The Earth is in grave danger!”
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“This doesn’t look good…” Bulma squinted at the results of her long range scanner, a projection of a massive metal planet on course for Earth. “Hal didn’t take a communicator with him, but I can call Goku and Launch to help.”
Bulma nodded to herself and inputted a message. It was sent in seconds, one to her Father on Krypton and one to Goku and Launch on Namek. If this mechanical planetoid held its heading and speed, they would need to evacuate the Earth to avoid an extinction event.
“We don’t have the ships, but if Father can convince Jor-EL to send out some of the prototype vessels, we can save enough to repopulate,” face set in determined lines, Bulma got to her feet and left her desk behind. “I need to get started now, and hope that help arrives in time to prevent disaster…”
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“The Big Gete Star,” Hal frowned as King Kai described the appearance of the threat to Earth. An oversized machine world was unlikely to be anything else. “I wonder why it’s targeting Earth, and who’s inside it….”
In the movie it had resurrected Cooler, but in this timeline Cooler’s body was on ice in his capsule pouch. He shrugged and pulled his key from his pocket. It levitated on his biofield and opened a door into orbit around Earth.
“Where are you…” The door opened and closed, each time with a different position in Earth’s star system. A few moments within his three-minute sight alongside a couple of random jumps and the door opened to show the metal leviathan. “Here!”
Hal eyed the rather flimsy door. His future-sight showed only disaster if he tried to launch an attack through the opening. His vision pierced forward, through the layers of hull and toward the core of the machine.
Three central chambers existed. The largest was busy in the mass production of a twisted version of final form Cooler. These copies were bronze and silver, with more monstrous features than Hal expected.
Bone spurs graced their knuckles and elbows, mirrored by the sharp spikes on their knees. They waited in mechanical silence, unconcerned with the lightless corridors of the ship. The other chambers held complicated machinery, wrapped around two indistinct forms.
“One of them is probably Cooler’s reconstructed body,” Hal squinted harder, but the shielding around the chambers seemed to contain trace elements of lead. “The other one is much bigger, but the tubes from both of them seem to combine in the production area…”
Hal let the door close with a shake of his head and reopened it to show the inside of his laboratory. The lazy Ran was still in her endless meditation, body covered with a layer of silver light. Both the Briefs and Jor-EL were nowhere to be found.
“Hmmm…” the doorway cycled through several possible locations, before Bulma’s words filtered through the opening.
“...and we need to keep people as calm as possible if Goku and Launch fail to destroy the incoming planet,” Bulma’s tone was edged with stress, but she carried on regardless. “With Hal missing, we don’t have access to his key, so we’ll need to evacuate in stages.”
“I’m not missing, just temporarily unavailable,” Hal let his biofield carry his voice in a careful application of power. Too much energy and the gateway would collapse. “You should begin the evacuation now, Goku and Launch are going to have a tough time dealing with what’s inside that thing.”
“Hal!” Bulma’s head poked through the doorway and into the Sacred World of the Kai’s. “Where have you been! You disappeared months ago, and it takes an emergency to get you to let us know that you’re alright!”
“Mortals are forbidden from entering this sacred place…” Kibito’s frame drooped as no one paid him any mind. Even the Kai’s were unconcerned, more interested in the drama as Bulma continued her complaints.
“You need to get your butt over her and deal with that hulk if Goku and Launch aren’t up to the task, it’s going to crash straight into the Earth!” Bulma crossed her arms and gave Hal a glare. “This planet is home to some of your family, don’t you want to protect it?”
“Of course I do,” Hal gave the cross teenager a smile and waved to the Kais around him. A flick of his wrist sent his spatial key into her hands “I’m just stuck here until I’ve completed an important ritual… begin the evacuation efforts now and I’ll be there as fast as I can!”
***Power Levels and other notes***
Hal: 13,500,000 (135 million with symbiote armour enhancement, 270 million with symbiote transformation, 13.5 billion/27 billion at Max kaio-ken: 100x)
Goku: 27,000,000 after potential unlock (270 million at Max kaio-ken: 10x)
Launch: 7,000,000 after potential (21 million after blond transformation, 105 million after Max kaio-ken: 5x)
Goku has finally overcome his big brother’s base power! Don’t worry, even though his potential was increased by the refined fruit, the MC won't take long to overtake him in base strength and with the MC’s other abilities he’s still far beyond Goku’s reach! Launch had a lesser boost, but her potential is tied to her fusion of twinned souls and is difficult for Guru to awaken.