Earth, Mount Paozu
It was Sunday, so Goten had no school. Everyone gathered quickly at the usual training grounds. Piccolo was already there, arms folded, waiting. The last to arrive was Raditz.
"Gohan, do you have any more Senzu Beans?" Raditz muttered under his breath.
"Uncle? What was that? I didn't catch it," Gohan asked, feigning innocence.
"Senzu Beans. Do you have any left?" Raditz raised his voice.
All eyes swung toward him. He immediately realized Gohan was teasing and his face went red.
"Uncle, you might be getting on in years, but your fighting spirit is plenty strong," Gohan quipped, then flicked him a bean anyway.
As expected, Kana could not make it out today. First times were rough.
"I'll be right back. You start without me," Raditz said, jogging to the house.
"Prince Vegeta, what do I do? I suddenly want a woman too," Nappa said, green with envy.
"Hmph. Why ask me?" Vegeta snapped. He had spent the night involuntarily eavesdropping and his temper was frayed.
"Alright, back on topic," Gohan cut in. "Two and a half years I'm guessing everyone made decent gains."
"Not bad. I barely pushed Super Saiyan 2 to Full Power," Goku said, instantly sharper the moment training came up, a proud grin on his face.
"Kakarot, stop bragging like I didn't do the same," Vegeta barked. He had reached Full Power as well. Super Saiyan 2 Full Power meant a one-hundred-and-fifty-fold boost.
"I'm a bit behind. I just broke into Super Saiyan 2," Nappa admitted.
The three of them had been fighting constantly. Even during downtime after missions, they sparred without fail.
Raditz returned just as Nappa finished. "I haven't reached Super Saiyan 2, but I did master Full Power Super Saiyan," he said evenly.
"Heh. I told you to come with us. You didn't, and now you're behind," Nappa crowed.
"Believe it or not," Raditz replied with a faint smile, "I can beat you with Super Saiyan 1."
"Like hell. Prove it," Nappa snarled.
"Who's afraid of who? Let's go," Raditz stepped up.
"Stop. Different venue. Find an uninhabited zone," Gohan intervened at once. Earth's core had been reinforced, but the surface had not. At their level, a stray shockwave could level Mount Paozu.
"Come on, Son Goku. I have wanted a proper fight," Piccolo said, battle lust surging as he strode toward Goku with a challenge.
"Hmph. You, against Kakarot? Are you worthy?" Vegeta sneered.
"Vegeta, you can join him," Piccolo shot back without missing a beat. His temper matched Vegeta's; he gave as good as he got.
"Try not to cry about it," Vegeta said coldly.
"We'll see who cries," Piccolo replied, then rocketed toward the Arctic ice fields. Everyone except Gohan followed.
"Krillin and Tien missed the last spar. Might as well bring them," Gohan said, blinking out of sight.
He fetched Krillin and Tien Shinhan, then warped them to the glacial plain.
"Kakarot, are you looking down on me? Transform already," Piccolo snarled, smashing Goku with a punch.
"Hold on. Warm-up first," Goku said, popping back up and exchanging blows in base form.
Their fight escalated step by step.
"You are too slow. Move," Vegeta growled, itching for action and still in a foul mood. He hammered Piccolo aside, then spun into a whip-kick at Goku.
"Vegeta, can't you wait?" Goku complained.
"Less talk. Haa!" Vegeta transformed at once.
Golden ki flared around him. Power spiked eightyfold. He had no interest in sandbagging and went straight to Full Power Super Saiyan.
Over the past year, the trio's base power had surged.
Nappa: from 150 million to 1.5 billion.
Son Goku: from 500 million to 5.2 billion.
Vegeta: slightly behind Goku during the Cell arc at 400 million, now caught up to 5.0 billion.
Tenfold gains across the board.
At Full Power Super Saiyan, Vegeta's combat power jumped to 400 billion.
With Majin Buu still years away, they had already outstripped canon by leagues a testament to Gohan's butterfly effect.
"I'm coming too. Haaa!" Goku flared into Full Power Super Saiyan as well.
Four hundred sixteen billion.
Of course, numbers alone do not decide a fight. What followed was a clinic in technique and timing. The two blurred across the sky, trading thunderous blows. Vegeta favored offense. Goku shaded into defense. Their rhythm was exhilarating.
Only Gohan did not forget about the Namekian Vegeta had knocked aside.
A pressure comparable to the Saiyans' spiked. Piccolo's face twisted, fury blazing.
"Vegeta, you are asking for it."
"Damn. So this is the 'solution' Piccolo hinted at?" Gohan's eyes widened.
Piccolo's body shot up to roughly ten meters. This was not the simple clumsy enlargement old-school Namekians used. After assimilating Lord Slug, Piccolo had mastered a refined Giant Form. His height increased and, unlike the crude version, his power multiplied tenfold at baseline. Slug had reached fifty meters in that state.
Piccolo now stood only ten meters tall, but his power boost was far beyond tenfold.
Gohan realized it in a flash. Compress after enlarging reduce height to raise the multiplier. From fifty meters compressed down to ten, the boost effectively doubled to twentyfold.
Freshly after assimilation, Piccolo's base had reached twenty billion. Two and a half years later, it now sat at twenty-five billion. With twentyfold Giant-Form compression, he spiked to five hundred billion instantly surpassing Vegeta and Goku's Full Power Super Saiyan output.
More startling, Gohan sensed that under ten meters the boost would jump again, perhaps by tenfold per meter compressed. At human height, around one point eight meters, the multiplier might exceed one hundred.
Piccolo's eruption stunned everyone.
"Great. I'm back to being the weakest," Krillin sighed. He had modified his body and pushed hard, but in two and a half years had only climbed to about thirty billion and he had no exotic transformations for big multipliers.
Tien Shinhan, by contrast, did not seem surprised by the Saiyans' growth. Seals lifted, his power had been climbing daily. Gohan clicked his tongue in appreciation. "Tien's strength cannot be underestimated."
Piccolo's shadow fell over Vegeta. "I underestimated you. Fight," Vegeta said simply.
As an apology, he answered with power. Lightning cracked. Super Saiyan 2 ignited. At a hundredfold multiplier, Vegeta slammed up to five hundred billion and charged Piccolo head-on. Perhaps that was the sincerest way a Saiyan could say sorry.
Goku laughed, exhilarated, and followed suit into Super Saiyan 2. Gold streaks carved the sky as the three collided, a full-tilt three-way brawl shaking the frozen wastes.
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