"That's how we make it to the semifinals of this tournament! Is there anything my fellow fighters would like to say before we begin?" the announcer asked with a big smile.
If anyone was enjoying the tournament more than the fighters, it was he. No one bothered to ask his name, yet there he was, adding to every fight.
He may not have had supernatural sight or extensive experience with martial arts, but he represented the enthusiastic people who enjoy that world and want to explore more of it.
"Now that you mention it, I'd like to say a few things," Whis said, surprising some.
This strange blue man had always been a mystery. Even though Bulma interacted with him a lot, he never revealed his origins or his identity. However, what little he revealed about himself was more than enough to inspire awe.
For example, word of mouth among the martial artists still on the island began to spread about the night he advised various fighters.
Though some were skeptical, fighters who had lost in the tournament approached Whis, who had been touring the island during the off days.
The angel didn't answer questions as before. That sparked a kind of debate among everyone. When things seemed to be escalating, Whis unexpectedly acted as moderator and prevented fights from starting.
No one could feel, see, or predict his movements. Some people had been attracted by the debate but knew nothing about Whis and tried to attack him.
No technique or trick was useful against him. It was made clear that no one present could make him exert the slightest effort. This left an indelible mark on the minds of the martial artists of Earth gathered there, whether or not they had participated in the tournament.
Many of them sharpened their senses when they heard Whis' desire to speak. The angel smiled when he realized this, then spoke.
"I just want to say that you Earthlings are...curious. That is my most sincere assessment of your species. You lack the advantages that make many species powerful in the cosmos, but you have strengths rarely seen.
How far can you go? Only you can set that limit. I just hope it doesn't stop you in the end." Whis' words sounded rude and cryptic, but some of those present, as well as those watching the live broadcast, found themselves feeling a deep sense of pride.
...
In a dark, cold room, an old man with a gangly build stared at a screen showing scenes from the tournament. He didn't care about the fights; he just wanted to watch the participants and choose among them.
"Doctor Wheelo, what do you think of that guy's words?" asked another man, even more disheveled than the first.
"I don't care about his words. They must be directed at those silly martial artists. However, he is right about one thing: the limit is only set by us," replied Doctor Wheelo.
Wheelo clenched his hands tightly as thoughts raced through his mind. He may not have been the greatest scientist among the Terrans, but he had excellent mechanical and biochemical talent.
He had a plan that would virtually grant him what every normal human wants: immortality. But now, he felt it was very banal. Banal? He had inadvertently limited himself!
When he thought about it, the pieces of his plan seemed meaningless and useless. But at the end of his train of thought, only a few words remained in his heart:
'I don't need someone else's body. I need to create one for myself." With this idea in mind, Wheelo smiled and turned off the screen. He no longer needed to evaluate those fighters; his plan was very different now.
'Humph. Some of that fool Gero's ideas are useful. I'll prove to everyone that I'm the best because I'll become the smartest, most powerful, and longest-lived person on Earth,' the old doctor mused to himself before getting down to business.
...
With a hint of melancholy, Pilaf examined the blueprints of his machine. Since the tournament began, he had redone the same blueprint over 100 times because each new display of power, technique, or strategy performed by the fighters revealed flaws in his creation.
"At this rate, wouldn't fetching the Dragon Balls be easier for that kid with a tail? I don't understand martial artists!" Pilaf complained in his squeaky voice.
He just didn't know how to address all the inconveniences that flashed through his mind whenever he saw a new fight. It was as if technology alone could not overcome the fighters' strange, idealistic power.
But when he heard Whis' words, an intense glow appeared in Pilaf's tiny eyes, and a simple idea popped into his mind. His big brain broke it down and expanded it into a blueprint he could carry out.
"If materialism has a limit, varnish it with idealism! The power of the mind is infinite; the power of the imagination is immeasurable. If structure is the limit and energy is a cliff, then...get rid of it!"
The mutterings of Pilaf became increasingly strange and unintelligible as he used more and more flowery language to describe the magnitude of his new blueprint.
He quickly took a piece of charcoal and began to draw on paper. His faithful assistants, Mai and Shu, thought Pilaf was too strange, so they stayed away.
"Do you think the Emperor went crazy?" the talking ninja dog, Shu, asked Mai in a low voice.
"I don't think so. It's just that he had an idea. Should we take a look? Maybe it's a new giant machine," said Mai. She tiptoed behind Pilaf, trying to see what he was drawing.
But when she saw the drawing, she didn't understand it. It was a simple design of an eight-legged robot, nothing revolutionary or new, until Pilaf wrote the name of the project:
[Project Gray Death].
"Nanobots are the future!" Pilaf suddenly shouted, turning to see Mai, who had jumped in fright.
"We need to collect a lot of resources. But when this is over, the world will be at my feet," Pilaf muttered. For the first time in a long time, Mai felt genuine fear for Pilaf.
The look in Emperor Pilaf's eyes was incredibly evil!
...
Doctor Gero was a simple person who liked insects and working quietly under the cover of the ever-expanding, increasingly dangerous Red Ribbon Army. He published his ideas and shared technology with other scientists, including Dr. Brief, whom he despised.
He didn't like change; his mind had become rigid after certain events in his life altered his perspective. He didn't even mind that his wife worked on projects far away and practically abandoned him.
He was at ease with that. He felt comfortable and came to appreciate the RR because of the resources they provided him. In return, he helped them create androids.
They weren't perfect, but the technology was advancing rapidly in his hands. However, Doctor Wheelo once swindled him by giving him useless consciousness-preserving technology that only used the brain in exchange for some of his ideas for creating a giant robot.
Gero began studying this new knowledge, trying to apply it to his creations. He found that there was potential in studying this vital human organ and bringing it closer to a greater purpose.
Creating mere mechanical devices was no longer his goal; he wanted to dabble in artificial intelligence. He wanted his androids to be sensitive, to think for themselves, and to have emotions.
He wanted to correct the past in his way because he wanted his son back. He had already made slight gains with one of his androids, Number 8; however, he still felt that it was imperfect and not suited to his desires.
"Martial artists are so..." Gero looked at the screen in front of him, which showed images from the tournament.
He didn't like this. The fan of martial arts was his wife, and his son had learned it. In memory of her, Gero decided he would at least try to take a look at it. However, the things going on in the images just didn't make sense to him.
"How can a human fly without equipment?" How can they launch energy beams? Are they trained to do this, or have modifications been made?" He asked himself these questions every time.
Like Wheelo or Pilaf, he too heard Whis' words, and his mind began to ponder. Displaying his genius, Doctor Gero had an idea.
"To bring him back... I must go to him." A terrifying plan began to form in his mind, starting from a simple idea that contradicted everything he knew and believed.
'What's on the other side? What's there when we die? Can a living person go there? And if not... Can a mechanical being go? Can a mechanically augmented being go?' With these questions in mind, Gero's crazy plan took shape.
"Wherever the human mind goes after death... I will find my son, make a copy, and rebuild his body," Doctor Gero muttered before smiling.
His smile was chilling; it was that of a person willing to do things that went against logic for his ideals. If his canonical version could create a biologically impossible monster, why couldn't this version fulfill his plan?
...
Whis didn't know it, but he inspired not only martial artists and humans in general, but also three of the greatest minds on Earth. Each of these minds would cause a major crisis in the future.
Tonight, however, the focus was on the two young fighters in the arena, about to fight: Son Goku versus Chi-Chi. Bulma couldn't help but grin from ear to ear when she saw them on the screen.
"I hope they don't get married just to fight," she had jokingly told them, making Chi-Chi's face turn red as she stood in the arena.
"Did you understand Bulma's words? What does fighting have to do with getting married?" Goku asked suddenly, attracting Chi-Chi's attention.
"Ehm... You know Bulma; she likes to say weird things. Remember that time she read Mr. Gohan's old novels and started saying she was a 'Jade-skinned Beauty' or something?" Chi-Chi's words made Goku remember funny things, and he started laughing loudly.
"That's right! She wanted to get a sword and fly on it, too! Why would she do something like that? We can already fly on our own! Although the cloud Master Roshi gave me is comfortable..." Goku's tail wagged loudly behind him. The young man was in a very good mood and wasn't nervous at all about his fight with Chi-Chi.
His opponent, however, was a nervous wreck. Chi-Chi had trained with Goku many times before, but a serious fight was very different. Noticing her anxiety, Goku decided to say a few words to calm her down.
"Hey, Chi-Chi! Strong girls are the best. You're strong. Aren't you? Why don't you show me?" Goku adopted a fighting pose he was very familiar with.
Chi-Chi was taken aback by his words. Though she had known Goku for a long time, he rarely complimented her, so she was caught off guard.
However, she pulled herself together, struck a fighting pose, and her countenance became serious. If Goku wanted to see just how strong she was, she would show him!
"Let the combat begin!" shouted Muten Roshi. When the gong sounded, Chi-Chi was the first to attack.
"Dark Matter!" she exclaimed, launching one of the strongest spells in her repertoire.
A wizard named Janus is said to have created this spell while traveling far and wide through the ages to search for his missing sister.
For some reason, this spell was recorded in Chi-Chi's grimoire, and she learned it, as well as other powerful spells. Spheres of black energy erupted from her body and flew toward Goku. Instead of attacking him, however, they floated around him.
Although the Saiyan tried to attack the spheres, he noticed a strange phenomenon: their ki beams seemed to distort as they approached the target. They began to swirl around each sphere before shattering.
The true potential of this spell had yet to be seen!
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AN: The Q&A still! Write on this paragraph a question! Only about this fanfic or another story I have uploaded on this site. You can try a personal question, but maybe I won't answer it.
User_Derp asks: What is your personal thought on how this Fanfic Novel has developed? Is it the way you wanted it to be or has it moved off the path you first envisioned? Answer: In my opinion, is nice who I wrote this fanfic; Is just me triying to write something good and new without losing the essence (¡ESENCIA!) of Dragon Ball. First versions of my thought were stranges, for example, the mc will be an experiment of Gero who escapes, something like that. Now I take that idea for Wheelo plot, hehe.
Morg535 asks: Will you keep the extra AU characters around even after the tournament? Answer: Yes, but like Toriyama did with extra characters, only references for them. Is just for this time and no more.
stads asks: Will Whis try and set up delivery service for Earth food? Answer: HAHA, that's a good idea xD maybe(? I can write an OMAKE of this, but could be perfectly canon in this fanfic if Whis helps Bulma with her project!
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If you remember, I said that I will put some movie characters if with especial changes i their background. And I made some changes in Dr Gero... being a genius and only create robots just to revenge an army who wants Dragon Balls because his leader wants be taller is... Toriyama things xDD.
21 waifu material.
Did you get the reference in Chi-Chi's spell?