SS Young Roshi: Chapter 25 (Patreon)

The next fight would come down to me and Goku; everyone knew it, and while I could point out that almost everyone had grown stronger, they still couldn’t hold a candle to either of us. Sure, Piccolo had absorbed another warrior Namekian on his trip to visit his home planet, and Krillin had broken through the restraints on his body with the help of Bulma, but neither could compete with us once we went Super Saiyan.

The fight between the two for third place was interesting to watch, though. Piccolo held the advantage for most of the fight, but becoming Super Human was almost as much of a cheat code as becoming a Super Saiyan was. Unlocking it was permanent; he was now a Super Human and could never change that. With the new transformation, he was ten times stronger, but also able to grow more rapidly than he could before, putting him on the same level as a Saiyan in terms of growth.

It also came with some significant other benefits like faster recovery, better eyesight, and far more endurance than what a normal human was capable of, so as the fight dragged on, and Piccolo’s beginning advantage began to fade, Krillin eventually pulled out the victory. I smacked him down shortly after and let his wife, Raditz, feed him a senzu bean so he could enjoy the rest of the tournament.

I had some secrets I was going to reveal during this tournament, and I knew Goku did as well. We took our places across from one another as he mimicked my stance. It felt nostalgic. I was reminded of the first tournament he participated in, where I defeated him. This time, I wasn’t wearing a silly disguise, but was actively competing with him as a true rival.

The truth was… I was excited. How long had it been for us to just fight to the full extent of our power without the risk of the universe at stake? We both loved fighting, we both loved training, you had to in order to become as strong as we did, and it took cheating for me to be able to compete with him, but as I saw the happy smile on his face, I knew he didn’t care how I made myself so strong, as long as I was a strong opponent.

Beginning at a pace that even normal humans could follow, we fought inside the ring. Minutes of throwing and dodging punches and kicks led to him being the first to break the unspoken rule of moving too quickly. I was the next to break another rule as I had to fly to avoid a ring out. He was the next to launch a ki attack, while I was the next to use a technique.

Together, we caught our breath as we stared across at each other. Both of us were going into perfected Super Saiyan Ascended form as we began the fight anew. No one could track the fight, not even the shutter cameras could make out our punches and kicks as they were rendered into untrackable blurs. I held a slight lead ahead of him in this form, which was surprising, but it would take hours of fighting perfectly for me to finally defeat him.

We were so close in terms of power that the fight could go either way; a lucky blow or moment of inattention could determine the victor, and neither of us wanted that. Breaking apart again to catch our breath, I smirked at him before asking. “So, you grow your power any further than this, or do I just win outright?” He smirked back. “It feels too soon to break it out, but if you want the fight to end this early, I guess I’ll show it to you.”

He began to power up, and I felt the surge in his own power, where I began to empower myself. I watched his hair begin to grow longer. The transformation would have taken far too long to be effective in an actual fight, but that was the same case for my own form I was going into. His form was the culmination of what was possible for a non-tailed Saiyan to reach, while mine was the beginning of several forms, all of which I hadn’t reached yet, but by combining them together, I reached a similar power to his own.

I could tell his form was draining his stamina rapidly; he might be able to hold his form for five minutes before he drained himself dry, while mine took sheer willpower to hold together. A good strike and all my half-perfected transformations would cascade into complete failure. His long golden hair now reached most of the way down his back, while I looked completely different.

Unleashed potential, that was my bulked-up form that more than doubled my power and was almost impossible to use while in my Super Saiyan form. I could only for a brief few seconds before my body would begin to tear itself apart, but Bulma and her Blutz Waves helped me develop another, more durable form that could hold my unleashed potential for longer.

My hair didn’t grow longer, but instead grew more over my body as a thick beard shifted between black, gold, and red as my transformations clashed in my body. The form was a mixture of three different transformation routes, true body perfection, beastial Saiyan, and divine Saiyan forms, all of which I couldn’t master just yet, but the combination made it possible for me to reach beyond what each was capable of.

I was stronger than him, but only for about thirty seconds until my unleashed potential began to tear my body apart. We stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, but it was only for a split second before we both moved. I was stronger, faster, and tougher than he was at the moment, which led to me battering him with every punch; he just couldn’t keep up.

But just because I could last thirty seconds didn’t mean the true full strength boost would last that long, as I already felt it begin to fade as he slowly grew accustomed to my speed, growing more powerful as I slowly weakened. Soon enough, I had dealt significant damage to him, but I couldn’t hold the form any longer without risking my life.

Dropping out of my unleashed potential form was a balancing act; the three forces were perfectly balanced, helping the other forms stay stable, and I had to recorrect after I dropped out of it. It meant I left myself vulnerable for a brief moment as I rebalanced the two remaining forces in my body. The divine energy was making my hair flicker between red and then going back to black, and my beastial energy was making my hair flicker from black to gold as I was close to dropping out of both forms.

Goku noticed I was vulnerable… And waited. He waited for my forms to rebalance as I felt myself grow more powerful as they fully balanced again. The fight had only taken thirty seconds, but in that time, we threw more punches and kicks at one another than in the previous half an hour of fighting before that. I could feel it, though, as much damage as I had done, he was just stronger than me.

He began battering me in the same way I did him, as he was more powerful, I couldn’t hold up, and while he only needed to last thirty seconds, I needed to last another four minutes. We both knew who would be the victor… At least, that’s what Goku thought before I went Kaio Ken times two for the briefest of moments when he let his guard down. I slammed into him, dropping him out of his third form as I fell right behind him. Only the angle of my downward punch made the difference in who hit the ground first, as we both lost consciousness.

With a smile on our faces, we both hit the ground, he a second or two before me. I had won. Over the next few years, we had several other conflicts, but as we had grown so strong, almost no one could contend with the Z-fighters, except the Z-fighters themselves. My family kept growing along with my power, and with each new push further, each new form meant Goku would strive to keep up, and the same when for me.

Hundreds of years passed, and Goku died of old age. I had become the God of Destruction, but also the progenitor of the Saiyans, each child my wives gave birth to being either full blooded or half blooded. Saiyans became known for their peacekeeping nature as they became protectors of the universe… And I just lived life, enjoying my time with my wives as I kept the universe safe.