Goku and the Living Spirits

Other World Quests wrote:Spirit Bomb

Medium Quest

Requirement: Must be a student of King Kai. Must be on King Kai's Planet.

Reward: 2,000 zeni and you are able to learn Spirit Bomb.

The ultimate technique of the Kais, the Spirit Bomb, is nearly in your grasp. However, calling upon the souls to lend their energy is not an easy task. King Kai uses ancient magic to seal away your powers, making you nearly a normal person. He casts you into hell and forces you to call upon the benevolent spirits of Other World to come your aide. Survive and prove yourself worthy to learn the Spirit Bomb.

“Kaio-Ken!” Goku shouted.

It was a declaration, one that helped shift his mindset from that of a stationary mindset, to one that fully grasped power within him. Goku had always been aware of the spiritual energy that resided within his body, since he was a small boy. It had come easily, come naturally. Whereas, even the greatest of Earth’s masters had worked their whole life to strike a single cord, he had been playing an entire song without even understanding what he was doing.

West Kai, however, had a vast knowledge of energy manipulation. Everything had a purpose, each breath, each blink, they way his stance was, and how steady his arm remained. Goku, having been taught stances and techniques before and knew that with practice these things he was concentrating so hard on, would come naturally.

Yet, he couldn’t help but feel like a little kid again, learning the ropes all over. How come no one else had thought of this? Was it lack of knowledge, or experience.

He did say the Kai’s are immortal. I’m sure they’ve had eons to practice this stuff, Goku thought.

He doubted that the Kaio-Ken itself would ever feel normal. Because, it simply was not supposed to be. It was a loophole in the way that spiritual energy worked. As Goku stood there, he folded his own energy on in itself in an endless cycle, allowing it to swell up inside of him. Powering up was pushing the energy out, the Kaio-Ken was pushing it further down and bringing it back out larger.

It wasn’t suppression, this was a mind-body technique. Suppression simply condensed the energy. This was a flowing cycle of renewal. It reminded him of kneading dough. You could pound the dough into a small ball, you could roll it out too. But, if you worked it the right way, you could stretch it quite a ways.

The West Kai had expressed many times that Goku not stretch his Kaio-Ken too far. The more times he multiplied the power, the more it would wrack his body. Because, the body, even that of a man at peak physique, could only contain so much power.

It will kill you, he had said. Eventually, if you don’t take your time with it.

Bright crimson light erupted around his form. The entirety of the West Kai’s little planetoid shook. Goku could feel the ground wanting to give out. His muscles bulged and his hair whipped upwards from the immense spiritual pressure being exerted outward.

“Yes!” West Kai demanded. “Amazing Goku, amazing; a week, a week to learn the Kaio-Ken. I never thought it possible. Most fighters can’t even comprehend the basics of its use.”

The Kaio-Ken was powerful, that Goku knew. He already knew how he would utilize it in battle. But, that’s how his mind worked, always planning ahead for his next fight. If he had it his way, he would be returning to Earth, just as Kami said that Master Roshi had.

Sustaining the Kaio-Ken’s power would not be easy, so if he used it only when he needed it, with perfect timing, it could make all the difference between winning and losing.

The crimson aura faded from Goku and he took several deep breaths, calming his body down. The entirety of it was trembling from the power it had just exerted. “I’ll admit, I didn’t quite understand the Kaio-Ken at first. But, soon as you showed me, I could sense what you were doing. That made it way easier.”

“I suppose in theory it is a bit convoluted. You have keen senses, never the less,” West Kai said and tapped his chin.

It’s nothing like that golden power, Goku thought. If I could understand how to wield that, I wouldn’t even need the Kaio-Ken.

He had discovered the golden rage, but had not been able to tame it. It seemed to come and go. During the battle with Cell it had not come to him, but for a single second. Wielding that power was much different a sensation than the Kaio-Ken. It had been like his energy had multiplied tenfold, it came naturally—a smooth transition, not forced like the latter. It was far superior to the Kaio-Ken in every aspect, but its elusive nature meant he couldn't rely on it.

Then again, if he could learn combine them someday, he knew that he might be able to defeat Cell once and for all.

The West Kai clapped his hands together in an eager fashion. “Next, I will show you the Spirit Bomb. It’s probably my favorite technique, but one of the hardest to master.[/i]

Lying in the grass behind him was a clay jug filled with cool water. Goku picked it up and started guzzling. After a minute or so, he lowered it and let out a refreshed sigh. “Spirit Bomb, you say? What’s that?”

“It is pure life force concentrated into a single ball. Not a single speck of it is tainted. It will cleanse anything it touches of impurities. Only those who have hearts that are truly pure can withstand it,[/i] West Kai said.

“That sounds like an amazing technique,” Goku said. He didn’t quite understand how one created pure life force, but he was sure eager to learn.

West Kai held out his palm flat. Energy crackled to life the form of a small yellow sphere. It then burst forward from his palm, streaking into the endless sky, where it disappeared out of sight.

“You see that... when we battle, we use our own life force. Throwing bolts of spirit energy as I just did can be tiresome. Eventually, you’re going to wear yourself out. Conditioning and experience can help to mitigate the loses, but the principal remains. On the contrary, if you borrow energy from the life forms around you, then you lose little of your. It is an unmatched advantage. Allow me to demonstrate.”

West Kai held out his hand and closed his eyes. Goku could see he was muttering something, and swore he heard the Kai say the word “please.” After a long wait, he finally began to see wisps of light swirling around West Kai’s body, all of them gathering into a blue-white bead above that floated above his palm.

“There,” West Kai said and sighed. “This is a Spirit Bomb.”

“It’s so tiny. I don’t think that would hurt anyone,” Goku said and held up his hands, not wanting to offend the master. “Just saying.”

“Correct,” West Kai said and grimaced. “I’m not as… in touch with the living spirits as I used to be. This is all I could gather from them when I asked permission for them to lend their energy to me. You see, the spirits lend energy when there is an urgent cause, especially one they agree with. Apparently training you is not that great of a cause.”

Goku had both seen and felt the energy gathering. However, communicating with living things was kind of a strange way of gathering energy. He had more than enough energy of his own, how could he ask grass and trees for theirs? Compared to him, they barely had any. It felt greedy.

Then again, how could he actually speak with the grass and trees? They didn’t have brains, at least he assumed.

“That look on your face,” West Kai said. Goku hadn’t been aware of any look on his face. But, he realized he was leaning forward, inspecting the blue-white speck floating there. “You have many questions?”

“How do I talk to living spirits?”

“The age old question,” West Kai said, nodding knowingly. With a flick of his wrist the miniature Spirit Bomb dispersed, strands of white energy drifting away. “Albeit a good one, Goku.”

“I've known a few people who practice telepathy, but they've only ever communicated with other people,” Goku said. “As far as I know of.”

West Kai lowered his hand and walked over, standing in front of Goku. He was short, so short he stood only to Goku's waist. But, despite that he stood on his tip toes and poked the left side of Goku's chest. “You don't speak to the spirits with telepathy, you speak to them with your heart.”

Goku frowned. It was a strange notion, and he wondered how his heart had anything to do with it. West Kai removed his hand and fixed his monocle, glancing off towards the milky rose colored sky that permeated vast distances of Other World.

“When the Grand Kai taught me to use the Spirit Bomb, I didn't believe what he was telling me. Speak to them with my heart? Bah! That's nonsense. I spent a long time in meditation, and many decades in frustration, trying to sort it out. Until this day, I admit, I have not perfected the Spirit Bomb. But, Goku I feel that you may excel at wielding its power. Few warriors have a heart and a talent like yours.”

“Well, thanks West Kai,” Goku said in earnest. “What do you suggest I do to learn this technique?”

“You have to study your own heart, and the reasons for which you do battle. Once you understand yourself, then you can learn to permeate your being with positive energies. It'll allow you to connect to the pure living spirits all around you—in a way merge with them. Once you reach that level of purity in your own soul, their power will become yours if your need is great enough.”

WC: 1,598

The smoke rose up in thick pillars. Everything around Goku for at least a mile had been turned to ashes. The ground itself was scorched to the point that it had started to crack and flake. All around, lava bubbled up through the crust. Hell was a fearsome place indeed.

For as far as the eye could see, a forest of rigid stone spikes and spires spread out, challenging the thick yellow clouds that lingered overhead. The clouds served separate Hell from the peaceful upper realms, and contain the darkness that lingered there. West Kai had shown Goku how the clouds veiled a hidden barrier that was nearly impenetrable for those who's souls held evil taint.

However, the ashen wasteland that Goku currently trekked across was closer to how he had imagined Hell to be. The people of Earth always spoke of how it was a lake of fire, a place where the wicked burned for all eternity. The monster he sought had created wrought devestation throughout the lower realm.

Normally, the Kais left the policing of hell to its two ogre jailers Goz and Mez. Recently, the duo had gone missing. So, of course the West Kai had offered up his newest champion to delve into the depths and bring the wicked beast to justice. Goku was also supposed to find Goz and Mez dead or alive, and return them to their station. Wanting to prove himself to the overseers, and perhaps earn a second chance at life, Goku had agreed to take up the mission.

However, he couldn't help feel like it was the last thing he wanted to do.

For countless weeks, or at least it had seemed like weeks, Goku had been working on his Spirit Bomb technque. It was hard to tell time's passing in Other World. There wasn't a sun, a moon, nor the turning of the Earth to indicate just how much time had gone by. It felt so subjective here in the higher realm. He didn't even know if "time" here matched time in the mortal realm. It could have been minutes, weeks, or a millennium that had already passed there—he didn't really know. That uncertainness prompted him to haste.

But, he hadn't really thought about what he would do if he returned to a world that had long since forgotten him.

His progress was much slower than the with Kaio-Ken, which he had learned within what West Kai had said was a week. The Spirit Bomb was proving far more difficult for him to grasp. He understood why having trouble, that was simple part. The fact of the matter was, Goku wasn't using his own energy with it. Had it been a technique that used utilized power, he was confident that he could have figured it out quickly.

Goku heard a deep and guttural roar in the distance followed by a large energy signature. He froze in his tracks, glancing towards the pale sky. Far beyond, somewhere to his right, fire rose up towards the yellow clouds, followed by more thick black smoke that billowed up in ragged clumps.

The energy signature died down almost immediately after the burst. Whatever this thing is, either its power surges, or it can hide its spiritual energy, Goku thought and pressed on out of the ashen clearing and back into the forest of spikes.

Flying was out of the question, as he knew it would give away his position. This creature had avoided him well thus far, so now he chose a less direct approach by ground. He figured that it he kept following the explosions, eventually he would come across their creator.

As he walked along, Goku couldn't help but resume his reflecting upon his Spirit Bomb training. His lack of progress was plaguing him. The hardest part had been the purification of his own spiritual energy. As West Kai had instructed, by doing that task, he would bring himself in line with the living spirits.

It was at lot easier said than done.

West Kai had blamed it on Goku's unfazable honesty. It wasn't that one had to lie to achieve a purified state, it was that they had to believe that he was doing the right thing, through and through.

Goku struggled with that. His entire life he had doubted his own actions, even as heroic as others had claimed them to be. He enjoyed fighting way too much to okay with it. Most often it was a guilty pleasure. Goku didn't know how he could be a good person, let a lone a "pure" person, if he so enjoyed such a violent pass time.

Do you want to kill and maim? West Kai had asked.

No not at all, I just love the challenge, Goku had responded

Then you are not an evil person. You don't fight for the sake of fighting. Also, you don't attack people just to get into a fight. You enjoy the art, rather than the practical use.

I've hurt people though.

Only those people who have hurt others.

Goku stopped again. He felt two faint energy signatures nearby. Rushing through the spires, he slid to a stop in front of what looked like a giant lake of blood. On the shore two tattered up looking ogres laid down, face in the sand. One had red skin and one with blue skin, matching the descriptions of Goz and Mez. Never the less, Goku wouldn't leave them like that and started over to their position.

As he approached, he could both were incapacitated and taking shallow breaths. Their spiritual energy was fading fast. I'm lucky to have found them just now, I don't think they have much longer left,

Goku gathered positive energy into his palms, which shimmered a brilliant white. He rested them the blue ogre first, the soothing energy passed into his body and mended his wounds. Goku saw the terrible markings fade and then within a minute or two the ogre's eyes opened wide. Moving over, Goku began to heal the red one next.

Once done, the two climbed to their feet, staring blankly at the visitor who had saved them. Goku mused that they must not have seen many kind acts in Hell.

“Who are you?” the red one asked.

“I'm Son Goku. West Kai sent me to help out with the problem you guys seem to be having down here.”

“Son Goku,” the blue one replied, as if he were tasting strange words in his mouth. “We owe you a big one. My name is Goz, and this is my brother Mez.”

Mez simply nodded when Goku glanced at him.

“So, what are we up against?” Goku asked, slamming a fist into his open palm. “You guys seem pretty strong, so if this mosnter took you down, it must be bad news.”

“I’ve never seen a creeature like this before,” Goz said. “It's not what you’d expect, that’s for sure.”

Goku had been about to ask Goz how the monster was different when he felt a strange energy signature coming from the other side of the bloody lake. Despite the distance, he could see a small humanoid walking towards their direction. When it reached the edge of the water, it levitated off of the ground and floated across, creating wide ripples as it passed.

Nearing the shore, Goku could see that it had alabaster skin and was only as big as a toddler at most. It had almond shaped eyes that shimered with bright green irises. Upon its head was a small tuft of powder blue hair.

“That’s him!” Mez shouted and lowered into a fighting stance. “I hope you’re ready Son Goku, last time that thing took me out before I could even land one punch. I’m ready this time though!”

The power emanating from it wasn’t as terrible as Goku imagined it should have been. In fact, it wasn’t very strong at all. It was possible that it was hiding its true power. Goku didn’t see any aggression on its face, just an eerie half smile. It floated a few feet in front of Goku, tilting its head sideways in an inquisitive fashion.

Goku clenched both of his fists, his ebony eyes met its green ones.

“I’m not going to let you hurt these two ogres, nor anyone else,” Goku said. “Why are you doing this?”

“Where am I?’ the creature said. Its voice was diminutive, much like a little kid.

“This is hell,” Goku said.

“What is hell?” the creature asked.

It was Mez who spoke, “Hell is a place where evil souls are banished, so they can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

The creature’s eyes widened and its lips snarled.. “I want my mom. Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Goku admitted. “But, if you stop hurting everyone, I promise we’ll help you find her.”

Apparently it wasn’t the answer the creature had been looking for, because it erupted with fiery energy and began to swell in size. Goku’s jaw dropped in amazement. Within seconds it tripled the size of even the tallest man. Its flesh shifted to a deem emerald hue. Thick muscles filled the tall frame, their definition put even the best bodybuilders to shame.

When it swung its big fist at him, it moved so fast Goku couldn't even see it to react. It slammed into his gut like a meteor and sent him flying through the air. Twisting around, he saw the forest of spikes filling his vision and braced for impact. His back and shoulder crushed and shattered the hard formations, causing them to crumple in on themselves. After cleaving two or three in half he finally slid to a stop and laid there for a long moment, stunned from the sudden pain.

His gut and back throbbed with pain and he was sure he was badly bruised. It had been the single most powerful punch he had felt in his lifetime. That was saying a lot for Goku, seeing as he had fought some very powerful enemies in his day.

The loud cracking sound of more spikes being broken indicated that it was approaching fast. He felt a heat, a blazing fire, and as he stumbled to his feet. The monster was now aflame. Each step he took melted the ground beneath its big feet.

It exhaled a massive jet of fire that threatened to engulf and incinerate Goku.

“Kaio-Ken!”

Goku’s red aura exploded around him and he used the increased of power to launch himself into the sky. Only the bottoms of his boots were singed by the flames as he managed a narrow escape. Feeling the surge of energy wracking his body, Goku let the Kaio-Ken fade and floated there, looking down at at the destruction.

Just a single breath of fire had melted a good portion of the spiny forest for hundreds of yards. Goku let out a low whistle, impressed by the monster’s sheer power. It seemed satisfied, thinking it had destroyed him, and turned around, both of its eyes setting upon Goz and Mez. Letting out a bestial roar, it began to charge them.

Goku cupped his hands behind his back and began to concentrate his energy into a blue-white orb.

“Ka-me-ha-me-ha!” he chanted and thrust his hands forward, letting loose the wave.

The blue torrent of energy tore tore through the sky on its descent towards its target. The monster had no idea about what was coming its way, which indicated to Goku that it couldn’t sense spiritual energy. The Kamehameha slammed into its back. Goz and Mez fled from the foray, taking cover behind a large boulder.

Goku felt it trying to shrug off his wave, and pumped more of his power into it. The beast cried out in dismay as it was thrown forward towards the lake. Digging both feet into the solid earth, it ground itself to a halt.

Arms quivering, the fighter thrust again, but to no avail. He simply didn’t have the power to move the beast when it was dug in.

I was trying to avoid relying on this, Goku thought. “Kaio-Ken!”

His aura expanded rapidly once again, blazing towards the heavens above. Its color matched the azure of the Kamehameha he was currently wielding. The creature roared, but even with the Kaio-Ken’s power added in, it just wasn’t enough. Trembling from head to toe, Goku worked the energy more, amplifying it even further past his limits.

“Double Kaio-Ken!”

The pain that coursed through his limbs was excruciating. The Kamehameha swelled to three times its normal size, cascading over the entire back of the monster. It stumbled, kicking up huge hunks of dirt and rock, and landed face into the lake of blood. The renaming energy detonated on its back with a blinding flash of light.

Goku released his double Kaio-Ken and fell from the sky, bouncing three or four times off of rocky protrusions on the way to the hard dirt. Never before had he felt such a horrible sensation. The double Kaio-ken had literally made him feel like he was boiling from the inside out. He could see the wisps of steam rising up from his muscles.

WC: 2,177
TWC: 3,775

“Son Goku are you okay?” Mez said and grabbed Goku by the arm.

Goku grunted in pain as Goz grabbed his other arm. Their fingers felt like hot irons on his sore body. They pulled him to his feet, where he staggered to catch his balance.

“That was amazing,” Goz said. “Did you just use a Kaio-Ken?”

Admittedly, Goku was surprised they knew about the technique. West Kai said it was rare that anyone was able to perform it. He wondered if it had some kind of infamy here in Other World.

“Yes,” Goku said, the word came out raspy sounding. He took the deepest breath he could and exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself. Even in the worst of his fights, he never felt like he did after going into a triple Kaio-Ken.

A great plume of gray smoke rose up from the Bloody Lake. Goky watched as it merged with the yellow clouds that spread out across Hell's sky. But, icy chills traveled down the length of his spine when he heard a loud groan from within the plume. It parted, revealing the big green monster still standing there. Both of its eyes were set upon Goku, its face twisted into a malicious expression of hatred.

“Run!” Goku shouted, warning Goz and Mez.

The two ogres passed furtive glances to each other before splitting and dashing in opposite directions. The ground shook with each step as the monster sprinted across the distance, closing in on Goku. The fighter knew that there was little he could do at this point. The triple Kaio-Ken had ravished his body and now he was going to pay for the mistake of pushing it too far.

The monster didn't stop, it thrust its gargantuan foot forward, which hit Goku like a freight train. Everything went strangely numb as he skipped across the battered clearing like a well thrown stone across a stream. A large rock formation stopped his advance, and when he made impact it crumbled into hundreds of smaller stones, which piled on top of him.

He felt strangely comfortable in his rocky tomb. There was little air to breath, and the the oppressing weight made it even worse, but at least he could just lie there. The hopeful part of his brain wondered if the monster would run off. Goku knew when he was beaten, he just didn't have the power to fight any longer. No, he had blown through that before his opponent had even gotten started.

Eventually, you’re going to wear yourself out. Conditioning and experience can help to mitigate the loses, but the principal remains. On the contrary, if you borrow energy from the life forms around you, then you lose little of your own. It is an unmatched advantage.

The words of the West Kai spoke true. Goku would have laughed, if not for the fact that he was barely breathing. The only way he could have won the fight, would have been to use the Spirit Bomb. With all his own energy expended, there was nothing else he could do.

Thunder sounded. No, it wasn't thunder. The creature was approaching. The rocks around him rattled with each step. He felt the weight on his back being lifted and light broke through, stinging his eyes. A blazing hot hand wrapped around his waist and he was pulled up and presented to the strange emerald eyes of the beast.

There was no telling what kind of damage the monster could do if it made it to the Check-In Station. Goku wasn't sure how powerful King Yemma was, but no matter, it could easily tear through ranks of the ogres and maybe even disrupt or destroy the helpless souls of the dead who waited for their judgment.

Goku needed the Spirit Bomb now. That was the first thing, th was required—a great urgency. The problem lay in the fact that he wasn't sure if there were any life forms out there that would lend to him. Sure, he had seen a few shrubs here and there, but Hell wasn't exactly a bustling forest.

Lifting up his limp arm, Goku reached out towards the puffy yellow clouds above. In the depths of his heart he yearned for aide, called out to any and all living spirits that could lend forth their power. He believed, through every ounce of his being, that he was fighting for a worthy cause.

And he felt the light rush intohim.

It was the oddest tingling, a warm sensation that flowed through every muscle, bone, and tissue in his body. It soothed him, even in his time of agony, and both of his eyelids flew open as the power rushed down the length of his arm. Goku was but a conduit, that was all. The spirits themselves were creating the small bead of white light that had formed just above his palm. It wasn't his judgment, it was theirs. They wanted this monster to be vanquished even more so than he did.

The monster opened its mouth, revealing rows upon rows of sharp dagger-like teeth. Big globs of saliva hung from the roof, drooping down and splattering onto its purple tongue. The Spirit Bomb was the size of a baseball, and the living spirits demanded that it would be enough.

Jerking his arm forward, he released the attack. The ball disappeared into the back of its throat and then both of Goku's eyes were seared by a blinding flash of light. The beast released him and once again his back slammed onto the the very hard ground.

It was caught in a blazing pillar of white light, like none other he had seen before. As it fell, it shrunk, returning to its natural toddler like form, landing among the rubble, somewhere out of sight.

Goku smiled. He had done it.

The Spirit Bomb was his.

WC: 984
TWC: 4,759