Three Wishes

The two brothers hovered above Dr. Gero's laboratory.

Son Gohan thought for a moment, then raised a hand and fired an energy blast down at it.

Boom!

The blast exploded.

Light flared in every direction. The earth shook, and flames shot skyward.

The entire laboratory was blown apart. A massive mushroom cloud rose into the air, and the roar of the explosion carried for over a hundred kilometers.

The blast flattened the weathered stone forest in an instant, leaving a crater several kilometers wide as thick smoke billowed upward.

Looking down at the crater, Son Gohan nodded in satisfaction and flew off with Trunks.

They soon returned to Capsule Corp.

Bulma was still tinkering with the Time Machine.

Son Gohan and Trunks unloaded everything they had taken from Dr. Gero's lab.

The roomful of stuff left Bulma staring in disbelief.

Had these two gone on a robbery spree?

Computers, books, notebooks, manuscripts, tables, hibernation pods—even a few lumps of blackened material?

"What is all this? Did you find Dr. Gero's laboratory?" Bulma asked, setting down her work.

Son Gohan nodded. "Yeah, we found it. We brought all this back from his lab. Aunt Bulma, take a look and see if any of it's useful to you."

"Wait, all of this came from Dr. Gero?" Bulma hurried over to inspect it.

"Yeah. I thought you might find it useful, so we brought it all back," Son Gohan said.

Bulma picked up a notebook and flipped rapidly through its pages.

Then she switched to a manuscript. The more she read, the more astonished she became.

And the more delighted.

Bulma couldn't stop marveling at it.

"Dr. Gero really was a genius. It's a shame he went down the wrong path."

"Androids, the Perpetual Energy Reactor, genetic engineering... Incredible. These are brilliant ideas."

Seeing how excited she was, Son Gohan knew he'd made the right call.

Good thing he hadn't destroyed it all with an energy blast.

"So, Aunt Bulma, this stuff is useful?" he asked.

"Useful? It's incredibly useful! Gohan, you two did the right thing. I'm so glad you didn't destroy it."

"Dr. Gero was a terrible person, but his scientific discoveries weren't to blame. With all this, I feel like I've grown a second brain."

"For one thing, I should be able to finish the Time Machine a year ahead of schedule."

"And I can draw on the Perpetual Energy Reactor to build other devices."

Bulma kept talking, her face bright with joy.

It was the first time Trunks had seen her so full of energy.

For a moment, Bulma seemed like her driven younger self again.

"Sounds like we got quite a haul today," Son Gohan said with a laugh. "We've got to have something special for dinner."

"Mm-hmm, something special," Bulma replied without looking up.

Only after half an hour

did Bulma finally emerge from the sea of knowledge.

The first thing she did was put Son Gohan and Trunks to work.

"Give me a hand and move all this into the empty room next door. Sort it properly and arrange it neatly so I can find what I need later."

The two young men got busy again, carrying everything over piece by piece.

When they finished, Son Gohan and Trunks went into the Gravity Chamber to train for a few hours.

There was no end to training.

The next day.

The three of them arranged the seven Dragon Balls on an open patch of ground near Capsule Corp and summoned Shenron to make their wishes.

It was the familiar ritual, just as they remembered it.

The sky turned pitch-black in an instant.

After a burst of lightning and thunder,

the familiar eastern dragon coiled among the clouds. His enormous blood-red eyes gleamed, and his whiskers swayed. He looked noble and imposing.

No wonder the dragon was such a revered symbol of the East.

"Whoa!" Trunks had never seen Shenron before. His eyes shone as he cried out in amazement.

He's so cool.

How great would it be to ride him? Trunks got so carried away that he started to drool.

Meanwhile, Dende and Mr. Popo stood at the edge of Kami's Lookout, gazing down at the world. Naturally, they saw Son Gohan and the others summoning Shenron.

Shenron's booming voice rang across the sky. "Humans who summoned me, state your wishes. I shall grant you three wishes—anything you desire..."

"Really? Anything?" Trunks asked excitedly.

"Of course. Any wish..." Shenron replied.

Son Gohan rolled his eyes. He couldn't listen to this anymore.

Doesn't he know his own limits? Why make a claim like that?

Son Gohan looked up at Shenron and grinned.

Under his gaze, Shenron's massive body gave a twitch.

Is he looking down on me?

A bead of sweat the size of a fist rolled down the green dragon's forehead.

Silence.

"Well, since you put it that way, I'll make one little wish," Son Gohan said with a smile.

Shenron had a bad feeling, but he answered anyway. "State your wish!"

"Please make me as strong as a God of Destruction or an Angel," Son Gohan said.

Three black question marks seemed to pop up over Shenron's head: ???

Then he fell silent again.

What the hell? That's ridiculous!

How am I supposed to do that?

If he hadn't been the noble Shenron, he would have had a few choice words for Son Gohan.

Son Gohan stared at him. Shenron stared back.

After several seconds of silence, Shenron lowered his head. "S-sorry. That wish is beyond my power. Please make another."

"But you just said you could grant any wish," Son Gohan said.

"S-sorry. I can grant any wish within my power. What you asked for is beyond it," Shenron explained.

Seeing Shenron's downcast look, Trunks felt something inside him shatter.

What happened to Shenron's dignity?

He had no idea what Gods of Destruction or Angels were.

But one thing was clear now: Shenron couldn't grant every wish.

Shenron had been bluffing.

The awe-inspiring image shattered instantly!

So what should they wish for?

In fact, Son Gohan and the other two had already settled on their wishes the night before.

First wish: revive the people killed by the Androids.

The Androids had killed countless people—billions of them.

But that total covered more than a decade.

Shenron could only revive those killed within the past year.

The wish was granted without difficulty.

Countless people returned to life, looking around in bewilderment.

Total revived: 250 million.

That showed just how vicious and bloodthirsty Android 17 and Android 18 were.

They had slaughtered hundreds of millions in a single year. It was horrifying.

Even demons would have tattooed "17" and "18" on themselves to look tougher.

Second wish: restore the cities and infrastructure the Androids had destroyed across Earth.

That wish was granted just as easily.

But with so few people left on Earth, many of the restored cities stood empty.

Years later, weeds would run wild and vines would climb the buildings, turning them into ghost towns.

At least this world would no longer have people fighting a desperate battle to pay off their homes. That was something good.

Third wish: strengthen Earth so it could withstand more punishment.