Three Wishes

The brothers stood in the sky above Dr. Gero's laboratory.

Son Gohan thought for a moment, then raised his hand and flung an energy blast downward.

"Boom!"

The energy blast detonated.

Light radiated in all directions, the earth shook, and flames soared into the sky.

The entire laboratory was blown to pieces; a massive mushroom cloud rose into the air, and the thunderous sound of the explosion carried for over a hundred kilometers.

Amidst the intense roar of the blast, this weathered stone forest was leveled in an instant, leaving a crater several kilometers in diameter and billowing with thick smoke.

Looking down at the deep pit, Son Gohan nodded in satisfaction and flew away with Trunks.

The two soon returned to Capsule Corp.

Bulma was still tinkering with the Time Machine.

Son Gohan and Trunks dumped all of Dr. Gero's legacy out at once.

The room, now packed to the brim, left Bulma stunned and speechless.

Had these two brothers gone out to commit a robbery?

Computers, books, notebooks, manuscripts, tables, stasis pods, and even a few lumps of mysterious black material?

"What is all this? Did you find Dr. Gero's laboratory?" Bulma stopped her work, surprised.

Son Gohan nodded. "Yeah, we found it. All of this was moved from Dr. Gero's lab. Aunt Bulma, take a look first—is any of this useful to you?"

"Uh, all of this came from Dr. Gero's place?" Bulma hurried to stand up and rushed over to inspect the items.

Son Gohan said, "That's right. I figured it might be useful to you, so we brought it all back."

Bulma picked up a notebook and flipped through it rapidly.

A moment later, she switched to a manuscript, growing more astonished the more she read.

The more she saw, the more pleasantly surprised she became.

Bulma sighed in endless admiration.

"Dr. Gero was truly a super genius, it's just a pity he went down the wrong path."

"Androids, Perpetual Energy Reactors, genetic engineering... incredible, absolutely incredible. These are all brilliant concepts."

Seeing her so excited, Son Gohan knew he had done the right thing this time.

It was a good thing he hadn't just blasted everything to smithereens.

He asked, "So, how about it, Aunt Bulma? Is this stuff useful?"

Bulma said happily, "Useful? It's incredibly useful! Gohan, you two did a great job. It's wonderful that you didn't destroy all of this."

"Even though Dr. Gero was a big villain, his scientific research results are innocent. With these things, I feel like I've grown a whole new brain."

"Not to mention anything else, my Time Machine should be able to be finished a year ahead of schedule."

"Also, I can draw inspiration from this Perpetual Energy Reactor to build other instruments."

Bulma talked on and on, her face beaming with joy.

It was the first time Trunks had seen Bulma so full of vitality.

In this moment, it was as if Bulma had returned to her energetic, youthful days.

Son Gohan laughed. "So, it sounds like we had a huge haul today. We definitely need to have a feast tonight, haha."

"Mm-hmm, a feast," Bulma replied, not even looking up.

It wasn't until half an hour later that Bulma finally emerged from her ocean of knowledge.

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

"You two, give me a hand. Move all these things into the empty room next door. Remember to sort them and keep them tidy so it's easy for me to reference them later."

The two handsome young men busied themselves again, moving the items back and forth one by one.

Once finished, Son Gohan and Trunks ducked into the Gravity Chamber to train for several hours.

Training is an endless pursuit.

The next day.

The three of them neatly arranged the seven Dragon Balls in an open space near Capsule Corp and summoned Shenron to make their wish.

It was the same familiar procedure, the same familiar recipe.

The sky turned as black as ink in an instant.

After a bout of thunder and lightning, the familiar eastern Shenron circled in the clouds, his two massive, blood-red eyes flashing, his dragon whiskers swaying—noble and mighty.

Truly worthy of being the noble symbol and totem of the East.

"Wow, wow, wow!" Seeing Shenron for the first time, Trunks' eyes lit up as he shouted in amazement.

It was just too cool.

If only he could have a mount like this, Trunks mused, his imagination running wild as drool began to leak from his mouth.

Meanwhile, Dende and Mr. Popo stood at the edge of Kami's Lookout, looking down at the world below; naturally, they saw Son Gohan and the others summoning Shenron to make their wishes.

Shenron came with his own booming sound effects, his voice echoing across the sky: "Humans who have summoned me, state your wishes. I can grant you three wishes, any wish at all..."

Trunks asked excitedly, "Is it really any wish at all?"

"Of course, any wish at all..." Shenron replied.

Son Gohan rolled his eyes, unable to listen any longer.

Does he not know his own limits? Is it really appropriate to brag like that?

Son Gohan looked up at Shenron and grinned.

Feeling Son Gohan's gaze, Shenron's massive dragon body twitched.

That look—is he looking down on me?

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

Silence!

Son Gohan looked at Shenron and smiled, "Since you say so, I'll make a small wish."

Shenron had a bad premonition, but he still replied, "State your wish!"

Son Gohan said, "Please raise my strength to the level of a God of Destruction or an Angel."

Three black question marks appeared over Shenron's head: ???

Then, he fell silent once again.

What the hell! That's absurd!

Is that something I'm capable of doing?

If he weren't a noble dragon, he would have definitely used some colorful language.

Son Gohan looked at him, and he looked back at Son Gohan.

After a few seconds of silence, he lowered his head: "I-I'm sorry, that wish is beyond the scope of my power. Please choose a different wish."

Son Gohan said, "But you just said any wish at all."

"I-I'm sorry, any wish within the scope of my power is possible; what you just asked for is beyond my capabilities," Shenron continued to explain.

Watching Shenron's crestfallen expression, something inside Trunks shattered.

Where is the majesty of the dragon?

Although he didn't know exactly what a God of Destruction or an Angel was.

The fact remained that Shenron could not grant just any wish.

Shenron had been bluffing.

His image collapsed in an instant!

So, what wish should they make?

As for what the wishes were, the three of them had actually discussed them the night before.

The first wish: resurrect all the humans killed by the Androids.

The number of humans killed by the Androids was countless, totaling several billion.

But that was data accumulated over more than a decade.

Shenron could only resurrect those who had been killed within the last year.

This wish was completed easily.

Countless humans were resurrected, looking around in confusion.

Total number of people resurrected: 250 million.

It was clear just how brutal and bloodthirsty 17 and 18 were.

To slaughter hundreds of millions of people in just one year—it was truly terrifying.

Even demons would have to get tattoos of 17 and 18 on their bodies.

The second wish: restore the cities and various facilities on Earth that had been destroyed by the Androids.

This wish was also completed easily.

However, because the current population of Earth was so small, many cities became ghost towns immediately after being restored.

Years later, overgrown with weeds and vines wrapping around buildings, they looked like haunted cities.

From now on, this world would be free of those warriors struggling against the heavens known as mortgage slaves, which was, in its own way, a kind of beauty.

The third wish: strengthen the Earth, making it more resistant to damage.