Karochi slowly woke up. For a moment, he felt as if he had returned to the time when he'd first arrived on Planet Vegito.
Back then, he'd also been soaking in a nutrition tank!!
Huh? What the hell, how did I get in here?!
Once he came to, Karochi was completely dumbfounded. He seemed to have lost a chunk of time! He remembered beating that whatever-it-was, the Mimic, and getting onto the aircraft. After that, his memory went blank.
Tsk, he'd probably slept like the dead! He had no idea how Tights had gotten him into the tank. More importantly, she'd even taken his clothes off.
Karochi stepped out of the Healing Tank, water dripping from his whole body! But his injuries had mostly healed, and he no longer felt any pain.
When he reached the control room, Tights was standing in front of the command console, scribbling something down.
"Big Sis Tights! What are you doing?" Karochi asked curiously.
"Well, look who's awake! Our big hero! Not bad—you slept for ten whole hours." Tights exaggerated her expression and deliberately glanced at her watch.
Ten hours? Damn, that was impressive! He could sleep even more than Kakarot.
Thinking about that, Karochi couldn't help grumbling to himself. Weren't Saiyans supposed to get a huge boost in power after recovering from near-fatal injuries? Why didn't he feel any stronger? He probably only had a little over ten thousand in his base form now!
He'd already had more than 9,800! Was that all the increase he'd gotten? Goku had gone to Planet Namek, recovered from a serious injury, and jumped straight from 90,000 to three million.
That was a boost of more than thirty times! How much did a Super Saiyan transformation multiply your power by? Only fifty times. How was that fair?!
Oh! He was the protagonist, so what was wrong with getting a little plot armor? Still, sending Goku, with a power level of only 90,000, to fight Frieza, who had a power level of 120 million, really was like walking into a public toilet with a lantern—looking for shit!
"Big Sis Tights, what are you talking about? What hero?" Karochi shook his head with a bitter smile. Just making it back alive had been pure luck.
If he really had been... No, wait. If he were really that kind of person, he wouldn't have gone to that godforsaken planet in the first place.
He'd have focused on training and made finding the Grand Elder his only goal!
"I'm writing down everything that happened on Bimos. And that strange cosmic phenomenon, too. They're all valuable material." Tights was obviously in a great mood; even her voice sounded much lighter.
Yeah! I've got ten gigabytes of material in my head, but I can't tell her that. Karochi thought to himself.
"Um, Big Sis Tights, do you have anything to eat? I'm just a tiny bit hungry." Karochi scratched his head as he asked.
Wait, were these lousy Senzu Beans expired? Weren't they supposed to keep you from getting hungry for ten days? It had only been ten hours!
If Korin knew, he'd scratch Karochi's face to ribbons. Did he have no idea how much he ate? One meal for him was enough food to last someone else ten days.
"Come on, I prepared something for you ages ago!" Tights took Karochi by the hand and led him toward another cabin.
Huh? She was that nice!? Big Sis Tights, I love you! Kisses~~! The room was packed with food, and Karochi's tears of gratitude flowed nonstop from his mouth!!
He immediately pulled his hand free and threw himself at the food, wolfing it down!
Tights wasn't upset that he'd shaken off her hand. Smiling, she said, "Little Chi, I spotted a planet that's completely encased in ice. Look!!"
Pfft~~!
"Cough, cough, cough~~!" Karochi choked so badly that food came flying out of his nostrils. His face turned bright red as he coughed violently!! What? They were going there too? Just thinking about that damn cosmic wonder made him tremble all over.
Karochi suddenly felt like he wasn't that hungry anymore, and Big Sis Tights didn't seem so lovely after all! He shakily reached out, but Tights grabbed his hand. "Right? You want to go see it too, don't you? The planet is bathed in the light of a star, yet it's completely frozen. Isn't that incredible? I checked, and it's right on our route."
Karochi was about to speak, but Tights cut him off again. "No need to rush. We're still ten days away! Don't worry. Oh, take your time eating. I haven't finished my manuscript yet, so I'm heading back!"
Karochi stared blankly as Tights left. He opened his mouth, but not a single word came out! Weren't you scared? I was!!
Turning his grief and anger into an appetite, Karochi went back to battling the food. What was there to be afraid of? They still had ten days. Even if he couldn't adapt to a hundred times gravity by then, he should be able to handle eighty!
What a fucked-up life. How did that saying go?
Life is like being raped. If you can't fight back, you might as well lie back and enjoy it!!!
After eating, Karochi dove straight into the Gravity Chamber, thinking he'd do what Goku had and crank it up to fifty times gravity. Then he'd get right to work! Instead, he ended up sprawled on the floor.
What the hell, wait! Did I open the door wrong? Did I step in with the wrong foot? I'll change it, okay?! This was so damn awkward. The gravity was so intense that he couldn't move at all.
Luckily, Tights noticed what was happening and shut off the gravity from outside in time.
Tights was furious. She rushed over and twisted Karochi's ear. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get yourself killed? You cranked the gravity up that high all at once! Do you have a death wish?!"
"Ow, ow, ow!" Karochi cried out in pain. Only he knew whether it was real or not. He gave her an ingratiating smile. "Big Sis Tights, let go, let go! I pressed the wrong button, that's all!!"
It was beyond embarrassing. He'd charged in full of confidence, only to end up flat on the floor!!
"Do you know what you did wrong?" Tights gave a huff!
Karochi hurriedly admitted his mistake. "Big Sis Tights, I won't do it again! I didn't expect this, either!!" He was dying inside. Who knew he was so far behind Kakarot?
Karochi really was an idiot. Goku had been twenty-three when he went to Planet Namek, right in the prime of his power growth! And Karochi hadn't even stopped to think about how old he was.
Tights asked in confusion, "What are you afraid of? That kind of cosmic wonder is extremely rare!" Her brow furrowed, utterly perplexed.
Why was a five-year-old kid working so desperately to gain power? Was he trying to avenge his homeworld by killing that Frieza guy?
"Uh...!!!" Karochi was caught off guard by the question and let out a groan!!
What was he afraid of? Of course he was afraid of the enemies in the future!! Compared to the hopeless future ahead, Frieza was just a nobody. Cell, an Android designed by humans, had a ridiculously high power level. In his Perfect Form, he had at least six billion; in his Lightning form, he was on par with a Super Saiyan 2 and had at least ten billion.
King of the Demon Realm Dabura was on par with Lightning Cell, while Majin Buu had a power level of around twenty billion, a nearly immortal body, and limitless stamina!!
Whether the future followed the GT route or the Dragon Ball Super route, it was terrifyingly bleak!! Baby, Super 17, the Shadow Dragons, or the Gods of Destruction and the Tournament of Power.
Sometimes, Karochi didn't even dare think about these enemies!! Just imagining them made him feel like he was suffocating.
"Yeah, Big Sis Tights! That Frieza is really powerful, and one of my people is heading to Earth. It'll probably only be a few years before Frieza finds him! I have to get stronger." He couldn't tell Tights any of that, so he could only go along with her question!
Don't think too far ahead yet. For now, he'd set himself a small goal: reaching a power level of a hundred million!!
"Even so, you can't be so impatient!" Tights softened her tone, sounding as if she were trying to talk some sense into him. Then she asked, "By the way, just how strong is that Frieza you mentioned?"
Tights already knew a little about power levels, especially after the battle on Bimos last time! A fight between two people with power levels of only ten thousand had torn up the ground. That alone showed how terrifying it could be.
Tsk, now that you've asked, I'm wide awake. Karochi cleared his throat and spoke with a drawl. "Frieza belongs to the Frieza Race. In his base form, his power level is 530,000, and he can transform three times!! Calling them transformations isn't quite accurate. His race is naturally born with tremendous power, and they suppress it to a very low level to control that power. When necessary, they can release it. Every time he releases more of his power, he gets several times stronger. Frieza's full-power form has a power level of 120 million!!"
After Karochi finished speaking, he looked at Tights. She had gone completely still, like a puppet, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide!! If you want to know what a look of disbelief looks like, just look at Tights.
"What were you just doing?"
"Oh, I was telling you about Frieza."
"No, no. What were you doing before I came in?"
"I was training~!" Karochi replied, completely puzzled.
Tights hurried out the door, then cupped one hand around her mouth and called back encouragingly, "Little Chi, Big Sis thinks you should really work hard! You're not so little anymore, after all. All right, I'm leaving. Keep it up!!"
With that, she took off!
What the hell~!! She just left like that? My goodness, had she been scared off by what I told her?? Karochi thought, then silently added, I'm sorry. You asked me yourself! I wasn't trying to scare you on purpose.
Karochi came back to himself, slapped his face, and walked over to the machine! If he couldn't handle fifty times gravity, he'd try thirty. He could work his way up little by little.
The gravity machine slowly started up, and Karochi began training again.
Tights sat in the cockpit, watching him. Her brow furrowed deeply! After a moment, she sighed. "This really is hard on you..."
Before you continue