Dragon Ball: Buu Saga 1. I am Goten

"Damn it, while transmigrating is a good thing, why on earth did it have to be Dragon Ball?"

On Paozu Mountain, a young boy rested his head on his small, tender hands. "Coming to Dragon Ball is one thing, but if I couldn't transmigrate as Son Goku, Vegeta would have been fine too. Turning into Son Goten? What the hell is that?"

The boy grumbled to himself for the nth time and sat up, looking thoroughly annoyed. He had a head of spiky hair and wore an orange martial arts uniform over a black long-sleeved shirt. He was Son Goten, the son left behind by the series protagonist Son Goku after the Cell Games, and the younger brother of Son Gohan. Unlike the original Son Goten, however, this version still retained the Saiyan's signature tail.

"Why the hell am I Son Goten?" Goten thought with a bitter smile. Dragon Ball had beauties, sure, but what good did that do? The lead heroine, Bulma, was Vegeta's wife, and her son was a year older than him. Android 18 was with Krillin, that noseless guy. The only one left was Chi-Chi, who was his own mother, and Videl was already reserved by his big brother.

He felt exhausted; the world was full of malice. According to the plot, Majin Buu was about to appear. Damn it, he had to face such a monstrous boss right after being born. He felt like the most miserable transmigrator of all, forced to face a max-level boss the moment he stepped out of the novice village.

"Forget it, the World Martial Arts Tournament is almost here. I have to reach Super Saiyan 2 before then, or I won't survive," Goten stood up, his eyes narrowing. A golden aura surged around him, his hair and eyebrows turning gold, his eyes a pale green, and even his tail turned a brilliant gold.

Super Saiyan—a form said to appear only once every thousand years, though nowadays, practically every Saiyan could do it.

"Whatever, my life is what matters. Time to train."

Goten gave a wry smile, turned into a streak of light, and bolted toward the distance.

Deep within an unnamed mountain range, Goten's golden aura faded, though he remained in his Super Saiyan state. Even after all this time, he found that the anime he had watched in his past life remained deeply etched in his memory. This, he supposed, was his "cheat."

Goten still remembered that to break through to Super Saiyan 2, one first had to adapt to the Super Saiyan state. As for why Caulifla in Dragon Ball Super could transform into Super Saiyan 2 immediately after learning the first form, Goten figured it was just for the sake of the plot. After all, when Kale went berserk in her Legendary Super Saiyan form, nothing less than a Super Saiyan 2 could stop her. Just how strong the Legendary Super Saiyan was could be seen in the movie Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan; Broly had wiped out four Super Saiyans and Piccolo, a powerhouse comparable to a Super Saiyan, all by himself. There was no arguing with that level of strength.

Under the setting sun, Goten poured out his sweat, working on his fundamentals step by step. The reason Vegeta could never catch up to Son Goku was that his foundation wasn't as solid. Vegeta was born with a power level of a thousand, while Son Goku started at only two. That high initial power gave Vegeta an inflated ego, making him disdain basic training. Son Goku, starting at two, had no choice but to grow stronger step by step.

Before the Cell Games, Vegeta trained frantically, developing the Super Saiyan Second Grade to crush Cell's second form, yet he was still nowhere near Cell's perfect form. Son Goku, on the other hand, treated the Super Saiyan state as his base form, researching the Full Power Super Saiyan. While his power level still couldn't match Cell's, Cell couldn't handle him as easily as he had handled Vegeta.

"Ah, Big Brother is back." Goten, who had been sensing the situation at home, stopped his training. Today was the day Son Gohan went to school, which gave Goten a sense of urgency. He remembered that Broly's appearance happened during this period before the World Martial Arts Tournament. That guy, who was the same age as his father, was an absolute lunatic.

"Forget it, time to head back." Goten used the Flight technique, stepping into the void and speeding toward home.

"How about it, Goten? Does your big brother look cool?" Son Gohan asked, proudly showing off his ridiculous Great Saiyaman outfit.

Goten's mouth twitched. I have a word for you, 'idiot,' but I wonder if you'd listen.

"It's... not bad," Goten squeezed out a forced smile, his face beaming while he cursed internally.

"Haha!" Son Gohan didn't seem to notice the forced smile and struck various ridiculous poses. Goten stepped back unobtrusively, fearing that if he stayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from pulling out a forty-meter-long blade.

Damn it, don't let me find out who taught my brother this. If I catch them, I'll beat the living daylights out of them.

Deep within a mountain thousands of miles away from Paozu Mountain, inside a frozen circular lake, the eyelids of a sleeping man seemed to twitch for a moment, though it might have just been an illusion.