Brothers' Training

At dawn, as the sky began to lighten, two blurs darted through the forest.

"All right, Goten, this spot will do," Son Gohan said, coming to a stop and beckoning him over.

"Mm." Son Goten stopped too and faced his brother. Son Gohan picked up a bunch of pebbles and drew a line some distance away.

"Come on, Goten. Throw those stones at me." Son Gohan, already changed into a blue training outfit, raised a hand to Son Goten. With a bang, he transformed into a Super Saiyan.

"Okay." Son Goten casually picked up a handful of pebbles and tossed them lightly. They shot toward Son Gohan like cannonballs. His expression changed dramatically; he tilted his head and dodged. The stones, carrying Son Goten's terrifying force, passed through the small hill behind him without resistance and vanished into the distance, leaving a hole the size of a pebble.

Son Gohan stared at Son Goten in astonishment. That's a bit much, isn't it? If I hadn't dodged in time, I'd have been disfigured.

"Wait a second, Goten!" Son Gohan hurriedly stopped him when he saw that he was about to continue. Son Goten chuckled to himself. I only threw them with the same force Goten used in the original story.

Son Gohan jogged to the other side and drew another line. "Come on, Goten."

"Here I come." Son Goten tentatively threw another stone. Son Gohan shifted his body and dodged it with ease.

Son Goten grinned. His hands blurred as countless pebbles, thrown with even greater force than before, shot toward Son Gohan. Son Gohan dodged every one. Undeterred, Son Goten transformed into a Super Saiyan too, making the stones fly much faster.

"What?!" Son Gohan was startled again, and his movements faltered. Several stones struck him. He asked in surprise, "Goten, how can you transform into a Super Saiyan?"

"I learned how when I was playing with Trunks." Son Goten scratched his head. Son Gohan felt a pang of frustration. He remembered how much he'd suffered to become a Super Saiyan, while Son Goten had learned with ease. It was so damn discouraging.

Son Goten, however, was also puzzled. Why had Super Saiyans become so common by the Majin Buu Saga? Trunks and Son Goten, two children with no battle experience, had transformed without any trouble at all. Yet Son Goku and the others had all endured tremendous hardship before they could transform. Even Future Trunks had only transformed after Son Gohan's death pushed him to it.

Could Super Saiyan power be inherited?

"Then let's do this, Goten. You can be my sparring partner." Son Gohan abandoned his original plan. They'd make faster progress training together than doing basic exercises like this, especially since they were both Saiyans.

"Here I come, big bro!" Son Goten grinned and darted forward like a nimble monkey, sweeping his leg toward Son Gohan. Son Gohan's instincts screamed a warning. He raised his arm to block the kick.

"Whoa!"

The terrifying force behind Son Goten's kick made Son Gohan cry out in pain and sent him flying. He hurriedly used the Flight Technique to steady himself. He'd underestimated Son Goten and overestimated his own current strength.

Goten's pretty strong, Son Gohan praised him silently. He pushed off the air and charged at Son Goten, who had already chased after him as he flew backward.

Son Goten swung both arms, his fists crashing toward Son Gohan like meteors. Son Gohan swung his arms and struck back.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Bang.

The two became blurs as the sounds of their collisions echoed through the air. Each impact produced a sonic boom. They fought from before dawn until the sun was high in the sky, only stopping when their stomachs began to protest.

"Goten, let's go home and eat first," Son Gohan suggested.

Son Goten nodded. They used the Flight Technique and streaked home like beams of light. But as soon as they got back, Son Gohan saw the unexpected sight outside their house and remembered what he'd forgotten.

"Oh no, I forgot Videl was coming!" Son Gohan covered his face. He seemed to have forgotten because his dad was coming back.

Son Goten looked at the plane outside their house, then at his big brother, and understood what had happened. He sighed to himself. Sigh. Looks like I won't get to train properly for the next few days.

Son Goten couldn't help looking at his big brother. You're a Super Saiyan, for crying out loud. What are you afraid of? They're just a bunch of stupid earthlings. What's the point of being scared? You were the one who defeated Cell, yet some idiot stole the credit.

When had Earth's martial arts reached their peak? The answer was the era when Son Goku and the others were around—people who could destroy the planet in a matter of minutes. And yet, because of that idiot Satan, everyone thought ki was just an illusion. What the hell kind of illusion could make the Earth shake?

He wondered what those earthlings would think if they found out that Satan was, at best, only a little stronger than an ordinary person. Just imagining it made him excited.

Son Goten had already made up his mind. He was going to expose Satan's clownish disguise. Honestly, the person he hated most in Dragon Ball was that lying Satan. He bragged like a big shot in front of the public, then turned into a coward whenever he faced someone stronger. He pretended to have a stomachache or to be injured—why didn't he just drop dead?

Right, in the story, the junior division champion at the World Martial Arts Tournament could challenge Satan. Hey, that was a great opportunity. If Trunks had hit him a little harder in the original story, the world champion Satan would probably have been finished.