Instant Transmission

West City, 300 meters underground.

This was Capsule Corporation's top-secret S-class research and development center. There were no windows, and all four walls were made of special alloy capable of withstanding a nuclear blast. The ventilation system hummed faintly in the corner.

Dr. Gero stood in the middle of the hall, staring blankly at the ring of floating consoles and holographic projectors around him. Back in the Red Ribbon Army, funding had always been tight, so he'd been able to do little more than sketch out the cutting-edge equipment he dreamed of on scraps of paper. Now it was all laid out before him as if it were common as cabbage.

"Gravity Wave Constraint Device, High-Precision Molecular Reconstructor..." Dr. Gero's thin fingers trembled slightly. To a mad scientist, this wasn't a basement. It was a holy temple.

"All this equipment is yours to use."

Son Goku's voice brought Gero back to his senses. He walked over to the console, brimming with confidence. "Bulma will give you the highest research clearance. Rare metals from the deep sea, extraterrestrial elements from meteorites—just give her a list, and everything will be delivered to your lab within a week."

Gero spun around. His eyes, peering through his thick glasses, blazed with fervor.

"In return," Son Goku said, his voice quiet but chillingly cold, "your research must obey me or Bulma absolutely. I'll provide you with Saiyan cells and let you pursue whatever research you have in mind. But that absurd idea of turning living people into machines? Throw it all in the trash."

Gero swallowed.

He'd dealt with all sorts of ruthless people, and his instincts told him that this seemingly mild-mannered boy would be a hundred times more terrifying than that idiot Red Tess if he ever turned hostile.

"Understood!" Gero bowed obediently. "As long as I can continue studying life sciences, I'm at your service."

After laying down the law with the future father of the androids, Son Goku didn't stay long in West City.

Summoning Shenron would attract too much attention, so to avoid trouble, he took Bulma and the seven Dragon Balls and flew on the Flying Nimbus to a deserted island near the equator.

The sea breeze carried a salty tang, and endless deep-blue waters stretched in every direction.

"This will do."

Bulma climbed down from Son Goku with the case in hand and lined up the seven Dragon Balls on a flat reef. When the seven orange spheres came together, the red stars inside them began to flash in unison, as if calling upon some ancient law.

"Come forth, Shenron!"

Bulma clasped her hands together and shouted.

The sky changed. The cloudless heavens were completely covered by dark clouds in just a few seconds. The clouds hung low, golden lightning rolling and tearing through them, while rumbling thunder made the rocks beneath their feet tremble.

Day suddenly turned to night, and the howling wind whipped up waves that crashed against the shore.

Roar!

A long, majestic dragon's cry pierced the clouds.

Brilliant golden light burst through the dark clouds, and a colossal Eastern dragon covered in blue-green scales, hundreds of meters long, descended in a spiral. Its massive body blotted out the sky, radiating an overwhelming presence.

Shenron lowered its enormous head. Its eyes, like two red lanterns, fixed on the pair below, and its voice boomed like thunder. "You who have gathered the seven Dragon Balls, speak your wish. Any wish at all, I can make it come true..."

Before it could finish, Shenron's gaze fell on Son Goku beside Bulma.

Its arrogant red pupils suddenly contracted.

To Shenron's senses, the black-haired boy below was like a bottomless abyss. Amid the boundless energy surrounding him, Shenron could sense an extraordinarily powerful force.

Shenron's enormous body stiffened ever so slightly in midair.

It had been created by the Guardian of Earth, and its power was bound by his limits. Yet the energy of the boy before it was countless times greater than the Guardian's!

In midair, the majestic dragon cleared its throat. Its thunderous voice softened a little. "Ahem... So, are you the ones who wish to make a wish?"

Bulma didn't notice anything unusual about Shenron. She turned and stepped aside to make room for Son Goku.

Son Goku stepped forward, facing the gale and looking straight into those enormous eyes. "Shenron, I want the Yardratian technique known as Instant Transmission. Grant me this ability perfectly."

Shenron fell silent for a long moment, a distinctly human look of embarrassment flickering in its huge eyes. It twisted twice among the clouds, then lowered its head. "I'm very sorry, but I can't grant that wish."

"You can't?" Son Goku raised an eyebrow. He knew Shenron wasn't all-powerful, but hearing it refuse still left him a little disappointed.

"That's right," Shenron explained quietly.

"My power comes from the god who created me. That kind of higher-dimensional spatial technique involves profound principles of ki control, which the user must comprehend for themselves. I can't simply force the results of such training into your body. It's beyond my abilities."

Bulma had heard every word and couldn't help but complain, "There are things even Shenron can't do? I thought you were all-powerful."

Shenron was stumped, but intimidated by Son Goku's aura, it pretended not to hear. "However, I can still help if you want a tangible object or wish to bring someone back to life! Choose another wish, mighty one."

Son Goku wasn't discouraged. It would have been strange if he could simply get his hands on such an ultimate spatial technique by making a wish on Earth's Dragon Balls. If Shenron couldn't grant him the skill directly, he'd try another approach.

"If you can't give me the ability, then give me the coordinates of Planet Yardrat," Son Goku said after a brief calculation.

Shenron's eyes visibly brightened, as if it had just breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's simple. As you wish."

The moment the words left its mouth, Shenron's eyes erupted with two blinding beams of red light.

Son Goku felt a faint warmth between his brows as the coordinates of Planet Yardrat quickly flooded into his mind.

Wish fulfilled, Shenron let out a long cry. It seemed unwilling to spend another moment in front of the boy with the terrifying aura. Its enormous body coiled up, then shot straight into the heavens as a streak of golden light.

At the top of the clouds, the golden light scattered, turning back into seven ordinary stone spheres that shot off in different directions across the world.

The dark clouds receded, and sunlight fell over the reef once more. The sea breeze grew gentle again.

Son Goku slowly opened his eyes. The depths of his gaze seemed to reflect a sea of stars. He now had the ticket that would take him into the universe.

"That's it?" Bulma came over and studied him curiously. "Do you really have the coordinates to that planet in your head now? What do we do next? With Earth's level of technology, we can't build an interstellar spaceship anytime soon."

"That's why I kept Dr. Gero."

Son Goku gazed at the rolling sea, his voice brimming with confidence. "With the two of you as the greatest brains around, you're bound to find a way!"

Bulma watched Son Goku's tall, straight back. She knew that the boy's gaze had already moved beyond this blue planet, fixed on the vast sea of stars beyond.