Body Snatching Mishap, Prologue

Author's Note:

Okay, so before we get into things I just want to say that my goal with this is to create an entirely unique story, even if we do run into some or all of the same villains as in canon. Among the things that are obviously going to change due to the plot of this fan-fiction, I'll be entirely revising the way transformations and power scaling works. Among the reasons I'm doing this, is so that Zamasu cannot simply tap into SSj/Rose at a time wherein it would break things entirely.

Why don't I just - as an author, out of the continuity of the storyline - make a decision not to have him transform early? Because my goal is for Zamasu to stay realistically in character, and for him not to ascend when he can, in a situation where it would be for the best if he were to, just seems a bit too out of character for my tastes.

As well as this, changes to the continuity and rules of the Dragonverse means that things that wouldn't have happened in the canon universe may very well happen here.

Anyways, that's really all that I have to say before we get into the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Super or anything linked to it. At best, I own this fanfiction and only this fanfiction, not even the characters within.

-BSM-

Zamasu floats in the vacuum of space, his gaze drifting over the seven Super Dragon Balls that he had spent his time tediously collecting. All-in-all, his efforts were made easier once he had… coerced, we'll say, information from Zuno. The Super Dragon Balls, their exact locations, and how to summon the Super Shenron of these all-powerful wish granting balls.
That's not all, however. It would be rather foolish to come this far and have no plan to show for it, now wouldn't it? For Zamasu, a plan isn't a problem - he had one ready from the moment he knew that this was even a possibility.

'I'll use the wish to steal that disgusting Saiyajin Goku's body. Once our bodies have been swapped, I will dispose of him, and anyone else who dares oppose my power. Of course, that's all easier said than done. If able to avoid instant conflict, then I will do my best to take that path…'

Zamasu thinks back to the video he had seen on GodTube, of Goku in the Super Saiyajin beyond God state… not only that, but some sort of power-amplifying technique (the Kaio-Ken, if his memory serves to be correct) had been stacked on top of it.
'Not only did such a mortal manage to attain the power that rivals gods… but he dared to use it in such a haphazard way. The amount of disrespect that he showed with his actions… despicable; however, now is not the time to get angered over such things. It's only a matter of time before somebody figures out my plan, and it would be best for me if I were to stop wasting further time and make this wish.'

A small smile forms on the apprentice Kaioshin's face. Finally, his plan will come into action… he clears his throat, before yelling out the code to summon the eternal dragon of the Super Dragon Balls.
"Saep ytterp hsiw ym tnarg dna, Sdog eht fo Nogard, htrof emoc!" Zamasu had made sure to memorize the phrase perfectly when Zuno told it to him, even if the little addition of 'pretty peas' - even in the language of the gods - sounded utterly absurd.

That 'pretty peas' is paying off, however, as the seven Super Dragon Balls glow bright, their light pulsing in sync before a blinding light shoots up from the center of them. Zamasu shields his eyes, but soon feels himself in the presence of someone… someone whose own presence feels rather intimidating.
Letting his hands fall so that he can see clearly once more, be is taken aback by the scale of the Super Shenron, whose eye alone - no, a single tooth alone - still dwarves the green-skinned Kaioshin.

"Rebmuls ym ot nruter dna ti llifluf yam I taht os ,hsiw ruoy etats. Detnarg eb lliw gnisoohc ruoy fo hsiw eno yna." The massive dragon booms, his voice so powerful that it likely carries for a massive distance, even in the pure vacuum of space.

Wiping some sweat from his brow, Zamasu clears his throat once more and - in his more amateur, non-memorized knowledge of the gods' language - speaks his desire.
"Ukog Nos eno fo ydob eht ekat ot hsiw I!" Though he stumbles over none of the words, they are vague words and it occurs too late to him that it may cause confusion with the dragon. 'If the dragon grows confused, will I simply not get my wish granted?' That would be the preferable option to Zamasu, given that he wouldn't want to find himself in the 'distorted wish' cliche…

Well, unfortunately for him, things don't always go the way one would want them to…

Super Shenron's eyes glow bright, and Zamasu's body begins to subtly glow. "Lleweraf… Detnarg neeb sah hsiw ruoy." The subtle glow around Zamasu's body grows stronger, and the apprentice Kaioshin feels what can only be described as a sudden and searing heat.

As he cries out in pain, the seven Super Dragon Balls shoot off in different directions, scattering until they would be once more collected…

'What is this burning I feel? Is this to be expected with a wish of this kind?' Though there are many questions running through Zamasu's head in the current moment, "What is happening" would be at the top of those. The head seems to 'refine' itself, and the searing heat morphs into a sharp pain as a pulling sensation can be felt on every side of Zamasu.

"What… what is this?!" Zamasu exclaims, looking down at his hand, only to see a ghosted version of it, his true hand still clenched in a fist at his side from the pain. He lurches forward as if pushed from his own body, his ethereal form floating parallel to his physical form as his surroundings seem to blur.

The sharp pain is fading, now, but it is rapidly replaced by a numbing cold. The last thing Zamasu sees before everything goes black, is his body moving without him commanding it to do so. An expression on it that he had only seen on a certain mortal…
'Success…'

-BSM-

"Goku. Goku, are you okay?" King Kai had been observing Goku, when the normally-enthusiastic Saiyajin simply froze in place. His fingers twitched and her almost appeared as if he wanted to curl up into a ball. His ki felt distressed, and this greatly worried the North Kai.

"Goku, say something!" King Kai moved around to the front of Goku, narrowing his eyes and watching carefully. The look in Goku's eyes was very distant, as if Goku were unable to fully focus. What's more, is that that lack of focus was slowly becoming worse. His eyes almost appeared glossed-over.

'Whatever this is, it can't be good-' King Kai is cut off as Goku suddenly releases a yell of immense pain, grabbing at his chest and falling to his knees. "What in the-!?" Goku yells louder with every passing second, capturing the attention of King Kai, Gregory, and Bubbles alike as he writhes in pain.

He falls onto his side, his yells slowly dying down as his jaw goes slack; even more concerning is that Goku's ki entirely disappears, as if he were dead… well, he is, but that isn't the point. If that weren't concerning enough, something strange was occurring now. The glowing halo above Goku's head began to flicker, as if unsure whether or not it belonged. Apparently, its mind was soon made up, as it disappeared without a trace…

Then, life force returned to the body. Goku's ki could once more be felt, but at the same time it felt… different; Unlike it had before. For one, it's now far weaker than it was a second ago, at a level which would be impossible, given that he was just re-invigorated by the life energy that entered him and seemed to revive him.

Goku's eyes opened, and with the new demeanor that's shown on the peace-loving fighter's face, King Kai was able to discern something of the utmost importance. Whoever it is before him, it is no longer Goku in spirit.

-BSM-

Zamasu feels almost as if his entire mind and soul are in an eternal state of numbness when it he comes to for the first time. He looks down to his ethereal form, wiggling his fingers and moving his arms. To be in such a form is certainly a disconcerting sensation, however it is far from unpleasant.

Within seconds, Zamasu falls 'unconscious' once more.

The next time he awakens, it is because he feels a presence rapidly approaching. Time seems to slow down, and Zamasu's gaze locks onto an equally-curious and confused gaze of someone else… this other ethereal being, is none other than Son Goku.

Only more affirmation that his plan had worked. Zamasu smirks, before he's pulled back into unconsciousness.

The final time that Zamasu wakes up, it's with a sense of clarity; albeit a mildly groggy sense of clarity, but he can feel once again. He can truly think. His head rests against the soft grass of some planet. Earth, presumably. He'd truthfully be content to just lie here for a moment, and appreciate the fact that his plan has worked… except the sound of someone nasally clearing their throat causes him to shift his gaze to King Kai.

"Welcome back, Goku." Well then. Zamasu didn't expect to be on the planet of a Kaioshin, let alone one familiar with Goku. This is certainly a bit of a tricky situation, given that it's already clear to Zamasu - from the tone used when King Kai referred to him as Goku - that there's a decently-hefty level of suspicion being thrown his way from the get-go.

Not yet saying anything, Zamasu gets to his feet with a grunt. He looks down to his arms, muscled - bulkier than he remembered Goku being in their fight - with the telltale blue wristbands that Goku had worn in their spar. Just as well as this, Zamasu takes note of the blue undershirt and orange gi that he's wearing.
There's no doubt about it :He's Goku now.

Finally speaking, he once more meets King Kai's gaze. "Oh, hey…!" Darn, he doesn't know the blue Kaioshin's name! This is a complication that he didn't expect, and certainly not one that he had a plan for.

"Hey…?" King Kai crosses his arms, watching 'Goku' with an ever-so-increasingly suspicious gaze. The mannerisms of 'Goku' have taken a large shift since he fell over in pain, and everything is coming together to only further prove King Kai's suspicions.

"Don't try to play games with me - I know that it is no longer Son Goku who is standing before me in that body. All it took was the expressions on your face and the very feeling of your ki in order to discern this." Though this is the case, King Kai isn't necessarily hostile just yet. There's no way to definitively know what just happened and why the presence in Goku's body is no longer Goku.

After a moment of contemplation, Zamasu responds in kind, unnerved by the odd deepness of his voice. It's no doubt Goku's, but it has a sharper, more serious edge to it. Not gravelly, mind you. Almost as if he had lowered his voice to appear more threatening. "You're correct… however, I seem to be in an interesting set of circumstances, to be a mortal training on the planet of a Kaioshin. Would you mind filling me in on what's going on?"

Perhaps using his knowledge of the kais would be a tad much, however a false sense of compliance on this blue Kaioshin's end will certainly lessen the risk of his mind being read. Though he could likely guide the mind reading due to his own mental discipline, there is no telling just where he would have to guide it to in order to disguise his true plans and keep up his facade.

"..." King Kai narrows his eyes behind his circular glasses, responding in kind to not-Goku's question. "The Saiyajin whose body you are currently occupying was training in order to face an impending threat on his home planet. Two other Saiyajins are on their way to Earth in order to gather seven wish-granting orbs and use them for nefarious purposes. It seems only fitting to me that in this odd set of circumstances you would take his place in training and protecting the earth… just until we can figure out what's going on."

It's a bit much to push on someone, but if this mystery being has the knowledge of things in the Otherworld, they no doubt have some fighting experience. Either way, King Kai is cut off by a subtle tug on his conscience. King Kai seems to hone in on something, his antennae twitching and turning until he gets a connection.

'What, if may ask, if the purpose of this?' King Kai thinks into the mental link, which he can feel four other presences in. Three are inherently clear and recognizable as the South, East, and West Kaioshin; however, the fourth one is more… threatening, almost.

'I am the Supreme Kai. You may call me Shin.' Well, that would explain it. King Kai instantly tenses up, however he says quiet. 'I took notice of an instability in the space-time continuum, and after speaking with the other three Kaioskins that watch over the galaxy, it appears that the point of origin would be somewhere on your planet. Has anything suspicious recently occurred?'

'Instability in the space-time continuum, huh…? In fact, something strange has just happened on my planet. The soul within Son Goku has been supplemented by an unknown being, who seems somewhat confused as to why he's here.' Silence fills the telepathic link for a moment, before Shin once more speaks up.

'It's possible that this change in spirit is linked directly to the time-space anomaly, however it's impossible to know for sure unless this mystery spirit can tell you directly. Find out if they are the cause of this, and whether or not it was intentional - just keep in mind the consequences of intentional time travel.' With that, the link is cut.

Time travel in any sort of intentional manner breaks one of the many laws of the Kaioshin, so for anyone to do it in such an irresponsible manner, on top of even time travelling to begin with, will no doubt be served a swift sentencing of some sort. Truthfully, King Kai hopes that it was unintentional, as the fate of a time traveler - though it's just a myth - is said to be life-long indebtment to a task force of fighters who correct time itself… though the more believable punishment is erasure.

During all of this, Zamasu has simply been getting a feel for his body and the energy within. A couple of things are standing out to him, and they're not boding well. For one, he's now certain that Son Goku was not this buff when they had met. Goku had the body of a fighter who had spent decades refining their body to be best-suited for fighting at high, potentially faster-than-light, speeds.
This body was nowhere near that level of refinement.

The power of the body is another issue - even the most extreme case of spirit dissonance in a body change was only documented at leaving the fighter 10% of the body's original power for some time… so why is it that this body feels perhaps millions of times weaker?

As much as Zamasu would like to believe that his mind is playing tricks on him, the nail in the coffin is the mention of the Saiyajins. Zamasu had taken some time to get a brief overview of Goku's past, and a little more or less than twenty years prior to Zamasu meeting Goku, the latter had participated in a fight against two Saiyajins who came to earth for the same reason as this duo King Kai has mentioned: the Dragon Balls.

'Have I accidentally traveled through time? But how is this possible? Could my vague wording in my wish truly have been this consequential?' A feeling of panic wells up in Zamasu. So close, yet so far! Twenty years far, to be exact. This body is many times weaker than his own; he would have had better luck trying to fulfil his plans, had he wished for something such as immortality!

These are things he'll have to handle later, however, as it seems the blue Kaioshin wishes to speak to him.

"So, from what I can discern, you may be linked to some sort of time-space anomaly or some scientific mumbo-jumbo like that. You wouldn't happen to know of any way to time travel, and you especially wouldn't happen to have - of your own intentional will - traveled through time, would you?" King Kai is straight to the point, not wanting to leave any part of the question up for interpretation.

"I was not aware that what I did would send me through time, no, and what's more is that I otherwise only know of one way to travel through time, and it is a method that only the Kaioshin can use. I did not use it to get here." Once again, Zamasu is feeding cherry-picked information to King Kai.

"Is that so? Well, what were you doing prior to this?" King Kai pushes a bit, the phrasing which not-Goku had used ('I was not aware that what I did would send me through time') leading King Kai to believe that this is a bit less innocent than he was hoping.

'Damn. Immediate suspicion is not what I need right now. I have to say something that'll get him to ease up or else I might be out of luck here.' Of course, Zamasu is in no mood to be erased or enslaved for travelling through time and altering the past - something he hadn't even done intentionally, mind you - and so he decides that another half-truth would be for the best.

"I fought the original inhabitant of this body - Son Goku, if I recall correctly - in a short spar. I was impressed by his powers, since for all the talk of Saiyajins being a powerful warrior race, they had for a long time been enslaved, and had their powers effectively crippled in the process. My emotions got the better of me, and so I gathered the Namekian dragon balls, and wished to switch bodies with him."

Zamasu takes a breath, having thought of referring to the Namekian balls - the second-strongest set out of the three - at the last second, before continuing on with his half-baked story.

"I had only intended to change bodies with the Son Goku in the timeline that I hail from, however it seems that I chose a poor phrasing and have - as such - been hurled through time into the body of another Son Goku… with this one being much weaker." Would that be enough? Traveling through time is absurd enough on its own, and Zamasu's hopes are that this will help make his story more believable.

'I don't see any big reason as to why he would lie. It's not impossible that this is someone evil in the body of Goku, but if he was to start causing trouble, there are certainly people in the Otherworld and in the living realm more than capable of stopping him. I think it's best if I give him a chance and simply see what he does in time.' King Kai finishes his moment of inner-debate, and looks to not-Goku with a less serious gaze.

"Tell me your real name, since I can't go around calling you not-Goku or Notku all the time, now can I?" Perhaps funny to him, though not funny to anyone else, King Kai snorts a little at his 'Notku' comment. Zamasu wonders if it would be wise to give his real name, but relents. After all, even if they do confront the Zamasu of this universe, he held far less extreme views towards mortals at this point.

"Zamasu." He clears his throat once more. "My apologies; this voice is deeper and holds a different accent than the one that I'm accustomed to." Seriously, this voice is going to take some getting used to.

"Well, Zamasu. I'm glad that we've been able to clear up the confusion around your arrival. While we could potentially have the Namekians wish you back into your proper body, I feel that it would pose the risk of another incorrect swap. It wouldn't be impossible, so for now we'll refrain from wishing you back to your timeline. You'll instead - as I mentioned earlier - take Goku's place as my pupil." Zamasu nods in a response to King Kai's statement.

"However. In order to train under me, you must show that you have a versatile set of skills. You will do this… by entertaining my muse for humor. Tell me a joke and make me laugh, and I will begin to train you."

'This… is going to be a long year…' Zamasu feels some sweat roll down the side of his face, but he utters out the first joke that he can think of. "A-hem… what uh… what did the wall say to the ceiling? I'll… meet you at the corner…?" Zamasu laughs nervously, watching King Kai with a careful gaze. The blue Kaioshin stares back for a moment… before bursting into a fit of laughter!

"Ahah… hah…" Wiping away some tears and adjusting his glasses, King Kai lets out one final snort. "That joke was definitely acceptable… which means we should discuss your training. Your first week will be entirely meditation, to assist in getting you accustomed to this new body. I have no doubt that you're feeling some degree of dissociation to the world around you, and perhaps even to the body itself. This is normal, and the training we'll be having you do will assist in nullifying that."

"I originally intended to teach you two of my techniques, but to make up for the time that we'll lose I will forego the Spirit Bomb and simply teach you the Kaio-Ken, as it's a far more useful technique." The mention of the Kaio-Ken sparks familiarity in Zamasu, and he thinks back to the video on Godtube…

-BSM-

"Now I'll show you the Kaio-Ken!" With a yell, Goku's aura bursts to life, an almost beautiful mix of blue and red as he stands before Hit. Nothing externally has changed aside from his aura, however the pressure of his presence in Blue has only amplified.

He turns the tides on Hit with relative ease from here, even going so far as to increase his multiplier to ten times. In the end, the fight ends in a stalemate… but there's no denying that Goku displayed a frightening level of power. Even Zamasu acknowledged that.

-BSM-

'The Kaio-Ken technique will be invaluable to my plans. It will be more than wise for me to stick around and train to learn this technique.' Zamasu smirks confidently, nodding. "Alright. Let's get this next week of meditation over with then, so I can get that technique down for the fight to come." Seems like the Saiyajin blood coursing through the veins of Zamasu's new body is having some degree of effect on him.

Though that begs the question: Just how much of an effect will it have as time goes on?

End, Prologue

Thank you all for reading to the end, and please be sure to let me know what you think. Feedback is important to me since the story can only get better with your help!