Hello again! Thank you for being so patient with me in getting through the last few chapters. They were a handful, but essential to the story. Now it's time to move onwards.

And speaking of time, this chapter involves a jump of it ;)

Based on MasakoX's What If series "What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?", but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.

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CHAPTER 22: OF SPIRIT AND TIME

Today was their last day of being students under Kami, and Gine was hardly recognizable.

Gone was the woman riddled with doubt from decades of put downs. Gone was the woman afraid of standing for what she believed in. Gone was the woman holding herself back from exploring what she was truly capable of. Gone was the woman haunted by guilt and self-loathing over a past that was beyond her control. And gone was the woman who only thought herself as being nothing more than a weakling.

In her place was a Saiyan woman who had come to terms with the potential found within her from that fateful spirit journey. A warrior in the making who fully immersed herself into Kami's training. A true martial artist who dedicated herself to mastering her abilities, and to become more powerful than what her home world destined her to be.

Three long years of training under the tutelage of the Guardian of the Earth had changed Gine. She was calmer now, and at peace with her power. Though she retained her blunt way of talking and the melancholy of a mother who lost her eldest child. She still wore her trademark green and purple dress gi, it being modified by Kami's magic to act as two-hundred kilo weighted clothing. But most of all, her eyes were brimming with the same pure determination shared by her son for one thing: to get stronger.

She pushed herself hard, and pushed Kakarot just as hard too. Weeks upon weeks they would spar until they battered each other into immobility, and took desperately needed rest periods to recuperate before doing the process all over again. In addition, they would venture through the myriad number of quests that Kami would assign them to with the Pendulum Room. Along the way they would make occasional visits to Earth to learn new things befitting of their quests, from meeting Roshi's old master to dodging lightning on mountains. So far, their progress had been very fruitful. Now Gine was twice as strong than she was when they first arrived at the Lookout, and she believed she can push herself further.

Kakarot had changed even more so. At eighteen, he had become an adult after shooting up in height and his infliction deepening an octave. He was a full head taller than his mother nowadays. The quiet and reserved manner of Gine was a stark contrast to him with his ever present cheerfulness. He had a lot to be happy about, as the time spent training with his mother had been some of the most fun-filled and fulfilling days of his young life. She had taught him everything she knew, and was the greatest sparring partner he could ever want. Even though his mother was far stronger and more experienced than him, his never-give-up attitude kept him in fights long after he should have called it quits before getting seriously injured. Thanks to that kind intense training coinciding with his growth spurt, his power had nearly quintupled since he arrived. He had not surpassed his mother yet, but he was very close to bridging that gap. And as much as he matured physically, he never outgrew the traditional orange fighting tunics of the Turtle Hermit school he always admired.

The most important training days however, were the days when they were not literally shaking the heavens with the force of their own exchanged blows. No, it was the days during which they would meditate to train their minds and their spirits.

Gine practically begged Kami and Popo to teach her everything they knew about meditation. She had made it her mission to master it in order to refine and harness the power that was dormant within her. After many months of sometimes emotionally painful practice, she did, thanks to Kami's guidance and his soothing presence.

Through it, Gine was able to better control her emotional energy. To cleanse her thoughts at will even from the most distressing verbal provocations, or to call up rage when needed. From there, she honed the ability to channel that anger in her pacified state into usable ki for fighting as she did before in her spirit quest to Xai Celnussia IV. After figuring out how to combine it with sensing her opponent's ki as Popo showed her, Gine had rediscovered the means to which she beat Naga. By summoning these rage-based "boosts" she could temporarily increase her speed, reflexes, and raw strength by several times.

It's main drawback was that it siphoned a lot of energy out of her, as Gine discovered when she first used it in her spirit quest. But with conditioning her body and mind, she could extend it's duration little by little, and provide herself a reserve of stamina whenever she fell out of that state so she could at least defend herself.

Gine couldn't thank Kami enough for guiding her through that very draining process. For the road was painful, where the energy called forth with the emotions nearly destroyed the Lookout numerous times and spent days afterwards crying from the flood of so many powerful memories. It took almost a whole year and a lot of broken tiles to try and call it forth without destroying the place. She thought she'd have lost her mind without him.

But so far she only practiced using those boosts sparingly, and only did so during her solo form fighting out of fear that she might accidentally kill Kakarot with it. Besides, the Lookout was too small and fragile of a battle ground to use it.

That is until the final task that was before her.

By now, Kami had nothing left to teach them. Gine's and Kakarot's abilities had already surpassed his not long after they arrived three years ago. Now that they had been helped with his knowledge of the power of mind and spirit, the mother and son duo had become something far more powerful than anything this planet had ever seen. There wasn't anything left that could even remotely challenge them...

Except for one thing. A certain room inside the Lookout that had not been used for over a century, the last time by Kami himself. It was a place he dared not enter again, nor would he subject any student of his to it's extreme properties.

But Gine and Kakarot were no ordinary students. If they really wished for something that would put everything they learned to the test, then this would be the challenge they needed. And all they had to do would only take at most a few hours... at least technically.

He just hoped that they were strong enough to weather it.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked Kami, his back to a massive mahogany doorway in the main temple.

"I am." Gine nodded confidently. She stood side by side with Kakarot, both of them facing Kami and Mr. Popo. She had been warned of the dangers of her final assignment, and they weren't backing down.

"It won't be pleasant. You risk a fate far worse than death if you are not fully prepared."

"You know us by now, Kami. We never back down from a challenge!" Kakarot declared, clenching a fist and his eyes beaming with excitement.

Kami breathed out through his nose. "It's more than just that, Kakarot. I cannot stress how careful both of you should be in there. Once the door is locked, it's out of my hands until the time limit I set has been reached."

"I think we understand the consequences, Kami. You have explained them to us quite thoroughly." She repeated patiently, "One day out here equals a year inside that Time Compression Chamber."

"Hyperbolic Time Chamber." Mr. Popo corrected.

Of all the things she learned during her time on the Lookout, the concept of a place that can manipulate the passage of time was something Gine had trouble wrapping her head around. But all that mattered was that the hazards Kami had warned them about it had some semblance of a challenge to truly test her power.

"Right." She then added, "As long as we don't wonder off or let the isolation get to us in there, we'll be fine. Is that correct?"

"That is the long and short of it, yes." Kami replied.

"Then we are ready."

The Guardian of the Earth looked at her as if she was crazy. He almost died the last time he used the Room of Spirit and Time despite being in his prime. Yet the Saiyans disregarded, no, welcomed the danger. It flew in the face of almost everything he taught them.

But then again this was Gine and Kakarot he was talking to, the bravest and strongest students he ever had. They had learned so much from him over the last three years, and had proven time and time again that they could best every obstacle he put before them through their sheer tenacity.

He chuckled. "I don't doubt for a moment that you will succeed. Forgive me for being so cautious, Gine. It's just that with the dangers of the chamber, I've never known anyone who wasn't scared of it no matter how much they prepare themselves."

"I understand what you mean." Gine smiled back. "Don't worry, Kami. We're Saiyans, we can take it."

"Yeah! Whatever we face in there, we'll overcome it no matter what!" Said Kakarot with a determined grin.

"Very well then, I shall not stop you." With that, Kami stepped aside.

"I've restocked the food storages in there, so hopefully you two should have plenty to eat for the duration." Said Mr. Popo. He grabbed the golden door handle and pulled it open. It creaked eerily loud.

"Good luck, Gine. Kakarot. You're going to need it."

Mother and son looked into the rectangular aperture of blinding white light. They felt a ominous beckoning from it, that once they crossed it's threshold, they may never see the sun again.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Gine thought.

"Thank you, Kami. You too, Mr. Popo." She said, being the first to walk forward into the doorway.

"See ya in four months!" Kakarot gave the thumbs up as he followed after his mother.

Mr. Popo slowly closed the door. It sealed shut with a click that seemed to resonate throughout the Lookout...

...

Gine and Kakarot looked at the door closed behind them. The moment it locked, the sense of being cut off from the outside world set in. For they could no longer sense the ki signatures of Kami or Mr. Popo right outside, or even the energy of all the living things below on planet Earth.

They looked around to see a tiled circular room much like the spired wings of the Lookout's temple. Gine noticed off to the right of the entrance were a pair of purple curtained beds and a wooden table, to the left what looked like a stone kitchen and a bathroom. The pottery and marble walls were pitted with age, looking hundreds if not thousands of years old but they added elegance to this room's simplistic design.

"Huh, this place looks kinda homey." Kakarot said out loud as he walked around. His voice seemed to carry an echo before he even spoke, as if it were a telepathic thought. There was no sound here. In fact, it was so deathly quiet that every footstep they took carried an echo.

Gine took a breath, then frowned. The air in this place was surprisingly much thinner than the high altitude air of the Lookout. She had to draw as much as her diaphragm would allow to get as much of a gulp of oxygen as she would outside, and it was quite an effort. It was hot too, she felt herself sweating even though they had just stepped inside. To top it all off, there was an omnipresent glow of white light that made everything shine so bright that she had to keep squinting.

Were these the conditions of the living quarters? She thought. Not even the harshest planets she had been to had such a difficult place to shelter in. Already this place was getting to her.

"WHOA!" Kakarot gasped. The loud echo startled Gine, and she ran to her son to see what caught his attention.

She stopped beside him, and her jaw dropped.

For beyond the stairwell that led down from the living area, there was nothing. Absolute nothingness.

"It-it's just empty space!" Gine stuttered in awe.

There was a solid white surface or floor at the bottom of the stairwell, and it stretched out to a horizon that looked so far away. It was not curved liked a planet, but flat. It must be literally millions, or even billions of miles away! How was that even possible?! How far did it go?!

"It's not just a room, it's another dimension." Gine remembered Kami saying. But still, it was mind-boggling to see it for herself.

Gine looked up and saw that the "sky" inside this place was just a white void, as if she was looking into space in negative. If the horizon was as far away as it seemed, she was terrified to think about how vast and empty the area above them was. It made her feel so small and insignificant.

There was no sun or single source of light anywhere. It was just all iridescence from every direction that lit everything. She looked down and saw she and Kakarot didn't cast any shadows.

Most unnerving of all was that neither of them could feel the presence of anything as they reached out with their minds deeper into this chamber. There was nothing or no one else out there. They were all alone in an entire plane of reality outside the universe.

"We have to spend four months in here?!" Gine shrieked, half flabbergasted and half in dread. The empty space carried her words across the eternal flat plain so well she couldn't tell where her voice ended and her thoughts began. It was as if the chamber itself was openly taunting Gine to gaze upon all of it's unfathomability.

"Amazing..." Kakarot whispered as he walked down the stairway. He couldn't take his eyes off of the line that acted as the boundary between the sky and the ground that stretched out to infinity.

Kakarot's foot touched the white floor. Then, he suddenly crumpled over with a yelp, planting his face hard into the solid ground.

"OW!"

"Kakarot!" Gine cried out in alarm, her motherly instincts overwriting her actions as she ran to his side. As soon as she jumped off the stairway, Gine exclaimed in shock as her whole body was tugged downward too. Her feet making thudding sounds as she landed.

"What the?" She grunted in astonishment while trying to stay upright. "The gravity of this place!"

She bent her knees to test the strength of the downward force. It felt familiar, nostalgically so.

Her eyes widened, "This feels just like planet Vegeta's gravity!"

But she still felt her insides and her limbs were as heavy as anvils. She must have gotten so used to Earth's. But at least she was standing.

Kakarot was splayed on the floor like a starfish. "What?! This was what our home planet was like?!" He said incredulously. He strained just to turn his face to look at her.

"That's right." Gine confirmed.

"Wow! This is intense!"

He pressed his hands against the floor and tried to push himself up, but got only a few inches high.

"H-how did you ever... live with this gravity, Mom?! You gotta be super strong... just to stand up!" He said between pushes, breathing hard in the wispy thin air.

Gine looked at her son struggling to stand. It occured to her then that Kakarot had never experienced their home planet's gravity since that fateful last day on it when he was still a baby.

"We were just used to it, I suppose." She answered distantly, flexing her arms around to test how well she moved.

Kakarot, however, was having a harder time moving. He pressed himself up higher. His arms trembled from the strain, and he gritted his teeth as if he was lifting the weight of the entire Lookout on his back. Fat droplets of sweat stung his eyes from the effort and the heat inside the chamber.

"You need help, Kakarot?" Gine asked.

"Nope... I'll manage." He croaked out, working a foot under his center of mass.

After a few minutes of agonizing effort, Kakarot managed to prop himself onto his feet with his hands off the ground and his knees bent. He gave his mother a weak smile while catching his breath.

Fighting against his own weight, Kakarot turned on his heel like a turtle with a cumbersome shell. He tried to walk, which was more like crouching low before lumbering forward one step at a time. His footfalls making thudding sounds with every step.

Gine stood out a ways to let Kakarot experiment with the high gravity. With how he struggled, she felt Deja vu at how she was basically teaching him how to walk again like a toddler, even though he was a young man now.

He grew up so fast...

Kakarot then turned to face her. "A-alright then, let's get started."

He grunted to hold his arms up in his trademark fighting stance.

"Go ahead, Mom. Attack me."

"Huh?" Gine looked at her son surprised. "Are you sure, son? Don't you want to get more used to the gravity first?"

"W-well, no time like the present for me to get used to it, eh?" He quipped.

Gine chuckled, "I guess so."

Her son was always one to jump eagerly into a new challenge and learn as he went. There was no changing his mind sometimes. But he did have a point, they may as well get their training in here started. And it was about time he got to experience the conditions of his heritage.

"Okay then, get ready!" Gine warned as she crouched into her own stance. Already she was getting reacquainted to the feeling of Vegeta's gravity.

Mother and son locked eyes with each other, the look they shared when their battle-hungry blood flowed in preparation of a good fight to come.

Gine launched herself at Kakarot with a flying kick... that met him square in the jaw and floored the younger Saiyan.

He hit to the ground hard with a solid clunk, and splayed like before. Now groaning in even more pain. She looked down at her son in a mix of worry and consternation.

"What happened? You should've easily been able to dodge that!" Gine chided.

Kakarot rolled over, the pull keeping him spread armed on his back. His cheek was turning red and he looked at her sheepishly.

"Heh, I guess this gravity makes me a little slow to move." He laughed weakly.

Gine sighed and shook her head. "Looks like this is gonna take awhile if you can't even defend yourself."

Kakarot painfully rolled onto his knees and took a few more minutes to force himself back up, a couple seconds quicker than before though. "Yep...but if there's one thing we got, it's awhile."

She had to concede to that. They truly did have all the time in the world.

"Yeah, I guess that's true too." She said with a smile. They meant what they said to Kami before entering: whatever they faced, they will overcome. This was one of those, and it was still going to be a rather fun time... She hoped.

Without hesitating further, the both of them go into their stances.

"Alright. Let's try again..."

Tried again, Kakarot did. Again and again, falling over each time a little slower than every previous attempt. Until that trend peaked, then declined as the fatigue from just staying upright in ten times Earth gravity and thin air began to take their toll. Finally the last hit his mother threw at him knocked him out cold. Gine had to drag her son's unconscious body back up the stairway into the main living area for him to sleep it off. Once he woke up, they tried yet again...

Over the next three weeks, Kakarot slowly acclimated to the gravity through this tough process. After adding basic exercises to his trying to spar for as long as he could before Gine decked him, he eventually he had gotten strong enough that he could stay standing up without feeling winded. Then he could walk and run without running out of breath. And finally, he and Gine could fight in earnest.

But the time it took for him to adapt to the gravity was nowhere near as difficult as it was for both of them to adjust to the chamber itself. Every breath they took was a struggle to get all the air they need to not pass out. Even in their sleep they often had trouble gasping for air and lead to them having nightmares of perpetual drowning, leaving them waking up every morning having their energy recharged but psychologically tired. The internal temperature would also change from furnace hot to subzero freezing without warning, which created some interesting weather for them to do their sparring in. One minute they would be near-frost bitten from frigid winds to feeling as if they were burning alive in the next moment.

As the "days" went by, they noticed that there wasn't any night or day at all here. So when they felt sleep encroach upon them, it was very disorienting to have to go to bed with the omnipresent glare of light. Gine was thankful that the cots came with curtains and blindfolds, or else these conditions combined with sleep deprivation may have driven her insane by day seven. Kakarot seemed to adjust to it more easily, taking everything in stride with a nonchalance that made Gine somewhat jealous of. But internally, her son was also feeling overwhelmed by how harsh it was just to live here.

The constant extremes of discomfort, the total isolation within their own pocket universe, the inability to get proper sleep, and the inability to alleviate their burning lungs all combined made Gine and Kakarot undoubtedly think that this place is what Hell was like.

But this was more than a test of endurance. They were here to put the skills they learned to the test as part of the final stage of training. For Gine and Kakarot needed the calming of meditation to get through this.

Gine was thankful that Kami helped her refine her mental and emotional control techniques. It helped her blot out the discomfort somewhat and let the conditions of the place work her body, making her stronger little by little. Kakarot would do the same too with her in between spars, but he did not have the patience for it as much as she did. He would do sets of push-ups, laps around the building, and sit-ups instead; then take rather long naps. He was restless and needed to work it out, but he was getting stronger every day...

...

Gine stood a ways off from Kakarot as he did his workout. It got unbearably hot in there that day so she had removed her dress-gi's top portion, and tied the long sleeves around her waist like a sash below the pink tube top she wore to cover herself. It was much lighter on her upper body for combat, giving her extra flexibility but keeping the added weight for the training. Not to mention that her dress gi was getting tattered. Kakarot wore just his blue undershirt, orange trousers, and boots.

She eyed the two giant hourglasses of sand that flanked the main building of the chamber. One glass's sand flowed downwards showing the passage of time outside, while the much larger second hourglass had sand flowing upward, showed the passage of time inside.

One minute of real time out there was six hours, five minutes, and fifteen seconds in here.

Or... one minute in here was... Gine did the math in her head... zero point one-six seconds out there. Probably enough time to blink.

That amount of time dilation made her head spin, and it made the extreme conditions in here seem that much more torturous. If she didn't have Kakarot in here, Gine couldn't imagine surviving this long in here alone. She shuddered to think what a full year would be like.

Only three months to go, she thought.

"Nine hundred and ninety-eight!... nine hundred and ninety-nine!... ONE THOUSAND!" Kakarot let himself fall and rolled onto his back from his last pushup. After catching his breath, he sprung onto his feet as if he weighed nothing.

"Alright! All warmed up!"

"Are you ready to beat me this time? Or am I going to have to toss you back to your cot again?" Gine teased.

Kakarot looked at her seriously. "Oh, I'm ready alright. I don't feel this gravity anymore!"

"Hyah!" He threw some rapid punches and flipped around to demonstrate his acclimation. He was no longer sweating or gasping from the effort like before.

Gine smiled, then rolled her head around to crack her neck. "Okay then, sweetie. But if you get knocked out again I'm leaving you out here to sleep it off."

"What if I knock you out first?" He taunted back.

Gine put on a face of mock shock. "Kakarot! Are you threatening your own mother?!"

Her son got into his trademark fighting stance, he glared at her eagerly. "Just sayin' I might surprise you, is all."

"Hmph. Surprise me, eh?" Gine smirked, then got into her own attack stance. "Well then, I guess I'll believe it when I see it. Now come at me!"

"Okeydokey then!" Kakarot quipped just before he launched himself at her on que.

She caught his flying punch before it hit her face, then anticipated the follow-up kick to her side. But he surprised her with a small ki blast in his free palm to blast her in the gut. The explosion worked for a moment as Gine had to leap backwards to put some distance between them, her scarred stomach smoking from the attack. Kakarot charged at her again, hoping that forcing her back with that ki blast would distract her. But that notion was abruptly put to rest as Gine ducked and slammed her fist into Kakarot's gut. He doubled over from the strike in shock, but wasn't stunned enough to not see his mother follow up with an uppercut to his jaw. He flipped sideways away from her counterattack and landed on his feet in the same attack stance from the beginning.

"You're gonna need a better opening attack than that! You still have that nasty habit of letting your guard down." Gine lectured.

"Oh that? That was just part of the warm up." Kakarot smiled knowingly, his tail waving behind him in excitement. "The real opening attack is this!"

He phased out of sight.

Gine sighed. She taught him better than that. He knew that she could see his high speed movements around her, and that jumping her from behind or around would be-

Kakarot's foot suddenly appeared right in front of her face, and she had no time to be alarmed as he kicked her several yards across the blank ground.

"Ha! Didn't see that one coming, did ya, Mom?" Kakarot gloated triumphantly.

Gine pushed herself back up, and wiped away a trickle of blood from her mouth. She smiled wide. He surprised her with something so obvious she dismissed it, and got hit for it. Her son was a lot more clever than she thought if he could take advantage of a surprise like that. She also made a mental note to not fall for it again.

"Okay, I have to give that one to you son. Well done. Looks like I'm not a terrible parent afterall!"

Kakarot laughed. "Well I'm just glad I was able to land a hit on you finally!"

Gine turned serious again, then got back into stance. "Well don't let it go to your thick head. 'Cause now it's my time to turn things up a notch!"

With a scream of charging up her ki, she launched herself at her son. Kakarot saw this coming and meet her with a clash that sent out a powerful shockwave. But she quickly worked her away around her son's larger form to try and elbow him in the ribs. The younger Saiyan, with years of constant reminders about how he ought to work on keeping vigilant brought up just moments ago, was prepared for her strike to his weak spot and blocked it with an arm. But she wasn't done yet, as Gine then hooked her tail around his neck to yank him forward. He grabbed her tail and tried to unhook himself from her chokehold, but she counted on that distraction to elbow him again in the back of the head. Her son cried out from the concussion strike and flipped forward, but he held onto her tail and Gine felt a sharp jolt of pain as Kakarot yanked her by it. Both mother and son crashed into the ground in a jumble of limbs. Kakarot was the first to spring himself away, but Gine was quicker to recover and pounced on him again before he could land on his feet.

Gine pressed her offensive, throwing a blinding barrage of punches that Kakarot expertly parried. They exchanged blows that left neither of them gaining ground or retreating. Kakarot and Gine going all out against each other.

As the battle raged on, Gine was smiling as happily as her son was. They were really enjoying themselves.

These fights were more fun than any they've ever had since Kakarot had gone through his growth spurt. Before, Gine always had to hold back on him so as to not kill him; and as much as she loved Gohan, the fact was that he was too weak. Now, her son was strong enough to actually challenge her.

Even more wonderful to Gine was how much stronger Kakarot had grown, and how quickly he did so. Not even a few days ago that she could still wipe the floor with him, but now he was almost evenly matched. Progress that took him three years had been outdone in just a month since setting foot inside the chamber, just from getting reacquainted with their homeworld's gravity.

Gine suspected that with just their normal training done with the brutality provided in this room, Kakarot was going to surpass her in no time.

Time, during a fight, flew by for the Saiyans. But after twelve hours of nonstop sparring, every muscle in both their bodies ached at them until they couldn't throw a punch anymore. Their first fight as equals had them going longer than they thought, leaving them both battered and bruised with no ground gained on who the victor was. So Gine decided that they call it quits for the day, and pick up the fight tomorrow.

As they headed back to the living area, Kakarot suggested that they take the entire next day off to rest. Gine was surprised by his request, and not a little confused as to why they shouldn't keep going as she knew her son's obsession with training. But Kakarot insisted that, as Master Roshi taught him, relaxation was as important as training itself. To allow time for their bodies and muscles to heal after pushing them past their limits, was the key to getting stronger. Gine wasn't sure how that method worked, but it sounded like it made sense and she trusted her son when it came to matters of training. Plus she won't say no to taking a break from the hellish conditions of this place. So after a hearty dinner and twelve hours of sleep, they spent the next day doing nothing.

Both of them were sore from head to toe when they woke up, barely able to move. Despite the harsh atmosphere inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, they were able to spent their rest time comfortably. Kakarot napped and napped, taking occasional walks around the living area to stretch and meditate. Gine took a luxuriously long bath to sooth her burning muscles while reading some of the ancient texts she found inside the living quarters. As bad as she felt about wasting a training day, Gine was glad Kakarot suggested this. Them going back out to fight right away while fatigued would just be torturing themselves. Besides, laying in a hot tub after another one of the large meals she made while it was snowing on this day inside the chamber was the most unwinding respite she ever had in her life. A taste of pure heaven from this wretched place.

The next day, their soreness was gone. Gine woke up stretching happily, feeling so refreshed. When she stepped back out over the threshold, Gine was amazed to feel new strength brimming throughout her body. She threw some test punches, now several times faster than ever before.

Kakarot threw a rock at her. It flew at hypersonic speed, but she caught it without flinching and crushed it into dust. That also shocked her, for she knew a throw that fast would've taken her longer to react.

"So, how do ya feel, Mom?" Her son asked.

Gine looked at her hands, feeling the new acquired strength as if it was in her fingertips.

"I feel... pretty good." She said with a smile.

"That's great!" He replied with a wide grin. "I bet you feel a lot stronger now, eh?"

He was right. She was much stronger now. Without feeling the energy of people outside the time chamber, she couldn't gauge by how much. But she had gotten this much stronger a lot faster than from weeks of continuous training. All from just taking a day off.

"You're right. I do." She said in awe. "Kakarot, this is incredible! Why didn't you tell me this before?!"

"Well I kinda did, but that must have been a long time ago so I guess you forgot about it. But now that I'm just as strong as you are, we can get even stronger together this way! We can make it a real challenge!"

Gine regarded her son with amazement. The implications of this kind of training/recovery regiment were groundbreaking to her.

Saiyan bodies healed so well, and they grew stronger after every fight they endured. The closer they got to death, the greater the zenkai after recuperating. In the days of old on planet Vegeta, she and many other Saiyans would immerse themselves in rejuvenation gel tanks after the long battles they survived from their missions to heal their wounds. Their strength would increase by a great percentage afterwards, and those that came back nearly dead would sometimes see their power double after a day in the tanks. But only the elites were given the most dangerous missions and came back in such a state, while the lower classes were given simple mop up missions with only occasional deadly encounters. Consequently, the low class warriors' power levels grew at such a miniscule pace that many of them would be too old to keep fighting or dead before their strength reached the bare minimum for elite status. Bardock once told her that he suspected it was a means the elites used to keep the lower classes in check so they would not get too strong and overthrow the royal family. She couldn't agree with him now.

Here, this chamber by itself combined with their regiment was far more dangerous than anything Kami had put them through, and it made every training fight a deadly dance of survival. With just simple bed rest and Earth's great food that put the most gourmet meal on Vegeta to shame, she and her son had become exponentially stronger in such a short space of time than if they went on a thousand missions using those old healing tanks.

If she, or Kakarot, any Saiyan trained like this long enough, and took adequate rest in earthling fashion... who knew how strong they could get.

Gine smiled broadly. She clenched her fists and cracked her knuckles. "I like the sound of that. So why don't we test out this new strength, shall we?"

"Sounds good to me!" Kakarot said eagerly.

Without wasting more time, both mother and son ran out onto the training grounds. No sooner had they crossed the threshold, they both ferociously charged at each other for a fight...

...

Another month went by, both Gine and Kakarot were growing stronger by the day.

Their growth had turned into a contest to see who could get the strongest before their time in the chamber was up. So far, they were neck and neck. With Gine's vicious attacks on Kakarot's weak points leaving him brutalized, while he would recover and clobber her into the ground from sheer blunt force in his strikes. That in turn would increase her strength once she was rested. This cycle of zenkais repeated every day, making the time passing inside the chamber feel as much as a blur as their fights and making their respective strengths reach heights that they never thought possible...

On this particular day, Kakarot and Gine were fighting at high speed. With their powers now at least five fold more than what they both started when they entered the chamber, they moved so fast as to be nearly invisible to the untrained eye.

The orange and green blurs of Kakarot and Gine appeared out of thin air as they stopped in their movements, locked in each other's grip and pressing each other's hands in a reverse tug of war.

Kakarot's knee flew into Gine's face to break the lock, sending her back flipping away from him.

"Got ya now!" He triumphantly declared as he flew at her.

She held her hands in front of his face, "SOLAR FLARE!"

"AGH!" He closed his eyes in time, but Kakarot cried out when he still felt the sting of the bright light through his eyelids.

Gine tsked in disappointment while Kakarot pressed his hands to his eyes in pain. "You're still letting your defense down, son. Always expect surprises like that."

Kakarot groaned and held his eyes as he tilted his head up to her general direction. "That's still a cheap trick you pulled!" He complained.

"Enemies intent on killing you won't fight fair. You should know that." Gine said sternly. "Plus you really ought to not always think you have me where you want me."

With that, Gine phased out of sight while Kakarot was still writhing in blindness.

"I could be anywhere now..." Her telepathic voice rang out in Kakarot's mind. He felt her energy disappear and popping up around him randomly. Through the painful blindness that was wearing off too slowly, he immediately knew what was about to follow.

Kakarot held his arms out in his defensive stance, trying to hear and sense where his mother was with his eyes closed. It was a game of hide and seek they played before with Mr. Popo, using blindfolds and finding each other with only feeling emanated ki. A way that his mother and Mr. Popo both used to try and teach Kakarot about sensing energy.

It worked for the most part, but he was still working on perfecting it. And Gine decided to use this opportunity to refine it more.

She flew at him from behind. Kakarot felt it and ducked just as she passed overhead, but was too slow to counterattack before she phased out again.

Another few tense seconds, Gine jumped at him again. This time she landed an elbow to the back of the head that made stars burst with the flashing spots in Kakarot's vision. He was too stunned to retaliate and she escaped. Again, a few seconds later she made another hit and run. He blocked some punches from her but swung blindly to get her, which she leapt out of the way easily.

"Come on son! You can do better, now at least try to hit me!" Gine yelled out while running.

She followed up with more strikes, but now he managed to block with only feeling her movements. He still had a bad habit of letting his guard down, which was exacerbated a lot while blind. Gine took advantage of this weakness a lot, but he was stronger than before and didn't fall as easily. After enough time of recognizing his mother's patterns of attack, he improved his defense. She couldn't get a hit on him, and finally his vision cleared to where he could see his mother through the spots.

Gine sensed the improvement and decided then to throw a diversion. She fired a ki blast in a random direction, the explosion drew Kakarot's attention and she suppressed her ki. He looked back to see that Gine was gone. He was alarmed that he lost her, unable to sense her ki and his vision had not yet fully recovered.

"Never let outside things distract you from a fight." Her telepathic voice reprimanded.

She carefully hop jumped around her son, landing on tip toe quietly as Kakarot tried to find her. The echoes of the chamber made whatever sound her footfalls made reverberate from everywhere.

"I'm right here..."

Gine taunted her son with her mind, trying to throw him off.

At that moment, the temperature suddenly dropped. Both Gine and Kakarot felt the extreme chill as the ground turned to ice beneath their feet, and the cold air stinging their lungs.

They both shivered, but Gine pressed on as the fight wasn't over. Now the sound of howling cold wind drowned out her footsteps even more.

"Don't follow my voice..." She kept taunting.

"Easy for you to say!" Kakarot shot back with his mind.

Gine was now right behind her son and threw a kick to the side of his head...

He surprised her by wheeling around and catching her foot with his hand. The serious look Kakarot gave her temporarily reminded her so much of Bardock.

Kakarot's vision had cleared, and grappled his mother's ankle with both hands. Gine was alarmed now, but was powerless to do anything as Kakarot spun her around like a top. He increased his speed, making her dizzy. Until finally he let go, sending her flying a great distance and crashing through several giant icicles before skidding to a stop.

Quickly Gine drew legs back and threw herself forward onto her feet to see Kakarot charging straight at her.

She threw herself at him in a counteroffensive, but Kakarot suddenly phased out. A second later, Gine saw him...no, two Kakarots, then three and four around her.

Gine shook her head. He knew she could see him.

Outstretching both arms, she spun on her toes and fired a barrage of ki blasts at the spaces between each of the Kakarot-apparitions to make them disperse. But to her shock, Kakarot wasn't encircling her. Where was he?

The answer came to the base of her skull, as the thud of two boots filled the back of her head with jarring pain.

Gine crashed into the ground, her body tumbling end over end as the stars flashed in her vision. She stopped rolling, too stunned to get up immediately and Kakarot leapt high into the air.

She pushed herself up to see her son up overhead with his hands cupped behind him, looking deadly serious.

"Ka...me...ha...me..." The familiar chant of his signature attack made Gine recover her wits much more quickly. She had to get out of the way!

"HAAAAAAAA!"

He fired the blue beam at her. Only at the last moment did Gine jumped out of the way as the ground exploded beneath her feet, sending her flying away even more.

She recovered from the large blast and landed squarely on her feet.

"Whow-hoo! I'm a lot faster now!" Kakarot cheered as he lowered himself to the ground, the smoke from the Kamehameha Wave cleared to reveal a blackened mark on the impeccably white floor.

Gine walked up to him. "Not bad, Kakarot! You recovered from the backfoot really well." She congratulated. Her heart was still racing, for had she been half a second slower Kakarot could have vaporized her. Yet, Gine was glad for her son.

"Thanks! Guess I learned a thing or two afterall." He chuckled.

"How'd you do that last move to distract me?" She asked.

"Oh it was tricky. I had to move fast enough so I could outrun my own after image, and left some ki behind to make you think I was there. That allowed me to jump out and sneak up on you."

Gine nodded, impressed. "Wow, I didn't know the After Image could be augmented with ki."

Kakarot chuckled. "Neither did I, was just somethin' I figured out on the fly. But it did the trick and got around your guard!"

She smiled. "That it did. I'm proud of you son."

"Aw, thanks Mom." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

She had tried for the longest time to pound into him that skills and experience were more important that pure strength. It was an added bonus, but knowing how to fight or take advantages of weakness and distractions would always triumph over brute force. And he was slowly catching on those ideas.

Part of that was to still keep hammering home that he was to keep his guard up at all times, which he wasn't while facing his mother standing all relaxed.

"Well, since we are on the subject of sneak attacks..." Gine got out before she threw a kick towards Kakarot's face. He barely got out of the way and flipped backwards.

"...this fight still isn't over yet!" She finished determinedly.

Kakarot landed on his feet again only to see Gine's foot coming at him again. This time he decides to counterattack by leaping into the air, twisting midjump to swing his own kick into the side of his mother's face.

Instead of phasing away from his foot, Gine jumped up into Kakarot's face with an full body-weight backed punch.

He was stunned badly from the hit, but took the energy of it back with him in a series of backflips to put some distance between him and his mother. After rubbing his cheek, Kakarot then phased out.

Gine looked around, feeling his movements and looking determined. "Fine, I'll join you!" She yelled aloud as she vanished too.

They circled each other at blinding speed, trading blows as they crossed paths. Until finally, Kakarot caught up to her and landed a punch into her side. The sharp pain to her kidney sent blinding waves of electricity throughout Gine, and was sent flying away. She regained herself and saw Kakarot giving chase. Not wanting to be on the run, Gine propelled herself back towards Kakarot for a surprise counteroffensive and to land a kick on him. But Kakarot was one step ahead and sidestepped just as she reached him, then landed a chop behind her neck and followed that up with a knee to the stomach. Gine doubled over in shock and pain, alarmed that her son was getting the upper hand. Using her tail, she wrung it around his arm he was about to punch her with, making him miss while she fired a ki blast through her feet to send herself rocketing back the opposite direction again. Her counteroffensive backfired horribly, but she escaped his grasp.

Gine phased out to buy more time and rethink her strategy. Kakarot looked thoughtfully after her for a moment, then phased out too. But instead of giving chase he was changing directions to throw her off while Gine circled him. What was he up to?

"Ka...Me..." She heard his voice echoing around her at superspeed.

That alarmed her. Was he going to charge up that attack again while he was moving that fast?

"Ha...Me..." His voice grew louder and more dangerous.

She looked around frantically, trying to figure out where's he's firing.

Suddenly, Kakarot appeared right by her side with his hands cupped to her face.

"Gotchya." He said simply with a mischievous smile.

That caught Gine by surprise and relief that he wasn't going to fire that blast right in her face. But he still didn't beat her.

"Almost." She shot back, only for cut off at the last syllable when Kakarot swung his elbow around to the side of her head, knocking her to the floor.

She lay there stunned and groaning, then sighed in defeat.

"Okay, that one's on me." Gine groaned as Kakarot knelt beside her.

"You alright, Mom?" He asked as he helped her up.

Gine rubbed the side of her head, "I'm good, actually. In fact, this is great! You managed to outwit me there, sweetie!"

Kakarot seemed amazed at how he was able to do that. "I did?"

"That's right. You're getting stronger than I am!" She said.

"Alright! I finally did it!" He jumped up jubilantly.

It had been a lifelong goal for Kakarot to finally beat his mother in a fight. And this was by far the first time he had ever done so, fair and square. Even though they both had plenty of strength left to keep going for hours more, the fact was that Kakarot had her in a position that he could have vaporized her and she wouldn't have been able to stop it. As unsettling as it was for her that she had weakened her guard like that, Gine was really happy with her son's progress. As quick as he moved in a fight, Kakarot was learning how to think fast, and proving to be a brilliant strategist...

He then stopped jumping, and looked hopeful at her. "Well, I haven't fought you at your full power yet. So, I haven't beaten you yet until you after you get angry."

That gave Gine pause. "Getting angry" was his way of putting her rage summoned boost into words, which was accurate enough. But that worried her.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Kakarot. It makes me several times stronger than you, and I might loose control and accidentally kill you."

"It's not a fully fair fight to win if I haven't beaten you at your strongest. And I think I should try."

Gine shook her head. She understood his thirst for bigger challenges, but this one would kill him if she wasn't careful.

"I know, sweetie. But.." She paused. She wanted to say that the conditions of the chamber had been stressing her psyche so much that her control over her rage boost may not be as... thorough as she would in normal conditions. If her control of it slips for a moment, she could drive her fist through her son's skull without realizing it until it was too late.

Kakarot seemed to sense her misgivings. "Look, Mom. I know it's risky. But Kami said we should put everything we learned to the test here. Now it isn't much of learning if we don't do that here, so we should at least try it. I trust you that you could do this, you just need to trust me in taking the chance."

Gine was silent in contemplation. He had a point. They were here for that purpose, and she hadn't been able to use her ability meaningfully outside. Only for the controlled environment of alone time practice. Here, she could use her refined rage boost in the actual heat of combat.

Slowly, she nodded. "Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Got it." Kakarot returned the nod solemnly. He knew the risk, but was willing to take it.

He crouched into a defensive pose. "Whenever you're ready, Mom."

Gine regarded her son, from his black palm-tree hair to the way he looked at her deadly serious and unafraid of the challenge ahead. With the exception of the underlying kind-hearted soul in his eyes, Kakarot was the spitting image of Bardock.

"You look so much like your father..." Gine whispered absentmindedly.

She quickly regained her wits, then took a deep breath to get herself ready while Kakarot waited expectantly for the attack. She closed her eyes and focused.

She emptied her mind as Popo always taught her. She breathed calmly, every step down to a tee. Mentally, Gine pushed away everything. The uncomfortable heat of the chamber, her grumbling stomach, her worries...

Time slowed... her heartbeat the only sound she could hear... the energy signatures of herself and Kakarot appeared in her mind's eye...

Soon, her mind was blank except for the one powerful memory she saved to trigger her anger.

Reminders of helplessness. Of how angry she felt at those who made her feel it. How she couldn't defend herself from everyone who took advantage of her. How they beat her, ridiculed her, branded her, forced her to do things she never wanted to do. How they caused so much suffering. And the hatred she felt for her old Saiyan comrades from that fateful mission to Xai Celnussia IV...

After so much practice at reliving that memory, Gine barely twitched as the experience called forth ignited the power within her core, growing hotter and more volatile where Gine contained it. Outside, Gine was as serine as she always looked even with such violent emotional energy stirring inside her. It kept growing, like a wildfire burning out of control. Until finally it peaked with a white aura erupting around her that made Kakarot shield his eyes from the resulting windstorm.

With the emotionally summoned ki contained within her body, it had nowhere to go but flow through her bloodstream and nerves until she could feel it everywhere. From her toes to her fingertips, all of the power available to her at once.

She opened her eyes. In them was nothing but anger, and a want to destroy everything in front of her. And her son Kakarot was in her sights.

Kakarot felt a chill from the lethal look his mother gave him. He gulped nervously, knowing full well that his mother could forget that he was her son and kill him. But he wasn't backing down.

He barely had enough time to dodge as Gine launched at him with frightening speed. Her punch that would have taken his head off grazed his shoulder instead, leaving a raw and bloody scrape. She was quick to follow up with another strike to his head with an elbow. Kakarot was one step ahead and ducked out of the way, but only just.

The expression on Gine's face in her rage-enhanced meditative state was that of determination. Barely making a sound from exerting herself, and her eyes were blank and concentrated on her target. But her movements ramped up noticeably faster as Kakarot evaded her attacks, bent on hitting her opponent in what would have been a sign of frustration if Gine was not so focused.

Gine sent a flurry of punches intended to overwhelm Kakarot, get past his defenses and drive her fist through his weak points. But Kakarot kept up a desperate parry of her attacks that made him groan in pain after deflecting each punch. He was surprised at how hard his mother hit in this state, every punch feeling like a freight train ramming into his bones. The power she had was incredible!

Kakarot inhaled sharply as one of her punches was deflected one too many times, and tore the skin of his wrist. He felt knife-like pain shoot up his arm when he deflected again, her knuckles spraining the bones in his forearm. It was starting to hurt just to stand his ground, and Kakarot wasn't sure how much longer he could hold up until he grew tired.

Deep in some muted part of her mind, Gine was trying to tell her brain to not kill her son. But the rage was overpowering. All it knew or wanted was to kill the foe in front of her. That foe was refusing to die, which only fueled her rage more and made her stronger. Launching attack after attack, leaving no room for Kakarot to escape or time to think.

Gine phased out of sight, worrying Kakarot. She reappeared behind him with a jabbing hand that would have ripped through his torso, but Kakarot was again able to move out of the way. Then Gine changed attacks again, to go for a frontal assault to throw him off.

It was slowly working, Kakarot unable to endure the accumulating pain of her brutal punches that was eroding his strength. His defense was getting shakier, cracking under the randomized attacks and stress, until an opening appeared.

She went for it, striking a punch straight into her son's sternum. It caved in with a crunch of bone and cartilage. Kakarot cried out, and collapsed on his back. He didn't get back up...

Suddenly, all of Gine's rage faded in an instant. Her white aura subsided, and her conscious mind took over again. A wave of fatigue took over her body, making her feel aches in every muscle. But she was too horrified to notice.

Kakarot took halting gasps of air, unable to breathe. The concave indent of her fist in the center of his chest was turning his blue shirt deep red, his heart had been punctured.

"KAKAROT!" Gine shrieked as she skidded to her son's side.

"Oh gods, what have I done?!" She held Kakarot's head in her lap.

"Sweetie, look at me! LOOK AT ME!" Gine screamed in her son's face, her eyes flooding with tears.

Kakarot was in too much pain to even notice his mother holding him. His eyes out of focus, and couldn't scream aloud how much it hurt. It felt like his heart exploded in his chest. It had stopped beating, and felt an oily warmth spreading in his lungs making it feel like he was drowning. But he tried to speak, he didn't have much time...

"M-m-mo..." He coughed, blood in it.

Gine's pulse raced. Her son's heart was crushed and he was bleeding internally. That attack should have killed him instantly, but he was slowly dying instead!

Not wasting time on despairing or thinking of what to do next, Gine picked up her son and cradled him in her arms. He was much larger in size, but with their Saiyan strength he was as light as a feather to her.

Gine charged up her reserves of ki and flew towards the living area as fast as she could. In a second, she landed in front of the main exit to the outside. She lightly set Kakarot on the ground, moving as fast as she could.

"M-m-om... wai… wait..." Kakarot tried to say.

"It's okay, sweetie! You're not gonna die!" Gine shushed, barely hiding the shrill in her voice.

She grabbed the handle to the door, but it didn't turn. Gine was shocked, she jiggled it more but it didn't budge even with her strength. Then it occurred to her that Kami had locked it from the outside.

It was to remain locked for four months, and it had only been two. She couldn't try to force the door open, for she wasn't sure what would happen...

Gien looked around desperately thinking how to help, but was too busy fighting off panic...

"Mom!..." Kakarot called out to her, his voice a crackling of agonized wheezing.

"Shh... it's okay!" Gine picked him up and set him down on his bed, trying to think of how to help him.

"Be...bean..." He croaked, his voice getting weaker.

Gine leaned closer, "What?"

Kakarot tried to focus on getting the words out. "Bean... in my...p-pock…"

That got Gine confused and frightened. A bean in his pocket? Was her son growing delirious in his final moments? She prayed that this was not how her son would leave this world, not after so much they had went through...

"P-p-please..." Kakarot forced out, gurgling as more blood pooled in the back of his throat. "S-s-senzu...bean...in my... pocket!"

Gine moved despite her mind telling her that all was lost. There was nothing she could do to help him, but Kakarot must know something. So she reached into the side pocket of her son's orange trouser, and pulled out three greenish kidney beans. They looked a lot like the beans she had seen back down at Korin's place.

Kakarot raised a shaky hand as if to grab the bean, he could feel his last bit of strength fading. He could die at any moment...

Moving almost automatically, Gine placed one of the beans in between her son's teeth. He tried to keep his eyes open to stay awake, he lost so much blood. He chewed on the bean slowly, then swallowed it along with the blood in his throat.

Moments later, Kakarot convulsed violently. Gine watched her son in grotesque fascination as his muscles swelled to unnatural size, and the indent in his sternum snapping back into place with a sickening sound. Then, Kakarot fell still in his cot. Gine was frozen where she stood, unable to process what had just happened. Was he dead?

Kakarot then sat up straight, taking a deep sigh of relief.

"Phew! That was a close one!" He said in his usually cheery manner. He lifted his shirt and inspected his chest. There were no signs of any injury where she nearly drove her fist through him, not even a scar. The large wet bloodstain on his blue undershirt was the only indictor that anything happened.

"Good as new!" Kakarot said to himself happily. He looked himself over and saw that all of the scrapes on his arms faded as well. After stretching, he eyed his hands curiously. He threw a series of punches into air, oblivious to his mother beside him. His limbs flew so fast that even Gine had trouble following his movements.

"Whoa! I feel so much stronger too!" He exclaimed.

Gine thought he was right. Kakarot had just come back from the brink of death from such a fatal blow, the resulting zenkai must have been tremendous. But she was too much in shock to care about that.

Kakarot turned to face his mother. "Thanks, Mom! The bean did the trick."

Gine stood there dumbstruck. "H-how did you do that?! You should be dead!"

"Huh?" Kakarot looked at his mother, confused by her outburst. But then remembered that he hadn't told her about the beans.

"Oh! It's these senzu beans!" He pointed towards Gine's hand still clutching the other two unused beans. "They can heal any injury. I figured they'd come in handy if we got seriously hurt during our training in here, so I went down to Korin's place and got some!"

Gine looked at the beans in her hand as if she had never seen them before. She had definitely seen them on that day she had that talk with Korin. But she didn't think much of those things, aside from something that Yajirobe liked to eat.

"Really?!" Was all she could say. A magic bean that could bring someone back from the brink of death even after the most fatal injury was nothing short of astonishing.

"Yep!" Kakarot confirmed her suspicions. "But from what Korin told me, they take an entire year to grow and he could only make a few at a time."

She eyed the beans in her hand again with a new appreciation. They saved her son's life, and had untold potential if Saiyans ever had them back in the day. Very gingerly she handed the beans back to Kakarot, who pocketed them.

Then silence fell between them. The near fatal fight returning to memory, as well as the rush of emotions that flooded Gine during the few moments she thought she had killed her own son.

"I thought you were done for." She said tearfully as she hugged Kakarot with all her might. "I told you I could've lost control!"

Kakarot smiled and patted his mom's back as she cried. "Aw, it's okay, Mom. I'm still here, aren't I?"

Gine gritted her teeth angrily. She sometimes hated how her son could just brush off how close he would come to dying as if it were a laughing matter, especially with how hard he pushed himself in battle. He was all she had in the universe, all that truly mattered to her. Yet he still didn't seem to understand how it would destroy her if he did die, and almost by her own hand no less. His obliviousness made her want to clobber him right then and there.

But, for some reason, her anger dissipated. The sensation of him breathing again reaffirmed her that her son was indeed alive and well. In the end, that was what really mattered.

"Yeah, that's true." Gine said quietly. She then released her son and looked him in the eyes seriously.

"But, do not, and I repeat: DO NOT ask me to use that technique on you ever again. You understand? I don't care if it's for training, I came this close to killing you and I would never forgive myself if I actually did."

Kakarot regarded his mother with perplexity. "Aw, don't be so rough on yourself, Mom. If that did happen, you could use the dragonb-"

"Kakarot." Gine cut him off, fixing him a glare that only a mother could use to strike fear into a child.

That look was enough silence any protest Kakarot had, and he nodded his head in resignation. "Okay, okay. I promise."

Gine smiled softly again. "Thank you, sweetie."

Silence fell between them again, with Kakarot nodding reluctantly for keeping his promise to his mother. But that silence was broken when both of their stomach rumbled.

"Guess we should call it a day, huh?" Kakarot quipped, to which Gine agreed wholeheartedly.

She turned towards the stone kitchen. She pulled out ingredients and was thinking up of something to make when Kakarot called from the sleeping quarters.

"Make something good, Mom!"

Whether because she was so strung-out from the incident earlier, or if it was the inconsiderate manner in which Kakarot asked that reminded her of how he waved off her feelings over his brush with death, Gine stopped what she was doing. She thought for a moment and turned toward her son, who was about to lay down for a nap.

"Actually, you cook this time." Gine declared.

Kakarot at first didn't understand what she said. Then, "What?!"

"I said: you cook this time." Gine repeated more impatiently. She knew her son couldn't cook anything besides campfire food. But today had been a trying day, even by the hellish conditions inside the time chamber.

"B-b-but, I can't cook!" He stammered.

"That's okay. I'll teach you."

Kakarot looked even more uncertain. He wouldn't mind learning something new, but in some corner of his mind there was a laziness that wanted his mother to take care of it . It was what he always saw as something his mother did.

"Um, well, I wasn't entirely feeling..." He tried to say, scratching the back of his head. But Gine saw through the feeble attempt to weasel his way out.

"You said you were feeling good as new a moment ago." She sniped, and Kakarot knew she had him cornered. But he just sat there unsure what to do.

Gine noticed his hesitation. "You want the rice dishes you like or not? Because you could either cook it yourself or you could cook it with me."

That did it. Kakarot's face paled and rushed out of bed. She always got him when she threatened to take away what he truly loved.

"Thought so, now get over here." Gine said as she resumed pulling ingredients out. He stood by her side over the stove.

"You've seen me do this before right?"

"Uhhh…" He answered.

Gine shook her head. "Alright, first you take the rice..."

Later...

"Mmm! Didn't turn out half bad!" Gine remarked between mouthfuls of rice and meat. She and Kakarot sat at the wooden table in the living area, eating the first meal Kakarot had ever cooked.

It had taken over an hour to make a simple dish of rice, and even longer to make a dozen more for both of their Saiyan appetites. Kakarot knew next to nothing about using a stove or other types of cookware, and nearly set the living quarters on fire while trying to figure it out. Then after spilling entire canisters of salt and spice a few times, they had to throw out the ruined batch of rice and start again. On the second attempt though, he managed to sprinkle the proper amounts to prepare the type of rice that she used to make for him since childhood. And his knowledge of cooking meat over a fire came in handy once Gine acquainted him with how to use the stove. The end result turned out quite delicious. He was still nowhere near a master chef as his mother was, and it could be that they were just hungry for anything, but it was good.

Kakarot thought so he was messily devouring his share of the rice bowls he helped make, forgetting his table manners in the process.

Gine kicked him under the table. "What did I say about eating with your mouth open?"

He closed his mouth when he realized he was caught, and swallowed. "Sorry." He said sheepishly.

They continued eating, with Kakarot remembering himself to eat properly at the table. When they were done, they sat back in their seats waiting for the food coma to kick.

"That was very good! Thank you, Kakarot." Gine smiled, feeling her son deserved some congratulations for trying something different for once. But she frowned as she saw that Kakarot looked too deep in thought to hear her.

"Son?"

"Hm?" He snapped out of his contemplation.

"Something on your mind?" She asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah..." Kakarot looked away for a moment, then turned back to his mother.

"You said I looked so much like my father. I was just wondering: what was he really like?"

"Huh?" Gine was surprised by his question, even more so by how she brought that about. "I said that?"

Kakarot nodded, "Yeah you did, just before our fight."

"Oh." Gine thought for a moment. If she said it, she must have been so lost in thought that she wouldn't have remembered. In fact, during their time in this chamber, Gine had been overcome with so many flashbacks of her old life on planet Vegeta and all of the training she went through under Bardock's leadership. In conjunction with how this place reminded her of the inhospitable environment of planet Vegeta, the way her son fought so fearlessly and ferociously reminded her so much of Bardock that she sometimes couldn't tell if she was training with her son or training with his father.

"Yes, that's very true Kakarot. You have no idea how much you and he are alike. Save for the scar he had and his eyes, you look just like him."

Bardock's eyes were that of a trained killer. Kakarot's were that of someone who didn't have a mean bone in their body. Aside from that, they were identical.

"Yeah, I remember all that you told me about what he looked like." Kakarot commented. "What I meant was, what was he like?"

"Oh. Uh, okay. What do you want to know about him?" Gine asked curiously. She remembered telling Kakarot stories of his father since he was a baby, and wondered what else he wanted to know.

"Well... what was he like as a person? As a fighter? And, like... how did you two fall in love?"

Now THAT was somewhat unexpected from him. As a child, Kakarot was always enthralled by Gine's stories of how brave his father was when he fought other warriors on other worlds, even when Gine explained to him the ruthless nature of the Saiyans. He never before showed interest in the interpersonal relationship between his parents and Gine didn't think he would, given how obsessed he was with combat. But her son was full of surprises.

After thinking for long and quiet moment, Gine looked at her son honestly.

"He was a cold blooded killer like any other Saiyan, for one thing."

That was a little too blunt, but it was an uncomfortable truth that had to be established. The Saiyans were barbaric, and their family was not much different. It made Kakarot feel bothered. But with that bit of information out of the way, she could tell how different he was.

"As a person, he was... distant." That seemed as fitting a word as any to describe Bardock as well as she knew him. "All he cared about was getting stronger. He believed that low-class Saiyans had the potential to get stronger than the elites, and spent every waking day to achieve that. If you didn't strive to be the best, then you weren't worth his time. But nothing much else mattered to him anyway."

Kakarot sat in his seat quite while his mother spoke.

"When I was reassigned to his squadron, I was nothing but a pathetic weakling to him. I could barely fight the opponents on the planets we helped conquer, and my power level was so low and grew so ridiculously little that he thought I was a hopeless case."

Even after all these years, she felt hurt by the words he used to describe her. She could see the look on Kakarot's face that it didn't make sense. Naturally assuming the next question of how did they go from there.

"But no matter how many times he told me to quit, I was always enthralled by what he believed in. To grow beyond being a weakling was a pipe dream to me at the time, but it was something I desperately wanted. So I kept fighting, even with my pathetic progress. I guess he took pity on me, or maybe he saw that I believed in what he did. Not many Saiyans did, it was a pretty radical idea that training could make you stronger. Some even called it heresy."

"It isn't." Kakarot interjected.

"No, it wasn't." Gine smiled at how her son believed in the same idea. He was living proof that he could be more than what destiny provided.

She returned to the story. "Anyways, he saved my life quite a few times during my stint in the Frieza Force. After a while, I guess we grew closer to one another. Or at least I did. Your father was so unattached and unemotional that sometimes I couldn't tell if he even liked me or not." She said plainly. Thoughts of the last words she said to him on that fateful day replayed in her head.

Gine pressed a hand against the glass window. She may never see him again, and took her last chance at what she had to say.

"I love you." She said, tears falling down her face.

He heard her through the glass, and Bardock simply nodded.

"I know."

He didn't explicitly say he loved her back, but it was as close to it as a Saiyan could.

"Huh." Kakarot said, unsure how to take in that information. He always thought parents loved each other, but to hear how apathetic his father was seemed troubling to him. Gine too wasn't sure how to feel, as this was the first time she ever spoke of her relationship with Bardock to her own son. It made it all the more troubling since she hadn't really looked into how he treated her as a partner after all these years. Could she really call him her soulmate even if he didn't feel the same? The end result of their relationship spawned their sons, but any Saiyan couple could do that. Was it really as special as she thought?

"But he cared about the safety of his fellow crew members. Even me, who everyone else thought I was a complete disgrace." Gine added. For all of Bardock faults and Gine's doubts, that part was at least true that he protected her as much as his comrades.

"I see..." Kakarot said in a confused manner. "So... how did you two fall in love then?"

Gine stared off into space, heaving a sigh. "Well... I honestly don't know. It just happened I guess." Was all she said. But it was hard to put into words anyway.

"He may have been cruel and heartless but he was the whole world to me. Your father was the only person who ever showed a trace of caring about me, that I was more than just a convenient mating partner. He understood my struggle to not settle for what fate had given me. And he once confided in me that I made him feel understood, that I supported what he in his heart believed, even if I was a lost cause... " Gine said wryly.

Kakarot gave her an uncomprehending look, and she laughed to herself. "Funny how love works."

For as much as Bardock looked down at her pathetic power, he admired how she shared his belief. How she comforted him and treated his injuries on the battlefield, and the companionship he provided her. He was sort of her only true friend that at least tried to understand her, and protect her. With how starstruck Gine was with how he fought and how he cared for her over his other female Saiyan companion in the squad, Fasha or whoever her name was.

Then, one night on the battlefield of some aquatic planet she couldn't remember the name of, one thing lead to another and they succumbed to each other's carnal need. The day that Raditz was conceived.

"Our mating instincts pushed us closer too. It was just good timing of us being together when it happened, and usually among other Saiyans it wouldn't happen again. But we still kept close for the next few years. Even when my time in the service was up, he still met with me..."

...and then we had you, Kakarot. She thought to herself, remembering fondly of a certain passionate night he shared with her while on shore leave.

Kakarot grimaced at that as Gine continued.

Gine shook her head though. "Yeah. So, I'm still not sure what he saw in me. But I guess we just hit it off when we were on missions together. That deep in that hardened shell of his, he had a soft spot for me."

Her son sat there for a moment, then asked: "So, what was he like as a fighter?"

Gine smiled even wider. As much as his feelings for her were always unclear, she had memories galore of what Bardock the warrior was.

"Your father was the most tenacious fighter among the Saiyans. He never backed down from a challenge and never settled for what life had given him. He fought on the most dangerous missions he could participate in, spots usually reserved for middle or elite class warriors. And he fought tooth and nail with every enemy he encountered. He took on almost entire planets worth of armies and sometimes opponents far stronger than him, but he always came out victorious."

"Whoa..." Kakarot gawked in awed wonder. Gine smiled too at how fondly she remembered the way he faced down entire armies without flinching. She then frowned.

"The Saiyan high command never promoted him to the title of middle-class, even though he fought like an elite. But he earned the respect of every crew member who fought along side him. Except the elites that is, for he caused too much of a ruckus for them."

"Why?" Kakarot asked, he too frowning at this insult to his heritage.

Gine looked at her son. "Bardock guessed that they didn't like the idea of a low-class "grunt" like him clawing his way up the food chain. That he forgot his place."

"Hmph. That's stupid!" Kakarot declared indignantly.

Gine nodded solemnly. "I agree. And so did your father. He proved that anyone determined enough to better themselves could get stronger than even the elites."

Kakarot bore a determined look that Gine felt like she was having a flashback at that very moment, seeing Bardock appear in her son's place.

"Then I'll do him proud and get stronger like him. Even better, I'll get stronger than he was!"

Gine couldn't be happier with how her son had turned out. So optimistic and so determined.

"You're already stronger than him, sweetie." Gine said with a smile.

"Really?!" Kakarot said in shock.

She nodded. "Yep. As strong as your father was, he was still a bloodthirsty Saiyan. But you are not like that. You are the kindest and most gentle Saiyan there was, even more so than me. And that gives you the potential to be far more than Bardock ever hoped to be."

Kakarot sat there in disbelief, looking at his hands as if they held the power that had surpassed his father's.

Gine smiled as she continued. "It took your father almost thirty years to get as strong as you were now. And you are only eighteen! If you keep pushing yourself the way you do, who knows how much stronger you'll get."

That was definitely true. With how much she and her son had grown over the past couple months in this chamber, Gine wondered at the possibilities of what her son could accomplish. Kakarot was truly amazing so far. He had spent his entire life away from the gravity of their home planet, and already he acclimated to it in just a matter of weeks. In their fight, he lasted almost thirty seconds against her while she was in her enraged state. It wasn't much, but for such a power difference that dwarfed his, it showed how much he had grown.

He was the kind soul that stood for everything she believed in and was the fearless, unstoppable warrior that Bardock aspired to be. Gine confidently surmised that her son had already made his father proud, wherever he was...

Kakarot scratched the back of his head again. "Heh. Yeah, well, I must have gotten that potential from you then. You were the stronger one."

Gine was flattered by that, but doubted he got that power from her. His father was the strongest of them, and must have gotten it from him instead. Bardock probably didn't see it in her too, and he'd sure be surprised if he saw her now.

"Aw, shucks." Gine laughed to herself. "I'm just lucky I could get angry enough to beat anything in front of me."

"Yeah, I guess so. I've been tryin' to do it the way you taught me, but it just ain't working." Added Kakarot.

"Hmm." Gine contemplated.

She had tried to teach him the meditation to bring out his anger for a boost. But the problem was that he couldn't get angry enough. To Gine, that was a mixed blessing. He never had to experience the horrors that she did when she grew up.

"I guess you had a lot more to be angry about, huh? All the times you were picked on... being forced to do terrible things... how cruel and unjust the Saiyans were... losing our homeworld..." Kakarot added, knowing how uncomfortable it was for Gine.

She nodded forlornly. "Yep." Where was he going with this?

"It's all Frieza's fault, isn't it?"

That made Gine think for a moment. "You think so?"

"Yeah. He had the Saiyan race at his beck and call, and he was an evil tyrant who wanted to rule the galaxy ruthlessly, right?"

"Yeah... he did." She said.

"Then'd I'd be angry about him." Kakarot declared.

Gine was amazed how he could deduce that Frieza was the root of all of their suffering. Smarter than she gave him credit for.

But then realizes that all of it, and the brutality of the saiyans was not her fault. It was Frieza. The tyrant that made them do his bidding, and discarded them when he was done.

"That's very true." He was the root cause of it all. And he was still out there somewhere, far off in some corner of the galaxy. She shuttered to think if he ever felt inclinded to turn his sights toward Earth for whatever reason. She hoped he never did. How could they ever hope to come close to the power he was rumored to have?...

She shook off that terrifying thought, trying to change the subject.

"So, what made you think about how your father and I fell in love?" She asked. That, she was a little curious about anyway.

Kakarot looked slightly embarrassed, as he didn't think his mother would ask him that.

"I don't know why, actually." He answered honestly. "I was thinking of Chi-chi for a moment, and then I somehow felt like I had to ask."

Gine looked at her son in surprise, and smiled to herself.

"Do you like her?" She asked.

Kakarot was a man who was oblivious to human social norms, but he turned a slight shade of red when pressed by his mom for his feelings regarding his closest lady friend.

His reaction said it all to Gine. Although her opinions of Chi-chi were mixed given how volatile and controlling the girl could be, Gine was glad her son was on the path of choosing a mate. Her little boy was growing up!

"Uh..." Kakarot mumbled, he shifted in his seat as if feeling uncomfortable.

Gine chuckled, "It's okay sweetie. You don't need to be embarrassed if you like her."

"Oh no, it's not that at all. I do like her." He looked down at his empty plate as if looking through it and through the table. "It's just that..."

He had trouble finishing his sentence, his eyebrows frowning in confusion.

"What is it?" His mother asked.

Kakarot spoke again, looking Gine dead in the eye. "What does it mean when my thing gets... I dunno, hard, when I think of Chi-chi?"

Gine's face paled.

"Oh." Was all she said.

It was time for THAT talk...

...

Thankfully, after the uncomfortable lecture on the workings of mating and reproduction, Kakarot never asked Gine about it again.

The last half of their time in the chamber dragged on. With Kakarot now more stronger than her, Gine was able to have the challenge of getting stronger all for herself. As much as she had taught her son to use skills over brute strength, he could almost swat her away most of the time. But she would still surprise him every now and then. But those times got fewer as he picked up on her tricks. They never had another near-death incident.

By the end of the third month, they were nearly even again but Kakarot was still in the lead with him regenerating from her weak point attacks. By then, they had learned almost everything they could from each other.

Gine considered for time about teaching Kakarot about how to control his Oozaru form. This environment seemed like the perfect testing ground, but she ultimately dismissed it. Even she couldn't control it entirely in her heyday, and there was no telling what would happen if her son lost himself to it given how powerful he was. They could only go so far from the entrance before the conditions of the time chamber became too unbearable, and did not want to risk destroying the only way out of this place.

In some part of Gine's mind, she hoped they never had to use the Oozaru form again anyway. With all the death and destruction she had caused to several worlds with that transformation, she didn't care to bring it forth from herself or her son ever again...

So the training went on as normal, day in and day out. The days (that already had no distinguishable passage besides the clocks) blended seamlessly together.

By the end of the forth month, time had no meaning for Gine anymore.

It seemed like an eternity ago when Kami locked them in the room, and now he was due to open it at anytime. But Gine's mind was too muddled with restlessness on this day to keep track of what day it was. It was freezing cold today.

She was walking around in circles, too bothered to think clearly from the lack of sleep. Her clothes were tattered from the fight she and Kakarot had earlier, but she didn't care. Her mind was too preoccupied with the conditions of the chamber that were making her so agitated and combative that she wanted to keep fighting...

"Gine..."

Her head whipped around towards the infinite horizon, her instincts for danger kicking in.

Did she hear something? Or was her mind playing tricks on her?

"Kakarot..."

The voice spoke again, softly but not from any particular direction. Like it was coming from somewhere in the chamber. Her pupils shrunk to dots and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

After spending four months in the most psychologically challenging environment she had ever experienced, Gine was unable to discern whether the voice she heard was a hallucination or not. She had also unintentionally forgot the advice Kami had warned them about the conditions testing their minds all those months ago. But she did hear it. And most concerning of all was that she knew that voice...

"Bardock?" Gine spoke into the thin air. All of a sudden, memories of her partner and the father of her children flooded her mind. All reasoning that it was impossible was thrown aside.

Gine ran out on the white ground of the training grounds. She scanned the horizon all around her, heart racing.

"Gine!..." Called out the voice again from nowhere in particular. It WAS him! And it seemed to be mostly be coming from somewhere further away.

Gine sprinted straight out. With her increased strength she moved incredibly fast and covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. She ran, and ran, and ran...

"BARDOCK! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She cried out while running, rotating her head side to side to see if her long lost partner was out there somewhere. But there was no response.

Gine skidded to a stop and looked around again. She did not keep track of how long she had been running, time had no meaning to her frail psyche anymore. But the main temple was barely a dot on the horizon many miles away. A little further, and it will disappear entirely.

There was still no sign of Bardock anywhere, and the only thing she could sense way out here was the incoming weather change. From the frozen sweat melting off her skin, she guessed that it was going to be very hot.

Clouds started rolling over towards her, the air shimmering underneath from the heat trapped under the humidity. But this wasn't just the scorching heat waves that used to wash over them, this felt like it was hot enough to burn the inside of her lungs and throat. The weight of air also began to crush down on her, but she was oblivious.

He had to be here! She heard his voice as loud and clear as day! Where was he?!

"BARDOCK!" Gine screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice carried outward so loudly her ears rang.

But there was still no answer.

The storm clouds went overhead, enveloping the sky with a dark shadow as fierce winds of skin-synching heat began to blow. But then something happened.

As quick as the clouds came, they disappeared to reveal a dark sky that was so visually jarring to the white void Gine was so used to seeing. But it wasn't just a dark sky, there were stars. It was the backdrop of space. Familiar constellations that Gine could vaguely remember revealed themselves. She looked down to see that she herself was not standing on the familiar white ground of the training area, even though she felt as scorched as she did a moment before.

Her eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. For far below was not the grounds of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but the magenta-colored surface of planet Vegeta.

"Wha...how can this be?" She stuttered in shock.

Gine looked back up again. This time, she saw more things doing the sky. Or... were they figures floating high up above the planet? Figures all clad in various types of armor for the Frieza Force.

Hovering just above them, was the silvery disk shape of Frieza's command ship.

And hovering just outside the ship, was none other than Lord Frieza himself. His purple effeminate form and black horns jutting out of his head, perched on his hoverchair throne with a look of disinterest on his face.

Despite the heat that made her think like her clothes were about to burst into flames, Gine's blood ran ice cold. For she never wanted to see the sight of the lizard tyrant ever again, but here he was. What the hell was happening? What was going on?!

"FRIEZA! LISTEN UP!" Called out a voice from the figure the floated highest in the air. Gine narrowed her eyes on the figure, and just when she thought she couldn't be more shocked, her heart almost stopped at recognizing the voice and the familiar palm-tree hair.

"BARDOCK?!" She cried out. It WAS him!

Her voice carried out, but Bardock and everyone else didn't hear her. As if she wasn't there...

"WE QUIT! ALL OF US! WE DON'T WORK FOR YOU ANYMORE, WE'RE FREE!" Bardock shouted up to the emperor. The figures surrounding him jolted in horror at the treasonous talk the Saiyan warrior was giving. They eyed Frieza fearfully.

"YOU CAN FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK, YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD!"

Frieza said nothing, but raised up a single finger. A tiny sphere of orange energy flickered at his fingertip.

Bardock shook with rage, his right hand glowed blue with energy that made Frieza's men around back away in alarm.

"THIS IS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WE KILLED IN YOUR NAME. THIS IS THE RAGE OF ALL THE SAIYANS!" He yelled as he drew his arm back.

"HERE, HAVE IT!"

Bardock fired the blast at Frieza, I looked powerful enough to destroy the ship...

But Frieza's stoic face morphed into a sadistic smile, and burst out laughing manically as the orange energy sphere on his fingertip suddenly expanded.

It grew until it was bigger than Frieza's body, bigger than the ship, bigger than an asteroid. The energy Bardock threw at him was easily swallowed up, as if it were nothing.

"N-NO WAY!" Bardock's eyes widened in disbelief. The energy sphere kept growing.

Finally it stopped when it was literally the size of a small moon. Like a miniature star perched atop the tyrant's finger.

Gine realized that the energy attack was more than enough to kill Bardock, for she looked down at the planet below.

"BARDOCK!" Gine cried out again, shrill and with tears in her eyes when she realized what she was seeing.

This was that fateful day...

Frieza launched the attack at Bardock, and down straight at planet Vegeta. His screams of terror reached her ears just as the screams of terror from all of the lizard tyrant's men reached her too, all of them disbelieving that their lord had turned against them for no reason and begging him to spare their lives.

"GINE!...KAKAROT!..." Was the last words she heard of Bardock's voice before he was vaporized from the attack that would bring forth the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld. Gine felt hot tears and overwhelming despair wash over her just the energy reached her, the heat also making her skin catch fire...

"NOOOOOOO!"

...

"MOM!"

Gine shot up awake in her cot, screaming. Kakarot jumped back startled.

She hyperventilated, her heart raced in her ears and felt herself soaked in sweat. Her son rushed to her side quickly.

"Are you alright?! You were yelling in your sleep, I thought you were sick!"

Gine looked at her son in a daze and raised her shaky hands to his caress his face. Kakarot was confused by the action but went along with it. After assuring herself that what she was seeing was indeed her son and that was real, Gine felt her own feverish forehead.

"I...I don't know..." Was all she could say.

Her pulse and breathing slowed a little, but she remembered the dream vividly. She remembered feeling the flesh-incinerating heat of Frieza's planet destroying attack, and watched Bardock die before her very eyes. She saw their home planet get blown up...

She had nightmares before regarding Bardock and that day that changed her life forever. But it was nothing like this. It felt too real.

But as Gine tried to recall more details of the dream and what they meant, they slipped further and further away. The terror and despair from the dream giving way to fatigue.

"It was just a bad dream." Said Gine, still shaken but calm again.

"Oh, okay." Said Kakarot with a smile of relief. Gine threw her legs over the side of the bed and reached for a bowl of water she keeps by her bedside. She cupped her hands in it and splashed water on her face to rid the sweat and sleep from her eyes.

Kakarot spoke up from behind her, "Anyways, I wanted to wake you up because the door just unlocked!"

Gine whipped around to face her son. "What?!"

"It clicked a few moments ago before I woke you up." He said with an excited grin.

"Are you serious?!" Asked his mother incredulously.

"Yep! It's been four months, we can leave now!"

Gine stared at the main entrance door just as her son did. It become more a symbol of a prison as the months went by for her in this place.

But now they were free...

Both mother and son looked at each other, and without saying a word they sprinted for the door.

Gine reached it first, and twisted the knob. The door flew outwards and a rush of a different kind of cold air washed over them both. The subtle change in scent of the pure high altitude air of the outside to the odorless air in the chamber was jarring to them both.

Along with the change in atmosphere, came the dim energy signatures of the two beings standing before the door and the even dimmer auras of millions of Earthlings far below. It was almost enough to make Gine weep.

"We're free!" Kakarot yelled out, running past her and into the blinding outside world.

Gine followed after her son, and closed the door behind her. The pocket universe that was the Room of Spirit and Time had become as empty and undisturbed as they left it, all of the training and trials as forgotten as the nightmare Gine just had...

Only eight hours had passed outside. The knowledge that it was morning when she and her son entered the room only to exit four months later just as night was setting on the same day was enough to make her head spin.

"You made it!" Cheered Mr. Popo, both he and Kami ecstatic and relieved that their students had survived the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

"We sure did!" Kakarot smiled as his teachers, "I told we would, and look at how much stronger we are! And I finally beat Mom!"

He turned to his mother, "Guess I won our little contest, eh? "

Gine didn't acknowledge Kami's and Mr. Popo's presence yet. She was too agape in awe when she could now feel just how much stronger she and her son were now.

Both mother and son regarded the Guardian and Mr. Popo. Both of them felt so punny compared to the Saiyans. In fact, everything and everyone on earth below was so insignificant in power to them that they barely registered. And the power she felt within her now must have eclipsed what she used to be just a few months ago by at least a factor of ten. Maybe even more. If she also accounted for how strong she was when she started three years ago, she was no twenty times stronger than that! How could she grow that much in so little time?!

So overcome with joy at what she had accomplished, Gine without warning clenched her fists and let out a yell that can be heard across the heavens. A hurricane of wind blew Kami and Mr. Popo off their feet as Gine's ki was brought forth in full force, causing the entire Lookout to shake violently. Tiles were lifted out of the floor and hovered in the air as a faint white aura enveloped her. Kakarot stood by her side, completely undisturbed by the energy release save for his hair being rustled. He smiled at seeing how his mother had pushed herself this far, thinking of how she used to be so reluctant about training.

Gine eased up and let her ki fall to it's resting state. The wind died down and the tiles came crashing down into their slots again, miraculously without shattering.

"Incredible..." Gine said to herself, looking at her open hands as if examining her power in them.

The eyes of Kami and Mr. Popo were the size of dinner plates, now that they had seen the what power Gine could unleash. This wasn't like the first outburst she had when she first arrived at the Lookout three years ago, for this was far more vast. She was also more calm and in control, making it more awe-inspiring and terrifying.

"I... don't believe it! You-you're more powerful than anything I've ever felt!" Kami said, shaking in his slippers. They weren't just the strongest beings on the planet, they were in a league of their own. She and her son were like true gods to the Guardian now.

In Gine's mind, they would've been strong enough to be the best of the middle-class Saiyans. Hell, possibly even qualify as elites. Bardock couldn't dare to dream of attaining this amount of power that Gine and Kakarot had achieved through sheer hard work alone. But here they were. With enough training in the harshest place imaginable, combined with the soul-revitalizing food of Earth, the eye-opening wisdom of a Namekian teacher, and the rest routines set by the Turtle Hermit school, they had achieved what Bardock set out to do.

"Neither can I." Gine said with a smile. Oh how she wished Bardock could see them now.

"Thank you for showing us that room, Kami."

She walked up to the Guardian and looked into his eyes sincerely. "And thank you for pushing me."

Kami smiled back warmly. "Well I'm glad I was able to teach you something."

"You did, and for that I'm forever grateful."

The Saiyan woman and Namekian shook hands.

"I guess an official congratulations are in order. I have nothing left to teach you, so you two are free to go."

"Alright, we did it!" Kakarot jumped up in excitement. "I can't wait to see Grandpa again, he'll be so surprised to see how much stronger we are!"

Gine chuckled. "I'm sure he will be surprised to see how much you grew too."

Noting the tattered ruins that used to be her son's gi as well as her own destroyed clothes, Gine turned back to Kami and Mr. Popo.

"How about we get cleaned up first and get something to eat before we leave. I'm sure Gohan wouldn't want us to come home like this!"

...

And so they did. Mr. Popo provided a wonderful last feast for the two hungry Saiyans before they returned to their old quarters to get washed up. Once they were done, a new set of gis were provided to them. They were fine tailored to their newly trained bodies and were the same style as their old attire, with Kakarot's orange and blue fighting uniform as well as Gine's green and purple dress gi. But they were surprised to find the white and black emblem of Kami over their left pectorals and on their backs.

"You've earned those insignias. You two are the most incredible students I ever had, and I've learned more from you than you learned from me." Said Kami.

Gine felt her hand over the kanji on her long-sleeved shirt, feeling a sense of pride in herself and her son.

"Oh, what's todays date again?" Asked Kakarot.

Kami blinked once and knew: "May fifth".

Kakarot perked up when he remembered something "Hey! The next World Martial Arts Tournament is in three days!"

Gine looked at her son worryingly. Even after all the training and trials they went through, he seriously wanted to go the tournament right away. She wasn't too keen on the idea, having to be around large gatherings of people. Not to mention everything that happened after the last one they went to...

But Gine didn't say anything in protest, yet. They still had to get home to Mount Paozu first, and could decide on the tournament later. Besides, the enticement of a change in surroundings after being cooped up in the Lookout for so long was getting stronger by the minute.

Gine looked at Kami with a look of unfathomable gratitude in her eyes. She remembered the doubts that used to plague her, the spirit journey to Xai Celnussia IV, every day she and her son trained together, all the times she nearly destroyed this Lookout while Kami selflessly guided her through some of the most emotionally difficult times of her life, and how he made her realize her true power...

"Thank you. For everything." She said softly. It was all she could say, but Kami knew what she meant by it and simply bowed in return.

She and Kakarot say their goodbyes to Mr. Popo as well, then stood on the edge of the Lookout.

Before, the sheer height of this place so many miles above the ground used to make Gine dizzy and terrified to try and fly. But now...

Without thinking twice, Gine leapt off the precipice. In that moment of freefall, Gine reveled in the sensation of the wind rushing past her with her arms out and the clouds rushing up to meet her. The feeling of total freedom.

She streamlined her body and charged up her ki. A moment later she blasted off towards the Earth far below with Kakarot following right behind her. "Wait up, Mom!" Her son jokingly called after her.

Two contrails of ki arced down and out towards the horizon, back to Mount Paozu. Back to Grandpa Gohan, and all of their friends waiting for them at the next World Martial Arts Tournament...

A/N: After much consideration and even though their concept was meant to be a joke, I am finally including power levels for our two main characters. But only for certain instances.

POWER LEVELS WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE LOOKOUT 3 YEARS PRIOR

Gine: 650

Kakarot: 210

POWER LEVELS BEFORE ENTERING THE H.T.C.

Gine: 1,300

Kakarot: 1,050

POWER LEVELS AFTER 4 MONTHS INSIDE THE H.T.C.

Gine: ~14,000 (Re-adjusting to 10gs + intense training + harsh conditions)

Kakarot: ~15,250 (Introduced to 10gs + intense training + harsh conditions + near-death zenkai boost)

Since Kakarot had adjusted to 10g's, he's ten times stronger than he was, just like he did after training with King Kai. With the harsh conditions of the H.T.C. and the zenkai boost of his mom nearly beating him to death on a daily basis, there is a little extra power added. Also going by a multiplier of 10x stronger for every 3 months and 9 days spent inside under intense training conditions as it was during the Cell saga, since 10 months in there resulted in Goku and Gohan getting 30x stronger.

So yeah, the big takeaway here is another change from MasakoX's story and the OTL. Now Kakarot and Gine are FAR stronger than Goku was at this point in time. How will this affect events?

Stay tuned!