Pre-note (important – please read): As mentioned, this one-shot is a sub-story of The Passage Not Taken which takes place during a period spanning from mid-chapter 15 to mid-chapter 17. If you haven't read the story, or haven't finished chapter 17 yet, please either do so before proceeding further or refrain from reading this story, since here you will encounter MAJOR SPOILERS (that caught your attention? Good.) related to The Passage Not Taken—and we're not talking about just one, but two. You have been duly warned…

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT.

Happy reading!

He was floating.

He could see himself lying on the ground. Goten was also there, rocking his body gently in an attempt to wake him up. Trunks, filled with horror over Vegeta's death, was as still as a statue. He longed to return and fight together with his brother and friend, but something prevented him. He struggled to break free, but there was no resisting this compelling force which was taking him higher and higher into the air, through the sky, through space… how could he still survive in vacuum? Oh, right. He was already dead.

After a period of time which felt so long but also so short at the same time, he found himself standing in front of a majestic palace surrounded by yellow clouds. There was a huge board saying 'Welcome'. Welcome where? Why, welcome to the Other World, of course. But what was this place? Before his curiosity was satisfied, though, a voice boomed from inside the palace, calling his name.

How surprised he was when he saw a colossal ogre-like being sitting behind a mahogany desk. Even sitting down, this guy was easily twenty times taller than he was! He figured this man was the big daddy of the place; feeling intimidated, he slowly proceeded toward the desk and very politely greeted him and introduced himself. The ogre then passed him his judgment: he was considered a warrior—much to his delight and excitement—and was allowed to train under someone titled King Kai.

There was a mirror in the room; he noted he was now sporting a golden-white halo above his head and thought it was so cool. Before he could finish admiring his new accessory, however, an attendant took him by the hand and escorted him to one end of a seemingly long and winding path which traversed through the same yellow clouds he had seen outside the palace. The attendant told him this was the Snake Way, a one million kilometre-long path at whose other end King Kai's planet was located, and that one had to travel along it to reach said planet.

He jawdropped at the revelation. How long would it take him to travel a million kilometres? That was insane! Seeing his reaction the attendant just laughed his head off, and this irked him to no end; when his laughter subsided, however, he informed that since he was just a little kid, King Yemma—so the huge ogre had a name after all—had granted him exemption and allowed him to be transported instantly to King Kai's planet by means of Instant Transmission. He was taken back inside the palace, asked to stand before King Yemma's desk, and voila! In an instant, he found himself landing unceremoniously on his bottom just beside a red Chevrolet Bel Air. Wow, covering a million kilometres in just a split second… that one was Afterimage on steroids, alright.

When he stood up, he could feel a noticeable difference in gravitational acceleration which took some getting used to. Just as he accustomed himself to the environment, he was greeted by a rather short person… or was he a person to begin with? This blue-skinned, catfish-like guy was clad in black, donned a pair of round sunglasses and a cap with two antennae, and had a very funny voice. So this was King Kai… he sure didn't look like he was strong, but he knew better than to underestimate others. Familiar faces then flocked around him and boy, was he glad to see Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha. They showered him with their concerns; of course, who wouldn't? After all, he had died a little kid! However, he promptly noticed Piccolo, Krillin, and Vegeta were nowhere to be found. Where were they?

Well, King Yemma had permitted them to set foot on this planet, but being adults, they had to endure the Snake Way. They were still on the way here, and the thought of Krillin exhausting himself made him giggle. However, when he learned about Piccolo's revival by the Namekian Dragon Balls, his heart was filled with pure joy. It turned out Porunga managed to finish the job just seconds before his demise; he just ran out of time before he was able to break the good news. Poor Dragon… but that meant there was a chance to revive everyone here!

Truth be told, as they spoke, the people on earth with the effective and efficient help of Mr. Popo had already gathered six of the Dragon Balls and the seventh had been discovered. That was fast! Knowing Trunks and Goten were probably having trouble fighting Frieza right now, he quickly devised a plan: ask the Dragon to revive everyone but the very evil ones who had fallen victim to Frieza and his lackeys so he and Vegeta—Krillin had already been wished back before, so he was out of the picture for now; sorry, Krillin—could return to help them. King Kai—and the others, although they didn't feel as sympathetic as he was toward Vegeta—concurred that this was a good plan. Besides, it would mean Guru and Porunga would also be brought to life and so would Dende, with whose help a wish to revive the others could be made. With that in mind, King Kai contacted the earthlings and divulged his plan.

When all the balls had been gathered together and the earthlings were waiting for the green light, King Kai established a link between himself and Goten and Trunks to tell them about the plan. However, when he hung up, he looked crestfallen… why? Oh, how surprised he was upon hearing his brother and friend rejecting the help and being so headstrong to kill Frieza all by themselves. Just like him earlier, they didn't know Piccolo had been revived! Why didn't King Kai persuade them to comply?

But then King Kai said it seemed to have something to do with avenging him, and it greatly touched him. His brother fighting for him, and his friend fighting for Vegeta… he couldn't help shedding a tear although he concealed it from the others and quickly got over himself. His faith in Goten—which was already phenomenal to begin with—just went straight through the roof, and he resolved to immediately leap toward his brother, hug him tight, and not let go when it was his turn to be revived. Hey, he was told to be childish, so Goten wouldn't mind it, right?

But somehow, Goten and Trunks's decision really enraged the others, especially Yamcha. They complained about how rude it was to reject a well-meant help and started to mock his brother and friend, saying they were no match for them who had been training under King Kai. Hearing this, he snapped; he wasn't about to let other people talk bad about them. He even went as far as rebuking them with ardent fervour for underestimating their true might and saying it was them who had a candle's chance in a cyclone against Goten and Trunks, as Ginyu put it. This reaction gained him a wide-eyed response from the others who—knowing he could reduce each and every one of them into something even less appealing than a pulp with ease in his anger—quickly acknowledged their mistake and apologised. King Kai too noticed his unusual response, and it was then when they talked in private about Goten and Trunks's origins and how they were related to him and Vegeta. He urgently pleaded to King Kai not to spill the beans, though, and he was glad when he assured that the secret was safe with him.

Aided by King Kai's space-transcending vision, he watched the battle that ensued on Namek. Goten and Trunks looked very different now; their hair had turned blonde, a golden aura blazed around them, and arcs of electricity danced around their body. They had transformed into what they referred to as Super Saiyans, and certainly it was a very entertaining sight to behold! His brother and friend seemed to be having no trouble at all against Frieza, and he was just amazed at how fast they moved, how quickly they threw their punches and kicks, and how cool they looked when Trunks caught one of Frieza's Destructo Disks and Goten Afterimaged just before the other hit him and destroyed it with an energy blast. He couldn't stay still and was practically overflowing with happiness seeing Goten and Trunks's extraordinary feats, and he let out a loud "yeah!" which caught everyone's attention when they finally defeated Frieza for good.

Shortly after that huge fireworks display-like blast, Goten descended from the sky and sat beside his body. He heard everything he said, even the part about Videl; so he was going to be together with a girl named Videl? He might just be a kid, but he knew what it was about and blushed furiously. He continued listening to Goten and how surprised he was when he heard his brother beg for his forgiveness and say that he might not even be able to forgive himself. How could he say that? For all he knew, he was the best thing that could ever happen in his life! Poor Goten… he must be so devastated for losing him. He didn't want him to be sad like that, of course, so after Goten laid his body on a high-rise plateau and was joined by Trunks, he touched King Kai's shoulder to relay his message.

"Be patient, big brother…" he said, followed by a cheerful chuckle to ensure him he was perfectly okay.

When King Kai asked what it was about, he explained that he was just telling Goten to wait until his revival and return to the land of the living, which could be any moment now. King Kai smiled and again established a connection with Goten and Trunks; from his words, it seemed for some reason Trunks didn't like King Kai at all, but it wasn't of his concern.

After finishing his conversation, King Kai then turned to him and informed him about his imminent revival, which made him jump for joy. He approached his friends and asked them if it was okay to wait just a little longer for their turn; they had no problem with it and praised him for his quick and critical thinking which had brought about this plan. Then, after saying a temporary good-bye to them, he returned to King Kai and in excitement informed him that he was ready. Sure enough, just moments after he felt his life force quickly rush into his body and his halo gradually faded. Before he was able to even say a parting word to the homeowner, he was engulfed by a bright light and just like that, he was transported back to Namek on the plateau where Goten had laid him.

Yes, he—along with Frieza's other victims—had been wished back to life by the people on earth, and what was it again, the first thing he would do upon being revived?

Stretch furiously. Somehow he felt like he had just woken up from a good sleep… but that was beside the point. After stretching, true to his vow he had made earlier on, he quickly leapt in joy at his petrified brother, latched onto his neck, and wasn't about to let go even if he was shoved away.

"Big brother! Trunks!" he exclaimed, "Hello, we meet again! Wow, this is awesome!"

Yup, being alive was, is, and always will be awesome.