Beyond A Failed Future - Chapter 2.2 (Patreon)

Higher and higher Ronan rose into the air, for minutes on end until he rose up above the clouds themselves and finally the end of the tower came into sight.

A small spherical building perched at the very top of the tower greeted his eyes, "Finally." he grinned.

It wasn't all that big, but there was something that had to be said for a home that was above the clouds themselves.

It was a place only a certain few people could reach.

He flew over and touched down at the stairs on the outside of the building and made his way up and inside.

What greeted him was chaos.

Smashed pots, torn furniture, soil and ruined plants strewn across the ground.

And not a single soul insight.

"Fuck…!" Ronan cursed.

Like, he expected it. If Korin was still around, there wouldn't have been an end to the sensu beans. And if he were around…he would have been able to tell Gohan about the things the Lookout still had to offer, like the Hyperbolic time Chamber.

Still, just to be sure, he circled throughout the building, checking all the small rooms.

Granted, there were only two more besides the open space, a bedroom and a bathroom.

Which were miraculously in good condition.

But still, nada.

As he was browsing through the once home of Korin, his eyes landed on something that stood out to him, but would perhaps be ignored by anyone else barring the likes of Son goku.

It was a teapot sitting pretty on a shelf above a small single bed. There was absolutely nothing special about it by looks. It was just a standard ceramic tea pot.

"…That shouldn't be there, should it?" Ronan blinked. Shouldn't it be in the Cave Of Darkness being guarded by Darkness?

Or maybe it wasn't what he thought it was?

"Only one way to find out." he shrugged and made his way over. He picked the teapot up and tipped the spout a bit, holding his finger up.

A tiny drop of water splashed over his finger tip, before he quickly reoriented the teapot.

"Well here goes." Ronan swallowed heavily, setting the tea pot down. If this was what he thought it was…it was going to hurt like a motherfucker.

He lifted his wet fingertip and stuck it in his mouth and swallowed the droplet of water.

Immediately his eyes widened and his knees buckled beneath him, causing him to fall as liquid agony coursed through his body, "AGGHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain, rolling around on instinct, clutching at his stomach as if to ward away the pain.

Within five seconds, it was over and he collapsed limp, staring wide eyed up at the ceiling and chest rising and falling rapidly with deep ragged pants, "Holy….shit…" he trembled.

It was ever so brief, but that brief pain, was the most intense pain he'd felt in all his life.

Yet, as he lay there, he noticed something. The pain faded away as if it were never there and energy replaced it.

He felt, awake.

Alive!

He bounced to his feet and noticed his foot was tapping almost by instinct, his fingers clenching and unclenching.

He was literally jonesing with energy.

"I feel like I could stay awake for five days straight right now." he noted in awe.

Should he say, as expected of the Ultra Divine Water? While he clearly hadn't drank anywhere close to enough to get its full effects, it was enough that his body felt amazing after the pain had left.

"That might just be worth the pain." he laughed, if he trained with this kind of energy boost he could get so much more done!

It was like a super energy drink!

Before he noticed it, he had started bouncing in place, he just couldn't resist the urge to get his body moving!

"Korins dead that fucking sucks, but I'll just have to deal," he nodded to himself, head bouncing up and down rapidly, "Them's the breaks, gotta just move on, there's still Kami's Lookout above and I feel like I can totally make the trip right now, hopefully there's more up there to work with, maybe Popo worked some magic to preserve all the food up there? Here's hoping. Though should I take this water with me or not? I could totally build up some resistance to the pain at least if I did it over and over again and then train and train to my hearts content wooooo!"

He cheered at the end. He didn't know why, he just did.

He had to release some energy.

Hmm, really there was actually no need to think about it was there? That pain sucked fucking King Kong monkey balls but it only lasted a few seconds and would totally be worth it in the end with a big pay off if he could build a resistance to it so he could survive taking a full cup of it for the full effects.

"Let's fucking go then!" Ronan nodded to himself and promptly pulled out a dino cap and slapped that motherfucking super god teapot inside it with a big ol' poof of smoke.

"Now to the lookout." he decided with a prompt nod.

And jumped out of the window.

"Im'a comin!" the teenager cheered and whooshed into the air with his ki like a total badass and zoomed up and up and up.

Then he got bored.

So he forced ki out of his palms straight up, "Pew Pew!" he chanted, small tiny orange orbs firing from both palms and shooting up high into the air.

It was so cool, he did it again.

And again.

Before long as he flew up it looked like his palms had become machine guns firing off rapid fire bullets of orange boom boom power!

__________

It took like a gajillion years before the lookout came into sight above and it was awesome!

Just floating there.

All cool like.

"Magic's awesome." he laughed and sped up, revving his engines and revving it up!

He went so fast he overshot his destination.

"Oops!" he promptly cut off his ki.

And free fell.

"Weeeeeeeeee!" he cheered as he fell.

And slammed into the white tiles of the lookout, "Ow…." he moaned, staring up into the blue blue sky.

…Why were there no clouds man?

"Oh, I'm above them, silly me!" he laughed, bouncing up and ignoring the cratered tiles beneath his body.

Hey, it matched the lookout now that he looked around. There were tons of destroyed tiles, the trees were all knocked over and dead and even the cool looking mansion building thing had the roof of its top level thingamajig missing!

"…Popo's dead then." he nodded to himself.

Shit.

As expected though.

___________

Ronan blinked awake with a groan, his head killing him. He rubbed at his bleary eyes and sat up.

As he did, he noticed something.

He wasn't actually laying down, but half laying off the side of a pure white and fluffy bed.

And wrapped in his arms…was a jar of some kind? A dark green and black in colour.

"…What the fuck is this?" he wondered.

And opened it.

A hazy purplish red mist began to rise up out of the jar. And he promptly slammed the lid back down on it.

No, seriously, what did he do last night, "Isn't this the fucking Black Water Mist?" he gaped.

The shit that turned people who got exposed to it into Demon Clan members? How the fuck did he get his hands on it?

That was the shit Garlic Junior used to try and turn all the humans of Earth into his minions.

Shaking his head, he placed it on the bed and stood up properly, and promptly found his eyes widening.

He recognised the room he was in. It was one of the rooms he remembered seeing Trunks and Goten in at one point.

Though….there were a few things that stood out that he did not at all remember being there before.

Another jar, light blue in colour decorated with gems sitting on a dresser beside the bed. A statue of a serpentine dragon beside it. While leaning on the dresser itself was a huge green and red fan that was more like a gunbai than something used for cooling off.

A flash of memory struck him then as he looked at it. Of him, giggling like a mad man as he stood atop the lookout, the fan in hand and waving it about, each swing of it conjuring huge tornados of air that tore straight up into the stratosphere.

"That's the fucking Bansho Fan, isn't it?" he gaped once more.

…That's right, didn't Kami have one?

Ronan sighed and sat back down on the bed, "Fuck…" he groaned. He could only remember bits and pieces of…last night? Yesterday? Well, he could only remember bits and pieces after he drank the Ultra Divine Water.

What he did remember, painted quite the scene in his mind. Either the Ultra Divine Water had made caused him to get high out of his gourd…or got him drunk out of his gourd, he couldn't tell the difference.

After he'd raided the Lookout for anything of interest, he'd went out onto the lookout's main area and more or less, trained himself into exhaustion before crawling to this room and collapsing half on half off the bed.

He cringed as he remembered it, "…Though the results speak for themselves." he noted.

He could feel a notable increase in his strength. So either he had so much energy from the water he was able to train that much better…or it increased the strength he gained from the training.

Now…if only he didn't act like a total moron when using it. Like for instance, possibly messing up the weather system of the entire world by placing with a god damn super fan.

Among other things, that would certainly draw attention.

"Better not use it out in the open." he noted to himself. Not until he was fine with drawing attention at least.

His stomach growled.

Time to get up.

"Guess I can check out the kitchens." he mused. And take stock of everything that was still in working order.

He got up from the bed and made his way out of the room, pausing at the entrance only for a brief moment to stare at the statue of Shenron atop the dresser.

"…If only man." he shook his head in dismay.

He found the kitchens without much effort and while to his joy the appliances were all in working order…somehow.

The huge walk in fridge that was stationed in the room, was disappointingly empty.

Which meant the only food he had was what he'd gathered. Well preserved food that would last him three years, though not the most nutritious of foods.

After that, he decided to take a proper stock of Kami's Lookout and not the drunken neanderthal sprawl he did yesterday.

It didn't take him long before he came across perhaps the two most important places in the Lookout.

The Pendulum Room and-

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

The second of which was the most important for sure. But, the Pendulum Room had potential as well.

"Couldn't I go to the past to talk to Goku and stuff like that?" he wondered as he sat on Kami's throne hours after he'd left the bedroom he awoke in, drumming his fingers atop the arm rest.

He couldn't effect the past and it wasn't true time travel, more like sending his spirit or mind back in time to interact with it but not truly change anything.

If he could…couldn't he learn techniques that were usually lost to time now? Like, couldn't he possibly learn the Kaioken from Goku?

There truly was so much he could do here.

"Course if I tried to learn it right now my body would probably crack like an egg." he laughed.

Still, he'd confirmed the existence of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Which would be imperative to getting Son Gohan strong enough to defeat the androids.