Beyond A Failed Future - Chapter 3.2 (Patreon)

A rushing sensation ran through Ronan's body, the hair on his body standing on edge as he was consumed by blinding green light.

Moments later the light faded and the sounds of birds chirping rang in his eyes. Ronan blinked spots from his vision and looked around.

He…was in a forest of some sort.

He slowly turned in a circle, but didn't see the towering spire that rose up into Korin's abode anywhere in sight.

"Weird." he noted.

He stayed like that for a moment, before closing his eyes and spreading his senses out.

He was here for a reason after all.

almost immediately, his eyes flew wide open and he almost sputtered in shock.

….There were just so…many life forces he could feel. So many he couldn't count.

They were more shocking to him than the dozens of towering monstrous powers he felt….the world just felt so different here compared to the future.

"If I had to compare…I don't think there's even a tenth of this amount in the future." Ronan grimaced to himself.

The androids had done a real number on the population of Earth. It made him a bit sad.

All these people, just living their lives as best they could, only to be ruthlessly murdered by a pair of cybernetically enhanced killers made by an angry old man.

They didn't deserve that.

Shaking his head and putting that thought out of mind for now, Ronan focused on the substantial powers that towered above the human populace, like titans.

Of the ones that stood out like that…every single one of them dwarfed his own. The weakest of them was even twice as large as his own power.

"That's probably Chiaotzu." he guessed.

Him or Yamcha at least.

He shifted his attention to five of them. Those five towered over the rest. The weakest of the five being over ten times greater than the weakest of them all.

He didn't know who that was, another was around three times the strength of it.

He wanted to say that was Gohan…but it didn't seem at all like the one he sensed in the future. This one was darker, angrier and more malevolant.

…Vegeta maybe?

The other three were way more powerful than the other two, and very close in power. The third strongest of them all, felt familiar, though distinctly different to the Gohan he felt in the future.

Weaker, but warmer and no trace of the jaded burnt out rage he felt in the other. And not far off from Gohan, was the strongest power that felt similar to his own.

Where as the second strongest was on the other side of the planet and while only marginally weaker than the strongest, didn't feel at all like Gohan's.

So…that was Piccolo then?

"Right, I've got a good idea of where I'm going now then." Ronan nodded to himself and lifted up into the air, before shooting off towards the strongest power, blasting through the sky faster than a fighter jet, a burning orange aura of power enveloping his body.

He made no effort to hide his power and bit by bit his speed picked up, flying faster and faster.

This was the first time he was truly letting all his power roar out from within him. While he didn't really try to hide it in the future, he didn't outright full on call upon his full might.

He didn't really need to worry about it here, even if he was killed he would just return to the Pendulum Room.

Within moments the land beneath him disappeared and he was flying over a vast ocean. The sheer speed and power emanating from his body, tearing a trench through the ocean waters below him.

He couldn't help it.

A bubble of laughter rose up and escaped his mouth, "This is awesome!" he cheered.

It felt so good to just release it all, like a massive weight was lifted from his shoulders.

In no time at all, he'd crossed the ocean and found himself rising up into a large mountainous region, passing over forest after forest, wide open plains where he saw a variety of huge fantastical animals. From massive bears, to saber tooth tigers…

And even a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

A gigantic one at that which would tower over any Tyrannosaurus Rex from his own world before he ended up here!

He abruptly stopped over a wide plain and watched the huge dinosaur as it prowled the land. Taking in its burnt orange scaled body with spikes all over it, and a row of sharp spines starting from its head and winding along down its back to the end of its tail, and the huge single horn atop its snout.

Hell unlike the ones from his own home world, these ones arms weren't tiny and feeble looking either.

Honestly, it looked like some chimera that resulted in a fusion from a normal tyrannosaurus rex, a wingless dragon and a rhino.

"…I wonder if there's any of these guys still about in the future?" he wondered as he looked down at the huge beast.

A pet would make for some good company to brighten up his solitary life style up atop the lookout.

It had a surprisingly strong ki he noticed as he focused his attention on it. Nearly as strong as his own was when he first arrived at the lookout.

A good strong pet he would never have to worry about…once the androids were taken care of at least.

If they could be taken care of.

"Sorry Fluffy, it'll have to be another time." he sadly bid goodbye to the monstrous dinosaur, before taking off again towards his destination.

Parting from a pet, truly was a sorrow the heart could never ignore the damage of!

Thankfully, it wasn't long before he arrived at his destination. He cut off the flow of his aura around him and stayed there floating in the air, staring down at his target.

A well built man dressed in an orange gi with pitch black hair in the likeness of a palm tree.

Who was currently in the middle of doing push ups. With one finger.

In a hand stand.

'I should try that out myself actually.' Ronan mused.

Still, even though he'd found his target, a strange force stopped him from moving.

Trepidation?

Excitement?

He couldn't tell. But…it was one thing to realise he was in the future and hide away and train to protect himself.

It was another to see Son Goku himself, someone he grew up admiring here and now, real, in the flesh.

His younger self would be so jealous.

As it turned out, it was not him who made the first move.

"Hey buddy," Goku called up to him, pushing up into the air with his single finger and flipping to land on his feet, "Is there something you need? Or do you just wanna match me train?" the saiyan looked up at him with a grin.

Ronan took a deep shuddering breath to steady himself, before dropping down out of the air to land in front of the orange clad man.

Surprisingly the first thing he noted, was that he was a little bit taller than the man.

He always seemed so much larger than life that it was a little stunning.

Well, even if he wasn't as tall as he thought he was, that didn't change the fact his power was outrageously large.

Though, it was only a little more than half as powerful as the future Gohan's. So, that was one debate laid to rest there. If Gohan in the future couldn't defeat the androids, then neither could Son Goku.

"…Sorry, I was just observing you." Ronan apologized.

"Eh, no biggie," Goku shrugged, crossing his arms behind his head, "Though, is there a reason you swung by my way? Don't think I know you, and I'd remember someone that feels as strong as you I think."

"No, we've never met," Ronan replied, though he was surprised by the fact the man thought he was strong. Perhaps he could get a comparison? Beyond that though, he had already prepared a cover story. Or to be exact, he was going to plagiarize Trunks, "Actually, this might sound surprising to you, but I'm from the future."

"…Huh," Goku blinked, tilting his head to the side, "No foolin'?" he asked simply.

He took it so easily, and wasn't shocked at all.

"Yeah," Ronan nodded, he decided in the end not to tell the man he was using the Pendulum Room. He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he'd get from him being told he wasn't actually real and more of a simulation, "I'll be blunt. I come from quite a while in the future where two evil monsters are terrorizing the world and more or less killed most of the population. There's nobody in our time strong enough to stop them, so I came back here to find someone who could help me become strong enough to stop them."

"I see," Goku raised an eyebrow at his words, "They must be pretty strong if you can't stop them, especially since from what I feel from you, this isn't your full power. What about me though? Or Piccolo even? Couldn't we stop them?"

"No, you and everyone else from your group are long dead," Ronan couldn't hide his grimace, both at that fact and the lie he told, "But, going by the strength I can feel from you right now, even if you turned into a Super Saiyan, you wouldn't be able to defeat either one of them."

"Woah!" Goku's eyes widened, "The future has strong guys like that? That's crazy, they're way stronger than Frieza then. Dunno what I can do to help you get strong enough to face guys like that though. Unless…are you a saiyan as well? I might be able to help you learn how to become a Super Saiyan and with time you might be able to beat them."

"Sadly I'm not a saiyan, it would simplify things if I were, I'm human." Ronan admitted. Being a saiyan would simplify everything. "I was actually hoping you could teach me, I've got little fighting experience and everything I know is self taught. And beyond that, there's one specific technique you know that will help me fight at higher levels."

"I do?" Goku tilted his head looking at him oddly, before his eyes abruptly widened, "Oh wait, do you mean the Kaioken?"

"Yes," Ronan nodded, "It's noted in…history books that the technique allowed you to overcome the saiyan prince Vegeta and even put up a fight against Frieza before you became a Super Saiyan, it's really my only hope at this point of being able to have a chance at defeating them."

"I'm in books? That's cool," Goku grinned faintly, before shrugging, "Sure, I don't mind teaching you…..?"

"Ronan." the teenager supplied.

"Right, Ronan nice to meet'cha," Goku's grin widened, "So, do you want to get started now then or do you need to rest or something first? I dunno how tiring it would be going back in time."

"I'm good to go now." Ronan replied.

The faster he got down to business, the better. He couldn't stay in here indefinitely after all.

"Awesome!" Goku grinned, pumping his fist, "Alright then, come at me Ronan, show me everything you got!"

Alright then.

"Rah!" Ronan called upon his ki and powered up, a blazing aura of orange exploding from his body and he rushed forward, flashing for the orange clad saiyans torso with a rising knee strike.

Goku brushed the powerful strike that could pulverize a boulder aside with the back of his hand as if it were a feather.

If he wasn't capable of flight, it would of pushed Ronan completely off balance. Instead he whirled around like a spinning top and lashed though with a low kick aimed at his ankles to sweep them out from below them.

A simple hop carried Goku over it, but Ronan wasn't done, continuing with the momentum he rose up and lashed out with a back elbow strike towards the saiyans face.

There was a powerful displacement of air as his palm caught his elbow and stopped it in his tracks.

"Huh, kickboxing?" Goku noted, "I've actually fought a few guys that used it, one even in the world martial arts tournament. Seeing it like this, it really pairs well with ki and flying."

"I was taught it growing up." Ronan grunted, raising his leg and stomping his foot down towards one of Goku's. Specifically, his cousin had thought it would be cool to have him be tougher than other kids his age, so when he was seven forced him to go and take classes.

Somewhere along the way he'd come to enjoy it and kept at it right up until he ended up here.

Heck, not long ago his teacher had claimed there was nothing more he could be taught.

"It shows." Goku laughed, easily evading the stomp and hooking his foot around Ronan's own.

And with a simple tug of it pulled him off of his feet.

The force of it sent him spinning like a windmill fan and left him open to a casual palm strike to the chest he couldn't block.

He was sent blasting back over twenty feet, where he slammed into a tree with enough force snap it in half.

Ronan clutched his chest and hissed, that hurt. If he was the same person he was as six months ago, a blow like that would have killed him.

"Mmm, you're about as strong as the red and blue guys I fought on Namek, maybe a little tougher," Goku mused, "Though, that other power I can feel in you. I've got a feeling you'd be be way stronger using it."

…That was the second time he'd mentioned another power within him. Was he talking about that crackling red lightning of rage deep within him he'd come to determine was caused by his constant exposure to the Black Water Mist?

With how much he'd used it, it had gotten to the point where it was always present within him now. Not that it really changed anything. It increased his power for sure, but the only difference was he could enter that state without huffing the fumes of the Black Water Mist now.

He was still no closer to controlling it though. He could ignore the seething rage it invoked within him for a few minuets at best before it got the better of him.

"I can't control that," Ronan admitted with a grimace as he stood up, "It increases my power, but it makes me really angry and after a little while I just lose it."

"Sounds rough," Goku nodded, before laughing, "Been there though, I used to be like that all the time when I trained with my Super Saiyan form, it used to make me so angry I just demolished anything in sight when I got set off even from just little things like dropping something or stubbing my toe."

…How did one stub their toe when they were a super saiyan?

But actually, now that he thought about it, this did present an opportunity. Ronan always used the sacred water to stop the transformation into a demon clan member before the rage fully clouded him.

After all, he had nobody else that could do it if he fully embraced it and lost himself to it.

…But right now he had someone willing to teach him who was vastly stronger than him.

Who could force him out of it.

"I've been trying to control it, but I shut it off before I lose myself to the rage since I have nobody to train with me," Ronan admitted to his new teacher, "But, if you're willing to help, I can go fully into it and try and get used to it and learn to control it."

"That's what I did to control my Super Saiyan form, I kept transforming and staying in the form as long as possible to get used to all that rage, nowadays I don't even feel it anymore," Goku rubbed the back of his head, "So yeah, sure I'll do it, besides I'm super curious how strong it will make you!"

Perfect.

Reaching into his pocket, Ronan retrieved a dino capsule and from it, released the sacred water, "Hey…isn't that…?" Goku trailed off.

"It's the sacred water," Ronan confirmed, "My transformation, is from taking in the power of a demon clan member. If I stay in the transformed state for over twenty four hours, it'll become permanent. but the sacred water forces it back. I've been using it to try and control it."

"Huh…I thought that power felt familiar, now that I think about it, the power does remind me of Lucifer," Goku cupped his chin and nodded, "So, I just need to make you drink the water before twenty four hours are up, seems simple enough."

"Pretty much," Ronan replied, making his way over to hand palm tree haired man the jug, "Though, I'm still more focused on learning from you than controlling it right now."

"Eh, that's fine, we can spend half the day with you trying to control it and another half with me teachin' ya, simple, right?" Goku grinned as he accepted it.

Wait…what? Then when would he sleep?

"Alright, show me what you got then!" Goku eagerly challenged him moments later after putting the sacred water away out of reach for the moment.

Ronan sighed…the world better be damn grateful for what he was doing for it.

"Fine." he relented and closed his eyes, reaching deep within himself, and drawing upon the crackling crimson lightning of power within him.

His power exploded, crackling bolts of red electricity forming within his blazing orange aura and a familiar red haze began to cloud his mind.

"Oh! That's not bad at all!" Goku cheered as he inspected him and his power, "You're almost as strong as that Ginyu guy!"