Beyond A Failed Future - Chapter 4.2 (Patreon)

"….Huh." a noise of surprise left Ronan's lips sometime later.

He stared down at the box shaped hiding space…that was under Korin's bed. And the single, small sapling in a pot sitting pretty and innocently.

"Maybe my luck's looking up?" he couldn't help but laugh.

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After following Korin's instructions and placing the senzu stalk exactly in the same place the cat had it in the past, Ronan left the tower itself behind.

He suppressed his power to around the same amount it was at before he made his way into the past and took off, flying through the air.

A certain battlefield was his destination.

Which didn't take long at all to find.

"There we go." Ronan grinned to himself as he cleared away the rock that was acting as a grave stone and unearthed two bodies.

…Well it was a stretch to call them bodies. All that was left was a pair of lower halves, one with a metallic tail, the other with a pink scaly one.

Oddly though, they looked to be in perfect condition and didn't look like they had decomposed at all.

"…What the hell is up with these guys bodies?" Ronan couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief.

Hell, this close he could feel the ki coming from them, more the larger body than the other, mostly coming from the tail.

…The ki he could sense from the corpse was greater than his own. He was literally weaker than King Cold's corpse.

If there was ever an indication of being a scrub, it was that right there.

With that pleasant thought fuelling him, Ronan returned to Kami's Lookout.

…Or just the Lookout now.

"Actually, this is Ronan's Lookout now!" he decided as he landed, the ultra powerful corpse of King Cold slung over his shoulder.

After all, who else lived here? This was home now.

And what a sweet pad it was with all the broken tiles and debris littering it, "…I should fix this up." he laughed sheepishly.

It was good to keep his mind off of the sense of loss he felt.

Well at the very least, he'd gotten rid of all the dead trees.

Grinning to himself and humming a tune, Ronan made his way towards his next training destination.

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

Once he grilled King Cold's tail to get rid of any lingering bacteria. And he hate it, he would hopefully gain a power increase from it.

It was something he noted in one of the games he played before he ended up here. Some guy ate Frieza's tail after Krillin cut it off and he got a portion of Frieza's strength.

Sure, the guy mutated a bit, but honestly, that was a risk Ronan was willing to take at this point. "It's not like I have anybody to keep my good looks for." he snorted.

Besides, if he did it outside the time chamber, and he did get a massive power increase out of nowhere. It would probably freak Gohan the fuck out and have him rushing towards him.

For whatever reason, Gohan hadn't bothered to scope him out even before he learned to suppress his power level before now, but how much longer would Gohan really leave him be?

"…This place is freaky." Ronan couldn't help but comment to himself twenty minutes later.

He was currently sat on one of the wooden chairs within the room of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, a burning space lizard corpse at his feet.

It had been cooking there fifteen minutes at this point.

Sadly, he didn't have any utensils strong enough to cut only the tail free so he'd had to lug the whole thing here. He should have totally learned how to form a ki blade from Goku before he came back.

Either way, he couldn't help but stare out into the eerily quiet and endless white void.

He'd already seen it before and knew what to expect. But seeing it on a screen and experiencing it in person were two different things altogether.

"I can already see why they had a rough time in here." he shook his head. That blank white void was something else.

Good thing he brought something to use as a tarp to cover the entrance so that bright endless white wouldn't bother him when he was resting.

Still, it was going to be a hell of a time trying to stay in here for an entire year, he wasn't sure if he would manage it. Hell, he'd been dreading wasting a year of his life in here before until he decided to take Piccolo's advice after learning about the benefits he would get from becoming a Demon Clan member in full.

"…May as well get down to business now I guess." Ronan mused, casting his eyes at the corpse.

He quenched the fire with a wave of his hand, the force of it generating a gust of force that crushed them and reached down, picking king Cold's body up by one of his huge legs and staring at the roasted tail grimly.

"…Well here we go." he grimaced.

And bit down upon the tail.

And tore through it with his teeth.

…At least he didn't need to use kaioken to actually eat it.

As soon as he swallowed the first bite, he continued on and with each bite, the ki within the tail entered his stomach.

And then merged with his own ki.

"Grk!" Ronan choked and his eyes widened. His ki swelled and exploded upwards rapidly, his muscle mass increasing slightly and pain assaulted his being.

A roaring shout rang in his ears…it sounded like himself?

But it sounded so distant.

Burning orange tainted his vision and he could not see anything.

And then just as suddenly as it began…it was over and Ronan returned to his senses to find himself laying on the ground on his back.

He panted deeply, "….Fuck…." he groaned. his body ached with pain, yet he felt good at the same time.

His power had grown massively in the last few months. Hell, the difference was almost like night and day.

He wondered if Vegeta or Gohan felt like this when they went through their zenkai's against Frieza?

With another groan, he forced himself up and sighed as he saw the state of his bedroom for the next year….possibly.

The chairs had been tossed around, the table upended and the beds had the sheets and pillows torn away.

It was a real mess and would take like twenty minutes to fix. At least the kitchenette was fine.

Thank small mercies.

…Since there was no Kami to thank nowadays.

"Fuck this." Ronan decided.

He grabbed one of the pillows, one of the quilts and he flopped onto one of the beds and wrapped them around himself like a cocoon.

He went to sleep.

…And then awoke later as his body transformed and his power grew once more.

Thankfully it didn't hurt anywhere near as much.

Or maybe that was just because his body was getting numb to the pain at this point? Cuz it still hurt like a bitch.

_____________

A year had gone by.

Ronan had come to a decision in that time period.

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber, was in fact….actually a portal to hell. It had to be.

Take right now for instance.

Red hot flames burst from the ground all around him, coming together, merging, forming a huge fiery hurricane that roasted at his skin.

"…No matter how strong I get, these flames still burn!" he growled angrily. His skin was burnt and scabbed, his body ached yet he he held his hand aloft, a familiar gunbai fan in it.

He channelled his ki through it and sluggish swung it.

A typhoon burst into existence, tearing through the raging inferno at least partly and opening up for him to escape through, a burning orange aura filled with crackling bolts of red lightning enveloping his form.

He dashed through it, speeding away. Yet, he was nowhere near as fast as he could go at max speed…because the sheer gravity pushing down on him had to be hundreds of times that of Earth's.

…And then the inferno regained its massive swirling hurricane form and began to chase after him.

"Fuck off!" Ronan roared, flipping around as he flew away backwards and thrust his other palm out, firing off a gargantuan blinding orange beam of power.

It enveloped the flaming inferno in a raging blast and wiped it out of existence.

Yet as soon as he did, the boiling hot area done a complete one-eighty and turned freezing cold.

And massive razor sharp glaciers began to rain down from the unending sky above.

One in particular was absolutely massive, beyond gargantuan, it was so massive in size it would dwarf the lookout itself a thousand times over easily.

"Fuck…that!" Ronan gaped, stopping in his tracks and sheathing the bansho fan on his back and with a roar, powered up to his very maximum, "Kaioken x5!"

His orange aura exploded into a burning crimson red and his power increased five times over while he cupped his hands at his sides, twin spheres of ki forming togethering and merging, "I AM ATOMIC!" he roared and thrust his hands out, firing off a massive compressed beam.

It hit the glacier that rivalled the moon in size.

And detonated with a planet shaking boom. The sheer force behind it sent Ronan flying backwards.

Which he was all too happy to take advantage of and speed back towards the safer, shallow end of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

As he did, he shook his head, "I need a better name for my attack." he gasped out.

That just didn't roll off the tongue very well.

Well, silly things like that had helped keep him sane in here over the past year. At one point, he spent a month talking to himself.

Literally, he'd been so hard up for conversation he'd socialised with his clones using the multi form technique, one of the abilities he picked up from Goku during his trip within the Pendulum Room.

"Back to the drawing board." he laughed to himself.

A little madly actually.

He really needed to leave soon.

Which he would, since this was his last day in here, the only reason he was even that deep in the first place was to test just how far he could go.

And he was not going back.

"Should have definitely used the bio armour I got from King Cold's tail, idiot." he scolded himself.

Either way, before long, he reached the living space of the time chamber and a sigh of relief left his lips as he touched down.

He took in the space with a fond….desire to blow it up, "…Fuck ever coming back in here man."

Never, ever again.

Honestly, he was so happy he was going to leave that he almost started dancing a jig.

As it was, he didn't…but only because he had one more thing to take care of before he left this place behind.

He made his way into the living space, his eyes on a familiar tea pot that sat atop the table within.

"Today's the day I finally use you properly." he declared, fondly patting the tea cup.

If it weren't for it, no doubt he wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as he was now. Hell, he was over a hundred times stronger right now than he was when he returned from his time in the past.

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber was hell….but it was a hell of a good place to increase ones strength for sure.

By his estimates, as incredible as it was…he was at least twice as strong as the Gohan of this time.

Well, his base form at least.

And if things worked out here and now, well his power would be increasing even more!

"Nothing for it," Ronan mused and lifted the tea pot up and filled a cup with the water inside, "Bottoms up." he lifted the cup to his lips.

And drank deep.

He swallowed the Ultra Divine Water whole.

And a pleasant tingle ran through his body.

As it did nowadays. Taking a little bit each day, had gotten to the point where his body had not only come to tolerate it, but relished in the Ultra Divine Water.

Sadly, even as he felt his ki swell and grow to all new massive proportions, he felt a little bit of sadness engulf him.

"Sayonara, buddy." he bid the teapot goodbye.

Because, after this. It would no longer provide him any benefits. Once he drank a full cup of it at once, his potential would be fully unlocked and there would be nothing for it to enhance.

It was a little strange.

Right now, he was more powerful than ever. He was like a god in human form compared to most humans, hell he was like a god compared to their old god.

Yet it was bittersweet now that he no longer needed the Ultra Divine Water and gained nothing from it.

Sayonara indeed.

It was like the end of an era.

Fitting for him finally leaving this hellhole.

He gave the teapot one last respectful nod, before sealing it away within his dino cap.

"Time to get out of here," he chuckled. He paused before he did though and looked down, taking in his ruined pants and ragged boots, "…Well, first though."

He pointed his finger at himself and focused.

Orange light erupted from his finger and enveloped his body. And a moment later, his pants were fixed, as were his boots and he now wore a tank top.

Magic Materialisation. Over the last year, it was the only magic ability he'd managed to get down. Nothing ground breaking, but it sure was convenient.

And so…he left the Hyperbolic Time Chamber behind.

Forever….

Hopefully.

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Ronan Battle Power: 82,132,313