Several days had passed since Moro disappeared, and Goku was growing increasingly restless.
"He's been getting stronger this whole time," he said as the Galactic Patrol continued trying to track the escaped prisoners. "I know roughly where he is, but knowing that doesn't help much when we still can't beat him."
Merus nodded. "Exactly."
Goku glanced at the technicians working around them. "Then why are we still trying so hard to pinpoint his location?"
"We need to keep track of his movements," one of them explained. "Even if we can't engage him yet, knowing where he goes and what he's doing will help us decide how to respond."
Goku understood the logic, but waiting around for Moro to grow stronger wasn't his idea of a solution. There was something far more useful he could be doing in the meantime, and his attention quickly settled on Merus.
"I'd rather train. Merus, take me somewhere we can really go at it."
Merus met the eager look on his face and knew there was no talking him out of it. "All right, but Galactic Patrol Headquarters isn't suitable for the kind of training you need. We'll go somewhere better."
That was all Goku needed to hear. "Now we're talking!"
While Goku prepared to begin his own training, Vegeta had finally reached his destination.
After roughly a week aboard Irico's ship, the vessel descended through the atmosphere of Planet Yardrat and settled near one of its cities. Ken stepped out with Vegeta and Irico to find a large group of Yardratians already gathered nearby.
Irico had never visited Yardrat before, so he couldn't help staring as they approached.
"Those are Yardratians? First time I've seen this type."
"I've heard there are several different kinds," Vegeta replied.
The Yardratians had noticed their visitors too, and before long a voice called for everyone to make room. The crowd parted to reveal ten small green Yardratians with round heads approaching together.
The one in front greeted them enthusiastically.
"Welcome!"
He walked directly past Ken and clasped Irico's hand.
"You must be Ken! I've heard about you. Although for a Saiyan, your facial features are remarkably simple."
Irico stared at him.
"This is Ken." He pointed beside him.
The Yardratian slowly released Irico's hand and wiped away a bead of sweat.
Ken seemed more amused than offended. "Haven't we met before?"
"My memory isn't what it used to be," the Yardratian said apologetically.
With that embarrassing introduction out of the way, he led them deeper into the city. Vegeta used the walk to study the ten identical green Yardratians traveling with them, wondering whether one of them was the person responsible for teaching Kakarot.
"Which one of you taught him Instant Transmission? Is he here?"
The Yardratian leading them gave him an awkward smile.
"Actually... there's only one of me."
The other nine vanished simultaneously.
Vegeta stopped walking, while Irico stared at the suddenly empty spaces around them. Ken, who already knew exactly what had happened, simply continued on as though nothing unusual had occurred.
Irico hurried to catch up. "What happened to the others?"
"Our people aren't physically very strong," the Yardratian explained. "Sometimes it helps to make ourselves look more numerous so visitors don't underestimate us."
"You can just... increase the number of people?"
Rather than explain immediately, their guide pointed toward a building ahead. "Come inside. I'll introduce you to our elder."
Ken entered first.
Pybara was already waiting for them, and unlike their guide, he recognized Ken immediately.
"Ken, we meet again."
Ken smiled. "So you're not eating shit this time?"
Pybara's face went blank.
The last time Ken had visited Yardrat with Goku, a particularly unfortunate misunderstanding had begun when Pybara tried to explain what he had been doing. Apparently Ken had no intention of letting him forget it.
"I said I was taking one, not eating it!"
"Is there really that much difference for Yardratians?"
"Yes! There is a very large difference!"
Pybara waved his hands desperately while Vegeta, Irico, and their guide tried very hard not to involve themselves.
Once that nonsense was finally put aside, Pybara turned his attention to Vegeta.
"I'm the one who taught Goku Instant Transmission. You must be Vegeta."
He promptly walked over and shook Irico's hand.
"For a Saiyan, you have remarkably simple facial features."
Irico looked down at their joined hands with a tired expression. This was now the second time the exact same thing had happened to him.
"I'm Irico. Vegeta is over there."
Vegeta's face darkened.
Apparently even on another planet, Kakarot somehow had more presence than he did.
Ken rescued what remained of the introduction by getting to the reason they had come.
"Pybara, I assume you've heard something about Moro."
"Only a little. I don't know the details."
Ken nodded toward Vegeta. "Tell him what happened."
Vegeta gave Pybara the full account, from Moro's ability to consume planetary life energy to the way he drained opponents during battle and even converted destruction energy into something he could absorb. By the time he finished, Pybara understood why Vegeta had crossed the galaxy looking for help.
"So you want something that can defeat Moro."
"I need a technique he can't absorb," Vegeta said. "Better yet, something that can counter his absorption entirely."
Pybara shook his head. "You're misunderstanding what we do here. Yardratians don't possess some enormous catalog of secret techniques for you to choose from."
Vegeta frowned. "Then what did Kakarot learn?"
"The techniques come later. There is only one thing you truly need to learn here, and the techniques develop naturally from mastering it." Pybara glanced toward Ken. "I'm sure you already know that. You didn't explain it to Vegeta?"
"It'll mean more coming from you."
Pybara accepted the answer and turned back to Vegeta.
"What we practice is called Spirit Control."
"Spirit?"
The small Yardratian who had guided them there stepped in to clarify. "It's what Goku would normally call ki. Once you learn to properly control your spirit, you can manipulate it in ways you probably never considered."
He vanished and immediately reappeared several meters away.
"Instant Transmission."
Several identical copies of him appeared around the room next.
"Cloning."
Pybara then demonstrated the opposite kind of manipulation. His small body rapidly expanded until he towered over everyone in the room before shrinking back to his normal size.
"And that is Gigantification."
At his ordinary height, Pybara was barely a meter tall. Even Irico stood higher than him, and Irico himself only came a little above Vegeta's waist.
"All of those techniques come from the same foundation," Pybara explained. "Moving your spirit, dividing it, enlarging it—those are simply different applications of Spirit Control. Even novice Yardratians can perform some of them. Once you understand the structure of your own spirit and learn to control it properly, the technique best suited to you will reveal itself."
That was very different from what Vegeta had expected. He had come looking for a weapon specifically designed to counter Moro, only to be told that Yardrat wouldn't simply hand him one.
Strangely enough, that made him more interested.
"Fine. Teach me Spirit Control."
"You came here with Ken, so of course I will."
Vegeta nodded, and Ken gave Pybara a polite bow. "I'll leave him in your care."
Pybara immediately returned it. "Of course."
With that, Vegeta's training on Yardrat began.
Goku had already started down his own path elsewhere, and for the first time since their defeat on New Namek, both Saiyans were preparing for Moro separately.
Far away in Universe 6, however, another problem was beginning to emerge.
Piccolo sat cross-legged atop the Lookout, reaching across an almost unimaginable distance with his senses. He had been trying repeatedly to contact New Namek, yet no matter how carefully he searched, he could find no response.
"This isn't right. I still can't reach anyone."
Dende watched him with concern. "Piccolo, New Namek is in Universe 7. We're on Earth in Universe 6 now."
"You think I forgot that?" Piccolo replied. "With my current power, I should be able to use the connection between the two Earths to reach across the universes and at least get a sense of what's happening on New Namek."
Dende considered that. Piccolo's strength had risen enormously, but telepathy still had limits, especially across such an absurd distance.
"That may be possible, but New Namek is extremely far from Earth even before you account for the difference between universes."
"That isn't what worries me."
Piccolo opened his eyes.
"What if there's nobody left on New Namek for me to contact?"
Dende immediately understood why Piccolo had been so uneasy.
"At the very least, something serious is happening in Universe 7," Piccolo continued. "I can feel that much."
Dende sighed. "And Beerus-sama probably isn't going to involve himself."
"Exactly."
That was the part Piccolo trusted least. If Universe 7 was facing another crisis, waiting for its God of Destruction to take responsibility was hardly reassuring.
Meanwhile, on Universe 7's Earth, an unfamiliar spacecraft was descending toward a very different world.
The Macareni Gang crowded around the windows as the planet filled their view.
"There it is! Earth!"
"It looks... dead."
"Who cares? Maybe there's more Blue Aurum down there."
The three criminals were already imagining what they might steal when their ship touched down. That excitement disappeared quickly once they stepped outside.
Earth was silent.
No cities bustled in the distance, no aircraft crossed the sky, and there were no signs of ordinary life anywhere around them. The devastation stretching across the landscape looked so complete that even the Macareni Gang fell quiet.
"What happened here? Did everybody die?"
"Looks like it," the eldest muttered after studying the ruined world. "Something tore this planet apart. Maybe they used weapons similar to nukes and ended up contaminating the whole place."
"One of those weapons that causes massive destruction but poisons your own world too?"
"Pretty much."
The third member shook his head. "What kind of idiot actually uses something like that?"
Their disappointment was obvious. They had come hoping to find valuable information—or preferably valuable things—and instead had landed on what appeared to be a dead planet.
"We came all this way for nothing."
"Since we're already here, we might as well look around," one of the others suggested. "Maybe something survived."
That proved to be the right decision.
After searching for a while, they noticed a strange vortex suspended high in the sky. Nothing about it resembled an ordinary weather phenomenon, and the longer they studied it, the more it looked like a passage leading somewhere beyond this world.
"What is that?"
"Looks almost like a gateway."
One of the brothers immediately became interested. "What if this planet's survivors escaped through there before everything died? They could've taken all the valuable stuff with them."
It was pure speculation, but that was more than enough motivation for the Macareni Gang.
"Then we're going through."
They returned to their ship rather than risk entering the vortex without transportation. The spacecraft lifted off, climbed toward the swirling opening, and vanished inside.
For several disorienting moments, none of them could tell which direction they were moving. When the sensation finally passed and the view outside became clear again, the dead Earth was gone.
They had emerged above another Earth entirely.
This world was lush, beautiful, and unmistakably alive.
The three criminals crowded against the windows.
"No way..."
"There really was another world in there!"
"And look down there. People! There are people everywhere!"
Their arrival did not go unnoticed.
Back on the Lookout, Piccolo sensed three unfamiliar presences suddenly appear on Earth, pulling his attention away from New Namek.
Dende noticed immediately. "What is it?"
"Three people just appeared on Earth."
"From Universe 7 again?"
Dende glanced toward the connection between the two worlds. "Maybe we should ask Ken to close that passage before more people wander through."
"I'm starting to agree."
Piccolo concentrated on the newcomers. Their arrival might have been a coincidence, but with New Namek unreachable and something clearly wrong in Universe 7, he wasn't willing to assume anything.
"They might know something about what's happening over there. I'll check them out first."
"Be careful."
"They're not especially strong."
Piccolo left the Lookout and raced toward the unfamiliar ki signatures.
The Macareni Gang, meanwhile, had spent enough time flying over Universe 6's Earth to realize they had stumbled upon a populated planet with no idea they had crossed into another universe.
"Land around here," the eldest suggested as the ship approached a sparsely populated desert. "Fewer people means less chance of attracting attention."
The pilot started bringing the ship down, only for one of them to notice a lone figure standing in the desert below.
"Someone's down there."
"Who is that?"
"He might've spotted the ship."
The eldest didn't waste time considering peaceful alternatives. "Then kill him."
"Got it."
The ship's weapon system locked onto Piccolo, and an energy blast screamed down from above. The desert erupted beneath it, throwing a huge cloud of sand and debris into the air.
"Nice shot."
They waited for the dust to clear, expecting to find a corpse in the crater.
There was nothing there.
One of the brothers leaned closer to the window. "Did we vaporize him?"
"That blast wasn't strong enough for that. There should at least be pieces left."
His brother suddenly looked upward.
"He's above us!"
All three spun around.
Piccolo was hovering over their spacecraft, arms folded as he looked through the viewport at the men who had tried to kill him without so much as introducing themselves.
"You arrive on someone else's planet and immediately start shooting at people. That's one hell of a first impression."
The eldest member of the Macareni Gang stared at him. "Who... who are you?"
Piccolo had already heard enough.
He exerted a small amount of force against the ship, disrupting its balance so violently that the pilots lost control. The spacecraft pitched forward and plunged nose-first into the desert, carving a long trail through the sand before finally grinding to a halt.
Whatever connection these three had to Universe 7, Piccolo intended to find out.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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