by Jamie L. Word
"Desperate Measures"
Yoshio and Jontu arrived on the scene to behold the five mighty heroes scattered along the battle site unconscious. They looked them over to note their physical condition. Then they saw Koji, and they gasped in horror at his distorted appearance from the severity of his injuries.
"It looks like Koji will need a couple of senzu beans!" Yoshio remarked in shock to witness Koji as he had never seen him. "He's in pretty bad shape!"
"The others are unconscious, but they're not as badly hurt as your friend is," Jontu commented as the two drew closer to the ground.
As Yoshio landed on the ground, Jontu's flying carpet descended to hover just a step above the ground, and Jontu hopped off of it. Jontu loaded up his planet's heroes onto his flying carpet as Yoshio administered a couple of senzu beans to Koji. Yoshio then gave a senzu bean to Kien, and then he proceeded to give each of the other heroes a senzu bean in turn.
"We should wait a moment for them to recover," Yoshio noted as he kept a concerned eye on Koji. "I may need help moving Koji."
"Right," Jontu agreed as he nodded his head and decided to wait as Yoshio had suggested, overlooking his three friends.
After a few moments, all five of the heroes began reviving and sitting up, but Koji was still a bit on the rough side. They began rubbing their aching bodies, and Koji rubbed his healing shoulder as he popped it back into socket, causing Jontu and Yoshio to cringe. Koji, however, was the first revived hero to his feet, even after taking the horrific beating he endured at the hands of Android Prime for as long as he did. When all of the heroes were up standing, they all turned to each other in dismay and frustration.
"They were still too strong for us, even with the aid of these new fighters!" Kuang muttered in despair over their apparent hopelessness.
"I have never lost a fight before in my entire life," Koji muttered in a state of near-confusion. "I don't know what to make of it. The bitter taste of defeat has never crossed my lips before. I don't like it, not at all. These androids are unbelievably powerful. I have achieved the legendary status of a Super Saiyan, the great pinnacle of my Saiyan heritage, yet I sense that there must be another level to which I must ascend. I must become stronger than a Super Saiyan in order to beat these new menaces. There must be a way to push my Super Saiyan powers to the next level."
"You could train in the Chamber of Spirit and Time back at the lookout," Jontu suggested, getting everyone's attention.
"Chamber of Spirit and Time?" Koji repeated inquisitively. "What is this Chamber of Spirit and Time of which you speak?"
"It is a mystical room in which time and space are distorted," Jontu explained. "For each day that passes outside the Chamber of Spirit and Time, an entire year passes within the room, so you could get an entire year's worth of training in just one day. The only limitations are that no more than two people may go in at a time, and you can spend no more than two days inside, giving you a maximum of two years' worth of training. If you try to stay longer, you will become trapped in there for all eternity."
"Are you serious?" Yoshio inquired in astonishment at such a prospect. "Can you really get a year's worth of training in one day in that place?"
"Yes, you can," Kuang replied as he garnered everyone's attention. "Sumio, Sumie, and I have all trained there for the maximum allotment of time, so we cannot go back in, but none of you have ever been in. It will all be up to you to make the difference. If this warrior can really surpass Super Saiyan power, then he should go first. Maybe one of you could train with him."
"I think I have an idea as well," Kien said, looking grim and serious. "How many Nameks have you fused with, Kuang? I have only fused with one other Namek, which means I can fuse with one more for another boost of power. Your power is close to mine. I think we should do it."
"I have only fused with one other Namek also," Kuang replied, also looking grim and serious now. "It looks as though you've been brought here for a reason, my friend."
"Kuang, no!" Sumie cried out as she became gravely concerned for her friend, suggesting this very serious act.
"Don't worry, Sumie," Kuang reassured her with a steady voice. "It might help us finish this nightmare once and for all, then you wouldn't need me anymore. Besides, I think I'm dying anyway. Even though my strength has been restored and my body has been healed of the beating I sustained against the androids, I feel my life force waning. If I don't do this soon, I will die."
"If you do follow through with this merger, then mine will end up the dominant personality, and it will be my body that we'd end up sharing," Kien noted as if to ask the Namek warrior to give the notion sufficient thought.
"And if I die, that won't help us at all," Kuang said with a slight smile. "If it's a choice between dying and being merged into your body to give you more power to challenge the androids and possibly make the difference, then I choose to fuse with you, my brother. I don't think we have much time, so let's get back to the lookout and get things rolling quickly."
With somber hearts, the assembled heroes took flight back to the lookout. Sumie and Sumio looked very sad at the knowledge that Kuang would not be with them very much longer. Yoshio just looked very worried, as did Jontu, who flew alongside them on his flying carpet. The two Namek warriors looked grim and determined. Koji just looked intense. After covering the distance back to the lookout, the heroes landed on the lookout platform, where they were greeted by the others. Yuko and Kato rushed forward and threw their arms around Koji.
"Dad! You're okay!" Kato cried out as tears flowed down his cheeks, and he hugged his father around the waist.
"Oh, Koji! I thought you were dead!" Yuko whimpered as she hugged Koji around the neck, also weeping tears of relief.
Koji lowered one arm to hold his son, and then he wrapped the other arm around his wife. He silenced Yuko with a loving kiss, reassuring her that everything was alright. She looked into his eyes, and there she saw the fiery confidence reborn. She knew he would find a way to defeat their enemies.
"Calm yourself, Yuko," Koji said with a serene tone of voice as he smiled lovingly at her and then wiped the tears gently from her face with his hand. "They may have won the battle, but they will not win the war. That much I can promise. The next time I fight them, it will be their end."
Koji then knelt before his son and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, looking him in the eyes. Kato's tears flowed like tiny rivers down his young face, but he felt great comfort when he saw his father's smiling face.
"Dry your tears, my son," Koji said softly, uncharacteristically softly for one raised to be a battle-hardened warrior. "I want you to train with me. There is a place in this lookout where we can get a whole year of training in a single day. It will be tough, but I have faith in you, my son. You can do it."
"Okay, Dad," Kato answered as he wiped the tears from his face and steeled himself for the task at hand. "What do we have to do?"
"Only two can enter the room at one time, so I'm taking you with me," Koji explained. "You are going to get a lot stronger, stronger even than anyone of these others you see around you. I promise you that. Just do what I tell you to do and listen to everything I say, and it shall come to pass."
Koji walked over to the modified Saiyan space pod and pressed a button on it. The space pod disappeared in a big puff of smoke to be replaced by a small, hand-sized capsule known as a dynocap, which Koji picked up and inserted into the chest protector of his armor. Koji then stood and looked at Shun, and the old Namek returned his gaze. For several seconds, there was total silence, and everyone waited for one of those two to break the silence.
"Take us to the Chamber of Spirit and Time, Kami Shun," Koji said with a determined and resolute voice.
"This way," the Nameccian guardian of the planet Zodoria replied as he began walking towards the main sanctuary of the lookout.
He led the group to a door on the outside of the sanctuary, and all of them stopped at the door to await Shun's instructions. Shun took the door handle in his hand and then turned back to the others.
"The gravity will be ten times normal, and the air will be thinner," Shun informed them as he paused before opening the door. "The temperature will fluctuate wildly during your stay there as well, sometimes freezing cold, sometimes boiling hot. Are you ready to enter the Chamber of Spirit and Time, my new freinds?"
"We are," Koji replied with his reassuring, resolute confidence as he revealed an eager grin.
"Please, be careful!" Yuko begged her husband and her son while clasping both hands together as if to pray.
Koji took her in his arms in a strong embrace, and his lips met her lips with a passionate kiss that left Yuko weak in the knees. For a frozen eternity that lasted only a few seconds, everyone stood transfixed by the overt display of love between the couple. Koji then pulled his head back, and Yuko opened her eyes to see him smile a reassuring smile to her.
"It will be far longer for me to go without you inside that room than for you to go without me out here," Koji softly said as he released her into Yoshio's arms, allowing her brother to hold her up. "I will not only be careful, I will be successful, and then I will return and rid this world of its android troubles once and for all. And, after I'm done with that, we'll have a lot of catching up to do. I love you."
Koji then turned to Shun and nodded, prompting Shun to open the door to the Chamber of Spirit and Time. Koji then walked forward into the unknown without the slightest hint of fear, prompting Kato to follow him into the chamber. Shun closed the door behind them, and the two Saiyans marvelled in their own way at the sight they beheld.
On one side of them were two veil-enshrouded beds upon which to sleep. Just a short distance from there was the refridgerator and a dining table with two chairs. A large clock hung from the wall to display the time, and beyond the dining area was a bathing area with a giant, spa-like pool in it. They then walked outside of the living quarters and saw that the living area they were standing in was in the middle of total emptiness. The void went on in all directions endlessly, and everything in the entire place - every piece of furniture and linin, every wall, every pillar, every appliance or facility - was white with a very light blue tint to it.
"Wow!" Kato managed to finally comment in sheer amazement at the sight around him, almost disbelieving everything about the room. "It's incredible! I can't believe my eyes!"
"Yes," Koji replied with an eager grin on his face as he gazed out across the training field that stretched on forever before him. "It is overwhelming, isn't it, my son? Now, we should get started training right now."
Upon saying that, Koji took the dynocap, depressed the button, and tossed it out into the training area. The dynocap disappeared in a big puff of smoke to be replaced by the modified space pod once more. Koji and Kato walked down the steps onto the training area, and they entered the space pod to begin their training.
"It's a good thing you're used to training under multiple gravities, my son," Koji commented as they walked along.
Meanwhile, outside the Chamber of Spirit and Time, Kien and Kuang stood face-to-face as the others watched intently. Kien then placed a hand on Kuang's chest. The wind began to blow slightly across the lookout platform. Moments later, both Nameks began drawn-out yells, and they also began glowing immediately as the yelled. The light from Kuang's glow intensified greatly until his form was completely obscured from vision by a brilliant white light which forced everyone to avert their eyes. This persisted for a few seconds, and then it subsided, leaving a thick, vision-obscuring cloud of smoke lingering in the area where the two Nameks were standing. When the smoke cleared, Kien was left standing alone with his hand extended out into the empty air. The others observed him uneasily.
"It is done," Kien said as he lowered his hand back down to his side and looked at the others. "The fusion is complete."
They reacted with stunned disbelief as they sensed his great power, power achieved through the permanent fusion of himself and Kuang. Kuang was gone, and Sumie leaned into her brother's arms to cry.
"Don't cry, Sumie," Kien said in Kuang's voice, getting the startled Zodorian's attention. "I'm still here. I'm a part of Kien now, a permanent part. As long as he's alive, I will live on."
"Kien?" Yoshio inquired as he regarded the Namek and scratched his head in confusion. "What just happened? Are you okay?"
"Yes, Yoshio," Kien answered in his own voice as he now turned his attention to his most familiar teammates. "I'm ready to try to take down the androids again. My power has grown substantially."
"I'll say it has!" Sumio replied in amazement as he regarded the final result of the Nameccian fusion. "Your energy is even bigger than that guy Koji's was when he was a Super Saiyan!"
"That's because I am now a Super Namek," Kien explained, startling everyone except Shun with that statement. "Sumio. Sumie. Let's go find those androids. Yoshio. Yuko. You two go find Dr. Dreg and see what you can find out about his androids that could help us defeat them. Let's go!"
At that decree, Kien led Sumio and Sumie off after the androids. Yoshio and Yuko turned to Shun and Jontu for information concerning the whereabouts of the diabolical android inventor Dr. Dreg. Shun nodded knowingly at the human fighters.
"Yes," Shun declared to them with a twinkle in his eye. "I can help you find the location of Dr. Dreg's laboratory. Jontu, bring me the map."
"Yes, sir," Jontu answered Shun in loyal obedience as he quickly made his way on foot into the lookout sanctuary to procure the map.
"Even with the map, it will be difficult to locate his laboratory," Shun announced to Yuko and Yoshio.
"Why haven't any of you tried this before, finding the android's inventor to try to discover a weakness of the androids?" Yuko asked.
"We've never had the opportunity that we have now," Shun answered solemnly. "Before, our champions were either fighting the androids or healing up from battle. Back then the android attacks were more frequent than they are now. There was much more to destroy. When you and your friends arrived, the playing field leveled off a bit. Although even your husband couldn't manage to defeat the androids, not even as a Super Saiyan, it has reinvigorated our waning hope to know that we may finally be on the verge of saving our planet from utter destruction at the hands of the androids. If he truly can surpass a Super Saiyan, he might succeed in overcoming the androids and saving our world."