Honor Trip

(Season IV)

- a Dragon Ball Z FanFiction -

Chapter Sixty-Six: Progression

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball, the glorious franchise it is, is not in any way a property the Honor Trip team controls. Our team does, however, enjoy supplementing the mystique of the franchise with stories such as the one herein.

With that said, we hope you enjoy the story!

Thanks to all who responded to the poll regarding which additional Z-Fighter you think will be revealed in this chapter to have a transformation Baba can detect; your responses were extremely enjoyable to read.

Timeline III, Planet Earth, "Southwestern Region", Sept. 25, Age 767 …..

Although he felt faster, stronger, and more prepared to fight his adversaries than ever before, the power level multiplier he had experienced with his transformation had not induced as much of a net power level increase as it otherwise could have if he had not forgone rigorous training over the past few years.

Still, he felt awesome.

"Wait 'till Korin sees this!" Yajirobe shouted, while punching rapidly into the air as per a test of his newfound capabilities, with the glistening white energy-armor of the Radiant Ronin transformation sheathing him and causing his punches to appear like comets.

Yajirobe then jumped high into the air and unleashed his spiritually enhanced sword, directing it up toward the zenith of the bluish soundproofing sphere that Baba had magically created.

"Yo Goku, block this!" he shouted, while gathering energy by the tip of his sword's blade.

Goku activated his basic Super Saiyan transformation in response, as he was unsure of how powerful Yajirobe truly had become and of how powerful the upcoming attack would be.

"Don't you think it's a bit reckless to launch a new technique toward your friends without previously testing it?" Goku asked, while levitating a few meters above the others.

"Dude, I'm only doing this because I know you can handle it!" Yajirobe shouted, while he concentrated the energy at the blade's tip into a white sphere a few centimeters in diameter. "Here's the premiere of my Hundred-Blade Brigade!"

The sphere of energy at the tip of Yajirobe's blade then divided into 100 smaller spheres, each retaining the whitish coloration. The smaller spheres then surrounded Yajirobe and formed a grid in which each component sphere was one meter from each other sphere in immediate proximity.

Suddenly, the 100 spheres each expanded and transitioned into replicated appearances of Yajirobe's sword. The energy swords rushed toward Goku, who blasted about five of them into oblivion before the now-frontmost energy sword entered within one meter of his vicinity. Goku rolled out of its path, and after noticing that the energy sword turned toward him, he deduced that the other energy swords as well likely were designed to track and follow him.

Goku darted upward, with the energy swords rushing toward him, and after passing through Baba's soundproofing shield, he saw the swords emerge from the bluish dome, followed by Radiant Ronin Yajirobe passing through the shield as well.

As a test of the energy swords' available speed, Goku accelerated and noticed that the swords could not match his faster movement. However, Goku felt proud of Yajirobe for the effort, and he grinned while turning to face the swords, as per his desire to publicly premiere one of his own new techniques.

"Nice technique, but it can't beat this one!" Goku shouted, with only Yajirobe able to hear his words in the close vicinity, but with all in the vicinity able to see Goku's initiation of the technique, albeit with a bluish hue for those below the dome.

Instead of placing both of his wrists vertically together in preparation for launching a classic Kamehameha, Goku placed his wrists horizontally together and yelled "Ka!"

He then yelled "Me!" upon separation of his wrists by a few centimeters, "Ha!" upon bringing his left wrist toward the left side of his waist and his right wrist toward the right side of his waist, a second "Me!" when his left wrist touched the left side of his waist and his right wrist touched the right side of his waist with energy beginning to charge by each palm, a second "Ha!" when he raised each of his wrists above the corresponding sides and back, and "Flash!" when he rushed both palms forward, while keeping a few centimeters of distance between his wrists for the technique's discharge. Upon yelling "Flash!", each of his palms emitted gigantic energy blasts that exponentially increased in diameter with distance from his palms.

Goku directed each blast of the Kamehameha Flash toward the most concentrated grouping of the energy swords, which was to his direct front. The double-blast quickly overpowered the oncoming concentrated group of energy swords, causing them to explode within the Kamehameha Flash. To eliminate the remaining energy swords of the Hundred-Blade Brigade that were approaching Goku from his left and right sides, Goku brought each blast of the Kamehameha Flash outward from their central position, with the blast from his left palm moving leftward across the sky and the blast from his right palm moving rightward, until each palm had horizontally moved 90 degrees backward. The repositioned blasts destroyed the remaining energy swords in their paths, and with his palms now 180 degrees from each other, Goku ceased the energy output for the technique.

"I didn't really think I'd be able to give any sort of effective challenge to a Super Saiyan like you, Goku, and while you overcame my technique with ease, it was still a bunch of fun for me!" Yajirobe said, while using the energy of his Radiant Ronin form to maintain his newfound ability to fly.

"I've sure never seen a technique quite like that one," Goku said, as he descended from his Super Saiyan form back to his normal state. "Did you learn how to do that when you gained your new form?"

"Uh … I guess I did," Yajirobe said, while again looking at the shining white energy armor of the form. "Goku, I want to test something else, if that's alright with ya, and stay like you are without becoming a Super Saiyan, alright?"

Goku was momentarily apprehensive, but decided to further inquire.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Goku asked.

"I want to see how much this armor over here can withstand one of your punches without you transforming into a Super Saiyan," Yajirobe said. "And dude, I want you to punch me as hard as you can!"

"Yajirobe, what you're asking for is kind of crazy," Goku said. "We have no idea how strong that armor actually is, and if I really punch you as hard as I can, I might kill you."

"Aw come on, try it out anyway," Yajirobe said. "I want to see what this soul armor can do! Besides, you could just wish me back with the Dragon Balls, after all."

"This is a terrible idea," Goku said, as he gathered energy for a punch, but merely one that would be at about 5 percent of his maximum strength for a punch in his normal state.

"Bring it on!" Yajirobe shouted while beckoning Goku to attack, and purposely positioning his arms to his sides.

Goku's punch was faster than the human eye could generally see … and yet virtually ineffective against Yajirobe! The Radiant Ronin soul armor miraculously withstood the force of the attack and prevented Yajirobe from being harmed, although as per Goku's strength, which was considerable even when limited, Yajirobe soared backward many meters.

The armor's effectiveness shocked not only Goku, but the spectators below the dome, while Yajirobe began to perform a sort of victory dance.

"Oh man! This Radiant Ronin thing is absolutely awesome!" Yajirobe shouted, as he finished the victory dance and repositioned himself for another attack. "Now punch me while you're a Super Saiyan!"

"That punch was nothing close to my full power in this form because I didn't want to harm you, but still … wow," Goku said. "Instead of punching you again, I'd like to see how strong you're attacks are when you're a Radiant Ronin."

Goku placed his arms to his sides and beckoned Yajirobe to approach.

"Now Yajirobe, punch me as hard as you can!" Goku shouted.

Yajirobe apportioned as much power as he could into his punch, then connected it with Goku's chest.

The punch was unequivocally ineffective.

"Well, this sucks," Yajirobe said, while Goku laughed.

"Don't worry about it," Goku said, while placing his right hand atop Yajirobe's left shoulder. "I don't think you really expected that you'd suddenly gain so much strength even with this transformation, did you?"

"I figured my defenses were way up because I'm wearing like, armor and all, but I wasn't sure how much I'd actually gained in offensive strength," Yajirobe said.

"I could sense you'd gotten stronger, and yeah, you're about 25 times stronger than you'd been before," Goku said.

"Against you, though, that ain't much," Yajirobe said.

"It's something, though," Goku said. "If you'd possessed this form back in the day, you would have given Nappa quite a fight! Besides, it's wild how much stronger your defenses are with that soul armor; your defenses certainly increased by a multiplier far greater than the multiplier for your attacks."

"I wonder how much action this armor can take," Yajirobe said.

"If we test out its limits, there's no way of telling whether the first attack it couldn't handle would merely, for lack of a better word, 'shatter' your armor and not actually get through, or instead pierce the armor and connect with you," Goku said. "I don't really want to test this, if you know what I'm saying."

"I get what you mean," Yajirobe said, as he maneuvered to scratch one of his armpits, then realized he could not because of the bulkiness of the soul armor. In response to his inability to scratch himself, Yajirobe disengaged the Radiant Ronin transformation, then began to plummet, while realizing the error of being high in the sky after willfully descending from the transformation that had been providing him with the flight power he otherwise did not possess.

After falling two meters, Goku caught him with a laugh.

"It looks like you need to resume your training!" Goku said.

"After breakfast," Yajirobe said, while passing through the blue dome with Goku.

As the two landed upon the arena floor, Vegeta angrily brandished his Super Saiyan aura.

"Kakarot! You probably can't even comprehend how insulting it is to have one of your prized techniques seized without your permission!" Vegeta shouted. "It was bad enough that Gero stole my techniques and gave them to Cell, and as Gero stole your techniques and gave them to Cell as well, you obviously didn't learn how insulting this is! What exactly made you think you could steal my Final Flash? Also, you even further denigrated my efforts by not even committing the time to practice the technique and perform it correctly!"

"Vegeta, I wasn't attempting to use the Final Flash," Goku said.

"That's bullshit! I know what I saw!" Vegeta shouted.

"But Baba's energy field prevented you from hearing what I said while I was performing that technique," Goku said. "If you'd been able to hear me, you would have heard that I said 'Kamehameha Flash' when performing it."

Vegeta thought about the implications for a few moments before responding.

"So either you further insulted me by rebranding the move as your own, or what you exhibited was some sort of combination of my Final Flash and your Kamehameha," Vegeta said.

"The second one," Goku said. "The Final Flash is a powerful technique, and because I didn't want to outright steal it, I decided to combine it with one of my own moves to create something new. The Kamehameha Flash is a result of inspiration, not piracy."

"That better be true," Vegeta said, while descending from his basic Super Saiyan transformation and redirecting his attention toward Yajirobe. "More importantly, how the Hell did you do that?"

"My overall awesomeness has enabled me to do many awesome things in the past few minutes that I hadn't been able to do before; what are you referring to specifically?" Yajirobe asked.

"The thing with the swords!" Vegeta said. "You barely had any skills just an hour ago, and now you can do that! Not even Kakarot, Gohan, and … uh … not even they can do that!"

"I don't really know how I was able to do it," Yajirobe said, to Vegeta's chagrin. "I used to suck at energy attacks in general, and now launching an attack like my Hundred-Blade Brigade just feels … natural to me."

"Fantastic," Vegeta said sarcastically. "Those of us who actually train haven't been able to access a technique in which the wielder can finely affix energy into a shape of his choice, and yet this lardmonger was able to do it without even trying."

"Hey man, you're able to turn into a Super Saiyan and get mad stronger after each battle while most of the rest of us can't, and you can do those things because of genetics that the rest of us don't got," Yajirobe said. "And yet, you don't hear us complaining about that. Let someone else have at least this one thing, won't you?"

Vegeta sneered at Yajirobe, then turned his gaze away from his direction.

"Speaking for the rest of us humans, your new form is mondo-cool!" Krillin said, while offering Yajirobe a fist-bump to which he obliged.

"Even with what I said before, does this mean that each human, or perhaps just humans who are at least as strong as Yajirobe, have a transformation like that, too?" Yamcha asked. "It just doesn't seem as though we'd each have a samurai-based transformation like Yajirobe obviously has, mainly because we're not samurai, while he carries a katana with him almost everywhere he goes."

"The last time I used it in combat before today, I sliced off Vegeta's tail," Yajirobe said, while Vegeta further sneered. "Since then, I'd mostly been using it for making sandwiches and other good eats. But yeah, I guess I was able to somehow achieve the form because of some spiritual thing."

"I wasn't aware that there are transformations out there that can be accessed just by reaching a certain level of achievement for a particular type of activity or occupation," Tien said. "It just doesn't seem as thought that could be true. I find it hard to believe that just about anyone can achieve the Radiant Ronin form if they accomplish enough as a samurai."

"I agree with Tien," Chiaotzu said. "It seems more likely that you had the potential all along to have some sort of transformation, but that through your actions, your spiritual energy manifested your transformation as one based on your samurai activities."

"If that's true, that might explain the fairly specific vision I had right before I gained the form," Yajirobe said.

"You had a spiritual vision?" Baba asked, with some surprise.

"Yeah, a bunch of guys were working on the armor for my transformation and upgraded my sword, and then, right after the vision ended, I was wearing the soul armor and my katana had the same look," Yajirobe said.

"I in no way expected such a thing would occur," Baba said. "It's very peculiar … this would suggest that some sort of mystical force other than myself had recognized you, Yajirobe, and wanted you to be able to gain the form you gained. For you to have received a vision like that almost certainly indicates that some force was responsible for this … I know of nothing in this universe that is available for all to potentially experience for which there is a universally-defined spiritual vision that automatically triggers before something happens. Someone, or something, rather, must have imbued you with the potential for this transformation long before I detected that potential and enabled you to activate the form."

"Far out," Yajirobe said.

"Knowing you, something you ate is responsible for this," Krillin said.

"Hmm … I did eat one of King Piccolo's minions a while back, so maybe – "

"It was disgusting then, and it's disgusting now, so do us a favor and stop reminding us," Piccolo said, interrupting Yajirobe.

"That wouldn't explain the specific nature of what occurred in your vision, unless, based on what Chiaotzu suggested, the vision was customized for you based on the way your spiritual potential for a transformation was affected by your activities," Gohan said.

"All I know is that now, I'm going to get back into training," Yajirobe said.

"Even if you do train, you'll still die in seconds if Cell goes rogue," Vegeta said. "Seriously, I hope one of the rest of you with some sort of at least halfway decent base strength has a transformation that could be of use."

Yajirobe was about to protest Vegeta's assertion, but instead decided to focus upon the remaining fighters who Baba had not yet analyzed for detectable transformations that could be unlocked.

"I'd like to be next," Yamcha said. "If I do have a transformation that you can find, Baba, I want to be able to use it as soon as possible."

"I shall focus upon the entirety of your energy to determine if I can detect what we seek," Baba said, as she placed her hands toward Yamcha and began the analysis.

After a little more than one minute, she opened her eyes.

"It does not seem you possess a transformation that I can detect," Baba said, to Yamcha's significant disappointment. "However, as I've said before, you might still have one that I simply can't detect."

"I hope that's true," Yamcha said. "So many of us have cool transformations, and I just wanted to have one, you know?"

"It seems, then, that we can rule out that every human has a transformation that Baba can detect," Piccolo said. "I'll go next."

"As you wish," Baba said, while she directed her detective powers toward him.

Her analysis of Piccolo lasted for a relatively significantly greater duration than each of the previous analyses she had conducted for those she had already analyzed. After about four minutes of observation, Baba opened her eyes.

"Although I did not detect a transformation within you, it's clear that you've undergone much transformation already, Piccolo," Baba said. "I'd never before had the opportunity to examine a being who, while having a unified soul, has three clearly defined components of that soul."

"I was wondering what was taking so long," Piccolo said. "You examined the properties granted to me by the mergers with Kami and Nail."

"That, and I wanted to make absolutely sure that I wasn't missing something important," Baba said. "Because of the unique relationship between your former self and Kami, I felt as though I was looking at not just a soul formed from three, but one also formed from two."

"If you think it's interesting to merely observe this type of existence, you'd be beyond fascinated to personally experience it even for a few seconds," Piccolo said. "It's relatively indescribable to those who haven't personally known it."

"I'm unsurprised by that," Baba said.

"On the subject of surprise, since my father and Vegeta didn't have another transformation you could detect, I'd be very surprised if I had one," Gohan said.

"Let's see," Baba said, as she began to analyze his energy.

After about one and one-half minutes, her analysis of Gohan's energy was complete.

"Sorry kiddo," Baba said, while Gohan, true to his word, was unsurprised.

"Well, it's not like he really needs another one," Yamcha said.

"Against Cell, another one would have been great," Goku said. "It looks like we'll need to train even harder so that Vegeta and I can achieve Super Saiyan 2 –

" – If we even can," Vegeta said, interrupting him.

" – I have a gut-feeling we can, and when we do, we'll be all the more ready to work with Gohan to reach the next level through training, … assuming, of course, there is another level to reach."

"The potential of the Saiyan race is boundless, Kakarot," Vegeta said. "It would greatly surprise me if Super Saiyan 2 is the last in that chain of forms. By the way, it also seems possible that what we're calling Super Saiyan 2 is accessible only by Gohan and Trunks because they're half-Saiyan and half-human, while the two of us possess an entirely different second form because we're full-blooded."

"Huh, … I hadn't thought about that, although I guess it could be true," Goku said. "There's much for us to learn."

"Baba, I'd like you to take a look at my energy next," Tien said. "I've wondered for the past few years if the fact that Saiyans can transform into Super Saiyans indicates that similar species might possess similar potential. Humans and Saiyans, despite being associated with planets light-years apart, are so biologically similar that there seems to be some sort of special bond between us that might be related to the truth of what humanity can achieve regarding this."

"But you, of course, are not just any ordinary human," Baba said.

"Obviously, I'm a descendent of the Three-Eye Clan, and I wonder if I've somehow inherited the powers of my ancestors in ways I'm yet to see, even with three eyes," Tien said. "If you could help me learn even a little bit about myself through your observation, it would be appreciated."

"Then let's begin," Baba said, as she placed her hands toward him and began the analysis.

After about one minute, Baba smiled.

"Extraordinary," Baba said, while Tien and his fellow Z-Fighters eagerly awaited her elaboration. "I am proud to announce, Tien, that you do, in fact, have a potential transformation that I can detect."

The news caused Tien to feel enthralled with mysticism.

"It is … I can't describe how amazing it is to learn this," Tien said, while Chiaotzu was jumping up and down. "I am humbled to have this privilege."

"Good going, Tien!" Chiaotzu shouted. "With your dedication to the martial arts, I was hoping this would be true!"

"Up top, man!" Yajirobe said, while raising his right hand in the air to give Tien a high-five, to which Tien completed the celebratory maneuver. "We're like … transformation bros."

"I must admit, your new transformation is quite cool," Tien said, while Yajirobe continued to revel in the moment. "It makes me even more eager to find out what my own transformation is like."

"That will have to wait, although your ascertainment of the knowledge hopefully will be soon," Baba said.

"Huh? Why would that be?" Tien asked.

"What I detected regarding you is different from what I detected regarding Yajirobe," Baba said. "Whereas with him I was able to both unlock his potential to achieve the transformation and his ability to do so, for you I can merely unlock the potential, while you will need to work to achieve the transformation on your own after that."

"What is the reason for this difference?" Tien asked.

"There is a spiritual … 'cloud' over your soul," Baba said, causing Tien to become perplexed.

"That sounds like it sucks," Eighteen said.

"It literally does," Baba said. "This 'cloud' has been causing Tien to not be able to achieve his full potential for many years now; in fact, once I lift it, you'll notice a modest increase in your overall strength. I was able to see within you that a transformation exists that is being largely concealed by the spiritual cloud; I'm unsure of its nature, though. It seems, based on what I detected, that after I lift the cloud I won't be able to enable you to actually activate it, although I'll of course try again."

"What exactly did I do to have this cloud manifest?" Tien asked. "Is it truly the result of something I did, or did someone at some time place a curse upon me? I wasn't born with this thing, was I?"

"Based on what I was able to sense, it appears that unbeknownst to you, during the period of your tutelage with Master Shen, he used a technique on you that caused the cloud to form," Baba said, causing Tien to suddenly become enraged.

"That malicious scoundrel!" Tien yelled. "I've despised him for teaching Chiaotzu and I so many lies, and he did this, too? I had no idea he knew of such a technique!"

"There are many things you don't know about Master Shen and that, for now, are best left in the past," Baba said. "However, pertinent for now is that it seems he wanted to enhance your power quickly, and so he used a crude form of enchantment – that's what the cloud truly is – to accelerate your short-term power level growth. Whether he knew it or not, this had the effect of decreasing your long-term potential as long as the enchantment remained in effect. It had a stronger effect years ago when you still were acting in accordance with his dark wishes, as this enchantment's effects in part depended upon your actions, and the enchantment never totally dissipated. So yes, you were not responsible for it existing, but you were responsible for much of what it has done to you. I doubt Shen was aware of how to reverse it, but I am more than aware of how to do so."

Baba began to hum to herself, while a greenish glow began to surround Tien. After about 25 seconds, the volume of her incantation crescendoed, with the glow surrounding Tien experiencing a corresponding increase in brightness. About 10 seconds later, the glow dissipated, and Baba opened her eyes.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Tien would have enjoyed responding by transforming, but as the detected transformation had not yet been achieved, he ignited the white aura associated with his normal state, feeling the noticeable boost in power coursing through him.

"This is absolutely amazing!" Tien said.

"I wonder what would have happened had Guru tried unlocking your potential while the cloud was still with you," Gohan said. "But now that the cloud is gone, I guess he'll be able to boost your power even further when you and the others who haven't yet had experienced his Potential Unlock technique go to him in a few days."

"Yes, I doubt Guru's technique would be precluded by what I just performed," Baba said.

"At last, I'm finally – and truly – able to spiritually begin anew," Tien said. "I've been trying to repent for my past actions for years, and I'll be able to repent even more by achieving the transformation you detected."

"That reminds me … let me see if now that the enchantment is gone whether I can enable you to activate it after all," Baba said, as she concentrated upon his energy.

After a few seconds of analysis, she opened her eyes.

"As I thought, you're still going to have to achieve it on your own, although now, unlike before, you can," Baba said.

"That's alright; I actually prefer having to work for it anyway," Tien said. "Thanks for enabling me to do this. Were you able to find out any more about the nature of the transformation when you checked again?"

"The nature of that transformation remains shrouded to me," Baba said. "I wish there was more I could tell you about it, although it is undoubted that through further training, you can now eventually access it."

"Then I shall train with greater commitment than I've ever trained before," Tien said. "Although I do not know of the nature of this transformation, including whether, based on my past, it was meant to be used for righteousness or evil, I shall harness its strength to unremittingly advocate righteousness and fight evil. Even though I do not truly believe that Cell is intentionally acting in an evil manner now, the alarming potential for him to soon become evil again despite his intentions shall motivate me to achieve this transformation as soon as possible so that I can do even more to defend the innocent against his potential threat."

"The Hyperbolic Time Chamber shall once again be prominent in our efforts," Piccolo said. "I expect that you'll be able to use the chamber well for your effort to achieve your new form before the day Cell expects to make his intended upcoming wishes."

"Tien, your comments about your intents for your transformation made me reflect upon my own," Gohan said. "Vegeta, my father, and I wield our Super Saiyan transformations with pride and have used them to advance righteousness on Earth and in other areas of the universe, but as our timeline's version of Broly demonstrated, the Super Saiyan transformations weren't necessarily meant to be used as weapons to defend others from evil. While it's also unclear whether they truly were meant to be weapons of malicious war, regardless of their purpose and origins, I'm glad to be able to access them to save others from harm."

"Although I question Gohan's perceptions regarding the Super Saiyan transformations, I agree that a transformation should be used as an extension of one's own will, and as a weapon for advancing one's goals," Vegeta said. "If you truly want to prepare yourself as best as possible to fight against Cell, let your transformation strengthen you beyond merely increasing your power."

"As I shall," Tien said.

"Baba, I'd like you to take a look at my energy next, especially because of the likelihood that I, too, have a spiritual cloud upon me because of Shen," Chiaotzu said.

"I'll be attentive to both the possibility of a transformation and the probability of a cloud," Baba said, while she began to observe his energy.

Two minutes passed, and Baba then opened her eyes.

"There is indeed a cloud imposed by Shen, although unlike with Tien, I do not sense a transformation 'behind' it," Baba said, to Chiaotzu's disappointment.

"Is it possible that after lifting the cloud, you might detect one?" Chiaotzu asked.

"It's doubtful, unfortunately," Baba said.

"Regardless of that, the most important thing is to cast away Shen's influence over me," Chiaotzu said. "I, too, want to spiritually start anew."

"Noble, indeed," Baba said, as she began to perform the ritual she had used to cleanse Tien of the spiritual cloud over him.

After the ritual was again accomplished, Chiaotzu felt a modest increase in his strength, as Tien had experienced.

"Tien, this extra strength is amazing!" Chiaotzu said.

"We'll use it well to fight for justice even more," Tien said.

"It would be great, Baba, if you could at least confirm whether there is a detectable transformation now or not," Chiaotzu said. "Although there probably is not, your checking would be appreciated."

Baba then completed another observation of Chiaotzu's energy.

"As we thought, I did not sense one," Baba said.

"But I still might have one, right?" Chiaotzu asked.

"Yes, but if you do, I can't detect it," Baba said.

"Even if I don't, I'll use my expanded energy well," Chiaotzu said.

"So … I guess I'm the last one for you to observe, right?" Krillin asked.

"It would appear to be so," Baba said.

"Okay, let's do this," Krillin said, right before thinking to himself, 'I hope I've got a transformation somewhere in here … if I do, maybe that would impress Eighteen!'

After about a minute of observing Krillin's energy, Baba opened her eyes.

"I unfortunately did not detect one," Baba said, causing Krillin to become disappointed, but he then recognized what to say in response, not only because he felt that Eighteen would consider it 'mondo-cool,' but because he actually believed it.

"As Tien suggested, having to work for greater strength makes it all the more worthwhile," Krillin said. "And as Chiaotzu said, even if I don't have a transformation that I can achieve, I'll train as hard as I can to defend this planet. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."

"I think I'm going to use the chamber, too," Yajirobe said. "I've been admittedly fortunate to have a transformation unlocked today, and just like you guys, I want to make the most out of my efforts as possible."

"Baba, thanks so much for helping us," Goku said.

"You all were worthy of my time," Baba said, while the blue soundproofing dome dissipated. "Now, go make the most of yours."

Thanks for reading the 66th chapter of Honor Trip!

To reiterate my announcement from Aug. 1, Honor Trip shall be on hiatus because I am going to be applying to graduate school programs and must concentrate my efforts upon the application process. Thank you for reading Honor Trip's brief resumption, and while it indeed would have been desirable to write more chapters in this period of Honor Trip's revival, I'm glad I had the opportunity to at least write some. Honor Trip is NOT CANCELLED, and is merely on hiatus until I again have the flexibility of time to devote to this series.

In fun and fanfiction,

American Vigor

Chapter Sixty-Six: Completed Aug. 18, 2013

- The Honor Trip Team -

American Vigor – Author

Genescritor – Chief Editor; Assistant Scenarist

Roketto – Art Director: Visual Element Enhancement; Assistant Scenarist

Ruga-Rell – Art Director: Line Art Creation and Implementation

Poll:

Who among these fighters would be the best businessman?

A: Goku

B: Vegeta

C: Gohan

D: [Future] Trunks

E: Piccolo

F: Frieza

G: Cooler

H: King Cold

Make your opinion known!

[responses to reviews from previous chapter coming soon]