Nightmare Mode (DBZ Gamer!SI)

Game

Thoughts

"Talking"

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"Ahem, anyways…" King Vegeta cleared his throat as all three Saiyans stared at him after his outburst, "The Triangle of Evil has one ball. There are a few other places of lesser importance labeled on the map. That's the gist of it. Any questions?"

"Yeah, actually, I've been wanting to ask… I'm not doubting your decision or anything, Your Highness," Gray started, hoping not to piss off the Saiyan King with his question, "But why am I going on the mission?" 

I'm not complaining about a chance to get to Earth, but this situation is weird. Even if I did defeat an A-Class recruit, I'm still just an F-Class. On top of that, Raditz was waiting for me right when I arrived back on Planet Vegeta, so Celia wouldn't have been able to tell the King anything unless she said something about me before we left.

King Vegeta groaned audibly, "Well, guess I'm just giving a whole mission briefing here now, huh? Wasting so much of my time! Fine!"

King Vegeta pointed his finger at Celia, who stood still and emotionless, as if the strongest Saiyan in the world wasn't pointing accusingly at her, "You're here because she chose you! This bastard child had every Saiyan recruit to choose from, and she chose a damn F-Class!"

Gray blinked, looking at Celila, "Huh?"

"Roughly a year ago, I awakened my ability…" Celia started to explain.

Ability? I don't remember Saiyans having special abilities, but Goku could also randomly talk telepathically and read memories, so what do I know?

"The only good thing about her." King Vegeta said with a huff as he sat down on the chairs surrounding the table. Gray noticed Celia's lip twitch slightly at his words, but she continued nonetheless. 

"Right. This ability is the only reason I got any royal training, despite being a bastard. I lived in the slums before this showed up." Celia said, walking towards Raditz and creating a small circle with her thumb and index finger, then holding it up to her eye, "To dumb it down for you, my ability lets me see certain parts of a person. The only part you need to know about for this explanation is that I can see someone's full potential."

Gray blinked in surprise at her words, "Their full potential?"

What the hell does that mean? My maximum power level? Potential didn't really make sense in the show, considering that Grand Elder Guru unlocked Gohan's full potential on Namek, and then he still got a thousand times stronger two arcs later.

"Yes. Father gave me the task of finding promising recruits with a lot of potential. So, I infiltrated the recruitment process to get closer to the recruit with the most potential." Celia explained, not elaborating on what 'potential' really meant.

"Which, supposedly, is you." King Vegeta spoke up, looking at him doubtfully, "You did well on Planet Vargon, but I expected Celia to come back with an A or S-Class recruit. Maybe that rising star, Caulifa. Not an F-Class like you." 

Did he just say Caulifa?

Gray had no time to think about if he'd misheard the Saiyan King or not, as he had a more important question to get out.

"So, you joined the F-Class group I was in because I have the highest potential of any of the recruits?" Gray asked.

Obviously, I do, but that's because of the game. Did the Gray whose body I took over really have the highest potential? He, or I guess me, wasn't even a canon character.

"Nope. I was there for Dareth." Celia answered, and Gray couldn't stop his jaw from dropping.

Seriously? Dareth?

"Don't look so surprised. There are many Saiyans with immense potential, but most die before they even come close to reaching it. Dareth has the potential to surpass even Father, but he is also arrogant and stupid. I was hoping to guide him, but then I met you. He's likely ended up dead due to his arrogance by now." Celia explained.

"Yeah, I doubt he survived the test," Gray said, feeling partially disappointed and partially relieved. The Saiyan part of him still wanted revenge, while the Human part of him felt glad to not have that weighing on his shoulders anymore, "That means I had more potential than him, so you joined my team?"

"Incorrect." Celia said, surprising him again, "Actually, it's the opposite. I can't see your potential at all. It's as if you have none."

Gray blinked in surprise, for what felt like the 50th time that day, "None?"

"None." Celia confirmed, "Which shouldn't be possible. Every living thing has some amount of potential. Even animals. Expect for you. Choosing you was incredibly illogical. A complete gamble."

Gray felt a shiver go down his spine at the look Celia gave him after saying that, an unnatural smile on her face.

I have no potential? Is it because of the game, or was the past Gray just pathetically weak? I guess he was in last place in Class-F…

"Which is why," King Vegeta spoke up again, standing from his seat and suddenly looking much more intimidating, "If this gamble doesn't pay off, both of your heads will roll."

Gray grimaced as he felt pressure press down on his shoulders, reminding him that the older man in front of him was still the King of the Saiyans.

"Of course, Father," Celia said, looking much more relaxed than Gray despite the threat hanging in the air.

"You," King Vegeta intoned as he looked at Gray, and Gray blinked in surprise as he saw Raditz and Celia suddenly collapse, both of them falling onto all fours as King Vegeta's presence filled the room. Gray felt an even more intense pressure slam onto his shoulders, but stayed standing tall.

This is the pressure from the King of all Saiyans… and yet, it's not that bad? Are Raditz and Celia seriously being sent to their knees from this?

"If this gamble pays off, what will you do? When you have the dragon balls… or when you reach your potential, ascending beyond the realm of a normal Saiyan?" King Vegeta asked as he stared down his nose at Gray, his face unreadable.

Is he… talking about me becoming a Super Saiyan?

Gray stood tall, staring directly into the King's eyes as he answered, "I'll use that power against Frieza. I'll help you free the Saiyan race from his control."

King Vegeta stared back into his eyes for a moment, and then his face turned into a sneer.

"Whatever," King Vegeta growled, "I'm done wasting my time with this. Make sure you memorize that map. You deal with the rest. Raditz."

Huh? Did I answer wrong?

"Yes, Your Highness," Raditz responded. 

King Vegeta walked out of the room, leaving the three younger Saiyans remaining.

"Make sure you memorize that map. You deal with the rest, Celia," Raditz said, mimicking the order King Vegeta had given him with a smirk on his face as he brushed off the assignment. He walked out after the King, leaving just Gray and Celia remaining. 

Gray sighed as he relaxed now that the two powerful Saiyans were gone, "Damn, that was intense. Didn't think I'd be talking to the King so soon. You said not to trust him and made him sound so scary on the way here, but he seemed pretty alright to me." 

Celia hummed, "He was lenient with you because you did something as amazing as defeating Kolra on Vargon. Out of the tens of thousands of Class-F recruits who took the test, there are probably a couple hundred who survived at the most. The test this year was particularly harsh, probably due to Frieza pressuring Father. You survived while defeating a Class-A recruit."

Gray blinked for the 51st time at the mention of Frieza, "Frieza? Why would he have anything to do with the test?"

"I'm not surprised you don't know. Talking badly about Frieza never ends well for anyone, so no one mentions it openly, but Frieza isn't shy about his dislike for us Saiyans." Cecilia said as she stared at the map, seemingly memorizing it as she spoke, "Our Ozaru forms allow us to be his strongest soldiers, but also his biggest threat. He's been forcing Father to send more Saiyans into the war during the last two years, usually on suicide missions. Father's powerless to do anything but obey, of course."

"Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering how the recruitment program stayed around with tests like that. Assuming mostly A-Class guys passed the test, most of the other classes would only have a few surviving squads left, right?" Gray asked. 

"You're both right and wrong. There were thousands of Class-F squads sent to take the test, but there were only about 25 Class-A recruits. Most of the other teams didn't have to fight against an A-Class, but you're right in the idea that a lot of the lower classes are wiped out." Celia said, "The test teams sent to each planet were mostly random, we just happened to have a bad draw. Our race isn't nearly smart or organized enough to have one team from each class on each test planet."

"Fair. We're a race of meatheads." Gray chuckled.

Still, the game, or someone, must have had something to do with that test. There's no way we happened to end up with one team from each class and with them distributed in that way. The strongest F-Class team, one of the stronger D-Class teams, a middle-of-the-road C-Class team, a weak B-Class team, and then the weakest A-Class team. 

Celia turned to look at him head-on at his remark, and took a step closer to him, "However, don't think that my Father is stupid. He wouldn't have been able to stay as King for so long if he was. He deflected your question about why you were put on this mission to instead talk about my ability, and you not realizing is why you need me."

Gray stared back into her eyes as he realized she was right, "Yeah, I guess he didn't answer directly. I assumed it was because of my potential."

I was so caught up in thinking about Celia's ability, that I didn't realize he half-dodged my question.

"It's to die," Celia said calmly.

Gray blinked in surprise for the 52nd time that day, "What?"

"We're both being sent there to die. The whole squad is, in fact." Celia continued, taking another step forward so she was only a foot or two away from Gray, "The situation on Earth is much worse than he alluded to. Even Raditz is probably unaware, but Frieza's forces are losing badly. The last report from Earth was about 10 days ago, and they estimated that they'd be forced to retreat completely from the planet within the next month, or else they'd be completely wiped out. Remember how I mentioned Frieza was forcing Father to send Saiyans on suicide missions? We're one of those."

Gray grimaced at her words, "But, we could just be last-minute reinforcements to help turn the tide, right? There's no way the King would send both his daughter and squad captain to their death! How do you even know this if Raditz doesn't?"

Celia smiled sadly at his words and glanced down at her feet, "I'm an unloyal bastard child. Even with my ability, he'd rather be rid of me. As for Raditz, he might be a squad commander but he's by far the weakest of them all. Father likely already has a replacement for him. Him being chosen for being 'smart' and 'loyal' is just to stroke Raditz's ego a bit. As for you,"

Celia placed her finger against his chest, looking up into his eyes again, "You're a gamble, but right now, you're useless. If you die on Earth, then he doesn't lose anything. If you survive, then you're a powerful piece to utilize against Frieza." 

Gray sighed, "I just worked my ass off to beat Kolra, and now I've got another impossible task?" 

"Not impossible." Celia hummed, "You don't need to conquer Earth or anything. If you did something that incredible, then Frieza himself would start seeing you as a threat. You just need to help the forces there hold out for a few months. Maybe gain some more territory. Prove to Father that Vargon wasn't a fluke, and he'll have you brought back to finish your training. He explained the mission today as if you'll be able to succeed so that on the off chance you impress him it won't seem as if he was sending you to your death. " 

Gray grinned down at her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her finger away from his chest, "Well, why didn't you start with that?"

Here I was thinking that I'd have to ditch the Saiyans and team up with the Z-Fighters if I wanted to survive. Nah, I can last a few months on Earth. Maybe Frieza's set up by a beach and this'll be a vacation?

Gray flinched slightly as Celia reached up, pressing her finger into the front of his nose, "Don't get cocky. This won't be a vacation. It'll be much harder than Vargon."

Gray's eyes widened at her words, Can she really read my thoughts?

"No, I can't read your thoughts." Celia said with a mischievous smile that fit strangely well on her normally emotionless face, "I knew that because of one of the other parts of my ability. I said earlier that seeing someone's potential was only one part of my ability, didn't I?"

Celia slid her finger over Gray's mouth to shush him as he started to speak, smiling wider at him, "You should pay attention more, but I told you before the test: You can do whatever you want, and I'll deal with this type of stuff."

Gray grinned slightly at her words, "Yeah. That's why I have you, right?"

"Yup!" Celia spun around, walking away from him with her hips swaying, "But you should still think a bit, alright? You're so distracted staring at my ass that you didn't even ask about the other part of my ability."

"Ah, right." Gray blushed as he dragged his eyes up from Celia's swaying hips, "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Another part of my ability is that I can see the mood someone is in and why they're in that mood. I could see that you were confused about if I could read your mind or not, so I knew you were thinking about it. That's also how I know about the situation on Earth, as the last Saiyan soldier to report back from Earth was stressed about their impending doom." Celia explained as she walked towards the door, Gray only half listening as his eyes were glued to her swaying rear again, where her ass shape was visible through the tight Saiyan under armor. 

Celia crossed her hands behind her back, covering her ass with her hands, "You should head back and talk to Asia, Tamari, and Saeko now. I'm sure they're concerned about why you were dragged here. I'll come speak to you more about preparing for the mission tomorrow morning." 

"Wait. Before you go, do you know who else will be on the mission with us?" Gray asked as he dragged his eyes away from her ass, his face turning serious again.

"No one you know, I'm sure. Mostly a group of misfits and weaker members of Father's forces. I told you, right? We're being sent there with the intention that we never come back." Celia hummed as she stopped by the door, leaning against it as she looked back at him. 

"What about the training here? If it's just more basic training for a while, I'm sure Tamari and Asia will be fine, but if there's another exam or anything dangerous coming up, then we'll need to do something to make sure they're fine." Gray said, concerned about how Asia and Tamari would fare while he was gone.

"There shouldn't be another exam for at least half a year, so don't worry about that. If you survive, you'll be recalled in less than half that time. The main threat to them would be other recruits. I'll ensure that they're both under the same instructor as you." Celia said, opening the door as she prepared to leave, "It'd be wise to try and meet with recruits under the same instructor as you and either ensure they won't try anything, or have someone protect the two of them." 

Gray nodded at her, "Right. Find out who the other recruits in our class will be, and I'll go talk to them all personally." 

"I'll have a list for you by tomorrow." Celia hummed as she walked out of the door.

Gray waited a moment for her to walk away so he wouldn't be awkwardly walking behind her, glancing at the map to burn the image of it into his head.

Why's there so much unlabeled space at the top right of the map? It's hard to believe that soldiers with the ability to fly wouldn't be able to map out all of Earth.

Gray glanced over at the door, making sure Celia was gone, and then started heading out of the room, a grin on his face.

Earth. I'll really be heading to Earth. It'll be scary, but I still have all the rewards from Vargon that I haven't had time to look over. I'll be WAY stronger by the time I arrive on Earth.

He walked out the door, entering into the large throne room again.

I'll get to actually meet my favorite characters. That'll be surreal. 

For someone who'd only ever seen the characters on a screen, getting to meet someone like Goku would be amazing. 

Goku, Krillin, Master Roshi…

Gray headed toward the large towering door.

And, most importantly…

He paused for a moment to grin up at the large door, lost in thought.

Bulma. I wonder if Goku will be mad if I kill Yamcha?

Gray hummed as he opened the large door and stepped out into the place hallway.

With how fucked up this world is already, maybe Android 18 will already be there? 

He started walking down the long hallway.

Meh, if not then at least I'll be able to see Bulma and Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi might be harder to get depending on her relationship with Goku. I wouldn't feel bad about killing Yamcha, but theres no way I'm gonna kill Goku. Maybe they didn't get married in this world?

Gray continued humming happily as he approached the open area that he originally flew into. 

I wonder if Maron is there. She's not canon, but maybe? She was a bit of a slut, but she was also made to be a literal younger and hotter version of Bulma, so I'll consider it.

Gray walked onto the ledge and got ready to start flying.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"Oh, just about some Earth babes," Gray responded as he continued humming happily.

"Oh, nice! Wanna go tell Lord Frieza about them?"

"Huh? Why the hell would I do th-" Gray's words caught in his mouth as he spun around, breaking himself out of his Earth-girl-induced daze. A large purple alien was towering over him.

Oh. Hi, Ginyu.

"Eh? Well, it doesn't really matter if you want to or not. Lord Frieza wants to see you." Ginyu said with a smirk, his arm gripping Gray's shoulder tightly. 

Well, fuck. 

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Gray Tanaki:

[Saiyan D-Class Recruit]

Age: 15

Wallet: 45,150 Coins

Lvl: 10 (31,000/75,000 XP)

PL: 31,972,700

Available Points: 540

HP: 91,450/91,450

TKI: 164,025/164,025

STR: 315

AGI: 350

END: 290

INT: 415

CHA: 145

LUK: 155

KI: 395

HREG: 176

EREG: 176

Token's Available: 1 [Skill Token], 1 [Perk Token]

Skills: [Observe LVL 4], [Running LVL 6], [Determination LVL 4], [Ki Control LVL 9], [Ki Gun LVL 5]. [Ki Enhancement LVL 4], [KI Suppression LVL 5], [Ki Sense LVL 2], [Pushup LVL 4], [Punch LVL 4], [Kick LVL 4], [Jump LVL 4], [Flight LVL 4], [Prediction LVL 2], [Zenkai Boost LVL 1]

Perks: [Gamer's Mind], [Gamer's Body], [Double-edged Sword], [Legendary Super Sayian], [Perfect Ozaru], [A Cute Pawn], [A Humble Master], [Ladies Man]

Fighting Styles: [Boxing Style: Kolra LVL 1]

Party: [Empty]

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Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! The second part will be posted later today, but as always, you can read the second part and the next chapter right now at Patreon.com/Koyon!