Spirit - Another Dragon Ball Fanfiction

Chapter 23: Going Too Far

I never thought I'd step into one of these again. It almost feels alien. In my previous life, I only used one of these gravity machines once, and I had nearly gotten myself killed. Trying to prove that I was just as good as Vegeta, I had snuck into the machine and set the multiplier to 400 times Earth's gravity. And I almost died. This time, I was a little smarter about it. I figured I could probably handle around 150 times Earth's gravity, so I began at that and worked my way up from there. 

I had adapted to the increased gravity on King Kai's planet while training there. Why not do the same now?

The human body's biological limit is 200 times Earth's gravity. No problem for a highly powerful Saiyan... but it was a different story for me. 

I spent two weeks in bed healing after that stunt. 

But I wasn't about to let my body's limits stay unbroken. I know it sounds stupid, but I tried again. And again. 

And the funny thing was, I eventually got it. But then I realized that I couldn't keep up with Vegeta, no matter how hard I tried. 

He'd eventually be Bulma's husband. I couldn't prevent that. If I did, Trunks might not be born. So Future Trunks might not be born either to give Goku the heart virus. Who knows what else might go wrong? I had already been meddling with my timeline enough. I wasn't about to start screwing up another for selfish reasons. 

Anyway, to put how I felt when I realized that I couldn't compete with Vegeta simply, it sucked. It's a horrible feeling, the feeling of not being strong enough to protect the ones you care about. And going through the experience twice? That doubled my frustration. Which probably explains why I acted like such an idiot the day after I experienced that feeling this time around.

OK, I admit it. What I did was dumb. It was the definition of dumb. I would insert what I did into every dictionary ever made if I could, and it would be an example of using the word idiot in a sentence. Seriously. Here's what happened:

So I headed into the gravity machine, feeling more frustrated than ever. My next gravity multiplier was supposed to be 215. But what happened? Turns out that I was so frustrated, I wasn't thinking too clearly. And that led to me typing in a multiplier of 275. Yeah. I didn't notice due to being lost in thought, and I hit the On button. I turned and walked a few feet away from the machine when the weight hit me.

I've tried to describe it multiple times- to myself, and to some of my friends. It was tricky, and it still is, but I'll try to give you an idea of what it felt like. 

Imagine that you're at the gym. You're about to start lifting weights. You think you're ready to lift ten to fifteen tons when your max is eight tons. The barbell is placed above you, and you think OK, I've got this! Then the barbell is released and the weight hits you. You can't lift it. At all. You can't drop it or it'll crush you under its weight. All you can really do is sit there, holding it level as best as you can, hoping someone can help you out before you run out of energy and become a human pancake. 

That's pretty much how I felt under 275 times Earth's gravity, only the barbell's weight was increased by, oh, I don't know, a few thousand tons? I immediately felt the weight hit me, and my knees almost buckled right then and there, but somehow I managed to stay on my feet. I struggled to just take a step forward, but I steeled myself and began to inch towards the console.

Yamcha took slow, deliberate steps forward, mentally chiding himself while doing so. Dammit, Yamcha! Check the multiplier before you press the "go" button! He kept going forward, although his body felt as if it was slowly getting crushed like a paper cup. He looked up. Almost there... just a few more steps... Come on! He finally made it to the console and desperately leaned against the device, pressing the button that would shut down the whole thing. Finally, the gravity subsided, and so did the red glow of the training space. Sweating and breathing hard, Yamcha collapsed against the console as the whir of the technology died down. And as the remaining noise subsided, Yamcha's vision spun faster than a top, and then his world went dark.

"Yamcha..." "Zzzzzz-uh? F-five more minutes... Sleep longer..." "Yamcha..." "Don't wanna go to school..." "YAMCHA! Wake up!" Yamcha felt a slap strike his face, and his eyes shot open. "I'm up! I'm up! I'm ready for sch-" He blinked a few times, then looked around. He was lying on a cot in the Capsule Corp. infirmary once again, and he sighed. "I feel like an idiot." "Maybe because you are an idiot, or at least decided to act like one today." said a voice next to him. Yamcha blinked and looked over to see Marorizu standing next to him. "Wha... Marorizu?" Marorizu nodded. "Yes, it's me. I found you in the chamber because I came to give you food only to find you unconscious. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Yamcha managed a weak laugh. "Ha... I guess I typed in the wrong multiplier on the gravity machine after all..." Marorizu rolled her eyes, then smirked and looked back at Yamcha. They locked eyes for a moment until she cleared her throat and looked away. Yamcha waited for a few seconds, then asked: "How long was I out?" "Two days? Three? I've lost track helping you get better, since your girlfriend is tending to my dimwitted brother, who promptly blew up his own gravity machine." Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, Vegeta isn't exactly the cautious type." That got a laugh out of Marorizu. "What, you thought I didn't know that?" she asked with an amused smile.