The early morning sun cast long shadows across the secluded clearing as Goku, Mikasa, Lelouch, and Mark made their final preparations.
They had chosen this remote location - their regular training ground deep within the mountains outside Gotham - for its isolation.
Goku surveyed the three teenagers, each carrying a backpack filled with essentials for their interdimensional journey. "Is everyone ready?" he asked, his voice carrying a weight that reflected the gravity of what they were about to attempt.
"We've packed everything we might need," Lelouch confirmed, adjusting the strap of his backpack. "Extra clothes, first aid supplies, non-perishable food, water purification tablets."
"I added some high-calorie protein bars for Mark," Mikasa added. "And emergency blankets in case we arrive somewhere cold."
Mark nodded, his expression a mixture of determination and anxiety. "I'm ready. More than ready. Let's do this."
Goku studied each of their faces, pride swelling in his chest at their preparation and courage.
These three teenagers - his children in all the ways that mattered - had faced the impossible revelation of past lives and adapted with remarkable resilience.
Now they were willingly following him into another universe to help Mark save his mother.
"Good. I need you all to step back," Goku instructed, moving to the center of the clearing. "What I'm about to do requires concentration and space."
The three teenagers retreated to the edge of the clearing, watching with anticipation.
They had seen glimpses of Goku's power before - during the Scarecrow incident and through their training - but they sensed that what was coming would be on an entirely different scale.
As Goku closed his eyes and began to center himself, his thoughts turned inward. Despite his outward confidence, this would be his first attempt at creating a controlled dimensional tear.
In his past life he had torn reality itself during his final battle - but that had been an act of desperate rage, not the precise interdimensional bridge they needed now.
'I've inherited my fused self's power in this body,' Goku realized as he began to truly dig deep within himself and feel the divine energy flowing through him.
'Even though I'm no longer a fusion, it's as if my soul and body adapted to that state, learned from it, and evolved beyond it. A more extreme form of what happened between Kakarot in his fight against Beerus.'
The power within him felt different - purer somehow, more refined than the chaotic energy of Merged Zamasu.
Perhaps it was the influence of his time as Son Goku, or the unique nature of his first life as Samael.
Whatever the cause, he could feel that his current power exceeded even what he had possessed as Merged Zamasu.
Taking a deep breath, Goku began to raise his power level. The effect was immediate and dramatic.
The sky above darkened as if a storm had suddenly gathered, though no clouds were visible. The air grew heavy with pressure, making it difficult for the teenagers to breathe.
The ground beneath their feet began to tremble, small stones rising into the air as if gravity itself was being warped.
Lightning cracked across the now-darkened sky, striking the ground around the clearing in brilliant flashes of blue-white energy.
The wind picked up, swirling around Goku in a vortex that bent the nearby trees almost to the breaking point.
Lelouch activated his Geass, wanting to witness this transformation with his enhanced perception. What he saw made him stagger backward in awe.
The energy surrounding Goku was unlike anything he had ever witnessed - a vast, swirling maelstrom of rose-colored light interwoven with strands of pure white and gold.
It expanded outward in pulsing waves, each one carrying enough power to level mountains.
Mark and Mikasa, unable to see the energy as Lelouch could but feeling its immense pressure, watched in stunned silence as Goku's appearance began to change.
His hair rose upward, defying gravity, and shifted from black to a vibrant rose pink light. His muscles became more defined, his posture more regal.
But most striking was the halo of pure white light that formed behind his head - a perfect ring that seemed to both absorb and emit light simultaneously.
"Is that...?" Mark whispered, unable to complete the thought.
"Super Saiyan Rosé," Lelouch confirmed, having learned the name, though not the explanation of what it is, his Geass-enhanced vision allowing him to perceive details the others couldn't. "But different. More evolved."
Goku opened his eyes, which now glowed with an inner light that seemed to pierce through reality itself.
He gazed down at his hands, studying the rose-colored aura that enveloped them with a sense of wonder.
The power flowing through him was immense - far greater than he had anticipated.
'I'm not just stronger but far stronger than my merged self was,' he realized with a mixture of awe and caution.
'In my first life as Samael, I knew that Vegito Blue who fought my merged self was stated to be equal to Beerus, yet even then, I wasn't truly his equal. But now...'
He could feel it - a power that matched or perhaps even exceeded that of the stronges to the Destroyers. The realization was exhilarating.
'The reason may perhaps be the nature of my soul, it being special because of the world it comes from,' he thought. 'For my world to have access to the stories of different worlds from an omniscient standpoint... It would explain much'
Pushing these thoughts aside for later contemplation, Goku focused on the task at hand.
He extended his right arm and enveloped his hand in concentrated Ki, forming it into a blade of brilliant rose-colored energy that extended about two feet from his palm.
"Get ready," he called to the others, his voice resonating with power. "Don't interfere, no matter what you see."
With deliberate movements, Goku raised the Ki blade and stabbed it into his left palm. The energy made a sizzling sound as it burned through his flesh, causing him to grunt in pain and grit his teeth.
Despite his power and rapid healing, the divine energy of his own creation could still cause him pain.
The teenagers watched in horror as Goku's hand began to smoke, the wound glowing with the same rose-colored light as the blade itself.
With a final roar of effort, Goku pulled the Ki Scythe from his palm and, in the same fluid motion, slashed it upward through the air before him.
The movement created a vertical tear in the very fabric of reality - a jagged wound in space-time that pulsed with pink, purple, and black energy.
The tear widened, revealing swirling darkness beyond, occasionally illuminated by flashes of distant light. The edges of the portal crackled with unstable energy, threatening to collapse at any moment.
"Now!" Goku shouted, turning to the teenagers. "Are you ready?"
All three nodded, though their eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and amazement at the cosmic doorway Goku had created.
"Stay close to me," Goku instructed, wrapping his Ki around all four of them like a protective cocoon. "The journey may be... disorienting."
Without further hesitation, Goku launched himself toward the tear, carrying the three teenagers with him in his energy field.
As they entered the dimensional rift, the world around them dissolved into a kaleidoscope of colors and sensations that defied description.
Behind them, the tear in reality began to close, its edges pulling inward as the cosmic forces of the universe worked to heal the wound in space-time.
Just as the portal was about to seal completely, two figures arrived at the clearing - one hovering in the air wearing a red cape that billowed in the dimensional winds,
the other standing at the edge of the clearing, his dark cape and cowl making him almost invisible against the shadowed forest.
Superman and Batman watched in stunned silence as the tear finally closed with a sound like thunder, leaving no trace of Goku or the three teenagers.
"We're too late," Superman said, descending to land beside Batman. "They're gone."
Batman's eyes narrowed as he studied the now-empty clearing, his mind already calculating possibilities and consequences. "The question is: gone where? And more importantly - will they be coming back?"
The only answer was the whisper of the wind through the trees as the sky gradually lightened, returning to the peaceful blue of an ordinary morning -
as if the cosmic doorway that had opened there moments before had been nothing more than a dream.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! Hope you all liked the chapter!
I know it was short, but I wanted to focus on this scene. Do tell me how you found it.
We'll be going to the invincible world for now, it will be the first true arc of this fic. Don't know how long I will make it, but eventually we'll return to the DC one. See you all later,
Bye!)