Then a projection unfolded above the table: a holographic continent—Europe—fractured into glowing sectors. An unfamiliar voice, modulated and melancholy, spoke: "Awaiting champions. Restore the echoes."
Bulma deciphered the lines: the ROM was a lost relic of an old AI tournament program—part entertainment cartridge, part repository of martial memories. Someone had merged ancient Terran fighting archives with residual Kai energies. Over time the ROM had become a beacon, searching for warriors capable of restoring balance to its scattered echoes—memories of legendary fights and the spirits trapped within them.
The ROM recognized the authenticity. The adaptive coalition faltered, unable to consume sincerity. Vegeta forced himself to speak—two simple words to the echo: “Challenge accepted.” The ROM accepted his offering. The coalition collapsed inward, not destroyed but folded into the ROM as stabilized data—Vegeta’s pride tempered, his identity preserved. With the last echo absorbed, the ROM’s light steadied. Bulma, monitoring remotely, reported the data stabilized and the beacon quieted. The cartridge’s holographic map stitched itself back into a single continent, now marked with tiny glowing sigils representing restored memories.