Hyperbolic Time Chamber
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The Hyperbolic Time Chamber (The Room of Spirit and Time), from the manga Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z and the anime Dragon Ball/Z, is a fictional place located on Kami's Lookout. Inside the Chamber time seems to pass very slowly, and there is a higher gravity level than Earth's, starting at 1G and increasing proportionally the further out one goes.
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[edit] Description
The Hyperbolic Time Chamber has an entrance at its center, located in a central building with two side wings with housing, food supplies, bathing quarters and sleeping quarters. There is no night or day in the Chamber, but the surroundings remain a constant bright iridescent white aurora. Its reflective floor is of undefined area, and the Chamber's boundaries are thought to stretch to infinity in all directions even though it appears to have a definite atmosphere, limiting its size. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber represents a separate dimension from that of Earth.
The time dilation that occurs in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is 1 day of real time = 1 year in Hyperbolic Time Chamber time, which roughly works out at 1 second of real time = 6 minutes in the chamber. There are dual giant hourglasses of emerald sand adorning the sides of the building that count down a year within the chamber. A clock on the dome roof of the main part of the building tells the applicable time in the real world.
The gravity in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber starts at 1G at its center and increases proportionally to the distance away from the center (i.e. as one moves further away from the Chamber's center, the gravity one feels increases). Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks are the only characters shown to go deep into the chamber. It isn't shown if Piccolo, Goten, or Trunks did, though it can be assumed at least Piccolo did.
This essentially allows for someone entering the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to get one year worth of intense training in a single day.
The wooden door entrance is a portal between the Earth and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and is the only way to travel between the two dimensions without ripping holes in the dimensional walls.
The chamber can only be entered twice by a person, as by the third time the door locks, leaving them in nothingness and not allowing anyone else to use the door. Also, only two people are allowed in at once, and they cannot remain inside for more than 48 real hours. It is unknown whether fusion bypasses the first rule, as Gotenks (a fusion of Goten and Trunks) was allowed to enter, indicating that a fused being counts as one individual. Fusion may bend the second rule, with Piccolo able to enter and train with them. Buu is also able to enter, opening the possibility that more than two people can enter after all (when Mr. Popo, leads the protagonists to their first entrance to the Chamber, he only mentions that there are only enough provisions for two people, but does not mention if the room accepts more than two, although Buu (and later, Gotenks and Piccolo) does use a previously unknown possibility (he bends reality) in order to escape.
Some theorize that the Hyperbolic Time Chamber can only be used a few times per year, depending on when it was last used and how long that use was. Time passes very quickly while in use, so in order to reach some equilibrium time would have to pass very slowly at a later time (for instance, a person would spend one day in the Chamber, then stay out for a year). Perhaps because of its hyperbolic properties, this equilibrium doesn't have to be satisfied perfectly equally, and so the Time Chamber can be used at least twice every year.[citation needed]
The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is extremley similar to the Negative Zone of Marvel Comics. In the Negative Zone, time passes at roughly five and a half hours for every Earth minute, so 1 year in the Negative Zone would equal 26.55 Hours in Earth time.
[edit] Dragon Ball Z
[edit] Imperfect Cell Saga
Vegeta and his son Trunks enter the chamber to train for their attempt to prevent Cell from attaining his complete form. Both train as ascended Super Saiyans, and Trunks surpasses his father in brute strength, but has issues with not getting in the way of his father's pride, so Trunks hides his power level. Trunks unknowingly makes a mistake by using his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to increase his strength, while sacrificing his speed and dexterity. Both Vegeta and Trunks fail to prevent Cell's completion, although Vegeta deliberately took part in allowing Cell to become complete for the sport of fighting him at a more challenging state.
[edit] Perfect Cell Saga
Goku and his son Gohan enter the chamber in preparation to fight against Cell. While training with his father, Gohan becomes a Super Saiyan, becoming the youngest Super Saiyan of his time. They both emerge from the chamber with a heightened control over their Super Saiyan transformation. They developed an optimization technique to stay in the Super Saiyan state for long periods of time in order to eliminate the strain from transforming. This allowed them to save energy for fighting, and worked so well they could even sleep while in Super Saiyan form. This training greatly assisted in Gohan's upgrade to Super Saiyan 2 during the Cell Games.
Piccolo, entered the chamber for meditation and self training, followed by Vegeta and Trunks entering again, increasing their power levels substantially (although not quite surpassing Goku and Gohan). Piccolo reached a level of power equal to or possibly greater than Cell in his semi-perfect form. Trunks and Vegeta's power levels didn't increase near as much as the first time they entered, but they still improved. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber was not used again until after the Cell Games.
[edit] Fusion Saga
Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to lure in the horrible Super Buu. Buu enters the Chamber, Trunks and Goten use the Fusion Dance technique to become Gotenks, in preparation for fighting Buu. They introduce their Ghost Attack and upgrade themselves to Super Saiyan while fused. During the battle, after Gotenks falsely says he can't win in hopes of creating a more dramatic victory, Piccolo destroys the Hyperbolic Time Chamber entrance, believing Gotenks' false proclamation, leaving "no way out". Buu can't stand the thought of being stuck in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (mostly because of his fondness towards chocolate, and the lack of it in this dimension). So Buu in an intense rage, screams at the top of his lungs. The scream is so loud, that it rips a hole between the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and the Earth's dimension. Buu gets out but it's too late for Gotenks and Piccolo, as the portal closes behind him. Gotenks and Piccolo attempt to recreate Buu's mad howl, and succeed only after Gotenks transforms into Super Saiyan 3, and yells their way out.
The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is rendered non-functional without a door, and must be repaired for future use.
NOTE: Some could argue that when Buu destroyed the watchtower, (in later episodes) the Hyperbolic Time Chamber could have been fully repaired because the watchtower was wished back damage free.
NOTE 2: Akamatsu Ken pays tribute to this training ground in Mahou Sensei Negima, albeit a less extreme version wherein one hour outside equals one day inside.
