DBS - Through the Roof Instead

by MattHunX

Sequel to "Room to Grow" My OC's path throughout the events of DB Super, up till the Tournament of Power. Training, screaming, anger, sadness and madness with a dangerous amount of blasphemy.

DBS – Through the Roof Instead

[The 6th Universe – Champa's Domain]

[Several Months Ago]

Voices echoed throughout the chambers of the palace belonging to the 6th Universe's Destroyer.

"…he told me what they had to do around Beerus' place. And I'm not gonna make and clean his brother's kitty litter or do any chores, either." Beranise was telling Vados.

"I did not expect you would." Vados stated.

"I might do stuff for you. For the training, of course." Beranise added.

"I have expected that." Vados smiled, without looking at her. "But, considering your already insufficient attention it can't be divided any further."

"Huh?" Beranise made a face.

"Any distractions will only impede you. Everything you'll do will be your training. And every task will serve to teach you, only if you remain focused." Vados was firmly telling Beranise to pay attention to her training and not her. "Any objections?"

"Fine. But, no Lord Champa-stuff and no fat-suits." Beranise referred to the weighted gear the other two Saiyans wore for their training.

"Very well." Vados agreed.

"So, can we start, already?" Beranise asked.

"Certainly. Patience will be the first lesson." Vados told her and Beranise groaned.

[Present Day]

Explosions reverberated throughout and shook the walls of the palace. Champa was dragging his feet through the halls, rubbing his eyes and as he got to the large open entrance he shielded them from the blinding light outside. He could make out Vados' figure floating in the air, ahead, glancing at him and he sleepily called out to her.

"What's with all the noise, Vados? What's going...-?" he tried to ask as he heard something being fired. Vados flew upwards to easily avoid a rather potent energy blasts that kept flying right towards him.

"Eeeiiii!" Champa shrieked in surprise, instantly awake and threw himself on his back as the blast passed above him and went off inside the hall, sending debris everywhere.

"Good morning, Lord Champa!" Vados floated back down, greeting him, then moved to the side to dodge an axe-kick from Beranise, who spun forward with the momentum, turning upside down and twisted towards Vados with a side-kick, using the other foot. Vados effortlessly stopped it with a finger, irking Beranise. "Manners." Vados smiled and fully opened her palm, then blew her back with a concussive air-blast, sending her flying into a pond, screaming.

She was giving her no quarter and had given none, since she began training her. One of her teaching methods was to periodically remind the overly ambitious Saiyan how far she still was from the kind of power possessed by the Gods and their Attendants. At least, in her normal form, to which she had been restricting herself to.

"Are you crazy!?" Champa sat upright. "That almost took my head off!"

"Oh, you're just exaggerating." Vados told him.

"That's not the point!" Champa whined, jumped to his feet and moved to her, in the air. "I'm supposed to wake up every day, now, to her bombing my palace!? She's worse than my brother." he muttered at the end.

"Well…" Vados began, but had to catch a fist from above, in her palm. She lowered her arm back down, flinging Beranise to the ground with the motion and got a painful grunt from her, after she hit it. She descended to her, as she was still coming out of her daze. "I believe we've hit a wall." she told both Champa and Beranise. The latter was brought back by her words and she slowly sat up and sighed, looking down.

"Eh?" Champa was somewhat surprised to hear that, but not Beranise.

"You've come as far as possible and in relatively short time. But, you can't seem to harness the same power the other two have been able to." Vados stated, looking at Beranise. "Something is missing." she added and Beranise remained silent. "Good. I don't have to tell you that you won't get the answer from me." That was also part of the training. And Vados did not have to tell that to her, either.

"Well, then!" Champa exclaimed. "You should send her packing to her own universe, as quickly as possible, so maybe those two Saiyan guys could rub off on her." he shooed with his hands, all too happy to get rid of her.

"I don't need any rubbing off! From any guys!" Beranise stood, aching.

"I believe Lord Champa was merely referring to them also being Saiyans. Not their gender. With that said, taking you to the Saiyans in this universe would only be…distracting." Vados was convinced that with all the female Saiyans on the planet, she would not be able to focus on her training.

"That boy, what's his name, was pretty on par with the spiky-haired guy, in the tournament. Without their little Super Saiyan thing." Champa recalled. "You could still send her to Sadala. They can play all they want there." he folded his arms, clearly wanting to send her away from his home.

"I would've considered Cabba. If they weren't already equal in power in their normal form." Vados informed him. Champa's ears fell, accentuating the frown on his face as he growled.

"Though, perhaps some time off, on their Earth, would be less counterproductive than hitting away at that wall. In fact, something tells me we'll be visiting there, very soon." Vados told them and both looked surprised.

"We what? What does that mean?" Champa was suspicious.

"You'll see." Vados was not giving anything away. "Someone needs to be a little more presentable, first. A shower would be in order." she told Beranise.

"Good idea." Beranise smirked at her, getting ideas.

"However, we'll have to leave, shortly." Vados continued and pointed her staff to fix Beranise and her clothes up. The latter looked herself over, disappointedly.

"You're no fun." she muttered to Vados.

[…]

[The 7th Universe – Earth]

Part of a rocky wall shattered on a shoreline as a Super Saiyan Blue Goku was kicked into it by Hit.

"That Goku is still alive?" Champa was kneeling on a nearby cliff, with Vados and Beranise behind him, as they have been watching the fight. "Hit's at his best and still hasn't taken Goku out, yet."

"He seems to be having a bit of trouble." Vados stated.

"But, why can't Goku even touch him?" Champa asked her in confusion.

"Do you know why Hit's technique is called Time-Skip?" Vados quizzed him.

"Because he stops time, right?" Champa replied with the simplest answer he could think of.

"He's not actually stopping time." Vados corrected him. "To be exact, he's skipping time." Vados placed her staff from one spot to another.

"What's that mean?" Champa needed more explanation and Vados continued.

"And Hit can store the time he's skipped." she added, which was still not enough clarification.

"So what is that?" Champa only got more puzzled.

"With the time he stores, he can create a different space; a parallel world, if you will." Vados twirled her staff. "And he can freely move to and from there. That's why he can been seen, but not touched." Champa needed a lot more than a second to absorb it all and could not.

"It's so amazing that I couldn't understand a word you just said!" he yelled, as his head hurt from trying to wrap it around the explanation.

"So he's actually coming and going between dimensions? Just plain time-skipping wasn't enough?" Beranise folded her arms.

"It's quite a remarkable skill." Vados stated.

"Oh, you wanna start that, again, huh?" Beranise unfolded her arms.

"Just…a little more and I think can catch him." Goku said to himself and Hit appeared in front of him, letting out a light chuckle.

"Well, then…try to catch me." Hit told him and Goku launched into several attacks, most of which missed, except for the last one. Even as he was punched in the face, he managed to graze Hit's face, much like he did at the tournament, before he was pushed back by him.

"Heh, heh. A scratched ya." he grinned.

"Since it was you, I'm not surprised." Hit told him with a rare smile.

"Watching these two fight certainly takes me back to that Tournament." Vados commented and Beranise rolled her eyes.

"He's definitely going to be a problem for us in Grand Zeno's tournament." Champa stated. "It's a good thing you hired Hit to take the guy out." he added, revealing the reason they came to Earth. Something Vados only told him, before they set off.

"You what!?" Beranise glared.

"Oh, I was merely the go-between, here." Vados pointed out. "The real client is someone else."

"What? Really?" Champa was surprised.

"Indeed." Vados smiled.

"You're somewhere else…when you get attack, aren't you?" Goku was swinging at and through an image of Hit.

"Exactly." Hit replied.

"But, you can't attack, from there, huh. To do that, you gotta come outta there!" Goku analyzed him. "I waited for that moment." he added.

"It's not that I can't attack." Hit told him and struck with a punch, releasing energy to the side that seemed to cross a dimensional barrier. It hit Goku square in the jaw, decking him.

"Hit is not holding back with his attacks." Vados said. "He must really be enjoying his fight with Goku."

"An assassin shouldn't enjoy a fight." Champa stated.

"Hit is not the assassin, we know, right now." Vados said. "He's a martial artist."

"I can attack like this." Hit corrected Goku, who was rubbing his neck.

"You really are amazing!" Goku complimented him. "You're always one step ahead of me." he added, then let out a painful groan, feeling his attacks even more. "But, I've never let anyone beat me and get away with it!" he told Hit and powered up.

"I got away with beating you a few times, didn't I?" Goku heard Beerus' voice and turned to see him, Whis and Vegeta standing on a cliff, above him.

"Lord Beerus? Whis? You, Vegeta?" he acknowledged them, surprised. "What're guys doing here?"

"We're here to spectate." Beerus told him.

"To spectate?" Goku asked.

"And it looks like we are not the first ones." Whis noted and looked towards the other part of the cliff. Goku only noticed Champa and the rest, then. The former grunted a greeting, turning away and Vados let out a light laugh, smiling.

"Lord Champa? Vados? And Beranise!? Since when were you guys there?" he asked, even more surprised he did not notice them.

"Who are you calling a guy!?" Beranise yelled, folding her arms, again.

"Hurry up and finish the fight!" Beerus told Goku.

"Oh, come on! You're the one who butted in, Lord Beerus." Goku complained about being rushed by him, after his interruption, then turned to face Hit. "Let's keep going, Hit!" he exclaimed and Hit assumed a stance. Goku flared up with a scream and created a large sphere of energy around him that he sustained, preventing Hit from getting close to him and it started to break down the dimensional barriers that protected Hit.

"He beat Hit's attack!?" Champa exclaimed in alarm and Vados looked on in surprise, while Beranise silently watched. Hit struggled to keep it all from breaking, but Goku kept pushing with his energy and fired a Kamehameha that briefly expanded the sphere of energy as it shot through Hit's defenses and into the sky without any large explosion one might have expected. Things quieted down as both Goku and Hit were lying on the rocks, with their hands and feet dangling in the water. Goku laughed to himself as Hit smiled.

"Tch. Well, it looks like you're having more fun fighting Hit than fighting me, Kakarot!" Vegeta told him.

"That's not it! He's trying to kill me! I had to do it." Goku defended his actions.

"Trying to kill you?" Vegeta asked, confused.

"Yeah, that's right." Goku said.

"And just who the hell even hired you to kill Kakarot?" Vegeta turned to Hit.

"I won't tell you their name." Hit stated, as Champa and Vados were signing to each other, likely discussing if they should come forward.

"You say that, but you didn't secretly hire him, did you, Vegeta?" Beerus asked him, suspicious, as he knew about their eternal rivalry.

"Don't be stupid!" Vegeta retorted, forgetting who he was talking to.

"Stupid, am I? I'll destroy you for that!" Beerus reprimanded him and Vegeta got on both knees.

"M-My apologies! I got carried away!" he groveled.

"Vegeta, don't you have a clue as to who it is?" Whis asked him and it dawned on Vegeta. He turned and looked at Goku, who had a stupid, guilty grin.

"Kakarot!" He pointed a finger in his face. "You hired him yourself, because you wanted to fight him at his best, didn't you?"

"Busted!" Goku admitted.

"Is that true?" Hit asked, surprised by the deception.

"Sorry for tricking you! But, if you knew I hired you, then you probably wouldn't have taken the fight seriously." Goku explained.

"You…you're a complete enigma to me." Hit told him with a smile.

"Hey, was that a compliment?" Goku grinned.

"Hey, Whis?" Beerus spoke.

"Yes, Lord Beerus?" Whis asked.

"That means, you have a hand in this, don't you?" Beerus deducted, looking at Whis.

"Goku was absolutely begging me to do it. So, I told my sister and she, in turn, hired Hit." he explained.

"That was a dangerous thing to do!" Beerus complained.

"You said that you wanted Goku trained, did you not, my Lord?" Whis asked.

"I told you to train him yourself!" Beerus argued.

Hit noticed Goten, Piccolo and Gohan were approaching, with the latter carrying Chi-Chi.

"Goku, does your contract have a time-limit?" Hit asked.

"I don't think so." Goku replied.

"I cannot do my work with spectators around." Hit turned.

"You're leaving?" Goku asked, somewhat disappointed their fun was already over.

"I'll take my time with you. You'd better watch your back." he told Goku and left.

"So he set it all up, himself." Champa repeated.

"He's smarter than he looks." Beranise said.

"Shall we leave, also, Lord Champa?" Vados asked.

"I guess so." Champa replied and Vados turned to Beranise.

"When you feel like you're ready to continue, you can contact my brother." Vados told Beranise, who nodded to her.

"See ya!" Champa told everyone and they were off.

"Gokuuu!" Chi-Chi was calling out to him, from Gohan's back. "Goku!" she ran to him, after they landed. "You're alright!"

"Yeah. Hey, you didn't need to worry." Goku soothed her.

"Piccolo told me everything!" Chi-Chi said and Goku looked at an embarrassed Piccolo. "A hitman was after you!?"

"Sorry." Piccolo apologized for being so easily interrogated and looked away.

"Who could've hired a professional assassin to kill you?" Chi-Chi was livid. "Goku, do you know who could've done it?"

"Uh…I dunno…" Goku scratched his face, pretending he had no idea.

"It had to be Frost, that lying snake!" Chi-Chi exclaimed and Goku put an arm around Vegeta, whispering to him.

"Hey, don't tell anyone I hired him, okay." he said.

"Hmph." Vegeta held his head up, annoyed that he had to keep silent for his sake. He received a tap on the shoulder from Whis' with the latter's staff and he politely turned to face him and Beerus. "Yes?"

"Vegeta, you haven't forgotten our deal, have you?" Whis and Beerus leaned in his face, menacingly.

"Move it and get us that steak with Granny's Secret Sauce spread on it, right now!" Beerus yelled at him and Vegeta panicked, as he remembered that he made the whole thing up.

"O-of course, I remember! It was Granny's Secret Sauce, right?" He tried to keep his lie straight as Goku was gazing at the horizon, where Hit left, looking forward to another fight with him. Goten walked up to Beranise to greet her.

"Hi, Beranise!" he looked up at her.

"Hey, yourself, pipsqueak. So, where's the other half of master Gotenks?" she teased him.

"Trunks is at home, right now. He's helping his mom." Goten replied.

"Oh, good boy." Beranise commented. "And what's going on with you, kid?" She looked at Gohan.

"I was about to ask the same from you. Are you taking a break from training?" Gohan asked.

"I kinda had to. I hit a snag. Vados said I'd be better off taking some time for myself, here, than Sadala or their Earth." Beranise replied and Vegeta looked surprised that she would pass on visiting the Saiyans, there.

"Sadala?" Gohan had not even considered it a destination. "But, it's full of Saiyans. Why wouldn't she think it was…oh…wait…I guess I know why." He realized as he looked at Beranise's expression.

"That Cabba boy is the strongest one, there. But, Vados said there was no point in me sparring with him. At least, until I work through whatever's blocking me." Beranise explained her situation.

"Blocking you?" Gohan repeated.

"You mean you couldn't get to Super Saiyan Blue, yet?" Goku was surprised, as was Vegeta.

"I'm missing something, apparently." Beranise scoffed.

"Well, it's definitely not power! That's for sure." Goku ruled that out.

"Yeah, it feels like you really caught up with dad and Vegeta, in this form." Gohan stated.

"No kidding!" Goku exclaimed. "You could come to Lord Beerus' place and train with us!" He lit up.

"Bleh! Pass." Beranise pretended to shiver.

"Oh, come on! So, we're a bunch of guys. What's the problem?" Goku pleaded.

"I like beating guys." Beranise stated.

"Oh, so it's only fun when you're stronger, huh?" Goku folded his arms with a smirk.

"Well, Vados is far stronger than you." Gohan argued.

"Mhm." Beranise raised a brow with half a smile and half a nod that made Gohan realize her point.

"Oh." Gohan understood.

"So, what are you going to do?" Piccolo asked.

"I dunno. The usual. Speaking of…" She pulled Gohan by his tie. "Where's Pan?" She grinned with excitement. "Haven't seen her for ages! Months. But, whatever!" She shook him.

"Gah!" Gohan grabbed her hand to pry it off and adjusted his tie. "They're home!" he yelled at her and composed himself.

"You know you missed out on some pretty exciting stuff, again. We and the 6th Universe guys even had a good game of-…" Goku started to tell her.

"Noo! Don't wanna hear about it!" Beranise held up both hands. "Vados could've passed things along, but she said I didn't need any distractions. And I don't need to hear about whoever you two fought, again. It'll just piss me off. But, I do wanna know how the little rug-monkey's doing!" she exclaimed, turning to Gohan.

"Well, she's still crawling." Gohan said, then folded his arms with a smile. "When she's not flying!" he added and Beranise slowly grinned.

"Hihihi! Since when?" She jumped, but before Gohan could answer she held up a hand, stopping him. "Ah-Ah! I'll ask your wife. Tomorrow." she told him, not wanting to immediately intrude.

"You sure you can wait that long?" Gohan smilingly asked.

"Not really." Beranise admitted.

"And what about your block?" Whis asked, intrigued by her development and Beranise looked at him, thinking for a second.

"I dunno know what I need. I guess, it'll come to me. I made it this far." Beranise shrugged.

"Hey, you want me to take you home, Gohan?" Goku asked, after they mentioned Pan and Videl.

"No, I'll be fine. Just take Goten and mom." Gohan replied.

"What about you Vegeta?" Goku looked at him, expectantly.

"Vegeta will be leaving with us to his home." Whis said.

"That's right." Beerus narrowed his eyes and Vegeta became nervous as he was reminded of his promise, again. "No more dallying! Whis!" he ordered.

"Yes, my Lord. Vegeta, if you would!" Whis prompted him to stand with them. "Have a nice evening, now!" he told the rest and the three of them vanished in a pillar of light that shot towards Capsule Corporations HQ.

"Come on, Goten!" Goku called to him.

"Coming!" Goten quickly floated around to him and his mother. Goku held Chi-Chi's hand and Goten held hers as Goku put his index and middle-fingers to his temple. "Heheh. Good thing Chi-Chi's dad is a strong guy. Or I wouldn't have an energy to follow." he commented on the Ox-King, after a pause. "See you guys, later!"

"Bye, dad!" Gohan said and Piccolo nodded, as did Beranise, before the three disappeared and a few seconds of silence passed. "So…" Gohan started, but before he could continue both he and Piccolo leapt back to block a deliberately slow sole in their forearms from Beranise, who kicked them away, without warning. "Hey! Not, again!" Gohan exclaimed and took a half-serious stance, as did Piccolo, keeping their guards up.

"Meh. I don't really feel like fighting." Beranise refolded her arms and reconsidered getting them worked up, as she was not completely feeling up for it.

"Well, we had enough excitement for one day." Gohan relaxed. "A little too much, to be honest. We thought we'd lost dad and then he just took off to fight Hit, again. That was crazy, even for him."

"Nothing is ever too crazy for you dad." Piccolo stated. "It just might be a Saiyan-thing." he added, smiling at Beranise.

"Yeah." Gohan agreed. "He's practically setting up walls from himself to knock down." Gohan analogized. "Come to think of it, it's always been like that. Even for me."

"True." Piccolo said. "Most of the time that wall was your fear. You were either afraid of your own power or that you'd fail. You had to learn to push through, every time."

"Sorry, what was that? I zoned out there, for a sec." Beranise joked, after their moment and Gohan shook his head with a smile.

"It's time we call it day." Piccolo told Gohan and started ascending. "Tomorrow, at the usual spot. 4:00PM, sharp."

"Right!" Gohan nodded. "Good night!" he called after him. He turned to Beranise and noticed she was staring, almost intently, at the slightly destroyed shoreline, likely thinking of the two extraordinary powers that clashed and unlike Gohan, himself, she was there to watch the grand finish.

"So…you're staying for a while, then?" Gohan broke her out of her thoughts and she slowly turned to him, but glanced back at the battered terrain, once more.

"Until I work things out." she answered, knowing that she would have to knock her own wall down.

"Hey, Vegeta caught up with dad pretty fast. And he could only turn Super Saiyan 2, back then. And the next time we saw him, against Frieza, he already got to Blue. There's no reason why you couldn't do it." Gohan told her.

"You guys really give a lot of pep-talks." Beranise lightly smiled, appreciating it.

"Don't they anywhere else in the universe?" Gohan asked, given Beranise was well-traveled.

"Not really. It always boiled down to do or die, without any cheer-up words." she replied.

"I bet it did. Especially for the galaxies where Frieza's men were. It's gotta be better for them, now. Right?" Gohan considered that since the entire Force, as per Frieza's own admission, consisted only of Sorbet, before the latter's demise, it was safe to assume there weren't many soldiers left, if any. And those that remained were scattered too far and wide to continue their terror.

"Gotta be. But, then Frieza wasn't even the biggest threat, now, was he." Beranise pointed out and Gohan sensed some resentment in her voice.

"You mean Lord Beerus and his brother." Gohan understood.

"And whoever the others are." Beranise added.

"Well, it sounds strange, considering he's a god of destruction, but…it's not like he's evil or anything. He just has a job, apparently." Gohan remembered the appearance of the Omni-King. "And none of us really knows how that works." Beranise frowned at that and Gohan held his hands up. "I'm not making excuses for 'em."

"Doesn't matter." Beranise ignored it. "It's not like we can do anything about any of 'em." She almost appeared as though she was resigned to her place, until she added "Not yet." and narrowed her eyes.

"It sounds like you don't just wanna beat them in a fight." Gohan was weary of her intent to challenge the Gods and sighed. "Look, you came back to clear your head, right? It's not gonna help if you keep looking for the next enemy to fight. Just relax, a little. Maybe you need it more than you realize. And there's no harm in it." he suggested.

"That's what she said." Beranise stated and Gohan gave her a strange look. "Vados told me coming back here would be less bad than me banging at a wall." she explained.

"Well, there you go." Gohan essentially told her the same. "And if you need to keep your mind off of things, then looking after Pan seems to keep you from trying to fight anyone." he added with a smile and Beranise returned it. "We should get going." Gohan lifted off ground. "I'm sure Videl made a big enough dinner. You can stay over for the night, too, if you want. You know we got way more than enough rooms."

"Hah, yeah. Way enough. You got a hammock?" Beranise opted to sleep under the stars, instead.

"Probably." Gohan smiled.

"Alright, then." Beranise accepted and they started flying away. "Been awhile since I slept outside. Could barely find a planet where something didn't wanna eat me."

"Hey, that reminds me! Where did you even leave your ship?" Gohan asked and Beranise looked lost for a second.

"Uh…I…forgot." Beranise said, as he face dropped and Gohan stared. "It's okay. I got a tracker for it, which…is in my scouter." she slowly added.

"And…your scouter's in your ship." Gohan guessed it.

"Yyyep." Beranise muttered.

[…]

It was in the evening when Beranise and Gohan finally neared the latter's sizable house and spotted Videl standing in the front yard with Pan in her arms, who was reaching towards them, even at the distance they were. Beranise was already smiling, as was Gohan. Before they even landed, Videl released Pan to let her float over to them, giggling.

"Look at you!" Beranise exclaimed. "Who's a little flier?" she excitedly asked and took hold of her as Pan hugged her whole face.

"Bewa!" Pan gleefully rubbed cheeks with her.

"She knew you were coming. She really missed you." Videl told her with a smile.

"I missed you, too!" Beranise rubbed her cheeks against Pan's. "See! I totally called it!" she turned to Videl. "After energy-sense, flying was next! I mean, I was just joking, since she's baby. I didn't really think she'd start flying this early." Gohan let out a laugh at that.

"You don't know the half of it. She nearly went into space." he told her and Beranise could only gape at the laughing toddler in her hands.

"I remember when Gohan taught me how to fly." Videl reminisced.

"Yeah. You were annoyed at how fast Goten picked it up. And we thought he and Trunks started early." Gohan recalled how all of them were astounded by the speed at which the two half-Saiyans have developed their abilities, particularly their transformation.

"Forget pre-school! She's gonna turn Super Saiyan before she walks!" Beranise laughed with Pan.

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised." Gohan stated.

"She's starting to get the appetite, too." Videl noted. "Dinner's ready, by the way" Videl announced. "There's enough for one more grown-up Saiyan, too." she told Beranise.

"Hey, I'm still a growing girl." Beranise raised an arm and flexed her biceps. Turning to her mother, Pan did the same with both of her little arms, attempting to look threatening. They all jumped when her energy flared and a small white aura glowed around her. The laughter of the three adults faded into the night.

[...]

The Sun was slowly rising, its wakening red turned to promising orange, then shined heavenly yellow, finally rousing a certain Saiyan from her comfortably long slumber. Beranise stirred, also feeling a small weight on her chest and opened her eyes to see Pan was dosing on her, in the hammock. She glanced around, but saw no one else. A few motionless minutes had passed in silence, before the front door slowly opened and Videl peeked through. Surprised by the sight, she quietly approached Beranise and her still sleeping daughter, as a smile grew on her face. Likely sensing her mother's closeness, Pan woke and smiled up at her.

"Mama!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I was looking all over for you." Videl told her and turned to Beranise. "I couldn't find her anywhere."

"I-I didn't take her!" Beranise held up her hands.

"Don't worry! I know. She probably flew outside an hour ago or so. She was still in her cradle, when I last checked. I had to wake up Gohan and he told me he could sense her outside. He slept in, too, since it's the weekend." Videl explained.

"You're gonna need more than a baby-monitor to keep an eye on her. You leave her alone for a few minutes and the next thing you know she's playing with real airplanes, instead of toy ones. Or just bench-pressing the sofa." Beranise predicted.

"Something tells me you won't be far off." Gohan said as he was walking up to them. "I might not've been lifting mountains, but I was already strong enough to destroy them, at four. Who knows how strong she will be. I mean, Trunks could barely handle her." Gohan added, but he remembered that Beranise did not know he was referring to the adult version. Since she told Goku not to tell her anything about what they have been up to, Gohan decided against it and let her assume he meant the child Trunks she knew. It would not have been any less impressive if the latter had struggled with their daughter, considering his strength.

The next couple of days did not go by as uneventfully as everyone expected. Beranise did her best to find any activity, besides spending time with Pan, that did not involve fighting or watching others do it, including an attempt at meditation with Piccolo that predictably failed to keep her occupied. The media started running advertisements promoting the shooting of a Saiyaman movie that was being co-produced by Hercule. Visiting the set gave Gohan and Videl more drama than they expected. The latter received some unwanted attention from the film's obnoxiously arrogant and presumptuous super star, while Gohan ended up being the stunt-double for the man. And that was only one half of the story.

"So, this Barry guy tried to flirt with you?" Beranise asked, incredulously, as she was helping Videl prepare lunch, while Pan sat in her chair with her head going from side to side as she followed them around the kitchen.

"Yeah. Imagine that." Videl sarcastically teased her, pretending Beranise was not guilty of it.

"He sounds like an on-again, off-again gym-rat jerk who thought you'd just fall for his salon-tanned face. Did you tell him the camera only adds weight and not charm?" Beranise asked, deriding the pretend-hero.

"I didn't even have to go that far, before he got angry and pushy." Videl noted.

"Oh? You kicked his ass, right?" Beranise paused in her task.

"Well..." Videl slowly started.

"Oh, come on! I know you don't fight, anymore, but you still could've laid into him. Heck, even Pan, here, could have slapped him through a green-screen." Beranise turned to grin at her and Pan made a sound of agreement that consisted of a few deep baby barks.

"Probably. Anyway...Gohan told him to calm down and leave. He had to use a little bit of force, though." Videl admitted. "And we thought he would stay away, but...um...well...he got mind-controlled by some alien parasite that made him strong enough to fight Gohan!" Videl started on the weird half of the story and Beranise's face slowly dropped as she listened, while the cracked eggs in her hands dripped into a bowl. "He could even fly and everything!" Videl continued. "Then Gohan had to beat him to get rid of the thing inside that possessed him. It was actually some criminal that was wanted by the Galactic Patrol and Jaco arrested, uh, it." she finished.

"So, let me get this straight." Beranise threw the egg-shells into the bin at her feet. "I go away for a day or two, just to see some places and you get hit on by some slimy celebrity, who then gets juiced up by some alien snot that makes him enough of a fighter to get Gohan to take him seriously." Beranise summarized.

"That's about it." Videl shrugged.

"And I'm supposed to be back to relax." Beranise shook her head. "This planet's a friggin' magnet for all kinds of weird things. Even gooey blobs want to pick fights. No wonder you got gods showing up, here. Even the dead come back!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah. But, to be honest, I can't say I'd want to change it. If I did, there wouldn't be anything exciting in any of it. It just makes things more interesting. Without it, me and Gohan wouldn't have even met. We wouldn't have even met you. You wouldn't have come here if it weren't for all the crazy stuff that's happened. Right?" Videl concluded that the life and universe-threatening struggles fate saw fit to throw their way were also the ones that made them who they are, made their lives what they were and made their paths cross.

"Right." Beranise smiled.

[...]

Several weeks have passed that could only be considered boring, especially by the standards set by certain people, whose mundane tasks and activities barely set well with the blood in them that made them want to escape it all. While some of them could channel their surplus of energy into actual training, in an enclosed space or far from others, without doing any serious harm to their environment or disturbing their neighbors or an entire city, others could not afford to let lose, as their daily jobs limited their options for any serious physical exercise. And then there were those for who their soul-searching and unwinding was not yielding any results that gave them the breakthrough they needed.

Beranise grew increasingly frustrated in the weeks that went by, in which the only thing meaningful was the time she spent with Pan and her family. Everything else became empty filler that did nothing to improve her mood or got her any headway in her training. She tried housework, bounty-hunting for criminal Earthling and even more meditation. Every attempt was shorter than the last. After a while, she was able to relax less and less, as her mind kept returning to thoughts of her lack of progress.

It was one late afternoon, whenVegeta was half-heartedly going through his usual routine with Trunks in the gravity chamber. Goku was sleeping with a hat over his eyes, on top of the tractor he was meant to be operating, in the middle of a field. Gohan and Videl were bathing Pan. All who could sense energy stopped or woke up as they suddenly felt a large power, somewhere on the planet.

"Bewa! Bewa!" Pan was splashing in her bath.

"Is it Beranise?" Videl asked Gohan, who nodded.

"What's she doing?" Trunks asked his father. "She didn't even train, since she got back from that other universe. Why is she powering up for?" he asked, but Vegeta stayed silent.

"Woah, what's going on?" Goku yawned and stretched as he came out of his nap. "Is that Beranise?"

They felt a shift as her power seemed to rise and the whole Earth began to quake even more from it.

"W-what is she doing?" Krillin hit the brakes on his police bike and he stopped with the rest of the traffic.

"Mom?" At home, Maron worriedly looked up at 18, who picked her up from the shaking floor to soothe her.

"Man! I'm glad I know where all that power's coming from, but it's still scaring the crap out of me! What's going on?" Yamcha exclaimed as he and Puar were in the middle of packing up his baseball gear in his car.

"T-Tien!" Chiaotzu looked across their dojo, between all their scared and confused students, at Tien, who also looked troubled.

"Her power just increased..." Vegeta gritted his teeth. "Ten times over." he stated out loud, having an idea how that was even possible.

"She was definitely at Super Saiyan 3, before. And besides dad's Kaioken technique, there's only one other way we know that can cause that big of an increase." Gohan was telling Videl as they were flying towards the energy, with Pan in her mother's arms.

"She...turned…" Goku whispered in a troubled voice.

"Into a Giant Ape." Gohan said and Videl looked completely bewildered. They told her about it, when Beranise first came to Earth, but she never saw the terrifying transformation in person.

…

"I've never seen this form." Supreme Kai said, as he, Kibito and Old Kai were keeping an eye on the new development, through their crystal ball, from the Sacred Planet of the Kais.

"I preferred it, when she was in the hot-springs." Old Kai commented.

"Ancestor!" Supreme Kai scolded him for his voyeurism.

…

It took Gohan and Videl a while to reach the location, a desert, not dissimilar to the place he and Piccolo often trained in. In fact, they spotted the latter standing on a cliff overlooking a large plain surrounded by mountains. They landed behind him.

"Piccolo? You're worried, too." Gohan guessed why he was there.

"Should we be?" he asked in return.

"I dunno." Gohan said and Videl finally saw it. The Giant Ape that had thick black fur all over its towering body, most of which was covered by the elastic armor and body-suit that Beranise usually wore and her tail was free. Her sash was left on a nearby rock.

"Oh...wow..." Videl's eyes were wavering.

"She's been standing like that, the whole time." Piccolo noted.

"Can we...talk to her?" Videl asked, even though she was visibly scared.

"Be my guest." Piccolo replied.

"Well, she said she can control this form." Gohan remembered and slowly started to fly over to her, followed by a curious Videl, who was still holding Pan. Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu landed together and approached Piccolo, who acknowledged them with a nod.

"Piccolo?" Tien spoke. "What's going on? Why did she turn into that thing?"

"We're about to find out." he replied.

"You mean, you're about to!" Yamcha told him. "Our ears aren't that good, you know." he added and he saw Krillin flying in. "Hey, Krillin!"

"Guys, please tell me she hasn't gone evil and we won't have to fight her!" Krillin immediately panicked.

"She hasn't. We won't." Piccolo gruffly stated to stop him.

"Oh..." Krillin exhaled.

"At least the Earth stopped shaking." Yamcha said as Gohan, Videl and Pan got to Beranise.

"B-Beranise?" Videl carefully addressed her. Beranise turned to face them and a deep, guttural voice boomed as she spoke.

"Damn it, kid! Why'd you have to bring her?" she was talking to Gohan. "This ain't exactly my pretty side, you know. I didn't want them to see me like this!" Videl was more taken aback that she could speak. "Oh, great! Now, they're both gonna be scared of me. You did it on purpose, didn't you? Jerk!" She folded her arms, turned around and sat down with a huff, causing a small tremor. Videl stared and blinked at the moody beast.

"Uh...y-you know...it's not that scary, after all." she said.

Goku suddenly appeared in front of Beranise's face, with his Instant Transmission, making her jump and yell in surprise and Goku did, as well, when he saw her.

"Don't...do that!" Beranise exclaimed from the momentary shock and reflexively swatted Goku to the side, into a cliff.

"Dad should really stop doing that." Gohan looked on to see if he was alright.

"I-I...should really stop doing that." Goku painfully moaned inside the hole he made, before prying himself free. Gohan turned back to Beranise, once he saw his father was not too injured.

"Beranise? What's going on? Why did you transform like this?" he asked her.

"I didn't know what else to do!" Beranise threw her large hands up. "This was my last shot! It was the only way I could get stronger. But, this is really not a form I wanna get used to."

"To be honest, I thought your power would actually go back down to just ten times your normal strength. I didn't think the power you had as Super Saiyan 3 would be multiplied by that much. This is unlike anything we...well, unlike anything we actually felt, so far. Since, we can't really feel Super Saiyan Blue or Beerus' power." Gohan told her.

"It's still not good enough!" Beranise was frustrated. "Not...this." She looked at herself. Everyone noticed Vegeta was approaching them and Goku ascended to meet him.

"What's going, Kakarot? What is she doing?" Vegeta was looking at Beranise.

"I dunno. Trying something new, I guess." Goku scratched his head.

"Even with the power increase, there's nothing new in that form." Vegeta pointed out and they all saw a familiar pillar of energy shooting down between the rest of the Z-Fighters, on the cliff.

"Afternoon!" Whis smilingly greeted them.

"Whis? L-Lord Beerus?" Krillin stepped up to them. What are you doing here?" He and the rest were equally surprised by their visit.

"We felt something brewing and I wanted a first-hand look, so I convinced Lord Beerus to make the trip, even though all he wanted was a nap." Whis explained.

"You could've easily watched everything through that staff of yours, without dragging me along." Beerus complained.

"Come, now! You were just as curious to see what was happening. Admit it." Whis smiled.

"I still would've preferred a nap. After dessert." Beerus folded his arms, acting like a child.

"You already had dessert, today." Whis told him, like a parent.

"And I wanted more!" Beerus petulantly argued, forgetting that almost everyone could see and hear their exchange. They stopped just as Goku and Vegeta joined them.

"Hey, Lord Beerus! Whis, what's up? You came all the way from your place to see what Beranise is doing, too." He figured.

"Indeed." Whis replied.

"Lord Beerus and Whis are here." Gohan noted, out loud and Beranise glanced at them, then let out a deep groan.

"Is everyone gonna show up!? For crying out loud, I just wanna be left alone to figure this out! And I don't even know what this is, damn it!" she yelled as she wildly gesticulated, then held her head in her hands. "Hrrrrngh! This whole time-off is just driving me nuts! I don't know what to do!" she screamed and everyone remained silent. Pan seemingly sensed her inner turmoil. She wiggled free from her mother's grasp.

"Pan!" Videl called after her as she flew around to Beranise and latched onto the bridge of her nose, surprising her.

"Uh?" Beranise opened her eyes to find her between her eyes. "You've...gotta be kidding me." she muttered, in complete disbelief. Her otherwise terrifying form did not seem to scare Pan, at all, who kept holding on even tighter. Beranise let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. She could hear and feel the little girl's heartbeat.

The world around her faded and there was nothing except the warmth she felt from her. She could feel her own hearth calming and her breathing with it. Long moments had passed as no one, not even the impatient Destroyer, disturbed the serenity. It was then that, for the first time, Beranise experienced a sensation she never truly did, before. Something she thought she never would or could. Something she never thought she even needed. Her whole life she knew nothing else but fighting for survival. Even though it became less of a challenge, as her power grew, there was always a fight she had to win. Someone she had to defeat. For vengeance. Whether it was for herself of for someone else. For a livelihood or for justice. She drifted through the universe, from one bounty to the next, settling never-ending vendettas, without ever knowing...peace.

...

...

.

[!]

Everyone was jolted by a massive surge of energy coming from Beranise. She was still sharing their moment with Pan, seemingly unaware of the change that was happening both inside her and on the outside. Her black fur was evaporating yellow trails as the power coming from her was steadily rising.

"Pan!" Gohan quickly retrieved her and Beranise's fur turned yellow. The air instantly became charged and electricity started lashing around her. "Get back!" Gohan held Pan, then took Videl and moved to the others, hoping it was a safe enough distance, as the power they felt was still swelling.

"D-Did she just...turn into a...super ape?" Krillin exclaimed, staring in disbelief.

"In that form..." Vegeta was completely baffled, as he never thought a Super Saiyan transformation was even possible in that state. But, what continued to shock and trouble him was the power from her that kept soaring. The rocks and cliffs began to crumble, both from the intensity of the energy and from the bolts of lightning that were shooting from Beranise. She began to glow, until her whole hulking figure was enveloped in light, leaving nothing but a large silhouette visible. Then it shrank, losing the giant ape form and resembled Beranise, once more, but something was different. The blinding brightness faded to reveal the female Saiyan in all her new glory. Almost everyone's mouth was hanging open as their eyes roamed over her black, wilder, bushier and nearly waist-long hair that draped over wider shoulders covered in thick, pale-purple fur, going all the way to her wrists. Even her tail appeared to be slightly thicker and matched the color of her fur.

"This...is unreal." Gohan whispered, though words failed to describe the power they all felt from her.

"I haven't felt a power like that, since I fought Goku." Beerus stated, almost sounding impressed.

"You mean since you fought Monaka, right?" Goku turned to him.

"Ack! Yes! Of course." Beerus quickly corrected himself, still keeping up the charade.

Goku took off towards Beranise, unable to resist and Gohan sighed. "Not, again." He was afraid his father might get smashed into a cliff, again. The difference was, the power Beranise had, earlier, as a Super Saiyan 3 turned Giant Ape, felt tame compared to what they were feeling now. The Z-Fighters all followed Goku, some more hesitantly than others. Whis and Beerus calmly joined them, as they crowded behind Beranise, who still had her back turned and eyes closed. She was standing motionlessly, almost as if she was afraid the slightest movement would destroy everything around her.

"Wow..." Krillin quietly started as they got closer to her. "Look at all that fur!" he said and violet eyes, with pale-red lines around them, snapped open.

"Fur!?" Beranise exclaimed, in a rough voice, looking at her arms. "Oh, no! I can feel it under my suit!" she wiggled around in a panic, then touched her throat. "And what's with my voice!? Am I gonna start coughing up hair-balls, next!? What the hell's going on?" She kept looking herself over.

"I believe you have broken through your wall." Whis stated with a small smile.

"Wall!? More like smashed through the ceiling!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"Ba! Ba!" Pan cheered in Videl's arms and the latter let her go. She floated over to Beranise and hugged her left arm, giggling into her fur.

"You really like hair and fur." Beranise muttered in observation and Pan climbed to hug the side of her head, tickling her own face with Beranise hair and the latter tentatively placed her hand on her back to keep her from falling, though it was unlikely to happen. She kept looking at herself.

"Don't you feel different?" Gohan asked.

"Well, yeah." Beranise was very much aware of the changes, outside and inside. "I just...don't know how or...w-what is this?" Looking at herself, she was confused about what could have triggered the transformation and what she transformed into.

"It looks like you have discovered a form that is different from the one Goku and Vegeta have been using." Whis said. "The fact that its power can be sensed and measured by everyone present, already sets it apart from Super Saiyan Blue. The two forms seem to differ in nature. While one relies on precise control, the other seems raw. Though, I'm certain it can be honed and perfected the same way as previous Super Saiyan forms. And so, then, an apt name for it could be..."

...

"Super Saiyan 4!" An adult Trunks exclaimed. He wore a trench-coat, with a sword strapped to his back and he was looking at the event, as if it was a video, through an opened scroll that was laid on a table. "Supreme Kai of Time, look!" he called to the petite Keeper of All Time. She stood next to Trunks, who started explaining what was happening. "It's that Saiyan woman from that other time-line."

"Her, again?" Chronoa looked at the scroll. "Oh, wow! So that's what a Super Saiyan 4 woman looks like, huh. But...it's strange that we didn't get any alerts of any changes." she added, with some concern.

"Well, there are a few differences in this time-line. Like, her, for instance." Trunks jokingly stated the obvious. "Then there's Supreme Kai and Kibito. They undid their fusion a few months earlier and she's been decimating the remains of Frieza's Army all over the universe. But, her being there and doing all of that hadn't caused any major shifts, so far. Not even in the tournament Lord Beerus and his brother held. She didn't even fight in it. So...everything is still as it should be." he described.

"It's a little sad, isn't it?" Chronoa mused.

"What is?" Trunks asked.

"Well, her existence and everything she did with it, so far, had no major effect on the universe. Nothing that resulted in any big changes to history." Chronoa explained. "Of course, that's a good thing, but still."

"Just don't tell her that, if she ever visits us." Trunks joked.

"Oh, I hope not!" Chronoa took a step back, hugging herself, protectively. "I don't think I could keep her away." she said.

"Whaddoyou mean?" Trunks gave her a strange look.

"You saw how she is...with women. And I'm young and beautiful." Chronoa put her hands on her hips and raised her head.

"I...don't think you need to worry there." Trunks said.

"And what is that supposed to mean!?" Chronoa stood on her toes, glaring up at Trunks, who kept taking a step back, after every question. "You don't think I'm young and beautiful!?"

"N-No, that's not what I-...!"

"Then, what did you mean!? Huh!?"

"I was just-...!"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Chronoa folded her arms.

"But, you just asked what I-...!"

Their voices carried all the way to the top of the Time Nest where Toki Toki was perched.

"Toh..." Toki Toki shook his head at their antics.

...

"So, that's it, then." Goku stated.

"Super Saiyan 4." Gohan repeated, still in awe.

"I mean, after the first three, what else can we call it?" Krillin was still slightly shaken, as well.

"So, does this mean dad and Vegeta just skipped this form and Blue is the next one?" Gohan asked and was looking at Whis for answer.

"No. I would say she evolved her abilities on a different path. Whether this or Super Saiyan Blue is a Saiyan's natural step on their evolutionary ladder, I cannot say." Whis replied.

"Maybe this is the next form." Gohan debated him. "But, without any energy absorbed from gods. If it was like Super Saiyan Blue, we wouldn't be feeling it, right? And not because it's weaker, either, but because it's more like our kind of energy. Lord Beerus, you even said it's on the same level as my dad's was, when you fought him, after he absorbed all the power from us." Gohan turned to him, but Whis spoke, instead.

"I would go as far as to say, it rivals even Blue." he stated.

"So, what was it that pushed her through?" Gohan asked and looked at Beranise, who also wanted to know what exactly happened that triggered her new transformation.

"That is just it." Whis started. "There was no push. Apparently, what she needed was the opposite of force. Physical or mental. She let go. Even if it was for a few moments, she only needed peace." he ascertained, looking at Beranise and glanced at Pan on her arm, who raised her head, out of all the hair, to smile up at her, as if she was telling her that she was happy to help. Beranise's eyes slowly teared up and she readjusted her grip on her to hug her close to her chest. Even Piccolo smiled, as he knew from personal experience how someone's love could help another grow. "Shall I contact my sister and tell her you have made progress? Or perhaps you would rather it be a surprise." Whis added, as an afterthought.

"I think I'll wait." Beranise said and glanced down at Pan. "I wanna get used to it, a little. Don't wanna run off to fight with it, half-cocked, like some Golden Jackass." she referred to Frieza.

"Gyak-ashh! Gyak-ashh!" Pan said it back, pumping one tiny fist in the air and both her parents sighed as Beranise grinned and laughed.

"Wise decision." Whis stated. "And I'm certain Lord Beerus would not be opposed to testing its full potential, once you have acclimated." Beerus gave him a side-glance, before he looked at Beranise with an almost sinister smirk.

"And me!" Goku exclaimed, stepping forward. "But..." he stopped. "You still don't wanna train with us. Or do ya?" With a grin, he implied that with her new power, she just might be willing to spar with them, if for nothing else, then, to see if she could beat on them and a wicked smirk from Beranise confirmed it. Goku grinned even wider that his hunch was correct and though Vegeta did not particularly show it, he was just as excited to see how the new Super Saiyan 4 would measure up to Blue.

"Maybe...you should find an empty planet." Gohan suggested.

"Well...we'd be kinda cramped on King Kai's planet. But, we could go to Supreme Kai's!" Goku placed his hands on his hips, offering one idea and over on the aforementioned planet, Supreme Kai, Old Kai and Kibito recoiled in fear as they listened. "If you don't want us fighting at Lord Beerus's place." Goku added, for Whis.

"Considering he averages in destroying a handful of planets, every month, it will not be much of a burden." Whis glanced at Beerus and, far away, the Kais sighed in relief.

"Oh, yeah. That's a lot of sneezes!" Goku exclaimed, recalling one particular incident, out of the many, where the Destroyer wrecked the celestial bodies around his palace.

"If you decide you would like to train, please call!" Whis told them.

"Will do!" Goku replied.

"Well, shouldn't we be going, then, My Lord?" Whis asked.

"I didn't even get to taste anything new!" Beerus complained.

"We weren't promised anything. We came on our own accord, only to see what was happening." Whis reminded him and Beerus calmed down.

"Well, I still want something." He put his hands on his hips. "I didn't come all this way for something I can't eat." he stated.

"Then, we shall ask Lady Bulma if she can recommend something." Whis suggested.

"Fine." Beerus agreed.

"Until next time." Whis bid them farewell and Beerus held onto him as they shot off into the sky.

"You're really planning on training with dad and Vegeta?" Gohan asked Beranise.

"Yeah. Why not. I wanna punch someone! These two will have to do, for starters." Beranise said.

"For starters? Who else is there?" Krillin asked.

"Who do you think?" Beranise replied, glancing in the direction Beerus and Whis left, as she held Pan. She looked back at her. "Gonna stay for a few more days." she said and lifted her to rub their noses together, giggling with her. "After that, we're back in business." she said and Goku nodded.

"This is gonna be amazing!" he rubbed his fist.

The following few turbulent months were spent between Earth and Beerus' place. Fortunately, Bulma was not anywhere close to exhausting all the different types of food their planet had to offer to the Destroyer and his Attendant, so all three Saiyans had enough time between training to spend with family, friends and babysitting.

[A Few More Months Later]

[Beerus' Domain]

The sounds of a fight carried throughout the gardens of the palace as the God of Destruction walked up to his Attendant, hands behind his back. The latter was holding a piece of red fruit in his left hand and his staff in the other, looking ahead.

"KAME...HAME...!" A visibly worn-down Super Saiyan Blue Goku was in the air, charging his attack.

"GALICK GUN...!" A Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, on the opposite side, was doing the same. "HAAAAA!"

They released their attacks at the same time that were seemingly aimed at each other. The two energy waves almost met in the middle, where a Super Saiyan 4 Beranise threw her hands out, stopping them. She screamed as she kept withstanding them and was making quite the effort to not let herself be swallowed by them from both sides. Goku and Vegeta also kept pushing everything into it, not holding anything back.

"What is that?" Beerus leaned in as he noticed the thing in Whis' hand.

"Oh, they've brought us another treat. It's a rather peculiar fruit called a pomegranate." Whis held it up for him to inspect.

"Palm grenade?" Beerus leaned closer. "Sounds more like a weapon than a fruit." Beerus commented.

"No…pomegranate. P-o-m-e-..." Whis tried to correct him. Beerus took it from his hand and bit into it. His eyes went wide and he started spitting it out. "That's not how you should approach eating this particular fruit, my Lord. For instance, the casing is not meant to be consumed, at all. Only the seeds inside."

"Warn me, next time!" Beerus yelled at him and looked at the remaining half of the fruit in his hand, seeing the seeds.

"Here." Whis used his staff to extract all the seeds and placed them in a materialized bowl, with a spoon in it. Beerus grabbed it and took a spoonful in his mouth.

"Mhm. Not bad!" he exclaimed, taking more. "Although, getting all these seeds out looks like a lot of trouble." he commented, criticizing the time and effort it would have taken without Whis' assistance.

"Well, luckily, I'm here." Whis said and looked back up at the three Saiyans, seeing they were still in the same struggle, with Beranise in the middle. "They are certainly persistent."

Beerus smirked and lifted a finger. Beranise noticed he was up to something and could see the purple glow of a small but potent energy blast being charged and aimed at her. She braced herself, pulling back just enough to let the two waves come closer together and as Beerus fired his orb, Beranise pushed with all her strength and with a sly smirk, she directed the Kamehameha and Galick Gun towards him, swallowing his blast. Whis smiled, in their glow, as they came, while Beerus nearly dropped the bowl he was holding in surprise, having not expected such a retaliation. Whis disappeared from his side, leaving him by himself to face it on his own.

"Hey!" he yelled at Whis and dropped the bowl of pomegranate seeds to block the combined waves with both hands, hating to make an effort, as he had to. Whis appeared at his side, as he was holding the wave off.

"You started it." he told him with an amused smile, for Beerus provoked the attack. Goku and Vegeta stopped firing as soon as their waves were diverted and Beerus condensed them as much as he could, before he threw it into the air, letting the explosion light up the entire sky.

Beranise was panting, along with Goku and Vegeta, as the three of them gave one another quite a workout. None of them reverted to normal, though.

"And nothing was destroyed." Whis happily announced. "Bravo!" he added, glancing at Beerus, who looked moderately irritated.

"You still have some fight in ya, huh?" Goku commented.

"Enough for both of you chumps!" Beranise challengingly shot back. Goku grinned, ready to test her and Vegeta chuckled, internally, with a smirk.

"Man, good thing Earth has so many different types of food. Bulma won't run out of new stuff to give Lord Beerus and Whis, at least." Goku commented. "Hey, Lord Beerus, how'd'ya like the pomegran-...!?" He stopped, when he saw the bowl and its contents at Beerus's feet. "Ehh..." Goku awkwardly trailed off.

"It was quite enjoyable!" Whis replied, in Beerus' stead.

"So you did have one, before me." Beerus glared at him, his suspicions confirmed.

"Of course! It is only in your best interest that I taste everything for you, beforehand. That way we can avoid having you eat anything that would make you uncomfortable and get a stomach-ache or gas." Whis weaseled himself out and Beerus gave him a deadpan stare, then groaned, especially at the last part of his excuse. He looked up as a pillar of light came down, behind Beranise. The latter turned to see it was Vados.

"What have we here?" Vados arced a brow as he inspected Beranise. The latter let out a haughty laugh and folded her arms.

"I wanted to get more used to my new form and surprise you. So, like what you see?" Beranise grinned, floating closer to her, hands on her hips.

"Very impressive. Yet, hairy." Vados commented and Beranise folded her arms.

"Well, I shaved, but it all grows back, every time I transform. No point in doing it, again, until I can stay like this." Beranise replied. "Speaking of hairless things, where's whiny-widey? Not that I really care."

"Lord Champa is doing his mandatory jog, around the palace. If he kept up the pace he started with, he should only have a couple of hundred laps left." Vados replied.

"Hrh. He can't destroy all that fat." Beranise snorted. "You're here to pick me up, then?" She nickered at her own phrasing.

"If you want to continue your training, yes. At least, you have not spent all this time idly." Vados commended her.

"You're ditching us, then?" Goku asked, coming closer.

"Yep. In a heartbeat." Beranise blew a raspberry, smiling.

"Too bad! We didn't think we'd get a workout this good!" Goku noted.

"Oh? Do you mean you are at your limit?" Vados asked him, curiously.

"Couldn't tell ya. Every time we think there's no going any further, we just do." Goku shrugged.

"Indeed. I can see." Vados glanced at Beranise, who chuckled.

"You can look and touch." She grinned at Vados, who rolled her eyes, looking away.

"Someone is losing focus." She told Beranise, reminding her where her mind should be.

"Oh, come on! That was before I knocked the damn curve-ball outta the friggin' town." Beranise boasted about her breakthrough.

"Ballpark." Vados corrected her analogy, not only because of the incorrect word, but also to remind her she still had a long way to go. And unbeknownst to Beranise, it was rather reminiscent of the game of baseball they played.

"Town!" Beranise shot back, arguing about the significance of her achievement. Vados only slightly raised a brow, in mild amusement and then, again, as Beranise lunged at her. Without moving, Vados projected a barrier and kept Beranise from touching her, even as the latter nearly had both arms around her and her face inches from hers, struggling to grab her.

"What a shame! Looks like you're still unable to break through." Vados mocked her, keeping a hand behind her back.

"Un…able to…my ass! You can just let me!" Beranise tried to press on.

"And where would be the effort in that." Vados continued to tease her. "Also, language." she added, brought forth her hand and flicked her back with a finger that sent Beranise flying away and she could barely stop herself from hitting the ground. "Hmm…" Vados arced a brow, in mild surprise, noticing her increased resilience. Whis floated down, next to her.

"They are, indeed, even more adaptable than we gave them credit for. Wouldn't you agree, sister?" he turned to her. Vados glanced at him, but remained silent as she watched Beranise catch her breath. The latter looked just as surprised as she looked at herself and had a small grin, seeing her sturdiness.

"Hey, Whis…" Goku came closer to them with a somewhat mischievous grin, hands on his hips and they turned to him. "D' you think you and Vados could spar, a bit, before she has to go?" he asked, expectantly and Vegeta briefly looked intrigued, but it disappeared as something occurred to him.

"It'd be a waste of time." he folded his arms and Goku turned to him with a surprised look, while Whis and Vados each gave him an almost offended raising of a brow.

"Why would you say that, Vegeta?" Goku was taken aback that Vegeta would decline being witness to even just a friendly fight between the two people who were stronger than the gods by the same magnitude as the gods, themselves, were stronger compared to them.

"Use your head! Even if we tried, we wouldn't be able to follow any of it, unless they held back most of their power. There'd be no point in watching them." Vegeta explained.

"I guess you right." Goku rubbed the back of his head, realizing he was getting ahead of himself. What he did not immediately pick up on, unlike Whis or Vados, was that Vegeta did not want to be a spectator to a fight he could not even see, let alone touch, for it would have only angered him to be reminded of the difference of power and how, despite their own progress, they still could not hold a candle to it. Beranise flew up behind Whis and Vados, with a pulsating purple energy ball in her hand and the siblings turned their heads to look at the maniacally laughing woman, as she dropped it between them, then quickly retreated. It went off and Goku shielded himself as best he could from the sudden attack, in alarm. Singed, he trailed smoke as he was falling backwards, before he stopped himself. Whis and Vados appeared in the air, further above the blast. The former sighed with a frown.

"Now, that was a grenade. Rather rude. Don't you think?" he said and glanced to the side, addressing not his sister, but Beranise who was, again, trying to grab onto Vados with a grin, viciously wanting to hug her from behind. The latter was keeping her from it, the same way as before. Whis gave the scene an odd look, as Vados kept an eye on her attacker and Whis could see the hint of a smile on her sister's face. He was fully aware of her elder sibling's tendency to toy with people and push their buttons to her own amusements, as she did with Champa, as well. Vados tipped her staff backwards, hitting Beranise on the forehead and the latter's head snapped back. She dropped out of air and hit the ground, on her back, but the fact that she did not revert to her normal state showed she had not lost consciousness.

"My, someone's become quite durable!" Vados commented as she looked down on the dazed woman.

"Wow, she's still not out!" Goku exclaimed. "And that looked like a harder hit than the one with the finger." he added. A second later, Beranise did revert to normal, then groaned, barely conscious. "Tch. Aww." Goku saddened.

"Do you mind!?" They turned when they heard Beerus. "Having a pair of these Saiyans around is bothersome enough! And she's proving herself to be even more of a nuisance than the two of them combined! So, if you wouldn't mind, you can take her back to Champa, now!" Beerus yelled at Vados.

"Funny, you and your brother have the same opinion." Vados smiled, poking fun at him for actually being of the same mind as his twin and Beerus narrowed his eyes that slightly twitched in annoyance.

"So, while we're trying not to get on Lord Beerus' bad side, she does the same with Lord Champa." Goku pointed out.

"Not quite." Vados corrected him. "In fact, she's trying to be on his bad side, on purpose."

"And yet, you don't stop her, do you." He already knew the answer, as if Vados' smile was not one.

"Well, she's still alive!" Goku shrugged with a laugh and Vegeta looked at the incapacitated Beranise with suspicion, wondering why she would continue to be reckless and disrespectful with the Gods, despite their power. Of course, the difference in power was the only thing keeping him in line, too. But, he knew better than to seek a fight none of them could yet win.

"Will you be on your way, then?" Whis asked Vados.

"I'll let her stand on her own." She glanced at Beranise, who twitched as she tried to raise her head.

"That may take a while longer. In the meantime, would you like to try a pomegranate?" Whis smiled.

"Oh, that sounds dangerous." Vados let out a small giggle. Down on the ground, Beerus sighed, not any less annoyed.

…

"Mmm…" Vados delighted in the taste of the seeds and took another spoonful as Beranise was nearly sitting up, with Goku standing by, waiting to see if she can manage.

"She's going to make it." Whis noted with slight cheering in his tone. Vegeta stood next to him and watched, arms folded as Goku extended a hand to pull Beranise up. "Simply maintaining that form in her condition must take an extreme toll on her body." Whis correctly discerned, considering what he had learned of Saiyans and their previous transformations. Goku jerked back and to the side to avoid a nearly point-blank blast from Beranise, who obviously did not want any assistance.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "You can be even meaner than Vegeta, you know." he said in a slightly hurt tone and Vegeta harrumphed. Beranise panted and dropped her hand, then fell back.

"Uh?" Goku blinked in surprise.

"Oh, dear." Whis calmly exclaimed. "That blast of energy might just have been the last ounce of what she had left, it seems." he said as Vados continued to eat. Beranise arced her back as high as she could, until she was able to see them, upside down, as they looked to her. She gritted her teeth, struggling to hold herself up and let out a small scream, along with a small energy blast, before collapsing. Vados yelped in surprise as the blast knocked the bowl out of her hand, splattering its contents on the ground and on her face, smearing her attire, as well, with the reddish liquid of the exploded pomegranate seeds. Vados touched her face, looked at the mess on her clothes and glared at Beranise, who was still lying on the ground and was grinning up at her, laughing in pain, with one eye open.

"Well! She started it and she finished it." Whis commented, looking at Vados, who closed her eyes with a contained scowl. She used her staff to clean herself and opened her eyes with a sigh. "Their tenacity really is something." Whis added.

"Maybe if you had left, when I told you, you could've avoided this!" Beerus sounded as if he was gloating, clearly taking some satisfaction from it.

"It does look like she is fit for travel, at least." Whis commented on Beranise, as the latter was trying to roll onto her stomach to push herself up. Vados floated down to her.

"If you're not standing on your feet in ten seconds, I'm leaving without you." she told her and Beranise growled up at her, but made every effort to meet her expectations and it took less than the allotted time for her to be on her feet. "Good." Vados noted her effort and turned to the others as Beranise wobbled next to her. "We're leaving, now." she announced, tapping the ground with her staff and Beranise hastily grabbed onto her elbow, before she almost did leave without her.

"Lord Champa may not be the only one whose patience is being tried." Whis said, slightly amused by her sister's quick exit.

[…]

Vados and Beranise were traveling along the cosmic trail, enveloped in light. The latter was slightly hunched, as she was holding onto Vados for support. She was weary and hurting. The two hits from her did as much damage, if not more, than her entire practice fight with Goku and Vegeta. Beranise breathed heavily and perked up as she thought of something with a mischievous grin. Vados could feel she was adjusting her grip. Her eyes widened and she glanced down at her waist to see Beranise' arms around her. Her hold went higher as she levitated to actually lean over her shoulder, given their height. Beranise let out a throaty chuckle, grinning.

"Can't keep me away like this, can you!" she said, hugging her tighter.

"I could throw you off. And at our current speed, you would be vaporized." Vados flatly told her.

"Aww, so defensive." Beranise teased her and attempted to lean intimately close to her neck, while grabbing Vados' free hand to keep her from knocking her out, again. She continued with her intent, but was bashed in the face with the ball of Vados' staff. "I...thought…you can't…use that thing…when...travelling." Beranise managed to say, with the ball still in her reddened face and she almost completely let go of Vados.

"I never said I couldn't." Vados stated, pulling her staff back. "Now, I suggest you behave."

"I…regret…nothing." Beranise uttered in a partial daze, as she let go of Vados' waist and hand to hang onto her elbow with both hands. Vados shot her a wary glance from the corner of her eye.

"I would be surprised if you did." Vados said.

"Hey, now that I'm all through my wall…maybe we can go to Sadala." Beranise mentioned.

"Getting past one limitation doesn't mean you can afford to be distracted." Vados replied. "There's no reward-system, here." she added.

"Well, I can think of a few." Beranise muttered.

"I'm sure you can." Vados dryly said. "Which is why I'd be inclined to let you unwind, among your kind." Beranise blinked up at her.

"Uh, well, the Saiyans, here, are different than the ones we had, at least. I probably wouldn't have made many friends, there." Beranise mused. "What with them having been under Frieza's boot-heels, at the time…and even without him, they weren't a good bunch." She recalled the stories.

"Well, I wasn't referring to Saiyans, specifically. But, other mortals, in general." Vados clarified.

"Huh?" Beranise gave her a somewhat sore stare. "Oh, I see. You're too good for us, is that it, your highness?" she jibed. "The High Priestess, or whatever, can't fraternize with the lowly people, huh?"

"Oh, I'm not the High Priestess. That would be my father." Vados noted.

"What…? Your dad's a priestess?" Beranise gave her an odd look and Vados sighed.

"No. Priest. The High Priest, to be exact." she stated.

"Wait, I think Goku mentioned that. He's the head honcho, under that goofy-looking king kid." Beranise recalled and received a slender elbow in her side that sent a sharp twinge of pain through her and she gritted her teeth as her eyes got teary.

"Grand Zeno, if you will!" Vados reminded her.

"Ghh…eii…Y-You know what?" Beranise suppressed the pain. "I changed my mind. I don't wanna go to Sadala, anymore. I think I'll stick with you." Beranise figured that Vados only suggested she should go to the Saiyan home-world to keep her at a distance and her attention away from her. She was proven right in her suspicion when she heard a groan from her and Beranise smirked. "You're not getting rid of me that easily!" she added.

"For a great lack of trying, I assure you." Vados told her what she already knew. That Beranise was there purely at her discretion and no one else's and that she could have been rid of her at a moment's notice.

"Meh. From what I've seen, Goku kinda grew on your brother and Beerus." Beranise implied Vados took an interest in her for the same reason Whis kept apprenticing the other Saiyans. "I don't think Vegeta did. But, you get the point."

"You've completely lost me, I'm afraid." Smiling, Vados pretended she did not and Beranise let out an exaggeratedly loud sigh that was more of a shout. "Let's have a quiet journey, now." Vados told her.

"Shouldn't we be there, yet?" Beranise wondered, out loud.

"To Lord Champa's palace, yes. But, he doesn't seem to be there, anymore. I'll have to collect him, first." Vados noted.

"Not that I don't actually like that, but why isn't he there?" Beranise asked. "And how did he leave without you? Isn't he too lazy to go anywhere, without being taken?"

"Certainly. I suspect he used the hexahedron." Vados stated.

"Hah. I know Hit didn't want it, anymore, anyway. But, if you had given it away, then Chump-a couldn't've gone anywhere." Beranise pointed out, with another dig at the Destroyer.

"Not a bad idea. Although, I would be concerned leaving him all alone at home." Vados replied.

"I guess I know what you mean. It'd be like leaving a toddler alone in a big house. Except the whole thing could be destroyed by the time anyone gets back."

"Precisely." Vados slightly nodded, with a small smile.

"Even Pan is better behaved than that." Beranise mentioned.

"She is the granddaughter of Goku, correct?" Vados asked.

"Yep. And she can already sense energy, use blasts, even if by accident and she can already fly! Get that! And she's only a baby." Beranise excitedly listed what the youngest of their surviving race was already capable of. And it caught Vados' attention more than the latter had thought it would.

"Is that so?" She glanced at Beranise from the corner of her eyes and though her usual tone did not show it, she was intrigued by how fast the Saiyans could learn and evolve. Her brother was likely witness to it, firsthand, on more occasions than her.

"Heh. You better believe it!" Beranise exclaimed with pride. Vados understood the toddler in mention was but a quarter-Saiyan. She had to wonder what the full-blooded ones could still be capable of. Not a minute had passed when Vados spoke.

"It seems we need to stop…right here." Vados brought them to a halt and they were greeted by the sight of a small planet that was in the middle of turning to dust and debris, with a nonchalant Champa stuffing his face in the hexahedron, not even bothering to admire what was unmistakably his own handy-work. He perked up from his gorging when he noticed the two arrivals. "Lord Champa, if you absolutely must go on these excursions by yourself, you could, at least, forgo the use of the hexahedron. That way you would burn some of the calories you take in." Vados told him, as Beranise looked at the destruction.

"Oh, shut up! This is exactly why I went by myself. I don't need your smart mouth telling me about calories at every meal! I got hungry from all the exercise." Champa shot back and took a bite out of some alien fruit. Beranise gritted her teeth.

"You know I only worry for your health." Vados pretended she did.

"Oh, I wonder about that!" Champa was not buying her act.

"Hey!" Beranise interrupted them and Champa turned to her. "What the hell did you do?" she asked. "You just took their dinner and blew the planet up or what?"

"You, again!" Champa was not happy to see her. "Well, what does it look like?" he smugly asked. "And it was lunch!" he added, correcting her with a glare.

"Well, it couldn't've been bad if you're stuffing your face with it. So, why destroy the planet!?" Beranise demanded to know.

"I heard one of them whisper something about my figure and all the stuff I was eating." Champa held his hands up with a shrug, then looked pointedly at Beranise. "Now, watch your mouth, girl! I don't appreciate a mortal questioning what I do! A Destroyer doesn't answer to fleas!" Beranise balled a fist. Vados noticed she was losing her cool with him and vice-versa.

"Well, if you're all done, my Lord, we can go back to the palace and you can finish your lunch on the way." Vados nodded at the mound of food he sat on. "But, this means, there won't be lunch or dinner, when we get back." she sternly let him know. Champa gave her a small glare, but considered her words.

"Fine! This should last me all day, anyway!" He smirked. "Let's get out of here!" he exclaimed and Vados took up position on top of the hexahedron, while Beranise stood directly under her, facing away from Champa, who was at the other end. It also did not escape Vados that at the moment she sensed her violent intent, Beranise was rapidly regaining her energy as she stared Champa down. A few minutes ago, before they met up with the Destroyer, she could barely stand without holding onto her for support, aside from the physical contact that was necessary for their travel. Yet, she instantly seemed to have tapped into an ever refilling well of energy that Vados was, now, wary of. It was no surprise to her that Champa failed to notice and that he was still too busy with his lunch to also sense the almost murderous intent emanating from the female Saiyan below her. Despite the now one-sided tension in the air, a few quiet minutes actually passed.

[…]

"E-Excuse me, Ms. V-Vados?" The latter was taken by surprise by the somewhat timid female voice that rang out in her head. She stopped and it made Champa fall forward, rolling off his food.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" he yelled at her.

"I-I'm sorry for the intrusion Lord Champa, but we have an emergency!" the voice said and Champa blinked in confusion.

"Ah, I see, now." Vados recognized the voice. "The Supreme Kai of Time. How may we be of service?" Vados politely asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare to ask for you, personally. We…need the help of the Saiyan traveling with you!" Chronoa said and Beranise had no idea what was going.

"Is that so? Well, your timing is excellent! She could use a distraction, right now." Vados noted and Beranise kept looking between her, Champa and everywhere around her for whoever she was talking to. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I'll explain." A male voice spoke up. "Something has caused an anomaly in the timeline, at the point when Vegeta and Nappa came to Earth. I know this is the Seventh Universe we're talking about, but since she's from the same universe, your student is the right choice for the mission." Trunks explained.

"I assume you're shorthanded, at the moment." Vados asserted.

"Yes." Chronoa confirmed. "All of our top patrollers are occupied and the new recruits aren't strong enough to deal with the kind of threat we're facing, right now."

"Which is?" Vados asked for clarification.

"You see…" Trunks began. "In the correct timeline, when Vegeta and Nappa showed up, it was Yamcha, Tienshinhan, Chiaotzu, Krillin, Piccolo and Gohan who went to fight them. But…this time, there is three of them. Raditz is there, somehow. Something or…someone must've pulled him from the timeline, before his death or maybe even from a parallel timeline, like the one where Goku and Vegeta went to fight Zamasu. All of Earths strongest fighters were defeated. And to make the situation even worse, all three of the Saiyans have transformed into giant apes. Plus, their power was somehow amplified far beyond what it should've been, even with the transformation. So…we thought the best person to deal with Saiyans, would be another Saiyan. Well, that and like Surpreme Kai of Time said, we don't really have another option. Aside from me. But, she doesn't want me involved, for some reason. Why is that?" Trunks started to question Chronoa.

"Isn't it obvious? We don't know for sure just how strong they've become. Your power might not be enough. I'll rest more easily with a Super Saiyan 4 out there to handle the situation." Chronoa replied.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." Trunks muttered, somewhat offended.

"It's not like that." Chronoa apologetically said and Vados cleared her throat to stop their quarrel. "R-Right, sorry!" she remembered they had a situation on their hand. "We'll pull Beranise directly to the affected timeline. There's no need to bring her to the Time Nest. It'll be fastest that way."

"Uh, excuse me!" Beranise shouted. "You wanna tell me who you two lovers are? And where you're taking me?"

"L-Lovers!?" Trunks sounded mortified and both of them were likely blushing.

"Wait! We're not…! I-It's nothing like that!" Chronoa got defensive.

"Well, you sure argue like a couple! Whatever." Beranise folded her arms, irritated by what little she understood. "I'm gonna need more to go on, here!"

"Not necessary." Vados told her. "Remember it was for the sake of your training that you weren't aware of certain events. It is for that and your mental health that you needn't know more about the situation and the people you'll be helping."

"My mental health?" Beranise gave her an odd look.

"Your sanity." Vados spoke plainly.

"Hh. Fine! Whatever. You want me to fight some Saiyans? Let me at 'em!" Beranise agreed. "I need to hit someone!" she added and Vados silently agreed, as it was for exactly that reason she allowed her to be pulled through time.

"It's that simple." Vados stated. "You, I mean." she added and Beranise slowly lifted her head to give her a deadpan stare as Vados coyly smiled down on her.

"So, what's gonna happen, here?" Beranise impatiently asked.

"We'll transport you through time, close to the anomaly. You won't feel a thing." Trunks assured her.

"Pretty sure that's not what a woman wants to-…" Beranise vanished in a bright portal.

"Good riddance!" Champa exclaimed, leaning back.

"She'll be back any second." Vados told him and he sat up in alarm.

"What!?" Champa exclaimed. "How!?"

"It's simply how time-travel can work. She may stay in the past, for a while, until the fight is done, but when they return her to the present, only a few seconds may pass." Vados explained.

[…]

[Age 762]

"…hear." Beranise finished her sentence and found herself in a desert, under the night sky.

"Sorry, but we couldn't hear that last part. Can you repeat?" Trunks asked, luckily having missed the last half of her sentence, as Beranise took in the devastation, the leveled cliffs, crumbling crevices likely created by earth-shattering strikes to the ground, both with energy blasts and giant hands and feet. She could not see the Z-Fighters, alive or dead, anywhere. Either their bodies were somewhere else or there were none left to be found. The last part was more likely, as she spotted the three gigantic apes.

One of them, in full armor, with the biggest hair ever and a red band around one thigh, was blasting every cliff that was still standing around them. The second one, wearing nothing but the pants of a battle armor, was pounding its chest and roaring. The third one Beranise recognized by his hair and by his demeanor as Vegeta. He was sitting on a plateau, arms folded, letting the other two get it out of their systems, as they still had less control over their ape-forms than him, even with whatever boost they got from a source unknown. His armor was still intact, as well. It was then she could faintly detect Gohan and Krillin, nearby. They were likely suppressing their energies and hiding from the threat.

"I'm guess you recognize Vegeta." Trunks talked to her. "The one on the left is Nappa. And the one on the right is the anomaly. Raditz. He shouldn't even be alive. In the correct timeline, Goku and Piccolo killed him, a year before Vegeta and Nappa came to the planet."

"To tell you the truth, we already know who is tempering with the timeline by displacing certain people." Chronoa spoke. "But, all you have to worry about is defeating the enemies, here. Okay?"

"Got it." Beranise muttered and stretched her still somewhat soar body with a groan.

"Uh, you okay?" Trunks asked. "You look worn-out."

"I'm fine. Just a few love-taps from Vados. Hah. I wish." She snorted.

"What?" Trunks asked in confusion.

"Shoosh! Fighting-time, now." Beranise told him and they got quiet on the other end. "Hey!" she shouted at the three apes. Trunks and Chronoa cringed at her approach.

"Huh?" Vegeta glanced up. Raditz and Nappa were slower to react, but started to get agitated at the strong presence. They began to shuffle towards her. "Where did you come from!?" Vegeta growled at her. "It doesn't matter how many of you insects crawl out! We'll crush you!" he exclaimed. Raditz and Nappa did not even need to be ordered and it was highly likely they could not have been, anyway. Vegeta smirked, bearing his large teeth, as they charged Beranise, in a feral rage and she danced around them, in the air, assessing their strength and speed, which she found impressive enough, but not a cause for worry.

"Unbelievable!" Trunks exclaimed. "She won't even transform. It looks like her normal state will be enough, after all."

"Yes. But, you have to remember, she's far stronger than you, even in that state." Chronoa reminded him about the new level of strength she, Goku and Vegeta had attained, with just their normal state. Beranise flashed to the side to avoid an overheard hammer-blow from Nappa, then kicked him in the side of the head, but it only made him stumble back a few large steps. She could feel Raditz moving behind her and she dove out of the way of a sideswipe, then shot back up to deliver and uppercut to his jaw. It lifted him off his feet and sent him crashing onto his back, but he did not remain down for long and raised his head, before he stood, steadying himself, along with Nappa.

"Oh, so you can take a hit, huh." Beranise observed.

"Oh, no." Chronoa whispered.

"She's clearly stronger than them. But, they're definitely durable if they can brush off hits like that." Trunks commented.

"This may not be so simple, after all." Chronoa worriedly said.

"She can still transform. And I don't think she even needs to go as far as Super Saiyan 4, either, to be honest." Trunks told her.

Raditz and Nappa punched at the same time. Beranise stopped their fists from hitting each other, similarly to how she kept the energy waves of Goku and Vegeta from colliding, with her in the middle.

Vegeta grew tired of his companions' continued failure to swat such a seemingly insignificant fly of a person. He saw she was actually holding their attack back, which he took as an opportunity to let loose one of his. Without warning, he fired an energy blast from his mouth. Beranise saw it coming, gave a thrust to both sides and vanished from its path. The wave singed Raditz' hand and Nappa's. The two angrily growled at Vegeta.

"Quiet, you fools!" he roared at them, knowing they had a bigger concern than friendly-fire. And that concern was smugly floating above them, arms folded. "Insolent…little…!" He fired another blast, as Raditz and Nappa kept jumping up to try and grab or swat her.

"Well, guess it's time I turn this into a proper fur-fest." Beranise smirked.

"So much for my prediction." Trunks muttered as Beranise powered up, transforming.

"Isn't she overdoing it?" Chronoa asked. "She was already tired, wasn't she?"

"Well, no Saiyan has ever gotten stronger without pushing themselves." Trunks commented, as Beranise descended to be at face-level with the apes.

"What the hell is this supposed be!?" The Vegeta of that period could not yet sense energy and as a result was even more at a loss as to what she just did. He began to realize, as Raditz lunged at her. Beranise's sash was thrown off as her tail unfurled and she slapped him in the side of his cheek with it, sending him crashing into the nearest cliff, keeping her arms folded. Vegeta's eyes widened. "Ah-A Saiyan!?" Raditz was still too busy lying in the rubble to even notice what was going on and Nappa did not exactly have all his mental faculties in check enough to pause and recognize kin. He leapt, landed in front of Beranise and pulled his head back. Beranise could tell what he was about to do and unfolded her arms. Nappa unleashed an enormous energy blast from his mouth, from up close that lasted for several second, obliterating entire mountain-ranges behind his intended target. When it ceased, Beranise was still where she had been, having withstood the attack without a scratch or burn.

"What the-…!?" Vegeta gaped in alarm. "But, you…! A Saiyan! Where did you come from!? How!? How is this possible!?" He did not get an answer. Beranise tilted her head back, with a deep breath and before Nappa could make another futile attempt at her, she released a mouth-blast of her own, at him. Vegeta had to jump to the side, as well, to get out of its way, while Raditz finally managed to sit up, bleeding from the mouth, as his jaw was broken. It would have been hanging, anyway, from the scene before him. He and Vegeta watched, in terror, as Nappa disappeared from existence, leaving only a pair of large hairy feet behind him that would have been bleeding a lot more blood, if the heat from the blast had not charred and cauterized the wounds on the torn limbs. They shrank back to human-size, before they hit the ground, as if they were discarded footwear and not actual flesh and bone. "I-Im…possible…!" Vegeta stuttered in fear.

Raditz stumbled forward, loudly whimpering in pain, seeing and trailing red. He hastened his heavy steps, trudging towards Beranise. "Raditz, don't!" Vegeta tried to warn him, but the wounded animal lurched, bearing down on Beranise, who spread a palm at him, as she kept looking at Vegeta. The blast from it burned through Raditz's face and the headless giant ape fell like timber, missing her only by a few feet; then changed back and lied partially buried between the rocks.

"N-No! No this can't be! This cannot be happening!" Vegeta was panicking.

"I…I can't look." Chronoa stepped away from their table, unable to watch the brutality, feeling sick.

"You need to eliminate Vegeta, as well!" Trunks told Beranise. "It won't exactly fix the timeline, since Goku still has to arrive, but it'll keep it fluid and buy us some time to mount another mission to deal with the threat, before the changes can permanently set in. But, that'll be left for our patrollers. You did more than enough to hold things together. Just end the fight and we'll return you to your time!" he explained what purpose she served. Beranise floated towards a terrified Vegeta, who started to backpedal.

[…]

[Age 780 – The Present]

Beranise appeared below Vados, the same way she disappeared, much to the annoyance of Champa.

"See." Vados said to him, as only a couple of seconds have passed since Beranise left, only to return faster than the Destroyer would have liked, which was probably never. Vados noticed she was transformed and Beranise reverted to normal, sighing. "Well? How was your trip?" Vados asked.

"Like it never happened?" Beranise wearily asked back, having already said her goodbyes to and received the gratitude of the Supreme Kai of Time and, unbeknownst to her, an adult Trunks.

"An accurate answer." Vados commented, considering it felt like she was never even gone and because her actions will help fix the timeline itself, it will be like the incident never happened. It did, however, manage to calm the Saiyan down, which was Vados' intent. She was no longer on the verge of attacking Champa. And Vados certainly was not going to mention it or ask her if she had any questions about the people who she helped. Champa was irately tearing into some thigh-meat and kept glaring at Beranise's back.

[…]

Beranise audibly yawned and almost fell asleep, standing, as Champa's palace came into view, while its owner already had a bubble blowing from his nose. His body had to invest most of his energy into digesting all that he ate, but unlike a Saiyan, he was not quite ready to stand on his feet, let alone fight. Vados stopped the hexahedron above the lake, causing both him and Beranise to roll off, through the membrane wall and make an unceremonious splash. Champa came up, immediately gasping for air and spat out a living koi, while Beranise blew half a dozen of them out of the water, as she shot up and out of it, much more awake.

"Hey! Are you trying to drown me!?" they yelled at Vados, in unison, then glared at each other for saying the same thing.

"You both could use a bath, before going to bed." Vados stated, unapologetically. Champa shook his ears out.

"You could've just said so! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're seriously out to get rid of me!" he complained.

"Hrh." Beranise snorted. "Maybe you don't know any better." she muttered and Champa's ears moved.

"What was that!?" he snapped at her. Seeing as the very fabric of their twin universes was not threatened by their bickering, even if it came to physical altercation, as it would have been, if it was happening between the Destroyer brothers, Vados thought she would allow them a few more moments to amuse herself with the scene. Beranise folded her arms with a small laugh.

"You think she seriously has to answer to you?" She hit a nerve on Champa. "You're just a hammer, when something needs to be boarded over in the universe. A pudgy, rubber-hammer smashing every nail, when they give him a boo-boo in the belly!" Beranise mocked his pettiness and acts of destruction over trivial matters, like being fed something he does not like the taste of and him ending entire civilizations because of it. "Are the other so-called gods like this or is it just you and your brother?" Champa was turning redder with every sentence.

"You are asking to be destroyed!" A purple aura enveloped him.

"Nah. I'm just telling you try." Beranise assumed an aggressive stance and to both Vados' and Champa's surprise, she instantly turned Super Saiyan 4. Vados misjudged her level of fatigue or rather what she was still capable with it and Champa only caught a glimpse of the new form before. It was unlike anything he had scene. Though she was far from being at full power, Beranise's substantial energy was more than starting to tread water in the realm of the gods and the same could be said of the other Saiyans. Champa squinted, gauging her.

"I believe this is as far as you'll go, for now." Vados interrupted the heated moment, floating between them.

"For now?" Beranise repeated, perplexed by her phrasing.

"Hey! And just whaddoyou mean by that?" Champa asked. "You'd better mean her days are numbered. Because they are!" he declared.

"Lord Champa, may I suggest a soothing bath and a sauna. I will prepare them for you." Vados placated him. "But remember, you have already forfeited dinner for today." she reminded him. Champa took a deep breath, but kept staring daggers into Beranise as he turned and left for his quarters. Vados glanced at Beranise from the corner of her eye, before she turned to her with an only mildly disapproving look.

"What?" Beranise folded her arms. "You're gonna tell me I shouldn't mess with him? Hypocrite." she told Vados, saying she was doing the same, on purpose.

"You shouldn't pick a fight with him, just yet." Vados clarified. "I can afford to be testy." she added with a bit of smugness.

"Yeah. You can!" Beranise exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "You don't think I see you're a little fire-starter?" Vados raised a brow. "Not so Iittle." Beranise corrected herself on the only thing that called for it. "I don't understand why you serve him. Who came up with that idea?" She questioned the hierarchy. "He's just a bully, who thinks no one can touch him, outside their little Destroyers Club. But, guess what? We've been beating bullies our whole life." she said, referring to the surviving Saiyans and their allies, as she walked past Vados.

"You have quite a chip on your shoulder." Vados commented with some criticism, turning after her.

"And you got someone's bath to fill!" Beranise snidely called back and Vados gave a small frown at the remark as she proceeded inside to finish her daily duties.

[...]

[More months later]

[On Planet Sadala]

A comet-like light stopped near the surface and a visibly annoyed Vados appeared from it, who let go of the scruff of a Super Saiyan 4 Beranise, letting her nearly crash to the grassy soil. She was on her hands and knees as she looked around the lush environment, noticing they were close to what looked like a military installation.

"Oww!" She rubbed the back of her neck, then stood, looking up at Vados. "You don't have to be so mean about it!" she complained.

"Frankly, I'm surprised I only had to resort to this, now." Vados told her.

"Heh-heh! You knew what you signed on for." Beranise grinned, unabashedly and Vados gave her a mild glare, recalling the last few months.

[Flashback]

She was walking towards the room Beranise was allowed to stay in, when the Saiyan woman jumped out in front of her, stark naked.

"Oops! I was going to the fridge. I thought everyone was asleep, already." Beranise exclaimed, feigning innocence.

"We don't have a refrigerator. And it's noon." Vados told her, keeping her mild glare strictly eye-to-eye.

"Is it? It's so hard to tell inside all these big walls." Beranise continued the act and Vados had a small frown.

One of several such incidences. Another moment was, when Vados tasted a candy-strip, only to find Beranise had bitten down on it at the other end and began rapidly consuming it, working her way towards her and she had to slap her on the head to make her bite it off.

Still, it was not nearly as rude as when Beranise did the same with the pasta from Vados' ramen that she lifted to her mouth with her sticks, then felt something tugging at it, when she closed her eyes to savor the taste. A vein appeared on the side of her temple and it was in that moment she decided the Saiyan woman needed another mandatory time away.

[End of Flashback]

Close by, on Sadala, Cabba stood in front of a regiment comprised of Saiyan men and women, all eager to see one of their best and strongest demonstrate his power in an effort to boost morale and help the recruitment drive. Though he was a gifted fighter and representative of their people and universe, he was nervous about being a role-model for a race of young warriors. Some were even older than him, but all were equally enamored with him, which only made things worse for him as he awkwardly addressed them, only to be bombarded with excited requests to transform, before he could get into a speech. Not having to struggle with going through one was actually somewhat of a relief.

"Okay, okay! I'll...um...well..." They kept cheering him on and he took a stance. "This...is a Super Saiyan!" he exclaimed and transformed. Everyone went silent, before they erupted in a round of thundering applause and screams, mainly from the women. It made him blush, but he turned pale in alarm when he suddenly felt an incomparably large power nearby.

...

"So, what? You're gonna dump me, here, for a few days? Is that it?" Beranise asked Vados.

"I clearly overestimated your self-control." Vados noted.

"Hey, I lasted longer than you thought I would." Beranise proudly straightened herself and flicked her tongue at her, knowing exactly what her words sounded like. Vados remained silent and her expression the same as she tapped her staff, more forcefully than usual, making her exit.

"You'll be back!" Beranise called after her, not entirely certain if she heard her. She turned towards the buildings she saw in the distance to see and feel an entire army's worth of uniformed people approaching, led by a familiar Saiyan.

Cabba and the new recruits came to a halt and he cautiously moved closer to the terrifyingly strong stranger, unsure of how to even open a dialogue, but that fortunately was done for him.

"Hey! Cabbage boy!" Beranise refolded her arms.

"I-It's Cabba!" he corrected her. "But, how do you...wait. You're..." He did not recognize her face, only her armor and her energy. "You're the Saiyan girl."

"That's Saiyan woman, to you, boy-o!" Beranise yelled, quickly moving in front of him, mid-air.

"Oh...um...yes! My apologies!" Cabba turned needlessly scared and unnecessarily polite. He bowed. "It's just that I...I barely recognized you." he straighten and looked her over. "What...happened? That form? What...is that?" he asked, nearly paralyzed by the sheer feeling of its power. The rest of the Saiyans, behind him, were starting to sweat bullets from simply being so close.

"Oh, this? Nothin' much. It's just Super Saiyan 4." Beranise boastfully smirked.

"Four? But...I thought Super Saiyan Blue was the next form? The strongest." he recalled what he has seen and been told.

"Blue-hoo! Who needs it!?" Beranise pretended to spit to the side. "This can go toe-to-toe. It could go tail-to-tail, too, if those two still had theirs. But, I guess that had something to do with me getting all hairy and not turning blue."

"What do you mean? What does a tail have to do with it?" Cabba could not know, as he and the Saiyans of the Sixth Universe lacked the appendage.

"Well, that's actually a scary bedtime story in our universe." In her childhood, Beranise heard of giant apes laying waste to entire civilizations, with children of different races, who all grew up on the tales of terror their elders passed on. Little did she know, back then, that if her upbringing had been different, she would have become one of those monsters. "And I can tell you all about it, later." he told Cabba. "But, first..." Beranise disappeared and Cabba heard the scared gasp of a woman, behind him. He turned to see Beranise looming over a trembling rookie, with a lascivious grin. She cast a shadow on the poor, unsuspecting young woman, who shrank in both fear and awe, under her.

[...]

It was in the evening, as a smirking Beranise stirred a medium sized pot of soup with a ladle, having swapped the small plate and cutlery she was originally given to better suit her eating habits. She was seated next to Cabba, in a canteen and was looking at the other tables, where many of the women were sitting in uncomfortable silence, unable to even look her way.

"Everyone's so quiet." she commented, as if she did not have anything to do with it.

"I don't think they were expecting the, um, kind of training you showed them, today." Cabba told her, slightly blushing as he vividly recalled what Beranise had subjected a lot of the women to; which was mainly herself. She even went as far as removing her armor and body-suit to show how the different stages of the Super Saiyan transformation increased the muscles on the body and what parts of it were covered in fur by the Super Saiyan 4 form, in particular and what parts were not.

"I like showing more than telling." Beranise stated with a wide, satisfied smile.

"Clearly." Cabba muttered. "But, you really didn't have to go up to every one of them...just to give them...a better look." he added, more flustered.

"You're so innocent." Beranise commented and lifted the ladle to her mouth as Cabba sighed, looking down in his lap, embarrassed. "If you had grown up in our universe, well...you...might not have grown up, 'cause you'd've been blown up with the planet, but if you hadn't been, you'd be some jerk, who shakes whole planet's down for ransom. And their women, maybe." Beranise supposed and drank the soup.

"Then your Saiyans did do all that?" Cabba was saddened to hear it, having heard part of it from Vegeta.

"It's probably what I would've done if I hadn't been found by good people." Beranise shrugged and continued to eat the meaty parts, first nibbling, then dumping it all in as Cabba considered her words.

"It's strange how differently our race evolved in the two universes. In yours, Saiyans are almost extinct and from what Vegeta told me, they weren't good people, even without that Frieza character. And you said you spent your life bounty-hunting. That's basically mercenary work. But, you didn't go after everyone. Not just for anyone who paid you. That's a lot like our Saiyans. Maybe that's what our race is the best at. No matter what universe they're in. Fighting. But, doing it for something good. To protect people. And to get stronger."

"Mhm." Beranise replied as her mouth was full, again, then swallowed. "We're sure as hell not meant to wear ties and do numbers."

"What's a tie?" Cabba asked.

"See, there you go. You don't need to know." Beranise proved her point.

"I guess not." Cabba said.

"And at first I thought I'd kick your skinny butt, just to hog some of the attention you're getting." Cabba looked at her in surprise, then gave her a small glare, when he understood she went back to talking about the training. "But, that would've been unfair." she added, referring to the difference in power between them.

"Very." Cabba muttered.

"Oh, yeah." Something occurred to Beranise, before she took her next bite. "That's another thing Saiyans seem to share, no matter how they grew up. We like to fight alone. Doesn't always matter how many we're fighting, either. But, we don't really like help. In our universe, at least."

"Well, that's different for us, then. We fight like a team, very often. Most of us, anyway." Cabba noted. "We have our outlaws, too. Not all of us are in the Force. Some become bandits, even. And we have run-ins with them, as well. We're always more careful, when we have to deal with our own kind, even though we know what they can be capable of. I guess, that's the reason why." he realized. "And..." he paused, suddenly becoming sullen. "We don't always win." he said with some shame.

"Taykin' lumpfsh ish good for ushf." Beranise pointed out, mouth full.

"Yes. How one handles defeat is also a mark of that person, is what we're all taught." Cabba recalled his lessons, both from superiors and from life. Beranise swallowed.

"Get angry. Get stronger. And hit back, harder." she summarized, ignoring the more noble message Cabba took from it.

"That...also works." he admitted, remembering his fight with Vegeta and how even though he lost, he also got much stronger from all the anger and pain he experienced. It certainly activated him, as Vegeta put it.

"Speaking of getting angry and beating someone...what happened to that Frost guy, anyway? Is he sitting in a cell somewhere?" Beranise asked.

"If only..." Cabba sighed. "After we got back from the tournament and you left with Lord Champa and Vados, Frost escaped. He's been on the run, ever since. No one's heard of him or seen him."

"Really? That Hit didn't go after him? There's gotta be a bounty on him." Beranise found it odd.

"There is. A lot of them, in fact. Many want Frost captured or worse and they've contracted assassins and bounty-hunters, everywhere. But, no one can find him." Cabba explained. "The grass is tall, as our former Captain would say." he added.

"Hey, at least you still have a chance to beat him to paste. Our version of him was killed before I could do it. Twice!" Beranise said with some obvious hatred and frustration creeping into her voice.

"Twice? How do you...?" Cabba started to ask how someone can die more than once, then realized the answer. "The Dragon Balls."

"Mh." Beranise muttered, chewing.

"Then...even if we take the life of someone like that, they can still come back." Cabba gazed in front of himself, contemplating how unfair it all was.

"Well, it only happened once, as far as I know." Beranise pointed out. "But, it's still trouble. Especially if they come back a hundred times stronger." she added, showing some anger that even their worst enemies could return and do so being more formidable than ever. "They were already a pain to deal with and instead of staying dead, they get even more power to hurt people with. Some damn universe this is!" she vented. "Well, ours, anyway. Don't know about this one." she added.

"Yours definitely sounds crueler. I don't think we ever had to deal with anything or...anyone too horrible. No one who seemed unbeatable, anyway. And definitely not in my life-time. But, then...we were led by someone who pretended to be on our side, all this time. We just couldn't see through him. And if it weren't for the tournament, we'd still be following him. That thought alone is unbearable." Cabba reflected.

"You need a girlfriend." Beranise elbowed him, with the roasted rib of a creature in both hands. She tore a bite with her teeth. "And then you gotta introduce her to me." she added, chewing.

"How are you still eating?" Cabba leaned away, feeling full and sick just from watching her eat.

"What?" Beranise shrugged. "I'm only done with the first course." she nodded at the empty bowls and pots of soup and Cabba paled as his face fell, while Beranise carried on with her second course.

In the next few days, Beranise spent her time training the Sadala Defense Force's recruits and even went on missions with Cabba, supporting him and overseeing the rookies, who got their feet wet. Every night they celebrated their successful day, completing a record amount of contracts, while more men and women were joining their ranks than ever before. Even though Frost and most of those he colluded with could not stand trial for their treachery, spirits were high, not only on Sadala, but throughout the entire universe, as a lot of people looked at the shift as an opportunity to work towards a stable future. Those who felt the sting of betrayal used it to make them stronger and to teach them a valuable lesson that they could pass on to the next generation and make them stronger, more vigilante.

[...]

"Don't tell me you're picking her up, already!" Champa was complaining to Vados, in his domain. "It's only been a week. She can stay there for a few months or even years. Or forever!" he yelled, clenching his fists over the table.

"Let's just take a look and see how she's fairing." Vados and Champa peered into the Staff's projection. Both of their eyes widened and Champa's jaw got slack. Vados immediately closed her eyes and put her staff away, clearing her throat. "It seems she has taken my suggestion seriously." she commented, not saying anything more on what they accidentally saw.

"I gotta wash my eyes." Champa muttered, rubbing them. "Phh! Whatever! I have a job to finish, anyway." he folded his arms.

"Indeed." Vados noted. "You collected all of the Super Dragon Balls, located in our universe. Now, all you need to do is report to the Grand Priest and Grand Zeno."

"They're going to be pleased." Champa straightened up, recalling how he was given the assignment.

[Flashback]

"…and so, we require the Super Dragon Balls to be assembled from the Sixth and Seventh universes." The Grand Priest finished giving Champa and Vados their assignment as they stood at the dining table, in Champa's palace.

"Understood." Vados replied.

"As you wish." Champa bowed.

"Hey, what's with all the hush-hush!?" Champa froze, still bowing. "We're having dinner or what?" His eyes went wide when he heard Beranise from the doorway. He looked up as she walked in and stopped when she saw the unfamiliar face. "Huh?" She walked closer to the Grand Priest. "Uh…hi." she said.

"Greetings!" The Grand Priest gave a short bow and Beranise looked between him and Vados.

"Who's the kid?" she asked and Champa nearly had a heart-attack. "Your little brother?" And another.

"You stupid, clueless…!" he began yelling at Beranise and was starting to sweat, profusely. The Grand Priest raised a hand to stop his meltdown.

"It is fine." he said.

"He is the Grand Priest I have mentioned, before." Vados told Beranise, who remembered.

"Wait…your dad?" Beranise stared at the short man.

"Correct." he nodded.

"This is Beranise." Vados introduced her. "She is a Saiyan, like Goku. And is actually from the Seventh Universe, also." The Grand Priest raised a brow at that. "She wanted to be apprenticed and chosen me over Whis, after we've met." Vados informed her father, with a small smile.

"I see." the Grand Priest commented. "There have been a number of interesting events, lately. Ever since Grand Zeno met the Saiyan, Goku. I have no doubt they will continue." He predicted. "And so I must return to the Palace, to Grand Zeno's side, without further delay. I bid you farewell." He gave another small nod and vanished in a portal, before Champa could finish stuttering a goodbye. Beranise gave Vados a strange look and kept glancing at the spot where the Grand Priest had been standing.

"How…" Beranise began, but paused. "How tall was your mom!?" she asked, staring at Vados, as she had to wonder which of their parents both Whis and Vados had gotten their height from. It took Champa a few seconds to understand what she was indirectly referring to and making fun of.

"You impudent…!" He could not even find the words to berate her with. "Do you realize what the Grand Priest is capable of!?"

"He makes you soil your shorts, as fast as your Grand Zeno, apparently." Beranise folded her arms and Champa's face reddened.

[End of Flashback]

Champa was resting his head in his hand, elbow on the table, annoyed by the memory. "Hrgh…if I wasn't a god, I'd say that woman is going to be the death of me." he muttered, glancing aside.

[…]

The same night, on Sadala, Beranise was relaxing in a hot-spring, under the starry sky, with a couple of female kinsman. Her eyes were closed as her tail was slowly swaying back and forth in the water, making gentle, quiet ripples. Some of her company was eyeing the furry, dark-brown extra limb, the strength and dexterity of which many got ample proof of, during training, as it was enough to bring some of them into submission. The pride of many men and women, alike, were bruised, though the latter group received some not entirely unexpected reconciliation from Beranise, even those who were opposed to it, at first.

Cabba was glad she was quick to bond with brethren from another universe, despite the difference in their race's history that molded her, despite her upbringing. He had genuine concerns that she may be too aggressive in her approach to both training and socializing with his people. Those worries were more than alleviated in the few days that past, which turned out to be a small vacation for Beranise, even as she took the roll of a drill-instructor.

Perhaps what made the forced trip both business and pleasure was that she could feel somewhat close to home. She knew full-well it was a vastly different family than the one she would have had with the Saiyan race in her own universe and more different from the one she briefly had with her adoptive one. Yet, it felt refreshing, energizing to be among people who had the same blood flowing in them. The same potential. And more or less the same ideals, considering her vengeful and often ruthless nature.

Beranise was brought out of her musings on the matter by the arrival of Vados and raised her head back up to see her appear from a shaft of light, above the spring, startling the other women. Vados took note of their presence and how most of them nervously glanced down on themselves, as they wanted to stand and assume a defensive stance, but had to stop and keep from exposing themselves any more than they were already doing.

"Oh, good! It's just you." Beranise exclaimed. "I thought short, purple, puffy and huffy was with you."

"I believe Lord Champa has seen more than he ever thought he'd need, already." Vados said.

"Huh?" Beranise tilted her head to the side, turning suspicious. "Was he spying on me!?" she stood, balling her fists and felt a cool breeze from the knees up.

"Accidentally." Vados stated, briefly closing her eyes and cleared her throat in an effort to signal her to make herself more decent, but Beranise was still standing and was grinning up at her, as she looked at her, again. "Your concern over being spied on is rather absurd. Since you clearly have no decency or shame." Vados turned her head away.

"Now, hang on!" Beranise pointed a finger at her and Vados glanced back at her, with only her eyes. "You came alone. Which means you left him at home. And the only way he could've seen me from there, was through that." She pointed at Vados' staff. "While you were still there. So you were peeking and he just happened to be there. Ha!" She started snickering, folding her arms. "I hope I gave him a heart-attack. Something might as well give him one, if his cholesterol doesn't." she added. "So..." She put her hands on her hips. "Attendant, gourmet and a voyeur." Vados gave her a small, unamused glare at that. Beranise sat and leaned back. "You're gonna play this all stoic and innocent or are you gonna take a dip, uh?"

"I'll pass, thank you." Vados declined and Beranise's expression briefly turned disappointed, before her eyes flickered and she flashed more than a grin as she pulled both hands back, behind her, then threw them forward and up, causing a remote explosion of energy that blasted the hot water into the air, like a geyser, towards Vados. Half of the women covered themselves with their hands as a lot of the water was suddenly pulled to the center, off and away from them. The rest bolted from any potential chaos they thought might ensue. Vados remained dry, however, as she protected herself with a sphere of energy that repelled all the water. But, as soon as it disappeared and before the water even started raining back down, Beranise came up with an energy-charged uppercut, mimicking Cabba's move. Vados floated back just enough to let it miss her by an inch, unsurprised by the attack.

"And we're back to business, I see." Vados commented.

"Yeah. And you were looking at mine. Trying not to, now." Beranise noted how Vados kept eye-contact with her. "Well, suit me up!" Beranise shrugged. "Or I can go like this...if you like." She floated closer. Vados slightly flinched and moved backwards, pointing her staff at her. She moved it up and down, materializing Beranise's body-suit and armor onto her.

"I'm not entirely convinced your stay her was enough. Maybe a few more days would do." Vados suggested.

"Oh, please! No!" Beranise got on her knees, in mid-air, and put her hands together as if she was begging. Vados' eyes briefly widened as she gave her sudden act a confused look. "Great bed-maker of the Gods, take me away from this wicked place full of temptation! I can't t-take a mi-hi-hi-nute mo-hore!" Beranise started laughing at the end and Vados had developed a subtle glare, as she listened to her.

"Well, if you like it here so much..." Vados prepared to leave without her, once again.

"Wai-wai-wait!" Beranise frantically waved her hands, then looked down at the dumbfounded women, who watched their entire exchange. "Hey! Tell the kid I'll see him whenever!" She sent her regards to Cabba, so she would not completely leave Sadala without a word, then, grabbed Vados' staff and they took off, as all eyes stared after them. As they were moving through space, Beranise started tugging on the staff and tried to wrestle it from Vados, who she could not budge. The latter looked on as Beranise quickly went through all of her transformations, as she kept pulling with both hands, to no avail. At Super Saiyan 4, Vados had to make an effort that was actually even less than minimal for her, to keep still.

"You seem to have a lot of energy." Vados stated with a bored face and tone.

"Hghnn...you know...I keep…thinking what you'd do without this." Beranise told her, between grunts, as she stopped struggling.

"It would be very inconvenient not to have it." Vados admitted.

"Yeah. I bet. Making baths wouldn't be the same without it, huh?" Beranise jabbed.

"Neither would be healing broken bones." Vados pointed out, with a slight threat in her voice.

"I don't think you ever had to heal my bones with it." Beranise recalled, placing one hand on her hip.

"Yet." Vados looked at her, slightly pointedly and Beranise received her message.

"Mmh, catty." she smirked, then something occurred to her. "But, you got a point, there." she told Vados, with a smirk that faded as she turned more serious and Vados prompted her to elaborate with a questioning look. "I'm gonna have to get a few bones broken, if I wanna get stronger. And the only way that'll happen is if I fight someone. Someone stronger." Beranise plotted and Vados did not immediately respond. "What? You're not gonna tell me I shouldn't bite off too much?"

"Depends on who you had in mind. Are they from the Sixth Universe?" Vados asked, having her suspicions. Two of them.

"Uhh...I dunno. They should be from the same universe, shouldn't they? Since they're twins." Beranise wondered out loud and Vados realized who she meant. One of her guesses was correct.

"You mean Lord Champa and Lord Beerus."

"The skinny one, actually." Beranise clarified.

"And here I thought Lord Champa would be the obvious choice." Vados also considered Hit, as a second. Limiting the possibilities to Universe 6.

"Well, Goku fought him. And I missed it." Beranise shrugged.

"And you want to test how your current level compares to Beerus'." Vados understood.

"Oh! You forgot to say Lord! Bad butler." Beranise briefly leaned in, then back, pointing a finger at her, as Vados' lips almost twitched into a frown. "I wanna see if I can take him down a couple of pegs. And if I can't...then, I'll know where I'm at, either way."

"And no doubt you will take defeat in an admirably calm fashion." Vados sarcastically predicted.

"Better than your Lord!" Beranise replied. "I didn't snap after all the times you kicked my ass." she pointed out.

"I'm sure it's my personality." Vados jokingly said, knowing her gender, alone, had more to do with it.

"I'd add the long legs, but that garb really doesn't complement what's under." Beranise frowned at her formal attire and was taken by surprise when Vados lightly pulled her staff back, along with her and gave her a tap on the top of her head that hurt enough to make her wince.

"Focus." Vados reminded her, as Beranise rubbed the spot with a hand.

"Damn it! I grabbed that thing from the start, so you wouldn't do that!" she admitted, even though she could tell, after the rather one-sided tug-of-war, her plan was bound to fail.

"I thought it was strange you chose to hold onto it." Vados stated. "Now, shall I call ahead and see if my brother and Lord Beerus are available?"

"Pff...I wanna know if you're available." Beranise mumbled through gritted teeth, glancing to the side.

"I am only a feet away, you know." Vados heard her.

"Yeah. Didn't answer my question, either. How rude of you!" Beranise pressed on. Literally, as well. She grabbed Vados below the elbow on the arm she had behind her back, still hoping she could keep her from using it and floated up, getting within a few inches of her face, when the staff's ball started pulsing and emitting an alerting sound, stopping her. "Damn it!" Beranise growled, before an image of Whis was projected.

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Whis cheerily spoke, after unintentionally doing just that.

"Smart-ass." Beranise muttered, loud enough for him to make a slightly offended face.

"Is there something you need?" Vados asked.

"Yes. To give you a heads-up. There has been an interesting development, regarding the tournament Grand Zeno promised Goku." Whis said.

"Oh?" Vados was intrigued, as was Beranise.

[...]

"Oh...it's...this place." Hercule said, as they stood on the Sacred Planet of the Kais. "I…still kinda think I was dreamin', the last time. Eh-heh." he nervously recalled, after they have explained to Beerus' why they needed him to be there.

"Buu remember." Buu said, standing next to him.

"Feels like forever since I pulled the Z-Sword out of that rock." bespectacled Gohan reminisced, at his father's side.

"Yeah. And then we broke it." Goku sheepishly laughed.

"Luckily." Old Kai muttered, chancing a glance at Beerus, who gave him a small glare that made him nervously turn away.

"And incidentally, you have foiled Lord Beerus' plan of insuring himself against being destroyed through the death of the Supreme Kai." Whis noted.

"I told you not to bring that up!" Beerus yelled at him. "Huh?" He and the rest looked up, as a beam of light struck the ground, revealing Vados and a Super Saiyan 4 Beranise.

"Sister! What a surprise!" Whis exclaimed. He was not expecting a visit from them, after he broke the news to them.

"Champa's not with you?" Beerus asked, not in any way disappointed by his absence.

"He's probably sleeping off a tummy-ache." Beranise folded her arms. "Surprised you're not still in your pajamas. So, does Whis sing you a lullaby, before you go off to bed?" she purposefully pricked him.

"I assume you're being rude for a reason." Vados quietly told her as she could see it was working.

"How my brother still hadn't destroyed you is beyond me." Beerus leveled a glare at her, quickly getting irritated.

"Maybe he's all talk. Are you?" Beranise goaded him more.

"Uh...Beranise..." Gohan nervously tried to signal that she should stop and Goku slightly panicked as Beerus was enveloped in a purple aura, making Beranise's smirk deeper.

"Beranise...!" Goku was frantically gesturing for her to not say anything more.

"If this is supposed to be your way of challenging me, then you're doing very well." Beerus' aura became heavier, more menacing.

"Aw, damn it! You got me!" Beranise held up her hands. "And here I was gonna say all this stuff about kicking your hairless ass and having Whis put the baby-powder where the sun doesn't shine." Her admission did not improve the situation. "But, now we can skip all that." she said and Vados retreated as she took a stance to power-up.

"Hmm. Someone has improved their form." Whis commented.

"Wait! Is she serious!?" Gohan exclaimed. "She really wants to-..." Beerus disappeared from near them and reappeared in the sky, following her movements and meeting her half way.

"Don't tell me...she came all the way here...to fight Lord Beerus?" Supreme Kai looked on in terror, as they began trading blows and Old Kai was also having some flashbacks of the last battle that was fought on their planet and as epic as it was, at the time, in terms of sheer potential for destruction, it paled in comparison to the one they were about to witness.

"Looks like it." Goku was already smiling, despite his worries, earlier. He was excited watch it.

"Oh, now you're happy about it." Old Kai commented. "These Saiyans." He shook his head.

…

Back on Earth, Vegeta abruptly stood from their family lunch to look in the direction of the immense power he felt, shocked by its level.

"Vegeta…?" Bulma looked worried and placed a hand on her bump as she carefully stood. Trunks got off his seat to help her and looked at his father.

"What's wrong, dad?" he asked, then felt what Vegeta was feeling, who gritted his teeth.

…

On the Kai planet, the battle raged on, intensifying with every passing second of every minute.

"Was this a spontaneous decision or had she been considering it?" Whis went to his sister's side.

"For a good few seconds." Vados replied.

"I see." Whis noted. If the heavens themselves were shaken, before, by Goku's battle with Majin Buu, they were falling apart, now, as all the Kais took cover behind the nearest hill, digging their fingers in the ground, hoping it would not be wiped from under them. Hercule was hiding behind Buu, who smiled up at the fight above them.

"Dhh…Th…this is like little Buu, all over again!" Hercule whimpered as the sky shook.

Fist hit fist as Beranise and Beerus kept stopping each other's punches with their own, then started blocking, side-stepping and countering every move the other made, while trying to move to and remain in the other's blind spot, succeeding for only moments. With every minute that passed their movements and attacks became faster and harder, always trying to be above the other in speed and strength. Despite how their fight began, Beerus started grinning, mirroring Beranise's expression, as both of them were in a battle-high, brimming with almost unbridled power.

"Hmm…" Whis made a sound as he observed something that quickly became evident, after only the first few minutes. He glanced at Vados, who noticed the look he was giving her and she merely replied with a knowing, slightly coy smile. Their silent exchange conveyed more than just a simple evaluation, as they closely watched each fighter, noticing how they both forced more out of each other. But, of course, as the Attendants of the Gods could tell, one fighter still had more to give and he was slowly, but surely tapping into his well of power, unwilling to be on par with anyone for long, even if he was admittedly enjoying the bout and being pushed.

"At least they have stayed away from the ground." Supreme Kai noted with relief.

"Something tells me that's not going to last." Gohan said. "As soon as one of them gets the upper hand, even for just one move, it'll no doubt be-…" He could not finish his predictions as Beerus managed to maneuver above Beranise, while dodging her attack and slammed her with a hammer-blow, making her crash into a cliff that collapsed on her. "One of those." Gohan finished as the Kais got more nervous. The rubble shook and the entire shattered cliff was blown into the air, where Beerus had to swat a few boulders, only to have one hit back or more precisely, it was Beranise's fist that came smashing through it and punched him in the face, revealing her, after she caught him off guard. Beerus spun from the force of it, but stopped himself from plummeting, halfway to the ground. He growled at the offending pain, but it turned into a grin.

"Enjoying getting your ass kicked, are ya?" Beranise cockily asked.

"Hmph. For eons, no one's given me a workout like this, other than my brother. And now, you Saiyans surprise me, one after the other." he admitted, glancing at Goku. "And I thought your whole planet was a bunch of upstarts who wouldn't shape up, even if they had been given an eternity."

"Everyone likes to underestimate us." Beranise smirked and took a stance. "And we all know what happened to all of them." she added and launched into another attack. She threw her hands forward, crossing them as she fired twin energy waves that arced passed Beerus on both sides, confining his movements. They were more of a distraction to keep him occupied as they collided behind him, causing a small explosion that was just enough to slightly push him upwards, into Beranise's diving attack that followed it at the same time. She grabbed Beerus by the shoulders as she took him with her, into the ground, creating a crater and a narrow hole, where they dug deeper in.

"Even when at a disadvantage, she compensates with tactics that keep her from being immediately overwhelmed." Whis commented. "One would say she is merely delaying the inevitable and prolonging a struggle. And with any other race, it may as well be the case. But, these Saiyans…" He trailed off, just as the ground shook and Beerus was pushed out of the hole. He crossed his arms as a volley of energy blasts shot past him, with only some of them hitting him. After it passed, he lowered his arms and eyelids, fixing his attacker with a suspicious look. He sensed something above and glanced up to see all of the energy blasts raining back down, at which point he also felt Beranise moving to attack, as he knew she would, the moment his attention was momentarily elsewhere. He could sense her coming, but had no idea how she would attack and getting pulled by his tail was certainly not something he was expecting, as Beranise yanked on it, while moving above him. She gave a quick, but hard enough, kick to his stomach that kept him down, while she avoided her own Reverse Rain move. With her back to the blasts, she moved out of their way, at the last possible moment, to let Beerus be occupied with them, while he had to contend with her continued assault, as she kept driving him further down with fast swooping punches and kicks, pushing him into the blasts. Every hit he took made Beerus madder, similarly to what Vegeta experienced, when she used the same move on him. When he could take no more, he responded with a somewhat similar attack and lashed out against a shower of energy blasts with his own. He screamed in anger as he enveloped himself in a purple sphere of energy, shielding himself from further harm and began shooting blasts in every direction. Beranise had to increase her speed to avoid them, but there were too many. She formed a protective barrier of her own, screaming from the effort as she sustained it, until Beerus let off. She panted, having lost more stamina than her opponent.

"Went off like an angry sparkler, there! What's 'e matter, Beerus?" she taunted him and his eye twitched. "Someone ruining your party?" she asked in a babying voice, earning another twitch. "Little Beerus!" Beranise sounded exactly like Champa did, back in their Tournament, which Beerus did not fail to notice and was reminded of it, which was the final poke to the dragon. It was nearly starting to foam from its mouth, too.

"Oh, dear." Whis quietly exclaimed. "Perhaps we should break off the spectacle before I have to rewind and keep this planet from being destroyed, as well." Vados merely smiled. Whether she knew her brother was referring to relatively recent events or not did not matter. She was amused by the fight and perhaps even the threat it posed to the planet. Unlike the Kais.

"We…we need to leave here, Master!" Kibito told Supreme Kai, in panic, as the latter was close to shattering his teeth, along with Old Kai, from grinding them so much, while looking on, too mortified to even move. They gripped their precious planet's soil even tighter as Beerus flared up. The fight stopped being entertaining for him, considering the insults, at least.

"My previous concern aside, I am curious to see how long she can last, when he's serious." Whis stated and Beerus launched himself at Beranise. "Though, we are already running short on time." he added, referring to the exhibition match they were to attend.

"I do hope it won't be too quick." Vados said and Whis smiled, understanding what she meant as Beerus' attacks were more potent than before and they could see it on Beranise's face, who was still flashing a grin, even though the attacks were undoubtedly getting through to her pain-receptors, despite her blocking them.

"Yes. Saiyans are, especially, forged through fire." Whis stated and they both glanced at Goku and Gohan, who were too engrossed in the fight to even smile from the excitement they felt.

"Where is the short one with the temper?" Vados asked.

"Lady Bulma is with child and so he chose to remain by her side, for the time being." Whis explained and they turned their attention back to the fight when they heard both fighters grunt at the same time. They looked to see Beranise had locked hands with Beerus and the two were pushing against each other as rocks and debris floated up, around them. Lightning lashed from their point of contact, striking the ground and blew apart the pieces of debris in the air, reducing everything to morsels and dust. Beranise started to flinch, as she was overpowered and with no ground to use for support, Beerus pressed until she could feel even more pain in her wrists and forearms than she already did from taking on his blows. She did the only thing she thought would help her in that moment and stopped struggling to pull on Beerus, instead of pushing against him. Beerus was taken by surprise by the head-butt that made his head snap back, but unfortunately for Beranise, it did not break his grip. Beerus silently pulled his head back up, looking even angrier than before and with a vicious growl he responded to Beranise in kind, but his head-butt made her actually lose her grip.

"It's not working, anymore." Goku whispered as Beerus spun behind her to elbow Beranise in the back, making her fall forward.

"Yeah. She could even hold off 18 and Vegeta, when they were stronger?" Gohan recalled the tournament where they met her, as Beerus spun in front of her with a knee in her stomach. "But, it looks like it's not going to work with a God of Destruction." he added, but got hopeful when Beranise grabbed the leg Beerus kneed her with. Though everyone could see the desperation in her, as her mouth was red from the blood she coughed up, some of which dripped onto Beerus' pants as she shakily held onto his leg to keep him from moving, which was altogether a bad decision, for it gave an already far too enraged Beerus an even easier opportunity to deliver more punishment. He punched her on both sides of her face, splattering blood left and right, then with his free leg, he kneed her in the chin. She broke off, floating upwards. Beerus got above her and with a hammer-blow to the chest, sent her crashing to the ground. Goku and Gohan felt she was on her last legs and her actual ones might have even had a few cracked bones in them. Beerus seemed to have calmed down some and he waited for her to stir and stand. Which she did. Much to the amazement of the Kais, in particular, Beranise managed to kneel, then stand, even after her knees buckled several times.

"I don't think she can go on." Goku noted, with sadness, then was briefly surprised when Beranise raised her head to reveal she was smirking, but also shaking, from both excitement and pain. And he knew the feeling well and had to crack a smile at her. Even Beerus had a brief flashback to the end of his fight with Goku, as he looked down at the female Saiyan.

"You Saiyans are a stubborn lot." he muttered.

"L-look who's…talking…L-lord Pot." Beranise groaned and Beerus floated closer to her. "Heheh." she laughed, definitely reminding him of Goku.

"I get trying to test her power, but…what if it got her killed?" Gohan asked. "She couldn't have been counting on Lord Beerus leaving her half-death. That's not a gamble any one of us would take, even if it…wait…" It occurred to him. "W-was she…hoping to be beaten…nearly to death?"

"Her reasons for challenging Lord Beerus may have been two fold, it seems." Whis stated, appearing next to them with Vados.

"So, she did want to see how far she is." Goku said. "And how far she has to go, then."

"That's not all." Whis spoke. "In the very likely event that she would lose, she was counting on surviving Lord Beerus' ill-temper by a hair's breath, to make her even stronger. The Saiyan's exceptional ability to grow, as they recover from near death. Seeing as she reached her limit as a Super Saiyan 4, it was the only way forward." he finished explaining, glancing at his sister to see she agreed with his assessment. "She has managed to gauge her own power, compared to that of the Gods and could possibly gain even more."

"But…if she's at her limit, then there would be nothing more to get." Gohan reasoned.

"We shall see." Whis said and Beerus' ears moved, having heard it all. He smirked at Beranise, who raised a brow at his sudden change in demeanor. Hercule was still covering behind Buu, next to the Kais, eyes shut and hands covering his head. He stopped shaking as things quieted down.

"Gh...is it…over?" he asked.

"Not the wisest way of improving yourself. Insulting a God." Beerus told her. "But, I suppose such boldness works rather well for you Saiyans, if you survive your insolence, that is." His smirk turned sadistic. "I'll gladly let you play the lottery of living to fight me another day." He raised a hand. "And if you don't win…" He started charging a massive energy ball. "It's a lesson you shall take to the afterlife. Either way…" The energy peaked as everyone looked on, with either fear or intrigue, for the life of the one that barely stood facing it. "Don't go saying I cannot be generous. Heheh." Beerus's smirked at his own dark humor, as he was about to take a chance that he could kill his opponent, outright. Hercule poked his head out from behind Buu to see the massive ball of destructive energy and he froze with his eyes wide. The Kais were not taking it any better than him, either. With a flick of his palm, Beerus released the ball and Beranise gritted her teeth, smirking, as she was bathed in its light. Before it swallowed Beranise, Beerus heard her mutter a thanks to him, calling him by his title and even though the genuineness of the respect she chose to show with it was questionable, Beerus accepted it. In silence, he landed on the ground, facing away from the energy that was tearing into the planet. He walked some distance, sighing from fatigue of his own that he had not felt, in a long while.

"He used quite a lot of power." Vados stated in amusement.

"Indeed. I would go as far as to say this was the first time he had used this much against a mortal." Whis agreed. "Incidentally…" he looked at his sister. "Lord Champa is weaker than Lord Beerus by about the same margin. If she had the strength to bring this much out ofLord Beerus, then…" Whis let his sister finish his reasoning, on the inside and Vados let out a small internal laugh at what it implied.

The explosion from Beerus' unmerciful finisher ripped off the ground from only a few paces away from him, turning the sizable crater they made into a small valley. The center of it ended up being several hundred feet away from them. That is how far it could go and how long Beranise was able to struggle against it. Goku and Gohan flew towards the spot as the winds slowly carried away the dust that descended on the new landscape. Beerus glanced back, lowering his gaze, as he was, now, on higher elevation and saw they found the female Saiyan lying on the ground, still in Super Saiyan 4 form, which meant…

"She's still alive!" Gohan exclaimed, relieved.

"Hmph." Beerus grunted as Whis appeared at his side, while Vados went to the Saiyans'.

"Well, my Lord! Enjoyed yourself? I do believe you have not been this tired from a fight, for quite some time. You used considerably more of your power than when you fought Goku. Am I wrong?" Whis smiled at him and Beerus' only answer was a frown that Whis took as conformation.

"Dad, you brought senzu-beans, right?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah!" Goku nodded and searched for the bag tied to his belt.

"If I may…!" They looked up as Vados stood next to them. She pointed her staff at Beranise, enveloping her in a green aura. Within seconds, all wounds, dirt and scorch-marks disappeared from her body, as she was completely healed. Soon after, Beranise stirred, pushed her face off the ground, then the rest of herself and stood.

"You okay?" Goku asked and Beranise looked herself over, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Do you feel any stronger?" Gohan asked and after a few seconds of looking at herself some more, Beranise grinned, before she placed her feet wider apart and started powering up with a scream. Goku and Gohan shielded their faces with both of their hands and Vados simply protected herself with a barrier and her passive expression slowly turned into a slightly amused and even satisfied small smile. Beerus turned his head, looking back at the even stronger energy that practically assaulted his senses.

"Heheheh…haha…AH-HAHAHA-HAHAHA!" Beranise' laugh got louder.

"Would you look at that!" Whis exclaimed. "She was able to go past her previous limit, after all."

"I…didn't think she could go any further!" Gohan yelled over the sounds of Beranise powering up and through all the wind and dust that was blowing around them.

"Tell that…to all that energy we're sensing!" Goku replied. From a hill, the Kais were gawking.

"But, I thought she had perfected the form the same way she did the others." Supreme Kai noted. "So how is it possible she could get this much stronger!?" he exclaimed in awe. Beranise reached the peak of her ultimate power and her grin got wider, more vicious. Her eyes locked on to Beerus' and she let out a laugh, before she charged him, only to be hit on the head with a staff by Vados that knocked her out. Beranise almost literally bit the dust as she fell face-first to the ground, seeing stars swirl above her head.

"That's enough for now." Vados stated. "We are late as it is." she added and suspended Beranise in an energy field, levitating her to herself to place a hand on her shoulder. "We shall return to our universe and will see you soon. Bye!" she beamed and vanished with a dazed Beranise.

"We must be on our way, as well." Whis said. "That reminds me…" he looked at Beerus and pointed his staff at him. "We need to make you look more presentable." he told him and fixed him up, cleaning his body and attire with it. Beerus adjusted his cuffs and nodded.

"Kai!" he barked at Supreme Kai. "Take us to Grand Zeno's Palace, pronto!" he ordered and the Kais hurried to his side with Hercule, Buu, Goku and Gohan. Supreme Kai cautiously placed a hand on Beerus' shoulder, afraid he would lose it, while Whis place his hand on Supreme Kai's shoulder and the rest linked up with them.

"Kai Kai!" Supreme Kai used the phrase that took them directly to the Palace of the Omni-King where the Supreme Kai from the Ninth Universe, its God of Destruction, his Attendant and their three chosen warriors were waiting. "Greetings, everyone from the Ninth Universe! It has been long." Supreme Kai told them. Goku and Gohan sized up the competition, the wolf brothers known as the Trio De Dangers.

"You're late, Universe 7." Roh, the Ninth Universe's Supreme Kai mockingly replied, his shady features twisting into an arrogant smile as he chuckled. "You must be already fearing your defeat." His premature gloating was cut short by the arrival of the Grand Priest as the chamber around them lit up.

"You're all here." he noted and all knelt before him, with Buu being last, who had to be told by Hercule to follow what they were doing.

"Please excuse our tardiness!" Whis only addressed his father and not the other universe. "We had an unexpected…situation that we had to let play out." He glanced at Beerus, who looked up at him from the corner of his eyes, still kneeling. The Grand Priest could tell from their silent exchange it involved Beerus and quite possibly the Saiyans. He briefly glanced at Goku.

"Was it a fight, perhaps?" He guessed, considering recent events and the Saiyans' involvement.

"Indeed it was." Whis nodded and Beerus appeared to be nervous about the Grand Priest's reaction.

"I see. Then I hope your warriors have prepared themselves for the ones ahead." The Grand Priest overlooked their lateness. "Now, taking an example from planet Earth's martial arts tournament, I shall prepare a fighting arena and spectator seats." he announced and raised his hand. A light shined from it and the floor on which they stood became intangible, making them fall through it. They transitioned to a space seemingly below them that had support pillars and a ring, in the middle, with floating platforms on opposite sides for the representatives of the two opposing universes. The Grand Priest himself floated down on a small platform and raised his hands, spreading them apart.

"All Gods, gather here now!" he exclaimed. Ten more platforms appeared, floating down from above and on them, the Destroyers from the rest of the universes, accompanied by their Attendants and Supreme Kais. Goku and Gohan marveled at the sight of the strongest beings in all of creation.

"All Supreme Kais, Gods of Destruction and all Angels from the twelve universes are present." Whis noted.

"Th-they're…all…gods?" Hercule asked from where he fell on the floor, looking at them in fear.

"Hey! Lord Champa!" Champa, Vados and Fuwa all looked towards the platform of Universe 7, from where Goku was shouting. "Long time no see!"

"H-hey, Goku…" Hercule began. "I-Is it okay to talk to 'em like that?" he asked, almost uncharacteristically mindful of his own tone and behavior, because of the presence of the gods.

"Oh, it's fine. We know each other." Goku replied, completely comfortable in the situation.

"Goku…" He looked up when he heard the Grand Priest address him. "Your silence would be appreciated." he told him with some sternness, hands behind his back.

"See…y-you're in trouble." Hercule fearfully muttered to him. It was then both they and the Grand Priest noticed an orb of light floating close to Vados, who did not have her staff with her. The Grand Priest turned towards her, somewhat intrigued as to why she would have her staff in its pocket dimension at such a time.

"Is there a reason for that dimension to be open as such?" he asked and Champa got noticeably uncomfortable and somewhat annoyed.

"My apologies! We were running late and it was decided in the last minute that someone needed a shave." Vados noted and everyone could tell it was obviously not Champa, who growled as he could see them briefly glancing at him. Vados touched the light and it flickered, once. "Are you ready?" she asked, as a sound of an electric razor could be heard and everyone awkwardly stared and listened to the rough female voice from inside.

"Yeah, yeah! Quit nagging! You have any idea how long it takes to shave all this fur?" Beranise spoke.

"I wouldn't know." Vados stated. "Now, be quiet and I'll take you out of there." she told her, turning slightly uncomfortable having such a conversation in front of everyone.

"Hey, I know how to get out! I'll just have to get ahold of…" Beranise popped out with a flash of light, completely naked and shaven, holding Vados' staff, who closed her eyes, lowered her head and put a hand to her temple. "Huh?" Beranise looked around at all the new faces staring at her. She could tell by either their attire, pointy ears or blue skin, who they had to be, though it was still a shock to her to see so many Gods of different races, all flanked by Kais and other Attendants. Her eyes finally found Goku and the rest, who were blushing and they covered their eyes. She heard Vados loudly clear her throat and the latter quickly materialized Beranise' body-suit and armor onto her, followed by a sash, in her hand, so she could wrap her tail in it and it around her waist for herself. After she did, she felt the uncovered skin on her arms. "Nice and smooth!" she exclaimed and landed next to Vados.

"Howdaya like that? 'Uh?" she sidled up behind her, grinning as she wrapped her arms around her and stood on her toes to lean in and Vados bashed her in the face with her staff, again. Beranise was briefly stunned, but this time, she worked through the pain and with a vicious growl, latched onto Vados, biting her on the side of her neck and the latter let out a surprised yelp, before she elbowed Beranise in the side. She closed her eyes, from embarrassment, feeling the hickey. She developed a slight blush and her eyes and brows slightly twitched as she contained herself. Everyone stared in shock that a mortal would and could do such a thing. Beranise was holding her bruised ribs and still laughing, internally, over her brief victory.

"Beranise? Was it?" She looked up at the Grand Priest, who called her name. "If you are done, we may proceed." Beranise blinked up at the short man, remembering who he was, but obviously not her manners. She leaned back and into Vados, placing an arm around her waist with a grin.

"Sorry, Dad!" she told him, referring to him, not merely as the father of Vados, but quite possibly as her own father-in-law, in jest. Everyone's eyes went wide, most of all Champa's and Beerus's. Vados groaned and opened her eyes in time to see Whis stifling a laugh with a hand to his mouth, to her annoyance, while the Grand Priest regarded Beranise with a measured look, at her level of boldness. He looked at Vados, who pleaded him with a slightly worn look to continue and he did.

"Supreme Kais and Destroyers of the twelve universes, as you have already been informed, Grand Zeno wishes to hold a martial arts tournament that shall be called the Tournament of Power. Before that, however, the Grand Zeno from the future does not know what a martial arts tournament is. So we shall hold a Grand Exhibition Match, in their name, as demonstration to what lies ahead."

"The Grand Zeno from…the future? What?" Beranise repeated.

"Quiet." Vados told her, with a slight elbow to her side that made Beranise wince and with an annoyed growl she retaliated, elbowing her back and two both of their surprise, it hit. They glanced at each other.

"Grand Zeno…" The Grand Priest's words interrupted them and the two Zenos appeared, on twin-thrones, with bodyguards at their sides. "Has arrived."

"There are two of them, now!?" Beranise made a face as everyone bowed, but Beerus quickly experienced panic, similar to his brother, when he heard Goku yell.

"Hey! King Zee!" Goku called to the Zenos, to let them know he was there. "Over here!"

"Dad…!" Gohan tried to stop him from causing another scene with his lack of manners.

"D-did he say King Zee?" Champa quivered and to their further shock, Goku flew over and, resting an elbow on their throne, addressed the one closest to him, which was the Zeno of the present. "Thanks for letting us fight first!" he told them, but before he could say anything more, Beerus came over.

"Back off, you imbecile!" He threw Goku back to their platform, making him crash into it. "M-My sincerest apologize for this!" He quickly bowed, before returning to his place.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Goku was feeling the pain as he sat up.

"Uh, Goku…" Hercule nervously said. "Y-you really shouldn't do that in front of a god!" he told him and Beerus came back down to warn him.

"That's right! You'll be erased!" he reminded him and Beranise did not give the word she heard much attention, thinking it was just one of the usual threats.

"Erased?" Hercule gave him a quizzical look and Beerus started whistling, pretending he did not slip, amidst disapproving whispers from the other gods about Goku's irreverent attitude. The Grand Priest held up a hand, silencing them.

"Everyone, it is because of the request from Goku from the Seventh Universe that the idea for the Tournament of Power came to be." he noted and prompted Goku to step forward. "Goku?"

"Right!" Goku walked forward, then jumped to the edge of their platform. "I heard there were lots of strong guys, out there, in the other universes." Goku began. "That's why I told King Zee that I wanna fight them all!"

"Yes, Goku!" One Zeno said.

"Yes, Goku!" The other, too.

"Show us a fight!"

"Hurry and show us!"

"Gotcha! I'll show you an amazing one!" Goku promised, raising a fist to them.

"Now, everyone…" The Grand Priest spoke. "On the request from Grand Zeno, in his Grand Exhibition Match, three martial artists from the Ninth Universe and three martial artists from the Seventh universe, shall fight, in order, one on one. There is no time-limit. A match will last until an opponent admits defeat or they cannot continue the fight. You may fight each other by using all powers at your disposal."

"Your Highness…!" Roh addressed the Grand Priest and Beranise bit her lip to stifle a laugh at his choice of words and let out a small giggle, making Vados narrow her eyes with a side-glance at her. "Will there be some sort of reward for the victors of this match?" The apparently materialistic Supreme Kai of the Ninth Universe rubbed his palms as he asked.

"The purpose of the Grand Exhibition Match is simply to show the appeal of battle to the Grand Zeno from the Future." The Grand Priest answered. "It is not to determine which universe is superior. Still, so long as Grand Zeno wishes for a full-on battle, anything less may result in the match being canceled." His answer struck fear into Roh.

"So, if Grand Zeno think the matches were boring, we could be erased right where we stand?" Sidra, the Destroyer of the Ninth Universe, asked.

"I will only say…that it is possible." The Grand Priest replied, with honesty. "All is as Grand Zeno wills it." he added in a somber tone, then smiled, shifting to a more cheerful one as he raised his hands. "And for the first match. Warriors, to the fighting stage!" he said and rose above with his platform.

"Okay, then I'm gonna go first!" Basil, one of the brothers exclaimed.

"We're counting on you, Basil!" Roh told him. "Show Grand Zeno your best moves!"

"Enjoy toying with them!" Bergamo, the eldest of the three, told his brother.

"You can count on it, brother!" Basil replied.

"Hmph. He doesn't look like a threat." Beerus commented, but when Goku went to call on Buu to be their first fighter, as they agreed, they panicked when they saw he was asleep, again. Beranise's face dropped at the scene.

"Seriously…why am I not in this fight?" Beranise muttered, wondering about it as she watched Beerus order Hercule to do something. The latter tried to wake the sleeping power-house with a bar of chocolate and succeeded. They convinced Buu to go play with Basil, who found it confusing that they needed to pretend they would be playing and the first fight of the Grand Exhibition Match was quickly on the way. Even after all the beating he received at the hands, or more like, the feet, of Basil, Buu was thoroughly enjoying himself and asking for more, feeling entertained, unlike Basil, who felt the opposite. Even though they could not feel their energy, Goku could tell Buu's opponent was not using all he had and he went as far as telling Basil to go all-out. The latter obliged, telling Buu to blame Goku for what would happen. He unleashed all his power and after a series of kicks that left Buu embedded in the floor of the ring, he used his Shining Blaster move, firing two energy blasts at him. Buu stood back up, laughing from excitement and he had a gaping hole in his stomach as he complemented a shocked Basil. He only noticed then that the resulting explosion had sent debris flying into the spectator zones, injuring Hercule, who told Buu to win the match for him.

An angered Buu instantly healed himself, awing those watching, including the two Zenos. Buu stopped and deflected Basil's next Shining Blast, accidentally sending it towards the platform occupied by members of Universe 11, where it was stopped and crushed by the large hands of a hooded warrior their Supreme Kai referred to as Toppo, whose strength surprised even Champa. Buu began fighting seriously and he mercilessly pummeled Basil, fueled by rage over Hercule's injury as he threw him around like a ragdoll, until he fell from the ring. However, as the Grand Priest then clarified, the same rules that existed for Earth's Martial Arts Tournament did not apply to the Grand Exhibition Match, thus, it was not a ring-out. A heavily injured Basil climbed back up and asked Roh for his help, who gave him a consumable item that increased his strength tremendously, with a warning that if its use backfired on him, it would be Basil's fault alone. Beerus criticized Universe 9 for using a drug to enhance their fighter, but the Zenos were eager to watch where it would take the match and so the Grand Priest shut Beerus down with a glare, telling him to assume that everything was allowed, as per the wishes of the Zenos.

The fight entered a new stage, where both sides engaged without holding back. Basil seemingly had Buu on the ropes and with his Wolfgang Pressure attack he destroyed the surface of the ring, turning it into rubble. Heavily worn out, both from the injuries he had sustained and possibly from the drug he used, he proclaimed his victory. Roh mockingly mouthed-off about his universe's power to the Seventh Universe. His boasting, as well as Basil' maniacal laughter ceased, when Buu emerged from the rubble, completely unfazed. He simply told Basil that as strong as he was, Buu himself was even stronger and he blasted Basil with an energy wave that left Basil standing, until the effects of the drug he took suddenly wore off, making him collapse to the ground, unconscious. With the Zenos satisfied, the first match was concluded, by the words of the Grand Priest, who declared Buu the victor and the latter went to Hercule's side to heal him.

"T-That guy!" Champa exclaimed. "He's the one who fell asleep at our tournament and couldn't even fight." he recalled. "B-but…if he's that strong…h-he could've beaten almost all of our fighters, safe for Hit!" He realized.

"True." Vados agreed. "It's a good thing he was out of the tournament before it even began. Otherwise, you might've lost even sooner." she added and Champa glared at her as Beranise smirked.

The Grand Priest called for the participants of the next match to enter the ring, which he restored to perfect condition, with a snap of his finger, allowing Gohan and his opponent, the middle-brother, Lavender, to take their place in it.

"I dunno why he keeps wearing those things." Beranise muttered, as he watched Gohan take his glasses off and receive some words of caution from his father, before he took to the ring.

Gohan stared down the unusual being before him, who was quietly laughing to himself, appearing almost demented. Since he could not sense his energy, he considered waiting to see how Lavender fought, but Goku spoke up, telling him to do otherwise.

"You're strong. Don't hold anything back, okay!" Goku told him.

"Thank you! I'll give it everything I got!" Gohan replied.

"You'd better!" Gohan heard Beranise and turned towards her. "You know what's at stake? Right, kid?" she asked and Gohan looked at her in surprise, thinking she knew about the threat of erasure. "You bite the dust and your wife's mine!" Beranise flashed him a stupid grin and Gohan sighed. Vados rolled her eyes as some of the spectators looked at the bizarre scene.

"Right." Gohan dryly replied to her, then turned to Lavender, with a serious face and fire in his eyes. "Dad's right. I should forget about my opponent and see how strong I am, now." He walked towards the center of the ring, along with Lavender. Their fight barely began, when the latter's agility proved to be exceptional and problematic as he avoided Gohan's attacks and used the hand he punched with as a perch to spew a cloud of poison in his face, blinding him and drastically reducing his mobility.

"That's the Trio De Dangers' second brother, Lavender's, Poison Blow!" Roh proudly commented. "Enjoy writhing from that poison!" he added, clearly delighting in his fighter's underhanded tactic and in the suffering of its victim.

"Hrgh. Poison, again? Seriously?" Beranise frowned. "Can't these bastards fight normally? And that guy's a Supreme Kai?" She found it hard to believe a person in his position can have such a repulsive personality. "Talk about obnoxious gasbags!" she yelled the last part to Universe 9.

"Huh?" Roh looked at her, slightly taken aback by the sudden comment directed at them, then snickered. "Grand Zeno and the Grand Priest have allowed us to use everything our fighters have! Including noxious gases!" He misheard her.

"I said obnoxious gasbags!" Beranise corrected him. "And I was talking about you, Kai." she added, mockingly emphasizing his partial title and Roh's almost gleeful expression quickly contorted into seething anger.

"H-How dare you address me like that!?" His face turned red as he shouted at her.

"You have caused enough of a scene." Vados told Beranise. "Must you continue?"

"Yeah." Beranise told her matter-of-factly, as if it was a must, then turned back to the fight to see Gohan getting repeatedly attacked, while he was defenseless.

"That's just cheating!" Hercule exclaimed, worried about his son-in-law.

"Sadly, we can't call anything that happens in the ring cheating." Goku stated, having some obvious reservations about the methods employed, but the rules were to be obeyed. Lavender warned Gohan that taking too much of his poison will make his body rot and Roh already regained enough of his composure to laugh at the situation.

"You should probably give up right now, Universe Seven! Before his body rots!" he told them and Supreme Kai took the Senzu-beans out, offering them to Gohan and saying that if the Ninth Universe was allowed to use aid, then so can they.

"Supreme Kai!" Gohan spoke as he was on his hands and knees. "I don't need Senzu Beans!" he declared, before being kicked in the side by Basil that sent him sliding along the floor. He struggled to stand. "Everyone! Please, don't interfere!" He stumbled forward. "I want to fight using only my own strength!" he told them and Goku smiled. So did Bergamo, but only because he was interested to see how long Gohan could fight with his brother's poison eating away at him.

"That's it, kid!" Beranise exclaimed, cheering him on. "Show 'em you don't need a crutch to win!"

"A crutch you've used, only a short while ago, yourself." Vados pointed out, but Beranise replied, before anyone present could think she was being hypocritical.

"Hey! That was after I fought Lord Beerus!" she shot back, somewhat surprising Beerus with the use of his title, again. "That's different!" she added as the other universes were surprised she fought a Destroyer and lived to tell about it.

"Well…at least, you've finally learned some respect!" Beerus told her, with a smirk.

"Don't get used to it!" Beranise smirked back and Beerus' faded.

"She fought my brother, too, huh?" Champa muttered, next to Vados as Beranise stood on her other side. "Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered to Vados, who glanced at him, but did not say anything.

Goku took the bag of Senzu-beans from Supreme Kai and stated that Gohan's condition, coupled with the already disadvantageous situation of not being able to sense their opponent's energy was the perfect training for him and the best way to get back his fighting-sense. Gohan proved he was quick to relearn all he had forgotten and began sensing Lavender's movements before his attacks to connect. While Roh quickly descended into fear and panic from the sudden development, Bergamo found Gohan's rebound to be exciting and he considered him to be someone worth fighting. Gohan could not only evade Lavender, but counter with his own attacks, pushing him back, until Lavender took to the air, where Gohan had trouble following his movements and he took several of Lavender's blast, being forced to go on the defensive. Goku, however, predicted that the deeper trouble Gohan got himself into, the better he would be able to overcome it. Roh told Lavender to finish him and the latter was about to use a potent blast, when Gohan turned Super Saiyan and blew him off balance with the release of energy. The excitement on the faces of the two Zenos shined as brightly as Gohan's form and even Toppo, the cloaked fighter from Universe 11, was impressed surprised by the ability to drastically alter one's power-level.

Gohan blocked every one of Lavender's blasts and physical attacks, reflecting his own energy off of him to effectively use it as a radar to detect his movements, as Supreme Kai and Whis put it. But, the transformation, which normally took a toll on a Saiyan's body, also accelerated the spread of the poison inside him. He grabbed Lavender and flipped him over the shoulder, throwing him to the ground and created an opening for himself that he was about to exploit, when he was suddenly struck by the effects of the poison. He lost control and dropped to the ground, reverting to normal. Lavender has managed to stop him, once again, thanks to the debilitating effects of his poison and briefly gained the upper hand, until Gohan transformed, with more power than before, knowing full-well it only caused the poison to spread faster, as Supreme Kai warned him. He flew right through Lavender's poisonous cloud and grabbed him from behind, then flew at the ground, at almost literally breakneck speed, crashing the both of them into it, doing as much damage to himself as he did to Lavender. True to the spirit of the Martial Arts Tournament, he briefly stood to declare his victory, before he collapsed. Unfortunately, as the poison had already claimed his body, the Grand Priest called the match a tie, after which Goku went to give Gohan a Senzu-bean, curing him and restoring his energy.

"Damn it. That was a close call." Beranise commented, her worries abating. "The kid's not back to his old strength, but the bigger problem was that poison. If it weren't for that, that mutt wouldn't have lasted a minute against him." she noted, deriding Universe 9, then smirked and chuckled. "They were so impressed with just a regular Super Saiyan, though. They've seen nothing, yet."

"To all the Gods gathered, here." The Grand Priest spoke. "I have for you an announcement from Grand Zeno." he stated. "Grand Zeno is very moved that beings of the lower mortal-level rank could put on such a wonderful fight."

"Mortal…" Supreme Kai started to repeat.

"…Level?" Beerus finished it.

"Grand Zeno has evaluated all 12 universes and ranked them accordingly." the Grand Priest stated.

"So…what is the level of the Seventh Universe, then…?" Beerus nervously wondered out loud.

"The average level of the mortal-inhabited stars of Universe 7 is 3.18." the Grand Priest answered. "It's not good." he commented, then raised his hand, showing his index and middle finger. "It's second from the bottom." he said and Beerus was as speechless as he was scared.

"If we are second from the bottom, then which universe is below us, then?" Whis asked.

"Surely you can tell." The Grand Priest replied, turning to look at Universe 9.

"Y-You mean…" Rho recoiled in shock.

"That's correct. The Ninth Universe' average level is the lowest. It's 1.86." The Grand Priest informed him, much to Roh's horror. He learned that their universe was roughly half as strong, on average, as the one they were currently fighting. Beranise smirked at his fear as the Grand Priest continued. "Grand Zeno has very often stated that there are too many universes in existence. And so, from the Seventh Universe, Goku proposed what turned out to be the perfect opportunity to solve the issue. By his hand, Grand Zeno will erase the universes that lose the Tournament of Power."

"Erase!?" Champa and Beranise exclaimed at the same time, briefly glanced at each other, then, back up at the Grand Priest and the two Zenos, as the other universe started whispering, following the shocking revelation.

"D-Does losing the Grand Exhibition Match mean getting erased as well!?" Roh asked in fear of his very existence.

"No, that's not the case." The Grand Priest alleviated his fears and Roh sighed in relief.

"Erase?" Hercule repeated. "What's he mean by that? H-hang on! I dunno know what's going on!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Beranise asked, turning to Vados.

"Grand Priest, sir! There is something I wish to confirm with you!" Supreme Kai was on his knees.

"Please. Go right ahead." The Grand Priest prompted him.

"You said the defeated universes would be erased. Do you mean every universe that loses the Tournament of Power?" he asked.

"Yes. However, Universes 1 and 12, and Universes 5 and 8 are exempt from entering the tournament. The average mortal-level of those four universes is over 7.00, so they won't be erased." the Grand Priest clarified, confirming their fears.

"Hmm. So in other words, the low-level universes were already going to be erased, but if they win, they can remain." Whis pointed out. "Is that the true purpose of this tournament?" he asked.

"That is an adequate summary." The Grand Priest replied.

"I can't wait for the Tournament of Power!" One Zeno exclaimed.

"Yeah! I'm really excited!" Goku said.

"Uh, E-Excuse me!" Hercule said to Supreme Kai. "I still don't get it."

"Defeat means erasure. Universe and all." Supreme Kai replied.

"So that means…" Hercule tried to fathom.

"We'll all be erased with the universe!" Supreme Kai exclaimed and Hercule fainted.

"He can't be serious." Beranise glared as Supreme Kai argued with Beerus over whose fault it was that their universe had such a low level. "You mean, they'd kill all of us off just for not living up to some score they're keeping?" She clenched her fists. "You've got to be kidding me!" she raised her voice.

"Shut…up!" Champa tried to silence her as the Grand Priest heard her, but ignored her tone.

"Shall we continue with the third match?" he asked the Zenos.

"I-I beg your pardon, Grand Priest, Sir!" Old Kai spoke. "B-but, if we lose, what will happen to us gods?"

"You'll be erased at the same time, of course." The Grand Priest stated. "Everything but the angels." he added, indicating Whis, as an example.

"Whis!? You…" Beerus screamed at him and Whis let out a light laugh.

"My position is different from yours, my Lord." he stated.

"Vados!? You, too!?" Champa shared his brother's surprise and Vados merely smiled to herself, not seeing how Beranise was glowering at her.

"That concludes the announcement." The Grand Priest stated. "Next is the third match. This will be the final one." he said and snapped his fingers, again, instantly repairing the ring, where Goku and Gohan still stood. The latter wished his father luck and left the ring as Bergamo entered it, while the gods were contemplating the severe consequences of defeat in the coming tournament.

"Hey, can't we just run away by ourselves?" Champa nervously proposed.

"That's impossible. Defying Grand Zeno would definitely be unforgivable." Vados told him.

"Destroying universes and all their people just because they're weak is what's unforgivable." Beranise said in a low voice, glaring daggers into the Zenos, as Bergamo and Goku were popping their joints.

"You're Bergamo, right?" Goku asked, smiling in anticipation of their fight. "Our universes aren't really at stake in this fight, you know. So we can go all out!"

"Shut your mouth, you scum!" Bergamo told him, then turned to the gods. He urged them to consider how it was Goku's fault that their very existence was threatened and all of their lives would depend upon their performance in the tournament. He managed to stir a number of them and paint Goku as their common enemy, incurring animosity from them, towards Goku. He implored the Zenos to reconsider their rule of erasing all of the losing universes, if he, as the representative of the weakest universe, should be victorious in the fight. And though they have already made up their minds, the Zenos surprisingly accepted Bergamo's proposal, but there would be a cost.

"So if Universe 9 is victorious, then the rule that defeated universes will be erased shall be rescinded." the Grand Priest announced to everyone's surprise and brief relief. "However, Goku…" he continued, turning to him. "If you should hold back, because you don't want to be erased, Grand Zeno will erase all of the universes, immediately." he added.

"Right! I don't like losin', either. I'm going all out!" Goku punched his fist into his palm, excitedly.

"Does he even understand?" Beerus asked out loud.

"Even in this situation, Goku seems to be enjoying himself. Isn't it remarkable?" Whis exclaimed. Beranise growled.

"Well, that didn't change anything." she folded her arms. "He's not going to lose. So we're back where we've started." she stated.

"You seem confident he can win." Fuwa commented, astonished by the certainty with which she spoke.

"Unless that guy's got some gimmick, Goku can probably beat him with his hands tied behind his back, especially if he goes Super Saiyan Blue." Beranise frowningly said.

"Boo! Boo!" Champa started jeering, true to form.

"Destroyer of Universe 6!" a voice spoke, interrupting him.

"Huh?" Champa stopped to find who addressed him and saw it was the Supreme Kai of Universe 3.

"Who is that man from Universe 7?" Ea asked him. "Why is he so irreverent in front of Grand Zeno?"

"Indeed." Heles, the Destroyer of Universe 2 spoke. "And why do his Lordships and the Grand Priest overlook his insolence?" she asked.

"Despite his low mortal-level, no less." Kuru, the Supreme Kai of Universe 4 said, from the platform behind them. "It's incomprehensible." he added.

"I got no idea." Champa looked down. "That guy, Goku. His power doesn't seem to have limit to it."

"And that goes for all of us Saiyans!" Beranise spoke up and all involved in the conversation turned their attention to her. "So, you wanna be careful who you wanna erase." she threateningly told them, shooting a glare at all of the angels and up at the Grand Priest, as well. Champa growled at her.

"Watch…your…mouth." he whispered to her through gritted teeth.

"Hmph." Beranise glanced at him, almost ignoring him. Champa glared, before composing himself.

"You guys from Universe 1 are pretty relaxed, aren't you?" he asked them and their Supreme Kai let out a small laugh.

"Well, we were fortunate enough to be exempt from the Tournament of Power." Anat said.

"Having a high mortal-level means that our godly guidance of them was good enough." Ogma, the Supreme Kai of Universe 5 said, from the platform behind them.

"It also means that the level of us gods must be similarly high." Ugg, Universe 12's Supreme Kai stated.

"We need not even ask what the level of our four universes are." Ille, Universe 8's Supreme Kai complacently noted.

"Tch. All the universes that won't be erased are annoyingly carefree." Champa muttered.

Bergamo and Goku began slowly circling each other before the Grand Priest even gave the word for the match to begin. When he did, they picked up the pace, but instead of testing each other, they simply engaged in brief exchanges of blows that stopped when Goku caught Bergamo's hand before the latter's clawed fingers could go right between his eyes. After complementing each other, Bergamo spread his hands, leaving himself completely open for an attack and challenged Goku to take the opportunity, so that he may show him why he was called Bergamo the Crusher. Whether Goku even considered that it might be a trap or not quickly became irrelevant as he attacked Bergamo, who took all of his punches, but not without visible discomfort. His body seemed to absorb all the energy from them and he started growing in size. He retaliated with increased strength and durability that Goku felt on his own body, as he defended against his assault as best he could. Goku went on the offensive, but his attacks were absorbed by Bergamo, again, who grew even larger and he even told Goku to hit him more, intoxicated by the power it gave him. His fists were the size of Goku's upper-body, as it could be compared when the latter got hit in the torso. Bergamo's glowing fist decked Goku, who had trouble standing, afterwards.

"Dad, be careful!" Gohan told him. "He's using your own power against you!" he deduced.

"Yeah. Looks like it." Goku could also tell as much.

"See that, Universe 7!" Roh got caught up in his boasting, again. "Bergamo the Crusher is a warrior who can turn his enemy's attacks into his own power and return them twofold. His strength is truly limitless!" he exclaimed, pointing to the sky, in victory, along with Basil and Lavender. Beranise snorted.

"So it is some gimmick. And only twofold? Tch. These guys really have no idea what they're in for." she stated, though she was not in the mood to actually smile.

"Limitless, huh?" Goku smirked. "I've been waiting to fight someone like that!" he exclaimed and turned Super Saiyan. He attacked and despite all the increase in power Bergamo received, Goku's punches still caused more than enough pain that was evident on his face as he bore with it to absorb more power. He turned into a giant, reaching the platforms with his height, but Goku was not deterred.

"You can use the power of whoever you're fighting, huh?" Goku asked. "That's pretty unoriginal!" he mocked him, referring to a number of enemies he encountered in the past. Bergamo's size prevented Goku from completely toppling him and every hit he delivered made him grow even more. Roh and even the two Zenos thought Goku was being pushed back, as they watched him fly to avoid Bergamo's blasts, but they could not have been more wrong. For one, Goku was enjoying every minute of the fight and he still had his own trump card. His fists connected with Bergamo's in a bright flash of light and he vanished from his sight, clinging to the scarf on his back. Goku remained out of sight and got to ground level, where he jumped and kicked Bergamo's feet, from behind, causing his knees to buckle and made him fall on his back. Hercule questioned whether it was wise of Goku to keep giving his opponent more power, but Gohan dismissed his worries by saying his dad got more excited the stronger his opponents got and at that point, he was doing it on purpose.

"Honestly, Saiyans are a bothersome bunch." Beerus commented, having experienced their tenacity firsthand. Meanwhile, Goku was knocking a gigantic Bergamo around as easily as if he was a punching bag and the ring itself began crumbling under his weight.

"Can you still get stronger?" Goku teasingly asked.

"Curse you!" Bergamo tried to hit him with a fist, shattering part of the ring. Goku back-flipped into the air and turned Super Saiyan Blue, revealing another level to his power that made even the Destroyer of the Ninth Universe fearful of his might. He took it to another level and activated his Kaioken, multiplying his already incredible power.

"He's bluffing!" Bergamo refused to acknowledge his power and roared, increasing his own as much as he could and began charging energy in both fists. At the same time, Goku was also preparing his own ultimate attack.

"Ka…Me…Ha…Me…HAAAAA!"

"Wolfgang Penetrator!" Bergamo unleashed his energy wave, but after a brief struggle it was easily swallowed by Goku's. It burned away Bergamo's hulking form, returning him to his usual size. The explosion miraculously left the arena intact and Bergamo stumbled forward and towards Goku, trying to reach out with his hand, before the pain in his body caught up to him.

"Universe 7…un…believable…" he muttered, before falling to the ground and passing out.

"Told you." Beranise muttered, without any actual excitement in her voice. The Grand Priest floated down on his platform, shortly after.

"That's enough. The third match is clouded. Universe 7 wins!" he announced and Goku powered down. Roh was utterly crestfallen and the Zenos exchanged words of amazement between themselves.

"King Zee!" Goku's voice made them turn towards him. "I didn't hold back!" Goku told them, smiling.

"That was amazing!" One Zeno exclaimed.

"That was really fun!" The other agreed.

Representatives of Universe 7 were expressing their relief and joy over Goku's victory, as the latter watched Bergamo being helped to his feet by his brothers. He told him somewhat critically that all he did was use the power he absorbed from him, instead of relying on his own and he told him to be more serious in the upcoming tournament.

"You really are a villain, aren't you?" Bergamo asked in disdain. "Do you really want to crush the other universes that much? Then Universe 7 will be the first to be erased in the Tournament of Power!" He pointed a finger at Goku, who narrowed his eyes at him. "Every universe will be coming for you!" he told him and Goku's glare deepened as his brothers dragged Bergamo away, who was still screaming. "Get erased, Universe 7! I swear we're going to survive!"

Goku turned to the Gods with a smile. "Okay!" he exclaimed. "Come if you wanna! I'll take you on! Get the strongest guys you can and come at me!" he challenged all of them. "I'm gonna beat every one of them!" Goku raised a fist into the air and the platforms erupted in discontent chatter about his rudeness and presumptuousness. Instead of smiling at Goku's cheekiness in front of the Gods, Beranise frowned, not feeling the same way about being a spectacle and fighting to survive for their master's entertainment.

"How was it, Your Majesty from the future?" the Grand Priest asked the Zeno from the parallel time-line. "Were you satisfied with the matches?"

"Yeah, they were fun!" the Zeno on his left answered.

"They were super exciting!" the Zeno on his right agreed and the two Zenos high-fived each other, speaking in unison.

"We're super looking forward to the Tournament of Power!"

"It is as you have heard, Gods!" the Grand Priest said. "Grand Zeno is extremely satisfied with the matches between Universe 7 and 9. The Grand Exhibition Match was a success." He went on to explain the rules of the tournament and after revealing that every warrior from every universe will be fighting, at the same time, in a battle royale, everyone immediately concluded that strength was not going to be enough and that tactics and teamwork would play an important role. Though, Whis noted that the latter was not Goku's strong-suit, at all, distressing Beerus, who felt the rules were against him, again. Goku placed the leadership into Gohan's more capable hands, who promised not to disappoint him.

"Just one match? That's what will decide the universes' fate?" Ea trembled at the thought.

"What an unforgivable situation." Khai, the Supreme Kai of Universe 11 commented and Toppo excused himself, before he jumped from behind him, down into the ring.

"Goku!" Toppo addressed him and Goku smirked, excited that he was able to get the attention of such an obviously strong warrior.

Toppo apologized to the Gods, the Grand Priest and to the Zenos for his intrusion and proceeded to challenge Goku to a fight. He introduced himself through a series of flamboyant poses, reminiscent of the Ginyu Force and Gohan's Saiyaman persona and told Goku he will learn his true intentions and the kind of person he is through their fight. Goku found it amusing that the man, proclaiming to be a warrior of justice, saw him as evil and since the fight with Bergamo did not leave him completely satisfied, he gladly accepted Toppo's challenge. The two of them agreed they would talk with their fists and Khai asked for the Zenos' permission to let Toppo and Goku have their match, which the two Omni-Kings were all too eager to allow. The Grand Priest told them to fight to their hearth's content. Goku immediately turned Super Saiyan, readying himself, as Toppo curiously watched his transformation. He told Goku that he will not be forgiven for endangering their universe and that it was Goku who deserved to be erased. Goku, in turn, provoked him by saying he talked too much. Beerus worried that another battle involving Goku would only give the other universes even more time to analyze him, but Whis pointed out that it also gave them the chance to do the same. Hercule cheered Goku on, mistakenly telling him that large, muscled man, like Toppo, were actually weak, with the irony of his own words being lost on him. Then Gohan corrected him by noting that Toppo was actually a formidable individual. He also commented how his Saiyan blood made him excited about the fight. And he was not the only one, of course. Despite the foul mood she was in, Beranise silently looked on, feeling the same sensation. Her anger actually did the opposite of dulling it. Toppo raised his fist.

"I love my people! I love my country! I love my planet!" He went on, striking new poses, after every few sentences. "I love my universe! I am the leader of the Pride Troopers, Toppo!" he introduced himself, again. "Small evils. Normal evils. Big evils. All evils…shall shatter before this iron first of justice!" His eyes dramatically flashed at the end, as he held his large fist in front of himself.

"Now he's talking like we're all villains, here!" Beerus commented, weary of Toppo's speech.

"Being a hero of justice seems like quite hard work." Whis remarked.

"I think it's cool!" Gohan exclaimed, being biased towards it.

"Uh, right…" Beerus muttered and Beranise rolled her eyes at the display.

Toppo was surprisingly acrobatic and nimble for his physique, which proved to be troublesome for Goku, who was caught off guard by his joint locks and even had his shoulder dislocated, from which he got out by retaliating with a backwards flip and kick to Toppo's face. Goku laughed, after popping his shoulder back into place and Toppo was not going to let him mock the justice he held so dear with his laugh. The Zenos kept repeating his words and the crowd seemed to be on his side, showing how popular the Eleventh Universe was. Goku was more careful to avoid being caught, pulling his limbs back, faster, but Toppo switched tactics and began shooting him with his rapid-firing Justice Flash technique. Goku ran from it and charged an energy bomb that Toppo countered with one of his own and the two attacks canceled each other out.

Goku began showing more serious signs of fatigue as he let the dust clear, after which he found Toppo missing from his sights. The latter appeared from behind and wrapped his large arms around him in a crushing bear-hug that was Toppo's greatest finishing hold called Justice Rear Naked Choke. He started squeezing the life out of Goku, cracking his bones. The angel Attendant of Universe 11 asked Universe 7 if they would consider forfeiting before the attack broke every bone in Goku's body and Whis told Marcarita to stop with her overly polite mock questions. Goku was on the verge of passing out and even involuntarily reverted to his normal state. Beerus was fretting over the situation, questioning Gohan, next to him, if he knew the consequences of Goku's defeat. Gohan told him he did and smiled as he knew his father was far from done, even as he was clearly in pain and struggling. That is, until he suddenly turned Super Saiyan Blue, breaking out of Toppo's hold, with the transformation, much to the latter's surprise. After seeing the smirk on Goku's face, he realized he was saving his power. Goku's movements became much faster and Toppo had trouble keeping up with the sudden jump in his abilities. He got knocked around, like a pinball, by Goku, before he acclimated to his new strength and speed and began fighting him in earnest.

The Zenos could barely follow their movements, turning everywhere to try and keep up as they stared in awe. Their clashes made craters in the ring, one after the other, in quick succession and as soon as Goku gained the upper-hand, by kicking Toppo into the ground, he started charging his Kamehameha. Toppo tried to interrupt him with his Justice Flash, but Goku pulled an old combination and used his Instant Transmission to move to ground-level. He jumped in front of Toppo and released his wave from point-blank range, making it unavoidable. Goku grinned when he saw Toppo had shielded himself with his arms and was still standing, but his torn uniform and bruises showed he suffered substantial damage. Toppo considered the besmirching of his custom-made uniform a defilation of his pride. He was literally red with anger, as his energy flared. Goku seemingly effortlessly activated his Kaioken and told Toppo to show his real power, so he could show him what it was like once he got past his limit. They both powered up as the Zenos repeated Goku's last words about going past his limit.

"That is enough!" The Grand Priest, though as intrigued as the rest, called an end to their match, reasoning that if they had continued, one of them may have ended up dying and it would have ruined the Tournament of Power. He promised the Zenos the tournament would be even more spectacular, which satisfied them.

"Man, I was just getting worked up!" Goku exclaimed, slightly disappointed.

"Goku, please, don't talk back!" Supreme Kai yelled from their platform.

"Well, alright. If that's what King Zee wants." Goku reverted to normal.

He went an offered Toppo a handshake, who refused it and turned his back, telling Goku that there was one person in the Eleventh Universe, who was even stronger than him, named Jiren. He warned Goku that he stood no chance against his friend.

"Universe 11 is seriously tough!" Gohan excitedly told Goku, when the latter joined them and Beerus started to get annoyed with them.

"The universe is really big! I can't believe there are more strong guys like that! I'm really exci-…!" Goku exclaimed, but was cut off by Beerus' outburst.

"This is not the time to get excited!" he yelled at them. "Having a close match with their second strongest is not enough! Our universe is going to be erased! So start taking thing seriously! And from now on, stop getting excited!" he screamed.

"And now…" The Grand Priest raised his hand, showing a bubble to another dimension. "I shall begin construction of the ring for the Tournament of Power. It will take a little while to complete, so I will require some time until the actual Tournament of Power." he announced as the blocks that would constitute the ring began assembling. "Thus concludes all of today's event. Next will be the actual Tournament of Power. On the 3,134,500,603rd day of the King's Calendar, on the 157th hour, we shall begin."

"Grand Priest, Sir!" Goku addressed him.

"What is it?" the Grand Priest prompted him.

"How long until the fighting ring is done?" Goku needed a conversion for the date given.

"In five tiks." the Grand Priest said.

"Uh…so five tiks is…?" Goku still had trouble understanding.

"By Universe 7's Earth time, it is close to 40 hours." the Grand Priest stated to Goku, who was in utter shock, feeling it was way too soon, as did most of who were present. "And now, let us reconvene in 40 hours. Adjourned!" he added and raised his hands, dismissing everyone and they began leaving.

"Ten chosen warriors, huh?" Champa muttered. "Hit doesn't have ten brothers by any chance, does he?" he moaned, hoping to improve their odds. Vados placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Your idea is too shallow." she told him, before they were teleported away by Fuwa.

[…]

They barely arrived back in Champa's palace, when Vados was grabbed and pulled down by her upper left-arm.

"What hell was that!? What does your dad and those brats think they're doing!?" Beranise was furious.

Vados glared, not taking being yanked around very kindly and she grabbed Beranise's forearm, twisting it until she let go and she could see her pain.

"I told you to be mindful of your words and your manners." She gave her forearm another twist, nearly breaking it and Beranise threw a punch at her with her free hand that Vados easily caught with hers. "Win the Tournament of Power and you will live, along with your universe." Vados' expression softened as she told her, still keeping ahold of her and Champa did not look very happy with that possible outcome, nor the fact that Vados did not appear to mind if they lost.

Beranise snarled at her. "And what about all the others? You think I'm gonna go out there and beat the other universes, so they'd disappear, just to give those two brats a show!? You didn't look too broken up about any of them getting erased. Don't you even care what happens to everyone!? To us!?" she asked and upon receiving nothing but silence from Vados, her face turned from angry to shocked and her grip loosened. She slowly let go, as a feeling of betrayal took over her and she stepped back looking at Vados with tears in the corner of her eyes. The latter remained expressionless, in stark contrast to what was happening to Beranise, on her face and inside her. "Y-you…" She balled her twitching hands into fists and bared her teeth.

"If I ever gave you the idea I felt attached to any universe or any of their inhabitants, I'm afraid it was your own imagination." Vados coldly told her and it predictively only enraged Beranise, who had to use all of her quickly slipping self-control to not futilely attack her. After a deep exhale, she stopped.

"Some angel you are!" Her words dripped venom and her eyes almost shed tears. She turned and walked a few paces away, before she took to the air.

"And where's she going? She can't leave this place." Champa put his hands on his hips, then he saw the direction she was heading. "Wait! Is she going to the Hexahedron?" He correctly guessed and a few second later, they could see it take off and leave, not just Champa's domain, but the Sixth Universe.

Vados closed her eyes with a subtle scowl, turned and walked inside, leaving Champa to look after her in confusion. He even forgot to be elated about Beranise's seemingly permanent departure.

[…]

On Earth, Goku and Gohan were done mentally evaluating how Krillin would fair in the tournament.

"This fight…it might be too much for…" Gohan voiced his concern.

"Nah. Krillin'll be fine." Goku assured him. "He's started training, again."

"What? He has?" Gohan was surprised.

"He's got some amazing moves you haven't even seen!" Goku exclaimed. "He'll be alright. So, next…Huh?" They were about to discuss who the next fighter would be on their team, when they all felt Beranise' energy suddenly appear on the planet, close to them. Beerus and Whis also looked up as Goku and Gohan stood. A hexahedron approached and stopped at the railing of the terrace. Beranise stepped through the membrane wall and Goku immediately ran up to her with a grin.

"Beranise! Great! You came back to fight with us!" His happiness was premature and his grin faded when he saw how Beranise looked and how her eyes snapped to him that made Goku step back.

"I'm not gonna go out there and get other universes wiped out, just to please your little pal, Zeno! How can you be okay with all this!?" Beranise stepped into Goku's face, looking slightly up. "Those little bastards would toss us all in the trash, like we were broken toys! And they don't care! Just like those angels! You think he's your friend? He wouldn't bet an eye if he had to erase you with this entire universe!"

"Beranise, not so loud!" Gohan stepped up. "We're the only ones who know the truth." Gohan tried to quiet her, before someone outside their circle would overhear. It was a mistake as he got a glare that could have punched him through a wall if it could hit. "Please, calm down and think about it! If we win, we can use the Super Dragon Balls to wish everyone, every universe, back. Right? I don't know if Grand Zeno or the Grand Priest would like that, but they'd have to honor our wish. It'll be like the tournament never happened." Gohan reasoned.

"That's not the point!" Beranise argued. "It'll happen and you and everyone else'll be fighting out there, getting wiped, with everyone they ever met and cared about, because those brats want some fun! Getting everything back, after, won't change that they don't give a rat's ass about us. And that goes to these so-called angels!" She directed her glare at Whis who did not appreciate her words. "You can count me out. I'm not gonna be a pawn." she told them and flew off, not even she knew where, leaving them in uncomfortable silence. Supreme Kai slowly broke it, suggesting the addition of Goten and Trunks to their ranks, but it was dismissed by Goku, who did not feel they were experienced or disciplined enough to fight as a team against other teams. Vegeta walked outside, deep in thought as to what name he will give to the daughter he was about to have. He did not even notice the others were back

"Vegeta!" Goku waved to him.

"So, you're back." Vegeta muttered, not bothering to care about anything else than his soon-to-be-born child and a name for her.

"I got some great news for ya! We're gonna fight some really strong guys! The universe really is huge!" Goku started recounting what happened. "I fought this guy named Toppo, from the Eleventh Universe and even as Blue, I wasn't sure if I could beat him!"

"What? Even as Super Saiyan Blue?" Vegeta could hardly believe it.

"Yeah! And there'll be eighty guys fighting, at the same time." Goku informed him.

"Ten fighters from eight universes will fight simultaneously, and whoever remains wins." Gohan added.

"Eighty, at once. So, a battle royale." Vegeta concluded.

"We leave the day after tomorrow." Whis stated.

"You'll have to go without me." Vegeta said.

"Huh!?" Goku and Gohan were both surprised.

"I don't know if my child will be borne by then." Vegeta stated.

"But you would be fighting strong guys from all over the other universes!" Goku tried to convince him.

"Come on, Vegeta!" Gohan pleaded with him.

"Yeah! Beranise just told us she wasn't fighting, so we're already down a strong fighter." Goku noted.

"Something's off." Vegeta got suspicious.

"Huh?" Goku did not know what he meant.

"Why do you want me to join this tournament so much? At any other time, you'd be glad if I wasn't around to take on all the fights you'd want, Kakarot. It would mean you could fight eighty…I mean seventy enemies without me in the way." Vegeta explained, correcting his numbers at the end.

"W-well, it's because…" Goku started to explain, but he was cut off by Beerus, before he could tell Vegeta anything about the real danger, the consequence of losing the tournament.

"Damn it! Quit squabbling! You're joining them! That's an order!" he told Vegeta.

"If you're going to insist, then convince Bulma." Vegeta challengingly told Beerus. "Otherwise, I'm not going." he added and Beerus did not have a reply. Whis sighed.

"Very well." he said and went to check up on her condition.

[…]

Beranise was standing under a waterfall, literally cooling off. She needed to calm herself down, before she went to anyone, especially Videl and Pan. She did not want either of them to see her in such a volatile state, fearing she would snap at them for simply saying certain words a certain way. She decided she would wait until dusk or the evening, before visiting them, giving herself more time to relax. She felt the Supreme Kai's energy disappear. Goku and Gohan were on the move, likely going to the Z-Fighters to enlist them into their team. She almost missed the new energy-signature that stood out from the rest, coming from Capsule Corporations HQ and since she already knew about Bulma's pregnancy and how close she was to giving birth, she had no doubt it was the newborn. And as tempted as she was to go see the new half-Saiyan girl, it had to wait, until the very air around her stopped boiling. The rest of the day, she could sense as Goku and Gohan tested Krillin. Goku even sparred with a slimmed-down Buu and Piccolo trained with Gohan.

For hours, Beranise was catching fish and angrily roasting them with energy blasts to immediately wolf them down, all the while thinking the others were fools to play the Omni-Kings' game and be playthings to them and the angels. Even after taking a nap, her anger kept rising to the surface. Since almost everyone else had been either sparring or working out that day, she thought she needed to work off the stress through some training of her own. Just before dusk, she followed Goku's energy to the Lookout, which could apparently move, as she discovered, when she had to go after it. There, he was told by Dende that Goku went down to the island below to meet 18's brother, Android 17, to recruit him. Not having any interest in listening to whatever pitch Goku would give, or in waiting around until the two would inevitably spar, Beranise opted to use the Time Chamber for a few hours that barely equated to mere minutes on the outside. Dende dared not ask her why she was not taking part in the tournament, after seeing her disposition that made her less than approachable. He only talked her, after she emerged from the Time Chamber, when she appeared considerably less ignitable.

"You should start charging rent for the place." An unsmiling Beranise told Dende, right after stepping outside, considering how the Hyperbolic Time Chamber has been frequented in recent years.

"How…are you feeling?" Dende asked, as several hours had passed on the inside.

"Well, I don't wanna hit anything." Beranise replied, still far from her normal self. She glanced down as she could feel Goku fighting someone below and since she could not detect any energy, she guessed it had to be the brother of 18.

"That's…better, I guess." Dende said. "Look, I don't know exactly why you don't want to fight, especially with the whole universe at risk of being erased. Goku didn't really tell me anything. But, if you're not going to fight with them, in the tournament, then…what will you do?" He had to ask. Beranise looked at the ground, unable to come up with an answer and walked off, then took to the air.

"Hopefully, she will not do anything reckless." Mr. Popo said, standing next to Dende.

"I can't imagine what could be more reckless than what they already did." Dende replied.

[…]

It was in the evening when Gohan got home from his training with Piccolo. He spotted Videl waiting for her in the front door and he could sense their daughter and Beranise in the back garden.

"Welcome home! Again." Videl smiled at him, joking about how he was coming home for the second time, that day, after returning from the Grand Exhibition Match.

"And it feels even better to be back than last time." Gohan smiled and looked past her. "Beranise is here, then." he noted.

"Yeah. She actually showed up about half an hour ago." Videl told him.

"Only half an hour ago?" Gohan was surprised she had not been there since she left Capsule Corporations HQ.

"Yeah." Videl nodded.

"Uh, so…did she say anything about what happened at the Exhibition Match?" Gohan asked.

"Well…to tell you truth, she didn't look like her usual self. But, she didn't say anything you haven't told me already. W-why? Is there something else?" Videl got a little suspicious.

"N-no. Nothing. She was just…angry at a few people, there." Gohan said, oversimplifying it.

"You mean, at the Gods? Why?" Videl was even more curious.

"Well, uh, you know how she gets. She doesn't really like lords and gods. But, she sure likes picking fights them." Gohan shrugged.

"That's true." Videl accepted his answer.

"So…was she still upset, then? When she got here?" Gohan needed to know what mental-state she arrived in.

"No. Not really. But, I could tell something was wrong." Videl admitted. "I just didn't want to pry. Then she started playing with Pan and…she looked like she was okay."

"Good." Gohan said with a sigh.

"Dinner's ready. But, you need to shower, first." Videl told him.

"Sure thing." Gohan nodded and they went into the house. "I'll just check on them, first." he added, heading towards the backdoor. They exited to the back to see Beranise was on her knees, in front of Pan. The latter was reaching after a small, insect-sized ball of energy that Beranise was controlling with a single finger, as if she was drawing on empty air with it.

"A firefly?" Videl smiled at the zig-zagging light.

"No. Energy." Gohan smiled, as well.

"How cool!" Videl exclaimed, almost mirroring their daughter's expression. Gohan looked at Beranise's and was relieved when he saw she appeared to be calm.

"Alright. I don't wanna disturb them." Gohan stepped back, into the house and headed for a shower.

Videl watched them play and as she looked at Beranise, she could tell her mind was partly elsewhere. Her eyes did not move to follow the light or Pan and her movements randomly slowed and sped up, as if whatever thoughts she was having made her physically react to it, almost like when someone was dreaming or having a nightmare. Beranise's eyes briefly narrowed and the light started moving erratically, for a moment. It accidentally stung Pan's hand, who let out a cry, which snapped Beranise out of the dark clouds that were gathering in her mind. She looked at Pan in surprise and panic as Videl ran over.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she held Pan's hand and picked her up. Videl knelt down. "I-I didn't mean to hurt her! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I was just-…!" She started to apologize.

"It's okay." Videl took Pan from her and looked at her hand, noting that the mark was barely visible and would surely heal in days as she hugged Pan. "It's gonna be alright. Okay?" Pan seemed to calm down and Videl stood up. "We'll put some cream on it." Videl said and Beranise abruptly stood with her, with a look of guilt.

"I'm sorry!" she told her, again and Videl could tell from her wavering eyes, there was a lot more going on with her.

"Beranise, what's wrong? This isn't just about this little accident. I can tell. What's going on? What happened, over there, with all the gods?" Videl pried, out of concern. Before Beranise turned away, Videl already saw her eyes tearing up, which give her even more reason to worry about her.

"Nothing's wrong. You don't have to worry." Beranise folded her arms, keeping her back to her.

"You saying that just makes me more worried. I know Gohan would only keep something from us for a good reason, but if it upsets you this much, it has to be something serious." Videl told her.

"Don't ask! And don't ask him, either! It doesn't matter. It won't matter. I promise." Beranise replied, but stopped before she took off. She turned and gave Videl and Pan a quick, but still lingering, embrace, then left. Videl wordlessly watched her leave, feeling as if Beranise was saying goodbye to them.

[…]

Beranise headed back to Capsule Corporations but could not see the Hexahedron she left there, anywhere. She found Beerus snoozing in the tanning chair with Whis quietly sitting at a table. The latter glanced at her, acknowledging her presence, but Beranise only gave him a frown. She could feel some of the others gathered in a room, somewhere inside. Then Bulma walked out.

"Hey! Vegeta told me you were on your way back." she said to Beranise. "Are you okay? Gohan said you were pretty angry when you got back."

"I'm fine." Beranise folded her arms and Bulma was unconvinced. She sighed.

"You Saiyans are always so high-strung. Probably another trait. Anyway…" Bulma paused and threw Beranise a capsule, which she caught. "Here."

"What's in this?" Beranise looked at it.

"It's that hexahedron thing you left outside. It's packed in the capsule. Same way I packed your ship up." Bulma explained.

"Oh, yeah! I think I left that back at Champa's place. Tch. Hope I can get it back." Beranise muttered, then looked at Bulma. "Thanks!" she said, still without a smile.

"No problem! I got something else you might wanna see, before you fly off into the night. Follow me!" Bulma invited her and Beranise followed her to a recently furnished room with a crib, where she laid eyes upon Bulla. The newest, precious thing that came into the world not half a day ago. "Isn't she beautiful?" Bulma proudly picked her up. "She'll be playing around with Pan in no time." she added, smiling at her little girl and Beranie was struck by a feeling of dread, once more. Bulma continued to baby-talk her as Beranise stared, seeing there was, now, even more she had to protect and make sure that it would not be erased from existence and it only made her more determined to do something to stop it. "Hey, what's wrong?" Bulma and Bulla both tilted their heads, as she was glaring into space. As Bulma jokingly predicted Beranise took off, again, after thanking her one more time for the capsuled Hexahedron and headed into the night, to find herself a more suitable place to sleep. Away from the city.

"She could just stay here." Bulma commented, folding her arms as she watched her leave from the terrace, where Whis looked at Beranise's retreating form, wondering where her anger would take her.

[…]

On the last day before the Tournament of Power, everyone who knew that it might be the last day of their universe was on edge. After a nearly sleepless night, Beranise spent most of the day in the wild, for she was unable to look at anyone, especially Pan and Videl, from fear that she would see them for the last time, no matter if their universe would remain or not. She stood atop the highest mountain. One that she could have split apart with but a scream. She could see the peaks of others, as if they were milestones she had climbed or soared past. They were every person, every monsters and every obstacle she ever thought was insurmountable. And yet, there she stood, above them, knowing there were those who were looking down at her, who could barely see, or even cared to see, the summit she was standing on that was her victory over her life's struggle, so far. Beings who were supposed to watch and even guide them, in that life or the next, were making sport of their survival. After having been deemed unworthy of existence, they were to wage a battle against those they had no ill-will towards and have all of them put their very existence on the line, along with everyone they have ever known and ever would have known. Perhaps it should have come as no surprise that even the gods, for all their power, were no more important than them, in the grandest scheme of things. Then there were those who were spared, simply for being stronger. Something that should not have earned them any more right to live than those who struggled through it and those who would, soon, be made to fight for it. The rules of the tournament forbade them from killing one another, but that is exactly what they were going to do, to survive. All for the entertainment of others. It was not right. It was not just.

She could feel the others, out there. Scurrying to find their friends who were willing to be used, to then potentially be tossed out, as if they have never existed. Part of her felt guilty over not lending her strength to them, improving their odds. But, her own principals and pride did not let her bend the knee and step on stage for what would be a final performance in a twisted theater, the curtains of which were pulled open around them. The hands of a pair of child Kings on the trapdoor, ready to make everyone's exit permanent, on a whim. It was utterly ridiculous. She would have laughed if it was just that. A night at the club of some brash mobster, whose mood could easily get half the place shot, just to weed out the people they did not fancy enough. She met those kind of people. She wondered what her own people would have told her to do. She never stopped fighting on. She won, not just in their name, not only their battle, but the ones of countless people who were not always strong enough to fight for themselves. And now, when they were finally free, when there were still others who deserved that same freedom, they could all cease to be.

Most of the team was still at Capsule Corporations, but Goku met up with Tienshinhan and Chiaotzu, at their own martial arts school and Beranise could even feel old Master Roshi. With Piccolo's help Gohan had finally regained the strength he had when they first met and everyone who was to fight had become much more of a force to be reckoned with than they ever thought they could be. Their universe was in good hands, but for all their strength, there were always those they still could not reach. And even if they prevailed, that would not change.

Beranise returned to the Lookout, around dusk, for an early dinner. She helped Mr. Popo restock the and clean the Time Chamber, keeping herself and her thoughts occupied. All of the rising energy-signatures she has been feeling that day, converged as the night fell. Beranise could tell Gohan was being pushed to his absolute limit, along with his father. She guessed the boy told Goku not to hold back. Their clash and every fight, in the past two days, leading up to it, proved that all of them were ready to face whoever would challenge them from the other universes. Vegeta came by for a quick session in the Time Chamber, in an attempt to focus his energy and keep his own mind from wondering. He was, for all intents and purposes, psyching himself up and went too far with it as he blew a hole in the door of the chamber. Not for the first time, either.

At Capsule Corporations HQ, Piccolo sensed the destruction. "That bastard! He forced his way out, again!" he commented, annoyed.

"Maybe we should start charging for it." Dende tiredly told Mr. Popo, after Vegeta left. Beranise just missed his ungraceful exit, as she was walked out of the place's equivalent of a restroom, cutting the last strands of hair that touched her shoulder. Her Super Saiyan 4 hair now barely reached below her chin. She incinerated all the hair that fell with an energy orb that glowed redder as she heated it up.

"What was the point of that?" Beranise muttered, giving an odd look in the direction Vegeta left, as she made her ball of energy disappear. She looked at the damage he did. "I'd help you patch that up, but…" she trailed off.

"It's almost time." Dende noted the ten chosen warriors of Universe 7 would be leaving soon.

…

Beranise stood on the edge of the Lookout, feeling almost all higher than average power-levels in one place, except Buu's. She did not think much of it, until she felt Goku, there. Then he was somewhere else, entirely.

"What's going on?" she wondered out loud.

"It looks like Buu's sleeping. And they can't wake him." Dende replied, based on what he could glean.

"Again? Right now!?" Beranise exclaimed. The incredibly bad timing not lost on any of them. "And where the hell did Goku go?"

"Uh, well, he…went to Hell, actually." Dende told her and Beranise made a face. "He…had someone in mind to take Buu's place and be the tenth member of the team." His nervousness was apparent.

"What, he's gonna bring someone back from the dead to fight?" Beranise incredulously asked.

"Not exactly. They won't be revived. It'll only be for a day. If he's already talked to King Yamma, then…Baba's probably already on her way with…-"Dende did not even need to trail off, as they felt a massive explosion of power, coming from Fortuneteller Baba's Palace, where Goku and Frieza were in the middle of an ambush, carried out by assassins from Universe 9 and orchestrated by Roh and Sidra, who sought to eliminate either one or both of them.

"Who…-?" Beranise stopped. "I…I felt that energy before." she recalled, when she was training in Other World. "Right before King Kai told me about…" Dende stepped back in fear as he saw her face darken. She looked at him, seeing that he knew who she was sensing, but was too afraid to even mention the name to her, knowing how she would react. She took off, towards the fight, but by the time she arrived, she found no sign of them, except the energy she felt reappear at Capsule Corporations HQ, as she just missed them. "Goku…! Damn his Instant Transmission!" she cursed and her aura flared up as she shot across the night sky. At Capsule Corp, everyone was sick to their stomach from just seeing Frieza. It did not take much for his words to stir them up even more. He agreed with Vegeta, much to the latter's further annoyance and disgust that neither of them would be too keen on fighting as a team. Piccolo stated how Goku and Vegeta's Saiyan blood and pride would eventually if not immediately be in the way of teamwork and Beerus had to put a stop to their arguing by demanding they learn to cope.

"Well, it's almost time." Whis told them, waving a small red flag, with the number 7 on it.

"And none of you are to go off fighting on your own! Got it?" Beerus threateningly asked.

"And now, everyone hold hands in a circle." Whis instructed them and Vegeta was struck ill by it, but before he could even try and stomach it, he noticed something else. Someone was approaching their location with a speed that was too fast for whoever it was to possibly be calm.

"Oh?" Frieza also noticed the rapidly approaching energy.

"Oh, no." Gohan whispered, as his father and Piccolo also got alarmed. "This is bad." Gohan added.

"I-Is it too late to…I don't know…call this thing off or…s-switch out?" Krillin got extremely nervous.

They all looked up as a ball of red-hot energy came flying over the city and stopped right above them. Beranise immediately found and stared at Frieza, around who the rest of the world disappeared. She only saw red and him.

"And who might this be?" Frieza muttered.

"You…" Disgust and hate oozed from Beranise's words. "You're him." Her face, that of one who was seeing a ghosts from the past, even though they have never met. He, indeed, looked much like Frost.

"Oh? Another stranger, who knows my name." Frieza was amused the new arrival knew his name and was apparently very angry at him. "After all these years, my reputation still precedes me! How wonderful! Huhu-… Hah!?" his chuckling was cut off, when Beranise let out a guttural scream and was in front of him, in a blink of an eye and buried her fist in the side of his face, smashing him into and almost through the entire building that was nearly split in two.

"Are you crazy!?" Bulma yelled at Beranise. "You're gonna wreck my-...uh?" She froze when she saw her face. Beranise's pupils faded and nearly disappeared. She looked out of control. She screamed and charged inside the building and a second later the ground shook as she tunneled through to erupt from it, with Frieza. The latter was sent flying upwards and pushed out of the city, by a berserk Beranise.

Frieza could barely stop her from taking him halfway across the continent and pried himself out of her infuriatingly infernal grasp. He massaged his hand and felt his face to check if it was truly still intact, then gritted his teeth, wiping the small trail of blood from his mouth.

"Impudent wretch! You dare lay a hand on me!? Who do you think you are!?" he snarled, then calmed himself and started to laugh. "Let me guess, you're from some nameless backwater in the galaxy, here to avenge the miserable lives that my men and I have ended. Is that it? It must be." He folded his arms.

"You're gonna pay! And since you're already dead I'll just keep killing you until there's nothing left that can die, again!" Beranise raged.

"Oh, my!" Frieza put a finger to his mouth. "Someone seems to have a flare for vengeance! After having Goku's soft-hearted drivel practically etched into my mind, it is refreshing. But, do tell me! How exactly are you planning to enact this revenger-fantasy of yours, hm? You pack quite a punch, there. But, if that's the best you can do, you might as well have come here with a death-wish." Frieza smirked, pressed his feet together, spread his hands and raised his head, assuming the stance he took when he transformed and turned Golden. "Any final words?" he asked, confidently.

"Bernike." Beranise said.

"Pardon?" Frieza tilted his head.

"Planet Bernike." Beranise repeated, her power and anger rising, which Frieza did not fail to notice. "Of course, it was only a number for you, after your men took it! Number 421. And it would've been just that, even faster, if its people didn't take me in. They still gave me a chance, even when they knew I was sent to destroy them." Frieza's eyes widened as he started to catch on.

"Sent to destroy? No…! No, you cannot possibly be…!" It dawned on him and if he was not completely certain who he was facing, Beranise confirmed to him beyond a shadow of doubt, as she unfurled her tail and threw her sash off. Frieza's eyes fell on her tail and he, too, started to boil from the seething hatred he felt. "Saiyaaan." He almost literally exploded. Beranise was faster to let her rage move her.

With a lightning-fast step into Frieza's legs, she kicked them back and out from under him, causing him to fall forwards. Beranise twisted above him with an elbow into his back and a knee in his stomach, at the same time. At the end, she caught his tail, before Frieza could instinctively defend himself with it and she started flying towards the ground. She slung him forward, by his tail, slamming him into a cliff. Soon after, she had to dodge a round of narrow energy blasts flying out of the cloud of dust. Frieza was gritting his teeth as he was firing them from a finger, absolutely livid he was suffering such insults. To his shock, Beranise thrust forward with both hands, charging energy in them, which she used as a shield to power through his barrage.

"What!?" he exclaimed in alarm, before he was kneed in the face, which made his head snap backwards. It looked like Beranise was about to unleash a double-handed energy-wave, from point-blank range, but Frieza, enlivened even more by his anger, swiped with his hand, sending out a repelling kinetic energy that succeeded in interrupting the unusually vicious Saiyan's assault. With the same hand, he sliced at her with his energy, almost cutting her tail off, to which Beranise reacted by wrapping it around herself, while horizontally spinning and released a similar cutting attack with a backhanded swipe of her hand, that Frieza narrowly avoided, only to be spin-kicked in the side of the head. He blocked the next swipe and the elbow that followed it, then broke their lock, pushing back with a series of attacks and successful caught one of Beranise hands with his tail that allowed him to deliver a few heavier, but still quick, blows with both his hands and feet to her stomach and face, before she yanked on him through his own tail's grip and returned all he had given her. Frieza let go of her hands and put some distance between them, not any less infuriated than before and Beranise's eyes still showed just as much murderous intent. They went at each other, again, but before their fists could collide, they were stopped by the hands of Whis, who appeared between them, catching them.

"Your timing for these fights continues to be poor." Whis glanced at Beranise, who struggled.

"Gggh…get out of my way, angel!" She nearly spat the name and Whis noticed her use of it.

"My, you don't even call me by name, anymore." Whis noted.

"Get lost!" Beranise tried break free, wanting nothing more than to kill Frieza, at that moment and she could only move once Whis released her and Frieza.

"We do not have any more time. Unless, you would like to take Frieza's place in the tournament. I'm certain the others will be glad to have him returned." Whis told Beranise, knowing she would still not compete and her expression said as much as she glared at him. "I didn't think so." Whis said and turned to Frieza. "We must leave, at once, if we do not wish for this universe to be erased."

"Like you care!" Beranise told him, accusingly.

"And you have made your choice." Whis replied. "Although, I am still not exactly certain what it is." he added, giving her a searching look. It was still unclear what Beranise intended to do, since she was not taking part in the fight. "Now, Frieza, if this universe continues to exist, the two of you may finish your fight, if you wish." Whis told him. Frieza reverted back to his normal form.

"We shall." He looked Beranise in the eye.

"Farewell." Whis told Beranise and transported himself and Frieza back with him. Beranise clenched her fists.

"You're all out of your minds!" she shouted into the night, not only for making themselves pawns, but for even going as far as to relying on someone like Frieza for aid. A minute later, she felt all of them disappear and she knew they were already wherever the tournament was taking place. Her breathing became short and erratic as panic started to take over her. She shut her eyes, trying to think of a way she could follow them, then remembered the capsulized Hexahedron she had on her, but without knowing exactly how to find the World of Void between the multiple universes, she was still stumped.

[…]

In the World of Void, all representatives of the competing universes gathered. The Gods and Attendants of the four exempt universes were already present, as three out of the four gods, Liquiir of Universe 8, Iwne of Universe 1 and Arack of Universe 5, were busy putting the finishing touches on the arena, after they have been tasked by the Grand Priest to repair the damage their friendly sparring had caused. Geene of Universe 12 opted out, either cunningly knowing it would result in them having to clean up or because he was sure of his strength and that he did not need to prove it. The members of Universe 7 sized up the competition and were greeted as friends by Cabba, who introduced two Saiyan women, Caulifla and Kale to them. The former unsurprisingly acted rather antagonistically towards them, considering them enemies, while Frieza saw a potential ally in Frost and enjoyed the bloodlust that he could sense in the air, which was mainly coming from Universe 9. Goku tried to act friendlily towards Toppo and Universe 11, but received the same animosity as before. The Grand Priest appeared and asked for everyone's silence as he explained the rules, once more.

"Now, Grand Zeno, we shall begin." he floated in front of them, on his platform. "Is that alright?"

"Hurry!" One Zeno said.

"Hurry! Hurry!" The other repeated.

"And now, warriors of each universe, prepare yourselves!" he addressed all of them and raised his hand to give the word to let them commence, when they all sensed a new arrival. Beranise simply appeared above the arena, between the Grand Priest and the competing universes and she quickly looked around to get her bearings.

"Beranise? How did she get here?" Gohan asked in surprise.

"Hmm?" Whis wondered about that, as well, since having a hexahedron could not have been enough.

"You?" The Grand Priest remembered her well. "I would be curious to hear how you managed to enter this dimension, but I'm afraid we cannot postpone starting the Tournament of Power any longer. If you have something to say, please be quick about it."

"Oh, it'll be quick! Those brats won't feel a thing, I promise!" Beranise retorted, loud enough for all to hear and her intentions were unmistakable, at that point. Every Angel narrowed their eyes, most of all the Grand Priest, Vados and Whis. The two of them had their suspicion that Beranise would try something drastic in order to prevent anyone being erased. "You hear me!? You little runts don't even understand what you're doing! Do you even think about all the lives you'll destroy! So, anyone you think is weak doesn't deserve to live!? Who's next!? Someone forgets to read you a damn bedtime story and you wipe them and their entire universe out!? You're insane! You're no better than the likes of Frieza!" she said and Frieza chuckled in amusement at what he considered a compliment.

"You have to stop, right now!" Vados stood and raised her voice, considerably, surprising those around her and Beranise looked at her from the corner of her eyes.

"You shut up!" Beranise turned towards her. "You acted like you were helping us! This whole time, pretending you gave a damn! When we're nothing you!" She turned to the Grand Priest and to the Zenos. "To any of you!" she added, getting louder and more enraged with every sentence and almost everyone was holding their breath to see where she would stop. "You think the weak deserve to be erased!? Because you don't get your kicks out of watching them put on a good fight for you!? So, you just kill them!?" She started to float closer. "You think just because you sit on that thrown you can just take all of our lives, when you get bored of us!?" Purple energy started concentrating and swirling in both of her hands as her energy swelled, surprising most of the warriors and some of the gods. "You'rethe ones who deserve to be erased!" she launched herself towards the Zenos and thrust her hands forward to release all the energy she had built up, but Vados suddenly appeared above her and delivered a blow to the back of her neck that stopped Beranise, who began to fall. Her eyes briefly turned blank as she became unconscious, before she sprang back to life, to Vados' surprise and she moved to avoid one last, desperate attack from Beranise, who swung at her from sheer will, before she truly lost consciousness. An idea occurred to Vados and she pointed her staff at her, encasing her in the staff's energy, before she sent her into the pocket dimension, along with her staff, isolating her from the World of the Void and the tournament. She nodded at the Grand Priest, who nodded back to her, appreciatively and Vados retreated to her Universe's spectator seats, where she sat, without a word.

"Why'd you go and do that?" Champa whispered to her, annoyed. "Grand Zeno would've erased her on the spot. Now she can't be touched." he criticized her decision and raised a brow, in surprise, when Vados merely gave him a look that said she was fully aware of what she did.

"What was she thinking?" Gohan whispered.

"That foolish woman wouldn't even exist, anymore, if it weren't for your sister." Beerus said to Whis.

"I believe that is what she wanted to prevent." Whis glanced at her sister and up. The shining light that came from the portal she created remained high above the arena as the Grand Priest resumed where he left off, after apologizing to the Zenos for the commotion. He raised his hand and everyone was instantly on alert, again, forcing what just happened to the back of their minds, as they focused only on the fight ahead of them. Whether some of them felt what the enraged Saiyan woman was saying and whether they thought she spoke the truth or not, did not matter, anymore.

"Let the Tournament of Power, begin!" the Grand Priest brought his hand back down, signaling the start of the fight that would decide the fate of entire universes, while pushing everyone in it to their absolute limit and beyond.

[…]

To Be Continued…

Author's note: Because fuck power-levels! Fuck Super Saiyan Blue! And fuck Zeno!