AN: While this is technically a fanfiction novelization of Dragon Ball Universe, - one of the greatest and most long-lasting Dragon Ball Z roleplays on NationStates to date - that is not to say that we don't invite you, dear viewer, to read this story and enjoy it! We, the DBU Team, hope you appreciate our hard work and have a blast reading this story!

A big thank you to the creator of the roleplay, New Rnclave, and to all of the RPers who spent their precious time and effort to craft the greatest DBZ story on NS to date!

Episode 1 of the Ragnarok Saga

"A New Story Begins! Gather Under the Tenkaichi Budokai!"

Earth. From outer space, this marvelous gem is nothing but a shiny blue dot in the midst of a vast cosmos. Despite it's riches and beauty, this watery world has seen peace and quiet for many, many centuries. After leaving the caves and forests as mere primitive beasts wielding rocks and clubs, the Earthlings went to only one direction - greater. Cities were built, technology marched forward and the entire planet was united under a single, benevolent monarchy. Earth was where science and mysticism mixed to form a perfect blend - right alongside the numerous martial arts masters that practiced the art of controlling ki were brilliant scientists, who built capsules, spaceships, robots and much more. The Capsule Corporation under control of the Brieve family was the first to enter outer space permanently, settling a colony on the planet's only moon, Luna.

While Earth was a land of peace, this certainly could not be said about the vast universe around it. Quite the opposite, really. Emperor Gelid, the last of his Arcosian kind, ruled the universe-wide Planet Trade Organization for many, many decades, but his sudden and unexpected death led to his wealth and planets, most importantly his precious North Galaxy, to be divided between his three children - Frost, Arctica and Glacia. This did not end well for anyone. For the last 10 years, the entirety of the former organization has been embroiled in a very tense cold war - and anyone who comes across the North Galaxy will, sooner or later, receive the same question: "Whose side are you on?"

That is not to say that the three Arcosian empires are the only powers across the entire Universe. A group of surviving Saiyans, not willing to swear allegiance to any of the siblings, formed their own faction - the Saiyan Triumvirate - with hopes of restoring their fallen race, one that mysteriously vanished along with the entire Planet Saiyan almost immediately after Emperor Gelid's death. There have been rumors of a few Saiyan survivors on Earth, too - not proven by anyone, but enough to pique someone's interest. The rumors of a magical set of seven orange balls that can grant any wish, even immortality, located somewhere on this forgotten planet could only draw more attention, and Earth was soon to become the battleground for numerous forces of the Universe...

Of course, the Earthlings themselves weren't even aware of any of these events. For all they knew, the only importance that this day had was that the recently coronated King, Endymion IV, is hosting a one in a lifetime "Strongest Under the Heavens" martial arts tournament for the people to enjoy...

Let the story begin!

The young King brushed past his short dark hair and looked at the assembled crowd. Thousands upon thousands had gathered for the "Strongest under the Heavens Tournament", nearly as many people who had gathered for Endymion's own coronation a few months ago.

In a world as peaceful and benign as ours, perhaps this is all the excitement the people receive... As the masses slowly quieted down upon the young man raising his hand, Endymion cleared his throat.

"Hello and welcome, everyone! Today is a special day for all of us, when at the closing ceremony we will crown one of our own as the "Strongest under the Heavens". I wish all of you participating good luck, and I hope for a wonderful tournament!"

This was followed by a round of applause. Most of the participants had already gathered in the lounges and spectator seats, each one with their own story to tell...

"Come on, Kuro! The tournament's about to start!"

Several spectators grunted as a teenage boy shoved through them, wearing his favorite shirt of his favorite fighter - it was Ichi Panchi, the Warrior with the Flaming Fists. Surely, he was the strongest under the heavens, at least in his eyes. As the disgruntled spectators returned to their positions, they were forced to move again as an another boy, one with dark spiky hair, kindly maneuvered his way through them, barely avoiding hitting someone. Unlike his friend, this boy did not share his enthusiasm.

"Yuji, you don't have to shove!" he said, reaching his overexcited friend at their seats in the front row. He didn't really see the point of coming down here all the way from North City to sit in the front row of a glorified boxing match, where one beefed up beefcake punches another beefed up beefcake until one is left standing. Kuro never understood how violence could be such a spectacle.

"I still don't get why you dragged me along, Yuji" Kuro moaned, earning a shove from his friend.

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Kuro! I've been saving up for these tickets all month!" Yuji said, beaming. "I had to work at Nama's sushi joint on the weekends for this! Trust me, you'll love it!" Yuji turned and refused to take his attention off of the arena, and Kuro sighed.

Yeah, I'll definitely love this. It might as well be the end of the world...

Meanwhile, a girl with the name of Amelia sat in the back of the stadium, preferring to see the fights from far away. She sat down in her chair, surrounded by chips, popcorn and textbooks for school work. While the woman was certainly confident that she could rank pretty high in this "tournament", there were more important matters to her at hand. I have to get my schoolwork done or else mom will kill me. Try not to get too distracted this time, okay Amelia? She picked up a bag of chips, the one that was leaning against her chair and began to eat them like someone would eat popcorn at a movie. As if she was some sort of program, she munched on snack after snack, waiting for the tournament to begin.

A little bit to the side, a small and childish boy under the name of Hikari was leaning on a flagpole and constantly looking around, from one side to the other, and always with a shocked face. So many people! back in my village, I never even dreamt of so many... things! How do they feed everyone here! While the thrill of constantly seeing new faces was great, Hikari was still bored beyond belief. Under the demand of his martial arts master, the boy signed up for this tournament, but waiting was such a chore... To pass some time, Hikari grabbed onto the flagpole with his tail and started spinning around.

"Weehee!"

Something else was going on down in the lounges, though...

Too many people! Stranger danger! Stranger danger! Oh, this one has a lot of salt on it...

These were the thoughts that ran through the head of David - a tall, dark-haired teenager - as he sat at the very top of the array of spectator lines, and munched on a huge bag of popcorn before the event even began. The people who were supposed to sit near him had already moved away by a few seats to avoid the noise and the flying popcorn pieces of the eating teenager, but he didn't mind. Didn't mind too much. Wait, am I not supposed to be in that building near the arena? Is that not where the participants are? Eh, whatever. I'll get to my fight fast enough.

The sound of high pitch laughter and shouts of excitement echoed throughout the stadium. The excitement for the upcoming battles was in the air and, on more than one occasion, had members of the crowd escorted out for causing trouble.

The sounds of footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the upper level of the stadium, where the upper-class were given the chance to view the event from the comforts of an air-conditioned room. A group of individuals, decked out with high tech military gadgets and clothing, steadily made their way towards a well-guarded door. The sentry standing guard nodded at them and pushed a button of the wall, opening the door with a creaking sound.

The King of Earth, Endymion, stood tall on the balcony of the room. From the side, he portrayed almost no fear or any signs of anxiousness as he gave his speech - truly a skilled and charismatic leader, even for his young age. The group quickly dispersed until there were only two people left - unlike the others, though, they wore more civilian-style clothing.

The remaining two individuals were a man sporting a well-maintained beard and a blue, striped suit and tie. A young woman, appearing to be in her late teens with short brown locks that barely reached past her shoulders, stood right next to him. She wore a simple black t-shirt and a pair of pants, as well as green sneakers.

The guards stationed at the balcony nodded at the two as they walked past. The old man started clapping in response to the last words of the King's speech. "Wonderful speech, sire. Don't you agree, Tabella?" The man inquired, turning his gaze towards the girl next to him.

"Yeah, whatever dad." The teenager agreed although it was clear that she didn't care. The sun soaked their forms with sunlight which was reflected off an orange orb that hung around Tabella's neck. What was interesting, though, was that the orb had two odd red stars floating inside. Endymion soon turned to the two remaining members of his entourage, he smiled as he clasped the old man's right hand.

"Storm Brieve, I'm glad you could be here. Before I forget, I have to thank you for launching those new satellites. Earth has made its first moves out into the larger universe, all thanks to you."

"No need to thank me your majesty. I'm just doing my job." The scientist and head of Capsule Corporation claimed as he straightened his posture. "But if I'm going to be completely honest… If not for Tabella's help I don't think we would have launched as quickly as we did." Storm glanced towards his daughter who had completely tuned the two out by this point. He sighed. "I apologize, my liege… you know how teenagers are these days."

The King then turned his attention to Tabella. Her emotions brought a different type of smile to the King's face.

A girl who has everything, with a future perhaps greater than my own, and yet she views everything in the same, bored way. Remarkable, and yet refreshing... It was then that he noticed the orb around her neck.

"Tabella, may I ask, where did you get that orb?"

Raising her fingers towards the orange orb, the teen gently ran her hand over it. "I found it in my basement while I was looking for some old blueprints." Tabella then folded her arms and approached the ledge. "So. When are the fighters suppose to do some actual, you know, fighting?" she inquired. "I came here to see a friend of mine participate... yet there is a distinct lack of fighting. Just like with you recently, Endy." She stated.

"Tabella!" Storm exclaimed.

The King, meanwhile, chuckled at the girl's responses.

This spitfire is going to cause a lot of problems one day. Still, she is a polymath in every sense of the word. So young, and yet able to create machines beyond the comprehension of Earth's greatest minds? Something about that orb is off, however. It glows with a mystical light. Where have I seen it before, though?

Endymion sauntered over to the ledge where Tabella stood. He then turned to her father.

"It's all right, Storm. She means no disrespect. Well small lady, the tournament should begin any moment now, once the first contestants are soon to be in place."

Arlia.

Aonori, one of the last surviving Saiyans in Glacia's army, pressed on the scouter module in her robotic arm. Nothing came up. There is no more life left on this planet, all the scans confirmed it - the mission was accomplished, and in less than a week, no less. It was one of the most boring weeks in the woman's life, though. "Another timewaster... Not a single power level higher than a few thousand. At best." Crawling into her pod, the Saiyan had a few seconds to wonder before going back into stasis and returning to the headquarters.

"Glacia sends me on the worst missions, fuck... This one was just a barren wasteland. That's shit-tier treatment."

The door of the space pod closed, and the Saiyan left, leaving a barren planet to be sold to enigmatic buyers later on...

On a large, circular spaceship in orbit of an unnamed planet, some far more sinister things were unfolding. The Supreme Mistress of the Northern Quadrant sat in her hover pod sipping wine while watching a few screens in front of her eyes. The conflict between her brothers was currently in a lull - a few minor clashes in a few frontier planets, but nothing important. The profits from raiding and planet trade were in a stand-still, too - while Glacia's were the highest due to the relative peace of her realm, Frost and Arctica weren't trailing far behind. The female Arcosian yawned as the doors opened, revealing her prize possession; the Saiyan warrior Spicer. Formerly the one of the woman's few childhood friends, Spicer was now a general under her army, and one of the most powerful warriors in it, too. The Saiyan bowed before his Lady.

"Your Majesty, our sensors detect the emergence of a space-age civilisation within our borders. The third planet of the system 5501, known to the locals as Sol."

"Oh yes, the nature reserve."

"Not anymore, Your Majesty. It appears that they have reached a level of technology that nullifies the Treaty of Planet Gelid 737. You may now deal with them as you please." The Arcosian female smiled wickedly in response to Spicer's words.

"Very well, we shall go at once and see what this planet has to offer..."

"That's not all, Mistress. One of the Saiyans under your control, Aonori, has just returned from her mission to Arlia. Per your instructions, the planet was completely razed. According to scouter data, rhere were no survivors, as planned."

Turning around and showing her back to Spicer, Glacia smiled. In her eyes, Aonori was a skilled and powerful Saiyan, despite her young age - for a 16 year old, she sure was capable.

She might even be a match for Spicer one day. Although I doubt it myself. Glacia turned towards her old friend.

"Have Aonori brought in for a new assignment."

With a salute, the powerful warrior left to fetch the young Saiyan. Not a particularly hard mission - as soon as the tall, middle-aged Saiyan entered the hangar, the space pod got sucked in by the vessel's artificial gravity and landed next to a large battleship. Within minutes, the female Saiyan was kneeling down in front of Glacia.

"What do you require, Lady Glacia?" Aonori spoke with a clear voice.

This time mentally referring to herself as The Princess of the North, Glacia was facing the window, watching as her ship moved towards Earth. After several minutes of keeping Aonori waiting - it was a loyalty and patience test she really liked to pull - the female Arcosian finally turned and faced the young Saiyan.

"You have distinguished yourself, Aonori. The destruction of Arlia confirms your use in the Planet Trade Organization." She paused for a moment, slowly walking towards the bowed Saiyan, then lifted Aonori's chin and looked at the warrior in the eyes, almost as if trying to hypnotize her. From an outsider's perspective, it was a laughable sight - a short, meager looking female Arcosian, barely reaching the Saiyan's shoulders in height, was looking down on her. But both Aonori and Glacia were well aware who was the domineering one in the room, both in power and in stature.

Underestimating an Arcosian is a mistake not many live to repeat.

"I'm promoting you to Division Commander." Glacia continued after a long pause. "You may assemble your own team when the time comes, but before this is finalised, I have a mission for you. In several hours this ship will reach the third planet of the Sol System. You are to go down and recruit any warriors deemed worthy, and destroy any resistance to our rule. As far as we are aware, there might be a collection of Saiyans down there - so don't miss out on any of them."

On Earth, though, events were unfolding as usual. After a long wait, the first fight of the tournament was announced:

"David Rothstein, the newcomer from West City, versus Hizuko, the martial arts master of the Paozu Heights!"

Oh, crap. That's my fight! David took off the kippah that was still uncomfortably placed on his black hair and started moving through the crowd. "Excuse me! Excuse me! VIP coming through!" the teen muttered and exclaimed as he pushed through the spectator crowds to hurry for his fight before the announcer gave the win to the opponent due to him being absent. "Excuse me! Pregnant woman in serious need of penis surgery coming through! Excuse me! Alzheimer patient seeking for love mate coming through! Jew running from Holocaust coming through!" Okay, I've offended enough people here. Hell, I even offended myself with that last part! And here we go... the boy thought as he jumped over the low border between the spectator areas and the arena, and quickly leaped on the stage.

"8... 9... Oh! Combatant David has arrived to his fight!" the sunglasses wearing announcer shouted as he stopped his countdown. Next to him was a tall old man in a long white coat, smiling with his eyes closed, yet seemingly aware of the surroundings and David's entrance to the arena - that was indeed Hizuko, the boy's opponent. Too creepy. Abort fight?

Yes/No

is not responding... Wait, what the hell am I doing? Oh, yeah, this guy looks focused. Probably a defense focused fighter.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, with the match between the young arrival from West City David Rothstein and the famous martial arts master Hizuko, the World Martial Arts Tournament begins now!"