New Judgment

Chapter 1: The New Goddess… Maybe

"So, Court… Are you ready?"

"Y-Yes… I'm ready, Whis."

"You sound nervous."

"Well, you know, this is kind of a big deal, so, uhh… I don't know what to expect, you know?"

"Hmm-hmm… Very well. Then let us begin the test."

Was I really ready? Boy, this sure was a great time to be having doubts. But no matter how difficult this test was going to be, I knew I had to pass it. I simply had to. I had been thinking long and hard for this decision, and after the dozens of threats that had come to endanger our planet, I realized that I would need to take drastic measures to keep everyone that I cared for safe. I was to become… the next Goddess of Destruction. With Beerus retired, Whis believed that I would be the most qualified for the job. At first it sounded absurd, but maybe destruction wasn't just about wrath sated only by the complete extinction of others. Maybe there was more… you know, thought to the whole process, some more insight into the decision to destroy rather than only focusing on the end result. Whatever the case, I had to make sure to pass this test. For mine and everyone's sake.

"The first question is…"

"… Keep calm, Court, you've got this…" I reassured myself under my breath.

"… What's five plus three?"

"… Eh?"

"Well?"

"O-Oh, u-umm… eight?"

"Correct! Congratulations, Court, you're already doing better than 97% of our candidates!"

"… You're kidding…"

"Ohoho! I wish I were."

Never freakin' mind, the test was actually a piece of cake. All of the questions were either basic knowledge about the history of the multiverse – all of which I had studied in the short text book Whis gave me – or common sense questions to ensure that I wasn't an idiot. Even then, I had to admit that my dad would have already flopped this thing, which is even more embarrassing considering he was the one that originally got the offer to become the next God of Destruction. Love the man, but he did get dropped on the head as a kid, and it shows. Anyways, the test was almost over, I just needed to answer one more question.

"Hey, uhh, Whis? This is the real test, right?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask, dear?"

"Well, it's just… It feels a bit… What's the word…"

"Easy?"

"… Yeah. Easy. Really easy. Suspiciously easy, even."

"Ohoho! Well, Court, I admire your attitude! But the next part won't be a question."

"Oh?"

"It's an order."

Saying this, Whis pointed his staff to the side. Suddenly, a boy was teleported to the spot where Whis was aiming. The kid didn't look human; I'm not sure what species he was, actually. But what I did know is that he was angry, and he was shouting insults and demands that a child of his age really shouldn't be saying, even if this was all a bit sudden. He might have been a kid, but he didn't appear innocent at all. I almost felt bad for him, just thinking of the kind of hell he must have been raised around.

"Who the hell are you freaks?! What the hell is this place?! You better get me back to my house, or I'm going to beat you all up! Don't think I won't do it!" God, he was a brat.

"Umm… Whis, who is this?"

"This is John Bon Bon, and he's been a naughty boy. He constantly bullies his little sister, gets in fights with all the other kids in his neighborhood, throws his mother's food at her face when he doesn't like it, steals property from the stores in his town, and just last week he killed his neighbor's new dog out of pure cruelty!"

"What?! How do you know all that, you blue-skinned jackass! If you tell on me, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp!" This kid was horrible! But again, why would Whis…?

"So, Court, tell me… Wouldn't you agree that little John here has been a bit too, umm… detrimental to the people around him?"

"I-I… Well, if what you're saying is true, then…"

"I'm glad you agree! And so, as the new Goddess of Destruction, it will be your job… to destroy him."

I… had a feeling this is what this was coming down to. Being the Goddess of Destruction meant that I'd have to erase evil out of existence, no matter what or who that evil was. This was my duty, and I had to go through with it… even if it meant killing a child. I mean, yeah, this kid was a major trouble-maker – the dog part in particular struck a bad nerve inside me – but he was still a kid. Not to mention, I'd never taken a life before. When my uncle came to Earth back when my brother and I were only about four years old, I stayed home with my mom and didn't find out about all the horrible things that had gone down until way later when Krillin told us. Then when Vegeta and his partner Nappa invaded a year later, again, I was with mom, watching the fight from the glass ball of Master Roshi's sister. I didn't go to Namek, either. Garlic Junior, that… happened… I think. Heck, it wasn't until around the arrival of Trunks from the future that I started training martial arts, and it was mostly because I got jealous of Gohan getting to spend more time with dad than me. I didn't have anywhere close to the "hidden potential" that my brother had, so even if I had Saiyan blood flowing through me – as obviously demonstrated by my tail that I utterly refuse to amputate – I was never strong enough to get involved in any major fights. I can't even go Super Saiyan, which even Goten managed to accomplish at a young age. The bottom line is: I'm not a fighter, not like all the other Saiyans around me. I enjoy a good, clean sparring match every now and then, but I've never had to fight for my life. Which again begs the question: if it's not power that Whis saw in me, then what? I just…

"Court? Time's running out, you know."

"Wh-What? But…?!" There was no time to think any more. I had to make my choice. After hearing Whis' words, that John kid started running away like a lunatic. Though we were on a big open field, so there weren't many places he could run to. I had to do it. I had to. I raised my hand and aimed towards the running child. Energy started forming at the palm of my hand – nothing like what dad or Vegeta can do, but enough to take an average person's life. And then… I shot.

A small explosion burst where the kid was. Once the smoke cleared I saw him, lying dead on the ground. I couldn't believe it; I had taken a life with my own hands. I felt… heavy. It was as if the weight of a thousand sins was resting on my shoulders all of a sudden, even though according to my duty I had done the right thing. I couldn't hide the sense of guilt that I felt, and Whis took notice of this. He gave me a questioning look, and yet still said…

"… Congratulations, Court. You passed the test."

"Whis, I-I… I don't know, I still have…"

"Doubt? Ohoho! Don't worry, being a God of Destruction doesn't mean that you have to be devoid of humanity!"

"I… I see…"

"I should take you to meet Sidra one of these days. I have a feeling you two will get along just fine!"

And just like that, still with a million questions racing in my head, I had been dubbed the new Goddess of Destruction of Universe 7. Ooohhh, this was going to be… a journey. I'm not sure if a good one or a bad one, just… a freakin' journey, that's for sure.

I tried to get my head off of things by having Whis help me with the preparations of my new "job." I was given some new clothes, similar to the ones Beerus wore but a bit less revealing – they have a hole for my tail, though, that's neat. You'd be surprised at how difficult it is to get custom-made pants back on Earth, despite the fact that a large portion of the population are already animals and tail-holes should be a simple request. Whatever, I don't make things, I just destroy them now. I was also given the ability "Destruction" which, as the name implies, destroys things. Literally just point my hand at something and poof, gone, doesn't matter if it's stronger than me. Maybe Vegeta would stop picking on me so much with this new power… But there was still a concern. Even after becoming a Goddess of Destruction, I still had my old not-particularly-impressive strength. The other gods have had eons to train and become stronger, but I'm only 22 and have been practicing martial arts for, like, what, half of that? Dude, even Yamcha can keep up with me! Thankfully, Whis had a solution for that problem.

"Oh, one more thing, Master Court."

"… Please don't call me 'Master,' it feels weird…"

"Sure thing, Master!"

"…" Heeeee's gonna be that guy, oh boy.

"Anyways, here you go." Whis handed me what appeared to be a sword of some description. Once I held it in my hands, I felt a strange energy emanating from it.

"This isn't any ordinary sword, is it…?"

"It's called 'the Mediator.' It has the power to equalize the power of everyone within a large area. If you ever have to face someone considerably stronger than you, this will bring their power down and yours up to where there will be no difference in strength. At that point, it'll be a battle of wits more than anything."

"But… can't I just use Destruction on them?"

"My, you're never going to become a better fighter if you always seek the easy way out. Besides, I have a feeling you're not going to end up destroying everyone you come across."

"Wow… So, does this mean I can stand on equal grounds as you, Whis?"

"Nope! Doesn't work on us Angels. Sorry, dear."

"Figures… But will this let me kick Vegeta's ass when he starts getting annoying?"

"Absolutely!"

"That's good enough for me!" If you couldn't tell already, I don't like Vegeta. He's gotten on my nerves more times than I'm physically able to count. You know, that's besides the whole tried-to-kill-my-dad-and-brother-on-several-occasions fiasco. "Anyways, so… What now?"

"It's up to you. Here's a map of the entire universe." Whis used his staff to project a hologram of the universe, and it had thousands of little dots which were all either planets or stars. Some of the planets ("some" still being thousands) were color-coded to symbolize that there was life in them. "Ideally, we should visit every single one of those planets periodically to determine what kind of moral ranking they have, then you'll need to choose whether the planet needs to be destroyed or not."

"Wait, all of these planets have to be checked?! Periodically?! How long is that going to take?!"

"Depends on how active you want to be. It's not like it matters, anyways. You're immortal now, so we have all the time in the multiverse to do it."

"Oh… Good… I think…?"

"Unless the Grand Zeno decides to erase this universe."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

… I think I actually understood what he said, but part of me thinks Whis is just trying to prevent me from slacking off like Beerus did in his own weird, demented fashion. I may technically be his boss now, but I'm not messing with that guy any more than necessary…

Seeing as I had a busy schedule ahead of me (you ever heard of understatements?), I thought it'd be best to spend at least one day back on Earth with my family and friends before starting this arduous journey. But I preemptively knew that people weren't going to be able to treat me the same, no matter how much I tried to act like I was still the same ol' Court they grew up with. Especially mom, she was going to say stuff like…

"YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME A MASS MURDERER?!"

"M-Mom! Listen, listen, it's not that, it's more like… more like… well… well, OK, yeah, it's exactly that, but—"

"BUT NOTHING! YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE GOING TO GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM AND—"

"Mom!" This time I shouted much angrier, which unintentionally caused a gush of energy to fly out of my body, pushing mom back a few feet. You know, maybe I do underestimate my own strength some times. "… Sorry, I didn't mean to shout like that. But I need you to listen to me."

"C-Court… I just… I just…" She started crying after saying that, which made me feel even worse, but I had to compose myself.

"I'm not doing this because I want to kill millions of innocents. I'm not doing this to get an easy power boost. I'm not even doing this as a stress reliever. Mom, I need you to understand: I'm doing this for us; for all of us." Though I still had questions as to why Whis thought I'd be worthy of becoming a Goddess of Destruction, I also saw it from my own perspective and realized that this was the best I could do to keep everyone I cared for safe. With this power, I'd be able to wipe out any threats that came to torment Earth. Or heck, even threats within Earth. Really, Beerus should have been doing that already, but you know what they say: if no one's going to do it for you, you gotta do it yourself.

"B-But what about spending time with us, Court?! Your family?! Don't you want Goten to have a big sister to look up to?! I don't want my daughter to…!"

"I'm not going to disappear forever, mom. Just see it like I'm moving out into my own place with a new job! You know, like Gohan! It's just that the place is reeeeeeally far away, but hey, I'll still visit whenever I can! And…" I needed to say something else to really reassure her that everything was going to be OK. "… And this way, you won't have to be worried about dad all the time. I know he's incredibly strong and only keeps getting stronger with every fight, but he has failed in the past. I… I'm going to eliminate anyone that could be a challenge for him. If I have to prevent him from growing stronger so that I can make sure to never lose him again, then so be it. Even if he hates me for this, it's for his own good."

There was something else about what I said, though obviously I wasn't going to tell this to mom, that would have just made her feel even worse. But dad… well, he didn't have a desire to grow stronger. No, he had an addiction to it. And he was willing to put not only himself in danger, but others as well, so long as he could fight someone strong. It's because of the Saiyan blood running through his veins, the same blood that's coursing through mine. Though I guess in my case, I'm a bit more like mom in that department.

"Court… I-I understand now, but still, don't you think this is too dangerous for you? I could never bear to see my own children suffer, not like Gohan did for all those years…"

"Heh… Don't worry about that, mom! I'm still Son Goku's daughter – I'm a tough cookie! And, well, you know, I'm also immortal now. That helps." To think that Frieza went to great lengths to achieve immortality, and yet I got that power served to me on a silver platter. Oh, how times have changed…

"So… what are you going to do now, Court?"

"I was hoping to spend at least one day with you and everyone before heading out. Goten's at Capsule Corp. with Trunks, right? Let's go there first." I was probably unable to fly on the Flying Nimbus anymore; I don't think it takes too kindly to deities of genocide. But mom could still use it, thankfully, so with her on it, we both set flight towards West City. I don't know what kind of reactions I was going to get from the others, but whatever the case, I just wanted to see everyone together. Who knew how often I'd be able to do this sort of stuff again? Maybe more frequently than I thought! Or maybe never. Only the future held the answer…

Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far! This idea literally popped up in my head while I was having dinner the other day, and then the story just started flowing in my head. I wanted to write a story for Dragon Ball Super primarily because there's a lot of things about the show that left me unsatisfied, if I have to be honest. I'm not here to bash on it, but rather to make the story that I want to see. And like Court said: if no one's going to do it for you, you gotta do it yourself.

Of course, something I need to keep in mind is that this is a fan fiction. You know, text. Despite this being a Dragon Ball story, I'm going to keep fights on the low side, because fights are not something you want to read, they're something you want to see (unless you're a reeeeeeally good writer that can bring a battle to life with words, which I can't). You should expect this fan fiction to be filled primarily with character interactions and such, things that can be properly portrayed through text.

I'm not going to put an arbitrary schedule or deadlines for when to update the story with new chapters. I'll update when I can, whether that be after a couple of days or after several weeks. This is just for fun, after all, so forcing myself to write something I'll be dissatisfied with would beat the purpose.

Finally, that's Court up there on the cover, in case you need a physical image of what she looks like (and since I'm no good with describing a character's appearance through text). It's just a quick drawing I put together, nothing special, but hopefully it gets the job done.