Deep within the World of Void, in a strange, unearthly place where forgotten things gathered, something began to form. Gathering more and more material by the moment, twisting light by gravitational lensing, the new entity could almost be mistaken for a singularity. It shone with a stubborn, forlorn white light, spearing through the darkness of the Void like a beacon. Even more material aggregated, nearly an entire galaxy's worth slowly spiraling in toward the center. Bit by bit, a strange darkness began to spread from the entity, an inky blackness that slowly became dotted with points of light. In the constant stream of debris being consumed, something small and sharp impacted, embedding itself in a piece of debris. It hung, quivering, the ghostly impression of a face seemingly imprinted in place of a reflection. Then, it was absorbed.
From far across the entire span of creation, the Omni-King shivered.
"Did you feel that, High Priest?" Zeno asked, looking up at the Angel. Both of Zeno looked uncommonly worried.
"Universe Fifteen. It is starting to manifest again. But, it no longer feels the same," High Priest said. He retrieved an ornate staff out of seemingly nowhere, and stood staring into the projection crystal at the top. "Its energy has been corrupted somehow. This recreation is flawed. Inexact, at best."
"It needs to go. Erase! Be gone!" Future Zeno said, waving his hand and focusing on the irritating hiccup in the multiverse. He waited. They all waited. Nothing happened.
"Let me try! Erase! Go away!" Zeno said, concentrating as his counterpart had. Again, nothing happened. Both of them looked up at High Priest with an unhappy pout. "High Priest, it's not working! Why isn't it working?"
"I… do not know, Zeno-sama," High Priest said. For first time in over half a billion years, High Priest actually looked alarmed. "There appears to be some kind of strange power at the heart of this new universe, something that feels almost like… one of us."
"An angel did this? I can't erase them. You said you would keep them under control," Zeno said warningly. His guards took a silent step forward, facing the fatherly angel. High Priest's eyes widened, and he put out his hands in a placating gesture.
"Not an angel, but something with the energy of one," High Priest said. "I honestly do not know how this happened. However, there is one thing I am certain of, Zeno-sama."
"What's that?" both Zeno and Future Zeno asked in unison.
"No god or angel will be able to enter this universe without risking permanent damage," High Priest said. "The corruption is on par with what Your Royal Majesty witnessed with the Kai known as Zamasu, but stronger – the element of angelic ki makes it far more dangerous, and likely to spread if not quarantined properly."
"So can you quarantine it?" Future Zeno asked. Zeno nodded firmly.
"No need, at the moment. It is located within the World of Void. The only things that will come into contact with it are those who seek it out," High Priest said.
"We will need to send mortals then," Zeno said.
"Powerful mortals," Future Zeno said.
"Allow me to investigate personally," High Priest said, bowing. "And I will bring a roster for your consideration.
"This is good," Zeno said with approval.
"Very good," Future Zeno said. He turned to his counterpart. "This is the first time I couldn't erase something."
"Me too," Zeno replied, eyes narrowed. "I don't like it."
DRAGON BALL EXODUS
Rebellion Saga X: Fallen Angels
This is a work of fanfiction, using characters from the Dragon Ball series, and is intended to be seen as a hypothetical continuation of the anime version of Dragon Ball Super (immediately following the Tournament of Power). All characters and settings in this work that are not original are the property of the owners of the Dragon Ball franchise.
GOHAN
Soldiers were already launched from the ships in our hemisphere," Krion had said. "Although Goku and Vegeta should make short work of them, there will be defense necessary below. The following people will be on our hemisphere's defense team, centered around Capsule Corporation: Tien, Yamcha, Master Roshi, Piccolo, Gohan, Caulifla, Jiren, Dyspo, Goten, and Trunks. You will also have military support, which should be able to handle some of the non-elite soldiers. Good luck."
"You're going to have to open a bar so I can pay my tab," Gohan said jokingly to Piccolo. The Namekian still looked slightly pale, but otherwise in good shape. "Seriously, how many times have you bailed me out?"
"Don't worry about it," Piccolo said gruffly. "Just don't be stupid next time."
"Fine, whatever," Gohan said.
"I cannot sense the enemy," Jiren said. The conversations around him died almost instantly. The gray-skinned alien stared inscrutably up at the blue sky. "Are we in the correct position?"
"All telemetry systems are functioning as intended," Twelve's voice came over their scouters. "Significant enemy contact should occur in under one minute."
"A robot?" Dyspo asked quizzically.
"Supercomputer. Hologram. Trainer," Twelve said. "I have considered constructing a robotic body, but I believe that it is more beneficial for me to exist without a permanent physical presence."
"Twelve takes some getting used to," Trunks said to the two Pride Troopers. "I kind of created him by accident, but he's pretty awesome. He's been training Dad and Goku for the last few weeks."
"They are being trained by a hologram?" Jiren asked, looking dubious.
"A hologram with full control over a customized training room," Trunks said proudly. "It has essentially every major hazard that can occur in combat, plus the room itself can stand up to godly ki."
"Pretty fancy," Dyspo said. "Whatever happened to sparring? Pushups? Running laps?"
"We still do plenty of that as well," Gohan said. His hair had remained a luminous white after his near death experience, eyes a light, liquid blue. Jiren keeps looking at me. I'm not sure if he's going to challenge me or try to eat me. He's pretty intimidating.
"There they are," Tien said, all three eyes focusing into the distance. "That's… a lot."
"No kidding," Caulifla said. An entire quarter of the sky resolved into a great white-and-gray cloud of soldiers, quickly descending from the sky. "Hey, uh… Twelve, how many of the soldiers are left in the ships?"
"Calculating…" Twelve said over the scouter. "Probable answer is: none."
"So, only twelve thousand soldiers. Nothing too crazy," Yamcha said, trying to sound confident.
"Actually, it looks more like six thousand soldiers, twice over," Master Roshi said. The enemy formation had split – one half was still heading toward Capsule Corporation, while the other appeared to be heading for Satan City. "Okay, who wants to go handle the other force?"
"We will," Trunks and Goten said, almost in unison.
"Children," Jiren said flatly. "I cannot entrust the defense of an entire population to children. I will go."
"Don't underestimate us," Goten said, standing in front of the hulking fighter. Despite the difference in power, the boy refused to look away.
"A boy who looks like Goku," Jiren said. Dyspo, standing beside him, leaned over to take a closer look.
"Huh, you're right," the long-eared alien said. "Well, I'm going with you. You're going to need speed to keep these people safe. Also, I've seen one of Goku's sons in action already. I'm curious about this younger one."
"I'm not… quite… as powerful as my brother," Goten said, turning slightly red. "Yet."
"Don't sweat it," Dyspo said. "They're just soldiers. Even the elites don't look that tough. Besides, we have the big man here for backup. There's no way we can lose."
The three of them looked over at Jiren, and saw empty air. The large alien had already walked away.
BULMA
For what seemed like the thousandth time in the day, a new visitor cast a shadow across Bulma's cockpit. The Shenron had just finished landing procedures, and she was in the process of going through the post-flight checklist. Who could have been left in here? Is this another god? She looked up to see the last person she was expecting. She found herself immediately angry. Angrier than she had been for a long time.
"Bulma, can we talk?" Whis asked. He looked uncertain, almost nervous. "I know the events of the last few weeks are-"
Much as his master had been in the distant past, Whis found himself on the receiving end of a slap. The shock on his face was satisfying.
"One minute we're friends, and the next you and your boss are hiring Frieza to invade us," Bulma shouted, poking him in the chest. "You stupid jerk – all you had to do was show up for one lunch, and I could have negotiated an end to this in minutes. Instead, both you and my husband keep me out of the loop and the whole thing goes to shit. Seriously, Whis. Why?"
"I… had to follow orders?" Whis answered timidly. He looked mildly disgusted with his own words. "No. That's not right. Bulma, we had to do something about Broly. I wasn't expecting Goku to come sniffing around, or him and Vegeta to outright defy Beerus-sama. I certainly wasn't expecting to end up at war with Earth."
"I get that he's powerful, but why is Broly such a threat? He's actually a pretty nice guy," Bulma said.
"He is nice. Also honest and compassionate, to his credit," Whis said. "But when he becomes truly angry, the power he has rivals that of the gods. Without the ability to control it, he could end up seriously damaging any number of universes to the point where they are no longer viable."
"So, altruism was your only reason?" Bulma asked skeptically. The two of them waited for the Shenron's ramp to fall, and walked down into the landing pad.
" I won't lie, some of this was just for appearances," Whis said. "Universe Seven has a very uncomfortable spotlight on it right now, and Beerus-sama is, as you humans like to say, feeling the heat."
"That… actually explains a lot," Bulma said thoughtfully. "You're still a jerk, Whis. But I'll upgrade you to 'jerk under duress'."
"How kind of you," Whis said drily. "I have no idea why I'm putting up with being lectured by a mortal. You do remember what I am?"
"Old enough to know better?" Bulma said, stashing her flight helmet under one arm. Whis stared at her, speechless. I think I might have gone too far. Crap.
"First your pet hologram, and now you," Whis said archly. "You're both very disrespectful."
"Pet hologram? Wait. You've been talking with Twelve?" Bulma asked.
"He thought it was funny to hack into my staff. Contacted me in the middle of a meeting with Champa-sama and my sister, and accused me of having a personal symbol that looks like a stovetop burner," Whis said with an indignant expression. I can tell when he's honestly feeling something and when he's playing. This is the latter. Totally fake. I get the impression Twelve was trying to provoke him, but ended up entertaining him instead.
"Well, that's unacceptable," Bulma said in a businesslike tone. I also like to play. "He's one of my employees, and as such his conduct is subject to Corporate guidelines of acceptable behavior. I will make sure he is suitably disciplined."
"Wait, no," Whis said, a little too quickly. Bulma forced herself not to smirk. "That's not necessary. He didn't do any permanent harm."
"How did he hack into your staff anyway?" Bulma asked. "No offense, I kind of thought those were magical."
"Our staves? No," Whis said. "Almost entirely technology. Your… employee… wrote a programming interface using the language of the gods. To be honest, it's a rather impressive feat."
"He what." Bulma said, staring at Whis. "How does he keep doing this? Every time I think I've got that damn AI figured out, he pulls something else out of his digital butt."
"Oh, Bulma," Whis said, giggling to himself. "I have a new favorite mental image."
TOP
"Safeguard the settlers and workers first!" Top ordered. The sheer mass of the enemy had pushed the defenders back into the dusty, construction material-strewn streets of New Sadala. The androids and Krion had been harrying the enemy's ever-changing flank, keeping them from putting too much pressure on the settlement itself, but three skirmishers weren't enough to keep them truly contained. Directly above New Sadala, a gigantic furball of a battle had erupted. The entirety of the refugee population, including the children, were in a pitched melee with the invaders. The ferocity of the refugees on their home territory made them a sight to behold. Frieza's army kept advancing, and more and more of them just kept dying. But the Saiyans were mostly civilian volunteers, and it showed – more than a few had already been incapacitated by the enemy.
The only good news, as far as Top could see, was that the enemy had finally stopped coming. Given that the sky was thick with them for several kilometers in all directions, even that was cold comfort. We just have to wear them down. They have numbers, but we have a massive edge in power. All it took was a glance at the mass of the enemy formation to interrupt his thoughts. They're preparing for a major counterattack. We have one chance.
"We have an opening," Top said quietly on the strange headset they had given him. It was uncomfortable and ill-shaped for his head, but it was also very useful. "Androids and Krion, at the count of fifteen, attack that dense column of enemies directly opposite from our position. The Pride Troopers will strike from the other side."
"I was about to suggest the same thing," Krion said. "Let's do this."
The column of enemies was heading directly for the heart of New Sadala, where the most important buildings were located. A virtual tornado made of soldiers was preparing to touch down in the public forum when a cacophony of light and power struck simultaneously from both sides. Neither squad bothered with fancy maneuvers or attacks, instead putting their ki into simple, effective strikes and taking down as many invaders as they could. The enemy found out, to their dismay, that large did not mean slow; Top's punches, delivered at high speed, were enough to send multiple enemies to the ground below with each strike.
A golden light poured from Krion, sending yellow beams through the formation of soldiers. A few seconds later, an answering light came from one of the Pride Troopers. Koara just transformed. Good. Let them see what a Saiyan can do when he chooses to fight for Justice. The Saiyan in question wasted no time, charging up a sizable ball of ki and unleashing an intense beam of energy straight down the mass of the enemy column. Before the invaders could recover, he dove into the opening he'd just carved and let out a massive pulse of golden energy, sending many of the soldiers flying through the air.
"Whoa, who are you?" Krion asked over the scouter. "You're not one of the refugees."
"Koara," the bald Saiyan said, surrounded by a wild aura. "Saiyan of Universe Eleven."
His pronouncement was ill-timed, distracting many of Earth's Saiyans who were wearing scouters. As they turned to try and catch a glimpse of their new ally, many of them were on the receiving end of punishing blows from the invaders. Koara watched the accidental mess he'd caused and winced. He felt a very large hand pat him on the shoulder.
"Work on your timing," Top said quietly. The Saiyan only nodded.
HIGH PRIEST
The part of the World of Void surrounding the corrupted copy of Universe Fifteen was lit up with escaped light, as well as a few things that had been rejected by the rebuilt universe. Floating in space was one such figure, a tall man with a fan of spiked hair and a muscular build. He appeared to be unconscious, seemingly succumbed to the vacuum. High Priest knew better.
"Maizcal," High Priest said, smiling politely. "I know you can hear me."
One eye popped open, black-on-black. The other followed. The man pulled himself into a kneeling position.
"High Priest-sama," Maizcal croaked. The Angel gestured, and a glass of water appeared in front of the man. He greedily drank it down, ending with a satisfied sigh. "I'm... still alive? Zeno-sama didn't erase us?"
"Zeno-sama erased your entire universe fifteen years ago," High Priest said disdainfully. "Neither it or you should be here, but somehow you are."
"I see," the former god of destruction said. Unconsciously, he rubbed at the back of his neck. "I… really messed up, didn't I?"
"That is an understatement, Maizcal," High Priest said. He smiled down at the former god, a smile belied by the disgust in his eyes. "Thanks to your mismanagement, Reis became the first of my children to request that her own universe be erased."
"Wait. Reis asked…?" Maizcal trailed off. He closed his eyes, suddenly looking resigned. "She warned me. She warned me many times. I made a big mistake."
"Yes, she did, and yes, you did," High Priest said. "This is why I generally disapprove of Saiyans becoming gods of destruction. Once you are the most powerful in your universe, your kind always loses motivation and becomes listless."
"Yeah," Maizcal said, nodding "In my case, I may have overdid it with the partying and such."
"Reis claimed that you had kept the same party going for the eighty years leading up to Universe Fifteen's erasure," High Priest said, frowning. "And that you managed to corrupt your universe's Supreme Kai as well."
"Oh, yeah. Atua," Maizcal said. "He kind of showed up to the party and never left."
"You are a dangerous influence on the universe you inhabit," High Priest said, shaking his head. "But never mind all of that. You're going back into service, temporarily."
"You mean that…" Maizcal trailed off. He grinned down at his hands, which were shining with red light. "I can feel it."
"You're getting that power back for a reason. You're going to find a team of mortals capable of getting into that bastardization of your defunct universe and retrieving the artifact that appears to be causing this entire mess," High Priest said. As he finished speaking, another being popped into existence to his left. She was of middling height and slender, with the blue skin and white hair of any Angel. Her face was somber, almost haunted, beneath businesslike shoulder-length hair. There was a certain darkness in her eyes that one familiar with the Angels would find disturbing. As soon as she reappeared, her gaze locked on Maizcal. High priest opened a portal for himself. "You two go ahead and get reacquainted. You've got a month. Maizcal – if you cannot find a solution by the end of the month, regardless of what happens to the universe, you will be erased."
The reinstated god of destruction opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it as the elder Angel vanished into the portal. He looked up to find his former attendant standing over him, literal rage glittering in her eyes.
"Maizcal-sama," she said, forcing the honorific through clenched teeth. "I was dreaming, and now I have woken to a nightmare."
"Reis, it doesn't have to be-" the god started to say.
"Shut up," she interrupted him. His mouth quickly shut. "You didn't listen to me before. You made me… you made me give up. I have to live with that now. I'm the Angel who failed."
"Reis," Maizcal said. He looked truly miserable. "It's not your fault. It's mine."
"I know very well whose fault it is," she said, in a near whisper. A chill ran up the god's spine.
GOTEN
Keeping pace with the huge mass of soldiers flying in the distance, the half-Saiyan children flew slightly apart from the Pride Troopers. All of them were set to converge for the defense of Satan City.
"Trunks, I feel weird asking this," Goten said. Trunks glanced over at him suspiciously. "But can we take this one seriously? Like, really seriously?"
"Well, sure," Trunks said, looking slightly relieved. "No offense Goten, but you're usually the guy playing around in a fight."
"I know," Goten replied. I can hear the warning sirens from the City. We're getting close. "Remember when we first fused? Remember getting Super Saiyan 3 for the first time? We were one of the most powerful things on the planet. Now both of our fathers are gods, as well as my big brother. I can't just sit back and play like I used to. It's like, I think I'm going to miss it, but I'm going to regret it if I don't get it together."
"That's a mouthful," Trunks said, grinning. "I've been thinking along the same lines. Just because we're kids doesn't mean we can't go for Super Saiyan God… or even beyond it."
"Yeah!" Goten agreed. "But… we can't just throw Gotenks at it every time it gets hard."
"It's not like fusing has a great track record recently," Trunks said. "We've been getting owned, and those two guys we taught the fusion dance to had their butts kicked by their own boss. From now on, I say Gotenks if we need it, teamwork if we don't."
"Sounds good to me," Goten said. The two of them pulled up just outside of Satan City's airspace. A long line of busses were leaving the city, along with a small horde of helicopters. The Pride Troopers came to a halt next to them.
"They're evacuating. Good. Civilians don't always get a chance," Dyspo said.
"The first reassuring thing I've seen about this universe," Jiren commented, eying the oncoming invaders. As they watched, an entire flight of squads armed with long range rifles split from the mass of the enemy and started blasting at the City with suppressing fire. Goten started at what sounded like rubber being tied in a knot, and realized that Jiren was clenching his fist. Something in the large fighter's eyes hardened. "The enemy does not discriminate between military and civilian targets. Unacceptable."
"Hey, wait for…" Dyspo trailed off as his teammate sped toward one of the enemy rifle squads. "I don't know why I even tried."
"Kind of like my Dad, except scary and intimidating," Trunks said.
"Trunks, your dad is scary and intimidating," Goten said. Trunks snorted.
"Kids, the enemy is almost at the city," Dyspo said, exasperated. "You can talk later, we need to go."
"Lead the way, Mr. Dyspo," Goten said. Rolling his eyes, the alien simply grabbed both of them and accelerated to twice the speed of sound in under a second, leaving their startled yells echoing through the nearly deserted city. Upon reaching the enemy formation, Dyspo unceremoniously tossed both boys directly at the mass of the enemy and then seemed to disappear. Seconds later, a blinding flash and a sonic boom sounded, followed by screams and cries of pain erupting from a nearby company of elites. The two boys halted themselves and transformed just ahead of the center of the enemy's advance. The invaders in front stopped dead, causing those behind them to pile up. Several at the front rank turned and started cursing at the aggravated soldiers behind them, only to be pushed forward by the mass.
As Dyspo shot through the enemy formation taking out high-value targets and Jiren methodically shredded the sniper teams and destroyed their weapons, the two boys found themselves the only stable line of defense between thousands of invaders and one of the most populous cities on Earth. Their ki flared, their jaws set, and they both began summoning the most powerful attacks they could think of. The Defense of Satan City had begun.
CAULIFLA
Taking out those ships was pretty fun, but this is awesome. It's a fight that never ends!
Caulifla was in her element, swimming in a sea of invaders like a great predatory shark. At first, she had focused on defense, thinking that the mixed mob of elite and regular soldiers might be able to hurt her. After powering up to Super Saiyan, their blows felt like insect bites. She ignored them, and put on as much aggression as she could. Punching, kicking, and throwing blasts with abandon, she gave in to temptation and returned to her old ways of fighting, the dirty and brutally effective scrapping that had seen her to the top of Sadala's criminal underworld. The techniques she used were designed to take out Saiyans – against Organization soldiers, they were absolute overkill. I'm covered in blood. Literally. Ugh, it's gross! It's already sticky, and then it's going to start to stink. We need to get this over with.
Around her, the battle raged on. She kept catching glances of Piccolo, sniping at the enemy from high up and causing chaos in their ranks. Gohan was a living eraser of white light; he flew directly through the formation flaring his aura with godly ki, literally incinerating his opponents. The three Earthlings had stuck together, and were consistently out-maneuvering and out-fighting the invaders. When they committed to any kind of beam attack, it was done to horrific effect on a suddenly out-of-position enemy. So this is what the Earthlings can do when their backs are to the wall. They're actually stronger than some of the guys in my gang. I'm pretty impressed.
Below them, the grounds of Capsule Corporation remained untouched. However, this was far from a miracle. Rows of grizzled men and stern-faced women dressed in the blue-white-black of Corporation security had taken up positions atop the buildings, armed with experimental grade weaponry from R&D's stockpiles. Between tangling with the fighters above and the garrison below, the enemy had been completely unable to touch Corporate assets. Glancing downward, Caulifla caught a glimpse of two familiar figures standing in front of the main complex. That's Bulma. And that's Whis. Whis! We need to have a chat, you haloed asshole!
Abruptly breaking off from her fight, Caulifla surged through the mass of invaders, leaving a tunnel of injured and dying soldiers. In a few seconds, she won her way clear and flew down to land in front of the Corporation headquarters. When she looked up, she saw that Whis was staring at her, wide-eyed. I've seen that look. I've WORN that look. The bastard actually did it!
"Whis, what in the hell were you doing sending assassins after us?" Caulifla demanded, stepping forward. I know how powerful he is. I just don't care. I want answers!
"It's… I… I can explain," he said lamely.
"You did what?" Bulma asked. The friendly aura that had surrounded the two of them vanished in a second.
"I was trying to prevent the rebellion from spreading to Universe Six," Whis said. "I had no idea what Champa-sama was going to do. I was afraid something drastic would happen."
"Something drastic did happen," Caulifla countered. "We had some weird space entity attack us on your order. If Kale hadn't scared him off, we'd all be dead. We also had Frieza's men try to assassinate us, once again on your orders. I don't get it. You're the most powerful person in this entire universe. If you really wanted us dead, why didn't you do it yourself?"
"I'm not allowed to take such actions directly, unless Beerus-sama, High Priest-sama, or Zeno-sama gives an order to that effect," Whis said. He suddenly looked weary, the accusatory glances of both women seeming to tire him. "Caulifla, you and your friends chose the worst possible time to come to Universe Seven. You also did so without getting permission from your God of Destruction or Supreme Kai. Your presence here is the only reason why Champa-sama and Vados were obligated to get involved."
"Well still, you didn't have to try and kill us," Caulifla said. "You could have simply sent us back."
Whis' reply was drowned out as a nearby company of Corporation security unleashed a volley of energy blasts. The approaching enemy force scattered, almost a quarter of their number shot down. They returned fire on the well-covered security force, inflicting minimal casualties. With a look of annoyance, Whis gestured with his staff and encased the three of them in a green-tinted translucent bubble of energy. The noise of the battle was abruptly cut off, leaving them with ear-ringing silence.
"There. Wars are just so noisy," Whis said, making a dissatisfied face at the carnage outside. "And no, I couldn't have sent you back. I know who brought you here. I'm not allowed to simply undo His work."
"Then you know that-" Caulifla started.
"Yes," Whis interrupted, holding a finger in front of his lips. "And those who gain such privilege and speak about it with others tend to lose it."
"I… gotcha," Caulifla said. Before she could continue, Bulma butted in.
"Starting to sound pretty cryptic here. Want to clue me in?" Bulma asked, looking pointedly at Whis.
"Bulma, I'm sorry but… I really can't. Not this time," he said, looking apologetic.
"So you can't tell me about how your dad is running an illegal inter-universe taxi service?" Bulma asked, smirking.
For the second time in a week, Whis looked absolutely floored. Bulma couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"Hit's targets in this universe all had one thing in common – they were all survivors of Beerus-sama's attacks," Bulma said. "My intelligence people were keeping track. The only being I know with the means and motive to clean up loose threads across universes is High Priest-sama. He was the only person I suspected."
"You're becoming dangerous, Bulma," Whis said, half-jokingly. Bulma gave him a strange look.
"That's… exactly what I said to Twelve," Bulma said.