Ascension, Part 1

by edgarmash79

In Age 790, Goku eagerly awaited the coming of a new Martial Arts Tournament to enter his new protégé, Uub. Elsewhere in the Eleventh Universe, a mortal with a unique ability was about to set in motion a sequence of events that could irrevocably change the fate of not only his universe but all of them.

28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27 – "An unavoidable battle takes place! Three battlegrounds set the stage."

Back in Universe 7…

Kelerot appeared and staggered a few steps afterwards, almost hitting the brick wall that led to the entrance of the tournament grounds. He held himself up leaning against it with his hand and his breathing was heavy and haggard. He closed his eyes for a moment to scan the area and then opened them again.

"Where did they all go? Dammit, I don't have time to find them. I need to heal first," he muttered to himself and tested his legs to see if he could walk steadily and was able to put some weight on them to take a few steps forward. The imprint of his hand on the brick wall carried an aftereffect of his gravity technique and the area collapsed within itself, drawing the wall within it before it stopped.

He spotted one of the monk officials exiting the entryway and he was busy dismantling the table and kiosk where competitors had signed in and he had his back to Kelerot as he approached him.

"Hey, you there," Kelerot said, walking up to him slowly. His eyes glazed over for a moment and he felt like he was ready to pass out and pain shot through his head all at once, more images of the multiverse flashing through his head. Stars, nebulae, clusters of colorful imagery and planets blurred through his mind; thousands of images moved one after the other so fast it was like a strobe light flashing in his eyes and he let out a moan of pain, squeezing his head.

"Goodness! Do you need help, sir?" the monk shouted and Kelerot grabbed him by his robes.

"The one who does the healing, I need to see him," Kelerot told him.

"One who does healing? We have doctors on site if you need medical assistance," the monk informed him and Kelerot glared up at him, causing the monk to stare back nervously.

"I don't need a doctor; I need the one who healed me before. He's, um, he's…" he shook his head, trying to get the flashing images out of his head. He desperately wanted to focus on remembering the one who healed him and he grabbed his head again, falling forward. The monk looked on in a state of confusion but he quickly panicked as he began floating off the ground.

"What? Hey! What's happening! Help! Someone help me, I can't get back down!" he cried out and several other monks rushed to grab his ankles but they were being pulled up with him as well, freaking out. The floating monk continued rising up towards the sky and the other monks lost their grip on his ankles and fell down, one of them crashing into the table. The floating monk's screams faded away as he continued floating upward and out of sight, the rest of them watching on in horror as they turned to Kelerot. He tried to grab another one but they all backed away out of instinct.

"I need a healer!" Kelerot screamed and the monks jumped from his voice. Kelerot glared at them and looked up to see the speck that was the monk he grabbed earlier and then he spotted the wall that had caved in on itself and his eyes widened in horror.

"No…this is bad…" he whispered. If I don't heal up soon, my energy will go out of control and affect everything around here and I won't have the power to contain it!

"Healer, I need a healer, the one…um…with pink skin…wears yellow gloves and a cape…"

It was all Kelerot could get out before he grabbed his head again and screamed. The monks stared on but one of them figured out what Kelerot was saying and he approached him.

"There's only one person I can think of that matches your description: Mr. Buu. He's Hercule's closest friend. He's still on this island if you want to see him."

Kelerot kept a hand to his head as he looked up at the monk. "Take me to him. Hurry!"

"But what about him? Will he come back down?" the monk asked him and Kelerot let out another cry of pain.

"If you don't heal me quick more of you will float away, or worse!" Kelerot yelled and they frantically ran off. They returned, accompanied by a man with an afro and a long handlebar mustache that contoured his upper jaw and a five o'clock shadow. He wore his signature brown gi with a white belt and white socks with black boots, though the hair on his head had been receding back to reveal more of his bald spot.

"Here he is, Hercule. I don't know what he's done, but he made one of our chief officials float off out of sight! And look at what he did to the wall over there!" he said and the former world champion looked puzzled.

"Huh, well, this is a dire situation. Hm, what's the best course of action for a former champion such as myself to take?" he asked, hand to his chin, rubbing his fingers through his scruff under his moustache. Kelerot reached out for him but the monk beside Hercule stretched his arms out in front of him.

"Please don't touch him, sir! We don't want the same thing to happen to the retired champion!" the monk shouted and Kelerot shot him a look.

"You, the friend of this Mr. Buu, take me to him. I need him to heal me," Kelerot told him and Hercule paused for a moment, looking dejected.

"I'm sorry, friend. Buu's in a deep sleep, he won't be able to help you."
"Well wake him up then!"

"I can't, not when he's in hibernation. He won't wake up for another two months," Hercule told him somberly and Kelerot's eyes widened.

"What?! WHAT?!" He shouted and power filled him, causing the ground to shake. The gravity around him bled from his energy and it was causing everything to sink down. Trees were uprooted and crashed down, flattening themselves and the monks backed away. There were a couple of them behind Kelerot that were caught and they tried to stay standing but they fell down hard to the ground and gasped as they felt like they were crushed under a tremendous weight, splintering, and torn apart.

"W-w-wait a sec! There's another way I know of that can help you!" Hercule shouted, his arms out front of him and waving his hands in protest. Kelerot glared at him menacingly as a dark purple aura surrounded him. He was feeling the power of Destruction energy flow through him and he conjured up a hakai sphere in his hand and Hercule recognized it from his memories of meeting Lord Beerus for the first time and he began freaking out.

"S-s-s-senzu! You need the s-s-s-senzu beans!" he pleaded, dropping down to his knees and putting his hands together, head down. "P-please don't destroy us!"

The sphere disappeared from Kelerot's hands. "Don't worry, I won't destroy you. But please hurry and take me to these senzu beans."

Kelerot staggered forward a few steps and Hercule rummaged through his pockets, wondering if he had any but sighed, coming up empty handed.

"If you don't have any on you, take me to one who does," Kelerot told him as he approached him. Hercule quickly stood up and chuckled nervously, waving his hands in front of him.

"A lot of those fighters who participated in the tournament had senzu beans, I'm sure you can find one of them to give you one," he said nervously and Kelerot paused. Another flash of images attacked his mind and he sunk to his knees; hand pressed to his head.

"We can help you relax here until we retrieve them if you want," Hercule said but Kelerot ignored him.

"Where are they?" he muttered to himself and reached out with his hand, closing his eyes. He tried to remember where he had flown around earlier and didn't see any civilized areas other than small towns and farmland while he travelled and sighed. He then tried to remember the energy signature of Goku but he was nowhere near. What was strange was that Broly wasn't there either. The three Saiyans of this universe were all gone, away from this planet and Kelerot thought this was odd. He then looked to Goku's family and sensed his son elsewhere, fighting from the feel of his energy fluctuating as well as a couple others. It was the only power he could sense in that area and he frowned.

"It's strange, sensing only one power over there. What in the world is he fighting that has no energy? Nevermind, keep searching," he whispered to himself. Everyone else tried in vain to pull the monks out of the sudden gravity field and it took three monks to pull out one of them, or half of him at least from the gravity field but he was too shocked from the pain to respond. Hercule casually decided to turn around when a glare from Kelerot kept him in place with a squeak from his throat.

"You, tell me everything you know about Goku: his friends and his family. And you better not hide anything from me while you're at it," Kelerot informed him and Hercule groaned in his throat a bit. Why me?

Hercule did the best he could to relay what he knew: Videl, Gohan, Pan, and Goku along with his family and how he got to know them during a time when there was a lingering threat from Buu terrorizing the planet and all of its people. He recounted his exploits with Buu and how they became good friends, getting an impatient look from Kelerot to speed it up and he went on about where Goku was staying and also this place called Capsule Corporation where he and his friends would visit often.

"Though Goku doesn't visit very often, I do have a mansion not too far off from the compound where that Dr. Briefs fella has been really useful in-"

"That's fine, stop. At least your dull speech kept these images from coming in my head so I'll give you some credit for that. Where's this Capsule Corporation?"

"Down south that way in Metro West. In fact, I'm about to head there later today with Buu so he can sleep in his bed. You can hitch a ride in my personal aircraft if you want."

Kelerot stared at him and then back at the gravity field he had accidentally created and he closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He concentrated as hard as he could and managed to neutralize the effects with an antigravity field and the monks breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank you, stranger! Wait, have we seen you before?" said one of them and Kelerot collapsed on his hands and knees.

"Yeah, you were the one who fixed the fighting stage the other day!" said one of them and they bowed at him.

"Thank you for your help, it sped up the tournament and kept us on schedule."

Kelerot stared up at him, then at the two monks lying on the ground, sighing.

"My apologies for this, I lost control of my power. If I don't get one of those senzu soon, there's no telling what else I could do to this planet. It's taking everything I have left in me to stay in control."

"Well I just happen to run the world famous Hercule Dojo myself, my friend! You'll be glad to pick up on some techniques to control that power of yours!" Hercule said with a chuckle and Kelerot ignored him, standing up. He walked over to the monks lying on the ground and bent down to touch them, netting a few gasps from the others.

"It's fine, my power shouldn't leak out for the moment," he said and examined the two of them, nodding.

"They're still alive, but barely. Get them help quickly. You, Afro."

"Afro?" Hercule said, pointing to himself and Kelerot gave him a nod.

"Get me to Capsule Corporation immediately, I'm sure there's someone in your family that has a senzu for me."

"Oh yeah, sure," Hercule said and took out a container from his pocket. "Thank goodness I have the personal aircraft right here in a capsule."

"We'll move Buu for you later, Mr. Hercule!" a monk informed him and Hercule crossed his arms.

"Good job everyone! Keep it up! Alright buddy, hop in," he said and activated a capsule that popped a large aircraft on the sidewalk with his face painted all on the side of it flashing a victory sign with his hand, the word "Hercule" written underneath it with diamond studs lined all around the hull of the aircraft and Kelerot gave it a look over, ignoring Hercule as he climbed on board.

"So, uh, you won't be, uh, causing this aircraft to float off into space or nothing, right buddy?" Hercule asked him.

"Kelerot."

"Huh?"

"My name is Kelerot."
"Oh right. Well Mr. Kelerot, sir, you'll be glad to know this is a top of the line aircraft with the best speed on the planet, built by the fine folks at Capsule Corporation, the only richest people other than yours truly of course!" Hercule said, laughing. His confidence and boastful attitude had returned as Kelerot sat in the back, holding his head in his hands.

He regrettably had to endure more of Hercule's speeches about how he won tournaments in the past and how decorated he was as a world champion, garnering accolades and praise for many years until he decided to announce his retirement prior to this coming tournament.

When they flew down to Capsule Corporation, the staff noticed what kind of aircraft was making a landing and they pulled out all the stops to welcome the craft as it landed on the launch pad. When the craft came to a halt, Hercule and Kelerot stepped out and he put the craft back in its capsule.

"Mr. Hercule! It's a great honor to see you!" said one of the engineers. They all waved and crowded around him, begging for autographs and Kelerot glanced at them for a moment before he walked past them. The landing pad opened up to a huge patch of land that had a swimming pool, patios, and picnic areas underneath a thicket of trees, and a couple of large dinosaurs walking around the area. Kelerot looked amused by the sight of all of this and saw two familiar faces lounging by a tree by themselves. The boy with a mohawk's eyes widened as he saw Kelerot walk over to him and both him and the other one, what looked like his twin brother to Kelerot, stood up.

"Y-you're back," the kid with the mohawk said and the other one narrowed his eyes, looking at Kelerot suspiciously.

"Choi, you know this guy?" the other kid asked and Choi nodded.

"Yeah. So, you've come back to teach me, right?" Choi asked him and Kelerot gave him a puzzled look. Another flash of images struck his head and he fell to his knees, crying out in pain. Choi quickly rushed to him.

"Hey, what's with you all of a sudden?" he asked.

"Senzu…"

"Senzu?"

"Get me a senzu, quickly," Kelerot said and Choi looked to his brother.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Bok, go get one of those senzu beans from Pan, why don't ya?" he said and Bok hesitated a moment.

"Well? He's in pain, go get him a senzu bean!" Choi yelled and Bok sighed, running to the cafeteria area. Choi knelt down and put Kelerot's arm around his shoulders to help him up.

"I got ya. Let's get you over to this tree here," he said and led him to sit down against a tree.

"Geez, you look like you've been through every single bit of hell. What happened to you?" Choi asked, arms crossed.

"A fight."

"That must've been some fight. Did you win?"

"Yeah."

"That's awesome! I'd expect nothing less than the guy who wants to teach me. Put 'er there!" He extended his hand, hoping for Kelerot to give him a high five but Kelerot stared up at him.

"I'm not celebrating this, kid. There's something important I have to do and I need to be back at full strength to do it," he said and let out a cry of pain as another flash of images came to his head. Tears were streaming down his face as his head was throbbing.

"I'm losing control…" he muttered and destruction energy leaked out from behind him, destroying the tree he was leaning against and Choi backed away quickly.

"Whoa! What the hell did you do?!"

Kelerot couldn't say anything, except he continued screaming from the pain and his eyes opened with a flash and a capsule aircraft exploded, causing debris and strong winds to burst forth and Choi looked around him frantically. Kelerot reached up with his hand and an energy blade shot out from his hand like a sword and he almost cut Choi in the process.

"I can't contain them, it's all…it's all coming out at once! No!" he screamed and a pocket of gravity opened up in the air and it was drawing its surroundings in, while another pocket appeared around furniture that had been thrown around from the blowing winds and they were floating up in the air. Choi took this all in and he looked more excited than afraid as he watched all this unfold.

"This is so cool!" he muttered to himself and Bok quickly ran in with Pan, Bulla, and Uub and Bok reached Kelerot with a senzu bean in his hand.

"Here, take it!" he shouted and threw it at Kelerot. He caught it and looked down at it.

"You have to eat it!" Bok yelled again and Kelerot nodded, popping it in his mouth and eating it. After he swallowed it, his eyes widened and he stood up, closing his eyes again as he lifted his hands to concentrate and the gravity pockets were neutralized around him. When he lowered them again, he examined his hands and nodded. He studied the room and there was a lot of fear and panic on the faces of those within it, Hercule's especially. Kelerot walked over to Bok and smiled down at him.

"Thank you. You probably saved the planet by helping me just then," he said and ruffled Bok's hair, who winced at the touch. Choi ran up to him and his face was beaming.

"That was amazing! I didn't know you had all that power, master!" Choi said. "Master?" Bok whispered as he walked over to him.

"You're not an evil guy out to attack us, are you?" Bok asked and Kelerot frowned.

"I'm not evil, first of all. I'd appreciate it if you got that idea out of your head," Kelerot said.

"That sounds like something an evil guy would say," Pan whispered to Bulla and Bulla put a finger to her mouth with a look. Kelerot got in the full sight of what had happened and sighed.

"I'm terribly sorry for causing this. I'll fix this up immediately," he said and extended his hands, a warm white glow surrounding him and the mess began to reverse itself as items were floating back to their original position and the aircraft debris from the explosion glowed and changed, reforming itself back to its original state. When everything was as it was, Kelerot lowered his arms and smiled at the staff, then at the kids.

"Uh, thank you, sir!" an engineer told him and Kelerot nodded.

Pan and Bulla approached him cautiously and Bok walked over to stand beside them. Uub was behind Pan and they didn't get any closer. Kelerot stared around the area for a moment.

"Where did Goku and Broly run off to? I don't sense them anywhere."

"My dad went with Goku to some planet they called Namek, wherever that is," Choi said, arms crossed. He glanced behind him and noticed that the tree Kelerot had destroyed earlier didn't come back and he gulped a bit. The destruction energy he saw moments ago left him feeling with a sinking knot in his stomach and he glanced away from the spot where the tree had been to focus on Kelerot.

"I see. There's another one fighting somewhere, but is he fighting against himself? Is he doing some sort of special training?" he asked and Uub was the one to speak up this time.

"Oh, you must mean Gohan, Pan's father. He's fighting a couple of androids with his brother and Bulla's brother."

Pan gave him a look. "Uub, he doesn't need to know any of that. Look mister, whatever business you have with my grandpa you won't find it here," she said defiantly and Kelerot stared back at her calmly. Choi gave her a look.

"Don't speak to Master Kelerot like that! Pay him the proper respect!" Choi shouted and Kelerot raised an eyebrow. The other kids all stared at him and Pan had her hands on her hips, staring him down.

"Respect?! You're the last person I can think of that knows anything about what respect is," she stated and Choi cracked his knuckles.

"Want a rematch, girlie? I'll be glad to give you one if you're so itching for a fight. Thanks for that senzu bean earlier by the way."

Pan was reluctant to give Choi a senzu bean after they all gathered together at Capsule Corporation but Uub insisted that Choi be given one as well due to his merciful nature. Pan had given Bulla one earlier when she first arrived and paused for a while before shoving the bean at Choi and walking away.

Kelerot stared down at Choi and sighed. "I suppose I can stay and teach you your first lesson since its obvious you forgot the one I left you with yesterday."

"What lesson? You didn't give me one, you just said you'd teach me, Master."

"Provided that you'd make amends with your opponent and apologize for your treatment of them," Kelerot said with a stern voice and Choi crossed his arms, looking away. Pan gave him an amused grin and she chuckled a bit. Seeing Choi get chewed out like this was more entertaining than she thought it was but Kelerot glanced over at her and cleared his throat.

"Come here," he said. His voice was calm and steady now, vastly different than what everyone had heard earlier and he stared down at the two with his arms crossed.

"It's clear there's a lot of animosity between the two of you. If you want to grow as a warrior, you must acknowledge your opponent's strengths and set aside any misgivings you have about them. Same goes for you, girl. You both allow your emotions to guide your fighting. While they do provide strength, they can also be a detriment. Don't see the person in front of you as your enemy, see them as an equal in battle and pay the proper respect towards their strength."

Pan glared at Choi, who was looking away and she stared up at Kelerot.

"That's easy for you to say, mister. I'm willing to give this brat some respect, right after I punch his face in. But what makes you think he'll return it in kind?"

"I never said this would be easy. These things take time and you're still quite young. Children have a lot of ambition and desire, but they lack the proper control of their emotions to focus clearly. Some have a better talent to control themselves, while others," he said while glancing at Choi specifically, "may take considerably longer."

"Sounds boring. You gonna teach me those cool things you did earlier? What about that thing you did with the tree? Think of the kind of power I'd have in a battle if I knew I could just delete my opponent that quickly. That'd make them sweat a lot in fear," Choi said with a snicker and Kelerot sighed, walking away.

"Hey, where're you going?" Choi called out and Kelerot stopped, staring ahead.

"You're not ready."

"Like hell I'm not ready! I'm ready to train now! C'mon Master, teach me something good!" Choi said, bouncing up and down in a fighting pose, punching the air rapidly. Kelerot spun around and leered over him with a narrowed expression.

"You're not ready."

"You said that already. C'mon, what's my first lesson?"

Kelerot paused, then said: "You're not ready."

He walked past him and looked up. He noticed that the sky looked artificial in this large area and there was a projection against a glass dome far above them. Choi clenched his fists and glared at Kelerot.

"Why do you keep saying I'm not ready?! Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Kelerot didn't acknowledge him and everyone else was staring at him. Pan sighed and she glanced back at Bulla and Uub, nodding.

"Ugh, now I regret ever getting angry at this brat. This is pathetic to watch," she said and Bulla chuckled a bit.

"I don't blame you for telling him off though. I'm gonna give mom and grandpa a hand, you and Uub can join me if you want."

"Actually I'm gonna go visit Arugula and Cheelai," Pan said and Uub nodded.

"Same. I hope your dad's okay. I'm a bit worried about Trunks and Goten though, I can't sense their energy."

"You don't think they lost?" Bulla asked and Uub shook his head.

"No, they're not dead if you think that's what happened but they probably got knocked out. I can go get them if you need me to," he said and Pan pursed her lips.

"If you're going, please be careful," she said and Uub nodded.

"Yeah. But I'm only going to bring Trunks and Goten back here. I want to be sure we're here to keep the others safe for now in case we have more of those infected people roaming around."

"How do you know there are others?" Pan asked.

"A hunch."

"That's not a lot to go on if you ask me," Pan sighed and the three walked back inside the building.

Bok stared at Choi with his arms crossed. "Choi, stop embarrassing yourself more than you already have."

"No I'm not! I want to know why Master Kelerot doesn't think I'm ready!" Choi cried out and he powered up to his Super Saiyan state, not caring that his energy was causing winds to blow out everywhere and he charged right at Kelerot with a fist but when he hit him, it was like hitting a wall. Kelerot didn't budge or flinch once from the impact, instead he continued looking around him and he stopped, glancing behind him. "Hm? You're still here?"

"What did you say?!" Choi screamed and he threw a few more punches that hit Kelerot but did absolutely nothing to him and he hopped back, glaring furiously at him.

"Tell me I'm ready! Acknowledge my strength, dammit!" he screamed and Kelerot kept looking around.

"Maybe I should get something to eat before I head back out," he muttered to himself and walked in the direction Pan and the others left earlier and Choi clenched his fists tightly.

"LOOK AT ME!" he screamed but Kelerot waved his hand casually calling back out to him: "You're not ready!"

Bok stood in front of Choi and stared at him for a moment.

"You're lucky dad's not here to scold you. Even he would've been embarrassed to see you like this," he said and walked away. Choi powered back down to his base form and stared at everyone, who had watched him the whole time.

"What the hell do you want?!" he said and scoffed at everyone before running to Bok.

Outside the compound, Piccolo watched Tien get loaded onto a capsule casket and Bulma closed the lid, sighing as she kept kneeling beside it.

"Chaozu's going to be horrified once he finds out what happened," she said somberly and Piccolo glanced behind him.

"He won't know what happened. My hunch is that he's also been infected by whatever took hold of Tien and I. He's out there infecting others as we speak, I'm certain of it."

Bulma gasped. "Then there's no telling how many people he's been in contact with!"

"Precisely. Even if we beat these androids, we still need to deal with this plague of Tsufurians that are taking over the people of this planet. There's no guarantee I won't be re-infected in the near future if I'm not careful and Goku's not here to cleanse them with the Spirit Bomb."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Bulma asked.

"Go and find the Dragonballs and bring them back here. There's a possibility that this might not be beyond Shenron's power."

Bulma remembered that the five Dragonballs they collected earlier had fallen into the ocean and she felt in her coat pocket for her Dragon radar which she pulled out and activated. Five blips appeared around one area and she nodded.

"They're still there in the ocean when they fell. I can go get them now," she said and Piccolo held her at bay with a hand.

"It's still too dangerous. Gohan's engaged in a heated battle with those androids, and I wouldn't want you caught in the crossfire. I'm going to lend him a hand. I owe him that much after what Goku did and I've been meaning to have a piece of those two for some time now."

Clenching his fists, he took to the air and flew out of sight, Bulma shielding her face from the winds that blew after his launch. She pressed a button on the side of the capsule casket and it disappeared into a capsule which she grabbed in the air and stared down at it.

"Please be okay, Goku. Make sure you guys get your wish from the Namekian Dragon to bring Tien back," she said, clutching the capsule in her hands in a prayer-like fashion.

Grim news…

Whis's staff blinked as he was sipping a cup of tea with Beerus and Cae, smiling at how delicious it tasted and he glanced over at it. Grabbing it, he cocked an eyebrow when Marcarita's face appeared on the projection.

"You have news, I take it?" he asked and noticed that her expression had a hint of sadness to it.

"I do, brother," she said and Cae glanced over his cup and noticed her facial features bore a heavy burden, something he hadn't seen her express before. He nodded over at Barbon who was seated on a chair with a pipe in his hand and a book on the other, flipping a page with his thumb. He set his pipe down and stood up, approaching the three. Vegeta walked in, stretching his arm, rotating it and he paused when he saw the mood of the room and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms to wait for whatever this might be. Whis noticed him out of the corner of his eye and he nodded at Marcarita.

"We're all ears, sister. Go ahead," he told her and she breathed a sigh.

"I'll get straight to the point: Jiren has been destroyed."

Beerus paused and Vegeta's face looked on in shock. What?!

Barbon's eyes widened as he let the book fall from his hands and his hand grabbed his pipe, crushing it in his hand, not caring that the tobacco was falling through his fingers and he glared at the projection.

"That's absurd! Surely you must be joking, Marcarita!"

"I'm sorry, Lord Barbon. Jiren no longer exists, destroyed by Kelerot's Hakai technique."

Beerus's face darkened as he stood up to stare at the projection. But it was Barbon who was the first to speak up before he could say anything and he clutched the crystal pendant around his neck. Gritting his teeth, he snatched it off of him, breaking the chain and he crushing the crystal in his hand.

"Lord Barbon, what are you doing?!" Cae yelled and Barbon stared down at the broken shards.

"I've sat around long enough. I will no longer run like a coward. I cannot allow this perversion of the gods to continue! I will end this mortal's life once and for all!"

"You will do no such thing, Barbon," Beerus quipped and Barbon glared down at him. Beerus gave him a look that even had him on edge and he stared up at him with his hands behind his back.

"Go back to your universe and fix the damage that's been done. I'll handle this myself."

Barbon shot him a protesting look. "I insist that I be the one to end this mortal's life, Lord Beerus. He is from our universe and it should fall on my hands to destroy him for what he's done to countless planets and for the murder of the Pride Troopers!"

"And succumb to the same obsessive behavior as Kelerot? You're a Destroyer, Barbon, not a Pride Trooper. We do not exact revenge, nor hold a grudge. We destroy planets and nothing else, ensuring that we correct mistakes that should never have been made in the first place. Delving the two of you was one thing, but delving mortals of my universe puts him under my jurisdiction now and I'll see to it that he stops running around the multiverse playing a role he was never meant to have."

Barbon paused for a moment, glancing over at Cae, who reluctantly removed the pendant around his neck and let it fall to the floor.

"Kelerot will surely know where we are now," he said as the crystal hit the floor.

"The better to lure him here," Vegeta said and they both looked at him.

"He's looking for you, correct? Then lure him here so Lord Beerus can take him out," he told them and Barbon looked down at Cae.

"He may have been damaged severely when he fought Jiren, he should be an easy target now," Barbon said and Whis hummed.

"I doubt that. See for yourself," he said and showed them the events that happened at Capsule Corporation and the son of Broly handing Kelerot a senzu bean. Beerus growled, clenching a fist.

"Those damn beans again! I swear, next time I'm down there I'm destroying all of them!" he yelled and Vegeta gulped, sweating a bit. He didn't like the sound of that and couldn't imagine a world without senzu beans to heal injuries if it ever became necessary. He wanted to say something but didn't want to chance it knowing Beerus's temper is at a dangerous level.

"He's at full strength again," Barbon said, sounding a bit nervous now.

"And since he destroyed Jiren, that could mean he might be more powerful than you are now, my Lord," Cae said and Vegeta stared at the two.

"It should be obvious considering he's a Saiyan like me," he said, getting everyone's attention.

"He was never meant to have this kind of power," Barbon said, crossing his arms. He gestured towards the projection with disgust. "How did he become so strong in all those years he was in prison?"

"By exposing a known trait in our bloodline," Vegeta informed him. He approached them while explaining the situation.

"A Saiyan's power grows after they recover from near fatal injuries sustained in battle. Combined with rigorous weight training to build our physical strength, the power of a Saiyan warrior has limitless potential for growth. You've seen it countless times with Kakarot and myself over the years.

"But there is a loophole to this ability that some of us can exploit. If we lower our power intentionally and allow our opponent to deal a near-fatal blow, we experience the same growth in power if we're healed back to full strength in time. That bastard probably did it to himself so many times while he was in that prison that he would've gained incredible power over and over again. He must've realized that he became so powerful that no other prisoner would've been a match for him so he bent the rules in his favor by allowing them to cripple him enough to gain the boost in power when he recovered. By doing this to himself for so long means there's no way of knowing how powerful he really is."

"I refuse to accept that some loathsome Gardenian is stronger than the Gods and I'd appreciate it if you got that idea out of your head for your sake, Vegeta," Beerus's tone was cold and direct and Vegeta gulped, still feeling a bit apprehensive whenever he's near Beerus during off-training time.

"Well, since you have the best knowledge of your species, Vegeta, I suggest you be the one to fight Kelerot instead of Lord Beerus," Whis mentioned, which got a look from Beerus.

"Don't be absurd, Whis, I'm not having Vegeta fight anyone while he's here. He can spectate for all I care. You two, heighten your power so you can draw him here, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."

"Yes, Lord Beerus," Barbon said, frowning. He still felt the urge to handle this with his own two hands but couldn't bring himself to argue with Beerus when he's dead set on an objective. He and Cae both closed their eyes and focused their power to heighten it enough and everyone waited now for Kelerot to respond.

An offer of training…

Uub took a few deep breaths before he left the compound. He wanted to get a good enough sense of Gohan's energy to lock on before he teleported to their location. Pan walked with him while Bulla went the other direction to join her grandfather just as Bulma was on her way back from putting Tien's body in a capsule. She was holding Uub's hand tightly now, the two walking like a couple down the hall and they were getting looks from the staff, all smiling politely at them and Pan blushed a bit. She couldn't care less that they were drawing attention to themselves since she felt comfortable holding his hand. A warm tingly sensation flowed through her as she felt her heart flutter a bit, smiling and closing her eyes. Uub didn't mind that his hand was holding Pan's, he rather enjoyed the feeling of holding hands with her like an added boost of security. It reminded him of the times he held his brothers' hands while he walked with them to fetch water from the river to bring back to their house for their mother to use in washing and cooking. What he was feeling and what Pan was feeling were slightly different, and Uub wasn't aware just how strong those feelings were when it came to Pan but his mind was trying to focus more on where he needed to be.

When the two stepped outside, Pan looked up at him and they stared at each other for a few seconds.
"So,"

"So," Pan echoed him and she grabbed his other hand in hers. She had to lift her feet up a bit to reach Uub and she was about to kiss him.

"I shouldn't be too long," he said, cutting her off and she quickly went back down before she got any closer, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Right, you've got an important thing to take care of," she said, holding her arm while looking away. Uub put two fingers to his forehead and she wanted to say something else but she was getting too nervous now.

"Uub, I-"

"Huh?"

"I, I'll see you soon. I hope Uncle Goten and Trunks are okay," she told him and he nodded.

"I'll make sure they won't die on us," he said and disappeared in front of her. She sighed, putting her face in her hands and she let out an even bigger sigh, groaning.

In the laboratory, Bulla had a lab coat on and she was handing Bulma and Dr. Briefs tools that they requested and they were hard at work fixing up the engine to get it ready for testing again and Bulla occasionally peeked under the sheet where Android 16 was lying under and she glanced at him nervously.

"Can I re-activate him now?" she asked and Bulma was working on screwing in a bolt with a torque wrench.

"Not for another thirty minutes, he's at ninety-eight percent. You can wait another two percent, can't you?" she said, tightening the bolt and she rolled back out from underneath, wiping her hands.

"I guess so. But I honestly want to see Android 16's new body, he's gotta look so cool now with big muscles and a huge hulking body," she said and Bulma smirked a bit.

"I gave him his old chassis but with a lot of upgrades and modifications to make him far more durable than he was before, thanks to the technological developments we've made over the years. And once we've had a successful test run of the infinite engine, we can build one to install it in his core and he'll run on never-ending stamina just like 17 and 18."

"That's gonna be so cool!" Bulla cried out and lifted the sheet to expose Android 16's head and she smiled, stroking his head and red mohawk.

"I can't wait to train with this new body of yours, 16. You're gonna be incredible."

A knock came on the door and Bulla glanced over to see Bok and Choi come in. She grinned when she saw Bok but it faded immediately after she saw Choi beside him. Choi cocked an eyebrow when he saw 16's body on the table.

"The hell is this thing?" he asked and Bulla put the sheet back over him, giving Choi a look.

"That's none of your business," she said, crossing her arms. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she leaned against the table with her hand, watching him roam around the laboratory.

"Don't touch anything in here," she told him and Choi waved her off carelessly. Bok sighed at his brother and lifted the sheet to get in a good look at android 16.

"You guys built this?" he asked and Bulla smiled.

"Yeah, mom and I worked hard on bringing him back. He got smashed pretty badly years ago and I wanted to rebuild him to give him another chance at enjoying life and be a good sparring partner for me so I can train hard. He helped me a lot to prepare for the tournament," she said.

"Hah, fat lot of good that did ya if ya lost in the first round against a weakling like Pan," Choi piped in and Bulla glared at him.

"Choi, shut up," Bok said, staring at him and Choi gave him a look before picking up a small device from a shelf, looking at it with a funny look on his face. Bulla clenched her fists and wanted to punch him but Bok gently put his hand down on hers to get her attention and they both looked down, not realizing what had just happened and Bok retreated his hand just as quickly, Bulla pulling her hand away and clearing her throat.

"Maybe when he's activated, I can spar with him for a bit?" Bok asked her and Bulla glanced at him, blushing a bit.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure, I can program some two-on-one sparring sessions with him in the gravity room," she said and Choi tossed the device over his shoulder, cracking his knuckles.

"What a waste of time, training with robots. That junk heap probably wouldn't last two minutes with Bok if he pushed himself hard enough," he said and Bulla glared at him. He looked a bit unsettled when she started smiling and he stared back at her.

"You think you're such a big shot now that you're all Super Saiyan. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is finally and fight me one on one in the gravity room? I'll gladly knock you down a few pegs and show you that being a Super Saiyan ain't all it's cracked up to be."

"Oh? This oughta be good. Don't go and disappoint me like your brother did and stand slack jawed like a moron."

Bulla immediately transformed into her Super Saiyan form, staring fiercely at Choi, who returned the stare with his own transformed state and Bulma glared at the two of them.

"Hey you two, not in the laboratory! Take it outside!" she shouted and Bulla clenched her fists. She threw her lab coat off of her and stretched her arms, putting on her fighting gloves. She powered back down to her base form and walked out of the room with Bok following behind her. Choi leered down at Android 16's body with a grin on his face and left the room, powering down to his base form as well.

When they entered the gravity room, Bulla walked over to the console and adjusted the number on the display but didn't show what it was to Choi. She had been used to gravity training constantly during the months leading up to the tournament and she knew that this would give her an advantage since Choi had never trained like this before. She grinned when the doors slid shut behind her and frowned when she saw Bok in the same room as well.

"Brace yourself, Bok, it's gonna get pretty intense in a few seconds," she said and pressed the button to switch on the gravity machine. The number climbed up to 300 times normal gravity and the room vibrated as Bok felt himself almost fall completely to the floor; eyes wide.

"H-hey! What gives?!" Choi yelled and he powered up to Super Saiyan again to steady himself but even this was all he could do to keep himself from falling forward and he stared in shock at Bulla as she moved freely around the room in her Super Saiyan form.

"Hey, this isn't fair! Stop this and fight me fairly, dammit!" Choi yelled and Bulla brought the number up to 350 times, staring at Choi as she was doing it. She heightened her power to her Super Saiyan 2 form and she stared at Choi, arms crossed as Bok was sinking further down, almost hitting the floor and Choi was feeling the pull himself, struggling to stay on his feet.

"This isn't funny anymore, stop this machine!" Choi cried out and Bulla stared at him.

"Not until you apologize for what you've done to Pan and to my brother! I want to hear it from you and I want you to mean it, or this stays on. And each minute that goes by that I don't hear it out of your mouth the gravity goes up another ten times and believe me when I say this that I can go as high as five hundred before it gets too much for me. Wanna take that risk?"

Choi glared at her angrily. "Turn this thing off!"

"Choi, just do what she says and apologize!" Bok yelled and he was on his hands and knees now, trying desperately to hold himself up.

"I ain't apologizing to some spoiled rich girl!"

"Three sixty," Bulla said, turning the dial up. Choi's eyes widened even more as he sunk to one knee. He powered up even more to stand back up and he tried to walk over to her but she started pacing around the room, hands behind her back as she glanced around playfully, not looking at him.

"I can do this all day, you know," she said to no one in particular but made herself loud enough for the two to hear her and Choi stomped closer to the gravity machine.

"Turn this off, I swear to god," Choi growled and Bulla walked back to the machine, casually pushing a button.

"Three seventy five," she said, adjusting the number by fifteen rather than ten and Choi sank to a squatting position immediately. He screamed and clenched his fists tightly as Bok was now completely on the floor.

"Turn it off or I'll-!"

"Or you'll what?"

Choi's power grew even more as his eyes started fading away and his teeth gritted heavily and Bulla pushed the button on the console once more.

"Four hundred."
Choi screamed in intense fury and his muscles bulged out slightly, his hair changing color to a light lime green and Bulla's face started to look on in concern.

"Bulla, please, it's no use getting him to apologize! He's losing control of himself like he did against Pan and he'll destroy this whole place if you keep this up!"

She stared back between Bok and Choi and her hand began to shake as she hovered it over the button to make the machine go up even higher and she started feeling remorseful the more Bok pleaded with her as he stared up at her, feeling the pressure of the gravity crush him on the floor. Choi stomped ever closer to her and she let out a huge sigh of frustration, slamming her fist down on the button to shut it down and the gravity in the room faded back to normal. She stayed in her Super Saiyan 2 form as Choi was still in mid-berserker form and Bok struggled to get to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Choi shook his head, struggling to control himself and he powered out of his state to his base form, staggering back and falling on his rear. Bulla powered down to her base form as well and she rushed to help Bok back to his feet with a huge look of panic on her face.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to put you through that!" she said, her voice shaking a bit and Bok gave her a weak smile.

"It's okay, Bulla. You tried, at least."

She held him up as she stared down at Choi, who blinked and looked around the room. When he saw Bulla and Bok, he stood back up on his feet and glared at her.

"You better watch your back from now on, girl," he said with a cold and eerie tone to his voice and stormed out of the room. Bulla sighed and looked over at Bok.

"He doesn't mean that, does he?" she asked and Bok shook his head.

"Let him be alone for now," he said and Bulla helped him out of the room. He stopped and eased Bulla's arm off his shoulders, feeling able to walk again.

"I'll be fine," he said and Bulla wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't want to see you in that much pain," she said, fighting back tears that were forming in her eyes.

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'll be fine, I mean it. I'm a lot tougher than you realize." he said with a chuckle and Bulla pulled away, wiping her eyes. She laughed softly and nodded.

"Right. How about we go get something to eat? That was a lot to take in," she said and Bok smiled.

"I'm impressed you can handle four hundred times gravity. I was scared you might actually crank it all the way up to five hundred like you said," he said and Bulla laughed nervously.

"I was kinda bluffing," she said and Bok's eyes widened. "To tell you the truth, I never had it that high up before and Super Saiyan 2 was all I could manage to move around, otherwise I'd be on the floor like you and be unable to reach the controls to shut the machine off."

Bok was left stunned by what he had heard and Bulla chuckled a bit.

"But hey, you held on as long as you could at that level so you should be proud of your strength. Us Saiyans gotta have our pride after all, right?"

Bok and Bulla went to the cafeteria where they noticed that Kelerot was by himself at a table with platefuls of food but decided to ignore him, instead grabbing a table for themselves to eat.

Pan walked back inside the building and was bumped aside by Choi as he stormed out.

"Hey!" she shouted, staring at him but he didn't acknowledge her and she sighed in frustration.

"Damn brat."

She shook her head and walked around the compound, wondering where Bulla had walked off to. She checked in with the laboratory and Bulma told her they went to the gravity room, but since she saw Choi walk out of the building as fast as he did, she figured they weren't there anymore and deduced that they might be sitting down for food and she entered the cafeteria. She saw Bulla and Bok together at the table, sharing their food and Bok was making Bulla laugh with a few stories from back home about Choi and Pan had a smile on her face. She approached the two and pulled up a chair.

"May I?" she said and Bulla nodded. Pan sat down at Bok handed a plate over to her.

"You're probably starving at this point," he said and Pan's stomach growled loudly, causing her to blush.

"You have no idea," she said, her mouth salivating at the sight of the platter in front of her and she spent the next while not saying anything, eating away. When the three finished, Pan sighed happily and leaned on the table after the staff cleared it up for them and she stared at the two with a grin on her face.

"What's with that look, Pan?" Bulla asked and Pan shook her head.

"Oh nothing."

"Okay. So Uub went to get my brother and Goten?" she asked and Pan nodded.

"Yeah, he should be back soon, I hope," Pan sighed, leaning on her hand and tapping the table with the other.

"This Freeza's gotta be some scary monster if he's got your grandfather this much on edge," Bok stated and Pan frowned.

"Grandpa's strong, the strongest guy in existence. This Freeza guy won't know what hit him," Pan said, having never experienced the kind of power that Freeza possessed.

"Papa should've been aware of this as well. I know he'd want to have a go at that Freeza jerk too," Bulla said, arms crossed and Pan nodded.

"But hey, if your dad's as strong as you say he is, I'm sure he and grandpa will handle it over there," Pan told Bok and he nodded.

"My mom doesn't like talking much about dad's fight with your dad and grandfather, but she said she saw them fight separately, then saw this other guy appear to fight him. Uncle Lemo believed that they merged together into one person to fight dad and they almost won. If they had, Choi, Arugula, and I wouldn't have been born."

Bulla and Pan paused. "Grandpa and Vegeta did the fusion pose?"

"If that's what they did, I guess. You'd have to ask mom about that, or Uncle Lemo."

"Papa never talked about fusing with Kakarot before. I knew my brother and Goten were able to do it but this is something I never knew my papa did. He's too proud to admit working together with anyone to defeat an opponent."

"There's a lot about him and grandpa that we don't know about," Pan said. "He often keeps a lot of stuff from me and Uub as well and I'd love to know as much as I can about all the cool fights he's had in the past. But if Uncle Goten and Trunks can do that fusion, and Grandpa and Vegeta did it, wouldn't it be awesome if you and I could do that as well, Bulla?"

Bulla gave her a devious grin. "You read my mind, Pan."

Bok glanced at them, confused. "I still don't know what the heck's going on here."

"When Uub brings Trunks and Goten back here, we'll get them to teach us how to do the fusion pose like they do. I want a powerful warrior with all our awesome powers combined to kick butt, staring with those stupid androids that have been a nuisance to us!" Bulla shouted and Pan fist bumped her friend, nodding in agreement.

"What should we call ourselves when we do fuse? How about Palla?"

"Nah, that sounds too weird. What about BuPan?" Bulla said and Pan shook her head. "That still sounds off."

"We got time to think of a name," Bulla said and Bok felt left out of the conversation, looking at the two as they were gleefully immersed in their dialogue.

"Um, I'm gonna go look for Choi," he said but they were too busy throwing names around to notice him now and he casually stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.

"Panalla."

"Ban."

"Pun-nal."

"Banala."

"Banana."

The two laughed loudly after that name and Bulla snapped her fingers.

"Wait, I got it! How about Bulpan?"

"Oooh, I like that one, it rolls off the tongue so easily!"

"Alright, Bulpan it is. I can't wait to see how strong we fight as Bulpan after we fuse," Bulla said and Pan glanced around.

"Hey, wasn't Bok here a moment ago?"

"Huh? When did he leave?" Bulla asked and groaned at herself, feeling bad for having ignored him again. "Ugh, I'm a horrible friend."

"Bulla, don't say that. You're an amazing friend."

"But I stopped paying attention to Bok again, twice in one day. What does that say about me?"

"Not a thing because you're thinking too much into it. He's probably gone to look for the brat. We should wait outside for Uub," Pan said and the two nodded, getting off their chairs to leave the cafeteria.

Kelerot finished his meal and stared at the table the kids were eating at and crossed his arms, sighing.

"That boy's wasting his potential losing himself in such an attitude. If he doesn't get a hold of himself soon he'll cause serious harm, more so to himself than to anyone else. I hope you get your act together soon, kid."

It was then that he picked up a new energy signature and his eyes widened. He stood up and glanced up at the ceiling for a moment and then a smile appeared on his face.

"Toppo. Figured you'd pop up again, and in this universe no less."

Kelerot closed his eyes, filtering the images that were now coming in more clearly and he saw the image of Lord Beerus's world, an upside-down purple pyramid with a large tree that had a whole building built within it. He nodded and opened his eyes.

"Kai-kai," he said and teleported away.

Reunion on Namek…

Bonyu and Salza placed the last two Dragonballs along with the five Freeza and Cooler had obtained earlier and set them up on a dirt patch a few hundred meters away from their ship. Cooler had Esca above the ground and he tossed him in front of the Dragonballs like a piece of discarded clothing.

"Summon it," he barked, staring down at the Grand Elder. His breathing was frantic to the point of hyperventilating and Freeza had his hands on his hips, sighing.

"Dear oh dear, you've gone and traumatized the poor kid, brother. Allow me," he said and walked over to him. Esca's face grew even more frightened as Freeza leered over him and pointed a finger to his face. A small speck of energy began forming from the tip of it and Freeza glared down menacingly with a smile on his face.

"You're making my brother impatient and very grumpy, Mr. Grand Elder. I highly suggest you get to summoning the Dragon."

"My Lord, weren't we to wait for Goku's arrival?" Berryblue chimed in and Freeza snickered.

"Goku does enjoy making people wait, doesn't he? However, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and wait five more minutes. If he doesn't show up, we'll just have my wish granted and be done with this planet."

He lowered his hand and picked up Esca with his hands, shoving him forward to face the Dragonballs.

"You heard my brother. Summon it."

Esca paused, calming himself down as best he could. Taking a deep breath, he started speaking in the Namekian tongue: "Come forth great Porunga and grant our wishes!"

Esca managed to keep his voice steady enough to say the words to summon Porunga and the seven Dragonballs began to glow and shimmer. Freeza smirked and turned to Salza.

"You'll gladly convey my wish for me, won't you? Tell him I wish for a ship with the speed to travel across the multiverse. Then kill this brat." Freeza asked him, glancing over at Esca, who stared at him in shock and Salza saluted him, hand to his breastplate. The skies of Namek turned pitch black as Freeza turned back around to watch the Dragonballs glow completely and a silhouette projected itself from them, a huge pillar of light that shot out from them all, the skies shooting lightning and thunder all around. The pillar of light formed itself into the shape of Porunga, a colossal dragon with a ripped physique and black horns protruding from its arms, shoulders, and head.

THOU WHO HAST GATHERED THE DRAGONBALLS. SPEAK NOW AND SAY YOUR WISHES. I SHALL GRANT THEE ANY THREE WISHES THAT ART SO WITHIN MY POWER.

"Ho? Three wishes? Then I might actually get my other wish to be five centimeters taller granted after all," Freeza said with a chuckle, smiling at Salza. He stared up at Porunga with a delightful air of awe and wonder.

"What a remarkable sight to finally see the Namekian dragon up close now," Freeza said and several scouters blipped on from a few of the crew behind him.

"hm?"

The sound drew their attention and Freeza paused when he saw Goku appear with someone else beside him and he grinned sadistically when he recognized the one beside him.

"Well well, you actually did show up after all, Son Goku!" he said, taking a couple of steps closer to him. Goku and Broly glanced up at Porunga, shielding their eyes from the glow of the Dragonballs.

"Hooo boy, I never get tired of seeing how amazin' that Namekian dragon looks," he said, then glanced at Freeza first, then at Cooler with a frown.

"So you're Freeza's brother?" he said.

"The infamous Son Goku, bane to the existence of our clan. How I've longed to lay my eyes on you," Cooler said, grinning down at him. He stood a head taller than Goku, but was at eye level with Broly, and the two brothers were staring at him now.

"And you've brought that loathsome gorilla with you! I was expecting Vegeta to show up with you since you two monkeys always loved travelling in pairs," Freeza said and Broly glared at him.

"The exiled Saiyan. Interesting. Killing him with my own two hands will be worth the trip to this place. Salza, make with the wishes while the others keep these monkeys occupied, will you?"

"It will be my pleasure, Lord Cooler," Salza said, bowing at him, but they gave each other a glimmer from their eye that indicated some non-verbal communication between them and Salza smirked.

DOST THOU HAVE A WISH TO GRANT?

Porunga showed a subtle hint of impatience when he spoke and Salza smiled as he looked up at him.

"I do, dragon! Grant Lord Cooler Eternal Life! Give him an undying body!" Salza shouted and Esca gasped.

"W-wait, th-that wasn't the wish!" he shouted and Freeza glared at Salza, then at the Dragon. In an instant, he fired a huge blast at the base of the Dragon and destroyed the Dragonballs. Porunga belted out a roar of pain before he could do anything and he dissolved into a cloud of green smoke. The skies stopped covering the planet in darkness and went back to its normal green hue. Esca looked on in horror and fresh tears streamed down his face. Freeza moved to grab Salza by the neck and Cooler went to stop him but Freeza pointed a finger at him, stopping him in place with a glow of purple energy surrounding the tip. Goku and Broly stared on in horror as well, unable to say anything and Freeza lifted Salza off his feet by his neck.

"I should've known you'd pull a deceitful stunt like this. I don't know what it was you were hoping for, probably something as stupid as eternal life; but trying to steal a wish from me was a foolish mistake!"

Salza's eyes widened and Freeza unleashed a blast of energy from his hand that vaporized him, Salza barely able to let out a scream before he was gone.

"Freeza! How could you?!" Goku yelled and Freeza glanced at his brother.

"If I can't have a wish granted from the Dragon, no one can."

"Why you," Goku said, teeth clenched along with his fists and Broly's anger began rising as well.

"Why Broly! What's with all this pent up anger I'm sensing? Wouldn't it be just amusing if you had someone you could take your frustrations out on!" Freeza said with an amusing grin on his face and Goku's power was rising inside him.

"Tell me why you created two androids and sent them to Earth! Why couldn't you do the dirty deed yourself if you wanted so badly to get back at me?"

Freeza's eyes widened a bit. "Why I'm shocked you'd accuse me of something so nefarious! As if I would stoop to such a level. You of all people should know this about me by now."

"Allow me to take the credit for those beautiful creations of mine," Cooler said, bowing with a hand to his chest. "While I've been denied a wish for myself no thanks to my brother here, I am eager to see you both sent to oblivion by my hand."

Broly's fists were shaking now as well as his whole body the more he stared at Freeza. That face that smiled back at him and Goku made his ire skyrocket and his eyes began shifting from black to yellow.

"I want…I want to…I want to fight them…"

"Yeah, so do I," Goku said, staring at Freeza.

Broly immediately let out a shout and made a bee-line for Freeza. The shorter ice-demon simply stood there and waited for Broly to make the first move but noticed Cooler grabbed the Saiyan's wrist before he could reach him. Cooler smirked down and Broly glared at him, jerking his arm away and he unloaded on him with a punch that Cooler blocked, pushing him to the air. Broly began to pursue him while the crew members scrambled and ran back to the ship as Berryblue walked over to Esca with Bonyu.

"What should we do with the Namekian, my Lady?" Bonyu asked, pointing her open hand down at him as she prepared an energy attack to kill him. She had no emotional attachment to the rest of Cooler's armored squadron and had no reaction to what had transpired earlier. Seeing Salza wiped away before Freeza's power did nothing for her and she waited for the signal from Berryblue to do away with this Namekian. Berryblue smiled down at him.

"Let him stew on his pain, I think he's suffered enough as it is," she said and floated back to the ship. Bonyu gave Esca one last look before she followed her back as well and Esca saw the broken shards of the stones that were once the Dragonballs and buried his face in the ground, sobbing.

Goku calmly walked over to Freeza with a grin on his face.

"I was honestly not expecting for us to fight like this again. Just like old times, huh?"

"Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way," Freeza said, posing with his hands out in front of him, smiling deviously at him, but the smile quickly faded as he looked more serious now. "But do you honestly believe the outcome will be the same as before? There's no one precious to you for me to kill, nor anyone significant enough to defend, and no Dragonballs here to save you. All that is left is your inevitable fate at my hands."

"We'll see about that. You're going to pay for what you and your brother did to our friends, to these Namekians, and to the Dragonballs," Goku said, clenching his fists and taking up a fighting position. Freeza powered up the same and the two faced off against each other with a bright white aura surrounding them.

"I have to give you credit, Goku," Freeza said, smiling. Goku scowled at him, wondering what this was about. "All those fights etched into my memory have motivated me to have a different outlook on my reign as Emperor of the Universe. Thanks to you, I don't feel as bothered about training to become stronger, something I always considered a nuisance and a waste of my time. But having spent all those countless years in hell gave me a fresh perspective on what it means to tear you apart and mastering my golden form was only the tip of the iceberg for what I will do to you."

Goku smirked. "You're welcome. That makes this fight all the more exciting for me."

They then disappeared and reappeared in high speed bursts, flying around the planet engaged in a heated battle.

The fated arrival…

Kelerot appeared on Beerus's planet, studying the landscape. He saw a forest in the background that led its way up a larger tree that had a building-like structure embedded within it, several windows allowing him to look inward. It matched the image he had in his head before he teleported here but seeing this all in person was a whole different experience and he took it all in for a moment. Not far off from where he stood was a garden full of a variety of flowers and a crystal clear lake that looked undisturbed, creating a beautiful reflection of the forest and the large tree along its surface with the light of a makeshift sun sparkling along the edge. He could smell the fragrant florae and smiled at the sweetness of it, glancing up at the large tree. Clenching his fists, he floated up a few feet in the air.

"Toppo! I know you're in there! Show yourself!" he shouted, waiting for a response. After a few seconds went by with nothing but dead air, Kelerot raised his hand and conjured a sphere of destruction energy from his hand.

"Don't make me have to smoke you out, Toppo!" he yelled and fired the sphere. Beerus appeared in front of him and with his hand, he flicked the sphere away with his finger, sending it flying up in the air to explode above them.

"That wasn't nice of you, coming here unannounced and making demands. Usually my guests say hello when they arrive on my planet," he said, though he didn't sound like he was making jokes with his tone of voice. Kelerot frowned at him.

"I was wondering when I'd get to see the legendary Destroyer, Beerus," he said and Beerus put his hands behind his back, a little annoyed by the look on his face staring back at him.

"There's nothing more insulting than a brown-nosing mortal who has nothing better to do with their time than to kiss up to the gods," he told him and Kelerot chuckled.

"What about a mortal who's on equal footing with them?" he said with a grin and Beerus's face darkened.

"You've gained nothing with that technique of yours. Kinetic Delving is a forsaken technique and I've seen you abuse it long enough."

"I'm so crushed," Kelerot said sarcastically and Beerus raised his hand in front of him. Kelerot grinned and made a high-speed burst to avoid Beerus's hand before he could to anything and his first attack was blocked from behind.

"Are we really doing this?" Beerus asked, glancing up at him. Kelerot chuckled a bit.

"Why not? I always wondered what fighting the greatest God of Destruction who ever lived would be like. Maybe you'll be a better challenge than Jiren was," Kelerot said and Beerus growled. They started trading blows and it was drawing the attention of Whis and Vegeta, who exited the building to land on the ground below. Kelerot could still sense Barbon and Cae inside and he aimed a few large energy blasts at the tree, which Beerus easily deflected away.

Inside, Barbon was staring at Kelerot with his hands clenched tightly, angered that he couldn't do anything and Cae put his hand on his arm.

"Lord Beerus can keep him occupied now. We should return to our universe and heed his request. We can mourn the loss of the Pride Troopers afterwards," he told him and Barbon looked down at him. He kept leering at Kelerot with narrowed eyes, nothing but murderous intent in the look he was giving him. But a pleading look from Cae took him out of that mood and he nodded.

"Very well. I imagine you'll be quite busy for the next while," he said and Cae grinned.

"Nothing I haven't done before. Lord Belmod once had a bit of a meltdown some time ago and wiped out an entire star cluster with thousands of planets within it. Took me a few years to rebuild all of it but it looked better than ever. I sincerely hope our mortal rating hasn't plummeted from all this to upset the Omni Kings."

"I'm certain the Grand Minister is well aware of what has transpired and he will ease any tension our excellencies might have," Barbon said and gave Kelerot one last look of disdain before he extended his hand for Cae to hold. "Let us make haste then and leave things to Lord Beerus." Cae nodded and they both teleported away.

Kelerot glared up at the structure. "NO! I won't let you get away! Kai-Kai!"

He tried teleporting away but nothing was happening. He growled and clenched his fists.

"KAI-KAI!"

"Having trouble, are we?" Beerus said, grinning up at him. Kelerot stared down at him, then at Whis who had a smug look on his face, holding his staff.

"Sorry about that! I inadvertently created a barrier preventing anyone from teleporting out needlessly. I do so ever hate slipping like that!"

It was happening again. Kelerot felt the walls closing in on him, preventing his escape and it was tearing at his mind. Revenge was within his grasp and these two took it away from him, keeping him a prisoner within their world. Fifteen years of hell to be revisited made him feel a vein throbbing in his head and he grinned, though his smile carried a great deal of malice as he stared fiercely at Whis.

"Then I'll simply have to kill Beerus and 'deactivate' you then. I know your secrets, angel!"

"Oh my," Whis said, hand to his mouth mocking a shocked face and Kelerot shifted his gaze back at Beerus. Vegeta was observing with his arms crossed and glanced to his side at Whis.

"Let me switch out with Lord Beerus, I've got a bone to pick with this amateur," he said and Kelerot shot him a look.

"Know your place and stay there, inferior Saiyan. The Gods are talking now," he said with a huge smile and Beerus sighed. Vegeta's face darkened and he clenched his fists but Whis gently lifted the bottom of his staff, not looking at him. He scoffed and crossed his arms, watching the two in the air.

"The last time I heard a so-called 'god' try to act cocky I Destroyed him without feeling any satisfaction from it," he said and Kelerot produced an energy blade from his arm, using Kahseral's technique. He conjured a huge orange energy sphere using Jiren's technique and he stared down defiantly at Beerus.

"I've come to enjoy what I've obtained. It won't be long before I delve you and poke around your energy to see how you tick. Gaining all your precious fighting techniques will put me at the pinnacle of godhood, far above the rest of the Destroyers! I needn't worry about anything else after that and will eventually break free of this barrier and get my just revenge."

Beerus fired a few energy blasts and Kelerot sliced through them with his energy blade, sending the orange sphere down at him. Beerus caught it with his hands and used his destruction energy to cancel it with ease, erasing the large sphere completely. He powered up and a purple aura surrounded him, Kelerot doing the same.

"I have to thank Goku and Vegeta for giving me this incredible feeling of excitement I've never felt before as a Saiyan. It's so exhilarating knowing there's a strong opponent for me to fight, an insurmountable obstacle that I'm itching to destroy. Show me what you've got, Beerus."

The two began clashing again and Whis prepared barriers in case so their fighting doesn't end up destroying the planet, watching intently with Vegeta who was studying Kelerot's movements carefully. He seemed eager to finally see how Kelerot fought and didn't want to waste this opportunity now. It aggravated him seeing Kelerot hover up there mocking his heritage like that and he could do nothing but watch the fight for now.