A quick disclaimer, before this story starts.
Since this is a Fanfiction, it should be obvious, but I am not behind the creation of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super or any further Spinoff or Continuity. I have no rights to any canon character, in particular not to Caulifla, Kale and Kefla, who star in this story. My own contributions are limited to these and possibly future stories I post here. Original Characters I create for these stories are still based on the show, and as such not fully my creations as well.
This story will follow my own ideas and interpretations of the source media, which includes an expansion of the mythos within the world and the lore of the show. I don't expect these ideas to override the headcanons of other people, or even the canon of the show. If you are unhappy with what you read in this story, you may send me criticism, but please keep it civil - I'm not forcing anyone to follow my ideas here.
This story, in particular, is an Alternate Universe tale, for a simple change to the canon material: Kefla did not seperate back into Caulifla and Kale, as she did in the show and the Manga. The circumstances will be explained in the story.
Finally: I'm happy for any kind of Feedback, be it positive or negative, as long as it is constructive. Tell me, what you liked, what didn't work, and what mistakes I made. How was the story? My wording? The Characterization? The Humor? The Drama? The Fights? Anything that helps me writing better in the future is appreciated!
Spelling-Mistakes and faulty Punctuation may be printed out and pinned to the wall in shame. But tell me about it beforehand, so I can repair the damage in the story!
And without further ado: Here we go.
In retrospective, flying through space was a stupid idea.
Kefla yawned. Sure, it was awesome, she could do so now. Her new powers gave her enough protection from the environments to withstand the vacuum of space. Moreover, after at first thinking, she could hold her breath for an extremely long time in this state, she quickly realized, it was more than this – she didn't need oxygene at all, apparently, while being in her greenish glowing state as the Legendary Super Saiyan. Though it did tire her a bit faster, if she can't breath air – hence the rather pointless yawn. The real downside was the universe, though. She always knew it, of course, but it takes being out here itself, to really realize how empty all of this was. Even flying at high speeds only gave her vast swats of emptiness, and if it weren't for her feeling the Ki of all the people of Sadala, she certainly would have gotten lost in the vastness of space.
Instead, she had plenty of time to think. Especially, how it came to this situation. The last few weeks were pretty hectic, leaving her little time to actually think it through. One day, she was leading her gang of rebels on Sadala, then some little punk showed up, made her look silly, before training her in a form of power she never knew existed, only so she could fight in a tournament, that decided the fate of the entire universe. Well...that was the half of it. The other half was actually the right hand girl of the rebel leader, who saw that punk making weird moves on said leader, discovered an even greater, ancient power within herself, only so she could fight in a tournament, that decided the fate of the entire universe. And it was within this tournament, that these two halves combined.
Her hand moved up to her earrings. Potara-Earrings, usually worn by the Kaioshin of this universe. The head honcho, the highest godly being for this realm. When things looked bleaked for the survival of the universe, said Kaioshin threw his earrings at the two girls, fighting for him in the arena, They took them, and, under his orders, attached them to their ears, leading to the two of them being flung at each other, and fusing into one singular being.
Caulifla and Kale, combined, makes Kefla.
In that moment, it was a necessary boost of power in a situation, where dwelling on the consequences and implications didn't really help. So she fought. She let her power lose, pushed her opponents into a corner, and did her best to overcome a desperate situation. The survival of her entire universe was on her shoulders, as she was the only one who could stand up to the other powerhouses of the tournament. To loose, would mean universal annihilation. So she gave it everything she had.
And she lost. Beaten by a fellow Saiyan from another universe, being relegated to the bench, seeing her last teammates putting up a valiant, but ultimately hopeless resistance. And then, it was over. She put up a brave face, looked the other fighters in the eye, and slowly saw her comrades and herself fading away into nothingness, disappearing from existence.
Only for said existence to reappear in front of her, immediately. Well, for her it was immediately, but seeing, how their environment changed significantly, some time must have passed. And she learned, that the eventual winner of this tournament used his one wish he gained from the primordial powers of existence...to basically undo the harm, ressurrect every erased universe, and giving them a second chance at life. Which was a nice gesture...but it had an unforeseen snag in its execution. As the wish stated to bring back all the universes, as they were, when they were erased...and as such, it brought Kefla back as a fusion. Not two seperate entities.
After the initial chaos subsided, and Kefla was able to ask for her seperation, the situation quickly became apparent. According to the collected Pantheon, Potara-Fusions are supposed to last an hour...but seeing as they were literally unmade and remade in that timeframe, things entered a grey area. And in fact, as the small, girly god pointed out, they were wished back, as they were, when they were erased – which happened to be as a fusion. The wish being made was higher up in power than even them, closer to being a new natural law – and as such, they can't permanently seperate Kefla anymore. A fact, that, she had to admit, almost turned her to try that deicide-thing her teammate Frost was contemplating simultaneously.
Kefla sighed. On top of all the world opening up to her in that week alone, she was now stuck like this. Well...not fully. She did gain a certain boon from the gods as an apology, allowing her to split into two beings for a limited time...about an hour a day, that was the extent they could bend the wish at the moment. Which honestly adds up to very little in the grand scheme. She tried to use this to get around the awkwardness when visiting her gang again, but ended up fusing right in their center, after misjudging the time passed. Not that it really changed much of the hierarchy – Caulifla was the undisputed leader of the pack, Kale her untouchable protégée, and now Kefla combined these parts with evenb more power to back her up – but it certainly changed the dynamic in the group. They were comrades before, and now she was a bit removed from them. She saw the looks...which was one reason, why she moved out to other pastures for the moment.
Not the only reason though, she thought, as she felt the Kis of polanet Sadala closing in. A couple of days ago she left the planet, tested her new powers, her new strength, explored the universe, and got into a couple of fights. One of those fights pushed her a bit harder than usual, forcing her to rely more on the powerset she inherited on Kales side: A form she was told is that of the Legendary Super Saiyan. Which up to that point mostly just meant an impressive powerboost to her...but in the heat of that battle, suddenly started to branch out rapidly. She was distracted, as she suddenly felt the Ki of others all around her, much stronger than before. But after analyzing it for a moment, she realized that what she felt, was the Ki of other Saiyans. Even those far away on Sadala and other planets were on her radar, though obviously much weaker. Still...she felt a connection to them, in a way she couldn't quite explain.
Which is why she decided to let these powerlevels guide her back to Sadala. Travelling at first via shuttles, until her impatience led to her flying of on her own – and suffer the boring hours of nothingness in the empty space. But now, she was finally in her final approach to the planet, and started to single out a specific power level for herself: Her grandmother, Chicori. Well...Cauliflas grandmother, to be precise. The part of her, that was Caulifla, remembered her grandmother always getting into these old talks about myths and legends, and she was sure, she used to talk about the Legendary Super Saiyan – or at least something similar to it. At any rate, it would be a great place to start – if it weren't for one, rather awkward factor.
Her grandma always talked so big about her, and told her, she would certainly do legendary things. She was sure, Caulifla would one day turn out to be the Warrior of Legends.
Kefla smirked a bit unsure. She felt awful disappointing her with the fact that it was Kale, who turned out to be the fighter of the myths, not Caulifla.
But then, as she started to descend through the athmosphere, a thought formed in her head: Why would she need to disappoint her? Why would she need to tell her all the details? Why can't it just be Caulifla, who was special? Was it fair towards Kale though? Wouldn't it steal that accomplishment from her?
Kefla stopped, shortly above the ground. Her eyes widened – and so did her face, as she felt the discomfort of having her body slowly pulling itself in two, starting her hour as seperate entities, as Caulifla and Kale.
„Don't worry, big Sis...I'm fine with it!", said Kale, as an answer to their last thoughts, when they were joined She smiled at Caulifla, who was still rubbing her cheek from the displeasure. „It's really not an accomplishment anyway, and I'd prefer not to be...in the spotlight like that anyway."
„If you say so...", Caulifla replied, looking over to her, smiling a bit unsure – but gaining her security upon seeing Kales encouraging smile back. „Well...okay! That's a plan than! Let's lie a crap-ton to an old woman, and find out, what this stuff is all about!"