AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This story is getting reset.
Firstly, due to my personal circumstances, which have been really rough lately, and secondly, due to certain things I dislike about this story. I still want to crossover Dragon Ball Super with Avatar the last Airbender and retain some of the original, however I noticed that there is a lot of stuff that went wrong. So here it is:
The lore of the two spells and how they relate to bending is subject to a few cardinal sins: first, I explained the magic of bending. This is something I probably can't fully avoid in this case, but I overdid myself and explained it in such a convoluted way that even I got completely confused with it after reading it again. Giving everyone multi-bending for free is in particular such a baffling mess (not mentioning it probably pisses a lot of fans off), that it would be easier to avoid that and stick everyone to their native element at the beginning. Having ATLA characters learn DBZ techniques and combining those with their own arts is more interesting anyway.
Also, I got the Azula arc wrong. Roughly speaking, I paid too much attention to the comics and too little to the original as of where her issues stem from. I think I've got a better graps on her now, and also, I appreciate just how difficult she is to write. Also, the way she handles the situation is far from optimal: she subjects herself to extremely restricted conditions in which she is doomed to fail. And she saw that coming as well, as she predicted correctly that her enemies have precognition abilities. Out of many potential plots she could have chosen, she took the worst one.
Also, I introduced way too many plots without thinking them through and planning them out carefully. The presence of Whis the universal solution man renders resolving many plots mordingly difficult. The heroes being introduced straight away to the top dog of the universe while also given another one as mentor means that they become extremely passive. Then, we have the villians: Beerus, Freeza, and the Dark Thingy. The three of them are interconnected, but it slowly becomes a mess. I need to think this through, and perhaps not give the heroes the access to the ultimate problem solver straight away.
And finally, I feel that some of this stuff is kind of repetitive. The story starts with Beerus's morning ritual, which we already saw in the Battle of Gods, then there's training of the elements which the main series has already done, then there's the dinner scene, which again paralells a lot of Beerus's known interactions. and then there's Azula's faulty conspiracy. Naturally, there is a lot of good stuff too. The chapter 6, Katara's sad adventure, is my personal favourite. However, to get to the good parts, the viewers have to first pain through the initial chapters, which could use a lot of work.
Given all of that, this story shifted from a pleasant stroll into a painful mess, especially that I learned of quite a few things along the way about lore-handling and character interactions. Writing it ahead became more stressfull than fulfilling, because I had this nagging feeling in my head that the story, albeit somewhat entertaining, is based on a broken premise that is probably offputting for many viewers. I am looking forward to try it again, and probably rather soon: Hoewever, there probably will be a short break before I restart. I'm not sure if I will be able to write anything before the end of January. However, I am looking forward to returning, and I expect that the new version of the story will have much better start than the old one.
The old version of the story shall remain, for the sake of comparison, and for anybody who enjoyed reading it. It will remain in the DBZ + Avatar space, as it used to. However, the new version will be in the correct space: Dragon Ball Super.
THE VOICE AT THE DARKENED HALL…
How many years it has been…
The world I wish I was a part of…
The life I lost…
The war I started to save everything…
I gaze upon these timeless halls, my greatest work... The echoes of lost souls, everywhere... The walls are the light of long dead stars, the shadows are the memory of the broken creation...
Strange are the eyes of the red, pulsating sky… Strange are the whispers of the forgotten… But stranger still, is my own dead soul…
I broke them all... For the world... So that something might remain...
One day, maybe they will wake up without fear…
…
I want to go back.
If even for a little more…
I want to remember…
Where it all started.
THE MEMORIES OF THE TWO GODS…
A time of an awakening was quickly approaching Beerus, the God of Destruction. The angel Whis, his faithful servant and teacher, was about to follow the classical procedure of waking him up.
He entered Beerus's bedroom hall, anticipating the nearing blasts from the alarm bombs. While a concept of a magical wake-up bomb would sound silly to a mortal, Beerus was quite fond of them, both as an alarm clock substitute as well as for some extra security.
The chamber was comprised of a small balcony, with the door through which Whis has entered, as well as a large open space, where the alarm bombs were floating around. They were orbiting a small cup like structure that levitated in the middle of the chamber. The top of this cup was Beerus's bed. The walls were furnished with sound-proof coating that Beerus requested, due to the noise that their occasional visitors, the Saiyans, have been causing.
Whis walked near the balcony edge wall, and spoke to the cup bed:
"Lord Beerus, it's almost your planned wakeup time. Would you perhaps mind to get up a little earlier this time, so we can spare some of these bombs? I admit that we use up quite a lot of them recently."
There was no response. As always, Whis knew that his efforts were futile. Beerus rarely ever woke up to anything lesser than a blast. Yet the angel did not give up on his desire to prevent the bombs from exploding:
"Perhaps a little song will help you to get up?" He summoned a small microphone out of thin air and started singing.
A few seconds later, an explosion happened. It wasn't any of the bombs though, instead the bed itself suddenly was subject to a strong burst of energy.
"Get away from me, you screeching monster!" A voice could be heard from the bed. Whis stopped his singing and looked at it with an annoyed frown, but then noticed that his master did not actually wake up yet.
Then, the first bomb exploded. Beerus stretched on his bed with a huge yawn and proceeded to perform his usual sleepy parkour over the platforms in the chamber (there were a bunch of them there, including spare beds).
"Are you awake yet, Lord Beerus?" Whis asked, taking aim at the bomb that was supposed to explode next. There was a chance that Beerus would simply stop midway down and sleep again, forcing the use of another alarm, but Whis gained some faint hope that it would not be necessary.
"Hfffmfmm pthmfhmmmthm bthhh?" came the answer. Not the clearest one, but Whis understood it anyway. He had already learned Beerus's post-sleep muffling language.
"Yes, my lord. The bath is ready and so are the snacks. You can proceed to either immediately."
"Hmfmfmreee, thank you" The muffling turned into an actual phrase.
Recognising that the next alarm won't be necessary, Whis disabled all of them. If Beerus was making any attempts at audible speech after waking up, it usually meant that he will stay awake.
Beerus fell from the last platform to the balcony, landing exactly at the top of his head and remaining in a vertical upside-down position. Afterwards, he lazily opened one eye and muttered: "I will go to the bath first. If you could bring me some of those snacks over there, then I would be much obliged."
"Of course, my lord". With these words, Whis has left the chamber and went for the kitchen.
Beerus got on his feet and walked down the corridor into the bathing chambers. It was actually a small network of cave-like rooms, with a stream of warm water flowing through them, filling a few large basins. Beerus has entered his favourite, the largest one, an elaborate rock composition made from multiple hexagonal blocks. Having positioned himself comfortably near the edge, he waited for the arrival of the snacks. And Whis. In that order.
After a few minutes the angel indeed appeared, carrying or rather levitating a hefty bunch of plates and bowls.
Beerus jumped in excitement, having noticed a few of his favourites. "We still got instant ramen!? And those octopus balls...". He then looked at Whis with suspicion and asked: "You just had all of that in the fridge? Just how often were you visiting the Earth recently?" He tossed in that last one with slight annoyance.
"Quite often, actually." Whis responded, unfazed. "I have been overseeing the progress of our new students. They will be arriving today, by the way."
"Students... Ah, yes, I remember. Good thing that the soundproof walls have been installed in my bedroom. Wouldn't catch a minute of sleep otherwise, with some runts running amok. Remind me, why are we even doing this again?" Some irritation echoed in his voice.
"Well, I do remember you being enthusiastic about the new potential sparring partners. You were afraid of staying behind Goku and Vegeta, as well as about the fact that they are not going to live forever..." Whis said.
"Enthusiastic is a bit of an overstatement. I simply cannot let myself get behind some mortals. I am the God of Destruction after all. And unlike certain fat twerp…"- he thought of his brother at this point - "…I am not going to be inferior to any lesser creature." he raised his tone a bit near the end. His memory was clearing up, as he was becoming gradually more awake.
"Maybe so, but I am inclined to believe that you do enjoy fighting, my Lord." Whis smiled. "After all, you are eager to encounter new challenges. And you are particularly fond of these Saiyans in this regard."
"Fighting is alright. Idiots and their children making noise and eating my food is a bit less. Uhhhh... but after all, power does take some effort to appear. Even mine was not that easy to achieve..." Beerus swam away in memories of his own training.
"Oh, believe me, I know something about it." Whis giggled. "Well, the new students will be here soon. From what I recall, they have mastered a few of the Super Saiyan forms. Piccolo mentioned that they possess a quite significant potential."
"And some actual intent to work on it, unlike Goten, Gohan and Trunks. Which is somewhat promising." Beerus added. "Go ahead, greet them and show them around. I will join you later." He then produced a huge yawn, before continuing: "For now, I am more interested in picking directions for our next voyage."
"I remember that we were going to visit Earth. I would shortly report on our students' accommodation with their parents, as well as grab some extra food." Whis recalled.
"True, but I wanted to go somewhere else for a change. It's been a while since we explored the universe. Who knows, maybe there is some other culinary paradise waiting over there..." Beerus shifted to a dreamy expression.
"Hardly possible without searching outside of Universe 7, but there is nothing wrong with trying, I guess." Whis's expression suggested that he would rather stick to what he knew instead of experimenting. His overall memory of sentient species and planets throughout their universe did not help his enthusiasm at all.
Just before he finished that thought, his staff appeared in front of him and flashed a few times. It was comprised of a long handle, a circlet and a crystal orb within the circlet. None of these elements were connected to the others in any visible manner. The part that was flashing was the crystal.
"Oh, it seems that our guests are already here. Well, time to go." Before he moved out though, Beerus stopped him, saying:
"Oh, by the way, leave me that staff, if you could. I will look after some potential planets to visit."
"Very well, Lord Beerus. Just do not try to reach anything in the staff, you might teleport yourself by accident to the storage space..." Whis was always weary to borrow his staff to his master, due to the latter's clumsiness.
"Hey, I know how it works. Just hand it over here!" Spoken with slight impatience.
"Here it is." said Whis, placing the staff in Beerus' raised hand.
"Thank you." With that said, Beerus started his research using the staff's crystal. Whis left the chamber.
As Beerus stared at the orb, multiple images of various planets were appearing and disappearing in the crystal, thanks to the staff's searching and imaging powers. As he expected, they were mostly dead hits, devoid of life of any form, not mentioning food. After a while he concentrated on locating the worlds with life. The staff could adapt to its user's wishes either by thought or verbal command.
He was disappointed however to only see the planets that he already explored. He chuckled a bit at the view of a half planet that he once left over. After a while of searching, Beerus almost resigned. He did not really expect to find anything sensible by using the staff. Whis was far better at utilising its scanning powers. However, he always hoped to locate something interesting whenever he ever got his hand on it. His servant usually did not put much heart into the search, forcing them to either traverse the cosmos randomly or to revisit some of the old locations.
The play with the staff was a decent time-killer though. Beerus sometimes liked to spice up his eating sessions with some extra activities, especially the ones that did not require using hands.
He had no idea that his small hope was about to be realised. After a few more familiar hits, he found a planet that looked like the Earth. Initially he got fooled by the striking resemblance and summoned the next one, but then after a few seconds something clicked in his head and made him return to that world's view.
The continents were not matching. Beerus was not a big fan of geography, nor he had that good memory (unless he focused enough) but Earth's overall look was written quite well in his head. It was hard to expect otherwise, after all the visits he paid over there. Thus, the completely different shapes of lands on this new planet greatly confused him.
He then checked that planet's number. The creator gods (Kais) had a naming scheme for them: it was usually comprised of a universal zone number, a code name of a particular division in that zone, and then a number of the star and planet combined together. The Earth he was used to had a number 4032-Green-877. Much to his surprise, while the planet's name was still Earth (Kais preferred to use planet's inhabitants' idea if it was possible), its universal zone was marked as 0003. The problem was that anything below zone 0010 marked the earliest worlds ever created by the Kais. Those planets were positioned relatively close in relative time and space to their own homeworld. And yet, despite its apparent age, the planet looked alive, at least from a distance.
Beerus had a slight sense of déjà vu from looking at that particular code. Where did I see this number before...? He thought. He did not remember anything precise about the image, but the number did ring a bell. And old, annoying memory, he suddenly thought. He decided to look at planet more precisely with the staff's magic.
The focused scan was promising. There was indeed sentient life present there: and in the form of humans similar to the Earthlings, nonetheless. There seemed to be no one with particularly high power level on this world, but the lowest common denominator was a bit better than that of the Saiyan's Earth.
More Earthling-like beings enticed Beerus's curiosity, but he also felt some doubt. He did recall some particularly strong annoyance related to this world, but it was beyond him to reach the details. It must have been a long time ago, he thought.
While he was floating away deeper and deeper into his memories, he stumbled upon an octopus ball filled with wasabi. While normally he would recognise it from the smell and put it away to avoid an explosive sensation, right now he was too deeply focused to notice.
The intense flavour quickly broke his focus away and replaced it with pain. He jumped up high in the air, roared, and then breathed fire of high intensity, propelling himself backwards. It was enough to fly him out of the temple world into the surrounding space. After smashing into few nearby planets and blowing up one of them completely, he landed in a small lake.
The guests of the temple were already there. When Beerus put his head out of the water, he noticed two teenage girls looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.
Pan and Bulla, he recalled. The two prodigal children, similar and yet different to their relevant kin, Goten and Trunks, as well as to their mentors, Goku (Pan's grandpa) and Vegeta (Bulla's father).
Each of them reacted to his antics a bit differently. Pan, the more energetic of the two, shouted to him first:
"That was AWESOME! Can you do it again, please?" She was widely smiling, clearly entertained by Beerus's flight show.
The other girl just stood there, smirking faintly and observing him carefully. Her overall expression was that of amusement but also discipline and focus: she apparently decided to withhold any verbal reaction.
Beerus flew out of the lake and moved over to the girls, landing right in front of them.
He taxed both shortly. They had a rather pleasant and peaceful aura, though while Pan seemed to be more innocent, enthusiastic and fun loving, Bulla seemed more reserved, self-absorbed and cautious.
Whis was there too, having greeted them already. He was the one to break the ice:
"Please, my lord, welcome our two new guests. You already know who they are, so we might as well show them to their rooms."
Bulla decided to speak up:
"Greetings, Lord Beerus, it is very good to see you in good health. How are you doing today?" She followed that with a bow. Pan appeared a bit confused (she must have considered that greeting to be excessive, as they knew each other already), but then bowed as well.
Beerus nodded in acceptance and responded: "Quite fine, thank you. I'm glad that you developed some decent manners." He stopped for a moment, and then turned to Whis: "I found a new planet that I want to check out. Here you go, have a look."
With these words he gave the staff to Whis and turned back towards the girls. The angel had a short look. His face twisted for a moment into an expression of shocked realisation.
Beerus didn't notice that, as he already was turned away. Bulla however did, giving him a short curious glance. For a moment it looked as if she was going to ask him something, but then she closed her eyes shortly and refocused on Beerus.
"Well then, runts, you will be staying here for a while, as we agreed." Beerus started, with a hint of impatience. "Meanwhile, we're going for a trip around the universe soon. Therefore, I must explain the rules to you right now. In short, you are allowed anywhere within the temple, expect for any chambers that I am currently using. If you want to enter any of my rooms, you are supposed to knock, or ask for permission. Preferably both." He paused shortly, and then added: "And show some restraint and common sense when bothering me. For instance, you may join me or Whis for dinner whenever you feel like it, I won't mind that. However, do not even think about interrupting my sleep, or I will be most displeased. Are we clear?"
The girls responded: "Yes, Lord Beerus!" They most likely heard a similar lecture from their parents, but Beerus preferred to hammer the message on.
"Great" Short pause. "You are allowed to do anything you want while you are here, as long as you don't break anything. If it will ever happen though, report it to Whis and have the item repaired, preferably before I notice. Or again, I will be most displeased. Is that clear?"
Both girls responded again: "Yes, Lord Beerus".
"Remember, first and foremost you are here to train. Whis will tell you what to do. I expect both of you to focus on that, as your talents are the sole reason I allow you to train under him. If your performance is unsatisfactory, I will kick you out."
"Yes, Lord Beerus" girls said yet again. Pan added on top of that: "Don't worry sir, we want to get stronger, for our own sake!"
"Indeed." Bulla joined. "My daddy won't beat himself. I intend to become more powerful than him sooner or later."
"That's what I wanted to hear" Beerus's expression slightly cheered up. Then he noticed that something was missing from the picture: "By the way, how did you two get here exactly? I don't see anyone else here..."
"Oh, grandpa Goku teleported us. He already left, he said he had a sparring session with Mr Broly." Pan explained.
"Heh, old bastard could have at least waited and said hi, or something." Beerus reacted with small smirk.
"He told us to greet you in his name, Lord Beerus." Bulla said, smiling.
"Eh, whatever. So, now you know the rules. Any questions?"
Bulla: "No."
Pan: "Why do you look like a purple cat?" She had completely innocent and curious expression when she asked that.
Everyone present got stumped, even Whis, who was focused on his staff until now. And then Whis and Bulla got a bit nervous. The god was not known for his patience or tolerance, and this was essentially an insensitive question. Beerus, completely flustered, responded with annoyed tone:
"Why do I... What kind of question is that? I was born this way, there is no 'why' here."
"Well, I just got curious. I never saw a race of people like yours. Where did you come from?"
Beerus calmed down a bit, so did Bulla and Whis. Beerus realised that there was no mockery or ill will in her reasoning, while the other two noticed the god relaxing. Bulla chuckled under her nose, probably at the insensitivity of her friend. Whis recalled that Pan was often out of touch with a basic sense of tact, always putting her curiosity first over any manners, and this was one such case.
Beerus in the meanwhile got a bit lost in thought, the question stirring some old memories. He slowly began to speak:
"Well, that it a long story... I do not remember it that well now, it was so long..." He stopped here, and then suddenly regained his focus "Hey, there is no time for that now. When I asked: 'any more questions' I meant about your stay here and the house rules. If you want to ask random stuff, then another time. Right now, me and Whis are leaving."
"Oh, ok. Sure, Lord Beerus. I got no more questions." Pan said with a bit disappointed tone. Bulla gave her a short look that displayed a mixture of condescension and amusement. "What?..." Pan whispered to her. Bulla just chuckled and whispered back: "Later."
"Very well. Whis, are we ready to go?" Beerus ignored that little exchange and turned his attention towards the angel.
"Yes, we are. Mind you, I would still recommend going to Earth first, as we discussed earlier."
"Yeah, whatever. And then, to our new-found planet. What was its number again?"
"0003-Black-228". Whis returned his attention to the staff then, doing further research on said planet.
Beerus was struck again with that lingering feeling of annoyance, as he heard this code. The sensation was even stronger now, given that it was spoken aloud.
"Oh, a new planet? Is there anything interesting down there?" Pan yet again could not keep her curiosity on hold. However, a condescending look from Bulla helped her remember that she wasn't supposed to ask questions. "Sorry..." She looked a bit ashamed this time.
Beerus was too confused about his murky memory to pay any attention to her though. It took him a few seconds to register that Pan spoke in the first place. He assumed that it was something about accommodation, and therefore said:
"Mhm... what? Yeah, your rooms are in the western-most tower on the third level. You are free for the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow morning you will report to Whis to begin your training and he will let you in on everything else that you need to know. We will be back in a few hours, after which I will go to sleep. Are we clear?"
One final "Yes, Lord Beerus." has sounded.
"Very well. You are dismissed." He said, still a bit absentminded.
The two girls produced a short bow and left in the direction a nearby forest.
Beerus moved closer to Whis and spoke:
"Are we ready to go? What are you still looking at?"
Whis was uncertain how to respond for a moment. He recognised this planet from the past. He also noticed the slight hint of anger in Beerus when the codename was mentioned. He knew what the problem was with it, but he did not want to disclose it to his master unless there was no other choice.
Fortunately, he noticed something that would help him to redirect his master's attention.
"I just noticed that there is a Freeza army ship headed towards this planet. I do not know what it's doing there, but it seems that it will take them at least a couple years to arrive."
"Oh, are you sure? I wouldn't want to see this place blown up before I had a chance to check it out. Why are they going so slow anyway?" Beerus had a look at the ship, visible in the staff's crystal. Whis didn't really know the answer himself, but he quickly formulated a theory:
"Perhaps their engines are damaged. Or perhaps this is an older vessel with an old hyperspace drive." Whis was just happy that his master did not ask more question about the planet itself.
"Whatever. Keep an eye on it, just in case. Now, let's go to Earth. All this searching and talking actually made me crave some sundae." Beerus changed his expression to a bit dreamy one, as usual when he thought about food.
"Sure. Hold on tight." Whis was more than happy to oblige.
With a bright blast, they left the planet. Whis could travel through space with immense speeds, faster than any ship and most creatures. When he did so, it resembled entering an all-white tunnel of light, that led him to his desired destination.
As they flew, Beerus said:
"Hey, now something came to my mind."
Whis got unnerved again. This was not going to be an easy day.
"Do you know how many possible combinations of ice cream are there? What flavours can be mixed into one? I wonder if crab sticks could be added to strawberries, for example..."
Whis almost let out a small sigh of relief. Right now, if his master's mind was fixated on food, he was unlikely to think about anything else.
With a calmer voice, he proceeded to explain his knowledge of ice cream.
THE MEMORIES OF THE TWO ALIENS…
The ship that Whis noticed in his staff was indeed a Freeza army vessel. It was about 13 years old, belonging to the fleet that tried to keep the empire together during the emperor's absence.
It was relatively large, but it contained only two passengers: an older soldier from the same kind as Appule, named Pecha, as well as a member of Cui's race called Pegra. Pecha was a communication officer, while Pegra was a grunt.
Pecha decided to desert, being disillusioned with the state of the Freeza Force at the time. When he was stealing the ship to escape on, he was caught red-handed by Pegra. However, Pegra was a complete idiot. Pecha managed to convince him to desert as well by saying that the emperor demanded it. And while initially the stupidity of Pegra was an advantage, with time it began to get on Pecha's nerves severely. However, he couldn't simply dismiss him or abandon him. Both due to his high power level and their current situation.
When they left, Pecha aimed the ship at a distant planet in an unexplored region of space. Pegra, for some weird reason, decided that it would be a brilliant idea to poke a finger at the picture of said planet: with enough force to break the panel.
Thanks to that, there was no control over the speed of the drive, and they travelled at the default minimal hyperdrive speed. They were in transit for almost a decade now, practically living on that ship. While Pecha would be more or less content with such a life on a ship if it was just himself, his companion made everything way more difficult than it needed to be.
If the hyperdrive control panel was the only thing broken, Pecha would have it repaired in half a year, maybe less. And that included learning how the damned thing worked in the first place. However, before he got any hang on the issue, his 'friend' went on a crusade to mess up every possible system that kept them alive on the ship. Be it air conditioning, food containment, matter manipulator (that was also used for generating food), or electronic locks on doors.
In all those years Pecha had no choice but to become a master ship technician.
This time, he sealed himself off on the bridge. Pegra was nowhere to be found, and there were no alert lights flashing or emergency sounds beeping. This meant all the sweet hyperdrive repair time for the tormented little alien.
It did not last long though. While he was connecting some wires and checking what the output on the screen was, he heard a voice from behind the door:
"Hey, Pecha, can you remind me where we are again?"
Pecha heard that question every bloody day. With exasperated voice, he responded:
"The same as usual: in the middle of nowhere, headed towards a supposedly habitable planet. Do you have any original questions for a change? Or will you please let me work in peace?"
Pegra did not seem to catch half of that. "Oh, are we? And what are we doing here?"
"We are hiding from the Galactic Patrol, because they whooped Freeza Force asses, as well as from Freeza Force, because we deserted." Said Pecha, with an even more irritated look on his face. "This is a universal dead zone, nobody ever flies into that sector, as supposedly there were no intelligent lifeforms here. This planet was discovered shortly before we escaped, and I erased all data about it when we did, so nobody can follow us." This story was also repeated every day, multiple times on some.
Short pause. Pecha was not going to speak any further, however he knew that it was not over. "Hey are you there? Pecha, you ok, buddy?" Sounded after like 20 seconds.
"Yes, I am here. Could you go and unscrew the pipes of the cooling system in the storage chamber nr 2?"
"Yes, right away! Pipes, prepare to meet your doom!" With an overly enthusiastic voice and an idiotic spark in his eyes, Pegra went to wage a battle with the unsuspecting pipes.
There was absolutely no point in doing any of that. Pecha had a short list of menial purposeless tasks that he would send Pegra on to keep him away from the important ship systems. And right now, he needed as little Pegra time as possible, for he was approaching a breakthrough.
THE MEMORIES OF GODS AND MORTALS…
Whis was lying on a beach bed in Bulma's private island resort. During their visit, they managed to eat quite a lot of delicious treats, experiment with the weirdest possible tastes of ice cream as well as observe the two girls that remained in Beerus's temple, looking at them through the angel's staff. The two mothers of the girls, Videl and Bulma, were particularly pleased to see that the kids were very careful when moving around Beerus's world. After exploring a couple of chambers and putting their stuff away in their rooms (which they found before Whis and Beerus even arrived on Earth), they were now sparring high in the air above the temple grounds.
The whole ordeal was initially conceived to be a holiday distraction between two school years of the girls. Bulla and Pan were the originators of the idea, wanting to graduate from the Super Saiyan level into the godly territory. However, Whis felt that there would be not much point to train them for only two months and then having them perform no divine training at all for the next 10. Therefore, he intended to advocate an extension to their stay, while allowing them to keep up with their education in some other manner.
While Goku and Vegeta were very excited about letting them train with Whis, mothers and grandmothers present were not so keen on it.
"Absolutely not!" Chi-Chi roared again. "I will not have my granddaughter stay in a magical temple on the other side of the universe and study via radio! Like hell she will! Do you understand how important it is for her to develop proper social interaction skills? Do you think that she can manage to do that in a bloody castle while living practically by herself?"
Videl just smiled uncomfortably. She was more inclined to allow Pan to pursue whatever way of life she desired but arguing with Chi-Chi about it was always a pain in the ass, not mentioning that there actually was some point to it. Pan was already socially awkward enough.
Vegeta thought otherwise. In his mind, the girls should train as much as possible. However, there was more to his point than his own love of fighting. The concern that he wanted to raise went as follows:
"You do remember that we are not going to live forever, me and Kakarot? We will need successors to protect the Earth while we are gone. We thought that either Goten, Gohan or Trunks will take the mantle, but neither of them is very interested in it. Trunks wants to take over Capsule Corp, Gohan wants to do research on interstellar travel and Goten insisted on being his assistant. We thought that we will have to push them into it, but then we discovered that Pan and Bulla have much greater interest in fighting than any of them ever did. Don't you think that it is a good idea to get the most out of it?"
"Hey, you are not dying any time soon. Like, I get your point…" This time Bulma responded. "…but seriously, they can safely manage to finish their education, settle down like normal people and then train, while you two are still around. There is no need to rush it right now."
Goku, who was also present there, has something to say too:
"Well, I don't know about it, Bulma. By the time they are done with all that stuff, they may lose that interest in fighting. Goten and Trunks liked it when they were little, but then they sort of stopped... It would be better to nurture that passion while it's there!"
"Of course, you would say that..." Chi-Chi was never particularly fond of her husband's obsession with fighting, and even less with pushing it at everyone around him.
"And also, even if we are around, I would still prefer to have someone to help, just in case. Some of those bad guys we fought in the past were really mean. I like to fight alone, but sometimes it doesn't work."
"Look, if things get dicey during one of those battles of yours, you can always ask Broly for aid. Or Piccolo. Or Lord Beerus…" Beerus made a humph sound hearing that "…or literally anyone else! You can't expect two children to..." Chi-Chi wanted to go on another full-scale rant, but she was stopped mid-sentence.
Whis's staff suddenly started flashing a red light. He grabbed it and investigated the crystal, slightly alarmed.
"Oh, my. This is a bit unexpected." He murmured.
"What do you mean, what's going on?" Bulma asked, curious. Everyone else moved closer to Whis. Beerus, who was busy eating a sundae during the whole exchange, now moved away from it as well.
"Oh, there is a certain planet that we wanted to visit once we leave. There was a Freeza Force ship approaching it, but we thought that they are still a couple years away."
Short silence. Beerus broke it.
"And!?"
"They suddenly started moving much faster. Now, it seems that they will be there in an hour. Or less."
Beerus's felt a surge of anger. After another short pause, he said:
"We are leaving. Now!"
"Of course." Whis responded, getting up and moving away from the group a bit to initiate his warp ability.
"Wait, is Freeza attacking another world?" Goku asked.
"We do not know. We never interfere with his operations if they do not involve destroying entire planets. But given that Lord Beerus wanted to visit this one, we would prefer to keep his soldiers away from it for the time being." Whis explained. "Apologies everyone, we will finish this discussion another time. See you later!"
"Wait..." Bulma wanted to ask more questions about it but then a great flash of light consumed the two deities, as they disappeared.
TEAM AVATAR'S MEMORY… THE ALIENS' MEMORY… YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE…
Far in the cosmos, on the ancient and yet lush and lively world, a few teenagers sat near a campfire, recalling the adventures that they shared in the near past. They were blissfully unaware of the mysteries and dangers of the universe, as well as of the fact that some of those approached them at an alarming rate.
The group consisted of four people: a bald teenager with arrow tattoos all over his body, clad in the robes that would suit a Tibetan monk, two slightly older siblings, one girl and one boy, both brown haired with a slightly dark complexion and wearing blue clothes, as well as one barefoot dark haired blind girl with beige dress that reached her slightly over her knees.
Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph. They just left the Cranefish Town, having finished their business with the Yangchen festival, the Earthen Fire Industries and the General Old Iron spirit. They were now planning their next move before departing from the place.
"Ughhh, finally that boring festival is over." Top never failed to find a moment to annoy Aang, or to complain about something she disliked. "Well, since we solved all the mess around here, what are you guys planning to do next?"
"I got a message from Zuko a few hours ago. He wanted me to join him on the way back to the Fire Nation. Apparently, there is some dark spirit trouble that he wants my help with." Aang responded. He respectfully ignored the remark about the festival, having accepted Toph's dislike for such things beforehand.
"And in the meanwhile, me and Katara are headed back to the South Pole!" Sokka continued.
"I bet that Gran-Gran is worried about us sick... We should have sent her a message or something…" Katara added with a worried look.
"Don't you worry, my sister, I already took care of that. Where do you think I send Hawky after all?" Sokka said with a proud smile on his face.
"I kind of forgot about that hawk. Is he at the South Pole now?" Katara was a bit confused.
"Yup yup, along with greetings, a big smiley face, a request to take care of him and all the best news I could remember!" Sokka replied with even bigger smile.
"Thank you, mister Schedule. As usual, you have everything in order." Katara said, smiling herself now. "When did you even send him? He never returned to us from delivering the letter to Toph's parents."
Both Toph and Sokka knew the answer to that. The girl spoke first:
"Dad brought the bird with him to this town. When we talked things through, he gave Hawky to me, thinking that he was mine, and I gave him to Sokka."
"Aahh, it was good to see him again…" Sokka followed with a dreamy voice. "I hope he does not mind the cold too much…"
"Hawky will be fine, Sokka. Gran-Gran will take care of him." Katara was quite sure that her grandmother could be trusted to accommodate a bird.
"And you, Toph? What are you planning to do now?" Aang asked.
"I will take the lily livers back to the academy. They are still too soft for my liking; they need to start training again. Then, we will see. I'm sure you will come to me with some trouble on your butts sooner or later." She grinned at the end.
"Alright then. Let's call Appa and get out of here. Would you like a..." Sokka started to speak to Toph, but something over the horizon grabbed his attention.
"What?" Katara asked, noticing her brother's unease. Then, she diverted her sight to the same point. "Oh no, another meteor?" She remembered the last time they saw something falling from the sky.
"What? Where?" Aang got up and looked at it as well. Toph also got up, saying:
"Well, I won't see it until it hits." She was blind, using a tremor sense to detect objects near her.
They stared at the flash of light moving through the sky, more or less in their direction.
"Ok, better get out of here. We do not want to be this close to the blast zone." Sokka stated.
As he said that, the light suddenly swerved. It seemed to reduce its speed and move in a bit different direction. Aang was the first to react to this:
"Guys, since when meteors turn around? Or slow down?"
Sokka, enchanted by this display, suddenly connected some dots in his head and then shouted:
"That's no meteor, it's an ALIEN SPACESHIP!"
"Alien wha...?" Toph wanted to question this weird expression, but then she was stopped by a gasp from both Aang and Katara.
The light weakened, revealing a metal bagel like object with yellow protrusions on all sides as well as multiple oval windows. The interior of the bagel shape was filled with metal as well, making it look like a wide disk from afar.
They stared at it in awe, as it descended. They heard Appa roar a bit in the distance; he was most likely distraught by this weird contraption.
It slowed down even further and turned yet again, this time moving over their heads. Toph was confused, as a gust of wind could suddenly be felt around them. As she could not see the ship yet with her seismic sense, she did not know how to position herself.
Then, a set of needle-like legs have appeared on the walls. Afterwards, the ship settled down.
Toph could finally see it with her earthbending. She gasped loudly at the sensation.
"It's hollow inside. There is someone in there!" She spoke. After a short pause: "They are really weird..."
Aang was visibly disturbed by it. When the ship started to make some whirring and buzzing noises, he said:
"Maybe we should get out of here."
Before anyone could react, the source of the noises made itself known: a hatch opened at the side of the vessel.
The two aliens appeared in the opening. They were looking right at the kids, apparently perfectly aware of their location in advance. Both of them wore weird pieces of armour, as well some glass and metal things attached to their faces. Avatar and his friends could not have known that these were scouters: devices that allowed to track location and strength of nearby life forms.
Sokka whispered to Aang. "You know, I was kind of joking about the spaceship thing. And right now, I think I would prefer if I was wrong."
"What do we do? Run, fight, talk to them?" Toph asked. She was unnerved both by the aliens as well as their ship: a metal contraption unlike any machine she ever saw. Trying to understand anything about it using the earth sense was already giving her a headache. Even though some of the mechanisms and materials were somewhat understandable (she quickly realised how the ship's legs worked, at least in the mechanical sense), some of them were downright dazzling.
Before anyone arrived at any conclusion, the aliens moved closer. One of them, a small blue reptilian with a long head, spoke to the kids:
"Hello there. Can I ask you a few questions about this planet?"
This puzzled Team Avatar a bit. Saying that it calmed them down was an overstatement, but they were not as alarmed as before. Aang moved forward a bit and decided to speak up:
"Ummm, sure. What do you wish to know?" He did not think about introducing himself, or following any etiquette, still being confused about the situation.
"Haha, funny little people!" The other, taller alien suddenly exclaimed, with an overly ecstatic voice. This somewhat woke the team up. Toph spoke to him, a bit annoyed:
"Who do you call funny, freak?"
"Don't mind him, he is not exactly the sharpest knife in the crayon box. Pegra, shut your face and let me talk."
"Haha!" Another dumb sound. Fortunately, it stopped there for a moment. Pegra remained silent and started to mess around with his scouter. Sokka observed his movements, ready to throw a boomerang at him.
"My name is Pecha, and I arrived on this planet looking for shelter. However, I have to know a few things first. Have you perhaps heard of the Freeza Force?"
Kids were dumbfounded. The name clicked in Sokka's and Katara's head as a reference to the word 'freeze', but Water Tribe warriors never referred to themselves as 'forces' and they were the only people they knew who would use cold-related references in names.
"Forces what?" Sokka asked, still maintaining focus on Pegra. "Freeze Forces? Who the hell uses such stupid names in an army?"
Pecha chuckled a bit, having just heard an offence to the emperor's name. If the Freeza himself was anywhere around, the poor boy would already be dead. And it was quite clear to him that these people had absolutely no idea that it was even a name.
"That's good to hear. I won't trouble you with details about it. Now to the next question: have you ever heard of Majin Buu?"
"That sounds even dumber than Frozen Forces…" Sokka said. He was completely confused by both questions. "I definitely did not expect that the space aliens would ask me about freezes or boos. Hell, how do we even understand each other anyway?"
"Tell me about it. What are you going to ask about next? Maybe if we ever fought the mysterious Sunshine Warriors?" Toph was also losing her tension.
"That's almost like the Sun Warriors!" Aang noticed.
"Or how about the Flying One-Eyed Tentacle Monster of Doom!" Sokka decided to stretch his imagination.
Pecha smiled a bit. In any other situation, the kids' attitude would annoy him, but hearing that they had no contact with any of the universe's major threats filled him with some hope.
"I think I saw something like that last thing once." He said, recalling an old memory. "But..."
"Hey, Pecha!" Pegra interrupted. Sounding as dumb as usual.
"Uggh, what again, Pegra?"
"Let's conquer these weaklings in the name of Lord Freeza!"
THE TWO GODS AGAIN…
Beerus and Whis levitated in the upper atmosphere of the planet, trying to sense what was going on down below.
"There is something off about the people of this world." Beerus said, looking down suspiciously.
"Indeed. It's like this entire planet is filled with very powerful mortal beings, who all suppress their energy. The fact that literally everyone follows this scheme is quite unusual." Whis continued, a bit confused himself. He did not expect to encounter something like this, and it was not looking good.
Was that how it was supposed to work? He asked himself in his mind.
"We have been here for quite a while, and yet we have not felt a single power level change." Beerus said, looking around at various points of the surface. "And I would expect those four…" - He pointed towards a specific location on the globe - "…to prepare for combat once those two thugs have landed."
Whis was pretty sure that the confrontation with the truth was inevitable. Besides, he was curious himself about what exactly was going on:
"Perhaps let's make a move towards them and observe the situation from up close. Maybe these people will reveal their abilities once in actual danger. I believe that for now there is no battle going on over there."
"Very well. Let's go."
With these words, they descended towards the power sources.
THE DAMNED FOOLS, RUN…
"Wait, so it was a name?" Sokka suddenly realised why the Freeza Force was named as such.
"Who do you call weaklings, you idiot?" Toph became angry. Alien or not, the dumbass was dealing some of the strongest fighters of their world.
Katara and Aang did not say anything. They assumed battle stances instead. The alien's words about conquest put them back on high alert.
"Calm down, everybody, we are not conquering anything…" Pecha said to the kids, a bit alarmed himself. The problem was that he was much weaker than his comrade. If Pegra suddenly decided to attack, he would not be able to stop him.
On top of that, Pecha knew the difference in powers between the kids and Pegra. His power level lied on about 10000 in the Freeza forces scale. None of his opponents reached more than 20, and that boy with the boomerang was closer to 10-something. Pecha's own was just about 1000.
If Pegra wanted, all of those unfortunate teenagers would be dead in an instant.
"Pegra, you idiot, we deserted from the Freeza Force, remember? And the Emperor is dead anyway. Calm down and let me do the talking. I want us to hide somewhere in this world."
There was a long pause. Pegra's brain was trying to calculate something. After a while, his face flashed with a sudden expression of amazement, making him look even dumber than before.
"Then I will be the new Emperor!" He exclaimed loudly.
THEY ARE HERE…
Whis and Beerus focused intently. They were now floating about a few hundred meters away from this scene, slightly above the trees. They stayed hidden by the bulk of the spaceship, unnoticed by both the aliens and locals. They heard clearly how one of the formers had proclaimed himself the emperor of this world. This was the moment they were waiting for.
I WISH I COULD…
Pecha became visibly angry. After tormenting him for 13 years with his stupidity, now this idiot was going to waste their only chance at a peaceful life away from the empire. He moved in front of Pegra and spoke:
"Listen, you moron, we need to hide, not mess around with random kids. Do you want to have the Galactic Patrol or someone worse down on our asses? Just shut up and let m..."
He was not given a chance to finish that sentence. A powerful swipe connected with his face, sending him flying a few meters away.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Katara screamed. Pecha appeared sort of sympathetic to them, apparently trying to find shelter from some evil people. Yet this dumbass now attacked him for no reason. She moved towards the injured alien to check on him.
Toph felt that something was off. The motion performed during this attack did not look right. However, before she figured out what was giving her that feeling, Pegra spoke again, distracting her:
"Out of the way, scum!" He shouted at Pecha. Obviously, with a longer delay and without noticing Katara. "This world will now give me all of its goodies!" Then he turned his attention towards the kids:
"Kneel before your new emperor!" He screamed at them.
Everyone on the Team Avatar became very angry. Katara stopped mid-way to Pecha, feeling an additional unease. She was now standing at the shortest distance to the hostile alien.
"Get lost, before you get hurt, you idiot." Toph said, assuming an earthbending stance.
Pegra did not pay attention to that. He instead finally noticed Katara being near him, and said the following:
"You there! Lick my boots!"
Katara's expression became completely disgusted. Aang felt a surge of hatred in him, similar to the one that he felt when he found Appa's kidnappers. He was inches away from entering the Avatar state out of rage. He was already mad at Pegra when he hit the smaller alien, but this was too much.
"What did you just say?" His voice almost brimmed with a familiar echo.
In the meanwhile, Pecha regained consciousness. He saw all of the kids looking at his so-called comrade with hatred. He moved slightly out of everyone's way.
"Run, everyone, he is too dangerous!" He decided to shout. However, his words fell on deaf ears.
"Over my dead body, you freak!" Katara finally voiced her disgust at Pegra's derogatory order. She did hear Pecha, but she did not understand how that dumbass could have any chance with any of them, let alone the entire group. He was more or less of human posture, without any visible weapons.
This resistance of hers awakened something in Pegra. For now, he appeared completely idiotic to everyone, voicing random bullshit and not responding to half of what was said to him. But, after hearing an open challenge, all this dumbness dissipated. What was left there was a monster, excited with aggression.
The real reason why such an idiot was even allowed to be in the Freeza Force has just surfaced.
Everyone on the Team Avatar noticed this shift of tone. If it was not apparent from his expression, it was from his voice.
"As you wish, little girl." A cold hiss.
Out of all the kids, only Toph's senses were acute enough to track what happened.
A shock wave was the first thing that Aang and Sokka felt. They managed to notice that where Katara stood, now there was Pegra, with his fist in the air.
There was a rock behind Aang and the others. They sensed the second shock wave.
Katara's body hit said rock with great force. There was blood on her hair and in her mouth.
Toph could sense that all of Katara's ribs were broken. She did not even want to guess what the internal damage was like.
Aang managed to turn his head. Katara, by some miracle, was still conscious. Her expression shifted to that of pain and terror. She tried to say something, but only a bloody gurgle came out. Her eyes became glassy. She tried to move her hand, it jerked and twitched instead.
Blood became visible through the clothes on her chest. She then fell on her face, like a ragdoll.
"KATARA!" Sokka's scream could be heard from a large distance.
Toph just stood there, horrified. She had the most battle experience out of all kids, and what she just sensed was incomprehensible.
Sokka bolted towards his sister. He lifted her up and felt her blood on his hands. He was in complete disbelief, terror slowly creeping up on his face.
Aang stared at Katara for a moment. Blood was rushing in his ears. Everything else fell to ringing silence.
He then turned towards the alien. His eyes and tattoos were already glowing.
He felt as if the Sozin's comet has exploded within him.
A jet of flame roared, engulfing Pegra, the ship and the substantial part of the forest behind it.
PECHA'S MEMORY…
The fire was not strong enough to damage the ship, but it successfully encouraged Pecha to jump far away.
When he did, he noticed the two silent observers in the distance. He checked his scouter quickly, and then flew far away in terror.
There was no reading or even any signals of their presence. He knew what that meant.
These two were gods.
FOUR MEMORIES…
Flames slowly subsided. Aang teared up, his rage slowly replaced by fear. He wanted to go to Katara, but he was too afraid to look at her.
And yet, she probably needed him right there and now.
Before he managed to make the first step, he heard a voice.
"Nice fireworks, boy!"
Pegra was still there, staring at him with a violent spark in his eyes. Apparently completely unfazed by the flames.
Toph still stood in the same spot, unable to speak. It looked as she was about to scream in horror.
Aang, already out of the Avatar State, wanted to join her.
"Now, here is your reward!"
The alien's body jerked again. Toph really wanted to pull herself together and scream a warning to Aang, but she knew it would be over before she opened her mouth.
She tried anyway. And when she did open it, it just remained silent.
His second attack was just as incomprehensible as the first one, and yet it was stopped. Between Aang and Pegra there stood a purple cat-like person. This being have just stopped the alien's punch by catching his fist. A small shockwave blasted the area.
Now Toph realised what she felt when Pegra attacked Pecha for the first time. It happened again when Katara was struck, again when Aang was about to be attacked. And then again right now, when this cat appeared out of nowhere to block said punch.
There was no effort in any of these moves. Not the slightest sign of strain. All of them appeared as light as swatting a fly to the muscles that performed them, despite the unreal force they carried.
She had no chance to become horrified by this realisation, as another terror replaced it immediately.
The cat spoke. His voice was a mixture of annoyance and indifference.
"You annoy me."
Pegra had no time to process this. Sudden appearance of this cat guy threw him off so much that his familiar dumbness returned to him. Before he did anything though, another sound filled the air:
"Hakai."
Pegra's body began to disintegrate. When he realised that his existence is ending, what was left of his brain prompted him to scream loudly. Even as he lost his throat, it still echoed, as if the dying soul itself was still screaming. Soon there was nothing left.
Sokka was too busy staring at this new occurrence to notice that Katara had moved. He did when hearing the grass rustle. He looked at her and saw that all her injuries were completely healed. She edged a bit closer to him. He moved over to her and hugged her. She was trembling in shock and fear.
Right next to them there was a pale blue man of incredible height, holding a weird staff.
There was a pause.
"I have some questions for you."
Beerus was now looking at Aang.