13: Teaching Of The World

Basil bounded happily into Piccolo's house, her eyes wide with eagerness. The inside of the house was neat and tidy, as if none of the surfaces had ever been touched by a living thing. She skipped around the couch, around the counter, and was about to joyfully enter Piccolo's bedroom at the end of the hallway when Piccolo quickly grabbed her by the back of her shirt and dragged her back outside, plopping her down onto the grass.

"Okay, I want you to listen closely, Basil." Piccolo began, crossing his arms.

"Okay!" Basil jumped to her feet and stood in front of him, her hands placed firmly on her hips.

Piccolo cleared his throat and pointed his thumb back at his house behind him. "Rule number 1: You don't go in there. Ever."

"Why?" Basil asked, standing on the tips of her toes to peek over his shoulder. "Is it dangerous?"

"Yes," Piccolo said flatly. "Never go in my house unless I give you permission."

"Do I have your permission?"

"No."

"I like your pointy ears." Basil grabbed Piccolo's ears and wiggled them playfully. "They're so pointy and pretty."

Piccolo smacked her hands away and took a step back. "Rule number 2: Don't touch me."

"Okay." Basil said with a nod. "Can I make a rule? Rule number 3: Food is delicious."

"That's not a rule, that's a statement." Piccolo said with a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge on his nose. This is going to be harder than I thought.

"Where did Goku and Vegeta go?" Basil asked, looking around.

"They went to get a capsule house from Bulma. That's what you'll be living in. They should be back soon, though." Piccolo said.

"Oh, okay!" Basil sat down on the grass, running her hands along the prickly blades of green. "Are we staying here to wait for them?"

"You're going to be staying here until you can handle yourself in the city." Piccolo turned and headed inside his house. "Stay there."

"Okay!" Basil called to him, then he shut the door.

If I'm going to keep her occupied, then I should probably gather some food. Piccolo thought, then got to work.

...

Beerus stared at Basil from where he sat on a large rock. He and Whis had decided to tag along with Goku and Vegeta to oversee the teachings the older Saiyans were going to impose on her. Beerus found her quite fascinating. He had never put much thought into a female Saiyan being in this universe. The only ones he had seen were the two that fought in the Tournament of Power. He wasn't depicting much from her in the way of raw power. She seemed more like a friendly puppy than a top-tier fighter, like most Saiyans were.

Hm. She looks nothing like Caulifla and Kale from Universe 6. Her hair isn't pointy, and her eyes aren't narrow. She's awfully skinny for a Saiyan. How interesting, though, that she managed to survive for so long on her own.

Whis, who stood beside Beerus, gave a thoughtful hum. "Lord Beerus, would you have ever believed that a female Saiyan still existed in this universe?"

"Not in the slightest." Beerus replied. "They're not built as strong as the male Saiyans. There's no way she could have endured such an explosion of that magnitude, Whis."

"Clearly, she did." Whis said in his usual melodic voice. "Female Saiyans are powerful in their own right, my lord."

"Sure, but how is she the only one to survive that blast?" Beerus asked, flicking his tail back and forth.

Basil sat a few feet away, talking to Goku and Vegeta. It was evident that she trusted the two profusely, as her tail hung down her legs, no longer wrapped protectively around her waist. She looked very happy and cheerful talking to the two. Beerus had only seen one Saiyan acting as carefree and untroubled as her, and that one Saiyan was Goku. He examined her closely, as if she were under a microscope and he were a scientist. Beerus noted how excitable and eager she seemed, and how much her personality matched Goku's. He knew they weren't related, but the similarities were stacking up. Same wide eyes, same ever-present smile, same avidity, same childish nature. It made Beerus's head hurt just keeping track of all the resemblances.

Whis shook his head. "Anything is possible, my lord."

Beerus grunted. "Sure."

A few feet away, Goku and Vegeta launched right into their teachings. Of course, since Goku wasn't all that bright himself, Vegeta took the lead. This shouldn't be too hard. All I have to do is state the laws of this planet. That's a good starting point. Besides, I can't start off with fight training. That would probably get her killed within seconds. Basic laws are a solid grounding that will aid me and Kakarot in developing the rest of her teaching. While I'm not at all thrilled about being a temporary educationist, it might serve her right to receive instruction from an expert such as myself. And Kakarot.

"Okay, pay attention, Basil, because I don't like repeating myself." Vegeta began, walking back and forth in front of her. Basil sat cross-legged on the ground beside Goku, her tail happily wagging behind her. Her eyes never left Vegeta as he kicked off her lesson on Earth.

Piccolo watched from where he stood beside the path leading from his house to the lake, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. He had a strong feeling that Vegeta and Goku were the best choice for teaching her, but a small part of him was worried that maybe they weren't the smartest choice. Vegeta had a short temper and Goku wasn't anywhere near smart enough to be a teacher. Fighting wise, yes, he was an expert. Brain-wise, he was the one that needed a teacher. And Vegeta was smart, but he didn't have the patience to be a good teacher. He was more like a pedagogue.

"Earth has many rules that keep its inhabitants safe. There are laws that even we as Saiyans have to abide by. One such law is that you may not pick up cars and play with them."

Basil nodded. "Okay! Cars are...off limits?"

"Yes, you may not pick up any cars you see. They are not trying to play with you, they are trying to get to their destination." Vegeta nodded. "Secondly, you may not attack the humans. That's a major off-limits zone. We do not harm the humans. We protect the humans."

"Why do we protect the humans?" Basil asked. "Are they special?"

"Kinda," Goku said. "The humans raised me, so it's sorta my duty now to protect them. Freiza wants to destroy Earth just like he did to Planet Vegeta so he can be the 'ultimate ruler.'" He put air quotes around the last part, then laughed. "He doesn't stand a chance now. Earth has three Saiyans defending it instead of two."

"The number of Saiyans doesn't matter, Kakarot." Vegeta grumbled. "We could have two hundred Saiyans, and Frieza would still be a formidable enemy strategy-wise. He's not a fool, Kakarot, though he does play that card every now and then. Sure, raw strength is essential, but you have to take into account the big scheme of things. Frieza has multiple forms, same as we do. If I'm not mistaken, he has a total of five transformation forms, and that's excluding the possibility of him achieving even more forms. He's powerful, I'll admit. I'm not saying he could defeat us any time soon, though he has managed to thrive this long."

"Yeah, but we have powerful transformations, too." Goku argued. "Super Saiyan 1 and 2 and 3, Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue, Ultra Instict, Ultra Ego, and-"

"Yes, I'm more than familiar with our transformations, Kakarot." Vegeta snapped.

"What's a Super Saiyan God?" Basil asked, leaning forward. "It sounds super cool!"

"It's a transformation that far surpasses Super Saiyan 3." Vegeta explained. "It gives the user a godly ki, their hair becomes red and the skin tone becomes a slight pink-ish, and the eyes become a shade of magenta, and so on."

"Wow, I wanna go Super Saiyan God!" Basil cheered. "Can you teach me that?"

Goku laughed and patted her shoulder. "Let's focus on getting you to a regular Super Saiyan first."

"Can you tell me more about this Super Saiyan form?" Basil looked from Goku to Vegeta. "It sounds really cool. Is it powerful?"

"In a way, yes." Vegeta sighed. "Though, compared to all the other forms we have, it's rather puny. It's the first form Kakarot and I achieved, and we've had to use it on some occasions, though we tend to stick with the more powerful transformations when in a major battle, depending on the enemy we're facing."

"When can I achieve it?" Basil pressed.

"Not for a while. We first need to get you accustomed to Earth and the rules, which I'm nowhere near finished explaining." Vegeta crossed his arms. "Besides, you can't just go Super Saiyan, anyway. It's a need, not a desire."

"Aww, but I wanna go Super Saiyan now." Basil whined, tugging on her braids. "It sounds like so much fun."

"It's not about fun, it's about fighting to protect." Vegeta specified. Then he groaned and sat down in front of her. "Listen. You can't go Super Saiyan yet. End of story."

Basil huffed. "Fine."

"Good." Vegeta caught Goku now fully distracted with a leaf and smacked him on the leg. Goku jumped and quickly sat straight, discarding the leaf, which blew away freely. "Now, another law this planet has is that you may not steal."

"Steal?" Basil repeated.

"Yes. If someone has something you want, touch luck."

"But...what if they have food that I want?"

"Leave it."

"Leave it? But it's food!"

"Doesn't matter, it's not yours."

"But it's food!" Basil persisted.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Beerus shouted, hopping off of his rock. "This is really where your teaching is starting? Laws?"

"Where else are we supposed to start?" Goku asked with raised eyebrows.

"Fighting!" Beerus replied with a rather harsh tone. "She's a Saiyan! She should be learning how to fight to properly combat enemies, not learning useless laws."

"We don't want her accidentally killing people because she thinks they're playing with her!" Vegeta snapped back. "This is the most logical start."

"Oh my gosh, what are you?" Basil jumped to her feet and ran over to Beerus, her eyes traveling up and down his rather scrawny body. "You look so strange."

"This is Lord Beerus, Basil." Whis said with a wave of his hand. "He is the destroyer God of this universe."

"Destroyer God?" Basil said, then gasped. "Oh, my father told me about a destroyer God when I was little! He said never to fight one, because they are super strong! Are you super strong, Lord Beerus?"

"Yes, I am." Beerus said with a smug grin. Whis could tell that the God was rather proud of himself, and having Basil gush over him was only bringing his ego up in handfuls.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Basil said in awe.

"Vegeta and I fought Beerus not that long ago." Goku said as he and Vegeta joined the group. "It was intense."

"You fought Lord Beerus?" Basil gaped.

"Yes. I landed a few good hits." Vegeta said proudly.

"A few." Goku snickered, earning a nasty glare from the shorter Saiyan. "I'm the one who actually fought him as the Super Saiyan God, and I'm the one who fought him first, so ha."

"When you fought him first, you didn't even land a smidge of a hit on him." Vegeta said pointedly. "I'm the one who hit him first, out of all the Z-Fighters."

"Only after he slapped Bulma," Goku argued. "She really is a great motivator for you, Vegeta."

"Why, you little-" Vegeta raised his fist, fully prepared to let Goku have it when Beerus cleared his throat.

"Are you two done debating how many hits you've landed on me?" He asked with a glare.

"Sorry, Lord Beerus." Goku and Vegeta said in unison, bowing respectfully.

Basil cocked her head to the side. "I don't get it. Why did they fight you, Lord Beerus?"

"He was in a particularly bad mood and planned to destroy the Earth unless a Super Saiyan God produced itself." Whis elucidated. "It was a spirited fight, I will admit."

"Why didn't he destroy the Earth, then?" Basil asked.

"He's rather fond of the glorious food that Earth has to offer, so destroying it was put on hold." Whis answered with a smile. "I don't feel he'll be blowing it up anytime soon."

"I still might!" Beerus growled.

"I don't think I'd be wrong to say that Lord Beerus is the most powerful foe I've faced in a long while." Vegeta said, crossing his arms.

"Well, him and Jiren." Goku added, and Vegeta nodded in agreement.

"Whose Jiren?" Basil asked.

"We'll get to him later." Piccolo chimed in. His sudden deep voice adding into the conversation made everyone jump. "Right now, I say we take Lord Beerus's advice. Teaching Basil combat first is a smart choice. She needs to know how to defend herself and others."

"Yeah, but were do we train her? The Hyberbolic Time Chamber?" Goku asked. "Or Lord Beerus's planet?"

"We don't need to use the Time Chamber for her," Vegeta said. He looked over at Whis and Beerus. "Maybe Whis could train her like he did for us."

"Oh, I don't think Basil is physically equipped for the rigorous training I provide." Whis said with a chuckle.

"Rigorous?" Basil raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"It is a word that means 'extremely thorough, or accurate." Whis explained. "It is the perfect word to describe my training."

"Sure, she's young and stuff, but Saiyans are durable, right?" Goku looked around the group. "I'm sure she can handle some tough training from Whis."

"It was hard enough on us, and we spent our entire lives training before Whis came along." Vegeta pointed out. "It would destroy her."

"Hey, I wanna train with Whis!" Basil leapt over and clung to the angel. "He's pretty. Please let me train with the pretty Whis."

"You're not ready," Vegeta said flatly. "Kakarot and I will train you."

"Oh...okay!" Basil let go of Whis and skipped over to Goku, her hands clasped behind her back. "When do we start?"

"Uh..." Goku looked over at Piccolo, who nodded.

Man, I didn't think we'd start fighting so soon, Goku thought. I assumed we were gonna talk about rules and stuff for a few days, then the fighting would start. I trust Piccolo and Beerus, though, so if they say that combat training is first on the list, I guess we gotta do that. At least we got to stealing and picking up cars. If she ended up killing a human while juggling cars, I'm pretty sure the humans wouldn't take too kindly to that. I can't say I'm not excited to fight someone new. Of course, I won't go anywhere near my full strength. I don't wanna hurt her, but I also don't want to give her too easy of a starting fight. She needs to enhance her reflexes and regular combat skills, so going easy all the time isn't the way to go. Hm, this is pretty complicated. Although, she did fight surprisingly well when Vegeta grabbed her tail. She was like a ninja. Maybe all she needs is emotional motivation, like Vegeta when Beerus slapped Bulma. He got angry, which made him stronger. Maybe she just needs to get angry?

"Basil, the key to fighting is to measure your opponent," Vegeta began. He moved to stand beside Basil, and motioned to Goku. "Kakarot here will be your pretend enemy. I want you to look at him and examine him. What do you notice about him?"

Goku stood as straight as a reed and puffed out his chest, his hands on his hips. Basil looked him up and down, then grinned. "Oh, I know! He's wearing orange!"

Vegeta sighed. "No."

"Uh...he has black hair?"

"No."

"Oh, oh, he has a blue undershirt!"

"Dear lord, no! He has confidence! Which means he thinks he's going to win! Use that confidence against him!" Vegeta shouted, already feeling his patience fly out the window. "Just...hit him!"

Goku's smile faltered. "Wait, what?"

"Okay!" Basil grinned and drew back her fist, her tail flicking eagerly behind her.

"Wait, I'm not ready!" Goku cried, feeling panicked.

Basil charged him and launched her fist forward, connecting with his stomach. A loud crack was heard before Goku was thrown backward as if he had been pulled by some unseen force. Grass and dirt kicked up from where he had been standing, and a great whoosh was also heard, like a sudden wind had appeared out of nowhere. It was as if her one punch drew a terrific whirlwind that enveloped the group in a matter of seconds. Goku flew backward several feet, only to tumble right over the large waterfall. His shouting was heard for a long while until a splash was heard from down below. Birds shot from the trees and scattered in the sky above, cawing angrily.

Basil flipped around and smiled proudly at the wide-eyed group behind her. "Did I do it right?"

Vegeta was too shocked to speak. He had figured that Goku would block and nothing would happen. He hadn't thought that Basil would actually send him shooting across the field and over the waterfall.

Beerus blinked, then chuckled. "I like you."