The day a god chose to intervene in the mortal realm was a day like any other.
The sky was blue and filled with fluffy white clouds, the birds chirped and sung, the wind was a breeze which was cool and kind, and Earth was experiencing a dreadfully boring time of nothing. This was the norm between bouts of world-threatening devastation for the little blue pearl of a world; seldom was there a middle ground between outright armageddon and utter peace.
But even in peace time, there was always one warrior on Earth who could be counted on to stay sharp, strong and prepared just in case.
The Prince of All Saiyans acted even in training with the fierce passion once expected of him by millions. Even on this warm day ripe with cool breezes and warm smiles, he pushed himself hard enough for it to hurt in such a particular way. The gravity of earth a few hundred times over could not stop him from leaping and dodging the blasts of angry little machines, even as each footfall came down with a tile-cracking thud. Encapsulated in the red warning of the Gravity Chamber's lights, he deflected each energy bolt to come at him back towards the attacker, barely batting an eye towards them.
And with a bone-rattling stomp, he hit the floor kneeling, one fist clenched and the elbow bent, the other arm outstretched aside as he chopped a spark of energy right back into the machine which fired it. His chest moved calmly and he breathed softly, eyes closing as he stood with poise; brow twitching with aggravation and a very slight sheen of sweat. He opened his eyes and made a gruff command, "End program."
As the Gravity Chamber begun to whir down, a mechanically-droning recording of his wife's voice filtered through the heavy air with cheer, "Sure thing!" At its chirp, in his solitude, Vegeta let himself smile as it lightened his sour mood somewhat.
He groaned a quiet sound as the weight on his body was lifted and the gravity returned to normal, but that was about it. He was just about warmed up, but not by much. Bulma's intellect and inventive mind may both be outstanding, but she was a long way from being able to push his training by this point. The Gravity Chamber was useful for exercise to stay in shape, but it wasn't helpful for getting stronger anymore, not after he'd spent months training with Whis.
He needed more than just the Gravity Chamber, especially now that his body itched for a challenge, a fight. What he needed was for Kakarot to finish whatever nonsensical farming business he was doing so they could both get some meaningful training in.
A minute went by and Vegeta left the Gravity Chamber in the midst of pulling a set of sleek white and gold armour over the black under-suit he now had on; the armour Bulma had made for him, so very recently. The breeze on his exerted body was great to feel, but as it made him feel looser and better, the need to burn off steam grew in equal measure. And so, stepping out into the sun in the middle of Capsule Corporation's lawn, he reached out with his mind to search the mountains where Kakarot lived…
There he was, sitting still. By him was… Yes, Goten, his youngest spawn. Was he on a break, eating lunch? Something of that nature?
Perfect, that means he won't be getting taken away from his so-called work. To be clear, not that Vegeta cared how Chi-Chi may choose to take her frustrations out, but he'd rather not deal with her either way. He also had… marginal respect for her, just from relation to Kakarot.
Wait.
Flinching from his dull aggravation into a confused kind of caution, Vegeta tensed where he stood with his fists clenching. Looking off into the sky in the direction of Kakarot with his eyes narrowed, he asked himself, "What the hell just happened…?"
Kakarot was different all of a sudden. His spirit, his Ki felt similar. It was certainly still him, but it was mangled and weak. It was like his powerful soul was suddenly trapped somehow, entangled and unable to release itself. He felt it struggle and barely move; he realised a second later that Goku must have tried to power up instinctually from shock, from rising defences, but it was for naught.
Then, he felt something else.
It appeared suddenly as if from teleportation, like that of the kais. Or… of Instant Transmission. It was the opposite scenario; a spirit in a body much too great for it, and it was free to act however it wished.
Vegeta crouched, his aura burst around him, and he leapt into the air with a grunt, taking off across the sky towards this strange presence.
JUST A MOMENT AGO…
"Huh?!"
Goku looked down at his hands, though they were no longer his hands. They were green and slender and tiny! He looked between them rapidly, as if it was a trick of his eyes, and then he heard Goten's own confusion as he stood, spilling the bento he'd had on his lap all over the ground.
"Dad?! What just happened?!"
"I- I dunno, Goten!" He spoke and it only made him more confused, more worried, as the voice which he used was nothing like his own. Goten gawked at him with a dropped jaw, wordlessly for a few seconds, then suddenly made off through the air, flying towards and shouting for Chi-Chi.
In the meantime, watching him go for a moment before he looked back down at himself, Goku grit his teeth. He clenched his fists, tensed, and pulled with his soul.
His cheeks puffed out a little. There was a sparkling of white around him, the tiniest beginnings of an aura.
Then, nothing. He couldn't even power up, this body – it wasn't his nor was it similarly powerful; it outright failed to accommodate the energy he usually held! He didn't even know how to use what little energy he felt willing to come to him through this body. He understood not a single cell he was working with, and it made him feel terribly weak. None of the instincts in his head knew what to do with the flesh he now had.
"Why am I green?! And tiny?!" Goku shouted the words, twisting his torso and struggling to look down his own back. Maybe if he asked loud enough, an answer would appear.
Goten and Chi-Chi came flying over, the boy holding his mother by the back of her dress, "Look! I told you!"
Despite Goten's worried voice and the fact that this strange green body wore her husband's work clothes, Chi-Chi spoke with unconvinced doubt, "What? Are you sure that's him?"
"Yeah, I was standing right there when he transformed!"
Goten flew lower to the ground and let go of Chi-Chi; despite years without fighting, she still had the muscle memory to smoothly land on her feet and bounce into standing. She immediately turned towards 'Goku'. The eyes, filled with panic and confusion, sparked a similar feeling which she always recognised, despite the fact that she wasn't looking at pure Saiyan black. Even though his eyes were different, that spark looked somehow the same, "Goku, what's going on?! I mean, is that really you in there?"
Pointing at himself as Goten landed by his mother, Goku hissed his words with shocked awe to them, "Yeah, Chi-Chi. I don't know how, it just happened…!"
There was a presence. Sudden and malevolent. His instincts were slow, and he didn't bristle at the feeling until he heard an accompanying voice.
"He no longer has his body, but he's kept his mind."
Chi-Chi and Goten turned with hums between themselves, and the former blinked at what she saw, "Wait, what?"
"Dad…?"
Goku blinked his new grey eyes with shock. He was looking at himself, a perfect… replica? Was that the right word? It was his body, but it can't have been a different version of it, because he didn't have his body anymore.
"No way, you look just like me!" He couldn't help the shocked words, as he stared wide eyed at his own smirking face.
With an eerie edge in those so very familiar eyes, the doppelganger, the other Goku, raised one of his hands. And from the wrist up, it was surrounded by a humming white buzz, and from around that was a sharp, purple blade of energy.
It happened a second later. Goku's mind kicked in where Saiyan instincts, instincts this body didn't have, failed to.
"Chi-Chi, Goten, move!" He shouted, pushing forward and throwing them out the way as his doppelganger moved.
It was startling. It had been a while since someone had so completely overpowered his senses. He hadn't been blindsided through power alone since Beerus.
A burning, ripping agony tore through his torso as that energy blade pierced his body like it was nothing, the doppelganger's other hand risen to catch Goku's wrist as he tried to defend himself. His other arm froze at his side, limp as if the nerves had been severed.
He didn't even have the power to scream from the pain. He just had a few seconds of blackening vision and slowly ringing hearing to look into his own eyes, which stared at him with cruelty and glee, as blood trickled down his chin.
"I don't know your body yet. But I know my own."
The doppelganger let go of his wrist as his legs were buckling, energy blade gliding out from his bleeding chest. His vision went black, his hearing failed, and Goku hit the ground facedown, bleeding into the dirt, already dead.
Slowly, with his smirk growing into a grin, Goku's doppelganger turned his gaze on Chi-Chi and Goten. Mother cradled child as both looked on with terror, eyes filling with tears. He turned his new body towards them next.
That was the point where Chi-Chi turned to run. She hadn't even saw the movement where he'd attacked Goku, but… what else was there to do but flee?
She heard the pulse of Ki and the rush of wind as he flew for them. She looked over her shoulder, morbidly curious or instincts telling her to keep the threat in sight, it didn't matter. She took the opportunity to turn Goten further, for herself to be between that sickly purple blade and her son, as he drew his arm back further, tensed to strike, with a sick grin on his face…
In a violent rush of air, just as his arm started to move, a white and gold boot swung into her vision encased in white Ki.
CRACK!
Thunderous and barely overshadowing the groan of Goku's voice, that kick sent the doppelganger flying, ripping through the farmland in a great cloud of dust.
Chi-Chi scrambled to her feet, having been knocked from her unsteady footing by the force of that attack, to look on Vegeta standing with a scowl.
He turned to her and Goten, growling his words with urgency, "Leave, now!"
Goten looked up to his mother's outstretched arms as she reached down to pick the scared boy back to his feet; something beat her to it.
Vegeta reached down and picked him up by the collar of his shirt, unreservedly shouting into his face, "You fly faster than she runs, boy!" Goten flinched and the tears in his eyes started falling as Vegeta threw him back, turning towards the dust cloud, "SO FLY!"
Goten stumbled to catch himself, white aura bursting around him, and the second his feet touched to the ground he threw himself into flight, grabbing his mother in a hug to pull her from the earth. Too frightened and shaken to transform, Goten flew as fast as his base form would allow.
Vegeta watched them go for a moment from the corner of his eyes, then turned his gaze back to the matter at hand. Within that cloud of dust and soft earth, he could feel that malevolent presence stirring, not yet moving, and kept himself ready in case he was rushed. Though, against his better judgement, his eyes moved to a green tinge at the side of his vision.
He saw a face down body. It was green… it looked to be a Kai, in fact, with that white mohawk. Though his eyes widened and his jaw dropped not for that, but for the clothes he saw it wearing. He had felt it happen seconds before he arrived, he had been just barely too slow to stop it in the confusion of just what was happening. But seeing that body wearing those clothes, seeing that he had failed, was just a nail in the coffin.
His mind snapped back into focus just before his eyes did. The dust cloud opened and a purple blade came rushing for his head.
Stopping dead before it reached his face by the grip of his hand, Vegeta glared through bared teeth and a scowl into Kakarot's face. It was pained at the edges, both from his earlier attack and his arresting grip, but it was also a sickening grin, the kind one wore when they took pleasure in the slaughter they dished out; the grin of one who was proud of it. Vegeta was taken aback at the sight.
It was… nostalgic. Terribly so. It was an expression he had come to loathe.
It was something he had never seen on Kakarot's face.
It rubbed him the wrong way.
In a flare of brilliant golden energy, Vegeta's hair turned the same colour as his angry eyes sparked into a vibrant green. His opposite fist rose sharply to shoulder height and punched forth just as quickly; though he moved to catch the fist, the doppelganger's hand was simply carried back into his own face as Vegeta punched right through his attempted defence and again sent him hurtling through farmland.
Though this time, more braced for it, he didn't go as far, instead skidding to a stop on one knee with his fingers digging into the dirt. His eyes were screwed shut and his teeth were clenched as he groaned through the pain in his skull, blood dripping down from his nose. His eyes snapped open and he leapt into the air, able to fly without falter; and helpfully so, as a golden orb of energy eviscerated the ground where he'd just stood.
He looked forth to see a streak of gold and black and failed to react in time. A boot stole the air from his lungs when it was forced into his stomach, and Vegeta seemed to use the weight of pulling his leg free to throw his upper body forward.
It was easy for him to get his winded opponent into a choke hold, despite the attempted resistance. Even as he felt his arm being pulled, his Super Saiyan strength dwarfed that which Kakarot could utilise in his base form.
And, on top of that…
"You've no idea how to use this body." He growled into the doppelganger's ear, not caring as he heard it choke, "But for stealing it, never mind what you have tried to do and have done with it-!" Vegeta tugged hard, squeezing half for pain and half to brace; when the doppelganger elbowed him in the stomach, he barely reacted beyond a growl.
Vegeta spun out of his own hold, sending the Fake-Goku spinning in place before he flipped back and booted him straight down to the earth. He landed in a deafening crash, one which he barely managed to prepare for. Vegeta descended to the ground, glowing golden with a barely restrained fury.
The Fake-Goku was standing by the time Vegeta's boots touched to the ground. He lifted a gloved hand and pointed over to the face down body which could only have been the real Kakarot.
And quietly, he growled a promise. "You die for that. We'll sort this out in Otherworld."
The doppelganger's aura was a twisted mockery of Kakarot's. It wasn't pure and white, tinged with gold, it was closer to grey, sickly tinted by black. His voice was almost the same, but the tone he used was all wrong, "I didn't plan on fighting anyone quite yet, not before I learned how to use Goku's body properly." The voice was close, but off. It held a more pompous, refined tone to it, rather than being light and joyous. "But I suppose I'm at an impasse. We don't have long to battle, however…"
"Then I'll kill you quickly."
Closing his eyes for just a second and chuckling, the Doppelganger's aura flared and he thrust an arm forth, unleashing a blast of near purple energy. It was a powerful thing, but it was restrained and entangled just like Kakarot had been, though for a different reason; where Kakarot's energy couldn't be accommodated through the body he had been left with, this Doppelganger's powers had no idea what was happening as they were forced through alien cells which were much too strong for them.
And so, while he cringed only barely, Vegeta flew right through that blast and exited mid-attack. The Doppelganger bent back to dodge the chop which would have broken his neck, arms lifting to catch himself on the ground as he kicked his legs up. It was a move which had seemed like it should be refined and smooth, though it came out choppy, the Doppelganger not used to the different weight and size that he was working with. Vegeta caught his legs, turning to heave him into the air in an arc, slamming him right back down against the earth. It made a craterous explosion, though even through the pain the Doppelganger fired a Kiai into the earth, not resisting his own energy to allow it to shoot him up into the air; narrowly dodging Vegeta's heel as it fell, hitting sheer stone instead of breaking the Doppelganger's back.
He looked up, his eyes narrow as he felt the Doppelganger's power increasing. His jaw clenched. His teeth were gritted…
And this timeline was changed by one simple idea.
…Vegeta realised he was much too angry to care about making this imposter suffer. He could suffer for as long as he needed to in hell. There was no need to do it here.
In a burst of bright energy, his form flared, warped, and then erupted; as a Super Saiyan 2, Vegeta moved about twice as fast, his energy twice as great. Where the Doppelganger had barely perceived his moves before, he now saw Vegeta vanish entirely; the next instant, as the imposter was backing up, his body hit resistance and his back lit up from shoulders to waist in burning pain.
The golden blast exploded, leaving him coughing as he breathed acrid smoke, eyes narrow and stinging as he tried to see golden-shrouded attacks through it. His senses were detecting so much energy that it was difficult to narrow it down in order to effectively dodge. While he twisted to avoid the first hit, ducked under the second, narrowly blocked the third, and just barely tanked the forth… the fifth through hundredth attacks weaved to catch dodges and blasted right through blocks.
This was not how it was going to go. His Time-Ring was heated as it worked, as he willed it to rip him from this Timeline before it was too late.
After what had felt like hours, he drifted back out of the dispersing smoke-cloud, holding his side with one hand. His grand attire was in tatters, much of the upper-body scorched, an entire arm and shoulder of the clothing missing, blood running down the visible skin. Bruises and welts littered his body just about from head to toe, and blackened blast-marks ached up and down his spine.
His eyes wide, he lost the sight and feeling of Vegeta for a second, as the gold within the lingering smoke vanished and his power seemed to disappear. And then, it all came rushing back in, as his divine mind caught up and he realised he was sensing Godly Ki; the next second, an icy burst of power erupted, blinding him the moment before it faded.
Hanging in the air, enveloped by the power of Super Saiyan Blue, Vegeta glared deeper than merely the Doppelganger's eyes. After a few seconds, he simply shook his head.
"I have no idea who you are, Kai." Vegeta said through a scowl, his azure eyes narrowed, "But I'll be sure to find out after I send you to hell!" His fists clenched, his aura burst, and he moved forth far too quickly for the Doppelganger to even comprehend.
CRUNCH!
And, as fate would have it, he didn't even have time to scream as the pain turned quickly into numbness and shock, his breath stolen by the fist through his chest. The same way he knew how to shut down his own body most effectively, Vegeta knew how to kill a Saiyan body all the same. It wasn't difficult to cause such massive damage that even a Saiyan felt system-shock, not when you had the power of a god and a Super Saiyan at once.
The Time-Ring hummed, started to tug him away, but it was nowhere near quick enough; Vegeta ripped it off of the imposter's hand as he saw it reacting, throwing it aside just in case it exploded or something.
Vegeta breathed heavily, roughly, with rage, even in this divine state. He looked at his bloodied fist and gritted his teeth, flaring his aura in a spark of wrath to burn that blood off of his body. Years ago he would have delighted in that.
Now, he was decidedly sickened, especially when he heard Kakarot's body hit the ground so far below.
He took a moment to catch his breath. It took longer than he thought, but still only a moment passed before Vegeta lowered his fists to his sides, his aura fading away. Out of caution or maybe just his foul mood, he remained ascended into Super Saiyan Blue, and flew down to the earth. When he landed, he quickly spotted the bodies; the Kai's body and Kakarot's, both not far from each other, wearing each other's clothes.
He closed his eyes and sighed. Then, he looked at the sky and barked an order for attention. "Hey! King Kai, do you hear me?!"
Only a second passed before the voice was in his head. "I do, Vegeta, and Goku has already briefed me on what happened, and I saw the rest. It's a good thing you took that ring off of him! That was a Time Ring, Prince, it would have taken him somewhere we couldn't have chased him."
Vegeta huffed as he folded his arms. "You mean he might have gotten away with that? Tch. Who was he anyway?"
"Still trying to figure that one out- Hey! Goku, don't pull at me, I'm not a pho-Ah!"
Vegeta raised an eyebrow.
He heard Kakarot a moment later, and his voice was correct this time. "Yo, Vegeta! Thank you, for protecting Chi-Chi and Goten. I… Well. Couldn't." Vegeta nodded in acknowledgement, though nothing needed to be said. "Uh, and I guess thanks for stopping him wholesale? But, well, it's kinda weird to thank you for killin' me?"
He smirked, at that. "Any time."
"Hey!"
"Never mind that. It's over." Vegeta floated off the ground, "Look into who he was if you can. I suppose I'll go get you your body back. The Dragon Balls should be ready around this time."
"Oh! Vegeta?" He hummed, and Kakarot continued. "Don't let Chi-Chi, Goten, or… well, or anyone, if you can help it, see me like that. Anyway, yeah, we'll ask around up here! Good luck!"
Vegeta felt the connection break, and he slowly faded out of Super Saiyan Blue. He was still looking at the sky as he wondered to himself, "Hm… a Time Ring, eh?" He turned and looked around in the general direction of where he had dropped it, though he didn't see much of a glint. "Hghm… I'd better find that trinket before something scampers off with it. It's probably important." In the meantime, he reached down to move his glove, clicking on the watch beneath it to call Bulma. As he glanced around, he heard it connect.
"Oh? Why, what do I owe the pleasure of a phonecall in the middle of the day? I thought you were going out to train with Goku."
"I'll fill you in on exactly what happened when I come back to get the Dragon Radar."
"The Dragon-… Vegeta, is everything okay?"
"Not right now. But it will be. I'll explain soon."
And so, Vegeta scoured the farm until he caught sight of the divine metal glinting in the dirt, plucking the Time Ring from the soil and taking off into the sky. He would go on to explain what he knew of what happened, and what he could guess, to more than just Bulma. Occasionally, Goku and King Kai themselves would filter in to answer questions, especially when the others started shouting up for King Kai's attention.
And in at least this time, for now, the Zero Mortals Plan was put on hold. Maybe eventually, another Zamasu, from sometime else, would come to exact his evil ideals. But by then, they would be ready, and on edge.
