Nameless neutron star, doomed planet

Creating an entire planet had not been easy for Gohan. King Kai made the creation of complex object look easy, but the diminutive deity had tens of thousands of years to study the art. No, Gohan expended massive amounts of energy, eventually creating a relatively small, airless sphere of rock the size of Earth's moon. Days later he managed to coat the entire thing in a thin, but breathable, atmosphere.

It was not permanent, far from it. Without plants, bacteria or the right geological processes, the atmosphere would evaporate in a matter of decades. It would be blasted off by the powerful solar winds emitted by the local star — the same neutron star Gohan had used for training.

It was here that Gohan flew after leaving Piccolo's new lookout. The planet itself seemed to know it was a temporary, fleeting creation — with a broken surface of gray rocks, all cracked and lifeless, shaped into ominously deep fissures and claw-like cliffs reaching out into space.

There were no other planets in this system. All of them had been vaporized or launched away by the ancient cataclysm that created the neutron star itself. Reaching out with his ki, Gohan could sense Beerus and Whis speeding towards his lonely world.

Am I ready for a final fight? He asked himself. Ever since the ritual he spent almost all his time training, either out in space or meditating at home. Other than that there were a few sparring sessions with Vegeta to hone what Krillin had jokingly referred to as their "Freeza style", a few days wishing back the people of the Galactic Capital and taking Piccolo and his family there by spaceship, and a few precious hours every night with his family.

And now it felt like his time was up. Whis and Beerus had vanished, then appeared out of nowhere near Earth. For a few moments Gohan considered contacting Piccolo and asking the new guardian of the north galaxy to transport him to Earth at once, but the god of destruction and his angel left Earth as soon as he detected them, and began approaching his location.

The angel's speed was astounding, several orders of magnitude faster than Gohan's full speed. Beerus and Whis traveled almost thirty thousand light-years in a few minutes, arriving with a flash of power and appearing a few dozen feet away from the rock Gohan was sitting on.

Whis looked at Gohan with his characteristic smile and nodded politely. Beerus stared at the half-saiyan in anger and came closer, his swaying tail cracking rocks unlucky enough to be in its path.

"What do you think you're doing?" Asked Beerus bluntly, clearly angry.

Gohan stood up. "Sorry, lord Beerus?"

"Don't play games with me," Beerus glared at Gohan, "I know what you did." Suddenly Beerus stopped talking, squinted and sniffed the air. He then turned to Whis.

"Whis, what's this? There's something different about the boy."

Gohan waited. He appeared to be standing in a relaxed and respectful manner, but if Vegeta – or one of the other "Freeza style" learners – was here he'd immediately see that the half-saiyan was ready for battle. One of the advantages of mastering ki control at this level was the ability to go from a relaxed state to full battle awareness immediately. Gohan hoped it was fast enough, if Beerus decided to attack.

The tall, elegant angel had already scanned Gohan and was now looking into the crystal embedded into his staff. A moment later Whis turned his eyes to Beerus.

"It appears that one of the kais seeded mortals of the north galaxy with divine power, and his plan somehow culminated in Gohan's transformation. He has effectively become one of the core people born from the golden fruits, lord Beerus, holding the rank of a supreme kai."

"WHAT?!" The effect on Beerus was extreme, and Gohan didn't understand why. Full of rage, two deadly ki orbs began to appear in each of Beerus' hands, his purple aura flaring angrily.

"So after all this, I can't even destroy him?" Beerus asked in barely restrained fury.

"It appears so, my lord," Whis nodded and smiled at Gohan. Was that relief in the angel's eyes? Not that Gohan was about to argue, but what exactly stopped Beerus from destroying him?

Beerus turned to Gohan and stared at him with obvious hatred. "You ruined everything." The feline god closed his fists around the two orbs he formed in his rage, snuffing them out. "You know, don't you?"

Both Gohan and Whis started talking at the same time. "Know wh…"

The two stopped awkwardly, motioning for each other to continue, until Whis shook his head and waited in silence.

Gohan coughed. "Um… know what, lord Beerus?"

Beerus bared his fangs in a growl. "Don't play stupid games with me, boy. Everywhere I look, there you are. Feeding me so much I feel asleep for a more than a year, appointing guardians for every planet in your galaxy, even destroying Freeza and causing him to be reincarnated! Why else would you do it?"

Gohan cleared his throat, trying to think what to say. Eventually he settled on the truth. "Lord Beerus, I got rid of Freeza because he was a threat to every living being in the universe, including my family. I helped appoint the guardians to stop the galactic patrol from using weapons of mass destruction. I had to do it to keep people safe."

"Nonsense. You knew I ordered that fool in heaven to keep Freeza stored away, you knew it and forced him to reincarnate Freeza anyway. And the guardians… Everything you did was an attack on me, boy." Beerus seemed to grow angrier by the second. "You're a supreme kai now, right? Do you know what I did to the last supreme kai who tried to stop me?"

Gohan stared into Beerus' eyes without answering, his own anger beginning to rise. Here was the greatest mass murderer the universe had ever known, trying to threaten him like one of the villains he and his friend had defeated in the past. Just another brutal killer, completely irredeemable. Gohan could sense battle was inevitable at this point, but he'd try to get as much information as possible. Something was going on behind the scenes, and he had to find out what. All Gohan had to do was not give in to his rage and allow Beerus to talk.

"Nothing to say?" Beerus sneered. "Well, I'll tell you anyway. I had Whis trap him in a sword and embed him in an unbreakable spire of rock. The fool kais eventually forgot about him and worshiped that sword as legendary weapon." Beerus chuckled at the memory, turning to Whis. "Tell me, Whis, how did that old pest get out? What happened to that sword?"

Whis stared into his staff, then paused. Beerus' tail started flicking around impatiently, cutting grooves into the irregular rocks around him. "Well? Out with it already! What is it with you lately, Whis?"

The angel looked away from the crystal in his staff. "My apologies, lord. It appears that Gohan and Goku broke the sword while training on the world of the Kais. Gohan freed the sword from the rock spire to use it against Majin Buu, but it broke when he used it to block a mass of katchin thrown by Goku as part of their training. It happened during your last great sleep, lord Beerus."

Beerus' aura flared violently now. "Why am I not surprised. It's always you, isn't it? I thought there was something about your father, Vegeta too, but I overlooked you. You fooled me, boy." Beerus looked at the half-saiyan menacingly. "Well, it ends now, you've been discovered. Tell me, who sent you? Who told you? How did you find out?"

Gohan barely held back the urge to attack, noticing that even Whis was confused by Beerus' words. "Told me what, lord Beerus? I only wanted to protect people."

Suddenly, Beerus' aura contracted and vanished. The god of destruction tensed, then charged at Gohan. Even in his hyper-aware, ki-controlled state, the speed was blinding. The young half-saiyan barely managed to block Beerus' high spinning kick with his right arm, the force of the attack launching him into a nearby cliff. The entire rock formation collapsed, releasing a titanic burst of rubble and dust.

"No more talk," Beerus said to himself. "I can't destroy you, but I can hurt you. You'll tell me everything I want to know, one way or another."