Chapter 5: A New Age of the Kais

With the loud "fzzt" ringing out in the otherworldly atmosphere, the five travelers soon appeared in the middle of an open grass field. Vegetto lowered his arm back down to his side, glancing to the north in awe while Leiji turned to face him, Gogeta, Goku and Vegeta with a half hearted smile.

"Welcome back, to the homeworld of the Kais."

Vegetto kept his attention locked forward, staring at the structure now towering above the fields of grass in the pink skyline. Standing on top of a small plateau, the fusion had a perfect view of the area below, where the towering palace like structure stood above the skyline of a new metropolitan district in the midst of the open and peaceful fields that he had remembered from just a year ago in his training with the Kais.

Gogeta looked back at Leiji while Goku and Vegeta followed suit to stare in awe with Vegetto, the fusion's tone questioning.

"What happened here? Why is everything so...different?"

Leiji smiled up in response, walking forward and gesturing the four to follow after her.

"C'mon, I'll let the Elder Kai fill you in on exactly what has happened. We're expected at a meeting, where everyone needs to speak with you."

Gogeta blinked in confusion, watching Leiji take to the sky before slowly following suit. Vegetto glanced over to Goku and Vegeta, watching the two fly towards the city below with an eyebrow raised.

"What do you two make of this?"

Goku kept a wide eyed stare, his eyes darting around the skyline with glee.

"It looks amazing, I remember this place being so empty when we came to train here a year ago. And now a whole city is here, it's incredible!"

Vegeta crossed his arms, slowly rising into the air.

"We'll have more time to sight see later, Kakarot. I'm sure there's a reason why this place has become so populated since we last visited, and considering the urgency of the Kai's request to meet with us, I assume it isn't because they want us to take a tour."

The small prince dashed after Leiji and Gogeta, followed shortly by Goku and Vegetto as they headed for the palace within the center of the metropolitan city. The structure stood an impressive eight stories high, towering over the other buildings lining the sky line of the bustling city beneath the five as they flew towards the top of the palace. Flying up the elaborate mixture of stone and gold, the warriors flew past rows of windows before reaching the very top of the structure itself, landing lightly on a balcony overlooking the city below. The warriors followed after Leiji's lead, who moved up to two ornate doors in red and gold, reaching out to grip both long cylinder handles before swinging both doors open.

The open pathway led into a room of what appeared to be unrecognizable aliens, all dressed in prestigious attire of the Kais. Vegetto glanced around into the room for a moment, unsure of what the silence between the two groups entailed, until a loud and familiar voice projected in excitement to break the awkward silence.

"Goku! Oh it's great that you made it!"

The small boy in appearance lit up in matching excitement, a big grin quickly etching into his expression.

"Hey King Kai! I wasn't expecting to see you here, how have things been for you?"

The small and plump blue god of the North quickly waddled up to Goku, his features showing his dissatisfaction as he mumbled into the boy's ear.

"I would be doing well, if someone hadn't retired from being the champion of the North in the arena..."

The strong accent of the Southern Kai rang out in the room next, quickly appearing up to King Kai's side with a confident smile and boisterous posture.

"It's as I told you, Northy, your time is up. Goku may have won you all those victories before, but every great champion deserves a rest. It's Pikkon's rightful place to be champion for a new millennia, and the South finally has risen to its true place in the universe."

The two Kais immediately butt heads, the grin morphing into a smirk on the Southern Kai's face as King Kai's morphed into a toothy and angry frown.

"Above the North!"

The West Kai soon joined in the head butting ensemble, angrily directing his attention to the Southern Kai, splitting the glares between the three.

"The only place the South belongs is at the bottom, you stealing, cheap, backstabbing deal breaker."

The Eastern Kai finally joined in the bout, her voice booming over the other three.

"At least the West had a champion to steal. All of you hoard the talented fighters for yourselves, working together to make sure I never have a contender in the tournaments."

Vegetto reached back behind his head, raising an eyebrow as he scratched lightly in his hair.

"Is this what this whole meeting is about? Picking contenders for a new tournament."

"Oh don't mind them."

The sound of the Elder Kai's voice grabbed the fusion's attention, who glanced over to the side as he watched him and Kibito Kai make their way up to the four lower Kais with his arms behind his back.

"We actually called you here for an important reason, and now that we have everyone here, we should get to talking. But first..."

The Elder Kai grinned from ear to ear, gesturing to Leiji.

"Goku, Vegeta, Vegetto, and Gogeta, let me introduce to you the new Northern Supreme Kai of the universe!"

Goku blinked, glancing over to Leiji who remained unchanged in expression.

"The new Supreme Kai? But I thought you two were the only Supreme Kais left in existence thanks to the efforts of Buu?"

The Elder Kai shook his head, dismissing Goku's question with his left hand.

"Oh please, the universe needs its deities, and something as temporary as Majin Buu wouldn't prevent us from eventually rebuilding the structure of the Kais. Although, we did make some...changes from the usual tradition of electing a Kai."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow in curiosity, locking his attention on the Elder.

"You have a tradition for electing the gods of a universe? I thought the Supreme Kais have always been, not elected officials."

Kabito Kai stifled his amusement at Vegeta's comparison, shaking his head at the Saiyan prince.

"No Vegeta, you see, the Kais are merely positions that normally could only be held by members of our race, the Shin-jin. Members from our race are born from a magical fruit that grows on the trees of our homeworld here called Kaiju trees, and before, only beings that were born from this fruit could serve as Kais in this universe."

Kabito kai then gestured to Leiji with a smile.

"However, times are changing, and our race is slowly dying out thanks to the long process of birth for a Shin-jin as well as the inevitable extinction of the trees in the coming years. So we discovered through the fruit's magical properties, the gift of immortality is given just as easily to a being who eats from the fruit than a Shin-jinn born from the seeds. Which is how we first came across Leiji, a worthy candidate to rule over the gods themselves."

The Elder Kai then grinned mischievously, covering the side of his face as he leaned into Vegetto's left ear.

"And the best part is, she's a Saiyan!"

Vegeta's eyes were the first to widen, having heard the excited whisper with an agape mouth.

"A Saiyan?! But that's not possible!"

Leiji coughed into her right hand, furrowing her brow as she glanced away from the stares of the awe struck Saiyans and fusions.

"With all due respect Elders, we can discuss this at another time. We have more important matters to attend to, especially about the incident in Otherworld."

The Elder Kai stepped back, his expression showing his clear surprise and awe.

"Oh, that's right, we should get to that before whatever that thing is decides to rip the universe in two."

Vegetto's eyes narrowed, doing his best to divert his attention away from Leiji.

"What 'thing' are you talking about?"

The four warriors glanced up, the relaxed and smooth tone of the Grand Kai echoing from his ornate throne above the ground in the right of the room.

"A couple of days ago, we picked up a very urgent distress signal from King Yemma at the check in station. He didn't have the luxury to send us a detailed message, but the panic button beneath his desk had been activated that emphasized a threat capable of destroying all existence as we know it."

Gogeta kept silent, listening to the Grand Kai continue with his tone sounding more exasperated than before.

"We sent a team of twenty fighters, led by Pikkon, to investigate in response. We haven't heard from them since they departed a full day ago."

Vegeta kept his eyes narrowed, crossing his arms across his chest.

"What exactly happened in Otherworld this time?"

The Grand Kai barely shrugged his shoulders, his beard and sunglasses mostly hiding his expression.

"We have no idea. The effects are similar to when Janemba began to threaten existence, and the gates from both Hell and Heaven are open once more. The strange difference is that even with these gates open, we haven't seen any spirits return to the world of the living, from either destination."

Goku frowned in response, his eyes narrowing as well.

"Don't worry Grand Kai, we'll get to the bottom of this. Is there anything else we should know before we leave for the Otherworld?"

Kabito Kai made his way up to Goku with a concerned frown, reaching down and grasping his shoulder.

"Be careful, Goku. I fear the worst for the warriors we sent to investigate, and if something is powerful enough to defeat all of their combined power, you'll need to be very careful."

Leiji turned to face the four with a nod, gesturing for them to grasp her shoulders once more.

"I'm going with you as well. It'll be easier for us to discover what truly happened there if I can give the rest of the Kais here a first hand report myself."

Gogeta blinked, furrowing his brow lightly as he studied Leiji.

"Will you be able to keep up with us?"

The new Eastern Kai smirked back at the fusion in response, nodding lightly.

"I just may surprise you. If you're afraid to be beaten by a woman."

Vegetto chuckled at the two, being the first of the four to grip Leiji's right shoulder as he smirked at Gogeta.

"C'mon, if she truly is a Saiyan, she'll be able to handle herself. We'd better get to it, who knows when this thing will enter the land of the living and we better take advantage of an open playground while we can."

The other three Saiyan warriors soon followed suit, reaching out and grasping onto Leiji's shoulder as the Elder Kai waved to the five with a smile.

"Good luck, we'll see you when you get back!"

With the wish of encouragement, the five then suddenly disappeared into thin air, their molecules traveling at light speed in the short trip to the dimension of the dead.