Chapter 15: Values

"You're off the team."

Kassava blinked once, her eyes narrowing slightly in anger.

"What?! Why?!"

Vegetto kept a stern stare, meeting her eyes with crossed arms.

"You deliberately disobeyed my orders. You attacked Trunks because you couldn't control yourself, you nearly got yourself killed jumping into the time stream, risked my life and Frieza's attempting to get you out-"

Trunks and Frieza both glanced away, remaining silent as Vegetto's voice rose slightly.

"And on top of it all, you somehow have the power of a Super Saiyan God and didn't feel inclined to tell us about it. You can't be trusted."

Kassava quickly narrowed her eyes, the rage clear in her voice.

"I saved your life, damnit! He was beating you to a pulp!"

Vegetto's tone was still flat.

"We had it under control."

Kassava nearly rolled her eyes, scoffing in response.

"Yeah, you sure did! Trying to crawl your way out of a crater to give Frieza one of your earrings. I'm sure Blaze wouldn't have stopped you at all!"

Vegetto dropped his arms, his eyes widening a bit and raising his voice.

"See, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You can't control your anger, and now your pride is so wounded, you have to defend your reckless actions by downplaying me."

His right eyebrow raised.

"Where does it stop, Kassava?! When you're dead?! When we're dead?! When the entire fabric of existence itself has been destroyed?!"

Vegetto's voice raised even more, matching Kassava's own fury.

"You just risked everything, diving headfirst into a situation you knew nothing about all for petty vengeance! You are not fit to be a Time Patroller!"

Kassava snarled angrily, clenching her fists.

"Fine! You think I care?!"

The woman spun around immediately on her heels.

"You've already taken everything else from me..."

Vegetto kept his stern stare, watching her rapidly dart out of the room in a small sprint. Frieza pursed his lips together, having crossed his arms and letting out a small sigh.

"Well, that could've gone better."

Vegetto sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. She's...well...we had this problem for awhile now."

"Not to mention, Vegetto's own conflicting opinions on her as well!"

Vegetto's eyes narrowed once again, watching Whis casually stroll up to the group of warriors with a warm smile.

"What do you want now?"

Whis chuckled.

"Oh, well I've actually been watching over your little adventures here in the Time Nest during the intermission rounds of the tournament in Universe 6. So firstly, I must say-"

The taller deity turned his gaze towards Frieza.

"I'm impressed with your experiment with Lord Frieza here. Very well executed."

Frieza remained silent, Vegetto's tone showing his lack of amusement.

"Anything else?"

Whis' warm smile dropped into a half smirk.

"Of course. I also wanted to inform you that you're making a mistake with Kassava."

Vegetto's frown returned, his right eyebrow raising slightly.

"Is that right?"

Whis nodded once.

"Yes, indeed. The situation with the Masters is actually far more complex than you can imagine right now, and she is the key to defeating them. Sending her away over something you yourself had a problem with surely isn't the best solution."

Vegetto grunted, his tone rising.

"I'm not sure I like your condescending tone, Whis."

Whis chuckled in response.

"You don't have to. You've chosen to be pragmatic when dealing with her because you know what she needs it as guidance. She's emotionally unstable: a bit hot headed, tremendous power, and a background of tragedy after the events on her homeworld of Nafara."

His gaze then turned towards the Supreme Kai of Time.

"Have you also informed our leader here of the Scroll?"

Vegetto blinked, turning around to face towards the Supreme Kai of Time who kept her head slightly bowed.

"The events on that world have been erased from the timeline, without my doing. I don't know what happened...or how it is possible. But the world no longer exists, along with Blaze's Arcosian Empire."

She lifted her chin up, the worry clear in her eyes.

"No one's been able to alter the Scroll of Eternity this deeply...not even Demigra. It's beyond my magic to fix: the world simply does not exist anymore."

Vegetto's eyes remained wide, glancing down slightly.

"You think it had to do with these Masters we saw?"

Whis nodded.

"It does, they were the ones responsible. But the important thing to note here isn't what they did..."

Vegetto turned back to face towards Whis, watching the taller deity narrow his eyes slightly.

"It's about what this means to Kassava. Do you know where she is right now?"

Vegetto narrowed his eyes again.

"No. Does it matter?"

Whis nodded again.

"Yes. She's was heading for her room when I was coming in. Can you figure out why?"

Vegetto grunted.

"Get to the point Whis."

Whis' smirk rose slightly.

"Very well. She's in her room right now because it is the only place left in the universe that she has."

Vegetto scoffed in response.

"Yes, I'm well aware of her overly dramatic exit."

Whis chuckled lightly once again.

"Actually, it's rather true. Her family is gone, her brother has been erased from history, and she has no home in the time stream anymore."

Vegetto glanced away slightly, before turning back towards Whis as he continued.

"So if you plan to really remove her from the team, you're going to have to kick her out of that hut outside."

Frieza broke out into a small smirk, turning his gaze towards Vegetto.

"You're on your own for that one. I saw what she did to Blaze...you honestly don't stance a chance."

Vegetto's glare turned towards Frieza, clenching his fists.

"Do you really think this is a time for jokes?"

Whis nodded once.

"I think it is. You've spent the last few years of time here, focusing completely on your pragmatism. You saw the dangers of your anger and emotions, so you sealed all of them away in your mind and vowed to uphold this little creed to protect the time stream and those who defend it."

Vegetto turned back towards Whis, remaining silent as he continued.

"But you just broke it, sending one of your strongest teammates away and not even thinking twice about what a dangerous individual like that can be in the universe. Because you were too busy thinking with your mind and trying to restrict her."

The fusion glare back at Whis.

"I tried to help her learn what saved my life all those years ago."

Whis nodded.

"And you failed. Kassava is not you, nor should you have treated her like you. She needs something else...something more than just pragmatism and lessons on controlling her emotions."

The taller deity then dropped his scepter slightly, glancing down as the small orb lightly tapped in the middle of Vegetto's chest.

"She needs this."

Vegetto broke out into another frown, lightly pushing the scepter away.

"Well...that's not a very 'safe' route either."

Whis kept his smirk.

"But you want it too. You're afraid that everything you worked to achieve over the past few years would be undone if you allowed yourself to lose control. It's a rational fear, to be fair."

The taller deity then narrowed his eyes slightly.

"But the fabric of the universe hinges on your success, Vegetto. You're going to have to let it go if you hope to defeat the Masters."

Vegetto raised an eyebrow, glancing around at the others for a moment.

"Why? Why does that matter?"

Whis' smirk rose back into a warm smile, his tone lighthearted.

"Call it a hunch, but your connection I feel will put an end to their plans."

Vegetto's eyes narrowed again, grunting in frustration.

"That doesn't answer anything."

Whis nodded once.

"It wasn't supposed to. Trust your instincts, Vegetto. They'll show you the way."

The taller deity then turned his gaze back towards his sceptar, nodding towards the group once the bright blue orb lit up.

"I should be going. The next round is about to start, and I would hate to miss Vegeta putting this so called Frost in his place! Ta ta for now!"

The three watched as Whis disappeared into a flash of blue light, shooting upwards through the ceiling of the Time Vault and leaving the group behind. The others stood still in silence for a moment, Vegetto speaking first as he turned to face towards Trunks and the Supreme Kai.

"I'll...go talk to her then. We'll need some privacy."

The Supreme Kai nodded.

"We'll look through the records here and try to learn more about these Masters while you take care of Kassava."

Vegetto nodded his head once, keeping his stern expression as he turned on his feel. He made it halfway up the flight of stairs before stopping at the sound of the Supreme Kai's voice calling out to him, glancing over his shoulder.

"Oh and Vegetto...one thing I wanted to add onto Whis' advice. This may involve the fate of existence itself...but you really do need this more than she does. Do try to make this work."

Vegetto turned his head back towards his front, glancing down for a few seconds as his expression softened a bit, before slowly climbing his way out of the Time Vault.