A teenage boy with messy black hair and light and dark blue clothing sat beneath a tree, meditating. Or at least, trying to meditate. He always had the hardest time with this part of his training. Master Kibito's training was so much easier...
Kai Goten relished his fights with Master Kibito. The Kai Kibito had been alive for longer than Goten could even imagine, almost as long as the Supreme Kai had been. He had great battle instincts, and studied the fighting techniques of the entire universe. His trials were always very challenging, and at the end of them, Goten always felt stronger, and felt like he had learned a lot. If being a Kai was all about fighting, Goten would have been the happiest Kai in Otherworld.
But it wasn't. In fact, to the Kai, fighting was more of a hobby than anything else. After all... when would the Kai ever use it?
Kai Kibito told Goten once that he had been born to protect the Supreme Kai, which was why he knew pretty much everything there was to know about fighting. He was one of the strongest Kai in existence, the only one stronger than him was the Kai who oversaw the entirety of Hell. But then, physical strength and power didn't really go hand in hand with the Kai.
For instance, there was the Supreme Kai. Goten had quickly learned that, in a physical battle, the Supreme Kai wasn't much stronger than he appeared. And yet, he was the most powerful of all the Kai. The Supreme Kai's power was exceeded only by the XenoKai, the creator of the very universe.
The Supreme Kai's power was a power of the mind. Kai Goten had been training for years on the Supreme Kai's planet, and yet, he still couldn't grasp what it was, much less how to use it. The Supreme Kai had called it a Creative power, and said it was convertive, which apparently meant he could use it to change things, but that wasn't completely it. Goten had seen him seem to create things out of thin air, and the Supreme Kai had explained to him how he did that, but Goten still didn't understand it all. Part of it was matter being transferred from one place to another, and converted, molecules and atoms being re-arranged and put back together a different way, and it was supposed to be simple. He had even suggested Goten try it, fully believing Goten had the ability.
Goten so far had only been able to create craters in the ground, and 'convert' a rock into a pile of much smaller rocks.
But that wasn't even the hardest thing Goten was expected to learn. The Supreme Kai had insisted that his greatest power had to do with observation, and it was certainly the power he used the most, as whenever he wasn't training Goten, the young Kai-in-training usually saw him meditating on top of one of this small planet's many hills. The Supreme Kai had the ability to see everything in the universe, all at once. He had shown Goten once in a glass ball a picture of the entire universe, as seen from afar. The large mass of swirling light had amazed Goten. And then, he had shown Goten what the atoms of his hand looked like.
And then he had told Goten that, when he looked at the entire universe, he saw all of it in atomic detail.
Goten had tried to picture it. It gave him a nightmare.
The hardest part of Goten's training, was this. Not meditation, Master Nail had often taught him meditation, and while Goten still got distracted sometimes, he was still able to meditate, sometimes for hours at a time. The hardest part was the concepts he was supposed to meditate on. He was tasked with trying to understand things a mortal's mind wasn't meant to understand. Trying to hold pictures in his mind that his mind wasn't built to comprehend. Trying to think like a Kai.
Your mind must be ready, Kai Goten, the Supreme Kai's voice came into Goten's head. Goten was on the exact opposite of the planet from the Supreme Kai, the core of the planet directly between them. Goten could feel the planet's core pulsing beneath him, and fought to clear his mind. You won't have time to adjust once you become a Kai. You must practice control now, so you may control the power later.
How can I control a power I don't have yet? Goten's mental voice thought, frustrated, as he attempted to clear even that away.
It's as easy as clearing a spot to sit, before you sit down, the Supreme Kai returned, his presence surrounding Goten. Or stretching your muscles before hefting a large weight. Completely clear your mind. Open it to any possibility. Once your mind is clear, I will give you a thought.
Goten pushed away his fear, his confusion, his frustration, and let it all go. His mind went into battle mode, that instant just as he was opening up his senses in a fight, his mind completely open to any possibility, his focus purely on the moment, preparing for anything...
The thought was pressed into his mind, dark and bright and sad and joyful and big and small and...
Goten latched on to it tightly, memorizing every part of it, taking in all of its aspects, searching it for any parts he missed. And then...
His brain started trying to understand it.
He screamed.
Kai Goten, the Supreme Kai's voice came to him, with it a feeling of warmth and cool. The image was gone, replaced by just white nothingness, and Goten was aware of someone touching him, holding him, and something wet on his face.
Goten opened his eyes, looking up at the Supreme Kai, who had seemed to make it to his side in no time at all. There was concern in those ageless eyes, and Goten sobbed. "I failed..." he said shakily, embarrassed.
The Supreme Kai gently wiped tears from his face. "You were doing well. You recorded it into your memory, and for a brief instant, you almost understood," he said softly, smiling. "Epiphany will come soon, Kai Goten. You just have to wait, and let it happen."
Goten swallowed. "What if I never have an epiphany?" he asked, his voice wavering. "What if I can only be mortal? With a mortal's mind? What... what if I..." He looked down at the ground, his face red. "What if I can't take it?"
The Supreme Kai raised an eyebrow. "Then your mind would shatter, and you would die," he said matter-of-factly. At Goten's reaction, he gently brushed the hair out of the teenage boy's sweat-covered brow. "Are you afraid to die, Kai Goten?" he asked softly.
Goten grinned wryly at that. For anyone else, such a question might fill them with fear, but Goten had spent too much time in Otherworld, too much time training to be a Kai, to be afraid of something like death. One of his first lessons had been what Otherworld was, what Life and Death were. Death was just training for the next Life. "I just don't want to fail, Master," he said, swallowing. "The universe is counting on me, and I don't want to let them down. I... I want Pel to be happy. To have a good life. To have somewhere nice to come when she dies," he said, bringing his knees to his chest.
"Just Pel?" the Supreme Kai asked, his chiding tone belied by the glimmer of amusement in his eye.
"Everyone," Goten corrected himself, then cast the Supreme Kai a sideways glance. "But especially Pel."
This caused the Supreme Kai to smile, a gesture that Goten found himself copying. "I think it's time we had a change in scenery," the Supreme Kai said, looking off into the distance. "Mortal minds work best on a subconscious level. You need something to get your mind off of your training, in order to complete it," he said, then suddenly his smile grew. "And I think I have the perfect distraction for you," he said, and stood up, stretching.
Goten stood as well. "Distraction?" he asked, surprised. Usually, he was being chided for being too easily distracted, and now the Supreme Kai wanted to seek distraction out?
Kibito arrived, then, and Goten knew the Supreme Kai had called for him. "Kai Kibito, please travel to the Grand Kai, let him know the time has come," he said. Kibito grinned widely, giving Goten a look that told him a surprise was in store. He said nothing, however, just bowed to the Supreme Kai and left.
The Supreme Kai gave Goten the same amused glance. "The Grand Kai is in charge of the entirety of Otherworld. Once every thousand years or so, he hosts an Otherworld Tournament. All of the strongest fighters that remain in Otherworld come together and compete. I've asked him to put it off until you were ready, but I think now is as good a time as any," he said, looking pleased with himself.
It took a moment for that to sink in. "You mean... I get to watch the strongest fighters in action?" he asked. At the Supreme Kai's glance, his eyes widened. "I... I get to compete with them?!" he asked. At the Supreme Kai's nod, he whooped excitedly, flying into the air, laughing and doing somersaults. "I get to fight! I get to fight with other fighters!" he exclaimed happily.
The Supreme Kai laughed as well. If all else failed, if the universe was destroyed, he would have some semblance of peace with the memory of that boy's laugh...