Vegeta:

Vegeta had expected Whis to be able to do Instant Teleportation or some other technique that would get them to Beerus' planet, but it seemed they were just flying really fast. A colourful tunnel of light swirled around them, making it impossible for him to see what lay outside. Were they flying through space right now? Was this some kind of bridge Whis could create between two points?

Vegeta and Kera simply touched Whis' shoulder as he floated in front of them and were pulled along. That was all they needed to do. In his free hand, Vegeta held a large sack of belongings that he had thrown together in a flash. The bulk were his tracksuits, but he had also packed - in a burst of sentimentality - a photo of Bulma and Trunks.

He closed his eyes for a moment, reliving the last three hours before they had left. He had been frantically running all over the house looking for his things until Bulma had stopped him and presented him with new battle suits. They were beautiful. No longer the usual blue he loved so much, but grey, but they fit like a glove. The new breastplate was perfect. Even lighter than the previous one, it moulded to the shape of his body like a second skin and was even more resistant.

He had thrown the clothes into his travel bag, pulled Bulma to him and kissed her passionately. This time he wasn't going to leave without saying a proper goodbye to her.

It was only when Kera arrived at the Briefs' mansion with her hair slightly dishevelled just before the three hours were up that Vegeta reluctantly let go of his mate. He breathed another heartfelt kiss on her lips and left the bedroom together with her.

Kera had grinned knowingly at him and Bulma and then gratefully accepted the breastplate Bulma had designed for her. Right on time after the deadline had passed, Whis had appeared on the terrace and taken them with him.

"We'll be right there," Whis said, bringing Vegeta back to the present. He concentrated on what lay ahead. He exchanged a glance with Kera, who had also seemed lost in thought until earlier. She hadn't told him what she had been doing for the three hours, but Vegeta suspected that she had made up with Piccolo, which pleased him, because then she would be able to concentrate completely on training.

"Is that ... a planet?" asked Kera, tilting her head questioningly.

Whis nodded. "That's Lord Beerus' planet."

Vegeta squinted his eyes to see what awaited them at the end of the tunnel of light. An upside down dark pyramid with a huge tree standing in its centre. Perhaps the God of Destruction had been able to pick and choose the shape and design of his planet.

Gently they landed on a meadow bordering a lake.

"Welcome to the planet of Lord Beerus."

A fish floating in front of them in a bowl of water on a golden staff greeted them.

"Kera, Vegeta, this is the oracle fish. He will show you everything. I will now check on Lord Beerus." With those words, Whis disappeared, leaving Vegeta and Kera puzzled.

"Follow me, please."

Kera looked to Vegeta, who shrugged. Wordlessly, they followed the fish, who immediately began explaining everything around them. After only a few yards, Vegeta's head was spinning. He tried to remember what the fish was telling him, but it annoyed him so much that he just followed him until they finally stopped in front of a door.

"Here is your room. Put your things down and I'll show you where the cleaning utensils are."

"Please, what?" Open-mouthed, the two stared at the oracle fish, who nodded vigorously, causing water to slosh from his bowl.

"It's part of your training. Cleaning, cooking, making beds. The usual. Lord Beerus wishes everything to be clean."

Shrugging her shoulders, Kera put her luggage in the room, which was furnished with only two beds, two wardrobes and a desk, then patted her brother's shoulder encouragingly.

"We'll be fine."

Sighing, Vegeta followed her lead and stepped back out into the hallway, heading towards an uncertain future.

Kera:

"Don't you think we should ask Kakarrot to join after all?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes and Kera had to grin involuntarily. She knew she asked that question at least once a day, for it preoccupied her greatly. She was ambivalent about it. On the one hand, she felt that she was betraying her half-brother, but on the other hand, she didn't want him to become even stronger with Lord Beerus' training and then they wouldn't be able to play at the same level at all.

She hadn't counted how long they had been here. A few months for sure. Would it be a good idea to go home? At least for a few days? She missed Piccolo and the children. She missed her house and the forest. The training with Whis and Vegeta was good, demanding. Every night she was so tired that she fell into bed as if dead. If only it wasn't for those annoying housework chores.

Vegeta seemed to hate household chores even more than she did and sometimes Kera was sure he would have already thrown in the towel if she wasn't here with him. Almost certainly he would have grumbled more and spent some of his energy imagining how much he could work out if he didn't spend hours changing sheets, pulling weeds and cleaning the stairs. But Kera kept motivating him to see the training in every chore and then Vegeta complied again for a few days without grumbling.

"If Kakarrot were here now, all he'd do is grumble about the housework and keep asking when we can finally train."

Kera grinned. "I guess so."

Silently they went about their work until suddenly they both looked up at the same time. Whis was approaching. And someone was with him.

The oracle fish, who was always near them, noticed their reaction. "Oha, you can sense the ki of gods now."

"Sense it better," Vegeta muttered.

Kera silently agreed with him. Yes, they could sense Whis' and Beerus' energies much better now. It was a training thing.

Quickly they ran outside and awaited Whis on a platform leading straight out of Beerus' palace.

"Good afternoon, Master Whis," Vegeta greeted Whis, looking behind him. "Kakarrot," he growled.

"Kakarrot, what are you doing here?" asked Kera in surprise.

"I heard from Bulma that you were training here and I waited until Whis was back on Earth to ask him to take me too. It took some persuasion, but he ended up taking me." He took a step towards the two. "Man, you guys have gotten stronger. You can feel it even at a distance."

"You were just clinging to me," Whis said, turning away.

Kakarrot laughed. "By the way, I think it's pretty mean that you came here without me." Offended, he folded his arms in front of his chest.

"We want to reach the Super Saiyan God on our own. We don't have to answer to you." Vegeta was already annoyed with Kakarrot.

"I could help you with that."

"Vegeta and I have been doing quite well on our own so far and have made plenty of progress," Kera replied. Then she took a deep breath. "How are things on Earth?"

"Bulma, Piccolo and the kids miss you a lot. And I've become a grandpa in between." He smiled. "Pan is really cute and I think she has some interesting fighting potential."

"Congratulations!" said Kera. "The next generation of Saiyans is on the way. We definitely need to train them. However, not until Vegeta and I achieve Super Saiyan God on our own."

"Fine by me." Kakarrot laughed.

"Kera, Vegeta, why don't you show Goku what his duties are and where he can sleep," Whis instructed the two and moved away from them.

Kera and Vegeta nodded and made their way towards the main building where Beerus was currently sleeping.

Vegeta:

"Can't you sleep?"

Kera had stepped behind him and was lightly touching his back. Vegeta continued to stare ahead, across the lake into the darkness, and moved a little to the side on the balcony railing so Kera could take a seat beside him. Kakarrot was already asleep in her room behind them.

"How are you supposed to sleep with all this noise?" He made a head movement towards the room behind him.

Kera sat down next to him, grinned and presented her open hand. "I got us earplugs."

"You think of everything."

"Did Whis give you this earlier?" She pointed to the letter he clutched.

Vegeta nodded. "From Bulma."

"What does she write?"

"Were you aware that we've been gone for several months already?"

Sadly, Kera looked to the ground. "Yes. That's why I'm so glad I can talk to Piccolo every day."

"How does this connection between you guys actually work?"

Puzzled, Kera looked at her brother. He was aware that he should have asked her that much sooner, but he had to admit that he had never really cared and had seen no advantage in it. But now, countless miles away from his mate and child, he wished he could communicate with them.

"Well, it's like a connection of our souls. Something we can't see, only feel. Distance doesn't matter. I can - if we both want to - feel Piccolo's emotions, see what he sees and talk to him. It is ... indescribable. It's like we're just one being sometimes."

"I didn't realise it was so intense." Vegeta gripped Bulma's letter tighter. Why hadn't he connected with her like this? He had read the sadness in her letter and he wasn't there to comfort her. He startled up when Kera touched him on the hand.

"What's on your mind?"

"Bulma ... we were going to have another child and it has ..."

"You were talking to her? And she wanted another child too? How ..." Kera cleared her throat. "Did it not work out several times before?"

Sadly, Vegeta nodded. Until that moment, he hadn't been aware that he wanted another child so badly that he hadn't considered at all that it might not work out for some reason.

Kera wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Maybe it just wasn't the right time yet. I have every faith that it will work out when we return to Earth."

Grateful for her words, Vegeta squeezed Kera's hand.

A few weeks later.

Kakarrot wiped the sweat from his brow.

"So this housework and training battles are taking quite a toll on one."

"You're making quite the fuss," Kera commented as she wiped the sweat from her own forehead.

Vegeta stood beside her, breathing heavily. They were taking a break from a training fight. Beerus was sitting a few yards away on a deck chair, sipping a drink with relish while Whis stood beside him, watching them closely. It must have been weeks since Kakarrot had appeared on the planet and they were now training as a threesome. Their daily routine had not changed. They still cleaned and cooked and did gardening until noon, then spent the rest of the day training fights.

"Hey, you three," Whis called over to them. "If you keep chatting like that, it's not going to work. You have to learn to react instinctively. Your bodies have to react on their own, without going round the head."

"He's told us that a thousand times," Kera muttered.

Vegeta nodded. He heard what Whis said and was sure what he meant, but only sometimes managed to put that advice into practice. When it did work, he was so surprised that he fell out of concentration again and had to start all over. Kera and Kakarrot felt the same way, which calmed him down a bit. He knew he still had a long way to go.