Surprise!
Break Through the Limit: And Another Thing…
Okay, so this will be split up into several sections, which will be labelled "Prequel" if they take place before the story began, "Side-Story" if they take place at some point during the story, and "Epilogue" if they take place after it. Anyway, one of these stories—the prequel taking place in the Pit—is in fact not written by me, but by Temnascentric (all I did is edit it).
Oh, and this is the first of what I guess you'd call a mini-series. So there'll be a couple more chapters like this one at some vague indeterminate point in the future.
Epilogue: The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer sat in his study, the small lopsided room perched haphazardly at the top of a storm-swept tower. A quill danced in his clawed fingers, his beady eyes scanning the page for errors even as he continued to write. It was part of a treatise he was co-authoring with the Scholar, and Son Gohan of Earth. They had no particular plans to publish it, or any idea of the 'point' behind it—they simply had to get certain thoughts onto paper.
That utterly unique individual who called himself Void…seemed to draw power from his namesake, the void itself, the infinite emptiness between universes. This seems a contradiction in terms; the void is, by definition, nothing—even moreso than interstellar space. How could it be a source of power? There will need to be a thorough examination of its properties—and perhaps further investigation into Void's life-story, though many of the finer details are undoubtedly now lost to history. No-one alive now, not even the gods, were around in the days of his youth.
Still…if the void could prove so powerful an asset…was he truly the only one ever to discover it? And more to the point…if we compare it to an ocean, Void was like a mortal learning to swim—dipping in, paddling the shallow depths, but never making it his own; always limited by his foreign nature.
If there was a being, or beings, adapted to it…they would be to Void as a shark is to a diver.
The candle flickered, and he froze.
He had, for a moment, sensed something—or rather, a lack of something. It was almost impossible to describe—there had definitely been zero ki there. But it was…a noticeable absence of ki. He had been intensely aware of the lack of life in that spot.
Nothing moved; there was nothing there, he was sure. Mostly.
He turned back to his writing, adding a note to his co-authors at the end.
I apologise if this passage seems out of place. My mind has wandered in strange directions of late. I feel that it is trying to expand, as if in reaction to all that we have learned.
Or perhaps my time is drawing near, and I am desperately searching for all the answers I can while I am still able. I cannot have more than a few centuries left in me.
I hope I do not come off as too fearful. But the thoughts that have occurred to me, the thoughts I have transcribed in the above passage…yes. I have felt great fear.
The candle flickered again, and went out.
Epilogue…To a Side-Story…Whatever: Future Timeline
I've grown to like the name 'Beerus' more recently, mainly because it seems they're taking the alcohol puns and rolling with them (Champa), but I'll still use Bills here for consistency. And also because it's still not wrong (as I've explained before in my rant about how translating the Japanese works).
Break burst out of the water, dragging herself to shore and collapsing, gasping for air.
A tall, feline-looking being floated down in front of her. "Had enough yet?"
"If I had the energy to keep fighting…I'd be doing it," she laughed, rolling over onto her back. "You win."
"Remember, Lord Bills, you promised not to destroy this planet if she had divine power," Whis trilled from behind the Hakaishin.
Bills hmph'ed. "Well…I never go back on my promises." He sat down in front of her, licking the back of his hand and cleaning his head where she'd struck him during their fight.
"And the food was fantastic," Whis pointed out.
"Very well!" Bills declared, with a dramatic sweep of his arm. "I'll spare this world and its inhabitants."
"You know," Whis mused, stepping around his charge and addressing Break, "with proper training, you could become a challenging sparring partner for Lord Bills someday…"
She grinned. "Y'think so?"
He nodded. "It's possible. To that end…what would you say to becoming my second student?"
"I'd love to," she said, "when I can, anyway. I accepted a job with the Time Patrol a while back…"
"Not an issue. We're not exactly short on time. Whenever you have a few days free, I'll swing by and pick you up."
"You got it."
"Oi, oi, oi." Bills waved from behind Whis. "Don't I get a say in this?"
"What's the problem?" Whis asked, giving a sly look. "Afraid she'll surpass you?"
"Tch, don't be ridiculous."
"Then it's settled!"
"You're impossible…" Bills muttered.
Prequel: The Pit (by Temnascentric)
The Pit.
Thousands upon millions of miles of cavern-riddled hell.
Pain and suffering were everyday occurrences; cannibalism a way of life; loyalties shifting; losses of comrades mere annoyances, hope a treacherous ally, despair a faithful enemy.
They woke up knowing nothing of what might await them outside the Pit. They didn't even know that there was an "outside," let alone other universes. There were but few things they knew when they were "born," or created, whatever it was. They knew how to talk. To read, to fly, to use their powers. To fight.
Fear of death was also instilled in them. They knew that there would be nothing else for them once they died.
It was kill or be killed.
She woke up, slowly, languidly, her mind fuzzy but on alert. Her eyes opened slowly, then snapped open as she realized that there was something headed for her face at high speed. Panicked, she rolled away, and quickly got up on her feet. Claws skittered across the rocky surface she had been laying on, throwing up a shower of sparks, momentarily blinding her.
"Ah now, dinner, no need ta be so difficult," a voice said. "It'll be quick, yes it will." Then silence for a few seconds. The only warning she had that whoever had attacked her was behind her was the nigh-inaudible tac of claws landing on the ground. Instinctively, she ducked, avoiding an arm-sweep that would have taken her head off, then crouched and lashed out hard with her left leg, stepping out a bit on her right to balance. Her right foot crunched against something as she did so, but she paid it no mind at the moment. A soft impact and the sound of her opponent collapsing like a house of cards informed her that he wouldn't be bothering her anymore.
Said opponent groaned, rolling over. "Nor will I be havin' any kids, lass." He groaned again.
She froze, unsure how to respond to him. "You—" she coughed, making the first words since her creation. "You can read my mind?"
He nodded, pushing himself onto his knees, then his feet. With the glow of light still lingering in her eyes, she couldn't see him very clearly, so all she could see was him getting up. She tensed up again, prepared to fight again to defend her just-begun life. Realizing his error, he spoke aloud. "Aye, lass, I can read your mind. Ye don't need t'worry; I'm not goin' t'attack ye again. Di'nt mean t'go after such a new arrival."
Somehow, she instinctively knew he was telling the truth. Then suspicion came as she considered that he might also be able to influence her thoughts. "Nay, lass, if I were able t'do that, I would have made ye kill yeself, then I woulda et ye. M' glad I di'nt hurt ye. Be careful, though, lass, there aren't many as honourable as meself in this hellish place." He turned and got ready to take off.
She coughed again, calling out to him. "Wait! Where am I? Who are you?"
He chuckled humourlessly, darkly. "Ye will find out soon enough where you are, and ye won't like it. As fer who I am…I have a feelin' we'll meet again, lass." With another dark chuckle and a wince of pain from his damaged nether regions, he took off, disappearing quickly from her still-blinded eyes into the shadows all around.
She stared vainly after him anyway, but could not make out his retreating form.
Some time later, she woke up again, this time of her own accord. Blinking, she realized that it was a bit lighter than it had been before. She pulled herself upright into a sitting position and looked around. Now that she could see better, she saw what was all around, what she had stepped on earlier.
Bones.
There were bones everywhere she looked, bleached white for the most part, but many covered in bits of meat, some rotted, others fresh, splashes of blood everywhere. The pile of bones was so thick, the bottom layer had broken down into dirt, and a few scraggly trees clung to life in the thick darkness. As she watched, another shower of bones came down from above, some with such force that they vaporized upon impact. Then came a huge pile of them, and, worst of all, a head. It rolled towards her and came to rest at her feet, its eyes still open in shock, mouth seemingly gasping for air.
She screamed. She screamed and screamed and kept on screaming until she couldn't anymore. Once she couldn't scream, she cried, curling up into a ball.
The head spoke. "Cut that racket out, young lady. I'll be fine. There's still life in this old dragon yet."
She screamed again, hoarsely, but still loud. The head winced. "New arrival, eh? Oh, well...suppose it's to be expected." Its eyebrows knit together in concentration and power flared out from it, the bones around it flying off into the darkness—then the head flashed twice, brilliantly, then—
—and then—
When she finally regained her sight, she looked over at the place where the head laid. Or, rather, had lain. In its place there was now a tall, handsome figure. His eyes were white, rimmed with gold, and his clothes were...maddening. The more she looked at them, the less she could discern their style. His hair was a deep purple, nearly black, and his hands were clawed, though even those were beautiful. Catching her gawping stare, he smiled, revealing pearly white teeth and fangs. "Ah, miss, now don't stare at my clothes too long. They're meant to induce madness."
She shook her head to dispel the trance that had come over her from staring at his clothes and took a closer look at him. His face was slightly wrinkled, which, somehow, she knew was rare in a Shadow Dragon. He smiled again, as if reading her mind. "Ah, you've noticed that I have wrinkles. Yes, my dear, I am old. Thirteen millennia, to be exact, though how I know that I'd like to know." He chuckled humourlessly. "So, let's introduce ourselves, shall we? I'm Somnus, and you are?" To punctuate his statement, he flashed another gorgeous smile, trying to put her at ease.
However, its effect was the exact opposite of what he intended. She tightened her grip on her legs and hugged them closer to her, her red eyes watching him warily. "I'm...Aleia," she said guardedly.
"Hm...Well, it's a start. Suppose we get out of this area for now? I have some rather nasty characters after me, and they no doubt know that I survived, so it might be best if we moved—" A loud crash a scant hundred meters away cut his words off. A series of smaller impacts sounded near it, and he grimaced. Reaching out to his side, his arm blurred and began glowing like his head had before. Retracting it, he pulled a four-foot sword, more like an enormous meat cleaver really, seemingly out of thin air. Yelling and a dreadful amount of cursing wafted over to Aleia and Somnus, and he grimaced again.
"Go, Aleia. Run; these ones will not hesitate to kill anyone with me. They have no morals. Go, child; you have a long life yet."
Her red eyes turned on him, blinking once. "No."
Somnus blinked himself in consternation. "Go, girl! Don't throw your life away! Even drained like this, I'm more than a match for these. But you...you're so new, they'll easily take you down! So go!"
"Go? But we haven't even been introduced!" A hearty, infectious chuckle wafted from behind Aleia. "We haven't even begun the party! Ah, Somnus, you old worm, age is getting to you, isn't it? Making you forget things. To think I would live to see the day!"
Somnus's white eyes widened slightly, but that was the only sign of panic he showed. "Leave her out of this, Thanatos. She has nothing to do with our quarrel," he said.
Aleia turned to face the one Somnus had called Thanatos, but saw nothing. The voice chuckled again, richly, deeply. It was the sort of pleasant voice that you could listen to all day. "Are you looking for me, child? Very well, I suppose it's only fair." A shadow behind the dead trunk of a tree seemed to twist and collapse in on itself, and a figure appeared at the centre of where the shadow had been. From the right, six more figures came into view from behind a pile of bones, all of varying size.
Thanatos began walking towards Somnus and Aleia, slowly, unhurriedly. The other shadows began coming closer as well, gaining more definition as they approached. When they finally settled into sight, Aleia frowned in confusion; they all looked like the leader, Thanatos. He was a stark contrast to Somnus; where Somnus had kindly eyes and a good smile, Thanatos' were filled with anger and hate, tinged with insanity. Aleia nearly lost her own sanity looking at those hateful orbs.
"Aleia, was it? It's so nice to meet you. I, as you now know, am Thanatos. Now, if you'll be so kind as to move out of my way, I have some unfinished business with Somnus here." He smiled to try to appear kindly, but his teeth were black and filed to ugly tips. Blood appeared to stain his mouth.
"No."
Thanatos tried to walk around Aleia, but she instantly appeared in front of him. "Move, girl," he growled, much less controlled than before. She responded by hitting him in the groin. Apparently that was a weak spot common to all male Shadow Dragons, and he folded up, wheezing like a hyena. However, he still had the use of his mouth, and he bellowed an attack order.
In unison, the other dragons leaped at Aleia. With an uppercut, she sent the first flying off into the darkness, where he atomized a tree, then disappeared in a puff of smoke himself, so great was the impact. The second was cut in half by a powerful clothesline. Three and four went down within milliseconds of each other, Aleia using one as a club to hit the other, sending both flying into a wall, one briefly embedded into it, snapping his neck, before the second pulverized his corpse, exploding into a wet mess. Five tripped over six's dead body (Aleia had snapped his neck too fast for them to see) and had his spine snapped as she stepped on him to get to Thanatos.
All of this happened within ten seconds.
Aleia stopped in front of Thanatos and kicked him, making him roll over onto his back. "Get up," she said. Groaning, he did, then pulled himself upright, swaying as his groin injury made itself angrily known.
"How long have you been here, girl?" he asked in awe.
She shrugged. "Two hours, give or take."
He shook his head and fell into a fighting stance. "Impossible. No one is that powerful right off the bat. Somnus must have helped you." He looked over at Somnus, which quickly dispelled any such suspicion. Somnus's jaw was slack and his golden, pupil-less eyes were wide as could be. The sword dropped out of his hand with a heavy clang.
Aleia smiled, somewhat unnervingly. "Wanna test your theory? I'm getting real impatient since you interrupted Somnus, who was about to explain what the hell's going on, and I'd just love a good punching bag to take it out on." Thanatos glared at her, then dropped his stance, though he kept his black eyes on her. A master of body language, Somnus recognized his right hand twitching as a sign of impending ki release. But apparently Aleia noticed it too, for her own hand was twitching.
"A little wyrm like you, defeating a master like me and my clones? Impossible." Fangs glistened. "That's what I do. Any who die by my hand are resurrected as my clones. And soon you will join them!" he roared, swinging his hand up to fire a screaming black beam of power at Aleia. She rolled her eyes and relaxed her hand. The beam parted around her, doing nothing more than whipping her hair around, the redirected fragments missing Somnus by mere inches.
Thanatos laughed madly, pouring more power into the attack.
And then his world spun around. He couldn't feel his body or his ki anymore.
He fell, the beam cutting out as he hit the ground. Aleia stood over him, arms crossed. "That was starting to get annoying."
He gasped for air. "How—how did you—"
Again the red eyes rolled. "So that's a 'master'? Only that?" She walked off into the darkness.
Somnus followed her a few seconds later, glancing back at Thanatos's prone form. "What—how—who are you?" he spluttered. "That little display...What was that? How did you do that? A new arrival shouldn't be that powerful! It was only surprise and numbers that let him injure me, but…even my full power, compared to what you just did…!"
She blinked, her sanguine eyes twinkling like stars. "I thought they were pursuing you. I took care of them."
"And well you did, but how? And you screamed at seeing my head, yet no less than two minutes later you're annihilating one of the most powerful dragons in the Pit!"
She sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. "So that's what this place is? Thanks...before you came along, the first thing that happened to me was an attack. How's that for an earliest memory? This place…" She shook her head. "That dragon told me that few others would be as soft on new arrivals as he was. Looks like you're one of those. Thanatos…the opposite, I guess. No telling what he does to new arrivals." She shuddered.
Somnus sat down beside her. "So you're saying you wanted to prevent others from falling prey to him?"
She nodded. "As for why I'm so powerful, no idea. All I know is my name and how to protect myself." She hesitated, realising something now she had a moment to collect her thoughts. "I don't even likemy name."
He sighed. "My girl, it seems I have a lot to teach you about how things go down here. Starting with hiding your power. Thanatos was strong but short-sighted—he never learned to hide his power, nor how to sense others'. Can you feel other power levels?"
She nodded. "It feels like a dull pressure in my head. Yours is really high, and rising by the second."
Somnus smiled. "I'm raising it slowly, my girl." Abruptly, his power level plummeted, though outwardly there was no change. "This is me hiding my power level. It's like pushing it down. Imagine forcing your body's energy lower. This is what you need to be able to do. Otherwise, you will attract the attention of all sorts of unsavoury characters. Down here, to walk around with your power level unhidden is an open challenge."
She nodded. "Thank you, Somnus." She got up and started walking away. Her power level fluctuated, then dropped sharply.
"Aleia, wait. There is still much that you need to learn. Stay with me for now, so I can teach you."
She turned to face him. "What's in it for you?"
He chuckled. "The chance to see a new arrival escape this place. I'm old, Aleia. In all my years, I have heard of precious few who have supposedly made it out of this hellish place. I want to see it myself. Give an old dragon that much, will you?" He reached his hand down. "Do you want to make it out of here?"
One could theorise that Somnus' age is an inconsistency with how long the other dragons were implied to have lived without ever showing signs of age (if they even age at all other than becoming more draconic), but I prefer to think that either A. Somnus is an unusual case, B. their aging works differently in the Pit, or C. this is an interpretation by an author other than me and the 'rules' can be bent slightly to fit that interpretation, especially since saying 'thirteen millennia' just sounded better and was less unwieldy than rattling off some mind-bogglingly huge number.
Epilogue: Alpha Shenron
"What was it like?"
Alpha snapped out of her daze, glancing down—Asrai had snuck up (as was her way) and now lay with her head in Alpha's lap, looking up at her. "The Pit, I mean. All you've ever told me is what happened there, factually. What did it feel like?"
Alpha glanced over at the campfire—plenty of fuel for the next few hours. Helios wouldn't be back for a while; he was currently triple-checking all the nearby worlds they were already certain didn't contain the object of their search.
"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine," the Dreamer added. "Sorry if—"
"It's okay," Alpha said, continuing to stare into the fire. "C'mon, usually you can read me better than that."
"I'm tired."
"Hmh." Alpha took a minute to form her answer. "The Pit was…fear…hunger…shame…just enough hope to keep you going…" She spoke almost in monotone, twitching a little every few words. "…and…the smell of death. So horrific, so constant in hindsight, but you didn't notice it until it was gone."
"It did that to so many of you…for so long…" Asrai muttered.
"And we made it our god." Alpha gave a bitter laugh. "An entire species raised on a prisoner mentality…"
"We'll have to go inside, when we track it down…it might be a shock."
Alpha took the offered hand, closing her eyes. "It might be hard, yeah. But I should be fine, with the two of you around."
"What, Helios has the same hold on you as I do?" Asrai teased.
Alpha grinned. "Y'know, I think he sometimes wanted to ask."
"Ah, that throws new light on the death threats."
"He threatened—ah, of course he did. Well, you're here, so I guess you ignored them."
"No, actually, the threats were if I made you unhappy."
"Ugh, that's embarrassing. I was worth that?"
"I'll tell you after he kills me." Asrai sat up. "He just wants to help you, no matter what it is…in his own way."
"And he does," Alpha replied, serious all of a sudden. "More than he knows. I guess…he makes me want to become the kind of leader he's always thought I was."
Epilogue: Launch
The police station wall exploded outwards, Launch strolling out with a yawn. She hadn't, however, expected Gohan, in superhero garb, to be waiting outside.
She sighed. "You can't watch me 24/7, you—"
"Are you okay?"
She paused. "…huh?"
He held up a newspaper report on her latest escapade. "You barely took enough for a couple meals. Were you just running on autopilot?"
She shrugged, walking past him.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Seriously…how are you holding up?"
"M'fine." She shoved it off.
"If you need to talk—"
"Shove it, Gohan."
He stared after her as she slouched off. "Just…concerned, okay?" he muttered.
She looked back at him. "Ah, I'm sorry, man. Thanks for caring." She half-smiled. "I've got Break, I'll be okay." She almost took off, turning back again at the last second. "Aren't you getting too old to play superhero?"
"Ah, that's where everybody gets it wrong." He grinned. "I was never playing."
So yeah…DB's in an interesting place right now, huh? So far Super has been a real mixed bag, I honestly don't think it's terrible or anything but I think most people expected a bit more than what we got…not just talking about the animation by the way (I was fully expecting poor animation because that's just what Toei's like nowadays, as anyone who's seen Sailor Moon Crystal or Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold knows very well already). However, I'll hold out hope for the universe 6 arc since that's the actual new story we're all waiting for. In my mind that's what'll really make or break the show (since I've already seen a tighter, bigger-budget version of the Battle of Gods and Resurrection F arcs).