Chapter Forty-one

Donning your chef uniform you walked out to the yard where everyone else has already gathered: Hit, Caulifla, Kale and Cabba.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

"GET OVER HERE ERIC!" Champa orders you.

"I REFUSE TO ARRIVE AFTER MY BROTHER! SO GET OVER HERE AND LET'S GO ALREADY!"

"Right, right..."

"W-Wait Lord Champa!" Cabba spoke up.

"We are still short one person-"

"BROOOOOOO!"

"ELENA?!"

"Who?" About 90% of the crowd spoke up unanimously.

"W-W-W-What are you doing here?!"

"I... I'm sorry Eric. I accidentally told her about the tournament! She'd have killed me if I didn't bring her!"

"I came to cheer you on! I also brought sandwiches!" Elena then turned to Champa.

"It is a great honor to meet you oh God!

Please accept my humble offering!"

Your sister then handed Champa a sandwich which he devoured with great gusto. Sucking the residue off his fingers Champa spoke up.

"Not bad! Not bad at all! Very well! I'll permit you to come with us!"

"Heh... So this is our aunt?" Kamin whispered to her brother in the background.

"N-NO! I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE! YOU CAN'T-"

"Oh and I almost forgot! I brought snacks too!"

"SWEET!" Caulifla stepped up to her.

"Come on Kale! Let's check out these Earth foods!"

One by one your friends are swayed to Elenas side. "TRAITORS!"

"I'm sorry Eric!" Cabba cried. "Please don't be angry at me!"

"I'm not angry at you Cabba... I'm angry at your weakness!"

"B-But you wouldn't refuse her either!"

"Yes... But you're supposed to be stronger than me!" You cried back.

Hit then patted your shoulder. "Hey. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

"WHAT KIND OF A LINE IS THAT FROM AN ASSASSIN?!"

After that whole ordeal was over with however Champa was adamant about going to the stage which is apparently held on a nameless planet in the neutral space between universes. You spent the entire trip crying in a corner, sharing your depression with Cabba who also felt rather castrated thanks to your sister while everyone else was busy chatting with Elena who enjoyed all these new sights greatly. Her childlike wonder at the sight of the cosmos and all these aliens was almost endearing if you weren't filled with OVERWHELMING RAGE AND SADNESS!

Arriving on the planet brought sweet release however as you could step out and get some fresh air. "Hey! Don't wander too far idiots!"

Champa berated you. "If any of you morons get disqualified before the tournament begins I'll annihilate your home planets! IS THAT CLEAR?!"

"Hmmmm... Looks like the neighbors aren't here yet." You observe.

Looking around you got to really take in the whole arena. It is certainly well made and bears signs of Vados' handiwork. There are two floating stages and one, MASSIVE ring and food stalls surrounding it. Mostly carnival and junk food from space...

"Hey Vados."

"Hmmm?"

"I feel an urge to grill something. To... take the pain away. Think you can oblige?"

"Certainly." She extends her staff and a floating island appears complete with the cooking apparatus necessary for your work.

"WOOOOOOOW!" Elena gasps.

"Ugh..." Flying over to the place you light the fire when you notice... "HEY! HOW IN HELL ARE YOU FLYING?!" You then turn around.

"Sorry sweetie... Daddy is a bit on edge.

You didn't hear any of that." Of course you whisper so Elena does NOT hear that by any chance.

"Cabba taught me!"

"...I'm gonna murder him! I'm THIS close to letting Buu off the leash if it means he dies!"

Fuming in your rage you pour all your frustration into your cooking, your sweat and tears. After all it's not healthy to fight with a clouded mind. As you feed your friends, family and teammates you take in the compliments that are being thrown around.

"Oh god Bro! When did you get this good?!"

"Yes, yes. Keep praising me! It's all my doing!"

Champa tries to hog all the glory.

"You know... just because it's in your title doesn't mean you can act like a smartass Champa!" You chastise him when suddenly...

A beam of light appears on the other end of the stadium and a rather large group of people step out from it. As you count them you sigh with relief that bringing spectators wasn't out of the ordinary. Carefully honing your senses you try to listen in on what they are talking about.

"Damn it!" Beerus complains.

"Champa was first-" But then he stops and starts sniffing the air. "This smell. That accursed cook of his is here."

"Ooooh. Let us go and say "Hi" Lord Beerus!

Maybe we can get some fresh food as well."

Whis tries his best to convince his lord.

"Man! That's a good idea! I'm starving!"

"GOKU! Do I have to remind you that you came here to fight?! No food for participants until AFTER the fights! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Oh come on Lord Beerus! Just a few... dozen meals!" Yeap. He's a saiyan. Looks like this is going to be interesting...

========

The Makai.

A realm of utter chaos at odds with the order and structure of Hell. And yet... right now it's in even more disarray than it usually is. But not for much longer. Blood splatters on the ground before the body it resided in mere moments ago hits the ground. The last remnants of the demons life essence drips off its killers fingers.

With a swipe the still standing demon cleans his hand of the filth he submerged it into.

"That makes one hundred... And by the looks of it. That's the last of them."

"Yes son. All the other nasties ran away! Now we can finally return home. And you can take your righteous place in your papas throne!"

The female demon congratulated her progeny.

She used to be the "wife" of the King himself. She didn't mind him railing any hole he pleased. After all... she was the one that made him a baby. She was the queen of this dump. The rest were nothing but sacks of meat.

But when her baby daddy died she had to run and hide. Like an animal. She was not cut out for such thing. She was a delicate little flower that demanded pampering and luxury on a constant basis. Not sleeping in beds made of the smoothest silk was HELL on her.

However it all ends now. Now that all the pretenders were taken care of by her dear little boy she can get back to enjoying life like she was meant to do. But... her son has other ideas.

Walking up to the throne he sat down and observed his bloody courtroom. "It'll do. Once I get this place cleaned up I can start actually working on things that matter. You can stay until then... mother."

"Ha-hahahaha! What a little kidder you are!

But that's why I love y-"

"I wasn't joking... You get a week. Pack whatever you wish to take with you and get out. That is my order as king." He placed his elbow on the armrest of his chair and supported his head with his fist as he stared down his mother.

"You ungrateful little shit!" She grew angry.

"I am the one that brought you into this world! I raised you! I-"

"You never cared for me. Up until dads death you barely ever talked to me. And when we were on the run you were bossing me around like a slave... to get stronger... to get back what's yours. Well... it's not yours. All that father had is rightfully mine. And only mine."

He explained calmly. "You should be grateful that I am allowing even this to you. For I have every right to execute you for your transgressions. But I'm nice like that. So you better appreciate it before I retract that kindness... mother."

"Well well well. Looks like you finished early!"

A new voice entered the room. "Congratulations!"

"Welcome back Aunt. How did your trip go?"

"Wait a minute!" The new kings mother spoke up. "HER?! Are you telling me she can stay but I CAN'T?!"

"Don't look at me!" The other female demon retorted. "I'm not the one who didn't treat my little nephew like my own flesh and blood.

Unlike you, I did treat him like my own child."

"BITCH!"

"That's it." The king spoke calmly and raised his open palm at his mother. She didn't even have time to gasp before she was blown into smithereens. "So... how was your trip? Did you find out anything?"

"More than I expected, less than I liked."

She sat down on the arm rest of the throne and started stroking her nephews hair.

"The rumors of Masters temple resurfacing turned out to be true. He even restored it to a fully functional state."

"Is he a threat?"

"No... Not him anyway. He used to be your fathers equal once. But he pales in comparison to what my brother was in his prime. And you're now on the same level... No, it's his new prodigy I'm worried about."

"He has a pupil?"

"I... wouldn't call him that. A fierce demon took up residence with him but doesn't seem interested in learning from him. But he's ferocious all the same. Day in and day out the temple is besieged by hordes of demons and they all die or flee when they face him."

"I suppose then I should go and squash this bug..."

"No need. He doesn't seem to have any aspirations for the throne. Nor does he compare to you. If he did he'd have taken it already. But he never left the temple. I suspect he's protecting it. As it turns out it now harbors quite a few weak demons who can't defend themselves."

"Hmph... rebels. Should I make an example out of them?"

"Why bother? Most of the Makai will resist your rule as is. You'll have plenty of opportunities to make examples out of people. So why bother going after them?

Live and let live is what I say... at least until we have more important matters to attend to."

"Ah. Our mysterious benefactors. Did you get anything out of them?"

"As a matter of fact I did. The female one allowed me to subject her to a truth spell.

It turns out they do in fact possess the ability to help us escape the Makai and they are willing to help us."

"The question is: why?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you subjected her to a truth spell..."

"I did. But she possesses a genius level intellect. Even under the effect of my spell she could speak in such purple prose that she could avoid answering questions she didn't want to. But! They truly intend to help us and said "Us achieving our goals also benefit them". So... I see no reason to refuse them."

"Hmmmm... We'll see. But I'm worried about how it might "benefit" them and if it's a threat to us."

"Well we don't have to accept just yet.

After all, time is on our side. Let's establish ourselves, stabilize a kingdom and I'll see if I can get us out on my own. If not... we'll just ask them instead." She pauses. "You... do want to do this. Right? Right~?"

He sits back in his chair and stares at the sky.

"Of course. The Slayer..."

========

You start counting the folks from Universe 7 but give up after a while. It looks like they either brought all their friends or their extended families, probably both. Huh... maybe Elena isn't so out of place here after all.

You look over them and spot a few... odd ones in the crowd. You got your regular Saiyans, those you've become adept at spotting, some humans, a Namekian whose presence is NOT helping you calm down and a few... odd ones you can't quite place. Like a midget with no hair or a nose. Weird.

And it looks like one of them is coming over despite his gods explicit orders. "Yo! Long time no see guys! And I see you got a few new faces this time! Hi! I'm Goku!"

Reliable like fucking clockwork Hits prediction came true. Which means the manlet over there should be the other heavy hitter. Heh... if he didn't have his hair he'd loose half his height. That's funny.

You look up from your grill and greet the man.

"I'm Eric. This is my sister Elena. We're from Earth."

"Really?!" He asks surprised. "SO AM I!"

"But... I thought you're a Saiyan."

"Yeap! A Saiyan from Earth!"

"Wow... That's... something." You point to your kids. "These three are Kamin, Oren and Lyn. They are Tuffles. And I guess you know the rest."

"Yeap! Nice to meet you all! And Tuffles huh? That does ring a bell but I don't know where..."

The man gives you a little salute before he involuntarily starts staring at the nice, juicy meats on the sizzling grill. He looks so absorbed by them that it looks like he's on the verge of drooling all over them.

"You... want some?" You ask awkwardly.

"You bet! Thanks!"

Just as you start packing a few slices of meat on a plate he immediately starts gorging himself on them, paying little to no mind to how hot they are. His rather disgusting and frankly quite horrendous eating habits however garner WAY too much attention from... everyone.

"HEY! SON GOKU!" Caulifla stomps over in anger. "You got some NERVE showing up like this!"

"Oh hi Chauliflha!" Goku attempts to speak with his mouth full. "How are ya?"

"Don't "How are ya" me!" Looks like there is some... tension between them even if one of the participants doesn't realize that. "You knocked us out in the tournament! And now you have the guts to show up and be all "Buddy-buddy" with us?!"

"Yeah!"

"Ugh..." Just as she arrived she stomps away from the saiyan while grumbling something about "beating his ass". You just hope she won't be mad at you.

But much like how he attracted the attention of the folks from you universe so does he with the people of his. Following his example and realizing that things aren't too dangerous the denizens of Universe 7 slowly make their way to you. They have much better manners than this Goku fellow and the mutual introductions between the two universes spark what might be called an impromptu picnic with people from both worlds sharing a good time and some better food.

There are of course Goku and members of his family, his wife Chichi and his two sons Gohan and Goten. The older of the two brothers Gohan is a young adult and has a wife named Videl and a little baby girl named Pan. Not related to them in any way is a blue haired woman named Bulma Briefs who is allegedly the other saiyans wife. And much like Goku and Chichi they too have children.

As they explained their relations to each other to you something... interesting became fairly noticeable for you. Namely that humans and saiyans are compatible *ahem* biologically. That little fact made you zone out WAY too hard.

Aaaanyway, they don't seem like a bad bunch and even introduce the two "oddballs" of the group. The shorty named Vegeta who seems to be sulking far away from the crowd and a *gulp* Namekian named Piccolo who does the same but from even farther away.

You see Cabba approaching Mister Widowspeak over there with a friendly smile and extends his hand to him. "Master!"

"Cabba." They exchange a little handshake before separating.

"Thank you... for wishing us back!"

Vegeta shuts his eyes. "It wasn't me. I dropped out as well. But I'm glad to see you're alive."

Meanwhile the last members of the group approach you, namely that weird little midget with no nose. "Hey! Nice to meetcha! I'm Krillin! This is my wife 18!"

"Hi." What kind of a fucking name is THAT?!

Then he points at the little girl holding his hand. "And this is my little girl Marron!

Man. It feels nice to meet other Earthlings."

And he calls humans Earthlings. Of course... wait... Is he implying he's fucking human?

Whatever that version of Earth is, it must be some Alice in Wonderland type shit and you're not sure you want to experience any of that.

"Erm... yeah. Likewise."

You look over to your side and take out from the cooler a couple of cans with some light beer in them and a can of soda for the little girl. "Here. On the house."

"Wow! Thanks!" Krillin grins and starts drinking almost immediately.

"Shouldn't you be more careful?" His wife asks him. "After all you are supposed to be competing."

"Aw don't worry about it! I doubt I'll see much action anyway. After all Goku and Vegeta are here!"

"True." 18 doesn't complain further and instead opens up her can. "Ah. That hit the spot."

With the tension eased up a little you start getting friendly with them. "So... how are things over at your universe? To be honest I'm a bit curious about what "Another Earth" might be like."

"Oh yeah. You're from an Earth as well!"

Krilling wonders. "That IS weird a bit. But erm... I wouldn't know how to describe it to you. It's just... normal I guess."

"Normal huh?" You doubt him. "If you don't mind me saying you don't... exactly look normal." You point at your nose.

"Oh that! Hahaha! Yeah I guess it's a bit weird!

But I'm more of an exception! My dear 18 here is more what you'd call errr... normal!" He hesitates for a moment.

You look over to the lady and well... she DOES seem fairly regular to you. But there is just... something about her that puts you off. She has this certain... uncanny quality you can't quite put your finger on. And as you give her a quick little scan you find out that she's lacking any sort of detectable life force. Weird...

Perhaps this is what he meant by that stutter.

"But hey! I do have some questions in mind that I'd like to ask you-" Krillin continues.

"Maybe if you answer them we can work out what are the differences!"

"Sure, I'm game."

"Sweet! So... what's your king like?"

"King?" You stare at him awkwardly.

"You know! The king of the world!"

"I'm sorry I wasn't very clear... WHAT?"

As you try to compose yourself Krillin slowly starts explaining what he means by that.

Turns out their Earth is... radically different compared to yours solely from a government standpoint. Apparently they have a sort of world government where the leader represents the whole world. Their "king" is more of an elected leader rather than a true monarch so they just have a wackier word for "president". But this is still pretty huge.

Gasping in disbelief you take a step back and lean on the table next to you for support.

"Okay... there is a lot to unpack here. Apparently we are... not at all alike."

"How come?"

"We uh... don't have anything like that. Our Earth is more of a collection of fragmented nation states than anything you have. With each country having their own leaders."

"Wow... sounds weird. How do you get anything done?"

"We don't honestly. Mostly we just bicker amongst ourselves. But we're working on it. And honestly we like it the way it is."

"Sounds dumb." 18 chimes in.

"It is but... it's our strength. Each country is wildly different with their own history, traditions and culture. We pride ourselves on our individuality and what's unique about each of us."

"Wow... I can't even begin to imagine what that'd be like! Could you imagine the dinosaurs or the animal people living in different countries?"But before 18 could respond to her husbands question the sound of your jaw hitting the ground stops her.

"What's wrong?"

"D-d-d-did you just say... DINOSAURS?!"

"Well yeah. Don't you guys have those roaming around?" Krillin answers your question with another question and his wife also chimes in.

"Yeah. And judging by your reaction... The King of the World is a walking talking dog named King Furry."

"What the fuck..." You whisper. "Okay... There is a LOT to unpack here! And I think my brain is about to split apart just thinking about it!

I don't think our Earths are alike AT ALL! So I think I'll hold off on trying to imagine it until I see it with my own eyes..."

But as you are about to come to terms with THAT nonsense you hear the sound of Champa and Beerus finally ending your little picnic. "OKAY IDIOTS! You can stuff your faces later! Now it's time for the test!"

Looks like it's time...

The contestants make their way for the testing area where ten little desks with chairs were provided. On the way there however Krillin spots you walking out of the crowd and his eyes shoot up. "Whoa! I had no idea you were actually competing! Nice! Feels good not being the only odd one out!"

"Heh... you thought I was just a chef huh?"

"Hehe... I kinda did. But now I'm actually hoping I get to fight! I'd love to fight someone who's my equal for once!"

You crack him a smile. "What? Don't tell me! You're the strongest in your universe!"

"Haha! F*ck no!" W-Was that a beep? Did you really hear that? Questions for later.

"You two are talking like you'll make any impact at all!" The short saiyan delivers a little verbal jab as he overhears you.

"Wanna say that to my face shorty?"

He stops and turns around to face you.

"Yes. After I obliterate the part of your team that actually matters... I suggest you surrender immediately. Because I won't show you any mercy!"

You take a deep breath and calm yourself down. "Whatever you say... Just make sure you don't fail on the test..."

"My intellect is unmatched Earthling!"

"Yeah yeah..."

You all sit down and are handed a small sheet of papers neatly clipped together. Using the provided pens you quickly get to filling it all out and sigh with relief once you realize that the test isn't meant to measure your education rather your common sense.

"Okay... This shouldn't be too hard."

After thirty minutes all of you must hand in your tests and the angelic siblings, Vados and Whis quickly look over and check out what you did. Unsurprisingly everyone managed to hit the 50% mark and passed... but some people clearly did better than others.

Goku for example almost failed, even managing to write down his name wrong.

The other Saiyan, Vegeta wasn't that much better either much to his chagrin.

Caulifla and Kale did similarly to him and beyond them are Cabba and Krillin next to each other. The results beyond that however are... interesting.

The third best score went for the Namekian at 70%, with Hit barely overshooting him with 75%. On the top however... you have a tie between you and Gokus son, Gohan.

This little detail seems to fly over most of U7s head as even Krillin is too busy congratulating you to notice it. However their two smartest fighters DO realize it and start discussing it immediately. Luckily with your training you manage to eavesdrop on them a bit.

"Gohan..."

"Yeah. I noticed."

"If they tested academic knowledge you'd beat him for sure."

"But with it being an intelligence test..."

"Watch out for him. I got a bad feeling about this."

After people are done congratulating each other and the manlet stopped tearing his hair out over just barely doing better than a "moron" the two Gods finally get to work.

"Okay folks! Let's break it up!" Champa speaks.

"Indeed. Let us return to our respective places and begin-"

"Wait Lord Beerus!" Vegeta steps up. "I have a proposition for Champa."

"That's Lord Champa for you Saiyan!!"

"I don't care. Now listen up! If you promise to let Cabba start I promise I'll be the first one to fight!"

"Hoooo? You are gonna announce it just like that? Very well! I accept your offer! Cabba!"

"Yes Lord Champa!"

The two saiyans fly down to the stadium while the other competitors and the audience make their way to the floating islands on both ends of the arena. A small, green looking alien guy then walks up to the arena with a microphone in his hands.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE SECOND TOURNAMENT OF DESTROYERS! IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE-"

He goes on for a while.