A God Descends

A month. Four week; this was how long Son Goku had been away from home. After defeating the tyrannical alien known to the galaxy as Frieza, and narrowly escaping the destruction of the planet Namek, Goku found himself waking to the world of Yardrat.

It was here, after contacting his friends and family through a talk with Porunga, that the Earthly-raised saiyan chose to stay so as to better hone the new power he'd achieved; that of a Super Saiyan.

And, if he managed to pick up a trick or two from the planet's inhabitants, was that really so wrong?

Yet upon his return, while there were a few things Goku had expected to see, laying eyes on a skinny purple cat standing alongside what the saiyan gleaned to be an angel was not a sight the twenty-three year old alien had not been one of them.

"So," the feline spoke with a curious tone, "are you this 'Goku' everyone has been telling me about? Are you the 'Super Saiyan' I seek?"

"I guess that depends," the saiyan warrior cocked an eyebrow as he stepped away from the crater made by his ship, "who's asking; and how do you know I'm a Super Saiyan?"

Seeing the fearful looks on all of his friends faces, and the outright furious mask donned by a battered Vegeta, Goku could only assume that the creature standing in front of him wasn't a friendly force. Turning his sharp gaze to the armor-clad prince, the wild-haired young man asked for a better explanation.

"His name is Beerus; he's what's apparently called a God of Destruction. And according to him there's a prophecy about the Super Saiyan defeating him in combat that he wishes to test the truth of, so I hope you're ready for a fight Kakarot."

"As the weakling says," Beerus spoke again, "I'm here to decide whether this prophecy is as fearsome as the Oracle claims. To see if the legends of your race are really true. Your prince tried and failed to amuse me...I hope for your planet's sake you put on a better show."

At the obvious threat Goku felt the very same rage that had engulfed him back on Namek finding its way to his heart again. He'd just put down one threat to his home, to his son, and here already was another force standing between he and a happy life!? A good fight was something he enjoyed, yes, but that's what Goku felt he got from Piccolo and now the Prince of Saiyans; the whole world did not need to be in jeopardy too!

"So when I win, you and your...friend, you'll both leave the Earth in peace then?" The words were sharp enough to cut diamond, spoken through clenched teeth as the saiyan's power started to build within.

The god could sense the incoming battle and grinned, though his muzzle was stretched into a facade of smug condescension rather than someone worried for what was tom come. Folding his hands behind his back, relaxing his shoulders, Beerus' grin stretched enough to reveal his fangs as he beckoned Goku forward.

"If that's the dream you hope to live out after your demise, I'll be happy to grant it for you swiftly. Now, enough talk, show me what you've got Super Saiyan~"

Eyes shone with power and muscles tight, Goku burst into action so fast that even Vegeta found himself hard-pressed to keep up with the younger saiyan. But, as the two combatants entered into the battle that would decide the fate of planet Earth, the prince could hardly believe his eyes at what he did manage to catch a glimpse of right before Goku and Beerus disappeared from view.

'When did Kakarot's tail grow back!?'

Indeed, as the saiyan from the blue-and-green rock traded blows with the God of Destruction, one could see if they looked carefully enough that the brown sash wrapped around his strange new outfit was no normal belt. Sometime during the month away, that which marked Goku as an alien had regrown at the base of his spine!

Amazed at the knowledge, Vegeta found himself growing that much more confident that his rival would be a match for this 'God' now. To be the warrior of legend was already enough, but adding to it the natural latent power of their race to the mix? Vegeta began to wonder if there was a way that woman back at Capsule Corp. could regrow his tail.

The prince was yanked from his thoughts though when Kakarot's bald friend, the one who'd apparently been blown up by Frieza, shouted in surprise.

"Look; that's Goku's 'Kaioken'!"

Shooting his eyes up to the sky, Vegeta could now see the tell-tale crimson glow that signified Kakarot's use of the technique he'd used against the prince during their first battle. And while the flame-haired warrior knew it to be a powerful tool, especially with how much stronger his rival had become since that fateful day, Vegeta still had to wonder if it would be enough at four-times let alone the twenty that the Namek had mentioned Kakarot using against Frieza.

Up among the clouds Goku was unknowingly wondering the exact same thing. He'd only amped up to times-two but it didn't seem to close the gap much at all! It was frustrating, because the saiyan warrior was hoping not to need the golden-haired transformation he'd acquired back on Namek; as he'd had yet to truly perfect it, and it just...did something strange to Goku. Especially now that his tail had returned.

The feelings weren't bad, they were just different, and the Earth-raised warrior wasn't sure how to handle them.

But as he unconsciously revved the Kaioken up to times four, and sent a wheeling kick at Beerus' head that the cat dodged, Vegeta's rival was starting to wonder if he'd even have a choice. It was taking everything he had to evade the feline's quickly-flying kicks and lighting-like sweeps; case-and-point the brush of the pointed slipper against the tip of Goku's nose as he leaned away from a counter-kick.

And Beerus hadn't even used his hands yet!

Now this irked the fighting spirit that dwell within the wild-haired saiyan; reminding him of the arrogant lizard who'd nearly defeated him a month ago. Well, he'd shown Frieza not to underestimate him, looks like it was this 'God of Destruction's' turn.

Beerus had found his latest opponent to be much more fun that those fools who'd attempted to defeat him upon his arrival, but that wasn't saying much, and the purple-furred cat was just about to bring an end to things when his yellow eyes widened at the disappearance of the dark-haired warrior!

"Guwah!"

Pain, a sensation the deity so rarely felt outside of sparring with his retainer, but one that Beerus knew well enough to recognize as a powerful kick found its mark against his back followed by a fist burying itself into the cat's stomach. There was another swift combo of strikes that hit home over the off-guard feline's skinny body before Beerus managed to catch one of Goku's incoming punches and, pulling the man forward, slammed a knee into his gut before hammering both fists down onto the saiyan's back.

Goku could only surmise that his opponent's anger at being caught unaware by his Instant Transmission was what powered those last two attacks as he was sent careening through the air like a falling star. But to the oddly dressed martial artist it served the outsider right for threatening his home.

'And I'm far from done making him pay for that,' the wild-haired saiyan growled as he caught himself just in time to throw up a cross-block that stopped a powerful haymaker. Then, letting his energy build, Goku let it explode outward in a brilliant crimson burst that sent Beerus falling back under the pressure.

It was time for the Kaioken times ten!

"Now this is more like it," Beerus cheered as he entered into a dance of twisting and weaving with the alien warrior, trading blows and beginning to feel a rush that had long avoided him.

"Yes! This is much better than those peons could offer me; show me more! The golden hair I saw in the Oracle's vision, you're hiding it from me, but I'll make you transform saiyan or else this whole planet will suffer!"

Goku could feel the beginnings of that tingle which signified his over-use of the Kaioken but the furious martial artist pushed it from his mind in order to better focus on the fight in front of him. There could be no turning the technique on and off like against Frieza; anything less than this now would surely mean certain death should one of those blows catch him unaware.

It was easy to see that the self-proclaimed god had begun to take the battle more seriously if the inclusion of his hands was any indication, and for this a small part of Goku felt proud. The cat was certainly more powerful than the tyrannical lizard, of that the young man could say for certain, so to push this new foe to not take him so lightly was undoubtedly nothing to scoff at.

Even still, Goku's anger at the purple feline for threatening his son's safety meant that there could be no true fun had in such a fight.

Vanishing from the cat's sight again, the low-class saiyan tried for a knee to Beerus' face. As the blow came in contact with the feline's palm Goku tried to move in for a shot at his enemies unguarded chest, only to have the other hand block this time before Beerus took hold of the young man's forearm with both four-fingered paws and tossed the monkey-tailed alien over his shoulder.

Any sort of advantage the God of Destruction had been hoping for from this maneuver was swiftly cut across by his oddily-dressed foe spinning into the momentum, and whipping around to shove a brilliant yellow ball of energy into the cat's face!

"Oh, so we're using blasts now!?" Beerus called as he slipped under Goku's own attempt at capitalizing, and punted to saiyan away with the soles of his feet.

"This isn't a game," the wild-haired martial-artist countered angrily before shooting a volley of ki blasts, "we're fighting for the fate of my home; and I will not let you destroy my world!"

Beerus whizzed around the incoming rain of energy, a cocky grin making its way back onto the cat's muzzle Time to see how well the whelp handled him at seventy percent. "Fine, then let's see how you handle this!"

Goku watched his enemy disappear before his eyes, then nearly blacked out from the pain of a knee/elbow combo to his stomach and back. Immediately the saiyan could feel his control over the Kaioken vanish, and it took everything he had to catch himself before he crashed face-first back to the earth.

Stumbling out of the air and onto his booted feet, Goku choked on pained gasps as his friends watched him with varying degrees of worry.

"Goku/Dad!"

"Are you alright," Tien called from his place among the pack, "just give the word and we'll give you a hand. With you here now, there's no way that guy could take us all together!"

"He's right," Yamcha agreed with clenched fists. "The four of us learned the 'Kaioken' on King-Kai's planet too, and together with your increased strength it'll be a cinch!"

At first the saiyan warrior was going to brush them off, tell them that it was too dangerous and that he'd handled this alone, but then Goku thought about the fight on Namek. Piccolo, Krillin, even Gohan had all been instrumental to his ability to create the spirit bomb that had weakened Frieza; and even further back there was the aid that landed him the victory over Vegeta.

Maybe...maybe there was something to having help.

"I'm glad to see that such a small display of my true power wasn't enough to kill you," Beerus interrupted the martial-artist's thoughts.

"I'd hate to have come here and destroyed this planet without even seeing this 'legendary' warrior who apparently defeated one of the few mortals deemed worthy of taking my place. But really, I think the games have gone on long enough; transform now, and entertain me more, or I'll destroy this mudball and everyone on it!"

That got Goku's attention. Whipping his eyes back to the group a few feet from him, the saiyan warrior called for them to get ready; they wanted to help, then this was the time.

All at once each of the Z-fighters, even Vegeta, powered up to the max with what reserves they had left before the gathered fighters leaped forward as a single mass to combat the threat to their very existence. Moving like a brilliant red comet with Goku at the head and his rival's violet energy swirling in the middle, Earth's best chance for survival rocketed up before exploding apart to come at Beerus from every angle.

Down on the ground, Whis looked on with his finely crafted eyebrows upraised in interest; this wasn't something he'd expected. Certainly a...notable development.

"Time to see if my Lord's penchant for napping will come back to haunt him; thirty-nine years was a long time to rest after all."

Later on, Beerus would blame the sneeze that came from his name being carried on the wind for being pressed by Goku and his friends, since it had lead to that first strike catching him square in the nose.

From there it was with teary eyes that the feline fighter did battle with all seven of the world's strongest defenders, his arms and legs a blur as he swatted and parried each an every one of their attempts to land another solid blow. And while normally this would be child's play, seeing as he'd just done it, having that pesky new arrival added to the mix seemed to be what made all the difference.

If he turned too much attention onto Goku, then the saiyan's irritating little friends would manage to find gaps in Beerus' defense; Vegeta being particularly good at spotting such openings. But should the cat decide that the Z-fighter's deserved to suffer his wrath then Goku took full control of their scuffle! It was a game of back-and-forth that Beerus was quickly growing tired of.

He was a god damn it; such humiliation was beneath him!

"ENOUGH!"

Goku had just been gearing up for a chance to test his new technique when the purple-furred fighter exploded in a torrent of power the likes of which he'd never experienced. Each of his friends, and even the low-class saiyan's rival, were felled by this aura burst despite still having their own 'Kaioken' active leaving Goku the last remaining wall standing between Earth and certain doom.

Staring up at Beerus, who was huffing like the wolf about to blow someone's house down, the saiyan warrior felt his gut twist as he recognized the look in those bloodshot yellow orbs.

They'd been worn by both Vegeta, and more recently Frieza; he was going to try and blow up the planet!

"No more games, saiyan!" Spit flew from the cat's maw as a vein bulged over his right temple. "You don't want to take me seriously; don't think I'm worthy of your true power? Well then let's see how funny you think this all is when I've sent each and every one of you into oblivion!"

A loud clap echoed through the air, and Goku could already feel the power building, before the God of Destruction showed that the title was indeed real by creating a literal sun in the palms of his paws. One that swiftly grew from the size of a tennis ball to beyond even that of Goku's 'Spirit Bomb' on Namek!

"Before creation there must be destruction," Beerus called as he began to heave his energy sphere back to throw, "Now, take this: PLANETARY DEVASTATION!"

Out of time and out of options Goku finally allowed his anger and his fury at the deity rush to the surface before, in a blinding golden flash, he transformed into a Super Saiyan. The sun-like ki attack moved quickly and saiyan warrior rushed to meet it head on. Palms burning from the heat, Goku screamed as his magnificent aura flared with the surge of increased power output.

It was heavier, stronger, than anything Frieza had even attempted to throw at him but Goku refused to give in, to fail, as anything less than his all would mean the destruction of everything he loved!

Yet even with this conviction the mighty Super Saiyan soon found his feet pressing down into the very earth he was trying so desperately to save. And while the rest of the Z-fighters had been knocked cleanly away from the circumference of Beerus' technique, Goku could still see that the surrounding area was quickly giving way under the immense power of the so cold 'Planetary Devastation'.

Just like the sun it took the form of, this mass of energy soon burned through the layers of Goku's outfit and left the alien warrior grunting as the very essence of the ball began to scorched the Super Saiyan's skin. With muscles bulging and veins threatening to pop, earth's last hope roared to the heavens as he forced his knees not to buckle.

Watching from above, Beerus grew impatient as he witnessed his strongest attack besides the 'Hakai' be fended off by a single man with a monkey tail of all things. Thrusting out his palm, the purple cat called to the saiyan before pushing even more energy into the ball.

"Think you're tough then, huh, well fine! Have some mo—What!? W-What is this; my attack is being pushed back!?"

'This mortal,' Whis hummed as he watched Goku shove the literal sun from his face and then send it back at Beerus with a single punch. 'He's truly unlike anything I've ever seen before; nothing at all like the rest of his race here in Universe 7. I wonder...'

Beerus just managed to shake himself out of a stupor in time to avoid his own attack, but then found that Goku was there to greet him with a fully-loaded knuckle sandwich. Careening through the air Beerus screamed in pain as another punch smashed against his cheek and sent him hurtling towards the ground, only to sputter when a knee met him in the stomach first.

The agony of having his ears yanked came next before a vicious upper-cut shot the deity back up into the air where the purple cat finally managed to spin himself back into position and catch the next fist that came his way.

Right then, in that deadlock, Beerus the Destroyer got his first in-person look at the Super Saiyan of legend; the warrior who'd defeated Frieza. With flaming, golden hair with a blindingly stellar aura Son Goku cut the very definition of what many would consider the the greatest power in the universe...but there was something else.

He was tired.

Behind the rage and the desire to see his enemy defeated Beerus could see that it had taken everything Goku had to stop his 'Planetary Devastation'; he was running on fumes. And while a part of him found this to be disappointing, as it meant the game was almost over, Beerus secretly gave a silent sigh of relief.

It would have been embarrassing to have fallen against a mortal, no matter how strong, and after expending so much energy there wasn't much left in the Destroyer's tank either for a drawn out battle.

"I have to say," Beerus spoke after their battle had come to a close, "I'm impressed; I've not been pushed like that in quite a while. It would seem the legends about your race's 'Super Saiyan' were true."

"But I still lost," Goku growled as he and his friends stood awaiting their destruction. "Things would have been different, had it been the right season for senzu beans, but without them I...I just don't have the strength to keep up anymore."

It was easy to see how much this loss was tearing the saiyan apart.

After all; he'd just defeated Frieza. The overlord of the universe. Yet only a month later, had been beaten by something none of them had even known existed! All around him Goku's companions were tense too, begrudgingly accepting their fate alongside the undisputed leader of their group.

Because if Goku ha given up, what real hope was there?

...Which is why the next words spoken shocked them all.

"Not right now you don't," Whis piped up, "but I do believe that in time you'll make an excellent candidate for Destroyer God, Goku. Which is why I've chosen to have your planet spared."

Beerus was not happy.

"What!? Whis you can't do that; I already made up my mind that they'd be obliterated if the Super Saiyan couldn't defeat me. And you heard him, he admitted it, the monkey lost!"

Hearing such a barb again so soon set both full-blooded warriors on edge, and Vegeta actually took a step forward in silent challenge before the cat's attendant spoke again.

"You very well may have, but that's only because you fear that Father will notice Goku, maybe even Vegeta's, potential and have you or your brother replaced. My sister and I have warned the both of you about your propensity to slack off, yet you refuse to listen, so now you'll live with the consequences."

"W-What," the skinny feline choked out in terror. "T-The Grand Priest!? B-But Whis don't you think-"

"I absolutely do not," the angel cut the Destroyer off before turning back to the group of fighters. "I apologize again for the disturbance here today. While I'd like to say that you wont be seeing either of us again, I'm afraid that would just not be true. I do intend to inform my Father of this planet's unusually high caliber of fighters, as each and every one of you has impressed me greatly, which means you'll more than likely be meeting him soon."

"Wait," Piccolo got Whis' attention with his gruff voice. "What is all this; you've mentioned this 'Father', as well as a sister. And then apparently this destroyer has a brother? Just what is going on here?"

By the time both deities finished their explanation none of the Z-warriors could believe what they'd just learned. A multiverse, multiple Destroyers, and an over-seer who delegated his own children to train as well as guide Gods of Destruction. It was...mind-boggling!

"And, the reason none of you did anything about Frieza, is because you can't?" Krillen wondered for clarification.

"That's right," Beerus answered. "It upsets the natural order; just like those Dragon Balls of yours. Too much divine intervention creates an imbalance in the universe, and the last time that happened it took the Grand-Priest himself to fix it...so stop relying on those damn balls so much!"

"B-But most of us died against Vegeta and then Frieza," Yamcha challenged. "Are you trying to say that our friends and loved ones should have just left us in the afterlife!?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying you scar-faced imbecile! Cosmic balance is not a-"

"Enough, Beerus," Whis' tone was sharp and final. "We're done here, there's no point in arguing anymore. My father will confront them all soon enough after he learns what I have to tell him, and then they'll be able to ask all the questions they want. For now, we need to be going, as it's been a long time since you've had any training and it appears that you've gotten quite...rusty."

Flinching at his attendants cool dress down of how he'd performed today Beerus offered no more argument and simply stood by the angel's side as the familiar green orb for their travels surrounded them.

"Before we go, I'll leave you all with a warning; train hard. Harder than you've ever thought possible. Push yourself past your limits and then break whatever ceiling you believe there still to be. Because the next time we meet, that strength may very well be the only thing that saves you."

And with that final word from Whis, the pair of deities ascended into the air before disappearing from sight, leaving the Z-warriors to shiver at the angel's foreboding clue to their future.

The battle for their planet was over, but something told them that the real war had only just begun.