Thinking of You

Part 28

"Six is very good. I am unaware of how many members Goku has collected, but judging by his amount of friends, I can only assume he has gathered a sufficient bunch."

Vados nodded. "How is Lord Beerus? Lord Champa is, unfortunately, very upset with Zeno's new Tournament."

Whis gave a chuckle. "Lord Beerus is no better off. He's asleep at the moment, but I'll have to wake him in a few hours."

A boom sounded from the two battling Saiyans, and Vados and Whis turned their heads to see Goku and Vegeta tumbling around in the grass and flowers, kicking up petals and dirt like roughhousing children. They didn't appear to be fighting anymore. It appeared that they had given up that activity and had settled for a child's version of fighting. Goku rolled on top of Vegeta, pining his arms down beside his head with a large, mischievous grin. A yellow petal, torn from its flower, floated down and came to rest perfectly on Vegeta's nose.

"Ha, I win." Goku said happily.

"I let you win." Vegeta shook the petal from his nose, a smirk on his face. "Now get off."

"What's the magic word?"

"There's a magic word?" Vegeta raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

"Yep. Like a password." Goku explained. "Say the magic word and I'll release you."

"You're childish." Vegeta rolled his eyes. "If you think I'm going to say please, you're even dumber than I thought."

"Hey, don't be mean. It's not like the world would end if you said please." Goku smiled.

"Nope." Vegeta shook his head in defiance.

"Fine. Then at least admit that I'm super cool." Goku said, his wide, child-like eyes looking deeply into Vegeta's.

Vegeta sighed heavily, realizing that Goku was more relentless than he originally thought. Not to complain, however. "Fine, Kakarot. You're cool."

Goku beamed. "Super cool?"

"Yes, super cool, now get off before I kick you."

Goku jumped off and held out his hand to pull Vegeta to his feet.

Vados looked to Whis, her eyes wide in amazement. "Whis, I see you've not only trained them in combat, but you also managed to tame them. I thought that was an impossible feat."

Whis chuckled. "Oh, this miracle was not all my doing. Most of the praise should go to Goku. I was merely an advocate for advice."

...

Krillin paced back and forth, tapping his chin. "Okay. Okay, I can handle this."

18 rested her chin in her hand, watching Krillin go back and forth in front of her. "Krillin, honestly, you panic too much. You can still come with me to the Tournament, but you'll have to stay in the stands. That's not so bad, right?"

"I guess." Krillin sighed. He had always fought side by side with Goku. but now he was stuck on the sidelines. He didn't blame Goku, of course. 18 was notably stronger and more resilient than he was, so her attending in his place made more sense, now that he thought about it. But he couldn't help but feel this ache in his chest. While he would be in the stands watching everything, he still felt like he would be missing out even more. Naturally, he did have a tendency to panic and overthink things, and 18 was the more calm and collected one of the two, but he was still talented in fighting and knew his way around a fight. He groaned and sat down on the couch, knowing that dwelling on the subject would get him nowhere.

The sounds of the ocean around them were like a relaxing lullaby, which did manage to calm Krillin's nerves. 18 moved from the counter to sit beside her husband, crossing her arms over her chest. "You look cute when you worry."