hiraeth - part fifty-two
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Two more days had passed since everybody had split up, leaving Y/n and Gohan on their own. Bulma and Jaco had returned the same day they left, neither willing to clarify why they had failed to gain the location of the last Super Dragon Ball. Whis had also returned on the very last day, just hours before they were to leave for the tournament. And not only had he brought along somebody who clearly had zero power, but he had brought along a large cubic ship, apparently taking not just the fighters, but spectators as well.
"Why do we need spectators?" Y/n asked with a brow raised as she looked up at the large ship.
"Mainly just to show off just how much cooler my universe is," Beerus spoke as he smirked, crossing his arms. Whis chuckled, stepping forward, the small person who had yet to state his name practically clinging to his side.
"Lord Champa invited everyone, it's only polite to attend. But Y/n, you look like you've been training," Whis pointed out with a small smirk. Y/n looked down at herself, noticing the small scratches and small bruises here and there. She chuckled nervously, scratching her neck.
"I didn't want to go into this rusty. Gohan was helping me train," Y/n said, glancing back at said man. Gohan was talking to Piccolo, a small smile on his face. He was noticeably more beaten and bruised than she was, but Y/n couldn't really help it. Gohan had stopped training over a year ago, the only fight he had been in recently was with Lord Frieza. Y/n had grown immensely strong, even in her base form, thanks to her soul and zenkai boost. Y/n practically eclipsing Gohan in power was unavoidable now.
"I didn't even know that boy fought. Perhaps we should've gotten him to do this as well," Beerus hummed, thinking as he squinted at Gohan. Y/n raised a brow, placing her hands on her hips as she grinned slyly.
"Oh, but I thought your candidate was far stronger than all of us, even me. Why are you thinking of replacing him with Gohan, who's way weaker?" Y/n spoke, raising her voice with each word. Beerus's eyes widened as he grew flustered and panicked, covering Y/n's mouth as he hissed at her, shushing her.
"Be quiet, stupid girl! Do you really want to give away the secret that bad!?" Beerus whispered, his glowing yellow eyes glaring into hers. His glare lasted a moment longer, before he sighed, pulling back as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Monaka isn't actually strong. He just owed me a favor."
"Why are you having somebody with no strength at all fight for us? Do you really not care about us that much that you would even sabotage our team?" Y/n glared at Beerus. Beerus gave her a deadly look, daring her to say another word. She was almost tempted to, but Y/n cared about the Earth. So she stayed silent, letting Beerus explain himself.
"I actually care more than I should about this rock. I told Goku that Monaka would be even stronger than Goku so that it would motivate him to keep pushing himself. At the moment, Goku has hit a wall and can't find a way to improve. I thought about using you to motivate him, but you're more of a mutant than anything and shouldn't actually exist." Beerus's words struck Y/n in her heart, but she knew he was right, so she stayed silent. Besides, he had a point. Motivating Goku by having someone of a similar background, weak and small, appear even stronger than Goku was bound to help push the man past the wall he found himself stuck at.
Y/n wasn't even aware that Goku wasn't improving anymore. In the two weeks he was gone, he showed visible signs of improving, both physically and mentally. He never said anything about being stuck at his current limit. The thought that Goku wasn't sharing that kind of information with Y/n hurt her. Y/n's stomach began to twist with anxiety at the thought that she probably didn't deserve to help him with his feelings anyway. She had shut everyone at her most vulnerable time, why should she have the right to help him? It never crossed Y/n's mind that she was overthinking, her own stress eating her away. She barely had time to think about the idea before Whis spoke up, clearing his throat.
"Well, is everyone ready to go? We are on a time limit," Whis reminded everyone, mumbling to himself in annoyance about Goku and Vegeta being late. As everyone filed into the cubic ship, Y/n glanced around, getting concerned about where the boys were. Bulma scoffed as she stepped onto the ship, rolling her eyes.
"They probably completely lost track of time in that chamber. It has been three years for them in there," She said, trying to relieve some of Y/n's concern. Y/n's eyes widened as she whipped around, surprised.
"Th-Three years? What do you mean?" She asked. Bulma furrowed her brows, suddenly feeling bad for dropping such a bomb on Y/n. It looked as though Goku had failed to mention that the Hyperbolic Time Chamber passed time much more slowly inside. They had been in there for three days, which meant that for them, they hadn't seen anybody for three years. Bulma sighed, promising herself silently to beat them both black and blue for keeping Y/n in the dark when they got back. Just as she opened her mouth to explain, a loud voice cut her off.
"Hey, guys! Sorry we're late!" The immediately recognizable voice of Goku exclaimed. Y/n grinned excitedly, whipping around to give him a happy greeting. Her voice got caught in her throat though as she almost didn't even recognize the man. Goku looked at her with a confused smile, tilting his head. "Hey, Y/n. You okay?"
"Y-You..." Y/n rubbed her eyes, making sure she wasn't going blind out of the blue, but she wasn't. Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, "You're old again!"
"Am I?" Goku asked as he scratched his cheek. He had noticeably aged, and had even grown a beard, which looked completely out of place on the man. Y/n didn't even know he could grow facial hair, and she now wished he couldn't. Goku chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I guess I did kind of waste my wish going into the chamber, huh? My bad!"
Goku tried to approach them, but Whis glared at Goku, speaking up. "No, sir! You cannot go looking like that, it's disgusting! Go clean up and then you may join us. But be quick about it, we're running late."
"Aww, okay..." Goku pouted, almost not wanting to let go of his newly grown facial hair. But he begrudgingly trudged off, Vegeta right behind him. Y/n stared at the man, half wondering why he had ruined his age so much, and why she even liked a guy as old as him.
It wasn't long before Goku and Vegeta came back, looking like their old selves. Goku was pouting the whole way, having grown attached to his new look. Y/n was glad to have him back to the way he was, there were just certain things that didn't fit certain people.
Once everyone was onboard the ship, Whis tapped his staff on the clear floor, the ship floating upward. And within a flash, the surroundings began to warp around them, the Earth already gone from sight. Millions of stars passed by in the blink of an eye, almost like a light show. Y/n stared out the clear walls of the ship, too anxious to take in the sight before her. This tournament would determine the ultimate fate of the Earth, the home Y/n had fought tooth and nail for. Not only was this her home as a human, but she had promised herself, the soul inside her, to protect this home. Her past self could never find a place to call home, and now that she had it, it was constantly slipping out of her grasp, due to either personal conflict or people who hated the Saiyans.
"Y/n?" A voice spoke up softly at her side, just quiet enough for her to hear. Y/n glanced to the side to see Goku standing beside her with a smile. Despite his body having aged once more, his face and smile still looked so young. His eyes were constantly full of light, full of hope. He didn't look even the slightest bit bothered about the upcoming tournament. In fact, she didn't doubt a bit that he was actually excited. Her mind was pulled back to reality as he patted her head, surprising her. "Don't worry. We'll win, just like always."
"You can't pretend you haven't lost before," Y/n said as she grabbed his hand, moving it from her head as she intertwined her fingers with his. Goku chuckled, looking out into the passing space.
"I've lost plenty of times before. But that doesn't mean there aren't others to fight in my place. Like you, you're even stronger than me." He spoke, his eyes drooping slightly. Y/n felt her heart stutter at the sight, remembering Beerus's words.
"Why didn't you tell me you were struggling with improving?" Y/n asked. Goku looked down at her in surprise, before forcing out a chuckle as he avoided looking at her.
"Because I didn't think it mattered. I-I mean, it makes sense that I have a limit, everybody does. I can't improve anymore, I-I couldn't even get my God form on my own. I really wanted to get as strong as you, but I just don't think I can, I don't have it in me—" Goku was cut off by Y/n, who placed a hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her.
"Listen to yourself, Goku. Do you even know what you're saying, what you're doing? You're not acting like yourself. The Goku I know would never give up. You never gave up on anything before. The reason you got so far was because you kept pushing yourself, telling yourself there's more." Y/n spoke, glaring softly into his eyes. Goku felt as though she were pulling on every single one of his heart strings, prickling on every emotion within him. He wanted to let go of it all, but he didn't know how. And the more she spoke, the more he felt bad about himself. "If you tell yourself you've hit your limit, you'll never improve. If you make yourself think there's nothing more, then there will never be anything more for you. You can only improve if you believe, if you let yourself. Don't hold yourself back, Goku."
He knew her words meant only good, only help. But it only helped drive in the fact that he had given up on himself, and was wasting his own potential. Goku was ruining himself like this, and her words made him feel guilty about it. But he didn't know how to relay those feelings to her. He didn't know how to let her in. So instead, he just stayed quiet and smiled, pretending to understand. He blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over in front of everyone, in front of her, and just stared out into space, waiting silently.
Y/n looked up at him in concern and confusion, wondering why he had stopped talking. Perhaps she had only messed things up even more instead of helping. Maybe she should have left things to Beerus, instead of trying to be Goku's savior and help him. It never crosses Y/n's mind whenever she has these thoughts that nobody is at fault. She never stops to just realize that they're both just balls of insecurity, just trying to improve for each other, and tripping over every obstacle in their path. Neither of them ever realize how much they help each other, blinded by their own faults and flaws. Trapped in her own thoughts of guilt and insecurity, Y/n could only squeeze his hand tighter, scared for the tournament ahead of them, and their life beyond the tournament.
Time seemed to pass much faster for Y/n after that moment, the two standing in silence and watching the stars pass by, before eventually Whis called out to the two, catching their attention. Y/n blinked, realizing that she had been too distracted with her thoughts to even notice that they had landed on what looked like a very desolate and empty planet, if it could even be called that. It was so tiny that even where she stood, she could see the curvature of the planet. But that wasn't what grabbed her attention. It was the absolutely massive orange balls surrounding the planet, blotting out most of space. She immediately recognized the red star in the center of each one, her eyes widening as she swallowed thickly.
"A-Are those the Super Dragon Balls..?" She muttered in surprise. She whipped around to see Whis standing there with a smile, looking at the awe and shock on everyone's faces. He held his staff out to the clear wall, forming an opening for everyone to step out.
"Indeed. This is the Nameless Planet, a small planetoid directly between Universes 6 and 7. Everyone is waiting on us, let us go," Whis spoke, directing everyone out. Y/n followed the others, but stopped in her tracks when she felt her arm jerk, her hand still in Goku's. The man had not budged even a bit, still staring at the Super Dragon Balls. Y/n called out to him, pulling his arm. He barely acknowledged her, following behind slowly, still staring into the sky. His lack of awareness to his surroundings worried Y/n, but she didn't want to push him anymore, so she quietly guided him along.
Whis led everyone to a platform all by itself on the empty planetoid, where others awaited patiently. One person that stood out to Y/n was the Supreme Kai, who quietly conversed with Kibito. Y/n released Goku's hand, rushing ahead of everyone and calling out his name. Shin visibly perked up at the sound of her voice, grinning excitedly as he spotted her approaching.
"Shin! I missed you!" Y/n exclaimed as she held her arms out to engulf him. Shin practically jumped into her arms, squeezing her tightly.
"I missed you as well, Y/n. Have you been doing well?" He asked, looking her up and down. His heart practically fluttered with excitement to see she still wore her Supreme Kai clothing, taking well care of them despite them being her training clothes.
"I've been fine. Why are you here though?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. Shin chuckled, wrapping an arm around Y/n's as he basically stuck himself to her side.
"I'm one of the Gods of this universe, I am bound by duty to observe. Plus, I just wanted to see you again, and I'm curious to see you fight." Shin answered with honesty, smiling up at her. Y/n giggled, though she did not miss the glare Kibito was giving her, as well as the odd looks the new Supreme Kai, whom Y/n was guessing was from Universe 6, gave them. Y/n also did not miss Shin sticking his tongue out at Kibito, looking away in annoyance.
"Well, it took you all long enough!" A loud voice spoke up, catching everybody's attention. Y/n turned to see what looked like a fatter version of Beerus approaching, as well as what looked like a gender-bent version of Whis.
"Lord Champa, sister." Whis greeted them with a polite smile. "We were running behind, yes, my apologies. I was struggling to round everyone up."
Whis shot Goku and Vegeta a look, of which they both ignored. Whis sighed, turning to look back at the others. The other God of Destruction, Lord Champa, scoffed, giving their team a once over with a grimace.
"This is the best you could do? None of them look like anything special. And is that a Supreme Kai?" Champa pointed at Y/n, her clothing confusing the God. Whis chuckled, shaking his head.
"Oh, no, this is our student, Y/n. She has very special potential. All of our fighters do, actually." Whis said, although he wasn't so sure about Piccolo, and he could say nothing of Monaka. Champa sneered, giving them a nasty look. But before he could make some snide remark, the lady resembling Whis spoke up.
"Alright everyone. We are on a time limit, I only rented the referee for a few hours..." She muttered, before clearing her throat. "My name is Vados, and I will be handling your written test."
Vados tapped her staff on the tiled floor, a ring of light passing over the floor. Desks appeared out of thin air, a sheet of paper and a pencil on each one. Y/n giggled at the sight, the idea almost seeming childish to her. At Vados's instructions, the fighters took their seats at one of the desks, a paper with some of the most basic math problems on it. Y/n had to wonder just how dumb some of the fighters had to be, that the questions were as simple as 2 + 2. Her wonder found it's answer when she felt Goku reach across the walkway and poke her side, asking what the X in 10 x 10 meant.
Goku barely passed the test, being the only one to not get a 10 out of 10. Y/n had to comfort him as he practically whined into her shoulder, feeling guilty for nearly failing. As Y/n pat his back and hugged him, Goku's attention was turned to Vegeta's voice as he called out to them.
"Kakarot, woman, look. He's a Saiyan," Vegeta pointed, the two looking to spot a small boy, not likely much older than Y/n or Goku. Y/n immediately recognized the armor he wore, styling the old armor from before Frieza'a reign. Goku stood up straight as he grinned with excitement, Y/n half wondering if Goku could just mask his emotions really well, or if he really did forget that he was upset not long ago.
"Oh, I wonder how strong he is! He looks kinda small, and he doesn't even have a tail. Who do you think will get to fight him?" Goku asked with glee.
"Me, obviously! I'm the prince, I should get to test a Saiyan from another universe. He must be exemplary too, if he's fighting in this tournament." Vegeta spoke, smirking at the thought of getting to fight another Saiyan besides Kakarot. The three of them panicked when the young man glanced over at them, catching them staring. He smiled, approaching them with a wave.
"Hello. You must be the Saiyans of the seventh universe. My name is Cabba, it's nice to meet you." He bowed politely, surprising them.
"Hey, you're pretty nice for a Saiyan!" Goku exclaimed. "My name is Goku, but you can call me Kakarot."
"And I am Prince Vegeta, I rule the Saiyans of my universe." Vegeta proudly stated with a grin. Cabba was nearly glowing with excitement, bowing again for Vegeta.
"Oh, gosh, this is my first time meeting royalty, I hope I haven't seemed rude in any way!" He exclaimed, before standing back up straight. His eyes glanced over each of them once more, before his eyes landed on Y/n. Her hair and eyes immediately stood out to him, her appearance not matching that of a Saiyan. "Oh, you must not be a Saiyan, my apologies for confusing you."
"O-Oh, no, you weren't wrong. I am technically a Saiyan, I just don't have the looks." Y/n said. And she wasn't entirely wrong, but she didn't feel like going into details about her biology with a stranger. It was easier just to call herself a Saiyan at this point. "My name is Y/n, it's very nice to meet you, Cabba."
"You too, ma'am." Cabba said with a smile. He perked up when he heard Vados calling out to him, rounding up the Universe 6 fighters. "It was very nice meeting you. I hope we have a good, fair fight."
The young man turned, waving with a smile as he joined his team. Goku chuckled, turning to Vegeta with a smile. "It seems like the Saiyans of his universe had a completely different fate from ours, huh, Vegeta?"
"I'm going to ask him to take me to his home planet. If my assumption is correct, they reside on a version of planet Sadala, our original home planet. It was wiped out long ago, I'm sure the woman remembers." Vegeta said, glancing over at her. Y/n was surprised by his sudden mention of her old memories, scratching her cheek as she did recall faint memories of having to move planets after theirs was destroyed.
"I do kind of remember it, yeah. It was practically uninhabitable in my old life though." She spoke. It was odd holding a conversation with Vegeta, especially since she hardly ever spoke to him. But the two conversed about it between themselves, Vegeta even asking questions about their original home. Goku glanced between the two as they spoke, suddenly feeling left out. He pouted, stomping away as Whis called everyone to him. Today seriously wasn't Goku's day.
"Alright, everyone. We have to decide the order in which you'll be fighting. I think Goku should go first, that way we can gauge our opponent team's strength without wasting our weaker warriors such as Piccolo and Vegeta, no offense." Whis said, to which Piccolo simply sighed, while Vegeta silently raged. "The best scenario would be for Goku to win this alone. However, should he be eliminated, the order will be Goku first, then Piccolo, Vegeta, and Y/n."
"What about Monaka? Why can't he do this? He's stronger than all of us," Goku pointed out as though his words were fact. Y/n was bewildered over the fact that Goku could not immediately see how weak he was. Beerus was quick to speak, almost panicked.
"Monaka will go last! He's our last resort! If things get so bad that even Y/n is eliminated, then we'll need him." Beerus said, standing between Goku and Monaka. Goku beamed excitedly, giggling.
"Is he really that strong? I almost want to lose on purpose just to see him fight!" Goku said, to which he received a harsh punch to the head from Beerus.
"Have you gone mad!? If you've forgotten, if you lose, Champa will have the Earth! If you think my temper is bad, just wait until you see my brother's. You won't last a day," Beerus said, crossing his arms. Goku whimpered, sighing.
"Okay, okay, jeez. You don't have to be rude, you know. I was just kidding!" Goku pouted. Whis shook his head, chuckling as he stepped forward.
"Alright, everyone. Let's get going now, you all have a tournament to win," Whis said, floating into the air. The others followed, with Y/n lagging behind a bit. As she watched everyone fly off, she felt Lord Beerus walk past her, glancing at her.
"Be careful, Y/n. One of the opponents looked quite dangerous. I'm certain Goku will lose this," He spoke, before flying off, having to hold Monaka's hand. The sight would have be funny to Y/n, if not for his warning. First, it was Goku apparently having insecurities and having given up on himself. And now this. It was almost as if the universe were trying to say that Goku had truly hit his limit. But Y/n refused to believe it. Surely it couldn't be, right? Because if that were the case, then that would mean that this was all up to Y/n, and she had little backup. Things weren't looking so good anymore.
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// word count - 3907 //