DB Multiverse

Chapter 115

Translated by npberryhill

As the defeated Namek warrior disappeared into the dark corridor of Universe 3, Yamcha was writing hastily on a notebook. Intrigued but also disoriented that his friend had taken on a new fad, Tenshinhan turned to him.

“What are you doing over there, Yamcha?” he asked.

“I’m writing this down, this is good stuff,” the cyborg replied, his eyes never leaving the paper. “Maybe I can use it to convert those two lost souls from Universe 14 and put them back on the path of reason and righteousness.”

“Hmm,” old Kulilin whispered. “You heard the Great Namek just now, those cyborgs have a visceral hatred of all humanity. I don’t think it would matter what you said, it wouldn’t extinguish the flames of their anger. Although...I do have to admit...restoring their humanity would make asking out that blonde girl a lot less, how should I put it...dangerous...”

“You old codger,” Yamcha chuckled, a sly grin on his face. “She is cute though, once I redeem them she’s all yours.”

Gast, meanwhile, had returned to the Universe 7 balcony, resuming his lean against the wall — the same exact spot he’d remained throughout the majority of the tournament. He shook his head as an organizer approached, declining the offer of healing. He knew full well that converting King Piccolo to the side of good would be no simple task, but he felt a strange connection with Daimao, certainly a sympathy, and felt in his heart that it was his responsibility to at least try. No Namek should be evil in any universe, he truly believed that. As his thoughts continued, he recalled his own wish to be de-fused, to become Nail again, to see his people and the Grand Elder Guru once more. Despite the many souls assimilated inside of himself, his mind remained dominated by Nail — a warrior of justice, along with many other pure-hearted Nameks. He did, however, feel wary of his own strength at times. The fear of being overcome with arrogance, drunk with power, committing acts unbecoming of a noble warrior...it was something he kept a watch for. As King Piccolo had pointed out, he had taken the name of a Namek deity after all. He shut his eyes, entering a silent meditation as he cut himself off from the rest of the world.

“We’d like to thank all the competitors from the second round,” a Varga announced to everyone. “It was full of twists and surprises! But, before we start dinner, we have a surprise for you all. At the request of the Kaiôshins, we will now use the Dragon Balls to resurrect all those killed so far in the multiverse tournament.”

A cacophony of cheers and exclamations rose from both the crowd and participants. For many of them, this was the first time they would witness the majestic mythical entity capable of granting any wish. For others, they could hardly wait to see their friend, relative, or teammate revived. In universe 16’s balcony, Videl was trembling with emotion, her husband holding her tenderly in his arms. Gohan of the 18th noticed them and offered a friendly smile. The participants of universe 6 were mixed about the revivals. On one hand, the magician girls would get their comrade back, but on the other hand they’d also have to deal with the pirates again. Bujin was also skeptical. Zangya was coming back, as well as Bojack, and the thought wasn’t exactly reassuring.

As for the Saiyans of Universe 13, Nappa and Raditz could hardly wait for the return of their ruler — the only one capable of holding their entire universe in his iron grasp. Not to mention, they wouldn’t have to suffer under the temporary authority of Kakarotto a second longer. Meanwhile, Kakarotto himself scowled. Not only would Vegeta return and put him in his place, but he now possessed an even greater and more devastating power, the level of Super Saiyan that was so far unsurpassed. He turned his head towards his counterpart from Universe 18 as Goku laughed alongside his companions. Kakarotto clenched his fists, he had to find a way to ascend, and not just to Super Saiyan 2, if he wanted to ever have any semblance of freedom. Perhaps he could reach a new level during his fight against the other Vegeta...

Above, a ship appeared and descended from the skies, landing in the center of the arena. The hatch under the ship opened and the seven Dragon Balls were brought out and placed in a circle, surrounded by several Namekian warriors. The three Frost Demons of Universe 8 were frozen like statues, their eyes bulging at the sight of their ultimate prize. They hadn’t expected the balls they’d searched for all of the previous night to be so large.

“As a safety measure,” the Varga continued, “it’s strictly forbidden for anyone to get out of their seat or leave their respective universe’s areas. Anyone who attempts to approach the Dragon Balls will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and sent back to their own universe along with their entire group.”

“Well said!” Vegetto exclaimed from the universe 16 balcony, turning Super Saiyan and revealing a short blade of Ki at the end of his arm. “I’ll disintegrate anyone who crosses the low wall, without warning! I’m fed up with people wishing for panties!”

Many shuddered at the threat, his companions included, for he was quite capable of doing so. Goku laughed at the last phrase, recalling the first ever wish that had been made on the Dragon Balls by none other than Oolong. Vegeta frowned, obviously not understanding the reference.

Freeza nudged his brother silently, pointing to the center of the arena with a slight budge of his head. The latter smiled, agreeing it was time to unleash their assault and seize the Dragon Balls. But their impulses were cut off by the voice of Gast from the balcony next door.

“Don’t even think about it. You won’t make more than a few steps before being either sent back to your universe or completely destroyed by the Saiyan over there. Half the stadium is watching you anyway, so just keep quiet why don’t you.”

The galactic emperors lowered their shoulders, knowing they were busted. Over in the Universe 1 balcony, West Kaioshin was nervous as well.

“Is everything alright with the prisoner? He’s not struggling to get free is he?”

“No problems here,” the Great Kaioshin replied. “But he won’t try anything, you know. When you think about it, his own abilities exceed what the dragon can do, for the most part anyway. What could he wish for that he doesn’t have already? He doesn’t need them.”

“Are his powers truly superior to those of the sacred dragon?” the South Kaioshin wondered aloud. And how was that good news? He was about to speak, but paused, wondering how the Great Kaioshin could even know the extent of Buu’s abilities. His skepticism had always proven healthy, but he said nothing more, turning his attention to the other balconies to watch for foul play. The Frost Demons had been cooled down, and whatever attempt they’d considered was foiled before it began. Babidi and Majin Buu were also seemingly quiet. In their case, it was unlikely that Babidi would be interested in something that restored the dead to life anyway. The cyborgs of the 14th and 17th were motionless as well. All those they had considered as potential threats seemed to have understood and heeded the warning, especially with Vegetto there as an additional safeguard.

However, both the Great Kaioshin and Buu, still enclosed into the shape of a ball, detected a furtive movement. In the dark corridor of Universe 5 was the silhouette of the old wizard who’d defeated Vegetto, also watching the scene unfold. Narrowing his senses to the maximum, Buu barely managed to catch a few of the words spoken by XXI.

“Too bad...I’ll have my wishes when I win the tournament...no need to rush...”

Perplexed, the djinn didn’t report his findings to anyone, not caring to alert the Kaiôshins. The magician quickly disappeared back into the darkness of his corridor. Up in the control booth, one of the Vargas informed those below.

“We’ve removed the arena. You’re all clear.”

Indeed, it would’ve been ridiculous for the Eternal Dragon to be knocked on the head by a flying tournament ring immediately after being summoned.

Stretching out his arms, the elder spoke the Namekian incantation, the infamous password. Immediately, the Dragon Balls began to flash, shining with a brilliant light, then a long luminous shadow burst forth from the orbs. It stretched up high above the arena, forming the silhouette of a gigantic creature, the contours of his stupendous grandeur astonishing the eyes of the spectators — he was far more imposing than Hildegan had been. The prominent green bulky arms of the dragon impressed all present, including many of the participants who had never seen him before, the girls of the 6th universe and the Heliotes in particular. Others such as Cell and Vegeta, meanwhile, were so used to such occasions they gave no reaction at all. The Dragon, who now dominated the entire field of view, spoke in a deep and grave voice.

“YOU WHO HAVE GATHERED ALL SEVEN DRAGON BALLS, I WILL GRANT ANY THREE WISHES! SPEAK NOW, I AM LISTENING!”

Continuing to speak in Namkeian, the elder made his first request. “Great and wise Porunga, would you please resurrect all those who have lost their lives because of our tournament!?” he pronounced.

“CERTAINLY... IT SHALL BE DONE!” the dragon replied, his eyes suddenly glowing a strong red.

“Wait,” Trunks wondered aloud, “their dragon can actually resurrect that many people with a single wish? But I thought...”

Piccolo answered in stride. “It’s clear they planned ahead, and foresaw the danger in hosting a tournament such as this. It was a given that eventually someone would die, considering the monumental powers all gathered together here. Just think, if we hadn’t had Vegetto, Broly probably would’ve massacred us all.”

“Speaking of Broly,” Goku said, butting in, “this wish, will it bring him back too? That final attack killed him, didn’t it, so he’ll be resurrected, right?”

“Revived or not, he was returned to his own universe. There’s no way he can come back,” Gohan reminded him.

“Oh right. Whew,” Goku chuckled.

Three balconies away, Buu the liquid gumball grumbled to himself that he’d missed his opportunity with Broly — to absorb the mutant Saiyan. No one besides Universe 16 was even aware of what had transpired out in the far reaches of space the previous day.

As the dragon’s magic swept through the arena, life warmed the bodies of the deceased. Victims began to awaken.

Many of the universes felt a wave of emotion, particularly Universe 16 at the sight of Pan, risen from the dead. Her mother grabbed her in her arms, both sobbing, as the girl’s father held them both, wiping the tears from his own eyes. Their companions as well smiled in relief; Vegetto even noticed Bra had to look away, blotting her eyes in order to keep up her tough outward facade. A little further away, Tidar, who’d been killed during his fight with Uub at the tournament’s beginning stared at his hands in disbelief. His comrades, their faces radiant, surrounded him and put their hands on his shoulders as a sign of friendship — and catching him up on everything that had happened so far in the tournament, specifically of the promise of Universes 16 and 18.

Most everyone seemed overjoyed, wearing wide smiles, but those of Universe 6 were somewhat mixed. The girls were rejoicing with their old friend, but Bujin couldn’t have looked more ticked at seeing Bojack and Zangya again.

“Are we alive? How...what happened?”

Two members of the Frost Demon army sat up, as both of their bodies had been kept on the Imperial Ship. They each served a different prince, but were nonetheless glad to see one another.

“You died too?” Sauza asked.

“Uh...well”, the fastest warrior in the Universe stuttered. He didn’t know quite how to explain that he hadn’t exactly been killed in combat.

All others who had been collateral damage from the fighting had begun to wake up or reappear. Up in the Varga booth, the small bird that had been Broly’s first victim suddenly reappeared in an armchair, shocked.

“I’m alive! Unbelievable! I’m so happy to just be alive!”

A colleague of his turned to him. “Oh, hey there, Pete. What’s happening?” The colleague paused, glancing off in the distance. “Umm, I’m gonna need you to go ahead and start your shift now, so if you could go ahead and clock in...that’d be great...mmkay?”

The revived Varga collapsed on the ground, vexed. This was unbelievable! Elsewhere in the stands, those spectators who’d fallen prey to Eleim’s energy blade awoke, immediately frustrated that they’d missed so many good fights, and some even clamoring for a refund.

Down below, Gohan of the 16th turned to the Kaiôshins and bowed his head in thanks. They returned his gesture with smiles and nods. The Namekian elder, meanwhile, dismissed the dragon, insisting that they did not require a second wish. With that, the Dragon Balls lifted into the air slowly.

“Well, they’ll certainly have a time trying to collect them all again, scattered to the far corners of space! I wonder who will make the grand tour to find them all?” Trunks of the 16th chuckled.

“Wouldn’t be too much of an issue for me,” Vegetto said, taking a heroic pose reminiscent of Mr. Satan. “Zip zap around with the radar for half an hour and I’d be done.”

The irony, however, was short lived. All seven balls crashed unceremoniously onto the arena, now ordinary inert stones. The elder reached out his hand and rolled them back onto the ship’s platform himself.

“How long until the Balls are active again?” a nearby Varga asked.

“Approximately forty days,” the Namek replied with a smile. “But it’s of no concern. Next time we will simply use a set from a different universe.”

“Very good,” replied the Varga, climbing onto the platform. It raised back into the belly of the ship, the Dragon Balls disappearing once again — much to the dismay of Freeza, Coola, and Cold, who were still being watched closely by Gast.

Over in the universe 16 balcony, Trunks was still confused.

“I don’t get it. Why didn’t the balls fly off?”

“The dispersion was an invention of Kami, not a characteristic of the original Namekian Dragon Balls,” Piccolo explained. “He intended their collection to be a quest, one to give hope to the hearts of men. Originally, however, when the Dragon was dismissed, the balls would return to their creator to await reactivation.”

Gohan recalled how the Dragon Balls had followed Guru, the Namekian Grand Elder, all the way back to planet Earth after they’d all been teleported there.

“Tch,” Vegeta grunted. “He should’ve saved us all the trouble. Hope to the hearts of men? Pff. For all the problems caused by those balls over the years, it wasn’t a human, it was Goku who stepped up to solve most of them. How easy would it have been to just cancel the automatic dispersion of the balls after all this time?”

Piccolo didn’t reply, not wanting to argue with someone incapable of seeing Kami-sama’s sincere desire to help humanity along the right path. Gast wasn’t mistaken in speaking the way he did about Kami, the good side within Piccolo Daimao. He truly wanted humans to grow as a species towards hope and courage.

A Varga announcement interrupted them all, ringing through the arena.

“Now that the resurrections have concluded, I’m sure your appetites are all whet. We’ll reinstall tables in each balcony while our servers make there way around to present your dinner!”

“Alright!” Pan of the 16th exclaimed. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole wolf!”

“Was it tough being dead, sweetie?” Videl asked, still worried about her daughter.

“Nah, I don’t really remember anything,” Pan replied, reflecting.

Due to their present universe previously holding no lifeforms, there was no afterlife. Instead of having their souls transported to the Otherworld to be judged by King Enma, those who perished at the tournament were left to wander the void aimlessly as ghouls...

Gohan smiled, standing behind the two of them as he listened in. Their daughter was truly a courageous little girl, every bit as much as her counterpart of the 18th. Turning over in their direction, he noticed his father leaning on the balcony wall, talking to Cell. Intrigued, he went to join them, curious as to why Vegetto appeared to be amused. Then, he saw a second Cell Junior frolicking joyfully with the first one around Cell and his question was answered.

“Hey, Cell...care to explain why you have two kids with you now? If I recall, you only arrived with one, right?” he joked.

“No!” the perfect being replied, turning his back to the fused Saiyan so as to hide his rage. Cell had thought the apartment had concealed everything, but clearly it didn’t. While the death of his first Junior hadn’t been detected by Raichi, Porunga was not so easy to conceal from, resurrecting the mini Cell without difficulty.

Gohan laughed along side his father, as did Vegeta, who sneered at the scene.

While the organizers were still installing the tables and preparing the meals, the leader of the universe 6 pirates got the attention of his organizer attendant.

“You, fowl. We demand to leave at once!”

“You want to be returned now? Don’t you want to see the rest of the tournament?”

“No, I don’t give a damn.”

"We’ll take this opportunity to return as well," said one of the spectator girls. “We’re all getting a little homesick.”

“Ah, very well then. Follow me,” the Varga said, frustrated. With them all gone, he’d have no one to watch, thus being out of a job. Perhaps his superiors would assign him to another post though.

Bojack, his gang, and the group of girls left the arena, boarding the interdimensional ship, with Bujin trailing a little behind. He knew Bojack well enough to know that the second they were back, he would likely murder them all instantly — probably just to let off steam from the humiliation dealt to him by Cell. Throwing a fit at the tournament would’ve done him no good, as there were plenty of stronger people around that could’ve shut down any tirade of his. In fact, the father of the girl whose neck he’d broken would’ve crushed him without a second thought. But back in their own universe there were no rules... who knows what might happen to them on the return journey?

Everyone’s dinner was relatively uneventful. The Heliotes joined those of universes 16 and 18 for dinner however, along with Trunks and Android 16 from the 12th. Interestingly enough, the humans of universe 9 also made their way into the large group, intrigued by the kindness of Goku — he proved such a friendly character that they couldn’t understand what had been so wrong with his counterpart back in their own timeline.

Cell, meanwhile, immersed himself in deep meditation while his juniors went through the arena stretching and chasing one another. Tapion and Raichi sat their table peacefully, but the old man ate not a single bite. Rather, he kept his eyes fixed on Baddack, who ripped through one tray of meat after another. As for Piccolo Daimao, he remained in his private room.

In the eating area of universe 8, Reacum had finally recovered his confidence after losing to Nail in round one, rejoining his comrades under the reproving eye of Freeza — and the grin of Nappa from a few paces away.

In the balcony of universe 1, the Varga in charge of statistics came and gave his report of the second round to the Kaiôshins.

“I’ve prepared my analysis, just as I did yesterday. Universes 1, 2, 3, 12, and 19 have been eliminated with one defeat each. Universe 9 has also been eliminated, having been defeated twice. This brings the total number of eliminated universes to 6, with 13 still remaining. However, only three of those left have more than a single entrant still in contention — the 3rd, 8th, and 18th. Universe 18 has also managed only one defeat!”

The Varga paused, hearing the Kaiôshins murmur amongst themselves, then continued.

“Universe 8 also has achieved a high rate of victory, being undefeated in the second round. Concerning those killed in the round of 32, there were only Bojack of Universe 6 and Vegeta of Universe 13. This time, seven out of thirteen fighters native to planet Earth moved on successfully. This is partly due to three of the matches this round having both contestants from planet Earth. Of note for the upcoming round, Kakarotto of the 13th will face his second opponent from Universe 18. Freeza of the 8th will face another Saiyan, as will his father King Cold. As for Universes 2 and 6, both have left the tournament and returned home. That’s all I have for you, my lords.”

With that, the Kaioshins took their leave of the Varga, discussing the day that had transpired amongst themselves as well as the next day.