Bringer of Death

Immortal Saga, Part 2: Tales of the Dreamer

Immortal Saga, Part 2: Tales of the Dreamer

Otherworld

"...and so then I said, 'best thing about being my age is, no peer pressure!'"

The Grand Kai laughed hoarsely as he delivered the punch line of yet another joke. Goku and King Kai waited awkwardly; this had been going on for several minutes. Finally, the rotund deity cleared his throat. "Ehem, that's a real knee-slapper, but we really—"

"Knee-slapper!?" roared the Grand Kai. "Heh, you ain't even got knees!" He erupted into even more raucous laughter.

"That's...not true," protested the kaio, momentarily distracted. "I do too have knees! Just because I'm short doesn't mean...ugh." He stopped himself. "Grand Kai, please, did you find out anything? Anything at all?"

The white-bearded lord finished his laugh before replying. "Oh, right right. Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news. Which you wanna hear first?"

King Kai's forehead tensed with a small vein of frustration, but he controlled himself and replied respectfully. "I suppose the good news."

Grand Kai smiled and cleared his throat. "Good call, North Kai. Well, the good news is just this: I've been able to get in touch with the most reliable source of information that exists in all of Otherworld."

"Oh?" King Kai said. He had always been curious about the secrets above his pay-grade. Of the four kaios in his galaxy, he had always been most interested in figuring out the things they hadn't been told during training. But he knew better than to let intrigue get the best of him, especially right now. "And what did you find?"

"Well, I'm afraid that's the bad news. This fella might be the most reliable source of information in Otherworld, but not even he has ever heard of this Rocking-Main...err...Mockingraven, uh, dragon prawn guy. A little odd, I reckon—figured if anybody'd have all the answers it'd be him." The old god sounded slightly bewildered. "Anyway, he was able to rule out a few of the usual suspects, if you know what I mean."

"Usual? And who might that be?" asked King Kai.

"Well, there's a pink pudding monster in this galaxy that he's had to deal with before, but thankfully that's not who this is. Says it's a good thing, too. There's a giant skull bug he was a bit worried about, but I told him your Mockingraven character had neither skull-like nor bug-like characteristics. Apparently this Higher-Grudem fella is still safely sealed away."

"Ooh?" replied Goku, his mind wandering for a moment as he thought about how strong those monsters must be. It took everything he had not to ask more about them, but he steeled himself to focus on the situation. "What about Majcnavn, though? Did you come up empty-handed?"

"Ehh, I wouldn't say that—learned a few more things, anyway. Whether they're helpful or not, I can't say. There's one possibility that was promising...a tall immortal ogre on a cold planet orbiting a white dwarf. He seemed about right—lots of magic, you know—and on the far outskirts of this galaxy. But as far as we know, that guy's got no connection to Namek or the dragons. My source checked just to be sure, and it turns out the immortal is still asleep on Pandora. Sorry, boys, but besides that we're drawing a blank."

"What does that mean for us?"

"I reckon it means ya'll can just sit tight for now," Grand Kai replied. "You said Vegeta and your son were there fighting him. The way I see it, who else could we send in to handle it better than them anyway?"

Goku bit his lip. The information had done little to assuage his worry. "I know they're strong, Grand Kai, but...but it just seems like this guy is different from anyone they've ever faced. I have faith that they'll do whatever they can, but I don't know if they can manage."