Chapter 5 - Heaven? Hell? Hard Pass! (Part 2)
"In case you haven't noticed, kid, you're already dead." His glare sharpens, and if looks could kill, I would have been dead thousands of times over.
I do not break eye contact. "I know all about the Dragon Balls. I'm sure you do."
He doesn't blink.
"Even so," he growls, "what makes you so sure you can pull this off in ten years?"
"I have a plan. A risky one, but it might work. And I need to go to King Kai for it to work. Even if I fail—"
King Yemma slams his fists on the desk and rises. "There are no ifs!" he bellows, the vibration of his shout so strong it sends me back a few feet.
"Do you have any idea who you're talking about?! Frieza's power far surpasses anything you could ever hope to reach—even in a hundred lifetimes! You couldn't handle Piccolo's attack, and now you're claiming you'll take down Frieza?!"
"Please, King Yemma, I know I can do this. Even if I weren't dead, I'd still have used the Dragon Balls just to meet King Kai."
His glare remains. "Kid, you know what? I take back what I said." He grabs the newly stamped document and rips it to shreds.
"Congratulations, kid—Heaven's off the table now. Yubby!"
Oh no. Am I going to Hell for this?
"Yes, King Yemma!" Yubby scurries back, frame taut in sheer attention.
King Yemma looks, raising one massive finger to point at me. I brace myself for the announcement. I'd probably just bolt. Either way, I'd fall off Snake Way and end up in Hell. No way King Yemma would chase a single soul down that whole path... right?
"Go get Polivoro! Escort our boy here to Snake Way."
I gasp, letting out the breath I didn't realize I was holding in one sharp burst. King Yemma smirks at me. He's been playing with me the whole time?
"On it, Sir." Yubby hurries off—this time, without lingering.
"Boy, I like your determination. It's refreshing seeing someone as hot-blooded as you wanting to make a difference." He settles back into his chair again. "But I must warn you though: once you fall off Snake Way, you go to Hell immediately. I don't even know which planet's Hell you might land on because tracking souls who go through Snake Way is way out of our pay grade."
"I thought you wouldn't want me to... I mean, thank you, King Yemma." I shiver, the vision of my dreams finally going true almost at my grasp.
"I'm not unstable or anything, kid. Just wanted to test your convictions. See if you really had what it takes." He props his chin on his cupped hands, elbows resting on the desk. "Gotta say... you're way more foolish than I expected."
"I won't let you down, King Yemma. I promise. I won't go back on my word."
"Save it, kid. I don't really think you're up to the task. Many warriors much more powerful than you have tried going through Snake Way... We never heard from them since."
Except me! I refuse to believe I'd fail. With already a rough plan on my mind, I just have this inkling I could pull this off.
"You don't seem that nervous." King Yemma says, eyes narrowed like he's reading right through me.
"I... I..." I chuckle, trying to shake off this awkward tension. "Well, you see, I'm kinda more excited."
"Yup. You're definitely a fool."
But he smiles, his gaze shifting toward the east. I follow it. Yubby's returning—this time with another ogre wearing the same dress shirt. Must be Polivoro.
"Too bad we're not allowed to mess with the will of souls bound for Heaven," King Yemma mutters. "If they want to see King Kai, then they can. Just one of the weird free will clauses for souls in Heaven, I guess."
He flips through one of the stacks of portfolios on his desk. "Now I have to fill out a whole different form for you. You really do enjoy overworking me, don't you?"
"Yeah, I guess." I just grin, kinda acting like Goku here to look more like a fool that King Yemma's so hellbent on seeing me as.
He doesn't buy it. "Don't push it, kid." And with that, he starts scribbling away on the form he just fished out.
I exhale as Yubby and Polivoro enter the judgment hall. King Yemma acknowledges them with a wave of his hands. Polivoro nods, and with a warm smile etched on his face, strides over to me.
"Hiya! Are you the one aching to challenge Snake Way, yeah?"
"Yes, that's me. I mean, no one else is here but me, so..."
He laughs.
"Snarky, are 'ya? Right. True. Let's get you down there then. I have recently bought this new automobile, and she's been dying to have someone inside her back." He pauses, the blush on his face so striking against his pale skin. "Wait, that sounded weird. I meant the car. Just the car. Not… never mind. You know what I meant."
It's my turn to laugh. "Yeah, I do."
"Just get on with it already, Polivoro!" King Yemma says. He writes some more on before stamping it. "It's all done. He can go there."
Polivoro blushes even more. What's his problem? "Get it on? But King Yemma, why should I get it on—Oh, yeah, I see... I mean... Yes, we're going."
He grabs my tail without a second thought and runs away. My gut drops for a brief moment before I realize I'm flapping like a flag tied to an airplane. Instincts take over, and I scream all my dignity away, pleading for him to stop.
He lets go, and I go limp, collapsing on the floor, belly-first. King Yemma's roars of laughter echo in the halls, the shockwave flipping me over and over like a leaf caught in a gust of wind before I gather my strength and stand up.
Great. Just great. Now, King Yemma's definitely gonna believe I can beat Frieza even less.
"You never fail to make me laugh, Polivoro. That was gold." He continues his laughter while I just stay silent in shame before his laughter dies down. He sighs. "Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Carson, as per King Kai's rules, I'm giving you your physical body back."
Finally! I didn't even have to ask for it. Thank Kami. This has gone on long enough.
Wait a second.
"Couldn't you have given me my physical body before he dragged me?" Yeah, all my respectful pretenses are gone now. I shoot a glare at Polivoron, who just whistles a tune while gazing at the ceiling.
"Oh, quit being a spoilsport. We had fun, didn't we?" King Yemma drops his smile. "'Cause I'm pretty sure this will be the last smile you'll ever get. I still don't believe you'll make it, and trust me, you don't wanna land in Hell."
I sigh. "I guess that's fair. Whatever."
"Just be careful, okay?"
"I will, King Yemma. Thank you."
"Now. Your body." He flicks his fingers, and the next few seconds, all I know is pain.
It starts in the depths of my soul as my bones slowly emerge, cracking and reshaping inside me, forming a framework that digs deep into my very core. Something about this pain—so alien, so unnatural—splits me open wider than fear. My soul feels everything.
An explosion of sensation reverberates through my head as white matter begins to grow, followed by the slow bloom of gray. My skull encases them like a prison forming around them. Nerves begin snaking outward from my brain, slithering through the emptiness, branching down my spine, crawling through every bone as they form.
There, the pain through my soul blends with the physical, amplified by the nerve signals overloading each newborn nerve with searing sensations.
Each nerve ending latches on to the structure like roots to soil, as though tiny hot coals are penetrating me inside out. My bones shift and stretch, grinding like rocks scraping against each other as they lock into place, like I'm being ground from within.
Teeth emerge and I clench them too hard before gums even form, the sheer pressure from my agony causing me to grind them down on my jaw. Tendons follow, tightening like rope yanked too taught as they lash onto my bones and arrange themselves with cruel precision.
Muscles grow over the framework, slow at first, rippling and flexing, lengthening, like I'm stretched beyond what's possible, the nerves buzzing through every movement. They weave over the framework as the tendons secure them to the bones with such unrelenting force it feels like a vice clamping down on every inch of my being.
I stop the clenching of my teeth and release a long wail of pain. But unlike before, no sound comes out, my soul now already sealed inside this incomplete, still-forming husk.
Organs churn into being somewhere in the mess of it all. I don't know which comes first—heart, lungs, liver—but I feel them inflate, expand, test their shapes inside me as if my body is in a room they're still learning to live in. My body now breathes through my lungs, shallow and rapid, as my throat vibrates and gives a sound to my unceasing wails.
My veins snake their way through the muscles, heat searing through me in waves. Then blood pumps from my heart in waves, pulsing through the veins with each thrum of energy, building momentum as it begins to beat. And beat it does, agitated and overdriven as the pain continues, threatening to hammer my newly formed ribcage.
Gums encase my teeth, as though peeled off with a knife in reverse, forced to grow over what was never meant to be bare. And then the skin. It presses and stretches, smoothing over my raw, throbbing muscles, sweat cascading down my body so fast, as though I've just been pulled from a scalding sea.
Every moment should have been unbearable. I should have collapsed. But instead of fading out, my soul holds, forced to witness its own embodiment, second by agonizing second.
And then, something seems to slip into nonexistence, like a part of me has been locked. My vision is the same. My voice is the same. But looking back, I can't put a finger on how different the experience was when I was in my soul form. It's now buried, locked away deep inside this body, as though I was never in my soul body. As though I had always observed the world through this physical vessel. A dream.
Then something appears within me, something I can't put a finger on. It pulses not with blood but with a force that screams the essence of life itself.
Ki.
That's right. I have my meridians again, invisible and intangible, but always embedded in the physical body. The Ki I have reinvigorates me, bringing me back to my optimum condition.
It takes a long time before my whole body calms down. Through it all, King Yemma and the ogres just watch me with interest. I raise my hands, looking at the details. Touching my nose, I breathe in. I can smell again. And turns out, my clothes before I died are the same—minimalist blue shirt and black cargo pants.
I look up at King Yemma, who looks at me with an expression I can't quite tell. Still, I bow, the trauma of the experience bearing down on my fighting spirit a little. "Thank you, King Yemma, for giving me my body back."
Power Levels:
King Yemma: 1,200
Yubby: 400
Polivoro: 350
Carson: 10