Goku arrived inside Merus's quarters at Galactic Patrol Headquarters in Universe 7.
"It's been a while, Goku," Merus greeted him.
"So this is where you work?" Goku wandered a few steps around the room, taking in the surprisingly spacious living area.
"Technically, this is just my room. It's about three hundred square meters."
Goku had expected something far more cramped from a patrol officer, but sightseeing could wait.
"So why'd you call me all the way here?"
Merus's easy smile faded as he got to the real reason.
"One of the prisoners held by the Galactic Patrol escaped a few days ago. His name is Moro."
"He escaped?" Goku made it sound like the solution should be obvious. "Then we just catch him and bring him back."
"I wish it were that simple. Moro was once powerful enough that the Grand Supreme Kai had to sacrifice an enormous amount of divine power just to seal away his magic. Afterward, he was handed over to the Galactic Patrol and imprisoned here."
Goku listened more carefully now.
"Even without his magic, Moro remained extraordinarily dangerous. He was sentenced to death, but no one in the Galactic Patrol was strong enough to carry out the execution, so the sentence eventually became life imprisonment."
"Not even you?"
"That happened before I joined the Galactic Patrol. By the time I arrived here for my training, Moro had already been imprisoned for ten million years. I certainly wasn't going to execute him after all that time, especially when Angels aren't supposed to kill mortals without good reason."
The first half of that answer interested Goku considerably more than the second.
"Wait. Ten million years? He's been alive that long?"
"He has."
"And now he suddenly escaped?"
"Which probably means his magic is returning. That's why I asked you to help us capture him before he fully recovers."
Goku was already sold.
"Sure. I'll help."
Then another fighter came to mind.
"Why me, though? Wouldn't Jiren be useful too?"
"Jiren is currently in the middle of intensive training and doesn't have time to come."
Goku had just abandoned his own training to answer this call.
"I was supposed to be training too…"
Merus's smile returned.
"Ken was the one who asked me to bring you into this. He thinks dealing with Moro will be good experience for you."
That changed Goku's attitude immediately.
"Oh, Ken planned this? All right. Then I guess there's something I'm supposed to learn from it."
"There's another reason I'd rather not handle Moro personally. He belongs to the demon side of things, so relying on Angel power against him would be inappropriate."
"Demon?"
"He uses magic."
Goku waited for something more dramatic.
"That's it?"
Merus laughed softly.
"It sounds more complicated than it really is. Gods cultivate divine power, Angels use Angel power, ordinary mortals use ki, Gods of Destruction develop destruction energy, and demons use magic. Ultimately, they're all different expressions of energy."
Goku nodded with the confidence of someone who had understood roughly half of that.
"I didn't really follow all of it, but I get the idea. So where's Moro? I'll go grab him."
"We need one more person first."
"Who?"
"Vegeta."
That immediately created a problem.
"He can't come. Emily's about to have their baby."
"Go get him anyway. Ken is taking care of that part."
Goku groaned.
"I literally just came from Earth."
Still, if Ken had arranged everything, complaining would not change much. Goku waved goodbye to Merus and left to collect Vegeta.
At Capsule Corporation in Universe 6, Vegeta waited near the lake while Ken finished his training for the day.
The starlike light surrounding Ken gradually settled as he left the small island at the center and flew over to him.
"What did you call me for?" Vegeta asked.
"Something happened in Universe 7. Go help Merus."
Vegeta immediately disliked the idea.
"Help Merus? He's an Angel. What exactly could happen that requires my help?"
Ken did not bother arguing. The smile he gave Vegeta was enough.
A chill went through Vegeta's back.
"I'm not saying I refuse. I'd go, but Emily could give birth any day now. I'm not leaving her at a time like this."
"Bring Emily here."
Suspicion appeared instantly.
"Why do you need Emily?"
Ken's patience thinned.
"Vegeta, has it been so long since I beat you that you've started missing it?"
That settled the matter.
Vegeta disappeared and returned less than ten seconds later carrying Emily.
She looked between him and Ken.
"What's going on?"
"The baby is already developed enough to be born," Ken explained. "Vegeta needs to leave for a while, so we'll bring her out now."
Emily instinctively put both hands over her stomach.
"Now? You mean a C-section? No way. I want a natural birth."
Ken raised his staff instead.
Angel power passed over her abdomen, and the baby simply transferred out of her body without surgery, pain, or blood. The newborn floated safely in the air while a second flash from the staff wrapped her in clothes.
Ken then restored Emily's body to its pre-pregnancy condition.
Both parents needed a moment to understand what had just happened.
Emily looked down at her completely flat stomach, then back at the infant hovering in front of them. She felt no pain at all; if anything, her body felt better than it had before the pregnancy.
The baby's sudden crying finally snapped her parental instincts into action.
Emily hurried forward and gathered her into her arms before checking beneath the clothes Ken had provided.
"It's a girl!"
Vegeta moved closer, suddenly far less comfortable than he had been fighting Champa.
Emily beamed at him.
"Come on, Vegeta. Give our daughter a name."
"Hmm…"
He had barely begun thinking when Emily solved the problem herself.
"I know! Bulla."
Vegeta looked at her.
Hadn't she just told him to choose?
Emily laughed at his expression.
"When Bulma and I were younger, we joked that whoever had a boy first would name him Trunks, and whoever had a girl first would name her Bulla. Well, I got both a son and a daughter, and Bulma still doesn't have any children, so I'm claiming both names."
There was nothing Vegeta could say to that without walking directly into an argument he had no chance of winning.
Someone else had heard the crying.
Bulma came out of the house and immediately noticed the infant in Emily's arms—and the complete absence of the pregnant belly she had seen earlier.
"Emily? Weren't you supposed to give birth in a couple of days?"
"Ken did it early."
Bulma's attention snapped toward him.
"You can deliver babies now?"
"It wasn't really a delivery. I transferred the baby directly out of her body, then healed Emily afterward."
Emily looked down at herself.
"That sounds way weirder when you explain it like that."
Her mood recovered quickly when she remembered the name.
"I'm calling her Bulla. You don't mind, right?"
Bulma remembered the old joke immediately.
"You really kept that? Fine. It's your daughter."
At their age, a silly promise from years ago hardly seemed worth fighting over.
Emily cradled Bulla for a moment before turning the conversation in a much more dangerous direction.
"What about you two? Are you ever planning to have a child?"
Bulma answered before Ken needed to.
"Angels don't have children easily. We'll worry about that someday."
Emily's eyebrows rose.
"So you've already tried?"
Color rushed into Bulma's face, which was all the answer Emily needed.
Future Bulma arrived soon afterward, drawn by the same crying.
"Did Emily already give birth? I thought we were supposed to go to the hospital together in a few days."
Then she saw Bulla.
Emily had to explain Ken's extremely unconventional delivery method all over again.
"You can even do that?" Future Bulma asked, thoroughly impressed.
While Ken ignored the discussion, Emily leaned closer to the other Bulma and lowered her voice.
"So when you're with Ken… what does your future self do?"
Bulma immediately began sweating.
"She's… there too."
Emily's imagination ran away with that answer.
"You mean the three of you—"
"I got over it!" Bulma cut in, already red. "She's still me, isn't she? It's not that strange."
Emily looked toward Ken with newfound appreciation.
"He certainly knows how to enjoy himself."
She started wondering aloud about details that Bulma had absolutely no intention of explaining.
Ken heard every word.
He also chose to stay out of it. Bulma and Emily had been friends for years; policing every private conversation between them would have been ridiculous.
Goku's arrival rescued Bulma from further questioning.
He appeared nearby and immediately looked at Emily's stomach.
"Huh? I remember your belly being huge earlier. It's already back to normal?"
Emily gave him an exasperated look and shifted Bulla toward him.
"Use your eyes. What do you think I'm holding?"
Goku leaned closer to inspect the baby.
"Whose kid is that?"
"Not yours."
Relief spread across Goku's face.
"Oh, good. You scared me."
Vegeta slowly looked between them.
Somehow, every sentence in this conversation sounded worse than the last.
"Kakarot, weren't you going to train? Why are you back again?"
"Oh, right. Merus called me."
Goku turned toward Ken and quickly explained Moro's escape and Merus's request for Vegeta to come along.
Vegeta listened until the end, then glanced toward Emily and their newborn daughter.
Emily understood the question without him asking.
"Go. Bulla and I will be fine."
"You're sure?"
"Of course. Bulma's right here if I need anything."
Vegeta finally accepted it.
Ken addressed both Saiyans before they left.
"Moro should be useful training for the two of you. You're also going to Universe 7 this time, so don't embarrass our universe."
"Got it!"
Goku answered immediately, while Vegeta gave a more restrained acknowledgment.
"Let's go, Vegeta."
Goku waited for him to place a hand on his shoulder, then transported them to Galactic Patrol Headquarters.
Ken watched them leave while thinking about how strangely events had shifted.
Moro should not have escaped until after the Tournament of Power.
Yet the Tournament of Power had not even happened in this timeline.
His presence had already altered so many events that trying to force everything back into the original sequence was becoming pointless. Moro was hardly an opponent Ken needed to concern himself with personally, anyway. Goku and Vegeta could deal with him and gain something from the experience.
Ken had a much more important goal of his own.
The sustained training since the Zamasu incident had finally produced a major breakthrough.
Five levels.
He had climbed from level 80 all the way to level 85.
The result pleased him enormously, especially because the improvement had not come from some desperate battle or sudden outside power. The calmer state of mind he had cultivated over the previous months was beginning to pay off in his Angel training.
Level 90 no longer seemed impossibly far away.
"You girls keep talking. I'm going back to training."
Ken returned to the island in the center of the lake, settled into the air above it, and resumed his cultivation as starlike Angel light slowly gathered around him once more.
Back at Galactic Patrol Headquarters in Universe 7, Goku and Vegeta appeared inside Merus's quarters.
Merus greeted the new arrival warmly.
"Welcome, Vegeta. I'm glad you could come."
Vegeta folded his arms.
"You're an Angel. What kind of problem could possibly be bad enough that you need us to solve it?"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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