The first thing I noticed after dying was the smell.
Not fire. Not sulfur. Not anything dramatic.
Paper.
Old paper. Ink. Dust. The kind of smell you associate with offices that have existed longer than common sense.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't floating in darkness or ascending into light. I was standing in a massive hall, so large I couldn't see the ceiling. Endless lines of people stretched in every direction, all slowly shuffling forward with the resigned patience of souls who had accepted that bureaucracy transcends death.
"…you have got to be kidding me," I muttered.
Above us hung a massive sign:
CHECK-IN STATION
I stared.
I had died fighting a Saiyan prince, erased by an energy blast that could vaporize mountains… and this was the afterlife?
A DMV.
Somewhere, a cosmic joke was being appreciated.
The line moved faster than I expected. Souls stepped forward, were judged, and disappeared through glowing doors marked HEAVEN or HELL. No speeches. No appeals. Just paperwork and judgment.
Eventually, it was my turn.
I stepped up to the desk.
And looked up.
King Yemma was huge. Red-skinned. Horned. Sitting behind a desk that looked like it had survived several apocalypses looking at it's age. Papers stacked everywhere. Stamps. Scrolls. Coffee mug that said "afterlife's Best Judge".
He peered down at me.
"Name?" he rumbled.
"Ben," I said politely.
He flipped through a massive ledger. "Cause of death?"
"…Vegeta."
Yemma nodded. "Ah. That explains it."
He paused, flipping pages.
"…that was a very commen way to die," he muttered.
I stiffened. "Sorry?"
He waved it off. "That Vegeta guy, killed trillions."
Then he looked at me more closely.
"It says here, you died trying to save your world?"
"Yes, sir," I said quickly. "I am a friend of goku, AND I know King Kai, by the way."
That did it.
Yemma's posture changed instantly. He straightened, cleared his throat, and his voice softened by several magnitudes.
"Oh! You should've said so earlier," he said pleasantly. "King Kai speaks very highly of Goku."
I blinked.
"…he does?"
"Well," Yemma said, adjusting papers, "as highly as King Kai speaks about anyone besides himself."
Fair.
I bowed slightly. "Sir, may I ask where I can find Snake Way?"
Yemma smiled.
"Of course," he said. "Straight ahead. Try not to fall."
I stared.
"That's it?"
He waved me off. "Go on. You've got places to be."
I walked around the table, and ran.
Snake Way was exactly how it looked in the anime.
Endless.
A massive, winding road shaped like a serpent, stretching beyond the horizon through nothing but clouds and sky.
I stepped onto it.
Then I flew.
I wasn't fast like Goku. But I could fly. And I pushed myself harder than I ever had before, tearing through the air with one thought in my mind:
' I need training now, beacuse starting this point, power level goes nuts, kaioken will help me greatly, when super saiyan pops up'
Hours passed.
No sun. No moon. Just endless white clouds and the faint curve of the path beneath me.
And then...
I felt it.
A familiar presence.
I looked up just in time to see a familiar spiky-haired figure flying straight toward me.
Goku.
He looked relaxed. Too relaxed.
"Hey, Ben!" he called cheerfully. "You made it too, huh?"
Panic slammed into me.
"MOVE!" I screamed. "MOVE, GOKU!"
He blinked.
"huh..?!?"
"IF YOU DON'T MOVE RIGHT NOW, MORE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!"
That got him.
His expression snapped from cheerful to serious in an instant.
"…got it," he said tiredly.
He shot past me, aura flaring, speed multiplying instantly, i can tell his was almost out of juice, but when he gets a senzu bean on earth,he'll be fine.
I hovered there, watching him disappear into the distance.
"…good," I muttered.
Then I turned, and rushed too.
King Kai's planet came into view.
Tiny. Round. Covered in grass. A small house. A car parked nearby.
And BOY the gravity.
The moment I landed, my knees buckled.
I slammed face-first into the ground.
"…forgot about that," I groaned.
Ten times gravity crushed down on me like the planet itself was offended by my presence.
Nearby, a small blue man with antennae was polishing a car, humming to himself.
King Kai.
He turned, eyes widening.
"Well I'll be!" he said. "Another one already?"
I forced myself to my feet and bowed as deeply as gravity allowed.
"King Kai," I said respectfully, "I'd like to ask if you'd train me."
He laughed.
"Oh-ho-ho!...
... Absolutely not."
I blinked. "…what?"
"I'm very busy," he said cheerfully. "And I already have one student on the way out."
I straightened.
"…what if I could make you laugh?", using the lore i knew and hold dearly.
King Kai paused.
"…go on."
"If I do," I said carefully, "you train me."
"And if you don't," he said, smiling dangerously, "you clean my car for the rest of your afterlife."
I looked at the car.
Then back at him.
"…deal."
I took a DEEP breath.
King Kai folded his arms, waiting.
I opened my mouth.
"I saw a rock flying toward me," I said. "But I didn't know if it was close or far from me."
Silence.
King Kai stared.
I swallowed.
"…then it hit me."
Nothing.
Seconds passed.
My soul prepared itself for eternal car-washing.
Then...
King Kai froze.
"…wait."
His eyes widened.
"…oh."
He clapped a hand over his mouth.
Then he exploded into laughter.
"HAHAHAHA...!"
He doubled over, laughing so hard he nearly fell over.
"Oh...than it hit me!" he wheezed. "That's a clever joke!"
I threw my hands into the air.
"YES!"
King Kai wiped tears from his eyes. "Alright, alright, you win!"
He grinned. "Welcome to training."
I collapsed onto the grass, laughing in pure relief.
I had died twice.
Killed a Saiyan.
And somehow,
I was still in the game.
Ben power level: 1,880