Not a God. Just Well-Rested.

WARNING:SHORT CHAPTER

Kai landed on the Capsule Corp balcony like he'd just gone for groceries. His boots clanked on the metal rail before he casually dropped down to the patio. The sun was setting, casting a golden sheen across the city. It had been… what, maybe three days since he left?

The sliding doors hissed open before he could knock. Bulma stood there with a hand on her hip, glaring.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in three days."

Kai stretched his arms behind his head and yawned. "Three years, technically. I've been training."

"Don't mess with me, Kai."

He grinned. "No, seriously. Hyperbolic Time Chamber. One day out here is a whole year inside. Goku, Gohan, and I just spent three years kicking each other through marble walls and dry air. I had to chew my own sweat at one point."

Bulma rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let him in. "You're such a drama queen."

Inside, the place looked cleaner than usual — which either meant Dr. Brief had finally hired cleaning bots that didn't get distracted by butterflies, or Bulma had been nesting for something. He followed her through the halls.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Well, in the three days you've been playing time traveler, I've actually been working. The spaceship is finished. My dad helped — which means half of it might run on cat hair and good vibes — but it's ready."

Kai blinked. "That fast?"

"I'm a genius, remember?"

"Right. A genius who nearly short-circuited her own gravity chamber because she got distracted by a shopping notification."

"That was one time," she muttered.

They ended up in the kitchen, where a pot of tea was already waiting. She poured two mugs without asking, because they'd settled into a rhythm now. A weird, casual one — where he trained like a maniac and she nagged like an older sister who maybe sometimes stared a little too long when he took his shirt off.

He took a sip. "So we're leaving tomorrow?"

She nodded. "I already told Goku, Piccolo, and Gohan to get ready. You're all heading to… wherever this 'alien wish planet' is. Assuming it actually exists."

Kai leaned back in the chair, eyes on the ceiling. He didn't want to say "Namek" too soon. That'd raise questions. Better to let King Kai drop that little nugget when the time came.

They sat like that for a while — quietly sipping tea, listening to the hum of Capsule Corp's ridiculous machinery, watching the night creep in through the windows.

Eventually, she asked, "Are you nervous?"

Kai tilted his head. "About space?"

"About what's out there. Stronger people. Stronger powers. I mean, you've basically broken physics already."

He didn't answer right away.

Then: "Yeah. I'm nervous. Not about losing, though. Just… what happens when I stop adapting? What happens if I can't grow anymore?"

Bulma blinked. "You think you have a limit?"

He looked down at his mug. "Don't we all?"

She studied him for a long time. "Well, if you do, I haven't seen it yet."

He smiled, small but sincere. "You're really bad at comforting people."

"Yeah, well, you're really bad at pretending you're not a big softie."

He laughed, and for a while, things felt simple again.

—

Later that night, Kai sat on the edge of the Capsule Corp roof, watching the stars he'd be flying toward soon. Somewhere out there was Vegeta. Somewhere out there were stronger beings. And somewhere out there… was a story that wasn't just a rerun of canon.

He tapped his foot against the metal roof. "Okay," he muttered to himself. "No more playing by the book."

The system pinged softly in his head, almost like it agreed.

He smirked.

From here on out, the gloves were coming off. Canon? Consider it politely folded and placed in the trash.

It was time to shake the Dragon Ball universe up.

For real this time.