Ava's Earth Quest 9 - Guardian's Trial

Guardian's Trial

Medium Quest

Requirement: Must have completed Guardian of Earth.

Reward: 3,000 zeni

Kami has agreed to train you, but first you must complete a trial. He takes you deep within the bowels of the lookout into a dark dank chamber. Within the chamber there are four torches. He tells you to light them. Upon lightning them you will be pulled into the Astral Realm to face the spirit in battle. Each spirit has a different strength and weakness. Defeat the four and prove yourself to Kami.
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Early the next morning, Ava struggled up and walked out into the courtyard of Kami’s Lookout. Kami was there, levitating and meditating and Mr. Popo was retiling the hole she had made yesterday.

“Morning Master.” Ava bowed to Kami.

“Mr Popo.” She inclined her head to him.

“Morning Ava. How did you sleep?” Kami unfolded his legs and put his feet softly on the ground.

“I struggled for air a little, but I suppose it’s just the altitude.” She smiled.

“Correct. You’ll get used to it.” he said, walking off slowly.

“Follow me please.” He said, not looking back.

She followed him into the house without a second thought. They walked in silence through the house that turned out to be a lot bigger on the inside than Ava thought. After ten minutes, Kami stopped at a door and he turned and looked at her.

“In this room lies your first test.” He said, putting his hand on the handle.

He pushed down and pushed the door open. He walked into the dark room and Ava walked in after him.
She closed the door behind her and turned to see pure darkness shrouding her view. She held out her hand and generated a small ki ball and she saw Master Kami walking towards four slim looking things. She walked after him, stopping at his right side.

“Your next task, is to light these four torches.” He said, gesturing to them with his staff.

“What?” she asked, looking at the elaborately carved dark wooden torches.

She had been through some ludicrous tasks, but this. She was doing this as a child. But she also knew that there was another level here. It wasn’t just simply light torches.

“What’s the catch?” she asked, looking down at Kami.

“Ah, a smart one I see.” Kami laughed.
She smiled and looked at the torches.
“Each of these torches represents a spirit within. Each spirit is a different version of the student. Each torch, if you will, is a temporary gateway to another universe where there is another version of you.” He said, looking at her.
“You will have to fight and defeat all of the spirits to pass this test.” He added, seeing her shocked face.

“I have to fight myself?” she looked at him.
“But, I know myself pretty well. And if I know myself, then they know me. I will have no moves that they will not know of.” She said.

“Ah you see, that’s the point. No more gimmicks, no more prancing, no more bluffing. You need to pull out all the stops to beat them.” he said, walking off.

“You’re leaving?” she asked him.

“I don’t want to be caught in the firing lines of two fighting female Saiyans.” He said over his shoulder walking over to the door.

He closed it behind him as he walked out.

Ava looked back at the torches and held up her energy ball.

“Well, here goes nothing…” she said, firing the ball into the centre of torch.

The oils in it caught alight and the flames began to rise. Then they turned red and began to burn furiously. Ava stepped back as the flames grew and grew to the point where is would have consumed her if she didn’t. Then suddenly, the flame sprung from the torch and landed at her feet, rushing towards her. She moved back and held out her hand. She formed a ki ball in it and fired it at the flames. Instead of coming out on the other side, it seemed to disappear into the flames. Ava frowned.

Was this the gateway? She walked up to it and held out her hand tentatively. She closed her eyes, turned her head away and thrust her hand into the flames. Where she expected hot and searing, she found cool and comforting. She opened her eyes and looked at her hand. She pulled it out and looked down. The red flames were running and swirling around her hand, but wasn’t burning her at all.
She smiled and looked at the flames. It was big enough to walk through. So she stood up right, took a deep breath and took a step into the flames, letting the coolness consume her body.

She looked up ahead and saw green skies in front of her.

“Namek?” she asked, walking towards it.
She stepped through the other side of the gateway and found herself on a cliff, looking out over the landscape she grew up in.

Namek.

A huge smile played across her lips and the sparkle returned to her eyes. She was home. She took off into the sky, flying through the lime green clouds, laughing and screaming in joy. She had found a way to get away from Kaval and Agan. She would never have to face them again.

Then she realised that her grandfather was probably waiting for her. Surely he knew she would have been here by now. She smiled and took off towards his old house.

When she got there, Nail wasn’t guarding him, which she found strange, but she flew up to his chamber anyway.

She landed on the floor and looked around. What she saw saddened her. The place was a dump. There were cobwebs everywhere and the chair that Guru had sat in was broken in two.
Then she remembered that Kami had said that this plain was a parallel universe to her own.

“What happened here?” she asked, touching the chair her grandfather used to sit in.

“He died.” Someone said from behind her.
She turned and saw herself, standing there, with folded arms, looking at her.

“Ha…” Ava said, walking up to her.
“And here I thought Kami was losing the plot.” She said, looking into her younger face.

“Who are you?” the other her asked.

“I’m you… Ava…” Ava said, touching her chest.
“I used magic to come through a gateway, to fight you. I suppose.” Ava smiled.

“Not possible, such magic doesn’t exist ever since Guru died…” the other said.
“And if you came looking for a fight, I will defeat you.” The other said, moving into her starting position.

“Wait, I don’t want to fight you, maybe we can just talk.” Ava said, backing away.
There would be no place to hide from herself.

“Talk? I don’t know how you fight where you’re from, but here, we fight with fists.” The other said, launching at her.

Ava dodged her easily, and she realised that this Ava was a lot weaker than herself. But what lesson was she to learn from defeating her?

“Wait, what year is this?” Ava asked the other.

“767. Why?” the other asked.

“767… but you’re supposed to be on Earth right now. Didn’t you go with Rinyon in 765? To go to New Vegeta?” Ava asked her.

“No, I didn’t.” the other answered, throwing a ki ball at Ava.
Ava caught it in one hand and smothered it.
“How… how did you do that?” the other asked.

“I’ve received a lot more training than you have, with different masters.” Ava explained.
“Why didn’t you leave? Don’t you want to be amongst your own people?” Ava asked her.
“Be with people who look like you, think like you…” Ava asked her.
“Understand you?” she added, feeling the humiliation from her childhood bubbling up again.

“No. I am a Namekian. Not an alien.” The other replied.

“Oh, open your eyes, Ava, you’re an alien. You’re a Saiyan.” Ava said, pointing at the other’s tail.
“Guru knew, your father and mother knew. Your dreams know.” Ava said to her.

“My… dreams…” this caught her off guard.

“The dream where you are a baby, on Planet Vegeta, being betrothed to Prince Kaval…” Ava said, stepping up to her.

“How… do you know… about that?” the other asked, she was clearly shaken that Ava knew this.

“I am you. Just, another version of you.” Ava smiled at herself.
The other Ava sat down on the ground and tried to make sense of it all.
“I know it’s a little confusing right now. But you’ll figure it out.” Ava smiled and bent down to look into her own face.

“How did you receive more training?” the other looked up at her.

“I left with Rinyon, to go to the New Planet Vegeta. There, I met Kaval. My betrothed.” Ava smiled.
She hated to admit it, but she missed him.

“Then, I left with him to go to Earth. There, I found three different masters. I got stronger.” Ava explained.

“DAMN IT!” the other Ava shouted and a piece of plaster fell down from the roof.
Ava looked at it and then looked back at the other her.

“Ah, I’m so angry with myself for not going now!” the other began to shout and power up.

The sudden gush of energy caught Ava off guard and threw her back. She hovered back and watched as her other version stood up and powered up to the edge of her limit.

“Ava… no, you’ll kill yourself…” Ava shouted, not knowing what her death would mean to her.

She didn’t hear Ava. She had to stop her, soon.
Ava hunched over and began to power up herself. She closed her eyes and began to scream. She felt her power surging towards the limit that her other self knew as her own limit. Ava pushed past it with ease. Her eyes flashed into green and her hair flashed gold and the faded. The walls around her began to crack and the plaster began to peel off in chunks. The ground began to shake and tremble. The other Ava stopped and looked at her. She knew Ava was stronger than her. Ava breathed out and opened her eyes. She stood up right and looked at her other self.

“Good, now that I have you attention.” Ava said to her.
“Apparently I need to fight you…” Ava said, moving into her starting position.
Then as she watched, the other Ava began to fade. She powered down and looked around. Everything else was fading away too.

“Ava…” Ava called out to her.

“You pass your first test.” The other Ava smiled at her.

“I am the spirit of Anger. And your anger is more controlled and channelled than mine, even with all the power you have to throw around.” The other Ava smiled at her.

Ava looked around and saw the world was fading into black. She needed to give her other self some advice, quickly.

“Use that anger; use it to power your transformation into a Super Saiyan…” Ava said to her, just before she faded a way.

“What’s a Super Saiyan…” the other asked just after Ava disappeared.


Ava looked around and again and saw that she was back on Earth, in the chamber. She sighed and watched as the red flame gateway died down and the torch disappeared into the mists. She walked up to the next one and generated another ball of ki. She dropped it into the torch and stepped back.
The flames from this one were green. It jumped out of the torch and formed the gateway. She stepped through without any hesitation.

She looked around. She was back at Jane’s house, the Capsule corp. house. But some things looked different. The floors were wooden and the walls where white, not yellow.

“Honey, hurry up, we need to get moving…” she heard someone calling.

She powered up and got ready for anyone to walk around the corner.
She watched as another Ava rounded the corner. She had curled her long black hair that hung in locks over her shoulders and down her back. She was dressed casually too. This Ava was no fighter. She stopped and looked at Ava.

“Babe, we have another Saiyan in the living room.” The other Ava looked at her

“Take care of it…” she heard Kaval shouting back at her.

“Kaval?” Ava asked, powering down.

“Um… babe, come in here.” the other Ava called out to him.
Ava felt his heartbeat getting stronger as he walked closer. As he rounded the corner, he looked at Ava.

“Hey, it’s you…” he said, looking back at the other Ava.

“Apparently…” the other Ava said, looking at Ava.

“Who are you?” Kaval asked Ava.

“I’m her. I mean, I’m me… it’s, confusing.” Ava sighed.

“Is it one of Kami’s tricks?” Kaval asked her.

“Yes. I’m training with him. I’m from another dimension.” Ava smiled.
Kaval looked her up and down and turned to the other her.

“See what she needs and send her on her way. We’re late.” Kaval said, walking off.

Ava was shocked. How did he know about Kami’s training and that the needed something.

“He did the test a while ago. He knows you need to fight me.” the other Ava said.

“But unfortunately for you, I need to be somewhere. So throw a ki ball at me and I won’t block it. You win.” The other Ava said.

“Just like that. I’m sure Jane will hear something.” Ava said, looking around.

“Jane. She’s been dead for five years.” The other Ava said and Ava’s mouth fell open.

“What… what happened?” Ava asked.

“Well, when you tell a Saiyan woman that you’re expecting her mate’s baby, things happen.” The other Ava folded her arms over her chest.

Ava had to think about it a little, and then she realized what she was saying.

“You killed her, and Alex?” Ava shouted at her.

“Alex, was that it’s name?” the other Ava yawned.

“HIS NAME!” Ava shouted at her.

“A boy, how… terrible…” the other Ava smiled at her.
Ava soon began to realize this version of her was evil.

“DOES KAVAL KNOW?” she shouted at her.

“Of course he knows. He said it was a sign of a true warrior. Doing what needs to be done.” The other said.

“Now, attack me already. I need to go shopping.” The other added.

Ava felt the anger powering through her veins. She would never hurt Jane or Alex, even though she was capable of it. But this version of her killed Jane and Alex without thinking twice, with no remorse.

“You… monster…” Ava said, throwing out a white ring of energy.

The other watched as she powered up and became enraged. She yawned and checked her watch. Kaval came around the corner and looked at Ava.

“She’s just about a Super Saiyan…” he said, watching her roots turning gold and then fading.

“Be careful.” He said to the other.

“Of course…” she smiled and kissed him on the lips.

Ava saw this and stopped suddenly.

“How can you allow this, Kaval? She killed your son.” Ava pointed at the other her.

“She’s a Saiyan.” He looked at the other Ava.
“It’s been done on our planet for generations.” He added looking at her.
“But it seems you’ve lost touch with the true animal instincts you were born with.” He smiled at Ava and she had never seen a more evil smile. He was enjoying this.

“I’m… going to end you. All of you…” Ava shouted and then she heard little footsteps running up to them. She watched as a little boy with pitch black hair like Kaval’s and her eyes ran up to the other Ava.

“Mommy, what’s happening?” the boy asked, looking at Ava.
Ava’s heart stopped. This was the face of her son. Her and Kaval’s son.

“It’s okay sweetie. I’ll deal with it…” the other Ava shooed him away and Ava’s eyes followed him as he walked away with Kaval.

“Hit a nerve hey…” the other Ava said to her.

“Your son…” Ava said, looking at her.

“Our son. If you bare Kaval a son, that is what he will look like.” the other Ava smiled at her.
“You do plan to claim Kaval?” the other asked.

“Yes, but only after Jane dies…” Ava said, looking at her.

“Do it before he falls for her. Saiyans get bored easily…” she smiled at Ava.
“Greed, can be a good thing sometimes.” The other smiled.

“Greed, is that who you are?” Ava asked her.

“Yes. I was greedy, taking what I wanted, how I wanted, and who I wanted. And I have a son to show for it.” the other smiled.

“I could never be as greedy as you…” Ava shouted at her.

“Oh, but you already are. You want him, right now, regardless of me and my son.” The other smiled.
“Try it sometime.” The other Ava said and the world began to vanish.
“His name is Zepha…” the other Ava said as she faded away.

“Like my father…” Ava said out into the emptiness of the chamber.

She watched as the flame disappeared and the torch faded away into the mists.
Was that her right, would she go any lengths to get Kaval. Would she had have killed Jane and Alex if she knew that it would get her Kaval as a husband and son she so longed for. She shook her head, trying to shake the thought and possibility away.


She walked up to the other torch and dropped a ki ball into it and lit up in blue and she stepped back as the flame jumped out.

The gateway formed and she stepped through. She opened her eyes and she was back on Namek. She looked around. She was back in her old village. She turned and walked towards her old house, knowing that this version of her would be there.

She opened the door and found that the house was cold and damp and depressive. She walked in and closed the door.

“What is it?” she heard herself say. She saw that this version was lying in her bed, crying.

“Ava. Get up.” She said, walking over to her.

“You sound just like…” the other Ava turned over and looked into her face.
“Ahh… she shouted and jumped up out of bed.
“Me…” she pointed at Ava.

“I’m a different version of you, from another dimension.” Ava sighed.
This was getting old quick.
“Why are you crying?” Ava asked her.

“I… I killed the last… Saiyan man…” she said, pointing at the door.

Ava frowned at her and walked over to the front door and opened it again.
She looked out into the street and saw him lying at the end of the street.

“No… KAVAL!” she shouted and rushed towards him.

She skidded to a stop and fell to her knees. He wasn’t dead yet, but it was inevitable.
She lifted his head up onto her lap and looked down at his face.
How had this Ava managed to do this to him? She looked down and saw that he had a hole through his chest.

“Ka…Kaval, can you hear me…” Ava whispered, tears rolling down her face.

He opened his eyes a little and his pupils made their way to her face. She smiled and stroked his cheek.

“Who… are you?” he wheezed.

“I’m a Saiyan. Just relax… okay…”she smiled at him, knowing he was dying.

“Saiyan…” he said, lifting his hand to her cheek and touching it. She lifted her hands and removed his glove and laid his hand on her cheek.

“I’m Kusha, Kaval… do you remember me?” she asked him.

“Kusha…” he said softly as if trying to remember.
“Yes… little Kusha…” he smiled.
“You’ve become as beautiful as I suspected.” He smiled, a little bit of blood running out his mouth.

“I’ll wish you back. I swear…” she cried harder.

She heard the other Ava walking up behind her.
He nodded and his eyes became glassy and they rolled in their sockets. Ava gasped and turned her head away. She pulled his eyes shut with a shaking hand.
She put him down and watched as his body disappeared. She stood up and looked back at Ava.

“He was your mate, Ava. Your match…” Ava said to her.
“You need to find the dragonballs and wish him back. Okay.” Ava said to her.
The other Ava nodded, tears running down her face.
“Hey, stop crying. You need to be strong now.” Ava said, wiping her own tears away.

“It was a fluke, he moved in front of my attack…” the other explained.

“That’s generally the idea. But you need to put this behind you and wish him back.” Ava explained to her.

“What’s the use? He’s dead…” the other sank to her knees and cried harder.

“HEY!” Ava shouted at her.
She bent down and pulled her back up to her feet by her shoulders.
“Stop it. You are a Saiyan. We are strong. You need to stop that now!” Ava shouted at her and the other looked wide eyed at her.

“Go, get the dragonballs, and wish him back.” Ava shouted at her.

“But, Chiller has the balls.” The other cried.

“STOP IT!” Ava shouted at her, throwing her across the ground.

“STOP BEING SO WEAK. GO GET THE BALLS!” Ava shouted her.

“O…okay…” the other Ava stood up.
“You pass the third test.” The other smiled at her.

“And what spirit are you?” Ava asked her.

“Weakness…” she smiled.
“You’re not weak at all. You just watched your man die, and you’re on the next mission right away. Well done.” The other said as the world began to fade away.

“When he’s back, tell him you’re Kusha… and show him your tail ring…” Ava shouted at her as she faded away.

“Will do…” the other showed her a thumbs up as she faded away.


Ava sighed and opened her eyes to see the chamber. She watched as the gateway disappeared and the torch faded. She had to admit, that last one shook her a little. Seeing Kaval die. That was something she never wanted to see again.

She stepped up to the next torch and dropped a ki ball into the middle. She stepped back as this one glowed brighter than the others, a bright gold.

She shielded her eyes and waited till the gateway was formed. She looked back at it and stepped through. She stepped through into open air. She began to fly and looked around.

This planet was a wasteland. She looked around and saw the remnants of the main city of Earth, Central City.

This planet was Earth.

“Back for round 2?” Agan said to her.

She turned and saw the face of Kaval and Agan looking at her. She also saw an older Alex flying beside them.

“Hi.” she smiled at them.

“Father, this isn’t her. She has no scars.” Alex said to Kaval.

“Scars? What happened to the city?” Ava asked them.

“Yet another of your temper tantrums.” Kaval said to her.

“Wait, I have no idea what you’re talking about, I just got here.” Ava said, looking at them.

Then they all stopped and gasped. They all sensed a huge power surging towards them. It was nothing Ava had felt before. It was stronger than Kaval and Agan’s power combined.

“Who… the hell is that?” Ava trembled, looking out towards the west.

“Here she comes…” Kaval, Agan and Alex flashed into Super Saiyan.

“She… that power is a woman?” Ava looked at them, powering up.

“Aren’t you going to go Super Saiyan?” Alex asked her.

“I haven’t broken through the barrier yet.” She looked back at them.

“How old are you?” Alex asked her.

“24.” She answered.

They all looked at each other and then Kaval looked back at Ava.

“Get behind us…” Agan said to her.
She listened and flew behind them.

There was a streaking golden flash that flew towards them and stopped. Ava covered her eyes and when the light faded. She looked at what was the cause of the light.

“What are you doing here? This is my territory.” The other Ava said to them.

Ava gawked at her. This Ava had cut her hair into a bob and was a Super Saiyan. She was scarred all over her arms and legs, with a long scar running down her face and over her right eye. And dressed in all black clothes, and not her training suit. Ava wondered how things had become so bad here.

“We’re just looking for survivors…” Agan said to her.

“SHUT UP YOU SECOND LEVEL SAIYAN!” she shouted ay him.
“I was talking to Prince Kaval.” She folded her arms over her chest.

Ava looked at Agan and that clearly made him angry, but he dared not make a move against her. Did she really have the kind of power that scared Agan and Kaval so?

“Ah, who do we have here?” the other Ava said, looking past them at Ava.
“Another fighter to the slaughter…” the other Ava smiled.

“I… I came her to fight you.” Ava said, flying in front of Agan and Kaval and Alex.

“She’s mad…” Alex whispered to Kaval, who nodded.

“Fight, me? Well, either you’ve been living under a rock for 20 years, or you’re still training with Kami.” The other Ava smiled.
“I’m the strongest being on this planet. Not even the three of them combined and all in Super Saiyan can stop me.” the other added.
“Or control me…” she said, looking at Kaval.

“Ava how many times do we need to tell you, what you saw in the cave was an illusion. We are on your side.” Kaval said to her.

“Or at least we were. Until you started slaughtering the humans.” Alex said to her.

“She did this to Central City?” Ava asked them.

“When she finally broke through to Super Saiyan, she couldn’t power down, because of all the anger she had inside. For us.” Agan said to Ava.

“She’s stuck like that.” Alex said to Ava.

“It’s a great improvement. Gold really is my colour.” The other Ava smiled at them, flipping her hair.
“Enough talking. Leave my territory, or we’ll have that round 2.” She smiled at Kaval.

“No. I’m not going anywhere until you realize what you’re doing is wrong.” Ava shouted at her.
“They are your friends Ava.” Ava gestured back towards the others.

“Friends, don’t shoot other friend in the face.” She said, looking at Kaval.

“You did that?” Ava asked him.

“She was insane with anger. She was going to kill me.” Kaval shouted.

“We’ve been trying for 20 years to get her to trust us, but in the process, we have had many long battles.” Agan said.

“And all this because of the cave?” Ava asked her.

She nodded.

“What I saw in there, I will never forget. Never.” She said to Ava.

“It wasn’t real. Kaval and Agan have never betrayed you. They would never either.” Ava shouted at her.

“Wrong.” The other said.

“YOU’RE WRONG. KAVAL LOVES YOU!” Ava shouted and then stopped.

“Kaval loves me…” she repeated softly.

“Yes… yes he does…” the other Ava said to her and the sky began turning black.

“What spirit are you?” Ava asked her.

“Distrust.” She said simply.
“Don’t ever stop trusting him. Or this… is your future… the power is nice, but it’s lonely. Trust me.” the other Ava said to her as she began fade away.

“I trust you…” Ava said out into the chamber.


She opened her eyes and saw the golden gateway fading and the torch disappearing.

That was it. All four torches were gone. But she didn’t know if she had passed. She was told to fight all the spirits, but she didn’t fight one.

She turned and walked back to the door. She opened it and stepped out into the light. She looked around and saw she was in the courtyard. She frowned and looked back. How did it get here? She swore the door was further away. This place had many secrets, she accepted. Kami was there waiting for her.

“So, how did you do?” he asked her.

“Well, I didn’t fight any of them… so I don’t know.” Ava walked up to him.

“Tell me, how you feel about all those versions of you?” Kami asked her, seeing Kaval and Agan walk up behind her.

“I… I didn’t like any. Anger, greed, weakness, distrustful. They were all… not me…” she said looking at him.

“The biggest part of fighting and winning is in here…” Kami said, tapping his temple with his staff.

“But I didn’t fight them at all. Surely that doesn’t count.” She looked at him.

“You did fight them. You fight them everyday. Now, the only thing left to know is, are you different now from this morning?” he asked her, looking at Kaval over her shoulder.

“Yes. I am. I will never be any of those monsters, ever again.” she smiled.

“Good.” She heard Kaval say from behind her.

She turned and smiled at him.

“I… I’m…” she stopped, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Sorry.” She added.

“It’s okay.” He said, stepping up to her and hugging her.
She threw her arms around him and hugged him back. She had missed him so.

“I should never have mistrusted you… and you Agan…” she smiled at him.

“We are the last. We stand together, not matter what, or who gets in our way.” Agan said and Kaval broke the hug and held her at arms length.

“I would never sell you out. To anyone…” he smiled. A rare smile.

“Thank you… for everything.” She smiled at him.

“Well done Ava. You passed this test. And I healed you, just as promised.” Kami smiled at her and walked off.

“Dawn?” Ava asked him.

“Dawn.” He said, not looking back.

“It’s good to have you back.” Agan said to her.

“It’s good to be back.” she smiled at him.

Kaval just smiled silently to himself. He wouldn’t admit it, but he missed her.
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END
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Quest Status - Completed
Word count - 4964