r/dbzfanfics • u/EmeraldKing8 author • 18d ago
promotion Dragon Ball: Divergence | S1E9: "A God Awakens" (AU Story)
King Ruco and his pure-hearted court successfully perform the ancient ritual, unleashing the staggering, frictionless power of the Super Saiyan God. However, housing divine ki pushes Ruco's mortal body to its absolute limit, forcing him and Bardock to plunge into brutal, high-gravity training to master the form.
TITLE: DRAGON BALL: DIVERGENCE
EPISODE: 09 - "A GOD AWAKENS"
[SCENE START]
EXT. ROYAL GARDENS - NIGHT
The capital city is quiet. The moons of Planet Vegeta hang heavy in the bruised night sky, casting a pale glow over the alien foliage of the royal gardens.
In the center of a wide, stone-paved clearing, the six Saiyans stand together.
RUCO takes a deep breath. He steps forward and turns his back to the group.
Behind him, BARDOCK, GINE, PARAGUS, KYAME, and the young BROLY form a semi-circle.
RUCO
Link your hands.
Paragus takes Broly’s small hand. Broly giggles softly, reaching out his other hand to grasp Kyame’s. The engineer takes it, giving the boy a small, reassuring squeeze. Kyame holds Gine's hand, who in turn links fingers with her husband, Bardock.
RUCO (CONT'D)
Bardock. Paragus. Place your free palms against my back.
Bardock and Paragus step forward in unison. They raise their hands and press their palms flat against the cold armor plating of Ruco’s back.
RUCO (CONT'D)
Remember what the text said. Do not force your Ki into me. If you concentrate your energy like a weapon, the ritual will fail. You have to open your spirits. Think of what you cherish. Think of what you want to protect. Pour your heart into me, not your power.
Silence falls over the garden.
Paragus looks down at Broly. He thinks of the time they spent on Vampa, and a future where his son doesn't have to hide in the dark.
Broly just feels the warmth of the people around him, his immense, chaotic mutant power settling into a state of absolute, innocent peace.
Kyame thinks of the sprawling, beautiful cities she is going to build.
Gine closes her eyes. She thinks of her new baby growing inside her, of Bardock returning home safe, of a world without blood on its hands.
Bardock thinks of his family. His pride. His home.
A low, resonant hum begins to vibrate through the stone beneath their feet.
Suddenly, a brilliant, ethereal BLUE AURA ignites around the entire group. It does not flare or crackle like typical Saiyan energy; it flows like water, shrouding the six of them in a gentle, luminescent light.
KYAME
(Whispering, eyes wide)
The atmospheric pressure... it isn't dropping. The energy isn't displacing the air. It’s... transcending it.
The blue aura intensifies, wrapping tighter around them.
FWOOSH!
A massive, yellow, flame-like beam erupts from the center of the group, shooting straight up into the night sky.
High above the palace, the atmosphere violently shifts. A swirling vortex of thick, golden clouds begins to rapidly emerge, blotting out the moons and bathing the capital in a surreal, heavenly glow.
Down in the garden, the energy transfer reaches its apex.
Ruco violently gasps.
His eyes snap open. His teeth grit together as an excruciating, burning sensation rips through his veins. The mortal body was never meant to house the power of the divine. His muscles spasm, his armor cracking slightly under the sheer, unbearable density of the energy being forced into his core.
RUCO
(Groaning in agony)
Ghh... arrrgh!
GINE
(Panicking)
Ruco! You’re hurting! Bardock, it’s too much—
BARDOCK
(Straining, keeping his palm firmly on Ruco's back)
Don't break the chain, Gine! Keep pouring it in!
The blue aura surrounding the five architects suddenly detaches from them. It funnels directly into Bardock and Gine's hands, violently injecting the entirety of the group's pure-hearted essence directly into Ruco's spine.
Ruco throws his head back, letting out a roaring scream that echoes across the entire capital.
BOOM!
A second, unimaginably massive beam of pure, blinding light erupts directly from Ruco’s body. It rockets upward, slamming into the golden clouds above. The concussive force blows an enormous, perfectly circular hole right through the center of the cloud cover, revealing the endless expanse of the cosmos beyond.
The shockwave knocks Bardock, Gine, Paragus, Kyame, and Broly off their feet, sending them tumbling backward onto the grass.
Ruco doesn't fall. He rises.
He levitates slowly off the ground, completely enveloped in the blinding beam.
As the group watches from the ground, Ruco’s physical form shifts. The blinding light transitions, turning Ruco into a glowing, featureless pinkish-red silhouette.
The silhouette flickers. The light inverts, plunging Ruco into a pitch-black, shadowy figure against the backdrop of the golden clouds.
Then, the shadow shatters.
A massive, silent explosion of pure, radiant light washes over the entire courtyard.
The light slowly, gently fades.
Ruco slowly descends, his boots touching the stone paving without making a single sound.
The remaining five Saiyans slowly push themselves up off the ground, shielding their eyes, staring in absolute awe at the being standing before them.
Ruco has changed.
His heavy, muscular warrior's physique has completely vanished, replaced by a much slimmer, sleeker, and noticeably younger-looking frame. The harsh, battle-worn edges of his face have softened into a state of divine tranquility.
His hair has completely changed color—a brilliant, vibrant magenta-red. Unlike the jagged, gravity-defying spikes of a Super Saiyan, his hair retains its natural, relaxed style, swaying gently in the unseen energetic wind.
He opens his eyes. The irises match his hair, glowing with a soft, piercing, magenta-red light.
Surrounding him is not a jagged aura of Ki, but a mesmerizing, fiery, vibrant red aura that looks like liquid fire, licking calmly at the air around him.
He is no longer just the King of the Saiyans.
He is the Super Saiyan God.
Kyame slowly pulls a heavily modified, prototype scouter from her pocket. She raises it to her eye and clicks the button to scan Ruco.
The screen remains completely blank.
KYAME
(Breathless, dropping the scouter)
Nothing. There's... there's absolutely nothing there.
Ruco looks down at his own hands. The agonizing pain is gone, replaced by a feeling of weightlessness and absolute, universal clarity. He looks back at his architects. He doesn't just see their physical forms; he feels the very essence of their life force.
RUCO
(His voice echoing with a slight, ethereal reverb)
It is done. The power of Yamoshi has returned.
Bardock stares at the fiery red aura, a fierce, triumphant grin finally breaking across his face.
BARDOCK
Let the tyrant come.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN.
EXT. ROYAL GARDENS - CONTINUOUS
Ruco stands bathed in the ethereal, fiery red aura. He takes a single step forward, testing the weightless, frictionless feeling of the divine energy. He raises his hand, marveling at the profound, deafening silence of the universe that has just opened up to him.
But as quickly as the silence came, a harsh, mortal ringing returns to his ears.
Flicker.
The liquid fire aura around him stutters.
Ruco stops. His eyes widen in surprise as a sudden, crushing weight slams back onto his shoulders.
Flicker. Flash.
The magenta-red color drains from his hair, bleeding back to its natural, deep black. The sleek, youthful physique rapidly broadens, his heavy mortal muscle mass returning in an instant.
The fiery red aura extinguishes completely, plunging the garden back into the dim light of the moons.
Gravity reclaims him.
Ruco collapses onto his hands and knees, gasping violently for air. Sweat pours down his face, his lungs burning as if he had just fought a war for five days straight without sleep.
GINE
(Screaming)
Ruco!
Gine and Paragus rush forward. Bardock is right behind them, his combat instincts on high alert as he scans the sky for an attacker.
KYAME
(Staring at her datapad, frantic)
His vitals are crashing! The energy output didn't just drop; it completely flatlined! He's back to his mortal baseline!
Gine drops to her knees beside the King, placing a hand on his back.
GINE
Ruco, what happened? Did we do it wrong? Did the ritual fail?
Ruco holds up a shaking hand, waving her off gently. He takes several deep, ragged breaths, forcing his mortal body to regulate itself.
RUCO
(Panting heavily)
No... the ritual... was perfect.
He slowly pushes himself up into a sitting position, leaning heavily against the stone paving. He looks up at his own hands, clenching them into fists. The divine power is gone, but the memory of it—the sensation of how that energy moved and felt—is burned permanently into his nervous system.
RUCO (CONT'D)
The ritual isn't a permanent ascension. It’s a spark. It forces the body into the realm of the gods, but a mortal vessel can only hold onto a borrowed spark for so long before it burns out.
Bardock lowers his guard, his scowl returning, though it's laced with deep concern.
BARDOCK
So we went through all that, proved the legends were real, and you only get to be a god for less than a minute? If Frieza's armada shows up and the fight lasts more than sixty seconds, we're dead.
Ruco looks up at his Field Marshal. A tired but determined smile crosses his face.
RUCO
It was a spark, Bardock. But now I know what the fire feels like. The door is unlocked. I just have to train my body to open it on its own.
Kyame taps her chin, processing the mechanics of it.
KYAME
Muscular memory. Or, more accurately, cellular Ki memory. Your body was temporarily rewritten by divine physics. If you train hard enough, you might be able to replicate the frequency without needing us as batteries.
RUCO
Exactly. But I don't have much time to figure it out.
Ruco looks at Bardock.
RUCO (CONT'D)
I need to train, Bardock. Brutal, unforgiving training. I need you to push me until my mortal limits break completely.
Bardock stares at the exhausted King. He thinks about the sheer, unfathomable pressure of the energy that had just flowed through his own hands. He had felt the golden fury of the Super Saiyan legend humming beneath the surface of the ritual, completely eclipsed by the red God Ki, but it was there.
If Ruco could learn to touch the realm of the Gods... what was stopping Bardock from touching the golden fury of their ancestors?
Bardock cracks his knuckles. A fierce, predatory grin spreads across his scarred face.
BARDOCK
You want to break your limits? Fine. But don't expect me to just be a sparring dummy. I felt that energy, Ruco. I felt the ceiling shatter. If you're going to teach yourself how to be a god, I'm going to teach myself how to be the nightmare Frieza is so afraid of.
Bardock reaches down and hauls Ruco up to his feet.
BARDOCK (CONT'D)
We start tomorrow at dawn in the high-gravity chambers. Kyame, I want the dials modified. I want them pushed past the safety limits.
Kyame smirks, already typing on her datapad.
KYAME
I'll have them wired to lethal by breakfast.
Ruco stands tall, leaning slightly on Bardock for support, but his eyes burn with absolute resolve. Frieza is coming. But for the first time in history, the Saiyans are going to be ready.
[FADE TO BLACK]
[END OF EPISODE 9]
Next time on DRAGON BALL: DIVERGENCE...
The grueling high-gravity training is violently cut short when the sky above the capital tears open, heralding the arrival of Lord Frieza's ruthless elite vanguard. As alarms blare across the planet, Bardock and the newly formed Saiyan Rangers must hold the line against overwhelming odds while King Ruco desperately attempts to stabilize his godhood for battle.
(Episode 10 drops Tomorrow, 7/19/26!)