Dragon Ball - Heart of Adventurers - LastationLover5000 (2024)

Chapter 1: Bulma and Son Gokū

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 1 - Bulma and Son Gokū

Today was a day of destiny.

Before the eyes of Bulma her childhood friend, Son Goku, stood upon the tiled ring. His taller frame with wide shoulders hardly looked recognizable had it not been for the crop of pointy black tresses atop his child faced head. While initially garbed in tunics he became accustomed from his training in Kami's Palace, he now bore the garbs of Muten Rōshi's Turtle Hermit School of orange and blue. His appearance was both intimidating and welcome to the young purple haired woman's eyes.

This was the 3rd Tenkaichi Budōkai, officially the 23rd in its long running existence, that he'd he participate in. In the last two he had come close to victory, only to have it lost to him by the Crane Schooled Tenshinhan in the 22nd and the "mysterious" Jackie Chun at the 21st Tournament. Having come a long ways since he was a lost child living in the woods, he truly looked like a man ready to take the prize.

The only thing that was troubling wasn't the preliminary match he won handily in. No, it was the combatant registered Anonymous, presented with long beautiful raven locks framed over her brow to her ears and over the top of her back. A blue with red trimming kimono fastened over her gorgeous body, further hiding her past identity to the man in front of him. Hard onyx orbs met mutually hued circles that looked back blankly with confusion at the anger projected at him.

"Um sorry," Goku apologized with confusion in his eyes. Seeing her not relent after his meek attempt, he reached up and laughed sheepishly as he scratched his chin. Beads of sweat crawled down his scalp as he looked at the angry woman, "you seem really mad at me. Any reason why?"

"Hmph! Why wouldn't I be mad at you?!" The woman titled as Anonymous yelled back, tossing her head to the side with indignation.

Goku could do nothing but gawk. Everyone on the sidelines looked on with confusion as they didn't know who this beautiful stranger was. The more the banter was exchanged, it looked like nothing was going to be gained by sitting around. Thankfully the announcer called the fight and got things underway.

But that didn't stop the young woman's assault on Goku while she rebuked him. The two's fight looked like an awkward dance, with the prior aggressively chasing the latter's mostly defensive maneuvers. Her screams continued to hammer out the same indiscernible message that the audience, Goku's friends, and even Majunior from his rooftop perch nonsensical. The spiky haired man did his best to appease to her while gaining some information, but she seemed insistent that he should remember.

After a skyward leap, the two descended back to the ring after a few dozen exchanges of limbs against limbs. When the two tapped against the ring, they backed away, with Goku acting more composed and confused with the woman acting infuriated but hardly winded. One last plea to inquire what she meant and she let loose in a scream that Bulma could unfortunately understand.

"FINE! I'LL TELL YOU THE PROMISE YOU FORGOT! YOU PROMISED TO MAKE ME YOUR BRIDE! YOU PROMISED TO MARRY ME!"

It was a declaration that made Bulma's eyes bulge and her mouth open wide. Looking over at the dumbstruck Goku who only took in the information with minimum clarity, she realized that he didn't know what she meant at all. Through her own deduction, she must have talked him into saying something he had no idea what it was. This was only confirmed when Goku asked Krillin what it meant from the sidelines, making him and Yamcha fall over with the unknown fighter on their sides with comedic exaggeration.

When properly understanding what it meant, Goku turned to look confused and quite scared at the angry lady crouching apart from him, "M-Marry! You?! But...I have no idea who you are! How can I marry someone I don't even know?!"

"You honestly have forgotten? Man, what kind of idiot are you?!" She growled with an upraised fist. Inhaling deeply, she exhaled as she refocused her gaze upon him, raising a outstretched palm of beckoning towards the young martial artist. "Fine, if you want to know my name, just beat me. If you can, that is..."

"I see!" Goku fist palmed, a smile brightening up his face with determination. "that'll work out perfect! After all, I'd like to know who I'm marrying anyways..."

"Don't act like you can even touch me-"

"Here I go..."

"-you have yet to even land an attack-"

"...take this!"

"-on m-!"

It all happened in a span of a few seconds. Goku pulled back an arm, gathering an invisible field of Ki within the center of his right set of knuckles. Then, with a quick jab too fast for even Bulma to see, a wave of force rippled the arena like a rocket propelled softball. It struck dead center in the still talking woman, crashing into her jaw like a wind-propelled punch.

She soared across the arena weightlessly, completely taken off guard by the attack. When her head and back smashed into the brick wall in the out of bounds area, meters away from the edge of the ring, many of the audience members scrambled back out of fright. Coincidentally, the woman had landed only a stone toss away from Bulma and the other friends and acquaintances of hers.

The announcer, too stunned by what he had witnessed, could only stand in awe of the feat Goku had pulled off. The said fighter quickly sprinted across the ring, a look of worry crossing his youthful and naively expressive features. Crouching down at the edge, he saw her stir after a few seconds, groaning as she rose to her haunches to clench at her aching head.

Seeing that she was starting to recover properly, Goku sighed before apologizing officially, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to knock you out. That technique was only meant to send someone off the ring. I hope you're not in too much pain."

"Incredible!" She praised, rubbing her head with no sign of damage that she or the Turtle Schooler could see. Climbing up to the ring's surface like nothing happened, she smiled approvingly at Goku as she continued complimenting, "I was took by complete surprise. You're even more amazing than I remember!"

"Yeah well," Goku shrugged, taking the compliment in stride. Raising a hand to scratch his chin, he looked dubiously at her as he queried once more, "now can you tell me your name?"

"You seriously forgot? Geez," She brushing her bangs with a swing of her arm, she cast an indignant glare at him. Crossing her arms over her chest, she huffed, relenting with her answer, "I'm the Ox-King's daughter, Chi-Chi."

"EEEEEEEEE?!" Goku recoiled with a squeaking yelp of surprise, eyes bulging and mouth pulled back to show a look of remembrance of the name. Seconds after putting two and two together, Goku inquired with a look of incredulity, "wait...you're that Chi-Chi?!"

The Princess nodded with a solemn expression, a bit more patient now that the truth was revealed. The regal, decent apparel seemed vastly different than the wild attire she used to sport as a child. It seemed unreal to the older yet still innocent mind of Goku that she could change so radically in appearance, let alone adopt a very aggressive tone towards him.

"Wait, Son proposed to the Ox-King's daughter?" Bulma thought with a shake of her head, her mind reeling with the implications of this revelation. Slapping her own cheeks, she refocused on the vital conversation at hand. She knew there had to be something more to it than what this Chi-Chi is letting on.

"AH! I remember!" Goku said out loud, the audience's idle chatter becoming unusually hushed in the wake of this melodramatic spectacle. "I remember, when we were kids, I'd love to have a bride!"

"I know, I was there," Chi-Chi said sternly, her unwavering glare kept on Goku's reeling stare.

After a few more seconds, Goku sighed and bowed his head meekly. His pouted lips murmured out only loud enough for her to hear, "But...you don't understand. I thought when you meant would I like to have a Bride, I thought you meant it was a kind of food," looking up, his brows matted with sweat as he smiled up at the sky nervously, "I had no idea what it meant, honestly."

"S-S-Something to e-e-eat?!" She stuttered out, her disposition becoming completely frazzled.

"Really, Son?!" Bulma exclaimed, her eyes nearly bulging out of her sockets. Seeing her friend weakly shrug when his eyes sadly met hers made her recoil. When she turned to see the young friend of Goku's return to the present, she realized just what kind of predicament he was in.

"Then...the promise you made...was a mistake?" The young princess asked with big eyes, watering up with the implication of Goku's interpretation of a bride.

"Yeah, sorry," Goku said with a apologetic smile. Seeing tears well up in her eyes, he scratched the back of his head, trying to think of a way to reconcile, "I really like you, Chi-Chi, but I never thought about marrying you. I don't even know what it means to have a bride. Maybe some day, when I thought it over, I can decide who I'd want to marry but not now. Does that make any sense?"

"Uh-uh," She wiped her eyes, sniffling pathetically on stage.

"I...really am sorry," Goku mumbled out, bowing his head to her as she turned away to walk off the ring. His brows sweated as he watched her snap kick the wall apart, clearing her a path out of the stadium. Without even turning around she walked out of the ring and never looked back.

"Poor Son," Bulma thought when she turned to see the look of melancholy overlap his face. Even as the announcer comically recovered from the breakup the two had, he declared Goku the absolute winner. He had to be coaxed into moving from the spot he stared after his friend's retreat, hanging his head with confusion as he returned back to his sideline. Sighing, she looked up into the sky, finishing her thoughts as the next set of combatants were announced, "I hope you find someone to love, tough guy. I really do."

And so, the fated day between two rivals in the making made their way to the ring. Tension filled the air so palpable that experienced fighters could feel electricity dancing between the two opponents. It wouldn't be too long till that was taken literally, with their fight beginning with a series of dizzying bouts of leaps, dashes, and somersaults as their attacks hit their marks repeatedly.

The battle was perhaps the fiercest one Bulma and the rest of Goku's friends had ever bore witness to. People ran in fear from the reincarnated King Piccolo, having declared his return to satisfy his urge to feed on everyone's dread. This thankfully kept them from being harmed by the arena's destruction later on in the fight.

With Kami safely coughed out of the deadly Majunior, Goku fought with no holds bar against the emerald skinned enemy. Even weathered it appeared that the Turtle Schooler had an advantage over the Demon King. When the latter used his most powerful attack to topple nearly everything on the island's surface it was to his and everyone's surprise that his loathsome nemesis was still standing.

Through a bout of trickery the evil Piccolo Jr. landed a number of incapacitating blows to his target, leaving him all but immobilized. He convinced himself that victory was his when landing an explosive blast of Ki where the ground prone warrior was. But in a surprising turn of events, Goku sailed himself through the air and landed a devastating headbutt, beating his enemy into submission and unconsciousness. This would mark his official prize of becoming the World Champion of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai.

During the aftermath, he showed a moment of mercy to his enemy and enabled him the medical aid that he himself had been given. While Piccolo Jr. vowed he'd get even one day, Goku openly welcomed the challenge and promised he'd only get stronger from here on out. Despite being against this decision, Kami believed Goku to possess more wisdom and prowess than he ever could. When he offered his own title to his disciple, he was immediately rejected, with the Turtle Schooler taking off into the sky on his Nimbus Cloud.

For Bulma Briefs, that was a year ago. And our tale resumes on another fateful day with an encounter of a different kind. One that would change her life forever.

Age 757, June 5th

It had been another long day for the daughter of the brilliant Dr. Briefs. Having spent part of the day burrowed in books about hypothetical forms of interstellar travel to different modes of attaining cleaner and more purified energy, she spent the next part of it cruising through downtown. She wanted some excitement, someone to share her experiences with or just to have a good time. What did she find instead?

Nothing, as per usual.

In her youth, she had went on grandiose adventures that few girls her age could have even dreamed partaking. From the many attempts on her life -or what she'd like to imagine as her pure desirable body- to searching for a way to save the world when not spectating at a Tournament, nothing she found was particularly satisfying her curiosity or urge to explore. Even the average man who many average young women could consider hunks were nothing but brainless and had little excitement in store beyond their fancy cars to polished smiles.

She tried making her relationship with Yamcha work, but as she soon found out, not every first try pays off. The memories were all too clear for her, finding him profiting off his talents in the business industry through offering his skills through a number of mediums. She almost busted the radio in her cabin when she heard a ridiculous song being sung by him, making her sick. It was only a matter of time that their relationship became more obligatory than desired, making her leave him one day in a screaming fit that was more than enough of a wake up call to the scar faced ex-bandit.

"Guess that'd make him an Ex in two fields, now doesn't it?" Bulma thought with bittersweet enjoyment, though it brought no smile to her face.

It didn't take long for her to see the quaint neighborhood that her house and headquarters of Capsule Corps had taken residence within. She was glad that they had installed a subterranean entrance that led to another part of the city on a sub level, otherwise she'd find herself lacking a parking space in her own driveway. She wondered why her father didn't install that feature sooner, though it certainly didn't bother him or her lackadaisical mother till she brought it up.

Puffing up at her bangs, she felt ground-based vehicle bounced slightly at the change in elevation before veer back to a halt. Exiting the car, she grabbed her purse and headed to the house with a huff. The sight of her blonde mother with a squinted smile greeted her, forcing a grin to her own face.

"Hiya, sweetie!" Panchy greeted with an enveloping hug.

"Hi mom," She tiredly replied as she was relinquished from the tender embrace.

"What's wrong, honey? Did you not have a good time?" Mrs. Briefs asked with a frown.

"Ugh," Bulma groaned, immediately looking cross at her mom, "the things I wish I didn't see in town to remind me why I don't have any friends."

"Well, why don't you come inside?" She inquired to her grown girl with a smile and gestured back to the house. "I'm brewing some coffee for your father as he's taking a break from his projects. You look like you could use some."

"Yeah, I do," The lavender haired woman acknowledged with a weary smile. Following her in, the two passed through the circular corridor to the kitchen where the scent of coffee was in the air. Sitting back in a chair around the table was her father, puffing one a pipe while looking through the newspaper.

Their footsteps would sound their arrival, allowing the mustached scientist to look up with a smile on his face,"Bulma, nice to see you. How was the trip in town?"

"Not as great as I imagined it'd be," Bulma answered readily, her lips drawing back into a soured pout.

Pulling stem from his lip with one hand, he lowered the paper with the other to feel more engaged with the conversation. Watching his wife leave their daughter's side, he continued from where they left off, "Nothing really that exciting downtown compared to your tour of the world, hm?"

Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms and paced in front of the table. After the third turn, she stopped, looking outside of the window view of the neatly trimmed lawn outside of the kitchen. Squinting her eyes, she sighed, and murmured out, "So dull."

"Pardon?" The gray haired man asked.

Gesturing outward, with one hand while propping the back of the other on her hip, she repeated in detail, "This, out there, in this city is so dull. Nothing is that amazing downtown, none of the guys seem that thrilling, and old knots that were unfastened don't know when to stop trying to retie what's gone."

"Well," Her father leaned back, motioning with his pipe holding hand, "you could always go into further studies in my laboratory. You're already showing enough promise to surpass my intellect in a decade or so. If you really buckled down, you could show a lot of latent talent in the field of science."

"As much as I enjoyed my years in college," Bulma drawled out with a turn on her heels, fully facing her bowl-cut headed dad. Crossing her arms over her chest, she leaned on her left foot while her brows knitted forward into a frustrated frown, "I'd rather not be confined to a claustrophobic space working on advanced formulas that may or may not advance society further."

"My lab is quite spacious," Dr. Briefs cheekily remarked with a mustached grin.

"Not every laboratory is as luxurious as yours, dad," The young genius said with a reluctant smile, laughing with her father for a few moments. Looking down at her feet, she shuffled on the soles of her shoes with indecision. When the words came to her, her eyes remained trained on the top of her feet while she explained, "I guess...I guess I felt most alive when I went adventuring across the world. I know you and mom weren't excited about me leaving, after Tights had left not too long before that, but I don't regret a single second. The hunt for the Dragon Balls was one of the best times of my life. Every quest after that just felt more rewarding and continued to fascinate me what I learned about the world. Back here I feel like I'm a bird in a cage, desperately trying to get back out into the sky."

Placing the pipe back into his mouth, the older man took a few puffs before exhaling noisily. Grasping the paper back up, he flipped through a few pages and stretched it out before his gaze. After a few long seconds, he chose to mumble out loud, "Perhaps a year without himcanbe a bit boring."

"What?" Bulma blinked, raising her head up with a query in her bright eyes as much in her words.

"If I didn't know better, it seems one of your only friends that seemed by your side was that boy, Son Goku," He suggested, batting an eye at his wife who circled around with a piping mug in her hands. Training his gaze sideways, he kept the paper at eye level while studying his grown girl's reaction. "you two seemed pretty close, even back then. I think most of the enjoyment you had back then came with the fact you met a strange yet very nice young man. Someone like that is rare to find in this world, even among a host of other acquaintances. I'd daresay he may be even be the kind of friend who would love to go adventuring with you if you only asked."

"Yes, that Goku was such a nice boy," Panchy agreed with a smile, handing the mug over to Bulma, watching her contemplate what was said to her. Giggling, the blonde woman clasped her hands to the side and leaned against it with a single cheek. "he was quite the energetic scamp. Had quite a healthy appetite too. Goodness, if he ever came out of the blue here he'd clean me out of all the pantries!"

"I highly doubt that'd be a problem," Dr. Briefs said with a chuckle as he looked at an article regarding the weather. As his eyes barely traced over it before looking at another collection of words, he mentioned offhandedly, "I've practically seen all of Bulma's friends in the news to some extent. But not once in a year since the Tournament have I laid eyes on him. Funny, I didn't picture the lad as a reclusive sort."

"Where do you think he could be?" Mrs. Briefs asked with a turn of the head, unaware of Bulma's chugging of the warm dark liquid.

"If he's not out gallivanting around the world making headliners in The Royal News, then I'd say he just went back to the mountains," Dr. Briefs stated with a shrug, looking at an article with an infamous blonde sporting a pair of ridiculously large guns. "but who can tell with all the fantastic things that have happened in the last few years?"

A loud exhale following the finishing of a cup of coffee, Bulma swiftly handed the mug back to her mother before walking quickly away. Before leaving the kitchen entirely, she looked over her shoulder and smiled excitedly as she shouted, "I've decided I want to get some fresh air for a few days. Just thought to let you know before I've headed out."

"Oh!" Panchy squeaked with wide blue eyes blinking with surprise. She had just gotten back and now she was leaving? She looked on enquiringly as her back shrunk with her exit around the corridor hall. When she disappeared, she looked over with a confused smile on her face, "that's peculiar. What do you suppose has come over her?"

Smiling with a glint of knowing in his eyes, Dr. Briefs puffed another cloud of smoke from his lips over the paper. Turning his gaze at his beloved, he made sure to grin reassuringly up at her, "She just needs to get out of the cage of society for a bit, honey. Don't worry about her. If our big girl was able to handle herself all those years ago, I'm sure she can handle another trip."

It didn't take too long for her to get everything she wanted. Various supplies meant for camping or long treks as she had years before were properly capsuled. Placed within the interior pockets of her purple high collared, unbuttoned Capsule Corps jacket, it made it easy to just pick and choose what she wanted to wear. A sleeveless grey tank top wrapped over a black sports bra was complemented by a pair of dark blue shorts that only covered the top of her thighs. Her cyan and white shoes were the best pair she could find on short notice, finishing her dress attire for the trip.

Taking the more off-road hover car for the quest she had in mind, she set her sights on Mount Paozu. So many years had passed since she had climbed that mountain, both figuratively and literally. She was a naive young child who only had a small assortment of tools to get a seemingly impossible task done when she went into the vast wilderness. It boggled her mind how things turned out the way they did, instead of the way she planned.

Her mind reeled with nostalgia as the sights of suburban houses and tall skyscrapers were replaced with woodland landscape to rolling hills. Hours passed as she drove further into the vicinity she had mapped out where she met the boy, long ago. Making extra sure not to hit a stray rock or a tree, the man-made trail placed in the mountain was hardly the best to drive uphill but she had little choice.

It wasn't until she thought she missed her goal that a passing deer raced by her car, missing the fender by inches. What she didn't miss was a blurring figure of orange and black, causing her head to nearly ram into the steering wheel as her whole body lurched forward with the car. The audible crack of metal meeting body caused her breath to hitch and her eyes to widen.

Unbuckling quickly, she stepped out of her vehicle in a mad scramble to see what she just struck. When she caught sight of a grown man on his haunches, laughing sheepishly, she couldn't help but gape then glare angrily.

"What the Hell is wrong with you, Son?!" She shouted, raising a hand up to shake at him while using the other to steady her racing heart. "I thought I killed something!"

"Hahaha! Sorry," Goku apologized lightheartedly as he stood upright, dusting himself off from hitting the ground. Pointing forward then to the dented hood of her car, he explained readily, "I was just racing this deer I found in the woods. I didn't figure anyone would drive up here so I was sticking lower to the ground in order to catch up. I guess I should have payed closer attention, huh?"

"Damn straight!" Bulma yelled again, but found her anger quickly dissipating. Had this been absolutely anyone else, a car crash would probably have killed them, or at least left them with some very nasty scars. Only Goku could walk such a thing off, and rather than be angry, she found herself laughing weakly in exasperation. Wiping a small, laughter-induced tear from her eye, she walked over to Goku, smiling. "Long time no see, eh, Goku?"

"Yeah, it's been what, a year?" Goku couldn't help but smile back at his old friend. Rather than be angry that he'd been hit by her car, he found it amusing; refreshing, even, given how they'd met like this for the first time several years ago.

"It's only been a year, but already you seem so...different," Bulma mused, walking over to Goku, her sapphire irises giving the spiky, ebony-tressed man a once-over. "Still training, I bet. Then again, you've never stopped."

"You know me. I always manage to squeeze some training in when I've got the time," Goku sheepishly chuckled. After a few moments of him looking to her, to the ruined vehicle, and down to the ground, his gaze slowly returned back to Bulma as he shuffled his feet apprehensively, "So, since you went through the trouble of coming up here...and I sort of ruined your car...why don't you come up to my place for a bit? We haven't seen each other in awhile, and I can give you something to eat."

Bulma cast a glance at her car; the entire front of the vehicle was totaled, bent inwards as if she'd collided with a tree instead of a human. Walking towards the mangled vehicle, she moved her hands along the sides until she found a button; pressing it, the vehicle reverted, with a loudPOP!,to a Hoi-Poi capsule. Turning back around with the collapsed vehicle in hand, she nodded with sheepish agreement, though suppressed a smile for the thoughts that followed, "My car may be...ruined...but it is one of several, and this might be just the excuse I need to stay here a little longer!"

The strange duo proceeded to walk down the forested path that led towards the upper half of Mt. Paozu. Civilization was the furthest thing from this remote wilderness, but this had always been Goku's preference. Even after having garnered some social skills and intelligence during his training with Kami and Mr. Popo, Goku had to admit, he liked a hermit kind of life much better than that of the bustling city.

"Doesn't this bring back memories, Son?" Bulma inquired, smiling brightly. "Remember, back when we first met? It even started out like this, didn't it?"

"Life is a bit weird like that, isn't it?" Goku chuckled, though to be honest, he appreciate the nostalgia this little trek through the woods was giving him. But, despite the similarities, there were a few differences. Now, Goku was more than willing to welcome Bulma to come back with him, while he did it as a child out of obligation, and Bulma was walking alongside Goku now, acting like the friend she was, rather than keeping pace with him from behind, as if avoiding him.

They reached a small clearing, and Bulma recognized the building almost at once. Standing in front of her was a small, red-brick hut, with a pointed, blue-tile roof that could only have been the hut Goku used to live in with his grandfather.

"So he actually did return to it after the tournament?"Bulma smiled. This wouldn't be impressive for anyone else, but given Goku had won the Tenkaichi Budōkai just a year ago, he'd won all of the money that went along with it. "I bet you haven't even used a single Zeni of that, did you?" Then Bulma had to wonder if Goku actually knewhowmoney worked to begin with. Figuring that he didn't, she came to the conclusion that his modest lifestyle was more due to ignorance than anything noble, but it didn't wipe the smile off her face.

"Well, here we are; home sweet home!" Goku pushed open the painted wooden doors, entering the small hut. Bulma followed, and noted it was more or less the same as it was when she first met Goku. The entire hut was still dimly lit, with only modest furnishings; Goku had made minor changes to the furniture after his return to the building, switching out the dresser for a larger one, and there even seemed to be a chair, a slightly longer bed, but this was the limit of Goku's feng shui.

Even in the dimly lit gloom of the hut, Bulma saw a familiar gleam that caught her eye — after all, it was a gleam that she and Goku had dedicated time of their lives to find. Walking over to the dresser, she gently picked up the source of the glowing light. "Isn't this..." (she quickly analyzed the number of stars floating within the orb) "...Sushinchū? You actually went back out and found your grandfather's heirloom ball?"

"Oh you better believe it." Goku exclaimed with a smile as he sat down on a chair near the window for a moment, resting his back from colliding with Bulma's car. While it didn't hurt, there was a sharp sting to remind him that the metal monstrosities her family creates still packed a punch. "Took me about three months to properly find it, even with the Radar," He gestured to the pocket watch-like device sitting next to it, the greatest invention Bulma had ever created. The Dragon Radar was a mechanical device that tracked the faint, electromagnetic pulse given off by the Dragon Balls, and gave the owner its precise location.

"I actually found Ūshinchū and Chiishinchū while trying to find that one," Goku explained, opening the dresser where the five and six star Dragon Balls were so casually discarded. "I would have just left them, but I figured who better to keep track of them than me? So, I keep them in the drawer."

"Hunting for the Dragon Balls...that definitely takes me back..." Bulma gently placed the Sushinchū back onto its purple velvet cushion, knowing how much the Four-Star Dragon Ball meant to Goku. To anyone else, it could be the gateway to immortality, riches (or as Bulma had hoped when she was a teenager, the perfect boyfriend) but to Goku, it was part of something much bigger. He considered his grandfather's soul to reside in that sphere, and even after having met his grandfather's soul during a tournament, he still kept the sphere for sentimentality.

Looking around the dimly lit, one-room hut, Bulma figured some renovations were in order. "You know, Son, I could lend you a hand in fixing this place up? I know you're comfortable with a moderate lifestyle, but you haven't done much in rearranging a hut. I think a woman's touch could help you brighten this place up."

"I can't make you do that!" Goku refused, waving it off. "You're my friend, and a guest, Bulma, I won't have you clean my house. Besides, it's nothing I can't handle when I get around to it." 'If' was the more likely word, but Goku had enough manners not to take advantage of his friends, no matter how generous the offer was.

"Then how about this?" Bulma was determined to help Goku in some way, whether he actually wanted the assistance or not. Persistence was, after all, her forte. "You invited me up here to eat, but you hardly seem to have any cooking skills — trust me, Son, a fox and centipede over an open fire don't qualify you as a culinary master — so why don't I lend you a hand with the cooking? I can show you the ropes."

Before Goku could so much as refuse this offer as well, his stomach spoke for him and gave its answer in the form of a large, squelching growl. Goku and Bulma were briefly stunned into silence before they doubled over laughing.

"I think your stomach agrees to my proposal!" The lavender-tressed girl decided, wiping away a laughter-induced tear. "So, what'll we be eating?" While she certainly had supplies for camping packed with her, it wasGokuwho promised her food, and she'd gotten less prissy when it came to the matters of eating in the wild. Because of that, Bulma would happily take him up on the offer.

Goku grinned. The proposal to go find a good meal always got him excited.

"Normal people use a rod and line!" Bulma shouted down the cliff-side at the top of her lungs. Just moments ago, she'd asked Goku what they'd be eating, and given she let his deer escape when she collided with him while driving, they had to opt for a different meal. True to form, Goku suggested fish, and Bulma had agreed wholeheartedly...up until he lead her to a cliff-side, proceed to strip down to boxer shorts, and took a swan dive off the side.

"Honestly!" She said huffily, her icy-blue eyes glaring down heatedly at the disturbed surface of the water, which Goku had cleanly broken through only moments before. "Although I guess I don't know what I was expecting..." Fuming silently, Bulma sat down, perched on the cliff side, as she waited for Goku to make it back up.

"Woohoo!"

It didn't take as long as Bulma expected for Goku to make it back up the cliff. There was a sploshing sound as Goku broke the surface of the river, landing neatly onto the cliff, holding a giant, squirming fish above his head, chuckling in a very pleased manner. The water dripping down Goku's body drew Bulma's attention to his toned, muscular figure, and she couldn't help but blush a very deep crimson, shiftily averting her gaze, only to sneak glances back towards Goku again.

"That's a huge fish," She muttered lamely, unable to properly say an actual sentence in reaction.

"This one was a fighter!" Goku grinned, missing Bulma's rather dense comment entirely, thinking she was proud of his catch. Holding the squirming fish triumphantly over his spiky head, he laughed as his catch began to slowly stop squirming as it tired itself out. "Whaddya think, Bulma? This'll make for a good meal, won't it?"

"Y-yeah, it will," Bulma replied shakily, frantically trying to pick Goku's clothes up and toss them at him. They didn't budge. The gears turned in Bulma's head, clicking and turning as she remembered precisely why she couldn't lift the garments off the rocky ground; they were weighted clothing. Whatever material Kami had made Goku'sgifrom, it wasn't something Bulma would be moving even a centimeter off the ground. "What are these made of!?"

Seeing Bulma needed assistance, Goku dropped the fish — it feebly flopped again, as if still trying to make it back to the river — and knelt down to pick up thegihimself. Without bothering to think about controlling his strength, Goku lifted his clothes towards himself as if they were made of cotton. In doing so, however, Goku pulled slightly too hard. Rather than taking the clothes out of Bulma's grip as he intended, Goku had pulled Bulma directly into his broad chest.

"S-S-Son!" Bulma spluttered, her face deepening in crimson further, to the point that she resembled a very ripe tomato with a lavender-hued wig. Such proximity was highly mortifying; her arms and face were pressed into his torso, and Bulma could feel his warmth. She pushed herself away quickly, fidgeting, causing Goku to flash her a confused look.

"Bulma, something wrong?" He asked, clutching hisgiand looking quite perturbed.

"Nothing, it's nothing" She replied hastily. "Just put on your clothes and we'll head back!"

Standing directly outside Grandpa Gohan's brick hut, Bulma was rolling up her sleeves as Goku dropped the fish onto the soft grass. Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out a thick, white and yellow case. Opening it up revealed multiple Hoi-Poi Capsules of differing numeric designations; each one of them was a capsulized camping supply. "Its not like I intended to rough it, looking for Son, but a girl can never be unprepared!"

"How're we gonna do this, Bulma?" Goku asked, looking rather curiously into her box of Hoi-Poi Capsules. He'd seen them multiple times before, but they'd always astounded him how city folk managed to fit things like cars and houses into such small containers. "Are you going to bring cooking material out of those magic things?"

"Son, it's been years, and you still can't call them by their proper name?" Bulma pulled out Capsule #4 with a touch of irritation in her voice. "They'reHoi-Poi Capsules. You could at least call them by their nickname, 'DynoCaps' if you can't pronounce the actual name." Perhaps it was her pride as the daughter of the inventor of Capsules that caused a slight edge to spark whenever Goku called her father's invention 'magic'.

Casually, she tossed the Hoi-Poi Capsule towards the ground. With a loudPOP!that sounded more akin to 'POI', an elaborate spread of cookware appeared, laid out on a plaid cloth. Inspecting it, Goku found things he recognized; flatware, pots, pans, and things he didn't. but they still resembled how he cooked things, if he had to draw any quick comparisons.

"Those are propping tools and an adjustable spit," Bulma explained, reading the bewildered look on Goku's face. "I could hardly bring a stove out here, even if my Dad is working on one you can use out in the wilderness. I don't like being the one to test the prototypes. So we'll be combining my flavoring methods with outdoor cooking."

Goku eagerly accepted the offer; perhaps learning to cook wouldn't be so difficult, if it was going to use the methods he already knew. As Goku busied himself with setting the campfire, Bulma concentrated on the monster of a fish in front of her. While she hadn't done anything this grisly in awhile, her work in her dad's laboratory or various medical classes she took in college prepared her for this. Taking a sharp knife she began cutting away the scales, meticulous in shearing away the hardened exterior of the behemoth catch of Goku's.

After a handful of minutes passed when she felt content she scraped away the scales, she used another knife to cut off the various fins aligned on the fish's body to make the gutting process easier. After nearly six fins were piled next to her feet, she grabbed one gill and began gouging out the various parts buried within. Once finished doing the other side, she took an especially sharp knife and sawed open its underbelly, burying her hand into its gut to pull out the loose innards lying against the bone. By the time she finished removing the essentials, she sighed with relief, eagerly reaching for a towel she kept to clean herself of the grime and ichor of the whole process.

"I wish everyone could have seen that, because I amnotdoing that again." Bulma thought to herself, the smell of fish guts still lingering on her arms and hands. Casting aside the towel, she went to go check on Goku, and saw he'd completed his task already and had simply been watching her own progress. Next to Goku was a large fire proportioned in size to be able to sufficiently cook such a large fish — crackling in the middle of a circle of stones.

"You did pretty good there!" Goku grinned, despite Bulma's glowering stare.

"...Oh just come on," Bulma had no words to express any irritation, or perhaps she couldn't. Goku's simple attitude was part of his charm, and he might have just thought she was doing well enough on her own that watching was all he needed to do. "Here, you're the only one that can lift this behemoth, so I'll leave hoisting it onto the spit and over the fire up to you."

"Heh heh..." Chuckling at Bulma's indignation, Goku did as she requested, running the fish through with the adjustable spit as Bulma set up the props. After instructing Goku to meticulously turn the fish every few minutes to ensure even cooking on all sides, she collapsed next to the fire, placing her hands over it. It wasn't truly cold, but the action gave her something to do.

"Son, how do you manage this every day?" Bulma asked, a tired tone to her voice. Despite being a girl who worked with machinery for a hobby, dealing with outdoor cooking truly seemed to tire her out. "I can already feel my back aching from just gutting that monster."

A cheerful laugh escaped Goku's throat as he looked over at Bulma. "If you think this is something, try bear! You tend to get used to this, though. Grandpa used to do the cooking before he died; after that, I had to learn, so I'm used to it now."

"Oh..." Bulma trailed off meekly. "I didn't mean to bring up something like that..."

Waving her off with a smile, Goku shook his head. "No, don't apologize. Grandpa died when I was still a kid. I didn't really know what to think at the time. And I've seen him since then; he's doing pretty well — despite being, well, dead." The crackling of the fire filled their silence, before Goku spoke up again. "Y'know...it was a good thing I met you, Bulma."

At this, Bulma's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the more I think about it, the more I see how little I knew of the world as a kid," Goku explained, turning the fish as he did. "Because I got to meet you, I was able to have so many new experiences. I got to meet new teachers, new friends, and I was able to see the world. That's something Grandpa wanted for me for the longest time; at least, I think so."

"When did Son get so expressive?" Bulma was slightly slack-jawed at Goku's display of gratitude. He was far from rude, but he had always been simple. Words like those never usually left his mouth, but at the same time, they formed a smile on her face. "You could say the same about me, though. Going on that journey with you changed me forever. I started out as a prissy little girl who couldn't bear to be without the comforts of house and home for five seconds. I'd say I even had a selfish, arrogant streak, if only a little. Shove it!" (Goku had just raised a finger as if to make an objection.) "Now, look at me. I made it all the way to the mountains just to find you, and I'm fresh from gutting a fish."

Both Goku and Bulma started to laugh once they realized something they hadn't both noticed before; they were of mutual benefit to each other. Being around one another seemed to improve them in various ways they never noticed until it was brought up. Lost in their own little world, it was only when the smell of fish had truly filled the air that they aid attention to anything else.

On Bulma's direction, Goku removed the fish from the fire. Placing the mouth-water fish out on a cloth, Bulma cracked her knuckles. "Now's the time to do it differently than you would have done, Goku." Using a few utensils from her Capsules, Bulma and Goku began to work at removing the meat from the body, which was new to Goku, as he would have simply eaten the fish as it was. When savory slabs were lain out, Bulma grabbed a few sets of spices from another set of Capsules; Hickory, Chili, and Honey glaze, and lectured Goku in how to properly flavor the meat with them.

It didn't take long for them to dig into the smorgasbord that was the cooked Paozu tuna. While Bulma was satisfied with sampling a few different flavored slices of the aquatic meat, Goku took hearty helpings all for himself. She just hoped that it was a substantial amount of food for the man, as she was the one to bear witness of how hungry an eater he was when he was a kid; he had ate out the entirety of tournament's kitchens with ease, being compared to an army of one with how much his belly could hold.

But the spiky haired man did anything but complain. He thanked Bulma fervently at the delicious taste added to the dinner they shared, glad he could have it with good company. She too missed the opportunity of spending time with friends outside of her dad's coworkers within Capsule Corp. Even the slight chill the crisp mountain air and the natural descent into darkness the mountainside had was enough to tickle her nostalgia, making the trip all the more worth the effort of traveling here.

Sensing the light's diminishing rays peeking through the wooded horizon, Goku stood up after politely piling the dish he used next to the rest of the cooking utensils. Inhaling deeply, he rubbed his stomach with happiness, chuckling happily as he looked at his friend finish her helping's last crumbs, "Boy, Bulma! I've had a lot of fish over the years but that tasted incredible! You really should show me more how to cook like this; that way, I can always feel this great after an awesome meal!"

"If I should thank Kami for anything it's that you've become an excellent flatterer," Bulma said with a bemusing grin, placing her plate over Goku's as she rose to full height to look at her friend's eyes. Taking a glance at the orange rays bleeding through the woodland expanse, she knew that it was only a matter of time before night fully befell their midst. Reaching into her jacket, she fumbled for the right capsule as she said with resignation, "well, I'll take that offer up tomorrow and maybe we can try some other wilderness gourmet to be given the ol' Bulma touch. Just let me get out my sleeping bag and tent so I can be ready for that-"

"Actually," Goku responded readily, waving a free arm at the hut with a smile, "I think you can always sleep in my bed. It's spacious enough that I think you could be comfortable. And it beats sleeping under a tent, right?"

Bulma's face, for the second time in a single day, went a stark red beneath the head of purple hued hair. The implications of what Goku offered so casually struck a chord of embarrassment she had rarely had since she was much younger. Hands reached up to cover her face, her head shaking back and forth, causing a look of dubious confusion to cross her childhood companion's eyes, "I-I-I can't i-i-impose like that, S-S-Son! I-I-I mean...t-t-think about how...I-I-I mean...wouldn't it be c-c-cramped s-s-sleeping in the s-s-same b-b-bed?!"

"What? That's silly for you to say," Goku laughed it off, finding it funny how his friend acted so flustered at the idea of sharing the same bed. He was worried he might squash her or push her off the cot, knowing how he often was a bit of a restless sleeper. Let alone what he had been taught by Kami, it wouldn't be a very polite thing to do to a young lady. "I was going to use the spare futon I got to sleep on the floor. I don't mind, really. I just wanted you to have a comfy bed for a night, is all."

"Oh," Bulma mouthed, her fuming head defusing after a simple explanation from a simple minded man. She glared into her palms for a few seconds, a little angry at herself for assuming that such a thing would happen between them. She wondered whenever her helpless romantic side would learn to grow up. Pulling her hands down, she composed herself enough to smile appreciatively at Goku, causing him to smile back with relief.

As soon as their conversation was over, night had descended upon the forest of Mount Paozu. A hail of crickets and crescendo of other nocturnal sounds began to swell in the backdrop while the pair entered the hut. True enough to the Turtle Schooler's word, he had stashed a rolled up futon that almost doubled as a sleeping bag with how compact it was stashed within the large cabinet holding his clothes. As he unrolled it, Bulma took the opportunity to quickly unpack a capsuled batch of clothes she stashed away for changing. Despite being comfortable that Goku didn't possess a leering bone in his body, she still felt apprehensive of catching his gaze as her matured body was briefly unclothed for the moments she got into a Capsule Corp logo'd pair of pajamas.

By the time she was finished dressing up, Goku turned on his heel and smiled pleased at Bulma. For a moment, it looked like something in his eyes told her he wanted to say something, but it didn't take long for him to discourage the thought. Shaking his head, he almost whispered, "Good night, Bulma," as he laid onto his unfolded sleeping mattress.

"Good night, Son," She breathed out quietly, as she tentatively got into her friend's bed. The surprisingly clean quilt was quite comfortable, and she suspected that it was replaced to fit his larger frame; it practically smothered her as she pulled it over herself. Placing her head against the simple packed pillow, she squirmed as she tried to find a perfect posture for resting. When she settled on a spot, she found herself staring at Goku, back facing her while his body rose and fell gently with every deep breath.

"He looks so calm, you wouldn't think he's as energetic as the kid I once met," Bulma thought with a soft smile, admiring how quiet his breathing was in comparison to the rest of the night's inhabitants. She couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking at that moment that he didn't bring himself to say, but she guessed it was something he'd bring up sooner or later. Content with asking about it tomorrow, her bright blue eyes slowly closed as she attempted to attain some sleep after a considerably long day.

Chapter 2: Our Dream Beyond The Stars

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 2 - Our Dream Beyond The Stars

Bulma turned side to side, her eyes squinting and brows caked in cold sweat. Her mind's eye told of a dream that quickly spiraled into a nightmare. It started off with her memories of Goku and her, along with Oolong, P'uar and Yamcha on their way to Pilaf's fortress. They were intending on reclaiming the Dragon Balls he held captive and be one step closer to collecting them all.

A few details were off, though.

For starters, Goku wasn't a child but was a full grown man, ridiculously buff muscles stretching through the confines of his gi and wielding his Power Pole as if it was a support column for a massive structure. P'uar was a tiger, with Yamcha riding him bareback while wearing even less clothes than Goku with his sword drawn and his hair done in a blonde tint bowl cut. Whatever reason it may have been, Oolong remained the same as he was, which made the dream even stranger.

By the time she witnessed Goku wiping out a legion of robots while Yamcha bested monstrous sized rats, they finally reached the interior of the fortress. Just as they were about to make off with the Balls, much to a same-ol' Pilaf and the gang's chagrin, a pool of lunar light stretched into the throne room. When Goku's eyes met it his whole body shook, expanding in height and mass at an indefinite rate. She barely was taken out by Yamcha with the rest until the whole castle was shattered just by the giant monkey that had replaced the valiant Goku. Stomping after them, they tried to escape a giant hand, reaching out to grab them. Grab her. Crush her.Kill her.

Bulma woke up with a gasp, her whole body heaving with effort as sweat poured down her face. Using her sleeve to wipe off the excess excretions, she turned over to the side of the bed, looking down to the floor. Regaining her breath, she found herself staring at an empty mat, with no sleeping Goku to be found.

"Strange, I knew he was snoring as loud as a train a moment ago. Where the Hell is he?" She pondered with a huff, slipping into some fuzzy slippers as she stood erect. As there wasn't any place to truly hide in the meager spaced hut, she knew there was only two possible areas he could be. She chose the first instead of the latter, knowing Goku's attachment to the old quarters of his adopted grandfather.

Peeking her head out of the window, she turned her gaze around and up. There she caught the sight of Goku's feet idly kicking in the air. Her frown melted into a satisfied smile, glad to have been right on the money.

Shuffling quietly out of the home through the front door, she saw that he was laying atop it. Was he sleeping? It couldn't be that, otherwise she would have heard him through the crude roofing of the hut. Squinting her eyes with determination, she lunged straight for the window opening for a foothold and reached up to grab the roof's edge. Her efforts met with failure, as her grip slipped, causing her to flail back with a yelp before crashing to the ground with a thud.

"Ow," She groaned, rising up from the grass to rub her head with pained frustration.

"Hey, Bulma," Goku called out, catching her eyes as he sat up to look down at her.

Sighing, she stood up to place her hands on her hips, arching a brow incredulously as she asked, "What are you doing up there, Son? A bed mat too comfortable for you?"

"Hahaha, nah, I'm just watching the stars," He shook his head, pointing up at the beautiful night sky glimmering over Mount Paozu.

Looking up, she was taken aback just how amazing the view was. She was too used to the city lights to see the majestic vista of the skyward canvas of constellations and falling comets. Shaking her head out of her reverie, she turned to point at the hut as she met Goku's innocent stare with a demanding one.

"Son, come inside and get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," She ordered in an almost motherly way.

"Awwww, but I'm not tired," Goku whined, almost childishly as his lips pouted.

"Son," Bulma glared up at her childhood friend with indignation.

"Why don't you come up here and look up with me? It's a lot better view and I'd like the company," Goku insisted with a eager smile, patting the roof with insistence.

Hearing that made Bulma's assertive attitude crumble. Looking back at the house then up at the smiling Son, she knew it was either going back to sleep and entering another bout of crazy dreams. Or she could stay up for a little bit and enjoy the scenery with him.

Sighing, she shook her head with a smile meeting Goku's eyes with a childish twinkle of her own, "Okay, I'm in. Just give me a second."

"You sure you don't need help? You're not the most graceful person I know, after all," Goku pointed out candidly after his query.

"I can make it on my own, thank you very much!" She shouted, ditching her slippers so her soles could feel the cold dew soaked ground. Breaking off into another run, her feet found better purchase and her hands' grip on the roof's edge was a bit more firm. Grunting she began lifting herself up, her midriff bending over the surface. It wasn't until her hands felt some tiles pull loose did she start to yip in panic.

Just as her hands struggled to reach for anything to grab hold of, a familiar red pole shot into view. Clapping her digits over her crown, she grasped the object, causing her whole body to bounce but not fall back to the cold ground below. Slowly the pole retracted hauling her up and over the roofing to the upraised steeple Goku was leaning against. Letting go of the pole, she leaned against the tiles as she meekly smiled and averted his gaze with a blush.

"Thanks," She mumbled.

"You're welcome," Goku said simply, not wanting to tease his friend any longer. After placing his pole beside him, he looked up with his hands providing a cushion for his head, he stared up at the incredible view of the stars. Joining him in his stargazing was finally Bulma whose eyes were wide and blinking with awe.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" The aspiring Martial Artist asked with a softer voice.

"More like amazing," Bulma breathed out, her blue eyes reflecting the glittering canopy above. "I often forget what a view like this is living in the city. I wish I could see this all the time."

"Makes you want to go up and see where those lights come from, right?" Goku asked with an excited grin.

Turning her head, her eyes blinked curiously at her friend, "Why would you want to go up there? To space I mean?"

"Oh, I don't know," The Turtle Schooler said as he shrugged, answering readily afterwards with a dreamy smile, "but something in my gut feels like it's the right thing to do, you know? I mean, after I beat Piccolo there's only so many people around that can put up quite a challenge. What if there's even stronger people out there, on planets just like ours? I'd really like to see how far I could push myself facing those kinds of fighters!"

Giggling, she waved at Goku offhandedly as she looked up at the night sky again, "That sounds like you. For whatever reason if you find yourself going up there, you'd need to take me along."

"Oh? What would you do up there?" Goku asked, turning his head to look at her now with a curious set of blinks.

"Research new life forms, planetary geology, make breaking record discoveries of alien life," Bulma replied matter-of-fact, as if it was obvious. Looking over at Goku's perplexed expression, she realized some of her words were going over his head. Making an effort to sit more upright, she gestured towards him with an amused look, "basically I'd do advanced science research while you go kick ass. More or less."

"Oh, that makes sense, haha!" Goku laughed as he leaned up to scratch his head with sheepish relief.

"In fact," Bulma tapped her chin, wagging her eyebrows as she leaned closer to Goku, teasing with a grin, "I'd do my first experiment on a new alien life form, hiding in plain sight."

"Huh? Really? Who is that?" Goku co*cked his head to the side, looking genuinely perplexed by this discovery.

"You," She poked his chest, her smile deepening at the aghast look on Goku's face.

"M-Me?! You think I'm an ALIEN?!" Goku asked with a recoiling visage that looked almost adorable in Bulma's eyes.

"Well, it'd make sense, wouldn't it? I've seen an Alien as a child, so it's not like they don't exist. Plus, you and Piccolo both stray from the norm of this world's native populace so it'd make sense," She explained with a smile, finding it fun to bring up facts of the past to prove her crazy theory. Waving a finger she continued as Goku looked amazed at her, "let's not forget how crazy strong you are. How you are the only human looking being who has a tail but isn't completely covered in fur. Let's also not forget how you, uh..."

"What?" Goku blinked a few times, now curious why Bulma trailed off.

With images of the horrid monster plaguing her dreams returning to the forefront of her mind, Bulma shook her head, dismissing that notion of bringing it up. Smiling again, she elbowed Goku playfully as she winked, "Don't worry, tough guy, I won't tell anyone your secret. Besides, you're not so bad for someone out of the ordinary. I downright say you're likable."

"Really?" Goku asked, tentatively smiling at hearing this news.

"Mhm," Bulma nodded, crossing her arms, boldly proclaiming, "honestly if it came down to it, there's no one I'd rather be with to the end of days than you, Son."

"Oh! In that case I feel the exact same way!" Goku answered enthusiastically, causing Bulma to meet his star-filled gaze with one of her own.

However it was this proclamation that brought a mutual note of understanding between the two. As separate lines of thought flooded their minds, both of them felt heat wash over their cheeks, their eyes suddenly turning away with embarrassment. A few coughs from Bulma followed while Goku whistled too innocently.

"We should get to bed," Bulma mumbled as she fiddled with her hair.

"R-Right," Goku nodded, sliding off the roof with Bulma clambering down after him.

Without falling on her keister, she reclaimed her moist slippers and trotted inside as Goku returned to his mattress. Before she even pulled the covers over herself she could hear his obnoxious snores. Sighing, she knew it'd be better to fall asleep to this than to revisit weirdsville that her mind concocts. Closing her eyes, she couldn't help but finding both the sound and the presence of Goku to be soothing.

Drifting away to sleep, she smiled as rest finally came to her.

The next day, Bulma and Goku set out to hike around the woods near the base of Mount Paozu. Wanting not to alarm most of the wildlife the two agreed to descend on foot making for a good bout of foot stomping into the earth. While Goku didn't seem to mind a meager jog, it felt like a workout to the city girl life she was used to.

Reaching the bottom, the two began to wander, aimlessly searching for something they could turn into gourmet cooking. Goku had suggested they just go fishing again but Bulma was insistent they try a variety of animals he's used to barbecuing without any thought to the texture or quality of the meat. Easygoing as he always seemed to be, he went along with it, eager to taste more of that delicious technique Bulma was trying to teach him.

After what was already four hours of hiking, the lavender haired woman grasped a canteen dangling from her hip, gulping noisily its contents down her throat. Sighing as she screwed it back on, she looked over at a happily humming Goku. He was busy taking in the sights of the more smaller wildlife; she swore she caught him chasing a handful of butterflies, sporting brilliant colors on their wings.

"Ugh, I didn't think we'd walk so far," She complained, eager to regain his attention.

"Aw, cheer up, Bulma! It's a beautiful day out and we have plenty of time to find another meal to cook," Goku said with a wide grin, placing his hands on his hips and jutting out his chest with emphasis.

"Easy for you to say, Son. I'm not a young girl filled with so much energy. I got a limit to my stamina unlike a certain World Martial Arts Champion I know," Bulma pointedly gestured to Goku, making him aware of his title and his unprecedented state of physical prowess.

"Haha, well, that's what happens when you train at Kami's Lookout. He put me through so much that I don't know where to begin with his methods. I swore I was going to die sometimes," He exclaimed, following a dark look entering his eyes. With a haunted tone, he looked away as a shadow hung over his head, "and don't get me started on Popo's training..."

"Well, you can tell me ALL about it when we get lunch. Besides, I doubt it was that bad," She grumbled, leaning against a large fuzzy stump she found next to the treeline.

Her eyes blinked rapidly as she processed what her skin and hair felt. Fuzzy? As in, fur covering? Looking over her shoulder, she suddenly yelped at seeing an enormous brown coated bear with golden markings painting its belly and paws. Landing on her buttocks, she saw it turn around with blood covering its snout, a freshly killed deer laying just behind it. It stood up to five meters tall, easily being the largest bear she had ever seen, making it a native of the enormous wildlife surrounding the mountain and its valley.

Seeing the crazed look in its eyes reminded her of that nightmare from last night. It reminded her all too much of the red eyed enormous simian creature Goku had transformed into. Such memories were so vivid that they practically overlapped with the present. Her breath hitched and her skin paled. She couldn't move, even as the angry bear dove towards her.

Then, a rush of wind passed over her followed by an instantly appearing Goku. Without even thinking his elbow plunged straight into the maddening animal's chest, causing a sickening snap and crunch to follow. A lifeless look colored the bear's eyes, choking for air and soon wheezing out one last breath before tipping over. Crashing atop its own gored kill, it practically shook the ground as it splayed out with a tongue hanging out its mouth.

"Whew," Goku wiped his brow, noting the close call as he just nearly missed the giant bear along their dirt path. He was so distracted by the sights that it took Bulma's scream to wake him out of his reverie. It was thanks to his training that he could move and hit faster than the bear could. Looking down, he bent over to reach down to the stunned woman, "you okay, Bulma?"

"Y-Yeah," She shook her head, she grasped his calloused palm. Pulled up to her feet, she looked down at the monstrous animal, feeling slightly sorry that she had been the cause for its anger. Then again, if it was that cranky, it deserved the hit Goku gave it. Looking over at Goku, she smiled appreciatively up at him, "thanks."

"No problem," Goku nodded back, looking down at the bear. Scratching his chin, he chuckled at the sight, "well, we can't really cook the deer he was eating but he looks big and tasty enough. Wanna try him?"

"As long as you do the work. My hands are still throbbing from the last time I had to deal with that beast of a fish," Bulma shuddered at the remembrance of such an ordeal for her petite, lab-faring hands.

"Haha! Sure thing!" Goku smiled, cracking his knuckles readily as he looked almost ravenously at the bear. "let's get this guy cookin'!"

By the time they had things set up, the bear was propped up in a proper posture over a much larger campfire. Its limbs composed of meat too tough to be entirely edible, so they were excluded from the spit that skewered the skinned and gutted animal. Even with all of its excess removed it was far too heavy for the young woman to even attempt to rotate the spit, so she left pretty much all of the work to Goku.

After they had chosen all of the spices, sauces and other accessories to add to their gourmet cooked lunch, the fire was started and the bear started to turn. After watching in awe at such a massive animal rotating in a circle, the two entered a silence, with only the sounds of the outdoors and the crackling embers filling in the gap. When the questions arose once more, it was Bulma who broke the mute air between them.

"So I have to ask," She began, earning a eager turn of her friend, locking her eyes with his as she practically leaned in from her crouched position, "what was it like, being trained at Kami's? I can't imagine what it was like to be trained by a god."

"Training with Kami?" Goku chuckled, reminiscing about the few years he had spent training at the God of Earth's Palace. "It was probably some of the most intense training I had. You should have seen it; when I wasn't trying to keep up with Kami himself, there was this hidden Room in the palace. Inside, a whole year will pass while outside, only a day passes. However, I couldn't even take a month in that place, it was too intense! Though that's where I also got that mad growth spurt."

"So that's how you got so tall," Bulma smiled, flushing slightly. She had a thing for height in men and Goku was certainly a tall glass of water.

"He also had to teach me restraint," Goku continued, and he sounded serious this time. "Kami told me that I was too impulsive, and being so in-over-my-head could get in the way in a fight. So he had to teach me to reign my emotions in quite a bit."

"He wasn't wrong, you know," Bulma waggled a finger reprovingly at Goku. "Remember when Krillin was killed? You rushed off to find who did it without even a second thought —no plans, no back-up, and you nearly got yourself killed!"

"I-I couldn't help it," Goku remembered quite clearly how he'd run off in a blind rage to fight Tambourine when he'd found Krillin's body, cold and lifeless, on the tournament floor. It was the first time he'd ever felt anger consume him like that, enough to swallow him whole. "I'd have done the same if it was you!"

"Y-You would have!?" Bulma was taken aback by this sudden straightforwardness; she blushed a bright crimson that clashed brilliantly with her vibrant hair. While it was hardly appropriate, the thought that she mattered that much to Goku was both very flattering and yet slightly embarrassing. She hastily tried to change the subject, watching Goku idly turn the bear onto its other side to ensure even cooking.

"Without a doubt," Goku nodded innocently, and Bulma was beginning to wonder if there would be any blood left in the rest of her body, as all of it rushed to her head and cheeks.

"What about flying?" Bulma said in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation to a subject that didn't have her feeling as if she had a nest of butterflies fluttering around in her gut. It was common knowledge that Goku and even his friend Krillin could fly, but they'd only recently developed that skill. "Did you learn how to fly from Kami too?"

"Oh, that?" Goku replied, unperturbed by the change of subject. "No, actually, he never did. I just picked it up from watching Tenshinhan fight. While I was training with Kami, I implemented what I'd seen myself, and managed to actually fly on my own. Kami himself was actually shocked; he said he was going to show me at some point, but never expected me to do it through self-study!"

Even by Goku's usual standards, Bulma thought to herself that Goku learning how to entirely defy their planet's gravity and fly under his own power was a very impressive feat. And this was a man who tended to define the word 'impossible' — and then redefine it simply because it happened to be a Saturday. "Out of all the impossible things you can do, Goku, I really wish I could fly. I've ridden in a lot of hover vehicles, but flying under your own power must be an entirely new experience."

"There are other ways to fly besides those weird magic things you have," Goku replied casually, turning the bear once more. He still had not fully adjusted to technology; Bulma's capsules and vehicles were more like devices from another world than human technology.

"Like what?" Bulma asked, a blank expression on her face.

Smiling at Bulma's forgetfulness, Goku grinned. As the smell of cooked meat began to fully fill their nostrils, the duo decided the bear was ready. Telling Bulma he'd explain after they ate — he was hungry — the final touches began. While still untrained in the culinary arts, with Bulma's steady hand, Goku was able to be of some assistance. After gathering the materials from the Hoi Poi Capsules she had in her cases, the two set out to work seasoning the freshly cooked beast. It didn't take them long to cook and dress their meal.

Having devoured their meal with gusto, Bulma was quick to turn the conversation back to flight. "So, Son, you said there are other ways to fly besides vehicles and your flight?"

"Ofh yesh theresh tonsh," Goku said thickly through a final mouthful of bear.

"Beg pardon?" Bulma raised an eyebrow at Goku's lack of etiquette, and Goku swallowed before continuing to speak again.

"I said there's tons," the spiky-tressed man replied as he and Bulma began to dispose of the bones of the bear. "Well, 'tons' might be a bit much, but I'm sure you can't possibly have forgotten!" And without waiting for Bulma to reply, Goku turned towards the sky and called out in ringing tones.

"Kinto'un!"

Within seconds after Goku had called out the name into the sky, there was a brief sound that filled the air and a figure became visible in the sky. Looming closer, it became clear it was a yellow cloud that was flying full pelt towards the two. The cloud descended, settling between the two of them. It took Bulma a total of two seconds to recognize what she was looking at.

"Isn't this...Kinto'un!? The cloud that old geezer gave you?" She leaned in, and tried to placed her hand gingerly on it. It slipped directly through the cloud, hitting the dirt beneath it. "...Of course."

Goku laughed. "It seems Kinto'un still doesn't like you too much."

"Hmph!" Bulma huffed, turned angrily away from the Somersault Cloud. "Why do I care what a cloud thinks about me anyway?"

"Because this is how we're going to fly," Goku said casually, if he was explaining the most obvious thing in the world. "You can't fly, but Kinto'un is pretty good at it, and I haven't taken it for a spin in awhile!"

"One problem with your brilliant idea, Goku," Bulma replied in an exasperated tone. Walking over to the cloud, she walked directly through it, the cloud parting to avoid contact with her entirely. "From this cloud's perspective, I'm apparently a Devil. I don't see any way I'm riding this thing; I don't even have my Micro Band anymore." Bulma was, of course, referring to the watch-like device she'd created for the purpose of shrinking. She'd used it to ride in Goku's shirt when they were teenagers, but she's given it to Muten Rōshi in exchange for a submarine and had never gotten it back. She shuddered to think of the uses he would probably be putting that watch, even now.

"Oh that's easy!" One had to admire how it took quite a lot to deter Goku from anything. "I'll carry you. It can't be that difficult."

"C-C-Carry me!?" Bulma's face tinted pink. With all the things she'd done in her teenage years — some of which she would admit to and others would be taken to her grave — the idea of Goku carrying her was highly embarrassing. Trying to play it off, she folded her arms, drawing herself up. "W-What are you going to do if I fall? I've seen you fly that thing! It doesn't exactly have safety mechanisms!"

"Are you trying to say you don't trust me?" asked Goku innocently; he actually seemed affronted.

"N-No, that's not it," Bulma shook her head, eyeing the cloud with trepidation. "I just don't have much faith in this thing." Bulma knew the cloud wasn't fond of her, and was now wondering what would happen if it decided to drop Goku while he was carrying her. The fall wouldn't be pretty. Bulma looked from the cloud to Goku's face, and sighed when she saw the innocent expression shining on it.

Sonwouldn't let anything happen to her while he was around. Sighing, she unfolded her arms, and extended them out to Goku with a huffy expression on her face. The black-haired man smiled, taking this to mean he'd won the discussion. Leaning in, Goku scooped Bulma into his arms, carrying her almost bridal-style, before jumping onto Kinto'un.

Unlike Bulma, Goku didn't fall through. To him, Kinto'un was as solid as any platform, just it still felt almost as if it wasn't there. It was quite different from flying, but when it came down to it, Kinto'un was his favorite way to get around.

"Kinto'un! Go!" Goku crowed, and the Somersault Cloud immediately lifted off the ground, leaving only Bulma's high-pitched shrieks of terror in the background.

Bulma, with her arms wrapped around Goku's neck, gripped it tighter in her panic, her eyes firmly shut tight as cloud flew them over the countryside.

Holding her lightly, Goku let out a cheerful laugh, finding Bulma's nervousness to be amusing. "Bulma, open your eyes! You're going to miss everything if you don't!"

With his words encouraging her, Bulma wrenched her eyes open with much difficulty. At first, all she saw was a mass of blue, her lavender eyes staring at the sky. "C'mon, Bulma..." She thought to herself. "If you can invent new technology, you can look down from a magic flying cloud." With this not-so-sound logic in mind, the young woman forced herself to look down and she gasped.

It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, a bird's eye view of the surface of their planet. However, something about viewing it from Kinto'un gave it a different quality. The mountains themselves seem to take on a new life; flying above the clouds the way they were, it cast a misty shine onto the rivers and peaks below them. Beneath them, a pterosaur flew, stretching it's webbed wings and letting out a trilling roar.

Bulma remembered quite vividly the first time her search for the Dragon Balls had come to an end. When she had been captured by a pterodactyl, and was going to be eaten, Goku had rushed in to save her. Of course, it hadn't been quite as noble as she would liked to have remembered it; she practically demanded he save her, but the boy had rushed in without hesitation and she was alive because of that. These thoughts caused her to relax her grip on Goku, clinging to him only gently now as she relaxed against his chest.

The two were silent for the longest; Bulma merely observed the world from her new perspective, and Goku took in her reactions with utmost enjoyment. To him, she seemed like a child in how impressed she was, but Goku had been flying since the age of 14, through Kinto'un at least, so to him, what they saw was nothing new. Once he felt she was comfortable enough, her urged Kinto'un to add to the experience, and perform a few of its trademark somersaults in mid-air.

With adrenaline rushing through the both of them, Bulma looked up at Goku, smiling.

"Son, promise me something." The lavender-tressed girl asked, a tender edge to her voice that Goku had never quite heard before. "Don't ever let me go."

The question was shocking to Goku at first; he didn't quite register what Bulma was suggesting with the question, but he nodded either way. "I won't." He replied firmly. "Never."

Chapter 3: Stepping Forward

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By Demod20, Edited by Firegod00 and LastationLover5000

Chapter 3 - Stepping Forward

For the first time since her stay with Goku, Bulma was the first to rise. Her time spent with him the day prior, held in his arms while their magic cloud sailed across the heavens gave her clarity of what she began to feel. Not just for the experience or for the adventure, but for the man who brought her along. Something strong was there, she could feel it, and it wasn't anything superficial or shallow. A bond she had known was there but hadn't clarified until the last few days she spent some real intimate time with him.

Bulma knew that she was, or rather, has been in love with Goku for some time.

She was a bundle of nerves as she woke up at the crack of dawn, glad to see Goku was still snoring away the first light that bled through the mountain viewed horizon. Creeping out of her covers she tip-toed out of the hut to the outdoors. Changing quickly with a few changes of capsules the heir to Capsule Corp pulled out a phone and dialed her father's number.

"I have to talk to him about this. He's the only one I can count on to think a bit more rationally than spastic me," She concluded in her head with a nod to no one in particular; well, there was a tree but that didn't count.

Resting her head against said tree she counted the rings up to six before she got a response. There was a significant amount of coughs and she could only guess what happened. "Uh, dad?"

"Oh! Bulma! So glad of you to-kaff-kaff-kaff!"

"You alright?" The lavender haired daughter asked her father.

"Yes, I'm fine. A new form of engine that can power an aerial vehicle to move from the atmosphere to the moon for potential colonization practices. Unfortunately, every time I try to push the gauge to move faster than Mach 10, the core overheats and it smokes up my lab! It's a wretched smell to be sure..."

"That's...great," Bulma stressed out with a strained groan, beating her head against the bark in front of her.

"Something the matter? Aren't you enjoying your time out in the wild?"

"Oh! No, I am, really!" She protested with a turn on her heel, waving her free arm with unseen emphasis.

"Oh. I see."

"What do you mean,you see?" The young woman halted, frowning at her mental image of her father smoking a pipe when she heard those words.

"Perhaps...you're remembering something you didn't know you've forgotten. Something about Goku?"

Inhaling sharply she steeled herself, refraining from bursting out loud what her immediate thoughts where. Instead she settled for a forced calm response. "What about Goku?"

"Well, you tell me. I can only assume, given you are my daughter, what it could be about. But since you are a woman, and I am a man, I can't fathom everything that your mind processes. I could be wrong...but that's hardly ever true, haha!"

"Right," Bulma blew up her bangs, turning towards the horizon, leaning on her left elbow against the tree's trunk. "I...guess I've taken our bond for granted. Goku and I's, that is."

"Mhm, go on."

"Well, I guess you could say these last few days have struck an epiphany in me. In a way, I'm excited but also very afraid," She confessed, biting her lower lip as she sneaked a peak to look at the hut over her shoulder. Hearing Goku's distant snores she returned to her explanation. "I don't know how he'll respond. The last time someone said something like this to him, even if it wasn't the most proper, he denied those feelings poured out to him. Even if it was a misunderstanding, how will I know if he can accept my sincere, uh, thoughts?"

"Sweetie, if you want the honest truth, I wasn't always the successful scientist people know me as. When I fell in love with your mother, I was a struggling entrepreneur who only had a basic idea of what would become Hoi Poi Capsules. She didn't see me as a possibility to become rich or famous, she saw me as the awkward yet surprisingly intellectual man I'd further groom myself to be."

"Are you sure you're trying to give me a pep talk or are you selling me your autobiography?" His daughter asked with a dubious raise of a brow, adding to the dry tone in her voice.

"Ahem! The point being, I didn't go out of my way to impress your mother and neither she to me. We were up front about our feelings and before you'd know it we were hitched and ready to start a life of our own. True story, by the way."

"Right, thanks dad. I appreciated the talk," She sighed with a push off the tree. Wrapping her free arm around her waist as her eyes squinted at the rising Sun's purple-orange rays caressing the mountainside. Turning her back on the sign of daytime was upon her, she could hear Goku's snores disappear followed by a loud yawn. "I gotta go. I'll talk to you guys later."

"Of course you will, honey. See you when you get back!"

Inhaling deeply, she huffed as she pocketed her phone and strode back to the hut. She was determined to get this settled without delay. "This is for the best. I can't let this hang over me for the remainder of my time here. Besides, it can't be that hard to confess to Son of all people!"

So lost in thought she didn't pay attention to the whistling man walking out casually of the humble abode straight into her. She bumped straight into his taut chest, feeling herself stumbling back as if she walked into a hard wall. Barely catching herself, she looked up to see Goku's inquisitive stare from above her height.

"I-I seem to forgotten how tall he was compared to me. And...how strong he is," Bulma thought with a vibrant blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Oh, hi Bulma! Sorry I didn't see you there," Goku apologized hastily, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his head the way only he knew how to.

"He's so honest it makes him adorable. It's hard to imagine him being so serious when he rescued me from that bear...and all those other times he protected me," She thought in a blissful reverie. She was enamored by the spiky haired man's innocence and ignorance rolled into one attractive personality.

An attraction that was completely lost to her childhood friend.

"Uh, Bulma?" Goku craned his head to the side, noticing she had been staring for some time.

Finding this out herself made Bulma lose track of what she set out to say. Her words were lost, hands fidgeting at her sides while her eyes darted away in a vain attempt to keep her gaze from his. It failed, and her nervous only continued to increase. "I...um...you...you see I was..."

"Huh?" The Turtle Schooler blinked with understandable confusion. "Bulma, what are you talking about?"

"Son, I...I...," Bulma trailed off, finding herself at a lost of what to do as her mind drew a blank.

"And why are you all red? Are you getting sick?" Goku asked with a step forward, reaching out to feel her forehead.

Widening her eyes at the sudden closeness, which in days past wouldn't have bothered her, making an unnatural instinct in her to move. Leaning back she narrowly avoided his touch by inches, stepping back just in time to find her composure. Unfortunately her state of mind hadn't returned.

"I...I...I just wanted to tell you," She tried to speak out loud, finding it more and more frustrating by his lack of decency when it came to space. When he tried approaching her again, of course out of concern, she reacted erratically in a fist clenched shout. "I'M PACKING!"

It was like doing a complete U-Turn of what she had set out to do. She had been so flustered and embarrassed by the situation that Goku had unknowingly aggravated her past the breaking point. When she opened her eyes, she felt a pang of guilt shoot through her heart; the look of disappointment was very evident on the man's face.

"Y-You're leaving?" He barely stuttered out, as if the thought never occurred to him that she was going to be gone so soon.

"Yes, I-I'm leaving," Bulma insisted, crossing her arms and turning to give Goku the cold shoulder beyond her reasoning. "I'll be ready to go by the time you get back from...from whatever you do without me."

"You mean...we're not going to go hiking today? Or...show me how to cook? Or clean the hut?" Goku asked with adamant disappointment, only dulled by the level of childish disbelief that she truly meant what she said.

"Son...I...I just want to be alone," Bulma finally confessed, though her feelings told her not to say it. "Please. Just...give me today to be on my own. I promise I'll stay here until you get back, to give you a proper goodbye. Just please...no more questions."

"Oh," Goku blinked thrice, finding himself in a no-win situation. If he kept asking what was going on, he'd risk earning a verbal lashing from one of the few friends he had. That and he didn't want her to leave just now. Sighing, he forced a smile and nervously waved at her as he began to retreat from her space. "Okay. I'll...just go and...train. Yeah, that's what I'll do! I'll be back in time for Supper! N-Not that I'm saying you'll have to cook or anything or...uh...okay, leaving now!"

As awkwardly as one could imagine, Goku broke off into a full-on sprint soon taking off into the air with an audible thrum of air waves being parted. The wind lapped on Bulma's body, her hair flourishing across her face, briefly obscuring a look of shame plastered across her visage.

Groaning out loud, she palmed her face with both hands, "I'm such an idiot!"

Hearing the faint echo of her dearest friend's sonic retreat, she was left to wallow to herself in both self pity and chastisem*nt. She had an opportunity and she squandered it due to her own inept nature of coming out to say what she felt. Rubbing her temples, her palms eventually worked their way back to her cheeks and gave them a firm slap.

Opening her eyes from the spike of pain, she renewed her vigor to try and find a way to catch up to him. Reaching into her pocket of her jacket, she shuffled around for a proper capsule case fit for the job. When she found a suitable model she retrieved it and with a click she tossed it to the ground.

In a poof and a cloud of orange smoke, the unpacked item appeared in the form of a white colored motorbike with a safety glass arcing shield coming from the back over to the front to form a windshield. To its back it was labeled AF4029, a serial tag to transport Capsule Number 9, one of the first vehicles Bulma had used many years up to the present day. She smiled at the memorable vehicle, running her hands over the leather seat, reminded of the days she drove it with Goku wrapping his arms around her waist.

The memory triggered an instant of embarrassment, forced out with more slaps to the face. "I won't chicken out or freeze up again! I'll find the right moment to confront him and tell him how I feel. That's what will happen...it will happen!"

Hopping onto the seat, she leaned forward and revved it up to life with four twists to the right handlebar. With a loud roar her motorbike took off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake as she sped off into the horizon.

"I'm so hopeless," Bulma thought as she slowly pulled back into the familiar mountain earth where Goku's hut presided. She had spent the better part of the day just trying to track Goku down but found it extremely difficult knowing that he had no Dragon Ball for a radar to home in on. The young woman swore she saw him blur past her unknowingly as he broke the sound barrier twice over in an unseen challenge of speed.

By the time she got within binocular distance, she felt as if she was looking through the glass of her world and into his. He was so focused, determined and fixated in his own training that she might as well been a passing breeze. After all her determination was spent with frustration, she head back to wait for him at home. At least where he called home, not where they lived together-

"S-S-Stop it! Now's not the time to think like that!" Bulma shouted out, banging her head against her transport's windshield. With a groan of pain at punishing her innocent forehead, she rubbed it tenderly as she dismounted her vehicle. Parking it close to the hut, she settled with leaning against the wall to the right of the entrance, idly fiddling with her bangs.

She lost track of time in her reverie of all the days she had spent with him. They brought back a wave of nostalgia and wonderment she had missed through these past two years since the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Searching for the Dragon Balls, outwitting the Red Ribbon Army, meeting Muten Roshi and surviving the ordeals that followed were fantastic even by her standards. But it wasn't simply the yearning to explore or discovery that drawn her back to Goku; it was the sense of belonging like she never felt at home.

Just as her thoughts had drifted back to Goku she caught a glimpse of him in the horizon, tromping up the side of the mountain. Wrung over his shoulder was a Paozu Tuna, an enormous fish easily two and a half times the size of the man who carried it. Despite it having been dried out on the trek up the mountainside, Goku still perspired sweat from his rigorous workout across the valley only subsided by the dip in the river to find his dinner.

However, the sheer sight of the lavender haired girl still being at his house caused him to smile ear to ear. As often as he loved to eat, there was nothing better than having a meal with the company of friends; especially one as dear as Bulma. He practically sprinted the rest of the way, dropping the fish halfway as he scooped the woman in his arms and gave her an unexpected bear hug.

"S-Son?!" Bulma spurted out, her face bursting red as she felt her feet leave the ground and her body twirl around. Despite the unorthodox greeting, she couldn't help but laugh at his jubilation, despite her own embarrassment.

"You're still here! I was so worried you were going to be gone by the time I came home!" Goku confessed as he finally set her down within the fourth turn on his heels. Reaching up to scratch his messy scalp, he chuckled nervously as he looked at Bulma look down with apprehension unknown to him. "I-I know that whatever happened was...weird, but I was hoping you'd stay for dinner. I'll cook the proper way, seeing as you taught me an' all it's only fitting I treat you for once. What do ya say? Want to keep me company tonight over a campfire of delicious fish?"

It was unbearably charming how the man before her so innocently invited her to dine with him. She knew it was in his nature to be kindhearted and generous to those he cherished, but this was almost too much for her to take. Inwardly she had to kick herself and reassert this was the perfect opportunity. At the risk of putting a foot in her own mouth, she inhaled with deep preparation, ready to say what was on her mind since this morning.

"Actually," Bulma began, her soles rubbing uncomfortably on the earth as her eyes averted from looking at his for a few seconds. She could still a rising bout of apprehension block her from speaking up. But her determination to see this through shoved her doubts and worries away. Looking up with a flushed expression, she stuttered out her words to him. "I-I have something more i-important to talk about!"

"AH! More important than food?!" Goku stumbled back with alarm, recomposing himself with a serious stare into her big blue eyes. A bead of sweat traveled his scalp, cementing his attentiveness with an audible gulp. "Sounds serious. What's on your mind?"

"This is it. No turning back this time," She mentally steeled herself with those thoughts brought up. Inhaling she exhales with a direct approach, knowing no other good way of saying it. "Will you take me as your wife to marry and live with me for the rest of your life?!"

Goku's hardened expression immediately broke into one of utter shock. It was one of the only memories that didn't involve life or death struggles that he could clearly and coherently remember in detail. That day Chi-Chi brought up the time from the past which was a mistake and what she thought was a proposal. But here, as clear as day, Bulma requested him to take her as his wife too? Why was marriage being thrown at him so many times in his life, he'd never know.

Shaking his head, Goku raised up shaking hands, widened eyes staring oblivious at his closest friend with a barely formed question, "Wh-Why? First it was Chi-Chi and I didn't even know what it meant. Even though I know what that means...why do you want me to marry you?! Aren't we good friends?"

"I know that, idiot!" Bulma cried out, more emotional than angry. Her eyes didn't waver in their gaze of him, even though her face was bright red with bashfulness. She was pouring out her heart and she didn't want to stop when she had the chance. "I...I tried to go back to my old life, I really did. I convinced myself of that the first time we parted ways when you went to train. But, after seeing you and coming back into my life the day of the Tournament I just realized how much I missed you. That feeling didn't go away that time since..."

The Turtle Schooler was just stupefied as Bulma continued to express her true feelings. He didn't know how to comprehend it. He had never being romantic with a single woman in his life nor truly understood of intimacy. Yet, he couldn't help but feel a nagging tug on his chest from within. "This is different than with Chi-Chi. We were friends and then she became almost a violent person I couldn't recognize who wanted me for herself. It felt almost like she wanted to possess me or own me. I get the feeling this is completely different than that time, but why?"

"When I first came here, I just wanted to get out of boredom, remembering how much fun we used to have," She admitted, her gaze falling to his feet, a fond smile crossing her face as her hands folded over shorts. "It was the most exciting moments of my life. And I wish I could do them over again and again with every day I thought about it. Then, it occurred to me just the other day, when I was held up in the sky by you. I didn't just wanted an adventure or another thrilling quest. I could always do that on my own. In truth I just wanted to be with you again and never leave your side."

Looking up, she took a step forward, almost regretting it on the offhand chance he'd flinch. But seeing him, steadfast if only for how much in stupor he was in she continued on good faith she wasn't rejected yet. "I love you, Son. I love how you act so calmly around me with such a carefree spirit. I love your humility and how you don't raise yourself higher than those around you. I love your determination in bettering yourself and even how much you love food. There's so many things I love about you I can't name them."

Another step and she was inches away from the taller man. Her eyes now watered to the point of overflowing, tears sliding freely down her face as she smiled up with quivering lips at him. It took all the will she had to not feel undignified or turn away. She wanted to look at him, see his eyes and know his reaction as she asked the most crucial question. "Son, do you understand now? Do you love me as much as I love you? Will you still marry me knowing my true feelings?"

Goku felt like a haywire of jumbled feelings. His cheeks were flushed and sweat crawled en mass down his scalp with nervousness. He had never been asked such a serious question. He was used to life's simple nature: Train, Eat, Talk to Friends, Fight enemies or spar with rivals, and sleep. That was his routine and he never thought of breaking that cycle his life had been put on, with only the occasional detour of finding mystic items or discovering new places. He didn't want more from life because nothing dramatic impacted him.

But this was different. He knew his life wouldn't have progressed as much as it could have if it wasn't for Bulma ramming a car into him that one fateful day. Meeting Yamcha, finding the Dragon Balls, Training with Muten Roshi, besting Tien, beating Piccolo both times and becoming a winner at the Tournament. None of it would have happened if it wasn't for Bulma and her friendship he established with her all those years ago. The more he thought about it, the more he came to an understanding how important she was to him and not just in the grand scheme of his life, but how he felt about her.

Through the recollection, Goku calmed down and slowly unraveled his own answer to her as she looked up with large, water filled eyes, "Well, when I have to think about it, I never had the opportunity to learn about love from my Grandpa. The most Roshi taught me about it was that he liked their bodies which all-in-all wasn't my main focus in life. Not even Kami could give me an answer when I asked him once or twice about it, saying he had no desire and that it didn't concern my training."

Continuing to wait for Goku to answer, Bulma felt intensity somber out as he looked down at her with a smile. "I guess, maybe its because I didn't know many girls or spent time with them as long as I did with you, I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with any other girl. You've helped me see there was a larger world outside of this mountain and I can't thank you enough for that. Your friendship has meant the world to me and I can't imagine a place better than with you in it. I think you were the one to teach me what a friend was and I have so many thanks to you."

Scratching the back of his head, Goku laughed lightly before inquiring in as serious tone as he could muster. "So...maybe you can teach me about love with you as my wife? I mean, if you want to marry me, I can't imagine anyone else other than you to spend the rest of my life with. Hahaha!"

An overwhelming surge of joy filled up Bulma, like an electrical charge had been turned on by a switch powered by Goku's words. Her eyes sparkled and her mouth stretched into the biggest smile she ever had donned. Even though he never admitted to loving her, this was the closest she knew that he'd get to proclaiming feelings towards her. She couldn't have imagined a brighter green light.

Laughing with him, she reached and pulled Goku into one of the biggest hugs she could give him, swinging around with him again by her own accord. She couldn't have felt happier than she had in the past. Today they are taking a step forward and move past the people they are yesterday into the molds of tomorrow. Upon finishing spinning she nuzzled into the crook of his neck, breathing in the scent that she only knew him by. The musk of the wilderness and the water that had long since dried when plucking the fish for dinner.

"This feels nice; being in Goku's arms," She thought dreamily, ignoring the look of confusion crossing Goku's face. Though dumbfounded he found a strange allure to his higher-than-average senses. The warmth of her embrace and the enticing aroma coming from her hair down to the neck. Even the feeling of her arms rubbing against his shoulders and his own neck felt nice, tender in the touch and intention. He had never felt so much slack in his posture than now, the comfort of the situation not being lost on him. Like a child who discovered something wonderful, he held onto it silently and with a small smile.

"You know, Son," She whispered as she kept the hug that she was thankful hadn't ended. "After we have dinner, I really do need to pack. For the both of us, that is."

"Huh?" Goku blinked with surprise, separating from her to hold her by the shoulders. "Why leave? Don't you like it here?"

"I do," She insisted, then turning to look at the hut over her shoulder while the prior stared at it fondly. "I just don't think that place was meant for more than one person. You've grown a lot and I'd hate having to impose for you to sleep on the floor regularly. Besides, it may end up getting a little cramped not too long from now."

"Are you saying I'm going to get fat?" Goku asked with a pouty expression.

Snorting out with a laugh, Bulma had to contain herself before shaking her head, "Wow, Son. I guess I'll have to explain later. But for the meantime, just trust me, okay? I'm sure you don't want to learn how to build a bigger house when we could just move back in with my parents? We're pretty rich so running out of food won't be a problem, even one with such a healthy appetite."

A thunderous rumble echoed from the martial artist's belly at the mention of the F word so many times in a row. He had put off dinner to settle matters concerning Bulma. Now that it was settled, he released his grip from his now betrothed to sprint swiftly back to his now dried catch. Lifting it up with a broad smile, he asked her innocently, "Can I cook it this time? I'm sure I can make it delicious, thanks to you!"

Flushing at the compliment, she smiled sweetly and nodded with a blissful tone in her voice. "Yes, anything for you, Son."

After they ate, it didn't take long to pack, thanks to the miracle of Hoi Poi Capsules. All of Goku's personal affects, from a few change of clothes to the Dragon Balls he had recently collected and then the Nyoi-bō that belonged to his grandfather everything was gathered that was deemed necessary. He took his time to give a somber farewell, determined to visit it every once in awhile to pay tribute to his childhood home.

Driving back, Bulma was all sorts of excited to break the news to her parents. Using the motorbike she had used to try and follow him earlier that day they drove into the sunset back home. Goku held onto her tightly, much to her joy, as the two of them raced across the countryside at dangerously high speeds. The dirt billowed up in their wake, wind nipping at the edges of her skin away from the overhead windshield, with the scenery unfolding around them as they passed it by. Unlike the arduous journey from before it became a breathtaking trip back.

When she moved through the familiar highways, she saw Goku wave at some of the passing by traffic and was in awe as country became cityscape. Entering West City the two veered towards the more suburban area close to where she lived. She was glad that the city was lit up nicely, otherwise she'd have trouble navigating back. Parking her vehicle along the driveway, she got out a bit too quickly, pulling an unsuspecting Goku onto the asphalt ground.

Having braced her fall, she was only mildly stunned while Goku laughed at their carelessness. She fumbled for an apology as they both stood back up to their feet. Dusting herself off she pressed the button on the bike, collapsing it back into its Capsule state so she could pocket it appropriately.

Inhaling deeply, she turned to look at Goku and smiled, "Alright. It's been awhile since my family met you so be on your best behavior. Understand?"

"Aw, lighten up Bulma. I remember your dad alright. He's the guy with the nice mustache, right?" Goku asked with a near excited tone with a giddy smile.

Giggling with a roll of her eyes, she sighed, "Fine. Let's just go inside and see what happens."

Walking up to the front door, something within her had a nagging feeling. Like something she forgot to tell her fiance -something she was still getting used to calling him- regarding her parents. The irritation only mounted as she knocked on the door with Goku standing attentively to her left. It had probably something to do with them, but what was it?

Opening the door, Panchy was there, with Dr. Brief peering in not too far behind her. Greeting them both with a smile, she clapped her hands together with a blissful smile adorned to her face, "Oh hello there, you two. When my sweet Bulma left, I didn't expect to see you both back. What brings you here this time, Goku?"

"Hello, Bulma's parents!" Goku greeted with a hand wave and a wide smile. "I'm marrying Bulma! Hope you two don't mind!"

Sputtering with incredulity, Bulma almost fell down with shock at how blunt he was. Standing up quickly, she had half a mind to turn on Goku and scold him for taking away the thing she had planned on doing. But, in her forgetfulness and shock, she had the opportunity to see her parents just casually smile and nod at him.

"Oh, isn't that lovely?" Panchy clapped with a bright smile. "I always thought you two would make a good couple."

"Mhm, about time they fessed up to each other. Well, at least one of them did, I reckon," Dr. Brief coughed at the end, smiling wryly with a wink over his wife's shoulder aimed at their daughter.

"Huh?" She blinked with disbelief at her mother, not fully understanding what she was saying. They knew about the two of them all along? She remembered how her father had thought Goku was her boyfriend when he was introduced to him years ago. She never believed they were pairing her and him up all these years.

"Why don't you two come inside? I'll cook up some snacks if you'd like," Panchy offered as she sauntered back towards the kitchen.

"Oh! I could go for a bite after that ride here!" Goku responded with gusto. Striding in, Bulma came in with him, blushing slightly at the news broken so carelessly. Though she couldn't help but seeing that it wouldn't have happened any other way. His straightforwardness was a trait she both gawked and admired on equal worth depending the occasion.

Watching him enter in and watch her mother like a dog waiting for the master to reward him with tasty treats, she sidled upon the wall's entrance to the kitchen. The familiar scent of pipe smoke filled the air caused her to look to her left. When he puffed a few times she almost laughed at the sight.

"You know, as much smoking you've done, I just might inherit that bad habit of yours," She commented offhandedly with a sly grin.

"I don't condonethatkind of inheritance," Dr. Brief intoned with a cloudy exhale. Turning to look at her with a hidden smile, he chuckled with afterthought. "But the rest you're free to have and then some."

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Bulma winked at him with a chuckle.

"Here you go honey," Panchy announced, setting up a number of frozen desserts along with a pie at the center of delicious treats. "Eat up."

"Whoo-hoo!" Goku cheered with joy, taking the nearest spoon before his arms and mouth became a blur to the devouring of the offered food. As Panchy watched in awe with how much he devoured or could fit in his mouth, Dr. Brief and Bulma saw this as an inevitability.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," He gestured with his pipe at the voracious new guest of theirs.

"Remember what mom used to say?" Bulma asked, earning a tilting glance towards her. "We don't choose who we fall for. The heart does that for us."

"Touche," The older man nodded sagely as he put the pipe back into his mouth.

"AH!" Goku set down the last of the plates, far quicker than anyone could have imagined. With every last dish licked clean, it caused Panchy's nearly unseen eyes to open and blink widely at the marvel. All desserts were eaten and Goku seemed to look slightly sated. Patting his belly, the martial artist wiped his mouth with a nearby paper towel to be a bit more polite. "All done! Thanks for the treat, Bulma's mom."

"My poor cupboard doesn't stand a chance against you, Goku," Panchy laughed after regaining her collection, grabbing the dishes and quickly cleaning the table.

As she set about doing that, Goku skipped back to Dr. BriefDr. BriefBrief and his daughter, smiling broadly at having his belly full, "You're right about one thing, Bulma. I could eat as much as I want here. Your family's food is great!"

"Thank you," Dr. Brief replied with a nod and a grin, puffing on his pipe while Bulma shook her head.

After a few moments of silence followed by dishes being cleaned in the background, Goku couldn't help but think. It had comprehended him that other than breaking the news they still had yet to do the marrying. Since he was someone not experienced in such ventures, he turned towards Bulma and asked with a scratch to his chin, "So, Bulma. When do we get married?"

She herself hadn't thought of it so the question came as a surprise. Looking to her father she asked simply, "What do you think, dad? Should this weekend work?"

"Hmm," The Capsule Corp President hummed thoughtfully, sucking on the pipe's stem as he pondered carefully. Looking over to the kitchen sinks which his wife busied herself on, he called out with query. "Honey, do you think this Sunday will work?"

"If your schedule with the company is clear I don't think it'd be that difficult," She chimed back, picking up a platter and scrubbing it with a soapy towel. "Do you want this wedding to invite a lot of people or keep it quiet?"

"Good point," Dr. Brief nodded at that thought, turning to look at Bulma. "If you make this wedding public it could get quite crowded. Plus, I'd wager a number of Goku'sfriendsif you know what I mean might want to attend."

"Let's keep this informal," She stated with a wave of her hand. "I don't want anyone potentially ruining our big day."

"Do you mind if I invite our staff? Your wedding may be publicized the day after so might as well let everyone who works for Capsule Corp in on the know," The Business man asked her daughter with a few puffs on his pipe.

"I don't care much. I know they'll be on good behavior at least," Bulma agreed with a nonchalant shrug. She knew most of the company's employees by name and the recent she recognized by their faces. They were almost like an extended family as far as she was concerned.

"Excellent! I'll have some of them help with managing the wedding and reception afterwards. Shouldn't be that much to ask with a paid day off," He added with a chuckle. Turning to look at Goku, he gave a nonplussed grunt and asked with hesitation. "I'm guessing you've got nothing ceremonial to wear?"

"Sara-what?" Goku inquired lamely.

"Ceremonial," Bulma corrected her fiance, smiling patiently with him as she waved to her lab-coat covered father. "It means something fancy to wear. Like if dad was dressed in a suit instead of his normal coat."

"I resent that! All the scientists wish they were dressed as well as me!" Dr. Brief turned his nose up, proudly puffing up his chest while straightening his collar that had a line of soot around the edges.

"Haha, nope!" Goku laughed with admittance, scratching the back of his head as he gestured to himself. "I only got a few sets of gi to wear. I rarely change from one to another."

"Ah...well, hopefully we can do something about that," The scientist sighed with a shake of his head. Giving a thorough look at him, he nodded with understanding at Goku's size and build. "I don't think we have any suits on hand in your particular size. Maybe I can have one custom tailored for you by this weekend. I'm sure we can make it work."

"Sounds good!" Bulma clapped with excitement.

"Now, as for sleeping arrangements," The father of one declared, pointing at the two of them sternly. "Separate. Bedrooms. No discussion."

"But-!"

"Okay!" Goku interrupted Bulma with a smile, not fully comprehending the ramifications of his agreement to his engaged's father. Though he might have spoke too quickly, given the morose look he spotted out of the corner of his eye worn by Bulma. Leaning over, he waved to her readily with a smile. "Don't worry. We'll still be in the same house and the wedding won't be too far away."

"You're right," Bulma acknowledged with a half-decent smile.

"And if you're wondering about keeping yourself occupied, Goku," Dr. Brief suggested with a opportunistic smile. "I'm sure you can help my prototype division with some of their inventions. Ordinarily I think it'd be a bit dangerous but this is an application I need tested on someone. Might giving me a hand for the next few days?"

"Sure," The martial artist answered with a shrug. "I think I can take it."

"Alright," Dr. Brief sighed with finality, placing his hands in his coat. "The wedding will be four days from now. I hope you two young ones can handle being within an arm's length until then but before you know it, the day will be here."

And so, for the next three days were one of personal frustration for Bulma while Goku was experiencing new things with each day. On occasion he snuck away for a few hours to train but always returned to assist Dr. Brief with more tests he had in mind. Some were unexpectedly painful while others exhilarated him. He had no idea how many devices were under development and awaiting to be utilized for the first or dozenth time.

Bulma could only busy herself by helping her mother handle wedding plans. They'd rent out a chapel in West City and were pleased the minister there was more than pleased to help with the ceremony. Since all of the invitations were Capsule Corp employees fishing up their addresses wasn't hard and took less than an hour to mail to them appropriately. The monetary incentive, she thought, was always a nice way to get them to come even if they didn't like weddings.

The day before the wedding she tried on her dress just as out of sight Goku was fitted for the suit. While she reveled the gown's flowery design, Goku couldn't help but complain how hot he felt inside his own apparel. He couldn't help but feel aghast at the idea of standing for hours during the ceremony but was enthusiastic at the idea of a feast awaiting them after the fact. If the motivation for food wasn't so great, he'd insist on changing the theme from formal to casual.

During the day of the wedding, Goku was escorted there ahead of the bride, making sure he wouldn't see her much to his confusion. Dr. Brief made sure that they'd cut it close to decrease amount of time his daughter's betrothed being in his uncomfortable attire. Walked down the aisle with various flower girls and attending employees to fill up the necessary placements, he was thrilled when his daughter came.

"You look beautiful, honey," Dr. Brief greeted his daughter with a proud smile.

"Thanks, dad," Bulma shyly smiled, her face hidden by the white veil of her gown.

"You better hurry, though," The Capsule Corp President suggested, leaning in to whisper to her. "You-Know-Who is getting antsy as he is. The prospect of food is the only thing keeping him from tearing off his suit."

"I'll keep that in mind," She laughed, realizing how out of his element it must be for him to sit still and dress properly. Breathing deeply she set out to walk with her father, arm-in-arm into the auditorium. "I'm ready."

As the doors opened, the music kicked into full gear and everyone in attendance stood up. From the young to the old, all Capsule Corp employees marveled at Bulma's beauty and the refined appearance she had in her chosen dress. Her walk had only taken a half a minute, something she knew her white suited betrothed was all the more thankful. Seeing him gawk at her dress, having never seeing one before, was enough to make her blush behind her veil.

"Wow, Bulma," He exclaimed after swallowing, looking at her from trim to veil of her wedding apparel. "You look great! I mean, I can't see you very well but your dress looks nice!"

"Thanks, Son," She replied sweetly, batting her eyes at him through the veil.

"Greetings, everyone!" The minister, draped in a similar white themed uniform, looking at the standing crowd. With a nod they seated, leaving the remaining head members of the company to stand next to Goku with Dr. Brief himself. Seeing everyone there he began his lengthy message about the true essence of love, the bonds shared and the camaraderie of two people as husband and wife.

It was unfortunate that Goku only half listened, doing all he could to not squirm in place. The suit was so irritable yet the idea of standing the whole time in it without moving an inch, smiling at Bulma, put a difficult strain on him. Just seeing people sitting out of the corner of his eye caused him due unrest. He just hoped for something to break the monotony of which he only cared a little about.

One half hour passed and he only met the halfway point of the wedding's initial ceremony. Thankfully, much to his relief, something did happen. Unfortunately for Bulma it'd be to her own chagrin.

"HEY!" Came a shout from a particularly spiky haired man in an unbuttoned green jacket with yellow highlights, yellow muscle shirt lying underneath with dark hued jeans. With a baseball cap with the highlighted T on it, the scar-faced athlete looked familiar to a few sports goers in the auditorium. But he looked familiar to a particular pair; the ones who were about to be wed!

"Oh no..." Bulma groaned at the sight of her Ex showing up.

"Y-Yamcha?!" Goku stuttered out with disbelief, both at his appearance and his arrival. "What are you doing here?!"

"So you two are really here. That means you really are getting hitched," Yamcha muttered out, followed up with a few steps forward cemented with a fist upraised in their direction. "That's something I cannot allow!"

"Young man, I think you don't understand," The minister cleared his throat, trying to exercise some semblance of authority over the disrupted wedding. He could already see people mumbling and looking around with confusion plastered over their faces. Trying to make this less of a mockery, he gestured to the rest of the chapel. "This is a closed ceremony. If this was public, I'd allow people to speak out against this holy matrimony. However, this is no place for-"

"Stow it, preach!" The scar-faced baseball player yelled and pointed at the older man, looking especially passionate by the fire in his eyes. "This is a battle of love! Stay out of it!"

While the minister felt helpless to defuse the situation, Bulma didn't help things by screaming across the hall at him, "How did you even find out about this?! We didn't even invite you!"

"Why are you mad, sweetie? Isn't he a friend of yours?" Panchy asked, remembering at one point the two had dated in the past.

"I broke up with him, mom. There was a reason you didn't see us arm in arm after that," She growled with an unseen twitch around the brow.

"Huh, isn't this quite the dilemma?" Dr. Brief stroked his chin nonchalantly, looking to Goku with curiosity in his eyes. "I wonder what he plans on doing?"

"Beats me," Goku shrugged, waving with a smile over at his old friend. "Hey, Yamcha! Been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yes, Goku, it has," Yamcha sternly replied, staring him and Bulma down with equal intensity. "Sorry we couldn't meet under better circ*mstances, but this is personal for me. Did she tell you that she broke up with me not too long ago?"

"Uh, no. What does that mean?" Goku asked with a chin scratch, almost making Yamcha stumble over while Bulma sighed.

"It means we didn't get along as a couple and one person had enough being with the other person," The latter explained with a tired tone in her voice. She really just wanted her wedding to finish and Yamcha's arrival helped nothing but delay things. Turning to look at him from the distance, she pointed directly with a snarl in her voice. "However, that still doesn't change my question. Why are you here?"

Holding up a scrap of paper that was officially printed and looked to have fit in an envelope, Bulma recognized it even from a distance as an invitation. "I knew a buddy on our team that was interning at Capsule Corp. He told me he had come under the weather and wouldn't be able to attend or handle the reception proceedings. He asked me to take over for him. I asked who was getting married and I couldn't believe it was really you two, of all people!"

Crumpling up the invitation in his hand, he raised both hands up, throwing them back beside himself as he finished with a cry, "That's why, I'm going to fight for your hand!"

Bulma was practically beside herself. She had never seen Yamcha so serious before, even when things were concerned for her. Why was he now trying to turn a new leaf? It had to be a trick, she knew better.

While she fiddled for a decision, Goku turned towards the minister with a raised hand, almost like a student to a teacher to ask a question. "Uh, hey. I know this seems like a crazy idea but what if I take him up on his offer? I beat him and then we can be married."

"F-Fine!" The minister nodded his head, hurriedly waving his hands towards the offending arrival. "Just do it quickly. The sooner he can leave the better!"

"Alright!" Goku fist pumped, leaping from the platform to perform an acrobatic knee tucked flip in the air. Landing with a crouch just a few meters away from Yamcha, he rose to full height, much to the clamor of the crowd around them.

"I-I didn't expect a fight to break out," Stuttered a nervous intern.

"I'm sure getting my money's worth," Declared a more vocal engineer of the Corp, shaking his hand with a sparkle in his eyes. "My favorite player from theTaitansbattling it out with the President's daughter's fiance! This will be awesome!"

"Gotta take some pictures!" Another cried out as he pulled out a camera and began taking snap shots of the square off.

"You all should give the two their space!" Dr. Brief announced through a megaphone that he seemed to have materialized out of thin air; thin, wispy and smoke filled air. "I wouldn't want to have to pay for your hospital bills on your paid day off!"

At this notion, all of the nearby attending members of Capsule Corp backed up along their seats within the chapel. Wall-to-wall, they watched on with rapt attention, having never expected such an event to occur in a wedding. While Bulma watched on worriedly from the pedestal with her amused father, Panchy watched blissfully from the sidelines, not entirely worried about the outcome of this fight.

"To be honest," Yamcha began to say, turning his ball cap around till it was backwards. "I didn't train too much ever since I began my career as a baseball player. Between that and the requests for other ventures, I couldn't deny the opportunities. I think that's why Bulma thought I wasn't being that faithful of a boyfriend. Probably even thought I cheated on her too, even if it wasn't true."

"I know you, Yamcha. You may have been underhanded in our first fight, but you're honorable deep inside," Goku complimented as he did some stretches that his suit allowed, moving from one ankle down to the other, rising up to roll his shoulders each which way. "I'm sorry we had to fight under these circ*mstances. I really like Bulma and this means a lot to her. For that reason, I won't hold back against you."

"Wouldn't want you to begin with," The fellow martial artist replied with a toothy grin. As their muscles were properly readied for a conflict, theirkibegan to rise. The effects were almost immediate, as a shift in the air's quality became unsettled with heat rising around their vicinity. Electricity began to be seen dancing faintly around the pair's body, almost transparent in their discharge to the point of almost seeming like an illusion. With both fighters settled around their appropriate levels of strength, all that was left for the first move to be made.

With nothing left to be said, both dashed towards each other. Colliding with enough force to blow back the pews on top of each other, the aisle was indented underneath their feet. Forearms were locked and a pair of eyes were seen staring heatedly between the two. Pulling back, both exchange a series of punches and kicks, visibly distorting the space around the two to make them almost indistinguishable.

One upper cut followed by a left hook sent Yamcha sprawling across the aisle, but didn't put him down entirely. Steadily he rose back up and heaved with effort while Goku smoothly strode towards him with a serious glint in his eyes. Smiling, the ex-bandit charged forward, making a sign as if he was making ready to use a Wolf Fang Strike. Thrusting an open palm to hit Yamcha in the face before he'd make contact, he was surprised to hit thin air, the assault a feint as he swerved under Goku's guard and landed a vicious knee kick to his gut.

"Gaugh!" Goku stumbled with surprise, holding a partially tattered suit jacket with the undershirt torn from the impact alone.

"Wolf Fang," The Turtle Schooler heard Yamcha growl behind him, making him stiffen and turn to block the incoming strike. Instead his outstretched arms were grasping a searing wide beam of plasma, overlapping his upper body with unforgiving fury as it exhaled out of the chapel's door and crashing with a mighty explosion outside. Enough power was placed that a mighty gust of wind echoed within the chapel's interior. Finishing with the haze of steam that obscured Goku's person, he smirked at saying it, believing he won. "Kamehameha."

"Son!" Bulma cried out, believing he had somehow lost to Yamcha of all people.

"That was a good hit, Yamcha," A voice answered seriously, the steam finally blowing off a now shirtless Goku. With Bulma blushing as much as she was happy to see he was untouched by the attack. With the scar-faced man looking absolutely stunned his friend managed to defend against the sneak attack, he was beside himself by the thanks he got. "I felt a bit constrained by that suit. I think I can properly exercise myno restraintpromise now."

Yamcha was about to question what he meant until Goku's arm moved like an invisible blur before his eyes. A thunderous impact that rumbled the structure took place, causing the scarred man's face to pinch up around the mouth and sockets bulge eyes. Clenching his abdomen with indescribable pain, he fell to his knees as Goku walked calmly beside him back to the altar. As he keeled over to writhe with agony, the pleased bare chested martial artist stood apart from his blushing bride before piping up a simple.

"Okay, ready now!"

"Uh...I," The minister began, looking pale faced at the display of inhuman power shown. Clearing his throat, he finally waved hastily in as ceremonious fashion as he could between the two. "I-I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride now."

As Goku meticulously removed the veil from Bulma's flushed face, it came time for a moment of truth. He had never kissed a girl nor was kissed at all. All he could do was awkwardly lean in and hope things worked out. Despite the awkward presentation, Bulma giggled at the sight and closed her eyes, doing the rest of the work. When the two lips meshed, a round of applause was heard but fell on deaf ears. To Bulma she was finally with her man and giving her first kiss to him as well.

Through the other's perspective, he felt a host of stimuli he had never experienced before. The moment their kiss happened, it felt like he was struck by lightning on the inside. A rush of warmth swam from his head down to his toes, circling around his belly and tapping his fingertips. Pupils dilated at the sensation as their kiss seemed to prolong, his own face now blushing at the first kiss he ever gave to a girl, even one he liked.

When Bulma parted from him, she was surprised by the bashful expression on Goku's face, causing her to laugh and ask him, "What is it, Son? Don't tell me this is your first kiss?"

Not knowing if Bulma was teasing or not, he simply nodded his head and asked with a stupefied look on his face. "That was a kiss?"

"Yes, Son. That was a kiss," She answered patiently with him, smiling brightly all the while as she confirmed she shared her first with his own.

"Wow," He awed out loud with slow blinks, still getting used to the bubbling feeling in his stomach. Shaking his head, he pointed to his lips again and asked with a broad smile. "Can we do it again?"

A host of laughter was heard, by her father to the rest of the congregation attending with the exception of an unconscious Yamcha lying fetal position in front of the alter. While Bulma simmered bashfully at that kind of request, Goku couldn't help find what was funny about it. Rolling her eyes she threw dignity to the wind and wrapped her arms around Goku's neck, pulling him into a kiss that was doubly more passionate. With both of their eyes closed, his arms wrapped tentatively around her waist as the entire chapel exploded into another round of cheers and applause.

This was truly the happiest day of their lives.

Chapter 4: Another Day Of Our Lives

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 4 - Another Day Of Our Lives

Last time, on Dragon Ball: Heart of the Adventurers:After one year of separation, Bulma and Son Goku were reunited. Feelings emerged and were confessed by the young heiress of Capsule Corp to the childhood friend of hers. Not pushed away but accepted thanks to the rare bond they hold, wishing to learn the meaning of love for himself, Bulma proposes they marry. When the young couple have their day under the sun, Yamcha comes to stop the proceedings only to fail to stop Goku's desire to make Bulma happy. After sharing a tender first kiss the newlyweds begin their journey in learning what it means to truly be entwined as one.

And now, the Adventure continues!

Son Goku felt great. It was just one of many words he could use to describe the feelings he was having. Ever since being married to Bulma he was introduced to a myriad of new sensations that he himself had never thought possible. All of these came under the unusual need for privacy for which he desired to share with others but was insisted not doing so. Coming from a man who had never kissed before when he finally did so his awareness of his masculinity was made known to him in the bedroom.

Which is where he was at this very moment. Under the covers he was snuggled up against his beautiful wife, her head nestling underneath his neck with her lower body partially draped over his. Under the sheets they were as bare as they day were born but with them layered over their skin they had the looks of a true couple. Bulma smiled, still in her dreams, partially from the passionate night she had spent with her lover. Goku's more playful smile was wide and open, a blush played across his neck up to his cheeks as he still recounted the last night and many nights they spent.

"Can't believe it's been six months already," He thought with a turn of his head, seeing the tiniest glimpses of Sunlight beginning to peter through the window. Despite its curtains his body already told him what time it was, and no alarm clock or blinds could stop that. The only chagrin he had was that he had to pry himself away from his soft, warm bed that his wife presided within.

He had to do so delicately, remembering the last time he accidentally roused her. He had received a good thrashing for waking her up, not to mention she whined that he was leaving bed so early. But after awhile the two had agreed this was his routine without him having the urge to run to the mountains. He had to get his exercise somehow.

After untying the last leg and arm from Bulma's sleep ridden form, he tip-toed across the carpeted bedroom and reached for his nearest affects. Having been forced to be accustomed to civilian attire instead of wearing the same gis he always had, he found that a particular colored pair of garments were to his liking.

One of the changes of apparel he found was perfect for the situation. Pulling over a black sleeveless muscle shirt that conformed to his very apparent muscular build he pulled up a pair of boxers that went under his orange slacks. With white and black tennis shoes fitted over his feet he felt that he was dignified enough to start his morning routine. A routine that he has practiced and perfected over the course of the last half year.

After stuffing a healthy snack down his gullet to help wake himself up, he settled on the front lawn of Capsule Corp. Stretching out, he'd follow up with one hundred push-ups and sit-ups. Lastly he drank a liter of juice that he disposed of proper on the disposal unit sitting next to the curb of the driveway.

"Okay! I feel ready to tackle the day!" He exclaimed, breaking out into what any athlete would call a sprint and what Son Goku considered a casual jog. His body rushed through the wind, his feet beat the asphalt as his form took upon the current of a galloping beast. A smile fixated on his face as his arms were kept close to his chest while his breath was quick and shallow.

Despite not going at full speed it was an exhilarating experience for the married martial artist. The feeling of the wind lapping at his skin, his clothes flapping against his body and the light feather touch his soles made against the ground as he made record speeds around the waking metropolis. From his perspective the birds' wings were lazily flapping in the air, the sprinklers on lawns were spitting dots of water at a laid back pace, and the woodpecker against a tree was knocking against the bark one beat at a time.

Since he saw only a minimal traffic downtown, both on the sidewalk that he avoided and the street he currently tread he decided to check his leg strength. Without skipping a beat he halted his momentum just for a moment the Martial Art Champion bent his knees and jumped up. His iconic hair flourished about his scalp as the air rushed past his cheeks and howled against his ears. Slowing down when he could see low floating clouds just a hairsbreadth above his head he took the time to look down at the city from high above.

With the rising Sun now passing up the horizon the metal and concrete dominated populated center gleamed and refracted the rays like a mesmerizing painting. Monorails passing through the busy city looked like glistening lines from the height he was floating at. Cars were nothing but dots, with people all but disappeared into the vista that Western Capital has created from his bird's eye view. A giggle escaped his throat at the beautiful picture that was forged from his vantage point, almost disbelieving he lived in such a densely lived area of the world.

"Ahhhhh," Goku sighed out loud with a broad smile on his face. "I never get tired of the view. Maybe I can get some aerial practice. Maybe after that I can head back and see how's Bulma is doing."

After announcing his game plan out loud, the casually dressed man closed his eyes and emptied his mind. He was no longer in the heavens or on planet Earth. An empty void filled his inner eye, allowing him to gauge his new found training ground. It was a technique Kami had taught him during his time spent on God's Palace. A form of training that so much as didn't rely on sparring with a living being but with incorporeal ones given shape with focus and calming oneself.

Image Training.

Opening his eyes he turned to see the first of his opponents rush at him. He was the infamous Jackie Chun, an opponent he had never forgotten for barring his path to being Champion of the Tenkaichi Budōkai the first time he participated. The older man of stark grey hair on top and a white fanciful beard that looked reminiscent of his master, the Turtle Hermit.

Dodging the first punch that he swore almost nicked his cheek he returned in kind with a left jab that was blocked easily by the shorter man. When he replied with a leaping spin kick Goku thought quickly and ducked low, allowing the attack to hit nothing but air. Rising up he put all of his might into a concussive uppercut, driving his knuckles into his chin and sending him soaring up into the empty abyss ceiling.

As he created an impeccable twinkling star, he narrowly leaped to his right to avoid a downward chop by another rival of his. Tenshinhan, born to the Three Eyed Clan was the unnatural yet talented martial artist who at one point wished to kill him but now just desires to be his equal. The Crane and Turtle Schools had been at odds for awhile but they were the first generation to form a bond of friendly rivalry rather than hostile grudges.

When the taller bald man flung forward the Turtle Schooler raised his guard and deflected the majority of the finger jabs and cross-hand strikes. Unlike his own style that focused extreme strength through minimal swift contact he admired the precise and calculated attacks of his opponent. Witnessing a second pair of arms erupt from his shoulders by a mere flex, Goku felt himself forced to take serious action.

In a burst of intense speed he left an after-image, cartwheeling to the right before leaping in a vaulting jump that spun over his head. Kicking off the air once more he drove a hard elbow strike to the three eyed man's turned head, knocking him out cold and sending him sprawling to the floor of the abyss room he had created. He had to collect his breath at witnessing that re-imagined rematch, though he wondered if he had him perfectly represented or not.

That thought was soon lost to him as a haunting chuckle emanated from behind. Turning around he felt his blood boil and his eyes glare at his cruel faced target. Endowed with the body of a bi-pedal dragon, the abhorrent spawn of Piccolo the Great Demon King, Tambourine stood not but a handful of meters away. The green scaled monster was responsible for killing many martial artists, including his own best friend Krillin.

Not even indulging the subconscious manifestation of his former enemy a moment to prepare, Goku shouted out as he careened towards him. He pictured a look of horror on his face just before his fist wedged into his skull and caved it inwards in a messy display of ferocity. Leaving the villain headless in his wake, he turned around to stew in his hatred of the being that had caused so much heartache and suffering in his wake.

But there was one person that caught his attention, someone of most recent worth. Raising his eyes from the dissipating shroud that was his last opponent's corpse was the reincarnation of the Great Demon King, Piccolo. A predatory smile spread across the man who called himself Majunior in their first match since his last life's end. An unnatural excitement bubbled within him, the eagerness to do battle with this fierce warrior. Even as an image in his mind he felt powerful, causing him to raise his Ki to his maximum just as his enemy did within the landscape of his mind.

Losing track of time, he crashed into his foe with the utmost intensity he could muster. Fists, feet, legs, arms, knees, elbows and even heads crashed against each other to perform as much damage as possible. All the while, a synonymous look of pleasure was shared between the two. Amidst the gritting teeth and glares sent through both fighters' eyes, they were enjoying themselves. The yearning to fight the real thing only further propelled him to continue his mock battle. As that happened, his real body seeming to hang in the air motionless while any observant onlooker with proper viewing devices could look up and ponder why there is a person floating in the sky.

"Ooooooooooh," Bulma rolled over on the bed, feeling an unnatural queasiness she wasn't used to. Blinking her eyes to clear the blurriness in her vision, she felt as much as saw the absence of her husband. Sighing through her nostrils she knew what time it must have been if he was already out and about. Sitting herself up she clung to the sheets as she slipped into nearby bunny slippers to shield her feet from the unwelcome cold.

Shuffling across the room she had to steady herself as another convulsion in her stomach caused her to feel a sudden dizzy spell. Braced against the closet door she had to take a few inhales before calming herself, groaning at the sudden sickness. She remembered last night she was healthy and had no signs of coming down with something. She could only wonder what was causing this bout of nausea.

"Not to mention this has been reoccurring for the past week, on and off," Bulma thought groggily as she put on something half decent. Due to today being a weekend she didn't feel pressured on working on any particular project other than reviews for her quantum physics hypothesis. Remembering she left her laptop in the kitchen, she glanced at a mirror where one of her clothing cabinets was.

She had to admire her current look. She had grown out her bangs so it rested over her brows, her hair long enough to frame her face while being neatly kept all the way around her scalp. While it was a little frayed she liked how she could look good even when waking up. Tying her blue robe over her relatively unclothed body, she shuffled out of her room with a yawn till she reached the kitchen.

There she saw her father, already in his lab coat with coffee in his left hand. Smelling the freshly brewed liquid from down the hall made her crave some beaned goodness. Wordlessly she shuffled past her father as he read the newspaper, mostly talk about the weather and local sports teams, missing the turn of his head to notice her not so subtle arrival.

"Morning, Bulma," Dr. Brief greeted his daughter, earning a halfhearted backwards wave as she reached for the pot and began filling up a mug. "How did you sleep?"

"Oh, I slept good alright," Bulma wryly smirked, remembering just how energetic she was with her lover. It brought a blush to her face just thinking about it, but the curdling of her stomach erased any thoughts of good feelings. Moaning out she sipped her coffee gingerly, hoping that her life blood wouldn't be the end of her. "But I think I have some bug in my system..."

"Oh? You have a flu?" Dr. Brief turned around, looking worried but only partially. His casual demeanor often suffered from the ability to project a truly distressed emotion. Still, the feeling wasn't missed, and Bulma shook her head as she kept slurping up her warm mug.

"I dunno. I just woke up feeling queasy and this isn't the first time," She mumbled behind her glass, gulping a quarter of it before waddling her way to sit beside him. Opening up her device she booted it up while rubbing her nose, showing that she was stressed. "Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with me. One moment I'm right as rain, ready to take on the world. Next moment I feel like if I eat or do anything too much I'll keel over and hurl up my insides."

"Huh, that is interesting," The father of one stroked his mustache soberly. Casting a glance at his daughter whom was about to enter her program while sipping on her coffee he had a thought. Grinning he cleared his throat and called out loud. "Panchy! Bulma thinks she's sick with something. Could you lend me your womanly intuition to detect the issue?"

"Dad, I don't think-"

"Now-Now, sweetie. I'm sure your mother may be a bit more knowledgeable as such things. I rarely have gotten sick in my life so perhaps she can advise you on what you have," Dr. Brief gently chided, watching his daughter resign with a roll of her eyes. Smiling at his words having some affect on her, he looked up to see Panchy, dressed like she was cleaning the home interior. "Ah, there you are my dear."

"Of course I am, sweet pea. I live here," Panchy cleverly quipped with a giggle, earning a chuckle from her husband. Lowering her head to look at Bulma, her eyes opened and blinked a few times with surprise. "Well you don't look too spry today. What are ya coming down with, my angel?"

"Ugh," Bulma lowered her head, feeling herself gag at another weird convulsion on her insides. "I...I really don't know. Sometimes, like, for the past week I've been dealing with this weird on and off nausea. I'm great one moment and then totally wishing I was the next. I can't make it out what it is."

"Ohhhhhh," The blonde woman mulled out, now with a twinkling smile on her face.

"What?" The lavender haired girl looked up at her mother dubiously, her hands unconsciously typing on her computer without her eyes ever making contact with the screen.

"Mhm, I think you should test yourself, honey," She implied with a wink, pointing to her belly for emphasis. "Just to be sure, you know?"

Blinking a few times, she tried to process what was said. It only took a handful of seconds before she mentally dissected her mother's words. Blushing fiercely, she let out a barking groan before turning to look at her laptop's screen, "Mom, I'm busy. I doubt it's something like...like that!"

"Oh, then what do you think's been making you ill?" Panchy asked with genuine curiosity.

"Your propensity of being nosy," She muttered under her breath, still steaming at the insinuation her mother made.

"What was that?" She inquired coyly, only making her daughter groan as she flopped her head around in a circle.

"Fine, I'll check myself out if it makes you happy. Can you leave me alone with my coffee now, ma-...ma...hurgh!" Bulma exclaimed after dryly retorting to her mother. Reaching to cover her mouth her face lit up with a very sickly pale color. Pushing off the table she ran sloppily with her slippers past her mother and towards the nearest restroom. When she closed the door behind her, both parents could hear loud retching sounds, causing the mother to cringe while the father just sighed.

"I think it's happening, don't you think?" Dr. Brief vaguely questioned his wife for confirmation.

"Oh yes. I remember being sick like that a long time ago. Poor thing," Panchy shook her head, cupping her hands below her chin.

Flushing the toilet, Bulma busied herself with washing her face, already feeling a bit better now that she had thrown up whatever contents was making her feel sick. Still dizzy, she stared at the mirror after drying her face off. She felt worse than she looked and wished that her man was here to keep her company while going through this.

"Well, he'll show up sooner or later. His stomach will call him back home after all," She thought with a sigh, turning around to give herself a shower. Cleaning away the grime of yesterday while warming her body sounded marvelous and she set out to grab some clothes to wear properly. Not even bothering to go towards the kitchen she shuffled to her room and back to the dual-purpose restroom, shutting the door and locking it before she fully undressed and entered the shower.

Feeling the droplets of water soak her voluptuous body's smooth skin felt heavenly and did wonders to cure her of her immediate queasiness. She smiled as her body warmed up with moistened skin and her hair dampened against her scalp. Rubbing her body with a soapy scrubber, she was determined to be as clean as she was inviting to her husband. After all, with his sense of smell, she didn't want to leave any part of her undesirable.

"I wonder what kind of trouble you've gotten into today, Son," She mused out loud as she scrubbed her bosom thoughtfully as her shower continued to wipe away the filth and warm her body.

"Whew, that was a workout," Goku thought out loud to himself, wiping his brow after he had finished his Image Training. He had been so invested with his mock battle that he didn't realize just how high the Sun was at this point. Realizing with a stark few winks before wincing at the glare, he looked down at the city and found himself hissing through his teeth. He knew that he might have spent hours just visualizing a fight but the mental toll was shared to his body.

Before he could wonder what time it was, his stomach growled out like thunder to answer him in kind.

"Haha, I guess it's lunchtime!" He admitted with a laugh, rubbing his belly while scratching the back of his head nervously. Scouring for a good place to spot he looked at an open spot of concrete way down in the city. Knowing practically every angle of the Western Capital like the back of his hand from his time spent 'jogging' through it, he knew that if he got back to the ground he'd know which way back to Capsule Corporation.

Descending downward with as much speed as he launched himself up, Goku arrived at the given spot in what seemed like several heartbeats. With as much control as a dancer would on a floor, his feet didn't make the slightest disturbance on the hardened surface of the street. Standing back to his full height, he looked around to get his proper bearings. Unfortunately all he could see was traffic lights in either direction, with rows of automobiles lining up either way.

It was his most unfortunate timing that the lights were green upon his touchdown back to level ground.

The nightmare began with him narrowly leaping to the side to avoid a Volkswagen from ramming into him outright. Skidding to a halt a semi put on its breaks and veered around, its long trailer spiraling several cars out of control. Back flipping to avoid a sudden motorcyclist from smashing into him, he danced awkwardly around several more min-vans from hitting him entirely.

Jumping high up out of the intersection altogether, he cringed at the sight of the fifteen car pile-up that had vehicles in all sorts of bizarre directions. Landing on the street not but thirty meters away, he sighed with relief. Looking to the side he looked at a jogger who simply gaped at Goku with surprise.

"What?" The martial artist asked the confused pedestrian.

"You just...leaped out of the middle of traffic...like it was nothing," He slowly worded out, swallowing hard with emphasis. Shakily he raised a finger at him with wide blinking eyes. "Are...are you the Champ, Son Goku?"

"Huh? You mean from the Tournament?" Goku asked for clarification, pointing to himself to cement his query.

"It IS you!" The man exclaimed with wonder and realization. After regaining his composure he cleared his throat and leaned closer with a furrowed stare aimed at him. "Why...did you just cause a major vehicle accident?"

"Uh, I just saw somewhere to land and I did," The Turtle Schooler answered lamely with a shrug. "I was just out jogging and getting some exercise. Didn't know I was going to cause any trouble to people."

"Do you always jog in the middle of the street?" The civilian asked blatantly.

"Sure. Why not?" He responded with a nonchalant tilt of his head.

"Because that's where CARS go!" He shouted with arms flailing, almost beside himself with how simpleminded such a celebrity was. Groaning, he leaned back and gestured next to himself. "Ever thought of using the sidewalk? It's much safer."

"Oh. Well, I guess I never thought about using it, haha!" Goku laughed honestly, causing the jogger to fall over on his back with a comedic trip. As an earth-quaking growl emanated from the martial artist's belly, he quickly set his sights for what he believed was the quickest route to Capsule Corp. Getting his directions right by his own senses, he waved at the back laying man and shouted over his shoulder as he took off running. "I'll take what you said in mind. See you around!"

Breaking off at record pacing that outstripped even his swift 'jogging' speed, Goku managed to tear through the air and reach his family's home in a matter of a single minute. The scent of food already wafted through the air as he skipped to the front door. Before he barged in he knew he'd better be polite and at least knock; something that Bulma had been teaching him to do in order to be a bit more 'proper' as she put it.

"Oh, c'mon in!" Cried a familiar voice from the other side, urging Goku to open the door and enter the home of his beautiful wife and her parents.

Goku opened the door, casually walking in. He had to repress a habit to kick off his shoes — when he was living with his grandfather, this was taught to him as polite etiquette. In the Western Capital, it was a tradition many had long since forgotten, and with Bulma always urging Goku to try to adapt to modernized city life, it was another new custom he was struggling to learn.

"Oh, Goku!" Dr. Brief, who had been sitting down in a chair with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, looking over to see his son-in-law casually walk in. As Goku had never been one for coffee, the elderly scientist didn't offer him a cup. "Welcome back, son! Did you have a good run?"

Goku chuckled, briefly remembering the traffic jam he'd caused only a few minutes ago. "Yeah. I wound up causing more trouble than I thought I would, but it's all patched up!"

"Well, that's good to hear," Dr. Brief replied with a musing chuckle, finding this to be a commonplace with living in a household home to the most hyperactive adult he's known. When a gurgling rumble echoed within the kitchen the father of one blinked a few times with disbelief. The sound of Goku's belly rumbling always took him off guard, something he sadly was slowly getting used to with every day. "It sounds like you came home for more than one reason, eh?"

"That's right!" Goku fist pumps, looking around to see no Bulma or 'Bulma's Mom' to cook food. Shrugging, he adapted by going towards the extra-large fridge to dish out a number of tasty easy-to-cook food. Knowing his hunger wouldn't be kept at bay for long he got a number of microwave foods to spread across the vast table, all for himself. Sitting down, he briefly gave thanks before moving his arms and hands in a blur to shove as much food into his open mouth.

The sight was so disconcerting to Dr. Brief, unfortunately being so up close to hear the sloppy slurps and crunches of his son-in-law's eating that made him sweat nervously. A loud belch echoed, followed by a meek apology to which he waved off in dismissal, sighing, he turned to look at the newspaper. When he felt Goku's shadow loom over him, he turned around and leaned back slightly out of surprise, asking Goku curiously with a tilt of his head, "Uh, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Bulma's Dad," Goku began to say, not skipping a beat to ask the question currently occupying his mind, "did you finish that machine you said you were working on? You know, the really strong one!?"

"Well, I did manage to finish a working prototype," The inventor replied, taking a long drag on the cigarette he was smoking. "It should provide a decent sparring partner for you, but listen, there's something I need to tel-!"

For Goku, the rest of the sentence had stopped the moment Dr. Brief said that the prototype would be a 'decent sparring partner'. "Thanks, Bulma's Dad! I'll go test it out right now!"

"Son, wait!" Dr. Brief called after Goku, but by the time he'd looked down the hall, Goku had already vanished. "That boy never stops moving...forget listening to what I had to say, he didn't even ask where the prototypewas."

In his haste, the Turtle Schooler almost forgot he was still wearing his work-out clothes. Rushing back to his bedroom to acquire what he considered his "butt-kicking clothes", he made back to Bulma and his living space; to which he was glad was unoccupied at the time of his arrival. Quickly, he unclothed and grabbed his hanginggi, quickly putting it on top of his body. Feeling invigorated to test himself, he rushed down the halls and began his search for the place

True to his own lack of direction, Goku circled the estate for what seemed like an hour until he was finally stopped by one of the Capsule Corporation's employees, a secretary who was very confused as to why the husband of Bulma was doing laps around his own home.

"Um, Mr. Son, is there any particular reason you're getting your m-morning exercise h-here of all places?" The woman looked nervously at him; she remembered vividly the damage Goku had caused when he attempted what he called 'image training' on Capsule Corporation grounds. The destruction was horrible, and she couldn't remembering seeing Bulma so irritated with her husband. It wasn't something she wanted to see a repeat of.

"Oh, it's you again!" Goku stopped, jogging in place as he looked at the familiar secretary. "Ms...Ms..."

"Ms. Hisoka!" The woman sighed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a thin finger. This was simply something she'd gotten used to; Goku could not remember her name, no matter how many times she reminded him of it. Remember that she wasn't the only victim of this, the young woman simply let it go, but could feel herself subconsciously wishing he'd at least remember half the name.

"That's it!" Goku chuckled, briefly apologizing to the exasperated woman. "Could you tell me where Bulma's dad's robot is?"

Hisoka looked at Goku with a brief expression of confusion, and it took her a few moments to understand precisely what he was asking. "Oh, do you mean the project the President was working on? He did mention something about it being for you..." Hisoka pointed to the left of the sliding glass door they were standing in front of. "Head straight down there, and enter the first building you see. The President mentioned the renovations should be complete; the robot is in its prototype stage. Mr. Son, please try not to destroy it."

There was hidden aggravation in the woman's bellchime voice that Goku didn't notice. With a grin and a word of gratitude, Goku ran off in the direction he was pointed towards.

"How does Mrs. Son put up with him...?" Hisoka sighed as she watched the man go.

Goku wound a corner like a madman, and came across a spherical building, shaped like the Capsule Corporation building, but smaller, and tinted silver with blue highlights. Goku opened the door, walking into the building and was surprised by what he saw. Despite the building not looking like much from the outside, the inside of the building seemed to be much larger than what the exterior seemed capable of holding.

"It's...It's bigger on the inside...!" Goku gaped. The entire interior was wide enough for him to have ample space to train through without feeling constrained. Even if Goku had asked Dr. Brief how this was possible, he knew he wouldn't understand it, and decided it was best to simply stop dwelling on it. When he'd finally stopped taking in the scope of the room, what truly caught Goku's attention was what stood in the center.

Gleaming with a freshly polished hue was a mechanical construct that towered over Goku by a good two feet. Rectangular in shape, the head was rather small, slightly larger than a Dragon Ball, with a red 'eye' in the center, for tracking his movements. It lacked any kind of neck, and the lower body was connected by an elastic tube, which split into two feet, enlarged and clawed. Overall, its build was huge and humanoid; Goku could hardly contain his excitement.

"T-This is it!" Goku walked over to the mecha, walking around it curiously. "Bulma's Dad actually finished it! It looks pretty strong! Now...how do I fire this baby up...?" Walking over to the center, Goku pressed his face towards the 'eye' of the mecha. Within seconds, he hear a rushing sound; gas was being emitted from the arms of the machine, and the eye began to light up.

"Analyzing...Analyzing...!" A computerized version of Dr. Brief's voice sounded from the machine.

"Oh! Is it on?!" Goku excitedly stepped an inch back.

A red laser shone from the machine, rising up Goku's body, scanning him from the feet to the tip of his spiky hair. "Analysis complete! Son Goku presence confirmed. Initiating Battle Mode." The gas emissions intensified as the robot began to rise; without any warning, the rectangular arms smashed into Goku's chest, catching the martial artist off guard and causing him to stagger back.

"Whoa...!" He coughed, trying to recover from being winded. "That thing is strong but...talk about one heck'uva sucker punch...!" Recovering quickly, Goku's eyes caught the robot rushing towards him. It thrust its arm forward again, and Goku caught the incoming punch with his fist, his eyes wide with surprise. "H-Holy crap...for such a big robot, it's certainly fast!"

"Now to counterattack!" Goku pulled the robot in closer, punching it in the center of its metallic torso, letting its "hand" go in time to send it hurtling back. Skidding along the ground, Goku sped up, jumping and slamming his foot into the side of the robot. The force, delayed only briefly, caused the machine to go careening into the wall, causing to crack, but not give, under the weight of the large appliance. As it slid to the ground, Goku noticed the wall was beginning to reconstruct itself.

"Wow! Bulma's Dad is amazing! Now I really can cut loose!"

The robot, to Goku's surprise, managed to haul itself into an upright position despite its large size. "Initiating counterattack: Propulsion Fist." The gas erupted from the pistons at the elbow of each arm, and the mechanical monstrosity was pushed forward at a speed Goku couldn't match. The fist collided with man's stomach, racking Goku with pain and causing him to crash hard into the wall opposite him.

Sliding down the quickly repairing wall, the married man got to his feet, grinning. If anything, seeing how strong this robot was only made him more excited.

Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap

Bulma's finger repeatedly rapped against the table as she stared at her computer's desktop. Looking over to her right shoulder, she could envision the partially open drawer holding the contents she was tempted with. The only thing that could explain her abnormal nausea fits that she's been having so much in such a recent amount of time. Yet, she kept telling herself to ignore the impulse.

"Come on, Bulma. It's just your parents trying to make you think crazy thoughts. It's only been six months, so there really should be no way that you're...it's impossible, right?" Bulma cut herself off as she shook her head, banging her head against an upraised fist. Groaning out loud the stress to turn around and get up from her seat was only fueling her curiosity. "Is it a bad thing to just check? I mean, worst comes out of it is that you're not worrying about anything important. But..if it is..."

Sighing, she thrummed her fingers against her computer, now glaring at the segment in a science news article. It was an update about the anniversary of a once respectable scientist going under ground after spouting some nonsense at a convention demonstration. But the words soon began to change out with another, switching for letters that suggested something entirely different. Most of all, her mind now as more crazed about doing it than earlier.

With a loud wailing moan, Bulma stood up with a huff while slamming her palms on the desk. The rattling top halted when her feet clapped hard against the kitchen tiles. Reaching into the open drawer, she raised up the white tubular device and immediately trudged towards the restroom. Sighing as she closed and locked the door, she whispered to herself, ""Now, to find out the answer to that big question."

Back in the training room, Goku was locked in combat with the mecha. It wasn't quite to the same level, but he could feel the kind of struggle he hadn't felt since Piccolo. After only a half hour of solid sparring, what Goku had come to realize was this; the machine, while strong, was far better at taking his hits than it was at giving them out. While the martial artist was wearing slightly tatteredgiand sporting a few new bruises, the mecha was shining with a raven hue, unmarred by Goku's earlier physical assault.

"Seems like...you're built to last, aren't ya?" Goku grinned, parrying a crushing blow from the robot's rectangular arm. "Then let's see if you can keep up with me!"

With that declaration, Goku grasped his wrist bands slipping them off with a loud thump on the metal flooring below. Kicking off his boots to which they clanked to the ground, followed by his under gi thrown over his shoulder to crash especially heavy behind his ankles. Bare footed and without restraints, he smiled at the robot that continually monitored his figure, ready to assault at any given moment.

Without his weighted training gi to drag him down, Goku was light as a feather. He'd left the weighted portions on at first, holding back his speed as a way of testing the waters, but now it was time to press his advantage. Goku began to move about the room, pushing his speed to the point that he had actively vanished from the view of the naked eye. The room appeared empty except for the robot, but very soon, a repeatedtappingnoise could be heard echoing around the empty space.

It seemed to be having the desired effect on the machine. With its red eye, the head began to spin on its joint, frantically sending out the laser in multiple directions to try and detect the presence of Goku. However, the robot's scanners couldn't detect something moving faster than the machine itself could process; it outstripped the ability parameters of the mecha.

Goku appeared in front of the machine, with its red eye still looking for him in another direction, and released a flurry of punches with all the speed and force of a cannon shooting cannonballs at the speed of a sub-machine gun. Each and every blow struck the chest region of the robot, five hundred punches hitting within the span of two seconds. On the five hundredth blow, Goku struckthroughthe robot, his fist protruding out the back of it. Removing his fist from the mecha's chest, the machine fell backwards with a crash.

"Whoops..." Goku leaned down, poking the machine, watching it splutter and smoke. "I think I destroyed it...Ms. Hisoka isn't going to be too happy..."

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?" Bulma was rapidly pacing in a circle around her living room. Being part of the Capsule Corporation building, the living room itself was exceptionally large, and never had Bulma been more thankful for the walking space than she was right now. "How do I tell him?" She bit her thumb, her face thick with worry. "How do I explain something like this toSon?"

This was unprecedented — no, that'd be incorrect to say such a thing — but it wasn't something she was expecting to happen so soon. She and Goku had only been married six months...she didn't know if she was ready for this. Even worse, her parents had been correct; part of her petty attitude made this a difficult pill to swallow. Still pacing, the woman began to mentally play out scenes in her head about how to break the news to her husband. And yet nothing she imagined seemed to be solid; it wasn't something she could wrap her mind around, because this kind of situation was out of Goku's knowledge.

"How do I tell Son...?" Bulma repeated herself.

"Tell me what?"

Bulma jumped, making a noise akin to a startled cat. Looking around, she saw her husband standing there, casually smiling. "O-Oh...! Son! Good morning! How much of that did you h-hear?"

"Only that last bit." The married man grinned, walking over to hug his wife good morning. Bulma halfheartedly returned the embrace, and couldn't help but look at Goku's own innocent smile and form a meek one of her own. "So, what did you want to tell me?"

Looking at Goku's cluelessly smiling face, Bulma knew she was going to have to tell him. It wasn't news she could keep from him for too long — if only because even he would start asking questions eventually — and she took a deep breath, smiling brightly. "I've got fantastic news. I'm pregnant."

Chapter 5: The Expected Day

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 5 - The Expected Day

Last time, on Dragon Ball Heart of the Adventurers: Over the course of half a year, the newlywed Son Goku and Bulma continue their lives under the roof of her family's home as Capsule Corp HQ. Goku tests out prototypes of Dr. Briefs creation when he isn't busy working out in the mornings while Bulma busied herself in research and theoretical projects of her own. But one day changed it all, one of which through a relapsing nausea foretold a happening that came sooner than either husband or wife could predict. Bulma was pregnant with Goku's child.

And the Adventure continues!

Bulma was beside herself. Stuck in a hospital bed she wasn't able to pick up her laptop and work on her projects like she had in the last few months. Working through pregnancy wasn't easy but she was far too stubborn to listen to either of her parents, let alone her own sister whenever she got in contact with her to tell her the news. The only one aloof to her current trials was her husband, whom took the news not out of shock and apprehension as some men would, but as matter-of-fact. He was eager to meet his child, wondering who he or she'd be like.

It was a comforting thought, as she laid back in her bed to think how maternal he could be in his own simplistic way. The only relevant relationship he had before meeting her was his adopted grandfather, Gohan. It made sense to her why he chose to return to that old hut. It was the place where he felt safe and had true family. Here, she hoped that he could have that same security here where he'd always come back to whenever he felt lost.

Looking out the open window, she recalled about another one of their talks she forced him to bear through. It was nearing the time where she was becoming less mobile and they were having less time to see each other as a result. His go-to attitude was endearing and she loved that spirit about him not being able to sit still for too long. But there was something he had to realize if he was going to become used to being a father. A matter of responsibility and she only knew one way he could learn about that.

"EH?! You want me to...to..."

"Yes, Son! I want you to get a job!" Bulma exclaimed as she leaned back on her chair, wincing slightly at the strain her back was having. She was significantly more labored in her movements as it had been approximately five and a half months since she conceived by the doctor's count. Due to her own industrious work ethic that collaborated with Goku's own loose yet methodical manner of spending time with her father or exercising, she knew change was on the horizon that he needed to be braced for.

"But...really?" Goku asked with a bewildered expression, scratching his head as he looked at her with disinterest. "I never had to get one of those before. Can I not-?"

"No, this is something you need," She sighed out with aggravation, massaging her temples as she felt her temper flared up. The rising hormones definitely didn't help her composure, making her less reasonable in her everyday life. It didn't help to convince her partner either, but she knew this was too important to overlook.

"Am I going to go hungry if I don't?" He asked with a furrow of his brows.

"You MIGHT if you tempt me!" Bulma shrieked, causing the latter to back up with raised arms to defend himself. Realizing what she did, she groaned as she rolled her eyes and looked back at her laptop screen. Closing it with a defined click of submission, she turned her wheeled seat around so she could look up at not just her husband, but her dearest friend. "Son, we're not going to be able to live as we do for too long. Things need to change in order for you to understand what life like a family is going to be. Otherwise, things will be awkward and we won't be able to treat each other with love and respect as we ought to."

"I know things will change...but," Goku turned to look at the kitchen, and then glanced back at the window outside. He could hear the birds chirping with his sharpened senses, as well smell the fresh aroma of the interior place he called home. Things seemed to be more natural here, with how he done everything in such a routine manner. Looking back at Bulma sheepishly in an honest manner, he finished his reply. "Is a job that important for this?"

"It is," Bulma reasoned while reaching out to grasp Goku's hand. Smiling as she felt his grip tighten around hers firmly, her eyes met his. "It's not a matter that you need an income for stability but that you need to be less carefree about important things. When our baby comes into this world, he or she will need a father that will be there for her. I know you're not used to following a direct schedule, even now with the freedom I want you to have. But this will be a child who will need me and my parents as much as he or she'll need you, if not more. Having a job is a step in the right direction, to show you are dependable and rooted in a place you can always come back to. It will be nice preparation for when our child is ready to look up to you and with pride in who they are."

"Or she," Goku quipped with a giddy laugh and a smirk.

"At this point, I'd be happy to just meet our little troublemaker," Bulma sighed out loud, leaning back into her seat while keeping her firm grip on her husband's hand. When she felt a sudden lurch come from within, she let out a gasp and smiled. While rubbing her swollen belly hidden beneath her teal colored maternity undershirt she looked up at her partner's curious expression. "Want to feel?"

"Uh, sure," He replied apprehensively, having not received this invitation before. Experience with pregnant women was little in the Turtle Schooler's history. Given that Kami didn't even sought to tell him of the process of childbirth or conception made him think it wasn't important. But now, as he was guided by his wife's hand to rub over her belly, something strange and overwhelming came over him from within.

He felt a little life squirm within Bulma, one that he helped conceive.

"Whoa," Goku gasped out, blinking with surprise as he bent down to examine what he now knew was a living person inside of the woman's belly. Feeling kicks and movement within, he let out a small laugh, joined by Bulma at her seeing the soon-to-be father's reactions. Leaning forward to press his ear against navel, he could definitely hear not one but two heartbeats. The odd case of thumps and shakes within told him of the life waiting to meet the world. "I can hear 'em. I can hear 'em inside of you!"

"Yes, isn't it amazing?" Bulma asked with a gleeful expression. With Goku nodding as he kept his head against her belly, she could tell he looked extremely happy. co*cking a head to her side she queried aloud. "What's gotten you so worked up?"

"I just...I didn't realize...how happy I'd be to hear such noises before," He answered with a gradual yet thoughtful answer as he turned his face to look up from his squatting posture to her seated one. Reaching out to grasp her hands firmly, his smile turned into a serious expression. "I'll make 'em proud, Bulma! I want our child to look to me whenever he-she needs me and to grow up to be as smart as you or as strong as dad. And I won't let you or our kid down!"

Awestruck by his conviction, Bulma couldn't help but be moved to tears. When Goku tried to comfort her, worried that she was somehow in pain which only caused her to laugh. She was now convinced more and more that things will turn out fine. Sooner or later, he'd find out what it'd really mean to be responsible which will undoubtedly help him better become the father their child needed.

"I can't believe it's been almost four months since then," Bulma sighed, realizing just how close to the time it really was now than it was then. It was why under the advisem*nt of his father and mother that she was moved to Wukong Hospital, a proud institution of medicine and care for its patients. Placed in a room on the 5th floor she had a window view of the city and the building's front lot connecting to the main streets filled with busying vehicles.

"Has it really?" She jumped, suddenly turning to look at her father's form just standing outside of the door. In exchange for the smoke-free environment he was now holding a mug of hot coffee. He had all but put his projects on hold for the week she was put on watch in the institution. They said it could happen at any time and that it was better she was here in case the unexpected happened. The mustached father of one smiled softly as he joined her with a wheeled seat by her bedside. "Time sure flies when you're hard at work."

"Especially for Son, right Dad?" Bulma asked her father with a wry grin that earned a chuckle from the older gentleman.

"True. I didn't think it could be done at first," He paused, sipping some of his coffee before exhaling with satisfaction. Returning her blissful gaze with a nostalgic stare of his own. "I did all I could to give him recommendations and fit him with any job I could. He also did his best to sound proper though it sounded a bit too wooden or stilted when he tried to get a 'businessman' trade. So I tried simpler ones and asked him to be himself, consequences be damned. I was about to give up but that odd request came by when he and I were making our way out of the employment office."

"He was one of the drivers almost caught in a...er, accident, right?" She guessed sheepishly, ultimately knowing that her husband's workouts often led him into some unwanted trouble.

"Yes, but who knew that'd lead him to working in a Pizza Delivery position?" He inquired with an almost exasperated wave of his free hand. "I tried to get him through the orderly way, but it was his own haphazard habits that he was able to get a highly recommended position. While he did need to work on some of his basic mathematics - that I helped tutor him mind you - he was quick to get a great grasp of the job."

"I hear he's the best delivery man they have and people always request aGoku Specialif they want their order in aExtra Timely Fashion," Bulma accentuated with both fingers at the designated words, making her snicker at the thought of how Goku had become more than a Martial Arts' icon but now the face of expeditious resteraunt deliver service. It made her surprised as she was proud how quickly he latched onto the trade.

"Well he is quick on his feet," Dr. Brief huffed as he took another long sip of his coffee. "That man...he still puts the rounds on my best prototypes. Even the ones now are still able to last more than a handful of minutes still lack the power supply to match hiski. Perhaps if I reach out to some of the other scientists I can collaborate on some theoretical prospects of new engines that could make a superior combat machine. One that could even put the likes of that nefarious Piccolo in his place."

"That'd be a comforting thought if the answer to our problems was just a Capsule away," Bulma joked again, before briefly wincing at a series of kicks in her abdomen. When her father reached out to comfort her, she shook her head and rubbed her belly. "It was just the baby's kicking. I'd know the difference between knowing a desire to come out and just wanting to be rowdy."

"Heh, I guess the child will be a chip off the old blocks," He mentioned with a point of his mug-holding hand. "I'm wondering just how the to-be father will react seeing a mini-him running around."

"If things were only that easy for him," She rolled her eyes, turning to look out the window once more. The feeling of longing the presence of her jubilous husband was more intense than it had been in the last few months. She wished he'd be here, telling her jokes and talking about what trouble he got into. Such a reassuring aura he seemed to have that told her everything would be alright.

Now, more than ever, she wanted to have that feeling so she could willfully birth this child without any fear or doubts in her mind.

"I'll be waiting for you, Son," She thought with a smile as she looked back at her round belly with an anxious eagerness. "And so will our baby."

Goku was really feeling it. In his trusty red and black uniform complete with a hat to hide his funky hair to which he almost felt like Yamcha, he raced with a large heat-sustaining bag of pizzas under his left arm. His body was moving like a blur across the vast cityscape with his destination being one of the office buildings on the other side of the city. It was just one of the many deliveries he's made since starting the day and he already felt accomplished with how many surprised faces he got to see whenever he rang, knocked or in some cases hopped through an open window.

If he wasn't known before by the World Martial Arts Tournament, he was now publicly known by everyone in West City. He took the time when he wasn't running at breakneck speed compared to any athlete to what was only part of his maximum velocity to wave at passersby and drivers alike who knew him. While he could barely remember a quarter of the names he knew their faces and he was kind enough to wave hello whenever he saw them.

It was a unique experience for the martial artist; having grown up alone deep in the mountains, even now, seeing so many people was so shocking. Back when he was a child, he'd only heard stories of the cities from his grandfather, and even though he'd been around the world with Bulma and his friends, the amount of people in cities still caught him off guard.

His time as a newlywed husband, however, was serving as a kind of training of its own in the city; Goku felt vibrations in the air, and on pure instinct, felt his body leap into the air as a car rushed directly under his figure.

One of the problems with being able to run as fast as most of the automobiles, if not faster? The drivers hardly saw Goku in the road, and he had been the cause of many traffic jams due to nearly being hit. However, as he adjusted to the cars, they seemed to adjust to him as well, and these were a thing of the past. As the man ran along the road, holding the bag of pizzas under his arm, a blaring noise caught his ears. Jumping high onto one of the buildings, Goku saw the source of the disturbance.

Speeding along the road, apparently entirely out of control, was a hovercar. Goku didn't recognize the model — it was one of the newest in the Silver Star line of automobiles — but that didn't matter. Making wide leaps, carefully keeping the pies at his side intact, Goku crossed several buildings until the speeding car was within his sight. "It's going so fast...if it doesn't slow down, it's gonna hit someone!" Sliding down the building, Goku propelled himself from the wall, letting flight take over askiwas emitted from his entire body to tell gravity that it simply wasn't welcome anymore.

Moving airborne across the cityscape, Goku quickly overtook the speeding vehicle, descending rapidly onto the ground and spinning around. His eyes took in the entirety form of the automobile, and he extended a single hand towards the oncoming car. Metal met flesh; grounding himself into the asphalt, Goku applied enough force into the car to keep himself from being pushed back. The vehicle ground to a halt, an adult-size hand imprint now decorating the hood as the driver stepped out, looking entirely worse for wear.

"T-Thank you..." The man breathed, gasping as if he'd run a mile. When he looked up, it had taken him only a moment to recognize the innocent face and hair protruding from under the hat. "Oh! It's you, Goku! You saved me!?"

Goku grinned, half-sheepishly, half-proudly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, thanks to you," the young man dusted himself off. "It looks like the break lines were cut...I wound up running several red lights for the past few blocks, I thought I was going to die!"

"Cars aren't really my speed, but I think that's probably something you should check," Goku said, and looked down at his watch. "Oh shoot! Sorry, gotta run!" Waving at the man, Goku made off down the road at breakneck speeds again, the pizzas still warm beneath his arm. To the man he had saved, this was a moment to remember; to Goku, this was a daily routine.

Navigating his way through the city, Goku wove around buildings faster than the the normal eye could track. However, all of Goku's senses were working full drive, and his ears picked up a rattling sound in the distance. While he wasn't always familiar with it, Goku had come to recognize this as the sound of bullets being fired from a gun in the distance.

He knew he had a choice. Looking at this wristwatch, the digital timer told him he had approximately half an hour to get to his destination and deliver these pizzas. However, the rattling sound told him that someone was in trouble and he could get there quickly if he moved at top speed. Bouncing from building to building, Goku grinned to himself; he hadn't moved this fast since he'd fought Tenshinhan at the Tenkaichi Budōkai.

How long ago that had been.

As the pizza deliveryman closed in on the source of the noise, the rattling turned into explosions — gunshots at close range, enhanced by Goku's exceptional hearing. Slowing to a stop, Goku saw the source of the disturbance; two armed robbers leading an assault on the Western Capital's bank. The criminals were pressed against the bank's yellow brick walls, one of them holding a machine gun and firing directly towards the police, who were hiding behind their cars.

"D-Dammit!" One of the police, a bespectacled woman wearing glasses, growled. "We're outgunned!

The other officer with her looked equally panicked, clutching his standard issue pistol. "We have to wait it out, Kei!"

This was a sight Goku had seen a few times before since he'd started working as the local pizza deliveryman, and it almost always managed to impede his deliveries. It wasn't in his nature to play hero — however, his training with God had given him a sense of right from wrong, so he at least knew when he should step in. Setting the pizzas down next to a stoplight on the sidewalk, Goku vanished, flickering out of being to anyone who saw him...

...only to flicker back into physical form directly in front of the police car. Bullets filled his vision as Goku's reflexes took over; his hand instinctively leapt out for the speeding metal projectiles. While they felt hot in his hand, Goku was unharmed. The gunfire stopped abruptly, as the criminals realized exactly who had interrupted their attack.

"I-It's Goku!" The cry came from both the criminals and the police, a tone of worry and exuberance from the appropriate party.

With the flick of the wrist, Goku sent one of the bullets flying back at the criminals; with his strength, the bullet tore through the machine gun being held by one of the burlier criminals, who dropped the weapon and moved swiftly to the side in a panic.

"W-Why you...!" The other criminal held up his pistol, aiming towards Goku. However, before he could even fire the bullet, Goku had crossed the distance between them, his elbow making contact with the criminal's stomach. The man's eyes went back into his head as the air forcibly left his body. Turning on his heel, Goku extended a hand, releasing a pressure wave towards the other criminal, knocking them unconscious as well.

Once they were sure the danger had passed, the police, Kei and the unnamed younger man, nervously stepped out from behind their car, looking wary. When their eyes fell across the unconscious criminals, they heaved a sigh of relief in unison. Taking out handcuffs, the officers cuffed the inert offenders, Kei looked up at Goku, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know what to say, Goku," She smiled. "You've had to help us out again. The Western Capital PD is going to lose its reputation if we keep having to be bailed out by everyone's favorite pizza deliveryman...regardless, thanks for lending us a hand again!"

"Anytime," Goku replied, happy to have been of some assistance. Glancing at his watch, he saw his time was still ticking. Bidding the officers a farewell, unsecured the load next to the stoplight, and took off again. Knowing his time was being pushed, and the customer wouldn't pay if he was late, he began to emitkifrom his body again, taking off on the spot, to the surprise of the onlooking officers.

Despite the general length of the city, and Goku's inexperience with flight — as he still preferred grounded methods of transportation, even while fighting — he managed to arrive in less than ten minutes. Landing neatly onto the ground, he touched down at the front door of his destination: the Western Capital Elementary School. The end of the school year was rearing its head, and on the western side of the continent, it was common for teachers to buy students pizza and other treats to celebrate the end of the year.

As Goku entered the front door, he was greeted cheerfully by one of the women at the front desk. "Goku! You made it!" Glancing at the clock, she noticed the time. "And you still managed to be early, if only a little." Chuckling, she asked, "Let me guess, did you get held up again?"

Grinning, Goku nodded sheepishly. "It seems like every other day, there's something to keep me occupied. But I managed to make it here on time! No harm, no foul, right?"

"Of course," replied the woman from behind the desk, flashing a winning smile. After checking the contents of the boxes — which, despite the misadventures Goku had managed to get into on the way, were surprisingly intact — she paid him the requisite amount of Zeni for his trouble. Taking the heat-sustaining bag with him, Goku left the building, pleased with a job well done.

An upbeat, energetic theme began to blare from the man's pocket. Fumbling through it, he pulled out a flip-phone. When he got a job, Bulma had suggested he at least get a basic model cellular phone, to make communicating easier. Flipping the phone open gently, so as to not break it, he looked at the Caller ID.

Bulma's Dadit read in large letters. It was his father-in-law.

"Now...how do I get this thing to work...?" Goku looked at the device as it continued to blast music directly at him. "I think I just press this green button and..." Pressing the button, he held the phone to his ear, speaking into the receiver as he'd been told. "Hello? Bulma's Dad?"

"Son, one of these days, I'd really appreciate it if you'd call me Dad yourself," came the voice of the elderly gentlemen through the phone, fascinating Goku to no end. "But that's a nonissue right now! You need to hurry back to the hospital; Bulma's gone into labour!"

"Labour...?" Goku repeated in confusion.

"Concisely explained? She's starting to give birth! Your child is on the way!"

This was something that even Goku could understand, and the realization hit him quick. "OH! I'll be there soon! Just let me get across the town, I'll be there in a few!"

"Hurry, Son!" was Dr. Brief's last words as Goku hung up the phone, beginning to take flight once more, with only one thought in his head.

"I'm going to be a father!"

Chapter 6: Our Family

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 6 - Our Family

It was a bit frantic in the hospital since Bulma had underwent labor. The nurses were busy to shuffle out Dr. Brief from the room to which he complied if only to call his wife to tell her the news as well. In the time it took for Panchy to arrive through the latter afternoon traffic, Goku was already huffing and puffing on foot to reach the hospital. Having leaped up to the window upon hearing his wife's screams echo the medical establishment, the doctor and nurses tried to tell him to leave them be. In between labored breaths and wails she was crying tears of joy at feeling her Son grip her hand after pushing past the medical staff with ease.

Taking some heavy convincing by Dr. Brief that he should wait outside, Goku left Bulma's side hesitantly as he was escorted by his father-in-law to wait outside. The hours spent out echoed with impatience which his beloved's parents acted a bit too calm for his liking. Every time a nurse exited or entered, he'd ask about her only to be stone-walled and fervently.

"Darn, what's taking so long?" Goku asked out loud, taking time to look at the windowless door with a worried frown. "Is Bulma going to be alright?"

"Oh don't worry about our little girl," Panchy waved nonchalantly, eyeing a book she had brought for the wait. "If it's her first time so don't be surprised that it could take half a day. Goodness knows it did for me when I gave birth to her."

"H-Half a day?!" The Turtle Schooler let out a stuttering cry of disbelief, turning back to look with dish saucer sized eyes. "It takes that long?!"

"Well, not everyone is the same," His father-in-law commented with a wave of his coffee mug. "It could take an extraordinarily shorter time. Considering how strong of both will and body your wife is, it's quite possible it could be any minute for her."

"You make a good point, Bulma's dad," Goku nodded with blinking eyes of understanding.

Sighing, the mustache adorned scientist grumbled into his mug about not being called simply 'dad' as he sipped more of his beverage. Looking back up from his cup he couldn't help but notice the thoughtful expression he had while looking down at his feet. Finishing with his drink, he cleared his throat and earned his wide-eyed stare back, "Something on your mind, son?"

"I just...I thought if I was here I could help out somehow, y'know?" The Martial Artist explained with a half smile. Crossing his arms he looked slightly down once more as he continued to talk, his smile dissipating. "But now, I just don't think I can. I feel helpless. I normally can find an easy answer. But now that I can't I just feel...feel..."

"Lost? Frustrated? Useless?" The older man asked, surprising the grandson of Gohan with an almost gawking expression. Chuckling he set the mug on his lap, holding it with both hands as he thrummed against its smooth surface with his fingers. "You may think I'm a brilliant man, which you're not far off. But I haven't a clue when it comes to the human reproductive process. You couldn't get me within the same room as your mother otherwise I'd keel over and I hated it.

"But, being unable to do something doesn't mean you're useless or weak, Goku," Looking up with a heartfelt smile, mirrored by his own partner whose eyes shined hopefully at her son-in-law. "Not everyone can shoot beams from their hands, defy gravity or withstand the power of a nuclear bomb. Just like you can't do anything to help Bulma, she can do things you most likely couldn't overcome. Programming a computer, writing an essay about complex bio-mechanics and researching quantum physics. Those are her specialities. She may never be able to fight like you or you may never learn to how to use a computer; not that I fault either of you for trying. If never succeed in something well...that probably means you're meant to specialize in something else.

"That, my boy," He finished with a wink as he pointed his mug at Son Goku. "Is nothing to be ashamed of. Failure is the sign that success is just around the corner."

Absorbing what Dr. Brief had said to him the Champion of Earth took to heart what was told to him. He knew that most of the time what Bulma's father had to say it usually was important. And considering his own self loathing for not being able to do something for someone he cared about he knew it was better than to cast it aside.

"I know I'm not that smart," He acknowledged silently with a smile, his eyes gaining a new light of determination than before. "But I'll do something that can help. If I can be a good dad for our kid that's probably the best place to start."

Just then, the door opened causing all three to look over with a mixture of surprised stares. Instead of immediately ducking away from the spiky haired man's gaze the nurse in question looked with a since of resigned relief. Clapping his hands, he finally gave the family the news.

"Your wife and daughter are fine, Mr. Son," He declared with a look of clear exhaustion.

"Daughter?" Goku mumbled out, briefly surprised at the news. It wasn't that he was expecting a son. It was the sound of a child belonging to him really sunk in. He didn't know what to think but, remembering the feeling of kicks within Bulma and the smile she wore he couldn't help but find himself smiling with a foreign welling of emotion in his chest. Reaching out to grab the nurse's shoulders, he couldn't suppress a wide grin as he asked him again. "I have a daughter?!"

"Yes, Mr. Son," The hospital worker sighed with exasperation, forcing a smile as he nodded to the stronger man's arms. "Now can you please let me go?"

"Oh, sorry!" He exclaimed with a sheepish laugh, not noticing the smaller man's wincing and rubbing his now sore body.

"This is wonderful news!" Dr. Brief broke any tension the situation may have had, standing upright with his wife as the both of them were smile almost as broadly as Goku had been. Looking to the grimacing nurse he gestured to him with a smile. "Can we see our girls?"

"Huh? Oh, sure," He nodded after realizing what the now grandfather meant. "Right this way, Dr. Brief."

Leading the three into the room where a number of tired and exasperated hospital personnel were working on clearing the space of tools and used equipment. But there, next to a mustache adorned doctor in a white coat of his own was Bulma. She was reclined on the hospital bed looking sweaty and very tired. But still there was a tearful smile on her face as she held a sparely lavender haired baby swaddled in white linen. Lavender colored tresses covered her head and dark onyx eyes that blinked slowly, absorbing all of the new sights as much as the rest of the child's senses could pick up.

And sure enough, a brown furred tail was stretched out at the bottom of the wrapped form, curling and wagging gently.

"I asked the missus already," The Doctor began as he cleared his throat, looking to Goku as he stared entranced by the appendage he had removed by Kami long ago. "After determining this isn't a health hazard to the child and that it isn't an abnormality I thought to ask. Did you have any plans on letting the child grow up with a tail?"

"Well," Goku scratched his head thoughtfully. "Truth be told, I didn't lose mine till I was quite a bit older. Plus it'll make her grow big and strong. I'm sure she'll be fine with it."

"Very well then," He replied with a begrudging sigh, finding it to be abnormal for a relatively human looking baby to have what belonged to most anthro-born citizens.

"Hey, Son," Bulma finally spoke up, earning stare from her husband. Nuzzling into her daughter's neck as a weary smile adorned her face. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"She sure looks like a keeper, just like her mom," Goku complimented, earning a twinkling stare of thanks from his wife. Leaning forward he reached out towards the girl, waving to her as he lowered his voice respectfully. "Hi, my name's Goku. How are ya?"

The baby simply giggled and made a gurgling noise. Reaching out with a hand she bopped her dad's nose, squeezing it before letting go with a childish laugh. When she found that Goku laughed back and poked her slightly in the nose, she let out a sneeze and laughed again.

"Certainly a giddy one," He commented with a goofy giggle of his own.

"She was screaming something fierce when she came into my arms," Bulma replied with a mischievous grin as she raised a brow at Goku. "Reminds me of someone I know."

"I don't scream all that time," Goku deflected with a pouty expression.

"You scream a lot," She countered with a wry smile.

"Only when I'm fighting," He argued further.

Another giggle let out by their child broke their little feud, drawing attention once again back to their newborn girl.

"I've been thinking of names," Bulma drawled out, hesitantly looking up at Goku with apprehension. "But, I'm not sure any of our family type would be fitting."

"Well, I actually am kinda stumped about that," Goku honestly responded, looking at the little girl's tail with fascination. "I mean, the only name I'd think of using is Gohan cause he was my grandpa and I think he'd like having someone named after him. But since this is a girl, I'm not sure how that'd sound..."

"Mom, dad," Bulma called out for them, allowing for the spectating grandparents to step forward. "We were trying to think of a name, but we couldn't think of any that fit. Any family names that'd work?'

"Oh, well," Dr. Brief looked up at the ceiling, stroking his chin before raising his empty mug with afterthought. "How about, Kini?"

Shaking her head, Bulma looked at her mom whom replied with a shrug, "Why not, Trunks?"

"Not a bad one for a boy, but," The mother replied as she bit on her lower lip with thought.

"We could name her after food," Goku suggested with a sheepish smile.

"Now's not the time for jokes, son," Dr. Brief piped in a forced serious stare, suppressing his own urge to laugh at Goku's naive comment.

"Wait a minute," Bulma exclaimed, realizing that her husband's innocent suggestion had gave her the perfect name. Looking down at the little girl cooing in her arms, she looked over at her beloved. "We may not be able to name her Gohan, but, how about Pan?"

It was a simple name but Goku was a simple kind of guy. Hearing that sounded just right and it made him grin with approval.

"Want to hold your daughter, Pan?" Bulma asked with a sigh.

"Uh, sure," Goku blinked with confusion but readied acceptance. After Dr. Brief helped come to show him how to properly hold an infant, the infant was properly transferred straight into his arms. Holding her delicately, he looked wondrous awe at the small life he held in his arms. He could imagine how weak and fragile he must have been when Gohan had nursed him back to health, the day he had struck his head as he had been told. It just gave him so much appreciation to his deceased grandfather, showing him kindness and care so that he could pass it on to another.

So, with a smile, he whispered at his giggling daughter, "Nice to meet you, Pan. I'm your dad. I'll make sure to do my best as your father. That's my promise to you."

Age 758, December 5th

A deep wailing could be heard in the night. Goku's adept sense of hearing couldn't let him rest as much as he yearned for it. It had been a hard day of work-outs after what he called a nightmare of orders from the pizza place he worked at. Even after spending time with Pan in between he became increasingly aware in the last half year of living with their daughter that there was one inherent truth.

Babies were incredibly needy.

"Son," Bulma mumbled as she turned over on her side to face his back. "It's your turn to feed Pan."

"What if I don't wanna?" Goku grumbled back.

"Son," She repeated with a tired yet clearly stern tone. "I got so much work in between parenting that you have no idea."

"But, your dad's robots actually wore me out today," He whined back, turning to give her a pouting over the shoulder stare. "Plus, pizza deliverin' had a lot for me to do today. I even played with Pan a whole lot."

"Which is fine," Bulma commented, forcing a smile onto her weary features. "And I'm grateful. But there is a difference between play and needs. Pan needs someone to take care of her and I can't be the one to do it every time."

Letting out a raspberry, Goku rolled over exasperatedly; so much so, that he fell off the bed with an awkward yelping thud. The distant wails of their child could be heard but Goku couldn't help but marvel at his own clumsiness. With a groan he stood up, his protesting muscles aching but still moving of his own accord.

"A promise is still a promise after all," He reminded himself quietly, tromping out of the bedroom so his wife could get her much needed rest.

Walking barefoot with nothing but a sleeveless muscle shirt and orange boxer shorts, the temperature inside favorable compared to outdoors. With dim lighting he traversed down the walkway to Pan's room he caught sight of a window to his immediate right. Snow had begun to fall this Winter unlike last year, where the Spring got the cold and vice versa. Unlike his home at Mount Paozu there didn't seem to be a consistency of weather where he lived.

It didn't bother him, since inside was so toasty warm so he just took the sight in stride. Opening the door into Pan's room he took in the view with slight wonder. With a crib slid against the far side of the wall, wallpaper enamored the room of sweeping hills and a mountain with a lake positioned near the door exiting the baby girl's living space. Cabinets of white with stickers of golden clouds covered it, reminding him of Kintoun. Approaching her crib, he looked in and see the crying Pan shaking a stuffed monkey in her arms; one that had a red cap and shirt on it.

"Hey there, champ," Goku patronized the whimpering girl, reaching down to pick up the girl carefully into his arms. Even though she was far more durable than the average child he still wanted to be safe. Doing a thorough sweep of her person in case she needed to be changed or had a rash, the father of one sighed with relief. "Bulma is right. You are just hungry. I guess you are a lot like me, haha!"

Slapping him with the stuffed animal in the face, he saw her blubber with an unhappy expression. He didn't know if he was rebuked by his daughter for making that comment or if she just didn't care what he had to say. Only one thing was on her mind; something that was echoed by a gurgling rumble coming from her tummy.

"Okay, let's get you some food," He declared with an upbeat tone, trying to make the best of the situation despite his own desire for sleep. "And by you, I mean only you. Your mom was awfully mad that one time she caught me eating a lot when I just gave you one bottle. I'll hold back, just for you."

The cranky baby just let out another pained cry, not wanting anything but her bottle. Through a short trod the spiky haired father reached the kitchen and found it mostly abandoned. Holding her steadily he reached for the light switch and turned it on, knowing exactly where to go. Opening the fridge he got one of the formula bottles, pre-cleaned and filled by his lovely wife, to make it easier for him to manage. Months of help with the process had made it easier but still difficult.

Especially when it came to the microwave.

Looking at the numbers on the electronic device with a furrowed gaze, he slowly reached for one of the buttons but recoiled it. The blustering baby under one arm made it difficult to concentrate but he eventually found a button that had a familiar button; one that was the 'right one' as he was told by Bulma's dad and Bulma respectively.

Clicking it, he watched microwave light up and reveal a golden glow. One that didn't have the formula inside.

"Oh Crap! Oh geeze!" He exclaimed, looking around frantically for the formula as Pan continued to wail near his ears. As soon as he did a complete 360, he found the bottle was right it was supposed to be.

Just below the wall mounted microwave on the counter.

"Phew," Goku sighed with relief, hitting the easy to read 'Cancel' button and the latch to open the complex machine. Placing it upright he smiled with success as he closed it and then hit the appropriate button. In what felt like an eternity the microwave finally chimed as the contents was ready. Grasping the lukewarm bottle he had almost handed it straight to the needy child until he remembered to test it.

Knowing one arm was occupied holding his daughter and the other was holding the bottle only one thing made sense; use what's available.

Sticking out his tongue, he squeezed the bottle gingerly enough to let a few drops of the microwaved substance drop onto his taste buds. Whatever it was, it sure didn't taste like milk, causing him to sputter and cough. It didn't burn him, which was good, but he didn't like having to rely on his precious body part.

The result however, had made Pan giggle at the silly sight, halting her screams if only for a few moments.

"Yeah, I make funny faces when I don't like something, don't I?" He laughed in concurrence at his own actions. Lowering the formula so that Pan's little hands could grasp it, he held back just enough so that she wouldn't choke. As the process dragged on, he couldn't help but admire her growing hunger. She did this multiple times a day and she wasn't even a year old. "One of these days you're going to eat and eat and eat and wonder if you'll ever get full. Sometimes I wonder that myself, haha! So drink up, Pan. Grow up big and strong. One day you may be as strong as me, haha!"

Unknown to him, a pair of watchful blue eyes peered around the corner of the hall to stare into the kitchen. A smile spread across her tired features, finding joy in watching Goku take to his roll as a father nicely. The first few months were full of doubt and uncertainty, both of them trying to balance their lives around a very special person. But with the help of her own parents along with some trial and error, they found a way and she couldn't be more pleased with the results.

"You're doing just fine, Son," She whispered, turning to creep back into her room before her husband returned.

Age 760, June 5th

Today was Pan's second birthday.

Bulma couldn't believe how far away since her eventful trip to Mount Paozu to rekindle an old bond with Goku; one that blossomed into a relationship far more meaningful than she anticipated. More surprising was how the day of their child's birth had coincided to be on that exact day, as if it was fated to show they were meant to be together.

Given how rushed the last birthday celebration was, between the couple almost forgetting their special girl's big milestone in her short life, she intended for this year to be more special.

With a belated sigh, she leaned back in her lab chair, her lavender hair all a static mess due to her overnight work. Looking down at the toddler she had sitting in her lap she was so hopeful. She had talks with Goku about the future often, mostly about what their daughter should do with her life. Naturally her husband was enthusiastic about the prospect of training her so she'd be a strong fighter. On the other hand, she also wanted her to be schooled to use that smart gene that ran through her father's blood that she had undoubtedly inherited. But as the tail curled behind Pan's specially designed pants, she wasn't sure exactly what kind of path she'd take.

She just hoped that she could help her daughter make the right decisions.

Hearing a beeping come from a watch wrapped around her right wrist, she checked the time. It was mid-afternoon and knowing her husband he'd be home in less than fifteen minutes. Ten tops.

"Knowing him he'll try to get that special bundle of pies because it is Pan's big day," She dryly said to herself with forced quotation marks with her free hand.

"I 'ike pie!" The two year old exclaimed with a smile.

"Yes, I know you do," Bulma responded to her daughter, tickling her tummy with a grin. "You make a wonderful mess with that pizza slice, didn't you?"

"I eat it all!" She said proudly in between giggles.

"You're a very hungry little girl, aren't ya?" She asked as she persisted in her innocent torture of her child. It wasn't until the toddler was out of breath that she finally picked her daughter up in her arms to start preparations; that is, help out with it given her mother hadn't given up the housewife duties she did around the home. It had made mothering a lot easier when either of them were around not to mention give them tips on what to do and not do.

So it was to no surprise when she entered the kitchen that the scent of a baking cake, with Pancy cleaning at the sink.

"Hi mom," Bulma greeted her mother with a smile.

"Hello sweetie," Panchy called from the sink, her hands already washing the utensils and bowl she used. "I'm sorry but I'm in the middle of clean-up. Wanna help set up the table for me, sweet pea?"

"Sure thing. Let me set Pan down," Bulma she replied, setting the birthday toddler onto her bare feet. Having learned to walk quicker than she kept track, she pointed at the mischievious daughter of hers and sternly said. "Now remember don't go too far and don't touch what doesn't belong to you. You'll be getting gifts soon so be patient. Got it?"

"I got it," Pan smiled sweetly as she sang her confirmation.

"That's my girl," Bulma complimented as she gave her standing kid a hug. Releasing her she and the toddler went opposite directions with completely different objectives. As far as the mother was concerned, she needed to help set everything up for a legitimate yet compact birthday celebration. The company didn't need to get involved until a larger celebration took place after all.

Wiping down the table she hummed to herself a song about a dinosaur riding a ball, making sure to grab the birthday mat over the hardwood surface. Placing the plates for Goku, herself and Pan she got out cutlery for only herself and her husband. At this point she didn't expect Pan to rely or use a fork, spoon or chopsticks till she was a little older given how she messily has eaten with nothing but bare hands lately.

Something she will try to rectify in the near future.

By the time she finished, she looked down at her watch and noticed it was just about time for her Son to come home. Taking a quick skip towards her mother she now embraced the woman whom was relieved of an apron and had set the cake on the stove.

"Thank you so much for baking the cake, mom," The lavender haired woman said with a relieved smile, taking note of the decorations made on the delicious smelling pastry. It was mostly frosted by red with blue edging surrounding it, yellow words saying 'Happy Birthday Second Birthday Pan!' etched onto the surface. She loved how homely it looked but also colorful, reminding her of her husband's Turtle School's uniform.

"Oh it's nothing, darling," She waved off as she pulled away from her daughter. "I do nothing and I'd shrivel up like a prune. Plus, this is for my lovely granddaughter so I'll work extra hard just for her."

"It helps, more than you know," Bulma sighed as she stroked her own messy hair with resignation. "I forgot to spruce up. Dammit, I wanted to look a little presentable."

"You look fine, sweetie," Panchy reassured her girl. "Why, you look just as great as you did yesterday!"

"That's because this is yesterday's clothes," Bulma grumbled out with a wry smile. "But you'd say that anyways, wouldn't you?"

"Honey, we're never going to keep looking our best. But you still look great because you put effort into what you do. When someone stops trying, they don't look that hot, do they?" The blonde commented with a rare wink.

"You still surprise me, mom," Bulma laughed, taken aback by the grain of wisdom she heard her mom say.

"That's what your father says, but I still think he's the one who surprises me. Always tinkering, always thinking, always up to something," She commented with an expressive wave of her hand. A thought suddenly dawned in her head as she looked over Bulma's shoulder and then around the kitchen. "Speaking of someone is probably up to something, where's adorable little Pan?"

At hearing that question, Bulma couldn't help but retract her pleased expression. Instead it was replaced by a mortified one when she heard a cacophony of alarmed yells coming down the hall. Immediately rushing out of the kitchen she saw some workers burst from the clearing, some seeming putting out fires on their lab coats.

"What's going on?" Bulma asked the nearest lab assistant.

"It's...you...no time!" He exclaimed with heavy pants, pointing towards the hall with a silhouette of a shadow with a tail. "It's coming for us!"

For a brief moment her heart stopped. The shadow brought back horrible memories of that monster, something she had wished to forget. It etched into her mind so much that she had done all she could to keep Pan from looking at the Full Moon. From keeping the window out of reach to doing everything she could to make Pan stay inside when Full Moons came by. But the logical part of her was triggered when a mischievious laugh broke out.

"Tag! Tag! Tag! Yer all it! Buahahahahahaha!" Pan turned around the corner, wielding what looked like a small white cylinder with an armrest and handle. Vapor came off the end with an ozone smelling blue glow escaping it. Her eyes recognized it instantly as her portable laser gun she had built as a child.

"First," She grabbed the collar of the worker whose name was now visible on his coat. "Chikiru. That is my daughter, not an IT!"

"But I-!"

"Second," She continued to let out a shrill yell as she pointed at the not laughing Pan but a scared one. "HOW DID YOU LET MY DAUGHTER INTO THE LAB?! THAT THING WAS IN STORAGE?! HOW CAN YOU FAIL ON SO MANY LEVELS?!"

"Th-The alarms were on maintenance so we thought to-"

"Leave the doors all unlocked?! ARE YOU STUPID?!" Bulma screamed with the presence of a giant, causing the man to cower while her daughter sweat bullets. The sound of a doorbell broke what tension was held in the hall as the fleeing workers came back with fire extinguishers and other emergency equipment; now especially since Pan wasn't opening fire on any more of them or the facility.

"That's him," She muttered as she let go of the man, sweeping her palm over her face as she walked over to her daughter who had a too sweet smile. Her hands were scratching nervously at her sides but void of the blaster she stole. But given she was much taller than her, the sight of her fourth appendage holding onto it behind her back was quite noticeably. Reaching out, she frowned at her girl. "Hand it over, Pan."

Her face dropped when she realized that the jig was up. Her face fell as her tail swung the item around into her arms. Sadly walking up to her with big teary eyes she held up the gun she made as a child, almost seeing a reflection of herself; minus the tail and onyx eyes of course.

"Pan, that's not a toy," Bulma sternly scolded her, reaching down to take it out of the birthday girl's hands. "You should know better than to take things like that. What did I just say?"

"Sowwy mama," Pan apologized, her tail fallen and curling around her ankles just as her hands folded in front of her.

"Terrorizing the staff isn't a good thing," The mother of one implored softly, hearing once again the doorbell ring outside. Kneeling down she nudged her chin to have her look up at her. "But I'll let it go. You're a birthday girl so enjoy your day. Next time this happens though, I'll come up something very scary as punishment. Understand?"

"Uh-huh," The toddler nodded fervently.

"Okay, c'mere," She insisted with a smile, pulling the little girl into a hug with the blaster still in hand. Noticing the tail rise up as a result of her mood being improved she couldn't help but grin at the sight. Releasing her, she wiped away the tears and thumbed over to the door. "C'mon. Let's go let your dad in."

Walking with the toddler following behind, she saw something that looked like furious motion just outside the front door. Rolling her eyes, she walked up to the knob and turned it, swinging it open to reveal Goku with ten pizza boxes. Nine of which were completely empty and discarded to his side, the other held up as a sheepishly chuckling spikey haird man.

"Sorry, I got hungry," He apologized outright, with Bulma just wryly smiling.

"I'm sure," His wife sighed with expectancy. "Not that I thought you were going to split that evenly, but couldn't you have waited till you got inside, Son?"

"Papa!" Pan cried out as she hugged her dad's leg.

"Heya!" Goku waved down at his daughter, reaching down to muss her slightly raised lavender tresses. "How's my champ doin'?"

"Good! Nothin' bad hap'nd!" She proclaimed with a mischievious giggle.

"Oh really?" The father of one asked with a dubious raised brow. Looking up at Bulma who simply shrugged with a lopsided smile she turned to look down at her special girl. "If nothin' bad happened, then let's go have pie-cake! Your favorite combo!"

"Awesome!" She squealed with delight, taking off towards the kitchen faster than either could track.

Letting a whistle out, Goku turned embrace his wife, both exchange a brief kiss before parting, "What did I miss?"

"Oh nothing. Just our little monster just rampaging with my old blaster," She motioned with a turn of her head, watching distantly as the last of the scorched marks were being cleaned up by Capsule Corp employees. "Thankfully, no one got hurt and nothing important was damaged. Better than the time she almost activated one of your Sparring Partners, as dad calls them."

"Oh boy, that was a close call," He laughed sheepishly, scratching his chin at remembering that. Ever since their girl could start walking, she had begun invading anywhere she pleased. The levels of delight she seemed to have was on par with the horrified reactions she got from the staff and family, almost on the borders of a mad scientist. Something both began to understand where it came from.

"Yeah, I let her off easy cause it's her birthday," Bulma shrugged with a guilty grin. "I'm so weak. It's hard to punish someone with such big eyes and pulls off such a sad expression. She looked so crushed that I couldn't do more than simply give her a good talking."

"Ah, well, I probably would've done the same," Goku responded waved nonchalantly with his free hand.

"Yes, but that was because this is a special day. You'd do that on any other day plus today," She turned with an accusing stare. "Be a little more strict with her. It'll become a bad habit if you keep this up and she'll start coming to you if she thinks bad ol' mom is persecuting her."

"Ah-okay, I'll try," He half recoiled, half nodded with a nervous smile.

Any further talk was broken up by a delighted yell.

"BRTHDAY CAKE, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

"Let's go before she makes a mess of it," Bulma resigned with a shake of her head. Grabbing the pizza box out of his hand, she pulled him just before closing the door with her foot. As she held the pizza and opened it, she revealed the pie that Pan liked; meat lovers and all. "Look what dad got!"

"PIE! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Pan enthusiastically raised her hands up and cheered. "I 'ove brthdays!"

"This is only your second, kiddo," Goku piped in with a wink aimed at Bulma. "Only more to come, right?"

"Of course," She said as she smiled at her small tike. "So many more."

Age 762, August 7th

Mount Paozu, Early Saturday Morning

Early in the morning, with the sun gazing firmly over the trees that were scattered across the abandoned mountain, Goku and Pan were making ample use of the wilderness for their own benefit. When Pan had turned three, she had began to take an interest in where her Papa went whenever he wasn't on the job delivering pizza, and had soon found training — which she had begun to call "play-fighting" — to be something she enjoyed.

At Goku's insistence, and once Bulma had been relatively sure that it would not harm their daughter in any way, he had begun giving his daughter training sessions. Nothing quite so strenuous as what the venerable Muten Rōshi had put him through, as he would save that for later. Merely enough to get the young girl into fighting shape and get her muscles forming.

And the easiest way to get Pan into it was to turn it into a game of tag.

"Papa wait for me!" The lavender-haired toddler called out. Despite her young age, she was already well suited for running, even though she looked like the average four year old child. "I have little legs!" Having inherited her mother's intelligence, the young girl's speech had improved considerably around the age of three-and-a-half.

Laughing, the proud father kept running further ahead. "It wouldn't be a game of tag if I let you catch me, would it?"

"B-But...!" Pan objected, tears forming in her onyx eyes. She clenched her fists, puffing out her cheeks and her tail spiked in irritation. "Papa's too fast, it's not fair!"

Goku couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself. And yet his laughter vanished when he felt something hit him with the force of a small truck; in a split second, Pan had vanished, and quickly embedded her head in her father's stomach like a missile, winding Goku and sending him spiraling backwards, Pan in tow.

Coughing as he pulled himself upright, he looked at the now smiling girl sitting in his lap.

"Papa! You'reitnow!"

"P-Pan!?" Goku blinked, still inhaling deeply from that winding blow. "What just...?"

"What what, Papa?" Pan blinked, her wide black eyes looking confused. "I tagged you!"

"I know that, but how did you get here so quickly? You were over by that tree just a second ago..."

Pan tilted her head, her spiky lavender hair, so much like her father's, and yet vividly coloured like her mother's, moved with her. "I dunno. I just wanted to tag you, and I did it! Now you chase me, Papa!"

"I think that's enough tag for now, Pan," replied the father, sitting up as his daughter slid to the ground, looking mildly upset. "Why don't we try something different? A new game! Has Papa taken you fishing yet?"

"Nuh-uh!" Pan's unhappiness was immediately offset by her father suggesting they play something different.

Having been led to a small cliff by her father, Goku had explained how the game would work. He would dive into the water and lure a fish out, and it would be Pan's job to catch it, thereby securing the father and daughter pair their lunch for the day. Almost eagerly, the four-year old was standing at the side of the cliff; having her father's natural curiosity, she peered over the edge, looking down into the sparkling waters.

Down below, she could see subtle distortions in the surface of the water as her father swam beneath the lake, trying to startle the largest fish he could find. Any minute now, she'd be greeted by the sight of a breaching fish. The young girl's monkey-like tail was practically wagging in excitement.

The water began to ripple, and sure enough, there was a small eruption of water, and the large form of a blue-bodied fish flew high into the air. It was one of the larger fish in the lake, a Paozu tuna. The creature flew straight into the air, towards the cliff-side. Pan, ever ready, crouched and leapt, landing a solid kick to the side of the fish, knocking it unconscious with her surprising strength.

Its eyes whiting out, the fish fell back towards the lake, only for Goku to fly up and catch the creature, holding its limp body against his shirtless torso. Laughing, the proud father flashed a thumbs up at Pan, who danced with pride at her accomplishment. Landing neatly onto the cliff-side, Goku shook the water off his body and slipped back into his standard fightinggi, which he had discarded down to his shorts for ease of swimming.

"We did it, Papa!" Pan crowed, leaping into the air. "We got a big one!"

"We sure did, champ! Now, let's sit down and cook this baby!"

The duo made walked further from the edge of the cliff, and Goku quickly set up lumber with which they could use for cooking, employing hiskito light it aflame. As the flame would take some time before it became hot enough to cook anything, Goku set the large tuna up against it, staked into the ground, and began to casually chat with Pan.

"So, kiddo, how's school treatin' ya?"

"I like it!" replied the girl simply, leaning forward to poke the fish. "But preschool is really boring. Mama's taught me how to write, and she's already started to teach me mathematics! So she wants to have me go up a grade!"

"Oh yeah, your mother was pretty good at all this school stuff..." Goku remembered, if only vaguely, how Bulma explained that she had graduated from university at age sixteen, before their very first Dragon Ball hunt. Ruffling Pan's spiky head, he grinned. "Looks like you've got your Mama's smarts; guess it runs in her family! Who knows, you might become a scientist like your Mama."

"But I want to be strong like you are, Papa!" replied the girl earnestly. "I like play-fighting and I want to be as big, fast and tough like you are!"

"You can do both," said Goku. "My teacher told me something when I was training with him. Something about how a martial artist needs to train their mind and their body. I failed in that first part, but the long and short of it is, your Mama's got the right idea; so if you listen to both of us, you might even become stronger than I am!"

With Pan's goal firmly set, the two continued to chat idly. The fire eventually reached the necessary cooking heat, and as soon as the fish was cooked, the duo began to dig in. Despite his never ending stomach, Goku gave the largest share of the fish to Pan, who took it happily. The girl had Goku's appetite, and despite the fact that she was just a toddler, she ate as ravenously as he.

"That was yummy, Papa!" crowed Pan as they set the bones of the large fish aside, and her father snuffed out the flames.

"I bet it was, kiddo," replied Goku. "Say, should we head on back? Your Mama's gonna be worried if we're out here too late." Turning to the sky, he was about to call towards the clouds, but thought better of it. "Why don't you do it this time, Pan?"

Her onyx eyes sparkling with excitement, Pan turned to the sky, her tail swishing in the air. "KINTO'UN!"

Pan's voice echoed across the sky, and there was a familiar whirring sound as one of the many clouds seemed to be given life, dashing down from the fathomless sky towards the strange looking pair. The cloud was golden in colour, trailing a tail behind it. The cloud settled next to its master, Goku, and Pan looked at it with utmost eagerness. The innocent girl clambered onto the cloud, hugging it and pulling at the fluffy construct.

"C'mon, Papa! Get on it!"

Goku followed his daughter's lead, sitting onto the cloud which he'd owned since he was a young child. Pan climbed onto her father's back, wring her arms around his neck.

"Go, Kinto'un! Go!"

At Pan's insistence, the cloud began to take off, hurtling them into the air and away from Mount Paozu. As they flew, Goku spared an aside glance to his former house, the hut that belonged to his grandfather, Gohan. After giving it his brief farewells until he came back again, the cloud pushed them forward towards the Western Capital. Kinto'un flew them over forests and plains until the new scenery of the city-scape came into view.

Capsule Corporation came into view, and Pan eagerly directed the Somersault Cloud towards her home. Making a sharp left, the cloud began a long descent, and they landed neatly outside the automatic glass door of Capsule Corporation. Sliding off the cloud, the two landed on the grass lawn outside, and Pan jumped down from her perch on her father's shoulder.

"Let's go find Mama!" She urged, and pulled her father by the hand; leading him straight through the door, Goku waved cheerfully to the secretary, who pointed Goku in the direction of the conference room. It seemed she already knew that the man was looking for Bulma.

Walking towards another automatic glass door, Goku's acute hearing could pick up his wife's voice even when the door was closed — and it sounded like she was very happy.

"—well, of course! No, it has been awhile! I should be able to arrange that; but I'm married now, you know that, right? ...I know, I'm sorry for not sending you an invitation, but I wanted to make it a quick, quiet service!"

Goku and Pan looked at each other, then at Bulma, who was speaking quickly into a corded telephone. They'd never heard her chat so animatedly over the phone with anyone; most of her calls were usually business calls. Furthermore, the sight of a telephone had recently begun to irritate the young woman, as she had begun teaching Goku the finer points of using one.

One of the most memorable attempts ended with him holding the receiver an arm's length away, attempting to shout into the phone.

"Yeah, no problem!" She continued speaking, looking up at her beloved family and motioning them over, but at the same time to be silent so she could hear. "We've been meaning to plan a little get together anyway, so I don't see why we can't bring you with us! Sure! Alright, I'll see you then!" Smiling, the woman hung up the phone.

"So...who was that?" inquired Goku, voicing his confusion.

"Oh, that?" Bulma gestured to the telephone. "That was a telephone call from my older sister, Tights!"

"You have a sister?" Goku blinked, evidently confused. This was the first he'd heard of it; something he quickly voiced.

"Well, she doesn't keep in touch as often as she ought to," shrugged the lavender-haired woman, her jumpsuit moving with her shoulders. "But we get along really great when she's around; she's a novelist, you see. Her expertise is science-fiction, but I think she's been considering expanding her horizons, and because of that, she wants to meet all of my friends!"

"But why us?"

"I suppose all of the antics involving Piccolo and the Tenkaichi Budōkai reached her ears and got her novelist's blood boiling," replied Bulma airily. "I know it's not much of science-fiction, but her first ever novel,Space Patrol Chako, was a dud, and her second novel,Jiya!, received only modest sales. So I think she's considering looking into martial arts as her next inspiration."

Goku, not being the quickest on the uptake, was having difficulty putting two and two together, and Bulma sighed, placing a thin finger to her husband's forehead.

"So, I'm going to call Muten Rōshi, and the others, and we'll have a big 'ol reunion at Kame House!" Her tone was excited as she explained her grand plan to Goku. "Think about it, Son, we haven't seen our friends in a few years — barring the poor incident with Yamcha — and I think it'd be nice for us to have a good meet up. And you, Pan, you can meet everyone your Mama and Papa went on adventures with years ago, and your Aunt Tights too!"

"Yay!" Pan's eyes glimmered, less at the thought of meeting new people and more at the word "adventures". However, it was obvious she would be happy no matter where her parents were taking it, and her monkey-like tail swished behind her. "I can see everyone!"

"A big 'ol meetin', eh?" Goku thought to himself. "It's been awhile since we've seen everyone. I wonder how Kuririn's been holding up all these years?"

Sol System, Outside the Asteroid Belt

As the Son family chatted and spoke about their impending joyous reunion with their comrades, in the deep reaches of outer space, there was a stirring. Past Jupiter, a ship rocketed through the solar system, it's inhabitant focused on one thing and one thing only.

The little blue planet.

Earth.

Chapter 7: Arrival from Outer Space

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 7 - Arrival from Outer Space

When Yamcha got the call, he knew he had to let bygones be bygones. It had been over four years since he last saw his ex and Goku, enough time for his old grudge to be let go. During that time he kept himself proactive within the sports community, earning himself a reputation as a star athlete. Even apart from that he took up training in his spare time not even making good on the offers of many pretty ladies that he would have died getting attention from. He was a new man and he aimed to prove it at this little gathering.

From the call he got, Bulma was surprisingly mellow and didn't hold an ounce of sarcasm. The fact she went out of her way to personally call him with the invitation instead of any other means lifted his spirits. They were good friends even before they dated so he was happy to revisit her and some old faces. Among that he was told was good old Kuririn, the Turtle Hermit Muten Rōshi, Oolong and Bulma's sister. Not to mention, she informed, that she had a toddler coming with.

"Man, this is going to be a little harder than I figured it'd be," The scar-faced man thought as he drove his Capsule Corp aerial sports car. Emblazoned with red and black, with the license plate reading "TAITANS" on it he drove across the oceanic horizon. As the sea unfurled beneath the sleek vehicle his eyes furrowed behind his dark shades. Even Puar, buckled next to him in the convertible, could tell he was in deep thought. "Will I freak seeing a kid that could have been mine? Will I keep my cool and just play it off? Focus, Yamcha! You're here to make amends and have a good time. This isn't the time to be worrying!"

"You alright, Yamcha?" His Changeling pal asked from his side.

Smiling, he laughed out nervously as he kept his hands on the wheel, "Me? I'm great, fantastic, wonderful, amazing! Definitely all the above and not at all nervous going to see my ex and my friend I tried to beat up in the middle of a wedding! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"...so, that's a no," Puar dryly replied.

Biting his tongue, he kept himself silent and didn't lash out. Instead he vaguely tilted his head in his direction as he picked up the island in the horizon; they'd be there in minutes, "You ever had that feeling where you're going somewhere yet you had a nightmare about it the night before and gave you an incredibly bad omen?"

"Uh...maybe?" His partner weakly inquired with a shrug of his furry shoulders.

"I'm having that in spades. I just...feel like I'm going to screw up, or that Bulma will forget she even invited me," He frowned, huffing as his mouth formed a pouting expression. "And what if Goku's mad at me?"

"Goku never stays mad at anyone," Puar reassured him with a beaming smile. "He even forgave Piccolo, so I'm sure he'll forgive you."

"...somehow, I'm not sure how that's supposed to make me feel better," He weakly slouched forward on the wheel.

"It'll be alright," He encouraged with a nod. "After all, Bulma wouldn't have invited you if she didn't want you to be there. And Goku's nice to all of his friends. I'm sure he doesn't think any less of you for what you did back then."

It was one of the reasons why Yamcha liked having Puar around. Better than the empty silence of doubting or overthinking things, someone like the changeling could easily make him see the bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. While his stomach was still full of knots, they felt less tense and a smile genuinely emerged on his face. A bit of confidence sparked in him and he gave Puar a thumb's up to him.

"Thanks buddy, I think I feel better now," He told his partner in crime and life.

As they approached the island, it looked like only the turtle presided on the beach with no vehicles to speak of. He was relieved he didn't have to barrel straight into a zone of unpredictable discomfort so the parking was done smoothly. Placing the car over to the side, not knowing if Bulma was bringing one of her vehicles he thought about all the potential hazards that'd come with it. A click of a button later with a poof of smoke, he packaged the Capsule into his pocket.

Yamcha didn't dress up too much. He had a simple short-sleeved jacket with the Taitans logo on the back, green with yellow trim and black letters on its back. With a white tank top revealed from his unbutton front he wore a simple pair of blue jeans with sports shoes. Walking alongside his floating companion, he greeted the turtle with a wave and entered the open doorway.

"Hey guys!" He greeted with a broad smile.

"Ah, Yamcha! Been awhile," Muten Rōshi, the Turtle Hermit Sage openly met him from the middle of the floor. He was in the middle of watching what looked like a wrestling competition. He couldn't tell who was who but the one with a blonde dutch cut seemed to be winning with a wicked grappel. Turning his shade adorned eyes back to the television, he began to shake his beer filled mug as the tank top, cargo shorts and sock wearing martial arts master berated the screen. "Come on! Don't lose to that pretender! No! NOOOOOO!"

"And that's it! The winner goes to the legendary John Cena!"

"Oh that's just typical," Rōshi growled as he drowned his misery with large gulps of his mug's contents.

"So," Yamcha awkwardly broke the tension as he scratched his hair covered neck, looking around. "Is anybody else he-..."

He was stopped in his tracks. The sight of something beautiful and foreign made his thoughts drag to a halt and his heart beat increase by three fold. There sitting on the far cushion of the U shaped red seated couch was a woman. Not just any woman but a very cute one at that.

She was typing on a laptop positioned over her legs, brown square lens glasses reflecting the text and images she was working on. Chestnut hair covered her head, designed in a braided plait that hung over her left shoulder; complemented by hazel eyes with a freckled soft complexion under the eyes with a fair skin tone. Her clothes were modest, that of a red over white cardigan-skirt top with the skirt being blue with dark colored stockings fastened down to her feet, not wearing the current slippers. Lithe in the right places while generously proportioned enough to make him forget about Bulma, she was cute and gorgeous in the scar faced man's eyes.

Almost as if she felt him staring at her did the young woman turn and look up with a slight smile, "Hi."

"Uhhhh, h-hi?" Yamcha asked sheepishly, feeling himself redden in the cheeks and down the neck. Scratching his chin he followed up with an equally inspiring line. "W-What's your name?"

"Kashiko," She replied with a grin. Adjusting her glasses she tilted her head to the side and inquired. "Are you here for the reunion party too?"

"Uh...yeah! Yes I am, haha!" He nervously laughed, much to Puar's embarrassment. When he calmed down he thought it better to ask. "So...do you know someone who invited you here?"

"Mhm," The brunette replied with a smiling nod.

"Uh," The raven long haired man began to gulp, stepping forward to ask hesitantly. "A-Are...are you...uh...s-single?"

"What?" The bespectacled woman asked with a forward lean, letting her glasses slide teasingly down her nose; just so her light brown eyes could stare back at his. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Uh, m-maybe?" Yamcha weakly asked. "Is that a yes to the single thing?"

Stifling a laugh, she covered her face as she pulled back and giggled into it. While Yamcha blinked owlishly, he turned just as the sound of the fridge had closed in the kitchen. Coming out with a pair of cooled cans of soda was a dwarf of a man with no nose to speak of with six dots aligned on his forehead. Wearing a white tee with a pair of gym shorts, he tromped in barefooted to slide up next to her laughing self.

When she composed herself, she accepted the can and gestured to Kuririn with tearing eyes, "I'm sorry, I just...um...Kuririn is my boyfriend."

Yamcha couldn't help but fall over with utter embarrassment and flabbergasted disbelief. Not as a disservice to his friend and comrade, he just never viewed the Orin monk as a real ladies man. The fact that he got not only a girlfriend but an attractive cute one was something beyond his understanding.

As Puar patted his back, the ex-bandit weakly propped himself on his hands and knees to look stupified at the pair, "How?! How did you two become a thing?!"

"It was more of luck, actually," Kuririn shrugged lamely, opening his can to sip it before continuing his explanation. "I was on my way to a job interview cause...well, I rather not end up like Oolong and live off of Rōshi's good will like some couch potatoe-"

"Hey! I pay rent! I can snack on all the chips as much as I want!" Oolong called out from the kitchen, making the changeling pal of Yamcha face palm.

"-but I wanted to strike out on my own, seeing that Goku went back to settle down," The shorter man continued, walking over to reach out a hand with a smile. Taking it, Yamcha was helped to his feet while nodding back at Kashiko who simply blushed and smiled back at him. "You see, we were both riding the same train and she recognized me from the Tenkaichi Budōkai. We got to talking and it just happened that she helps market for competitions like the Tournament, not to mention she's an enthusiast for martial arts in general. You can hardly make her go far from her office without bringing her laptop to keep herself busy."

"Idle hands are not productive ones, Kuririn!" She chirped proudly as she clicked a few more buttons on the laptop, returning her attention once she finished another task.

"Thing is, she actually came onto me," Kuririn whispered, making Yamcha gawk with shock. Nodding with addendum he waved his hands with summary. "Turns out, other than her coworkers, she doesn't get to see many people because of her job. She was feeling lonely so we shared a few cups of coffee while we talked. Then it became lunches, then dinners, and then you can see we're pretty inseparable now."

"Huh, wow," The taller martial artist blinked, grinning sheepishly over at Kashiko and then at Kuririn. "Y-Yeah, it probably isn't a good time for me to date anyways. Bulma and I kinda broke up a few years ago."

"Is that so? Bulma never mentioned that on the phone," The Orin monk stated with a look of surprise on his face. Scratching his chin he chuckled nervously as he replied. "Gee, sorry man. It must have been tough coping all on your own."

"I wasn't alone," Yamcha smiled, looking over and fist bumping his hovering feline compatriot. "Puar is always with me. He made it a bit more bearable."

"Mhm! We're stuck with each other no matter what!" The changeling insisted with gusto.

As the pair laughed, Kuririn heard the timer echo within the kitchen. At this moment Kashiko chose to close her laptop and head in that direction.

"The others will be here soon. I'll make sure the food is all in the oven and ready for them," She insisted with a smile over her shoulder.

"I'll help set up the tables and get the side dishes ready," Kuririn hurried as he called after his girlfriend. The pair began talking animatedly as they put distance between them and the Turtle Hermit with his former disciple. It was pretty clear to the ex-bandit that they were very much a pair meant for each other and that they both cared for one another. He envied that kind of relationship but forced himself to not dwell on himself in pity.

Instead, he looked to the Turtle Hermit and asked, "So, what have you been up to?"

For a moment, Muten Rōshi sputtered his drink and looked over with blinking eyes behind his shades. Coughing he chukled and waved his hand, "Me? I-I've been up to nothing! Just me and my tube with my booz and guilty pleasures. That's all!"

"O-kay," Yamcha tilted his head, not buying the act but not wanting to pry. Sighing he looked over at the TV and noticed it had switched from wrestling to an exercise channel. Predictably of many girls in tight clothing for the perverted elder to ogle at. Rolling his eyes he motioned to Puar as he headed outside of the house. "I'm going to get some exercise in until they arrive. I'll holler when I see them."

"Can do!" Rōshi called out as the door closed shut. With a weary exhale he walked over to sit on the couch as he watched the channel a bit more soberly than expected. A wry grin fixed on his face belying his true actions in the past few years. "It's not time...not yet, I suppose."

"Son! Are you ready? My sister will be here any minute!" Bulma called out as her lab coat swished across her frame. She had just done running some more calculations on some project she was working on at the time but just realized the time not but an hour ago. They were probably going to be late just because she knew her estranged sibling had a thing of taking her time as well. Her quick call was only left with a modified answering machine that told her she was on the way.

For her, it was just typical of Tights to act this way.

Sighing, she trudged through the corridor till it hooked around to the open kitchen. With no sight of Goku there she quizzically turned to look down the hall. There she saw the door open and the sound of a pair of voices not far away.

Pursing her lips, she exhaled through her nostrils and raised her voice once again, "SON GOKU!"

"AH! Sorry!" He replied from the door, sticking his head out from his daughter's bedroom with a nervous smile. "We're almost ready."

"You're just changing into clothes," Bulma huffed, her lips pouting while her foot tapped in sync with crossed arms. "It's not like I'm asking you to read the encyclopedia."

"Almost...err..no...wait," He briefly paused, more ruffles heard in the background. "It's the other way and...let's see, to make this...AH! Got it! We're good now!"

As soon as he said this, a pair of figures came out that made her almost do a doubletake. There she saw her beloved husband in his old Turtle Hermit gi of blue outlining orange, the latter being the banner of his school. Blue wrist bands with similarly colored cloth boots and a sash with the sign of his school on the upper left of the kosode.

Beside him was their adorable daughter, her slightly disheveled hair on edge as she grinned brightly at wearing something of her father's. A black pair of cloth sandals with a identically colored sash tied around the similarly colored gi deprived of the blue addendum in Goku's apparel. She made up for it by a furred tail swinging behind her happily which her father lacked; as well as a rope slung over her chest, holding a unique item over her shoulders. The red magical staff, the Nyoi-Bo, an old treasure of his adopted grandfather's was worn with its red carrying holster holding it in place on her back; something that truly showed his adoration for his daughter that moved the lavender haired woman.

"Oh...you two are such a pair," Bulma exclaimed with a teary smile, wiping her eyes as she sniffled slightly. Looking down at the purple haired, onyx eyed daughter of hers she ruffled her head which earned her a giggle. "You look like me if I was your father. That gi fits you alright?"

"Uh-huh! It was a little hard but papa got it on for me," Pan nodded with a toothy smile.

"Sorry it took so long," Goku apologized with a scratch to his angled scalp. "I've only ever changed her diapers when she was a baby, so helping her get dressed was a little-"

"No apology needed," She insisted with a wave of her hand, dismissing the issue as she crossed her arms over her blue topped chest. With only beige shorts to match with a pair of tennis shoes, she didn't think a visit to Kame House required anything fancy. She didn't even think to add any make-up, not that Goku ever seemed to mind, just as a sign for how little she cared. She knew that her sister put much thought into it either, despite how much time she uses to procrastinate.

A sigh was let loose as she looked out the window with a frown.

"Uh, is everything okay?" Her husband asked with a owlish set of blinks.

"Yeah, it's just my sister, Tights," Bulma explained as she turned back to look at him with a frustrated stare that made him grimace. "I mean, she knew it was today, and we planned for it but she ALWAYS has to come super late. Ugh! It's not enough that I had to spend early morning packing some snacks in a capsule, making sure there'd be enough between you two alone and our expected company. But no, I had to manage dad's employees and play boss while working on a project of mine on the side for the whole morning. I wouldn't have been so stressed had he not picked today to be at the opening of his lunar gravity satellite's launch, and leave it to mom to go with so she couldn't help out in the kitch-"

"Bulma," Goku cut her off, his hands reaching out to grab her shoulders as he simply smiled with an optimistic pair of eyes staring into her worrying ones. "It's fine. I'm sure Roshi won't mind us being a little late. We're just meeting with some old friends. It's not like we're going to a party or anything, it's just us and them. No need to get crazy over it."

"Y-You're right," She replied with a nod, letting out a breath of relaxation as her tension left her slumping shoulders. Reaching out she pulled her husband into a hug that he was only too happy to return. Nuzzling into his neck she whispered with a smile. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Of course, Bulma," He chirped, pulling back to give her a chaste kiss. "Anything for you."

"Ew!" Pan gagged as she made a yucky face. "Kissies, bleugh!"

"Haha, that's our girl," Goku laughed along with his wife.

At that moment, the door ringer finally buzzed. While she was happy that she had calmed down, she couldn't help but turn to scowl at the front entrance of their home. Before she left, Goku gave her a look of pleading to not curb stomp her sibling...or something along those lines.

"I'll think about it," She muttered as she stomped towards the door. The bell repeated numerous times immediately marking her with a pulsing vein of anger. When she arrived the door opened swiftly as her angry face barged out. The woman beyond shrank back as she barked out a loud. "YOU'RE LATE!"

"I-I'm sorry," The blonde sister clapped her hands together as she bowed her head. "I really, REALLY tried to get here as soon as I can. I had to take a cab just to get here. It's such a long story that started with a mime bumping into me-"

"No need to finish," Bulma groaned as she pulled back and let her sibling come in. "Dad and mom are away during this site construction being put on display. We're just gonna meet everyone on our own."

"Sounds like dad to pick a bad time to choose work over family," Tights gestured with her hand as she entered the home she had been away from far longer than her sister had in the past. Taking time to soak in the familiarity as she walked allowed both Pan and Goku to get a good look at her.

Like Bulma, she had her hair trimmed short but looked a bit more frazzled than her distant sister. Golden locks complemented dark eyes with a slightly more tanned complexion, a byproduct of her being an extrovert far more due to her occupation swinging back and forth. Though not as generously proportioned as her sibling she possessed a lithe figure, her choice in clothing being that of a pair of blue jean overalls over a black tee with a pair of boots adorned to her feet. A dark brown strap wrapped around her with a satchel over her shoulder, containing the contents of her current profession.

"Hello there," Goku introduced him as Tights did a once-over at the taller man with bedroom hair. "My name's Son Goku. I'm married to your sister, Bulma."

"I know, I heard about that," She acknowledged with a slow nod, her mouth agape. When she broke out her reverie, she whispered not too quietly as she nudged her sibling. "You didn't tell me he was a hottie!"

"Your expression was priceless," Bulma commented with a raspberry wink.

"Still mischievous as usual," Tights pinched her lips together. When she felt a tug on her leg she turned to look down at the lavender haired girl below her.

"Hiya, Auntie," Pan introduced herself with a formal bow with hands clasped together, still beaming with a bright smile. "My name's Son Pan. I'm happy to meet you!"

"Awwwwwww," The relative of the tailed girl gushed, pulling Pan to hug her tightly as she scruffed her spikey hair. "You're so adorable and polite! You're the spitting image of your parents, I can't believe such a well mannered girl can be their kid."

"HEY!" Bulma snapped while her husband simply laughed.

"You haven't seen her when she was younger. We could barely keep her from causing trouble," Goku admitted with a wink aimed at Pan who simply stuck her tongue out at her dad.

"I did NOT," She harrumphed with a pouted lips, her tail whipping at her father's direction with disapproval.

"Haha! Sounds like you, sis," Tights laughed at that, releasing her neice as she stood to her feet. When she caught sight of the tail she raised a brow and then looked at Goku. Tilting her head to the side she saw no tail emerging from his clothes. Turning to look at Bulma she did the same before she looked pointedly down at face pulling daughter that was exchanged back by her father who made his own silly expressions. "So, that tail-?"

"Long story, but that's an expected trait," Bulma replied with a wave of her hand. "Trust me, I've taken care of everything so we wouldn't have an incident like the one with her father."

"Oooooh!" Tights raised her hands into fists, leaning towards her sister with a starry eyed stare at her. "You must tell me! That sounds like a story I can use in one of my books!"

"Later, not now," Bulma shot down earning her sibling's soured expression. Wrapping her arms around her chest she decided to ask. "Is writing not going well for you?"

"Paco the Space Cadet didn't get that many hits," She admitted with a roll of her eyes. "I'm leaning more towards the martial arts side of things. I mostly agreed to step away from my other side job to get me inspired. Meeting a legend like Muten Roshi and from what you told, your husband and a number of others who are martial artists might give me ideas as what to write!"

"Temper your expectations," Bulma chuckled as she unfurled her arms. "It's not like they're going to fight Daimao Piccolo anytime soon. Anything short of aliens falling from the sky and challenging them won't exactly get them in the mood to show their stuff. They're just quirky guys, some more odd than others."

"HAHAHA! Papa, that face is too silly!" Pan cried out as the two women looked over to see her father pulling a face. His tongue was circling while his eyes seemed to dance in opposing directions, all while he made a odd warbling sound from his mouth. The sight was enough to make both of them to giggle and snicker at the ridiculous sight.

"Yeah, well," Tights began with a hopeful grin and a wink. "Who knows what might happen? Inspiration can come from the least expected places."

"That, I can agree with you," Bulma replied with a nod.

Yamcha was now contentedly resting. It had been well over an hour since he just did some basic exercises while he watched out for incoming. Knowing the others could have called them numerous times, he gathered they were running late. Pulling up a lawn chair he was now reclined fully on the beach with his hands resting behind his head. Eyes closed behind his shades while legs were crossed over one another.

The wind was gentle and the gulls cawing was a nice addition to the rolling waves. It couldn't have been a better moment of just relaxing bliss.

That was rudely interrupted as a rumbling roar was heard as a hovercraft impacted the beach with a loud crash that shook the house and threw Yamcha off his chair. Finding himself head planted in sand, his upright legs fell flat as he pulled out to spit out grains. Twitching with aggravation he let out a loud groan.

"If anyone didn't catch the sound of that comet hitting our planet, Bulma is here!" Yamcha cried out to the house as he forced himself to his feet.

The screen door of Kame House opened as if someone had been waiting by the door; the first one to spill out was Kuririn, quickly followed by Kashiko, and Oolong soon after. Yamcha, having the advantage of being outside before the rest of the group, he hastily began cleaning away the lawn chair as Bulma's carrier came to a complete stop, the door opening with a loud hiss.

The hiss transformed into a whirring noise as the door began to move upwards, revealing the orange-clad figure of Goku, the casual form of Bulma, and two figures that the Dragon Team neither knew nor recognized. Bulma was the first to greet them, the lavender-haired woman striding out of her Capsule Corporation hovercraft with a broad smile, one arm behind her back.

"Hey, everyone!" She waved in the direction of Kuririn, Yamcha, and the others, just as Muten Rōshi made his way out of his own front door. "Long time no see!"

"Says the girl who never shows up unless we invite 'er," crowed Rōshi. "To be honest, I'm surprisedyoucalled this little get together...even if you decided to host it on my island!"

"Now now, don't be like that," Bulma admonished the elderly man, and quickly pulled a package out from behind her, handing it to him. "Look, I even brought you some nikuman!"

"Nikuman, eh?" Rōshi reached for the wrapped box, a grin forming on his face as he chuckled. "You didn't need to go out of your way like that when all you needed to do was let me squeeze your boobs a li-!"

There was a resoundingthwack!as Bulma's fist came down hard on Rōshi's head, causing the old man to wince and rub a newly forming bruise.

"Still no sense of humor, huh?"

"Still the same lecherous pervert,huh!?"

"Come on now, let's not get violent," Goku walked over to his wife, carrying his daughter in his arms. The lavender-tressed girl was clinging to her father's neck, looking around at the new arrivals with wide-eyed curiosity and an innocent smile. "How're ya doin', teacher?" He asked, grinning at his former teacher who was still clutching his forehead and shooting Bulma quite the offended look.

"Oh, Goku," Kuririn looked at his best friend, and then over to Bulma, and then finally a third time as the blonde girl who was following after. "You picked up Goku on the way here, and...someone else?"

Remembering his self-assertion to be on his best behavior, Yamcha sighed, arms crossed. "Did you keep them out of the loop, Bulma?"

"Well, it wasn't that...I wanted it to be a surprise at the right time, and we never really got the right moment before now...!" Bulma hastily defended herself, hands raised. "Kuririn, Muten Rōshi, Goku and I are married!"

"An' this little one is our kid," Goku chimed in, accompanied by a cheerful wave from Pan.

"MARRIED!?"

"WITH A KID!?"

Rōshi, Kuririn, and Oolong all practically jumped, while Kashiko merely stood there and looked puzzled for a moment.

"Say hey, champ," Goku knelt down, putting Pan on the ground and she walked over towards the others, grinning.

"Hi! I'm Pan!"

"Well, she's an adorable tyke, isn't she?" Kuririn knelt down to reach eye-level with Pan — admittedly not a difficult feat, due to his less-than-imposing-height — to get a better look at her. "...Yeah, she's definitely your kid; same wild hair, same eyes, and even the strange t-tail!?" Kuririn's voice pitched immediately the sight of the tail waving behind Pan, and everyone present that remembered Goku's own tail eyed Bulma with shock.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Bulma knew what they were getting at, and immediately tried to reassure everyone. "We take the necessary precautions to make sure nothing acts up, and there's nothing to worry about with the moon, we put her to bed pretty early!" Seeing Yamcha and Kuririn's eyes in particular, she added, "The tail is here to stay, guys," as she had no intention of cutting anything off of her precious daughter.

"Still, this is a surprise," Muten Rōshi smiled, leaning on his cane. "Goku, with a child of his own...never thought I'd see the day." Adjusting his shades briefly, he continued. "So, Goku, is she strong? I see you both are wearing my colours...has she begun formal training?"

"Not just yet, she's only four," Goku replied. "But we go through the motions and keep her active; I think she's got more energy than I do!" As he laughed, Pan had just noticed Turtle, Rōshi's ever faithful companion, and was currently trying to balance on his shell.

"I'm gonna be real strong!" She added, grinning. "I wanna be stronger than Papa!"

"Bulma's looks, Goku's gung-ho attitude. Seems we've got quite the combination," said Rōshi. "And who's th-!"

"Cutting you off right there, geezer," Bulma sidelined Rōshi's comment as the elderly man turned to look at her older sister, his face already beginning to flush. "This is my older sister, Tights, and a pensioner isn't high on the list of things she's looking for."

"Hey, I'm still quite svelte for my age!" Rōshi interjected angrily.

"About a thousand years ago, maybe!"

Tights couldn't help but giggle at the exchange between her younger sister and the elderly master, before walking ahead of the lavender-hued genius, giving her own cheerful wave so reminiscent of her sister and niece. "Ignoring my sweet little sister for a moment, I'm happy to meet you, Muten Rōshi. I'm a novelist, and I was hoping to speak to a legitimate martial artist such as yourself to get some first hand experience."

"I should have asked this while I was on the phone, but I suppose it slipped my mind," Bulma eased towards her sister, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "My dearhusbandis a martial artist — and the strongest person on the planet — so why didn't you talk to him if you wanted a martial artists opinion?"

"I'm sure Goku is strong, no offence, but I figured the best source would be one with experience," Tights shrugged.

"Yes, because your other sources are oh-so-reliable," shot back Bulma.

While the two sisters began to bicker, Kashiko stepped toward Goku. She smiled, and made a slight bow, her faced flushed, and fixed her hair while hastily adjusting her glasses. "H-Hello, Mr. Son. I-It's an honor to meet the Champion of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai and the man who defeated Piccolo Daimaō."

Goku blinked, first once, then twice, then rapidly. It wasn't that a cute girl talking to him was a surprise — first, he was married to Bulma, and two, Goku didn't process things like that — but the fact that she seemed to remember the incident with Piccolo Junior that threw him for a loop, given how many people seemed to be blissfully forgetting it.

"Oh! Right, that did happen. Sorry it's just been so long that even I'm starting to forget I did that!" Goku replied with a palming fist, following with a jovial chuckle as he scratched his head due to his own embarrassed forgetfulness. It had been true, over six years since the Tenkaichi Budōkai happened and his subsequent victory in it. He hadn't seen Piccolo since the green-skinned antagonist swore he'd come back for revenge; only now did he wonder what happened to his arch-rival. "But...who are you exactly?"

"I-I'm Kuririn's girlfriend," replied Kashiko nervously, fidgeting. "I saw him compete in the Tenkaichi Budōkai, and I was quite taken by his efforts. N-Not that you weren't fantastic as well, you were!" She added hastily, as if hoping to not be offensive.

Ever helpful, Kuririn gave Goku the run down of how he met the girl, filling him in on the same details he'd given Yamcha earlier. "...and eventually, we pretty much became joined at the hip."

A grin and chuckle escaped Goku's lips, happy that his best friend had finally found some one like he had. He could remember Kuririn's women woes, even if they weren't something he'd ever needed to relate to. The reason he'd even trained under Muten Rōshi was to become popular with the girls, though he'd grown out of this over time. Kuririn extended a fist, grinning, and Goku returned the fist bump.

"I never expected your friends to be quite so...animated, Kuririn," said Kashiko smiling earnestly at the others.

"Yeah, we're quite a crowd." Kuririn replied sheepishly. "But still, I wouldn't trade these guys for anyone else."

Over head, far above the island, something streaked through the skies of Earth. Igniting the atmosphere, the object picked up speed and raced downwards like a falling meteorite. The flaming object drew nearer, seeing the island within its sights. With a resounding crash, the object hit the water, sinking to the bottom of the ocean and creating a not-so-impressive wave upon entry.

The sound shook the gathering party, with everyone craning their heads to see where the object and explosion had come from. Yamcha was the first to run towards the shore, an exclamation of disbelief coming from his lips, and look at the impact zone. Instinctively, Bulma and Tights stopped their arguing, but rather than seem paranoid, as the others did, they flashed each other a knowing look and sighed. Tights herself planted a palm firmly onto her face, sauntering over to the shore with a quick movement and a shake of her hips.

"Here he goes again..." the blonde girl chuckled.

"Here...who goes again?" Oolong was blinking rapidly, still shocked from the impact. He didn't have the nerve to approach the water like Yamcha and Tights, lacking the former's strength and the latter's self-confidence.

"An old family friend," replied Bulma as something bobbed to the surface. It wasn't a bird. It wasn't a plane. But itwas, however, a craft of some kind. The craft was slick, and though turned upside down, revealing the black underbelly, still showed shades of red and white, as well as gold. It wasn't of any make that the Dragon Team recognized, but it clearly looked like some form of aircraft.

"Perhaps someone lost control of their hovercraft and crashed down here?" offered Puar helpfully.

"No, trust me, it's him," continued Tights. "Give him a minute, he has a knack for—"

The hatch at the bottom of the vehicleexploded, and a figure launched out of the craft, landing onto the white sandy beaches of Muten Rōshi's island. The figure was rather short, having purple skin with a noseless, pale blue face, and bulbous yellow eyes. He wore a white vest, gloves, and boots, and on the vest was a logo. He bent forward, arms raised to his side, before sliding into a new pose; an angular lean to the right, with his enclosed hands pointing the forefingers towards the sky.

"The elite member of the Galactic Patrol, Jaco, has arrived!" Jaco spoke in a young, rather nasally voice, announcing himself.

"—very flashy entrances..." Tights continued, her expression weakly amused. "Everyone...this is Jaco Teirimentenpibosshi."

"He's a family friend," Bulma volunteered again. "A rather old acquaintance we met when I was around...five?"

"Hold up a minute," Kuririn looked at the strange individual, confused. "He said 'Galactic Patrol'. What, is that some sort of exclusive club? Like an astronomers group, or something?"

"No." Tights asserted honestly. "He's an actual alien."

"ALIEN!?" Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, and Kuririn jumped, while Kashiko's glasses slid down her face as she took in the news.

"An alien..." Muten Rōshi leaned on his cane. "Live as long as I have, and I guess you reallywillsee everything."

The only one unfazed by this was Goku; he could remember a discussion he had with Bulma a few years ago, before they had gotten married. "I've seen an alien as a child, so it's not like they don't exist." That's what she had told him. Walking over to Jaco, Goku looked at the alien, poking him in the chest. "So you're a real live alien, huh? Bulma mentioned you once; I didn't think you actually existed. Hmm...are you strong?"

"Of course I am!" Jaco replied indignantly. "I rank among the elites in the Galactic Patrol; the best of the best, even! I'm a super-elite, chosen among the ranks of the Galactic Patrol, those who protect the peace of the galaxy!"

"Oho?" Goku's eyes flashed a glint. "You don't seem like much, though. What do you say we spar? If you're an alien from another planet, it could be real fun! I'm gettin' excited just thinking about it!"

Leaning towards Jaco, Bulma whispered. "Watch it, Jaco. That's my husband, and he's quite the muscle-brain. If you say you're strong, hewillwant to fight you and if you want to make it back your headquarters in one piece, it's in your best interest to make an excuse!"

The Galactic Patrol agent went stiff as a board; he preferred to avoid conflict, and his life motto was more or less to run away to do the same another day. The prospect of getting into a fight with a man who looked like he could bench-press the island they were standing on didn't appeal to Jaco in the slightest. Hastily, the agent tried to excuse himself. "So sorry, regulations prevent me from engaging in activities like that with the natives of other planets! I could get into heaps of trouble back home!"

"Quick on his feet, as always," Tights thought to herself as Goku hung his head in disappointment. "So, what is it, Jaco? You rarely show up now unless you need something or I'm calling you for a favor. And I doubt you came all this way just to exchange greetings; that was quite a hurried landing you made there."

Jaco was silent for a moment, and then his mouth dropped down, jaw agape in a comedic fashion. "Of course! I forgot! I don't have time for idle chit-chat! Tights! Bulma! There's an emergency and Earth is in danger!Saiyansare on their way towards Earth rightnow!"

Chapter 8: The Mysterious Warrior from Space

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 8 — The Mysterious Warrior from Space

"Did you saySaiyans?" Tights repeated, looking at Jaco with her onyx-hued eyes. "You're serious, Jaco? But you missed the Saiyan last time; remember, wasn't it a false alarm? You were looking for days and nothing happened!"

"Did I say Saiyans? Sorry, I meantSaiyan." Jaco stressed the singular before continuing. "And I have no idea what happened with that Saiyan I missed last time, however, this time, it's real! I was notified of a ship approaching Earth and I made it here as quickly as I could!"

"...So you panicked and ran to the safest place you could find?" asked Bulma shrewdly. "How very 'elite' of you."

"How rude!" Jaco replied indignantly. "Your planet is about to be invaded, and I came here of my own free will to warn my friends andthat'sthe thanks I get? I have half a mind to leave right now..."

"...just in time to avoid the impending Saiyan arrival, right?" the lavender-haired woman kept prodding at her alien friend's patience.

"I don't want to bethatguy, but, what's a Saiyan?" Yamcha was the first to ask the question that the others were thinking. "You keep saying that word, and that our 'planet' is in danger, but how are any of us supposed to get the scope of that without you explaining it?"

"He's got a point," Kuririn nodded. "And even if one exists, how do you know it's heading here?"

"Our radar system at headquarters detected a projectile departing from a distant planet, used by the Saiyans as their home base," explained Jaco. "And the way we calculated it, the route of the space pod was headed directly towards this planet."

"And whatarethey?" stressed Muten Rōshi.

Jaco placed a gloved finger to his round chin; if anyone could read his strange alien eyes, they'd know the Galactic Patrolman was trying to find the words to tell them. He eventually decided to settle on the explanation he gave to Tights. It was the quickest to the point, and contained the hard facts they need.

"Their main motive is to take over the planet..."

Elsewhere...

There was a spacecraft that had already entered Earth's atmosphere. Spherical in shape, with a red glass dome, it was immersed in a deep energy flow that stayed off the heat from the atmosphere as the ship flew down towards Earth. The destination wasn't pre-set, and thus this alien was going to land in an entirely random corner of the planet his databases referred to as 'Earth'.

"So this is where Mother and Father sent you..." The man inside the ship, a stocky, well-built man with an absolute wild mess of black hair, was thinking to himself as he approached a landmass. "How well did you do...?" The ship crashed with a resounding bang into the ground, creating a crater where the metal hit earth. As if showing the differences between alien and Earthling craftsmanship, the craft was not dented; even the glass itself remained pristine, unmarred. With a hiss, the front of the pod unlatched itself, and the man placed a hand on the side, stepping out into fresh air without any regard for the state of the atmosphere.

"So this is the planet Earth," the alien man muttered to himself in a foreign, unintelligible tongue. "And in such pristine a state. Kakarrot, what have you been doing!?"

【...but the worst thing is that they're an evil alien race that loves to fight.】

The man was dressed in attire that could only be described as a form of armor. It consisted of a black chest plate, yellow shoulder pads and stomach guard, as well as similarly coloured hip guards. He wore boots and gloves of similar colours, and on his left arm and leg, he had two white bands. Wrapped around his waist was what appeared to be a brown belt, and equipped to his face was a unique piece of gear with a green lens and white section which attached to the ear.

The man surveyed his surroundings, and saw that he was not alone, as he first assumed. Just ahead was a building with unique architecture, that the shaggy-haired man could only assume was an odd Earthling design. It appeared to be a metal castle of sorts, shaped like an inverted cup, the walls inlined with turrets intersecting at various intervals. Emblazoned on the side of the building was a massive red symbol, with two white "R"s inside.

"Such basic architecture," the alien scoffed, turning his eyes onto the building and placing a finger to the odd device on his head. With a press of a button, it began to emit beeps and signals flashed in front of his left eye, scanning the building inside. It detected multiple signatures, and displayed various symbols that would be foreign to any Earthling. However, to this man, they were the numerical system his people used, and he could read them just fine. The signatures detected by the device began to move, and the alien saw that they were headed out of the building.

Towardshim.

"And it seems the fun starts here," he told himself as the doors of the oddly constructed building burst forward, and a multitude of armed soldiers. They were wearing the same "RR" symbol, and armed with a variety of guns, from the M4 carbine to the M249 light machine gun. There were even some straggler soldiers stationed in the far back, setting up what looked like a PGM Hécate II — anti-materiel rifle designed typically to target tanks.

"Halt!" One of the soldiers shouted. "This area is the territory of the Red Ribbon Army! Trespassers, even aliens, are prohibited!"

The device on the alien's face immediately picked up the language and translated it, while informing him of which language the foolish man was speaking as well. It was apparently the common tongue; a language that most species just seemed to commonly evolve and learn to speak. It was spoken by several other species in the galaxy, and was the primary method of communicating due to how widespread it was. However, as it wasn't quite as advanced as other languages, many species stuck to calling it Galactic Basic Standard, or "Basic" for short.

The alien stepped forward, a smirk on his face.

"We said halt! If you do not halt, we will shoot!"

The threats, though he could understand them, did nothing to deter the man's progress. He seemed to be simply enjoy watching them sweat, and in truth, they were itching to back away. This alien simply gave them all kinds of bad vibes and the soldiers didn't want to be within a foot of him. However, orders were orders, and the moment that the ship had crashed into the Earth and their HQ confirmed what it was, they were ordered to intercept.

"FIRE!"

The order was given, and then immediately followed. There was the sound of various rounds of ammunition being unleashed from the guns, cracking and exploding as the numerous rounds were unleashed in the direction of the invading extraterrestrial. Each shot struck home, and any normal man would have been dead, bleeding out from a variety of holes shot into his body with these weapons.

But the alien was not normal.

【Even the Galactic Patrol are no match for them, and the Extinction Bomb has no effect on them either.】

The rounds shot from the guns lay scattered around the man, a smug grin across his face as he looked down. Wasthiswhat these Earthlings used as a substitute forki? "No wonder the combat strength readings from my Scouter don't rank higher than twenty." He mused internally, stepping over broken rounds, crunching them beneath his feet.

"Impossible...!" One of the Red Ribbon soldiers backed away, gripping onto his gun in terror. "No normal man could survive a blow like that! " Many of the soldiers here had never before witnessed an impossible feat such as this; in fact, only a few within these scattered ranks had been members of the Red Ribbon Army years ago, when an impossible boy named Son Goku had performed an impossible feat and destroyed their army.Theyhad experienced true fear then, and this man was bringing it all back to them in full.

"Form a path!" A soldier from the rear shouted, and instantly, even the fearful soldiers parted, forming a clear line between the invading warrior and the soldier at the rear of the group. The man in question was lying on the ground, his PGM Hécate II perched on top of its bipod, looking through his sniper scope. The man pulled the trigger without hesitation, and with a roar like thunder, a blast of fire erupted from the muzzle brake at the end of the Hécate II's barrel; the projectile shot from the weapon faster than the sound of the blast. The sniper himself was pushed back along with his weapon from the force of the shot, but he was certain this single bullet would be enough to rid themselves of the alien invader.

Another sickening thunderclap was heard as the shot struck home. But it was not in the way that the soldier had so desperately hoped. Standing in the same place he had been, arm outstretched, and over-sized PGM Hécate II bullet clutched in his hand, was the long-haired alien. "You're going to have to try better than that, little man," the alien laughed in his unintelligible language, gripping the bullet and lopping it with all of his strength towards its previous owner. There was the sound of splatter as the bullet hit its new intended target, and the poor man erupted into a fountain of gore.

"NO!"

"SOUJH!"

The soldiers turned in a mixture of horror and shock as the man known as Soujh was reduced to nothing more than a blood and flesh scattered across the ground. This man had withstood the force of the PGM Hécate II without a scratch, and even sent it back to the original gunman. What were they were supposed to do against someone like him?"

"This is literal child's play," grinned the alien man as the fear overtook the soldiers and each and every one of them lost their will to fight. However, he couldn't have fun here forever. He was here for a reason, and sidetracking himself would only keep him here longer than needed. He began to focus hiski, brimming with bright energy. With the flick of his fingertips, there was an updraft, followed by a massive explosion. In the wake of this move, everything was destroyed; the building, bodies, weapons, everything in front of the alien may as well have been caught in a massive bomb blast. Rocks that were blown upward by the blast fell down with a resounding crash, leaving the man alone at last.

【If the planet is ruled by a powerless race, like this Earth, they will usually send a small child to slowly do away with the people on that planet...】

He began to float in the air, ignoring his 'magnificent handiwork', and pressed a finger to the device he had called a Scouter. Tinkering with the functions, he began to search the planet on a global scale for suitable 'combat strengths'. With more alien figures showing in the readings, something even an Earthling would recognize appeared; an arrow pointing into the distance, accompanied by the 'scanning circle' of the device, and more alien numerals beneath it.

"Something powerful is close by...a combat strength of 322...distance, 4880...could it be Kakarrot?!" The 'belt' around his waist shifted, flexing in anticipation as it revealed itself to be not a belt, but a tail.

【Apart from the fact that they have a tail, they look very similar to Earthlings too...】

Laughing, the man took off towards the combat strength his Scouter was detecting, grinning. Without a thought, he left the utter carnage, and even his space pod, behind in a hurry. "I'm coming for you, Kakarrot!"

【The Saiyans of Planet Vegeta.】

Wastelands, Earth

Utterly unaware of the chaos that had just unfolded, the being known to the rest of the world as Piccolo Daimaō was standing by his lonesome, on the edge of a cliff. Truth be told, he didn't look remotely threatening in this scenario; if anything, he looked rather neglected, and his forlorn expression did nothing to fix the matter. However, the 'Great Demon King' had merely finished a training exercise, and was merely contemplating what he should do next.

The time to battle Son Goku was coming. This he knew. He'd postponed his world domination for the sake of undergoing the Demon Clan's methods of training once more after his humiliating loss to Son Goku at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai, and was happy to say his training was moving along smoothly — in fact, he'd devised a new technique purely to kill Son Goku, and the prospect of using it was nearly irresistible.

And yet, a cold shiver down his spine would distract the demon from his inner ramblings. "This is...an immenseki! And it's approaching fast!" The sheer enormity of its power told Piccolo that theki's owner had no concept of stealth, or at least felt he had no need for it. And he knew only one mortal with that sheer level of audacity and confidence. But thiski...it couldn't be... "Is it Son Goku!?"

The figure approaching in the distance, however, told Piccolo a different story. Forgetting its sheer speed for a moment, it was clearlynotSon Goku; the shaggy black hair and bulky figure, complete with a vastly different outfit, told this much. The figure came to a complete and utter stop, landing neatly on the cliff-side next to Piccolo. It wasn't Son Goku, however, there could be said to be some resemblance. Looking at Piccolo, the man's immediate expression was one of disappointment.

"You're not Kakarrot," he scoffed, the tone of a man immediately writing off someone as worthless. He was now speaking in entirely fluent 'Basic', as now that he had approached someone of sizable power, he figured he could use him to locate Kakarrot.

"Forget whoIam," Piccolo replied harshly. "Who areyou? Do you have business with me?"

"With the likes of you?" the strange man chuckled. "Hardly."

"Then why are you here!?" Piccolo growled, becoming frustrated with this man's attitude. "Only those with a death wish attempt to make a fool of me!"

"You're quite the feisty one. I followed your combat strength of 322 here — far more than I expected to find on this rock — in the hopes of getting some information. But you'd be hardly even a warm-up if you want me to sweep you aside."

A vein throbbed in Piccolo's head. He was Piccolo Daimaō, the one destined to rule this entire world. He would be the one with the world under his feet, so how could a mere mortal like this talk down to him? "What!? What did you say!? Do you haveanyidea who you're talking to!?"

"I honestly don't think I should care."

"The way he carries himself...so arrogant...so self-assured...could he really have that much power?" Piccolo's senses had never lied to him before. He was very adept at sensingki, at least when he was on guard — letting down his guard was a mistake that had cost him in Tenkaichi Budōkai — and this man's power was immense. However, Piccolo couldn't simply stand here and let him have his way. Without warning, the Namekian thrust his arm forward with a mighty shout, releasing a blast ofkithat collided with the arrogant man and exploded on contact.

Thekiblast proved as inefficient as the artillery the Earthlings had unleashed on him earlier, and the smoke cleared with the fresh gust of wind, revealing the man to be entirely undamaged, stunning Piccolo entirely. "A very basic attack. Easy to learn, easy to use...difficult to impress with." He raised a hand upwards, electricity crackling around it in a purple hue. "Shall I show you how to really do it?"

Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeep!

His Scouter began to beep frantically, the device having automatically located a combat strength higher than the most recently read entry. Brushing Piccolo off entirely, the invader rose into the air, looking around. "There it is...distance 12,909...and such a huge power! In fact, it's the greatest on this planet! It has to be Kakarrot!" In eagerness, he flew away, leaving Piccolo frozen in fear behind him.

Laughing as he tore through Earth's skies, the man shouted to no one in particular, back in his own foreign tongue once more. "Have you gone and lost your pride!? The pride of a Saiyan warrior, Kakarrot!?"

Kame House, Earth

Everyone was standing in a collective silence, befitting of the morbid news Jaco just explained. The Space Cop dropped a bombshell none of the reuniting friends had wanted or expected to hear. His own arrival was one thing but it was entirely another for a destructive force such as that coming to their world. Understandably, the first one to speak about this was the anxious Yamcha.

"S-So what y-you're saying is," He began to say, clearing his throat to cease the trembling that he felt overpowering his own speech. Taking a step forward he waved his hands around with a sweating expression on his wide-eyed face. "That these Saiyans...this Saiyan...not only looks like us but loves fighting and killing, is coming right here?!"

"And soon," The Galactic Patrolman affirmed with a serious nod of the head. "I suggest you all hide with your loved ones, most preferably deep underground or underwater. It might help you hide from their incredible sense of smell and hearing. If they can't find you this particular invader may just leave after killing everyone else."

"You're telling us to sacrifice everything on the planet for the sake of survival? What kind of cowardly idiots do you take us for?!" Bulma cried out with a look of anger on her face. The sheer look of incredulity on her vein throbbing face was enough to cause the diminutive enforce of the law to back up with apprehension behind Tights. Raising her hand, she ground her teeth with a cracking knuckle. "Here's a thought! Why didn't you call Headquarters and get reinforcements? Better yet, why don't you try and blow up his ship from space?!"

"My transport isn't designed to hit anything as fast as their craft!" He argued from behind the angry woman's sibling, whom herself looked annoyed. "Besides, no one in the Galactic Patrol can match the power of a Saiyan. We're policemen, notsoldiers!"

"It's a wonder you've protected anybody with that attitude," The blonde sibling scoffed with her arms crossed, eyes turning to scowl at him.

As the intergalactic lawman twitched with his own brand of frustration, a clearing of the throat was raised by the nearby pair. With a sheepish laugh, Kashiko scratched her chin while asserting forth, "Well, if you don't feel confident, why don't you leave him to these fighters? If you saw them in action at the Tenkaichi Budokai several years ago, surely you'd been impressed by their abilities. Just like my Kuririn!"

As she exclaimed in a doting manner, the Orin monk blushed at the compliment but had enough presence of mind to look at the alien speculatively himself, "If what you're saying is true, we might be the only chance of saving everyone we got. Perhaps if we all teamed up, it'd be possible, right?"

"I'm afraid you don't understand the true destructive prowess of a Saiyan," Jaco implored with a sigh, moving away from Tights to approach the couple then sweeping around the circle of gathered friends. "They are able to wipe out entire planets as young, developing children. Adults are ten times more terrifying! I'm sure you're all capable fighters, but the likelihood of stopping even one of them is next to impossible-"

"HA!" Muten Rōshi guffawed nearby, causing the alien to twitch with a turned head at him with surprise. Stroking his beard he grinned toothily at the yellow-eyed bug man. "We've faced trials of the sort you probably have never encountered. Piccolo Daimaō had the power to wipe out this world and Son Goku here beat him singlehandedly. Twice, I might add."

"Y-You're joking-"

"Nope," Goku waved with a laugh, earning a look of wild surprise and instant skepticism. Grinning he began to perform some stretches right off the bat, making Bulma roll her eyes with a wry grin while Pan clapped with excitement. "It's been awhile since I've had a challenge like that! Maybe when we meet, I can ask if he knows any other guys from outer space to fight."

"You're insane!" Jaco cried out.

"No, he's my papa," Pan boasted proudly with a waving tail. "No one's stronger than him. He's gonna beat up that Saiya-man!"

The furred appendage was enough to make the Patrolman immediately sieze up. He hadn't noticed it before but he couldn't take his eyes off it. With a startled leap back, his hand reached for the pistol and declared to everyone vocally, "Everyone, move away from the child!"

"Jaco!" Tights and Bulma cried out as one, sharing looks of surprise and anger at once for even insisting on that. Pan, whom heard it as palpable as the other shocked faces, just looked on with an inquisitive bat of the eyes that was shared with her father.

"Hey man, what's gotten into you?" Yamcha asked with a nervous smile, unaware if the man posed too much danger and why he centered on the admittedly adorable girl.

"Explain yourself!" Kuririn demanded with a scowl, seeming to speak on behalf for everybody. Kashiko looked nervously on, not understanding what was going on but had enough presence of mind to turn and see that Goku looked distant. Something seemed to be off to him that wasn't even taking place among them.

"There's no time to explain. This is for your safety," He replied coolly, his hairless brows knitting as his hand gripped the holster of his gun. "I repeat, step away from her. I only have one shot of saving your lives-"

"And you have to the count of FIVE to apologize for what you just said and take your hand off your gun, JACO!" Bulma yelled loudly, completely ignoring the look on her husband's face as he began looking around himself.

"You don't understand," Jaco began to say as his face beaded with sweat. "That child among you is a-"

"W-WHAT IS THAT?!" Goku cried out suddenly, his raised tone and look of pure alarm drawing everyone's gaze. Even Jaco was distracted by his outcry, given the outrageous report of him stopping a world destroyer. His face etched fear and sweat drew down his brow as he clenched his fists and eyed the skyline around him. "This power...it's...unreal! It's higher than even Piccolo's!"

At that moment, the other fighters present felt it too. A washing wave of tingling pressure like a drum pounded within their minds. It had spiked up and now seemed to be quite present. And it definitely was moving fast by the way they all could gauge.

"Kashiko," Kuririn spoke aloud, his own fists tightened at the sensation with bared teeth. "Get inside, now."

Backing up a few steps at hearing this rare tone she hadn't heard, she looked around at all the fighters with craned necks and sweating expressions. What were they feeling that she couldn't detect? Looking over at Tights who also shared a confused look, turned to Bulma as she nodded with an affirmed stare.

"If they can feel something like that, the Saiyan must have arrived," She declared, motioning to the door. "Everyone who can't fight, come inside!"

With a look of panic at the thought of the invader that he was speaking of was coming, the Patrolman completely ignored his set target. Rushing in at an impeccable speed, impressive to a human, blurred past the three women. The relatively overlooked Oolong also stumbled in as well, with Puar staying behind with Yamcha, hovering behind his shoulder as he squatted with preparation.

It wasn't until the lavender haired mother realized her daughter wasn't among them, she ran out to the door's entrance.

"Pan! Come inside-" She tried to call out when she suddenly saw a blurring form step too quietly onto the sandy beach.

Hulking in frame with spiky black as night hair that went past his waist with gold and black designed armor she had never seen before. The most curious thing that piqued her scientific side was the bleeping device blinking and audibly chirping on the side of the man's face. His eyes didn't need to look hard to find what he was looking for, immediately breaking out in a decadent grin.

"Ah, I finally found you, Kakarrot!" He declared in a language none of them but the trembling Patrolman peeking around the door frame near Bulma's leg could understand. With raised arms and a barking laugh he gestured with visible mockery. "You've grown quite nicely but I can recognize at a glance. You do, after all, have our father's face."

"Wh-What?" He inquired, blinking with more perplexity than fear. As much power as he felt coming off the long-haired individual that appeared, he could not understand a single word he spoke.

"He said, 'Ah, I finally found you, Kakarrot!'" Jaco translated, doing a terrible grated impression of the burly built man that towered over Goku. With Bulma looking at him curiously, the nervous space cop continued. "'You've grown quite nicely but I can recognize at a glance. You do, after all, have our father's face.'"

"Father?" Rōshi inquired with a tilt of his head.

"Whose Kakarrot?" Goku asked with a furrowed brow, now feeling a bit insulted being called something he's not.

The man's eyes widened, realizing he didn't understand a single word of his tongue. Not just that but spoke Basic atop of that. Scowling, he pointed his finger at him, "Kakarrot, have you forgotten your purpose? Your mission to purge this planet's populace? Does none of this ring a bell in that empty head of yours?"

"Purge the-...why would I do that?!" Goku cried out with anger, raising up a fist with retort at the large man. "I think you got the wrong idea. My name is Son Goku, and I've lived on Earth all my life. I don't know who this Kakarrot is but I'm not him."

"Impossible," The Saiyan declared with an angry twitch. "You are him! How can this be?!"

"Seems to me like you're a few screws loose man," Yamcha approached boldly, causing the likes of Kuririn and Rōshi to look on with shock while Goku held a curious stare at the scar-faced man. Striding over to the taller human-looking entity, he grinned despite himself. "It seems to me you can't tell who's who, so why don't you strut your hairy self somewhere else, kay?"

A beep was heard on the Scouter attached to the Saiyan's face, giving him a reading that made him chuckle darkly.

"You talk tough for a bug," Raditz jeered, his arms crossing over his chest. "Get lost!"

"YAMCHA!"

Goku's cry came too late. Faster than his eyes could see was a brown hued appendage whipping out and pummeling him in the gut. The force was enough to propel him back, zooming forth till he struck a materializing mattress. Distending back till it cracked the Kame House wall behind, he was seen falling flat onto his face, totally still. When Puar transformed back, he floated down to shake him and looked up at the others.

"He's knocked out cold!" He cried out with dismay.

"You," Goku began to say, turning to look at the grinning Saiyan. "Why did you do...that?"

"A-A tail?!" Kuririn declared, something that immediately made both Bulma and Pan's eyes bulge wide at seeing. Indeed, what was assumed as a brown rope belt was now waving around in front of their eyes. An appendage that everyone was all too familiar with.

As the child looked at the big man's prehensile limb and hers with bewilderment, Goku outright looked shocked with a open jaw and expressive shout, "You have a furred tail, just like Pan and I did?!"

"Ah, so you finally realize who you are," He declared, his tail already winding around his waist once more.

"Realized who-? You're not making any sense!" The Turtle Schooler retorted with aggravation, causing his sibling to contort with his own brand of frustration.

"What the Hell happened to you?! Did you get brainwashed? Did you receive a blow to your head as an infant? Explain, dammit!" The Saiyan bellowed out as he took a threatening step forward.

"I was never brainwashed...but, yeah, I hit my head," The father raised a hand to rub his angular raised tresses. "But it happened a long time ago. I don't remember what happened, but it was pretty bad...I've even still got a scar where it happened...why?"

"Pfft, of course you had to be clumsy like our mother," He spat, grimacing with mingled embarrassment and frustration. "But it does explain why you never carried out your purpose. Yes, it answers that question clearly."

"What do you mean?"

"Goku," Muten Rōshi cut in, causing his disciple to turn around and look at him along with the others with curiosity. His brow sweat but it looked as if his eyes had gained a solemn stare behind his shades. "I think...you should know something that your grandpa told me awhile back. Back when we used to have contact, he told me of a story that he raised a rambunctious child he found sealed within a strange orb that crashed in the wilderness.

"An angry kid with a wild hunger and savage behavior, he fought him tooth and nail for anything he threw a fit over. He had almost given up trying to raise him till a terrible accident occurred; in the form of a fall the boy took down a deep ravine, striking his head on the rocky bottom below. The wound seemed mortal and it took awhile before he recovered. Strangely enough the child was docile, even innocent afterwards, having no inclinations of violence that he once had."

"That kid, was me," Goku realized with awe.

"What are you saying, Rōshi?" Bulma asked from the door, looking at the man hard as he grinned cheekily at the stir he was causing. "That...Son and him are somehow connected?"

"Yeah, I think you owe us answers," The Earth-raised man pointed at the taller man whom smugly smiled. "Who are you?! Where did you come from?! And why do you call me Kakarrot?!"

Chuckling, the Saiyan seemed all too eager to elaborate with uncrossed arms hanging at his sides, soon raised to help with his explanation, "The truth of the matter is, Kakarrot, you are not of this world. Like me, you were born on a planet far away from here. A world called Planet Vegeta, home of the Saiyan race the most powerful warriors in the cosmos! You are one of us!"

A collective gasp was shared by all, while Pan simply looked on with furrowed brow.

"And as for your other question," He finished with his fists resting on his hips. "I am your brother, Raditz!"

Another share of looks of disbelief and confusion spread. Many seemed to ask questions at random but one seemed to stand out from the rest. One from a fearless, similarly dressed girl who walked up close to the big man who regarded her with a raised brow.

"So...you're my uncle?" She asked with a pair of surprised blinks. "You're...big!"

"Pan!" Bulma cried out, running from the doorway headlong to scoop her child up into her arms. When she saw the man's beady dark eyes narrow at her she felt herself shudder. Just before she glared back with her daughter clutched tightly to her chest. "Keep your eyes away, you creep!"

"Ah, so you found a mate with the natives. Adorable," He sneered with a dry laugh, turning back to Goku to continue where he left off. "But as for your reason for being here, as I said before, your mission was to purge this world of its inhabitants."

"Why would I do that?!" Goku asked, horrified at the thought of genocide by his hands.

"We may be proud warriors, but we're also businessmen," Raditz explained with a matter-of-fact tone. "There are races out there who have dying, dead or uncomfortable worlds out there who need a new one to live on instead. This demand is satisfied by our race's service of destroying the natives of a lush, fertile world like this one and make room for them. Depending on the strength of the inhabitants we send an Adult Saiyan to take care of stronger races. Others with miniscule power levels, like of this world, would most likely have sent a child.

"That is how you came to be here, Kakarrot," He continued, explaining with an ire in his voice. It switched to one of certainty as he glanced at his body and then looked up at the clear blue sky. "Yes, it would have taken even you a year or two, if you hadn't struck your skull so clumsily. The moon here is perfect, it'd been only a matter of time and opportunity before you destroyed them all."

"The moon? What does that got to do with anything?" The supposed brother inquired dubiously.

"Don't play the fool now, Kakarrot! Our true potential is only unlocked when we gaze at the moon, or have you been living under a rock this whole time?!" The Saiyan angrily shouted with an irritated wave of the hand.

In that instant Bulma felt herself trembling with a still wide-eyed Pan in her arms. Something that made Rōshi and Kuririn all shake while Tights looked beyond the door with Jaco with shared ignorance. The terrifying monster which had stirred her nightmares for years, forcing her to do all it took to keep Pan away from the light of the full moon was now explained. Looking at her husband, it made sense now.

"My husband really is a Saiyan!" She thought with a paled complexion.

"I don't know anything about the moon," Goku dismissed with a leaning glare. "You're still not making any sense."

A second later and Raditz gaped, looking mortified by what caught his eyes. Or rather, what he didn't see at all.

"K-Kakarrot!" The buff warrior croaked out, pointing to the space near his hip. "Your tail! Where is it?! What happened?"

"My tail?" He queried with saucer wide blinks. "I got it cut by God a long time ago."

"Y-You idiot!" The Saiyan snarled with aggravation and a balled up fist. "Do you realize what you've done?! You're walking around maimed, bereft of your precious full power! No wonder you could fit in so easily with these Earthlings!"

"That's ENOUGH!" The Turtle Schooler reprimanded with a thumb aimed at his chest. "I am not Kakarrot, this cold blooded monster you're looking for. My name is Son Goku, and I'm no brother of yours. Now get off my planet!"

"Yeah, listen to him!" Bulma cried out, snapped out of her reverie to scowl angrily at the intimidating alien. "He's no murderer! He's a hero!"

"That's right," Kuririn swung an arm around with a few brave steps forward in defense of his friend. "He's saved the world twice and fought an army for the right reasons. No Saiyan I know would do that!"

"Even if he isn't of this world," Muten Rōshi stepped forward, his cane raised and his brow furrowed behind his shades. "He's been pure of heart. He may have vices like any man, but he always defends his friends and keeps the innocent safe. He'd never follow you!"

For a moment, all the Saiyan could do before them was stew. Veins visibly throbbed across his wide brow and his knuckles cracked one by one. But before anyone could fathom what his next plan was, he just...laughed. A deep, guttural laugh that not only bewildered but scared everyone as his head leaned back.

Walking forward his broad shoulders shoved aside his brother and his wife with child in arms, striding over to stand in front of the unconscious Yamcha. With a dark smile on his face he resumed speaking in a voice all too calm for his previous demeanor, "It'll take more than mere shouts and threats to ward me off. You see, I didn't come out of the goodness of my heart for a family reunion. Our world was destroyed by a meteor of incredible size, reducing it to dust, leaving no survivors. Not even our parents escaped."

Turning to look back at his brother with a smile, he spoke in a more beckoning tone as he approached his steeled sibling, "We're a rare breed, Kakarrot. We have a Prince, named after the late king and our annihilated world, Vegeta. He's been seeking those like yourself to gather under his banner. Together we can conquer the Universe and spread our influence once more as the feared harbingers of destruction. Think about it! All of the fights you can ever want along with the spoils of anything you desire. Even if money doesn't interest you, I'm sure the thrill of challenges far beyond this puny planet could excite your Saiyan blood, right?"

For a moment, Goku seemed to grow quiet, letting his big brother even place a placating hand on his shoulder. Smiling down at him the sibling looked at him as the younger man closed his eyes and let out a calmer sigh. Reaching up he pushed the hand aside, shocking as much as angering the Saiyan.

"You're right, I may be tempted at the thought of fighting new and fantastical opponents in the stars above me," He declared, taking a stand as he smiled back ruefully at his livid relative. "But, my dream is also my wife's dream. Bulma and I will share that adventure together with our daughter. Your offer is no good to me if I have to dirty my hands and shed the blood of countless innocents!"

It was this answer that made Bulma's heart pound in her chest and her eyes well up with emotion. While Pan smiled and shouted a brief, "You tell'em, Papa!"

Raditz's expression turned from anger to a cruel smile in an instant. It was the most unnerving thing about him to the awry brother. His pools of black for eyes looked away and turned towards the fidgeting Pan whom simply stared at him with furrowed brows. With a glare almost as harsh as her father's it seemed like she understood everything that was said, making her quite smarter than the Saiyan could have foreseen. Toothily he returned his gaze back at his estranged sibling.

"Tell me, Kakarrot, how much do you love your daughter?"

The inquiry made Goku's eyes dilate and his body react instantaneously; moving without thought,he whizzed through the air with a thrusting fist. Even as he lunged the sight of his brother phasing before his knuckles like static made his angry face turn to one of shock. He didn't even see the knee that struck him in the gut, catapulting him up into the air like a cannon. Saliva and blood spewed out of his mouth as gravity claimed his pain welled body, dragging him into a thunderous crash that shook the tide lapping beach.

"Papa!" Pan cried out, slipping out of her mother's grasp quicker than the latter anticipated. Running towards him with concern, she forgot about her uncle as his big hand reached down and yanked her by the collar of her uniform. Squirming she angrily threw her small fists out, shouting with indignation rather than fear. "Let me go! How dare you hurt my papa!"

"I guess that answers that," Raditz laughed raucously as he held the feisty girl at arm's length. Hearing the sounds of rushing feet before the Scouter could bleep the long-haired man turned to see Bulma rushing forward to grasp her child. Faster than she could blink he evaporated into thin air, leaving her to skid in front of an agonized Goku who clutched at his chest while wailing in pain. Chuckling he turned to face the two crouched Turtle Style martial artists and grinned as he shook the fidgeting girl. "Don't get any ideas. If you try to take another step closer, I won't hesitate to kill this brat, even if she has Saiyan blood in her."

"W-Wait!" Goku cried out with an extended hand, a look of pleading entering his pain stricken face from the damp, sandy earth. Even as Bulma leaned down to keep him from straining himself up too soon, she also looked with a pair of watering eyes. "Don't hurt her, please!"

"Well-Well, looking a bit more negotiable, do we?" He inquired with a lean of the head. Even as Pan growled and flung herself around it was to no avail. Even her tail could only tickle the gauntlet of the hand holding her up, never fully wrap to get her a good grip. She was stuck, much to the uncle's satisfaction. "See, I have a number of things I can do to get you to agree to see things my way. I could start by killing her and then working my way across everyone you love. Or I could just take her and raise her to be a true Saiyan, though I doubt my prince would want a half-breed brat hanging around. Let's see...oh! How about this?

"Kill one hundred humans for me by this time tomorrow to prove your allegiance to your real family and kin. Do this, I'll happily release my feisty niece back to your loving woman, safe and sound. If you have a taste of more, please do kill as many as you like and just set the bodies on this beach," The Saiyan elder brother explained, chuckling at the look of horrified visages shared among the fighters and helpless wife. Shaking the uniformed girl in his grip, he sneered. "Don't worry, I won't harm a relative of mine if you do as I say. After all, we'll be coming back for her once you join us...to conquer the planet, that is."

"C-Conquer E-Earth?!" Kuririn exclaimed with a shivering thought, remembering how terrible Piccolo Daimaō's first attempt of world domination had been. Not only was he slain among a number of people, but the King of Earth was deposed. If these Saiyans were even stronger he'd see no end to the massacres they'd unleash.

"But of course, we're a warrior race after all," Raditz declared boastfully, looking away at his distant brother. "If you don't cooperate with me in a Earth day's time, your daughter's life will be mine. After the next day, it'll be your mate. The day after, the bald man. And the next day, the bearded one. Get the picture?"

Laughing with a depraved tone, he rose up high into the sky with the little girl in hand, shouting his last words, "Think about what's best for your family. Your real family, that is. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

With a sudden boom of the sound barrier being broken, he disappeared as quickly as he came.

As time crawled on the shell shocked observers eventually emerged from the house and did what they could for the mourning couple. Bulma was grieving, her eyes overflowing with tears while Goku's face was mingled with pain of both emotional loss and receiving injury. The two had no idea what to do about the insane crisis.

Kashiko had helped Yamcha inside when he regained consciousness, looking dazed and completely blown away by what he learned. Standing next to Kuririn whom was in the midst of Muten Rōshi and a Goku whose wife iced up his swollen abdomen before wrapping a salve lined bandage with it. Pulling his top back over it, minus the weighted undershirt and the rest of the unnecessary apparel he moved to walk towards the door.

"W-Where are you going?" Yamcha asked from the couch, still wincing from his own chest injury that made him want to cry out just moving. To see Goku had received a similar strike but already walk as if he didn't have it made him realized how wide apart the gap was between them.

"I'm going to bring Pan back," He declared, already reaching for the door.

"But he beat you in a single attack," Kashiko declared with an adjustment to her glasses as she looked at Goku's briefly stopped back with forlorn assurance. "If he catches you again, he'll kill you for sure and her."

"If I do what he says, people will die because of me. But if I do nothing, she dies and so will others. This is my only option in order to make sure my family and the Earth are safe," Goku announced directly, turning to look back at everyone. "Everyone needs to stay here. I don't want any of you caught up in this."

"Son-!"

"Even you, Bulma," The martial artist implored sternly, his eyes met hers as glares formed between them. "This guy is bad news. Given how he didn't hesitate to use our daughter as a hostage, I can't risk you getting caught in the crossfire."

"But I can't just sit back and let you fight that...that monster!" She exclaimed with fear in her eyes.

"Bulma, I have to do this. This is the only-" He trailed off, suddenly feeling a familiar presence. Turning towards the door as the sound of feet resting behind it, the crescendo of knocks was also heard. Reaching out he turned the knob and opened the door, revealing the towering figure of Piccolo Junior on the other side. "Piccolo!"

"I watched your confrontation with him, Son," The emerald skinned rival declared, entering with a bow and delicate turn so his caped pauldrons wouldn't strike the door panels. Looking down at him with arms crossed, he raised a brow. "I assume you're going after him to rescue that noisy brat of yours."

"And if I am?" The Turtle Schooler asked with a guarded expression.

"Then count me in," He offered with a straight face.

"W-What?" He retorted with bulging eyes as much as Bulma and the others.

"Is this the world destroyer they were talking about?" Jaco briefly whispered to Tights, who had long since given up chewing him out for not chasing the Saiyan or stopping him. "He looks unusual from the Earthling's I've seen."

"I think that's supposed to be him. Maybe he's a demon?"

"Now you really are jesting," He retorted with a roll of his neck and a shrug. "But is he that strong?"

"Very. And if you keep muttering among yourselves I may feel like shutting you up."

Covering his mouth just as quickly as Tights did, they both blinked nervously at the man who glanced at them from the other side of the room. Content that the muttering had ceased he looked back at his arch nemesis with a sneer.

"Don't get the wrong idea. We're not friends and I'm not doing this as a favor for you," Piccolo Junior assured him with a growl, raising a fist up that trembled and sported a throbbing vein of his overwhelming contempt for his enemy. "I've been planning your downfall for years and I was just about ready. Then this guy, Raditz, I heard him talk about his big Saiyan agenda with you. A lot of things add up why you stand out from the rest given your heritage of bloodthirsty warriors. If you were half as monstrous as he was, I think I wouldn't be here today.

"But I'm not here to say thanks for saving my neck from that old codger. I'm here to get you to help me kill your brother," He declared with bared fangs. "Any reservations you have of taking lives is moot since your own blood is on the line, right, Son?"

There was a brief pause as Goku considered what Piccolo said. True, even though Raditz was everything irredeemable in his eyes, he had no wish to murder him. To stoop to that level he wish he'd never become that. Not after being taught the value of life from Kami and seeing that use come about in this unexpected gesture of kindness. Even if he had selfish reasons he now felt ever-so grateful that he had indeed saved the life of this rival of his.

"If it comes to it, we'll cross that bridge together if he leaves us no choice," Goku raising his voice and a finger up to him. "You want to kill him, that's fine. But if we're both standing at the end of this, I'll make that call, got it?"

"You're too soft, Son," The Demon King sneered, turning his back at him. "But my pride has already been tarnished by his disrespect towards me. I won't stand for that, so I'll chance it by joining the likes of even you."

"Heh, look who's talking?" He snapped back, only making the taller man growl more as he stepped out the door. As he began to step out the door a pair of arms grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a tight hug. With his wife's face buried into the crook of his neck he gingerly hugged back with his face leaning in to whisper into her ear. "I'll bring her back, I promise."

"Don't keep me waiting, Son," She sniffled.

Before the two separated they shared a longing kiss. All too soon for the pair did the martial artist rush off and holler for Kintoun, allowing him to fly swiftly without wasting precious energy. Joining him in the sky was the cape and turban wearing former terror of Earth. Now joined in an effort to bring down this new invader Bulma and Tights could only look out with the rest of the company as they disappeared into the horizon.

"Stop squirming you brat," Raditz spat at Pan annoyingly, holding the child at arm's length. He had been fed up with his niece's constant useless hits on his durable frame. From ramming her head towards his protected crotch to biting his finger and then kicking his shin, she tenaciously tried anything she could to harm him. He was amused by her spirit but was slowly becoming more aggravated as time went along.

"I'm! Gonna! Beat! You! Up!" She shouted as she flailed her arms wildly towards his face.

"Oh really?" He inquired with a raised brow and a broad smile. "What are you going to do? Keep flailing angrily?"

As if it just occurred to her, a hand reached for the small pole holstered on her back. Looking at her with a bemusing stare she raised the stick to aim at his forehead. Blinking with annoyance he reached up to grab it.

"EXTEND!" She cried out, suddenly causing the stave to ram straight into his cranium and propel her back out of his grip. Crashing into a nearby boulder she felt the breath knocked out of her from the maneuver she just pulled. Even as she staggered with the elongated pole, she noted a small angry mark where she struck his skin, making him glare angrily at her. Calling it back to its normal size she ran at a swift speed for her age and size, but not enough for him to be caught off guard.

A swift grab for the tail and she felt her entire body go numb. The harshness was enough to make her be hung like a skinned animal in her uncle's grasp. Leaving the Nyoibō where it dropped, the Saiyan trod across the wasteland he had created to his impacted pod. Opening it up he tossed her in roughly, shutting it closed. By the time she got her bearings and tried to bang on the observer glass, he chuckled at the sight.

"Try as you might, you can't get out of that," He laughed at her, rubbing the soreness of the bruise that stick inflicted between his brow. Sudden bleeps and flashing symbols alerted him to distant power levels gaining proximity with every passing second. It only took him a few moments to realize who was coming for him, giving way for a deeper chuckle at his antagonists. "Come on, Kakarrot! Show me your true colors, or suffer the consequences!"

Chapter 9: A Powerful Enemy in Common

Chapter Text

The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited Firegod00

Chapter 9 — A Powerful Enemy in Common

Tearing out over the open ocean, the unlikely alliance were in pursuit of their enemy. It was a quiet travel, but the silence was broken by Son Goku himself. "I'm not the kinda guy who wants to be picky, Piccolo," he said, looking over at the Daimaō who was flying quickly alongside his Kintoun, "but why choose to ally with me? It's not a secret that we don't get along."

"I know how to pick my battles," replied Piccolo simply. "I'm no fool, Son. It sickens me to my stomach to admit it, but your brother is far stronger than either of us. And if I let him run free, then he will destroy this world before I have a chance to place it under my thumb. 'Saiyan' or no Saiyan, my best chance of getting him out of the picture was to saddle myself with you. But then...it will be your turn."

"Heh...I suppose I should consider myself lucky to have a strong partner right now, then!"

"You always were prone to disproportionate cheerfulness." replied the Daimaō.

They increased their speed, and could feel Raditz'skibecoming larger. In hindsight, it would have been impossible to miss — Raditz was currently the largestkisource on the planet, and by far the largest that Goku and Piccolo had ever felt. Closing in, the two saw something that only Goku would consider horrific. Around the crater, in which was a pod, sat Raditz. This, however, was a normal sight. It was the blood and gore that surrounded the entire area, along with a destroyed building, that shocked Goku.

Raditz must have killed all of these people.

"That...bastard...!" Goku growled, glaring down at his older brother. The Saiyan in question was staring directly up at the two with the most casual of smiles on his face. He knew they were coming, most likely through the device on his face. "How could that monster do this? All of these people!?"

"Calm yourself, Son," Piccolo advised. "There is no point in working yourself up before the battle even begins; you'll merely be a liability to me if you can't focus on the opponent in front of us. And we're here to rescue your spawn, aren't we? So focus!"

Breathing deeply, Goku relaxed himself. Panwasthe priority. Getting distracted would only put his daughter in further danger. "You're right; thanks, Piccolo."

"Don't get used to it."

The Daimaō descended, and Goku leapt from Kintoun, which flew freely away in another direction. Landing neatly on the wasteland ground, amidst the bodies, the party of two stared down their opponent. Goku scanned the area, looking for his daughter; his eyes fell on the Nyoibō, his trusty staff that he'd given to his daughter. Seeing it, and not the girl, made a brief wave of panic hit him, before the man could sense herki; it was coming from the man's own spacecraft. "So that's where she is!"

"Pan! Don't worry! Daddy's coming to save you, alright!?" Goku called out towards the sealed pod.

Raditz let out a mirthless laugh, crossing his arms, his shoulders shaking from the vibrations. "Ah, Kakarrot, it appears you're a comedian. No dead daddy will be saving anyone, now will they?"

"I'm not dying here today, Raditz!" Goku shot back, as he began to pull off the weighted traininggithat he wore, letting the shoes, undershirt, and armbands slam to the ground. Tightening theobiaround his waist, a grin stretched across the martial artist's face. "I'm not comin' at you alone this time!"

"No matter how many bugs you gather, it will all end the same way, little brother," replied the Saiyan, an amused expression crossing his face. "Things would have been so much simpler if you'd simply killed a hundred Earthlings like I'd asked, I'd've welcomed you back with open arms! Now, it looks like I'm going to have to beat the pride of a Saiyan into you!"

"You talk far too much," Piccolo muttered, having shrugged off his cape and turban, both of which were weighted like Goku's. It was only then that Raditz took notice of the combat strength of his two opponents.

"408...and only moments ago, it looks like Kakarrot's power jumped to 416..." The Saiyan's eyes narrowed. "Weighted training gear...elementary, but nonetheless efficient..." Raditz crossed his arms, smirking. "So it seems like you two were hiding a little bit more power, weren't you? No matter; you could try and raise your combat strength by hundreds each, and you still wouldn't outclassme!"

"There's more to being a fighter than just power," replied Goku, grinning. "I guess aliens don't place much stock in anything else?"

"The naïveté of youth..." Raditz scoffed. "You truly are a disgrace as a Saiyan, Kakarrot!"

"I've heard enough!" Goku replied, and he and Piccolo moved towards Raditz within the speed of blinking. Despite not always agreeing, the two didn't even need a cue to follow the other's example. Closing in, Piccolo thrust his arm forward, throwing a solid punch towards the alien. Goku bent down, pressing to the ground with a hand and pushed himself forward, slamming his right leg up towards Raditz's chin.

Surprising the both of them, Raditz reached out a hand each and intercepted both strikes. A fist and an ankle caught firmly in his grip, Raditz smirked. "So this is the power of my little brother and the little green man? My my. Colour me disappointed."

"He—"

"—caught our blows!?"

The duo was experiencing a level of shock that neither had ever properly felt before. Besides themselves, they hadn't truly met someone who was a match for them in several years, and it was only now that they realized they may have been placing too much stock in numbers. Regardless, they had to get away, and Piccolo's hand began to glow a vivid yellow.

Raditz was tipped off by a loud beeping, and immediately let go of their hand and ankle, vanishing as a yellow kikōha flew into the distance. Trying to regain their balance, Goku and Piccolo would only look around wildly, forgetting in a panic that they could senseki. This mistake would cost them; in only moments, a blur struck their bodies from the front, sending both combatants hurtling backwards in incredible pain.

"Come on, boys, I haven't even begun to play seriously!" Raditz gloated, laughing. "But why don't I let you in on a secret? Even if you manage to defeat me now, I have colleagues, far out in space; each and every one of them is my superior in strength!"

Stunned, Goku and Piccolo could only stare blankly at Raditz. It had to be a joke, right? His power was already insane, and yet he had partners evenstrongerthan he was?

Raditz continued to laugh, taking a stance. "How does it feel to taste despair?"

Struggling back to his feet, Goku could only chuckle weakly at this latest revelation. "I dunno about you, Piccolo...but to be honest, I could have lived a happy life without hearing that last bit."

"I would have thought it thrilled you, Son," Piccolo replied snidely. "Or does the great Son Goku admit cowardice when the chips are down?"

"It's more being caught with your pants down to be honest," shrugged Goku. "I've never had the best odds when I'm unprepared; but you remember that, don't you?"

"Clearly," replied Piccolo, who was savouring memories of a life gone by when he'd easily manhandled Son Goku when the latter was a child.

"Casually talking without a care in the world..." Raditz's eyes narrowed as he watched them with distaste. "Have they gone mad from fear? Or what?"

"Ready?"

"Do we have a choice?"

The two nodded at each other and rushed towards Raditz once again. Closing in, they each unleashed a physical assault that Raditz parried and fended off easily. One hand reserved for each combatant, the Saiyan warrior blocked and parried with speed his opponents hadn't yet seen, and strength they'd never before fathomed. All of it being done effortlessly, Raditz slammed a log-sized arm into Goku's stomach, sending him flying. With the thrust of a leg, his foot collided with Piccolo, and the Daimaō careened a distance away.

Skidding along the ground, Piccolo jammed the sharp nails of one hand in, co*cking another back and sending a yellow kikōha towards Raditz. The Saiyan extended an arm, bracing impact for impact. The blast crashed into the hand, creating a massive explosion and kicking up dust. A self-assured grin crossed Raditz's face, confident at blocking Piccolo'skiblast.

And failed to notice something thin and red speeding towards his way. It broke through the concealment of dust, colliding solidly with Raditz's stomach. His armor blocked a majority of the damage, but the blow was stunning, throwing the Saiyan warrior off his guard. When the dust vanished entirely, he saw Kakarrot, red pole in hand, bending forward in a stance clearly meant for the usage of that weapon.

"That brat's...little toy..." Raditz snarled.

"I think it was lucky I saw my trusty Nyoibō lyin' over here," Goku replied, grinning. The weapon had enlarged itself to fit its true owners grip, and it retracted from Raditz's range, becoming a bō roughly equal to Goku in height. "I told you power wasn't everythin'; it never hurts to pack a few surprises in!"

"You truly are surprising, Son," Piccolo drawled. "I never thought you'd still be relying on that annoying little stick of yours. Though I suppose if it gives the edge we need, I cannot pick and choose how we do this, can I?"

"Not if you wanna make it out of this alive," replied Goku, spinning the red bō above his head and down to his side. "Now let's go again!"

Goku and Piccolo lunged towards Raditz again, the former with his Nyoibō in hand. Raditz, however, had recovered from the sneak attack and readied himself for the enemies' assault. It was his turn to evade and dodge, showing the two the truest definition of speed as he deftly ducked or leapt over their strikes, dodging green arm and red staff alike. Landing easily on the grass, he rushed forward, pressing into the ground and extending both legs in opposite directions, landing two powerful kicks to the torsos of Goku and Piccolo.

"Have you had enough yet, Kakarrot?" Raditz asked patronizingly. "Come now, I'll give you one last chance; join your family, little brother!"

"I've heard enough nonsense, Raditz!" Goku shot back, using the Nyoibō to help himself stand. "I'm only here for my kid!"

"You really do speak nothing but nonsense!" Raditz snapped angrily. "If you insist, I'll show you a one way trip to a world of pain!" Raising an arm above his head, it crackled with a purpleki."Here! A little a present for the two of you!" Swinging his hand in an arc, Raditz sent a powerful sphere ofkitowards the two of them. Goku and Piccolo leapt as high as they could, only just avoiding the blast, and it exploded as it hit the ground, rocking them with the shock wave as it made a gigantic crater.

"Such...power!" Piccolo gasped, as Goku could only gape. Had that move connected with them, they'd most certainly have been killed.

With a blur of movement, a dark shape appeared in front of them; Raditz had practically materialized in front of Piccolo, grabbing the Daimaō by his left arm. He kicked hard into Piccolo's torso, and with a sickening sound, ripped his arm off as Raditz sent Piccolo crashing down into the ground, landing hard into the crater made by his attack just moments prior.

"Piccolo!"

It was in Goku's distraction that Raditz took to the offensive, appearing beside his brother and landing a powerful kick to the martial artist's side. The blow rocked Goku, and he shot down towards Earth like a missile, crashing next to Piccolo with immense force.

Raditz descended from the air, Piccolo's arm gripped firmly in hand, as his two opponents struggled to their feet. "Oh my, it looks like you might need a hand," Raditz said sardonically, and casually lobbed Piccolo's severed arm towards him. Piccolo glared at the Saiyan, clutching his fresh stump, his severed arm flopping down in front of him. Purple blood was dripping from the wound, and there was a trail of it across the grass.

"Damn...Piccolo...you...you good?"

"No...this is certainly an inconvenience," Piccolo grumbled, gripping his bleeding stump. "But tell me, Son Goku, do you have any...new techniques?"

"Honestly, no..." Goku replied, lamenting his own lack of innovation. "For once, I'm fresh outta new techniques."

"You always were the lazy one, weren't you?" Piccolo grumbled. "We should both consider ourselves fortunate, however, that I am not."

"What's the matter, friends?" Raditz called out, still laughing. "Making secret little plans, are we? If that brings you comfort then feel free; it will all end the same anyway!"

"So you're saying you've got a new technique?" Goku asked, their voices hushed, ignoring Raditz's taunting. "Can you give it a go with one arm?

"The lack of a limb...is by no means a hindrance..." replied Piccolo. "However, I require time to accumulateki; thus, you'll need to keep the Saiyan occupied until I'm ready."

"Tangling with him alone, eh?" Goku looked towards Raditz, who was patiently letting them formulate their plan as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Fine; you just do what you gotta do. I'll hold him off for as long as I can."

"Fate is truly an ironic thing..." Piccolo chuckled. "I devised this technique as a way of killing you..."

"And now it's gonna help me!" Goku grinned. "I like that!"

"Worry not, Son; when we fell this creature, your time will come..."

The two exchanged a macabre laugh, causing Raditz to look at them as if they were beginning to lose their minds. But if that surprised him, it paled in comparison to the shock of seeing Goku rushed towards him, bō gripped firmly in hand. Nearing Raditz, Goku swung down the Nyoibō, a whizzing sound filling the air as the bō came smashing down. Deftly, Raditz stepped to the side, and Goku firmly planted the tip of the Nyoibō into the ground, balancing on the staff and spinning, attempting to land a solid kick with this new momentum.

It wasn't enough, new tactic or not, and Raditz bent backwards to dodge the strikes, before vanishing once again and striking Kakarrot from the back. He was sent flying, but managed to stop his movement with the Nyoibō, grinding the staff into the dirt to ground himself. Raditz lunged for Goku, and Goku reciprocated in kind. The two brothers closing in on each other, Goku threw the Nyoibō into the air, thrust his hands out—

—and clapped. It was a powerful sound that reverberated throughout the air, and it came as such as surprise that it shocked Raditz, forcing the Saiyan to stop and actually blink in bewilderment.

This was the opening Goku needed. The Nyoibō fell, landing neatly back in Goku's steady grip. "Nyoibō, extend!" He commanded, and the bō grew as Goku jabbed his brother with it, forcing Raditz backwards. Then, applying pressure, Goku propelled Raditz into the air with a sharp and powerful blow from the staff to Raditz's chin. Flying upwards, Raditz had recovered, and glared down at Goku furiously.

But Goku had already cupped his hands to his sides, the Nyoibō resting at his feet. "Ka...Me...Ha...Me..."

The device on Raditz's face began to beep, and the Saiyan inspected the alien numerals that crossed the green glass. "This is impossible! Kakarrot's combat strength has jumped...to 924! And it's only increasing! Somehow...somehow he can focus all of hiskiinto a single point...!" The device began to beep louder, furiously, and Raditz turned to look down at Piccolo, who had placed his index fingers to his forehead and was accumulatingki. "What!? The little green man...his combat strength has jumped to over 1,000! This is impossible!"

"HA!"

Goku thrust his hands forward, expelling a gigantic beam ofkiupwards towards Raditz. Raditz prepared himself, ready to brace against the impact as he'd done when Piccolo released his own kikōha. Goku, however, split his hands apart, separating the Kamehameha into two separate beams that ran down Raditz.

"You smart little...!" The Saiyan's hands were suddenly coated in pinkkiand he shot two powerful beams down to match Goku. Rather than meeting, as they'd been known to do, his beams ripped directly through the split Kamehameha, and Goku took the blasts head on, screaming in pain as his body was sent flying,giripped. Raditz didn't miss his chance, and rocketed down towards the ground, before dashing towards Goku, who was trying to stand back on his feet. In an instant, he grabbed his brother by the scruff of freshly shreddedgi.

"I've had it up to here showing you mercy!" Raditz snarled. "Justdie, Kakarrot!"

"Someonewilldie this day," snarled Piccolo from the sidelines, and Raditz craned his head to look at his forgotten opponent. And if it could have, his jaw would have dropped.

1,330.

"His combat strength has shot up to 1,330!? And all of it focused into his fingertips! How!? How can theydothis!?"

His fingertips brimming withki, Piccolo removed them from his forehead. "You're finished, Saiyan! Makankōsappō!" Thrusting his fingertips forward, Piccolo expelled a giant beam ofki;a beam with spiraling rings around it, towards Raditz. The Saiyan took the full sight of the beam in, eyes wide, and a look of pure panic crossed his face. As the beam closed in, he focused all of his efforts into evasion, and with a burst of speed, sidestepped the blast. It collided with his armor's pauldron and ripped across his shoulder, but the wound was superficial at best, only destroying the armor portion and causing fresh blood. The blast continued to fly, hitting a mountain peak in the distance and causing an explosion.

"My my my..." Raditz clicked his tongue, moving a hand across his shoulder. "That was quite the blast attack, wasn't it? Tore right through my Combat Jacket. In fact, if that had actually hit me, you two might be scraping me off the floor..."

"I missed?! How could he move so quickly in an instant?!" Piccolo doubted himself with silent chastisem*nt. His body inwardly felt the strain of releasing so much concentrated energy at once. Unlike the Saiyan who had a mere flesh wound his ace in the hole had failed. With little choice in the matter, he raised trembling fingers back to his forehead.

The sight of which caused the space faring warrior to laugh sardonically.

"Oh yes, green man! Go ahead and fire that again," Raditz goaded with outstretched arms, a delighted grin of welcome challenge spread across his broad features. "It might be your only chance to kill me. Just be careful. It'll be the only one you have left."

A sudden beeping on his Scouter caused a diversion in attention. The soft sound of pitter-pattering feet rushing across disheveled soil and grass barely caught by the keen fighter's senses. Turning to look over his shoulder he saw his brother, burned and bloodied by counterattack but still moving low to the ground. Hands were outstretched, reaching for his tail waving behind his back. Palms and digits closed in on the limb, making the Saiyan realize his intentions were far from childish.

However, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried that trick.

A flick of his fifth limb avoided his awry sibling's grip and smashed into his face, breaking his nose with an audible crunch. Spitting blood and flying back he wouldn't get far; not when his brother was intent on punishing him.

"Where do you think you're going, little brother?!" The Saiyan raucously laughed, his brawny gauntlet covered hand grasped his ankle, yanking him back to earn a loud yelp. Swinging him over his head to crash into the ground, he thrashed him across the earth repeatedly as if he was a rag doll. His emerald skinned ally was petrified with indecision, unsure if charging the attack was the best course of action. The new arrival of Earth knew this and took full opportunity to land his only ally onto the ground. With a loud yell the long-maned combatant leaped casually into the air and allowed the planet's gravity to aid a boot smash right over his chest. The ground gave way, forming a considerable crater of impact with a shrieking Goku under his sole.

"Did you really think you could stop me with such a parlor trick?" Raditz asked rhetorically as he ground his foot over his kin's assuredly cracked ribs. "As long as you have a considerable battle power, even if pathetic by my standards, my Scouter will always alert me to your movements. That also goes for techniques you charge, like that little light show with before. Really, Kakarrot, you should have joined me when I gave you the chance. A chance I'll give you once more."

"N-Never!" Goku spat, blood splattering over his big brother's boot all the while glaring up at him. "I-I won't join you! Brother or not, this is my home and I won't let you destroy i-EEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"See, look what you made me do?" The Saiyan laughed darkly, hiding his disgust how repulsively stubborn his backwater raised brother was. "Don't make me kill you. Or else, who will be a father to your lovely daughter?"

"D-Dammit," The martial artist swore aloud, groaning between wheezes as let out another scream when another rib snapped.

Just as Raditz's patience had nearly run its course, his Scouter began to beep erratically. His first immediate reaction was to turn to look at the paralyzed Daimaō. But seeing that he wasn't the source he'd feel a quaking sensation rattle the earth and cause his feet to shake. Twisting his head with a whip of his hair, he saw with an awestruck expression a single figure erupting from his Attack Pod.

"You-!" Raditz cried as he saw Pan rip through his vessel as if it was made of tissue paper. With an agile flip onto her haunches, she looked up with furious anguish. Tears spilled down her face as she saw the source of her father's cries. An aura of white emitted off her uniform, sending a gust of wind around her. The ignition of light caused his bleeping tool on the side of his head to fixate on a number, one that made him croak with fear. "1337?!"

"YOU HURT MY PAPA!" She let out a fierce immature yell, her body taking off in a current of light that left her father, Piccolo and her uncle speechless.

"No! Stay away!" The Saiyan shouted with alarm, lifting up both arms and releasing a pair of rose colored beams. The same power that would easily tear apart his foes from before now only buffered the oncoming monstrous force. Petering off her mantle of wrath, Pan's expression of anger closed in on his visage of panic.

Both eyes briefly met before their heads clashed in a shower of light and a thuum of kinetic backlash. Both half breed and pure blood's eyes rolled to the back as the resulting crash that split the earth beneath their feet now separated their falling frames. Raditz fell onto his back -consequently atop of his injured brother- just as Pan did, both bearing bloody gashes sliding down their faces.

"Wh-What incredible power!" Piccolo gaped, his trembling fingers finally lowered to his side as he breathed a sigh of relief. The Saiyan'skifinally lowered down to near zero, the side effect of him being knocked unconscious. "Son Goku, your daughter is even more impressive than you. You really have been slacking off."

"Hahaha, believe me, I'm just as clueless as you," Goku weakly chuckled, still grimacing as he worked his way from underneath his brother's limp body.

"Still, it seems that brat was taken out too. Which means I'm the only left to finish the job-"

"Wait!" His rival shouted, shakily stand up with a lurch in his step.

"Oh come ON, Son!" The Daimaō groaned with teeth gnashed frustration. "He nearly killed you and wouldn't have hesitated to do the same to your spawn. Hell, we're lucky to be alive! If he wakes up, he'll be even more angry and be less inclined to spare us than your soft heart is!"

"Oh yeah? If we kill him, what then? What about his partners in space?" Goku asked weakly, a bitter smile working its way onto his bloodied face. Despite his wrecked condition, Piccolo twitched silently at what he said. Feeling like he was given the go ahead, the martial artist continued with a more stern countenance. "Face it, the only reason we got lucky was because of Pan. If things kept going the way they were, we'd be dead now or worse. If what he says is true, which he doesn't seem to be the lyin' sort, his friends are goin' to be less friendly than he is. We don't know a thing about them. If we kill him now without even knowing what they're capable of, we'd be back to square one."

"You're insane, you know that?" Piccolo sneered, focusing on his bloodied stump. He remembered the pain of how that sibling of his worst enemy tore his arm clean off. If there was more of them even stronger, who knows what they'd do to him? Sighing, he stoically stared back at Goku with a sound of resentment in his throat. "I don't like this. Keeping him prisoner could end your life quicker."

"Better than waitin' for somebody to kill us later," Goku countered with a light chuckle.

"Fine," Piccolo scoffed, grunting as he ejected a new arm out of his stump, finally gathered the energy necessary to pull off his feat of regeneration. As he examined it with satisfaction, he flicked his finger towards Pan, causing her to float up into the air and into his grip. When Goku's expression turned panicked he just smiled calmly at him. "Relax, Son. If we're going to stand an iota of chance, I'm going to train your child the right way to fight. With her latent potential being so high, she may be one of our only chances of matching those monsters."

"I guess I got no choice. I can barely move as it is," Goku chuckled with a weak smile. It'd disappear all too quickly, his glare one of the utmost seriousness. "Promise me you won't let her die."

"I've got no obligation to protect her if she turns out to be weak," His arch rival replied, his own smile turning into a disgusted snarl. "But sure, I'll make sure she doesn't die. My life is riding on the line for her becoming a stronger fighter than me anyways. Though, if we make it through this it's back to business as usual, got it?"

"Whatever you say, buddy," Goku laughed weakly. Watching him rise into the air and fly off into the horizon, he let himself fall back onto the ground with a grunt of pain. It wasn't long till he heard the sound of engines thrumming in the horizon, the sight of Bulma's Capsule Jet rushing headlong towards his location. Closing his eyes, he groaned with realization. "How am I going to explain this to Bulma?"

In a far off planet, the transmission had ended from the low level fighter, Raditz. The one listening in was of similar appearance but drastic change in features. With hair up-turned like a torch of black from his crown the stout shorter Saiyan bore blue fabric intertwined with yellow guards for his weak spots and white protective mesh for his body. With a rose colored Scouter beeping off over his left eye, he let out a derisive chuckle. Turning to look at his cohort, a bald burly brute who put even their errand runner to shame in sheer stature wore gold protectors and black mesh, but had his arms and legs exposed to show ripped muscles.

The two were feasting on the flesh of bipedal enemies, reptilian in nature and only a pile of limbs picked to the bone sat in front of them. Their bodies were gathered into dozens of piles stories high, charred from the burning that was taken place. Their mission had ended hours ago and they were ravenous. Lacking any real protein on this world save for the denizens they wiped out, they had taken the opportunity to use their dead for a feast. Listening in on their cohort it was to the dismay and surprise that he had failed.

Though such surprise didn't remain, as the aforementioned laughter ensued.

"Well-Well, it seems Raditz has failed his mission to recruit his long lost brother," Prince Vegeta announced, holding his half chewed arm in one hand while stroking his chin with deviousness. "What a disappointment he became."

"What do ya wanna do, boss?" General Nappa inquired after swallowing another chunk of burnt meat.

Standing upright, the proud Prince of all Saiyans tossed aside his snack with a dark smile armed on his face, "Gather the others. It's time I punished our failure of a Saiyan and I'd like to make him an example."

Chapter 10: The Path to Power

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod20

Chapter 10 - The Path to Power

The trip home was one of uncomfortable silence. The moment Bulma's Capsule Jet touched down she was racing madly to Goku's side, wrapping him in a fierce embrace full of concern and anxiousness. Painful as it was, he returned it with all the strength he could muster at the moment. But when she asked about Pan, he told her an explanation back home was necessary.

While it took a great deal of stubborn will and negotiation to get her to transport his unconscious brother, the others who had accompanied his wife -including her sister, Tights- had remained adamantly silent. With Bulma containing her fury, brewing it for a brutal reprisal, they returned to not Kame House but Capsule Corp. There she had the proper facilities to not only examine the tech and material of their invader but also withdraw their meager Senzu stash.

Having kept a spare bag from Karin over the years, they ordinarily didn't need it but the emergency was having Goku on standby while a less than stellar sibling was still unconscious. When everyone was gathered around the Turtle Schooler did Bulma finally rear her head to look expectantly at Goku. When he explained in a brief summary of his battle with his awry brother and how Pan was taken to be trained by Piccolo did he see it didn't make things easier.

If anything, the tension had escalated.

"So, let me get this straight, Son," Bulma rang out, her brow visibly twitching like her foot was impatiently tapping against the floor. "Not only did you let OUR daughter get kidnapped by your worst enemy-"

"He's not so bad anymore," Goku tried to assure his wife, having healed up but still winced at the idea of being smacked in anger. There was nothing scarier to him than a livid Bulma. "And he didn't leave me much of a choice. I was kind of too beat up to stop him after Raditz kicked the tar out of me."

"ALSO THAT!" She shrieked, much to everyone present's discomfort. They all looked awkwardly away as she pointed at the makeshift cot placed in the middle of the room, housing the bandaged Saiyan. Apart from the head injury, he had only a scathing mark on his shoulder from Piccolo's new move. The only thing removed from his person was the fancy Scouter, currently lying on a desk in the workshop they all collaborated in. Pointing at him specifically, she continued to rant at her shrinking husband. "THAT MURDEROUS ALIEN BASTARD MAIMED YOU AND KIDNAPPED OUR DAUGHTER FIRST! By all rights, he should be DEAD! So, why did you beg me not to put a gun in his mouth and blow a hole big enough for the Sun to shine through?!"

"I...I can't just let him die," He weakly began, only spurring the lavender haired woman's wrath to crimson flushed proportions. Raising his hands he spoke more urgently. "I mean, he's the small fish, right?! We don't know what the rest of them are capable of. We were caught so off guard Piccolo and I barely won, with Pan's help too! If there are guys who make him look like a pushover, we need to know how they think, how they fight and more importantly just what we're up against. Killing him not only would be a waste but also our biggest mistake to avoiding unnecessary death."

It was incredibly insufferable to the lavender haired woman how right her husband was. Though she outwardly exuded outrage and exasperation, inwardly she couldn't help but admit there was truth in his actions and his words. Petty revenge couldn't extract any information on this extraterrestrial threat.

"Come on, go easy on him," Tights urged her sibling, placing a hand on her shoulder. They met eyes and she smiled back in a calmer manner than the younger sister felt. "The important thing is that Pan's okay and Goku won. We can't cry over spilled milk so what's done is done."

"I swear, you'd spoil him if you had the chance."

"Haha, maybe," The blonde sister replied with a laugh, sticking her tongue out teasingly at her sister.

"So, Bulma," Kuririn piped up, being among the many who were looking on with nervous silence at their captor and their host couple. Turning his head towards the table he reached out to grab the scarlet lens device the Saiyan was wearing. "Have you figured out how this gadget works?"

"Mostly," Bulma replied, snatching it away from the dwarf with a frown. Attaching it to her face for emphasis, she began adjusting the switches and red dial from where most of the controls presided. A myriad of alien text flew over the screen as readings came over each person she laid eyes upon. "It seems to act as a transceiver of data. From what Goku could tell me, he seems to know how strong a person is, I just don't know how. Perhaps it reads thermal levels inside living beings and actually can calculate Ki into a numerical setting? I'm still working out the kicks, maybe I can translate it into something I can understand if I'm given more time."

"The time for that is over!" Jaco yelped out, seeming to hide behind a purple-white trash can at the far end of the lab. If his voice could emulate what his facial features couldn't, it was the evidence of his sheer terror of a particular person's movement. "He's awake!"

Sure enough, everyone seemed to flinch at once to see the Elite Saiyan Warrior grimacing upright. Rising upright from the cot, he clutched his bandaged head in reflex and found himself stopping outright. When his vision corrected the glares, he realized he wasn't dead or at the ruined battlefield. He was at an Earthling facility, full of his enemies; with Kakarrot being chief among them.

"You-!"

"Heya," Goku replied cheerily, trying to keep an amiable display to cool his hot-headed sibling. Even though his wife shot angry darts of defiance, the rest followed Jaco's example to cower or take up defensive positions. Despite all of this, their savior looked none the worried.

Raditz, on the other hand had moved to stand aggressively from the bed. The result had him almost teeter onto the floor, his body barely kept upright. Clenching his crown, he looked up with eyes barely able to fixate on him.

"Kakarrot," He sneered, his teeth bared like an animal. "I hope you understand the consequences of sparing an enemy. Your loved ones will pay for it!"

"You banged your head up pretty good," The Earth born Saiyan replied, tilting his head to the side while blinking with an innocent look on his face. "I'm all healed up and yer barely able to stand. Do you really wanna go, right now?"

The elder brother flinched at such blunt accuracy the younger of the two stated. While the surface logic was that Goku could fight better that he's healed and the other couldn't because of his head injury, Raditz knew there was more to it than that. The backwater raised child indeed has now a power much greater than their last encounter and the results of a rematch, especially in his current state- will be much less fortunate.

Visibly twitching he sat back on the cot, stewing as he growled out a simple inquiry, "What do you want, Kakarrot? I'm not tied up but with your brat destroying my ship, it's likely I'm stuck here. That is, unless I can call someone to pick me up, as doubtful as that is..."

When he trailed off, Goku was about to open his mouth but Bulma actually piped up ahead of him.

"Actually," She huffed, relieved that the monster who assaulted her family was less wrathful than she feared him to be. With a ray of safety permeated by her husband she raised up the Scouter while frowning at her brother-in-law; much to his visible alarm. "I've been tinkering on this little doo-dad you got stuck to her face when you were KO'd. While I can't understand the text I was able to decipher it was feeding information to someone else. Is that your pals you mentioned?"

Raditz paled.

With cold sweat cast across his body the fear of what had transpired much to his realization damned any idea of calling for help. His vision swam as he almost passed out from the stupor that he was under. The sight of Goku approaching him -out of concern or pity he didn't know- made him snap out of it, and gestured with a sign of repulsion.

Still, he looked around the room and finally spoke in a tone more grave than anyone pictured him to speak, "It is likely in my carelessness that I have let my Scouter open for outgoing and incoming transmissions. My partners in space heard everything that happened. Even now, they could be listening in and are likely headed this way."

"W-What?!" Kashiko cried out, looking frightened as she exchanged glances with an almost equally terrified Kuririn. "Why would they do that?"

"The Prince doesn't tolerate failures. I was already on thin ice with him as it stands," Raditz explained, his eyes looking down, not bothering to address the couple. "My last effort to impress him was to bring my long lost brother into the fold, and increase our ranks with a potential elite warrior. Instead, I lost outright. He's coming to make me a public example in front of all of his men."

"Th-Then, are we screwed?!" Yamcha questioned, stepping forward with arms waving frantically as he looked at the attacker with renewed panic. "T-They aren't that much stronger than you, right?!"

"They're all stronger than me," Raditz laughed sardonically, turning to fix a dark eye with a morbid sense of humor at the scarred faced ex-bandit. "I'm the weakest among them."

The statement made even Goku almost fall onto his back.

"W-W-Weakest?!" He questioned with a stuttering start, finding it almost harder to believe. Before his statement about partners made him think only two people stronger than him. The way he said it, it sounded like there were even more of them and he didn't even compare. "You beat us, Piccolo and I, outright! Made it look easy! Just how many of these guys are we talking about?"

"Look," Raditz growled, his head turning with a shake, his hand not leaving his throbbing skull. "I can't think see straight, let alone think, with this head wound. If its possible if your fledgling planet's equivalent of medical equipment can patch me up better than a simple dressing, I'd appreciate you fork it over. I'll be happy to spill my guts so long as I can get rid of the pounding drums in my skull!"

"Oh, sure," Goku shrugged as he fished into the brown bag tied to his martial arts gi sash. Much to the aghast of his present company, he pulled out a Senzu and flicked it over to the Saiyan. He caught it, and looked at the tiny green bean suspiciously, looking back up at his awry brother with a raised brow. "It's a Senzu! Eat it, and your wounds are gone, along with a full belly haha!"

"Never took you for the magic type, little brother," He muttered, observing the green substance between his two fingers with an eye squinting at it. Popping it into his mouth, he grumbled as he chewed it. "This seed tastes of fish. I wonder if that bump to your head has made you lose your ability to-"

Swallowing, he felt a sudden strange sensation. The burned skin on his shoulder suddenly knitted back fresh skin, his subtly grumbling belly was sated and the pounding in his head disappeared. Blinking with perplexity, he pulled the head-dress off his crown and felt for the gash. With a slack jaw mouth, he even felt even better than he had since he got on the water filled rock of a world.

"What sorcery is this?" The Saiyan sputtered out as he stood to his feet, able to see the laboratory clearly. Turning to look at Goku who just smiled cheekily, the Saiyan also noticed the blonde sister of his brother's wife. Sharply glaring at her he had half a mind to tell her off but just rolled his eyes. "You know what? That's not important, but handy to have.

"You want to know about mycoworkers, Kakarrot?" He phrased sarcastically, a common in-joke he and the others passed around for being under a particular tyrant's thumb. When he saw that Goku's countenance had hardened, he was content to cross his arms over his chest, ready to begin debriefing the closest chance he had to surviving the prince's reprisal. "We're a motley crew but established a particular reputation in the galaxy. Our boss is named Vegeta, the last heir to a dead world thanks to its untimely destruction and most of our people gone. With him is Nappa, our general, and second only to our head honcho. Underneath them is Aspara, the Squad Captain, with Gula, Bocho, Coll and Kuka as her subordinates."

"So, they're weaker than the other two?" Goku asked directly.

"Yes, by leaps and bounds," Raditz expressed with a slight lean forward. "But that doesn't make them less of a threat. Aspara's battle power is closer to our general's which means she could easily way waste to your world on her own. The others are possibly twice if not three times stronger than me. They could kill you and your green friend in the blink of an eye."

"If you don't mind me asking?" Bulma interrogated with a questionable cross-armed glare of her own. One that made the Saiyan nearly gawk at her brazen tone to him, a physical superior. It boggled his mind how fearless she acted. "How come you've lived for so long if you're supposedly weaker than them? What's kept them from just discarding you?"

"They nearly have, on a number of occasions," He intoned with a sneer, turning back to look at his brother again as he calmed down. "That's why they're coming here. To finish the job left undone and put me through a humiliating execution in the process. I've only lived for as long as I have as the prince's shadow, his bodyguard. I've never been through as many life threatening situations as the others, thus they've reaped the benefits of surviving through them. I, however, remained stagnant yet unharmed."

"Coward."

"Maybe," The Saiyan darkly replied, furrowing his brows as he clenched his fingers across his broad arms. To everyone's eyes he was near the point of shaking, his visage gnashing with indignation. "But I'll be damned if I die like my parents; our parents, Kakarrot! They died without even given the chance to fight! I don't know about you but I'll do everything in my power to survive, even if it means I have to side myself with you backwater cretins!"

Bulma felt the urge to snap at being called such, but her advancement was halted when she felt her husband's hand grip her shoulder. Soft but firm, she turned to look at him, noticing the stoic look so unlike him was kept. Everyone as an audience engaged with rapt attention as the strongest among them took vested interest in what Raditz said.

"You keep bringing them up, but I have no memory of them," Goku plainly spoke, his breath hitched as if he was nervous of even asking. But, with his eyes closed, he opened them to ask straight out. "What were they like? Our parents, that is?"

The first emotion to cross Raditz was infuriation. He was already on his wit's end of how disrespectful to anything Saiyan that his amnesic brother had, but his lack of memory of anything regarding his past made him want to strangle him. Yet, when he asked with such a serious tone, he couldn't help but feel himself become a bit sobered.

"When was the last time I thought about them?" The elder Saiyan questioned himself as he blinked hard at his sibling. Inhaling through his nostrils, he exhaled with a growl. "Our parents are perhaps the least Saiyan of all our race. At least, that's what my boss kept telling me, even as children.

"Our mother, Gine, was a loving woman who adored her children and her mate. She doted on me to the point of it being insufferable and she lacked any talent in fighting. Yet our father, Bardock, loved her...truly. We Saiyans rarely bond with anyone beyond camaraderie as combatants in tight knit groups. Yet they genuinely shared that emotion, something they were despised or mocked for. They never did it openly, for our father was a stout warrior and one of our race's strongest for its time.

"The last I heard from them was when that meteor hit our planet and killed everyone on it. They were counted as among them," He finished with a hardened look, while his brother's had unraveled to near disbelief. The surprise colored his features like paint on a sleeve, something that Raditz couldn't blame him for. No one would believe that a Elite Warrior such as himself could be considered parented by such uncouth parents, regardless of their genes. "It is just one more disappointment added to my name. Imagine, my brother never carried out his mission of purging this world's populace and ended up protecting it while our father and mother didn't even retain their own pride as Saiyans. I am part of a cursed bloodline, one doomed to roll over dead underneath the boots of someone greater."

Silence rang like a gong when he spoke. There was genuine pain in his voice, even if the reasons weren't fathomable to them. To incur his wrath by calling him out would only fan the flames he buried beneath the surface needlessly. Goku sighed, unsure if saying anything was the right thing to do. Scratching his angular scalp, he looked over to Bulma for what to do.

Instead, her sister walked up to Raditz, seemingly unafraid of his steely gaze that turned to her approach.

"That's no good," She piped up, a simple smile spread across her face. "You can't beat yourself up for what's happened. Just focus on the here and now. If you always go around blaming yourself for everything that's gone wrong, you can never move forward. Goku got strong not because he pitied his lot in life. Perhaps if you looked to the future, maybe you can get strong enough that you'll never feel so down about being weak?"

It was like being hit by an asteroid in his blind spot. He had not asked or expected someone to come up and give him encouragement. This Earthling woman came up to him with kindness in her eyes and compassion in her voice. It wasn't even simplicity like his brother, but just a nonchalant attitude that spoke years of experience through tribulations and personal hardships.

Shaking his head, he cleared his throat as he tried to forget the dark eyes that had bored into his own confused orbs, "Kakarrot, if we're going to plan out a strategy for standing up to the others, we must bring the green man and your spawn here. Where are they?"

"Oh, Piccolo and Pan? They're out training," He answered lackadaisically, chuckling as he rubbed his nose with a sheepish smile that earned his wife's visible ire. "I think he realized how strong she was and wanted to get started on an invasion. That guy's always thinking one step ahead of me."

"Right," He huffed, unfurling his arms to get a look at Jaco. The mere stare sent shivers down the lidless Galactic Patrolman's spine. "You. Bug eyed one."

"Excuse me-?!"

"Yes, you," The Saiyan interrupted, his hand raised to point at him then thumbing over his shoulder. "I've got a job for you. Go get somebody to gather your planet's strongest warriors. Get them started on training right away and tell them that it's bigger than anything they've ever faced. Understand?"

"But-But-But," Jaco stammered, his body waving with exasperation with his mouth agape. "I don't even LIVE here!"

"Oh just DO IT, Jaco," Bulma chimed in, shooting daggers from her eyes that made the diminutive patrolman's body recoil in fright. If there was one person he was more scared of than the Saiyan in the room, it was Bulma. "I'll direct you to Karin's Tower. Yajirobe is most likely hanging out there and he'll track the others down quickly."

"Eh...fine," He submitted with a arm-crossed sign of reluctance. "Not like I can just leave Earth as is. The paperwork would be too much..."

"Training, huh? It's been awhile since I've had to do that," Kuririn chimed in with a broad grin, getting excited despite himself. Turning to Yamcha, he raised a closed an upraised fist to his scarred friend. "What do you say, buddy? Ready to get back into the thick of it?"

"Hell yeah!" The taller scraggly haired man punched an open palm with visible eagerness. "Wanna get some payback but hitting the big guy's friends will be enough. I wonder where we should go to do this."

"Why not train under me?"

A sudden new voice made everyone go still. When everybody looked to see a green skinned, antennae adorned visitor stand next to Goku, everybody jerked with surprise. Even Raditz stepped back at the sight of somebody teleporting into their midst. He had almost half a mind to strike him just for startling him, was it not for Goku's casual turn and greeting to him.

"Hey, God!" Goku piped up with a raised wave of his hand. "Nice to see ya! How's life been treatin' ya?"

"Same as always, Goku," He replied mirthfully with a slight smile. Holding his cane tightly in his hand he turned to observe all of the beings huddled in the room, his eyes looking suspiciously at his student's brother looming behind him. "It seems you keep acquiring newer and stranger company every time I look. You sure its wise relying on him?"

"The better question is, are you smart enough to realize I'm one of your only hopes of surviving a Saiyan onslaught?"

"It's fine," Goku answered, ignoring his brother's challenging grin that goaded his master into confrontation. "He's with us for now. Piccolo is too."

"Hm, that much I could sense," The God of Earth affirmed with a grunt. Looking at the fighters in the room, he smiled as he acknowledged them. "Yamcha, Kuririn, it's good to see you in good health. As I asked before, would you like to train under me? My palace is a bit empty and with this crisis on our hands, the more prepared you are, the better."

"Ha! Sounds great!" Yamcha answered readily, feeling even more thrilled. The place where Goku gained tremendous strength that enabled him to beat Mao Junior, a spectacle he could still remember to this day.

"I'm sure Tenshinhan and Chaozu will want to come too!" Kuririn exclaimed with readiness.

"All the more reason our world's guest should hurry in his errand," He turned to look expectantly at Jaco. His stare intimidated the overwhelmed patrolman even more, as if he was staring into a legend itself past the wrinkles and unearthly bags underneath his eyes. "That is, if he doesn't mind..."

"I'm going, I'm going!" He shouted impatiently, rushing out of the lab. "Tights, contact me with directions! I'll start up my ship to make this an easy task!"

With the patrolman gone, the others excused themselves from the laboratory of Bulma and Goku's house to get their things ready. They knew that Goku's master didn't desire tardiness so they made the utmost effort to grab what they needed for the training required of them. Tights was told by her sister the longitude and latitude for which to locate Karin's Tower, thus leaving the sibling, her husband and one last look of curiosity at Raditz.

Everyone dispatched left only Bulma with Goku, his brother and his master.

"I understand the magnitude of our threat after a little talk with my other half," He intoned, his words growing quiet and somber with Goku looking at him likewise. "Our threat is even more dire than the era of Piccolo Daimaō. If your brother is but the tip of the iceberg, we cannot hope to win by ordinary means; you cannot win by what is normal for you."

Sighing, Goku smiled sloppily as he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I was thinking the same. I mean, Piccolo could make a great sparring partner and it'd help me keep an eye on Pan but I don't know if we could be ready in time. Speaking of which," He turned to look at his brother over his shoulder with a curious expression. "When do you think they could get here? You said soon, but I kinda need to know."

"From where I last had contact with them, it could take the equivalent of one Earth year," Raditz answered bluntly, twitching as he looked to the side with worry. "Possibly less...I don't know."

"A year? That's going to be cutting it close," Bulma grumbled with a hand stroking her chin. "Not even dad's toughest prototypes could give you the workout you'd need. I don't even think a year with Piccolo could be enough to match someone many times your strength..."

"Not unless you trained under Kaio," The older deity intoned with a sly grin.

"Who?" Goku asked with an owlish blink, something even Raditz shared with visible perplexity.

"He's a god above my station, overlooking the northern galaxies and keeping an eye on them. He also happens to be one of the strongest martial arts teachers you'd find," He explained with a wave of his free hand. "The only catch is that his domain presides in the Afterlife. If you had died valiantly against your brother, I'd have brought you straight to him. But seeing that you survived, I can recommend you based on your merits in life of being a righteous hearted warrior. I'm sure Enma won't deny such claims as being worthy enough to make the journey."

Raditz had to hold back a scoff. Gods? He knew of no such omnipotence but the unforgiving harshness of fate has dealt him. War was all he knew and what he considered family was cast to the ashes and obscurity. Still, the fact that his brother was a "chosen one" made him sneer with disgust of how unlike a Saiyan the awry sibling continued being.

"Wow! The Afterlife?! Boy, I didn't think I'd go there so soon!" Goku laughed giddily, already shaking with excitement. Another adventure awaited him, and for a moment, he almost wanted to insist on bringing his wife with him. But he knew...that she couldn't follow where he'd go.

Sobering up, he cleared his throat and politely bowed to his master with clapped hands, "Master, I'm honored to join you, but I have to say goodbyes to Bulma. Is that alright?"

Nodding with affirmation, God took a few steps back to give them space. There he'd witness Son Goku and Bulma turn to embrace tightly, something that made the aloof elder Saiyan turn away with crossed arms. The annoyance was there but he tolerated it if only he knew he had little say in the matter.

"I wish I'd come with you, but I don't think the Afterlife is a place for me just yet," Bulma whispered, nuzzling into the crook of Goku's neck. Rubbing his back she felt her eyes water, a sense of loneliness creeping up with fear of the worst transpiring in her beloved's departure. What if he didn't come back in time? What if something happened to Pan? These questions raced in her mind but her husband sensed it and responded accordingly.

"Bulma, I'll come back, stronger than I am today," He spoke with confidence, smiling softly as he relinquished his hold on her. With his eyes meeting her watery ones, he felt compelled to wipe the tears away. A swipe over each eye led to cupping her face, bringing both to unite in one long kiss goodbye.

Leaving her side, he'd come up to Raditz, staring him hard in the eyes. An unusual intensity was about his dark orbs, similar to the kind he had when Pan's life was threatened. Speaking in a soft voice that carried just as much danger if he screamed, he warned his brother quietly, "Raditz, I spared you because not you're my brother, but that I think you're my family and planet's greatest hope. But if you do anything to harm my friends, my world or my family be ready to accept the consequences; I won't be sparing you again."

"Heh, sure," Raditz grinned broadly, his eyes enticing his brother to make good on his promise. "Then again, compared what I'd have done will seem like a mercy to what my friends will do. They tend to play with their food more often than eat it."

"Don't worry," Goku breathed out, turning around to walk back to his master while eyeing him over his shoulder. "They'll get what's coming to them too."

"I love you, Son," Bulma called out to her husband as he touched God's shoulder. When he looked back at her, she conveyed an expression between hope and apprehension. The thought of them separating after years of being together now scared her far more than it had years back.

"Yeah," The martial artist responded with a reassuring smile, just moments before he disappeared into thin air, whisked away into the next world. "You too."

The Afterlife

Whatever Goku had thought the afterlife would be like, a busy office-setting would certainly not have come to mind. When God arrived with him at their destination, the martial artist was shocked to see blue-skinned individuals with horns rushing around, wearing collared shirts with ties, spectacles in some cases, and carrying documents. He distinctly heard among the shouts mentions of 'deadlines' and 'unique cases' and something about a glut of people from planet 877 of 4032, whatever that meant.

Looking around further, he craned his neck behind him to see what appeared to be a veritable line of clouds; they were all uniformly white and similarly sized, and the line extended well outside the door of the building that God had brought him into. It was only when Goku focused his full attention in front of him that he realized he was standing in front of an immense wooden desk, far taller than any building he'd seen outside of the center of the Western Capital.

"Whoa!" The Saiyan gasped, taken aback by the presence of the massive desk. "It'shuge!" If he craned his neck further, he could even see there was a gigantic figure looming over him, stamping papers with an almost bored expression on his face. He was possessed of red skin, beady black eyes, and shaggy black hair and beard. He wore a purple suit and a cap of matching colour with horns jutting out of either side. It was only after the man noticed that the line had stopped moving that he bothered to look up from his work, and his beady eyes widened at the sight of God and Goku.

"Well now, just what brings you here, God?" When the man spoke, his voice was loud and booming, more so due to his stature than any conscious effort on his part to be loud. "It isn't often that you visit Devil Realm!"

"Ah, yes; forgive me for not announcing myself, Enma Daiō!" The green-skinned deity replied hastily. "My arrival here was a bit unplanned, but allow me to introduce you to my companion: Son Goku."

Goku looked over at the towering man, and with a grin, waved cheerfully. "Yo! I'm Son Goku!"

"Goku, that isn't how you greet someone of Enma Daiō's station!" God hissed fearfully, but Enma merely laughed.

"Now, God, don't chastise him; I haven't met someone with this kind of audacity in three hundred years!"

"B-But—"

"See, he's a swell guy!" Goku replied, grinning, and God could only hang his head in resignation.

"Now, why don't you tell me why you're here?" Enma continued, resting his cheek on his fist with a cheeky grin. "Forgive me, but it doesn't appear as if Son Goku is dead, nor is he dead but has kept his body." Looking through his book, the ogre frowned. "It seems as though he wassupposedto die today; this is certainly unique. However, just bringing him here has shattered several of the afterlife rules; you know this, don't you, God?"

"P-Please forgive me," replied the aged deity with urgency. "However, I would like to make a special request for Son Goku using my position as the God of Earth. There are a group of Saiyans heading towards Earth, and should they arrive, they will kill each and every last Earthling. Next year, from their arrival, you will have the entire population of Earth at your desk within a week, Daiō."

"The...the entire population!?" Enma thundered.

"Y-Yes, sir," replied God meekly. "That is why I want to propose that we allow the young man to train under Lord Kaiō, after crossing the perilous Snake Way!"

"A mortal on Snake Way..." Enma muttered, flipping through his grade-book. "Goku, you have quite a few meritorious achievements to your name, it would appear — in fact, someone of your prestige would simply beawardedthe privilege to see Lord Kaiō. And yet, God, you want the young man to journey along Serpent Road — in a living body no less — to meet Lord Kaiō?"

"Y-Yes, that's correct," replied God once more.

"Say, God, does everyone come over here when they die?" inquired Goku. "Even aliens an' things like that?"

"Well...I broughtyouhere, did I not, Son Goku?"

Goku began to laugh, scratching the back of his head. "I guess that's true an' all. So I'm comin' here when I die. Whaddya know?"

"Alright, if you're so keen to go train under Lord Kaiō, then go ahead," replied Enma, stamping firmly under Goku's name in his book. "I shall mark it as a 'special exception due to extraneous circ*mstances'. As a final aside, remember that management bears no responsibility for anything that happens on Snake Way. Go see the ogre next the exit and he'll take you there."

"Thanks!" Goku grinned, making his way towards the exit.

"Good luck, Son Goku," said God as the Saiyan was leaving. "You will truly need it in this coming year."

It didn't take long for Goku's guide to arrive in the form of a blue ogre with glasses; the wiry ogre invited him into a car, and they drove a fair distance towards Goku's final location: Snake Way.

"Heya, what's this 'Kaiō' like?" Goku inquired suddenly, either out of actual curiosity or just to break the monotony.

"Lord Kaiō?" repeated the ogre. "He's one of the Universe's higher ranking gods, and is in fact one of several 'Kaiō'. For our section of the Universe, the North, he is one of the most revered and respected gods, as well as a venerable master of martial arts. Even Enma Daiō and your Earth's God hold Lord Kaiō in great respect!"

"Oh...so he's super impressive, ain't he?"

"Bingo!" replied the ogre, as the car came to a stop. Stepping out, Goku saw 'Snake Way' in all of its glory; a literal snake shaped road that stretched and curved into the far distance, vanishing into the horizon. He squinted, trying to see further, but even his impressive eyes could only see so much of the road before Goku had to give up. "It's...how long is it!?"

"According to the legend, about a million kilometers," replied the ogre cheerfully.

"A million!?" Goku trilled. "Has anyone every reached the end of this thing!?"

"Just one person. Enma Daiō, and it was just in the past hundred million years!"

"W-Well..." Goku looked down the mouth of the Snake Way, paling slightly. "Hey, if one person can do it...two people can do it...right? But...what am I gonna do for food?"

"Ah, that's right, you aren't dead, are you?" the ogre smiled, walking back to the car and pulling out a bentō wrapped in cloth. "This is a gift from Enma Daiō; within the bentō are two fruits from the mystical Enseiji, grown specifically for him. Eat one of them, and you'll be able to stave off hunger for one hundred days, and it'll give you a massive power boost. But please; do not eat them both at the same time."

"Don't eat both at the same time...okay..." Goku mentally tried to store this information away as he took the bentō and slipped it into hisgi— the only way he had to store it.

"One last bit of advice? Don't fall off into the clouds; Hell is down there, and if you fall in, you'll never be able to get back out."

"Don't eat both fruits...don't fall into Hell..." Goku kept muttering, as if the information was too much to keep up with. "Alright...I can do this..." Revving himself up, the Saiyan grinned. "I gotta get there in a hurry...so I'll book it in the air!" Launching from the mouth of the snake, Goku flew down Snake Way, yipping and cheering like a child, leaving a stunned ogre in his wake.

Wastelands, Earth; Earlier the very same day

Descending from the sky, Piccolo's cape billowed behind him as he made contact with the soft grass of the wasteland. He'd landed next to a large body of water, carrying the small unconscious body of a child. With a sad*stic grin on his face, he held the body of Pan aloft, just over the surface of the water. The child was breathing steadily, and she almost appeared to be sleeping. But the Daimaō was not taken in by adorable childish appearances, and tossed the half-Saiyan into the pond.

Pan hit the mirrored surfaced with a splash, and there was a moment's silence as Piccolo merely watched the ripples spread out. Then, with a gargantuan gasp, the lavender-haired girl emerged from the water, freshly awoken and trying feverishly to fill her empty lungs with air. Hergi, so identical to her father's that it made Piccolo irritated, was soaked to the core, and catching a cold was now definitely an option.

"Look who finally woke up," remarked Piccolo snidely as Pan looked around frantically, trying to gauge the situation.

"Y-You!" She gasped, her onyx-eyes widening; even shivering, she glared at Piccolo. "You're that Piccolo guy! But...where's my Papa!?"

"Oh him?" He scoffed with a look of irritation on his face. "He's going to be gone for about a year. Apparently he's going to train with some god called Kaio."

"R-Really?" Pan stuttered out with amazement. But quickly following this, she looked down at the water with a reflection mirroring her downtrodden demeanor. "Papa went to go train? But, why didn't he say goodbye?"

"If you ask me, he's more likely going to hide when the Saiyans show up," Piccolo sneered with a feral smile that made the sorrowful Pan suddenly look up with a start. "Yeah, your mean uncle Raditz had buddies and they're a whole lot meaner. I guess if he knows what's good for him, he'll hide out with that god of his and never come back because of how cowardly he is."

"Hey, stop that-!"

"But what can you expect of Son? He's such a pitiful fighter that he got beat up by his weakling brother. If you ask me, it's a wonder you're as strong as you are with how pathetic he is," He continued to mock, almost with a leering grin on his face.

"STOP!" She shouted, her hands balling up at her side and her eyes glaring onyx holes through Piccolo's own challenging glare.

"Or what? You gonna cry? That makes me want to laugh!" Piccolo bellowed out, laughing with an exaggerative tone in his voice with tears flying out of his eyes.

In the middle of his guffawing, he felt an enormous power suddenly rise up to insane levels. Looking down he'd see a curtain of white wrap around the silhouette of what he assumed was Pan, moving faster than his eyes could read. Before he knew what happened something rip his insides open and tear out through his back. His eyes bulged and blood spewed out of his mouth. A hole tore through his abdomen out the other side straight through his cape, sending him flying back in a titanic wave of pressure. Flying across the landscape he'd tumble, crashing through hills, rocks and trees till he bodily slammed into the side of a mountain.

"What enormous power," He thought with a weak look of amazement, blood trickling down the side of a half smiling visage. "So this is the child of Son's inner power? Huh...she did more damage than I thought. Perhaps I should've thought this through more than I..."

Spreadeagled out against the splintered surface his body was wedged into, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out from the attack.

What seemed like hours later, he'd suddenly feel himself waking up and his natural regeneration restoring his ruptured organs and shredded tissue. The only thing he didn't expect, however, was the sudden sensation of a campfire nearby. Sitting up with a start, he looked down to see crudely wrapped pieces of his cloak was wrapped around his waist. Examining it, he turned over to see Pan by a the source of light and warmth, cooking what looked like the limb of a dinosaur; one of which was lying dead not far away from them.

"Oh, so you're awake," A familiar voice breached the quiet of the air, making Piccolo flex nervously and rise to a wincing readied posture. His eyes saw the Saiyan, leaning against a boulder, having been formed from his impact into the mountain they were camped out by. He had a piece of roasted dino bone hanging lazily out of his mouth. Looking at him dryly, he almost grumbled at seeing the look of killing intent sent his way, dismissing him with a wave of his hand. "Relax, green man. I don't intend to kill you as you are more than likely aware of."

"Yeah, but I can never be too careful against the likes of you!" He sharply yelled out, holding his waist as the pain of the regeneration hadn't gone away.

"Ha! Good instincts; but irrelevant, because I need your help as much as we need that girl's," Raditz nodded to Pan, whom was contentedly eating away at parts of the dino in her hands. Looking up with a greasy face, she suddenly looked concerned and shuffled herself up from a squat all the way up to Piccolo's place. The movement made the Daimaō nervous, and backpedaled a bit till he saw her touch his bandaged side.

Locking eyes with hers, she bowed apologetically to him, gawking at the girl's sudden genuinely sorrow towards him, "I-I'm sorry I hurt you so badly, M-Mister Piccolo! You were saying awful things and I-I couldn't help myself when I got mad...!"

"Tch, whatever kid," He dismissively shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked back at Raditz. "Here I thought you'd do the same the moment he showed his face to you. What, are you buddies now?"

"He's notsobad," She drawled out, smirking mischievously as she placed hands on her hips and grinned towards the amused uncle. "He said that you were just trying to get me angry to show off my power. When I realized why he was out here, I didn't think he was that bad. Papa may be right; you two may not be that different after all!"

"I'M NOTHING LIKE HIM!" They both seemed to copy each other with angry denial, making the small half breed laugh childishly.

"You're both silly. No wonder you both were beaten by my Papa," Pan dismissed them with a giggle, going back to her food before they could even object. Among the sound of the crackling fire and a feasting child they sat in stewing silence over what had been said. It wouldn't be long before she'd curl up and sleep by the small glow of the fire, without a care in the world with a smile on her face.

Sighing, Raditz finally looked to the Daimaō once more, spitting out the bone as he leaned forward from his seat.

"Listen," He began with a look of seriousness on his face. "This girl may be a half breed but she has an insane amount of potential. I heard the Prince once say that the limits of a Saiyan mingling with that of another compatible race's could yield an incredible warrior. We both know she has no control over this but she has talent for a fighting. If we both put our differences aside, we can make her the ultimate trump card against Vegeta and his cohorts."

"That was my plan from the beginning," Piccolo snorted, unimpressed by what the Saiyan told him. "Before I was knocked unconscious by the brat, my other half informed me that there was a greater impending threat lurking on the horizon. Given what you said, I guess have no choice but to trust Son's insane plan to use his child as our hope of survival. Provided that you don't go off trying to use her to conquer the Earth before I do-"

"Don't worry," Raditz grinned broadly, waving a hand disarmingly. "I want to live, same as you. In fact, while we show her how a true Saiyan fights we can be good sparring partners. Given that you may have been a small bit stronger than Kakarrot, I think you'll be a nice partner for the moment."

"Ha! Don't take this the wrong way, Saiyan, but I don't need help getting stronger-"

"Says the green man who got punched into a mountain?" The Saiyan Elite asked with a raised brow.

"S-She just caught me off guard, that's all!" He answered with a flustered expression.

Chuckling with amusem*nt, Raditz leaned his head to one side, placing both hands on his thick muscular thighs, "Come on. You really couldn't hope to match them with a year's training on your own. If the two of you couldn't stop me without that miracle child, you can't hope to reach a height of power you sorely need. The Earthlings that champion here are hopeless. Without me, you're going to die without putting up a fight at all. It'll be a massacre, through and through.

"So are ya going to just stubbornly reject my hand out of stubborn pride or are you going to realize you got no other better option?" He finished with a dark smile. It had a hint of cheekiness that Piccolo swore resembled Son Goku's if only a great deal twisted by the man's brother.

Rolling his eyes he let out a relenting moan, as he palmed his face, "I'm going to regret this but...sure, whatever. But once this is over," Piccolo lowered his hand from his visage, now glaring menacingly back at the Saiyan with a surprising intensity. "I'll be coming for you before I kill Son Goku!"

"Heh, sure," Raditz smugly grinned, laying back against the stone as he closed his eyes with a bit more confidence in his chances of surviving. Maybe, just maybe he could survive this hopeless scenario.

"Whatever you say, big green."

Chapter 11: A Saiyan's True Worth

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 11 - A Saiyan's True Worth

Raditz could feel it.

The surge of power that coursed through his veins, pushing it and raising it to new heights than he ever experienced. In the past, he had tossed energy around, only making the slightest of adjustments to alter its lethal potency. He hadn't unlocked the secrets ofkiin all his time spent as a bodyguard to the Prince, realizing that one can completely manipulate one's own energy to the point of raising their battle power for critical strikes or malleable attacks as the emerald skinned fighter once demonstrated.

Using this newfound strength, he kicked off the top of a tower of sediment, letting it collapse from the force of his jump. Accelerating he'd project a petering trail of bright rose shooting him across the sky like a burning comet. His soaring trajectory had him clash violently with an incandescent white aura of similar intensity, creating a thunderous blast of two crashingkithat shattered the nearby natural structures of earth. In this wasteland he'd unleash a barrage of thrashing moves of his arms and legs, making use of his superior size to bar the path of the purple garbed man.

Every contact of his limbs with the other's made him realize just how far the once enemy now tentative ally had become. In just under a few months, he's become a competent warrior, now roughly closer to his level of strength as they both increased at a steady pace every day. Using their time at night to have an intense sparring session, they'd awake the next day to recover while pushing their mutual pupil to higher heights.

The plan was rudimentary in its simple nature. Showcase the best of their talents in a combined training regiment so the daughter of their rival could be utilized at maximum potential. Even if she was a child, she was their best bet of possibly staving off their enemy's worst. However, even while her progress has been good for her age...the gnawing feeling had gotten to the begrudging uncle.

That feeling, in the middle of a fight, allowed a free punch to his face that stunned him. His world spun, vision going red, making his sparring partner get co*cky. A blow to his armored chest followed by a catapulting third strike, he'd allow himself to fall straight to the earth. The throbbing sensation cleared by the time he regained his bearings, coordinated his descent and timed a perfect counter.

Unraveling from his waist, his tail whipped out to catch the ground, splintering it with the force that was dispersed. His arms folded over his chest as his eyes opened, watching Piccolo follow him down but had long since lowered his energy; something he had also learned in the few months of training with him, the sensing of ki.

"Hey, I saw you spacing out and decided to wake you up out of your day dream," The former King of Demons regarded with a serious edge to his voice. Crossing his own arms as he observed the Saiyan push himself with his prehensile limb upright he'd wait for him to rise. Once at eye level, he let the wind of the air cool the soreness of their training while keeping on topic. "What's eating you?"

"I was just thinking," The Saiyan warrior began, arms still crossed but his head turning to look at a distant plateau he knew his niece was sleeping on top of. Beyond it, was the glow of the Earth's Full Moon. He knew that if he stared directly in its path, he'd be uncontrollable, so he chose to train near where a good number of visible obstacles could impede his eyesight from staring at it directly. Shaking to regain clarity, he returned his attention to the patient involuntary defender of Earth. "We're making good progress, both us and the child. However, I don't think we'll have enough time to be at a satisfactory level."

Scoffing, Piccolo unraveled his arms and balled his hands into fists, "Don't tell me you plan on giving up!"

"I'm just saying we should come to terms with an impending death while going forward with this!" Raditz argued back, his teeth baring with frustration as his own arms became undone. "If that child isn't even close to being on the level we need, we all dig early graves on this tombstone of a world. It won't matter if we even become on par with Aspara, which is doubtful. If she can't slow down Vegeta or his loyal lackey Nappa, we're all going to die. Slowly and painfully."

"Well, we can only train so much. If we had more time, perhaps, but we're doing the best we can."

"It's those two Earthling females fault!" Raditz swore with a growl, turning about with an exaggerative wave of his arms. "They keep coming by, insisting that they have far greater claim to see to the child's well being. She won't become the warrior we need her to be if she continues to be coddled by them."

"Heh, well, it's not like they don't have a substantial claim to them," Piccolo joked with a smirk.

"I'm surprised, green man, that you haven't tried to stop their meddling," The Saiyan Elite turned to form a scowl towards his partner. "Where did your backbone go?!"

"There are certain battles I'll never fight, Saiyan, even if you're more than willing to bicker back and forth with them," The former Demon King retorted with a snort. "Plus, even if we did try to intimidate them or force them out, I'd rather not be on the receiving end of Son's wrath. Unless you'd like to chance it after he's done training with Kaio, be my guest."

Sneering, the Saiyan had no retort. It wasn't like he could just tell them off, Bulma being as tenacious and forceful as any female of his own race ever could be. Then her sister, Tights, just kept being far to sentimental and caring to the point of making him feel uncomfortable. The pair were just infuriating and often brought the day's momentum of training to an outright crawl.

His niece had potential, but he figured her family was pampering her far too much for her to go all-out; especially when her life was on the line.

His thoughts dwelt on Pan and he realized that he had no particular hatred for the half breed child of Kakarrot. She annoyed him with her clever wit being used mischievously but was equally respectful to him and her other mentor, calling them both "Uncle". It was odd to be treated so familiarly as if he was always a member of the family.

A family he hadn't possessed for years.

The ground shook him free of dwelling on such thoughts. The quakes shuddered the air both him and the big green fighter hovered within. Both became bug-eyed at what could possibly cause such trembling in the landscape. But as they stretched their senses to feel for akiresponsible, both turned to look at a monstrous form, growing out to be a giant simian creature with brown fur and a long furred tail.

He knew without a doubt that Pan had ignored his warnings to avoid looking up at the night sky. She had transformed into an Oozaru!

"Wh-What the Hell is that thing?!" Piccolo shouted with abject shock.

"You mean, you never saw Kakarrot transform?!" Raditz asked, then promptly slapped his face promptly. "Of course not! That idiot had his tail cut off, why would he transform?!"

"It wasn't cut off in my previous life encounter with him, but he never turned into...this!" He retorted, watching Pan's bulk obscure the full moon -much to Raditz's thankfulness- as she roared loudly. The strength of her shout was enough to blow the tops off the many peaks of sediment that cultivated this particular canyon. It made Piccolo wince visibly with more pain than the discomfort that Raditz had.

When she formed a wellspring of crimson outlined white in her mouth, they both separated as a beam funneled between them with the width of a freight train. Passing them by with a scorching heat imprint upon the ground and nearby structures of stone, it collided with a distant mountain range and exploded violently. Nothing was left, much to the ferocious beast that had replaced the Saiyan's niece.

"She's going on a rampage! We have to stop her!" Piccolo howled with panic mingling with outrage.

"There are a few methods with dealing with untrained Saiyans when they transform," Raditz began, his voice raised as he drew closer upon seeing Pan turned to smash her fists and tail upon other large groups of rock formations. "The first is to destroy the moon. It supplies Blutz Waves, the energy our eyes absorb and then transfer to our tails. As long as we bask in its rays, we can continually fight with ten times the strength of our maximum potential."

"I can do that," The Demonic warrior grinned, turning to prep a blast with a bulge in his right arm. Before he could do that, Raditz grabbed his wrist just as it was about to fire. He growled and shook free with indignation. "What?!"

"You idiot!" Raditz shouted with infuriation. "Even if you destroy the moon, we have means of creating our own artificial moons. Both Nappa and Vegeta are capable of this feat! Plus, it would be an invaluable asset to any Saiyans on our side, Kakarrot and Pan included!"

"Then what are our alternatives?!" Piccolo snarled with frustration.

"Grab hold of her tail," He said, pointing at her turned backside as the aforementioned prehensile limb thrashed a another plateau as she stomped and roared loudly with fists beating on her chest. "As long as you put enough pressure it'll weaken her and undo her transformation. Just make sure you don't tear it off. I don't want her to go her life maimed and without an important part of herself missing for the sake of convenience."

"Tsk, that sounds like compassion, Saiyan," Piccolo teased with a wry grin. "What ever would the women think of that?"

"No different than you keeping watch of the child and saving her from every little thing that may harm her!" He retorted, shaking his head with further iration. "Whatever! Let's just get this done already!"

"Hmph," Piccolo huffed as he took powered flight just as Raditz did.

Their calculated assault would not be one of direct confrontation but rather of subterfuge. If what the Saiyan Elite said was true, they were facing a berserk Pan with ten fold the strength of what she displays on a good day. Even barring her inner potential, this was a force of nature they couldn't underestimate.

Fortunately for them, the Saiyaness was in such a rage that she didn't notice their rocketing approach.

Piccolo did his best not to be smashed into a bloody pulp by the flailing limb, easily four to five times his size in length alone. Once he saw it flail upward in a pronounced manner as Pan roared once more, he seized his opportunity. Wrapping his arms around the furred limb he put all of his energy into a concentrated vice grip that tightened fiercely.

Pan's howls became gargled groans of pain and shock. Before his eyes he saw her devolve, becoming less hairy and more akin to her base state. Tighter and tighter he constricted his limbs around the tail, watching her shrink till she was merely three and a half meters in height. Writhing and flailing her arms, she didn't seem to become any smaller than this.

When Raditz appeared, his arms were crackling with rose tint of potentki. Keeping his gaze away from the moon himself he forcefully smashed the forehead of Pan's growling face. A loud seismic boom was let loose and Piccolo had to become scarce from the backward flailing frame of Goku's daughter from crushing him outright. Landing with a loud thud, they both were bore witness to her returning to her humanoid frame.

Deprived of her precious gi and Nyoi-bō.

"Tch, little brat caused us quite a bit of trouble," Piccolo snarled between ragged huffs of labored breath. Turning to look at the Saiyan who stifled any sign of exhaustion on his part, he rolled his eyes and turned to look back at her. "We'll have to make sure to have her sleep in a cave or something that doesn't have the moon in plain view if we don't want a repeat of this incident again."

"Definitely don't mention this to the women," Raditz intoned lowly.

"Don't need to tell me twice," The reincarnated Demon King snorted. Raising up his hand he let out a shout as a golden beam encapsulated the girl. Her apparel was returned to normal, save for the pole. "There, they won't know the difference."

"You can materialize clothing? That's a weird power of yours, big green," The Saiyan commented dryly.

"Don't call me that," He growled, turning on his heels to walk towards the wreckage that was the majority of the canyon. "I'm going to go hunt down Son's heirloom. You keep an eye on her."

"Is that magic stick really worth the effort?"

"Better she has it and not know she lost control, than question us what happened tonight," He spoke lowly, a sense of protection heard in his words. It further confused the Saiyan that he'd go hunt for the red weapon if only because of its limited usefulness. Before he could really argue, he was already out of sight and hunting among the debris.

"Geez kid," Raditz huffed, squatting by his unconscious niece with a look of annoyance. "You made me go on a limb to make sure you aren't handicapped for life. Even if you could grow your tail back, I don't want you ending up like your dad. You're going to be a strong Saiyan warrior, stronger than either of us."

Without realizing it, he was reaching out to stroke her lavender hair. Recoiling, he looked at his hand with utter confusion. Shaking his head, he reached down and grabbed Pan to be placed delicately over his shoulder. With his back towards the now perfectly seen moon, no long obscured by the towers of rocks, he made long strides towards a decently shaded spot for the girl to sleep off her traumatic experience.

"Sleep long and well, kid," Raditz spoke quietly during his walk. "You're going to need it for the training we're going to put you through from this point on."

Serpent Road, Afterlife

How long as Son Goku been running? He wasn't sure. Serpent Road seemed endless, and he was feeling exhaustion — something he hadn't truly felt in ages. "I know it had to be more than a hundred days ago..." the Saiyan thought to himself, clutching at his stomach. He was only so sure of this because he'd eaten the first fruit of the Enseiji awhile back, and its effects had long since worn off. He could clearly remember when he had eaten it — like the ogre had said, he'd felt a considerable boost in power, and felt entirely replenished. But now that the effect had ended—

"—I'mhungry!" Goku cut across his thoughts, shouting into the emptiness of the Afterlife.

Regardless, hungry or not, Goku pushed on, dashing down Serpent Road with all the persistence of a stubborn mule. His boots hit the scaled walkway, and while he longingly thought of the bentō strapped to his obi, but shook himself from it. The Enseiji fruit reminded the Saiyan a lot of the Senzu from back on Earth — and he might need this last one.

Goku, however, toughed it out, and although he did not know it, one hundred and twenty one days had passed. And he was nearing the end of the road; in merely four months, the Saiyan had crossed Serpent Road, and achieved a record time — even surpassing the record set by Enma himself. Four months of constant running, and a straight twenty-one of them plagued by hunger, Son Goku was nearing the end of his rope. But, he saw the figurative light at the end of the tunnel; the tail end of the Serpent Road.

Gasping for air as he slowed to a halt, Goku looked out over the edge — and he saw nothing. "Eh!?" The Saiyan gasped, dragging out the syllable as long as possible in shock. As he stared out over the finned edge of the Serpent Road, all Goku saw was yellow cloud extending outward as far as the eye could see; an empty space, with no promised planet in sight.

"N-No way!" Goku looked around in a panic, head turning every which way. "It's gotta be he—" He was cut short, however, when his frantic flailing caused him to glimpse a floating green object in the distance. "Oh! Something round...that has to be the planet!" Excitement brimming within him, the Saiyan made a wide leap, cheering, only to find that flying was difficult. Reminding himself that it had been far too long since he'd last eaten, he tried to balance hiskias he flew towards the spheroid.

When he closed in, the Saiyan saw a house, and grinned to himself. "I knew it! This has to be the right pla—!" He felt an intense pull, and he began to scream, dragging out the final word as his body rocketed towards the small planet like a meteor. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Crashing into the ground, Goku's entire body rocked with pain, and he felt an intense pressure keeping him onto the grassy surface.

"Ugh..." Goku groaned, trying to force his body up, but the intense force kept him pinned to the ground. "What's...what's with this place? My entire body...i-it feels like lead!"

"You know..." came a slow voice, accompanied by a snicker. "I've heard of people taking a crash course, but I think you take the cake."

There was a tense silence, and Goku forced his head against the force to look for the sound of the voice. His eyes fell upon a short, rotund man with blue skin and two whiskers, looking down on him. His eyes were masked by sunshades, and his clothes were unique; an outfit he couldn't properly describe, black in colour with a character emblazoned on the front, within a circle.

The figure frowned, looking at Goku with disappointment. "Most people would be laughing, especially any aspiring student of comedy!" He sounded almost indignant that Goku's sense of humour didn't mesh with his.

"But...I'm not here...for jokes!" replied Goku, still pinned to the ground by the force overbearing itself on him. "I'm here...to study martial arts...under some Kaiō guy!"

"Oh, a martial arts student?" replied the man, smiling. "Why didn't you say so?! That 'Kaiō guy' is me; I'm the North Kaiō!"

"A-Awesome...!" grunted Goku. "But...why can't I...budge!?" He was beginning to force himself from his prostrate position, clambering to his feet in a crouch. "What's...wrongwith this place?"

"Well, to me, it looks like you don't understand thegravityof the situation!"

There was another dead silence and Goku merely blinked at North Kaiō's expectant face.

"...It's gravity," replied the Kaiō with a sigh. "Despite its small size, the gravity on my planet is stronger than most average planets, so it seems like you come from a planet with relatively weak gravity."

"W-Well, I come from Earth..."

"Earth?" replied North Kaiō, finally showing some interest. "I suppose you would be cracking under the pressure here—" (another sigh followed as Goku showed no response) "—as the gravity on my planet is ten times that of Earth! I'm actually surprised you can stand, I didn't think Earthlings were made of this kind of tough stuff!"

"I've actually heard that I'm a Saiyan..."

"Oh, a Saiyan?" replied the Kaiō, his eyes presumably widening behind his sunshades. "And...from the looks of it, you're not even dead. A living Saiyan, from Earth, here on my planet...well now, I'mverysurprised."

"Well, God an' that Enma guy gave me permission to run the Serpent Road to meet you so I can train!"

"A Saiyan, living no less, on my planet..." North Kaiō seemed stunned. "This isn't a development I get every day — even though I have had far more important visitors before — you're an interesting one. But you don't have a tail; I know some things slip my mind, but I thought a Saiyan were born with them."

This had been the second time someone had brought up Goku's lack of a tail — Raditz had been sure to mention it when he arrived on Earth. Was having a tail that important for a Saiyan? Frowning, Goku decided to elaborate, his conflicted feelings over his heritage notwithstanding. He explained how God had removed his tailed when he was a boy, claiming it was "getting in the way", and he agreed, despite the fact that he had always felt better — stronger even — with his tail.

North Kaiō sighed. "He didn't really have any idea what he was doing, I see; you Saiyans are at your strongest when you have your tails. It helps regulate yourki, improves your general abilities, and is the key to a Saiyan's true strength. If you'd like, I could actually restore it for you."

"Restore...my tail?" Goku repeated.

"Of course." replied North Kaiō. "If you want to train here, and you want the best results, a Saiyan needs their tail."

"A Saiyan needs their tail..." repeated Goku. He remembered when he was young, fighting a beast named Giran; when he was bound up by the weird gum that Giran made, he had only been able to break out of it when his tail had spontaneously grown back. It had been a huge rush of power, and he'd always felt odd without his tail since. "Alright, Kaiō! Go on an' restore it!"

"Just 'Kaiō'? No respect," sighed North Kaiō, before motioning for Goku to show his back to him. "A scar and limb are a bit different than wounds, but I should be able to restore it, so just keep still." He extended both of his short arms, palms spread wide. Goku's body was immersed in a soft, golden glow. He looked down at his body with a look of amazement; the fatigue from running Serpent Road was vanishing, though the persistent gravity remained. And then it happened.

The warmth centered around his tail bone, and he could feel a pleasant sensation — a long formed scar healing itself, before becoming flesh, and then, within moments, his tail jutted out, completely formed. It ripped a hole into thegihe wore, and it was waving around behind his body as if it had never left.

"My tail...!" Goku gasped, testing its control to see if he still could move it as he had when he was young, and was excited to see that it felt no different. "You really did it, Kaiō! Thanks!"

"LordKaiō, geez," replied the deity, wiping sweat from his brow and sighing. "At least you have the manners to thank me, even if you can't give me something resembling respect. I am a god, you know!"

"Sorry, sorry," replied Goku casually, waving it off.

"I suppose now I should ask, why did you come here to train?" continued the god. "It isn't just every day God and Enma let a living man cross over into the Afterlife, you know?"

"Well, to tell you the truth..." began Goku, and he explained everything that Raditz had told him back at the hospital — about the impending arrival of the Saiyans, and their combat strength. How he needed to train so he could be strong enough to fight them. How even Raditz wasn't strong enough to fight them, and he and Piccolo were having such a difficult time against just one Saiyan.

"Seems you've gotten yourself in quite a situation — seven Saiyans heading your way in a year?" Wiping the sweat from his brow again, North Kaiō tried to assess the situation. "Martial arts master or no, I'm going to have to say seven Saiyans would be a bit much even for myself; they're a violent species, born and raised to fight. They've gone to many dangerous planets, fighting and killing the native races to take these planets in the name of their leader. And now they've got their sights on Earth."

"Too much...for you?" replied Goku in shock. "It might not even be a year now; I spent all that time runnin' on Serpent Road!"

"Don't go jumping to conclusions," cut in North Kaiō. "Just because they're too much for me to handle, doesn't mean they're too much for you. All you need to do is become stronger than me before they arrive. But first, let me just see how long it'll take them to get here." Turning away from Goku, the deity focused all his attention towards the Lower Realms. "Yeah, there they are. And from the look of that pacing, I'd say they'll reach in, oh...214 days."

"An' I hav' ta get stronger than you in 214 days...? Easier said than done..." grunted the Saiyan. "Even with my tail...I can still hardly move an' we've been talking for so long."

"Oh it's more than enough time! 214 days of training here will be like a few thousand years of training down on Earth. But you're right — that's the first step," replied North Kaiō, grinning. "Before I can teach you anything, you need to master this planet's gravity. The Saiyans were born and raised on a planet like this, and if you can't adjust, you won't be any match for them." Without any further delay, he turned and called for "Bubbles!", and they waited in brief silence until there was the sound of hooting.

Goku looked over curiously, and saw the source of the hooting and now screeching sound — a monkey rushing over their way with impressive speed, seemingly uninhibited by the gravity of the planet.

"Um...Lord Kaiō? What's with the monkey?"

"Thisis Bubbles, my pet monkey," replied North Kaiō. "Your first lession is to catch Bubbles; until you can at least put up with his monkey business, you won't be able to learn anything else."

"Just...catch the monkey?" Goku repeated, and turned towards the chattering simian. "Alright...!" He began to try and move after Bubbles, who happily danced away from him. But the pressure bearing down on his body was making movement near impossible, and what should have been a run was simply a painfully slow march. "Just...you wait...!"

But Bubbles had no intention of waiting, and pranced out of the Saiyan's reach.

"The fact that he can move even this much on my planet is impressive," thought North Kaiō as he watched Goku struggle after Bubbles. "Is it the effects of being born a Saiyan on their homeworld? Persistence? Or perhaps his simplicity..." Smiling as he watched, North Kaiō was beginning to get a feeling from Goku he hadn't felt in previous students; he might have found his star pupil.

Coming to a halt, Goku began to pant, and an idea struck him. Eagerly, he began to remove hisgi, getting rid of the heavily weighted undershirt, followed by his armbands and boots. Free from this burden, approximately 113 kg in total, Goku felt considerably lighter, and the stress of the gravity that weighed on him was less as well. He also placed the bentō next to the weighted garb, keeping the remaining Enseiji out of harm's way.

"Oh? Already wearing weighted training clothes?" Kaiō observed with interest.

Grinning, Goku flexed his limbs. "Alright, monkey! I'm comin' to get ya!" Goku made a mad dash for Bubbles, free from his weights, and just when he thought he was closing in, the simian burst into a sprint that placed a huge distance between them. "He's...so fast...what kinda monkey is he?"

"If you're going to give up now, you may as well go on home and wait for the Saiyans yourself," replied Kaiō sternly.

"N-No, I'm not gonna quit right now!" Goku glared towards Bubbles. "I didn't come all th' way out here just to back out!" His breath recovered, and his resolve lit aflame, the Saiyan sprinted towards Bubbles once more, and the chase was on again.

"Let's see how long it takes him to catch that monkey," thought North Kaiō. "I can feel his heart; it's calm and crystal clear. He's pure, if a little slow. You might be the person I was looking for, Goku! Now go out there and prove me right!"

With the determination to protect his friends and family, the excitement of new and strong opponents, and even though he didn't know it, the faith of his new teacher behind him, Goku was spurred forward, and his training with North Kaiō had only begun.

The Outer Reaches of Space

Racing through the inky void of space, seven individual pods were making great time. Enveloped in white energy, propelling themselves through space, these were the round-type pods used by the Saiyan infantry under the command of their leader. Leading this charge was the Saiyan prince, Vegeta. Sitting in the cramped pod with his arms folded, the Saiyan appeared to be asleep.

In fact, if one could look into each and every pod, they would see that the Saiyans were all unconscious; their pods were on auto-pilot, and they were currently in a form of a stasis. Their bodies would be nourished and kept in prime condition for the invasion when they arrived. With every warrior on Earth, new and veterans, busy training to combat the Saiyans, the threats themselves were making time faster than anyone wanted.

As the Saiyans loomed ever closer, and the Dragon Team was left to their individual desires, the situation began to look more dire.

Earth's final clock was counting down.

Chapter 12: Bonds and Heritage

Chapter Text

The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 12 - Bonds and Heritage

Pan felt the pressure all around her. The half year that has passed training has only increased in intensity as time passed by. Her teachers were what she considered family, even if they never vocally acknowledged it. She had grown fond of their attempts of trying to be distant even though she knew that they looked out for her like real family.

Still didn't make the training any easier, however.

Currently she was in the midst of dodging a flurry of rapid fire from Piccolo's fingers. Miniature bullets ofkiwere spread in a wide net of range that, on their own, didn't have much accuracy but their numbers made up for that. The flickering hornets of light whizzed and crackled by her scalp, dangerously close to hitting her directly as her little feet carried her quickly out of their reach. Not that any single one of them had the capacity of killing her durably trained frame; the pain however made it a deterrent for taking one too many shots to the everything.

"Come on, kid! You haven't even made any headway towards me! Dodging isn't everything there is to a fight!" Piccolo crowed out madly, echoing out with amused laughter at seeing her frantic movement.

The half Saiyan gritted her teeth with grimacing knowing that the Daimaō was right. If she kept running, she'd eventually trip up or the more experienced fighter hit his target. This meant she had to take initiative, immediately!

In the midst of turning around to flee the energy projectiles, Pan gathered a halo of light around both of her hands. Jerking to a stop, she bent her knees and propelled herself up into the air in a knee tucked back flip over the harrying attacks narrowly missing her minute frame. Unfolding herself near her teacher's forward right, she twisted in the air and launched one illuminating sphere after the other.

Like a pair of grenades, they exploded among the bullets with a pair of overlapping blast waves that made the devil grimace and raise his arms in a reflex. The light dimmed with a curtain of smoke rolling around him.

"Using the smoke as cover, huh?" He growled out, his smile exchanged for a concentrated baring of his fangs. His eyes darted around as his heightened sense of hearing picked up a number of pitter-patters scurrying around him. Even now she didn't charge, deliberately circling around to catch the veteran warrior off guard.

Hearing the feet lift off the ground, he turned to look over his shoulder and saw a rapidly approaching silhouette; one that his arm whipped around and smashed into dust.

"A decoy," The Daimaō grinned at the sight of the crumbling stone thrown at him, twisting his body around to see a shrinking Pan trying to pull herself to a halt. With a hand jutting out to release a blinding wave of golden light, he let out a guffawing shout. "You're finished!"

For a split second, the demi-Saiyan appeared to have been blown away by the well timed counter. But the sight of the tumbling frame fizzling into nothing -like static- did Piccolo's countenance turn to surprise. It was a Zanzōken!

"Bokushin!" A sudden cry sounded right between Piccolo's legs as the squatting frame, once hiding in a split second, shot upwards towards the green fighter's exposed jaw. Coalesced with a curtain of light that emitted a pair of luminous horns from either of her balled fists, the rocketing frame smacked dead on into the chin and made her target reel backwards for several meters.

After tumbling head over heels, Piccolo grasped his bleeding chin and felt the punctures along with the swollen bruise. Wrestling a few molars that were busted free from their cavities, he spat them out, along with a wad of blood onto the ground. Looking over with a brief glare at the hovering half blood that looked ruffled but giddy that she landed the hit, he couldn't help but grin despite himself.

"That was a nice hit, kid. Didn't know you were making up your own moves without me knowing," He complimented halfway, suspiciously inquiring under his statement towards the descending girl.

Landing on her feet, she giggled as she rubbed underneath her nose, "But Uncle Piccolo, if I use any moves you taught me, you'd know how to stop them."

"Smart," He replied with a nod. "You're catching on. Only took you a few months to start getting that. Always improvise and never use a technique twice if you can help it. Your enemies will take advantage of any weakness they discern from your first showing, and given how strong these guys are said to be, we'll need every advantage we can get."

"I'll always do my best!" She earnestly beamed with pumping arms.

A slow clap interrupted the pair's musings, bringing their attention to the smirking Saiyan.

"Yes, truly the work of a mischievous minx. That kind of tact would serve you well against the lower levels," He drawled out, his smile becoming a tinge insincere as his clapping stopped. "But do you really think such trickery would work on Nappa? Aspara? No, those would possibly give you an opening for victory but not defeat them outright, if someone like you couldn't be stunned for more than a few seconds."

Pan's face turned from enthusiastic smile to one of a furrowed frown. She came to like her uncle over the passage of time, but days like these when he pushed her buttons when she did her best made it hard to control herself. The buried furnace always got riled anytime her efforts were made out to be in vain, like now or times before.

However, Piccolo was quick to rebuke him with another audible spat, "I'm not saying she's ready, but she's making progress. If she's going to be ready, we have to make her aware of what her faults are as well as what she gets right; adapt to any situation, just like she did now."

"Tch!" Raditz scoffed, dismissing him with a wave of his arm. "Honestly, Piccolo, I think you butter her up too much. If she goes in with a big head, she'll get popped, and then where will we be? Worse than square one, I can tell you that."

"I'm aware of the stakes," Piccolo retorted, his teeth retracting as he favored a far more calmer stoic visage as his wounds healed over the course of the time they talked. "But mockery can only stir the coals so much. Or do you want to poke the bear?"

Stiffening slightly, Raditz looked over at the glaring little Saiyan and flinched at the look in her eyes. Unbeknownst to the spiky, lavender haired girl her onyx eyes looked almost glazed with a ferocity that was only witnessed by the pair on rare occasions. The hidden well of power that was called upon in what could be amounted to fits of rage was far more frightening than an uncontrolled Oozaru transformation.

Something neither wanted a repeat unless they could help it.

Sighing, Raditz raised his arms up to console Pan and formed a wry smile, "Alright, I was a bit...harsh, my fiery niece. You're coming along great! I'm just apparently a bit too impatient forsomepeople's liking."

Though Piccolo's eyes rolled, knowing where his words were aimed at. But the effect was good enough that Pan's anger seemed to dissipate immediately. Her broad grin stretched across her face and her eyes glimmered with a blush of pride forming on her cheeks.

"Thanks, Uncle Raditz!" She beamed out, much to the older Saiyan's annoyance.

Clearing his throat, he decided to use his presence for something more productive than spectating. Looking over at Piccolo, he grinned darkly and then turned to stare challengingly at his relative. Squatting in front of her, he inquired with a raised brow, "Say, we've been taking turns training you, but I have an idea. How about we both spar against you at once? Twice the efficiency of our regimen, double the results!"

While the Daimaō's interest piqued, he saw that Pan scrunched her face up and considered it thoroughly. Due to the trading of hands during the days and nights where eventually both went to train on their own and against each other, the results were adamantly consistent. It was just not a high enough raise in marginal strength, that much was sure.

Thankfully for Raditz -and by extension, Piccolo as well- Pan seemed up for the challenge.

"Okay, let's do it!" Pan looked up with a challenging grin, a mirror of her parents with a gleam of fierce determination glowing in her eyes. Palming a clenched fist, she bowed to them both before settling into a simple crouched stance. Both arms co*cked at an angle with clawed hands aiming fingertips and palms towards each other with legs spread out. With a blue fire born in her pupils, she chirped with eagerness. "Ready when you are!"

A second later, a log for a foot came barreling towards face.

Eyes bulged wide as she barely caught the foot, a clap of force rocking her frame, making her tail spasm from the sheer impact. During her exercises with her Saiyan relative, she always felt like he used only a fraction of his strength when training her. Now, it felt like a completely different force than she was used to.

The sensation took her so off guard that she didn't have time to acknowledge Piccolo's own shoe covered toes crashing into her side. Bowing outward, her face struck an expression of pain and realization merging together just as she was catapulted across the wasteland. Tumbling shoulder over shoulder she grappled the rocky ground with her prehensile limb, straightening upwards with elbows dug into her sides and face forming a strained grimace on her face.

"What's the matter? Is this level too much for you?" Piccolo inquired with bared fangs, threatening; like his leaning clawed stance.

"We don't have the luxury to take it easy any longer!" Raditz announced with a stoic glare affixed towards his niece. With arms at his sides, he launched himself headfirst like a missile towards her with Piccolo darting in a number of angles like a wraith, being only a pace behind the prior. Once they reached her, she only had one option.

Move.

Ducking beneath by a hair's breadth to avoid the Saiyan's sudden swiping elbows, Piccolo's arm tried to cut her escape short by grabbing her arm. Pulling her into a punch, she avoided it by biting hard onto his wrist. Recoiling back at blood being shed, she forward flipped and launched an array of kicks at his face to which only met empty air. Rearing back, his mouth opened and regurgitated a kikōha from his mouth making her twirl sideways away.

This was a prime opportunity for Raditz to land a painful lancing palm thrust into her backside. Drawing out a winded gasp from the child, she couldn't react in time for another punishing blow to her face by an instantly appearing Piccolo. Her world spun as her stomach was bashed in, punting her high up into the air by an unknown attacker, arms immediately pulled around her affected area of injury.

"Don't simply react!" Raditz shouted loudly, his right arm wrapped in a curtain of scarlet bio-energy. Thrusting it up at her, a bolt of lightning streaked towards her with the intent of producing intense pain upon the child if she failed to act. "Fight as if your life depends on it!"

"MA-"

Inches away did Pan's body unfurl, glowing in a luminous glow of gold as one arm braced by the other shoved into the offensivekiwith her own.

Then she shrieked like a banshee.

"-SENKŌ-HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

An unleashed torrent of gold light shot downward, briefly colliding into Raditz's attack. Sparks flew to and fro from the contact, hissing and snapping. Overcome like a tidal wave to a tree, the blast wave rushed onward to hit both warriors standing on the ground below.

Without even looking at each other, the pair reached one hand up to brace against thekithreatening to burn away everything beneath their soles. The ground quaked, the wind blistered but they held firm. A concentrated shout and both tore the plasma in half, sending it scattered in either direction, leaving a burning trail before it exploded fantastically in the distance.

But Pan didn't use it as a simple counter. No, instead she was already upon Raditz, the ferocity renewed in her eyes. Despite the contrast of her beaten frame she managed to launch a strong punch into his left jaw, making the Saiyan jerk back albeit only a small distance. Twisting around to whip her tail into his already reared head, he was sent up into the air, enabling her to turn her attention to Piccolo.

Already forming a kikōha in her left hand, she shoved it towards his retaliating energy bullet from an erect finger. The blasts exploded in midair, creating the smokescreen she needed for cover. Despite the setback, the Daimaō simply clapped his hands hard in a forward direction, the shockwave blowing away the dust and debris swirling around him.

Even amidst the harsh condition, she was already on the ground, hands cupped by her sides in an all too familiar stance.

"Ka! Me!" She shouted out the syllables deliberately, thekiforming sprayed rays in a circling fashion and formed an overcast of zealous blue over the environment.

"You're not in the air this time, kid!" Piccolo retorted, forming a Masenkō in one hand without even needing to brace it. "Plus, we're facing two different directions. You can't take us both out with that."

"HA! ME!" With increased vigor, Pan's teeth gnashed and her glare intensified, her body awash in a white light with blue accents that was almost blinding to any nearby observers.

"No niece of mine is going to use such a worthless technique!" Raditz baited, his own hands both alight in a rose color. Grinning darkly, he goaded her into attacking him. "Go on, I'll squash that little beam of yours with two of mine!"

Just as both warriors were expecting the obvious, a sudden thuum was felt. Pan's body ignited in a towering inferno of ethereal flames, the neon sphere swelled to a magnanimous proportion till it was even larger than herself. Before their very eyes, the half blooded Saiyan had generated consciously a power greater than she had before.

In turn, she had formed theSuper Kamehameha.

"HAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed, her hands thrusting out in both directions, effectively splitting her technique in half while the halo of blue outlined white continuously burned around her. Like a pair of columns the ki racing headlong towards them was far greater than they anticipated, and forced them both into a corner.

With Raditz forcing himself into a frenzied blaze of cherry red, he shoved himself bodily into the technique with his twin beams, using their discharge as a offensive and defensive maneuver. Grounding his teeth, he felt the heat wash over him, enough to make him sweat profusely. Just as burns began to blister his more exposed body parts, he completely eviscerated the technique into a shower of exploding sparks.

Heaving heavily, his armor was scorched and charred away in certain areas but still very much intact. Turning to look over, he saw that Piccolo's extended limb was intact but burned more extensively along the palm and outstretched fingers. He grimaced in pain and the effort, looking equally relieved that he didn't suffer as much damage as he could have.

Looking over with astonishment, he witnessed Pan looking exhausted, falling back on his haunches and giggling a little to herself.

"Man. I didn't know I could form such a big Kamehameha. Haha! Papa would be so proud of me!" She declared out loud with a beaming smile.

"That technique could've killed us if we took it at full power. Her splitting it in half just barely allowed us to take it head-on," The full blooded Saiyan gawked as those thoughts circled the forefront of his mind. Even as Pan leaned back and snickered to herself, he was almost aghast at how far this little neice of hers had come. A part of him was both relieved that they had a chance and another was somehow proud of this girl.

He couldn't place why, or how it happened, he just...was.

"Go ahead and take five. Once you rested up, we'll continue where we left off," Piccolo took charge, doing his best to dust himself off and straighten his posture. In a flicker of light, he even reformed his discarded turban and cape. Turning to look over at the Saiyan, he gave him a nod and the Saiyan could sense right away why he acted this way.

The women were here.

Groaning with annoyance, it didn't take long for him to see the arriving Earthling vessel arriving in their general vicinity. The yellow hover-vehicle was curiously enough, followed by the Galactic Patrolman's flying saucer, setting not far away from theirs. Once they both landed, Tights and Bulma exited their vehicle while Jaco slid off the surface of his and landed in a 'cool' pose.

"Given by the horizon lighting up, I see you guys are busy as always," Bulma commented dryly. The look on her face doubly reinforced how deadpan she was to see the disheveled landscape, the fires set to some areas and large craters formed not far from their general location. Looking over at Pan's happy yet clearly injured frame, she angrily twitched at them.

"Woman-!"

"I'm glad to see you're all in good health!" Tights quickly interrupted Raditz, knowing that if it was dragged out, a repeat of past verbal arguments was going to have them standing around and waiting them out. In her hands she held what looked like a big picnic basket, raising it up towards the stunned Saiyan with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I bring offerings to our soon-to-be-heroes who will save us all!~"

"That's presumptuous of you," Piccolo huffed with an eye roll. "We haven't even finished half a year's training yet and you think we're going to pull this off."

"Well of course," She waved her basket, making Raditz's hungry eyes track it as she idly moved it to and fro in front of him. "After all, you guys are crazy strong and are probably as strong if not stronger than Goku. Even Pan could probably beat these Saiyans singlehandedly."

"That kind of optimism could land you in an early grave."

"I prefer it to be the force of my undying will!"

"...right," Piccolo sighed, relenting at the blonde woman's chipper attitude. Massaging the bridge of his nose, her mere proximity was enough to give him a headache.

"I believeSonwill," Bulma intoned with a sigh, withdrawing a capsule and clicking it to let it unpack in a poof of smoke to reveal a first aid kit. Looking to the Daimaō, she saw him just stare at her incredulously which made her snort. Handing some salve and bandages to her sister, she took the kit and walked over to console her daughter. "Hey sweetie. How's my big girl doing?"

"I'm ok, mama!" Pan insisted, wincing at the touch of some iodine that was applied to a bleeding injury.

"Uh-huh, I can see that," She replied with a hint of doubt. "Then again, if you have the energy to smile like that I can imagine you are okay by your father's standards."

"Have you heard from papa yet?"

"No, unfortunately not. Though I'm sure he's busy training just as hard as the others are," The mother of one reassured her daughter with a comforting smile, kindling the cheery spark she so cherished in her girl's eyes.

"I've gotten so strong! I bet papa would be so happy!" The lavender haired girl flexed her arms in proud declaration.

"Yes," She smiled, wrapping a bandage around one of her injuries as she looked off a bit distantly. "Yes I know he is."

"Woman, I don't need you meddling-"

"Oh hush. You big tough guys are all the same. You're even more sensitive than even Jaco," Tights teased as she continued to apply salve while keeping the basket full of food out of his snatching reach. Seeing him growl just made her laugh, and he fidgeted at not taking anything or moving away by force. If it wasn't for his brother and his niece, he wouldn't be in this awkward situation on a near daily record.

Looking over at the aforementioned space cop, he noticed him seeming to be holding out what looked like a device similar to, but not precisely, his Scouter towards him. This made him scowl at being examined, the being already unsightly enough. He didn't desire him prodding his person for his own ulterior motives.

"What the Hell are you here for anyways?" He snarled at him, making the Galactic Patrolman shrink before wave a fist indignantly.

"I'm not here of my own volition! If it wasn't for these two bullies, I wouldn't be stuck here, waiting for an impending doom!" Jaco reacted in a frantic manner.

"That's not what I asked, bug-man," Raditz snorted.

"If youmustknow, I'm measuring your energy levels," He explained, pointing at the hand-held version of the Scouter that was merged with technology he possessed. "Given what Bulma has shared designs with me so I could help her decipher the languages you and the squad come from, I was granted with this mercenary tech. A number of companies outfit warriors with this for long-range communication, translation and to measure the approximate metric amount of a being's battle power."

"Out of curiosity, just how much as the other Earthlings' risen?" He inquired, visibly grimacing but doing his best to ignore Tights' placing salve and bandages over his burned skin.

"From their original counts, they've had amazing progress. While I don't know the metric scale to compare to your Saiyan friends, it could help accumulate in a strength of numbers matter. Yours seems to have also raised quite high, with your young friend being the most amazing for a Saiyan her age," He commented.

"Comforting to know, but I know for a fact what kind of numbers we're dealing with," Raditz somberly explained, his eyes exchanging with Piccolo's with a reserved expression. "But we're going to do what we can to beat fate. I won't end up like my parents or my race."

"My-My, what a heroic thing to say," Tights teased with her eyes fluttering and her shoulder brushing against his breastplate. "If you follow through with that, I might just give you a victory kiss."

"Flattering," Raditz deadpanned, reaching out with an almost demanding stare. "Food. Now!"

"Though, that attitude can always be polished a little," She snickered, grinning lopsidedly as she unpacked the basket and handed food all around. Even offering Piccolo, who adamantly shook his head, confusing the blonde haired woman. "Oh? You don't like?"

"I don't need to eat," He answered bluntly. "If you have some water, though, I won't say no to that."

"Haha, just like a plant. Does sunshine help your complexion too?"

"As a matter fact it-...oh shut up!" Piccolo snarled afterwards, making everybody laugh lightheartedly despite his fearsome, fang spread glare. Huffing exasperatedly, he took a water bottle and began to drink from it, casually looking over at Pan who munched happily on some sandwiches handed to her. He wondered just how deep her power went and wondered why somebody like her warmed up to him so easily, even after displaying his habitually nasty actions and talk all the same.

Then she looked over at Jaco, who was drinking from a carton of milk, and smiled at him, "Ah, you're Taco, right?"

Sputtering out the milk with exasperation, much to Tights and Bulma's amusem*nt, he turned to angrily shout at her, "My name is Jaco, the Super Elite Patrolman! Or have I never introduced myself properly?!"

"No, you actually attempted to shoot her," Bulma narrowed her eyes dangerously while glancing at him from the side.

"C-Can we just let that go?"

"Only if you allow her to call you, Taco," She replied with a teasing smile.

"Agh! You're a cruel woman. It's a wonder you ever got married-"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"OH LOOK! WHAT'S THAT?!" Jaco pointed at something behind Bulma, and made a mad dash towards his flying saucer. Unfortunately he was tackled from behind and was dragged back, placed in several painful holds that bent him in unnatural angles. It was all amusing, even to Raditz and Piccolo.

"A toast," Tights raised a juice box, while Pan raised a cup of lemonade, Piccolo unwittingly his bottle of water and Raditz a double BLT he was in the middle of eating. "To the heroes of Earth and our survival."

"Hmph," Raditz huffed as he finished his sandwich. While everyone drank to it he chewed thoughtfully as her words echoed in his head.

Hero. He never considered that as a synonym for the Saiyan race. They were all glorified thugs, killers for hire and perhaps the easiest bunch to amuse when it came to maiming and murdering. It wasn't until the age they lived in that royalty, government and a form of bureaucracy was formed. The tenderness of his mother and a honorable pathos his father lived always disconcerted him, making him wonder why he had such an odd pair for parents.

Even he never quite fit in. Fights were never an all-in thing like the rest of the Saiyans such as the Prince, his caretaker Nappa and the others above his station. Even as an adult he only put forth the effort so he wouldn't be slated as expendable. But now, he had a drive and purpose, for the first time in his life. Even people depended on him, a realization that dawned on him.

Was he a hero? No, he was just using them as a means to an end. Surviving this was the best outcome, and nothing less than that was seen as a victory. Could there be something worth in valuing them as more than acquaintances?

Shaking his head, he returned to his feast, knowing it'd be a matter of time till their newer and harsher training regimen went into full motion.

He hoped that Tights' optimism had a grain of truth in it; otherwise this year of preparation was for naught.

North Kaiō's Planet - Earlier

"I almost had 'im that time!" groaned Goku, sliding into the grass as Bubbles rushed away to the other side of the small planetoid. He was wearing his weighted traininggiagain, and was feeling the effects. He'd taken them off earlier, and had come so close to catching that monkey without them, but North Kaiō had urged him to wear them during the chase. It was supposed to be training after all, and if he could run on this planet with 113 kg of extra weight, he would be far lighter on Earth.

The bentō that contained the Enseiji fruit rested near the base of North Kaiō's house, and he'd considered eating the fruit to give him an advantage against Bubbles, but his better nature told him it wouldn't benefit his training at all. "I'll catch that monkey if it's th' last thing I do!" thought the Saiyan, pulling himself up from the ground and dusting off. He flexed his fingers, grinning. "You just hold on, Bubbles! I'm comin' to get ya!" His tail twitched behind him eagerly, and it was hard to say he wasn't feeling the benefits of having this old appendage back. His body finally felt whole again.

"Yargh!" He let out a cry, and rushed after Bubbles. The monkey dashed across the planet, followed by the Saiyan, the latter's arms outstretched. Goku's pacing was beginning to adjust, and he was no longer lagging as far behind Bubbles. It had only been twenty days since he'd begun this little run around with the simian, and Goku was showing progress at a rate that North Kaiō had never seen before.

"Now...stay still you little bugger..." Goku thought, though he knew this was futile hope. The monkey took a sharp left turn, and Goku sprinted right past it. Rather than pursue, however, an idea struck Goku, and he made his way towards the tree that grew in North Kaiō's yard. He clung to a branch, and kept his eyesight primed on the planet's surface.

"Oh? What's he doing?" North Kaiō looked at the tree with interest.

Bubbles made his round across the planet, and was approaching the tree to pass it up at breakneck speed. When the monkey made it under the timber, Goku launched himself forward from the branch. With a long reach, the Saiyan grabbed the monkey by the waist, using his own tail to keep a grip on the tree's branch and avoid a painful landing with the ground.

"H-He did it!" The deity gasped, eyes wide behind his sunglasses. "With 194 days left, he managed to catch that blasted Bubbles!"

"Whew!" Goku slid out of the tree, sitting down on the grass as he let Bubbles run off. "I can't believe I did it...it felt like I've been going at this for years!"

"Those are the effects of training on my planet," replied the Kaiō, grinning. "I'm surprised you caught Bubbles in only twenty days, that's remarkable progress Goku! You've earned a bit of a break; you're not working with a dead body, and training too hard will simply be detrimental rather than helpful."

"Yeah...good point," replied the Saiyan, leaning back on the grass and letting the wind blow across his body. His tail twitched at his side, and he was still getting used to being able to feel with the extra appendage — it had simply been too many years without his tail. The tail. The mark of the Saiyan race.

"Your tail! Where is it!? What happened!?"
"My tail? I got it cut by God a long time ago."
"Y-You idiot! Do you realize what you've done!? You're walking around maimed, bereft or your precious full power!"

That was Raditz's reaction when he'd told his brother that he'd lost his tail. Sure, when he was a kid, he'd been very attached to it — it was a part of his body, after all — but was a tail just that important to a full-blood Saiyan? He knew so little about his race. Raditz had given him a limited explanation about their parents, but kept quiet about anything in regards to the Saiyans in general. Granted, they had been pressed for time.

Goku inclined his head towards North Kaiō, feeling the cool grass on his face. "Kaiō, what do you know about the Saiyans? I only jus' found out that Iama Saiyan, so I don't really know all that much."

"What do I know about the Saiyans?" mused the deity. "Well, if you're asking for personal details on your own family, I don't know all that much..."

"No, no, my brother can fill me in on those details," replied Goku. "I just wanna know about them in general. Iamone but I know so little."

"Well..you probably won't care for the details, but the Saiyans were hardly a species that were well liked within the Northern Galaxies," shrugged North Kaiō. "But where to start? The Saiyans were originally from a planet called 'Sadal'. However, long ago — I can't even remember when, I was focusing on another section of the Northern Galaxies at the time — the Saiyans destroyed their planet due to infighting. You are a very violent species, but I'm sure you've noticed this."

Goku couldn't deny this much. He always enjoyed the thrill of a good fight, and felt the most alive when he was fighting a strong opponent. Was that a Saiyan urge?

"They managed to steal a ship from a space-faring race who had visited their planet and met a pretty gruesome end. With their new technology, they set out into the vast reaches of space, leaving behind an exploding planet and made their way towards a new planet. It was called 'Plant' at the time, and the Saiyans inhabited it for a few centuries before it was eventually overtaken by them. They renamed the planet Vegeta, slaughtering the native inhabitants of the planet, and the Saiyan monarchy began."

"They...slaughtered everyone!?" Goku gasped, horrified.

"Men, women, children, the Saiyans didn't leave anyone alive," replied Kaiō. "As much as I regret it, I was...privy to this particular part, however, I wasn't able to stop it. We Kaiō are not allowed to interfere with humans; all I could do was watch it. Training people like you who come to me is the closest I can come to physically impacting anything that goes on down there."

"Were all of the Saiyans...monsters?" Goku inquired. His brother had spoken of their parents in positive terms, even if he wasn't truly proud of them.

"Every species has its black sheep," answered Kaiō airily. "I heard tell a few centuries back, when the Saiyans had already settled onto planet Plant, of a pure-hearted Saiyan who tried to rise up against the rest of his race. He took on the entire Saiyan army with himself and five comrades, but he wasn't able to eradicate evil in the Saiyan race before he was killed. It's not a tale that the Saiyans typically pass down.

Regardless, Saiyans were a species that haveevolvedto fight," continued North Kaiō. "They become stronger after every brush with death, and are naturally attuned to theirki. A tyrant by the name of Freeza would go on to find the Saiyans, and became highly interested in utilizing them as part of the the Galactic Freeza Army. So the species was conscripted as soldiers. Twenty-one years ago, however, the planet was struck by a large meteor, and entirely destroyed. Very few Saiyans survived. The majority of those who did were scattered on other planets at the time, like you. And most of them have returned to their service in the the Galactic Freeza Army, though I believe they are stragglers who have simply neglected to return."

Goku finished listening to the end of the entire explanation with a bitter look on his face. These were details he wasn't too fond of. Based on his first impression from Raditz, and everything his brother had said, he didn't have much respect for his Saiyan heritage after all. It wasn't something to be proud of. But, at the same time, he couldn't just escape that anymore. His Saiyan tail twitched behind him, reminding him of what he was.

"So who is this 'Freeza' guy?" inquired Goku deciding to take the line of query to the name North Kaiō had dropped that he didn't recognize.

The moment the name was uttered, North Kaiō's face darkened. "He's not someone to concern yourself with, Goku. Forget Freeza; I only mentioned him because he had a role in Saiyan history. You don't want to meet him!"

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Goku replied, indignant. "But when you put it that way, I'vegotto know!"

"No, Goku!" was the Kaiō's answer. "I'm not backing down on this." Ignoring Goku's disappointed groans, he continued. "Now that you can move around easily even with this planet's gravity, it's time to take you to the next step of your training — the Kaiōken."

That had been a few months ago when he began. Goku had confidence in his skills, but North Kaiō was no slouch as a teacher. Before Goku could even learn the 'Kaiōken', his new teacher had insisted he train his body first. The past few months had been nothing but physical drills, and Goku's body was building up strength and durability. But now was a change of pace.

A sparring match with the North Kaiō himself.

"Your form is sloppy!" the deity shouted. Goku was pushed back with immense force, the stout god sending Goku back with a powerful palm thrust. The Saiyan flipped back onto his feet, skidding along the grass, North Kaiō standing up to his full, admittedly nonintimidating height. His hands were placed in front him, palms hanging flat. It was a relaxed stance, but it told Goku everything he needed to know — there was no opening here he could exploit.

Goku rushed forward again; if there weren't any openings, he'd have to create one! Pressing into the ground with his left palm, the Saiyan swung his right leg towards the deity with a powerful kick from the side. His boot soared through the air, aimed at North Kaiō's face.

North Kaiō's hand raised instinctively to block the blow, Goku's leg collided with the flat of his blue palm. Twisting his hand, he grabbed Goku's leg and pulled the Saiyan within striking range. With a powerful blow, North Kaiō's palm struck Goku in the chest, and the Saiyan was winded, futilely gasping for air. Each strike from North Kaiō was more powerful than anything he'd experienced before; stronger than Piccolo, stronger than Raditz. Thatthiskind of power existed to oversee the universe boggled his mind.

"An' th' Saiyans comin' our way are even stronger than him!" Goku thought with awe. The Universe was truly full of strong opponents, and he couldn't help but be amazed, even as he tried to fill his lungs with oxygen. Clutching his chest as he bent down on one knee, his breath grew from raspy to normalizing itself.

"You won't last a second in Kaiōken usingthatbody," said North Kaiō. "You're too uptight, and too anxious when you make your moves. Not only does your body need to be trained to handle the stress, butyouneed to be able to relax, so you can minimize the stress. Kaiōken is not a move for the faint of heart; even I've never been able to master it. I'm placing all my expectations on you, Goku."

"Well...I'll try an' live up to 'em," replied the Saiyan, a grin on his face as he drew himself into a standing position.

"Then let me show you just a fraction of what I'm hoping for," said North Kaiō. He readopted his stance, and Goku put his guard up. It happened in an instant. North Kaiō'skispiked tremendously, there was a flash of red, and Goku felt his body hurtling across the planet at breakneck speeds. Pain rocked through his body, centered directly in his torso; he couldn't tell how many times he had been hit. In fact, until his body recognized where every ounce of pain was localized, he didn't even know somethinghadhit him.

His body splaying out, Goku gripped the ground as he circled the planet for a second time, coming to a complete and total halt. He coughed up spittle and blood, clutching his body where North Kaiō had hit him.

"Thatis the Kaiōken," said North Kaiō, walking over to Goku and looking down at his hunched figure. "A fighting technique I've developed, multiplying the user'skifor the length of a heartbeat, and drastically boosting all of your abilities."

"How...many times...did you hit me?"

"Oh...around thirty or so," shrugged North Kaiō. "To be perfectly honest, even I haven't mastered the Kaiōken. But I believeyoucan, Goku."

Goku was stunned. North Kaiō claimed to not have mastered the technique...but he struck him that many times with such speed the blows weren't even visible. "That's...that's amazin'! I never knew that kinda technique existed!"

North Kaiō snickered. "Of course not; I'm a martial arts master, after all. The Kaiōken is my own original creation! Now, let's redouble our efforts...after a nice spot of tea."

"...What!?" Goku groaned in exasperation. He'd been feeling all excited after seeing what North Kaiō could do with the Kaiōken, but in that one moment, the deity killed any excitement he'd had. Regardless, as he followed the Kaiō into his house, tailed by Bubbles, Goku grinned. The thought of a technique like that excited him immensely. Training was really going to get interesting.

In The Outer Reaches of Space

The multiple round-type spaceships were making headway towards Earth. Tearing through the North Galaxies, they were looming ever closer. Earth was located on the outskirts of the Milky Way, but distance didn't matter to the spacecraft of the Galactic Freeza Army. As the days ticked down, the Saiyans day of arrival grew nearer. And, even while asleep, once in particular grew fidgety.

Not the prince.

The beautiful Saiyan woman in stasis, laying against the seat of her pod.

Aspara was itching to fight.

Chapter 13: S-T-A-R-F-A-L-L

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball — The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 13 — S-T-A-R-F-A-L-L

The Day of the Saiyans Arrival

Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).

Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).

Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).

This line was repeated several times amidst the five spacecraft that closed in on planet Earth. Within only a short time, the five invaders would close in on their blue target, and the suspended animation systems within their pods was beginning to deactivate — slowly, their vital readings returned to normal, and the seven Saiyans began to awaken.

It took only a short while for the Saiyans themselves to fully emerge from stasis, and by this point, their ships has broken the atmosphere. The spheres were immersed within auras, preventing them from catching fire upon entry, and as soon as they'd made their way towards Earth, the seven ships split off in four different directions; as was protocol, they were automatically headed towards the locations with the largest amount of life-readings. Two ships headed towards the Eastern Capital, Two for the Northern Capital, Two for the Southern Capital, and one sole ship raced towards the Western Capital.

One-by-one, the alien spacecraft crashed into the cities. The pavement exploded on impact, creating gigantic craters large enough to fit each of the pods. These pods opened, and in each Capital, a Saiyan stepped out of their spacecraft.

In the Eastern Capital, the first duo stepped out. They contrasted each other nicely, with one of them being a fairly short man, lean-built, with a shock of black hair that stood upright, and a widow's peak. He wore similar battle armor to Raditz, with a blue leotard, white chestpiece with yellow shoulder pauldrons, and similar pauldrons extending as crotchguards, as well as white boots and gloves. He wore a red Scouter, and his tail wrapped around his waist like a furred belt.

The other was a tall man, massively-built, without a shred of hair on his head, but a thin mustache. He wore no leotard, but his chestpiece was dark navy with similar yellow pauldrons and crotchguards. His boots matched his armor, and he wore no gloves, but rather armbands made of the same durable material. His Scouter was a dark blue, and like his comrade, his tail had been wrapped around his waist.

Nappa and Vegeta had landed.

At the Northern Capital, the second pair of Saiyans emerged from their pods. The first of the two was as tall as Nappa, but couldn't be more his opposite in terms of physical build. While possessing well-defined musculature, he was lanky, and his face had prominent cheekbones. His eyes were stern and narrow, but his expression gave off an air of boredom. His spiked hair framed his head with two bangs, but otherwise fell to his neck. On his ear was a single hoop-earring, and was bone plated with gold. He wore the same combat armor that the other Saiyans wore, though his breastplate was black, with white shoulder pauldrons. He lacked the crotchguards, but did wear the same leotard as Vegeta, merely black in colour. His gloves and boots were white, and his Scouter was red.

His compatriot was another slim Saiyan, with a rather blank expression on his face. It was accented by a short chin, but rounded cheekbones, and his eyes were otherwise lacking in distinctiveness. His hair was unique among the group, as he had shaved it on the sides to create a spiked-ponytail, tied by a red band, and reached the small of his back. His armor top consisted of only the grey breastplate, with green bands instead of pauldrons, and navy blue leggings, of which his boots matched, though they had a similar green armor at the tip. He possessed, however, intricate war paint, extending from the palms of his hands, up his neck, and across his cheeks and forehead; any Saiyan still alive would recognize these markings as distinct from Saiyan lore.

"Shall we, Bocho?" said the first Saiyan.

"We shall indeed, Gula," replied the second in a monotone.

At the Southern Capital, the final pair of Saiyans vacated their pods. Of the first was a wiry man with a lean build, possessed of an angular face and a chin that could cut diamond. His nose was aquiline, but befit his large eyes and beady pupils. He was the most menacing out of the seven, adorning his hair with a collection of various bones, styling it into dreadlocks-style braids. Unlike his comrades, he wore no armor, only a steel-mesh which revealed a mass of scars on his body, and his accessories consisted of thin arm and leg braces. His pants were made of black cloth, and he possessed a sword dangling at his side; the blade itself was serrated, with the hilt itself being crafted again out of bone — looking suspiciously close to a spinal column — with additional bones forming the guard. He possessed no Scouter.

His comrade was considerably more tame. He was muscular, only slightly slimmer than Raditz, with his hair worn in braided spikes. He wore the same combat armor that Nappa did, though it was forest green, and the pauldrons were an ashen gray. Along his right arm, there was a long-since healed wound, a scar that appeared to have been formed by a blade.

The wild Saiyan let out a laugh, cackling and speaking to his comrade. "Come on, Kuka! Let's go bust some heads!"

"You've always got too much energy," replied Kuka, a rough hand scratching the back of his head. "This is a mission."

The final pod had landed in the Western Capital, but its occupant hadn't bothered to leave, and the hatch was still firmly shut. Even as people crowded around to get a closer look, there was no response as the glass of the sphere's window shone against the sunlight. It was the only remaining Saiyan left — Aspara — and she refused to move.

"Aspara!" A stern voice came through her Scouter in their native language. It was Vegeta. "What do you think you're doing? Step out of the craft, now!"

"Oh please," replied the female voice, surprisingly soft but no less threatening. She replied in their tongue. "I came to this ball of dust and water expecting a fight. And we landhere, in this overpopulated mundane city? Feel free to raze them to the ground if you want, but contact me again when you find the fighters."

"Step out of the craft. Now." Vegeta's voice dropped into a low timbre over the Scouter, and word was spoken as a threat. "Don't make me repeat myself again, or you will regret it."

"...Yes, Your Majesty," Aspara replied icily.

With a hiss, her pod opened, and the form of Aspara stepped out into the Western Capital. She was beautiful, to say the least. For a woman who had seen battle all her life, it appeared to have done far more for her appearance than it would have done for most others. She was possessed of a slight tan complexion, with narrow black eyes, wearing a stern expression. Her hair, contrary to most Saiyans, was worn straight, of a beautiful black sheen, and was combed over her face, obscuring her right eye. Along her cheek was a thin scar. Her combat armor possessed a red breastplate, outline with black, and exposed her midriff, and unlike Nappa and Vegeta, did not opt for crotchguards. She had skintight, black shorts, the exact same material that composed the leotard worn by Vegeta, and black gloves, her boots were black, with red armored tips, and ankle-length. Her tail was wrapped around her waist, and wore a bright red Scouter.

"What's the—?" One of the people gawking at the ship gasped when she exited.

"Are they filming a movie?"

"No, it has to be a public stunt!"

The Earthlings continued to chatter among themselves, and Aspara sighed.

"You lot are lucky," she said, ignoring their use of the Galactic Basic Standard. As she said this, it felt like the planet quaked. and pillars of light could be seen from the other three Capitals. Aspara's Scouter went haywire, as it tuned into the massive spike inkifrom her comrades, followed by a sudden drop, and then the complete absence of various Earthlingkisignals. "I might leave some of this city intact."

Before they could ask what Aspara was saying, much less what she meant, there was a flash to her eyes, a menacing mien that struck a chord of fear into their hearts. Then came the literal flash, a brilliant red sheen of energy. From Aspara's fingertips, a powerful kikōha was released, utterly destroying a large portion of the street. Water mains busted, spraying the liquid into the air. Bodies, however, were rent asunder, and blood splattered onto the destroyed pavement and concrete, diluting in the water.

"If I wanted to be honest," Aspara continued, "I don't have any real interest in such a base species — I want to get my hands around the necks of those traitorous brothers." With a casual air, another red flash ofki, and and the end result was simply more carnage. At this point, Earthlings were running and screaming in terror, attempting to flee the city. With a wild turn, she swung her hand down, and a wave ofkierupted, slicing through a third of the city, creating more needless destruction.

"Is there no one in this city worth my time?" The Saiyan warrior protested.

Western Capital, Capsule Corporation

"What's going on!?" The entire city was shaking, and Bulma could feel the Capsule Corporation building moving along with it. There had been a brilliant flash of red outside the building, and she ran outside to take a look. A large gash was carved into pavement and concrete, and she could see the destruction had spread from further in the city, where smoke plumed and flames were roaring.

"Bulma, what's the matter?" Tights called out to her. "It feels like a bomb just dropped!"

"I honestly wish one had," replied the younger sister. "The destruction here, and those gigantic pillars of light from the other Capitals...it has to be the Saiyans!"

"Now!? I thought we had a little more time!"

"I thought so too!" groaned Bulma, ducking back into the building and thanking their luck that Capsule Corporation had beennarrowlymissed by that energy blast. "We're just lucky that we've already made most of the necessary preparations." Looking out into the distance, she concluded quickly that there seven foreign powerfulkiin total, and each of them at ridiculously high numbers. "Each and every combat strength is over 2,000..." gasped Bulma. "And the third strongestwouldhave landed here."

"...How can you tell all of that?" asked Tights, amazed.

"It might sound a bit...odd, but it's a cybernetic enhancement," replied Bulma. "I took the basic concept of the Saiyan Scouter and outfitted myself with it." She gestured to her face, which was as beautiful as ever, but devoid of the Scouter that the Saiyans typically wore. "Once I got a good understanding of it, I was able to reverse engineer it, and with one of the robots in the lab, outfit myself with a similar concept."

"What do we do?" inquired Tights.

"Head to the bunker for now," replied Bulma easily. "We have to wait this out, and then make a run for the Dragon Balls to bring Son directly here. If we go outnow, we're dead."

Tights nodded, and the two siblings made a move get their family and staff into the underground portion of Capsule Corporation.

North Kaiō's Planet

It had been well over five months since Goku's training under the North Kaiō, and by the deities' own assessment, Goku had made leaps and bounds. The Genki Dama and the Kaiōken; both were techniques of the North Kaiō's own creation, and even he had not fully mastered them. For Goku to have come so far in these short few months, and to use his techniques even more flawlessly than the god who had made them — the Kaiō of the North was more than surprised, but also so very pleased.

"I didn't expect you to come this far," said the deity, looking at the exhausted figure of Goku. "For someone living to come here, and master my techniques in such a short span of time! And even surpass my strength!"

Goku laughed, planted firmly against the ground. Hisgiwas torn, his body battered, but he couldn't look more proud of himself if he tried. "To be honest, I almost thought it was impossible. An' you didn't make it easy on me, either." He looked down at his hands, surprised to see how beaten down he was, but he could still feel so much new power from himself.

"It wouldn't have been training if I held back, now would it?" replied his mentor. "Now, let's see...we've been at this awhile, but the Saiyans should be arriving on Earth soon. Let me give it a check." He turned his attention towards the section of the Universe where Earth was located, completely focusing on the little blue planet. After but a moment's silence, he gasped in terror.

"W-What's wrong?!" inquired Goku.

"The S-S-Saiyans!" stammered North Kaiō. "I didn't expect this...I completely lost track of time during training, and I forgot to calculate the time it'd take you to make it back across Serpent Road...and they'rethere!The Saiyans are on Earth!"

"Damn it!" Goku clenched his fists, having jumped to his feet in shock. "You can't just fly me back or somethin'!? It took me four months to make it here, and I was runnin' at top speed!"

"If you run right now, it'll still take you a day!" said North Kaiō, now in a full panic. "I made a mistake, I'm sorry, Goku!"

"There has got to be a way!" Goku groaned, his tail twitching in frustration as he cursed their situation. "If Bulma was here, she'd know how to fix this!"

"Bulma? Who is that?" inquired the deity.

"My wife," replied Goku through the agitation. "I ain't much of a thinker unless it's in a fight, but Bulma's always been pretty good at thinking her way out of a problem. I just wish I could ask 'er."

"You can!" replied North Kaiō, turning his back to Goku. "Here! Place your hand on my back and reach out to your wife with your mind. Hurry, Goku!"

"L-Like this?" Goku placed his palm to the North Kaiō's back, and focused his thoughts on Bulma. "Bulma! Bulma! It's me, Goku!"

There was a moment of silence, but he heard the familiar tones of his wife ringing through into his head.

"Son?! Is that you!?"

"Yeah! I'm talkin' to you through NorthKaiō, and I ain't got good news! I just finished trainin', but he said the Saiyans are there, and even if I run at full speed, it'll still take me a day to make it back to Earth!"

"Oh you bet they're here, and they just destroyed all four Capitals! But I already thought ahead! You stay there, give me a little time, and I'll gather the Dragon Balls! We'll have Shénlóng bring you back to Earth immediately!"

Goku didn't much fancy the idea of waiting in one spot, but when Bulma became insistent that he conserve stamina, he acquiesced, and the connection was broken. Breathing out a slight sigh, his tail curled up as his impatience began to mount. "I don't really like waitin', especially now that I know everyone will be down there fightin'. But I should have figured she'd use the Dragon Balls."

When North Kaiō looked puzzled, Goku explained how Dragon Balls worked, and the deity couldn't help to be impressed that such wish orbs existed, and was even more impressed by such a simplistic, yet effective, usage for them. With his composure now restored, the deity's antennae pointed towards Goku. "Let's fix up a few things in preparation for this battle."

Goku's ensemble shimmered, before taking on a completely different form. Gone was the tatteredgiof which he'd worn for ages. In its place was new attire; the blue undershirt remained, but worn over it was an orangegitop with blue lining from the collar down to the hem, and it wasn't worn tucked like his previousgi. Near the base, "亀" was inscribed, but "界王" was inscribed on the back in a large white circle. Hisgipants were of a darker orange, and his boots retained their shape, but now blue bandages wrapped from the ankle to the bottom of his pant legs. In place of armbands, Goku now wore blue bandages tied around his palms and wrists, and a blueobisash kept hisgitied. His tail poked out from the back, much like it had in his childhood.

"Whoa!" Goku gasped, looking down at his new ensemble. "Look at these threads! Impressive! Thanks a bunch!"

"I figured you wouldn't want to go down and fight for the sake of your planet in rags," replied North Kaiō. "Now, I noticed you brought the Ensenji fruit with you. I'm surprised you've got such a powerful item with you, but now's the time to eat it. Your wife could wish you back at any moment, and you'd get killed if you fight while exhausted."

The Saiyan agreed, and went to retrieve the Ensenji from where he'd left it. As he devoured the golden peach, he took a seat, and his thoughts drifted to Earth. How were his friends faring? What about his daughter? There was so much he didn't know right now, and as he felt power swell within his body, it did nothing to help his impatience.

"Bulma! Hurry!"

East City, Orin Temple; Minutes Ago...

Home. It was hard to describe what place was that for the former monk and now devout martial artist is. Having lived his childhood in this place for a good while, he hardly remembered what it was like without Goku and the others. The time spent with his childhood friend and rival was one wrought with danger and excitement every step of the way. Despite being the weaker of the two he had made up for it with quick wit, nimble reflexes and a lot of luck. He thought it ran out when Daimaō Piccolo's henchman, the terrifying Tambourine, had ended his life and a slew of other reputable martial artists during his grave return. Resurrected by the power of the Dragon Balls, he was given a second chance at life.

One he had spent doing what he could to get stronger and find something useful with his life. He tried to help Goku fight Ma Junior in the ring -valiant, many would say- to no avail, having to spend the rest of the effort watching on the sidelines. After it was over and his best friend left back to his own home, Kuririn turned down Muten Rōshi's offer to live on the island with Oolong. Striking out on his own, he tried to start up a martial arts teaching but couldn't find a way to find a place decent at teaching or good pay for the end result. From that point on, he went job hunting for one thing after another, trying to find the right profession.

That's when he meet Kashiko. It was happenstance that they were on the same train, and after an eventful conversation regarding his career as a martial artist, they shared numbers to go out on a date. One thing led to another and they committed to an active relationship. Through her helpful recommendation, he grabbed a position at the Police Force here and became reputably excellent at what he did thanks to his training and natural talent for remaining faithful to his career. With a record low in crime, he was given some vacation time that he tentatively used throughout the better part of his training months in preparation for the Saiyans' arrival. Ending a couple months ago, he went back to work and only now got a weekend opportunity to visit his old place of training and where his path of martial arts started.

And much to his pleasure, he drove the monks who loathed his presence to unending madness as Kashiko barraged them with questions and took pictures wherever she could.

"Oh, what is this?!" Kashiko inquired with saucer-sized eyes aimed at a prominent statue in the center of the temple. There was a bronze outline to it, glossy from the light that shined through the cracks of the place of meditation and learning, giving the rotund yet well built looking effigy a regal appearance. This sparked her curiosity to no abound, much like their livelihood and every spot of space there was to see.

"Please, do not touch!" The Head Temple monk exclaimed. "That is the statue for the first master of Orin Temple, Matsumada Orin!"

"Oh! Was he a competitor of the Tenkaichi Budokai?!"

"No, he was the founder of this temple and taught us our ways-"

"I know, I remember that," She took a few pictures with her camera with a smile. "These pictures will do great for my job, even if none of you can hold a candle to my Kuririn."

"What, that disrespectful scoundrel?! He couldn't stand a single of our practices and only sought strength for strength's sake!" The master spoke with an indignant huff.

"He has no honor!" One of the senior monks shook a fist with a shout.

"I'm sure he's grown quite a bit since then, otherwise, I wouldn't be courting him," She grinned with a confident wink aimed at them.

"G-Get out! You've wasted much of our precious time as it is!" The master insisted with dramatic waves of his arms. "We lost so much time, we will need to double our efforts! Out woman! And take your boyfriend with you!"

"It was nice speaking with all of you," She replied in an innocent sing-song voice, walking away with a wave that only the youngest of the monks waved back bashfully; only for them to be scorned seconds later by the older of the students. Walking out of the temple with Kuririn waiting patiently outside, she clapped her hands in apology and bowed her head to the dwarf. "I-I'm sorry I wasted our time here. I didn't know they'd keep you out!"

"Eh, they got a grudge that's hard to let go. It's whatever," Kuririn put his hands behind his head nonchalantly, turning to walk down the temple's steps while looking over his shoulder at her. "I was surprised they let any visitors in. I guess the younger monks are a bit like I was back in the day. Eager to learn, eager to please and not stubbornly set in their ways just yet."

"They were all nice, till the grumpy ones found out what I was doing inside," She sighed, adjusting her glasses as she walked down the steps in reflection. It may have been the way she was dressed that upset them, when she thought about it. She wore a simple yellow tea with a white flower emblazoned on the left hip that sent strands of vines across the back and front of it. With only a short brown skirt and simple low-heel shoes, the long-haired brunette may have appeared too casual for such a place of learning.

Kuririn on the other hand was dressed in a new gi and was prepared to show off his appearance to the master, only for his person to be barred upon arriving. Unlike his previous gi, this one had a blue border to his orange top to match the sash wrapped around his waist. With the Hermit School emblem placed on the lower left flap, a pair of blue bandage wraps going from his wrist up his forearms. The same orange slacks and flat sole shoes with smooth socks adorned his uniform, but other than a few aesthetic changes, little has changed about the ex-monk's visage.

"I think the grumpier ones were just jealous that some loser like me has a stunning girlfriend like you around. Even if they forbade me to enter, just your presence frustrates them, you know?" He chuckled, doing his best to cheer her up despite the unsavory inhospitable greeting they gave him.

It was enough, giving Kashiko a smile as she turned to lean down and peck Kuririn's cheek with a giggle, "You're so sweet, you know that? It really is part of your charm."

"And my good looks help, don't they?" He waggled his eyebrows.

"Haha, and your sense of humor helps too," She joked with a raspberry wink aimed at him.

"H-Hey now! Here I was complimenting you and everything!" Kuririn joked back, his pride only partly hurt as he turned to see some glimpses of light. Blinking at them, he put his hands up block out the flashes they gave, Kashiko soon doing the same. "Falling stars? Well ain't that neat!"

"Do falling stars usually get bigger as they approach?"

"No, that's comets-" Kuririn stopped himself short, suddenly feeling an intense sensation coming off the bodies of astral illumination. It was like an immense gravity had begun crushing his body, the tingling of goosebumps crawling all over his skin and his organs tightening in on themselves. A blueness spread across his nose-less face, his eyes becoming dots and mouth spreading wide. Just out of his periphery, he'd see other streaking lights shoot off in other directions, shrieking by like jets coming in for a bracing landing. The two they saw ahead of the others moved to the center of the city was rushing to its center, as they plowed through tall buildings and landed at its center with a distant boom.

"D-Did something just crash land over there?" Kashiko hesitantly stepped forward, her curiosity building upon the after-quake of the landing. It wasn't until Kuririn grasped her wrist and kept her from taking another step that she turned to see the look of horror splayed over his face. Sweat beaded down his face, landing pitter patter on the tiled ground as he breathed heavily with panic. Looking down with worry, she turned to look at the columns of smoke building from the projectiles' crash. "What is it, Kuririn?"

"We need to go!" He gasped, wheezing slightly as he attempted to recover. "It's the Saiyans; the strongest ones!"

At hearing this, they both witnessed a sudden earth-rending pulse of light sweep the city, all the way to the temple behind them. Gritting his teeth, Kuririn felt an unfathomable and vilekiat work here. Relying on pure instinct, he pulled Kashiko by the wrist to sweep her on his shoulders and jettisoned into the air with a wreathe of his aura surrounding them both. Propelling at his top speed, he felt a flash of heat as the temperature fluctuated, gravity tearing objects, structures and people off the ground into the air with horrified screams and shouts. Closing his eyes, he pushed himself even harder.

"Please, make it in time!"

A shockwave struck his back as he escaped the explosion's proximity. In that instant he swerved and tumbled in his desperate flight out of the reach of his unseen assailants. Diving towards the stretch of bamboo forest that was partially blown away from the force of the blast, he saw a stretch of vegetation that had remained regretfully intact. Turning around to hold Kashiko in front of him, he used his back and head to brace the painful impact. Surprisingly, the worst it had done was briefly give him a headache and made him choke on the dirt. A stretch of a dozen meters or so was the outline he and Kashiko made amidst the flora surrounding him.

Pushing back the bamboo off of them, he looked with relief that Kashiko was alright. She groaned and was likely in a bit of shock, but she didn't suffer any life threatening injuries. When he stood up with her in his arms, he looked mortified at the vista before him.

The whole city, the temple and the surrounding land before him was turned into an ash piled crater. Not a single structure was left, nor a bone to pick out. Nothing but a pair of spacecraft the Saiyans had undoubtedly arrived in. Looking up with fear, he saw the two up in the sky, the perpetrators of all this carnage. Gripping Kashiko tightly, she stirred and began to come to her senses.

"K-Kurrin? What's going on?" She quietly asked.

"Those monsters," He hissed, gulping audibly as he continued to shake. "They destroyed the Eastern Capital. Orin Temple, the people and all of the buildings. Everything is gone, without a trace!"

"H-How awful!" Kashiko exclaimed, her eyes turning to see a glimpse of the two hanging in the air. "W-Why are they still here?"

"They're looking for high power levels, like how Raditz found Piccolo and Goku," He intoned with a whisper. "I'll keep mykisubdued till they go away-"

Just as he was saying it, he witnessed the pair disappear, faster than he blinked. From the way he sensed, they were moving and fast, towards a distant place. Given the energy he was feeling from distant horizons, he guessed that the other Saiyans have assembled and began the carnage. Only a few he felt were genuinely non-malicious in nature. Those were his friends, no doubt!

"Looks like I'll be a tad late to the party," Kuririn mentioned with a nervous chuckle, hefting her up to get a good grip on her body. "Hold on tight, I'm going to speed you to Kame House and then head straight to the battlefield."

"Before you do that," Kashiko mentioned quietly. "There's something I want to tell you."

"Heh, can't it wai-mph?!" He began to say, only for her to catch him off guard by pulling him into a long kiss. After the two finally parted, she looked worryingly with a glimmer of emotion moistening her eyes.

"Don't die, Kuririn. Please," She begged with a sniffle.

"Hehe, no way am I doing that twice! Now c'mon!" He powered up in a halo of white and shot off into the sky to zoom towards the Hermit's island. "Off to save the Earth!"

"So, it's time then?" Tenshinhan thought, feeling the swelling of many separate signatures across the globe. He was in the midst of meditation with Chaozu, the pair arching their heads to look from their desert plane to sense the many malicious and powerful surges of energy. The planet would be doomed if this was left unaccounted for. Standing upright, he looked to his partner as the two took turns to take stock of each other.

Both had come along way, and to commemorate their earlier finishing of their trials on God's Palace, they adorned new uniforms to show their progress from their past states of being.

Tenshinhan's person had went for a more simplistic style while still bearing a semblance of his old school's colors. A blue muscle shirt wrapped over his engorged build, a pair of green baggy slacks led to a pair of grey-tinted shin-guards wrapped around his heel to rest a bit over the hem of his tabi slippers. The only new addition was a pair of metal vambraces wrapped by a pair of black bands over his usual green wrist bands. Having fashioned them through his own ki, he knew they'd be invaluable to help defend him in a split second attack from a bladed weapon or a strong-armed hit.

Chaozu had gone with something akin to his older uniform. With a onyx metal-plated grass hat covering his head, he wore a long-sleeved grey cloak with black edges to his sleeves and a red circle around the white backdrop and black lettering of his Crane School emblem. With a pair of grey slacks matching the grey cloak, his black slippers filled out the rest of his new features apart of his own green wrist bands.

"Let's fight together!" Chaozu declared with a valiant fist pump.

"We will," His childhood partner nodded with a grinning nod of affirmation. Letting his ownkiflourish with his colleague's, the two surged up from the earth in a sound breaking boom and swept across the heavens towards the horizon.

Into the fray, they'd launch.

Yamcha, was just having any other day. Content to eating and resting at his old hideout, he knew it was best this way. After telling the Taitans that he'd have to take a long leave of absence, it was with much regret and tears that they told him farewell before he fully committed to training. Finishing a few months back with everybody else, he went back to the old home he had abandoned to live a life with Bulma as his boyfriend for years and years. It'd felt like a lifetime ago.

But now, he felt it, as assuredly as everybody else did.

The ex-bandit stood up hastily and went to quickly change. Pu'ar noticed him scrambling to put his new uniform on, something the others had done after their old ones were tarnished from the gruesome regimen God had put them through. After fully settling in, he turned to face his changeling friend and asked with a grin, "Well, what do you think?"

Pu'ar thought Yamcha looked so different from the times before, it felt like all those months had changed him for the best. Much like Kuririn, his uniform reflected some of those subtle changes. With a sleeveless top that had blue borders, orange much like his slacks, to match the blue obi wrapped tight around his waist. Other than the standard blue slippers and socks fit snug in them, he had an extensive wrap of training tape that had a blue rim at the biceps and triceps, moving past his defined appendages up to the forearm where it became blue to wrap up and over the back of his hand to move between his various knuckles.

"You look great, Yamcha!" He said proudly with a splay of his short appendages. "I'm sure you'll fight good too!"

"No doubt," The long-maned martial artist strode past him, ruffling his friend's head as he grinned confidently, pointing a thumb towards his chin. "There's no way no dumb Saiyan is going to do me in; not unless I kill him back first!"

"Please just don't die, Yamcha!"

"I'll try my best, Pu'ar, but your safety -and the rest of the planet- comes before me," Yamcha intoned seriously, his smile traded out with a serious stare. "That means Bulma, her sister and parents, Pan, and everybody else special to her too. I may not be her boyfriend anymore, but I won't let anything bad happen to her if I have any say about it! It's the least this lousy ex can do!"

Sniffling, Pu'ar wiped a tear from his eye at the considerable speech he said, "K-Knock'em dead, Yamcha!"

"Now THAT'S the spirit, Pu'ar!" He barked out with a laugh, launching out the door with a ignited spray of light that left the changeling aghast at his new strength. Zooming off to the sky, he waved off sadly, doing his best to think positively.

That's all he could do, for the moment.

The Battlefield

The source of thekithat had caught the Saiyans' unanimous attention was a trio of signals, all powering up near the base of a large canyon next to a deserted wasteland. Each one had its own brand of color: purple, rose and bright azure; belonging to Piccolo, Raditz and Pan respectively. After awhile, they relaxed it, not wanting them to be completely scanned and known for their battle power.

They hoped their people would assemble quicker than the Saiyans; less they had to find a way to hold their attention before the fight began, considerably outnumbered and all.

"So this is it, then," Piccolo affirmed with a crease in his hair-less brow. "Our fight is happening ahead of schedule after all."

"We never had a guarantee, just an estimate," Raditz corrected with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest with readiness. "Never expect us Saiyans to arrive when you want them to. We're an unpredictable bunch like that."

"Heh, reminds me of Son a bit, you saying that," He remarked with a wry grin. "He always tended to arrive when I didn't care or wanted him to be."

"Papa will be here," Pan spoke cheerfully, completely at odds with her serious instructors that had mild expressions of amusem*nt at best. Her broad smile perturbed them, even as her bright eyes aimed up at them. "He'll be so excited to see how strong I am, right?!"

"Let's make sure you live long enough for a touching reunion, kid," Piccolo rolled his eyes at her exuberance.

"Just stay focused on the fight, Pan," Raditz harshly remarked, eyes steeled towards her. "This isn't just training any longer. They are here to kill you and you must be prepared to do the same, got it?"

"Yes, Uncle Raditz!" She replied with a polite fist-palm gesture and bow to him.

"Tch," Raditz tsked, his eyes turning to look at the horizon.

The first of thekisignatures he sensed had arrived. Rubbing at the itching he felt in his eyes -something he had been doing for awhile since the past few weeks he met with Kakarrot's wife- he'd peer towards the halo of auras and be a tad relieved, for the moment. A stay of execution was in order as the pair that dropped before them was none other than the triclops warrior and his albino eternally young partner.

"So, you're the guys we felt this way?" Tenshinhan intoned with an obvious monotone.

"Was there any doubt?" Piccolo snarked.

"No, you guys didn't have the animosity the others did, so it was just process of elimination," The triclops shrugged nonchalantly, taking in the sight of the three. "You three look like you spruced up since we parted. Bulma's doing?"

"Kakarrot's wife only tailored me something a bit more, appropriate," Raditz empathized with a slight tilt of his head and his crossed arms unfolding to reveal his entirely new armor decor. Given the intensity of the past half a year of training, it was only a matter of time till his Saiyan armor completely eroded from wear and tear. Not unusual given that the outfit he was a part of traded out armors as much as they got new Scouters, given how much action they saw; with him it happened less, due to obvious reasons.

Gone were the bare showcasing of his skin on all corners and now for something that gave him near all-encompassing protection to his body. Starting with the shoulders, he had angular ribbed pauldrons that fitted over them both snugly, leading to a grey-to-black series of breastplate and rib guards with only a brown abdominal rectangular plating split down the middle by a grey line set up to the top of his collarbone displayed muscles to the neck and down to his pelvic region. Fit into a singular piece that stretched down to his feet, only a pair of red painted bands on the left and right most parts of the suit in the same way his old bands used to preside, leaving a pair of calf-wrapped boots that had bronze dyed toes and heels. Only one of his old effects remained, the red armband left on his left arm, his old gauntlets replaced with a pair of forearm protective gloves.

The sign of him not wearing a Scouter was just a sign of his training having produced fruit. Other than the more serious and assertive way he carried himself, instead of false confidence masked by an inflated ego. Now he's become the most realistic of the group; something to expect of the Saiyan ally.

"I took liberties to modify the runt and I's own apparel," Piccolo declared factually, arms crossed over his bare emerald-salmon skin, his antennae on display nonchalantly. His purple obi and wrist bands were more or less the same, his own slacks now bearing his mark of the Demon on the lowermost right sleeve in light lavender over the deep violet hue of the silk. Purple slippers were fit with white tabi socks, completing his own appearance as far as a uniform went.

"Don't I look cool?" Pan inquired with fists balled tightly and a smile too big to ignore. A white headband wrapped around a few of the frayed bangs, leaving the rest of her lavender hair to jut up at an angle over her crown. A deep purple sleeveless top wrapped over a white undershirt was bordered by light lavender and wrapped by a black obi above an equally dark pair of slacks. A pair of tabi socks fit into black slipper shoes, a pair of light purple wrist bands finishing her own uniform with an unseen lavender symbol placed on the back of her top to show she was in the Demon School.

"You look ready for battle," He remarked with an encouraging grin. "Hope you're up for it."

"I hope the others show up soon," Chaozu remarked with a hint of worry in his voice. "If it's just us-"

"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The sudden bellowing knocked them all out of their reverie made of false safety. Looking up, they'd see a large group of silhouettes blocking out the Sun over their heads. The biggest one standing in front had been the one to cry out, flanked by some burly comrades with the smaller ones standing farther aside, the only exception being one who stood above at a slightly higher altitude. Him being the shortest with a wry grin adorned to his face, his widowspeak was all too familiar to Raditz, as was the rest of his squad. Gritting his teeth, he held his ground and didn't flinch at their arrival.

"T-They're here!" Chaozu squeaked with impotent fear.

"Be brave, Chaozu!" Tenshinhan exclaimed, his own eyes squinting at the shadows that loomed over them, sweat already accumulating over his brow. "Theirkiis...monstrous. Piccolo, Raditz, even Goku from back then doesn't even compare. Not only is it strong and dense, but vile and full of savage blood lust. Is this what it's like to stand before Saiyan warriors?"

"Be happy, three-eyes, that they're here on personal matters," Raditz rebuked him with knuckles tightening hard enough to make the gloves crinkle audibly. "If this was business, they'd have all attacked us without mercy and let loose unadulterated slaughter upon us. At least now they're just doing it for sport, which is good for us."

"Right," Piccolo intoned quietly, watching the eight descend down to the ground two dozen meters away in opposition to them. "At least this way, they have high ego and pride clouding their judgement. If we play it smart, we can stand a chance even against monsters like these."

"I-I won't run!" Pan declared with a pair of balled up fists held at the ready. "I'll fight with you, Uncle Piccolo and Uncle Raditz!"

"Heh, that's the spirit, runt!" The Daimaō replied with a toothy grin.

"Excuse me!" A lower timbre voice rang out, coming from the shortest of the group. The one known as Vegeta was made obvious to the eldest of the assembled defenders of Earth. With the biggest of the group flanking his right and the only female of the group standing a meter further to his left -bearing an intense scowl at Raditz- he stared at them with an amused expression visible even from their distance. His hands were on his hips, and his head co*cked to the side with emphasis to his inquiry. "As much as I love to see you ramble among yourselves, I'm a bit curious. Which one of you is in charge here?"

"Me!" Raditz and Piccolo answered at once, both sharing a brief glare at each other with teeth bared, pointing at themselves insistently. "You're not in charge, I am! Listen here you-!"

"Well? I'm waiting!"

Sighing, Piccolo raised a balled fist up and the Saiyan looked at it a furrowed glare. Both settled into a stance and the Saiyans all exchanged bewildered stares. Just as they were about to wonder what they were up to, they began to chant out loud.

"JAN! KEN! PON!"

At the end, Raditz held out scissors with Piccolo holding rock. The Daimaō grinned victoriously while the Saiyan urged for a rematch. Shrugging the pair did it twice and then thrice, ending with the emerald warrior's ultimate victory. Turning away with a scowl and arms crossed with irritation, Piccolo looked onward with arms crossed and a stoic expression fixated back on his visage.

"I'm the leader, Daimaō Piccolo!" He hardened his scowl, asserting his role that he had abandoned for the past year of training. "Know you stand upon my sovereign soil, interlopers! What business do Saiyans have here withmyplanet?"

"Oho! The green one's got spunk!" The Prince of the Saiyans admired with a half-mocking, half impressed shout. Turning to look at Nappa and Aspara with a grin, he returned to stare back at him and the guarded people gathered around him. "You see, here's the thing, Nameccian! I got a bone to pick with that traitor standing next to you! By the way he dresses and acts, it's clear he's in bed with you Earthlings. We're here for a personal demonstration of what the consequence of betrayal is!

"But I am not a Saiyan without honor," He placed his hand on his chest, with Piccolo still confused by what he meant in calling him a 'Nameccian'. "In order to show good sport, I'll give you people a chance to fight us one on one. I'll save the best for last -me, obviously- and we won't interfere while you are still standing. Unless you give us a reason to, we won't slaughter you cretins outright and give you a chance. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"What's a Nameccian?" Piccolo asked, briefly debating the offer while inquiring Raditz.

"What, you don't know what you are? Did you hit your head as a child too?" He asked incredulously.

"No, I arrived here eons ago, and my former life is the result of a splitting. If my other half knew, I'd have probably known too, meaning something made us forget. Why?"

"Nameccians are a legendary race of warriors and providers of mystic powers that can be conjured by what your Earthlings would call, 'Dragon Balls'. After you people mentioned it and seeing you, it became obvious that you were responsible for the balls in some way, shape or form."

"And you didn't mention this earlier, WHY?" Piccolo hissed harshly.

"You never asked, and I thought it was obvious!" The Saiyan exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

"I SAID-!"

"We heard you loud and clear, Vegeta!" Piccolo replied, outright surprising the Prince for a moment before he regained his amused expression. He elaborated with an amused grin of his own, much to Raditz's visible chagrin. "We know all about you from your 'traitor' spilling his guts to us. And that offer of yours stands, but can you wait a moment for the rest of us to arrive? I'm sure you'd like having the numbers evening the playing field."

"Hmph, if they don't take all day," The Prince murmured with a thinned glare, his smile remaining intact. "Just know that the longer you make us wait, the more impatient we become."

"Wait no more!" A voice proclaimed, high in the sky following a pair of incoming signals. The Saiyans turned with the defenders of Earth, sharing looks of amusem*nt and gratefulness between the two groups. Yamcha and Kuririn dropped from the sky into crouches, rising up and turning to flash grins of eagerness and confidence; Yamcha in particular raising a hand to clench into a vein-pulsating fist. "The calvary's here!"

"Hmph, at least you two look like you're going to pull your weight," Raditz remarked with a shrug.

"There! Didn't have to wait long at all!" Piccolo snapped back.

"Yes," The Saiyan Elite acknowledged quietly, his eyes straying to look at each one intently. His Scouter blinked accordingly, the ruby lens showing a series of alien symbols only he understood. Given from what he could see on the glass HUD, he knew that they were skilled enough to suppress their power level. Turning over to the others, he raised his voice so it was audible enough for the Earthling fighters to hear him. "Now that we've got the boring part out of the way, I'll give your less than stellar members a chance to shine! Which of you will step up to play ball?"

"I'm in!" Tenshinhan declared almost too quickly, surprising the rest at his readiness.

"Are you certain, triclops? I won't give you another chance than this one right now-"

"Just give me an opponent so I can wipe that smirk off your smug face," He replied with snarl.

"You really are just looking for death early? Fine then," He replied, smile still intact as he leaned over and barked out an order. "Coll! Go teach this three-eyed Earthling what it means to challenge a Saiyan warrior!"

"Heh, that's fine by me," He spoke out in a guttural tone, feral grin spread and bone-enamored effects jingling with every step. Looking the most savage of the group, he bore no armor and showed his scars on his uncovered torso and arms, leaving a bare metal mesh that covered his lower body. Perhaps the tallest and leanest of the group, his bone-plated dreadlocks made a wind chime sound as he stepped up towards his opponent, with the three-eyed fighter doing the same. Tilting his head down, he cackled with arms spread outward. "You look like you're going to be fun! Please don't die too quickly, cause I want to take my time prying your three-eyed head off your shoulders; wanna take your head back as a trophy and all, so don't die in just one hit."

"That's funny," Tenshinhan remarked with a brief smile. "I was about to tell you better keep your guard up, less you're the one dead."

Coll let out a barking laugh, spreading his legs and angling his arms around to crack each knuckle audibly. Rolling his neck, he sighed, smile broadly stretched and eyes fixed upon him, "I'll let you make the first move then, tough guy. See if you can kill me dead-"

It happened in a blur.

The three-eyed man moved far faster than the Scouters could blip on the other Saiyans' HUD and even surprised the lean Saiyan. A hand arched up and over, a thumb with bent fingers like a beak, tapping the bigger alien's upper torso. What came next was a sudden explosion of split air pressure, the kiai detonating at point blank at the point of contact, making the Saiyan fly backward and nearly hit his colleagues as they neatly sidestepped his flying frame. Stopping himself short with his heels, he stumbled a bit and blinked, eyes looking down with a balking expression at a small hole punctured in his chest, leaving a trickle of red flowing down his scarred pectorals down his abdomen and splatter on the barren soil between his feet.

"You really are a tough one," Tenshinhan intoned, taking up an angled back stance, his blood-soaked fingers raised with a bent thumb and his opposing arm held in a perpendicularly similar pose, just facing upside down. A serious glint entering his eyes with his smile now intact, goading him with his next choice of words. "I had meant to punch a hole through your chest out your back. Clearly I'll need to try harder!"

Chapter 14: The Crane and the Wolf

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod 20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 14 - The Crane and the Wolf

Coll was astounded. He had come to this planet looking for some meager sport, perhaps a little warm-up when looking for the traitor and his Earth-raised brother. Instead -amidst his own jeering boast- he had been injured and felt blood slide warmly down his chest. Placing a hand over it, he raised his palm shakily to look at it with his slanted, now widened eyes.

This was his blood? When was the last time he bled like so?

As Tenshinhan promised him to try harder, a chuckle escaped his throat. The chuckle became a giggle; soon becoming a spurt of raucous laughter. While he barked out loud in a fit of spit and spurting blood, his cohorts looked on with a mixture of amusem*nt and annoyance as he put his hand on his wound. To the amazement and horror of his enemies, he applied a white-hot brand ofkiover the wound, cauterizing it with a noisy grilling sound as his flesh was cooked and the perforation sealed over. Releasing his palm, now blackened from the burned blood, one could see a red steaming palm print layered over the hole created by the three-eyed warrior.

"I like you, three-eyes! I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun!" Coll punctuated with a broad, savage grin. A pale yellow hue spread across the bone braided dreads, clanking them like macabre wind chimes just as the rest of his body fumed with a luminous glow. A swirling wind twisted about his feet before shooting out in a fierce gale, following with him as he charged forward with fists clenched and smile bared.

In his forward thrust, the triclops fighter swiveled his arms in crisscross swipes, clashing with the Saiyan's prepared limbs. Tongue sticking out, the Saiyan jutted a knee upward to impact the Crane User's chest with an audible clap. To his surprise, Tenshinhan caught the kneecap with his left hooked forefingers, visibly crackling with focusedki. Swiping back with an explosive pop, the Saiyan skid back and raised his arms as the skilled Earthling threw a machine-gun of precision based impacts, each one as strong as the one that left a hole in his chest prior.

"Man, look at him go!" Kuririn remarked with an agape expression. The Crane Fighter had always been one step ahead of him and Yamcha, with his talent and skills exceeding theirs. The born prodigy was one of the few that could keep at the heels of Goku, and he was showing it now. "Looks like we found out what Tenshinhan's reason for staying on the palace longer than we did."

"I'll say!" Yamcha remarked, eyes tracking his rival from the Tenkaichi Budokai with fervent attention. "He's giving that Saiyan a run for his money. We might even get through this!"

"Don't be fooled," Raditz sneered, retaining a stoic if not completely cynical expression compared the stony silent countenance the Nameccian had next to him. "Coll is just feeling out his target. He takes the longest out of all of them to get motivated to treating his prey seriously. It's his trademark flaw, hence why he's got so many scars on his purposefully bare chest."

"You'd think he'd want protection," Piccolo mumbled, eyes glaring as the Saiyan occasionally took more hits, blood spurting and wounds opening up as Tenshinhan continued to land blows while he barely received a scratch. "It's almost like he wants to be maimed."

"He's sick in the head," Raditz scoffed, visibly twitching out of disgust and trepidation. "He thinks he gains strength from getting pain and injury from stronger opponents. There's something really wrong with him, even as Saiyans go, he's a savage."

"Is that why he wears bones?" Pan asked with a tilt of the head.

"I guess, if you want to dumb it down, yeah," Her uncle shrugged with a snort. "He's a bit of a sentimentalist. All of those bones are ripped from his most favorite kills and formed into his own style. It changes from time to time, wear and tear all that. That sword he carries is some big brute's spine that almost killed him once. He was using the talons of a flying creature that broke against its skin before that."

"That's dumb," She pouted with furrowed brows. "He's dumb. Bones aren't good against ki. They break like candy."

"Unless you run ki through it, you're right," Piccolo corrected her, his eyes noticing that not a single fragment of his braids had been broken during the exchange so far. "Which means he really is allowing Tenshinhan to hurt him."

"He's abusing our inherent trait of getting stronger the longer we fight. If he wins and survives this, he'll get a significant power boost," Raditz grimaced, a bead of sweat appearing across his scalp, melding into his mane as he muttered out a growl. "As it stands, he's a hair's breadth beneath Aspara in power last time I checked. He could be even stronger, it's hard to say."

A sudden crack brought attention to the fight once more. Tenshinhan was hit in the chest, sending him flying backwards a significant distance. A look of satisfaction bore on Coll's face, now enamored by a dozen bleeding holes from his enemy's attacks hitting true. But just as before, he burned the surface of each injury as he ran towards his prey. Just before the three-eyed fighter could hit the rock face near his friends, he opened his eyes and landed on it perpendicularly with his feet.

"You're mine!" Coll howled out with glee, swiping a clawed thrash towards him, unleashing a malicious wave of mustard colored ki at him. In the flickering Zanzōken, the sediment was vaporized, a good chunk of it lost and blown apart by his mere gesture. Before he could turn around, he felt his hair yanked and his whole body lifed off his feet to be smashed into the ground. Bouncing up from it, Tenshinhan reared back his palm and unleashed a potent kiai from it directly into his face, making him sputter and spew blood while being shoved back.

"Coll! Stop messing around!" Aspara jeered out as she saw her colleague get back onto his feet. He turned to glare at her over his shoulder, to which she was nonplussed. Tapping her boot on the ground, she flipped her hair as she fixated her stare at him. "If you don't take this fight seriously, I'll step in and end this for you. At this rate, you'll make us look bad; in front of the traitor no less."

"I'm inclined to agree with her," Vegeta intoned, his grin threatening to disappear as he gave a glance towards Coll. "This Earthling has proved his mettle by now. You should still have fun, even at full power."

"Tch, fine, yer majesty," He halfway conceded with an ounce of sarcasm, returning to face Tenshinhan. Grasping the hilt of his sword, he unsheathed it with a graveled noise, revealing the immense razor sharpened spine in all of its glory. Holding the leather bound handle, he laced it with the same dull yellow that covered his body, sparking and shaking with intensity with his grip.

A practice swing to the right up-heaved the land, shattering the ground and digging it up by the recesses for a large berth. Looking back at Tenshinhan, he had the satisfaction of seeing him retain a guarded expression. Channeling his ki into the weapon, he swung once more, this time in a cleaving arc of light and cutting pressure towards the Crane Fighter.

Recognizing its potency and taking into consideration the damage potential to his nearby allies, Tenshinhan closed his eyes and inhaled. When he felt the heat begin to singe the surface of his skin, he opened them and let out a deafening howl. Using the decibels of his unleashed voice, a sonic blast was transformed with ki into a kiai so strong that it collided into the encroaching pressure ki slash. Buckling in midair, it soon was blasted into oblivion, eradicated before everyone's eyes.

But Coll wasn't in sight.

The sound of slight clanking of his bone-dreads could be heard despite his near invisibility at the speed he maneuvered. Tenshinhan looked around, all three eyes homing in on his enemy and arms co*cked at the ready. Then, in an instant, he turned and slashed hiskilaced fingers to hit a slashing sword; both objects creating a concussive wave that cratered the ground beneath their feet and kicked up a wind of debris around them.

"So you can see me? Good. Here I thought I put these bones in my hair purely for enhancing my grizzly image," Coll remarked with a barking laugh, pressuring his sword with one arm against Tenshinhan's fingers, the digits and razor edge casting a field of sparks between their visages. "You're definitely a lot more fun than the last guy I-!"

"Shut up!" Tenshinhan shouted, gripping the blade and yanking it aside. With the weapon out of the way, he swung his left foot around to hit him in the face. To his chagrin he saw the Saiyan catch his ankle before it made contact. Just as he maneuvered his free hand towards him, he saw a well of ki open from his mouth.

And fire at him.

A wave of pain hit him as he was struck by the Saiyan, sending him skidding back and burned but relatively intact. Grimacing, he saw his enemy press the advantage, thrusting his sword to hit his third eye and poke out his skull the other side. co*cking his head to the side, he received a graze on his cheek, ducking over the follow-up stroke. Seeing him raise the sword to swing down, he advantageously crouched and swept his feet, making him lose balance.

Rushing forth, he saw him cut through the earth as he fell and arc the bone-serrated spine up to catch him across his torso to bifurcate him cleanly. Instead, he nicked him in the left shoulder, shallow but still left a bloody smear across his chest. Watching Coll easily balance himself on one hand upside down, he glared as he wiped the blood from his cheek.

"I can't afford to get too close without a proper opening. That sword is going to be a problem," He decided with furrowed brows. Closing his eyes, he inhaled and exhaled calmly. Clasping his arms in front of himself, he'd vibrate visibly until several copies of himself in identical image revealed before the Saiyan. "You've left me no choice but to resort to one of my trump cards."

"It's the Fist of the Four Bodies!" Yamcha declared with a nostalgic smile on his face. "Awesome! That'll give him an edge!"

"Just don't tell the enemy that his power goes to all four bodies-wait," Kuririn stopped short of his warning, blinking at the sudden phenomena unfolding. The four bodies were multiplying again. And again. And again. And then there were a whole lot more than simply four. Stumbling back, he blinked and gawked with Yamcha while Piccolo and Raditz looked on with their own looks of surprise. "I-Is that a hundred?!"

"Look! An army of of one!" Pan gleefully proclaimed with an excited clap.

"Are my senses deceiving me, or is his power level not dropping? What's going on here?!" Piccolo declared with uncertainty what technique or method Tenshinhan was using.

"Whatever it is, it certainly is makingthemnervous," Raditz remarked with a smug grin.

"Nappa! Are you seeing this?" Vegeta inquired with a turn of his head.

"My Scouter's actin' up. It says he's still just as strong. Every single one of 'em!" The bald general informed with a nervous look back at the prince.

"Do ya think he's got a unique trait to duplicate himself endlessly?" Kuka asked with a scratch of his chin, turning his spiky-braided head to skinnier yet well-toned Gula. "What do ya think?"

"Hmph, it's a common trait that some people have duplication abilities. Remember the Feratons?"

"Ah yeah," Kuka nodded, looking over at Bocho whose usual tired demeanor had one of stoic intensity towards the fight. "Heh, looks like you're actually excited, aren't ya, Bocho?"

He said nothing, simply observing with hands kept at his sides. They occasionally twitched while his face-painted expression demonstrated an ounce of interest. Looking over to Coll, the feral Saiyan looked practically ecstatic at the sudden development. As usual, he was blinded to the potential danger he faced that all of the other Saiyans could see.

Something was amiss, but the savage colleague of theirs was too high on adrenaline and blood lust to notice.

"Alriiiiiiiiiight!" Coll howled out, hiskiventing in a blistering wind as he observed each copy of Tenshinhan. "The more the merrier! I want to see a hundred bodies, bloodied and decapitated, before my feet! Let's rock!"

Tenshinhan had a different idea in mind. Placing his palm on the ground, same as the rest in a mimicking fashion, he unleashed a pulse ofkithat kicked up a sudden dust cloud to surround them and the observers' field of vision. The dust stung Coll's eyes, but did nothing to dim his enjoyment of the fight. Seeing a silhouette approach his left, he cut towards it, beheading it and watching it turn to static. Blinking, he swung with confusion at another body and watched it too become a dissipating effigy.

"Th-They're all fake! None of them bleed!" Coll cried out with frustration, continuing to cut through one after the other. "You tricked me, three-eyes! I don't want to cut a hundred fakes! I only want to cut YOU!"

Gathering a culmination of howling ki around his blade, he whipped it around, unleashing a blast wave so powerful that the fighters on both sides braced themselves from the earth upheaving shockwave. Amidst the ground being turned inside out, dozens of clones being dispelled, a single Tenshinhan lanced an arm through the wave of dust and caught the sword.

Proceeding to snap it between his fingers.

"You-!" Coll began to shout with rage at his breaking weapon when a cascading trio of golden beams erupted from the ground around him. Seeing that there were three of them, he realized they were actual clones, having buried themselves during the smoke bomb the real one initiated. Despite his arms reaching in time, both weapon's hilt and hand were pierced, running through his body in two directions along with the third penetrating his midsection at an angle from behind upwards. Spewing out blood, he looked aghast at the severity of the damage inflicted. "H-How...how do you have...so much power?!"

"Four Fists originally divided mykiinto four parts, mine and three clones. I disguised my Zanzōken to reflect that none of my power diminished, figuring you or your buddies would see through it if I didn't. Unfortunately for you, I also had discovered that, like all other techniques, if I charge it I can increase the amount of power it has; including how much power my clones and I have when I commence the technique," He explained calmly, stoically glaring at his savage enemy with nothing but contempt. "But you, who revel in pain and bloodshed, would never have even considered such a plan. It is a good thing that Saiyans aren't big thinkers and have no talent for true martial arts."

"Damn you!" Coll snarled, shakily raising his hands grab hold of Tenshinhan's neck. "I'll kill you for saying such trash to my face!"

Tenshinhan wasted no movement. Whipping both arms aside with his own, he landed a pair of punches a foot apart one above the other at the man's wounded chest with a loud crack. In an orange gleam of whining ignition, he muttered aloud as Coll's pain stricken face looked down too late.

"Dodonpa!"

A shrieking thuum was unleashed, as the Saiyan's chest was hit by a Dodonpa larger than the three that had pierced him from the three hiding clones. Between the space of his knuckles buried in his blood soaked chest was an unleashed blast that took off the upper portions of his body in a blast wave that soared across the battlefield and detonated into the horizon with a golden overcast to the environment. As it dimmed, Tenshinhan returned to his tall posture, exhaling with relief and the three clones shimmered into ki that returned to his body.

Turning on his heel, he left the waist attached legs to fall grotesquely back on the ground, leaving his comrades speechless and the Saiyans largely irate to intrigued.

"Wow, Tenshinhan! That was...amazing!" Kuririn proclaimed after he found the word for what he just witnessed.

"Yeah, he didn't know what hit him!" Yamcha crowed with an upraised fist of grinning celebration.

"That was so cool! That Dodonpa was so flashy and-and-and bright! I wanna use it sometime!" Pan cried out with childish excitement, much to Tenshinhan's amusem*nt.

"Hmph, not bad," Piccolo acknowledged with a huff, grinning a bit at the three-eyed warrior. "It's a good thing all that training didn't go to waste. You may be even as strong as I am."

"Thanks, Piccolo," He replied with a wry smile. "We may not be out of this yet, but I feel a bit more confident of our odds now."

"You did amazing, Tenshinhan!" Chaozu beamed with pride, floating up to his friend with a happy smile at his childhood friend's success and equally important survival. "I was a little worried, but you surprised me!"

"Don't sell yourself short, pal. I'm sure you're going to do well when it's your turn," He winked back.

"I hope so," The pale-faced midget replied with a sheepish chuckle, not looking forward to fighting any of the scary looking Saiyans. Especially now that they suffered a defeat, they'd be even angrier.

Raditz, however, wanted to capitalize on their annoyance by barking out with a garish expression on his face, "What's the matter, friends? You're awfully quiet just now. Are you surprised that you're not as all-powerful as you imagined, or are you upset that an Earthling beat one of you? Pretty soon you'll see just how much stronger I've gotten and you'll learn just how woeful your current situation is."

The retaliation for Raditz's mockery, was a sudden one. Without batting an eye, a now scowling Vegeta pointed a finger and incinerated the remains of Coll in an explosive flash. With nothing but a steaming crater left in its wake, he turned to look at the now fearful Saiyans with a smoking finger upraised for emphasis, "The next one of you who makes a fool of himself," Briefly taking a stare at Aspara, "or herself," Glaring back at Raditz and the rest of the Dragon Warriors with a seething hiss. "Will not have a body left. Do I make myself clear?"

Aspara's response was the quickest, but also dry. "Clear as crystal,Your Majesty."

Piccolo, with his hearing, could hear them best — tone, inflection, the whole nine yards. His eyes narrowed, and he spoke directly to Raditz, his voice low. "I noticed this earlier, but it's even more apparent now. Your group...they follow the little one, don't they?"

Raditz nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's right. He's the Prince, Vegeta. Our planet bears his name, which was his father's as well. He may not look it, but he is the strongest out of the lot. They follow him for a reason. But what are you getting at?"

"They don't like him," replied Piccolo simply. "It's not hard to notice, but I picked up on it regardless. They take orders because they have to, not because they genuinely believe in his leadership."

"Piccolo, is there a point to this?" inquired Kuririn.

"Yeah..." Piccolo glanced at Aspara, Nappa, and Vegeta — he could feel theirki, and knew they were the strongest without being told. "We won't have to worry about them teaming up on us in this battle."

"That's a small comfort," replied Kuririn dully.

On the side of the Saiyans, Bocho stepped forward. The painted man had a look of seriousness on his face, and his lanky body was already prepared to battle. He said nothing — barely even seeming perturbed that a comrade had recently been defeated, and then executed by their superior. Bocho's quickness to volunteer surprised his compatriots.

"Would you look at that?" said Nappa. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Bocho's excited!"

"The last Earthling must have really intrigued him," replied Vegeta. "So, kids, which one of you'll step up and play?!" He called out to the Dragon Team, all of whom had not selected their next member.

"I think we should rush him, all of us," suggested Kuririn. "If they don't work together, that's fine, but what about us? You three have been training together this whole time, and the four of us trained with God in the Palace. Weknowhow to work as a team."

"It would be suicide," replied Piccolo shortly. "Even as a team, it's very likely we'd be killed." He inclined his head at Raditz, who nodded curtly.

"We Saiyans typically have too much pride to fight in a group," replied Raditz. "Even on teams like these, we pick off the inhabitants of a planet individually. It's rare, but not unheard of, for battles to push us to fight alongside comrades." He gestured to himself and to the Dragon Team. "It's likely that the others would intervene if we tried to cooperate."

"So our best bet is to stall them long enough for Goku," muttered Yamcha, stepping forward. "In that case, leave it to me. I'll handle this one."

"Yamcha!" Kuririn cautioned. "Be careful, alright man?"

"Don't worry about me," replied Yamcha. "You've already been revived by the Dragon Balls before, so step back and let me take this fight." He flashed Kuririn a thumbs up. "I'll handle it."

"At least you're confident," said Piccolo sardonically. "Don't disappoint us and waste our time."

"You just keep your eyes on me, Piccolo," said Yamcha, walking onto the battlefield. "Playtime is over!"

"Someone's a hot shot!" laughed Vegeta. "Why don't you show us this 'playtime' you're speaking of!"

A faint glow began to waft from Yamcha's body; white ki, which crackled and flared out like flames. His fists formed "claws", and he took a stance. He felt the power flood his body, strength he'd developed training on the Palace of God with his comrades. "I don't have a chance of outlasting this guy," he thought to himself. "My only choice is to go all out from the start!"

Bocho crossed his arms, silently watching Yamcha. It was clear he had no intention of making the first move, and no one could force him too — the Prince dictated results, not the process.

A bead of sweat slid down Yamcha's face. He'd hoped to make a response to Bocho's assault, rather than instigate the fight himself. He raised a hand in front of him, and then another to his side. "Shin Rōgafūfūken!" For a second — a brief instance — Yamcha's entire body gave the impression of a feral canine beast. The man had launched himself forward, and the wolf moved with him. Closing the gap between himself and Bocho, Yamcha's hands struck with the quickness of lightning; each blow had the ferocity of a wolf mauling.

With each strike, Yamcha and the others could see Bocho was forced back in correspondence with the blows. A twenty-five hit combo, and each blow struck home. Bocho's aura flared, and the Saiyan took the sky. Yamcha followed in hot pursuit, the Rōgafūfūken never ceasing.

"T-That's amazing!" Kuririn gasped. "Yamcha's doing it, he's pushing him back!"

"It's like a really fast doggie," Pan was impressed as well, though not for the right reasons.

With a mighty thrust, Yamcha's Shin Rōgafūfūken sent Bocho careening downwards. Floating in the air, Yamcha took this moment of repose to regain his breath. Bocho's figure crashed into the ground with a large explosion. Dust settled, and debris fell. Bocho himself clambered out of the debris without so much as an indication that he was hurt, and his expressionless face looked up towards Yamcha.

"You have an interesting style," he replied, speaking for the first time since he'd arrived to confront the Dragon Team. His voice was smooth and rich, but also monotone. "But I've seen what you can do now." He cracked his neck. "Let's begin the wolf hunt." With a flicker of movement, Boscho rushed into the air, lunging for Yamcha. Yamcha's eyes widened, and he dodged, almost on instinctual fear. Bocho's leg came upwards, however, landing a solid blow on Yamcha's face, sending him careening backwards.

"YAMCHA!" Kuririn shouted from below.

"He's...so fast!" Piccolo gasped. Even with the abilities of sensingki, Bocho's speed had defied imagination for a moment.

Raditz's eyes widened. Out of all the Saiyans on his former squad, Bocho was perhaps the one he knew the least about. He was always silent, and handled his affairs separately from the others. In terms of abilities, he simply knew that Bocho had placed above him — but the same had held true for every Saiyan in his squad back then. He grit his teeth. What was Bocho's specialty?

"Seems like he's finally getting serious," observed Aspara. "Why did we let the two slowest starters open up the show?" Her arms were folded, and her fingers tapping on her bicep. She cast an aside glance at Raditz, who was watching the proceedings with the air of a man completely lost. She'd forgotten that he didn't know Bocho's true skills. While Bocho may not be the strongest, he certainly had the most staying power — she knew this because shedidknow how his abilities worked. "He just lacks the motivation to fight at full strength when he starts a battle," she thought.

In the air, a battle was unfolding. Bocho and Yamcha were clashing, and it was Bocho with a clear advantage. At every second, his speed went beyond blinking, forcing Yamcha back with powerful blows that struck like thunder. Hiskiwas beginning to falter, and he could feel the weight of Bocho's strikes on his bones. Isthiswhat a Saiyan was capable of?

He raised a hand, releasing a kikōha towards Bocho. It took the man by surprise, allowing Yamcha to retreat a few feet back. He cupped his hands towards his side, gathering bluekiwithin his palms. "Ka...me...ha...me...HA!" Thrusting both arms forward, he released the infamous destruction wave of the Turtle School. The blast rushed Bocho, who placed two arms up to guard against. The blast obscured his vision with blue, yet he forced it apart easily.

Yamcha had taken this opening, and rushed forward. By the time Bocho had cleared thekiblast away, Yamcha was already closing in, the shadow of a wolf in his wake, landing a solid array of physical blows — the Shin Rōgafūfūken — that pushed the Saiyan back with its quick strikes and powerful force. Follow-up strikes were crucial, and Yamcha rushed after the flying form of Bocho, his arms raised.

Regaining his composure, Bocho vanished, and a solid blow was landed on Yamcha's face. Rushing forward, Yamcha only saw a blur. This blurred form struck him several more times, and he felt the pain rack his body. He couldn't track Bocho's movements; even the other Saiyan, he'd been able to keep up with. "What's..making him...so damn special?!"

"It's ridiculous," said Piccolo. "I can't keep up with him. Whatishe doing?"

"I don't believe it..." gasped Kuririn, his voice filling with understanding. "What kind of training did he do?"

"What do you mean, baldly?" snapped Raditz. "What did you see?"

"I can see him," Kuririn replied. "But if you guys can't, then he has to be—yeah, that's the only thing for it. YAMCHA! HE'S MANIPULATING HISKITO BOOST HIS ABILITIES!"

A stunned gasp from the Dragon Team was followed by a chuckle from the Saiyans, particular Vegeta. "Impressive! The least imposing of you actually figured it out!"

"Controlling...hiski?" repeated Yamcha, staggering back as he wiped blood from his face. Bocho's form came back into view, the painted-Saiyan still silent as ever. He wouldn't elaborate, but he didn't need to; Kuririn delved further into what he could sense from Bocho.

"It was subtle disturbances ofki," he continued, "but I couldn't help but notice when the Saiyan flickered in and out of my view. Hiskiwould spike, then return to normal, then spike again, and it was always before a motion or a strike. He's building upki, and releasing it to improve his speed and physical attacks at the last second! I bet he's even protecting himself that way too!"

Raditz looked at Bocho, amazed. That ability was finekicontrol. Saiyans were naturals at manipulatingki, but to control it like that required both training and a craftier mindset. Raditz had to admit that even he was too straightforward of a fighter. Blinking as he watched the fight, his eye itched slightly. Rubbing the problem away, Raditz retained focus on the battle.

"How will you handle him now, Earthling?"

"So...that's how you do it...!" Yamcha grinned, breathing hard.

"Knowing it won't help you," was Bocho's stern reply. "You are already dying. This is the end game, prey." Bocho flickered and vanished, striking forward with immense force. The blows struck Yamcha once more, and he felt as if his body was dented. Once. Twice. Three times. Bocho lunged forward faster than the others could see. On the fourth strike, however, the instant the final blow struck him in the stomach, Yamcha gripped Bocho's wrist.

The Saiyan looked genuinely stunned, and tried to pull back, but Yamcha kept a vice grip on his wrist, palm glowing withki. He raised his free fist back, grinning. "Rōgafūfūken Chōsei!" With the single free arm, coated inki, Yamcha attacked with the image of the wolf — the revised Rōgafūfūken landed several powerful blows on Bocho, with no way for the Saiyan to escape. With his grip on Bocho's arm, Yamcha grabbed the wrist with his second hand, and began to swing Bocho around, throwing him hurtling towards the Earth like a meteor.

The Earthling took a breath, and raised a palm in front of his body. Gripping it, he channeled hiskiinto his and, forming a glowing, vibrant orange sphere. "Sōkidan!" He lobbed the sphere towards Bocho, the latter of whom was forcing himself up from the ground. The Saiyan side-stepped the sphere easily, though he found himself on the end of another bona fide surprise when the sphere curved and flung back towards him like a bat out of hell.

"He can manipulate projectiles?!"

Bocho took off flying, and Yamcha spurned the Sōkidan to follow him in hot pursuit. With swift movements of the fingertips, Yamcha commanded the sphere expertly. He was beginning to feel confident; if he could just make this sphere connect, he'd deal some serious damage. His Saiyan opponent proved to be speedy enough to weave around the sphere entirely, taking into the sky.

Yamcha forced the sphere upwards, to follow Bocho. Looking up into the sky, however, Yamcha was blinded by the glare of the sun, squinting his eyes to avoid the bright light. Bocho flew downward at full speed, with the sphere following him pell-mell.

"S-sh*t!" Yamcha saw the form of Bocho barreling towards him, and, rather than risk the Saiyan striking him head on, or even being hit by his own technique, the Earthling dashed to the side. Bocho himself took this as his chance, avoiding the Sōkidan as it collided with the Earth, burrowing deep into the ground.

Yamcha clutched his chest, sweat beading down his face. "Damn it..." He took another stance, bracing himself. His technique had missed, but the battle wasn't over yet. He could still fight.

"You did very well, wolf." Bocho commended Yamcha, flattening his right hand. He advanced on Yamcha, the man's fighting stance meaning nothing to the Saiyan. In a split second, he vanished; there was a sickening squelching sound, and Yamcha let out a blood-chilling scream as Bocho forced his arm through the Earthling's torso entirely.

"Y-YAMCHA!"

The cry came from below, three voices melding into one — Chaozu, Kuririn, and Tenshinhan all screaming out in anguish.

Vegeta smirked, pleased to see a Saiyan who could at least do their job.

Bocho unceremoniously ripped his arm out of Yamcha's body, shaking the blood off in the manner a knight would do with their blade. Yamcha violently spat up blood, and fell towards the ground. He collapsed with a thudding sound, a pool of blood flowing out beneath him. Bocho descended, his boots touching the ground. "I'd hoped you would have lasted a bit longer, wolf." thought the Saiyan with disdain.

The Dragon Team was stunned, and the Saiyans were pleased. Yet, a sound disturbed the lot of them. A rumbling noise, and a thunderous cracking. The ground beneath Bocho's feet ripped itself apart, and the Sōkidan rushed upwards. It collided with Bocho, forcing the Saiyan from the ground into the air. Bocho's hands gripped the sphere, fighting against the pressure of the sphere. Sweat beaded down his face as he became a glowing star shooting into the air.

He grit his teeth, wondering where this sudden surge of power had come from. With a roar, completely unbecoming of him, he flung the sphere high into the air, where it proceeded to explode. Breathing heavily, Bocho was filled with the realisation that he had nearly died.

Laying flat on the ground, Yamcha's right hand had its index and middle fingers pointed upwards. As the warmth drifted away from his body, he knew the Sōkidan hadn't struck home. "Sorry...everyone...I failed..."

Chapter 15: Grief and Power

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball — The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 15 — Grief and Power

"Y-YAMCHA!"

A cry of pain came from the Dragon Team's side, and it was surprising sound. Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and even Pan, with her sweetness, screeched the name of the fallen warrior. Blood chilling, the four were struck with grief. Choazu fell to his knees, and Tenshinhan had to avert all three of his eyes. Pan could only stand there, shocked. It was the first time she'd seen death, and her onyx eyes were wide with terror. Her tail no longer wagged, sulking to the ground.

"It was...admirable," muttered Piccolo, arms crossed. "And more than I could have expected from someone like him. With his own life, he risked everything to take out the Saiyan. It failed, but you've earned my respect, Yamcha."

Raditz was more surprised than anything. Piccolo had come to expect this kind of behaviour from Earthlings, but it wasn't what he had known for his life. Selflessness did not define a Saiyan — it couldn't even be found as a synonym, much less an adjective for their species — and yet these Earthlings, this inferior species, possessed it in abundance. He felt a mixture of annoyance and intrigue; was it this same selflessness that had motivated his father and mother to send Kakarrot away as a young boy?

Was it this same selflessness that made his father so desperate to save his mother on the battlefield? To risk his life for her when other members of their species would have let her die and move on? And was it this selflessness that gave rise to their love, so antithetical to the Saiyan mentality? It hurt his mind to process these thoughts, and yet he couldn't deny that he was impressed with Yamcha's valor, if nothing else.

"I'll commend him, just this one time," replied Raditz guardedly. "It was a noble sacrifice." Looking towards the sky, he grinned tauntingly at Bocho. "What's the matter, strong and silent? Did the Earthling give you a bit of a scare?!"

Bocho, who was beginning a descent, flashed a dangerous glare at Raditz, but the traitorous Saiyan didn't flinch.

Kuririn had broke from the group, rushing towards his comrades fallen body. He couldn't feel Yamcha'skianymore, but this had to be a lie. He wasn't as good at sensingkias he thought, that had to be it. Up close, however, there could be no denying it. He didn't even need to check for a pulse. Yamcha's body possessed a gaping hole in his torso told the former monk everything.

It wasn't a lie.

Yamcha was dead.

"You think his death was admirable?" mocked Aspara. "It waspathetic. Battle doesn't net you a consolation prize, Earthlings! There's nothing to be admired about dying in battle; if you don't walk away victorious, you might as well be trash."

"I almost thought that one was going to amount to something," chuckled Nappa snidely. "And yet all he did was manage to give 'ol Bocho a good scare!"

"Shut...up!" Kuririn snarled. He was on his knees, hands clenching at the grass which was stained with Yamcha's blood. The tears that streamed down his face fell fresh onto the painted sod, but they couldn't wash the blood away. His shoulders and body shook; Yamcha didn't have to die.His body didn't need to be lying here like this!

"You're making a shameful display, kid." called out Kuka. "The battlefield is no place to shed worthless tears."

"I saidshut up!" repeated Kuririn. He forced himself to his feet, hands coated in bright red blood. His eyes were stained with tears, but his face was grit with rage. Yellowkibegan to spiral in his palms, siphoning the blood from it. The blood seemed to merged with the energy, and the yellow shifting to dark orange. His aura, blinding white, erupted around his body. "Yamcha put too much into his fight to be mocked by the likes of you!Kakusandan!"

He thrust his arms the Saiyans, andkierupted from his palms. The force of the kikōha shocked his teammates, all of whom shielded their eyes from the blinding light.

"W-Where the hell was he hiding this kind of power?!" gasped Raditz, feeling Kuririn'skispike with the charging of the technique and fall with the subsequent release. "It's tremendous!"

"He sure as hell didn't slack off!" Piccolo replied. "But it's too slow! It's like a giant neon sign asking to be dodged!"

Before the Saiyans could react with anything more than a look of surprise, Kuririn flung his arms upward. The blast followed his movements, bending into the sky and completely avoiding its intended targets. The former monk wasn't so sloppy as to let this be the end of it, and swung his arms down with a mighty shout. The blast expanded in the sky, and rained down onto the Saiyans as kikōha.

They crashed into their targets, exploding in a blinding flash and shaking the ground beneath them. The explosions obscured the Saiyans from view, but Kuririn had felt each and every blast hit its mark. The ground cracked and seared with heat, dust erupting around the entire Saiyan battalion. Kuririn lowered his arms, sweat beading down his face. His breath was ragged slightly, but his senses weren't dulled; he knew his attack had failed. The Saiyans were alive.

The smoke began to clear without the Saiyans even needing to move. Vegeta and Nappa were as unscathed as one would expect, and Vegeta could even be seen chuckling. Aspara was the next best off, with her armor cracked, but skin otherwise flawless. If anything, her pride had been wounded more than her body. The attack had struck home on Bocho, Kuka, and Gula. The former was more wounded than the latter two, due to his battle with Yamcha, but otherwise, their skin was singed, and Bocho was bleeding.

"I've got to say I'm surprised," Vegeta said as the dust was blown away in full. "I almost thought I would have to use my arms to block that."

"You're a spunky one, ya bald runt," said Nappa. "But spunk isn't gonna be enough to beat us!"

"T-They survived..." stammered Kuririn. "I put so much power into that attack...Yamcha...I'm sorry..."

"They're some sort of monster!" Piccolo growled, and the entire group — even the resident Saiyan Raditz — felt inclined to agree. This was the sort of fear one could only feel once in a lifetime. The primal, lurking fear; the knowledge that one's life could be snuffed out at any moment.

They were going to die here.

"It was a good recess," continued Vegeta leisurely. "But beyond the bald one with three eyes, none of you have been impressive. We're going to cut our time short and end this right now! The lot of you, make it simple:kill them all!"

A simple order from Vegeta was all that the Saiyans needed to get into gear. The Prince of Saiyans didn't even designate their targets; no, the Saiyans had been eyeing their prey from the moments they arrived, and had merely tolerated the one-on-one sessions as long as they could. But Vegeta had given his orders, and for once, even Aspara was keen to follow. In fact, she moved first.

The female Saiyan lunged towards Raditz, bypassing the entire rest of the group in her bid to murder the traitorous Saiyan. Tenshinhan and Kuririn blinked, but had only felt her presence slip past them. Only Piccolo and Raditz had seen Aspara move, and that was as well as anything; her small fist was caught in the larger palm of the male Saiyan, and the two were locked in a stare-down. Contempt was etched into both of their faces; it was clear this battle would be to the death.

"What's this?" Aspara grinned, adding pressure that pushed Raditz back. "Has my traitorous cousin grown some spine? You always were the biggest coward out of our group! We Saiyans are frontline fighters! Surviving off the effort of others is so unlike us! Do you perhaps get it from Gine?"

Raditz's eyes pulsed, his black iris becoming opaque for a but a moment. The Saiyan gripped Aspara's wrist, and thrust a powerful punch towards her stomach, her remark leaving him obviously disconcerted. "We haven't considered each other family in years! Don't go drudging up distant relations now!" His blow struck home, and he released her wrist; she slid back along the grassy ground, her eyes flashing with ire.

Nappa had stepped forward, cracking his knuckles and neck bones; he advanced menacingly towards Piccolo and Pan. The poor girl was still rooted to the spot with shock and fear. The Saiyan general didn't fail to notice this, grinning maliciously. "Would you look at that? The half-Saiyan whelp is too scared to move! That's fine; I'll take my time with you two!"

"Here he comes, Pan!" Piccolo took a stance, clenching his hand before his body, resting the other neatly at his side. He bent at the knee, sweat beating down his scalp. "Prepare yourself, whelp! Take a stance!"

But Pan payed no heed. She couldn't even move. Yamcha's death was playing back over in the back of her head, and she wasterrified.She loved to fight. To spar with Papa, Mr. Piccolo, and Uncle Raditz. She loved training.But this was completely different.This wasreal, and she wanted no part of it. And yet, this coherent portion of Pan was locked away, far in the back of her brain. Every bit of her was screaming and crying, and telling herself to run.

Yet her body remained motionless, shocked into inactivity.

"You disgust me, kid," barked Nappa, before even Piccolo could reproach the girl. "There's nothing more worthless than a Saiyan too scared to fight. You're related to Raditz, aren't you? You, Kakarrot, Raditz...disgrace must run in your family. But don't you worry now...I'll fix that right up!" Nappa co*cked a hand back, a it crackled and brimmed with electricity. Hiskiflared, and the older Saiyan flashed a sad*stic smile. "I'LL START WITH YOU, WASTE OF SAIYAN BLOOD!" Thrusting his arm forward, he launched a blast ofkitowards Pan. It rocketed past Piccolo, and the Namekian nearly missed the fact that the blasthadmoved past him.

"Such speed...how could anything move that fast?!" Piccolo's thoughts were filled with abject horror, but due to this, he missed the attack's true target — his ward.

Pan's eyes widened, black becoming white with shock. Time slowed down, and her mind went numb. With only the faintest idea of the fact that she was moving, her body rushes forward. Her tiny fists reached in front of her, gripping the heated ball ofkiwith ferocity. Thekicrackled and ripped, boring into the ground as it tried to push Pan back. The girl gripped her teeth, and her tail spiked in indication of her rage; with a flare of her ownki, she forced Nappa's blast back towards him.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Nappa exclaimed, raising his own hands to block the incoming blast. He didn't have the time to deflect it, and was hit by the brunt of his own strength.

"...I...have to agree..." Piccolo gaped at Pan, turning his head from the massive explosion that engulfed Nappa. "Welp, whatwasthat?" The Demon King of old couldn't believe his senses. In that brief moment, the girl'skihad skyrocketed. It eclipsed his, Raditz's, and even Nappa's in that moment. But then it dropped again. It was such a bothersome, fluctuating power, and he found himself wishing to the gods that it could have stayed.

It hadn't escaped the notice of the rest of the Saiyan elite, all of whom turned to glance at the ridiculouskiwhich made their Scouters screech and their tails twitch. Vegeta, in particular, with a kind of dry interest. His eyes — already narrow — tapered further, and his lips thinned. "The brat...I see her combat strength fluctuates with her emotions. Ordinarily, it isn't anything special...but when it was that high, she was stronger than Nappa." The realization hit him, and even he couldn't help but grin. "I see now. Kakarrot. You mated with an Earthling and produced a half-breed. That explains the wild, uncontrollable burst of power."

Aspara, whose attention had been otherwise focused on Raditz, was sidetracked by the explosive strength of a such a small child. "There's no way that strength could have come from someone so young — even a Saiyan!"

Raditz saw his opening, and rushed forward, blasting Aspara with a powerful pink kikōha. It exploded at point blank range, blasting the Saiyan woman backwards. Raditz grinned. "Do you have the time to be diverting your attention away from me?"

The female Saiyan smirked, dusting herself off. She and Raditz lunged for each other, and their dance of death began again.

With Nappa, the smoke had begun to clear, but the angry Saiyan didn't bother waiting. He ripped it apart with his arms, dispersing the smokescreen with a gust of wind. His face was contorted in rage, and his arms shook. "That was a mistake, brat! All you've done is make your inevitable death that much more painful!"

Pan's breath was ragged, her little palms shaking, but she stood firm this time. Her black eyes were glinting, and even Piccolo couldn't help but enjoy a new sensation — pride in someone else.

"It seems you're finally prepared to fight, brat," said Piccolo, standing at the half-Saiyan's side, and taking a stance. "Just don't hold me back."

"I won't," she replied stubbornly. "I can fight too!" It wasn't that she wanted to fight Nappa. If anything, she wanted to put some distance between himself and her, about as much as she could. She still wanted to run. But her blood was starting to boil. Even if she tried to run, she'd die. So wasn't it better to die fighting? The youngest fighter present within the chaos clenched her fists, and mimicked her teacher's stance. "I'm gonna beat you down, baldie!"

"I see you've got some spunk, brat! Then come on!"

"And in the end, we're left with the runts," Kuka observed as Tenshinhan, Kuririn, and Chaozu all stood in opposition of himself, Bocho, and Gula. The lanky Saiyan sighed. "If I'm going to be thrown into this, I'd much rather be killing Raditz. Yet, Aspara isn't one to bicker with. Let's get this over with, Earthlings."

"Damn it..." Kuririn braced himself, sweat beading down his scalp. "Any bright ideas, Tenshinahan?"

"I'm fresh out," admitted the man shamefully. "I was hoping you might've had something up your sleeve."

"Ido," replied Kuririn. "But it isn't something they're going to let me focus thekifor." The bald-monk eyed Bocho most of all. The man was a no-nonsense fighter. If he saw Kuririn try to gather thekiforthat, he'd stop him instantly.

The only Saiyan who hadn't moved was Vegeta. The leader of the group, despite being perhaps the slightest next to Aspara, watched the whole display with amusem*nt. To him, this would be nothing more than a light entertainment. The traitor, the half-Saiyan brat, and the defiant Earthlings. Quite a cast had amassed to fight his own troops, and he was going to enjoy every minute.

Elsewhere, across the continent, was the pair of sisters out hunting for Dragon Balls. Due to the haste of which the Saiyans arrived and the desperation in getting Bulma's husband to Earth sooner than he could arrive, the pair had split up to find the mystic orbs. Using the finest of Capsule Corp aerial tech they made quick time in scouring the globe, leagues ahead than was thought possible years ago when she was a teenager. So far they had got the Fifth Star Ball, the Four Star Ball -one that they had to begin with, thanks to Son's attachment to his grandfather's heirloom-, the One Star Ball and the Two Star Ball.

They had made good progress thus far. The first two balls were found in a casino and at the bottom of a lake. Acquiring the first just required Bulma in using her connections with the casino's owner to fork over the ball instead of going through a arbitrary task of getting it through the gambling process; even if she wanted to herself. The second was retrieved by Tights, who used a Capsule Submarine to gain the sphere. However, she had to carefully not disturb a behemoth aquatic beast that swam near it. She couldn't have raced fast enough to the surface if she had tried.

With Son's heirloom already in Bulma's satchel it was just a matter of her going after one, perched on a ledge near a Pterodactyl's nest. The sight of the monstrous reptilian bird brought back unpleasant memories from her earlier days; thankfully, Son had been there to save her. Not wanting to need saving again, she brought along several weapon capsules for ready use in her pockets. That being settled, she began to scale the cliff, keeping radio contact with Tights.

"You think the others are doing alright?" Her older sibling asked, breaking the tense silence as Bulma reached for a ginger grip above her head, using her feet to push herself up and grab the other hand hold.

"I'm sure they're doing their best to hold them off," She replied, refusing to wipe the sweat from her brow as she continued to ascend, blinking away the odd ball of moisture threatening to sting her vision. "I keep checking with my optical scouter, and it still doesn't look good. I think one of them has been taken out."

"Do you know who?" A hint of worry filled Tights' voice.

"It's probably one of ours, given it wasn't the strongest signal," Bulma bit her lower lip, her body heaving and shaking at the thought of her daughter possibly being among casualties in this fight. Shaking her head, she continued to climb as she grunted and heaved closer to her objective. "Whatever the case, we just have to accept the cost. So long as Piccolo doesn't bite the dust and Son gets here, we can use the Dragon Balls to wish back anyone who hasn't been killed before. Fingers crossed that I haven't jynxed us yet."

"Yeah, about that."

"What? Don't tell me you can't get to your ball?" Bulma inquired with a frown, her eyes locked onto the Pterodactyl.

"No, I can get to it. It's just...well," She trailed off, the sound of a weapons being primed heard from the backdrop. "They seem to be bandits. And they're all armed."

"Well Jaco never showed up to the line-up, so why not give him a ring? I'm sure he can take care of those mooks two seconds flat," The lavender haired scientist suggested, her hand stretching out towards the orb resting delicately near the nest. The scaled avian glared at her, releasing a throaty squawk mixed with an inhuman growl. Its beady red eyes staring at her with a mixture of aggression and hunger. Bulma's own eyes scowled back, pulling a capsule out and popping it free with a "Poof!" of smoke.

"I could, but then he'd never let me hear the end of it-"

"Then either get it, call Jaco, or wait for ME to get THERE!" Bulma snapped, shoving her personal plasma cannon -a tribute from her childhood- straight at the Pterodactyl threateningly. The sound of the weapon's systems being revved was enough for the creature to bulge its eyes and shuffle back defensively. The flap of its wings made the ball jiggle, and the woman's body shook with alarm. Using quick thinking, Bulma put the handle of the blaster in her mouth and grabbed the orb before it fell from the crevice from where it landed from the last wish made. Sighing with relief, she placed the ball in her satchel and pulled her weapon out to keep it primed at the creature, making sure it didn't get any ideas as she climbed back down.

"I'll call Jaco, sorry sis."

"It's...fine," Bulma sighed, her hands shaking with every grab of sediment and every prop her foot got a hold of. "I'm just scared for my girl. She's only played with Son before, and it never got out of hand...most of the time, anyways. And training is entirely different than fighting for your life. If Raditz was the least mean, I can't imagine what they'd do to her if she was backed into a corner. What am I-?"

"Bulma, breathe," Tights calmly advised her with a level tone. "You know your girl's a wonder, yes? You know Son's racing here as fast as he can, right? And we're doing all we can to get the Dragon Balls with the only two radars we have. So have faith in your family and just keep the momentum up on getting these mystic rocks together so we can summon the magic snake."

"Dragon."

"Whatever, you know what I mean!"

"Thanks, Tights, I-" She began to say, right until a sudden migraine shot in her head. Clenching her left temple, her left eye squinted as a feed of information flashed over her visual HUD. Numbers flashed all over the place till they settled in the thousands; a number she had never fathomed of seeing till now. Even from this distance, into the horizon, she could see a faint glow of what she could have mistaken for the Sun had it not been for it being glaring over her head just now. "Yeah, we need to get a move on. That last blast gave me a headache and a reading I don't want to believe."

"Jaco's here! I'll get my ball in a jiffy!"

"And I got Number Five," Bulma confirmed with her checking her satchel once more for her recent catch, its orange glint radiating from the Sun. "With your new one, that'll make six. Hopefully we don't run into Pilaf having the Seventh, or we'll be needing to lug Jaco around for awhile longer."

"I'm sure he won't mind, right, Jaco?"

"What do I look like, a pizza delivery boy?!"

"No, that's Son's job, actually."

"Well I'm certainly no Intergalactic Mailman, I can tell you that, so try and actually have good reason for calling a Super Elite."

"Beat those guys up."

"...again, I must stress the SUPER next to the ELITE."

"But, aren't you supposed to be a cop?"

"I'm a SPACE cop, not a MALL cop!"

"Aren't they both still cops?"

"MUST I MENTION I'M A SUPER ELITE-"

"-and muting that conversation for now," The lavender scientist sighed, popping her Capsule Plane out in a "Poof!" of smoke. Once started, she took off with a rumbling roar and soared into the horizon. Checking the radar, she felt her teeth chatter with anxiousness. Shaking her her head, she wiped away the sweat from her face and clenched the steering wheel tightly. "Hold on, Pan! Mama's going to bring Papa home soon!"

It was a long shot, but Tenshinhan knew that they had little choice. Their enemies were strong, and well coordinated. Of those gathered, it was clear the strongest of the bunch preferred to fight alone while the lower members had no qualm with operating as a team. Raditz was still fending off the angry Saiyaness, her agile and graceful maneuvers pushing the tall, burly Saiyan to his limits while Nappa's brute force and bull-like nature kept the diminutive Pan and statuesque Daimao Piccolo on his toes. Vegeta stood back and watched with a sneering grin, clearly enjoying the struggles the Earthlings put up while his own forces were doing their best to savor the fight as they aimed to slaughter them all.

So, when Kuririn said he had a technique that could give them an edge, Tenshinhan turned to Chaozu and they exchanged a nodding glance.

"Don't worry, Kuririn, we'll hold them off!" The three-eyed man shouted, his power exploding around him and gave him a fiery white halo ofkiblazing around him. "Just don't miss!"

"I'll do my best!" He replied, raising his hand over his head and priming hiskiover his outstretched palm.

"Do you see that, Gula?" Kuka, the muscular hair-braided Saiyan asked with a raucous laugh. "They've been barely holding up against our warm-up, and that three eyed guy said the midget and himi will 'hold us off'."

"Quite a brash one, aren't you?" Gula queried the three-eyed warrior, rubbing his chin with a thin smile as his narrow tired eyes stared at the incandescent aura blazing about the approaching being's body. The long, bladed tresses shifted as his aura slowly bubbled up and burned around him in a green tint, his single left hoop earring of gold plated bone bouncing under the pressure of his power. "Don't get co*cky, Earthling. We're just getting into our groove-"

All at once, the two aforementioned Saiyans were caught off guard by the three-eyed Crane Fighter suddenly teleporting in front of them. Both reacted to his hands releasing a pair of Dodonpo at their abdomens, crisscrossing their arms to block the blasts. Skidding back, Chaozu followed up through a forward flip over Tenshinhan, raising his hands up and then thrusting them down, the pair of Saiyans suddenly feeling an immense pressure that forced them into the earth and into a deep chasm. After finishing his move, Bocho appeared behind Chaozu and the psychic barely formed a barrier in time to absorb the brunt of the chop to the back of his neck; still, he fell down to the ground with mouth agape and eyes dilated from the pain of the attack.

"Quick reflexes," Bocho, remarked simply, turning around to catch a rising punch from Tenshinhan's punch whom rose up to reach his altitude. The connection caused the earth to quake and the air pop, the two's ki flaring out and eyes glared at each other. In response, the Crane Fighter charged another Dodonpa in his free hand to launch at Bocho; missing only thanks to twisting his arm around and sidestepping in the air to avoid the bolt of golden-orange. Manipulating his energy, he instantly accelerated to plant a kick in his solar plexus that made him gape, clenching both hands into fists and launched a pair of invisible punches numbering in the dozens.

"Bocho, watch out!" Kuka cried out from below.

Bocho heard the alarm one second too late. So busy with his assault on the three-eyed Earthling that he didn't sense the subdued ki maneuvering behind him. Eyes widened and the face-painted Saiyan turned to face a shine of gold-white that shined vibrantly, the sound of a whirring saw wielded above the Orin Monk's hand and bald head. He didn't need to be told by the Prince -whose own expression was one of awe at the visible deadliness of the technique- to know that he needed to avoid being hit by it.

"This," Kuririn began to shout, hurtling the Kienzan at Bocho like a discus. "IS FOR YAMCHA!"

In the moment he focused on the new threat, Bocho was grappled by the three-eyed man from behind, using an extra pair of arms to put him in a headlock while using the others to clench around his tail-wrapped waist. Panic filled the Saiyan, the sound of the pair of Saiyans firing a salvo of kikoha to stop the saw was for naught as the discus of light cut through them all like butter in its aim to claim its target. Deafened and nearly blinded by the rotating blade of ki, Bocho clenched his teeth and eyes dilated to pins, his face becoming that of a snarling animal. At a meter apart, he let out a monstrous roar and let loose a burning inferno of flames, lit by his own energy and destroying the arms restraining him.

Unable to stop the Kienzan, merely make it zigzag at an unpredictable trajectory, he whipped his tail to bludgeon the arm-less Tenshinhan and maneuvered in a rightward spin. Gritting his teeth in a flash of pain, the spinning blade zoomed past him and struck the plane of plateaus behind him, slicing them apart effortlessly for kilometers and causing a quaking upheaval of the distant landscape. Turning to look back at the path of destruction it wrought, he did his best to not show his expression of his own injuries.

With a surprisingly sober tone, he seethed as he used his right arm to sear the semi-circle dismemberment from his right side up past the shoulder. As flesh cooked in a grizzly manner, he remained still and regarded Kuririn with begrudging respect, "I have to admit, Earthling, that technique got me beat. Even without the other playing martyr, I don't think I could've escaped unscathed. Had you curbed your tongue, I'd imagine you would've killed me if you cut through your ally from my blind-"

"Shut up and look behind you!" Kuka shouted, shooting into the air to engage a phantom blur wrapped in silver light. Reaching him just in time, his arm bracing against an incoming forefinger jab as the very still unharmed Tenshinhan scowled intensely at the defending Saiyan. As he swept a kick, he blocked and somersaulted, avoiding the suddenly appearing Gula, the wiry long-haired Saiyan slashing his arms around in his search for the most dangerous of the three.

"So, that was a Clone," Bocho verbally acknowledged, blocking a sudden kick from Kuririn, visibly sweating as he fought pain from his previous fight on top of the newest grave injuries. "Fascinating techniques. I should've kept my guard up better with three of you fighting me at once."

"Yeah, we're full of surprises!" The dwarf snapped back, spinning around over Bocho's arm and attacked his unarmed flank. Surprised when the Saiyan's ki flickered and he hit nothing but empty air, Kuririn countered with a foot Kamehameha to propel himself away from a ax kicking from above. Twisting it around, he guided himself to appear over his enemy's head and cup his hands to his sides. "Ka! Me! Ha! Me! HA!"

Bocho growled, his only arm raising up clad in a dull red aura, boldly thrust into the pyre of blue outlined white light. It bent and distended, warping around the point of his appendage. The struggle between the Earthling made a distinct flash in the sky, red and blue snapping to and fro from the point of contact. Vegeta looked up with arms crossed, an amused smirk adorned on his face. Nappa briefly glanced amidst his confrontation with Pan and Piccolo, the latter pair also taking a moment to see the Saiyan that murdered their friend and ally being met with full force. Raditz braced against a single arm of Aspara's, barely aware of the bald man's struggle while he focused on the menacing Saiyaness before him.

"Dammit!" Kuririn growled out, his hands pushing as hard as he could. "Just a little more! I just need a little more and I can take him down!"

"Forget it, Earthling!" Bocho cried out, his arm opening its clenched fist into a palm, priming a whirring burgundy orb in its epicenter. "You did well, but the outcome was guaranteed when you couldn't kill me in one move."

Unleashing a mighty plume of dark crimson, his ki steadily pushed back against Kuririn's. Tenshinhan looked with alarm, unable to go to his side as the two Saiyans continued to pressure him from both sides. Everyone still locked in their engagements, and he was stuck fighting two tough opponents. As he he employed the Four Witches technique to block and parry his two foes' flurry of melee attacks, he caught sight of something that took him by surprise.

Something that surprised everyone watching; including Kuririn and most importantly, Bocho.

A single bolt of Dodonpa smashed through Bocho's back and emerged out of his abdomen. Coughing up blood, his enormous attack faltered and began to be pushed back by Kuririn's Kamehameha. Spurred on by the interruption from the crouching but intensely glaring Chaozu from below, Kuririn howled and ignited his aura, his beam widening twice its size and smashing straight into the maimed Saiyan bodily. Without a word uttered back, he yelled out in frustration and fury as he was pummeled into the chasm the psychic had created and was consumed in an azure explosion that blasted brightly before both groups, the wind blowing by making hair blow and skin blister.

"Take...that...bastard," Kuririn heaved, winded from the ordeal, lowering himself to land beside Chaozu to regain his second wind with him. "Thanks man. You saved my butt."

"Let's hurry," The midget intoned to him, looking over with worry as Tenshinhan continued to hold off the pair of Saiyans with all of his concentration. "Tenshinhan will need our help fighting those two."

"Right," Kuririn nodded, slapping his cheeks to brace himself. With a stern expression spread on his face, he and the pasty-skinned Crane Schooler took to the air, arching around in arcs ofkito strike the pair of Saiyans on either side. Gula blocked Kuririn's rapid punches while Kuka staggered from Chaozu's small but powerful kick to his kidneys. Both occupied, Tenshinhan inserted himself neatly forward and launched a pair of punches in their stomachs, throwing them a sizable distance away with explosive kiai. Watching them tumble to the ground, they too, landed on the earth and regained their bearings as their enemies did.

"Guys, I don't think we can pull off another win like we did just now," Kuririn remarked soberly, sweat crawling down his bald scalp as he balled his fists at his sides. "That Kienzan and Kamehameha took all I had, and he needed Chaozu's Dodonpa just to be taken down for good."

"I know," Tenshinhan remarked, almost whispering as his eyes drifted from the pair of Saiyans towards the only one whose yet to make a move. The Prince, only slightly ruffled by the sight of another of his Saiyans biting the dust, renewed his sardonic grin at the dire state they all had. He didn't need the Saiyans' scouters to know that they were getting close to their limits. And with no sign of Aspara and Nappa tiring, they needed more than simply two small wins on their lower ranks. Closing his eyes, he sighed, reaching into the confines of his pants pocket and balling his hand around a small object. "Guys, we need to stun as many of them as we can. Kuririn, you know the technique I'm talking about, right?"

Kuririn didn't need reminding. It was the technique used on him and Goku during the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. With their reserves ofkias it was, it was the best choice without wasting so much of their power. Nodding without talking too much, he looked back at the Saiyans, noticing their steady but wary approach.

"Let's get this over with," Gula sighed, rolling his neck side to side, making audible pops while Kuka spat out a wad of blood. "I'll make sure to kill the three-eyed one. You can have the two small fries."

"Ha! Don't get greedy, Gula! Remember, we both were fighting him, so we should have an even shot!"

"Then just make sure to finish them quickly so you can get a piece of him," He proffered to his colleague.

"Fine! Don't need to beg that much!"

"I didn't beg-"

"Hey!" Kuka declared, watching the three stand ready to meet them head-on. "Prepare to make peace with whatever you call a god here! I'm going to send you to your makers shortly, Earthling scum!"

In a moment, the Saiyan duo dashed forward, leaping barely after images of their wake as they broke the sound barrier in their momentum. Fists connected with a pair of hands, but they glided off the palms as three bodies somersaulted over them in forward flips and launched into the air in throttling blasts of ki. Infuriated at the idea of their prey escaping, Kuka turned and leaped after them with Gula suspiciously furrowing his brows and took after his partner a second later. They'd watch them ascend into the sky, till their silhouettes were embroiled by the high noon Sun, making their eyes wince and arms raise to shield their vision.

The exact opportunity had come, and all three splayed their hands to frame their faces, shouting with a massive projection of blinding rays towards the surface of the planet.

"TAIYŌKEN!"

Everyone who had dared to look up -or had no reflex to shield their eyes- were immediately blinded by the magnified tri-fold technique's projection. Kuka was immediately paralyzed, shrieking with agony as he fell to the ground with a crash while Gula growled and let himself drop with more dignity. Aspara happened to glance one second too late and was also struck by the technique. Piccolo had helped Pan look away in time, closing his eyes tightly and facing away until the lightshow ended. Raditz had closed his eyes but knew opening them would risk exposure, so he stayed still until the light had dimmed.

The one who was effected among all the others near worst, was Vegeta. He had never seen a technique like this and he was stunned just as much as his underlings. Growling, he put a hand over his face and swung the other around with visible anger.

"It worked!" Kuririn shouted with glee.

"We did it, Tenshinhan!" Chaozu cried with joy to his comrade. His sense of achievement was dimmed when Tenshinhan's face had grown stony and his eyes didn't meet his. Arching his head at an angle, he inquired quietly. "Tenshin...han?"

"Guys, I'm not coming back from this," The Crane Schooler solemnly informed them, his body lowering to face his enemy while he still had the time; the nerve to go through with this. "It was an honor fighting alongside you."

"Tenshinhan! What are you doing?!" Kuririn cried out, incredibly alarmed by the manner his friend was acting. "Come on, we can still win this!"

"You're right, you guys can. But not me," He gave them a thumb's up as he dropped to the ground with a clack. "Tell Lunch, I went out fighting. Can you do that, Chaozu?"

"Tenshinhan?" His friend queried with grief-filled confusion.

"Urgh! Confound this blindness!" Vegeta snarled, his vision slowly returning, a bit faster than the rest as Tenshinhan faced him. Seeing the vague outline of his enemy, he grinned past the clouded vision. "What's this? You think you can beat me without my sight? You're in for a sore awakening if you're that deluded-!"

"You're the one deluded here, Saiyan!" Tenshinhan bellowed, clicking capsule in his right hand and tossing it in front of his feet. In a "poof!" of smoke, revealed a small urn with small lid set beside it and a talisman attached to it written in the Kanji of 'Seal'. Raising his hands up, he cupped them before his face, an eerie green aura wrapping around his body that warped the atmosphere and turned it into a sinister lime hue. The vision just about returned to Vegeta when the sudden sensation of a howling wind struck him, all coming from the Earthling as he let out an ungodly roar. "Mafūba!"

Terror gripped the Saiyan prince like he never felt. A torrential green maelstrom swirled around him, stretching his body and tearing him from the ground. Eyes widened grotesquely and his mouth agape, he shrieked within the twister of siphoning energy. As everyone's senses slowly were restored, the insanity of the situation before them gave them ultimate pause. Those who knew of the technique's deadly toll and those who had no knowledge of this horrifying display of what they could only presume was witchcraft.

"This is your end!" Tenshinhan bellowed, guiding the Saiyan, watching him cross halfway to the goal that was the sealing urn before his feet. It rattled at his feet but maintained its upright posture. He didn't want to have this mess up; not when it mattered most.

"HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The Prince of the Saiyans shrieked out in an uncharacteristic plea for help. His cry made the Saiyans, for the most part, indecisive. No one truly loved their leader and his cruelty wasn't something not absent to their thoughts. Plus, the damning sight of the technique used was so unholy they dared not even get close; nor did they wish to.

The only one with the density and lack of awareness who heard his cry for help was his caretaker and 2nd in command.

"My Prince! I'm coming!" Nappa shouted, leaping from the Nameccian and half-breed to the still twisting Saiyan. In his mind, he didn't think to destroy the urn or attack Tenshinhan directly. Rather he reached out and with a mantle of densekicoating his body, he intended to rip him straight out of it. It was something the three-eyed warrior hadn't thought someone would be insane or stupid enough to try, and his eyes bulged at the act.

However, instead of catching the Saiyan general's hand, Vegeta grabbed his wrist. Through an act of defiance to the whole technique's sealing pressure, he yanked himself from its suction and pushed himself away. All the while, casting a cruel smirk at a bewildered Nappa, pulling him into it as a give-and-take maneuver. Without realizing the betrayal, Nappa was put on the same trajectory as Vegeta. Steeling himself, Tenshinhan followed through and slammed him straight into the urn with a pulse of green light, smoke puffing from the top of the glowing container. Placing the talisman quickly atop the lid, he tossed it into the hole nearby before the drain of stamina hit him.

Sweat permeated his whole being, much like Vegeta's. But, unlike the Saiyan prince, it was more out of sheer fatigue than the cold sweat of fear that had gripped the otherworldly conqueror. Gritting his teeth, he felt his vision swam and his body sway, dizziness taking hold of him. Staggering about, he forced himself to keep standing through sheer will.

"If I had sealed Vegeta, I'd probably not have the strength to put the talisman on the lid. It seems the second strongest I was barely able to contain," He thought, heaving heavily as his body shook. Aiming a smirk at Vegeta's momentary expression of fright of what had transpired, he suddenly felt a white hot blade shove straight through his right shoulder. The pain was enough to wash away the fog in his mind, but had also made him step back, blood spewing from the chunk of his body now gone by the near instantaneous attack sent his way. "I couldn't even follow that! Did he shoot me?"

"Not so smug, are you?!" Vegeta gnashed his teeth, eyes struck with red veins as sweat was wiped away with one arm as the other formed a finger gun. Firing another bolt, Tenshinhan was hit in the lower right abdomen, making him gape and hoarsely croak with blood escaping his mouth, pouring in a viscous display onto the ground. He fired again, this one in his left thigh, followed by the right shin. The punishment continued as Tenshinhan's eyes slowly lost light and his mouth stained red along with his chin.

It was a gruesome display, one that made everyone helpless. Raditz could only grit his teeth, scowling at his old superior, remembering seeing that look of anger and callous cruelty. It reminded him so much of a particular icy tyrant that it turned his stomach. Piccolo was no stranger to such acts of maliciousness, but Pan was mortified, put into a state between grief and anger. Her power was rising and falling with every shot, eyes moistening and hardening. Piccolo had to visibly put himself between her and the horrifying sight to disable her source of pain.

As Tenshinhan fell to his knees, full of holes and bleeding intensely, eyes almost completely white-out.

"Good riddance, trash!" Vegeta sneered, his face now adorned with a wry grin, savoring the last priming of ki at his fingertip. Shooting it off slower than the rest, he saw an orange blur twist in its path, forming a conical shell of the same hue to block it. However, all it did was slow it down, the edge of the blast shattering the barrier and exploding in front of the interceptor. Seeing a charred, shocked expression of the pasty midget, he chuckled as he saw him fall dead instead. "Saving your friend instead of yourself? Rule number one in battle, never let down your guard! Do that, and your through; not like it matters now, haha!"

Tenshinhan's fading vision had focused on the falling form of his best friend. What counted as senses felt a complete silence from the child-like form ceasing its heartbeat. Tears moistened in the whites of his eyes, onyx orbs ignited with fury. Despite the copious amounts of blood loss and the damage he received, he managed to shakily stand up, pale yellow light trailing off him like embers of a faint flame. The sight of this defiance both humored and annoyed Vegeta, making him laugh, gesturing with an insulting air towards the near-dead man.

"What's the matter? Did your worthless, pasty freak dying make you mad? What a waste of space. A real warrior wouldn't sacrifice himself for a dead man," Vegeta mocked, watching Tenshinhan's arms shaking raise and clasp together. The sudden sensation of vibration in the air and another coat of bold yellow changed the scenery of the environment. Furrowing his brows, he wondered what he could muster at death's door till his Scouter began to bleep with noticeable alarm. "Wait! Wait-wait-wait! No, that's impossible!"

"I may be a roadblock to a guy like you," Tenshinhan grinned bloodily, forming a triangle with his hands, aiming it straight at the bewildered Saiyan prince. "But I'm going to be one Hell of a ditch for you to crawl out of!"

"Tenshinhan!" Kuririn cried out, watching helplessly as he felt the quaking power and the memorable technique used at a lethal detriment.

"Pan, move!" Piccolo called out, grabbing the daughter of Goku and Bulma, pulling her as far away as possible. Aspara was knocked aside by Raditz, who also booked it. The other Saiyans and Kuririn were the only ones who stayed as the sensation of a thick heat built up, a glowing orb forming in an orange hue around Tenshinhan's body. Transferred to his hands, it crackled with tendrils of ki, snapping and lashing out at the ground to break apart sediment and soil with wild abandon. The Scouter bleeped chaotically, soon cut off by a sudden shrieking wail as the instantaneous wall of energy soared through the air and rammed towards the confused Saiyan.

"KIKŌHŌ!"

Chapter 16: Arrival

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 16 - Arrival

Aspara couldn't believe it.

In all of her years serving as a Saiyan Elite warrior, she had never witnessed such a powerful act of defiance. Even with all of the punishment his body through, his stamina sapped and the certainly despairing act of his comrade dying did nothing to stop him. No, it emboldened him and he carried out an attack that completely leveled the environment and knocked herself, her two colleagues and the bald dwarf off their feet. Her nerves tingled and her breath was briefly pushed out of her, like a tire deflating from blunt force. It did virtually no damage despite the proximity, but it startled her and dazed her senses.

Pushing herself off the cooked soil she was granted the sight of a single silhouette still standing on in the midst of a sweeping cloud of blowing smoke. Covered in blood, legs spread and hands still in the same place since he shouted, the three-eyed man bore a look she didn't imagine him wearing; contentment, and resignation. Before she thought to take up the challenge of fighting him, his body swayed until he fell onto his back with a thud.

Tenshinhan's life had ended.

"I can't believe an Earthling could produce such enormous power," She thought with blinking eyes, looking around the environment as the dust continued to settle. Kuririn in the distance began to push himself up from his knees, stricken with grief and bewilderment. The other two Saiyans, Gula and Kuka, also rose to their feet with expressions matching their own personalities; one of aghast and slight annoyance. The traitor, she noticed with a turn of the head, was crouched behind a collection of boulder debris a good quarter mile away with the Nameccian and half-breed. "The cowards didn't want to be stunned. I'll make sure to deal with them. I wonder how bad the Prince suffered from that attack?"

A faint tapping sound could be heard from beyond the smokescreen. Blinking her eyes, she squinted at a shimmering silhouette that was walking through the smoke, the sound of boots squashing hissing soil with every stomp. With a wave of a gloved hand, the smoke was wiped away in a billowing shockwave, colliding into the smashed field of rubble that was once a set of plateaus part of the canyon they battled in front of. Bracing past the bristling phenomena with a raised arm, Aspara's eyes widened palpably at the sight.

There stood the Prince, alive and well, with nary a scratch on him. The only sign that he had been struck was a small bruise on his lower left jawline and a sliver of blood that ebbed from the corner of his left lip. He had a scowl on his face, but at the same time, a very cruel smile spread below. He didn't need his partially cracked Scouter to tell him that the Earthling died in the sacrificial assault. It was obvious such a feat a lower life form couldn't survive it; it was only surprising that he managed it after he put so many holes in him.

"Aspara!" He crowed out, shaking her out of her daze as he crossed his arms, resuming his nonchalant stance as he stood back where he once had been planted before the Triclops' daring attack. "It seems I've lost sight of our General Nappa. It'll be more of a pain to find the contraption he was sealed in than its worth. You're to take over his responsibilities and eliminate the Nameccian and the other Earthlings. Do I make myself clear?"

The Saiyaness couldn't have been more pleased. Regardless of the turn of events, they were in a far better position than their enemies were. With Nappa sealed, they can always recollect him at their leisure so their total casualties was only two instead of the three the Earthlings had. If anything she was happier that the burly brute was now removed from the picture so he wouldn't get in her way.

"Didn't need to ask, Prince," Aspara began to say in a chuckle, her body bubbling forth a bursting crimson light. Rising up with her arms, she swung them down to her sides as it exploded with a shrieking howl, quaking the earth and sending bristling waves of pressure all around her. A scarlet gleam shining in her usually onyx eyes, she looked to the boulder where she saw Piccolo, Pan and Raditz slowly emerge, wary of her new form and raised power level. Standing upright, she stretched out a fist towards Raditz and grinned with shrunken pupils of near mania. "Traitor! I'm going to enjoy beating you to a bloody pulp as I hear you beg for mercy!"

"This isn't good," Piccolo whispered, his body shaking in the presence of this new opponent'ski. It was nothing like what it was when Raditz was locking horns with her. Now it felt as strong as the giant Saiyan who Tenshinhan sealed, if not stronger. "C'mon, Raditz! Got any advice on how we can take her down?!"

"If its all three of us? Maybe, we have a chance," Raditz intoned, biting his lower lip with balled fists shaking. "She was toying with me, just now. I'd much rather just take her on myself, but I know better than anyone that's asking for death. Just look at your friends and ask them how that turned out!"

"She's mine!"

A tiny voice growled, surprising both of the veteran warriors enough to break their train of thought. Looking down, the pair of eyes saw a trembling figure whose eyes was, during their attention to Aspara, focused on the far-off bodies of Chaozu and Tenshinhan. When Vegeta didn't even say a word or look at the man who tried to beat him, Aspara suddenly became the target of her swelling rage. Teeth bared, eyes dilated and her violet hair rose up straight, her body shimmered with flashing bluish white light.

"Pan, you have to calm down!" Piccolo desperately shouted, Raditz looking indecisively between her and Aspara. The latter Saiyaness looked a bit confused at the small halfling, wondering why she looked particularly furious apart from the rest. While the Daimao gestured and raised his voice, the futile attempts to douse her anger was met with a sudden eruption on hearing Aspara's newly chosen words.

"What, don't tell me you actually cared about those two failures, right?"

Her scream had melded into an ungodly roar. It blew back both Raditz and Piccolo, forcing them to brace meters away from the blast wave as she was engulfed in the heat of her own aura. Aspara's Scouter bleeped loudly, alarming her considerably at the numbers racing faster than could be conceived. Even Vegeta's head turned to stare widely at the spectacle, her body a pyre that sentkisoaring into the sky like a beacon.

"Again with this kid! Just where does she get this kind of power?!" Aspara thought with wide blinks, sweat perspiring coldly on her skin in a clammy and uncomfortable sensation.

In between one of those blinks, Pan's form disappeared from sight. Looking around, she found herself suddenly lacking the luminous warmth of the planet's Sun. Raising her head up, she saw the girl had leaped high over her head and dropped down like a silver comet downward. Charging a kikoha around her hand -the same one she used to slice a third of West City in a single move- she swung it cleanly towards the dropping, petite form racing towards her. It hit its mark with a shredding gale, but revealed nothing more than fading static where a body should've been.

Just as her Scouter began to register movement, she felt a sudden explosion of pain wrack her abdomen, her body lifted off its feet and sent spiraling backwards.

"What was that?! A punch?! A kick?! An energy blast?!" Her mind reeled at the possibilities of the form of her injury, her exposed waist being unprotected and vulnerable to extreme punishment and now shown a purple welt around her navel. Stopping herself short a dozen meters from the point of attack, she saw Pan's body already fading from the point of its extended arm for the attack.

The Scouter bleeped again, and this time she could feel the wind kick up her long, straight hair; subsequently allowing her to twist around and use her bare right arm to block a swinging kick. The connection sparked off electricity and the wind blew outward in an explosion of air pressure as both'skiflared backwards from the force of the pair's strength colliding. Her eyes looked on, a mixture of shock and frustration meeting a completely livid pair of coal eyes.

"Knock it off, punk!" Aspara snarled, coating her arm inkiand swing into Pan's body, sending her a few meters back skidding onto her feet. "Like I'm going to let some child get the best of me! You may be strong now, but let's see how long you can keep up now that I'm royally pissed off!"

"Good," A voice followed with an immediate Scouter beep, made her suddenly feel the shadow of her cousin standing behind her. Even turning to swing an elbow at him wasn't fast enough to stop a large boot to her back, making her stumble forward from the surprisingly strong hit. "Stay pissed! Especially you, Pan! Keep it up!"

"Why you-NGH!" She tried to rebuttal, suddenly at the brunt of Pan's bullet paced frame ramming her head into her upper torso. Despite it cushioning the impact, a good part of the breastplate cracked, the durable and pliant material giving way to the sheer blunt trauma dealt to it. Skidding back on her heels, she snarled and waved her hand, unleashing a swathe of destruction that up-heaved the land and burned the air. To her dismay, it was too slow and narrowly missed the child; as well as the absent Nameccian.

"MASENKO-HA!" A loud bellow was heard from her right, her eyes turning to see a golden beam of light streak at an angle from where the green man stood. She kicked off the ground, raising up into the sky to avoid the blast. Thinking she had missed it, it was to her Scouter's information that it reared up from behind and streaked towards her. Seething, she twisted about in the air and focused her energy around her foot. A second later and she struck it dead-on, smashing it to explode into the distant horizon, exploding in a column of flames that decimated whatever it had touched.

It was long enough of a distraction that Raditz had met her in the air and collided clenched fists in a mighty hammer fist onto her back. The wind exhaled from her lungs, pain shot from the point of contact and she was sent spiraling down, forcing her to the ground. Landing on all fours, the ground splintered and dust kicked up. She seethed at the very ingratiating feeling of being played for a fool. She dared not look at the prince, for she knew he was either enjoying her situation or just about fed up with her. Punching the earth, she brought herself back to her feet and reignited her body in her red aura.

"Hey, Aspara, you need help?" Gula asked from the background, earning her immediate ire.

"Stay out of this! Both of you!" She jeered back at her colleagues with a vein pulsing above her right brow.

"That's not fair!" Kuka cried out akin to a whine. "The only one left is the bald shorty, and two on one won't be that fun."

"Then take turns, just leave me alone!"

"Stuck-up bitch, what a hardass," He muttered with discontent, turning to look at the aforementioned dwarf with resignation. "Sorry, but it looks like you're going to have to be enough for the both of us. Nothing personal, short-stuff."

Gulping, Kuririn knew he was in for an impossible fight. Tenshinhan could handle these two with less than full power, but he was already spent from finishing off Bocho. Without support, it was unlikely he was going to win. But even still, did his friends know they were going to win when they fought and died on their feet?

"Nothing personal? Sorry I can't say the same, Saiyan scum!" Kuririn bellowed out fiercely, hiskiigniting fiercely around his stout frame and forming a tightly woven white flame. "This is for the friends you guys killed! For Tenshinhan, for Chaozu, and for Yamcha! And for the all the people you slaughtered in the capitals! Every last one of them will be avenged!"

The two Saiyans exchanged a pair of looks before kicking off the soil in a blur of high velocity. Shimmering to either side of the smaller martial artist, Kuka swung a hammer fist strike while Gula swung his foot to catch his target by the feet. In a surprising gesture, Kuririn leaped timely above Gula's leg and shoulder-slammed into Kuka's abdomen. The Saiyan stumbled back, surprised by the maneuver and couldn't defend against a cartwheeling rise of the child-like fighter to rapidly kick him in the face. Gritting his teeth, he clapped his palms where he was for a second just as Gula palmed up at his backflipping frame. He caught his foot, just in time to see Kuririn form split into three. The sight made the Saiyan hesitate just enough for the former monk to slam a kikoha from each hand straight into his upper torso and face.

Letting the force of the blast carry him away, Kuririn landed with a graceful crouch, sliding the sole of his left foot behind while leaning forward on a bent knee. The right fist clenched in an upward come hither sign while the left was held in a flat palm aiming at an arch behind. Despite a bead of nervous sweat crawling down his naked scalp, his eyes were cool and focused. The Saiyans sputtered in confusion and turned with renewed alarm at the short fighter at performing so well regardless of his lack of brute strength.

He wasn't going to roll over and let them pummel him after all.

"Lucky shot, punk!" Kuka snarled, his body engulfed in a lime colored aura just as Gula spat out a wad of blood, wiping the soot off his own body calmly. The latter Saiyan visibly had throbbing veins framing his brow, as evidenced by a cold sneer of being made a fool of with a simple Afterimage technique.

Raising his arm, he formed a triage of orange colored spheres that rotated violently in front of his palm. Crackling with intensity, he fired them off, they'd all soar in a zigzag of jagged directions while being remotely controlled by him. Smashing through rock and burning ozone in the air, it made the dwarf widened his eyes at the attack's trajectory. Grounding his teeth together, Kuririn chose to use his left arm and swiveled his body around to fire a kiai at the balls, sending them scattering away and crash in fiery blasts around him.

During his attention of avoiding molten damage, Kuka barreled into him, battering a boot straight into the side of his head. His vision swam and his small frame pinwheeled as darkness threatened to creep into the recesses of his eyesight. The only thing that righted him was a follow-up kikoha barrage that struck him in the chest, legs and arms in a shotgun attack by Gula. Tumbling head over heels, he barely clawed at the earth to stop himself from falling face first.

Heaving, he stood up and blocked out the pain, raising shaking fists up to stare past the blood threatening to blind him from gashes over his brows. The pair of Saiyans looked unsatisfied by the damage they did, given he had the strength to stand. Shouting out loud, he powered up once more and struck his stance, feeling confident that he still had the advantage of being smaller than any fighter they've encountered.

He'd catch a glance of Aspara still struggling over Pan's rage-filled power and Piccolo's coordination with Raditz. The three worked in flawless unison, despite Gokū's daughter having almost no awareness of how to time her attacks with the two more experienced fighters. It was clear that the Saiyaness was biting more than she could chew, as evidenced by her spewing of obscenities and insults while shouting at the trio.

"We can still do this!" Kuririn thought with renewed vigor, looking over at the pair of Saiyans, now charging at him once more. Leaping up, he'd form a Kamehameha at his side, the cerulean gleam coloring his form and making his enemies raise guards. Firing it behind himself, he'd propel himself straight into their near locked shoulders, making them stumble away as he'd rise up into the air with the beam. Halting its propulsion, he'd charge it once more and widen its range to hit the unprepared enemies with a mighty shout, forcing them to take more damage as well. "We can still make it in time! Just get here soon and don't make a liar out of me, Gokū!"

Earth's Skies, Above Earth

Bulma ordered Jaco — against his will or otherwise — to steer his aircraft higher into the sky; if what her husband had told her was any indication, their destination was higher than the clouds. Tights was looking towards her sister with a measure of curiosity; she wasn't fascinated by the view, after all, but howcouldshe be? She'd been to other planets before. Earth's skies held no fascination for her. Next to her was a satchel, and resting inside were seven glowing orbs — the Dragon Balls.

If Bulma was to be believed, these orbs, when gathered and the words were spoken, could summon forth a dragon, Shénlóng, and compel him to grant them one single wish. Naturally, this sounded fantastical, but considering that she'd thought the same about aliens until Jaco, she couldn't call her baby sister a liar. Still, the idea of a wish granting dragon seemed too farfetched.

"You OK, sis?" asked Bulma. Her new optical implant kept her up to date on the battle, and she didn't like the news she was receiving. Someone else had fallen, and it didn't look like any of the Saiyans; the combat strength reading was too low. It was a bit strange that she would ask Tights ifshewas OK; if anyone shouldn't be alright, it would be Bulma.

"I should be asking you that," replied Tights. "Your new implant has to be keeping you...informed. That can't be good for your health."

Bulma chuckled. Her sister was nothing if not intuitive. She waved it off however, "Don't worry about be. It's...distracting, but it isn't anything I can't power through. Besides, once we summon Shénlóng and wish for Son, he'll send those Saiyans packing!"

The older woman smiled, casting her sister a gaze. "You have a lot of faith in him, don't you?"

"I do," was the warm reply. "I suppose, after awhile...I've come to feel that Son can do anything. He was a dorky little boy when I met him — didn't know the first thing about girls, and was far from polite — but he was remarkable if only for all the strength he packed into that small body." Bulma reminisced fondly of how she met the then young boy, and his naiveté to the world. She conveniently neglected to mention to her sister that she entertained the idea for a brief second all boys had tails when she saw him. "He did so many impossible things, and fought so hard for us...that you couldn't help but want to root for him. You couldn't help but believe he could do anything."

"Oh..."

"You remember the Piccolo Daimaō?" asked Bulma. "When he overthrew the King and declared himself King? He pretty much tried to turn the whole world into a Hell, but it was Son who resolved the whole thing when he was just a boy."

"T-That was Son?!" Tights' eyes widened, her mouth agape. She looked at the Dragon Balls again, her face set. "I'm suddenly feeling a lot more hopeful."

"That's why I'm trying not to freak out," said the younger of the sisters.Even though I'm worried as hell for Pan! Son, when you get back, if anyone has touched a hair on her head, you rip them in half!

"Hey, I hate to interrupt your chatter, but I'm seeing some sort of floating structure coming into view," called Jaco.

"That'd be it," confirmed Bulma. "It sounds like what Son told me about."

The spacecraft rose higher, approaching the aforementioned structure. Tights craned her head to the dome to get a good look at it, and was surprised by what she saw. The structure was half of a sphere, floating without support above Earth. Had it been much higher, it might have been a satellite. The closer they got to it, the finer certain details became. Built on top of the platform is a three-pronged palace entrance, and lining the surface appeared to be palm trees and evergreens. It was multi-coloured, with a ladder reaching from the base to the top, but it was a seemingly vestigial structure, due to it not properly connecting with anything else.

"We're going in for a landing," said Jaco, and he turned the ship towards the floating half-sphere. With a flick of the controls, the ship moved easily at his command. Ascending, Tights was able to see minuscule details she'd missed; the triple array of colours, the intricate patterns carved into the material, the golden inlay, it was beautifully constructed. If she'd been an archaeologist, this would be a fascinating part of Earth's history. Yet her writer's mind was already working; a story about a castle in the sky had a certain intrigue.

There was mild turbulence, which Jaco concluded wasn't natural, yet he steered through it just fine — "An elite Galactic Patrolman's spaceship is made of sturdier stuff!" — and landed the craft neatly onto the squared titles of the Palace. The dome opened with a hiss, and Bulma was the first to leap out. She lande awkwardly onto the tiles, and the first thing she noticed was just how difficult it was to breath.

"I should have figured as much..." she said through quick breaths. "The oxygen is thinner up here..." The lavender-haired woman turned towards the ship, and called out a warning to her sister and extraterrestrial friend. "Sis! Jaco! Careful; the air's pretty scarce!" Bulma's warning was pointless, though; Tights leapt down from the spaceship with far greater ease than Bulma herself, and grinned. Unlike Bulma, the girl wasn't visibly worn out from the lesser oxygen content of the upper atmosphere.

As if in response to Bulma's surprise, Tights' grin widened. "I've been to other planets with Jaco before, Bulma. Not all of them had the oxygen levels that Earth does on their surfaces."

The lavender-haired girl let out a dejected sigh; here, she'd thought her warning to her sister was a kindness, and was clearly put-out by Tights' experience in the situation. Jaco was more reluctant to leave the ship than the others, despite his species naturally being able to breathe well in these kinds of conditions. He'd never seen a place like this; it wasn't of science, so it boggled the mind.

"...Who are you, and how did you make it to the Palace?" inquired a calm, level voice. It was without irritation or panic, only purpose. The trio turned to see a man with astoundingly dark skin, a blank expression, and red lips staring at this. His attire was that of a vest, white pants and a turban. He stared at them intently, and Bulma could feel the sweat drop down her neck.

"W-We're here to see God," she stammered, realising how utterly absurd a sentence like that sounded when one spoke it aloud. She motioned over Tights, who was carrying the satchel with the Dragon Balls. "The Saiyans are at-attacking Earth, you see?! An we wanted to wish my husband back here — closest to the Afterlife — so he can fight the Saiyans off!"

"I see," replied the man. There was a pregnant pause, with the four standing in an awkward silence, before he turned around. "You do not seem to be lying. Very well; you may look upon the face of God. I will be back."

"There's no need, Mr. Popo," came another voice. It was wizened with age, tired, but strong. A figure had stepped out of the three-pronged entrance to the inner sanctum of the Palace. Leaning on his cane, he was old, appearing frail, with wrinkled green skin, sharp eyes, and draped in robes. To some, this was the face of Piccolo Daimaō. To a select few, it was the face of God. To Bulma, it was both. "I am well aware of this girl; she is the wife of our young Son Gokū."

Tights was shocked; her black eyes widened, her mouth agape. "I-It's Piccolo Daimaō! Bulma! That's Piccolo Daimaō! I thought Son killed him!"

Bulma immediately sensed her sister's panic; an alert from her optical implant conveniently informed her that Tights' heart rate was increasing dramatically. "N-No, this isn't Piccolo!" assured Bulma. She explained to Tights how Piccolo Daimaō and God used to be the same person centuries ago, but now God was a kind man and Piccolo Daimaō was the same Piccolo now fighting the Saiyans.

The older sister's breathing eased up, exhaling a sigh of relief. Jaco on the other hand, cast God a bewildered look.

"Wait just a sec; your "God" is a Nameccian?"

"Nameccian?" asked Bulma, perplexed. "Wait, like an alien?" "Exactly like an alien," replied Jaco. "The Nameccians are native to the planet Namek, and they're a group of hom*ogeneous peoples. They're a peaceful race, and more or less keep to themselves. I didn't think your "God" would also be one."

The trio looked at God, who cast a weary glance of understanding at them all. The elderly deity gripped his cane, shifting his weight to it, and let out a resigned sigh.

"Explain what?" asked Bulma, sounding nervous. What could the God of Earth need to own up to?

"I had my suspicions about my origins," continued God unimpeded. "Never a solid thought, but a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. I knew I was…unique…to put it simply. My first memories were of a place I now know to be the Yunzabit Highlands—"

"WHAT?!" A stunned gasp from the two women. The Yunzabit Highlands were the metaphorical ends of the Earth. Barring the northernmost islands on the true fringes of the world which were detached from the main continent, the Highlands were the last vestige of land anyone could hope to inhabit.

A look of exasperated understanding crossed God's face at this second interruption, but otherwise he continued as if the two women had not just shouted loud enough to deafen him. "It was almost a barren wasteland, and I couldn't comprehend why I'd been left there. Perhaps the strangest thing was the house I lived in. It wasn't like any house that should have existed — resting on four spindly legs, with a door at the base. And the door opened with the utterance of a single word: Piccolo."

Piccolo?Bulma had the wherewithal to stop interrupting, and her face have away any exclamation.The door opened…with the word Piccolo?

"Eventually, I came to realise that I was alone," said God, a deep sadness pooling in his eyes. It was hard to comprehend; for someone to have been alone ever since they could remember, and to have to accept that reality. "It was only after I set out into the rest of the world, leaving that house behind, when I saw just how vast everything was. I encountered the previous God, Mika, during his final days, and became his successor after purging the evil in my heart: this evil would become Piccolo.

I would go on to create the Dragon Balls during my time as God — whether it was to atone for my sin of unleashing the Devil on the people I was supposed to protect, I can't say — and, despite never having done it before, it made me feel nostalgic." He cast a look at the satchel that Tights held, fully aware that his creations were there. "Perhaps one of my ancestors on my own planet underwent the process of manufacturing the Dragon Balls. That was the first time I'd have even an inkling of my origins."

Bulma was astounded by this information, but knew thatnowwasn't the time to be inquisitive. "God, I'd love to ask more, and I will later, but can we please summon Shénlóng? We're on a small time crunch."

"Yes, that's correct, but not for the reason you think," said God, standing aside and motioning them forward. "I took up far too much time speaking, so summon Shénlóng and do it quickly. I fear for a dark shadow in the coming hour, and it will mark the end of Shénlóng."

"A...dark shadow?" repeated Tights.

"Yes. Piccolo knows it too. He's going to die."

"Piccolo?!" This sent Bulma into a far more proactive panic, and she practically snatched the satchel from her sister's hands. She had a dozen questions — how did God know Piccolo was about to die? What did Piccolo's death have to do with the Dragon Balls? — but the fact that Piccolo dying left her daughter unprotected against the Saiyans, as she scarcely considered the girl's uncle to be better than Piccolo, was enough to make her move. She emptied the satchel, and the seven orbs fell to the tiled ground, shining brilliantly.

God stepped forward, holding his hands over the spheres. "Then, it is time. If Son Gokū doesn't make it, this will be the final wish on the Dragon Balls. Come forth, Shénlóng! And grant our wish!"

The sky blackened. There was a flash of light and a clap of sound like thunder. The crimson orbs flashed in a blinding yellow light, which shot upwards into the sky like a reverse lightning bolt. It began to coil in the air, wounding itself in the sky as it took form, solidifying into the imposing shape of the Dragon God, Shénlóng. The force of his arrival caused a giant gust of wind to form, rippling the clothes and hair of all those present.

"So this...is Shénlóng?" Tights gasped, her coal-black eyes twinkling in the light of the Dragon Balls. She took in the sight of the Dragon God, the shimmering scales, the fierce countenance, and the glowing red eyes. But everything was capped off by the immense size of Shénlóng. "It's unreal..."

Even Jaco was taken aback; the idea of a magic dragon being real hadn't actually crossed his mind, and he had thought Bulma was more or less making it up. But he believed something if his eyes could see it, and here it was.

Shénlóng spoke, and when he did, his voiced boomed across the Palace; the very vibrations felt like they would shake the very tiles apart. "You, who have gathered the seven Dragon Balls. Reflect upon your desires; I will grant but one."

"Shénlóng, in the Afterlife, there is a man called Son Gokū," said God steadily. "He's training on the North Kaiō's planet, but he is not dead. Bring him here!"

There was a pause between the delivery of the wish, and Shénlóng's response. Bulma was beginning to think the wish was impossible, until Shénlóng spoke again. "Son Gokū has agreed," said the Dragon God. "As you have requested, he will be brought here to the Palace of God." The Dragon God's eyes flashed a brilliant red, and where there had been no one, stood Gokū, transported to them in an instant.

"Your wish has been granted," said Shénlóng. "Fare thee well." Shénlóng vanished, and the orbs were wrapped in a glowing yellow light as they began to ascend into the air. Floating for but a moment, the orbs split off into every direction, flying to far flung corners of the planet. The sky brightened again.

With Shénlóng gone, Bulma was able to truly look at her husband. Much to her surprise, she saw that he'd come back from the Afterlife looking different. He wasn't wearing thegishe remembered, and in its place was new attire; the blue undershirt remained, but worn over it was an orangegitop with blue lining from the collar down to the hem, and it wasn't worn tucked like his previousgi. Near the base, "亀" was inscribed, but "界王" was inscribed on the back in a large white circle. Hisgipants were of a darker orange, and his boots retained their shape, but now blue bandages wrapped from the ankle to the bottom of his pant legs. In place of armbands, Gokū now wore blue bandages tied around his palms and wrists, and a blueobisash kept hisgitied. His tail poked out from the back, much like it had in his childhood.

If it had been a different day, the sight of his tail would have terrified her. But given the circ*mstances, and how long he'd been away, this was a minor detail she shoved out of her mind. Instead of asking pointless questions and wasting precious time, she ran over to Gokū and threw her arms around her husband. The Saiyan was nothing but surprised, but perhaps moreso when Bulma planted a firm kiss onto his lips — a kiss filled with a year of lost feelings.

The kiss certainly came as a surprise, but Gokū, having experienced his fair share of these — and then some — by now, reciprocated fiercely. His tail wrapped around Bulma's waist, pulling her closer to him; this was more of an instinctual Saiyan gesture than anything. It took a full minute, as well as an obtrusive throat clearing from Tights, for the two to remember that theyweren'tat their own home.

"Son, Bulma, as nice as it is to see you two together again, is this the time?"

"R-Right," said Bulma, blushing like she was sixteen again. Gokū could only chuckle in his familiar laugh, but the two relented and broke apart. Gokū's tail slipped back from his wife's waist, and the women explain to Gokū the situation — the Saiyan's arrival, the destruction the aliens had wrought, and the fact that two people, most likely their own, had died.

Gokū's normally kind eyes narrowed, and he felt his fists clench. Now that he was free to spread his senses out, he could see what Bulma meant. There was a fierce battle raging; he didn't know whichkibelonged to who. Once he'd been fully updated, Gokū's casual demeanor shifted into business mode. "I'll get down there as quick as I can; first, I'll pop by Karin's place an' grab some Senzu!"

"Son Gokū, you must hurry," stressed God. "Piccolo is fighting with the Saiyans, and his death will mean mine; as well as the inertness of the Dragon Balls! We will no longer be able to fix a thing!"

"Son. when you get there, protect our baby," said Bulma, though that statement went without saying and Gokū knew it. "And when you meet the Saiyans...and pay them back ten-times over!"

The Saiyan grinned, and Gokū flashed them all a thumbs up; he then turned, jumping off of the Palace and flying straight down. In a rapid descent, he passed by Karin's Tower. "Oi! Master Karin!"

"G-Gokū?" the cat god shouted in surprise.

"Do you have any Senzu?!"

The cat fetched the urn, and tossed the remaining two beans to Gokū. "Here! The last two!"

"Thanks!" crowed Gokū, stashing them away in hisgi. "Kinto'un!" He shouted for his magic cloud, and the yellow cloud came pelting to its owner as if it had been waiting. Gokū landed onto it neatly, enjoying the familiar feeling of one of his old friends. "Go, Kinto'un! We've gotta save everyone!"

Wastelands, Earth, Earlier

The sky blackened. The sudden oncoming of the night shocked everyone, and immediate battle ceased. Pan, even with her unabating rage, cam to a halt, the tailed girl stopping short of an assault to glance at the sky.

"W-Why is it nighttime?!" was the confused half-Saiyan's cry.

Vegeta and the other Saiyans were as confused as the Dragon Team; he'd wanted to angle their arrival as close to Earth's night as he could, in case the riffraff somehow managed to push him far enough to require the Saiyan's true power. But no planet simply switched from day to night as if turning on a switch, it didn't work that way.

"Something weird is going on," groaned Aspara. "It's too early for nightfall!"

Kuririn was the one to state it first, though Piccolo realised it at the same time. This sudden oncoming on darkness wasn't an omen; it was the signal for their hope. "Gokū!" He crowed, fists clenched in excitement. "Gokū's coming back!"

"Kakarrot is?!" The words came three sources; Raditz, Aspara, and Vegeta, all at once. Raditz grinned; he didn't like to rely on his younger brother, especially in the face of Aspara and Vegeta, but at this point, beggars couldn't be choosers. A fresh fighter, especially a fellow Saiyan, on their side, might even the odds.

"That bastard," muttered Piccolo. "He sure knows how to keep us in suspense. If the sky is dark, this is surely the work of Shénlóng and the Dragon Balls."

"Papa's coming?!" Pan shouted excitedly. "So Papa's gonna beat up the bad guys!"

Vegeta's expression narrowed.Dragon Balls?He directed his gaze to Kuririn, addressing him directly. "You! Dwarf! I've heard of these 'Dragon Balls' before; mysterious wish orbs that grant the desires of one who collects them. But wasn't Kakarrot on Earth? Why would you need Dragon Balls for him?"

Before anyone could stop him, Kuririn shot back, "We used them to bring Gokū back from the Afterlife! He was given special permission to train with the gods and now he's gonna kick your asses!"

Piccolo and Raditz flashed death glares in Kuririn's direction.

"Kuririn!"

"You fool!"

Both shouted fiercely at him, knowing that the last thing they needed to do was stoke the flames of an already desperate situation. Bragging wouldn't help them now, it would only make it worse.

"I see," Vegeta grinned, adjusting his Scouter. "Aspara, Kuka, Gula. We're going to expedite our plans. Kill them all."

Aspara flashed a predatory grin, snarling like a wild beast. "Prince, I don't need to be ordered to kill them; I'm going to dye the ground red. But why the sudden rush?"

"Consider it a change of plans," Vegeta replied casually. "More like...a solution to our problems. That Nameccian over here is most likely responsible for the creation of these Dragon Balls. We'll clean up the trash here on Earth, and make a visit to their home planet, Namek. The natives are bound to be hospitable, and what better welcoming gift than a set of Dragon Balls?" Truly, he could see it now; a wish from those, and he would be free to dominate the Universe. Free fromhim.

Realisation hit Raditz with immense force, and he couldn't help but eye Vegeta with pity. "So that's what these years of servitude have reduced you to, Vegeta?"

The sky lightened, the dark clouds clearing away to reveal the sunlight. Breaking through, the battlefield was illuminated by the warmth of sun, though it did nothing to stave off the dread that permeated the air. Aspara, Kuka, and Gula had been all but toying with the foursome, but Vegeta had given his orders, and their execution was impending.

"Handle the midget and keep out of my way, boys," Aspara ordered, cracking her knuckles. "These three are mine. I'll start with the brat! I've never let another Saiyan manhandle me, especially not some worthless half-ling!"

"Wait, you don't—" Raditz started, but the Saiyan woman cut him off mid-sentence.

"Shut up, traitor!" snarled Aspara. "You'll get yours, so just sit there while I reduce our precious little family to paste!" Her slender fingers snapped and crackled with electricity, forming a sharp aura of redki. As she saw Pan trying to brace herself, the woman said, "Don't tense up; it'll only make it messier." Swinging her arms down, a blast ofkiwas expelled from her fingertips. It warped and flashed before coalescing into the form of a crescent, and ripped its way towards a terrified young girl.

"Brat, move yo-!" A strangled cry from Raditz was cut off by an immense howl of pain. Not from Pan; in that moment, there had been a green blur, and redkiclashed with an entirely different target. Piccolo had practically materialised in front of Pan, and with immense strength, gripped the crescentkithat bore down onto him. His body was spurting purple liquid, blood splashing onto the grass, but the Nameccian did not budge. He turned towards Pan, eyes burning, and forced out a single word.

"Run!"

"P-Piccolo!" Pan screeched, eyes wide and voice piercing.

Dust was kicked from the ground as the blast's velocity attempting to force the Nameccian backwards. Fierce growls echoed in his throat, his mouth agape in a mixture of pain and frustration. Saliva dripped from his mouth as Piccolo kept a firm grip on the on the crescent and held his ground. Raditz, clearly seeing Pan wasn't about to run, dashed forward and pulled his niece aside. When Piccolo saw that Pan was completely removed from the problem, his muscles bulged, clearly expanding via some unnatural source; the stress of this action and the applied pressure of the crescent caused his muscles to shred, and more blood burst from his body.

"He's...insane!" Aspara gasped; Kuka and Gula, who should have been making a move to kill Kuririn, could only gape as Piccolo tried to suppress Aspara's technique while his body broke apart.

"This bastard...he's not your average Nameccian!" hissed Kuka.

A final mighty roar bellowed from Piccolo's lungs, and he managed to completely force the blast aside, deflecting it and sending it towards a nearby mountain. The crescent crashed into it, creating an explosion as it slashed the peak to shreds. In the end, the mountain looked better than Piccolo. From his shoulder to his groin, a horrible slashed ripped through his flesh. It was a darkened purple, with lighter purple liquid — blood — pouring out. Ruptures on his arms, which had shrunken back to their regular size, showed bare muscle and more blood.

"He managed to deflect it!" gasped Aspara, her shock refusing to subside even when Piccolo fell to his knees and collapsed.

Vegeta, however, found this incredibly amusing, and laughed cruelly. "Is none of you capable of fending us off without dying?! It's pathetic!"

Kuririn could only watch the scene, shocked to his core. Of all the things he expected to see, an act of nobility from Piccolo was the lowest on the list.

Pan scrambled over to Piccolo's dying form, frantically gripping his body. "P-Piccolo! Don't die! Papa will be here soon! He can help!"

"It's...too late..." gasped Piccolo, coughing horribly. "I'm already knocking on...death's door...I don't have...more than a minute, brat." Blood spurted from his mouth; his internal systems had been ruptured entirely; short of an outside source, he truly wasn't going to make it. He couldn't even regenerate; he just didn't have the strength. "These past few months...with you and that idiot...have been...so strange for me..."

"P-Piccolo, don't talk!" stammered Pan. "Please, just wait for Papa!"

"It's...pathetic in the end..." continued Piccolo, ignoring Pan's pleading. Soft tears had begun to fall from his eyes now. "...thePiccolo Daimaō killed...because he shielded a child..." Another spurt of blood accompanied a section of violent coughing. "But...they weren't bad in the end...these past few months...I took you in...on a chance...but in the end...you've made me proud..." He attempted to raise an arm towards Pan, but they couldn't move. "Don't...die...Pan..."

With these last words uttered, Piccolo passed on. While the remaining fighters were unaware, Bulma, Tights, and Jaco had just witnessed the passing of God as well.

"Isn't that all just sweet?" hissed Aspara, watching the whole scene in utter irritation. "All you did was adjust the order in which you die, Nameccian! You didn't save a single damn person! But it will make her death even more painful!" Aspara approached a distraught Pan, cracking her knuckles. She raised a hand, despite immediate protests from Raditz, and slammed it downward.

But a resulting blow never came. In the brief second between her throwing a punch and expecting it to connect, it was stopped entirely by a new arrival. Clad in his familiar orange, tail whipping and expression stony, Gokū had stopped the blow entirely, grabbing Aspara's wrist with his hand, clenching down like a vice. Gokū shoved her off, before picking up Pan and moving her a distance away, closer to Raditz.

Kuka could gape at Kakarrot's display, but Gula eyed him with curiousity. To fling Aspara — the third strongest of their group — back like a doll was no easy feat. Wasn't Kakarrot supposed to be low-class trash?

"G-Gokū!" Kuririn gasped. "You're here!"

"Is this how you do things, little brother?" inquired Raditz. "Better late than never?"

"Glad to see you could make it, Kakarrot," grinned Vegeta. "Though I hope you haven't arrived with any sentiment of defeating us, have you?"

Gokū ignored the lot of them briefly, walking over towards Piccolo's body. He didn't need to check for a pulse; once glance at his rival told him that Piccolo was dead. He proceeded to scope out the battlefield, and saw a myriad of horrors — Chaozu's charred body, Yamcha's fallen corpse with a gaping wound, and Tenshinhan, riddled with holes.

"Yamcha...Tenshinhan...Chaozu...Piccolo..." Gokū's voice was a snarl, trembling in fury. "You killed them all...and now God is dead too..."

A "pipipipipi" sound alerted Vegeta to the fact that his Scouter was now going haywire. Numbers were shooting up and he realised the source was coming from their new guest: Kakarrot's power was steadily rising.So it fluctuates with anger? Just like that child...

In a simple movement, Gokū crossed the battlefield, placing a hand on the back of Kuririn and bringing him closer to Pan and Raditz. The sheer speed of this movement shocked all present. "Sorry for bein' late. You guys did great." Gokū reached into hisgi, pulling out the two Senzu, and looked at his family and best friend. "Master Karin only had these two; one of you ain't gonna be able to get one."

Raditz recognised the bean instantly; the wonder drug his brother had given him a year prior. He resolutely raised a hand. "That's the Senzu, right? I don't need it; give one to the girl first."

The three looked at Raditz in surprise.

"You..." Gokū began, but Raditz cut him off.

"Say a word and I'll beat the crap out of you right here, little brother."

The younger Saiyan couldn't help but grin, and he gave the Senzu to his daughter and oldest friend. The two ate the beans, and felt the pain wash away from their bodies, wounds stitching instantly. It was a mystical relief that could only come from this sort of magic. Gokū placed a hand on his daughter's hair, so like his own, smiling. "Feel better now?"

"Yeah! Thanks, Papa!" Pan smiled. The physical pain was gone, though the Senzu couldn't wash away the emotional pain of Piccolo's death, something about having her father there made her feel like they could do anything.

"You know..." came a guttural growl. "We've been oddly kind to watch this, haven't we, Gula?"

"I agree, Kuka," said the other Saiyan to his compatriot. "It might be time...for Kakarrot to see how we treat traitors."

The two teammates entered a formation, and rushed Gokū in tandem. Kuririn, who had been fighting them up until this point, was quick to realise they'd only been toying with him. The speed they showcased now, and the speed they'd had during his battle, was on a completely different level. Gokū didn't budge, nor did he even turn around; when Kuka made contact first, Gokū's arm reached behind him and grabbed Kuka by the face. In a single instance, Gokū tossed Kuka several feet away, sending him crashing into the ground. Gula was next, and Gokū made ample use of his muscular tail, slamming it into Gula's cheek, shattering the bone and the man careened into his comrade.

At the sight of Kakarrot's tail, Raditz couldn't help but grin. His little brother had regained a part of himself, a Saiyan part. He turned to Kuka and Gula, weakened and broken by Kakarrot's quick assault, and raised a palm. Pinkkierupted from his hands, and it rushed across the ground towards his fallen former comrades. The resulting explosion shook the arena, and the bodies were instantly charred. Kuka and Gula had been killed.

"Raditz," said Gokū reproachfully. "That was too far; they couldn't move, I'd made sure of that!"

"I did it out of our best interests, Kakarrot," replied Raditz sharply. "I've worked with this squad for years. If you don't kill them, theywillnot stop. Now do you want to waste your energy arguing ethics, or work with your big brother?"

Gokū frowned. Whatever appreciation he'd had for Raditz letting Pan have the Senzu was becoming mitigated by his persistent pragmatism in battle. "No." He tightened theobiat his waist. "I'll be enough for this."

Chapter 17: The World King Fist

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 17 - The World King Fist

Gokū was beside himself with anger.

He had attempted to move as quickly as he could to get to this point from the beginning, ever since he was informed of how little time he had. Even his wife and her sister helped gather the Dragon Balls to wish him to God's Palace so he could make it in better time. After a quick stop to Karin's for vital Senzu he raced there with the aid of his Kintoun. Arriving, he had narrowly stopped what he assumed was one of the Saiyans Raditz warned them about from striking his child.

Unfortunately, he had been too late to save the others.

Yamcha. Tenshinhan. Chaozu. And even Piccolo, The adopted grandson of Gohan trembled with remembrance, having just dealt crippling blows to two other Saiyans who didn't even compare to himself. He chastised Raditz for killing them at the moment. But now, he was still processing the deaths of his friends and how close Kuririn and Pan were to death as well.

But he wasn't the only one who was angry.

"Yo! Bed hair!" Aspara cried out, her eyes glaring daggers at Gokū's with savager laced in her tone. Meeting the interloper in the eyes she flinched for a moment when she saw a gleam of fury buried beneath the serenity of the Earth raised Saiyan's stillness. Shaking it off, she pointed at him with disdain with a loud snarl. "Who the Hell told you to butt in, huh?! I was in the middle of something-!"

"Did you do it?"

"-what?" She asked, interrupted by Gokū's sudden blunt question.

"Were you the one who killed them?" Gokū inquired again, this time with a bit more force behind his voice.

She blinked once. Then twice. A sour stare fixed at him, thinned as recognition overtook the similarity between herself and the alleged Kakarrot standing before her. A feral grin spread across her face as her pupils shrank into dots, hair standing on ends with anticipation for a fight nearing. She answered him far quieter than she had addressed the others previously, but no more stable than before, "I can't say I was responsible for the midget or three-eyes biting the dust. I did ax the Nameccian, though I was aiming for that brat over there-!"

That was all she could say until an overwhelming force erupted in front of her eyes. Pan stumbled back with Kuririn while Raditz just basked in his younger brother's aura, his hair whipping in the fierce wind it created. Blue outlined white fire surged from his skin, and Gokū's teeth gnashed while his angular shaped hair pulsed upward into a torch of black -not too different from Vegeta's hair style- as blue bandaged knuckles balled up and boot heels dug into cracking earth. The erratic beeping of Scouters could be heard between both Aspara and Vegeta, the latter of which had his smile erased to shock while the prior's turn to near horror.

As quickly as it came, the energy settled, and Gokū's black mane returned to its natural state while floating earth dropped in gentle clacks by his feet.

N-No way! The Scouter says...

"...he's stronger than Nappa!" Aspara finished Vegeta's line of thought out loud, as the reading bleeped in red before her glass lens HUD.

"This isn't even the highest I can go," Gokū warned, standing upright and relaxed, letting his hands relax from fists into open palms to his sides. "I've mastered the art of Kaiōken. As you are now, you can't win against me."

"Kaio-what?" Vegeta asked with a bewildered blank stare.

"Tch! It doesn't matter!" Aspara shrieked, her body suddenly engulfed in a vibrant scarlet light that electrified the air and burned the soil beneath her boots' soles. Leaping forward, she curled one hand into a fist while using one co*cked at an angle to guard her face. In a split second, she'd leap upon him, throwing her fist towards his face.

An explosion of pain slammed at the back of her skull, her vision briefly becoming dark before a film of red was unveiled to see the entire scope of the ground her face was crashing into. Her whole body throbbed with the sensation of fire, a blow of this magnitude not even comparable to what the other three had dealt during her skirmish with them. Even the brat didn't pack this much of a wallop!

"D-Did Papa do that?" Pan asked, unable to see what had just happened.

"I-I think it's safe to say that he did, squirt," Kuririn affirmed with a swallow, having been among those on Gokū's side to be left in the dark to the swiftness of his movements.

But for Raditz, who had focused intently into seeing Gokū's progress from the time he had fought him to now, had saw the blurring arc of his motion. From the moment Aspara began releasing her right shoulder to throw the punch he had leaped in a forward flip over her head -presumably hitting her with his feet or hands- and then landing on his heels before she even hit the ground. It was fast, too fast, for him to physically react to such momentum and refined agility.

Kakarrot, what kind of god taught you to move like that?!He bemused, grinning nervously as a bead of cold sweat crawled down his scalp. The feat of strength was a reminder to himself not to make his younger sibling cross, less he be on the receiving end of such a blow.

Aspara wasn't down for long. Clenching at her throbbing scalp, the long-haired Saiyaness stood up back on her feet, grinding her teeth together with indignation. Casting a momentary glance at Vegeta and she could tell, even from this distance, that the Prince wasn't thrilled at this predicament either. Shaking her head, she turned around and raised a single middle finger up at him in favor of holding her injured skull.

"Nice try, Kakarrot, but it's going to take more than that to put me down for good!" She crowed out.

"Good!" He affirmed, a hint of delight bore through the mask of menace aimed squarely at her. "I didn't break a sweat when I took care of your friends. It'd be a shame if I beat you while warmin' up."

"Don't get co*cky!" Aspara sneered, herkiblistering outwards, golden currents coiling even tighter to the mantle of rosy flames ebbing from her pores. Raditz could tell his wayward cousin was upping her power even higher than she displayed before, and it seemed it wasn't even a trial to her. But even so, when he looked to his brother, he just stonily stared her down as if such an increase was negligible.

Lurching forward, a shriek echoed from the sound barrier broken in the wake of the Saiyaness charging forward. Leaving a blood hued trail of fire, she thrust her whole person at Gokū's torso, phasing through what she could discern was a static image. Stopping with a quaking stomp, she veered around with a whip of her hair to land a jab that released a spearing bolt of energy towards Gokū's head; the lance of light, of which, he took a left step back and rolled on the heel with a jerk of his head to avoid the cloud parting attack.

Baring her teeth, Aspara pumped her legs with more energy and throttled into her opponent's lower half. She made contact, much to her chagrin, in that he leaped up by his left foot and somersaulted while keeping eye contact with her with his left shoulder aiming at her. Even during a retaliating violent turn to strike, he spun in a blur of motion she was unable to avoid, the ankle of his boot smashing across her jaw with a thunderous impact. Spit, blood and a chip of a tooth flew out of her pursed lips, eyes widened with the whole of her neck snapping with the attack. By the time the air popped, her whole body was busy careening in a rag doll effect, landing on a shoulder to a lower back over to the uninjured side of her face and rolling the rest of the way.

"Thatwas for Piccolo," Gokū intoned with audible satisfaction, landing deftly on his back foot before lowering his kicking boot's heel back to the earth.

"Damn you!" Aspara shrieked, scrambling back to her feet from all fours. Ignoring the soot that clung to her skin and armor, the gnarled tangles in her once smooth hair, or the bruises now enamoring her jaw and head, fire was pumping through her veins at this time. With fury backing up her current countenance, the Saiyaness' body let loose a pyre of crimson light, coiling golden currents flowing up and down the reaches of her energy's projection. Gathering it around her left arm, she pulled it back till it condensed around the limb.

Pan, having recognizing the technique that almost killed her -and having succeeded in killing Piccolo- cried out with sudden fear for her father, "PAPA! LOOK OUT!"

"TOO LATE!" Aspara bellowed out with sad*stic glee, swinging her upper torso around in a fervor, unleashing an all too familiar crescent moon shaped blade of ki that aimed to bifurcate the treacherous Kakarrot in two. Parting the earth and shearing the air, the crackling projection of energy bore its way at a momentum that only the likes of Raditz could perceive. It'd be like a flash to Kuririn and Pan, whom were unable to do anything the last time it was fired.

But to Gokū, its speed might as well been an underhanded toss of a ball.

Gokū inhaled deeply, exhaled out of his nostrils and closed his eyes. He could feel it crawling towards him, inching its way forth. The sound warped as his trained senses focused solely on its presence rather than the slower stimuli that it let loose. Without opening his eyes, his body acted in accordance to what he felt; dropping low, spinning on the ball of his feet to glide smoothly across disheveled soil. Reaching its flank with his left side, he stood up straight pulled his left arm, fingers clenching into a fist over his right shoulder...

..then, he whipped out to rap his knuckles against the flat of the luminous lunar scythe, shattering it in an echo of a thunderclap and flash of dispersing sparks that numbered in the thousands.

"W-What?!" Aspara gawked, her body frozen in place from its launching posture, still processing what Kakarrot just did.

"H-He shattered it like it was nothing!" Raditz exclaimed, his breath released after realizing he had been holding it the moment Aspara attacked.

"This doesn't make any sense," Vegeta mused silently, a hand reaching up to clench his chin as his eyes scowled to ponder the situation they're having. "Kakarrot wasn't even Raditz's equal a year ago, needing both that Nameccian's help and his half-breed's surprise aid. Now, when neither could close the gap, Aspara can't even land a single blow on him? Is this the result of that Kaiōken he mentioned?"

"Wow! Your dad is sure amazing!" Kuririn nervously praised, feeling a bit better after seeing Gokū in such top form.

Shaken out of her dazed disbelief, Pan cheered with hands cupped around her mouth, "That was amazing, Papa! Beat her up good, for Uncle Piccolo!"

While Raditz didn't want to assert his support in wistful optimism like his niece and the bald man were doing, he couldn't deny that the fruits of his brother's labor seem to be paying off. Everything was better about him. It wasn't just power and speed, but refined skill and honed senses. He didn't even see him look at the technique in the eye when he dispelled it with one hand. And based on how frazzled Aspara looked, he was too eager to let her know her of her current situation.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, eh, Aspara?!" Raditz shouted, watching her expression turned to dumbfound to something akin to being pure livid. "I can't believe a cousin of mine would be so weak! Weren't you boasting about being among the Elite of our race? How can a low class warrior make such a fool out of you? How pathetic, truly, this is!"

"Shut up-!"

"Oh! Hold on a second!" Gokū turned for a moment, looking at the older Saiyan with a scrunched up face. "Cousin? Does that mean, she's related to me?"

"SHUT UP!" Aspara screamed, her hair rising up and eyes nearly blanking with pure rage. Bolts of electricity snapped out from an inferno of red energy escaping her body, tinting her skin and emboldening her dark eyes to burgundy circling pupils. Veins throbbed around exposed skin, armor rose and fell with her labored breathing, knuckles cracking in sync with the pulses of energy coursing in and out of her body. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME! I COULD GIVE A DAMN WHAT BLOOD YOU HAVE, YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO ME! IF YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU LIVE, YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET-!"

"ASPARA!"

A single voice overshadowed her own and drew her mounting fury to a standstill. Despite being embroiled with fury, she had enough sense to turn her head and look warily at the Prince, whose face shown a visible hint of anger at her. She didn't snap back or ignore him, just stared on cautiously as he kept a hawkish glare squared at her.

"Cool your head! You've been making a mockery of us, letting him take you apart like this. Worse yet, you're about to explode with how mad you're letting yourself become! Cool your head and fight smarter than him! You're an Elite, aren't you?!"

Aspara recoiled at his public lashing of her. It stung worse because she knew he was right. Reining in her personal qualms and the bent ego she had with both Raditz, the half breed brat and Kakarrot, she slowly brought her anger to a manageable level. Sharpening her focus, she used the pent-up energy she got from her outburst to embroil her body into an aura almost skin-tight silk, rippling like water than the burning fire it was before. Scarlet eyes replaced burgundy orbs and her hair rivulet in undulating motions.

"Alright then, Kakarrot. The kid gloves come off. Time to make a serious effort to tear you apart," She declared, her fingers flattening and thumbs folding over the palms, co*cking the arms at crisscross angles as if they were blades to be brandished. One foot straight pressed in front of the other bent leg, she unraveled her tail from her lower waist to sway back and forth, coiling currents rising up and down the prehensile limb. No longer was she a ball of unbridled fury, she was now a focused tool of murder and killing efficiency.

"Good! I was about to get serious myself," Gokū replied in kind, angling his own body to have his right arm with forefingers bent and thumb hooked with the other fingers clasped on his palm. With the other balled into a fist at his hip, knees bent, he was perfectly poised to do battle with earnest instead of 'warming up'.

A brief silence was cast on the battlefield. Vegeta's boot tapped impatiently, Pan's tail twitched nervously with her hands balled up, Kuririn gulping and Raditz's eyes twitched with his pupils narrowed with focus on the pair of fighters with extreme intent. A brief inhale was had by Gokū just before Aspara's pupils were contracted to near invisibility.

The pair shimmered away, reappearing a few meters off the ground and colliding mightily. a warping pressure wave released that distended the ground and rolled the air over with a shower of dust and debris to rain on the observers. While Vegeta's simply exhaled and the shockwave parted around him as a gentle breeze, the others had to shield their eyes with their arms with only Raditz raising a hand to produce a kiai to blow back the wave of dirt and rocks sent in his direction.

Unlike before, where Gokū danced around a raging Aspara, the two seemed to be intertwined in a precarious tempo. Aspara's arms cut strands of hair and parts of Gokū's uniform that weren't deflected with care, showing the cutting proficiency of herkiclad arms. Meanwhile, Gokū's own punches, kicks and thrusts were being dodged, blocked and parried with far better skill. They rarely separated, keeping in close proximity to each other as they maneuvered all over the skyline over their heads, never straying too far from the original battlefield they had come from.

Flipping backwards, Aspara backpedaled to narrowly avoid a pair of boots nearly catch her chin, grazing the liquid coating surrounding her skin instead in a shower of sparks. Continuing his retreat, Gokū kept his arms close to his waist, a wry smile of surprise adorned on his features. While she enjoyed the thrill of cutting loose like this, he too relished that Saiyan love of fighting that she inherently could relate to.

"Man, you're stronger than I thought! Guess this is gonna be a tough fight after all!" He exclaimed honestly.

"Ha! If you love me now, then you're going to be in for a rude awakening when I truly let loose!" She boasted.

Her arms raised up in the tell-tale crisscross stance in front of her face, this time broadening into thicker blades that became several meters in length and a meter in width each. Gokū marveled at the potency of such charging, its technique similar to his Kamehameha but applied in a fundamentally different way. In making the comparison, he instinctively took a step back just as she leaped quickly towards him.

With a wordless cry, she unleashed a swollen X, its epicenter easily dwarfing his body in mass of scarlet outlined white light. Hidden behind the sheer scope of the technique, Gokū's body became engulfed in his own azure aura, his fists tightening at his sides and breath inhaling. Just as it began to singe the hairs on his brows and bangs, he released his counterattack; a technique he witnessed at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai all those years ago.

A deafening scream was released, a bolstered kiai of immense proportions that warped the glowing construct and shook the heavens down to the earth. As everyone, Prince and all, covered their ears they'd see Aspara's technique halted in the sky, cracking and shuddering. The moments that followed as the scream ebbed to near finality, it finally scattered into hundreds of fragments that disappeared into the wind.

"Whew, that was close," Gokū commented, rubbing his neck, coughing a bit after the fact. "I thought I was goin' to lose my voice doin' Tenshinhan's technique. But hey, it worked, hehe!"

Aspara was taken aback completely.

She knew this was one of her best moves, and it was utterly eradicated by the power of this low level, third class Saiyan'svoice. She didn't know what to do. What else could she do? They were evenly matched in strength but something was beyond her imagining, dwelling beneath the surface of what she assumed was his peak. This wasn't just a bottom feeder; this was a freak!

"Aspara," Vegeta called out her name, giving her a feeling of shame and fear of equal measure. Looking down, she saw the Saiyan's scowl couldn't have been more pronounced, even from this altitude. "Get down here! It's clear that I have to do everything myself. You've embarrassed us long enough; I'll take care of things from here on."

"Great. Just when Gokū was about to beat her, she gets to take a time out," Kuririn bemoaned the new development, watching the Saiyaness cast some helpless glares at them and her opponent. After a few more seconds went by, she slowly lowered her frame down, her aura lessening in intensity and becoming more docile. As she grew nearer to Vegeta, the bald dwarf felt...something...off.

"Well, if we have to deal with her, we will. Better her than that savage, Nappa," Raditz intoned, his arms now crossed over his chest readily.

When her boots clacked onto the ground, Vegeta didn't even look at her. His eyes were drawn up at Kakarrot, still floating in the air and looking every bit confused if not disappointed as Aspara was forlorn. He kept a cagey expression, the stony visage maintaining a lock with the floating Saiyan over his head without blinking past his ruby lens Scouter.

Finally, the silence was broken as Aspara reached out towards Vegeta, snarling out, "This isn't over, Vegeta!"

"You're right, Aspara," Vegeta whispered, his eyes finally looking at her with a dangerous glint that made the Saiyaness take a step back. "It isn't; at least, for me, it is."

"Vege-"

A swipe of a gloved hand and everyone's field of vision became engulfed in bluish-white. No one could hear her scream as a comet of light thrust into her whole being, carrying her into the horizon while the earth was scorched in a charred trench. Wiping away spots in their eyes, only Raditz and Gokū could see with abject horror as her form detonated into the far horizon, a mushroom cloud rising with the blast and a distant howling wind sweeping dust and debris in their vicinity. In the wake of the blast, Vegeta's widow's peak swept with the wind, his outstretched hand crinkling into a fist and a devilish grin adorned onto his face as he admired his handiwork.

In a single move, he took her out, without a second thought,Raditz mentally cataloged the act of cruelty of just one of many in his history of dealing with the Prince. Gritting his teeth, he felt chills crawl down his spine as his eyes briefly met and he hesitated in trying to put distance between them. But, the moment faded, and the Saiyan Elite looked up at the sky and crossed his arms over his chest once more in a haughty display of superiority.

"Excuse me for that pathetic display of incompetence, Kakarrot. I had to wipe away that scum before she embarrassed our heritage any further," He explained, his grin clear in his voice from the high altitude Gokū presided. "As a show of respect for having survived this long, I'll grant you a reprieve or take time to collect your thoughts. You've earned that much, showing weakness in a crew that's masqueraded as my Elite after all."

Gokū, after witnessing an act of evil that reminded him of the old Daimao Piccolo as a child, felt incredibly unsettled. Where his older brother was more of a coercer and acted the part, this Vegeta was no actor. He breathed malevolence and was seeped in self gratification. There was no question by the quality of his ki that he's dealt the horror on a scale far exceeding any enemy he's had in his lifetime.

While he felt unnerved, another part of him couldn't help but feel excited to no end.

Regathering his thoughts, he turned to look at Raditz, Pan and Kuririn. The bodies of his comrades still strewn across the battlefield and the majority of the canyon had been turned into a field of debris. Arching his neck over to a deeper area, beyond their sight, he could feel no living beings there and had a similar terrain. Nodding, he gestured in the direction and called out to Vegeta, "Let's fight away from here. I know of a place where I don't have to hold back, with my friends being this close."

"What a soft heart you have, Kakarrot," Vegeta mocked with a guttural chuckle. However, he rose up into the air without changing his arm-folded stance, approaching his altitude with minimal effort. "Lead the way, then. I'm eager to get this fight started; a fight unlike you've ever experienced."

"Can't wait," Gokū nodded, gesturing to Raditz and the other two with a thumb's up. "Get Kuririn and Pan to safety! I'm counting on you!"

Raditz grimaced at being given such a mundane task. However, he knew at this moment he'd be more of a burden to his little brother than help, so he acquiesced with a forceful nod. After the pair of siblings exchanged knowing looks, Gokū rocketed off into the horizon with Vegeta following not far behind. The fight was now out of their hands.

Give him Hell for me, Kakarrot, He glared at the stone-filled vista they flew off to.We're counting on you.

Gokū and Vegeta flew pell-mell through the air, coated in vibrant whiteki. The orange-clad Saiyan spotted a rocky, barren wasteland, and motioned Vegeta down towards their new venue. He knew nothing lived here; it would be ideal for him and Vegeta to fight in. The two broke off, landing apart from each other atop two separate jagged plateaus.

The Prince of the Saiyans grinned, folding his arms. "Such an interesting place to choose for your grave, Kakarrot."

"You think so?" inquired Gokū, raising an eyebrow cheekily. "I don't see myself bein' buried here. All I've got to do is beat you down."

Vegeta laughed, an abrupt, incredibly rude guffaw. "You're good at jokes, Kakarrot! But let me tell you something about we Saiyans! Our combat strength is measured from the day we are born, and this determines the sort of caste we fall into. Trash like you, with low combat strength, are sent off to no-name planets like these, where the opponents aren't much to speak of."

"From what I hear, my parents were apparently a diff'rent sort," replied Gokū. "It seems you don't know as much about Saiyans as you'd think, Vegeta. I might be just a low-class to you, but Earth has a different policy. Even the low-class can defeat an elite fighter, if he puts in the effort!"

"You're a regular comedian today," was the sardonic remark. "So I'll show you the wall you can never scale with meaningless 'effort'!" He crouched, spreading his legs into a squat, with his right arm held out into a tight fist while the left formed a clawing motion perpendicularly in front of his forehead. This was a traditional Saiyan battle stance.

Gokū leaned forward towards his right leg, with a clenched fist bowed parallel to his leg. He lifted his other arm up in the opposite direction, balling his fist up, forming a straight line from one set of knuckles to the other.

A dry, bitter wind rushed through the wasteland.

Then the two leapt forward. Within seconds, they exploded from their standing positions into the heat of battle. Vegeta completely ducked under Gokū's right cross, slamming his left foot into the rival Saiyan's stomach. He followed up with a powerful elbow blow to Gokū's face. The orange-clad Saiyan was winded, and in immense pain. Vegeta placed a palm in front of him, and released an invisiblekiaithat sent Gokū hurtling back in a bundle of force.

Spiraling towards the ground, Gokū saw his chance to recover, forcing himself upright as he landed on one of the jagged platforms. He immediately took to the air, only to see an immense flash as Vegeta sent a kikōha rushing upwards after him. Gokū somersaulted out of the way as best he could. The blast barely grazed him, but he could feel complete and utter shock. He hadn't seen it coming.

The Prince of the Saiyans wasted no time, and pursued Gokū into the air. His style was ferocious, and he and Gokū began to exchange blows; perhaps this wasn't a fair statement. The most Gokū could do was fend Vegeta off. They weren't exchanging blows in the slightest, but instead, Vegeta had Gokū completely on the defensive. Vegeta wore the face of a maniac, slamming a powerful uppercut into Gokū 's chin. The blow was followed up with a barrage of punches Vegeta bombarded his opponent with.

"What's the matter, Kakarrot?!" sneered the Saiyan prince. "You ragdolled Aspara like it was just so easy! Don't tell me you've run all out of power!"

Despite his best efforts, Gokū was being completely overwhelmed by Vegeta. In a stroke of inspiration, when Vegeta moved to throw another punch, Gokū shifted his weight, and his tail shot out like a snake. It coiled around Vegeta's arm, shocking the Prince completely. With the adjustment of his torso, Gokū used his tail to throw Vegeta towards Earth, sending him hurtling downward like a meteor.

Vegeta stopped his descent before he hit the ground, releasing an invisible bundle ofkito force himself into flight. Righting his body, he grinned co*ckily Gokū. "Am I supposed to be impressed, Kakarrot? Saiyan children can use their tails in combat! You're not impressing me!"

Gokū descended to the ground, looking at Vegeta with a mixture of amazement and terror. "He's...really amazin'. I can tell that he isn't fighting seriously, but his speed and power are all beyond me!" He clenched his fists at his side. "Guess I ain't got a choice! So I'll show you!" Steam began to billow from his body as his skin tinged itself red. There was an explosion of aura, with redkirushing around his body in a vibrant flame. Thekicompleted the image, dying his entire body — hair, clothes, and all — a deep and threatening crimson.

"Kaiōken!"

Vegeta was taken aback, witnessing such an abrupt change in Gokū's appearance. His head was filled with a single thought, not being familiar with the term.Kaiō-what?!Before he could verbalise the statement, spittle spewed from his mouth; the traitor had landed a firm blow to Vegeta's jaw, forcing his head sideways. A powerful follow-up kick forced Vegeta through the air, and Gokū dashed after him.

He trailed redkilike a comet, closing in and targeting the Saiyan prince. With both legs, he kicked Vegeta into the air, rocketing upwards before Vegeta could make it. Gokū gripped both hands firmly within each other, and slammed them into Vegeta's torso with a heavy sledgehammer blow. His aura flared, a brilliant conflagration around his body, and Gokū pelted downwards, intending to strike Vegeta with another blow directly into the earth.

"It's over!" He cried, thrusting his fist forward in a crushing direct punch.

"...for you?!" grinned Vegeta savagely. His hand gripped Gokū's like a vice. He pulled Gokū towards him, and slugged him mercilessly, the blow landing square in his chest. Gokū's aura dispersed, his body returning to its normal hue. Vegeta released Gokū's hand, and the Earth-raised Saiyan clutched his chest, groaning in pain.

"If that was the best that 'Kaiōken' could manage, Kakarrot, then I'm so much more than just disappointed."

Gokū grinned weakly.What's this feeling? He's so powerful...and I'm in a lotta danger...but I'm starting to get really excited!

Palace of God, Same Time

Bulma and Tights were far from the most happy women on planet. Piccolo was dead, and they knew this because, only minutes ago, they'd watched God disappear before their eyes. Mr. Popo had retired into the inner sanctum; he and God had been dear friends for centuries, and the fate of the world was nebulous now. He needed a moment for his fallen friend.

And thus, the two sisters were left alone to contemplate the fate of the world.

"Do...do you know what's going on down there?" asked Tights.

"A little bit," replied Bulma. "Looking at the numbers, Son's power nearly doubled...but now its shrunk back down again! And whoever he's fighting must be the strongest Saiyan." She placed her hand to her temples. "His readings are so scary it's like a bad joke."

"Can...Can Son win?"

"He said he would," replied Bulma firmly. "He'll kick that bastard right off our planet!"

Wastelands, Earth

"To think that a regular ol' Kaiōken wasn't enough to make you flinch," grinned Gokū, his tail flicking happily. "You're somethin' else, ain't you, Vegeta? I guess 'elite' is more than just a word for you."

"There's no point in flattery now," sneered Vegeta. "You dug your grave when you challenged us, Kakarrot. So you may as well fight to the finish."

"I always fight until it's over," said Gokū with a determined air. "Let's continue!"

The two breathed in deeply, and launched into the air towards each other. Vegeta surprised Gokū by grabbing his shoulders. In mid-air, he flipped over, performing what amounted to an airborne suplex and tossing the weaker Saiyan towards the ground. With a powerful kick, he attacked Gokū yet further. Gokū cried out in pain, and was sent rocketing into the nearest plateau, shattering it on impact. His aura, dark blue, flared to life, and he pursued Gokū like a predator.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

There was an explosion of bright bluekifrom the rubble, and Gokū shot outwards, soaring towards Vegeta. But it wasn't just simple flight; gushing from the soles of his feet was a vivid Kamehameha. Both of the Saiyan's arms were outstretched, and to say Vegeta was surprised was an understatement. He completely balked, and both of Gokū's clenched fists struck him in the chin. He grinned, and bent the flow of the of the blast with his own legs, enveloping Vegeta completely in a Kamehameha.

The Saiyan Prince disrupted the beam with ease, looking for more irritated than pained. "Don't get too excited now, Kakarrot! Flukes only happen once!" His hand reached through the smoke and scattered embers ofki, gripping Gokū by the face, catching him by surprise. He forced him down to Earth, slamming him completely through a rocky formation in a vertical strike. Vegeta co*cked his free hand back, slugging Gokū in the torso, and began to unleash a barrage of blows with both fists, crashing down into the first and creating a crater on impact.

Gokū cried out in pain, suffering from the impact of the blows and from being forced straight through solid rock. Vegeta mercilessly buffeted Gokū with blow and blow, and the ground beneath them began to crack, grinning madly.

Then there was an eruption of red light.

"TWO-FOLD KAIŌKEN!"

Vegeta's entire body shook with pain, as Gokū's reddened fist connected with his chin. Gokū's face worked in anger, and his knee shot up into Vegeta's torso, causing the Saiyan to gasp in surprise and pain. The lower-class warrior forced Vegeta off of him, into the air, repeatedly attacking him with an onslaught of rampaging attacks. The two rose higher into the air, red vs. blue, and Vegeta regained his composure, gripping Gokū's wrists and pulled him inward.

Gokū wrenched his arms out of Vegeta's grip, and unleashed a torrential stream of kicks; the resulting force propelled Vegeta through multiple rock formations, shattering them to pieces. The redkidied out, and Gokū returned to normal yet again to allow his body to rest.

A howl of rage filled the wastelands, and Vegeta forced the debris and rubble that buried him away from his body with a pulse ofki. From his face, blood dripped onto the dry rocky ground, and this made himfurious. "My noble blood...spilled by the hands of trash like you?!" A vein throbbed in his head, pulsing violently. His fist clenched, and the Saiyan grit his teeth. "Have it your way, Kakarrot! I was going to play your game for a little longer...but I'll settle for killing you quickly!Let me show you the height of an Elite Saiyan's strength!"

Vegeta's body began to shake, andkiflickered and shone off his body, emitting a bright blue glow. Fierce winds began to blow, and Gokū could see the clouds darkening overhead. To him, he felt as if he were caught in the middle of a storm, and it was pulling everything towards Vegeta. The Prince of the Saiyans let out a mighty battle cry, and in an instant, dispersed everything. Gokū felt hiskishoot ever higher, and felt fear for the first time in years.

"What...insaneki!"

"Here I come, Kakarrot! Get ready to die!"

The orange-clad Saiyan's couldn't track Vegeta's movements; he was simply too fast. He headbutted Gokū square in the chest, and brought down his elbow onto the Saiyan's body. Gokū was sent bolting downwards, but flipped upright, landing difficultly onto the ground, and immediately turned his head skyward to look for Vegeta.

"You're looking in the wrong direction, fool!"

Vegeta launched an attack from behind Gokū, hurtling a kikōha with such speed and force that the lower-class warrior couldn't deflect it. It exploded like a bomb; Gokū forced the resulting smoke off of him, his body burned, shirt singed two layers down. He gripped hisgi, ripping the top portion off in its entirety. The undershirt had been damaged too, and Gokū removed it alongside the ruined overshirt. Chest bare, and out of breath, he grinned. His tail flicked again.

Vegeta was serious about killing him, and if Gokū didn't work out fix fast, he was going to make good on it. He'd have to risk another Kaiōken. The pink tinge returned to his body, and the vibrant red aura burst into a blaze of flame. The two-fold Kaiōken. He made a mad break for Vegeta, who braced himself for battle. Gokū struck first, and Vegeta ducked under his strike, landing a powerful double fisted punch to Gokū's stomach. It was Gokū's turn for spittle to erupt from his mouth, in tandem with blood.

Gokū grit his teeth, and raised his hands above his head. It ignited withki, and the Saiyan brought the explosive sphere downward, releasing it point blank at Vegeta. It was less of an attack, and more of an escape tactic. Vegeta furiously cleared the smoke from his eyes, only to be rushed by Gokū, who grabbed Vegeta by the torso and ran him directly into the nearest jutting rock formation. It exploded on impact from them both, and Gokū flung Vegeta away.

The elite Prince of the Saiyans rebounded almost instantly, his face alight with a maniacal rage. His elbow crashed into Gokū's jaw, and nearly dislocated his neck — Gokū could consider it a miracle he wasn't dead — and brought down his right leg in a kick that struck Gokū square in the back. Vegeta followed-up with a powerful snap kick to Gokū's chin, only adding to the pain that the lower-class Saiyan was in. Gokū immediately attempted to gain some distance, landing back onto the ground. Vegeta followed suit, and his rage seemed to be subsiding.

"Is your little joke done, Kakarrot?" inquired the elite, folding his arms once more. "See where your training has gotten you? I'm the strongest Saiyan who has ever lived! Your loss was decided when you chose me as an opponent."

Gokū was breathing heavily, his body shaking with pain. Every cell felt like it was on fire, every muscle wanted to rip apart.The Kaiōken's side-effects...they're somethin' extreme. But...even a two-fold Kaiōken ain't enough to take him out.He brought a hand to his chest, trembling. His heartbeat was erratic.Damn...I suppose it might be better to blow myself up than let him do it. Sorry, Kaiō! I'll have to break that rule you set!

Standing was difficult, but Gokū endured. He inhaled deeply, focusing hiski. Inwardly, he prayed.Body...just hold out long enough...for the three-fold Kaiōken!

North Kaiō's Planet

The Kaiō himself had been watching the battle between his newest pupil and the Prince of the Saiyans with amazement and a measure of trepidation. He had truly hoped that the Kaiōken wouldn't have been needed to be pushed past the initial multiplier, much less to two-fold. Now Gokū was proposing something absolutely ludicrous.

"What is he thinking?!" muttered the incredulous god. "I told him! Two-fold should be the absolute limit! His body can't take anymore than that! Though..." He remembered every instance in which Vegeta had turned the battle around, or simply overpowered Gokū. "...I don't think he can win without it. I didn't think the Saiyans would be this strong. The situation...might be hopeless..."

Palace of God

The scanner within Bulma's body was going haywire. She saw a massive rising of numbers before her eyes, and they were all coming from her husband's direction. The numbers only continued to rise, and she felt the device itself tremble, threatening to shatter — a thought that blanched her skin.

Son...just how strong are you going to get?

The Former Battlefield

Raditz was astounded. Thiskicertainly couldn't be coming from that little brother of his. And yet it was. Just moments ago, Vegeta'skihad entire eclipsed Kakarrot's; without a Scouter, it felt like Vegeta was just going on a one-person rampage. But now Kakarrot'skiwas rising to a level frighteningly close. He hadn't felt power like this in the entire time he'd been alive, and it made him question just what he'd been doing the past year.

Kakarrot...!

Kuririn and Pan were by no means immune to Gokū'skieither. It was amazing to see just how far he'd come.

"Papa!" Pan called out into the distance, despite his inability to hear him. "Beat him up!"

"Whoa, whoa, Pan!" urged Kuririn. "Calm down. Though...he might just be able to do that."

"Don't be so optimistic yet, dwarf," muttered Raditz. "This battle...it isn't over yet."

Wastelands

The red inferno had wrapped itself around Gokū's body again, his skin a deeper red than it ever had been. He felt his blood rush through his veins, which were beginning to throb at the surface of his skin. The power that coursed throughout his body was something he had never experienced before in his life, and the force of his aura was creating a permanent gale of wind around his body.

Vegeta took a step backwards, amazed. He couldn't senseki, but he could practically feel this.

It happened faster than anyone on Earth could have registered it. One moment, Gokū was standing still. The next, he had flung himself towards Vegeta, completely demolishing the platform on which he stood. The first blow was figuratively earth-shattering. Gokū's knee plunged into Vegeta's torso, sending the elite backwards, gasping in pain. Gokū vanished, reappearing behind Vegeta, before turning on his heel and bringing his fist down on Vegeta's skull. This forced the Prince into the hard ground, leaving an indent in the shape of his own body.

Vegeta forced himself out of the ground at surprising speed, and thrust his fist forward. Gokū, who had been standing just in front of the blow, vanished entirely. He reappeared, flying forward and connecting with a crushing kick to Vegeta's face that lifted the Saiyan from the ground, careening through a multitude of formations. Gokū pursued his target, arriving in time to see Vegeta force the rubble apart withkialone. He increased his speed again, and practically materialised in front of a surprised Vegeta.

The Prince attempted yet another strike, but Gokū mimicked one of his earlier motions in the battle, and ducked beneath Vegeta's jab. He rose, ramming his fist with as much force as possible into Vegeta's trunk for yet another time. Vegeta, despite the pain, gained some distance, clutching his stomach. His anger was rising, and his veins were reaching a limit to their prominence.

"That...bastard!" snarled Vegeta. "I am an elite! And yet...he's...surpassed my strength! That's...impossible!" He knew for a fact; out of all the Saiyans, he alone stood at the top. He was the strongest. Not only had Kakarrot forced him to shed his own blood in this battle, but he had eclipsed his strength, even if only for a moment. "THAT IS ENOUGH, KAKARROT!" Vegeta's aura flared to life, no longer blue, but a vibrant purple as he took to the sky. He curled his fingers and placed both his hands together at chest level facing the same direction, with one palm behind the other.

"IF YOU WANT TO PROTECT THIS PLANET, THEN DIE WITH IT!"

"N-NO!" Gokū felt a surge of panic. "A blast like that would destroy the planet!" Despite the pointless shout, Gokū knew that Vegeta was banking on that entirely. He cupped his hands to his sides, and bluekibegan to overlap with the red blaze, and completely overshadowed it. "Ka...Me...Ha...Me..."

"THIS IS THE END FOR YOU! YOU CAN'T BLOCK THIS GARLIC CANNON! GO TO HELL, KAKARROT!"

At the same moment that Gokū shouted "HA!", and thrust his hands forward, Vegeta did the same. There were two simultaneous explosions of light, blue and purple, and the blasts connected in the air, creating only further chaos. Thekibegan to meld with the sound of a blast going off, and rivulets ofkishot off at odd angles. Electricity formed within the epicentre, and tore into the ground as it snapped away from the two techniques.

"That...looks like my technique!" Vegeta gasped in surprise, but held his ground. His Garlic Cannon had the advantage, and was pushing back Gokū's Kamehameha with minimal effort. It was all Gokū could do to keep his footing, and he knew he was losing traction quickly. He didn't have a choice. It was now, or never. When he shouted, his voice practically magnified.

"FOUR-FOLD KAIŌKEN!"

The crimson around his body deepened, and the pain Gokū felt was mind-numbing. But he held his ground, andkipulsed into the Kamehameha, vastly increasing its strength. The blast began to push back against the Garlic Cannon, as Gokū's own footing crumbled beneath his feet. Vegeta felt his blast give way, and was quickly overwhelmed by the immense Four-Fold Kaiōken Kamehameha. The blast carried Vegeta, and his screams of pain and agony high into the sky.

Gokū collapsed to his knees, his breath ragged. Just touching the ground sent his cells into a frenzy, and he could barely stay conscious. But he forced himself to look back up into the sky.

Was this the end of it?

Chapter 18: Our Power

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 18 - Our Power

Pain.

That was the single sensation that had overwhelmed Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyan Race and last of his royal bloodline. The third class warrior had battled him, making him bleed -the nerve he had- and to make matters worse, he actually countered his Garlic Cannon with his own enormous well of power. It baffled his mind. Nothing made sense. The only thing that he was cognizant of was the pain and the passive screaming his lungs let out as he was pushed towards the vacuum of space, hurtling through the planet's atmosphere.

If it wasn't for the unyielding rage canceling out his agony, he would've been carried into the cold void.

Twisting off the head of the blue pillar of searing light, the Saiyan watched as the beam streaked out into space and roared far away till it petered into nothing. He dared not look at his current state; his armor marred, parts of it scorched and his right shoulder pad completely blown away, gloves burnt and revealing bleeding fingers and the linen of his pants were torn in odd places. His tail unfurled from his waist, frazzled and thrashing about as he waved his arms with indignation and bitterness.

"HOW CAN THIS BE?!" He howled in the planet's sky, his arms pumping with irrational frustration. Eyes were near bloodshot with fury and his lower lips oozed blood that stained his chin, painting his teeth in between that granted him a fearsome injured visage. Twisting about, he couldn't think straight and continued to shout to no one in particular. "I AM THE PRIDE OF MY RACE! NONE SHOULD SURPASS ME, LET ALONE A FILTHY THIRD CLASS JOKE! THERE'S NO WAY HE COULD GET THIS STRONG IN A YEAR; IMPOSSIBLE!"

Seething in the heavens of this backwater world, the prince fumed at this impossibility. There was no way a low class freak like Kakarrot could possibly breach the gap of power between them so quickly. No amount of ordinary training could get them that close; he'd know, he saw the results of the other Earthling defenders as they fell to his colleagues and himself.

"That power, it seemed to have been hampering him," Vegeta remembered, his rage dimming just enough for him to remember the proclaimed Kaiōken. Every time he added a multiplier to it, his power in every regard increased with it. He had doubled and tripled, then quadrupled his strength enough to blast him a way. But, he knew that unnaturally stressing the body with swollen energy would have drastic consequences. Grinning, he wiped the blood off his lips, his eyes now scanning the planet's horizon. "Unlike you, Kakarrot, I have a trump card of my own. It isn't as flashy, and quite frankly I despise relying on it, but it'll be the one thing to break you; to make you comprehend your inferiority to my superior strength!"

Then, he saw it. Just beyond the scope of the planet was this planet's moon. Taking off, he soared towards the lunar body, eyes widening as the Blutz Waves began to accumulate in his retinas and be absorbed into his prehensile limb. Teeth bared and a maniacal laugh was let loose as his body began to transform...

Exhausted. That's what Gokū felt after throwing out a four-fold Kaiōken. Falling to one knee, he felt his muscles contract and expand, spasming from the pain as sweat permeated the bruises and blood from the injuries he withstood from his strongest opponent yet. One eye was half closed, the other wide open as he felt Vegeta'skimoving away. Looking up he felt him going across the planet, farther away till he barely felt him.

In an instant, he felt Vegeta'skiskyrocket, a distant light beyond the Sun explode with a violet hue. Hurricane winds thrashed across the scarred canyon, forcing him back to his feet, an arm protecting his face while his hair whipped around with his tail. Grimacing, the energy seemed to go higher and higher, farther than he thought remotely possible.

Suddenly, the light in the blinding purple vista grew closer and closer till it overcast the whole of his environment in its lavender-white outline. Eyes widened, his body instinctively jumping further into the rocky terrain, bouncing across it and drawing upon all of his strength in a bout of adrenaline surging through his weary muscles past his veins. Seconds later, everything behind him exploded, flinging him by a grunting yelp towards a tall rock foundation. Thrashing his tail around, he managed to bounce off it, skidding down to a lower pillar of stone and shakily found his footing.

He gawked with a paled expression at what he saw.

A molten scar was seen, having torn through the planet's surface for kilometers on end, farther than he could see an end from his position. Most of the canyon foundation he was at moments ago was vaporized with only bare sediments piled up next to the bubbling, steaming abyss that was slashed and releasing volumes of smoke and fire into the air along the whole of thekiwoven trench. Gulping, he felt himself tense up at the enormity of the blast and how it made the previous one he dealt with falter in comparison.

A thunderclap sounded behind him as the rock foundation groaned and petered away, forcing him once again to yelp as he leaped to safety. Finding a leaning tower of rock that slammed into a thicker pyre of earth, he turned and gawked in horror. A looming silhouette with burning red eyes, bathed in violet flames ofkiand wearing the scorched battle armor of the prince he knew too well. His simian features of a large snout, large teeth and hair covering the majority of his body with a towering tail sweeping out to knock the rest of the foundation near him to smithereens; like brushing dust to something as deadly as this.

"This is the Oozaru form," Gokū remembered, his eyes forming a glare as his open mouth formed a bared, gritting expression with his teeth. "Vegeta must have flew towards the moon away from us. I wish someone destroyed it but...something tells me that wouldn't help me, in the condition I'm in."

"HA! TOO SCARED TO MAKE A QUIP? THIS, KAKARROT, IS THE TRUE POWER OF A SAIYAN!" Vegeta raucously shouted with declaration, leaning down to glare closely at the smaller Saiyan. "MY POWER HAS INCREASED TEN TIMES IN THIS STATE! WITH THE STATE YOU'RE IN, EVEN IF YOU COULD TRANSFORM, YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR SOMEONE SKILLED IN THIS TRANSFORMATION LIKE I AM!"

"Maybe so," Son Gokū replied, almost too quiet for Vegeta to hear. Spreading his legs, he swiveled one bent knee to point to his right while extending his left to be almost completely relaxed. The right arm pulled back with a clawed gesture, the left hand open and the palm facing down, his onyx eyes glared defiantly up while a relaxed grin spread across his wearied face. "But I'll never know until I try."

"SUCH ARROGANCE," Vegeta bellowed with laughter, raising a house-sized fist, swinging it down towards him with immense pressure and power thrown with it. "WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL, KAKARROT!"

Raditz felt lucky. He had gotten relatively unscathed from the hard fights thus far, perhaps the most fresh next to Pan and she was using her inner power multiple times today -something he didn't know if she had a limit to or not- which left him open to help avoid the onslaught that came their way. Grabbing the kid by the scruff of her neck and the bald man's head with his enormous hand, he leaped away from the earthen foundations that the light was careening through. The volatile blast, the vaporizing flames and the shockwave knocked them all prone away from the large crater that a certain person had been buried inside earlier.

When the ringing in their ears died down did Raditz relax his grip on the small pair.

"W-What was t-that?!" Pan asked, her voice etched with fear as she looked towards the enormous stacks of smoke rising from what was the face of the battle-scarred sediment nearby. Molten to some degree, it sludge down into a dark crevice that spewed steam and smoke of equal measure. The purplish hue from thekiused etched into the smog, letting them all know whom was responsible for the wreckage of the planet.

"You sure saved us big time," Kuririn remarked his voice filled with gratefulness, becoming a perfect mask for the terror filling his eyes at the morbid sight.

"We're nowhere near out of the woods yet," Raditz bit back, his body the first to stand upright and turn to look into the distance. His left eye twitched, and he grimaced with clenched molars. He knew exactly what this power was; even without the adept ability to sensekilike the Earthlings' possessed, this couldn't be anything other thanthatform. "It seems Vegeta's pulled out the big guns. I wonder how long my brother can last alone against that."

"S-Shouldn't we help, Papa?!"

"Don't be stupid!" Raditz barked, causing Pan to recoil a bit while her uncle glared down at her. "At your strength, angry or not, you'll be squashed by him! He's without peer once transformed and there's not a thing we can do to stop him!"

"But, if Gokū loses-"

"I know, I know!" The Saiyan cut off Kuririn, his hands balling up into tight fists, his left eye twitching again as his body shook. He was a pragmatist, plain and simple. Even if cowardice was part of it, he always preferred to find the most safe path and go down it. The moment things get rough, he'd bail if need be or at least find a means of gaining the upper-hand. But, he didn't know even if that was capable of dealing with-

His line of thinking was cut off when a sudden plume of light followed an emergence of raw mustard coloredkifrom the hole nearby. From the energy that fired up into the air, Raditz's head whipped with his mane, seeing fragments of what looked like pottery with the etchings of wording burning away. Eyes widened with realization and he howled to the pair as he formed a battle stance for what emerged.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nappa screamed out loud like a banshee. Emerging from that maelstrom of horror and darkness, he had no idea what had happened to get himself caught in the thing he tried to save Vegeta from. Due to his own limited comprehension, he thought that he might have intercepted the foul energy sent by the three-eyed warrior, and was thrown into the spiral instead. If not for the timely blast that happened a minute ago, the sealing urn that he was trapped in would be his eternal tomb, and to fathom that was too much for the simple-minded general to think about. Covered in sweat and still shaking, he turned to look around him, realizing the battle had went elsewhere.

"What the Hell happened?! Where is everybody?!" He cried out, eyes looking for anything resembling his comrades. "Kuka? Gula? Aspara?! Vegeta, where are you?!"

"They're all dead, you dolt!" Raditz mocked, taking the opportunity to capitalize on Nappa's fear and confusion. Earning a gawking look from the hovering giant, Raditz grinned with jeer, crossing his arms over his chest and co*cked his head up at him. "Your boss is the only one left, and my brother is going to make short work of him. That leaves you, all alone, to deal with. I'm only happy to oblige in wiping your boot-licking existence off the face of this planet, Nappa!"

Kuririn and Pan looked at each other with fright, wondering what had come over their mutual Saiyan ally. If this was all for a bluff, then what? Would he fly away? They didn't know if it was just for selfish satisfaction or to get him mad.

It turned to be the latter, as Nappa opened his mouth wide enough to swallow someone whole as he let loose an indignant cry of fury, "You PUNK! How could the likes of YOU and that SQUIRT take them all down?! And Kakarrot's fighting Vegeta?! He's going to be in for a rude awakening once Vegeta fights for real; just like I'm going to against a big coward like you, Raditz!"

"Your funeral," Raditz whispered, his smile trading for a fierce snarl with veins protruding from his broad brow. His pupils flashed a white film of light over his eyes, his whole body pulsing with a throbbing sensation that stretched down to his now outstretched tail. Growling, he began to howl out loud, causing Kuririn and Pan to stumble back as a tense scarlet light flowed over him. As he began to swell in size, Raditz spared a glance to Kuririn and howled out loud with as much restraint as he could. "DWARF! TAKE PAN AWAY FROM HERE!"

Stuttering out an affirmation incoherently, the bald monk deftly dashed around Raditz, reaching out and grabbing Pan bodily while dashing away from the transforming Saiyan. Stopping a good two dozen meters away, he turned to look on in terror while Pan gaped in awe. Her eyes were filled with the vision of her uncle becoming bestial, hair growing across his skin and his face stretching into a simian snout with feral looking teeth, his black orbs becoming angled and pupiless, shedding nothing but crimson. Towering over them with immense proportions, his tail swung out, creating a blast of wind that kicked up the earth while a stomp splintered the ground.

Left completely baffled and mortified at the sudden development, Nappa could only wonder how Raditz could transform without a full moon out. The next thing he knew, a body-sized fist crashed into him, his body lurching back with eyes bulging nearly out of his sockets. With a thuum that sheared the sound barrier, Nappa was sent careening into the distant collection of plateaus that remained from Vegeta's earlier blast, crashing painfully through one partition of rock after the other. Ending with a large plume of smoke, Raditz grinned with grim satisfaction, pulling back his gauntlet covered fist and cracked the knuckles audibly with preparation.

"U-Uncle Raditz is huuuuuuuuuge!" Pan blurted out, her eyes wide as saucers and her head lurching up so high she thought she might fall backwards trying to look at the Oozaru state of her uncle.

"J-Just be glad he's on our side!" Kuririn nervously exclaimed, physically shaking from memory of the beast that Gokū had become all those years ago. It still made him sweat just remembering it; now that there was a race of these freak shows that can do the same thing, he wondered just how lucky they were by not arriving in THIS form.

Emerging in a flash of dull yellow in the distance, Nappa soared back to them but not showing the best of conditions. Blood soaked his lower jaw, the top of his battle jacket was completely wrecked, crumbling to pieces as he floated in the air and the straps fell off to show purple bruises along his chest and abdomen. Even his arms had lacerations and discoloration from being caught unprepared by the attack.

"You...think you're so tough...don't ya?!" Nappa howled out, taking rasping breaths from the pain and laboured attempt to sound intimidating. "But...once I team up with Vegeta...you're going to be in for a world of hurt!"

"OH REALLY? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, YOU BALD BUFFOON!" Raditz laughed derisively, his voice bellowing loud enough to make Pan and Kuririn's ears hurt from the mere distance they were to him. Raising a hand up, beckoning him, the Oozaru-Saiyan grinned viciously at him. "WHAT'S THE MATTER? RAN OUT OF SAIYAN PRIDE WHEN YOU FOUND SOMETHING YOU CAN'T CRUSH YOURSELF?!"

"W-What did you say?!" Nappa snarled out, incensed at the audacity of the third class warrior. Grimacing, the fury was short-lived when another hand swung towards him and he barely managed to avoid it. Following up with a flying snap kick, the bald man screeched back, the wind of the attack making him fumble awkwardly in the air. This wasn't helped when Raditz spun around and whipped his gigantic tail around to lariat Nappa in the back, sending him careening into the horizon; straight towards the battlefield of Gokū and Vegeta.

"I'M GOING TO FINISH HIM OFF!" Raditz announced, looking over his shoulder at Kuririn and Pan. "STAY HERE! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

"N-No arguments here!" Kuririn acknowledged, feeling like he was getting to the limits of what he could handle just by standing in one place. Pan looked on, a look of worry entering her eyes. The memory was still fresh, seeing Piccolo give up his life for hers, and dying in front of her. She was afraid of these bad people, these Saiyans. Even as Raditz looked big and strong, she was worried that he too would end up like Piccolo.

So without a second more of hesitation, Pan cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the massive being, just before he took off in a flare of violet light, "DON'T DIE, UNCLE RADITZ!"

Though the Saiyan wouldn't respond outwardly he couldn't help but feel a pang on the inside from hearing his niece say something like that. Shaking his head, the massive being intended to make short work of Nappa. Then, perhaps he can help his brother.

"Hold on, Kakarrot!" Raditz silently urged as he sought to catch up to his target.

Gokū dodged the latest enormous limb of Vegeta, moving like his life depended on it. Despite his earlier bravado, he was beginning to think the odds of him being able to survive was about as slim as him even forcing a draw out of this nightmarish opponent. Regardless of the bulk, the form moved with such speed and dexterity that he could barely outmaneuver his mass. If it wasn't for how small he was, he'd surely be crushed easily by this Saiyan Elite.

Flipping backwards, he slipped on the surface of a stone pillar, eyes widened with alarm as Vegeta head lurched towards him with its mouth opened wide to snap on him. A swivel of his tail, and Gokū latched onto the tower of rock, swinging around in a swift loop as the Oozaru's jaws snapped the pillar in half. In the midst of his spin, he lit up in a brief flash of crimson and kicked the back of his head, causing the huge Saiyan to spit out the rocks with a gasp. Placing both hands on the furred scalp, he thrust himself out of the way of impending hands of the Oozaru with a Reverse Kamehameha, turning himself around an arc to face Vegeta's bewildered simian face.

Then twist it with the Kamehameha primed.

"Kaiōken Times Two, KAMEHAMEHA!" He cried out, his hands firing a plume of cerulean flames at Vegeta's face, exploding violently upon impact. Through the blast, Gokū saw the blood-eyed glint of glaring eyes and a growl like thunder filled the air. His own eyes bulged and his body stiffened, the recent use ofkilocking his muscles down in a spike of pain.

"Oh no-!" He cried out, watching Vegeta surge his hand out to grab him.

A loud bang filled the air, causing both of them to halt their engagement. Looking over, the pair saw a familiar person emerging, bloodied and bruised all over. Rising up to his feet, he stumbled about, his breath wheezing and one eye shut from the blood covering it. The other looked over and saw Vegeta, his transformation recognized in an instant by the general.

"A-Ah, Vegeta! You transformed already?! Is this whelp giving you that much trouble?!"

"YOU'RE FREED, EH? WHY ARE YOU SO INJURED? DON'T TELL ME IT'S BECAUSE OF THOSE EARTHLINGS!" Vegeta bellowed, his attention diverted to Nappa long enough for Gokū to lurk down to a safer pedestal to recover from his body's pain.

"U-Uh...well...y-you see-" He began to say, when a sudden throttling being emerged, swathed in scarlet light from the flight over. As the ki dissipated, Nappa backed up and looked on with mortified horror, while Vegeta raised a simian brow suspiciously at Raditz. The armor was unmistakably his, so it couldn't have been anyone else. Yet, he didn't see him come near the moon at all, which means...

"RADITZ. I'M SURPRISED YOU TRANSFORMED WITHOUT A MOON. BEEN HIDING SOMETHING FROM US, EH?" Vegeta jeered, coaxing him into revealing what trickery he pulled.

"IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO COMPREHEND, SNOT-NOSED PRINCE!" Raditz bellowed back in mockery, getting a repulsive sneer from Vegeta's snout from the vulgar retort. "KAKARROT'S WOMAN IS AVERAGE BY EARTHLING STRENGTH STANDARDS BUT SHE'S A BRILLIANT SCIENTIST! SHE CAME UP WITH SPECIAL LUNAR LAMPS INSTALLED INTO EYE CONTACTS THAT, WHEN I CONTRACT MY EYES IN A CERTAIN WAY, TURN THEM ON AND GET BLUTZ WAVES NECESSARY FOR A TRANSFORMATION. I CAN DO IT AT WILL; UNLIKE YOU!"

"HA! CONSPIRING WITH THE EARTHLINGS JUST SHOWS HOW DESPERATE YOU ARE, WEAKLING!" Vegeta barked, amused at hearing this development. While he was slightly irked he didn't possess such technology, it hardly mattered. "HAD YOU FOUGHT NAPPA AT HIS FULL POWER, YOU'D BE HELPLESS! WHAT GOOD ARE YOU HERE NOW?"

"ENOUGH BRAVADO, VEGETA!" The brother of Gokū howled back, a bestial hand raised up to clench loudly in front of him. "I'M THROUGH WITH YOUR EGO DRIVING US TO NOWHERE! WE'RE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU;I'MBETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU!"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY, THIRD CLASS TRASH!" Vegeta waved his arms out with open invitation, laughing haughtily at such tripe. "TRANSFORMED OR NOT, YOU'RE STILL BENEATH ME IN EVERY WAY!"

A sudden light emerged beneath the pair of giants and the distantly resting Gokū. Turning to look, they'd see Nappa had formed a small glowing orb of light in his hand. Vegeta recognized it immediately, and began to howl out loud but was cut off by Raditz's charging fist crashing into his snout mightily. Rearing back a step, the Prince's eyes gleamed with fury, whipping back to slap Raditz across the face, sending him face first into the ground from a mighty blow. Raising his left boot to stamp on his head, he'd feel white-hot pain explode in his left eye and his whole body wracked with agony as he clenched his face.

Whipping his head to look at a gasping Gokū, his hand still outstretched and steaming from thekihe used for the precision placed Dodon Pa, fueled the fire of wrath boiling inside of his enormous bulk. Changing targets, he fired a salvo of energy bullets from his right hand, forcing Gokū to erratically dodge the exploding blasts that came in the dozens. Striking his back, he was slammed into the ground between piles of crumbled earth. Vegeta sought to finish him off but felt a pain in his tail, yanked hard and lifting him off the ground.

With a howl of effort, Raditz lifted Vegeta up off the ground and spun him in the air long enough to smash face first into another pile of earthen towers, collapsing many more in a plume of smoke and dust. Despite the good grip he had on the Prince's tail, he felt part of it coil around a wrist and yank with surprising force towards his ground prone self. Pushing off the ground in a smooth motion, a giant furred elbow smashed into the side of his face, followed by a palm-thrust into his armored breastplate following a violet burst of light that sent him flying across the air and landing with a thud a quarter of a mile away.

"NOW, TO DEAL WITH THE IMBECIL-"

"Burst and MIX!"

"DAMMIT NAPPA!" Vegeta cried out, noticing a bright glint of light formed in the upper atmosphere -thrown when he wasn't looking- that was the Power Ball. An artificial, temporary lunar body in case none existed or they needed to expedite a planet's destruction, it permeated the amount of Blutz Waves necessary to have them easily transform from a single glance. While it only lasted as long as the Power Ball hung in the sky, it was enough for Nappa to transform rapidly and gain a similar bulk, just with a smattering of blood and fur-covered bruises. Seething with rage, Vegeta swung an arm around in a wind-bursting arc and shouted at his subordinate. "DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!"

"I'M AT FULL POWER NOW, VEGETA!" He shouted back, disoriented but now feeling the energy revitalize him past the point of caring for his injuries. "YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, AT FULL STRENGTH, HE'D STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST ME!"

"BEFORE YOU GOT YOURSELF WOUNDED TO THE POINT OF PITY, YOU DOLT!" Vegeta howled, inclined to turn and destroy it just to spite Nappa's stupidity.

But the ignorance of Kakarrot's state, had left him taken aback. Emerging from the debris was a swelling, bestial Gokū, swathed in fur and in the Kaio designedgithat accompanied his new stature thanks to its make. Crimson eyes glared at Vegeta and a howl of feral power was let loose as a crimson light of basic Kaiōken two fold swathed his person, turning the fur red in shade. Striking a formal posture, he baffled the Prince by showing complete control, just like his brother over this state. "I'M READY FOR ROUND TWO, VEGETA!"

"KAKARROT!" snarled Vegeta, fury peaking in his simian features. He co*cked his fist back, before letting a powerful blow loose with the power of a thousand cannons. His fist created a powerful gust of wind, but Gokū, now of a similar size, reacted as a fighter of his caliber would. He responded quickly, his fist crashing forward to meet Vegetas. The clenched digits clashed against each other, creating a powerful shockwave the cracked the ground and whipped up a torrential blat of wind yet further. Nappa and Raditz very nearly divided their attention at to marvel at the power displayed between these two.

"EVERY ACTION YOU TAKE IS AN AFFRONT TO MY HONOUR, KAKARROT!" Vegeta roared, their fists still locked. His frustration was reaching a breaking point; his advantage against Kakarrot was dwindling, Nappa was making the mistakes of an amateur, and even Raditz had the gall to fight back. "FOR A THIRD-RATE PIECE OF TRASH LIKE YOU TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE GIANT MONKEY FORM! WHAT KIND OF TRAINING DID YOU DO?!"

"I TRAINED WITH GOD," replied Gokū without an ounce of sarcasm, flexing the muscles of his newly transformed body in an attempt to gain the edge against Vegeta. Their fists slipped from each other other, and the Saiyan duo clashed wrists against each other in another excessive display of force. "I TOLD YOU, VEGETA! EVEN THE LOW-CLASS CAN SURPASS THE ELITE!" If anything, this was what set Vegeta off further. When the two broke apart to continue their battle, Vegeta struck first, slamming his forearm into Gokū's throat. This pushed the transformed Earth-raised Saiyan backwards, Vegeta following up with a crushing kick to the torso.

Gokū skidded across the rocky ground, crashing into one of the plateaus that dotted the area, crumbling it to pieces. His vision began to fill with colour, and he recognised quickly the source; Vegeta had released a bundle ofkitowards the downed Saiyan. Gokū sprung to life, leaping into the air and taking flight as best he could despite his large size. The sphere exploded, creating a blinding flash and a crater at the moment of impact. Vegeta leaned his gigantic form backwards, expelling sphere after sphere ofkiinto the air. Gokū wove through the bullets, grazing him but he managed to push it off and crashed into Vegeta, pinning the Prince of the Saiyan to the ground.

The next action occurred in moments. Both Vegeta and Gokū opened their maws wide, and spiraling within the confines of their mouths formed a sphere ofki— one a brilliant blue, and the other lavender — and the two quite recklessly released the blasts point blank at each other. They collided instantly and the explosion was akin to the world's largest flash bomb. To Raditz and Nappa, even though the former was fairly unwounded, he was still watching a fight of two people beyond his level, and it was amazing in a way that only a Saiyan could appreciate. Nappa could only gape at the expanding flash, but Raditz shielded his body and eyes from the explosion.

The light died down quickly, and Nappa, still utterly stunned that Kakarrot could resist Vegeta the way he had been, was left open. Raditz was not one to miss a chance that was literally giftwrapped. The Giant Monkey spun on his heel, in a surprising display of agility, and connected a powerful fist to Nappa's muzzle. The wounded Saiyan staggered back, already in immense pain from his earlier injuries. "YOU WERE OPEN, IDIOT!" roared Raditz to a furious Nappa.

"YOU'RE GETTING A LITTLE TOO EXCITED, AREN'T YOU, TRAITOR?!" snapped back Nappa, wiping the blood from his snout. "THAT'S SOMETHING WE NEVER LIKED ABOUT YOU, RADITZ! YOU NEVER WERE SAIYAN MATERIAL, WERE YOU?! ALWAYS A COWARD, ALWAYS SHIRKING FROM THE FRONTLINES! AND NOW YOU'RE TURNING TRAITOR FOR YOUR RUNT OF A BROTHER?!" He snarled. "I HEARD YOUR FATHER WAS AN ODD ONE, BUT PERHAPS YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS A WASTE OF SAIYAN BLOOD!"

Raditz breathed deeply. It was a slow, methodical breath. Then he rushed forward. Nappa was ready this time, and the two Giant Monkeys locked their hands together in an attempt to gain dominance over the other. Raditz leaned in, pushing Nappa backwards. His red-eyes glinted maliciously. "YOU'VE GOT A BIG MOUTH ON YOU, OAF!" snarled Raditz, venom laced in his voice. "TURNED TRAITOR? I DON'T EVER RECALL SWEARING FEALTY TO YOU OR THAT BRAT OF A PRINCE!" He began to pull Nappa's arms downward, simultaneously pushing him backwards. "AND YOU SHOULD REALLY LEARN TO KEEP QUIET ABOUT THINGS YOU CAN'T PROCESS WITH YOUR LIMITED INTELLIGENCE, NAPPA!" Raditz let out a powerful roar, throwing Nappa's arms aside and disrupting the general's balance.

There's so much I don't understand about myself anymore!Raditz thought, wrapping his arms around Nappa's waist and lifting him up.But I'll figure it out without all of you!He leaned backwards, and with all of his weight, suplexed Nappa hard into the stone ground. "I'M THROUGH WITH YOU TWO AND THAT RIDICULOUS MILITARY!"

Nappa roared in pain as his back collided with the ground. Raditz stood up to full height, turning around and opening his jaws as wide as they could go. Pinkkiformed between his upper and lower jaws, and the Giant Monkey released a powerful bullet ofkithat collided with Nappa and exploded with a powerful bang. The general stood his ground, withstanding the blast to the best of his ability, and the ground began to melt beneath his feet, the cracks glowing as molten rock seeped in.

"YOU'RE GETTING A BIT BIG FOR YOUR BRITCHES, RADITZ!" howled the wounded Saiyan officer. "JUST YOU WAIT..YOU'LL REGRET THIS IN HELL WHEN VEGETA AND I PUT YOU AND YOUR LITTLE BROTHER IN THE GROUND!"

"YOU CAN STILL TALK BIG FOR SOMEONE BLEEDING FROM EVERYWHERE," replied Raditz scornfully. "DO YOU THINK YOU GOT SEALED AWAY BY THAT THREE-EYED BASTARD ON ACCIDENT?! WERE YOU THERE WHEN VEGETA DISPOSED OF ASPARA?! HE'S A SAIYAN AT THE PINNACLE OF THEIR CRUELTY! THERE'S NO CHINKS IN HIS ARMOR, NAPPA! BY OUR STANDARDS, I WAS CERTAINLY WEAK." He gritted his teeth, but continued. "I SIDED WITH MY TRAITOROUS BROTHER, AND DO YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE KILLED ME IF I RETURNED! JUST LIKE HE'LL KILL YOU IF I DON'T."

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Nappa roared. "I PRACTICALLY RAISED HIM! HE OWES EVERYTHING OF WHERE HE IS NOW TO ME! YOUR SILVER TONGUE WON'T GET YOU OUT OF FIGHTING ME!"

"THEN YOU'LL DIE, NAPPA! DIE BELIEVING YOUR LOYALTY WAS RETURNED!"

As Nappa and Raditz continued their battle, the battle between Earth-raised Son Gokū and the Prince of the Saiyans Vegeta raged onward. Despite suffering from two point blank explosions, the sturdiness of the Giant Monkey transformation was not to be underestimated. With his newfound hardiness, Gokū was managing to retain control of the Kaiōken to a manageable degree, actually keeping pace with Vegeta. The two Giant Monkeys clashed, their blows destroying the area with explosive shockwaves.

The two rose into the air, Gokū quickly gaining more control of his ability to fly despite his large size, and they clashed against each other. The two exchanged blows, breaking apart, and then clashed again as they rose into the air, reaching above the clouds. With their whole bodies, Gokū and Vegeta released akiaithat forced them away from each other and split a portion of the clouds. The Giant Monkey Prince of Saiyans felt steam rise off his body; the vapor of the clouds evaporating from the heat of theirki.

He's keeping pace...!Vegeta thought in pure anger and irritation.To be forced to transform into this hideous state...and to be matched by my lesser whilst transformed?! How many times will my royal status be sullied by this third-class fool!?

Gokū was breathing deeply, and felt thekiaround his body crackle violently. He suppressed a slight spasm. Was the Kaiōken, which had been manageable in the Giant Monkey form up until this point, beginning to resist? Gokū shook off the thought; the pain wasn't as severe as when his body was in its regular state, and he could still move, which meant he could still fight.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, KAKARROT?!" sneered Vegeta. "RUNNING OUT OF BREATH?! YOU'RE BEGINNING TO LOOK TUCKERED OUT!"

"I COULD SAY THE SAME FOR YOU, VEGETA," replied Gokū quickly. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, THE FUN IS ONLY GETTING STARTED!" Gokū cupped his furred hands to his side, forming a sphere ofki, bright blue in colour, between the palms. "KA...ME...HA...ME...!"

In response, Vegeta cupping the back of his palm into the open palm of his other hand, curling his fingers and beginning to charge a large amount ofki. His body was immersed in purple, centralising around his palms with a glowing white centre. "GARLIC...!"

The two powerful Saiyans readied their techniques, and released them near simultaneously.

"...HA!"

"...CANNON!"

A wall of bluish-white and purple struck head-on, resulting in a deafening shriek of life energies. Swirling into a votex of light and crackling bio-energy, the two beings projecting their power felt a tug within the abnormal singularity. Then, all at once, the light was sucked inward and released outward in an elliptical blast that struck both enormous bulky frames of the Giant Monkeys, burning and bludgeoning them with vicious fervor.

Gokū felt his head hammer, his skin burn and the whole of his weight bring him down with the aid of gravity. In his periphery, he could make out Vegeta's silhouette, also falling to the planet below. Their descent came without respite, blistering wind rippling their fur and hair, the beasts streaking like comets to the world beneath them. Upon final contact, a rippling shock-wave was released as the earth fissured beneath their respective simian bodies.

It was Vegeta who stood up first, thoroughly exhausted and undeniable trembling with a mixture of pain of rage. Gokū followed, standing slightly slower than his opponent. His aura had faded; the Kaiōken had worn out. Both Vegeta and Gokū were breathing heavily, but Vegeta was taking his breaths with far greater ease.

Damn!thought Gokū, feeling his giant body tremble and shake.When those two blasts collided...my body couldn't take it, an' I couldn't maintain the Kaiōken!The pain that racked his body was tremendous, and had he not felt considerably worse pain in his smaller form. would have knocked him unconscious.This...might be it.

Wastelands, Several Kilometres Away

Kuririn let his senses stretch to analyse the ensuing battles, and could only gape, despite being able to physically see none of it. "That is someseriouspower being thrown around. All four of them...they're like monsters!"

"I can feel it!" Pan said, her voice laced with cheerfulness. "Papa and Uncle Raditz are winning! They're so strong!" In her eagerness, she scanned the horizon, as if hoping to see something, some image of her father fending off the evil Saiyan, or her uncle, battling the bad man that killed Piccolo. Something caught her attention, yet it wasn't what she was looking for. A bright light in the horizon, like the moon, but much, much closer. The girl was excited at first, energetically pointing to it and tugging on Kuririn's gi.

"Kuririn! Look at that! It's so pre—" Her words were cut short when her consciousness shut down. The girl stared, transfixed, at the 'pretty' light in the sky, her onyx eyes becoming a vibrant red.

The former monk was confused, and walked over in front of the now frozen girl. "Hey, you OK kid?" He waved his hand in front of Pan's face, but received no response. Kuririn would jump back quickly, however, when a feral snarl escaped Pan's throat. Her body began to spasm, and she began to grow in size. Hergi, crafted by Piccolo in anticipation for the coming battle, had not taken a transformation into account, and shredded. Her bare form was quickly covered in fur, and she roared mightily as the once adorable child took the same feral form as her father and uncle.

"Oh crap!" shouted Kuririn, dodging a blind swipe coming from the now rampaging Saiyan child. He spun into the air, nearly out of control, and looked on in horror as Pan stomped on the ground, and her very roar let out powerful shockwaves. "Pan! Kid! Listen to me!"

This request was immediately ignored, as Pan continued her rampage. The girl opened her mouth, and released a powerful blast ofkithat flew off into the distance, creating a powerful explosion. Kuririn, even airborne, felt the Earth rock slightly, and sweat-dropped. "If Vegeta doesn't destroy the planet, Pan might do it instead! Damn it!" Kuririn was contemplating exactly what to do; Pan was rampaging, and this would surely lead to complications. As Kuririn was thinking, however, Pan actually stopped her onslaught.

"Is she—"

Any hope was immediately crushed when Pan started to run off, trampling across the ground and heading towards the horizon. It took Kuririn only a moment to realise where she was headed; Pan could sense the battle and was headed to where the strongest combat strengths were. He took off following, keeping distance as best he could to avoid being attacked by the rampaging toddler again. As they approached, he saw, in his horror, what had attracted Pan, and immediately leapt backwards in mid-air. It was a free-for-all of the Giant Monkeys. "I...I can't follow her to that sort of battlefield, I'll be eaten alive!" At this point, he wasn't even 100% sure that was a figurative statement. The fact remained; Pan was a wild card, and not necessarily a good one. If five Giant Monkeys were rampaging now...he would need to find a way to reverse their transformations. When Gokū reverted back as a child, he'd been unconscious..that could provide them a brief window to kill the two Saiyans.

But how did Gokū get turned back...?thought the airborne monk. Within a moment of deliberation, he slapped his fist to his palm. "The moon! It was the moon! That man — Jackie Chun? — completely destroyed the moon. If we can do that, we should be able to revert them back to normal...!" Kuririn looked to the sky, and didn't see any sign of the moon at all. It was still barely evening. The others must have flown directly towards it...but when Pan transformed, she couldn't have seen the moon. With his impressive vision, Kuririn saw a vague star-like thing in the distance.

"...Was that what did it?" he muttered. "She did say something was...well, something before she turned into that giant ape." He groaned. So they'd have to destroy the moon and that glowing ball. The issue was, he didn't have the strength left, not to destroy the moon anyway. Even flying was difficult, he'd used enoughkitrying to fend off the Saiyans and their cohorts. Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Piccolo were all dead. Raditz and Gokū were fending off the Saiyans. "Damn it! No one's left at full strength!"

He groaned, wishing he knew exactly where that Jackie Chun fellow was. The old man would have been of a huge help here. "Wait...old man...Muten Rōshi! He has to be at least as strong! He isn't a venerable old master for nothing!" Kuririn grinned, ultimately pleased with his cleverness. Realising, however, that he had no method of immediately contacting them, the former monk resolved to fly directly to Kame House. Mustering thekihe had left, he made a note to ask Bulma about giving them all cell phones.Phoning them would make this so much quicker, thought the monk ruefully. Racing towards the coast, the monk realised, with his lowki, and the gigantic force of the Giant Monkey'skidrowning it out, he hadn't noticed something.

Another substantialkiwas moving.

Wastelands, Giant Monkey Battlefield

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, KAKARROT?!" Vegeta flashed a cruel smile. "YOU DON'T HAVE NEARLY AS MUCH GUSTO AS YOU DID BEFORE!" He laughed, a loud, booming laugh as he stood tall above Gokū's transformed state. He could see the man was breathing hard, and could barely move. His fangs bared, Vegeta was elated to see things finally turn his way. "ALL OF YOUR BIG TALK AND YOU'RE KNEELING BEFORE YOUR PRINCE NOW? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BOASTING, KAKARROT?! IF ONLY YOU WOULD HAVE LISTENED, YOUR DEATH WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS PAINFUL!" He raised a fist, and coated it in vibrant purpleki. "LOW-CLASS TRASH LIKE YOURSELF CAN'T SURPASS THE ELITE NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY, SO LEARN YOUR PLACE!" With a bold declaration, he swung the gigantic limb downward towards Gokū's head.

"I...AIN'T DONE...YET!" cried Gokū. ""TWO-FOLD KAIŌKEN!" The blazing flame of the Kaiōken roared to life again, and the transformed Saiyan rocketed to his knees, his own fist striking Vegeta in the chin, disrupting his incoming attack and stunning him. The red flame died out almost instantly, and Gokū's body was just feeling tremendous aftershocks from the Kaiōken. He grinned — as well as he could with the face of a Giant Monkey — despite the pain, and Vegeta let out a howl of rage that released shockwaves throughout the area, his fury finally peaking.

There wasn't any thought to his actions anymore. The Prince of the Saiyans barreled down on Gokū, landing a powerful and crushing blow to the Giant Monkey's abdomen. The strike was followed quickly by a shoulder crash that forced Gokū to careen backwards. Howling in fury, Vegeta pursued, and Gokū surprised him by responding with his instincts. Gokū lunged, and sunk his teeth into Vegeta's neck; the mane prevented the bulk of the damage, but Vegeta's howl of rage mixed with a yowl of pain, and it succeeded in forcing him to take a step back from Gokū for a moment.

"Heh..." Gokū spit out a mess of fur, flesh, and blood, his grin never fading as Vegeta only continued to feel his fury build. Vegeta extended a gloved palm, and released a Kikōha towards his rival with blinding speed. The blast collided with Gokū, resulting in a shocking explosion.

"KAKARROT!" shouted Raditz, turning away from Nappa to witness the blast engulf his younger brother. He'd felt the man'skitank just a few moments ago, despite other strange fluctuations. The tide of battle was shifting. In line with this train of thought, he felt his body weight shift; with immense force, Nappa had slugged him in the muzzle, and sent him careening back. The Giant Monkey general was laughing angrily; Raditz's advantage might have been only temporary.

"YOU STILL HAVE A LOT OF POWER, DON'T YOU YOU BASTARD?!"

Nappa grinned maliciously. "YOU LEFT YOURSELF OPEN," he said. "BESIDES, I'M SUDDENLY FEELING FIRED UP! YOUR TRAITOROUS LITTLE BROTHER IS ABOUT TO DIE! IT'S ALL OVER FOR YOU TWO!"

sh*t...!Raditz thought, bracing himself for the impending combat.What the hell is he doing getting a second wind now?!Nappa stomped across the ground at a run, colliding with Raditz using earth-shaking force. Nappa unloaded a barrage of crushing punches to Raditz's stomach. The combat jacket went a long way towards protecting him from the concussive force, yet Raditz felt his body began to lift — Nappa's blows had enough strength behind them to lift him off of his feet. His crimson eyes widened as he felt Nappa's hands grab him and slam him hard into the ground, cracking it apart.

The Saiyan General's sonorous laughter rang through Raditz's ears as the pain that started in his back ran throughout his body. Nappa jumped upwards, crashing down onto Raditz's torso and began to punch him repeatedly, landing a solid blow in rapid succession on Raditz's now bruised muzzle.

"ENOUGH!"

Raditz's mouth wrenched open, and released a flash ofkifrom his mouth. The blast was a striking pink, and enveloped Nappa from the torso upward, completely stopping his relentless assault. "DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND...I'M GOING TO LET YOU KILL ME!" Raditz forcibly sat upward, slamming his forehead into Nappa's own. The headbutt left Nappa staggering, forcing him to stumble backwards off of Raditz. The Giant Monkey pulled himself to his feeth, breathing heavily. He clenched his fist, forming a spiraling sphere ofkithat enveloped his hand.Old man...I'm going to borrow this!Raditz slung his arm forward, launching the sphere, which expanded in size once launched, barreling down towards Nappa. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

Nappa raised both hands in front of it, stopping the sphere in its tracks. Thekibegan to push against him, and Nappa flexed his muscles to keep it at bay. He was determined to deflect it, to show Raditz that a lower, third-class piece of trash couldn't stand against his commander.

"NAPPA, TAKE THIS!" Raditz rushed forward, grabbing the sphere from the other side and beginning to push against Nappa. Wielding his sphere as a weapon, he pressed forward. The two Giant Monkeys struggled against each other, sparks ofkiflickering off and crackling against the ground. Then, a spark of Saiyan intuition that occurred between both of them spurred their actions, and both sets of hands began to glow; yellow and pink respectively. Reacting to thekifrom both sides, the sphere between them exploded, launching them both away from each other. The duo skid along the ground, crashing violently and going limp. They'd been knocked unconscious.

Vegeta snickered, witnessing the two of them completely fight to a standstill. "IT ISN'T OFTEN I SEE TRASH TAKE ITSELF OUT! YOU AND YOUR BROTHER ARE A RIOT, KAKARROT! BUT I SHOULD THANK HIM!" He grinned maliciously. "I WAS GOING TO KILL NAPPA AFTER ALL OF THIS IS DONE, ANYWAY! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE ENTIRE GROUP OF MY OWN FELLOW SAIYANS WOULD BE THIS PATHETIC?!"

"I DON'T...KNOW MUCH ABOUT ROYALTY," panted Gokū. "BUT...YOU AIN'T FIT FOR IT."

The Prince of the Saiyans felt his eye visibly twitch. "YOU STILL HAVE THE ENERGY TO MOUTH OFF?! THEN YOU CLEARLY HAVEN'T LEARNED YOUR PLACE THIRD-CLASS TRASH!" Vegeta prepared to deliver the final blow to his enemy, yet heard the loudest of collisions with the ground, and suddenly felt his body completely give way towards a massive application of force. His body weight shifted entirely, and he craned his head to see the most surprising sight; a completely unseen Giant Monkey pushing him away.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" he snarled, turning on his heels to confront the new enemy. "THE OTHERS ARE DEAD! AND RADITZ AND THE OAF ARE COMPLETELY UNCONSCIOUS!" There wasn't another Saiyan left...then it clicked. "IT'S THE HALFLING!" Humiliation from the father, the brother, and then the daughter. That third-class warrior's family knew had to limits to their insults.

"What?!" Gokū gasped. Through his blurred vision, he saw the dark form his an unclothed Giant Monkey confronting Vegeta's transformed state. He couldn't tell, but Vegeta's hunch had to be right; it was Pan. The transformed girl roared, letting loose a shockwave that cracked the ground. She howled, and released a kikōha towards Vegeta. The Prince gripped the blast and flung it aside. It careened off into the horizon and exploded; whether or not it destroyed a city was unknown.

"YOU LITTLE RUNT!" growled Vegeta. "YOU AREN'T EVEN A FULL BREED, AND YOU ATTACK ME!?" He rushed forward, raising his fist to attack the transformed Saiyan.

Adrenaline flooded Gokū's body, and his mouth formed the words before his brain processed it. "KAIŌKEN!" His body immersed in red, the martial artist launched from his kneeling position, sliding in front of his transformed child and holding both hands in front of him. Vegeta's strike clashed into his hands, and pressed into his stomach. Spittle launched from his mouth, and his eyes shut closed in incredible pain. "YOU...WON'T LAY A HAND...ON MY KID!"

"OH ISN'T THAT SWEET?!"Vegeta said, laughing derisively. "YOU'LL PROTECT YOUR LITTLE BRAT? BUT SURELY YOU KNOW, KAKARROT...THAT A SAIYAN MONKEY WHO ISN'T TRAINED WILL ATTACK ANYTHING, EVEN THEIR OWN FAMILY!"

As if to confirm Vegeta's statement, Pan gripped both of her hands and swung them from the side, slamming it into her father's face. His head and neck nearly bent askew, already weakened from fighting with Vegeta, and sent him veering off to the side. Gokū rubbed his jaw, his entire body pulsating with pain. His own daughter had attacked him, and was rampaging on the battlefield. He couldn't hit Pan like this, not even with enough force to knock her out. It was his daughter.

The booming laughter of Vegeta filled his hears. "DIE, KAKARROT! DIE AT THE HANDS OF YOUR HALFLING CHILD!"

Pan reached for one of the intact plateaus, now a completely rare sight within the immediate vicinity, ripped a portion off. It crumbled partially within her grip, but the transformed girl retained a sizeable enough chunk of rock to be considered a boulder and then some. With all the elegance of an amateur baseball pitcher, Pan lobbed the massive rock towards her father. Gokū, unable to dodge this time, raised both arms tiredly before himself to defend his body. The boulder crashed into him and shattered, breaking into pieces of debris, some of which rained down on Gokū for further pain.

Damn it...!thought Gokū.She's absolutely out of control...and I can barely lift a muscle! Raditz is out cold, and I don't know where Kuririn went!His thoughts were interrupted by the immediate violent onslaught of his angry, transformed child.I-It's the tail! If I could just get to the tail...!This would have been the apt solution, but being unable to barely move, with Pan repeatedly attacking him, made it difficult to do anything.

Pan bellowed again, stopping short landing another attack on Gokū and turned, as if she suddenly remembered that Vegeta was there. The roar from her throat was one of fury, and the girl opened her mouth again. Repeatedly, she launched several kikōha from her throat. Each consecutive blast was avoided by the Prince, who deflected them with the back of his hands, emerging unscathed from the resulting onslaught.

"I SEE..." he sighed. A soft aura began to build from his body. "I WAS BEING TOO KIND. I'LL ERASE THE BOTH OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP!"

KAME HOUSE, THREE MINUTES EARLIER

Kuririn landed on the white sandy shores of Muten Rōshi's island, breathing hard. He ran up to the screen door and threw it open, breaking the turn handle at the same time.

"K-Kuririn!" Rōshi shouted in surprise, jumping up from his couch and glancing at his former student. "What in tarnation are you doing breaking down my front door? Haven't you heard of knocking?!" The elderly master was visibly annoyed at the rude entrance and destruction of his property — after all, he owned so little — and picked up the remote, turning down the television. Playing behind him was the usual suspect of women's workout programming; the instructions from the lead woman in front faded away as the volume depleted.

"The Saiyans arrived!" Kuririn said hurriedly. "It's a really long story and I can't explain everything; almost everyone's dead, Gokū's kid is a monkey, and I really need you to destroy the moon!"

"Whoah, slow down, darn it!" urged Muten Rōshi. "The Saiyans are here? I thought we still had more time!"

"They arrived early," said Kuririn, trying to explain everything but at the same time remain concise. "Remember when Gokū became a Giant Monkey back at the Tenkaichi Budōkai? Well, his kid — also him, Raditz, and two other Saiyans — turned into those giant monsters too!"

"Yes, I remember," muttered Rōshi.More clearly than you think, Kuririn."It isn't a pleasant memory."

"Tell me about it," replied Kuririn. "I was so close to getting trampled. But, back then, that Jackie Chun guy destroyed the moon! I figured you have to be at least as strong, right? So I need you to destroy the moon now!"

"That should definitely do the trick," Muten Rōshi agreed. "But why come all the way here? You surpassed me long ago, boy. Don't you think you should have done it?"

"I..." Kuririn chuckled weakly. "I spent too much energy fighting the Saiyans. Even flying here was difficult."

"Kuririn, I'll have to teach you a few lessons inkiconservation later," said Rōshi with a sigh. "Fine; I'll knock the moon right out of orbit for ya. Should solve the monkey business."

The former monk couldn't say anything to his teacher's admonishment, and scratched the back of his head. "Also...may I use the telephone? I have to place a call."

Rōshi agreed, and headed towards his porch, slumping slightly. While Kuririn busied himself inside, the venerable old master discarded his shirt and did a brief stretch. "It ain't everyday someone asks this old man to do something monumental," grumbled Rōshi without any actual sincerity. It was clear he didn't mind a chance to quite literally stretch his muscles. "You young folk don't have appreciation for the speed at which the elderly live their lives." His sunglasses glinted, and with a deep breath, he focused hiski.

The change was instantaneous. His slim body, seemingly decrepit with age, bulked tremendously. His muscle definition was now the definition of insane, and the old master now appeared to be a body-builder. "I guess I'll show you whippersnappers how it's done." He cupped his hands to his side, and began to recite the words of his aged technique. "Ka...Me..." The sphere began to form within his palms, a vibrant blue and white bathing the old man in its hue. "...Ha...Me..." With his eyes directly on where the moon should be, Muten Rōshi thrust his palms forward with the final syllable.

"HAAAA!"

From both hands, the sphere exploded into a rushing blast ofki. He felt his body move backwards, though not by much, as the sands around him began to shift into a whirlwind. There was a blinding flash, and a far distance explosion. Rōshi's hands fell from their elevated height, and his breath slowed. "Still got it. Now if only I'd had an audience for that."

Palace of God, Same Time

The two sisters had been passing time idly, waiting away the end of the battle high on the Palace of God. Only Bulma had even the slightest idea what was occurring down on the surface of Earth, and this was merely due to the fact that her ocular enhancements showed her the rising, falling, and far too often, completely vanishing of the various combat strengths. She knew that only five people were alive on the battlefield right now, and assumed that the strongest of the two were her beloved husband and Vegeta.

Yet she still lacked enough context for the flashing of numbers and variables to be completely and utterly confusing.

"Any new developments, sis?" asked Tights, sauntering over towards her younger sister.

"Believe me, I wish," replied Bulma. To a casual observer, she almost appeared blind, avoiding eye contact with her sister while speaking. This, however, was simply because she was focusing on the battle transpiring down below. "Four combat strengths are clashing, another large one is moving towards them, I can't make heads or tails of it."

"You think two of them are Gokū and Raditz?"

"They'd have to be," said Bulma. "The other two are so ridiculously large they could be the Saiyans, but I wouldn't put it past one of those to be Piccolo. There's too many combat strengths that have dropped..." She added, and her voice caught briefly. "A smaller one moved away from the chaos earlier...I really hope that's my baby."

"I'm sure she's fine," said Tights soothingly. "Gokū loves that little girl to death. As long as he's there, nothing's going to happen to her."

Bulma smiled, taking her eyes off the battle for the first time in several long minutes. "You're right. Son made me a promise, after all."

A strange, whirring tone shattered the tender moment as quickly as it had arrived, and Bulma glanced over exasperatedly at Jaco. "Jaco! What's making that noise?!"

The Galactic Patrolman poked half of his body out from the co*ckpit of his spacecraft, holding the side of his head. "My communications device! Though I don't recognise the person calling..." Jaco pressed a button on the back of his head, and flinched at the voice that came from the other side. He listened for a moment before calling over to Bulma. "Bulma! It's your friend! Klilyn or something? He's going on about great apes and fake moons! You want I should put this on speaker, because I'm not following a bit of it!"

"Great...Apes..." Bulma blinked, and remembered only too vividly when Gokū had transformed into a monster when he was younger. "You mean the Giant Monkey?!" She rushed over immediately. "Jaco! Speaker! Now!"

Jaco, albeit reluctantly, pressed a button on the side of his head, and Kuririn's voice came out loud and clear.

"Bulma! Thank God this actually worked! I've never actually called an alien spaceship before!"

"Kuririn, what's going on?" demanded Bulma. "Jaco said you were going on about Giant Monkeys! Did Gokū transform again?!"

"Um...Gokū...Raditz...two of the Saiyans...and Pan..."

"Pan!? My baby?!" Bulma shrieked. "Kuririn, you owe me an explanation! The moon isn't even completely out yet! Raditz, I get, I took a gamble and made some adjustments! But what about the my husband and child?!"

"That's actually why I'm calling. You saw that giant flash, right? I asked Muten Rōshi to destroy the moon!"

The two sisters and the alien looked at each other. It was true, a few minutes ago, there had been a giant flash that seemed completely out of the ordinary. But given the start of today had been an alien invasion, and they were far more concerned about the well-being of their family and friends, they'd put it to the back of their minds.

"We saw it," said Bulma. "But if you destroyed the moon, everything should be OK, right?"

"Not really. Pan transformed when she saw this weird glowing orb in the sky. I think it might be able to make a Saiyan transform.

I'm over at Kame House, and I don't have the ki anymore. Can you get that space cop to shoot it down?"

"That's...that's a great idea, Kuririn!" gasped Bulma, slapping her fist into her hand. "Jaco's a sharpshooter; he should be able to blow it up no problem! Consider it handled. Now YOU get back to that battlefield and get my baby!"

"But—"

"No buts! Go, Kuririn!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

Kuririn hung up the phone, and Bulma glanced at Jaco. "You heard everything, Jaco. Find this glowing sphere and get rid of it."

"Why do I want to do that?" inquired Jaco. "I don't want to get involved with anything to do with those Saiyans. It'd be so much simpler if I could just kill them with the Extinction Bomb..."

"Jaco, I don't want to hear protests," argued Bulma. "I know you can do it. Shoot the sphere down!"

"I don't even know where it is!" protested the Galactic Patrolman. "I can't do magic, Bulma!"

"Jaco, I know your eyesight is better than anyone else's," interjected Tights. "We're old friends, aren't we? Just try. Bulma will point you in the direction, so just look and shoot, OK?" The blonde woman smiled, and Jaco let out a sigh.

"Fine," agreed the alien. He flashed a dry glare at Bulma."Your type dies old and alone, you know that?"

"I've got my sweetie and my daughter," Bulma replied icily. "I think I'll do just fine, Jaco." Bulma focused her enhancements towards the combat strength signals she was receiving. All four combat strengths had dropped considerably, the fifth that had been on its way had joined up — this must have been her daughter — and only three of the five were 'active' per se. Bulma calculated the location within moments, and pointed her finger due south-east from where she had been facing.

"I can detect all of the major combat strengths there...also, there's a large concentration ofkijust floating in that direction," said Bulma confidently. "If the weird glowy orb that turned my little baby into a monster is anywhere, it's going to be there."

Jaco followed the arc of Bulma's finger, turning his eyes towards the south-east direction of the palace. His shining yellow eyes focused into the distance. He didn't have perfect vision, but out of all the races in the Universe, his had perhaps some of the best — and this counted among species who had access to ki. Reaching to his side, the Galactic Patrolman pulled his blaster from his holster.

He didn't want to admit it, but Tights compliment certainly was ego stroking. His eyes glinted, and he flashed a grin. Coming into his vision was a distant shape, a glowing white glint. That image was all he needed. "This is what a Galactic Patrol elite can do!" Pulling the trigger, the blaster exploded in a flash of white light. The beam traveled quickly, speeding from the nozzle off into the distance.

"Whoah!" gasped Bulma. She'd made a blaster when she was a five, and it was something special. But it looked like Jaco'd made improvements to his blaster that reminded the woman of her old invention. The concentration of plasma, the fineness of the blast, and trajectory and speed; it seemed he'd made some updates in the last twenty-three years.

The beam vanished from sight in mere moments, and there was a brief reprieve from action. Bulma was almost tempted to scold Jaco for missing, but the policeman raised a hand up. He was still smiling.

A distant explosion thundered, and there was a brilliant display of light in the distance, mixing artificial energy with naturalki. Another gasp escaped Bulma's throat, and Tights mimicked the motion. "Jaco! Look at you! So youcanbe reliable!" grinned Bulma.

Jaco spun in a circle, his back aimed to his viewing audience and co*cked his arms as if holding unseen finger pistols. Leaning his head back to look over his shoulder, he bent his knees and recited a nasally, "Bang!" to complete his pose, as if to cement his 'cool' look to everyone seeing him in action. A True Super Elite, after all, always has to look good when on the job.

"You know what?" replied Bulma smugly. "I'm gonna let you have this, Jaco."

"Now we just have to leave it up to those two..." said Tights. "Gokū and Raditz..."

Gizzard Wastelands, Moment of the Lunar Destruction

"I WAS BEING TOO KIND. I'LL ERASE THE BOTH OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP!" Vegeta roared, preparing to lay the final blow to Gokū. At this moment, he felt a massive shift in his body, as the sky flashed akin to the descent of a deity. The flash was brief, and mercifully short, but it had its effects. Vegeta could tell the moment his body began to adjust.

"I-IMPOSSIBLE...! SOMEONE DESTROYED...THE MOON?!" His snout began to recede, the fur shrinking back into his skin. His size went from dwarfing most of the surrounding area to diminutive by the former standards. In mere moments, Vegeta had reverted back to his human form. The Saiyan prince roared in anger. "Damn! It! Someone destroyed the moon!" He repeated himself in blinding rage, and looked upward at the kneeling form of Gokū's Giant Monkey form.

"HEH..HEH..." Gokū grinned. "LOOK LIKE YOU GOT SHRUNK DOWN...VEGETA..." Even his laugh was exhausted. "I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE ENERGY TO ATTACK...BUT I COULD FALL ON YOU...AND I THINK THAT'D FINISH IT!"

Before Gokū could make good on this, the enraged transformed Pan roared forward, swiping at Vegeta. The Saiyan Prince leapt into the air, her fist barely grazing him. The Giant Monkey child turned towards him, snarling menacingly. Whether she'd realised which one was her father after the reversion, or simply was targeting the weakest looking thing in the area remained to be seen, but she was now focused entirely on the diminutive prince.

"The halfling brat! I forgot about her!" Vegeta forced the air pressure from Pan's strike to dissipate, glaring at her. "Those two are still transformed...how!?" He remembered the Power Ball that burned brightly in the sky, and seethed. "Goddammit, Nappa!"

Two clenched fists came rushing downward, and Vegeta could barely avoid the strike from the enraged child. He was literally fending off a tantrum, and in this state, she was vastly more dangerous.I just need to slice off that brat's tail!thought the Saiyan Prince. But he couldn't get a proper angle; the girl was firmly planted on the ground, and her massive torso was angled in his direction. He couldn't cut something of that size in half, not without being at full strength.

In line with Vegeta's thoughts, there was a similar explosion behind him, and he witnessed a vibrant light display. It was clear, even without looking, what had happened. The Power Ball in the air that Nappa had launched high had also been destroyed.Who the hell is running around doing this?!thought the Prince. He'd should have used the Ball to resume his transformation, but he'd been too preoccupied fending off the child.

At the destruction of the orb, both Gokū and Pan immediately felt the effects. Their bodies began to regress, their fur receded, and it was only moments before they resumed their own human shape. Pan fell unconcious, not having been in control to start with, but Gokū was very conscious and very much in excruciating pain. His entire body felt like it was on fire, his cells were burning, muscles attempting to shred themselves. The aftershocks of combining the Kaiōken with his Giant Monkey transformation sent his body reeling; he couldn't stand, and fell completely to his knees, writhing.

Vegeta grinned. "You know, Kakarrot. This day has been something of a disaster. I came to kill you, completely lost my troops, have been humiliated by you, your child, and your brother. But in the end, the cards are all on my table, aren't they?" His grin veered far off into malicious territory. "Breathe your last, third-class trash!"

Chapter 19: The Prince and Princess

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 19 - The Prince and Princess

Vegeta grinned. "You know, Kakarrot. This day has been something of a disaster. I came to kill you, completely lost my troops, have been humiliated by you, your child, and your brother. But in the end, the cards are all on my table, aren't they?" His grin veered far off into malicious territory. "Breathe your last, third-class trash!"

Unable to even keep himself propped on his knees now, Gokū completely doubled over in pain, collapsing onto the ground. His body was writing, twitching and shuddering in pain, due to the overuse of the Kaiōken. His hearing barely registered Vegeta's threats.

The Prince in question sneered still further. "Look at you, Kakarrot. For all your talk of showing me that third-class garbage can fight against an elite, the very effort is killing you! You can't even move!" A bark of laughter leapt from his throat. "You're pathetic. I'm almost tempted to let you die in agony here." The palms of his hands were coated in a vivid purpleki, the Prince raising one of them high. "Almost." He lunged downward, his glowing hand poised above Gokū's heart. Just before his blow struck home, Vegeta felt his entire body rock; a slim arm, coated in redki, caught him by the neck. The pain radiated out through his chest and to the back of his head; he was caught entirely offguard, and the figure who struck him dragged him along the ground before sending him ripping across the ground and into the nearest rock formation.

The assaulter in question was a beautiful woman with pale skin, black eyes, and matching black hair with a raven sheen. Her attire was a sleeveless, yellow top with red lining, tied up to the neck. Cut off at her midriff, a purple sash was tied around her waist, suspending the dress-like piece of cloth that adorned her lower body, slit at the sides to reveal her slender legs and light blue, thigh-length tights. In lie of sleeves, the woman wore fingerless gloves at bicep-height. She was immersed in a redki, centered around her dominant arm and crafted into a bull's head, complete with horns.

"So you're that hellishkiI've been feelin' for awhile?" shouted the woman as Vegeta stumbled from the rubble, clutching his throat. "You don't look like much now."

"Who...the hell..." Vegeta rasped, coughing. He could feel a horrible lump in his throat from the impact, however, it was already recovering. His tail twitched in fury. "...Are you...?! I thought this planet's fighters...had all shown up...?"

"Chi-Chi from Mount Frypan!" declared the woman boldly. "I don't know what you've got against Son Gokū...but I've got words for him, so don't even try it!"

"It must have been you..." snarled the Saiyan Prince, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "The little rat scurrying around, destroying the Moon and the Power Balls! You're the one who only added to this ludicrous situation, aren't you?!" He entirely ignored her declaration, pinning the blame for the recent events on the strange new girl.

The Princess of Mt. Frypan's face scrunched, trying to make heads or tails of what the alien was saying. "I don't know what you're talkin' about, and I haven't done anythin' of the sort." She bent at the knee, clenching her left fist at her side. Chi-Chi brought her right arm upwards by her head, curling her index and middle finger inward, while tightening the other digits in a quarter-fist. "I'm flattered you want to talk to me — maybe you think I'm beautiful? — but I came here to beat you into the dirt!"

"Playing dumb and co*ckiness must be a trait all Earthlings have!" snarled Vegeta. "But I have more than enough strength to kill you!" The Saiyan's black hair began to ruffle, and a vibrant purplish-whitekisurrounded his body. Veins pulsing, the Prince of Saiyans let out a violent shout to the heavens, debris shooting in the air, hiskisettling into an aura around his body. His breathing had evened out, Vegeta suddenly seeming to lose all exhaustion. This was the terrifying reality of the Saiyans — battle was where they thrived, and a Saiyan who was not put down quickly would only adapt. Vegeta was experiencing something he hadn't felt in years of battle: his second wind.

Chi-Chi felt an immense rush of fear; she'd gone in to save Gokū, and she'd thought that the enemy would be incredibly weakened.So what is this incrediblekiI'm feeling?! Even now, he feels like some sort of incredible monster!Chi-Chi braced herself, immersing herself in the same redkishe'd struck Vegeta with earlier. It was the cornerstone of her father's patented Gyūken — a combat style he'd formed by deviating slightly from Kame-Sen Style School. She'd employed the basics of it back during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai, and after the...incident with Son Gokū...she'd devoted herself to perfecting her father's style.

Vegeta rocketed forward, racing across the land towards Chi-Chi. Closing in, the Saiyan ducked low, attacking Chi-Chi with a sweeping low-kick along the ground. Chi-Chi leapt into the air immediately in response, letting Vegeta glide under her, and she landed neatly behind him. Clenching her fist, she thrust her fist forward, attacking with a powerful,kicoated punch in the shape of an ox's horns. The blow struck the weathered prince square in the back, yet he did not yield. Spinning on his heel, Vegeta released a powerful kikōha at near-point blank. Chi-Chi raised her arms up, utilising her aura as a method of defence and managing to disperse of the brunt of the blast.

The Princess of Mount Frypan leapt back, pursued by Vegeta. For every strike he made, she used her lightweight and nimble speed to avoid it, quite literally dancing across the ground as each and every blow grazed by her. Whilst moving, Chi-Chi's dark eyes glanced over towards Gokū's diminishing form, which was beginning to fade into the distance the further she and Vegeta advanced in the opposite direction. When they reached a distance she found suitable, stopped dead and placed one of her free hands in front of her stomach, catching Vegeta's incoming fist.

"There...! Now I can—!"

"—fight me unimpeded?" Vegeta said, smiling with a curl of the lip. "Did you really think I didn't notice you were trying to separate our battle from Kakarrot's dying body?" He laughed, feeling her palm tighten around his own. "Your cleverness boils over into naïveté, girl! Yet, I'm not entirely out of mercy, so I followed you — besides, it would deny me the satisfaction of the kill if Kakarrot died as a casualty from our battle!" Wrenching his fist from Chi-Chi's grasp in a move that would have broken the fingers of a lesser woman, Vegeta's grin widened to show nearly every individual tooth. "Let me see what you can do, Earthling woman!"

sh*t!Chi-Chi kept her guard up; one slip-up and she would die.

Son Gokū had felt this before, this agony to the point of being nearly paralyzed. Not since he fought Piccolo -before and after he reincarnated- had he thought that he could be brought down to a degree lower than that. He didn't even have the strength to stand, let alone move. But in the passing moments Vegeta was drawn away, the pain lessened and became a dull ache across his body instead of stabbing explosions of torture within his own cells.

"There's only one thing I got left in me," He realised, closing his eyes and gingerly raised his palms upward, spreading his body spreadeagled and mentally concentrated as if he was standing upright on a tall tower of earth. "Everyone! From the birds in the trees to the animals below, to the fish in the rivers and sea to the creatures in cities and all those who walk on two legs! I urge you, now while there's hope, give me your energy so I may defeat my enemy!"

While words on their own wasn't enough to compel, his calm and still form enabled this fabled technique Kaiō called his ultimate trump card. If the Kaiōken was considered a weapon to utilise in quick succession, then this was the one to obliterate an opponent completely and utterly. This was the power of life compelled from all things near and far: the Genki Dama!

As the fight continued afar, the last hope of Earth collected stray near invisible strands of light into himself, the strings ofkifrom all that is available in his grasp across the planet seeping into his pores. A soft glow of majestic white would form, waving like water over his skin, as he absorbed the energy and harvested it. The process would take time if he wanted this to take out someone like Vegeta; the real question was, once he gathered enough, who was going to throw it?

A crushing blow to the face. Chi-Chi was sent reeling, Vegeta unleashing all of his pent-up aggression against Kakarrot through her. She felt each and every strike collide with violent hit struck home; her stomach. her face, her collarbone. The woman hated to admit that the Saiyan adversary had been leading her on in the first few minutes of their fight; she'd wanted to believe he'd been kidding about simply "following" her away from Son Gokū.

How can he be so strong, even after all of that?She winced. With an immense display of force, Chi-Chi thrust both arms outward, releasing akiaithat caused Vegeta to stumble back, forcing him off of her. She clenched her fists, and began to focus herki. The basic burst from the Gyūken was obviously not working. She would have to push it just a little farther...like how Kame-Sennin had shown her.

"The main issue I've had with my fighting style is my method of increasing attack. It's effective, yet rudimentary.
Increasing one's muscle mass provides for incredible strength — and truly, I've blown the heavens away with my power.
However, my method floods mykiinto my muscles, vastly increasing their mass. It's detrimental, and takes a toll on my stamina.
You're young, and you can come up with a much better method than I can. Take the principles of the Gyūken and maximise your efficiency of control."

Refine...mykicontrol...Chi-Chi had been working on this technique for years now. Ever her rejection at the hands of the man who lay on the ground now. She'd sought out the Kame-Sennin, and under his tutelage, had refined what her father couldn't. The blazing redki, which had coated her like a proper aura, was beginning to retract like a rubber band, pooling in to surround her form. It was taking on the approximate shape of her own body, with "horns" ofkitransparently manifesting on her aura's head.

Vegeta's eyes widened. "Thatki...it looks just like the technique that bastard Kakarrot pulled out! So you have the same trick, girl?!"

"You're full of questions, ain'tcha?" replied Chi-Chi. "I know I missed most of the party, but could you at least make some sense? I don't know what Son Gokū did, and it doesn't matter anyway. The Gyūken is the result of my training! I refined Papa and Kame-Sennin's styles to create this technique!" A grin crossed her beautiful face, and Chi-Chi readopted her stance. Bending at the knee, she suddenly vanished, and reappeared behind Vegeta. She co*cked her fist back, eyes narrowing as she focused on her target. "The more I constrict the aura around my body...the more my power explodes! This is the most I can manage right now..." Thrusting her fist forward, the girl caught Vegeta offguard, creating an explosive punch on contact.

Her strength has multiplied...!The Prince thought, feeling his body rock with the force of the blow he tried to deflect.What is with this planet and these blasted techniques?!Grounding himself, Vegeta gripped Chi-Chi by the arm and threw the girl into the far distance, spinning on his heel to turn and pursue.

Flying madly through the air, Chi-Chi's eyes scanned the area. She immediately released control of her aura, spreading it out from her body and stretching thekitowards the nearest plateau. It gripped the rocky formation by shaping it into a massive hand, and the Princess of Mount Frypan used this as a tether to swing around and fling herself back towards Vegeta.Expansion and then contraction...focus...!She thought to herself, reigning herkiback into the familiar shape that surrounded her body. This was the advantage of her Gyūken; akiso dense it could interact with the world like a physical object. Chi-Chi barreled towards Vegeta akin to a human torpedo.

"A linear attack like that?!" laughed Vegeta. "You must be desperate if you think I can't counter that!"

"Ka..." Chi-Chi began to recite the words that Vegeta had become very familiar with in his short stay here, and his eyes widened in surprise.

What does she intend to do like this?! I thought that attack was a blast-type!

Vegeta's guard slacked in his confusion, and Chi-Chi took the moment to her advantage. Ducked forward, she slugged him hard in the chin, forcing his neck and head backwards from the strength of the blow. "Ha..." The following elbow strike was parried by a now furious Saiyan prince, nevertheless, Chi-Chi didn't falter. "Me..." She pulled backwards, launching a flip kick that struck Vegeta hard in the chin — the pain was practically doubled from the blow to his jaw not moments before. The ebony-haired woman landed onto her feet, Vegeta's curses filling her ears. "HA!" She thrust both hands forward, and bluekierupted from her palms.

The blast swallowed Vegeta in its entirety, his vision obscured in a rush of blue and white light. Chi-Chi's technique had its flow disrupted, swelling like a balloon before bursting. Vegeta had thrust his arms outward, releasing a powerful shockwave which dispelled Chi-Chi's technique. Blue embers from the Kamehameha floated between the both of them, Chi-Chi's eyed widening in stunned disbelief. "You...blocked it..."

The Prince tried to even his breath, his expression a death glare mixed into a contemptuous smile. "You're impressive for an Earthling...but clever tricks aren't going to be enough to beat me! Kakarrot's body proves that!" His purple and white aura began to spike, surrounding his body in a blazing flame. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "I hope you showed everything off, girl — because now playtime is over!" In that instance, Vegeta moved, letting loose a snap kick that struck Chi-Chi in the chin — a cruel mimicry of the strike that stunned him moments earlier — sending Chi-Chi hurtling through the air. Vegeta pursued, closing the distance at shocking speed.

Chi-Chi released a kikōha towards the ground, exploding in a brilliant display of light and smoke, obscuring her from view. She was able to bring herself to a stop, soles clacking to the ground as she peered into the smoke. She needed to catch her breath, regroup, and formulate a count—

"Was your goal to hit me with dust?" Vegeta's voice chilled her to the bone, the princess turning to see the man standing behind her. He'd moved so quickly through the smoke he'd bypassed her senses entirely. Desperately, Chi-Chi struck forward with a swift left hook, Vegeta leaning aside accordingly, followed by a front kick. Vegeta leapt into the air, avoiding the blow and landing in front of Chi-Chi the moment she lowered her leg. Swiftly, the Saiyan struck her several times in the face, then multiple times in the stomach; Chi-Chi clutched her torso and stumbled backwards, spitting blood.

Toughing through the pain, Chi-Chi leapt back, her footwork like dancing, trying to keep some distance from Vegeta. She flew high into the air, feeling the aura of the Gyūken fading. It was a technique and form that required nothing but the utmost concentration; with her fresh wounds and immense discomfort that accompanied them, the precise moulding of herkithat the Gyūken required was impossible. Vibrant redkiformed around her fingers, and she fired a sphere of energy towards Vegeta's grounded form. Easily, Vegeta avoided the blast, and it collided with the ground, resulting in an explosion that shattered boulders. Grinning, the Saiyan rushed into the air, gaining on Chi-Chi quickly.

"Did you think you could escape in the air?!"

Chi-Chi attempted to kick Vegeta, but the blow missed before it had a hope of connecting; Vegeta responded in kind with a punch to the side of her jaw. Chi-Chi's attempted counterattack was avoided with a blurred afterimage; Vegeta reappeared behind her, clasping both fists together, and striking her square on the skull. The blow forced Chi-Chi to spiral downward towards the Earth like a meteor, crashing hard into the rocky terrain. "Let me show you what a kikōha looks like, girl!"Kiignited above his palm, Vegeta lobbing the glowing sphere towards his fallen opponent. It collided with Chi-Chi, exploding in a blinding flash of fire and light.

The explosion dissipated, revealing Chi-Chi crouching on a single knee. Her red aura had vanished entirely, and her outfit was shredded in various places, her skin marred and burned by Vegeta's relentless assaults. Her breath was ragged, her hair was hanging over her face, the tie having come undone.Damn...he really is somethin' else...an alien fighter ain't no joke...Chi-Chi raised both palms towards Vegeta and released a crimson blast towards the Prince. Vegeta grinned, co*cking his fist back and thrusting it through the plasma. It ruptured, blowing apart with ease. Laughing with open malice, the man landed softly onto the ground.

"Was that the last dregs of your strength? I'll admit, you were an amusing distraction; I've never met a woman as determined as you that wasn't a Saiyan." Vegeta raised his hands, purplekishining brightly in the centre. "Now our little game ends here!"

Raditz stirred from his unconscious state. Pain ached across his very being, injuries sustained by letting his arrogance of position over his enemy get the better of him. It was the very sense of injuries persisting across his body that allowed him to stir into a bleary eyed gaze across the battle scarred landscape. The last thing he remembered was clashing in a mutual punch that rendered both combatants incapacitated. Throughout all of that, he thought that was the last he'd fight...

...until now.

"Ngh!" He grunted out, turning his head with struggle at the opposite direction. He caught the periphery of flashing lights, distant thunderclaps followed with trembling and the slightest of gusts of wind carrying all the way to his person. The gale stung his bloodied injuries, his teeth gnashed as most of the numbness was fading, replaced with sores and aches all over himself. When was the last time he felt this demolished? Not even his clumsy defeat by Pan could compare-

The thought of his niece and then his brother made him jolt his eyes wide open. The precedence for their well-being somehow took priority over his own beaten frame, pushing himself to move upward. Hands skirted the soil, knees dug into the ground and his back arched with his rolling neck, gravel and flecks of dirt clods sliding off his long mane of hair. Getting to his hands and knees he breathed through clenched teeth, heaving himself up to an upright position as he let out ragged breaths, snarling between each labored inhale and exhale. "Everything! Friggin'! Sucks! Right! Now!"

Wiping away the mess of blood and filth on his brow over his face, he'd see something peculiar catch his notice. Tiny sparks were dancing over his head, like some group of floating insects fluttering in a rhythm towards a singular source. His eyes scoured the area, finding that this energy was coursing from the ground he was at, the pits and craters and even the piles of demolished plateaus and mountains in the distance.

His gaze caught sight of the brutalized Nappa, unconscious and in his Base State, much to his satisfaction. Not as far away was his niece, giving him some respite as he saw a slight breathing coming from the bruised, scraped and also knocked out Saiyan half blooded child. Both of them were out except him, which left only one person; the source of this current of light.

Managing to get himself upright, he began to stifle back groans of bodily protest at maneuvering so soon. Stabs of pain came in aching waves with every ounce of muscular weight put over each boot covered sole. Hugging his side, he'd ignore the pain ebbing from his face and the rest of his body as he walked towards the spreadeagled, bloodier sight that was his brother. He was coated in a vibrant halo ofki, something that made him look in awe at the sight. It gave off a sensation he had never experienced before; the warmth and presence of a body's inner energy bored to visible degrees of condensed potency.

"Oh...good," Gokū began to say, one eye swollen nearly closed and the other looked exhaustively at his older sibling with relief in his dark eyes. "I was beginning to think...you wouldn't...wake up."

"Of course I'm up! You dolt!" Raditz snarled in between sharp in takes of air, replacing exasperated cries of anguish into temperamental outbursts. It made it easier to deal with, after all. The fact he was in this much pain and willed himself to stand was unlike theoldRaditz to do. If he was smart he would play dead and hope Vegeta would pass him over. The fact he wasn't here meant someone was distracting him or trying to beat him far away from here. So the only point risking now was to hiss out some demand of action from his resourceful brother, hoping he had an opportunity for them to survive. "I'm assuming! You have a plan! Kakarrot?!"

"Kinda, haha!" Gokū chuckled, still gathering the light into his very being as he looked back up at the sky. "I gotta say, you ain't what I figure'd you out to be, Raditz."

"What the Hell does that mean?!" He barked back, earning another goofy giggle from the beaten younger brother.

"You're...not a nice guy, Raditz. In fact, the way you just killed those other guys so easily...it was cruel. But, the way you fought...beside everyone. How you looked out...for Pan...this whole time. It means you're not...all bad...right?"

This belabored speech was baffling the older Saiyan. His little brother continued to show him just how strange of an anomaly he's become while being on this backwater planet. He's gained compassion, mercy and a morality that protects those that he has bonds to. The compassion was so unlike the rest of the Saiyan Race, let alone those whom he had served for decades of his childhood thru adulthood. He had almost all but forgotten what it was like to have affection for others, like his mother had done for himself; then, meeting the insufferable tiny terror tyke Pan made him remember, more often than he'd care for. That and the other Earth woman related to Gokū's mate...

Turning his head away, furrowing his brow and gnashing his teeth in embittered resignation, he growled aloud in almost a defeated tone, "Is that all you had to say, brother? That I'm not such a bad guy? It's not going to save us! Vegeta is still going to kill us! So stop being damn sentimental and tell me you have a plan, Kakarrot!"

"Hehe, I was gettin' to that," The prone Saiyan answered weakly, the light trailing to his body beginning to halt and the aura becoming stable around his body. Now that Raditz had a good look at it, it didn't look like ordinary energy. It was translucent, almost like it was the consistency of a star rather than a person's life force. Yet, he could tell, even without his sibling's innate gift to sensekithat this was different; like it was a culmination of so much at work that he couldn't fathom its process. Noticing his awe at the light, he smiled slightly and explained. "This is...my greatest technique...that I learned from Kaiō: the Genki Dama. It takes all of the traces ofkiin everything. From the creatures to the plants, to the earth and the sky, the people of this planet and even the Sun itself can power it. It's capability is...limitless...but it has one drawback. I have to stand perfectly still to gather energy from everywhere; something I haven't gotten the chance to do until now."

Furrowing his brow, Gokū grimaced with pained concentration. The precious glow of thekihe gathered flowed across his body, like circulating water maneuvering through canals that dammed parts off and opened gates in others. Flowing intricately with delicacy that made Raditz marvel at the amount of proficiency at controlling his energy, it was a league above even the point he was at when he first arrived on Earth in their initial confrontation. It'd begin its final trek down his right arm, ending with a small circling aurora around his wrist over open palm and fingers.

Panting with exertion, he looked over at Raditz with his half-closed eye and a weary open right iris with a glint of optimism, his words ringing true their intent to him, "I won't lie to you. This technique...it ain't meant for people like you. Kaiō said that this energy comes from the purest form of life and it targets the evil of my target. If anyone not pure holds it-"

"It's going to hurt like Hell, right?" Raditz finished his brother's words before he could finish. Looking intently at the ghostly apparition of energy, he had no telling what kind of damage it could do. If that Kaiōken ripped his sibling's body to pieces from the inside out, this was meant to surpass that in terms of sheer destructive potential. Could he endure such anguish? Could he survive it?

Thinking of the Earthling fighters who've died on their feet, the tenacity of his niece and the sheer brutality of what his brother went through to get to this point, he knew he had only one answer to give him.

"Give it to me, Kakarrot," He insisted with a stretched out hand, ignoring its trembling of trepidation and current aches spasming through the appendage. "I'll do it! Just hand the blasted thing over to me already!"

Gokū smiled. It was pained, full of fatigue, but it was whole and emphatic at was shown to him. He didn't need to say thanks for what he said was enough for him. Stretching his glowing palm out, full of the planet's power, Raditz gripped his hand firmly past his own shaking. Concentrating on letting the aura slip off him and onto Raditz, he saw what he had suspected-

"GNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNRRRRRRRRRRRRK!" Raditz's immediate reaction was feeling his blood light aflame as assuredly as the light wrapped over his hand, crackling violently with chaos that wasn't like his brother's. He fell to his knees, his spare hand grasping the ground as he bit down on his cheek to hold back howls of agony. Eyes opened wide and closed shut, brows furrowed with tension while veins sporadically pulsed across his bulging forehead.

It was almost too much to bear, but priorities resurfaced to his thoughts and a resolute will stifled his panic. Even as his hand was bursting from the seams of his armored gauntlet, cracked in visible fissures from the blazing bio-energy that snapped and popped in the air in electrical synapse. Flowing up his arm, the pain magnified and redistributed across his pores and through his bone marrows across his veins. Crossing his shoulder, it'd spread like wildfire, bringing him to all fours as he spasmed with heat and light, his form distorted past the mantle of energy that reacted negatively to his psychosis. Bared teeth seethed hot vapor through the gaps, his nostrils exuding steam as his skin almost became a dull red from the exertion placed on him.

He knew his brother was watching so he did his best to show that he can make good on his word. Digging his fingers through the soil and disintegrating the dust in his palms, he shakily stood up, wobbling as he did so. His wild mane stood on end, his body trembling past the excruciating aura of transferredkigranted to him. Slumped over, his left arm raised up in a twitching convulsion; before giving his incapacitated sibling a clearly transparent view of a timid thumb's up.

"I got this," He said through bared teeth, his eyes barely visible as he began a trot. Slowly making his way forward, one foot after the other, the pain coursing through every nodule of nerve ending he possessed. The stimuli radiated with suffering and his brain gonged his skull with protest, his own Saiyan biology on the verge of collapsing. It was practically over as he lost his footing and began to trip over, face first to the earth.

"Pathetic! And you call yourself a Saiyan? What a weakling you are, Raditz!"

"HAHA! You can't even scratch an itch on my back! Not even worth licking my boot!"

"Disgusting. I can't believe we're related by blood. Don't show your face around me."

He grimaced, feeling the ground get closer as his vision blurred into white. Was this the extent of his limit? Did he just wake up only to fall short of completion?

"Look at me, Uncle Raditz! Did I do good?"

The memory made his vanishing pupils dilate, reacting with a whipping stomp from his other leg caught himself, creating a tremor in the ground and blowing back the air with his power's breath.

"Hey, don't fuss so much. How am I supposed to clean your face when you keep fidgeting? There, that's better, hehe!"

These words caused his trembling arms to seize up, silencing the spasms in his arm through a shock of his mind overwhelming his twisting appendages. Hands clenched into fists, knuckles snapping with loud pops, in sync with the rolls of his back and the rise of his upper body. Legs spread and his breath came in seething inhales to heated exhales. His skin was almost a bright red from the heat coursing through his form, but he reined it in and embraced the negative sensations for once in his life.

"Why don't you listen to me once in awhile? I'm no Saiyan, but you can learn a thing or two from the Daimaō."

"You saved us big time!"

"Don't worry about me! I'll handle this guy!"

"I may be a roadblock to someone as big as you, but I''m going to make one Hell of a ditch for you to crawl out of!"

"I'm not this cold blooded monster you've been looking for.My name's Son Gokū!"

His eyes vanished into the film of white that overtook his sockets, glowing eerily as his hair kicked up and his body bristled with hiskiinterlocking tangibly with the new energy's. He felt it, every microscopic particle and every trace of its existence. The whole world opened up to him as this painful, eviscerating and unforgiving light pulsed through him in a throbbing manner akin to a spiritual heartbeat.

"I've got this, Son Gokū," He spoke under his breath, before blasting off towards the horizon.

Vegeta had her dead in the cross-airs. She had put up a mighty struggle, but this was really the end. So with hiskicoursing hotly in violet hue over his bloodied, torn gloved he began to swing it when a sudden tremor destabilized his footing. His skin chilled, the hairs on them pricked and his tail twitched nervously around his waist. Turning from his captured quarry, he was shocked by the sight he witnessed.

Crashing into the ground with a bolt of lightning was Raditz, the clap of thunder letting loose a loud thuum in his wake. A tight aura of luminous heat throbbed around his reddened skin, heat ebbing from his pores and out of his nostrils and tightly clamped teeth. Pupils were erased by the glow overlapping his sockets, the whole of his body engorged in a power that radiated with majesty and a presence so thick that the Saiyan Prince couldfeelit.

"R-Raditz!" Vegeta finally uttered, dropping the woman and dispersing the energy in his glove as it clenched tightly with his other forward raised one. "What is that light?! How did you get back up?! What the Hell happened?!"

He stood there, motionless, apart from the sparking light that danced around the air and pulsed with an ominous current. If the planet hadn't already shaken enough from Gokū and Vegeta's battle, they'd feel a stirring in every corner of their civilization. Water would distend, paper or leaves rose up and people would get a distinct impression something far away was happening of huge importance. Something that was undeniably palpable before the blue-blooded warrior.

"ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!" He hollered, suddenly getting Raditz to move a step. This response was so unnerving that he felt himself taking steps back; a motion he caught himself doing with utter shock. Was he afraid? Of Raditz?! Tightening his jawline, his power rose back to the surface as his voice released a sonic boom that echoed his fury to the undisturbed ex-subordinate of his. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?! YOU WORTHLESS TRASH! DO YOU REALIZE JUST HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU PUT ME THROUGH?! DO YOU?!"

"That's enough, Vegeta," Raditz replied, causing Vegeta to tense up again, shaken by just how calm he sounded past this frighteningly erratic form he was appearing in. "I've lived under your boot since we were children. Tormented by my peers, bullied by your lapdog and my pride sullied by our betters. I've lived my life fighting for myself and only myself so that I'd live to see another day. But you know what, Vegeta?"

The light pulsed, finally coalescing from his whole body and surging towards his left arm with an intense snapping pressure. His eyes reappeared as the energy surged to his dominant appendage and his teeth gnashed with a loud declaration to his former boss, "It's all tripe! I know what kind of people you and the so-calledSaiyan raceare! I've learned that fighting on behalf of others gives you more strength than fighting for yourself!"

Throbbing energy inched down his biceps and triceps to his forearm, sloshing its way to his hand. Stomping a foot back he'd twist his upper body in preparation, ignoring the blood, burns and steam still coming off his maimed frame. With it coiled around his wrist up around in a translucent aura over his palm and digits, he prepared his attack while Vegeta stared in terrified alarm.

"Accept this gift from this planet and my brother!" He cried out, throwing it towards him with a blinding arc of white luminous heat. "GENKI DAMA!"

Vegeta knew he had to avoid that attack at all costs. Having no understanding why he was rooted into the ground until this moment, he turned to jump, seeing the head-sized orb streak towards him with incredible speed. Leaping up, he was in such a haste that he left one thing behind that could stop him.

Grabbing the heel of his left boot!

"W-What?!" He cried out, whipping his head around to see the Earth woman, bruised and bloodied but very much conscious. She stared up with defiant black eyes, what remained of her strength rooted her remaining hand into the ground like a claw while the other held him back. The sight of her grimace turning into a smile disappeared as a ball of plasma struck its target, throwing her back with a slight cry of pain in a tumble.

Which the Prince fared no better.

A horrific scream of unmistakable pain shocked the prince as he was caught in a bodily gripping halo of popping and snapping currents of the godly technique. Every pore was lit aflame, his blood boiling and his nerves rend asunder with a visceral wail that was foreign to his own ears and the one who knew him. The shriek carried up as the brilliant blaze spiraled up into the sky, his voice beating the heavens with his lamentations until he was a pulsing star in their sight. A flashing wave and a utterly fantastic explosion from the bomb later, and everything became silent.

Raditz heaved with a heaviness he didn't think possible. He didn't bother looking at his left arm, knowing it was mangled, ripped and burnt horribly. If he didn't know about the blessed wonder drug he'd think he'd be down an arm, if not losing feeling in a good host of his nerves. But he chuckled, past the pain and acknowledging the victory he won himself.

Then thirty seconds passed as a hurtling sound was heard over his head. His eyes widened as he saw the shadow of a familiar frame coming downward, careening with an immense velocity. At the last second, he braced his face as the earth was struck and a wind full of dust with debris flew outward. He was aghast at the sight of a breathing, bloodied and armor-ruined Vegeta stirring from the cracked floor of the planet.

"D-Dammmit," He swore with a cracked voice. Reaching a barely tangible glove into the recesses of his battle jacket he withdrew what looked like a small remote. Recognizing it, he'd see him press a few buttons, stirring a distant orb-shaped transport to rapidly move. Seconds later, a Saiyan Pod arrived with a far gentler thud nearby, but still far enough away that the Prince had to crawl in a very undignified manner.

Snarling past his own parched throat, Raditz began to walk achingly slow but far more quickly than the struggling royal.

"T-To think...I-I...Prince V-Vegeta...would suffer like t-this," He murmured, unaware of his approach as his hands clenched the open ramp of the compact transport. A foot stepped on his outstretched tail, causing the Saiyan to freeze up with a stabbing pain. Turning himself around on his side he'd barely get out a word before a large, gauntlet swathed hand lanced out and clasp around his throat like a vice.

"D-Did you think! That I'd! Let you! Get away! HUH?!" The Saiyan snarled out between labored breaths, squeezing his hand tightly around the ruined Prince. He saw his eyes bulge, his limbs weakly flail and his gloved hands try to pry off his much bigger digits from his neck to no avail. If he was his old self, he'd savor this and enjoy it, but he was far too angry to care. His pupils dilated, veins spreading his eyes as he sneered with fury lacing every word he enunciated to the Prince's face. "For all that talk of Saiyan Pride, you have some gall, crawling away like this with no shame in losing in such a way! Your men, our comrades, died for you and you spat on their names! Well guess what?! No one's going to mourn your passing when I'm done squeezing the life out of your slimy neck!"

Vegeta's face was turning blue, eyes tearing up and nearly popping out of the sockets. He was struggling even more fiercely, trying to reach the bigger Saiyan's face or hit him but was too small to reach. The one time where size applied was in his dire need to survive, and he was going to pay for it. He had no one left to call upon for aid, and no one who would lend him strength to bail him out. He was alone and was going to die at the hands of the one he came to execute.

"No Raditz! That's enough!" An unheard voice, however, spoke to Raditz's from seemingly nowhere. Looking left and right, Raditz saw nothing but the prone, weary woman who was in no condition to shout with such resonance or with that familiar tone. Clenching his eyes shut, he didn't think it was possible but his brother had somehow managed to establish a telepathic contact, much in the same way his godly mentor had done with them. "Let him go, Raditz!"

"Why, should I?" He answered the voice, his words rasped out to a delirious Vegeta, as he could barely breathe past the slightly lessened chokehold. "After all he's done, and what he let happen, he is the last person I'd see spared."

"I know I'm asking a lot of you, but please, hear me out! If he dies here, then I'll never get a chance to be even with him."

"You've got to be joking," Raditz sneered, his eyes opened to glare daggers at the petrified Prince. "That is a reason you can't be using for real. He's the man who's made my life Hell for decades, and has singlehandedly laid waste to all those you call friends and attempted to murder your family. Pan was almost murdered by him! How can you stand that?!"

"I'm not! He's done a lot of terrible things and I'm not forgiving him for that!"

"Then why?! Why would you do that just for a fight?! That's idiotic and reckless!" He insisted, shaking Vegeta by the neck, knocking his head against the lip of the pod's metallic flap angrily. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't suffocate this bastard out! JUST! ONE!"

A damning silence passed by at slow motion. He knew that this would be something his brother would have to contemplate, truly ponder before answering. What he wanted was a satisfying rematch, a reclaiming of honor and restoration of his pride if not to satiate his battle-jock attitude for another temporary thrill. If he let this go, he couldn't do this so easily!

"Because, we're brothers."

That was what Gokū said. His words caused Raditz's face to contort with even greater fury than before. Veins throbbed across his large brow, his cheeks tightening and his hand shaking across the Prince's neck. Pulling him back, he'd suddenly slam his skull back on it, dazing the ex-superior of his before releasing his grip on his neck.

"Consider this mercy,PrinceVegeta," Raditz snarled, doing his best to hold himself back as he saw the shorter, torch-haired Saiyan rub his neck and rasp in breaths desperately to his starved lungs. "Kakarrot wants to get a proper rematch, so be thankful he loves fighting as much as you like living. But don't mistake this as mercy from me; if I had my way, you wouldn't be moving anymore.

"So go. Leave this planet and lick your wounds. The next time I see you, when our paths cross again, I'll kill you myself," He promised, raising a tightly gripped fist up in a threatening gesture as his eyes glared with knitted brows and dot-sized pupils. "Brother or not, you'll breathe your last if you see me again."

He didn't say a word. Vegeta simply crab-walked up the ramp, positioning himself back into the Saiyan Pod and closing the hatch back up with him. A defining click later and the transport shot up into the sky, blasting off past the atmosphere into outer space. When he was finally out of sight, Raditz felt his mind reel and feeling lose over himself.

"Thank you, Raditz. I really appreciate it-"

"f*ck off, asshole," He finally retorted before his face hit the ground and unconsciousness claimed him.

Chapter 20: Journey into the Stars

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 20 - Journey into the Stars

"Whoa!" A young pair of hands pressed against the glass, big eyes attached to a round face possessed a mouth widened and a long scraggly mane of black. Beyond the glass in teal, bubbling liquid, was a boy suspended in the cylinder tank. Eyes closed with angled messy hair of the same color and a furred tail, mouth covered by a breathing apparatus and quietly sleeping within. A big grin spread over his face as he saw the image of this child, realizing who it belonged to. "So, you're my little brother, huh? You look a bit scrawny to be related to me, but you got our dad's hair, so I guess it helps."

"I'm sure he'll grow into a big, healthy Saiyan, Raditz," A maternal hand pressed into his scalp, rustling his head much to his smiling glee. His eyes would see the warm comforting smile that fell gently across a smaller, ovular face with rounded cute cheeks and deep onyx eyes. Her own scraggly hair rested over her shoulders to the middle of her back, dressed in sleeveless battle jacket of dark emerald with a golden set of stripes over the abdomen that matched the shoulder harnesses. Rose colored arm warmers rustled as she placed both hands on his shoulders, looking straight at the floating child of hers resting within the incubator machine. "Our little Kakarrot. I can't wait for your father to see him."

"When is he going to come back?!" Raditz asked with a upward look at the taller Saiyaness.

Bending down, the female Saiyan rested her chin on his head and whispered to him, "He'll probably come back by the time you leave on your assignment with the prince."

"Aw!" He pouted, feeling disheartened even as his mother knelt down to smother him in a maternal embrace. Arms wrapped around his chest, and her chin continued to nestle on his crown, looking down at him with a hidden smile of mischief on her face. Despite the warmth flush on his cheeks, he remained adamantly grumpy as he frowned and looked away.

"I know you wanted to see your father, but he's gone on a longer assignment than usual. I'm sure he'll come back soon. And when you're back, I promise to make sure he stays long enough for all of us to be together as a family. How does that sound?"

"...you promise?" Raditz quietly asked, his eyes no longer furrowed as hope glinted in his eyes.

"Of course," She placed a peck on his scalp, turning her gaze at Kakarrot's floating frame, watching him twitch a little within. A thoughtful look crossed her face, her voice becoming quieter again as she murmured aloud. "Hey, Raditz. You'll watch out for Kakarrot, won't you?"

"Of course!" He mimed his mother's response, this time a bit boisterously as he placed his pinned arms on his hips as proudly as his small frame could allow. "I'll be the best big brother! Even if he is a bit of a scrawny squirt!"

"Well aren't you the big Saiyan?" The mother of two asked teasingly, uncrossing her hands long enough to tickle him beneath his arms.

"N-No! S-Stop it, mom!" He began to recoil, doing his best to squirm out of her grasp, eventually submitting in writhing squeals of laughter.

Laughter that eventually whisked the scene into a white haze, bleeding out into static as everything of joy and comfort was replaced by an unforgiving void. The laughter became synonymous with mockery, echoing all around and derision filling his very being. A festering self deprecation came with the desire to leave this place of torment, to be rid of such sad excuses for company and exclusion. He wished for freedom, power, and pride for himself beyond anything else.

And then, the white haze of mockery became dark; filled by familiar laughter that was annoying but, warm at the same time. It wasn't anything more than a recent change, a phenomena that began to alter his perception on things. His rough shell remained but within came a beating heart that was starting to alter, to feel something for this bubbling expression of joy. No matter what he did, he couldn't dislike this form of laughter.

Then, came awakening; and another form of laughter that brought unquestioning amount of annoyance.

The Saiyan woke with a start, eyes staring painfully into an artificial gleam from the ceiling. Eyes winced at the sudden change in visibility and clenched his brows tightly together. After a few moments of trying to acclimate to his new visual spectrum, Raditz turned his head, trying to gauge where he was.

Within the room was nothing but a primitive form of hospital, with luminescent bulbs covered by plastic joined to the ceiling with a fan flowing freely above their heads. He was lying on a bed, but that wasn't important at the moment. What was more important was the sight of his sibling lying prostrate in several bulky casts and bandaged all over himself, with only a few strips across his face and head that left his head free like himself. He was laughing about something next to his lavender haired wife, the latter of which shared a small giggle with him.

He tried to move but felt a spike of pain run all over his being, more or less an ache that was dully noticed until his attempt of motion. He grimaced under his breath, trying to not let his futile movement be noticed. However, a presence looming over his left side caused his eyes to widen and his face turn to look at a familiar head of blonde look down at him with black eyes that sparked a tangible memory that he swore wasn't far away.

Then, he was finger flicked in the middle of his broad forehead.

"GAH! Dammit, woman! What was that for?!" He bellowed aloud with vein sprouting indignation.

"Oh? He's awake!" Goku piped up, looking over with a seated Bulma who turned her purple head to look at her sister. "Heya, bro! I was getting worried you wouldn't wake up, haha!"

"Of course I'm awake, you dim-witted dolt!" The older Saiyan barked with bared teeth, stifling another seething exhale of pain as he turned his head unintentionally with the rest of his body on instinct. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you've been asleep for a week, idiot!" Tights flicked his forehead again, causing undue anger in the man as he was snapped back to attention. Placing her hands on her hips, the overalls wearing woman gestured to the rest of his body, leading the long-haired alien to gape at the sheer extent of damage done to him. His lower body was cast up to the hips, bandages interlaced with one another while straps seemed to keep him pinned to the cot. His right arm was the least damaged, looking to be recovering from extensive burns and bruising, while his left arm was in a thick reinforced cast that disabled him from even attempting to move the appendage. As he absorbed his condition, the blonde sister of Bulma rattled off against him continuously. "Bulma was able to tell the battle was over thanks to her Scouter-like tech she put in her eyes, allowing us to pick up you reckless battle junkies up. Pan was in a pretty bad state, and Goku looked like a complete mess. But you...you weren't even moving," She glared at him hard to emphasize this, eyes closing as she balled her fists at her side with implied stress. "It was a miracle you survived what you did. The doctors thought you were in some trauma induced coma and that you could've been unconscious for months, possibly years."

"Well," Raditz began to say something, causing the blonde's eyes to open angrily at him, forcing him to stifle a retort in favor of looking away and muttering in a carefully crafted response. "If I was an Earthling, that'd be the case. But I'm a Saiyan, so of course I wouldn't let this keep me down, you know?"

Seeing the uncomfortable measure of his reply to her gave Tights pause. He rarely spoke kindly to anybody, and to see him act ashamed to put her into such a state brought a tinge of regret of her own for being so hard. Sighing, Tights bent down and gave Raditz a hug around the neck, nestling her face into the mane around his temple; earning a look of bashful incredulity.

"Wh-What are you doing, woman?!"

"This is called a hug," Tights teased with a whisper into his ear. "I'm not sorry for scolding you, but I am glad that you understand what you did was reckless. Try not to put yourself into deliberate danger unless it's absolutely necessary, okay?"

"W-Whatever, just unhand me, please!" He pleaded with desperation, flinching as his body twitched and more agony flooded his system.

"Wow, who knew you could be such a smooth talker?" Bulma noted with a cheeky grin, noticing the affectionate hold brought her brother-in-law's bothered countenance.

"Sh-Shut your trap!" He weakly snapped, unable to do much with the arms wrapped around his neck. "If I wasn't in this condition I'd-!"

"You'dwhat?" Tights whispered dangerously into his ear,.

"...nothing," He grumbled, feeling the heat on his face briefly turn into cold chills from Tights' low key threat.

"Geez, if you're bothered by this, you probably won't like to hear what happened to the other Saiyans," Goku chuckled out loud. The moment his voice let loose those words he immediately felt the air turn cold. Looking at Bulma's widened eyes, staring incredulously at him, to Tights withdrawing hesitantly from a now vividly angered Raditz. Unable to move much himself, the younger brother laughed nervously as he tried to explain himself. "I-I mean, it's not like you were doing anything while unconscious, so-"

"What! Happened!" Raditz asked between gritted teeth, his eyes revealing red lines from the pupil and his brow beginning to throb veins through barely concealed rage. "Kakarrot?!"

"Hehe, eh...well," He began to fumble over his words, feeling a bit afraid of his older sibling, despite both of their conditions. "Y-You see...I...uh...sort've spared Nappa and Parspa..."

"Aspara," Bulma corrected with an eye rolling sigh, massaging the bridge of her nose as she bothered to summarize what her husband couldn't bother to vocalize. "This brain dead idiot of mine thought it'd be a good idea to give a little forgiveness to everybody. Turns out that the reason his crazy, has-been girlfriend Chi-Chi didn't arrive to help sooner was that she stopped by an incapacitated and crazy Saiyaness. She had managed to give enough first aid to the point that she was allowed to escape, because Goku didn't want us doing a carpet bombing where she was last spotted. And Nappa, well, was kind of too beat up to put up any sort of fight when he decided to go follow his big bad prince at who knows where," She capped off, crossing her arms over her ample chest and sparing a glare at her meek appearing husband before looking at a very annoyed Raditz. "So yeah, that dolt left two dangerous enemies leave after Vegeta. Not exactly what I'd call a real win, but they shouldn't be getting back for revenge any time soon."

"Yes, and no," He corrected her, the Saiyan looking to Tights while side glancing at his defeated looking brother and attentive sister-in-law. "Where we hail from has sophisticated medical equipment leagues above your planet's level. Healing will take only hours or days at most, and that's with even the most grievous of injuries. Even those on death's door will have a hard time dying once immediately treated at our facilities."

"Oh that's terrific!" Bulma cried exasperatedly.

"Worse, we Saiyans grow stronger after being pushed to the brink of death, and surviving from it," Raditz turned to look squarely at Goku, his eyes broadening with the clenching of his brows in emphasis of his words. "And guess how close to death each of those Saiyans were?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh," Son Goku exhaled, looking a bit concerned as his eyes darted to Bulma and then back at his brother. Nervously, he giggled and grinned goofily at him. "I guess that means he'll be that much stronger to take on, won't he?"

"DON'T YOU GET IT?!" Raditz cried out, surprising everyone in the room as his voice bellowed within the hospital quarters. "That was our one chance to kill Vegeta, and you squandered it for your lust for battle! Worse, you gave him two subordinates to call upon, and at best they'd be at odds with him but still enemies of ours! What kind of foolish thing went through your head to imagine this as a positive outcome?!"

"I don't like to kill, Raditz," Goku responded in a surprisingly somber tone. It even made the older Saiyan give pause as the Turtle Schooler explained himself as he looked over at his sibling's body and then his own. "I was taught by Kami to not take life for granted, nor to take other lives so easily. When I was younger, if someone was coming for my own life, I'd respond in kind and I didn't think anything of it. But now, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth; to lose the potential for good or even a great challenge in the future, is just a waste."

"Tch, still!" The older Saiyan tried to insist, only for Goku to grin co*ckily back at him, much to his annoyance. "What's with that look?!"

"Raditz, don't you see? The same rule about Saiyans applies to us too," He explained, furrowed brows enhancing a devilish smirk as his eyes stared at Raditz's wide-eyed ones. "We took as much of a beating as they did, if not more. Hey, you probably got the worst of it since the Genki-Dama was hurting you the whole time you tried to use it. I doubt Vegeta would be that much stronger than us, or the other two for that matter," He chuckled lowly, finishing with a more broad smile of pride with squinting eyes. "Even Pan might be way stronger thanks to her helping us out, despite being a little out of control back there."

"I still don't condone it," Bulma huffed, looking sternly at her husband, much to his chagrin. "If it wasn't for the fact that it helped us all survive another day, I'd wouldn't recommend putting her in such brazen danger like that if I can help it."

"But Bulma! Aren't you guys going to space in a couple of days?!" He cried out with a bemoaning tone.

It suddenly clicked in Raditz's head that seven days had went by since the battle's end. Other than the obvious immediate aftermath, he had no idea what the plans these Earthlings had after surviving. Recollecting himself, he decided to breach the subject before Bulma could steer it into another couple spat.

"What do you mean by that, brother?" He asked, though his eyes looked chiefly at Bulma, seeing that his sibling wasn't in a position to properly explain himself when it came to conversation nuances. Seeing that Bulma understood, she waved to Goku to stifle himself before going into their madness method.

"As you know, the Dragon Balls were used to help get Goku here faster from the Afterlife. But apart from that, they're rendered useless because Piccolo died, leaving Kami to die and the orbs losing their power," The scientist explained, waving her hands for emphasis to the Saiyan. "But, when Kuririn opened his big fat mouth, we also heard Vegeta say that there should be a planet of Piccolo's people that have their own Dragon Balls; Namek."

"Before you say, 'that's impossible to find on a hunch, grrrr'," Tights impersonated Raditz, cutting him off and getting an enjoyably irked expression from him, she backed her sister up with a hand placed on her hip for further explanation. "We contacted Goku's god-teacher, Kaio. He found us the location of the planet! It's real! And Kami's assistant, Mr. Popo, has us a ship that we're in the middle of refurbishing to make it worthy of interstellar flight!"

"Wait, back up!" Raditz shook his head, unable to move more than his neck without causing himself pain. "So you're going after it? What will happen if Vegeta and the others go there too?"

"Well, unless they know exactly where to go," Bulma mentioned with a dubious gesture. "Our ride is a lot faster. It'll get us there in a couple of months instead of the year or so it took the Saiyans to get to us. We can get in and out way before they arrive."

"There's a lot of presumptions attached that make me a bit too uncomfortable with this plan," Raditz sneered. "No offense, but without your Earthling warriors, the Nameccian and us being stuck in this room, you're going to lack a lot of muscle for that trip."

"Actually," She countered with a raised finger, grinning pridefully at this. "We managed to salvage Son's old ship when he crashed here as a kid. My father's already busy working on reverse engineering it for a far faster flight than Piccolo's old fossil of a vessel. He estimates that by the time we arrive at Namek, the ship will be operational and you two will more than likely be back on your feet at the very least."

"Tch, this seems like a drastic plan to simply reverse the deaths that's transpired here," He murmured, looking away so Bulma wouldn't see the look his eyes had when he said that. Tights, however, got to see his downcast expression turn motivated as his voice grumbled out. "But, if this is the only path left to keep ahead of Vegeta and his partners, I guess I got no choice."

"Just leave it to us!" Bulma proclaimed with a proud pat over her heart with her right palm. "I'll go personally to make sure we get those balls and wish everyone back to life!"

"Whoisgoing?" Raditz questioned with a wary glance between the sisters.

"Well," Tights proffered, looking to the side as she began extending fingers to sound out everyone she can think of. "Bulma's the only one who knows how to pilot the Nameccian spaceship, so she's obviously going. Kuririn wasn't that banged up so he's eager to help out any way he can. Jaco and I are coming, cause why not? Pan's actually recovered pretty quick so she wants to meet all of her uncle's family. And Chi-Chi."

"Who?"

"Princess of Frypan Mountain. Bitch with an attitude and an obsession with my husband," Bulma snorted, her eyes twitching angrily and closed. "She insists on coming along so Son can owe her a favor. What kind of favor is beyond my comprehension but I'm not taking my eyes off her."

Raditz only remembered her due to someone holding the prince's attention while he received, contained and then used the Genki-Dama. He vaguely remembered the outline of a bloodied woman who had held Vegeta down to keep him from avoiding the final strike. Apart from that, the description just made the older Saiyan groan with annoyance; another woman with a temper, just what he needed!

"Just make sure you finish building that second ship quickly," He resigned himself with a lean against the medical cushion behind his head. "This plan is foolishly concocted and there's too many assumptions made for my liking. Even with the dwarf's considerable skill and Pan's potential, adding that woman into the equation and whatever that Patrolman's help can offer may not be enough."

"I don't know about my sister, but I have a few ideas on how to make a squishy Earthling like myself useful in case things go south," Bulma explained, winking at Raditz and nodding to her sister. "Just trust me, I got this whole plan on lock down."

"What's needing locked?" Goku asked with a turn of his head.

"Idiot! It's an idiom!" Raditz corrected his brother, even if he didn't understand the entire point of the word play.

"But she doesn't look like an idiot-"

"DAMMIT, KAKARROT!"

Laughter echoed between the pair of women, bringing Raditz that disconcerting warmth he remembered from his dream. His face burned and his brother chuckled goofily along. Sighing, he decided to let fate take over from this point. If he was doomed to die, he wouldn't have awakened after a week and stayed on the ground where he lied. If this was the path to survival and fortune that led him, he cautiously took this as a sign of better things to come.

"I hope my instincts are wrong," He thought to himself as his eyes looking worried at Tights, much to her ignorance, as he remembered the final time he saw such a warm person close to him vanish before he could do anything. "Don't get reckless, Tights. Survive, until I come for you."

Mount Frypan, Gyūmaō's Castle, Training Room

The events of the Saiyan Invasion had finally settled down. With Chi-Chi's injuries being relatively light compared to the likes of that Son Gokū, she hadn't a need to stay at the hospital with any of them. And this was all just as well. The Princess of Mount Frypan didn't know if she could stand to be in building with Son Gokū and his happy family. Miraculously, the few injuries she'd sustained had healed properly without medical care in about three days; she'd always been a fast healer, like some sort of magic.

So here she stood in the middle of her father's own personal training chamber — which had become her's many years ago — and the girl adopted a stance. She was surrounded at each of the four cardinal directions by what many Earthlings would classify as 'ogres' if they saw them, and this wouldn't be far off. The four creatures were demons that her father had imprisoned in the castle decades ago, when he was still feared throughout the land as Gyūmaō of Mount Frypan. With varying skin tones of onyx, blood-red, ivory, and deep green, these entities were her sparring partners.

Her thin fingers curled back, the young woman bending at the knee; her body brimmed with preparation for the coming battle. She'd demanded — quite forcefully — that Bulma allow her to come with them to this planet 'Namek'. Leaving one's planet to go to another would be a difficult decision for most people, but Chi-Chi found that being left at the altar, such as it was, was more than enough motivation to twist herself back into Son Gokū's good graces somehow. Therefore, it was almost the most ridiculous kind of irony that Bulma was staunch on refusing, but it wasSon Gokūwho argued her case.

"We don't really have a lotta manpower...besides, the more the merrier, right?"

"What's he playing at?" Chi-Chi muttered, legitimately bewildered by the man's naïveté. "I'm helping so he has to oweme..arguing for my sake, is he trying to even the score already? No...he can't be that clever." With her thoughts clouded, Chi-Chi nearly failed to notice when the demons began to rush her. Their roars of battle were what shook her out of her trance. The next moments were quick, yet brutal. It was a lone woman against four demons, the lot of them terrifying to behold and — as unwilling partners in this spar — craving more than simply a good match. Chi-Chi's movements were smooth; as limber as she proved to be, the woman wove around each blow akin to a leaf in the wind, using her slim figure against their bulky forms to her advantage.

With this deft dodge, the demons struck themselves, drawing first blood, but not against Chi-Chi. The female martial artist, have made a downward duck, placed both hands onto the ground, hoisting herself into a handstand. Rotating like a top, she unleashed a powerful upside-down rotating straddle split, a barrage of kicks striking each and every demon multiple times over. Flipping back onto her feet, she grabbed the skull of one of the stunned demons, and using them as a blunt weapon, threw the beast into one of his comrades, sending them both crashing into a nearby brick wall. Turning her attention to the remaining two, who lunged again, Chi-Chi continued to prove her skill in fighting multiple opponents, and deflected the blow of the incoming left demon, all the while striking the demon on the right in the chest, knocking him unconscious. In a brutal finish, Chi-Chi's fist crashed into the gut of the demon on the left, and when the creature fell to his knees in a stagger, she indented him into the floor with a sledgehammer to the base of the neck, finishing him off.

Breathing heavily, the woman wiped the slightest bit of sweat from her brow. She used to find these demons challenging, but now they weren't even close to her strength-level. Regardless, it proved efficient.

"I guess I'm ready to crash their party."

Capsule Corporation, Outside the Brief Laboratory

The preparations for the trip to Namek weren't being handled by merely the people making the trip. Dr. Brief, renowned as the most intelligent man alive on Planet Earth, was making his fair contributions to the coming journey by refurbishing the Nameccian spaceship that his daughters and their friends would be taking to alien planet. The Nameccian ship was made of a unique material that could not be found on Earth, yet Brief found that it hadn't been entirely impossible to replicate. The man diverted all of his resources into recreating what he now referred to as Muskium, the unique metal that the Nameccian spaceship was constructed from, and utilised this metal when expanding the spaceship.

Standing atop a ladder, the man was adding his final touches to the exterior shell of the ship, when footfalls caught his attention.

"Dad!" The voice of his eldest daughter, Tights, rang through the otherwise empty laboratory. "You in here?"

"Over here!" Brief called out. The blonde haired woman — so identical to her mother — casually waltzed over towards the ship, giving it a once over as her father continued his work. "What are you doin' here, Tights? Aren't you still at the hospital with the your sister and the boys?"

Tights shook her head. "Everyone needs a little breathing room if Raditz and Gokū are going to make a full recovery. We're not expecting this trip to go off without a hitch, after all. Speaking of which," she ran her hand over the ship, amazed by just how unique it felt to the touch. It wasn't metal, but it wasn't stone either. Even Jaco's spaceship was made of an obvious kind of metallic material. "How are the adjustments to the ship?"

Dr. Brief clambered down the ladder, stretching out his back. "I'll show you what I've done to the inside of this baby." The two walked underneath the alien spaceship, and Dr. Brief uttered a single word to open the ship's bottom hatch: "Piccolo." The circular hatch levitated downwards, allowing the father and daughter to clamber onto it. Following the word's utterance a second time, the platform rose to fit neatly back into the ship. Tights found herself staring into the down a singular hallway of the Nameccian Spaceship in amazement.

"Wow..." The blonde woman breathed. "It's...well, I expected more." Her feet touched the tiled red floor, and this was perhaps the only colour that stood out from the otherwise dis-interesting off-white of the walls. Itseemedempty, all things considered. Tights could see well towards the helm of the ship, where the pilots seat was located; the co*ckpit seemed to be the only room, and it was simply there. Walking over towards the chair, she saw it was made out of the same material at the exterior of the ship.

"That's voice activated, same as the entrance to the ship," explained Dr. Brief. "It responds to the same activation word as the opening hatch as well." He gestured to an arched monitor resting in front of the chair. "I'm still not sure what power source this craft runs on, but whatever it is, I haven't had to replenish it. This has been working for years, it seems, as the spaceship was meant to double as living quarters on a foreign planet."

"This cramped place, Dad?"

"You think it's cramped?" inquired Dr. Brief. He spoke aloud a word in Nameccian, and a huge portion of hallway folded itself backwards, revealing exactly what Dr. Brief had stated: living quarters. It was a simple rec room, but more than enough to actually keep a small group of people entertained for a month. There were sofas, a refrigerator off to a corner, and a monitor that hung from the ceiling. A bookshelf could be found near the far right of the room, and Tights knew she'd found her little corner.

"'I've tied each room to a specific voice command in Nameccian — the darn ship still won't respond to anything else, no matter how much I try to hard wire it to our language." explained Brief. "That black fellow that found this ship taught Bulma and I enough Nameccian to operate it."

"Dad!" interjected Tights indignantly.

"What?!" replied Dr. Brief. "I don't exactly have another descriptor. Anyway, this room isn't the only one. I've installed five bedrooms, a washroom, and the toilet — there was actually one pre-built, so I built around it — is located near the opening hatch."

Tights counted off the number of people actually making the trip, and counting six in total, when including herself. "Dad, aren't you missing a bedroom? Since we're dragging Jaco along by the skin of his teeth, there's going to be six of us."

Dr. Brief shook his head. "I built Bulma's room as a joint room with Pan. I figured it'd save space and make the trip easier for the both of them."

The older of the Brief's daughters took in a deep breath. She'd made several trips off-planet before, yet each time, this was more or less a scouting trip with Jaco. She was a science fiction writer by trade, and had seen dozens of planets, using each and every one of them to make incredibly believable novels. However, none of her forays into outer space had carried the kind of weight this trip did. She didn't know Bulma's friends personally, but the fact remained that this trip had a purpose far beyond trying to pen that next bestseller; people had lost lives and they had a way to repair the damage.

"No pressure, eh?" she muttered to herself. Her father walked over towards her, and placed a hand on her upper arm — the highest he could reach, given her height in comparison to his — smiling. "I know this isn't your first rodeo, but Bulma is the impulsive kind. She's your younger sister, so do your mother and I a favour and watch out for her. Pan as well. She may be half-alien, but she's still half-Earthling. There's bound to be some tenderness in that little girl's temperament that isn't cut out for a trip like this."

Tights felt a simultaneous release of anxiety and weight of her father's expectations settle in. But the woman smiled anyway, with the resolve to give it her best. "Don't worry, Dad. We'll make it back in one piece."

Eastern Capital, Orin Temple Ruins

Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.

Standing near the wreckage of what used to be the Orin Temple was Kuririn. It had been a little over a week since the debacle with the Saiyans, and while his best friend was recovering in the hospital, Kuririn couldn't be there. The former monk had been attending to other obligations since then, and found himself attending the ruins of his former home.

The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.

While Kuririn had been bullied as a boy when he was training to be a monk in the Orin Temple, it didn't change the fact that he was still raised here. The destruction of this city — of his former home — had struck a chord with his heart.

Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,

He had busied himself, as such, attending to the burial and last rites of the fallen monks at Orin Temple. Kuririn now stood before the graveyard, formerly the Temple itself, dressed in modest white clothing, the monk-turned-martial artist knelt at the graves of his former companions. He had laid out offerings to the deceased, and was still in the process of paying his respects. While he hadn't been officially corinated, due to fleeing the Temple when he was young to instead see the guidance of Muten Rōshi, Kuririn had performed the last rites, and now stood before the deceased, contemplating the impermanence of life.

A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp – a phantom – and a dream.

Kuririn could only imagine death, even here at the precipice of it. "I've only died once...and I couldn't even pass on." The incident with Tambourine was still something that chilled Kuririn to the marrow of his bones. It was a sneak attack of the cruelest kind that had resulted in Kuririn's untimely death. But he'd never made it to an afterlife. His soul wandered in a perpetual Limbo that caused intense pain and anguish. He couldn't pass on. He was denied even the reincarnation his faith preached.

With a heavy sigh, the former monk stood to his — admittedly unimpressive — full height, and felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Standing at his side was Kashiko, wearing similarly modest white clothing. Her brown hair was tied into a bun, with stands framing her face. Her bright eyes peered through her glasses, and in spite of wanting to be supportive, Kashiko could not bring herself to put on a brave face for Kuririn. The most she could do is stand by his side.

At the moment, Kashiko was one of the few people who knew what Kuririn's experience with death had been like. He'd told some of his friends when they asked, but it was a bitter, horrifying experience that Kuririn did not much enjoy discussing. Even Gokū didn't know — Kuririn hadn't had the time to speak to Gokū until the Tenkaichi Budōkai that followed his revival. It had been a therapeutic session following the first night Kashiko and Kuririn had slept in the same bed, when the latter awoke from a harrowing nightmare. Taking a breath, Kuririn steadied himself, and placed his own hand onto her's.

"You know...anyone else might say this lot had it coming," muttered Kuririn. "I was never treated positively while I was here. My former fellows had a penchant for bullying the odd one in the group, and I just happened to be that nail that stuck out." It was bitter, and cold, to say something like this in the wake of the passing of another. Kuririn knew this, and it wasn't without guilt that he spoke ill of his fallen comrades right now. "I was scared of them, but I didn't bear them any ill will...but they showed their sour attitude to you, when you were just looking around. Yet..." The bald monk's face set into a perplexed frown. "If they hadn't treated me the way they did, I wouldn't have become the martial artist I am today. Once we fix the damage with our Dragon Balls, I'll have to give everyone a proper thank you...and make them apologise for being rude to you."

"There isn't a need to go through those lengths for me," Kashiko assured him. "There's no reason to leave them for dead if we can do anything about it, so just reviving them is enough. Besides, no matter how they treated you, they still took you in when you were younger, didn't they? I'm grateful to them just for that."

Kuririn chuckled. Her pure disposition, if anything, was what made their treatment of her even slightly bearable. "Well, I'm going to have words for them regardless, quite a few things to say, whether they wanna hear it or not." He reached up to grab the hand that was resting on his shoulder, and gripped it tightly. Within that clutch was an unspoken promise to a desire Kashiko couldn't voice.

The trip to Namek wasn't going to be easy. But Kuririn would come back for her.

Western Capital, Capsule Corporation, Outside

It had taken well into a fortnight, but the good Dr. Brief had managed to completely improve and overhaul the Nameccian spaceship. The final and most important installation was to made it Capsule-compatible; the moment Bulma and co. made it to Namek, the plan was to capulise the ship once the planet had been determined hospitable to human life. It was a bit of forward thinking on Bulma's part, as she wasn't even comfortable leaving a hovercar parked anywhere without simply capsulising the vehicle. The Nameccian spaceship, fully retrofitted, was gleaming in the sunlight as it stood tall outside of the Capsule Corporation.

Landing neatly on the grassy lawn next to the pavement, Kuririn gave a whistle in the presence of the ship. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a jacket, with a hat that read his name in bold:KURIRIN. "Talk about a bigg'un, eh? I've never seen a real spaceship up close, but somehow, I was thinking something...longer."

"You're thinking of the older models, Kuririn," Bulma walked over from behind the ship, having given it a final once over. Her hair was completely combed over, resembling the shorter cut that her older sister sported, merely lavender in hue. Her outfit was a shortened version of a trenchoat, worn over black tights and tall, thick boots, laced to the top. The trenchoat was tied by a white belt, and similar to the Combat Jacket that Raditz had arrived on earth in, Bulma had crafted pauldrons, but much smaller, made to fit her shoulders. Pan was standing at her knee, wearing the same gi she'd worn during the Saiyan invasion. Bulma grinned. "Dad was working on a new model of spacecraft about ten years ago...but I think these alien ships might be just what he's looking for."

"That aside, I expected you to show up in some sort of bulky spacesuit," Kuririn chuckled. "You're that type of person."

Bulma flushed slightly. "I was going to," she admitted with a hint of shame. "But...well, Tights pointed out it was over-preparation...and even Jaco started poking fun at me, so I burned it."

"Mama did look funny," said Pan, giggling. "She looked like that biscuit mascot."

"Sweetie, not you too," groaned Bulma, burying her face in her hands. She was considering blasting Kuririn out of the airlock for even bringing this up.

Pan ran over to Kuririn, her tail wagging excitedly. "We're going into space, Kuririn! You're going to come with us, aren't you?"

"Yeah," replied the bald monk. "I can't say the thought excites me, but I have people I wouldn't be able to look in the eye if I didn't make this trip. But what about you? You don't look nervous at all!"

Pan tightened the white headband across her head, her expression set, determined even. "Mr. Piccolo did a lot for me, training me with Uncle Raditz. He may have been bad once, but he died protecting me, so Uncle Raditz could pull me to safety. I can't just leave him." Her tail, formerly wagging in excitement, was now flicking out, conveying her distress.

Kuririn smiled. "You're determined for a little squirt," He said, but before he could say anything further, the roar of an engine caught the attention of the group at large. They cast their gazes towards the sky, to see Jaco's Galactic Patrol spaceship making the bumpiest of landings outside the Capsule Corporation. The hatch opened with a hiss; to the group's surprise, Jaco the Galactic Patrolman was sent flying out of his own ship. This was followed by Tights, who stood tall in the cramped cruiser, stretching.

"Morning, family and friends!" She said, grinning. "I caught this one trying to duck out. I figured he would, so I decided pay extra close attention to his ship just in case."

The mishandled galactic patrolman rubbed his rear as he stood up, pointing his finger angrily in Tights' direction. "I told you, I have no intention of making a trip like this with you all. I've been of the opinion thatlivingis the best condition to be in, and after that Saiyan massacre, I can firmly attest that death follows you all wherever you go!"

Rubbing her finger under her nose with a snicker, Tights grinned. "How can a cop like you be such a coward? Aren't you supposed be the Galactic Patrolelite?" Clambering down, Tights grabbed him by his collar, despite his protests ("Let go of me, I said I'm not going! Tights, are you even listening?!"), dragging him towards the hatch of the ship. "Everyone, I'm going to drag him onto the ship, so feel free to meet me in there! Let's do this!"

Bulma, Kuririn, and Pan watched Tights drag Jaco onto the ship, the hatch opening with an utterance of "Piccolo!" from the eldest of Brief's children, with a measure of amazement for Tights' patience, and pity for Jaco's plight. Sighing in mixed amusem*nt, Bulma performed a quick head-count, finding herself, Kuririn, her daughter, sister, and Jaco were all present. "Aren't we missing someone? Chi-Chi isn't here."

The clearing of a throat quickly informed Bulma that she was wrong. Capsule Corporation had a large oak tree that stood tall in the yard, and the sound came from the trunk of this tree. Chi-Chi was standing against the tree, holding a duffel bag over her shoulders. The woman wore a large overcoat over her clothing, hiding her figure, and making it look like she was about to catch a plane rather than a spaceship. "I'm here. I just didn't feel like joining in that...strange initial ritual for the alien. I'm not here to be your friend."

Breathing deeply, Bulma composed herself. She wasn't here to argue with Chi-Chi, but it was plainly clear that neither one of them were going to get along. Her eyes glanced at her daughter, who was inquisitively questioning Chi-Chi's attitude in a wide-eyed gaze, and decided she would set a good example for her little, walking victory. "Alright, everyone is here! My Dad went all out to retrofit this ship. There's a few finer points I'll address once we get into the ship, but the important thing is that we all try to get along!" She glanced directly at Chi-Chi, who replied with a sour but silent stare of her own.

"Let's go to Namek!"

Kuririn and Pan echoed her battle cry.

It was the time of departure.

Planet Freeza 88, Medical Chamber

The planet was rocky and barren. Vegeta had been assigned to this world, alongside Raditz, Nappa, and two other Saiyans, to do the job Saiyans were conscripted for. The Prince sat among the ruins of the defeated, devouring the strange fruit of this planet. It wasn't meat, and therefore, he couldn't say that he thoroughly enjoyed it, but any food after a raid was pleasing to the palate. They had been told this job was going to be difficult, and therefore, a team of five Saiyans would be recommend. The promising young prince, his right-hand, Nappa, current partner, Raditz, and two other Saiyans who had made a name for themselves as combatants.

Vegeta bit into the fruit again in irritation. This battle hadn't been enough for the boy to even get a workout. Raditz was significantly for scuffed than he was, and he was merely more irate than wounded. Vegeta's sour mood, however, was shortly about to become worse. One of the other Saiyans rushed over to him, looking frantic. Taking a knee before the Prince, the Saiyan uttered words that no one had expected to hear.

"P-Prince Vegeta! We just received word through the Scouters...planet Vegeta has been completely destroyed by a meteor impact." The man looked shaken, and the regret in his voice was clear. "Most of the Saiyans had returned home, following the direct order! Our species...is now virtually extinct."

Taking another disgruntled bite of the fruit, Vegeta's expression became bitter. "The planet has been destroyed by a meteor collision?" He repeated.

"We're lucky," said Raditz. "We deliberately ignored the order to return, didn't we?"

"Didn't you both have younger brothers?" inquired Nappa. "Did they go out with the planet?"

"Father exiled Tarble shortly after we evaluated his combat strength and realised he was ill-suited for fighting," explained Vegeta. "I don't know what planet he's on now."

"Come to think of it, I got a message from Mom earlier," Raditz noted, pointing to his Scouter. "She said they sent Kakarrot off to space in one of our pods. Off to some nowhere planet called 'Earth'."

Ignoring the continued ramblings of his comrades in arms, Vegeta was left to dwell on the fact that his entire species, his parents, had been suddenly destroyed. Standing up, the young Saiyan looked towards the sky, folding his arms. "I guess I'll never be 'King Vegeta' now."

In the present, Vegeta's eyes shot open, and he found himself floating in liquid. A breathing apparatus had been fitted over his mouth, and the dark blue hue of the fluid made it difficult to discern the exterior of his location. His memory had been hazy, and dwelling on old memories during his slumber had not helped. But it was clear where he was, now that he had a moment to gain some clarity. After retreating from Earth, the prince had crashed onto Planet Freeza 88, and been immediately taken in for medical attention.

With his condition stabilised, the Saiyan Prince felt the liquid begin to drain, a hatch opening in the medical machine, allowing him to clamber outwards. Bare as the day he was born, the Saiyan prince found his trappings resting neatly outside the medical machine, and was quick to don the new Combat Jacket set provided by the Freeza army. The undersuit was a dark purple, nearly black in colour, and the armored portions worn over it consisted of purple pauldrons and deep blue breastplates. The crotch and hip-guards were a matching purple hue, though the gloves retained their former white colour. Pulling on the gloves last, the Saiyan picked up a Scouter — newly supplied and pale blue — and fastened it to his ear, the strange adhesive that kept it in place latching on immediately.

Exiting an automatic door, Vegeta found two very familiar faces standing just around the next turn. The first was Nappa, who himself had donned an new Combat Jacket — similar to his old model, but with dark brown pauldrons, a black breastplate, along with boots, arm-bands, and crotchguards that matched the upper portion of the jacket. His Scouter was a deep dark blue. Aspara had donned new attire as well; her Combat Jacket's pauldrons were a rouge so dark it was nearly black, outlined in pink with a gray breastplate. Her boots were of matching colour and design, and she forewent the gloves now, donning two black armbands with pink threading nearing the edges. Guards framed her hips, and were of the same colour as the Combat Jacket's torso. Where there had been black shorts before, they were now gray, like the breastplate. Her Scouter — bright red — gleamed in the artificial light of the ship.

"Well if this isn't a surprise," Vegeta regarded them quickly and offhandedly. "The two of you made it back, and in one piece no less."

Aspara's face contorted something fierce, taking what was the most beautiful face in the entire army — contested by perhaps one individual, not that Aspara cared — into a mask of unsightly indignation. "How stupid do you think I am,Prince?" She stressed the last word, venom coating her tone. "That entire operation on Earth was a complete fiasco, and when things didn't go your way, you tried to dispose of us like trash out of the airlock!" A vein was throbbing in her head, her narrow eyes burning with deserved anger. "You don't know how lucky you are that your devoted little pet made it here before I did! If he'd been even a second later, I'd have blown you out of that medical machine!"

While this show would have intimidated most men, Vegeta was barely fazed. If the army paid him for how many times Aspara had given him an attitude, he would be able to finance a new fleet and then some. Shrugging it off easily, Vegeta's reply was brisk and to the point.

"Did you reach the finer points of your tantrum? If you managed to survive all of that and make it back here, that means you're still of use to me. You should be celebrating."

"W-Why you—!" Her tail standing erect in rage, fur bristling, the Saiyan woman had reached the end of what was already a very short tether. Aspara didn't bother adopting a stance, she merely rushed him. Her newfound speed and power — gifts from the utter mess that was their visit to Earth — caused herkito shake the very hall they were in, wires and tubes bursting apart. Electricity crackled as liquid splattered, and Aspara ignored it all. Her claws quite literally bared, she lunged towards Vegeta...

...only to be stopped when a gigantic hand closed around her wrist. Eyes widened, Aspara saw Nappa standing at her side, a vicegrip placed on her. With great force, the Saiyan general launched Aspara across the hall, indenting the nearest wall as she collapsed into a crumpled heap. "Watch yourself, Aspara!" Nappa bellows out, his voice thundering the hall and further startling the distant personnel of the station. "The Prince has graciously welcomed you back into the fold. You're one of us again; do not spit on an outstretched hand, less it beats you!"

This action earned a satisfied grin from Vegeta. Nappa had made a wise choice; if Aspara had made it any closer, he would simply have blown her to pieces. Nappa turned towards his superior officer, the latter of which was curling his tail around his waist in the makeshift belt that was a habit of the modern Saiyan. "C'mon, Vegeta! Let's go back! We weren't even at full strength, with that bastard missing in action! But we've become stronger after recovering! Kakarrot and Raditz should still be recovering. Let's wipe the whole planet out from orbit!"

"Forget about him," replied Vegeta, referring to their missing officer. "He'll be back. He always ducks out but returns later, usually with some spoils of war. It's the only reason I let him play hooky like he does," The Saiyan prince shook his head. "But our concern isn't Earth. We learned a vital piece of information from the bald midget, didn't we? The Dragon Balls, that brought Kakarrot to the planet when the sky turned dark. They exist on another planet: Namek. Why waste our time with Earth now?" He raised a hand pointedly, a gloved finger wagging like a parent scolding a child. "I want to confirm the magic of the Dragon Balls with my own eyes...then, and only then, will we make ourselves immortal! With an eternity in our grasp, we'll have all the time in the world to make Kakarrot and Raditz pay — piece by painful piece."

"That's brilliant, Vegeta!" To Nappa, his faith in his prince had been restored with this spiel of information. It was hard to say it hadn't dwindled after the Earth debacle, but he'd been loyal to Vegeta for years. This merely confirmed, in his mind, that his suspicions weren't misplaced.

"As if you'd expect less," replied the Prince. "Even you, Aspara, can become immortal...provided you play nice."

The Saiyan woman scoffed, but didn't put up further resistance. The idea of Vegeta being immortal made her want to wretch, but immortality for herself sounded plenty fine.I'll play along for now...Vegeta. But don't think for a second that the moment I have a chance to kill you, I'll pass it up. Lord over us while you can...

Turning on the receiver of his Scouter, Vegeta contacted one of the non-combatant soliders in charge of the pod dock. "This is Prince Vegeta. Ready three pods for immediate departure; set the coordinates for planet Namek."

"V-Vegeta, sir! I'm glad to hear you're awake! Um...Namek, you said? T-That's a strange coincidence...Lord Freeza departed for Namek not too long ago!"

"WHAT?!" Vegeta's bellow, loud and fierce, felt as if it would rip through his own throat. Freeza,theFreeza, was already on his way towards Namek? "He must have heard about the Dragon Balls through our Scouters! Damn it! Listen, you! Ready those pods NOW!" Turning to his comrades, his face was wild, manic even. "Nappa! Aspara! We're heading to Namek this instant! We will not let Freeza steal those Dragon Balls from us!"

As if the hand of God were turning the tides of fate, planet Namek had been designated as the battleground that would shake the galaxy.

The Dragon Team and their assorted allies.

The nefarious Freeza Force and its enigmatic leader.

Vegeta and his Saiyan troop.

Three groups were head to Namek for the sake of one purpose: the Dragon Balls.

Chapter 21: A New Threat

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 21 - A New Threat

"Star Log...eh...day thirty, I supposed?" The wife of Son Goku drawled out to herself in her rare moment of solitude at the bridge of the refurbished Nameccian craft. "It's been almost a month, but it feels like it's been longer. Doing anything when you don't have a concept of daylight being lost is a bit unnerving. But how have we been these past thirty days?

"Pan has been a good girl, thank god. She's largely been entertained by whatever vids dad helped outfit into the Capsule tech he installed here. And when she isn't doing that, she's training with Kuririn...mentally...so we don't risk wrecking the ship. Overall she's been the best treat to have on our trip.

"Tights, on the other hand, could not be more needy," She paused, rubbing the temples of her head as the machine recorded her groan as she leaned back against the calcified material surrounding the cushion shielding her sensitive back. "I understand she's trying to get some of her writing done, but I can't just spend the whole time looking over her shoulder for typos. Not to mention her rough drafts have eaten away most of the time I've been awake when I'm not navigating. I'd hate to be a novelist with how much work it takes to imagine everything, adding descriptions, characters...I'd rather work on quantum physics than write a best selling book!"

She stopped for a moment, as if something dawned on her.

"That's right! My personal project was put on hold because of this trip! sh*t!" The lavender haired mom hissed, leaning forward enough to press her face into her raised hands, supporting her upper body by the bent elbows against the alien craft's control panel. Sputtering out, she dragged her fingers across her brow and cheeks, resting her chin on the metallic instruments as she stared out at the vacancy of space. "Well, that's something to put on the backburner. I'd prefer to have had it at least begun the theoretical phase, but I'll have to wait until after we get back. Let's hope the Nameccians are more hospitable than Piccolo was."

Leaning back, she looked up with arms crossed, her brows knitting down as she almost sneered in memory, "Yeah, hospitable. That's what I've been. And that princess bitch just keeps finding new ways to test my patience! Just because she and Son knew each other when they were young, doesn't mean she should still be acting this petulant years later! We're both adults now, and she should just be over it; what right does she have to ask my husband a favor for saving his life?!

"She should get squat! It was Raditz who saved him in the end!" Stopping short, she fathomed the words she just spoke.

Raditz, the invading alien who destroyed what semblance of peace they had earned, became her husband's biggest reliable ally.

"Since nobody is listening, I guess I'll just say it," Bulma spoke, looking over her shoulder around the seat, making sure nobody was coming out of the Capsule crafted door that led to the hallway full of personal rooms and recreational equipment. Staring ahead, she bit her lip as she looked down at her lap, hands fiddling in interlocked fidgeting. "He's not that bad. He may be rude and rough, but so was Piccolo, I suppose. But he gave his life for my daughter, and the other did his damnest to make sure Vegeta didn't kill my husband. It's kind of sweet, if not a bit ironic, that somebody I wanted dead ended up being someone I'm so indebted to. Maybe I'll thank him when I-"

~Planet Namek Inbound ETA Thirty Minutes!~

Bulma found herself jerked up with a start. The sounds of footsteps and vibrations reaching the bridge quicker than she expected. Slamming her palm hard on the recorder, a whoosh of wind blew her hair up and fluttered her yellow jacket she wore over her protective weave of Capsule Corp make. Looking to her left and right, she'd see she was flanked by nearly all of the ship's crew, sans Jaco and Tights who meandered in far more casually than the others.

"Wow!" Pan pressed her face against the bridge's viewing glass, her reflection showing a smooched grin plastered ear to ear and big eyes blinking widely at the spectacle unfolding before her young eyes. "Ish dat planet Namfek?!"

"Yes, and please don't smudge the glass, sweetie," Bulma gently pulled her daughter back. A second later she'd see Kuririn doing the same right next to her, causing her to gawk with indignation. She wordlessly slapped the back of his head, causing him to rear back with visible pain at the woman's gesture and only got a glare to deter him from protesting.

"A whole other planet," Chi-Chi murmured, making the unofficial captain of the spacecraft to look almost dumbfounded at the hardass princess. Her expression was sincerely wide-eyed with wonder and her mouth open with marvel like a child's. She could scarcely believe it was the same person; till five seconds later she caught Bulma's disbelieving glance and she shot a glare back with an annoyed edge to her voice. "What?! Can't I appreciate another planet for what it is?!"

"It's just a planet," Jaco intoned with his usual snide vernacular voice. Receiving a cuff to the back of his own head, he stumbled a step forward and looked over at a pair of blonde angry brows and blue piercing eyes. "What?! I'm being honest!"

"No one wanted your honesty, Jaco!"

"No, you wanted my ship, and I didn't want it being ruined by your human refuse and stench! But for some reason, you chose to haul me along!" He exclaimed with swinging hands, wildly expressing his emotions with his body more than even his bug-eyed face.

"Because, I need a bodyguard and I think having someone part of the Galactic Patrol could help smooth things over with the locals," She explained matter-of-fact, leaning back with arms crossed over her chest. "See, we have plenty reason for you to be here."

"But that's what youwant, not what youneed!"

"I think they're the same thing."

"They clearlyaren't!"

"Please tell me we're landing soon," Chi-Chi groaned as she rubbed her temples at the noise being made by the arguing pair. "All of this noise is giving me a migraine!"

"Join the club," Bulma snarked under her breath, causing the mountain princess to visibly twitch with rising anger. Rolling her eyes, the pilot of the ship raised her hands, placating the raven haired fighter with a mask of indifference placed over her face to appease her. "It'll be just another twenty minutes. Once we touch down, we'll have the whole range of the world to cover. Thankfully I packed some vehicles in capsule form to make traversing the terrain a bit more doable-"

"Couldn't we just, carry you?" Kuririn asked pointedly with a blank stare.

Sighing, palmed her face and groaned heavily into her palms. While the dwarf only looked to Pan with confusion, the daughter shrugged and simply pat her mother on the back for comfort.

"This is going to be a long trip," She thought as the vessel continued its course for the planet's surface.

True to her word, it didn't take more than a handful of minutes for the Capsule Corp modified ship to land on the rolling hills of the foreign, yet, familiar world. Departing the cramped space of their spacecraft, Pan flew out and hurtled herself over the fields of blue grass of the flat plain they chose to park. As she looked around at the endless vista of trees and lakes that dotted the landscape, Kuririn smiled with relief that nothing seemed out of place in terms of breathable air.

Chi-Chi leaped from one foot to the other, realizing the gravity on this planet was the same on Earth's. She shadow boxed the air, throwing a few kicks in mental image of anyone who'd come to oppose them. She remembered Piccolo Daimao from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, and if he was just one of many of their kind, she was prepared to throw the gauntlet at any of them if they chose to be hostile. She prepared herself for this journey and she hoped it was enough, because there was only so much training and tools she could bring to help aid her trials that she could potentially face.

The lack of incoming resistance, however, both relieved and troubled her.

"Wouldn't they have noticed our presences by now?" She wondered, while Tights carried a satchel over one shoulder as her sleeveless yellow tank top and pair of blue jeans came hopping out of the ship's ramp with Bulma right behind her.

Pressing a button on the ship right next to the closing platform, the Nameccian ship discharged a big *POOF!* of smoke before it returned to its Capsule form. Picking it up with a kneeling scoop, she placed it in one of the six different Capsule compartments she had stored in the interior of her yellow colored protective jacket. Pulling out the Dragon Ball Radar in her opposite breast pocket, she smiled as the signals began to immediately pick up signatures with successive pings and visible blinks.

"Hey, what do you know," She began to say to the group, gathering their collective attention with earnest. "The radar's picking up some dragon balls not far away."

"Whoa, that's great!" Kuririn declared excitedly, his smile shared with the young child of Goku. "How many?"

"Four, all together," The lavender haired leader of the group stated with relief clearly moved from her body as much as her words. "That's great news. It'll make tracking down the rest a piece of cake."

"Good," Chi-Chi nodded with affirmation, a small smile enigmatically crossed her face as a glint of challenge in her eyes. "The sooner we get those balls, the sooner I can collect on my debt to Son."

"Wish you'd say something about what that entails," Bulma furrowed her brows in the mountain princess' direction. Seeing that she was ignored on that notion, she reached into her coat for a vehicle capsule she knew could house a number of their size.

"Wait," Jaco broke the cheers of the others, his head tilted over to his left skywards. "Are those...Saiyan Pods?"

A chill swept over all of their spines. Chi-Chi, Kuririn and Pan could all tell by a sudden surge of ki in the horizon that something familiar and horrible was coming into the planet's atmosphere. Bulma saw first to confirm what they were feeling; three comet trails of glowing dots that streaked across the skyline down towards the ground.

"T-Those are-"

"-Vegeta! A-And those other two!" Kuririn finished before Pan could, taking several steps back with fear trickling from his lips.

"They feel even stronger than before, too," Chi-Chi announced with fists shaking at her sides. Her eyes wide, her mouth open and sweat beading down her brow much in the same way it did for the other two. Gritting her teeth, she shivered as her face aimed down towards the ground. "Dammit! We didn't get here in time!"

"It gets worse," Bulma announced, her own face paling as she looked at the radar and back at the others. "The four signals are moving!"

"Wait, then that could only mean-!" Tights began to say, only for her to stop short at the dawning realization.

Someone else was already on the planet, collecting the Dragon Balls.

"And where are they going?" Jaco asked pointedly.

"It's hard to say," Bulma peered down at the green colored screen intensely, seeing the dots only move side to side. "It's not getting farther away, but it doesn't look right. It's almost like-"

The instrument then began to ping wildly as the distance measurement decreased the space, slowly expanding the squares to show the metric units that were almost down from kilometers to meters within seconds.

"Mama," Pan began to say, looking to the horizon with sudden trepidation. "We need to hide. Now!"

"Oh god," Bulma uttered, her eyes fixated on the horde of lights that were getting larger by the second.

Faster than she could blink, she felt herself tackled off the ground and drawn into the lake below. A rush of water filled her perception, allowing the group to hide with the others while they struggled to hold their breath. Looking up, they'd see streaks of momentum part the surface, cracking the ground and slicing through anything resembling an obstacle. The sensation of a migraine hit her hard as the ocular implant Scouter she had installed awhile ago was pinging off madly, giving her feedback over her vision in a pop-up HUD. Digits spiked drastically from the thousands onward, with the highest counting to the hundreds of thousands.

As quickly as the horde of signatures had carved a swathe through the planet's air, ground and lakes, they vanished just as quickly.

Hauled upward by a pair of small hands, she felt herself rasp for air, coughing out bits of water that she accidentally choked into her windpipe. Looking over, she smiled thankfully at her child as she shook her scalp free of water, letting it return to its partially spiky shape it usually had.

"This is...ridiculous," Kuririn spoke aloud in between breaths, his body heaving with fear as he wracked his head at what they nearly ran into. "That felt like an army of Vegeta's. And the one at the head...felt like a hundred of him!"

"But, they have the dragon balls!" Pan exclaimed insistently, her body already on her feet and her eyes looking from the dwarf to the princess with shaking fists of her own. "We've gotta go get'em!"

"We'd be slaughtered," Chi-Chi spoke frankly, smiling morosely as she looked at the ground with visible resignation. "Face it. We came all this way and it was all for nothing. We might as well be climbing a mountain with our arms tied to our backs. This is hopeless."

Bulma had a hard time arguing the point. The near seizure she experienced at power levels that brushed across her gaze was numbing her resolve, a daunting reminder of the scale of strength difference between them and this new force. Not only was Vegeta confirmed to be on the planet with his lackeys, but now a new menace to face?

What was the point?

"No, this can't be the end," Tights spoke up, surprising the group as she pointed her hand in the direction the slew of enemies flew towards. "You've all done the impossible before, right? We were always outclassed, and victory always came to us?"

"Who's the we?" Jaco inquired snarkily, crossing his arms and scrunching his lips as he looked up at his blonde partner dubiously. "I better not be included in this 'we'."

"You are in thewe, Jaco."

"Why?! I have no business being here!"

"Except the people you were supposed to exterminate are on this planet," She turned to look at him, grinning wryly as he squirmed and leaned back with apprehension at hearing this. "Or have you forgotten your biggest mistake that was covered up?"

"B-But I can't fight them. We're told not to fight them as adults, it'd be suicide!"

"I can always use our ship's communications to contact headquarters. I'd love to get to know your bosses-"

"...you're too cruel," Jaco hung his head, shaking it then swinging his arms with relent. "Fine, you win. I'll help but I'll try not to get into a fight. That is the plan, right?"

"That's right!" Kuririn snapped a finger, looking to Bulma and Pan with a reinvigorated grin. "Remember, the Saiyans use those Scouters to detect life energy. If we keep ourkidown to a minimum, we can either get the jump on them or swipe the balls before they can even realize they're gone!"

"Well," Chi-Chi began to rub her chin, placing the other hand on her blue-dress covered hip with a pondering thought shared aloud. "We should be able to keep our presences hidden, for now. Let's creep up on them and take a good look at what we're dealing with. If they happen to get caught with their pants down, I won't argue in rushing them; if they even wear pants, anyways."

"Fashion choices aside, I think this is the best bet," Bulma nodded, thumbing towards the lake behind them. "I'll set us up a base over here, so Tights and I can strategize in the meantime. Jaco can go with you."

"Ohhhhhh I'm going to regret this so much!" The space cop whined, joining the other three in step.

"Alright, Pan," Kuririn cautioned with a half smile at the eager purple haired youth. "Let's keep it down and just leap for now."

"Okay!" She exclaimed with a giggling shout. "Let's go!"

In an instant, the four jumped in a series of streaking bounces, hopping away from the two women's sight in a matter of seconds.

"So," Tights began to say, as the boisterous group of family and companions left. "Did you actually pack an underwater apartment? Cause you pointed at the water like you would."

"Please," Bulma said with smug confidence, pulling out a capsule box from her breast pocket to reveal a slew of building numbers of high caliber profiling on their color coded sections. "I've brought only the best for this space trip."

The Saiyans had finally arrived.

It had only taken them a short time to track down the location of Freeza's Army's dreadnought that their esteemed superior had taken to the planet in question. With knowledge gained that he was openly listening to any frequencies his forces utilized, the trio ensured their own Scouters were muted before take-off. In this manner, they could at least use the instruments' applications without giving away their intent or their location without them releasing theirkideliberately.

The trio had felt their spherical crafts' shake as they penetrated the target world's atmosphere, soon impacting roughly with the blue tinted fields outright. Once settled, the three left their ships and took in stock of the new world. The dull monotony of the landscape did little to enthuse their countenance nor helped them pinpoint visibly any particular sightings of Freeza's Army in question.

In other words, they were off to aterrificstart in their quest to overthrow their employer's plans.

"So, what now?" Aspara asked roughly to the sharply glancing prince.

"Now," He began to say, a cruel smile crookedly crossing his face as he spots something heading their way. "We deal with an old acquaintance of ours."

"Who?" Nappa queried, squinting his beady eyes towards the object in particular. Yes, it was in fact a memorable figure in Freeza's Army, but not for endearing reasons. As a swathe of purple snapped out of the air, an ugly creature with holes on its head and antennae for facial features dropped with a soft tap before the three. His amphibious looking lips were smug and his eyes stared challengingly at Vegeta, foremost out of the rest, as he stood confidently before them.

"Hey Vegeta," Cui rasped out, his voice like rusty daggers scraping across a ship's hulls to the Saiyan trio. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Not really," The Prince shrugged with arms crossed over his flexible breastplate. "I figured you'd skulk out of Freeza's shadow at some point. Though, based on your haste, you must have leaped at the first chance to break away from the others. You're probably the stupidest of his lackeys, that's for sure."

"The only one stupid one here is you, Vegeta!" He cackled, jabbing a finger at him, swaying it back and forth from Nappa to Aspara. "Did you think coming here with your own henchmen would even the odds?! Our power levels were exactly the same last time we tangled, and you shouldn't forget; because I made sure you didn't."

"Ohoho! Someone must be remembering wrong, because clearly, I was the one left the victor," The Saiyan Leader replied, smiling toothily in pride at that 'battle' he had with the worm. Closing his eyes, he shook his head, his smile disappearing as he intoned dangerously. "Not that it matters. You're just an ant beneath my boot. Not even worth comparing to anymore."

"What was that?!" The purple fish-lipped man took a step forward, raising a gloved fist angrily at the statement. "You're really full of yourself, you Saiyan whelp! Last time I checked, I wasn't getting my keister kicked in by a runt like Raditz! Oh yes, I heard it all," He added with a grin, his face enamored with a bead of sweat as he knowingly was poking the man for a reaction. "Every part of it of how you lost to a bunch of Earthling scum and a weakling traitor. Don't expect me to kiss your boots when you're having delusions of grandeur. You, and your henchmen, are nothing to me!"

Opening his eyes, Vegeta sighed from his nostrils, looking to Nappa and then Aspara. The man on his right looked visibly enraged, doing all he can to not verbally lash out at the stout, hideous creature for saying those things to the man he helped raise and admire. The woman on his left, however, looked distant from the lashings; seemingly incensed on something said that the others didn't respond to as much she was being triggered by.

"Henchman?" Aspara sneered, her long smooth hair beginning to fray and spike in response to her anger. Lips spread, baring fangs as the whole of her body became colored by a rising swathe of white light, pulsing outward to produce waves of wind that was comparable to that of a storm's gust. The first wave that struck Cui caused his Scouter to bleep in warning, his face paling to a shade of light lavender and his mouth pulled back at the an oblong shape of horror.

"T-This can't be!" He lurched backwards, cowering with hands raised as Aspara began to take slow steps towards him. "T-Twenty Thousand?! But you're just a henchma-"

"Three times, you've said that," She cut him off, her eyes nearly erased by the whites of enraged glows coming from her sockets. "I'm a Saiyan Elite, and you've got the gall to talk down to me, you worthless worm!"

"Wait! H-Hold on a second," Cui raised his hands with horrified insistence. "I just remembered something! I can help you against Freez-ULK!"

Ignoring his pleas, Aspara surged forward in a speed the hopeless alien couldn't comprehend. His chest cavity was opened with a single knife-hand thrust into his midcenter, shooting out of his back in violet colored blood. As he coughed out, he'd suddenly feel a white hot pain replace his throbbing one; following a guttural shriek as he was slashed in two. Done by a bright, colorless stroke of Aspara's arm, cutting the hillside they were walking upon in half, and into the lake behind him.

"You feel better?" Vegeta asked coyly, causing the Saiyaness to glare over her shoulder at him.

"It'll do, for now," She shook her hand free of the slaughtered alien's blood, leaving his two halves to bleed out where he was dropped. "Though I imagined it was someone else when I did it."

"Whatever helps," The Prince chuckled darkly.

"So, where to?" Nappa asked, hoping to break the unnerving tension cast between the two.

"First things first," Vegeta turned his head, closing his eyes as he focused on something beyond his ordinary senses. When he felt a distinct ping, followed by several smaller clings afterwards, he reopened his eyes with a savage grin armed on his face. "Found them!"

"Oh! You can sense ki now?!" Nappa exclaimed with surprise.

"After watching Kakarrot fight, it only took me awhile to comprehend the skill he was using. It's child's play once you know how to use it," He explained with a satisfied grin.

"That's amazing! We have a huge advantage now, don't we?!"

"Indeed," He nodded in agreement. "As long as we can keep ourselves out of our dear boss' gaze, we can pick apart his forces until we spread his focus too thin. After that, we can snatch the balls for ourselves and he'll be powerless to stop us!"

"Then let's get a move on," Aspara intoned lowly, her eyes glint with murderous intent as her face ebbed a visible snarl. "I'm nowhere near done killing these jackasses yet."

"Patience, Aspara," Vegeta chided with a wry smile. "You'll get more fools to slaughter. Of that, I can promise you."

Running across Namek was proving to be a chore in and of itself. While someone such as Jaco was used to running for locomotion, Kuririn and even Pan had gotten used to not only flight, but letting theirkirun free. Restraining it to such minimal levels, and being forced to scramble across the surface of a planet where everything admittedly looked identical was far less than ideal.

And of course, Chi-Chi was as pleasant as she ever was. She could sense where they were headed; their targets were exudingkiwithout any regard for stealth, almost as if they had no idea they could be followed. Or simply didn't care.

The latter of the most frightening, considered the woman darkly. Regardless, she wasn't pleased to be in present company. A random alien who did not know when to be silent. A rambunctious toddler who was a constant reminder that Son had chosen someone else. And Son's closest friend, of whom she neither knew nor cared anything for. Certainly, she was in great company now.Regardless, she thought as the group made a wide leap over a sparkling section of green ocean — or perhaps it was a large river connected to the massive sea? — and landed neatly onto the next stretch of land, continuing at their brisk pace,the sooner we wrap things up, the sooner I can collect on Son's debt to me...and then I can distance myself from this lot entirely.

As Chi-Chi was lost in a silent, but bitter reverie, Pan's tail wiggled enthusiastically. Her eyes, vibrant despite their black sheen, were taking in the bulk of Namek's scenery the way a starving man would devour his first meal in months. "I didn't think that Mr. Piccolo's planet would look like this...!" She said, astonishment still in her voice. "Everything is so clean...the water and grass...it reminds me of where Mr. Piccolo took me to train with Uncle Raditz!"

"You think so, do you?" replied Kuririn. "I suppose the guy would naturally latch onto anything that felt like 'home'. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that not only is Gokū an alien, but so is Piccolo, and meanwhile Bulma has been friends with one for years!"

The word "friends" was repeated under Jaco's breath with extreme resentment, but Kuririn and Chi-Chi were learning to pay him little mind, and Pan was too absorbed in the planet to care.

"I wonder if everyone here is like Mr. Piccolo!" Pan was beside herself with expectations towards the host species of the planet.

"...I would hope that all of them are as little like Piccolo as possible," replied Kuririn, remembering clearly the actions of both Piccolo and his father, Piccolo Daimaō. "Though, these Saiyans make Piccolo look like the boy next door...hopefully the saying 'the enemy of the enemy is my friend' exists here too..."

"You're soft," replied Chi-Chi icily. "Didn't you train with the Kame-Sennin? Don't you have more backbone than that?"

"It isn't about having backbone!" Kuririn replied. "I don't think any of us can fend off an entire planet of people like Piccolo! One of him was bad enough."

The ebony-haired martial artist huffed. She recalled Piccolo and Son's battle at the Tenkaichi Budōkai; the ferocity and might both had displayed had completely destroyed the arena and nearly killed everyone involved. If even half of the Nameccians were as strong as Piccolo, and turned on them, she had to admit, they wouldn't make it back to Earth. Chi-Chi didn't have too much time left to process her thoughts, however, Kuririn cutting across them like knife through butter.

"We're getting close; let's suppress ourkicompletely, everyone! We'll switch to walking!"

Pan and Chi-Chi followed Kuririn's instructions, and the foursome switch to a walking pace. They gradually reached a cliff, a convenient perch for overlooking their quarry. Crawling on the ground, Chi-Chi, Kuririn, Pan, and Jaco poked their heads over the edge of the cliff as best they could, taking in a scene that chilled them entirely.

In their sights was a Nameccian village; houses, identical in make and resembling the shop they took to get here, had been orderly built by the people of the planet. At the edge of the villain was a garden — whether it grew food or not wasn't clear — and there were what appeared to be recreational spots in the centre of the village. Yet, what should have been a peaceful scene was marred by the fact that individuals wearing what the group considered to be "Saiyan Armor" stood confidently in front of a group of people who had to be Nameccians — their resemblance to Piccolo was undeniable.

"T-There it is..." Jaco's teeth chattered as he tried to keep his voice low. "They're members of Freeza's army, all of them!"

"Keep your voice down an' be quiet!" Chi-Chi hissed. "You can't control your combat strength, Bako! Your movements could give us away with those devices o' theirs!"

"This is ridiculous..." Kuririn muttered. "I'm sensing incrediblekidown there..." He kept his eyes on the group at large, picking out what looked like rank-and-file soldiers of the army, who were busy extorting what he could only call an older, larger version of the God on their planet. "That lot isn't too impressive...but the four in the middle are going to be trouble. Especially the man in that weird round pod...hiskiis ludicrous!"

Four people standing amidst the rest of the army. These individuals would be enough to strike fear in the hearts of the bravest warrior. One was small, lizardlike, and rested in a floating black vehicle with gold white inlay. The figure had a large purple cranium, two horns jutting out of the side of their head, with small, beady-red eyes. His face and arms are a bright pink, though his forearms were covered in what appeared to be white plating, and he was wearing the same armor as the rest of the Freeza Army. A thick, pink tail lay off the side of the craft.

Flanking him on either side were two figures that contrasted each other so perfectly, they may have been chosen simply for their aesthetic. One was a man of handsome countenance, who could have been a prince in any other scenario. His skin was pale green, and he had long, dark green hair worn in a plait that reached his back. The other was a rotund figure, far less beautiful than their contemporary — though who was to judge alien perceptions of beauty? — with pink skin, a spiked cranium, with their arms matching the appearance of their head in a most perturbing way. If the green-skinned man could be a prince, this individual was almost certainly an ogre. Both individuals wore the armor of the Freeza Army, and each had a blue Scouter on their face.

Taking up the rear was a man with an olive complexion, wearing the same uniform as the rest of the Freeza Army, however, his chestplate, shoulder pauldrons, armbands, and boots were all a dark navy in hue, and he wore a bright red scouter. He possessed a shock of dark black hair in a shape familiar to Kuririn, Pan, and Chi-Chi in a heartbeat, and he had a furred monkey tail that he wore loosely around his waist.

Pan's attention was focused solely on this one man, and a single word escaped her mouth at a volume far too loud for the continued safety of the group.

"Pa...pa?"

Chapter 22: Faces of Our Enemy

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 22 - Faces of Our Enemy

"Pa...pa..." The word escaped Pan's mouth before anyone could stop it, at a volume far more than just hushed. Her emotional stress caused a slight shift in herki— enough that the distant sound of a Scouter could be heard — and everyone froze the instant they heard it. That sound could easily spell their death sentence. Unable to see what was going on down below, the group was unaware that the malicious gathering was indeed far too focused on their prey to pay their Scouters much heed; indeed, with the exception of the man that Pan had mistaken for her father.

He turned his head towards the source of the Scouter's reading, the cliffside overlooking the village. His face was truly identical to Son Gokū in every sense; he merely appeared older, yet not by much. The Saiyan then looked back at his superior, reassessing the situation. No one else had given the Scouter reading its due notice. The cowering Nameccians were of both more interest and value to them at the moment.

When the lizard-like individual in the floating hovercraft spoke, his voice as smooth, a silk-like tone which belied the sharp daggers in the intention of every word spoken. "Greetings, Nameccians. You must forgive this impromptu visit, but as you can see, my people and I are here for a little...business proposition."

The eldest of the Nameccians, flanked by two children, and surrounded at other points by Nameccians who appeared at most middle-aged, stared daggers at the man, his stern expression singed with fury.

A slight chuckle escaped the dark lips of the individual. "Ah yes, I can see you're not impressed with my manners. My name is Freeza, and these fine gentlemen are my soldiers."

"ɭ๏гє๓ เקรย๓ ร๏ςเ๏รợย Շเภςเ๔ยภՇ ๔๏ภєς," The Nameccian spoke in a garbled tongue. Freeza's narrow eyes widened at first, before slipping into an expression of amused expectation.

"My friend, I would appreciate it if you would not treat me as a fool," he replied sternly. "I am quite aware that you speak the same Basic language as the rest of the galaxy. It would do you well to respond to others in the same language as which you were addressed, lest these negations turn foul before we've even had a chance."

The Saiyan who so resembled Gokū noticed that this was his chance. While Freeza and his fellow comrades were interrogating this lower-class creature, he had an ideal chance to scope out what his Scouter had picked up. Instantly, the Saiyan slipped away from the ranks, clambering over the cliffside within seconds. Pan, Kuririn, and Chi-Chi all felt the spike ofkiaccompanying the new arrival; for Jaco, the instinctual fear of death was more than enough to know he was in danger.

"I-I-It's..." Kuririn, admist in panic, tried to keep his voice as silent as he could. "N-No...you can't be...why do you look like Gokū?!"

"That's not my Papa!" Pan replied angrily, her ebony-eyes blazing. "Why do you look like Papa?!"

"He...he does look like Son," Chi-Chi replied, astonished.

A light smirk crossed the Saiyan's face, as he stared down at his quarry. His tail uncurled from around his waist, wriggling in the air. "And here I was wondering what had caused the Scouter reading, but it was just a group of rats," The tones of his voice itself was identical to Gokū, which only served to further everyone's confusion. "We figured Vegeta and his lot were here, yet you four...you're an unexpected variable. His black-eyes fell on Pan's face, widening in surprise.

The Saiyan bent at the knee, looking directly at Pan. He saw her tail spiking in clear irritation, and his grin widened. "Now what's this? You're a Saiyan, are you? And there's something...annoyingly familiar about your face, child."

Pan pulled at her lower eyelid, sticking her tongue out at the man. "I don't have to tell you!"

At this, the Saiyan couldn't help but laugh. "Now aren't you a fiery little brat! You're going to be interesting, I see!" Standing back up to his full height, the Saiyan snickered. "I'm tempted to kill you all now...but it would be a shame to waste Saiyan blood without reason. And besides...leaving you alive could be far more useful to me in the long run. So I suggest that, if you four want to ensure your continued survival, to keep your voices down."

"H-Hold on," Kuririn edged forward. "You're with that guy down there, right? Whyaren'tyou killing us?"

"Are you deaf, bald one?" replied the Saiyan. "Leaving you alive will be of a benefit to me, and this young one is a fellow Saiyan. I suggest you accept my magnanimous offer, rather than inspect a gift Scivols far too closely. Keep your head down, now," The Saiyan vanished just as quickly as he had come, returning to his station behind Freeza as quickly as he'd appeared. Chi-Chi and Kuririn were left perplexed, Pan bitter with anger, and Jaco still terrified.

"What do we do...?" inquired Chi-Chi.

"Keep watching for now...we may not be able to get this close to them again..." replied Kuririn.

The Saiyan reappeared behind Freeza easily, yet his departure and rearrival had not been so easily missed. The lacterlian individual turned towards the Saiyan, turning his attention away from the Nameccians.

"My, Mr. Tullece, where did you slip off to just now?" His red eyes tapered slightly with suspicion. "Leaving me without an esteemed member of my guard is poor manners indeed."

"My Lord," replied the Saiyan, now identified as Tullece, with a slight gesture of respect. "There was a sudden reading on our Scouters, so I excused myself with haste to investigate, out of concern for my Lord's safety. Yet it seems it was only a strange avian creature. Rest assured, you may continue your negotiations with ease of mind."

Freeza chuckled. "As always, Tullece, your answers are music to my ears. Very well, we shall proceed."

"Why do you persist?!" snarled one of the Nameccian elders, clearly able to speak the Basic tongue. "I've already said that said that we intend to tell you nothing!"

"You see, my dear fellow, one of your colleagues waxed bold in the same manner as yourself...yet the slaughtering of a few of his fellow men more than proved enough to loosen his tongue," replied Freeza with the faintest hint of relish. "These negotiations can end peacefully, provided you give us the information as well as what we seek...or it end in bloodshed, and we will move on to the next village."

The elder Nameccian's face worked horror. "You wouldn't–!"

"If you'd had even the slightest idea how many times I've heard such incredulous statements, we may have gotten somewhere by this point," Freeza sighed, resigned. "I will give you one last chance, fellow — where is your Dragon Ball?"

Pushed into a corner, the elder Nameccian grit his teeth. Two Nameccian children, who were with him, clung close to their elder's clothing. With the threat of the children's safety upon him, he truly had no choice but to reveal to this man the information he wanted...

...so he thought. Hope sparked in his heart as he felt of a surge ofkiapproaching from the west. Following this, the sharp sound ofpinging!filled the air, the strange devices worn by their enemies that the Nameccians had no names for were going wild. Touching down in front of them were three Nameccians — one of stocky build, one of lanky build, and an average built individual — stood tall among their peers, their faces filled with rage at the invaders.

Seeing the Dragon Balls held in the clutches of Freeza's guard, one of the Nameccian's snarled. "So the rumours of raiders stealing the Dragon Balls from our villages is true...!"

"My brethren...!" The elder Nameccian gasped. "You felt our plight, did you not?! But I beg you be careful...these beings are monsters...!"

Leaning on the side of his hovering craft, Freeza felt his patience thin. "My my...I must admit, you sirs have such horrid timing. We have just come to an agreement about acquiring the Dragon Ball..and now you've made your way here only to die in an unfortunate accident." The pink-skinned alien inclined his head towards his bulkier compatriot. "Tell me, Mr. Dodoria, what do you make of this lot and their combat strength?"

The portly alien shifted one of the Dragon Balls to his other hand, placing a thick-nailed finger to his Scouter. Numbers in an alien script flashed before his eyes, but he could read them clearly. "Each one of 'em has a strength of 1,000, Lord Freeza."

"1,000?" chortled the tyrant. "And yet they dare to oppose us?"

A flash of intuition struck the elder of the Nameccians.Those devices on their faces...so those are how these monsters have been finding our villages...they can detect the ki of living beings with them...!

"Don't think for a second that you'll be able to get away with disrupting the peace of our people!" snarled the tallest of the Nameccians. "As a people, we together as one are stronger than any individual!" He placed his hands onto the arms of the two Nameccians next to him. "My brethren...for the sake of our people, stand with me!"

The two affirmed their decisions with a nod; their bodies began to flash, pulsating with a blinding bluish-white light. The lights of the two enveloped the third entirely, the other two Nameccians vanishing in an instant. The devices worn by the enemy began to go haywire, violently displaying numbers that seemed ridiculous.

"This...this is ridiculous...!" Dodoria's eyes went wide as saucers. "The other two vanished...and that man's Combat Strength skyrocketed from 1,000 to 17,000!"

Observing from the cliffside, shock radiated through the group. "Di-Did you guys feel that?!" Kuririn gasped, his eyes wide.

"Where did the other two go?!" Pan tried to look over the cliffside, only to be nudged back by Kuririn, who was still trying to focus himself.

Chi-Chi, however, seemed to have a slighter more solid grasp on the situation. "Did they...go inside him?"

"Well short of any teleportation technology -which I doubt a backwater world like this has- it's likely some sort've mundane tribal technique of mysticism-nonsense," Jaco muttered, placing a gloved hand to his chin. "...in other words, the angry mountain princess is right."

In clear irritation, Chi-Chi dangerously uttered what she thought was the alien's name, "Paco...!"

"I told you, it's Ja-ACK!" The alien began to protest, only for his head to be smashed into the ground from an overhead strike from Chi-Chi's fist.

Despite the clear statement his Scouter was making, Dodoria refused to pay it heed. "17,000 from a planet likethis?That has to be some kind of mistake!" Angrily, Dodoria shouted an order to the soldiers. "Men! Get him!"

The various soldiers stationed around the village turned to heed the order of one of Freeza's top men. Letting out a battle cry, the group charged, having the sole Nameccian soldier surrounded in an attack from nearly every direction. In clear ignorance of what one would normally consider dire peril, the Nameccian clenched his three-fingered fist as his side..before shooting it high into the sky. The second before the soldiers approached him,kierupted around him in a violent explosion. Every soldier was eradicated in a single blow, yet the warrior had demonstrated enough control to not singe a single blade of grass.

"...Now his power reading just shot up to 19,000!" Dodoria balked, furious. "What's wrong with this damned thing?!"

"You still think your Scouter is wrong, Dodoria?" inquired Tullece airily. "It's clear to anyone with eyes that these people can control their Combat Strength. You're letting them get the better of you, and yet you haven't stepped in yourself. Do you disagree, my Lord?"

"Not in the slightest," replied Freeza, chuckling mirthfully. "Come now, Mr. Dodoria, I know it's been a full system cycle since you've seen action...but a warrior of this level certainly can't best you, now can he?"

The tone shift in Freeza's voice was clear to anyone. Dodoria, who had been only seconds away from mouthing off to Tullece, swallowed the words as quickly as they had come. "Shall I bring him to you, Lord Freeza?"

"In pieces, if you would, Mr. Dodoria."

Placing the Dragon Balls he held carefully near Freeza, a guttural growl escaped Dodoria's throat as he rushed forward to engage the Nameccian warrior in combat. The Nameccian stepped up to face Dodoria, his face contorted in rage. It was clear that while his fellow villagers were peaceful, he'd come to do nothing but violence to those who threatened the peace of Namek. A green arm, coated in vivid whiteki, clashed against Dodoria's spiked, pink forelimb. The force disrupted the grass beneath their feet, resulting in a force which spread out in all directions.

Dodoria, you are a fool, thought Tullece.You may have power but you certainly lack any measure of intellect. These people apparently posses a means to merge together...what they lack as individuals, together they make for a powerful warrior.Placing an olive-toned finger to his skin, he mulled dangerous possibilities.If this lot could all merge together as one, we would be in peril. If they haven't realised this...they may be bigger fools than you, Dodoria.

Two warriors, green and pink, fought violently in the centre of the Nameccian village. The Nameccian warrior raised both arms to his side, appearing to shape the air into a sphere of ki, releasing it at Dodoria. The spiked alien gripped the attack firmly, swinging it high over his head and into the distance.

"He's keeping up!" Pan hissed excitedly. "The Nameccian guy is super strong! He can beat him!"

In spite of her excitement, both Kuririn and Chi-Chi knew better.

"No..."

"That bulbous bastard is toying with him."

"Even I can see it," Jaco noted. "There's a definite difference in their movements; that Nameccian is putting in a lot more effort to keep up with that fat alien. He's already losing."

This grim truth was clear to the Nameccian elder as well, watching their prized fighter attempt to fend off the viciousness of Dodoria.He can't keep this up...in the end, this is only stalling for time...but we will not go silently, invader!He pooledkiinto the tips of his fingers, and fired a shot directly at Freeza's face. The act itself was so audacious that it took even Freeza by surprise, the man not even beginning to think to dodge...only for his Scouter to burst into shards in front of his eyes.

Everyone was stunned, resulting in a pregnant pause in the battle between Dodoria and the Nameccian, none of whom expected this strange turn of events. Yet the Nameccian leader did not stop, releasing bolts ofkifrom his fingertip with pinpoint precision, targeting Dodoria, Tullece, and the blue-green skinned man, destroying each and every one of their Scouters in turn. Grinning madly, the elder of the village declared boldly. "It is done! Even if you defeat us here, you will be unable to find our villages! You have lost!"

Living beings often held to their hearts that sudden noises and unwelcome sounds signified danger. In nature, this was a fact which held true. Yet, in many circ*mstances, a prolonged silence could be even more dangerous — the calm before a raging storm.

"Mr. Dodoria..." Freeza spoke after a moment's deliberation, his voice seething with rage, barely managing to keep his respectful tone.

"Yes...Lord Freeza?"

"Kill them all."

As if channeling the tranquil fury of his master, the battle shifted entirely in the favour of Dodoria. The first of his victims was the warrior with whom so far he'd been toying. Roaring in rage, Dodoria thrust his arm through the chest of the Nameccian, pulling out his heart on the other side; with an easy flex, he crushed the still-beating organ, purple blood bursting in all directions. Dodoria removed his arm from the Nameccian's body with a sickening squelch. The body of the once vibrant warrior crumpled and fell to the ground in a pool of purple liquid.

Dodoria grinned maliciously, turning his attention towards the elder who had destroyed their Scouters. "Don't you worry, old man. I'm not too merciless..." He vanished, reappearing within seconds at the elder's side. A gargantuan pink hand came crashing down onto the elder's head; it popped as easily as a watermelon, and the headless corpse into a heap. His younger compatriots rushed Dodoria in a rage, and yet they were easily slaughtered in the most brutal of ways — twisted necks, collapsed spines, and other horrific methods of murder — at the hands of a rampaging soldier in Freeza's employ.

It came to the point that the only Nameccians left in the entire village were two terrified children. The two were twins, yet one of them, perhaps the youngest, and easily more terrified, began to make a break for it. Seeing the sheer disregard for sentient life on display, Pan was quivering in anger. Her lavender spikes were flowing as if caught in a light updraft — a clear sign of rushing ki — and the fur on the end of her tail bristled.

"Kid, I know what you're thinking but do not—!"

"We have to stay hidden!"

"It isn't worth it!"

Three distinct voices, muffled in the hearing of the half-alien child, tried to caution her. For the moment it was working.

BOOM!

An explosion was accompanied by a flash of light. Strewn on the ground was the corpse of the Nameccian child who had attempted to flee.

Pan's vision went red. Her body was engulfed in a brilliant aura, the young girl shrieking in rage. She launched herself from a feral crouch until she was airborne and rushing Dodoria. Had the group still been in possession of their Scouters, they would have detected Pan's massive rise in ki. She whipped the Nyoibō from behind her ear, elongating it from the size of a toothpick to double its standard weapon-length, and brought it down painfully on Dodoria's head.

"sh*t! She snapped!" Kuririn gaped in horror.

"Move it or lose it, baldy!" Chi-Chi snapped. "We've got to get in there too, or Son's brat is dead!"

"What are you thinking?" Hissed Jaco, bravely attempted to retain secrecy even when Pan had been a blatant sign announcing them. "If we go out there, we die!"

"If you stay here, you die," Chi-Chi's reply was blunt. "Die like a man, perhaps, Laco?" She and Kuririn rushed forward, Chi-Chi's redkibubbling forth, centering around her foot. Just as Dodoria was recovering from Pan's initial strike, Chi-Chi and Kuririn both landed a perfectly timed combination kick into the alien's bulbous face, knocking him for a loop yet again. Kuririn and Chi-Chi landed next to Pan, the former resigned, the latter irritated.

"I don't knowwhatyou were thinking but now we're smack in the middle of this!" Kuririn groaned. He immediately grabbed the remaining Nameccian child, and motioned to Pan and Chi-Chi. "Let's move! Jaco, you too!" The three of them erupted inki, blasting off as quickly as they'd come. Jaco, sensing the fact that he would be dead if he did not move, ignited his boosters and flew frantically off after them.

The quietude that fell over the desolated village was deafening. No one made a sound, yet Tullece's brain was actively working in all sorts of furious confusion. His face was set in a grimace, scowling firmly.What sort of idiots are they?! I specifically told them to keep a low profile..and yet they throw themselves into the thick of things, wasting the lives I spared. Utter fools!

Finally, Freeza spoke, addressing the green-haired alien to his right. "Mr. Zarbon...if you could so kindly explain as to what just happened?"

"I'm...unsure, my Lord," replied Zarbon, the pause in his words as he carefully selected the ones that would ensure his continued employ. "None of them appeared to be Earthlings...it would appear that we have more than simply Vegeta's lot to contend with on this planet..."

"One of them was a Saiyan..." Freeza muttered, malice lacing his voice. "With a face quite like yours, Tullece. Certainly you are not letting your child run loose?"

"Not at all, my Lord," came Tullece's quick and effectively reply. "My progeny is forever your loyal servant, as am I. I would not allow any child of mine to act outside your interests."

"Of course," a thin finger rose to Freeza's chin. "Perhaps the child of Raditz, then? No matter..." He cleared his throat. "Mr. Dodoria!"

The pudgy-alien, who was currently dazed from the repeated attacks from the offending new party, was roused quickly at the sound of his master's voice.

"This happened on your watch, did it not?" asked Freeza rhetorically. "Then see to it that you fix it! I want their heads, and ensure no stone on this wayward rock is left un-turned until you've found them! Should you bring me anything less than their corpses, I will see to it that you seek your next place of employment with the denizens of Hell!"

"Y-Yes, Lord Freeza, sir!" Dodoria took flight as quickly as if someone had lit a fire under his rear, crossing the horizon with ease, in the same direction that the interlopers had made off.

"This is bad!" The Super Elite Patrolman thought during his flight away from the most notorious face among the Galactic Patrol. "Those fools showed themselves so carelessly in front of that mad tyrant! Now nothing will stop them from hunting us-! No-No, cool your head and think! There has to be a way to survive this!"

"Are they still there?!"

"How should I know?!" Kuririn replied indignantly, his small arms clinging to the Nameccian child -whom clung to him for dear life in return- as he blanched towards the royal dressed Chi-Chi. "All I know is that we're putting distance between us and that freakishly largeki!"

"I'm not the most sensitive to these things," She huffed, scowling at the dwarf. After receiving a retaliatory tongue sticking out of his mouth, she clicked her tongue against her teeth and looked back around at Pan. She looked wide-eyed and seemed to have a faraway expression on her face. Her own expression of anger softened, realizing that the child must have been in shock over the outburst she did and was just concentrating on flying ahead.

"Son's kid!"

"Huh?!" Pan blinked with confusion, looking around at the beautiful young woman who she swore looked even younger than her own mom and sister.

"Can you tell if we're being followed? I'm not the most direct in my sensing of ki," She admitted with a halfhearted smile on her own face.

Closing her eyes, the lavender frayed bangs of the halfblooded Saiyan concentrated for a good handful of seconds. Then, she opened them and immediately spun towards Chi-Chi, grabbing her by the right arm and pulling her down with her-

-avoiding a lancing trail of orange-golden light that shrieked over their heads. Following the path of the beam they'd both see it arch over into the horizon ahead, stabbing into the bed of a lake. Within seconds, the energy wave instantly pulled the moisture downward before exploding upward with a massive plume of steam and land erupting into fire. The shockwave was near enough that they could feel a lap of wind hit them in the faces, alerting them to the unanswered question of their enemy's appearance.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU MAGGOTS!" Dodoria howled in guttural basic, his bulbous pink skinned form rocketing towards them like a meteor swathed in tangerine colored light. As if to infer the mount of impatience bursting forth, he launched his bloodied claws -still caked in the ichor of the Nameccians he slaughtered- and unleashed another salvo of lake evaporating kikoha.

Kuririn did his best to swerve to and fro with the child crying out in peril from the blasts that colored the sky in thick coral overcast. The crescendo of energy blasts continued to paint the skyline, creating a frightening meteor shower affect across the heavens for the ground level Jaco to witness with teeth bared fear. Chi-Chi and Pan themselves were doing their best to avoid the ruthless slinging ofkisent their way, their maneuvers out of desperation rather than finesse as the assault had come at them without warning or anticipation.

The bald headed monk, however, found his luck to run out as a streak of light grazed his shoulder and caused him to let go of the alien child in his arms.

"Oh sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-!" He swore in repetition, his body lunging down in a beeline to catch the boy.

"Oh no you don't!" The burly toned shout came from behind him, frightening Kuririn to release a yelp as he felt a vice grip grab hold of his whole left foot. Raised upright he'd see the ugly, spike-aligned flesh of the rotund warrior in person. Grinning with sharp teeth framed by deep violet lips, the brow-less eyes glared at him as he gripped him tightly in hand. Even as the monk formulated a plan, his mind raced between the falling child and the current crisis in hand.

Thankfully, he saw Pan's retaliation in the form of a distant, "Extend!" cry and a whooshingCRACK!impact into the side of Dodoria's right cheek. The power was enough to send his head lurching to the side, his hand immediately releasing Kuririn's foot enough that it allowed the Turtle Schooler to swing his other foot around to snap his chin with vicious vindication. Rocketing downwards to the falling boy, he'd narrowly catch him before he'd hit the surface of blue grass covered hillside just below them.

"Why you little-?!" He bellowed out, the Elite Soldier turning to look at the sight of the first offending attack. Much to his surprise, it'd be the woman of the group, lancing a pair of charging elbows wreathed in a burning burgundy outlined horns akin to a bull's. Crashing into his raised arm to deflect the strike, the bludgeoning was enough that it staggered him a step within the air. Swinging the limb around like a club pushed her back, only for a similar horned thrust veered by a pair of feet crashing into his gut, earning a heave of exasperation.

"WILL YOU JUST-?!"

"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Pan cried out in cacophony to a series of blows from her perpendicular posture of her feet smashed into his belly; using both of her hands to swing her Nyoibo repeatedly towards his face around in vicious arcs and jabs.

But their attacks were in vain.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Dodoria howled aloud, his voice releasing a kiai that thrashed the airborne pair. As Pan bowled back and Chi-Chi spun, both of them felt their bodies grasped by a pair of clawed hands, the edges of which beginning to dig into their flesh and tear at their clothed backs. Squirming in place, Pan tried to wrench her arms free while Chi-Chi attempted but failed to muster energy to bolster her body's impending destruction.

"You two are really pissing me off!" He snarled, his mouth opening to reveal a swelling glow of light. The signature of which surpassed the like's of which any of the kikoha that he fired, and sent chills down Pan and Chi-Chi's spines. This one blast was even stronger than all of Vegeta's followers were combined, and it was going to be released at point blank!

"Oh no!" Kuririn exclaimed with horror, his body too far away to reach the two in time. But, in his distraction of the imminent tangerine light spraying from the fat soldier's face, he saw a silhouette spiral into the air through boosters and a well-timed leap. Arriving just up above where Pan and Chi-Chi could see him, Jaco descended upon the soldier with both hands reared back, curling around in an arching thrust towards either side of Dodoria's head.

Stabbing outstretched middle fingers of either gloved hand straight into his knife-shaped inner ears.

Eyes widened and mouth spread outward with a gurgling belch of surprise, pain spasming his mind as his mouth shot an upward petering blast of coral coloredkistraight up into the sky. Splitting the clouds up above their heads, this allowed Kuririn to make a quick mad dash to slam his head into the larger alien's lower back, encouraging him to release his hands over the child and young woman's bodies. Once they were released, Dodoria's already stunned person turned around, just in time for the dwarf to witness Jaco lifting his lower body up and over Dodoria's...

...slamming the heels of his boots powerfully into the top of his skull, causing the eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets; sending the rotund shaped thug to careen down into lip of a lake bordering the island below.

"Wow, Jaco, that was-!"

"No time to talk," The Patrolman told them with haste, letting his jet-boosters hail him back to the ground. "A guy like that won't be down for long after a blow like that!"

"R-Right," Kuririn nodded with admission, taking only a second to glance at the rippling water where Dodoria was throttled into. Shaking his head, he grabbed Pan and Chi-Chi's hands, pulling the dazed pair along with him in a flash downwards. Scooping up the Nameccian child with his hands, the two regained clarity as they'd all boost low against the ground to avoid being spotted. Nary half a minute could go by before a massive surge of ki was felt by the fleeing squad, erupting into the sky by a plume of orange flames and a distant shout that could be heard even in the kilometers they covered by the second of hasty movement.

"YOU STINKIN' PUNKS! I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!" Dodoria bellowed with murderous intent. With a throbbing skull and veins sprouting across his thick neck up his spiked cranium, his energy was blasting the lake outward along with the measure of the land mass. Evaporating the bed of water he hopped out and quaked the earth with a crash landing of his smaller feet. Eyes twitching, he tried to get a bead on where they went, only for his spinning head and ringing ears making it next to impossible to tell which direction was where.

"THAT DOES IT!" He howled out, raising up clawed hands, congealing his energy in crackling orbs that spasmed with chaotic light of scarlet and red energies within them. "IF I CAN'T FIND YOU, I'LL GLASS THIS ENTIRE SIDE OF THE PLANET!"

"My-my, what's gotten you in such a foul mood to resort to that kind of flailing, Dodoria?"

The voice immediately caused the rage to simmer into a cold chill. Dodoria had already heard of a fantastickithat lit up on the planet, long before the apparent Earthlings' got the drop on him. It had taken out Cui, much to his disbelief and they all assumed whom it was; now he was hoping that it was all just instrument failure, as his dark eyes looked around with his head towards the source of the sound his ears could barely pick up.

"V-Vegeta!" He stammered out, seeing the Saiyan prince with his arms crossed and flanked by his most notorious pair of lackeys. Apart from the reported turncoat Raditz and the deceased cohorts that were nowhere to be seen, he wasn't surprised he was surrounded by his henchmen. What did surprise him was how he -along with Nappa and Aspara- all bore no sign of injury or confrontation from the vanished Cui. Was he erased that easily? Was it a matter of them all firing a combined blast, or was there something else going on he didn't know about?

"What's wrong, Dodoria?" The Prince asked again, a wry smirk present on his face as he looked at him with a pair of confident eyes, only one partially obscured by the ruby colored Scouter aligned on his face. "You look frustrated. That's not the kind of look a proud elite soldier of Freeza should have, now should he?"

"Very funny, Vegeta," Dodoria sneered, defusing the energy entirely from his hands as he faced the three fully. Arming himself with a halfhearted smirk of his own, he gestured to the three with chastisem*nt in his voice. "You'd probably know all too well what it's like to be frustrated. How did that trip to Earth go, by the way? I notice you're a few heads short too. Did you at least get to teach your weakling turncoat and his brother a lesson?"

"Watch your mouth!" Nappa snarled, ignoring the simmering disdain Aspara had at the mention of her cousin's name brought up, taking a step forward with a brawny fist raised up with teeth bared at the incredulously grinning portly alien. "You wouldn't know a true battle if it bit you in your fat keister, Dodoria! What were you fighting out here other than some harmless insects?!"

"That's enough, Nappa," Vegeta calmly rebuked his subordinate, causing the larger of his two flanking colleagues to lean back and bow apologetically to him. Still nonplussed about the jabbing remarks sent at him, the Prince leaned his neck and stared at the scorch mark where the Elder Nameccian had blasted the Scouter off his face; the lack of any Scouter on an upper echelon soldier such as him was already suspect, but the sight of his frustration nearly wiping out a continent of the planet's surface now confirmed his thoughts. "It seems you look a bit lost. Do you even know where your boss is?"

"I would if this planet didn't look all thedamn same!" The rotund elite snapped back, hands balling up at his thick sides. "But, since you're in a heap of trouble with Freeza as it is, how about I cut you on a deal. You hand me one of those Scouters," He raised a hand, grimacing as he scowled towards the Prince with a visible look of bare contempt. "And maybe I won't tell Freeza where to find your tail-behind."

"Do we even have time to deal with him?" Aspara questioned Vegeta, looking at the prince with sidelong glance as she outright ignored the presence of the irate Freeza Force soldier. "He's nothing to us as we are now. Why bother with this false pretense of formality?"

"Now be nice, Aspara," Vegeta chuckled dryly, not bothering to look her in the eyes as he closed his own. "He's right though. It wouldn't be convenient for us to have Freeza know where we are if we leave things as they are. So, to show him the courtesy that he deserves," Opening his right eye, he grinned darkly at his larger subordinate. "Nappa will hand over his Scouter."

As if he picked up on the cue of what his superior's intentions were, Nappa suddenly grinned with an even bigger smile of malicious intent.

"Sure thing, Vegeta," The largest of the three stepped forward to Dodoria. His muscular form towering even over the larger portly elite of Freeza's, though the latter showed nothing but a smirk at his approach. Taking off his Scouter, he held it in an outstretched hand while maintaining a sinister expression.

"Glad to know where you stand on the totem pole," Dodoria chuckled, his clawed hand reaching for the mechanism.

In a split second, he missed it, now a foot away from where his clawed fingers were.

"What's the matter, Dodoria?" Nappa asked mockingly, tossing the Scouter up and down within his palm in a nonchalant fashion. "Can't even grab something when its offered to ya?"

Practically seething with renewed rage, the bubblegum tinted alien snarled with veins throbbing across his arms and face, "You've got a lot of nerve talking that way to me! A lowly punk like you," He sneered, charging up a line ofkialong his arms to form crackling webs of light, thrusting them straight towards the Saiyan brute at point blank. "Has no place talking back to someone like me!"

The blast wave unleashed had an enormity to it that wasn't anything to scoff at. The flames of orange with a white epicenter blew out with a radius to consume a mountain range, blasting apart the land mass and bed of water surrounding their vicinity. The shockwave quaked the ground of the serene landscape for kilometers on end, the sky spasming with a horrid of discharge of bio-energy that sent tendrils of lightning snapping to and fro to strike the earth at random.

A single mustard colored arch of five digits surged through the mass of light and fire, grasping the pudgy man by the face and digging the fingers passed the spiky protrusions on his skull down into the rosy colored flesh. The immediate effect was his dousing of his own attack and a confused, panicked cry of pain from the offending limb now holding his head hostage. Reaching around to grasp the arm and remove it, he found that it was like trying to rend a solid bar of molten heat, hearing the sizzling of his own palms' flesh cook upon even touching the solid biceps and triceps of the appendage attached to the vicious gripping hand.

"Was that it?" Nappa inquired with a guttural chuckle, continuing to apply a slow crushing grip to his quarry as the smoke petered off his body, showing not even an iota of damage was done even to his armor. However, he did raise a completely fragmented Scouter in his other hand, as if to add insult to Dodoria's continuous injury being wrought upon him. "Was that all an Elite Soldier of the Freeza Force had to offer? What a disappointment you've become!"

"L-ngh! M-ngh! G-ngh!" Dodoria attempted to demand, though his face was so tightly constricted that he only came off as sickened grunts.

"I don't see why he should," Vegeta answered for his subordinate, his arms still crossed as he and Aspara remained unmoved by the attack that -thanks to their line of sight being within Nappa's backside- were unfazed by the blast Dodoria had sent towards the bald headed companion of theirs. "You were careless enough to take us at our word, and even more foolish to cast insults at us without Freeza to protect you. Quite frankly, you're an idiot and deserve what's coming to you."

"B-But I-I c-can tell you a-about y-your p-planet!" Dodoria strangled out in stuttered gasps, barely able to even pause Nappa's consistently ruthless stranglehold on his face. At hearing this, however, the tallest of the three Saiyans halted and even looked dubiously between the pudgy soldier he had in his grip and to his superior.

"Let him go," Vegeta ordered, his eyes now losing any sign of humor as he unfurled his arms to rest at his sides, gaining a look of contempt from Aspara and one of respect from Nappa. "For now, that is."

Releasing his grip, Dodoria fell to his hands and knees, thick amethyst blood pouring off his head from multiple new orifices caused by the offensive fingers. Regaining his composure, the bloodied soldier rasped for air as he looked up at the prince with a cautious gaze. He knew if someone like Nappa could be so much trouble, then there was no way he could stand up to Vegeta; he had to play this carefully if he was going to make it out alive.

"I'm waiting."

"You all know that," He began to say, the pudgy alien pushing himself to his feet with a swaying lurch as his eyes looked between the three of them carefully, judging their reactions as he spun his tale. "A meteor destroyed the planet, right? At least, that's what everyone in the Freeza Force wanted you to believe."

"And you know the real story?" Aspara inquired, with doubt clinging to her words as she flipped her smooth hair with a free hand to emphasize her dubious state of mind.

"Know it?" Dodoria let out a raucous chuckle. "I was there when it happened; when Freeza decided to wipe out your entire lot with his own hands!"

"Hewhat?!" Nappa reared back, almost horrified at the prospect their own highest of high bosses was at fault.

"Don't look surprised!" The spiked brute jeered, a sick smile spread across his bleeding face to show his emphatic disgust for the three. "Your race was getting very unruly in Freeza's rein, even long before he was handed control by his father. It was only a matter of time before the idea of rebellion had completely settled into your dung filled minds. Especially what with talk of that stupid legend of yours..."

"So, Freeza fears the Saiyan race that much?" Vegeta asked, a smile now present on his visage. "And the legend of the mighty Super Saiyan? I had no idea someone as powerful as that conceited tyrant could be afraid of what he has openly dismissed as a myth. It all makes so much more sense with the whole picture laid out before my eyes; Freeza is here for the Dragon Balls because he fears the Saiyans will be his downfall!"

"As if!" Dodoria rebuked, gripping his clawed hands tight at his broad flanks, eyes glaring ahead at Vegeta. "He wiped out your planet because he feared your entire race turning into giant monsters and combining their powers. Your little legend didn't save them, and you were left with nothing!"

"Don't mistake yourself, Dodoria," He dismissed, his smile darkening as his eyes shrank into dots within a sea of white and cracked red. "I don't give a damn about the lot of losers who couldn't even protect themselves from Freeza's treachery. True Saiyans don't lose their lives in such a way that shames our pride on such a collective level so completely. No, what I can't forgive," He snarled, his body snapping with bio-energy, a steady rise of cobalt energy erupting from the seams of his amethyst colored uniform and the earth shattering about where he stood erect upon. Eyes glazed over with a glowing hatred that it made Nappa stagger away from Dodoria and Aspara step back nervously as his fury overtook the air with a louder voice than they thought imaginable. "Is how Freeza robbed me of my birthright, my destiny and dared to lie to my face for years of that outcome! I'll bleed him dry for this outrage along with every one of his lackeys who follow him;starting with you!"

Gaping at the horrific sight of a monster unveiling his truest side, the bestial force was too much for Dodoria to face with a straight face. With a shaking frame, he turned tail and discharged all of his power into pure velocity. Despite his lumbering shape, he moved with a speed that even surpassed his chase against the Earthlings' minutes earlier.

But he didn't see that Vegeta hadn't moved from his spot.

His imminent destruction came with the subtle raise of his gloved hand, forming a finger gun out of curled and pointed digits. With a co*cking motion, a thin streak of light screamed from his spot, spiraling towards the comet of tangerine color; before expanding into a wide column of incinerating force. A soundless howl was released from Dodoria's throat as he was completely consumed by the blast Vegeta unleashed, eradicating him past a molecular level and erasing even the dust that could've been formed from his destruction.

Exhaling with a satisfied smirk on his face, Vegeta looked to his two subordinates and noticed their troubled expressions.

"Vegeta," Nappa spoke up first, his body emitting a bit of sweat at not just the display of power that was released, but of the chilling words his longtime superior and prince had spoken. "D-Did you mean what you said, about the Saiyans-?"

"Every word," Vegeta replied without hesitation, eyes coldly staring back up at Nappa, paralyzing the larger general by expression alone. "We are survivors and they died because of a foolish summons. I always felt that we were deserving of our place in the Universe because we didn't die because of a random tragedy. But now I am certain we are destined to avenge the honor and pride of our people for their weakness to fall to Freeza's hand."

"And what, you'll be the Super Saiyan of legend?" Aspara snarked with a rueful smirk armed on her own face. "Big talk coming from the guy who my cousins nearly killed."

The next instant Aspara knew, she felt her body bowl over and a boot pressed against her neck, the pressure so great that one wrong move could snap her trachea. Bulging eyes looked up wide with fear and outrage as a coolly glaring Vegeta stared down at her, his frame looking much larger than usual from this angle. The shadow of his silhouette marked over her from the hanging Suns of Namek painted a figure of fearsome intimidation and merciless charge; it was a form of command she had felt many times over, from even her own father, all her life.

"Let make one thing clear to you," He whispered, rolling the sole of his boot over her neck, eyes glimmering with barely concealed wrath within his dark orbs. "As long as you are of use to me, I will not kill you. But the moment you outstay your welcome I will not hesitate in ripping your head off your shoulders and mounting it on the front of my new palace I'll paint with Freeza's blood. I've endured your passive aggression towards me only in hopes that you'll use that petulant anger of yours to become strong enough to help slay my enemies. Until you fail in my eyes completely, you will be under my heel," He threatened, lowering his head down with hands held lax at his side, whispering even lower as his face was but a mere foot away from her pinned visage. "Understand?"

A strangled snarl was all that Aspara unleashed. Even if she could vocalize beyond the boot that held her body captive, she knew it was a death sentence at this point to defy him. Much as it sickened her stomach, the sheer distance between herself and him was too great for her to breach...for now.

Once he finally freed her, she rubbed her neck and rasped for air in a few violent coughs. Aiming a dagger filled glare at his back, he'd walk with arms crossed over his battle jacket covered chest, looking up at Nappa with an air of renewed authority.

"It seems Freeza is bereft of his precious Scouters," He deduced aloud, his neutral expression selling how prime of an opportunity this was. "As long as we have even one of these in our possession, we'll gain the upperhand in tracking down our enemies and detecting the exact presence of whom we should target."

"So who should we go after first?" Nappa inquired with curiosity, scratching his chin with forethought. "Dodoria was chasing someone before we found him. You don't think it could be those Earthlings, do you?"

"I'm certain it's them," The Prince nodded, cupping his chin with a gloved hand to rub in audible pondering. "Though, their technology on that planet is far more crude. It is unlikely Kakarrot or his brother have recovered at this point. Which means the level of fighters they've afforded are much weaker and less effective. It'll be easier to deal with them at your leisure," Placing a hand on his hip, he looked around and adjusted his Scouter on a bundle of similar bundled power levels. "It seems that Freeza's ship has the highest series ofkito deal with. He blankets his own minions whenever he's around so that's a good place to avoid for the moment. And the smallest ones belong to the Earthlings. So the next highest will be-"

"The Nameccians!" Nappa shouted excitedly.

"Yes," He acknowledged with a dark smile, shutting off his Scouter as he pinpointed the direction with his own newly acquired hidden talent. "I'm sure you two are both at least becoming familiar withkisensing. We'll only become dependent on it when we have to abandon our devices; so for the moment, let's keep these machines close at hand until we've gotten what we need."

"Right," His bald-headed compatriot agreed, the silent third colleague standing upright while fixing a deadly look the two ultimately ignored.

"Next stop," Vegeta announced with a chuckle, rising into the air along with the other two. "Nameccian Village!"

Shattering the sound barrier, the three trails of bluish white lights soared into the horizon, leaving no trace of Dodoria beyond the destruction wrought upon the landscape.

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adveturers

By LastationLover5000, Demod20, and Firegod00

Chapter 23 - A Chorus of Evil Intentions

Time spent in recovery was time wasted. This was the mentality that both Raditz and Gokū shared equally during their stay in the Western Capital's largest hospital, without any access to the quick and effective healing methods that Raditz had grown accustomed to as a member of the Freeza Army. Their stay had mercifully been cut short by the arrival of Muten Rōshi and Yajirobe. The latter had brought them the healingSenzu— the healing bean unique to Earth which Raditz was beginning to grow fond of — while the Kame-Sennin had informed the two brothers of the group's plight on Namek, as Bulma had miraculously managed to contact them from a planet billions of light years away. He then told them of Dr. Brief's progress on a spaceship that could get the duo to Namek.

Thus, they found themselves flying full pelt, Raditz on his own, and Gokū by way of Kinto'un, towards Dr. Brief's home. The younger of the Saiyan brothers felt himself staring at the palm of his hand, clenching it tightly into a balled fist. Raditz noticed this, bemusedly glancing at Gokū.

"Is your hand that interesting, Kakarrot?"

"No, it ain't that," replied Gokū. "It's just...I never paid it much attention before...but now that I'm completely healed, I feelamazin'! Even more than you'd think, healing from those sorta wounds. I feel better than new, even!"

"Little brother, do you not have ears?" Raditz sounded exasperated. "I told you this while we were interned in that blasted building; we Saiyans are a warrior breed. We've evolved to fight. Not only do we become stronger as we fight, whenever a Saiyan recovers from life-threatening injuries, our bodies compensate for our lacking power and we experience a huge increase!"

The orange-clad Saiyan clapped his hand to his forehead. "Ah, that's right! You did mention somethin' about that. I'd almost forgotten. Still, it's strange...I didn't think we had anything that convenient."

"It's possible you simply never had anything push you to the brink of death on this backwater world," said Raditz carelessly. "Mother and Father sent you here precisely because this planet wasn't considered of much worth, after all."

Comin' back from the brink of death even stronger...?Gokū thought to himself, completely ignoring Raditz's slight against the Earth. "I dunno if I've experienced anything like th—" His own uncertainty was cut short by a vivid remembrance of an event long past. He had experienced something like this, years ago.

Six hours. Six hours of writing in pain, feeling the cold hand of death trying to pry him from the world. It had been agony the likes of which Gokū had never experienced. Yet the young lad was sitting upright, feeling only slightly delirious from spending such an extended time screaming in pain. His two benefactors — the blue-furred cat, Karin, and the pudgy man with a bad attitude, Yajirobe — were looking at him in amazement.

"G-Gokū, I'm stunned," Karin leaned on his cane, looking at the lad with exhaustion that would have suggested he'd drunk the water, rather than Gokū.

"You didn't die, Gokū!" crowed Yajirobe. "You're really somethin' else!"

The young martial artist was chuckling in spite of himself. Despite everything that water had put him through, he felt like he was an entirely new person. "P-Power...I'm overflowin' with power...!"

"Yeah...I have felt somethin' like this before. Once or twice, actually," Gokū said. "I know you don't think much of the competition here...but I've had my fair share of fights when I was growin' up too, Raditz." While it was a standard statement, Gokū laced it with an an aggressive undertone that challenged Raditz to continue belittling the planet he called home, and its struggles.

The older Saiyan was taken aback, his sharp eyes widening, before his face relaxed into a neutral bearing. "Talk is cheap, little brother. If you want to show me what your history of fighting has been like, then show me on Namek." In spite of his statement, a belligerent, half-formed smile could be seen on his face.

Letting himself relax, Gokū laughed freely. "Let's see if I can't blow you away!"

Making their way to Capsule Corporation was a blessedly quick excursion. Gokū leapt from his cloud, spinning downward to land on both feet with his arms outstretched. Raditz sighed, making a far more dignified landing than his younger counterpart, touching down right foot first, before settling both feet onto the grass of Capsule Corporation. Before the two had a chance to even twitch their tails, they were greeted by a woman with poofed, blonde hair, clothed in a frilled, polka-dotted white dress.

"Gokū!" She trilled, nearly dropping the platter of tea she was holding in her excitement at seeing her son-in-law. "Sweetie, it's been too long! Bulma only told us everything that happened after you were interned in the hospital! I'm glad that you and Pan are doing alright!"

Chuckling in his familiar, laid-back manner, Gokū scratched the top of his head sheepishly. "Honestly, there's a whole lot that happened and I haven't had time to come home 'till right now! Sorry about that!"

Accepting her son-in-law's apology with ease, Panchy slid over to Raditz, her squinted eyes observing him intently. The older of the Saiyans was taken aback, his expression working awkwardly as he tried to put a slight amount of distance between him and the blonde woman — an effort ultimately futile when the woman grabbed his arm, pulling him inward and opening her eyes to reveal the same shimmering blue that Bulma possessed.

"You must be Raditz!" Panchy broke the silence and shattered the tension in one sentence. "Tights has said quite a lot about you! I trust you're treating my daughter well?"

"I-I-I'm what?" stammered the long-haired Saiyan in disbelief.

"The way she was going on about you, I could have sworn you two were dating!"

Raditz's face blanked entirely, and his head turned from Panchy, to Gokū, back to Panchy, and then to his younger brother. "Kakarrot, what is 'dating'? Is it a strange Earth custom?"

Gokū shrugged. "Beats me!"

When it became obvious to Gokū that his mother-in-law wished to regale Raditz with the tales of Tights' younger years, he remembered that time was of the essence, hurriedly explaining to Panchy that her daughters and Pan were in trouble on an alien planet, and they needed to quickly see Dr. Brief. Panchy reluctantly acquiesced, leading Gokū and Raditz towards the back of the Capsule Corporation building, where they came face-to-face with the craft that was meant to take them from Earth to Namek.

From a first glance, the two brothers would confuse this as a giant decorated egg. But upon closer inspection they could see that the stripes of black that wrapped around the door lower middle -stopping at the sealed entrance and framing the dozen viewing windows spaced evenly away from the door- complemented the black ovular top. Large capitalized font letters of "CAPSULE" was inscribed just above smaller letters of "CORP." just above the entry into the craft. Four landing gears with suction-like feet kept it solid on the lawn of the home and headquarters of Doctor Brief's family, making it stand out among all the homely neighborhood aesthetics surrounding the pair.

"Dear! Our little Gokū has come home!"

At Panchy's call, Dr. Brief poked his head out of the doorway of the ship, blinking owlishly through his spectacles. "Oh! Gokū! You're recovered? I really will have to analyse thoseSenzuone of these days!"

Gokū, however, was too busy gaping at the spaceship like a child who had been given a new toy. His face was alight, amazed by the sight of the gargantuan craft. "I-Is this it?! This is the spaceship?!"

"Calm yourself, Kakarrot," urged Raditz, who had seen more impressive craft during his tenure in the Freeza Army. Though, reluctantly, he had to admit internally that he too was impressed; not by the craftper se, but for the fact it was an Earthling who had managed to construct the behemoth.

"Ain't it done yet?!" inquired Gokū impatiently.

"Nearly," replied Dr. Brief. "Why don't you come take a look inside, the both of you?"

Raditz and Gokū accepted that offer immediately. The inside of the giant ovoid spacecraft was deceptively larger than the outside lent from exterior perspective. The moment the pair stepped in they'd see a massive white interior with only scant greys and blacks on various aspects of the spacefaring vessel. While the older sibling would compare it to a transport capable of housing the entire Saiyan squadron Vegeta had under his command and then some, the Earth born brother saw it as a vastly bigger craft than anything Bulma had ever had him fly in.

The ovular windows were flat, rimmed by white along a more solid substance akin to a reinforced metal infused mineral they couldn't quite identify. Strips of white slid up into a vaulted top, meeting a central pillar that had an odd shaped circular disc contraption with a variety of oblong orbs that looked like light bulbs. Narrowing down to a grey rimmed beam that widened into a pale control console with deep emerald glass and dark grey switches and knobs, it fed into the floor proper and was the true epicenter of the ship's main room.

The elder Saiyan looked to the immediate forward left, noticing a matte grey metal railing that circled around to a ladder that descended downwards. He could only assume that from the dim lighting that his eyes could see that it was a combination of sleeping quarters, supplies and storage for other miscellaneous equipment necessary for prolonged interstellar travel.

Unlike the other, the younger Saiyan could see with a lean of his head the true master control of the ship. A plush white chair bolted to the tiled flooring with a ninety degree angled white control panel at the back of the ship. This was what Gokū believed to be the pilot's seat, and he desperately wanted to go sit on it, dabble with its controls at once; as his tail's innate wiggling entailed to his older sibling.

"It'shuge!" Gokū crowed. "Was this really that tiny little ship?!"

"You bet," replied Dr. Brief. "And everything is here, made to order, just like you requested it. Saiyan technology is amazing, but I managed to rebuild the whole craft from scratch."

"You say that so casually, old man," Raditz interjected ruefully. "But our technology isn't supposed to be so simple that an Earthling can do all this. You aren't so normal either, are you?"

"Oho, so you must be Raditz," Dr. Brief smiled, absentmindedly petting the cat on his shoulder. "You're exactly as Tights said you'd be."

"I...that woman...!" the elder Saiyan hissed, his face tinged slightly.

Dr. Brief laughed, before patting Raditz on the arm, the highest point on the man that the short scientist could actually reach. "As you can see, Gokū, everything is here." He gestured to the central pillar specifically before continuing. "This device here will control the gravity, just as you asked for; an Artificial Gravity Generator." Beckoning the two Saiyans to him, Dr. Brief pointed at a keyboard and the HUD itself. "This switch right here will turn the A.G.G. on or off, and this controller — which makes use of the acceleration of the ship — can generate an increased gravity of up to 100G." Turning away from the pillar. Dr. Brief appeared concerned. "Honestly, I wasn't big on adding this doohikey to start with; it's ridiculously extreme training, Gokū.. At its maximum output, even if you only weigh 60 kilograms, you'll become 6,000 kilograms at 100G. That's6 tonnes!"

"It's the kind of training we're going to need," Gokū replied breezily. "I was able to handle 10G on Kaiō's planet; we'll increase it little by little as we go!"

Raditz smirked. "Our homeworld had naturally stronger gravity than Earth. Even now, I still feel lighter on Earth than I ever did on Vegeta. A little something like increased gravity isn't enough to put a Saiyan down, old man."

"So, can this bucket 'o bolts take off then?" Gokū was confused. It sounded as if everything was in order.

"You bet! I've already punched in the coordinates Bulma gave me for Namek," Pointing a finger towards plush white chair Gokū had successfully identified as the pilot's seat, he explained, "All you need to do is press that switch to activate the ship, and it'll take you to Namek. At this ship's speed, you'll make it there within six days." Shifting positions, he diverted their attention towards the ladder which had caught Raditz's attention. "This ladder will take you to the bedchambers; you'll also find the restroom, bathroom, and kitchen down here as well."

"Thenwhat's left?!" Raditz posed the question impatiently. "The basic necessities are all here! There's no reason we shouldn't be taking off right now!"

"Well, y'see, I'd recently come up with a machine that'll whip you up coffee and pastries in less than a minute!" Dr. Brief explained, proudly. "I've already fitted the stereo; give me another hour, and I'll have this installed downstairs, and you're all free to go."

"Are youdaft, old man?!" barked Raditz. "We don't have time to wait for something as trivial as that. We received a message from Tights and the rest on Namek; what they thought was going to be a little excursion has turned into a nightmare! My former bosses and compatriots are all there too!"

"Your daughters and my daughter are all in tough spot right now!" Gokū added, the urgency in his voice contributing to Raditz's own. "As nice as that machine sounds, we ain't going to Namek on a pleasure trip!"

"My..." Dr. Brief's cigarette fell from his mouth. "Thatisurgent...I could speed the process up, it'll just take a half—"

"Just teach me how to fly this thing!" Gokū cut across his father-in-law, who reluctantly showed Gokū — excited in spite of himself once he sat in the pilot's chair — how to take off. Once Dr. Brief had vacated the ship, Gokū leaned forward, and pressed the aforementioned button. Withinseconds, they had achieved lift-off. No thrusters, no propellant, none of the mundane Earthling methods of space travel. Gokū and Raditz had mere moments to take in the sight of Earth's horizon as a blur before they left it entirely, plunged into the void of space itself, the Earth no longer visible in the background. The lights came on automatically, sending the spaceship into a staggering brightness, both Gokū and Raditz briefly recoiling until their eyes adjusted.

"This thing isfast!" Gokū's eyes had finally recovered and he was able to take everything in. The inky blackness outside was especially startling. "It's like night right now...!"

"Enough of that," interrupted Raditz. "We have six equivalents to an Earth day, and let me tell you Kakarrot, that isn't a lot of time."

"It'll be plenty!" Gokū held up a brown satchel to Raditz, tossing it to his elder brother. The older Saiyan opened it to find a collection of theSenzuinside. "With these, we're going to train to our absolute limit, before we take one of these to recover, and pick the pace right back up. Thanks to Master Karin, we can make the most of these six days without wastin' too much time!" Stretching his body to get accustomed to his new space, the younger Saiyan grinned. "Besides, we're going to be trainin' with each other; the benefits you get from trainin' with a sparring partner doubles what you could if you just trained on your own."

Raditz tossed Gokū the bag; he caught is easily, tying it to hisobiwith its thin string. "That's all fine, but I don't really think you know what we're in for." Raditz took a seat on the polished tile floor of the ship, and motioned for Gokū to do the same. The two sat across from each other, cross-legged, so Raditz could more easily speak to Gokū. "It's likely that we aren't simply dealing with Vegeta, Aspara, and Nappa when we get to Namek. There's a high likelihood thatFreezawill be there as well."

"Freeza? You mentioned that name before. How bad can he really be?"

The armour-clad Saiyan sighed. "I don't have many memories of Freeza, but the ones I do, I try to repress..."

"Why?" Gokū asked. "Did he hurt you or somethin'?"

"Not directly," Raditz shook his head. "No, it was more like a ripple effect. Anything he did or said to Vegeta, that'd be passed onto me. I was the runt of the pack, remember? I was next to disposable as far as they were concerned." He'd come to rest his head in his hand with aggravation, bitter memories flooding to the surface which the older Saiyan had tried to ignore. "The only reason I wasn't tossed aside as that I was as much a piece of comedy as I was a symbol of Vegeta's power; the last official job I had from the Saiyans was to bodyguard the Prince. My job didn't end till he came to collect my head on Earth."

"But, that was all Vegeta, right? How can Freeza be anymore worse?"

"We Saiyans aren't any stranger to ruthlessness and savagery. But Freeza? He relishes in the small acts of cruelty," Raditz slowly looked Gokū in the eye again. "Petulant as he may be, he had the power to sway entire worlds to his whim and destroy them without a second thought. Everything Vegeta would have become is thanks to Freeza's...discipline...in how he molded him into his perfect little replica of himself."

It seemed that, however Raditz had phrased it, the words were beginning to sink slowly into Gokū's skull. Vegeta had been the pinnacle of ruthlessness during their battle, callous enough to cast aside even his own allies if it benefited him, and willing to use whatever means it took to secure victory. If Freeza was that, and more...well, he sounded like a real piece of work. "You guys worked for Freeza, right? So it won't be just him there then, will it?"

"You're catching on," replied Raditz gravely. "No...and that actually brings me to my next point. When Vegeta and his ilk invaded Earth, there should have been someone else with them. One of our own was absent from Vegeta's ranks that day." Raditz let out of an involuntary shudder, one built by years of conditioning to fear. "If he was there, we would have been killed, no questions about it."

"Who was missing?"

"Our father's brother. The Saiyan Tullece, one of Freeza's elite soldiers."

Freeza was displeased.

It was hard to quantify just how much the icy tyrant was unsatisfied with how the most recent events have turned up. Of course everything was going swimmingly. Every village he came across on this backwater planet put up very little struggle and they always did their best to either misdirect or confuse him in a way to keep him from finding the Dragon Balls. But of course, he always got what he wanted and did so when he wanted it.

Until recently.

The upstart Nameccian Village Elder, -whose name escapes him mere hours after his death- had utilized the distraction of his warriors' timely arrival to do the unthinkable. He destroyed his precious Scouters! He even looked smug when he did it too! Watching him die so quickly wasn't nearly as delicious as he thought it'd be. He wanted to watch him die again and again! If only he could've watched the last brat die just as gruesomely as his sibling-!

But, that's when he saw that child. The Saiyan came out of nowhere and struck one of his strongest warriors as if he was an overgrown sack of morlaps. She -or was it a he?- had help come too, and stole away the surviving Nameccian. He dispatched the clumsy oaf to follow after. He waited for the inevitable return, given Dodoria had never outright failed in a meaningfully spectacular way before.

It's been hours since he was deployed.

Freeza had long since returned to his ship, debating on what the next course of action should be. Without the Scouters they'd be blind but it wouldn't be impossible to eventually discover the villages. But, he didn't want to be stuck on this massive planet for weeks of investigation, let alone months. He had a so-far efficient mission of allocating the Dragon Balls. He already possessed four of the seven. He will not be denied when victory was almost within his grasp!

The Frosty Dictator then paged for his number one soldier to meet with him. It took less than a minute for him to knock on his personal quarters' entrance. Allowing himself a slight smile at his punctual nature, Freeza let his cadence reflect his appreciation, "You may enter, Zarbon."

Awhooshof the automatic barrier sliding up and the tallest of his current entourage strode in. Despite his more effeminate appearance he was not only the most loyal but also the most ruthless of the triage had took with him to Namek. The teal skinned warrior strode in, his cyan cape fluttering from his pointed shoulder pads. With his cobalt sleeved arms kept flat to his sides, the rare specimen of the Freeza Army finally spoke.

"You called for me, my lord?"

"Yes," Freeza began to say, pouring himself a glass of blood red wine into a cylinder shaped glass. Hearing the sound of it gush in brought a measure of nostalgia; like the emptying of an unsightly creature's artery right before his eyes. "As you may have noticed there's been no sign of Dodoria since he was deployed last. My suspicions of Vegeta arriving on the planet since Cui's own demise can only mean that he has begun to make his move against me."

"But, you don't think Vegeta is kind of person to be working with those Earthlings, do you?" Zarbon asked, almost in disbelief that such an occurrence could be believed based on his personal dealings with the Saiyan.

"What? Do you actually believe in that pride nonsense of his?" Freeza chuckled dryly, his rhetorical question finished with a slam of his bottle onto the night stand of his room. Picking up his glass underhanded, he began to swirl it as he floated upwards and turned to look past his own reflection to the greater Namek fields and trees of blue. "No, there is likely a conspiracy afoot. I've always figured Vegeta to be the type to use anything and anyone to get what he wants. After all, I raised him to think that way, haha!

"You don't think he's alone?"

"Of course not!" The Icy Tyrant snapped, making Zarbon flinch visibly behind his reflection. His face contorted into something foul, nose scrunched and eyes squinting in a seething glare. "He's never far away from his lapdog squad! He always has lackeys to answer his beck and call. He must think that I'm not capable of seeing through his deception and maneuvering against him as effectively. I'll show him the error of his ways."

"What will you have me do, Lord Freeza?"

As much as he enjoyed being floundered with respect and etiquette, the ruler of the known galaxy wasn't going to be satisfied on ceremony alone.

"Here's what I want you to do," Freeza turned around, floating around till he was face to face with Zarbon, pointing his free hand at his chest while his glass remained in a contradicting soft grip. "I want you to find Vegeta. I want you to kill his followers. And then, I want you to bring him back to me, alive. If that is impossible, bring me his corpse."

"A-Alone?" Zarbon inquired, briefly remembering the power level reading he got moments from the point Cui was slaughtered. Then, the matter with Dodoria being vanquished unseen and unheard, was equally disturbing.

"If you can't handle the task, perhaps I should ask our Saiyan friend?" The Frosty Dictator sneered, eyes thinned along with his lips with bared contempt. "Maybe he can replace you just fine, hm?"

"O-Of course not!" The emerald haired man exclaimed readily, standing more erect and then bowing lower to the airborne leader. "I shall depart at once. I shan't fail you!"

"See that you don't," Freeza snarled, turning to look back out of the viewing glass, sipping his wine as Zarbon turned to exit his quarters. But not before hearing Freeza's parting words. "Or don't bother coming back at all."

Tullece felt good.

Contrary to the mood of his employer, he could tell things were going in a direction that wasn't entirely unfavorable. Sure, his warning went unheeded by the strangely familiar Saiyan brat, but the child had done something that inherently benefited him. Luring Dodoria away only to have him never return to Freeza's fold not only put the competing aides of his off balance, but gave him more freedom to maneuver without being impeded. While not the smartest, the rotund elite always had an eye on him due to his particular racial status.

With him out of the way, that just left the toadie, Zarbon. In contrast he was much easier to predict and even simpler to manipulate. By simply earning Freeza's favor he was putting Zarbon's usefulness into question. It was why he ensured that, due to chaos of the situation, he took a more passive role in the events that led to Dodoria's demise and the destruction of their own Scouters. He personally disliked his own device being destroyed but if it meant that it deprived Freeza's forces from being able to locate the Dragon Balls sooner, that was all the better for him.

He heard a brief speaker sound off within the halls of the Freeza Army dreadnought. He leaned over one corner, catching sight of the man's braided head turning with his caped backside into his boss's room. Grinning, he had a feeling what was coming next. Positioning himself just in the path away from the quarters in question he had the makings of a vague conversation outside. At one point, he had an inkling he was mentioned and that brought a dark smile across his face.

Leaning against the wall, he placed his hands behind his head and waited for his inevitable exit. The smooth gliding sound of a door rising up and the stomping footsteps followed. Not more than ten steps later and Tullece let out a whistle, causing Zarbon's movement to temporarily stall.

"Man, the boss must be furious to talk like that to you," The Saiyan jeered, turning his face to toothily stare at the Freeza Army Elite. The look he got in return was what he expected; dangerous, burning and quite infuriated with himself. "Guess that means word of mouth is true. Vegeta iced Dodoria, right?"

"That's right," He intoned, turning halfway to glare at Tullece with open disdain. "And I'm going to clean up the mess he left. After all, to lose to someone as low as Vegeta and his ilk? Disgraceful!"

"Yeah, a real bluster," Tullece replied back in agreement, thinning his smile as he looked away with a look that was nothing short of mocking. "Better hope you can back up your words, otherwise you reallywillbe replaced."

It was quick. Far faster than any normal eye could read. One moment Zarbon was facing Tullece; the next he was in front of him with his gripping the front of his jacket tight enough to squeeze around his throat.

"Watch your tongue, Saiyan whelp!" Zarbon hissed, his fangs more pronounced as his face threatened to bloat with a more reptilian snarl on his usually humanoid appearing visage. Veins bulged across his neck and forehead, even more across his clenched fingers that attempted to choke the Saiyan; all the while continued to smirk rebelliously against him. "The only reason you're not dead yet is because my lord finds you amusing to have around! The only reason I won't snap your neck now is because I rather not dirty my lord's hallway with your blood! Do you follow, monkey?!"

Tullece found this hilarious. The most well mannered and pretentious of Freeza's goons was a hairline away from making a mistake of murdering his colleagues because of his own insecurities and foul temperament. It was adorable how much they squabbled to earn favor of 'their lord'. They never had any ambition beyond earning meager scraps above their peers.

They lacked a plan, and an objective to move past being a pet of Freeza.

"I asked you a question, Tullece," Zarbon sneered, his face contorting back to its normal shape but still full of barely controlled rage. "Do we understand one another?"

"Sure," He replied, his dark eyes glaring back and his smile darkening with his olive complexioned visage. "I understand that the only thing keeping me from wiping the floor of you, is that his door just a few meters from here. Killing you within earshot of him isn't going to benefit either us, now will it?"

"Why you-ulk!?"

The teal shaded alien found himself throttled out of breath. A whipping motion of a belt of fur thrashed over his unguarded, battle jacketed abdomen enough to kick the wind out of him. Stumbling back, releasing his grip of Tullece's own jacket, the ponytailed alien grimaced with bewilderment. By the time he righted himself, Tullece crossed his arms and nodded to him.

Without a word exchanged, a teeth bared Zarbon only exchanged the briefest of sneers before turning away. Cyan cloth fluttered behind with a braided emerald set of hair. Before he disappeared completely, he heard a brief meaty crunch of an unlucky soldier who got too close to the temperamentally unstable elite.

Glancing at his employer's door, he chuckled, his tail winding back around his waist as he began to walk in the same direction as Zarbon.

"Time to begin to move some pieces on the board."

They found it.

It only took a moderate amount of low altitude searching but Vegeta and his two subordinates found their destination. The Nameccian Village, inhabited by their count of up to if not around the ballpark of several dozen of the green men and children. The three could tell even from a glance none of them would pose a threat to even just an individual against the whole.

"How shall we proceed, Vegeta?" Nappa inquired.

"Simply," Vegeta said, darkly smiling as he lowered in altitude towards the hovel of calcified huts of alien design. "We ask them for the Ball."

"If they don't comply?" Aspara asked with an almost bored sound in her voice.

Chuckling, Vegeta didn't answer as his lowered down slowly. When his feet touched down on the soft soil, his arms crossed his mere entrance causing the adult Nameccians to notice his arrival upon instinct. They too also had the ability to senseki, as he suspected. If they had an inkling of what Freeza was up to, they should be far more on guard; another sign of how easy pickings this place was.

Joined by Aspara and Nappa on his left to right sides, he was finally faced directly by a wrinkled rotund shape of age and wizened appearance. The Nameccian was garbed in a frilly white collar and with a semblance of purples bordering on cream colored robes. More statuesque members of the tribe stood on either side of his, teeth clenched with anxiousness or intimidation, he couldn't say. Not that it mattered to him.

"Greetings, traveler," The Elder replied, surprisingly coherently to the three Saiyans. Vegeta surmised the Elder was trying to appear cordial, instead of possibly speaking his own native tongue to cause confusion. It was likely he was going to attempt diplomacy, for all that'll do. "I see you may be a bit lost. Do you have business with our village, or is there another reason you've entered our home?"

"I'm going to make this simple so you don't misunderstand, old man," Vegeta grated out, his eyes staring chillingly into the Elder's eyes as his smile retained its false pleasantries, sharply contrasting his dangerous tone. "I'm here for your Dragon Ball. I know you have it. Hand it over, or I'll begin making your lives very painful."

"You've got some nerve!" The Nameccian to the Elder's right growled, jabbing his finger towards Vegeta with aggression as he spoke fearlessly to him. "You can't show up on our planet and into our Village demanding a sacred relic such as that! Have you no shame?!"

"So you do have it?" Vegeta inquired with an elated look on his face, eyes widening at hearing this news. "Can you be a good Nameccian and fetch it for me?"

"Never!"

A sharp bang penetrated the air, the sound popping the atmosphere as much as it did the skull of the taller emerald skinned being. Falling forward with a wet thud, hushed whispers, cries and shouts of outrage filled the whole of the village. Raising a still smoking index finger, his thumb co*cked back to give it the impression of a gun to aim towards the Elder and his left sided companion.

"I believe that was the wrong answer," The Prince proclaimed loudly, bringing a chuckling smile from Nappa and a snorting glare from Aspara towards the Nameccians that were giving them dirty glances.

"Please!" The Elder raised his hands, clearly looking upset by the sudden and swift loss of life. "The Dragon Ball is an heirloom of our people. Blood shouldn't be shed over it, but you shouldn't take it either. It's not right!"

"Not right, you say? I don't think so," Vegeta turned his steaming finger, aiming it towards the nervous lanky Nameccian beside him. Before the Elder could protest more, he fired it again, causing his chest to blast open from the outside. Left with a gaping hole, the antennae-adorned man's eyes whitened and his mouth agape; falling to his knees before falling to the earth, bleeding out on the azure soil beneath him.

"You black-hearted wretch!" The Elder declared, his hand throwing to the side as he sweat profusely with anxiety. "How many more will you kill till you get what you want?!"

"The whole village, if I have to," Vegeta grinned maliciously, his finger aiming for another that stood by -this one a child by comparison- as he primed a visible glow of red at the end of his gloved finger. "Only fools deny the mighty what's theirs by right."

A shrieking whistle came out of his periphery, a stream of light flinging straight towards him from behind. However, the Prince didn't need to move to respond. Nappa's burly arm swung in the path of thekibolt, the projectile colliding into flexing biceps and triceps. The Nameccian that fired it looked on in horror, paralyzed as his fellow brethren watched Nappa grin maliciously in their direction.

"You call that an attack?! Let me show you how it's done!" The largest of the three Saiyans bellowed out. Swinging his arm, the little orb was sent flying around in a circle straight up into the sky where it exploded in a flash of blue and red. In a crimson overcast, Nappa raised a clawed hand as if he was holding something. Then, he thrust it straight at them, launching an instantaneous stream of blinding force that caught the group of villagers.

Along with kilometers of the lake filled hills of the planet.

With a line of fire rising up, spouting smoke profusely into the cloud-less atmosphere, the Elder watched Vegeta smile ruefully at the older emerald skinned entity. The child turned to run towards the oldest of the assembly, wanting to run to help as quickly as he could. But, even as wrinkled hands reached out to catch him, a sudden blast of scarlet erased him with a haunting, ghostly scream escaping the youth's vanishing lips.

"No..." He exhaled.

"How many more lives will end because of your stubbornness, old man?" Vegeta inquired, his smile turning into an impatient sneer. "I doubt there'll be anyone left by the time you make up your mind. Why not make this easy for everyone and give us what we want?"

Another handful of the Nameccians leaped to attack Vegeta from his left. The five were of varying shape, some lithe, some burly and others more lanky in constitution. But none of it mattered as an arc of azure cut through their bodies in a single stroke. Even as they spouted blood, their bodies diced into ruined pieces, their eyes met Aspara's as her venomous glare was only comparable to the ghostly blade ofkiformed across her right arm.

"You don't get the privilege of cutting him down," She spat, watching their remains splat into a gory pile in front of her, to Vegeta's left.

Clenching his teeth, the Elder fell to his knees, his hands touching the earth as he visibly wept. Tears poured from his eyes onto the ground, his body heaving from the trauma that was inflicted upon him. The reality of his situation set in as nearly all of the people he had come to know and cherish were now butchered by these monsters of no empathy.

"I'm waiting," Vegeta chided with annoyance clear in his voice.

"Don't do it Elder!" A voice said from behind the weeping older Nameccian.

"They won't stop with just them! They'll murder us all if you give him what he wants!"

"Do you want their deaths to have no meaning?!"

"There is...no meaning...in death," The Elder rebuked, his body finally pushing off the earth, now sullied by the dirt of the ground. With grounded molars, bared fangs, the tear-stained face of the wrinkled and portly visage of the oldest Nameccian stared back at cold stare from Vegeta. Shaking, he raised a hand and pointed it towards the hobble immediately to his left.

Seconds later, a glimmering sphere of orange coloration with four red stars enamored within its hallowed container. Despite the angle of approach, it slipped into the wrinkled digits and rested upon a withered palm with ease. Raising it upright, the Elder spared no ounce of contempt as he spoke to Vegeta with his people's heirloom to the three, "Here. This is our prized possession, the Dragon Ball. Take it and go, for it is no use to us as much as it is to you on its own."

"I'll be the judge of that," Vegeta grinned darkly.

The Prince himself stretched his hand out, gripping it with his own brand of telekinesis and tethering it back into his own grip. Smiling at his own reflection cast over the opaque, glass-like material, he looked to Nappa and smiled. Tossing it to the larger Saiyan, he crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at the Elder.

"You have what you want!" The Village Leader shouted, swinging his arm with gesticulated outrage. "Take it and leave!"

"Oh we will," The Prince replied, revealing his teeth as his aura began to rise up in a visible blue flame around his body. "But I can't leave this place intact. If anyone found this place and tortured the information out of you, it'd undo our efforts here. I'm sure you understand."

"You-!" The old Nameccian began to shout, only for a sudden flash of light to envelop the whole of the structures and its people.

Screams of agony and fury were overwhelmed as the violet-uniformed warrior unleashed a flash ofkiwide enough to completely subsume what could've been evidence of their culture and existence. The dome of light rose up, widening and evaporating lakes as much as incinerating bodies of land. Once it was finally over, a deep crater was left to fill the bordering trails of water into a smoldering crater.

"We did it, Vegeta!" Nappa praised, cheerfully raising the Dragon Ball with audible reveling. "We got one!"

"Yes," Vegeta replied simply, his smile now gone as the moment of annihilating the fools left his mind.

"Where to?" Aspara intoned with a vague sense of genuine curiosity.

"It's likely our ex-employer is going to send someone to find us, given dear Dodoria hasn't reported in," The leader of the three predicted aloud, crossing his arms over his chest as he mulled his thoughts into coherent speech. "It's unlikely he'll entrust this decision to anybody else but his number one lackey. The biggest bootlicker of all: Zarbon."

A slight chill crawled up the spines of both Nappa and Aspara. They had remembered the scant encounters the squad that followed Vegeta in their time of the Freeza Army. It was no secret that the handsome alien was a secret sad*st and a monster who rivaled Vegeta in his worst of mean streaks. But given the power gap that separated them they always gave him a wide berth; the few times they did encounter him, he did all he could to put them in their place.

Nappa tightened his free hand into a grip, a savage smile spreading as he now looked forward to wiping the floor with him like he did with Dodoria!

Aspara hoped Zarbon would kill either of them, or at least put them into a position she could take advantage of the chaos. She didn't want to tail behind the Prince forever and finding an out now became paramount to her. Perhaps Zarbon could even grant her amnesty if she turned on Vegeta?

"Once I sense him, I want you to hide the Dragon Ball, Nappa," Vegeta ordered his more trusted of his subordinates, looking over at the taller Saiyan General with a serious glare aimed to him. "If something were to happen, this entire trip will be for nothing."

"Understood, Vegeta!" The largest of the three straightened at the sight, ensuring he looked acquiescing to his superior.

"Good," The violet clothed Saiyan nodded with acceptance. "Now, let's go looking for our old colleague, shall we?"

A chuckle from Nappa and a grunt from Aspara was all that was required. A triage ignitions of bluish-white light swathed over the trinity, and then soared over the bluish-green horizon of Namek. With the Vista left behind in complete utter ruin, the squad of Saiyan rebels were another step closer to completely achieving their objective of immortality.

And soon, an inevitable clash of the renegades and the Freeza Army would come to a head once again for dominance!

"Whew," Kuririn sighed with relief, the dwarf finally stopping short of the site where they had left Bulma and Tights. They hadn't stopped running from where they left the bulbous monster. It took them all of ten minutes but they were confident that he was gone and had lost trace of them. Looking down at the child in his arms, he couldn't help but smile as the Nameccian looked at him with a strange calmness in them. "You okay little guy?"

"Yes," He replied quietly, sniffling a little bit in addendum.

"So he can talk," Pan awed, looking around from the side while Chi-Chi loomed over Kuririn's head and Jaco on the left. Pan's dark eyes met the onyx orbs of villager boy's, and she smiled broadly. She was happy he was alright, and the fact he had calmed down since the trauma showed a remarkable sense of will for someone so young. "What's your name?"

"Dende," The Nameccian replied concisely.

"Well, Dende, I'm Son Pan," The child of Goku greeted, placing a hand over a fist, bowing politely as she had been taught.

"I'm Kuririn!" The bald ex-monk introduced exuberantly. "Can you stand, little guy?"

"I can do more than that," Dende responded with a small smile. When Kuririn thought to set him down, he suddenly bobbed back up, his clothes billowing up around him as he levitated under his own power much to his amazement. "We learn to fly when we are small. Our life force is something that is taught to use as much as we are to learn how to tend the land. I should be able to follow if you don't go too fast."

"Impressive for a squirt," Chi-Chi remarked with a slight smile.

"Squirt?" Dende furrowed his hair-less brow, unable to fathom what was said.

"She meant you're a pint-sized midg-ECK!" Jaco began to explain, only to feel Chi-Chi's fist slam into his head. Clenching his swollen cranium, he turned to sneer at the female fighter only to shrink at her glare. Sighing, he raised a finger and nasally intoned to the confused boy. "It's an endearing nickname for someone of small size."

"Oh," The Nameccian blinked blankly, now understanding but not finding any emotion to express from this discovery. Looking up to the woman, he ogled her chest with curiosity. "What are those?"

Chi-Chi traded glances with Pan, Kuririn and Jaco, the latter of which did his best to completely turn his back to the group in refusal to comment.

"They're called breasts," The Orin Monk said as casually as he could without his face turning red.

"They look strange," The Village Child intoned bluntly. "Do all humans have those?"

"Actually-"

"We really don't have time to entertain 20 Questions on Human Biology!" Jaco finally interrupted the dwarf, turning about with a sharp heel turn and gesture to the direction they were headed. "I don't want to be that guy-"

"Nothing stopping you there, Paco."

"But there are still a lot of enemies skulking about!" The Galactic Patroller exclaimed, ignoring Chi-Chi as his hands swinging wildly within concert of his concerns. "Who knows when big, fat and mean will come back across the horizon?!"

"Relax," Kuririn chastised with a hand waving nonchalantly at his compatriot. "If he really was going to find us, he'd done so by now. Without those Scouters, they might as well flying blind. That Saiyan too."

"If Vegeta wasn't bad enough," Chi-Chi intoned with a sullen expression expressed along her face, her hand raising to bite on a nail as she thought out loud her own worries. "That Son look-alike seemed awfully strong too. Without their Scouters, I can't help but wonder how long until that faker finds us."

"Well, we won't be able to find out while we pine away how much trouble we're in," Kuririn shrugged, gesturing a thumb over his shoulder. "Let's get back to Bulma and Tights. I want to make sure they haven't gotten into any trouble since we left."

Nodding with agreement, the four rose up into the air and Jaco followed with haste as they made the last lap towards their destination.

Reaching the site they last left, it was difficult to tell exactly where they were apart from the grooves of the modified spacecraft of Piccolo's they used to land. After a little bit of looking they saw a flat plate with a door handle sticking on the surface of the lake a dozen meters away from the island's mass. Flying by, they'd knock and were greeted by a plasma gun sticking in their faces.

"Oh, it's you!" Bulma said excitedly, smiling with joy as Pan nearly tackled her in embrace. Nuzzling with her child, she ushered the others to come down, climbing down the stairs into what they discovered was an underwater complex.

Walking out of a staircase, they all met in what they presumed was the kitchen, with a laminated table top and a window that showed the outside enormous sea creatures that lived within the lake they were presiding in. A few hallways adjacent showed they had space to sleep and congregate, but obviously it wasn't too luxurious. While Pan and Chi-Chi looked outside to gaze at the odd underwater creatures that floated by, Kuririn and Jaco presented their events with Dende as a living witness.

"That's horrible," Tights commented with a look of shock on her face. Raising a hand to cover her mouth, she looked to Bulma who looked grave at the news but held her composure a bit better.

"I see," She solemnly pursed her lips, her brows furrowing. "So it seems this Freeza character is a lot more dangerous than Vegeta."

"It'll only be a matter of time till he collects them all," Kuririn wagered, his hands raised up with proposal. "But it isn't entirely a loss. Their Village Elder managed to destroy their Scouters, so they're running blind on the planet. Vegeta too, if we cross him."

"But given how fast they can fly, it's only a matter of time before they comb every mile of this world in record speed," Bulma dissuaded, casting a glance back to Tights as she spoke aloud."And my prototype lenses I surgically installed into my eyes can't pinpoint power levels if they aren't lighting up like beacons. It'll be tough for us to find other villages in time before the others."

"Hey kid," Jaco piped up, looking over to Dende. "You don't think you could point us into the right direction of where another Dragon Ball is?"

"I don't know if I could tell you," The small child admitted, looking straightforward between him and the two non-combatant women. "But I do know of one of us who does have a Dragon Ball. The oldest of our kind, the Grand Elder. He presides over the highest point of our world and is the wisest one where we all stem from. If he has guidance to give, he'd definitely be the one to go to."

"We should probably wait a little bit before leaving just yet," Kuririn proposed, looking to Chi-Chi and Pan as they rejoined the conversation. "But I think it'd be best to have only a couple of us head to this Grand Elder at a time. This way this place isn't undefended in case we're found out here."

"Sounds like a plan," Chi-Chi agreed with a nod. "You and I should head there together."

"Uh, sure," The dwarf thought with a questioning look.

"I just want to see what this Grand Elder looks like, that's all," She huffed, looking away with her arms crossed. "This planet is incredible, so he should be impressive, ya know?"

"Whatever you say," Kuririn waved dismissively.

Suddenly a throat was forcibly coughed, and they turned to look at Tights giving Bulma a look. Suddenly, the lavender haired woman palmed her forehead with realization gaining an even more strange expression from the group.

"I almost forgot!" Bulma exclaimed, leaning over to them with her hands on the counter top. "Son and Raditz are on their way! They'll be here in just six days on Dad's Capsule ship!"

"Wow, six days?!" Pan cried out with saucers for eyes. Despite her big eyes staring at her mother, she couldn't help but show the biggest smile on her face. "Really?!"

"Yes, really," Her mother responded with enthusiasm, rustling her hand over her child's head with a grin. "Your grandpa was making leaps and bounds of innovations on the Capsule ship's prototype while modifying God's spacecraft. Apparently the whole time we were traveling in space he was putting the final touches on it."

"And this means Raditz will be here all healed up and ready to help when he gets here!" Tights squealed with excitement.

"Six days still might feel like awhile, though," Chi-Chi countered, her initial expression of elation erased as her brows furrowed with contemplation. "Having to avoid serious battle against these freaks for that long? I'm not so sure..."

"I'm of the mind that we lie low and let that Vegeta you mentioned fight it out with the Freeza Army," Jaco proposed with a shake of the head. "Better they kill each other off and leave us intact."

"Oh yeah, and leave us caught in the crossfire in the event they decide to blow up the whole planet?" Tights drawled out sarcastically with arms crossed.

"I'm just saying there's no point throwing our lives away when we are waiting for help to arrive!"

"We should at least try to save some of Piccolo's people," Pan insisted. Gaining a look of approval from Kuririn and Bulma, the lavender haired girl looked over to Dende and smiled at him with sincere endearment to him.

"Th-Thank you," The small emerald child said, looking around and bowing to the lot of them with desire ebbing from his calm voice. One that began to crack as his big eyes looked up with tears threatening to flow from them. "It means a lot that you want to help us!"

"You can count on us," Bulma said with a wink and tongue sticking out, her sister pushing out a pair of fingers in a V shape.

As everyone exchanged comments and glances, awaiting the next bout to the planet to find the Grand Elder, Pan couldn't help but look at the underwater scenery of Namek. Somewhere, far away, her uncle and father were coming to help them. If they were going to be successful they'd have to fight smart and move carefully if they were going to survive until then.

"Don't worry, papa!" She thought with a look of conviction etched over her face. "You can count on me!"

Chapter 24: A Dramatic Transformation!

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adveturers

By LastationLover5000, Demod20, and Firegod00

Chapter 24 - A Dramatic Transformation!

Kuririn didn't like this.

Even though it was only for a short time, being stuck with Goku's would-be betrothed wasn't a feeling he wished he'd feel. Was it unease, tension, or fear? Maybe it was all three. But still, of those that were gathered, they were the most likely to at least keep a cooler head than most and not run at the first sign of conflict. Jaco was too cowardly and Pan was too impulsive. Bulma and Tights were just normal humans so they had no feasible way of defending themselves so, for the moment, the two had to advance to this Grand Elder's home.

Thankfully, they kept a moderate pace with the bald-headed ex-monk holding onto their guide, the young Nameccian. Dende instructed to follow a direction that he couldn't understand without pointing. Even Chi-Chi was confused as the layout seemed both mundane and redundant. Lakes upon lakes, trees after more trees, everything seemed to indicate a repeated pattern that wasn't even natural. According to the child, this was because of a drought that happened centuries ago, one that nearly wiped out all of their people. The rehabilitation of their world has been a slow process and certain measures were taken to restore the ecosystem along with the flora and fauna of the planet.

"So, this Grand Elder is a pretty insightful guy, right?" Kuririn inquired with a more upbeat tone, curious if the older Nameccian was anything like God from Earth.

"Yes. He's the oldest and wisest of our race. It's said all Nameccians of our planet are stemmed from him, including my father and brother. He is our living ancestor," Dende replied, reverent in respect but also dramatic enough in a way someone his age would repute. "He has powers none of us could hope to possess. It's because of him that we have the Dragon Balls, and only he knows its secrets."

"I was meaning to ask," Chi-Chi intervened, flying with her hands at her sides, but now one raised up to point a digit upwards with her eyes blinking curiously at the green kid in Kuririn's arms. "If he's as amazing as you say, why hasn't he shown himself until now? Isn't he like a really formidable person?"

"He's very old," The little green boy replied, sadness tinging his voice as a reflection of their dire situation. "If this tragedy happened hundreds of years ago, when we were many, perhaps we wouldn't need help. However, our numbers are few and we have even less of the Warrior Clan than any point in our history. The hour is truly dim for us to need outsiders to help ensure our survival."

"Geez," Kuririn winced at hearing this. "Guess we came just in time, huh?"

"A worst time, if you ask me."

"It's not their fault they were attacked," The dwarf countered the mountain princess with a leery glare.

"Well, it kind of is," She replied bluntly, gesturing a hand as they continued flying. "It's likely that Freeza isn't the first person that came looking for the Dragon Balls on their homeworld. Just think, how many travelers or treasure hunters there's been since that point that could locate their planet? The legend of the Dragon Balls didn't just mysteriously emerge from nowhere, right?"

"It's not their fault for being nice-!"

"No, she is correct," Dende corrected Kuririn, a stony expression crossing the child that was more befitted someone decades older. "We should have not permitted such open use of offworlders using our sacred relics. Had we not done so, then we might not have been targets by this Freeza and his men."

"Space travel makes that kind of feel inevitable, though, that someone would find you," Kuririn tried to argue, smiling with an attempt to reassure the boy. "You don't know what a person's intentions are, and even if you didn't want to be found, someone could still find you out from a distance like we did."

"It doesn't matter," He spoke morosely, his eyes now staring ahead as if recognizing something of significance. "We're here.

Once Chi-Chi and Kuririn looked in the direction the Nameccian child did, they'd be amazed. A tall tower of stone erected atop of a large island was seen, as if meticulously crafted so it would be as sturdy as it was formidable, even if by a primitive standard. Swooping downward toward its precipice they'd see a rounded structure with a pair of jutting horns pointing outwards at an angle with a few pieces of viewing glass not to dissimilar from Piccolo's ship. Surrounding it was a dozen or so meters worth in front and along its sides of fertile grass, with a few trees planted on either side of the structure's -for lack of a better term- 'lawn'.

"This place looks impressive," Kuririn marveled with an agape expression and blinking eyes. "It's not to different from our old Nameccian's sanctuary."

"You had one of your own?" Dende inquired with a look of surprise on his own face.

"We did, but he passed on. Hence why we're here."

"That doesn't bode well," The Nameccian child stated in a melancholic tone.

Deciding now wasn't the time to discuss what was lost, the two exchanged glances and dropped to the earth. Setting Dende down, Kuririn still felt this was a pretty large place for one person to preside in. Chi-Chi was just wondering what the ominous ki was being felt on the inside; this feeling was distanced the moment a tall Nameccian emerged from the sole opening of the stone-like structure with a white fabric collar resting over the shoulders of a dark sleeveless tunic top and typical baggy white pants.

His ki, from what Chi-Chi could tell, was quite significant and even more so than the combined Nameccian that fought the Freeza Force soldiers.

"You, offworlders, are trespassing on sacred ground!" The Nameccian snarled, his voice tinged with anger and his eyes glaring. Despite opening with Basic, it was clear that he only did so to be coherent in his intimidation. "State your business or be gone!"

However, Dende rushed forward and waved his hands insistently at the taller Nameccian, speaking in his tongue. Once before, Chi-Chi and Kuririn had heard this spoken when God and Piccolo squared off in the ring of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. But, just like before, it sounded like high pitched gibberish and syllables that didn't even translate into something comprehensive.

But to their relief, the expression of the taller Nameccian softened, and he returned his sight solemnly towards the pair.

"I apologize," He began, bowing his head and placing his hands to his sides. "My name is Nail, and I am the Grand Elder's guard. Since the other offworlders, the young one calls Freeza and his men, have come I have only sensed death and despair wreak havoc on our world. It wears heavily on the Grand Elder's heart and it fills me with fury that my duty prohibits me from taking action. Seeing that you arrived, it is now up to him to judge whether we can assist you or not."

"W-We understand," Kuririn bowed in response, placing one hand into an enclosed fist. Chi-Chi followed suit, having been familiar with showing respect from her own prospective training. "We'll try not to take too long."

Gesturing for them to enter, the taller Nameccian allowed the three entrance into the dimly lit interior of the large, bulbous structure. From within, they saw it bore little in terms of affects, with a few things akin to furnishings left to the far dark corners. But seated within was a massive figure, draped in a thick white robe that covered his feet and beheld a thick girth around his midsection. Large emerald-scarlet arms lie inert on the throne's armrests, a saggy round visage worn by age and conflict had its eyes closed with arching antennae weighing forward while the telltale pointed ears angled outward.

Kuririn could barely keep his composure at the sheer size of the Grand Elder. He backed up and looked at his massive stature. Had it not been told to him previously how ancient and inept he was physically he believed that this being could easily swallow him whole on a whim. But, when his eyes squinted partially open, he saw not the cagey glare of God nor the cynicism of Piccolo. No, in his faintly seen black eyes he saw nothing but pain and a gentle heart, one that was being crushed by the cruel actions taking place on this planet.

"Greetings...travelers," The Grand Elder wheezed out, his voice sounding deep but raspy. "I have sensed your...arrival...among the host of evil that came for my children. Tell me...for what purpose have you come...to visit an old Nameccian...such as myself?"

Swallowing hard, Kuririn attempted to appeal to the Grand Elder as much as he could while also getting what they came for.

"Greatest Elder of Namek! I know that your people are under attack by a horrible person by the name of Freeza. He and his men will seek to take the Dragon Balls, that which you call prized possessions, and use it for their ill gotten gains. However, my friends and I, have come only to search for a chance to restore what was taken by people who work for this Freeza. This is our only chance, and without it, we have no other alternative to bring them back into this world of the living."

The Grand Elder slowly closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling. Though he looked as if he were immobile, his right arm twitched and began to rise up. Its mass that surely in his prime could topple a mountain was now just barely able to move at an angle towards a darkness covered pedestal. Upon a red cushion of sorts rested what Kuririn saw was an ember sphere with a crimson star imbued within its center. Taking it into his palm as if it was a snow globe, the Grand Elder turned his hand around and held it down for Kuririn to take into his grip.

Once it was in his possession, the dumbfounded dwarf heard the oldest Nameccian speak, "I know...my people's time...is growing short. We have been marked since...the calamity...so many years ago nearly destroyed our home. But you...I sense of an earnest sort. It is the custom of my people to reward such virtue...with kindness in return. My only request...is to ensure that wicked one...you call Freeza...from gaining his prize. Though he will not know its secrets...it is still not belonging...in such unjust hands."

"I-I will," Kuririn bowed, smiling up at the Grand Elder with less fear and now more respect in his black eyes. "Hey, you're not so bad. At first I didn't know what to think but, you're a cool guy. You remind me a lot of our own Nameccian; though I didn't know him by name..."

"You know...of a child of mine?" The Old Leader inquired, his eyes wincing open as his mouth parted in astonishment. "There shouldn't be another apart from my birthplace. Unless..."

He paused, making Chi-Chi and Kuririn turn to look towards each other before hearing the older Nameccian laugh aloud. It was a croaking bellow, one of joy and pain, that caused him to rasp in a few aching coughs. But between the heaving breaths he took in and out, he returned to normalcy as her leaned his large head a few feet forward with his hands gripping the handles of his chair.

"Tell me...his name. He must have been given...a name before he...was known by another of your kind," He urged between heavy breaths.

"Like I said, I didn't know who he was," Kuririn confessed, shrugging with his hold over the heavy object as big as his torso jingling in his grip. "But, he split in two people a long time ago. The half that we knew as a good person was called God. The other was called Piccolo. He did become a good guy, though, so we hope to bring him back to life as well with the others, which we hope will bring back his other half."

"This sounds like that...forbidden technique...of my clan," The Grand Elder pondered slowly, his eyes closing as he leaned back onto his seat. "But yes, I know that name. It is the son...of an old friend...of mine."

"Really?" Chi-Chi gawked, her own eyes wide as the infamous Piccolo had a father this ancient Nameccian knew. While she never saw the Daimao Piccolo herself, she had seen his reincarnation firsthand and saw how terrifying of an opponent he was to Son Goku. But to think that, he and God were once two halves of the same person who once were a child of someone so long ago. She could only begin to wonder how old God is, or his other rougher, violent half was.

"Yes," The Oldest Nameccian said with a smile. "His name was...Katat. He had sent his child...into a ship...to escape the dreaded calamity...that befell our precious world. I did not know where but he had since...passed on. I alone knew of his selfless action to save...his son. It is good to see that...he lived on for so many years."

"And we intend he keeps on living, once we bring him-er-them back to life!" Kuririn insisted, much to Chi-Chi's visible confusion. "Once we gather the rest of the Dragon Balls we'll bring all of our friends back!"

"Before you go," The Grand Elder halted him, the mad dash Kuririn was about to commence turned into a blinking stare up as his hand raised from the armrest once more. "Allow me to impart...a gift...of my own."

Nail, who had respectfully kept silent and on watch near the entrance, finally emitted a gasp. Chi-Chi looked over in surprise with Kuririn, forgetting he was there he was so quiet. Even the small friend of theirs, Dende, marveled at how diligently still the Grand Elder's guard had been up until now.

"Grand Elder, you don't mean-!"

"Yes, Nail," The Ancient One spoke with a slow nod. "To better ensure...their success...I shall...do what I am...able."

"Do what?" Chi-Chi inquired.

Tilting his head slightly in her direction, as if realizing she was there, caused him to let out a raspy chuckle. Lifting his other hand, he lowered both of his palms in a methodically gentle manner. One craned lower to feel the top of Kuririn's bald scalp while the other tapped the taller woman, the pair feeling a sudden swirl of something mystical radiating from the older Nameccian's pores.

"I sense potential you've yet untapped...power yet unleashed," The Grand Elder spoke, his voice hinting of a curious manner as his eyes closed in spiritual foresight. "I'll awaken what strength buried within...that I am able. Make you more...than you are now."

Both individuals realized this had more significance than even the Dragon Ball they were given. This was a ritual that was probably only handed down to whom the older Nameccian thought worthy. But, with the stakes as they were and their diligence in attempting to bring back a child of his, it seemed the Grandest Elder was seeming determined to do what he could under his own power.

Thus, when it seemed only a few seconds passed, a sudden surge of power was sent throttling from deep inside of their essence. The pair's eyes widened, a silvery light glistening and a halo of ghostly white spawned outward from their bodies. Flowing up and out, like water, they soon felt this power manifest in a radiant pair of flames that ebbed of their own life force.

Observing themselves, they'd see dramatic shift in not just the strength of their ki, but the quality of it as well. As if every nodule within their bodies had been opened up at once, but in a way that felt wholly natural, the magic that was blessed upon them felt completely stunning. With both of them exchanging a pair of smiles, they turned to look up at the Grand Elder's face as the glow of their aura began to peter off into nonexistence.

"I hope...you find that of use to you," The Ancient Leader of the Nameccians rasped out, coughing a bit as he returned his hands back to the handles of his throne. "I would...send Nail with you...to assist. However...it is his duty to...safeguard me. So, please, do take care."

"We will," Kuririn nodded ecstatically, turning to look back at Chi-Chi who also looked jubilant at the gift that was given to her. "Come on! Let's head back and tell the others!"

"Right!" Chi-Chi shouted, feeling completely empowered as of this moment.

Before they left completely, Kuririn turned towards Dende and inquired with a smile, "Hey, will you be alright if we leave you here, little guy?"

"Yes! Yes I will be!" Dende exclaimed, looking far more excited after witnessing such a rare ritual in his young life take place. Placing his hands up, he gestured towards the exit that Nail was stepping inside and away from so they may depart. "You have to go! You don't have much time, remember?"

"Okay!" Kuririn exclaimed with glee. Bowing one more time to the Grand Elder he took off and leaped into the air, igniting his pale snow ki with Chi-Chi's own transparent white aura blasting off, allowing the pair to zoom up into the sky and leave the Grand Elder with Dende behind.

Things were looking up for them, for a change!

Namek, Elsewhere

The trio of Saiyans had opted to take a break in one of Namek's more convenient rocky island outposts — not to say it was devoid of these, being where the total of ocean water surpassed that of Earth — yet Vegeta had still managed to pinpoint one of the most out-of-the-way islands for his group to descend upon. Being Saiyans as they were, the group required some sort of a meal to get through the rest of the day, or their alliance, already tense due to Aspara, might worsen.

Concealing themselves behind a particularly tall plateau, within the shadows of a crevice, the group were gorging themselves on truly gargantuan fish. Courtesies of Nameccian waters, most likely, but the fish were easily the size of Vegeta; not much to speak of for the Prince, but certainly to the size of the animals.

Ripping out a decently sized chunk of flesh — cooked only partially, as none of the Saiyans felt like alerting Freeza's men to their position by the sight of smoke or the smell of fully cooked fish — with her teeth, Aspara managed to eat it with surprising elegance, savouring the taste. Nappa, with unsurprisingly less elegance, wolfed down a large portion of his meal. "For a mudball like this one, the fish ain't half bad! Thought I'm starting to get a bit irritated, not knowing how much time is passing!"

True to his statement, they'd noticed that the three suns in the sky had made no passing over the horizon, at least not in the traditional sense. While Namek orbiting a set of trinary starts should typically mean disaster, it did not seem to have the effects on this world that would normally be predicted. Vegeta had suspected the Nameccian's Dragon Balls were involved. Having already picked the bones of a fish clean, the Prince of Saiyans started on another. After swallowing a mouthful of food himself, he replied. "It's something you'll just have to adjust to, Nappa. I won't tolerate using the planet's lack of a night cycle for a poor performance."

"O-Of course!" Nappa nearly choked on his meal in response to Vegeta's statement. "It's just...the lack of the moon is a bit off-putting, ain't it?"

"Just because Saiyans are more adept as nighttime combatants doesn't mean you need to be a coward, Nappa," snapped Aspara waspishly. "If you can't handle a little prolonged sunlight, I'll take your share of the kills."

"Like hell you will!" replied Nappa. "I've dealt with worse than this!"

Pipipipipipipipi!The obnoxious sound of a Scouter's beeping caught the attention of all three of the Saiyans. Vegeta's Scouter was going off, detecting a sudden surge ofkiin one of the further reaches of the Nameccian homeworld. The Prince's eyes narrowed; the combat strength readings were too low to be any of Freeza's stronger soldiers, so this ruled Zarbon out within seconds. Vegeta's curiousity wasn't abating, even with this knowledge, and he stood up; the half-eaten fish slumped to the ground lifelessly.

"Your Scouter picking up something, Vegeta?" inquired Nappa.

"Two strange readings off in the far distance," replied the Prince. "They're probably nothing, but we can't afford to ignore it. We're going to go check them out."

As the other two began to follow the order, begrudgingly or otherwise, the same beeping filled the air. Aspara's Scouter this time was going haywire; the reading was no stranger. It read close in the realm of what the group remembered Zarbon's combat strength to be. Freeza's pet lackey was flying full pelt in their direction. Vegeta's senses kicked into overdrive in response; his newfound ability to senseki, which his compatriots currently lacked, confirmed this truth.

"Nappa! Toss the ball into the lake, now!"

Without hesitation, Nappa lobbed the sphere into the water; it sloshed beneath the reflective surface loudly. His superior looked toward the sky in time to see the familiar figure of Zarbon descending wildly towards their hideout. He landed on the soft-grass, balancing his weight onto a single foot, following by placing both firmly on the ground. His run-in with Tullece and his subsequent search for the Saiyans had not complimented his beauty; veins pulsed in the man's temples, and his otherwise immaculate hair was disheveled and bushy. Aspara noted that Coll, even at his worst, had been better groomed than Zarbon appeared to be now.

"Vegeta...!" If it was possible to spew acid whilst speaking a name, Zarbon would have managed it. The man enunciated every syllable of Vegeta's name as if he'd only just learned to speak the language, yet it dripped with so much hate that it managed to come off as threatening. "For a little upstart runt like you to cause me this much trouble...you have no idea howfuriousLord Freeza is with you. When he gets his hands on you after the stunts you've pulled, you'll wish you'd never been born!"

"Looks like your preciousLordis finally taking notice of the Saiyans," Vegeta felt righteous indignation rise up within him, quelling it with a condescending smile. Placing a gloved finger to his chin, he snickered. "I'd never thought I'd see you with your hair quite so ruffled, Zarbon. Did Freeza send you out here on pain of death? You don't need to worry about that; you won't be making it back to Freeza, though I daresay you'll find your company with Dodoria!"

"So youdidkill Dodoria," hissed Zarbon. This wasn't welcome news; Vegeta had only ever been able to put up a fight against Cui in the past, and it had been thought impossible that he could ever be a match for the likes of Dodoria. "Even if you brought a Dragon Ball directly to Lord Freeza now, nothing will spare you his wrath, Vegeta!"

"By the time I come face to face with Freeza, his 'wrath' won't mean a damned thing, Zarbon!" shot back the Prince. Folding his arms across his torso, Vegeta addressed his subordinates directly. "Nappa. Aspara.Wipe him off the face of the planet."

Neither of the two Saiyans needed telling twice. Plumes of scarlet and rivulets of amber burst to life around both Saiyans. Clenching their fists, measured shouts escaped their throats; thekiwithin their centres began to rise up, filling their bodies and causing both combatants to positively brim with power. Under the weight of theirki, the ground began to crack. Vegeta's eye drifted to his Scouter — an old habit he really needed to quash — and saw the numbers plain as day.

Nappa - ³⁵,⁰⁰⁰
Aspara - ³¹,⁰⁰⁰

Vegeta knew from vivid memory that Zarbon's combat strength clocked in at 29,000. Against the duo of them, this battle would be over in record time. Zarbon, who was operating without a Scouter, couldn't senseki, and thus had no idea of the actual gravity of his situation. Despite this, the shock of theirkirushing forward flooded his body with a sort of adrenaline he'd not experienced in many years. Resisting the retreating reflexive urge, the teal-skinned alien grit his teeth.

He had his orders.

Better hope you can back up your words, otherwise you really will be replaced.
I understand the only thing keep me from wiping the floor of you, is that his door is just a few meters from here.
Killing you within earshot of him isn't going to benefit either of us now will it?

Freeza's orders weren't the only thing motivating Zarbon. Tullece's words thundered through his ears like the steady beat of a war drum. He had his own pride to hold on to, and being humiliated by the likes of that Saiyan had threatened to shatter it. He would not tolerate that again.

Aspara moved first, the madwoman dashing across the relatively small platform of rock that they were calling an island. Zarbon and the Saiyan woman came to blows almost immediately, teal hands rising to grip much smaller fists. Grinning, Zarbon kept his grip tight like a vice, locking Aspara in front of him. "You've already slipped up, woman!" goaded Freeza's right hand. "Not even three seconds and you've allowed me to—"

His jaw slammed shut, teeth crashing against teeth at the moment of Aspara's knee impacting directly into the base of Zarbon's chin. His grip slackenedimmediately, allowing Aspara to bring the full strength of her slender legs into the side of Zarbon's jaw. He skipped across the ocean like a stone, barely preventing himself from sinking through the use ofki. The man brought himself onto the surface of the water, coughing up liquid.

"You'vealready slipped up, bastard," Aspara quipped. "You know damn well I can't stand you. I don't need that big oaf or the Prince." A malicious grin slipped over his face. "Beating you into a bloody pulp will be much needed catharsis!"

"You're just likehim, woman!" Swirling yellowkiconjured itself around Zarbon's palm. The man thrust his hand forward, releasing a vibrant shot ofkitowards Aspara.

"I don't have the slightest idea who you mean," Aspara coldly replied. Her beautiful form graced the water, propelled herself across its surface through sheerkicontrol. The water in her wake snaked behind her, disrupting it roughly. It was a mixture of elegant and inelegant wrapped into one, Aspara moving with the grace of a skater complimented by the ferocity of a viper. Zarbon's shot missed the woman by a hair's breadth, ruffling her ebony locks but causing otherwise no harm to her body. The man pushed himself up from the water and into the air, forcing Aspara to pursue. Through a series of complex motions, thekisphere ruptured behind her; Aspara could hear the explosion, turning just in time to see a barrage of bullets rushing upwards.

The bastard is guiding a split bullet!Aspara rose her defences in time to hear the sound of demented laughter; a deep, booming affair that could only belong to one idiot. The flash of yellow akin to large-bodied lightning was all that Aspara could see until Nappa slammed bodily into Zarbon, his biceps crashing into the man's neck with extreme prejudice. Zarbon could feel it; this blow was backed by strength eclipsing the violent woman by far, and it racked him entirely with pain.

"You takin' your eyes off of me was another mistake, Zarbon!" sneered Nappa. "You and Freeza's men have underestimated us Saiyans for way too long!But you won't be doing that for too much longer!"

Zarbon's face worked in frustration. One of these monkeys was difficult enough. Two of them made reaching a natural death look like a fleeting dream. The faces of Freeza and Tullece swam at the fore of his mind, reigniting his two conflicting motivations. He wasn't allowed to die. "Keep up the big talk, apes," Zarbon spat. "Being let off your leashes has caused you to forget your place in Lord Freeza's army!" The alien's ownkibegan to flare, Zarbon pooling it into each individual palm, raising one hand above his head, and another below his torso, a pose befitting a dancer.

"Let me remind you!" Shrieking, Zarbon released both spheres in the form of a spiraling beam, combining what would have been two individual attacks into a single blow. Nappa braced himself, gripping the kikōha single-handedly. Flexing his muscles, the bald Saiyan threw the blast aside casually. Zarbon's shocked pause would prove costly, giving Aspara an opening to barrel across the ocean with a crushing gut punch. The air was forced out of Zarbon's lungs, winding him, and Aspara lacked the decency to stop. Gripping both hands, Aspara knocked Zarbon into the chilled waters of Namek with a bone-rattling sledgehammer.

The strength packed behind that tiny woman's blow was tremendous; even when Zarbon broke the surface, he felt himself descending rapidly into the depths of the murky sea. Attempting to recover himself, the man began to swim against the drag of the ocean. He needed to breach, regain his air, andmurderthose two. His valiant efforts were disrupted by what felt like a sledgehammer under the water. Something swam past him not once, but several times, colliding with the teal-skinned man and impeding his progress to the top. Eventually, he broke free, desperately swimming upward; he didn't stop, even when he felt rich air fill his lungs, propelling himself higher...

...only to be blindsided by Aspara, who gripped Zarbon's ankles tightly. Spiraling through the air in mid-air somersaults, she released the man mid-flip. He rocketed through the air, crashing into the nearest plateau, jutting up from the island they'd called their hiding spot. Refusing to give Zarbon a moment's peace, Nappa pulled his hand backwards;kisparkled and crackled to life like a roaring blaze. The large Saiyan let loose a cannon of crackling lightning; it split the plane of sea beneath him, completely destroying the plateau in which Zarbon found himself indented. Vegeta, who was standing not too far away, let the technique pass by him without so much as a disturbance of his own posture.

Nappa let his hand fall, breathing heavily. Aspara descended next to him, she and her bulky compatriot hovering over the waters.

"We've already taken too much time," Aspara stated. Her fingertips began to glow withki. "Zarbon can't take us on as we are now. I'd sooner cut him in half than waste my day like this."

A throaty laugh escaped Nappa's throat. "So we agree, eh? Then let's finish him off!"

Emerging from the dust and rubble was Zarbon. His hair was, if anything, even more unkempt, his skin open and bleeding, his combat jacket cracked, and yet his face was disturbingly calm. Zarbon took in a deep breath, running his hand through his hair in a futile attempt to straighten it. Stepping forward, he spread his arms outward, speaking directly to everyone present. "Congratulations, Saiyans! You've signed your death warrants!"

Suicidal stupidity could be said to be a trait of the Saiyans, perhaps inherited by a curse of their evolution, yet regardless, it was a trait inherit in any pure-blood. Aspara let the ki die out from her fingertips, and Nappa looked perplexed. The Saiyan duo floated closer to the island, Aspara jabbing a finger towards Zarbon. "Signed our death warrants? I don't think you've realised anything, being the dumbass you are, but we've been picking you apart this entire time!"

Wiping the blood from his face, Zarbon conceded that this had indeed been the case. "There is something about me that the three of you have been blissfully ignorant about," His shoulders began to tremble in laughter, his face working into a maddened mask of its former calm. "Like you Saiyans, I myself possess a transformation. Nothing as garish as your simian metamorphosis, yet it does blemish my meticulously beautiful appearance." Clenching a fist, fury crossed his countenance. "Yet, if my choice is to become unsightly or to die...well, you can imagine."

At this, Vegeta's attention was finally drawn to the fight in full. Certain species were capable of transformations, this much was true. The Saiyans were a shining example. He'd never heard, however, of Zarbon being capable of a feat, yet he had to realise how little he knew about his former superior's personal history.

"You're not good at bluffing, Zarbon!" cried Nappa, laughing loudly himself. "You're just spouting desperate nonsense, but it won't save you from us!"

"Tell me if you think I'm bluffing after this." Zarbon felt pure power course through himself and the subsequent transformation was instantaneous. Zarbon's body bulked up, gaining substantial amounts of muscle. His skin, formerly smooth, became speckled and warty, yet the most drastic change occurred within his face. His face and brow ridged broadened considerably, his mouth slackening with flab, and his canines becoming more pronounced.

Two sensations hit Vegeta at once. The feeling of an overwhelming spike in one'ski, which was still unfamiliar to him, followed by the beeping of his scouter, bringing numbers to the feeling.

⁴⁵,⁰⁰⁰.

Those were the numbers his Scouter was flashing before his face. Whatever Zarbon's transformation was, it had pushed him beyond Nappa and Aspara. The outcome of this might not be as favourable for those two as he'd originally thought.

Moving with all the finesse of a locomotive, and just as much strength, Zarbon's first blow struck Aspara; intentionally placed, excessively aggressive. Her eyes rolled back in her head without waiting for Zarbon's follow-up blow, which slugged against her torso shortly after. Scarcely conscious, Aspara couldn't defend herself when Zarbon gripped her by the face, squeezing her head tightly. Forcefully, Aspara found herself impacting the ground; inside the crater formed by her own body, she lost consciousness completely.

This all happened within seconds. Nappa hadn't a chance to respond or help Aspara, even if that had been his intention, and soon found himself under pressure from Zarbon himself. Using his enlarged hands, Zarbon weavedkiinto an attack that bombarded Nappa from all sides. Running forth, he grabbed Nappa's head much in the same way he'd grabbed Aspara's, and slammed his own forehead into Nappa's. The blow stunned Nappa, causing him to lose his wits; this was the opening Zarbon needed to finish the job, releasing a point blank kikōha. Enveloped in the glow, Nappa collapsed, his form unmoving.

"Are you scared, Vegeta?" inquired Zarbon, turning on the spot to face the Prince of the Saiyans. His voice had gone deep and croaky; it could very well be said that his transformation was that of an extremely violent toad. "This is my true power!"

Vegeta tensed his body, bracing himself for the fight. Nappa and Aspara had been defeated withinseconds. Thekihe could feel emanating from Zarbon was impressive; the most staggeringkihe'd felt outside of the Giant Monkey Transformation. Briefly, the idea of entering that form flashed into his mind, and Vegeta seriously considered it. But the Power Ball drained hiski, and the gargantuan size of the transformation made him an easy target; in that form, Freeza couldeasilyfind him, even if he killed Zarbon.

He was all in, in the form he was.

Both combatants assaulted each other simultaneously. Vegeta and Zarbon's fists crossed each other, identical punches crashing into their jawlines. Vegeta slammed his elbow forward, only for it to be parried by Zarbon's thick, warty palm. Following a toothy grin, Zarbon tightened his hold on Vegeta's arm, hurling him into the Nameccian sky. His aura ignited, the frog-like alien rocketing after Vegeta. The latter in question flipped himself over mid-air, straightening both arms downward;kierupted from his palms, raining downward. With both hands, Zarbon thrust them into the beam itself; it packed surprising power, proving Vegeta was stronger than the alien had believed; with brute strength, he threw the blast into the horizon behind him.

Zarbon continued barreling upward, striking Vegeta in a full bodied tackle. Vegeta, possessing surprising durability, tanked the hit fiercely; he struck back in a multiple hit combo; several violent punches hitting home on Zarbon's body, ending with slamming his boot into the alien's torso. The strength of the blow was lessened when Zarbon halted the progress of the impact by grabbing the Saiyan's leg.

Vegeta was shocked.

Zarbon grinned.

The momentum transition was sudden; Vegeta felt himself moving against his will at breakneck speeds, a scream of air pressure whistling past his ears with a cone of superheated friction forming near his head as Zarbon and he made a rapid descent towards the ground. The feeling of Zarbon's additional weight left his body at the same time that the alien let go, intending for Vegeta to fall to his own death. The Saiyan Prince, however, was by no means helpless; a moment before impact, Vegeta let loose a violentkiaifrom his body, stopping his descent entirely, but abruptly.

Zarbon's boots rustled the grass, the transformed alien descending entirely to meet Vegeta on the ground.

"I'm surprised, Vegeta! You're putting up a better fight than I would have expected from a Saiyan like yourself!"

"I doubt you're breaking up the battle to simply sing my praises, Zarbon," snapped Vegeta, taking this moment to recover his breath.

"You're right," agreed Zarbon. "I have something to tell you." His grin was maddening, clearly this information wasn't going to come without cost. "You and I seem to be roughly even...but Lord Freeza once confided in myself — and myself alone — that he himself is capable of transforming like I do."

A sensation akin to ice flooded Vegeta's body. This information had come as a sudden jolt, a snap back to reality amidst his desire to get revenge on the cretin that called itself the Emperor of the Universe. Zarbon's throaty laughter confirmed thatthiswas the price of the information he'd given Vegeta; the sheer and utter fear on the face of a man he hated. "Despair, if you'd like, Vegeta! Because if you can only put up this much of a fight against myself, then give up attempting to defy Lord Freeza!"

So the bastard has been hiding even more power...thought Vegeta, frustrated to an immense degree.I shouldn't even be surprised! But...this changes nothing! I will collect the Dragon Balls...and I will become immortal...as an immortal being, Freeza will kneel to me!With this thought as his fuel, Vegeta reigned his despair inwards, transforming it into a burning, raging flame of hatred. This flame manifested itself around his palms; Vegeta let all hell loose in a barrage ofki, regard for his fallen comrades bodies gone to the wind. Zarbon's eyes widened, his line of sight immersed in a mass of white. Each kikōha slammed into his body, unable to completely defend himself from the blitz.

Taking a leaf out of Vegeta's book, Zarbon released a wave of invisiblekifrom every pore in his body; thekiaidisrupted Vegeta's onslaught. This manoeuvre allowed the physical brawl to resume in earnest. The two closing in on each other, Vegeta leapt over Zarbon's straight kick, his foot solidly crashing onto Zarbon's skull. This blow staggered the toad-like man, failing, however, to completely knock him down. His thick arm deflected Vegeta's approaching kick, countering with a vibrant blast ofki.

Vegeta was kicked back by the explosion, yet he refused to allow himself to be overwhelmed. Like Zarbon before him, Vegeta thrust both hands into the rushing wave ofki, splitting it half and diverting the force into the ocean behind him. It was Zarbon's turn to be stunned. Rather than falling into despair, the revelation of Freeza's transformative abilities had only ignited a fire in Vegeta's soul. Dread crept into his body. Never before had him transforming not assured his victory, yet he and Vegeta were nearly equal, and the Saiyan Prince severely motivated to kill. Zarbon felt his own resolve weakening.

"You're not packing as much of a punch, Zarbon!" laughed the Saiyan. "Don't worry, we're nearly at the end of the ride!" His gloved fist slammed itself into Zarbon's gullet at the moment Vegeta retread across the island, having taken Zarbon's fearful moment of hesitation as his opening. "Don't worry — I'm sure Dodoria will have already made room for you in Hell." The torso-implanted fist began to glow violently, only for it to die just as quickly. Vegeta's eyes rolled back into his head, his body slumping to the ground. Behind the Prince of the Saiyans was the revealed form of Tullece, grinning maliciously. His hand, having been used to chop Vegeta in the base of the neck and render him unconscious, made a gesture towards Zarbon — the alien flinching instinctively — and then lowered.

"Relax, Zarbon," Tullece said smoothly, never losing the grin on his face. "We're on the same side."

Chapter 25: Shifting Tides

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adveturers

By LastationLover5000, Demod20, and Firegod00

Chapter 25 - Shifting Tides

Chi-Chi was ecstatic.

For the first time since she arrived on this world, she was filled with a sense of enthusiasm and hope. The odds were stacked against them ever since they left Earth and things only kept getting worse from there on. The cramped space that grated her nerves, having to look at Gokū's child and be reminded what she didn't have while having to play nice with the woman who stole him away from her. Not to mention the pretentious alien scout, Taco, and the husband thief's sister! Adding to that was the dragon balls being taken by powerful aliens, slaughtering villages wholesale and then nearly killing them in the process.

After meeting with the Grand Elder of Namek she was granted a gift, an awakening of power deep within her core. It felt like a wafting stream of water was released from a proverbial dam within her belly, releasing in winding brooks that were her veins and filled her completely with its energy.

Generating an unearthly momentum she was joined in the air by Kuririn. Caution was thrown to the wind as they moved so much faster than they ever could in the past. Flight enabled to soar them over the many lakes and islands that dotted the horizon. Streaks of ghostly white light trailed over the emerald canvas that was Namek's heavens, the two soaring forward with an untold velocity that shrieked past the sound barrier several times over.

Giggling, she glided down past the water, watching her reflection be disrupted by the scything motion of her speedy frame. Placing her hand into the water, she carved through it, casting large waves in her wake while Kuririn held onto his prized Dragon Ball nearby.

"Oh man! I can't wait to go tell the others the good news!" The ex-monk proclaimed with a laughing grin.

"For once, I'm glad things went as planned," Chi-Chi admitted aloud, turning around to fly backwards with arms cupped behind her head. "I kind of wish we had a more accurate measurement system, so I know just how much stronger I've gotten."

"Well, maybe Bulma's eye-scouter-things can check?" The flying dwarf proffered with a raised brow. "I'm sure if anyone can figure something like that out, it'd be her."

Frowning, Chi-Chi turned around in the air and bolstered her speed ahead, leaving Kuririn behind.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" Kuririn hustled afterwards, flabbergasted as to why she suddenly bolted ahead.

Thankfully due to other forms of inconveniences taking the Saiyan trio off their trail and not crossing paths with Freeza's personal army, they arrived back at the underwater base in record time. Disrupting their aura of ki, the two gently decelerated to the point of a gentle touchdown before rushing to the entrance of the Capsule Corp hatch. Banging on the hatch a few times, they'd wait long enough for Pan's face to blink and grin brightly at their arrival.

"You're back!" Pan exclaimed, jumping up to tackle the floating pair, hugging them with a rub of her face into the shorter man's dragon ball covered chest and Chi-Chi's waist.

The latter looked disquieted by the gesture of affection. Trying to brush the small child off of her, the blinking black eyes tore away confusedly -if only for a moment- at Chi-Chi's look of disdain to one of awe at the large orb that Kuririn held.

"Oh wow!" Pan peered at her bloated reflection at the glassy sphere Kuririn held. "It's so big! This is much bigger than the one papa had or mama had!"

"Yeah, I was surprised to when I saw it up close and personal," The former Orin temple monk admitted with a chuckle. "Let's go inside, before someone catches sight of us, hm?"

"Okay!" Pan exclaimed with a cheery grin, hopping weightlessly down to the bottom with Kuririn barreling afterwards. Chi-Chi, taking a few glances cautiously around herself, took hold of the ladder and the hatch, closing it after herself as she'd glide her heels against the framework of the metal poles to the floor below.

Once she landed, she'd turn around and see Bulma placing her plasma weapon on the table of the adjacent kitchen before scooping up Pan in her arms and hugging her tight. Even though they had been in each other's company the whole time, she was still a doting mother, teasing the fidgeting child, much to her tail-flicking delight. The whole scene made Chi-Chi look cross, and her hands unconsciously gripped at her sides.

Something Kuririn picked up with a nervous side glance.

"Haha," He chuckled sheepishly, raising the artifact up and gaining Bulma's attention forthright. "The Grand Elder gave us his Dragon Ball. With this, they shouldn't be able to find him or the other surviving Nameccians."

"Not to mention not make a wish while we come up with a plan to get the rest. Good work," Bulma congratulated, her gaze shifting from the dwarf and locking with the icy gaze that Chi-Chi leveled at her.

All of the good feelings that the Ox King's daughter had frozen over when the two women were face to face. While it was one thing to bury those feelings and move ahead with the task at hand, there was no clear transference of objectives here. Where were they to go now? Without something to distract her, all Chi-Chi had was this distinct loathing she had for the woman that had stolen her beloved's heart.

"Here I thought you'd be more thrilled," Bulma commented with dull stare back, looking unimpressed by the younger woman's glare. Placing a hand on her hip, she gestured to her with an almost bored look. "What did I do to curdle your milk?"

"Was that a joke?" Chi-Chi hissed, taking a threatening step forward.

"H-Hey now!" Kuririn rushed forward, Dragon Ball still in his arms, placing himself ineptly between the pair of women. "We got the Dragon Ball now! But we still need six more, right? We should check to see if we can find any other villages; we may be able to rescue some of them before it's too late."

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Bulma pulled her gaze away from Chi-Chi's long enough to look down at Kuririn.

"I already let Tights go and do just that," She thumbed over her shoulder at the cabinetry surrounding the kitchen. "I told her to take Jaco and the radar with her. Apparently there was a Dragon Ball that was all on its own not that long ago."

"A-Are you sure it's safe for her to be out there?" The smaller man asked with a blanched look of worry. "I-I mean, I know she's your older sister, but she's got almost no way of fighting those guys off. Even with Jaco, if one of the big bads is out there, I'm not sure she'd be able to stop them."

"She's been on alien worlds and dealt with nasty people before," Bulma shrugged, waving his worry off with a confident air to her. "I'm sure she'll be fine. They've been through worse."

"Ah...well," Kuririn deflated, feeling a bit useless in this respect. Raising the Dragon Ball up in a presented manner, he smiled ear to ear at his own bloated reflection. "It'll turn out alright in the end, right? We made contact with the Elder, got the Dragon Ball, and even got a little bit stronger."

"How did you manage that?" Bulma asked with a dubious raise of one brow on her left side.

"Oh, it's-"

"The old guy gave us an awakening, as he put it," Chi-Chi interceded coolly, looking less hostile as she raised her hand to touch her own head in emphasis. "He just placed a palm and it felt like something unlocked inside of me. I don't know by how much, but I think we can hold our own a bit better if we run into trouble again."

"We should probably get Pan over to him at some point," Kuririn proposed with a shake of his Dragon Ball and leaning his neck over to her. "I bet she'd get real strong."

"Oh yeah! I wanna get stronger too!" She bounced up with giddy excitement, sparkling coals for eyes shining with anticipation.

"Well, let's wait until at least Tights and Jaco are back," The shorter man proposed with a chuckle. "Once we got both Balls in our possession, we can see where we can go from here. Sound good?"

"Mhm!" Pan nodded with a rapid shake of her head.

"Then I'll be taking a nap if no one needs me," Chi-Chi turned with her arms crossed over her chest, icily keeping her gaze forward and not looking back. "Let me know if I need to show you how to fight properly."

Bulma sighed, rolling her eyes and grasping the artifact from Kuririn, giving him a curt smirk, "I'll be finding a good place to hide this, in the meantime. Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge."

With that, the four began to diverge from each other to make do with the time they had until their companions returned. While the Frypan Princess lied on a bed with a disconcerted expression, Pan bouncing with giddiness, Kuririn actually laughing with a more carefree manner everyone seemed to be in high spirits. But, hiding behind a cagey expression, Bulma could feel something amiss.

Something was happening out there that was turning the tides of this conflict between them and these alien interlopers.

Zarbon was beside himself.

He was actually fearful for his own survival when he locked his proverbial horns with Vegeta. The Saiyan prince, despite being on the initial receiving end of his wrath, had actually began to pay him back for every blow he dished out. Unlike his two cronies he handled easily in his true form, the blue blooded snot had actually wounded him enough that he thought to patch himself up in the infirmary.

If it hadn't been for the damnable monkey whelp of Freeza's, he'd arguably be in an even worse shape.

"Relax, Zarbon. We're on the same side."

He hadn't forgotten those few words that were exchanged. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being lied to, but his actions were contradictory to the presentation of his language.

After he had cleaned himself up and changed into a proper set of armor that was fitted to his desired aesthetic, he exited his personal quarters of the dreadnought and walked over to the healing chambers that he had last left them. He had no way of knowing what kind of shape they were in, only that when he and Tullece had hauled them back, they were bloodied and deathly still.

When the door automatically slid up, Appule -a banna headed alien with protruding spikes along his ovular cranium with a purple pigmentation and yellow spots along his head- looked up from the scanners with a slightly unnerved expression on his face. Zarbon was unconcerned about the image of rage he had permeated, having crushed the head of Blueberry not long ago because of his own incensed anger. Walking up past him, there was an evenly divided row of liquid filled pods, each of them holding floating bodies of the Saiyans still encased in their worn down armor that was mangled by his own hands.

"How are they?" He asked simply, his eyes chiefly fixed on Vegeta's respirator covered face.

"It's a good thing you brought them in when you did," Appule remarked in a nasally voice, swallowing hard as he looked at the instruments that measured their vitals. "Especially Vegeta. Had it been any later, I'm not sure our healing tanks could've prevented him from meeting an untimely end."

"That's fine," The caped, emerald haired lieutenant intoned with his sleeved arms wrapped around his freshly picked armor plating covering his sizable chest. "As long as they don't expire before Freeza has found out information they have. Who knows what they've done since disposing of Dodoria."

"R-Right," The lower minion of Freeza swallowed nervously. "I-Is that all?"

"Yes, everything seems to be in order," He informed, flourishing his cape and stalking out of the chamber with a measured sense of purpose to inform his lord and master. His eyes would make the slightest sign of recognizing Tullece's shadow, leaning against an adjacent corner of the ship. But in a blink of his eyes, he'd see he was gone.

Shaking his head, he was determined to remove the filth of that monkey from his mind and pursue his objective unimpeded.

Unaware that Tullece was likely making his own movement beyond his scope of understanding.

Stopping in front of his superior's door, he knocked, and heard a brief muttering of, "Enter," from within. With permission, he let the door open automatically and he'd be greeted with floating screens of shadowy shapes familiar to his gaze. Freeza was finishing up speaking with them, floating down to the floor and turning to show a pleased smile spread over his pale face.

"Welcome back, Zarbon," Freeza lauded with a silky purr escaping his throat, his hands clasping ahead of himself and rubbing with anticipation. "I heard you managed to trounce the Saiyans all on your own after all."

"Y-Yes," Zarbon intoned, raptly taking the credit -regardless if it was true- if it meant recovering his image to the lizard-man he called 'lord'. "They were quite formidable together, this was true. However, none of them stood a chance when I transformed. With all of them captured here, you'll soon find the answers as to where the other Nameccian villages are and the Dragon Balls he's doubtlessly hidden."

"He better," The horned devil snarked, his smile lessening and his eyes narrowing up at Zarbon's. "I had just gotten report from one of our scouts that there was a sizable clearing left in the land that was around large enough to have been a settlement like the others we came across. No Dragon Ball in sight. This means that one of them, if not all, knows where the Dragon Ball is. I'll personally see to it that they squeal with that kind of information I so desperately need."

"All according to your aims, Lord Freeza," He bowed to his master, smiling as he placed one arm over his chest to signify his loyalty. "Shall I keep watch over them until they awaken?"

"No need," The horned despot dismissively waved, raising himself up to stare out at the vast vista of Namek once more. "You may standby until I have need of you once more."

"O-Of course," He anxiously responded, turning to leave out of his superior's chambers.

"Oh, and one more thing," Freeza added, freezing his number one soldier in place. Turning to look over one shoulder, he smiled decadently as a crimson eye glared at him. "Good job."

"T-Thank you," Zarbon stammered out, unnerved by the compliment as it was presented in such a way. Exiting the chambers, he couldn't help but wonder why he had a deep gnawing pit in his stomach like something was wrong. What was eating at him so fiercely?

Shaking his head, he turned right and began to walk towards his quarters to at least get some shut-eye. This world's damnable absence of a night cycle was starting to agitate him into bouts of paranoia. If he didn't get the reprieve he needed, he might do more than throw a fist at a disposable soldier on the ship; and result in something far more consequential than near defeat to Vegeta.

The automatic door to the medical bay opened again. Appule turned, expecting to see Zarbon; his bulbous eyes widened in surprise, of course, when it wasn't Zarbon who walked in. A man clad in a dark navy combat jacket, his familiar spiked hair recognisable to anyone in the Freeza Army. His stern faced was framed by these black locked and adorned with a confident smirk. Stepping in with a gait that matched his expression, it was clear that Appule was intimidated to see Tullece — and it was even more clear that the Saiyan certainly enjoyed this.

"T-Tullece...!" hesitated the purple alien. "What...what brings you here?"

"Please, Appule," replied Tullece pleasantly. "Am I not allowed in here? We both know who is in these medical machines. Of course I'd be concerned."

"I—" Appule couldn't argue this logic, given what he was fully aware of. "Of course, sir."

"That's it," Tullece's smirk relaxed into a smile that didn't reach his beetle-black eyes. "Now, why don't you take a break, Appule? I'm sure you've been guarding the prisoners for some time. I can take over the shift, if you would like?"

Taken aback by this sudden gesture, Appule agreed hurriedly. "Oh! You...want me to...have a break? That's...nice of you, sir. I'll go and...uh...do that." Exiting room with haste that would have made him a splendid soldier on the battlefield, Tullece waited for a full five minutes to check that he would indeed not be interrupted. Once he had assured himself the coast was clear, he busied himself over the machine detailing the healing process. As if the deities themselves were conspiring to aid him, he saw the bulk of the healing had long since concluded; the process occurring was the final attempts at treatment and the assessment of vitals.

Certainly a Saiyan could survive the plug being pulled early. Pressing a button, he deactivated only a single Medical Machine for now — the one containing Aspara. The liquid surrounding her wounded form receded, her shoulder-length hair sticking to the back of her broken Combat Jacket. Her consciousness flickered in and out momentarily, the effects of the sedatives in the liquid, most likely, but she soon felt herself coming to. Multiple emotions registered at once.

Glee. She wasn't dead. For whatever that bastard Zarbon had done to her, she'd survived.

Confusion. This was clearly a Medical Machine in Freeza's ship, meaning she had somehow been takenbackto his ship, and then for whatever reason, healed.

Relief. Whoever was standing before her was neither her cousins nor Vegeta and Nappa, four people with whom she'd trade many things to never see again, unless it was their corpses at her feet.

Then blinding fury. She recognised the man in the navy-hued combat jacket the moment her vision at come back in full, and she felt anger bristle through her body at a rate unprecedented. Not even Vegeta drew this sort of reaction from her; when she spoke, her voice was full of nothing but venom for the man standing before her. "You." The young woman snarled. "I suppose you're expecting thanks from me, Father?"

People lesser than Tullece would have found their progeny's attitude worth of drawing their ire, but to Tullece, it was instead a source of utmost amusem*nt. Unable to resist embracing the humour, Tullece gripped his own side, barking a sharp laugh which rolled over into barking bouts of chortling. This didabsolutely nothingto diffuse Aspara's tension; giving no heed to whether she'd slip on the slick bottom of the medical machine, Aspara leapt through its glass dome. Shards of glass in varying sizes danced in the air around her, yet the young woman ignored them entirely. Her arm co*cked backwards, lunging madly for Tullece's throat.

The exchange was over in seconds. Tullece easily overpowered Aspara, forcing the woman to the glass-littered floor. He pulled her dominant arm behind her back, and casually sat himself atop the woman to keep her pinned.

"It's good to see you haven't changed, Aspara," Tullece's voice was causal, yet laced with the faintest hint of annoyance which no longer matched his amusem*nt of before. Aspara squirmed underneath her father's weight, but could not move; nothing truly had changed. He was still her superior in every facet, and the woman could only growl in sheer fury. This didn't escape Tullece's notice, who chuckled with mirth. "You have a free arm, my dear. You're welcome to try and throw a tantrum. If you can get away from me on your own, you're more than free to run to distant plant child."

A very pregnant paused followed this statement, and Aspara's resistance faded, as Tullece had expected. Aspara broke the silence, trying her level best to ignore the discomfort of having her face pressed against the tile of the floor. "...What do you want? It's not like you to save me for no reason."

Had he not been pressed for time, Tullece would have agreed to this point with some measure of sarcastic delight. Yet Zaron could come back at any time, and it would be much harder to weasel his way out of that situation without sacrificing a few pieces. In true form, he simply stated what he wanted directly. "It seems you're still off with Vegeta and his ilk. While I'm surprised you've been able to tolerate the Prince for this long, it is certainly of benefit to me."

"...What do you mean?"

"Use your head, silly girl," replied Tullece. "I want you to tell meeverythingyou know; I'm fully aware at this point that you, Vegeta, and Nappa are hunting Dragon Balls." Aspara shuddered beneath him, but Tullece gave no indication he'd felt him, remaining firmly in his sitting position. "The issue is, Freeza knows as well. You three have been far, far too reckless, running all across Namek as if you own the place." He let out a sigh. "But I'll give you a chance to rectify your errors, my dear. Tell me; what are the Prince's aims with the Dragon Balls? What could someone as hopeless ashehope to gain through these arcane orbs?"

Aspara frowned. "What good does any of this do you?"

Being a man of patience, Tullece humoured this further inquiry. "You never paid attention in your lessons, child. The brain is just as vital as physical strength; logic and reasoning can be as deadly a weapon as a honed body, and yet many of our kind did not possess an ounce of either. Information," he finished, "is crucial."

"Immortality," Aspara's reply was cut and dry. "He thinks that, if he uses those damn orbs to wish for immortality, he'll be able to kill Freeza."

This gave Tullece pause.Immortality...that almost seems like the obvious answer, when you look at it plainly, thought the Saiyan, simultaneously impressed and disgusted.Though I don't know how he can stomach the idea. "Immortality, is it? And I'm to assume he promised you a share of the spoils, didn't he?"

"...Yes," came Aspara's answer.

"But do you think he's actually going to go through with that?"

The effect of words on a person can vary, from extreme to mild. Tullece's words already had a unique effect on his daughter, yet stringing them forward in a sentence such as this, the woman's eyes widened.

"We all know the Prince," Tullece went on, once again pretending he'd sensed no reaction from Aspara. "You and that large oaf are as dispensable to him as an entire planet is to Freeza. Once he's used you two for his dirty work, neither one of you will have a place at his side. If he does become immortal, hewillkill the both of you before he turns his attention to Freeza." Chuckling, Tullece had to admire the beauty of it. Vegeta despised Freeza as much as any Saiyan, yet that sort of behaviour was almost quintessential to their tyrant.

"Just what are you getting at?" Aspara's voice, trying and failing to be angry, could only quietly interrogate her father. She knew his words held truth; she'd known it from the moment Vegeta had tried to slay her on Earth during their attempts to kill her traitorous cousins, and time and time again during their reunion in the medical bay and their stay on this damned planet. Nappa was a yes man, so of course Vegeta was not nearly as harsh on him. But she? Vegeta was an enemy as much as anyone else, and she knew this, yet she'd been tagging along with him like a coward.

"Return tome,child," carried on Tullece. "We've had our differences, but if I'd wanted to kill you, girl, you'd have been dead as early as your fifth birthday. Your existence is all because of me, and youwillserve your purpose. At my side, my dear, you will live, and you will becomepowerful."

"...The Super Saiyan..." The words escaped her mouth before she could swallow them.

"That's right. That fool of a prince thinks the Super Saiyan ishisbirthright, but I know it to be you!" Tullece's voice was reaching a feverish passion. "But only throughme, Aspara, will you reach this apex! Continue to fraternize with Vegeta and shun my generosity and you will wind up a corpse on the side of a rundown Nameccian village!"

Stomaching her pride — which took an immense amount of effort, and seemed to cause Aspara physical pain — she was able to bring herself to nod. Smiling with the utmost satisfaction, Tullece finally removed himself from his daughter's back, bring himself back to his full height. Aspara rubbed the wrist that Tullece had been gripping, and rubbed the small of her back, trying to remove the tension and pain. She glared mutinously at her father, but made no physical movements; a symbol of her willingness to cooperate.

His smile never fading, Tullece asked the young Saiyan woman the final question that was the most critical. "Now tell me, my dear...where did Vegeta hide the Dragon Balls he acquired?"

"We...hid...one of the Dragon Balls right before Zarbon ambushed us. It was by a lake that circled a small distinctly pear shaped island; one of the only unique things on this boring planet. As for how they work, when we acquired ours, it seems we need all of them gathered in close contact to each other. If they're too far apart, they may not harmonize," She explained, her eyes shifting away, almost averting from her father as she put her thoughts in order. Hitching at her through, a reflex when she had to stomach through hiding things, she explained further without making eye contact. "But I'm not sure it'll work. The Elder, he made some statement they won't be of use to us. At first I thought he was being a stubborn old fool, but...now that I think about it, maybe that's what all the elders could have said as a warning. What if there's no way for us but only Nameccians to use the Dragon Balls?"

"That's notourproblem, then, now is it?" Tullece waved the question off. "Our goal isn't to use the orbs, not at all. But if we want to stay one step ahead of our enemies, knowing their location is paramount to waylaying them. If neither Vegeta nor Freeza can use the Dragon Balls, then it's all the better for us, isn't it?" Placing a finger to his own chin thoughtfully, he processed the next phases of the plan. "I won't be able to interfere directly with Freeza's hunt for the Dragon Balls — not yet, anyway — so keeping the Dragon Balls in your care is, for now, our best bet. As long as neither Vegeta nor Freeza have the full set, they can't get their wish...and they're bound to seek out one another, desiring the other parties' spoils."

Aspara followed Tullece's logic, whether she liked admitting it or not. "...Alright, so you've got it all planned out. But how are we getting out of here?"

"I'mnot," said Tullece. "Butyouthree are." In response to Aspara's bewildered expression, Tullece busied himself once again with the console tied to the medical machines. The liquid within both machines receded, yet Vegeta's hair stood tall regardless. The two of them regained consciousness much quicker than Aspara had, surveying their surroundings with surprise. Vegeta's eyes narrowed when they settled on Tullece, flickering from surprise to mild annoyance within seconds.

"It'syou," Vegeta said, remarkably like Aspara. "Fancy seeing you here now, Tullece. AWOL just before our raid on Earth, and yet here you are, bold as brass, yes?"

"Calm yourself, Prince," Tullece's voice was cautious. "I'm not your enemy; in fact, there is no reason not to still consider me an ally."

"Colour me surprised," replied Vegeta, his voice laced with acid. "I'm controlling myself for now, Tullece, but it is becoming incredibly difficult. Your sneak attack — yes, I know it was you, thekithat attacked us and yours are identical — is hardly the work of a man who claims to bemyally.Had you not interfered, Zarbon's body would be floating at the bottom of that lake."

"And yet if Ididn't," Tullece shot back, "Your faithful attendants would have been left for dead and you yourself would have been far too exhausted to continue running freely across the planet. You and Zarbon were neck and neck; did you develop a sudden preference for running and hiding in broad daylight while your body's natural healing processes did their work, my Prince?"

"You'll want to watch your tongue if you'd like to keep it," Vegeta stated icily. It was clear he got along with Tullece as well as he did with the man's daughter; the Prince of the Saiyans walked towards Tullece, staring directly into his eyes. "If you're any sort of a Saiyan, you should know what would happen if you challenge me." It was taking a considerable amount of control for Vegeta to not strike the older Saiyan, and only the fact that they were standing inside enemy territory kept him in check — something that Tullece was more than aware of.

"Prince, as much as I appreciate your candor, you aren't in control in here, and I knowyouknow that," asserted Tullece. "Make no mistake, I am no ally of Freeza. The four of us in this room know one thing to be certain; it will be a Saiyan who slays Freeza. Which means this isn't the time for infighting, my Prince."

"Hold on there!" Nappa interjected before Vegeta could retort. "You're acting real cozy to us when you've bailed on us before. And now you expect us to take you at face value? How stupid do you think we are? I bet you got some scheme to screw us over the moment we make a break for it, aren't ya?"

Running his hand through his family's signature spiky cut, Tullece barely repressed a groan. "Nappa, I'm glad to see your loyalty to the Prince has yet to waver, but your intelligence has also remained the same." Ignoring the snarl that rose from Nappa's throat, Tullece carried on. "I need you two to see the bigger picture;Freezais our enemy. And he fears the strength of the Saiyans. If we work together, Freeza won't make it off this planet alive. Ally yourself with me, Prince Vegeta."

Following a brief pause, Vegeta spoke again. "After so long of sticking by Freeza's side, you want to ally yourself with me, Tullece? What, am I to assume you want the Dragon Balls as well?"

"Hardly," clarified Tullece, truthfully. "I want what Saiyans have wanted since the reign of Freeza's father — freedom. The Saiyans were never meant to live under the rule ofanyone, much less a the family of a foreign tyrant. With Freeza out of the picture, we Saiyans will be free to do as we please; conquer worlds on our own terms, eat good food, drink all we like. Without Freeza, anything is possible."

Even Nappa and Vegeta, who wanted nothing to do with Tullece right now, were able to accept what Tullece said as the truth, though Vegeta himself remained considerably wary. "While I don't consider you my ally, Iwillmake use of you, Tullece. That, at the very least, can be considered our compromise." Conceding to even this much was causing Vegeta a great amount of mental discomfort, yet he was the furthest thing from a stupid man. Freeza was too powerful to directly challenge, and he did not yet possess all the Dragon Balls. "A man on the inside will be quite useful; until that use expires, of course."

How like-minded we can be, Princeling,thought Tullece. "I'm glad we're seeing eye to eye. Then consider our partnership reinstated. And the first step—" His eyes swiveled to the door, then to the ceiling itself "—will be aiding in your escape."

Aspara spoke up for the first time since Vegeta and Nappa had risen from their slumber. "Howdoyou propose we escape from here, Father?"

"It's quite simple," Tullece snickered, "and the Prince will love it. I'm going to intentionally attract the Freeza Army to this spot, right before Vegeta levies a near fatal wound to me. Courtesy of my daughter's recklessness, it'll appear to be that she burst out of her own medical machine, freed you two, and then you lot escaped. Hindsight doesn't count for much here." He took in a deep breath. During the entirety of this exchange — beginning when rendered Aspara unable to move — he'd been slowly lowering his combat strength to a level suitable for this, with none of his comrades any the wiser. In response to their puzzled faces, Tullece continued. "Freeza considers me very valuable; a 'tame' Saiyan, you see. While this may harm my reputation, the chances of my not being healed are non-existent."

Without warning, Tullece extended a hand towards the automatic door, expelling a shot ofkiwhich exploded on contact, destroying the door and creating a raucous noise, sure to echo around a large portion of the ship. Immediately hissing at Vegeta to "Do it now!", Tullece's voice reached a feverishly high volume, "VEGETA! YOU BASTARD! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DO—!"

Whether it was to make it convincing, vent much needed frustration, or both, only Vegeta knew. But the Prince of the Saiyans slammed his palm into Tullece's stomach, a gush of lavenderkierupting out of his backside. Blood flowed freely from the wound, Tullece himself slipping to his knees, colliding hard with the ground. Neither Aspara nor Vegeta could bring themselves to feel much for this sight, as, being on the same page for once, would rather it have been genuine.

"What was that sound!?"

"It came from the medical bay!"

"Did the prisoners escape?!"

Frantic voices poured into the smoke from the distance; they hadn't much time. It was Nappa, surprisingly, who acted first. His hand coated with a golden lighting aura, he blew apart the ceiling of the ship with ease. Without sparing a final look towards Tullece's body, which only continued to bleed more profusely, the trip of Saiyans leapt from Freeza's ship. On Vegeta's orders, they submerged themselves in the water. Even if they lacked Scouters, a soldier with a keen eye could spot them flying and might deduce the direction with enough accuracy for Freeza himself to pursue.

While it wasn't quite on the terms Vegeta had wished for, the three of them left Freeza and his ship behind them.

Saiyans were capable of holding their breath for an impressively long time, if they put their minds to it. Surfacing infrequently — Nappa much less, having larger lungs than Vegeta or Aspara — they glided through the dark water, searching for their previous campsite. To their great fortune, it took what had most likely been an hour or two; the trio surfaced one final time, taking in great lungfuls of air.

Vegeta was loathe to admit it, but they had indeed lucked out. Had Tullece not intervened, Aspara and Nappa would be dead, Vegeta exhausted and without aid. These thoughts, however, did nothing to appease the Prince's irritation. The Saiyan's thoughts were going to become even more furious within the next moments; sitting with his back against a jutting rock on the ruined island, his sharp eyes noticed fresh disturbances. Different from the burn and crags caused by their fight with Zarbon, imprints of varying sizes, clearly footprints, could be seen afresh on the ground.

Suspicions immediately formed within Vegeta's mind. Grinding his teeth, Vegeta said, "Back into the water! Search for the ball!"

Taken aback by the sudden aggression in Vegeta's voice, neither Aspara nor Nappa saw fit to argue. Quickly submerging themselves beneath the emerald waters, silence fell upon Vegeta. He allowed no thoughts to penetrate his mind for the coming moments, until his comrades surfaced empty-handed. It was then when his suspicions were confirmed. Standing upright,kibegan to waft upwards from Vegeta's body; the gentle flames licking his body erupted into a vibrant conflagration, the force of which sent Aspara and Nappa careening off the island, which crumbled and gave way beneath the weight of Vegeta's power.

"STEAL FROM ME, WILL YOU?!" snarled Vegeta, his voice echoing and filled with a deep hatred. "I WILL FIND YOU, THIEVES! AND WHEN I DO, YOU WILL REGRET CROSSING ME!" Swiveling on the spot, Vegeta called out to Nappa and Aspara, who were currently treading water. "YOU TWO! WE MOVE OUT NOW! WE WILL FIND THEM AND TAKE BACK THE DRAGON BALL!"

Chapter 26: New Pieces On The Board

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 26 - New Pieces On The Board

Everything had turned belly side up in a matter of minutes.

The dutiful accursed lieutenant of Freeza had retired to his quarters, as instructed by his lord and master. He had felt uneasy ever since he arrived with his captives in tow. Tullece's aid had left a sour taste in his mouth and curdled his stomach. What was he to do about impulses? He couldn't make his superior doubt the one he had suspicions and distaste of when he has acted more loyally than even he had done in recent years.

"But now, when he showed up to the source of the noise -a charred hole warped of heat and shattered by force- he knew it was a mistake to leave his prisoners unattended. He ignored the panicked cries of soldiers who were caught in the crossfire of plasma, the energy that was used to create the opening in the interior of the dreadnought all too clear of its path.

Rushing forward in a blur of his replacement cape and his re-braided hair, he stopped with a pair of taps from his boots hitting the floor grating. His eyes widened, his mouth agape with an air of shock so palpable he still was left aghast. There, on the floor, with a grievous burn of blood and charred flesh around the gut was a barely conscious Tullece.

"V-Vegeta...was playing...possum," He choked out, blood escaping his mouth as his eyes looked up in a haze at Zarbon. "He broke out, and...the others...ulk!"

He visibly flinched with indecision. A part of him relished the idea of watching his most hated colleague bleed out on the ground before him. A hand twitched at its side, building up a waft of energy that rolled off his palm and curled around his fingers. If he killed him, here and now, none would be the wiser after all.

A shrill scream tore his mind from his wavering posture, and pulled him into an erect stance of alarm.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Lord Freeza howled with fury, stomping on foot as soldiers gave him a wide berth to his immediate approach. One soldier that didn't get the hint was flailed by a mere glance, splattering into an indistinct smear on the wall before he stopped at the gaping hole caused by thekiblast that was used. "ZARBON! WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE?! GO AFTER THEM!"

"B-But it wasn't-!"

Zarbon didn't get the chance to retort as his eyes saw nothing but a look of sheer indignant rage cross Freeza's face. Even from this distance, the darkened opening separating the medical bay and the corridor Freeza stood looked almost insignificant of a detail. He could make out the cracked red lines within his sclera, the dots for his eyes near pinpricks and his mouth curled into a hideous snarl with bared teeth lurking just beneath them.

"What was that?" He sneered in a low, venomous tone. "Do you have something to say to me, Zarbon?"

"None, my lord!" The emerald haired man bent to one knee, bowing his head in a hurried gesture of apologies. "I shall go after them, posthaste! They shan't get far with me on their tails!"

"See that you do," Freeza sneered, his eyes trailing past him to look at the prone resting Tullece. "Make sure you place your colleague in a healing pod, now that it's free. I'd haste to see my most loyal asset expire along with you."

Gritting his teeth, he intoned with a low somber voice as he rose back up to full height, "As you command, my lord."

When the horned-head of the icy tyrant looked the other way, the vague sight of Appule was seen retreating from the boss's shadow, bringing a heated glare of indignation from Zarbon.

"That weasly scum left his post, didn't he?! Of course the monkey must have mangled with the controls when taking a look at the prisoners himself!" Zarbon growled, his words never escaping his lips as they echoed in his throbbing skull.

Turning around, he unceremoniously grasped Tullece by the top of his head and pulled him up to be eye level with him. The blood that caked his mouth mattered little as the weakly staring Saiyan of olive pigmentation was but inches away from a dagger-staring toad-man. Raising a pristine finger up to jab at his face, he whispered dangerously under his breath to the black-maned coworker of his.

"I'm going to clean up your mess. When I come back, I'll drag your tailed buttocks out of the pod and demand an explanation when I return, you incompetent monkey!"

Opening the nearest pod, the emerald-haired elite tossed Tullece in backwards with a metal thud. Strapping in the respirator over his face, he turned him to face in the proper direction and turned on the machine. With a whirring sound the mechanisms pulled the glass back and sealed it with a distinct hissing sound. The healing liquid filled up within and brought the Saiyan up in its buoyant mass, leaving him visibly twitching at the numbing sensation of its medical properties adhering to his body.

Satisfied, he rearranged his bangs as he saw himself on the pod's glass and left with a huff.

"Even if we don't have Scouters, you couldn't have gone far," He thought to himself, following the additional still-hot hole of where soldiers scrambled through and outside, looking close to the dreadnought but daring not leave farther than fifty meters. His eyes picked up faint signs of brief distended boots that could only have belonged to a trio rather than the smattering of troops surrounding here. Looking up from there, he raised up in the air, levitating high enough to get a bird's eye view.

It only took a few minutes for him to pinpoint another set, right at the edge of the lake this island bordered next to. He nervously chewed at his lip, realizing they could have submerged and gone anywhere. How was he supposed to find them? Flying aimlessly across the world?

But, then an epiphany hit him.

He had remembered that Freeza wanted to interrogate Vegeta over a missing Dragon Ball. They had seemingly were hold up in the middle of nowhere when he came across them, but, what if they had just acquired the artifact in question?

A gruesome grin spread across his face and he rocketed across the sky, his teal colored aura painting a streak of light as he arced through the heavens. Rocketing at top speed he'd reach the trajectory of where he last spotted the three at the carved battlefield. They weren't anywhere to be seen, but he had smelled a faint trace of burnt ozone; a common factor among take-off from ki expunged.

"They were here," Zarbon noted, his eyes furrowing and his face scrunching up into a visage of determination. "The question is, where?"

Upon pondering this, he looked at a faint light in the horizon spark off. Were those explosions, or the Nameccian Suns playing tricks on him?

Staring intently, he'd see it flare up again, and his smile turned bestial as anger fueled his joy.

"You should've stayed low, Monkey Prince," He chuckled in a guttural tone, his body undulating into a visible flex as he transformed with a heaving expansion of muscle and fat. Now adorned in his toad-like, reptilian shape, he laughed aloud in a cackling gurgle as he'd rocket forward in a bleeding flame of bluish-teal light with hands gripped tightly at his sides. "NOW I'M GOING TO TEAR OFF YOUR ARMS AND LEGS BEFORE BRINGING YOU BACK TO MY LORD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tights was relieved.

When she had left with Jaco, she had the smallest inkling that she may have been over her head with noki-wielding-warrior here to protect her. She counted on her intergalactic space cop more times than not, but with stakes this high, she didn't know what to count on. After all, there are people on average that can wipe out whole planets that all answer to a guy who makes that seem like a pastime rather than an impressive feat.

Arriving back with the handy use of her Capsule Corp hover-bike (branded as NO 99), she and Jaco arrived with a sharp turn around to the top of the aquatic base's top. Consequently, it almost caused the transport to tilt on its side, making the patrolman almost fall off the back-passenger side. Correcting itself with its internal stabilizing gyros, they rocked back upward, and revved back down as she powered the vehicle down; bringing it down to the soft soil with a small thud.

"G-G-Geez, Tights! Can you be anymore reckless with your driving?!" Jaco nasally croaked out with a stretched mouth of agitation. "I'm holding onto the ovular glass casing and your above-average waist! Least you can do is be considerate of my well being!"

"I'm going to ignore that remark of me not being in peak shape," The blonde older sister of Bulma remarked with an eye-rolling snort. With a 'poof', the vehicle became capsuled in an instant, and she pocketed it into a little plastic compartment she kept in her pants left sleeve. Turning about, she grasped the orb out of Jaco's left arm, hoisting it up to smile brazenly into its opaque orange surface. "Hehe, I can't believe our luck! We scored big when we grabbed this. With none of them possessing those little eyepatch-computers, we sure have the advantage in having a Dragon Radar."

"I believe they're called Scouters," The Galactic Patrolman corrected her with a sigh, standing upright with his hands propped onto his hips. "Anyways, we should probably head inside. We're kind of sitting ducks out here and I don't like being exposed for any of these musclebound freaks to pummel into paste."

"Alright-Alright," Tights resigned with a sputtering raspberry let loose from her lips. Frolicking up to the hatch near the surface of the island, she a tentative step into the water and knocked rhythmically onto the hatch's top. Waiting for a minute, she was greeted by the sight of her sister opening the arched doorway that led to the submersible structure that lied beneath the serene waves of the lake. "Hey sis! Look what I brought?"

"HEY! What about ME?!"

"Nice work, Tights," Bulma replied, not even batting an eye at the exasperated whine emitted from behind her sibling. "Sorry I had to make you wait. I let Pan and Kuririn leave not but a few minutes ago. Apparently the Grand Elder of Namek can bestow a great power onto anyone he lays his hands on, like some sort of magic spell."

"Wow, that's cool!" Tights awed with sparkling eyes and a broad smile. "I got to meet him! He may help make my pending novel be a bit more interesting!"

"I'm sure when things have calmed down, he'd be happy to meet...you..."

Bulma's words trailed off as she visibly flinched in place, as if she was receiving a migraine.

"Bulma, are you alright?" The blonde sibling said, placing the ball by her feet, and reaching a hand out to comfort her sibling. Instead, she saw it slapped away, and a woman now ebbing cold sweat over her face. Flickering HUD cast over her eyes, indicating her surgically implanted Scouter was going haywire. Looking up at her with a panicked look.

"Tights...where did you grab the ball from?"

"At...a ruined piece of land. It looked like a battle took place there," She mouthed aloud, her own eyes contracting at realizing what her sister was asking.

A sick cackle broke the tension in the air, bringing the Patrolman and the blonde to look in the direction the partially emerged lavender woman was looking. Touching down first was the behemoth Saiyan, Nappa, his bearded face spreading a smile ear to ear with contentment.

"Look, Vegeta! It seems the rats that took the ball are here; and they look like they're the Earthlings you were talked about!"

Touching down not too long after him was Aspara, her long smooth mane of onyx hair whipped around in the breeze of wind that picked up with her arrival. Her scarlet aura dispersing upon arrival, she placed one hand on her hip and co*cked the opposing hip to the opposite side. Brushing her hand idly through her smooth tresses that waved in the air, she stared with disinterest at the woman, though her eyes narrowed at the bug-eyed man with interest.

"Say, that uniform," She began to speak up, nodding to Nappa with a furled up expression towards the man with unblinking optics. "Isn't that the Galactic Patrol?"

"A Space Cop? HA!" Nappa bellowed, jeering as he leaned visibly forward with arms crossed over his chest. "That's just CUTE! Whatcha doing so far out of your jurisdiction, small fry? I know for a fact you guys don't police useless rocks like this one."

"A-A fact I'm remiss at being reminded o-of," Jaco affirmed with a shiver, his body shaking at the sight of the two Saiyans. He knew he was no match against most of these monsters, but Saiyans were a special case. He had opted to stay out of the fighting on Earth for a reason. All patrolman were ordered to flee at first sight of these heinous creatures and use the Genocide Bomb when they were young; less they become unstoppable forces of nature.

But now there was no way out. With him in their sight, he'd be lucky to even survive, let alone flee.

"Last time I checked," Nappa spoke aloud, his smile showing his teeth as his eyes narrowed at the being he continued to look down on. "You patrolman had a run at first sight of us Saiyans. So, why ain'tcha running?"

"Here I thought the Galactic Patrol were smarter than that," Aspara commented with a smirk of her own.

"That's p-pretty simple," Jaco chuckled aloud, his face forming a quivering half-smile as he raised shaky fists up while his legs shook wildly beneath him. "I-I'm too scared to think straight."

"What do we do?" Tights whispered over to Bulma, the latter of which had her eyes fixed ahead with numbers distinctly raised to a mirrored number numbers on each eye.

Nappa - 38,000

Aspara - 34,000

"They're too strong," Bulma croaked out, her throat hitched and her face paling before her sister's eyes. "Pan, and even Kuririn...they're not even close to this strong! We have no way of stopping them-!"

"Then move," A voice growled beneath her, making Bulma squeal with surprise as her rump was slapped from beneath.

Stiffening in shock, she whirled out just in time to see Chi-Chi's angry face zooming pass her. Leaping high into the air in a flourishing spin that aerodynamically flipped her head over heels till she landed on a bent knee forward with a bare smooth leg with a single slipper wrapped around her foot. Black bangs framed a pair of stunning onyxes that gleamed outward with a pair of knitted brows staring up at the pair of Saiyans. Slowly standing upright, she was up and close to the two, making them look at her with a dubious pair of expressions.

"If you want the Dragon Balls," Chi-Chi growled aloud, hands sidled at her hips with fists pressed tight against them. She looked up at them with a fearless stare, her lips pulled back into teeth-bared expression. "You'll have to go through me first!" her hand reaching out behind her blue-dressed gi

Barking out a laugh, Nappa let out a bellow escape his lungs out of his lips. Aspara herself rolled her eyes with indignation, snorting a bit under her breath as her companion let out deep lunged guffaws.

"This Earthling thinks she's such hot stuff. Do you have any idea who you're facing?"

"Don't be fooled."

Vegeta's voice cut in the air as quickly as his person did. Slicing through space like a mirage, the Prince appeared behind and between the two underlings of his. Casting him surprised expressions, the pair saw the torch-haired Saiyan that had trailed behind them with a mysterious look on his visage. It was cagey, but not completely without emotion. Staring hard ahead at the stubborn woman, he had his arms crossed over his chest, a hint of a rueful smirk adorned over his face.

"While lacking in power, she makes up for having strange techniques, like all of her kind. Don't drop your guard down when you remove her from our path, you two," He warned them, a nostalgic sense of both respect and resentment settling within his coal colored eyes.

He could tell just by looking at her from this distance that she visibly wavered in her resolve, having full memory of the last time they crossed paths. Still, it was just a moment. She returned to being more settled into a forward leaning, knee-bent at a side with arms raised in perpendicular harmony in preparation for the inevitable fight laying ahead of her.

"Ha! If you say so," Nappa sneered, turning around to face her.

Only for his eyes to widen palpably as she was now suddenly face-to-face in the air to him.

"What the-HNGH?!" The giant of the trio exclaimed, being cut off with a vicious elbow that flared up in a mantle of red light for an instant. It caused him to stagger back, leaving him open to a palm-heel thrust into his bent chin that exploded in another flash of crimson, this time being the outline of a hoof that crashed into his visage. Tripping over on his heels to fall towards the ground, his tail unwound from his waist and struck the ground to hold himself aloft.

Leaving him open to a driving heel kick of another hoof-outline blasting him in the chest. The blow sent the Saiyan crashing into the earth with an explosive wave of force that splintered the island's foundation, uplifting with large slabs of grassy dirt and clouds of smoke wafting outward. It drove Aspara to leap up in reflex while Vegeta remained undeterred, his feet casually floating above the sinking fragments of soil that the lake quickly filled up with.

Just as the Nappa snarled in a sickly gout of yellow that exploded from the water that he had been submerged into, Jaco and the two sisters looked on with combined shock. They saw Chi-Chi took to the air with hands holding one flat palm down towards the emerging brute and the other having the fingertips just touching the side of her left cheek. Nappa himself had actually sported visible bruises formed from the hits, showing that it wasn't for naught that her techniques actually incurred damage.

"H-How-?!"

"He tried to warn you."

"Shut it, Aspara!" Nappa snarled, looking over with teeth gnashed at her. "She just caught me off guard!"

Vegeta laughed softly behind him, much to the burly Saiyan's chagrin. Veins began to throb across his scalp and cheeks, a glow of gold radiating around his pupils. A baleful shine of light raised up around him, flames of hardened light encroaching over his person. A loud howl released from his lungs that shook the remaining half of the island and thrashed the air with the force of his own voice.

Then, he moved.

It was a solar streak to Jaco's eyes when he perceived him ramming his head into Chi-Chi's guard. In the instant that he had done so, she had flashed her crimson mantle into the body of a phantom bull, tanking the hit and splintering in a cracked effigy of its momentary glory. A follow-up punch thrashed the young woman across the air, flecks of red light trailing behind her as she arched in the sky.

"Ha! How do you like that?!" Nappa jeered aloud, racing across the sky to chase after the visually flailing woman. A clawed hand pulled back, thrusting it to stab at her upper body, aiming to eviscerate her beyond recognition.

And, then he felt an enormous gale in the sky strike him point blank.

Unable to mount a verbal retort, he'd see himself thrown back away from her, making a distinct sight of a leaf-shaped fan of red-etching and brown-threaded handle with a red furred tip.

"What are you-?"

"HA!" Chi-Chi shouted aloud, thrashing the Bashōsen in an arching sweep across the sky. This time, instead of a forceful wind, a strong updraft hurled up within the Sun-filled heavens. Within it came a black cloud, rumbling and quaking the air with its ominous presence that blotted out the constant Sunlight that was so ever-present on this world. Bulma blinked, Tights gaped and Jaco gawked while Aspara looked on with confusion with Nappa; while Vegeta's eyes narrowed.

"And with this," She began to say, raising the fan over her head, she hurled it downward with a successive sweep down at the airborne Nappa. "I'LL BRING DOWN THE THUNDER!"

As if one cue, a flash of light crossed their retinas and a hail-storm of lightning forked out to hit the Saiyan in the face.

"AH! GAH! FRACK!" He cried out in pain, following up with another bolt, and another. Each one grew in veracity as giant chunks of ice soon pelted him repeatedly with a forceful gale that shot out of the magically conjured cloud. Grimacing, he flexed his hand out and unleashed a massive pulse of light that erased the cloud, a thunderclap of yellow shining over everyone's heads.

A sudden explosion of pain caused him to lurch forward, the sight of Chi-Chi's feet slamming two ghostly crimson bull hooves into his armored stomach. Repeatedly kicking into his abdomen over and over, she'd whirl the Bash-sen to release the force of its wind-conjuring into his face. Grasping a hold of his turned ear, she'd haul herself up over him in a vaulting motion, releasing another swing at the back of his naked scalp, forming a cloud directly over his body. Leaping out of its recesses of affect, she pulled up and whipped the fan once more; causing the cloud to unleash its fury upon him within its darkened embrace.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nappa howled from within, his body electrocuted, whipped and slashed upon by the elemental fury of this magical conjuring. Gritting his teeth, he bolstered as much force as he could from his core and then released it. The resulting explosion ripped open the cloud, and even sent Chi-Chi reeling in the sky by the shockwave alone.

Hanging in the air, Nappa looked like a mess. His armor had already been partially mangled thanks to Zarbon, but now his pauldrons were torn off from the successive elemental strikes and his abdomen looked marred from repeated hits from the woman's unusual form of attacks. Steam rose off his body as he evaporated the moisture he was immersed in; yellow light soon petering off his pores as angry eyes glared towards a stunned Chi-Chi hanging in the air who held her Bashōsen in a tentative grip.

"Tch, it didn't do nearly enough," Chi-Chi hissed under her breath. "I thought this would help even the odds; but did it even do anything?"

"You're...making me...mad!" Nappa began to snarl aloud, his mouth opening to reveal a cauldron of sickly colored light. Rearing his head back, he spewed it outward, unleashing a column of light straight at her.

In the face of certain death, Bulma saw something incredible happen. Instead of attempting to evade or freezing up in fear, the mountain princess pulled back the fan and hurtled it just bare millimeters in front of the super-heated head of thekiwave. Impossibly the pyre of luminous fire flowed around in an arc, channeling its fury in an instant straight back at the source of its discharge.

"W-W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!" Nappa screamed aloud, much to the surprise of his Saiyan cohorts below as the full force of his explosive energy detonated in a plume of gold in the sky.

"Did she just," Aspara blinked, watching the flames sit within the sky, crackling with a petering column of smoke that ebbed within the sky over her head, "bend Nappa's fastest attack?"

"I told you to not to underestimate her for a reason," The Prince intoned from below.

Heaving in the air, Chi-Chi couldn't help but crack a hint of a smile. Looking down at the leaf-shaped fan, it was an heirloom that she remembered being able to conjure since she started training in martial arts. The magic was the only thing she thought capable of, but her father seemed adamant in knowing how it worked as it once was in the possession of his former teacher Muten Roshi.

"With this," She thought with a gleam of envy shone down at Bulma's stunned face. "I can finally get to Son, and have him repay me with that favor-!"

In her moment of breaking concentration, a smoking silhouette slammed into her. Without her energy raised, she was powerless to stop a massive tree trunk sized arm from lariating her across her midsection. Spewing out blood, she felt her ribs creak beneath her toned abdomen and her body was sent slamming into the island below.

"CHI-CHI!" Tights cried out.

"Don't-!" Bulma called out, failing to grasp her sister's hand as the blonde rushed towards the crater she was embedded into.

She didn't get more than twelve steps ahead before a smoking figure stomped between them. Nappa had a scorched breastplate, practically crumbling away by the heat of his own attack. The guards on his arms dissolved to ash, showing bloodied lacerations underneath. Despite some burns that showed over his arms and legs, his face was unmarked, showing that he had managed to brace himself at the last second.

"No more tricks left, huh?" Nappa jeered with a cruel smile on his face, his neck angling to look down at Tights. "Why not just lie back and give me our Dragon Ball before I pulverize you?"

Shaking in place, Tights took a trembling step back, taken aback by his sheer size. A monster unlike any other had survived an explosion of such a magnitude. How could they survive this, if not even the fearsome Chi-Chi do little against him. Bulma was petrified in place, and Jaco couldn't do more than hold a fighting stance without moving an inch.

And then, a roaring meteor of teal-colored light crashed into the submerged side of the island in a powerful blast of steam and kinetic impact. The titanic power lurched the island upward, causing Tights to stumble forward and slide between Nappa's massive legs towards the crater of Chi-Chi's making. When she tumbled inside, she'd see the woman rasping for breath as she'd try to get up, only for her to flop onto her -much to the mountain princess's chagrin-. The pair could see over the lip of the half-formed island the sight of a bestial nightmare standing there, wreathed in bluish crackling energy, a bulbous snout protruded with teeth spread in a deranged grin.

"VEGETA!" Zarbon howled with fury, much to Vegeta's amusem*nt. Turning to face him the Prince saw the visibly disheveled toad-man point a finger at him, making Nappa and Aspara flinch in painful memory of what he did to them with bare effort. The blue blooded Saiyan didn't share their fear, as a haughty smirk spread on his face with his arms unfurled to face the wrathful glaring lieutenant of Freeza. "YOU'VE DONE IT NOW, PRINCE! NOW I'M GOING TO RIP THOSE LEGS OF YOURS OFF SO YOU CAN BE EVEN MORE BENEATH ME!"

"Ah, Zarbon," Vegeta spoke with a mirthful sigh, shaking his head with eyes closed. "You didn't even deal the final blow when Tullece hit me from behind. What makes you think you can stand a chance against me now?"

Eyes twitched violently upon his bulbous visage.

Zarbon had enough with the arrogant snot's attitude.

He had enough with Saiyans!

A horrid roar was released from his lungs as he swung his fist around to hit the Saiyan where he stood-

-only for him to evaporate from his gaze entirely.

"W-What?" He croaked out, looking around to try and spot the prince.

"You fool," Vegeta spoke above him, urging the toad-man to look up. He was now 'standing' in the sky with arms limp at his sides and his smirk unchanged on his face. "I'm not even fully healed of my wounds and I can tell. As of now, my power is superior to yours. You stand no chance of defeating me."

"Is that," Zarbon began to sneer, revving up an orb of teal-colored light into his left meaty palm. Then, he thrust it outward with a finishing word that unleashed a coral-colored ki wave straight at his aerial form. "SO?!"

Without even batting an eye, Vegeta's worn-gloved hand slapped the encroaching head of energy aside, sending it veering straight into the horizon to explode in a dome of destructive luminescence. The hot wind that came wafting over them, bringing Vegeta's dark hair swirling to the side, a look of dawning horror expressed onto Zarbon's face.

"J-Just wait a second," Zarbon raised his hands up, his voice croaking aloud to show a sense of desperation, his face ebbing sweat that manifested within seconds. "L-Let's not do a-anything hasty! I-I can help you! Together...w-we can bring down Freez-ULK!"

Instantly, a piercing beam of light shot straight through Zarbon's mouth, escaping out the other side of his bloated neck in a streak of yellow light.

"Hilarious," Vegeta grimly spoke without a smile on his face while holding a smoking finger-gun that had fired the kikoha. Eyes glared down at him with a brow knitted glare poised at Zarbon's choking, dilated expression of gurgling horror. "Freeza's most loyal lackey was so afraid for his life that he'd turn on his master in a heartbeat. I guess you're as ugly inside as you are on the outside, aren't you, Zarbon?"

Choking on blood that escaped his hideous mouth in convulsing fountain of blood and ichor, the green-haired creature fell to his knees while clutching at his neck with both hands. Going into spasms on the ground, the prince lowered himself to the slanted earth, watching him slowly choke to death. When his bulging eyes looked up at him, he couldn't suppress a dark smile as he raised a boot to hover over Zarbon's face.

"I'd thank your coworker for letting me out," He chuckled out, slamming his heel straight into the toad-man's reptilian face with a sickening crunch. "Killing you makes it worth playing his game; for now."

Zarbon wouldn't be able to hear Vegeta's last words, only focusing on the last incriminating sentence before his entire skull was fractured. In a shower of blood, his eyes rolled back as his body was sent flying back into the lake beyond in a shattering immersion into its crystalline depths. The last remnants of his consciousness vied for blood, screaming in anguish at his last ebbs of life wasted so wistfully; and how he was played so easily by the one person he distrusted the most.

"Damn you...Tullece!"

The last of Freeza's elite soldiers had been slain.

A stiff silence followed the death of Zarbon; Chi-Chi, Bulma, Jaco, and Tights all gaped in horror at how easily Vegeta had completely destroyed Zarbon. As if the situation could get any worse, Vegeta had becomestrongerthan he'd been before. Bulma was quivering in fear; she'd seen, displayed in her eyes, a combat strength reading from Vegeta which had breached 60,000 and then some. Zarbon's reading — 45,000 — had stood absolutely no chance. The strongest person with them was Chi-Chi, whose combat strength reading — Bulma flickered her eyes towards the ebony-haired martial artist — was 15,000.

They stood no chance.

Vegeta exhaled softly; a mixture between a sigh of relief and a moan of ecstasy. Standing up to his full, rather unimpressive height, Vegeta shook the remains of Zarbon's guts off his gloved hands. "Ridding this world of Zarbon has left me in a very good mood," he said, a grin plastered onto his face. "I'm going to give you lot a chance; give us your Dragon Ball, and your lives will be spared. Continue with this futile resistance—" His onyx eyes stared directly into Chi-Chi's matching orbs "—and I will kill all of you."

Chi-Chi gripped the Bashōsen firmly in her palms, fully prepared to use it. "Do you think that we're just going to cave—"

"Alright."

A voice cut Chi-Chi off directly, and it was to the surprise of many that the acquiescence of surrender did not come from Jaco, but Bulma. The lavender-haired woman had picked up the basketball-sized orb that Tights acquired, and rolled it cautiously towards the Saiyan trio. The sphere was picked up by Nappa, who tucked it underneath his arm with a widening sneer. "Looks like one of you has a brain, eh?!" He glanced pointedly at Chi-Chi. "You should thank your friend, girlie. Or are you suicidal?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Chi-Chi snarled at Bulma. "Have you lost your mind, giving them the Dragon Ball!?"

"Lost my mind?" Bulma repeated, incredulous. "Areyou trying to die? There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity; we didn't come here to die, we came here to save our friends!" Lowering her voice, she hissed. "Just giving them the Dragon Ball does nothing. If you'd just be patient, we'll be able to work around this!"

"I do hope you don't think I'm a fool" interjected Vegeta. "Please don't think I'm so stupid as to believe you only haveourDragon Ball. If you want to ensure your continued existence from us, we will be leaving withbothDragon Balls." Vegeta's statement was followed by a pregnant pause; Bulma, her face set, muttered towards Jaco, issuing him an order to fetch the other Dragon Ball from the depths of their aquatic base. Aspara watched Jaco carefully, the alien returning as quickly as he could with the Dragon Ball, and, like Bulma moments before, rolling it towards the Saiyans to keep his distance.

Aspara stopped it with a foot, picking it up and tucking it under her arms. Her group were now in possession of two Dragon Balls; Freeza had the other five. If she could simply keep these two away from Freeza, simultaneously keeping Vegeta away from Freeza's own set of Dragon Balls, neither party would get their wish. Her father would be — as much as the thought turned her stomach — pleased, and whatever he was planning, may very well get away with.

"You've made smart decisions," Vegeta said, his shoulders shaking in mirth. "Zarbon's dead. We've acquired two Dragon Balls. And I feel more alive than I have in years!" He was no longer able to repress his elation; laughter erupted from his throat, unsettling Tights, Bulma, Jaco, and even Nappa and Aspara to a degree. Only one person was not intimidated. Only one person stood, affronted by the exchange that had just occurred. Gripping the Bashōsen tightly in both hands, Chi-Chi howled in rage.

"YOU'RE NOT LEAVING HERE WITH THOSE DRAGON BALLS!" Swinging the fan, Chi-Chi released torrential, gale-force winds from her leaf-shaped fan. Rushing winds pounded away at the ground beneath them, causing it to split, cracking under the pressure. Nappa and Aspara felt the force of nature bear its weight down on them, the ocean beginning to churn from the sheer strength of the wind. Yet a follow-up technique did not come. Curiously, the wind pressure receded, amidst the sound of spluttering.

"Thank you for reminding me," Vegeta had closed the distance between himself and the girl in a matter of moments, the intensity of the winds disregarded; his fist was logged firmly into her stomach. The fan had fallen from Chi-Chi's hands, her eyes as large as saucers, irises contracting, pupils dilating. "I owe you for Earth, don't I, woman?" Shouts of horror mingled from Chi-Chi's companions, yet she could only stagger, unable to defend herself when Vegeta raised his other hand to her face, palm glowing vibrant withki—

A sudden shock jolted through Vegeta akin to ice-water. His skin prickled, and hair stood on end; it was clear he was the only one who felt it. Aspara and Nappa both lacked scouters, and he noticed that, for as tricky as Chi-Chi seemed to be, she lacked the ability to senseki, as he could. The only other person who noticed anything was Bulma. Both she and Vegeta were staring off into the same direction on the horizon; Vegeta feeling the sudden increase ofkithat certainly couldn't come from a native, and Bulma seeing numbers increase before decreasing in the HUD her eyes displayed.

Dread froze Bulma's heart solid. She knew was lay off in the direction they were both looking, the only cause of this disturbance would be her daughter and Kuririn, off to the far edge of the planet with that elderly Nameccian. And now Vegeta knew something was amiss.

"What...was...that?" Vegeta asked slowly, his eyes focused entirely away from Chi-Chi and the others now. His body turned, curiosity piqued. "That strength can't be from the natives of this planet...I haven't felt akithat strong since we landed on this rock."

"Should we go check it?" asked Nappa, who hadn't felt it, but was more than willing to take Vegeta's word for it. "If it's someone strong enough to catch yer attention, we may need to kill 'em."

The Prince deliberated. With the two Dragon Balls in hand, he didn't have any need to be here anymore. Killing this lot would be pointless now...and there was someone far stronger on the horizon that could prove to be a completely new variable. "Nappa, Aspara, we're going. I can feel a powerfulkiat one of the further ends of the planet."

With a sinister chuckle, Nappa grinned. "Alright! Let's beat it!"

"...I still think we should kill them, but fine," Aspara glowered at Chi-Chi specifically, but did not argue with Vegeta. "You all lucked out, but if we run into you again, you won't get the Prince's mercy. I'll cut you all down without hesitation."

Plumes ofkierupted around the three Saiyans, varying in hue and shade. Without an aside glance to Bulma and her group, Vegeta, Nappa, and Aspara rocketed into the horizon. Bulma cursed herself internally for her lack of foresight. "Why did I prioritise the Scouter before some sort of propulsion mechanic...!" She bemoaned the situation entirely. "I can't even follow the bastard, and he's headed right for Pan!"

Chilling realisation dawned on the entire group; even Chi-Chi, who couldn't bring herself to despise the child, in spite of what the young girl represented, felt the dread creep up her body. If Vegeta wanted to fight Pan, there wouldn't be any getting out of it. She gnashed her teeth, wrestling with her own internal conscience. The fan clutched within her hands began to feel heavy. "Keep your head on," Chi-Chi muttered, refusing to meet Bulma's eyes. "That little bald monk is more dependable than you think."Kierupted around her body, and without another word, Chi-Chi sped off in the direction of the Nameccian Elder's home.

She wouldn't let the child die, though she would never tell this to Bulma.

Nameccian Elder's Shrine, Namek

Amazement.

That was the only word that could describe what Kuririn was feeling at this moment. His plan having gone successfully, the former monk had taken Pan with him to the Nameccian Elder's home at the furthest reaches of the planet. To his great relief, the Nameccian Elder had agreed to do to Pan what he had done to Kuririn and Chi-Chi — use his powers to draw out and magnify Pan's innate gifts. Soft white flames licked Pan's body, having before been a rush of white conflagration which had since settled. Yet Kuririn couldn't deny her power boost had been tremendous; was she as strong as Vegeta had been on Earth? Stronger?

"This isn't fair..." He chuckled weakly. "Saiyan genetics really are broken, you're not even five!"

The young halfling didn't know how to explain it. She had thought she was strong when Mr. Piccolo and Uncle Raditz had trained her, but this...thiswas different. The old Nameccian man, when he'd placed his hand on her head, triggeredsomethingand she felt a sudden rush of power, followed by immense clarity, rather than ego. The young girl frowned, trying to find the words. "You pulled something out from my tummy, and it spread throughout my entire body!"

"You could consider it that way, young one," agreed the Nameccian Elder. "You surprise me...for one so young, you possesses a wealth of power underneath. What I drew out was a mere fragment, only what I could access now." Inclining his head towards Kuririn, he inquired, "And you referred to her as a Saiyan? I have not yet met a Saiyan with such strength. Though," he hesitated, as if he considered it something he ought not to tell, yet continued onward, "Saiyan history tells of Saiyans with powers out of the ordinary. The most prominent in their history is that of the Legendary Super Saiyan."

"The Legendary Super Saiyan?" Pan and Kuririn spoke in unison. It wasn't a term that either one of them at heard before.

"Some refer to this Legendary Saiyan as a God. Some refer to them as a Demon. The tales of these unique Saiyans are dotted throughout history, and the arrival of every Legendary Super Saiyan has been marred by sparks of turmoil in the history of the Saiyan race," The Nameccian Elder explained grimly. "It is believed that a Legendary Super Saiyan emerges once every thousand years, and represents the pinnacle of the Saiyan warrior race."

"And you thinkPanis this mad warrior of legend?" Kuririn asked, slight incredulity in his voice.

"It is a theory," replied Elder. "Nothing more. Super Saiyans are anomalies in the long history of the Saiyan race, and this young girl's strength is an anomaly in and of itself."

"So you really are a little weirdo," mused Kuririn to an indignant Pan. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" He added hastily, catching her affronted eye. "So we mi—" A shudder passed throughout not only Kuririn's body, but Pan, the Nameccian Elder, Nail, and Dende. Kuririn, however, felt it first, rushing towards the door and throwing himself outside. The sensation of dread filled him completely, the bald former monk recognising thekithat all of them now felt barreling down on them.

"I-It's Vegeta!" he stammered. "Vegeta and his lackeys are coming!"

"Nail..."

"Yes, Grand Elder," replied Nail, without any further need for elaboration. He strode past Dende, Pan, and Kuririn, stepping over the threshold of the Elder's dwelling. Confidently, the Nameccian warrior stood tall, the three invaders descending onto the raised plateau moments after. A silence accompanied their arrival; Nail appraised the three Saiyans, while Vegeta was glancing around the small plateau, evidently looking for something.

"What brings you to this sacred ground, offworlders?" inquired Nail harshly. Just as he did with Kuririn and Chi-Chi when they arrived, he spoke openly in Basic, but his tones were harsh and confrontational. "Make your intentions clear or I will force you to leave!"

"I'd love to see you tr—" Nappa started, only for Vegeta to cut across him by throwing an arm out.

"Don't waste your time, Nappa," Vegeta said. "He may look like trash, but he'll rip your apart. Tell me, Nameccian, wereyouthe cause of that sudden spike inkiI sensed? You seem more capable than the rest of your brethren whose blood has managed to stain my gloves."

Nail gnashed his teeth, baring sharp, vestigial fangs. "You bastard...so you are going around slaughtering our people!?" His eyes fell on the Dragon Balls Aspara and Nappa were carrying, and grew wide. "That Dragon Ball — what happened to the offworlders who had that Dragon Ball?!"

"Were you friends with that little ragtag bunch?" sneered Aspara. "You can breathe easy, slug. They're alive, though only because they got lucky. Everyone here, though, won't be so lucky."

Amidst his rage, Nail felt relief flood his body. The offworlders who had been so earnest and offered their help to the Lord Elder had not perished at the hands of these barbarians. That, in and of itself, was a relief. Unfolding his arms from behind his back, the attendant of the Grand Elder clenched his four fingered fists. "Regardless, I can clearly see that you bring nothing but ill will to this holy place. My duty is to protect the Grand Elder of Namek, and I will lay my life down for that cause!"

Vegeta laughed, a amusem*nt and fury flooding out of his voice in equal measure. "You're confident, green man. But let me assure you, there isn't a single one of your people who can fight me on equal grounds — especially not alone. The moxie is appreciated, but you'd be better off answering my questions."

"He isn't alone!" chirped a small voice. Pan emerged from the house, her burning black eyes furiously glaring at Vegeta. "I've gotten so much stronger now! I can help him fight you!"

"Speaking of guts, look at the brass pair on this shrimp!" jeered Nappa. "What's the matter, midget? Did you gain a confidence boost along with a suicidal rush in that little hut? Or is that Saiyan blood in you finally kickin' in at the wrong time?"

"I don't like mean people like you!" snapped back Pan. "You're the kind of people that Papa fights against! You hurt all of us when you came to Earth!" Herkibegan to rise in time with her emotions, a flickering wave of white enveloping the short, lavender-haired child. "I won't forgive any of you!"

Vegeta felt it. The rising of herki— to what he wagered, if he had to give it a number, was close to 25,000 — tipped him off. "Soyouwere the one, brat. It was yourkiI felt. You're starting to feel like a proper Saiyan, brat!"

Kuririn ran outside to see Nail and Pan on the one side. Nappa, Aspara, and Vegeta on the other. The burly man and beautiful woman placed the radiant spheres down onto the grass, preparing to adopt a combat stance. Each party was prepared to fight. A gust of wind, common for such an altitude, rippled through the space between the opposing groups.

"I feel that I should warn you all," came a tired voiced from inside the hut, unfamiliar to the three Saiyans, "that a tremendous power approaches the planet. Now is not the time to fight amongst yourselves..."

Kuririn was the first to look to the sky, his face curious. He felt a massivekisignal rushing through the atmosphere, and the first thing he felt was hope. "Gokū! It has to be Gokū!"

"Yeah!" crowed Pan. "And I think I feel another one! It's Papa and Uncle Raditz! They came!"

"...Were you expecting a party of five?" inquired Nail. "I can feel fivekisignatures."

"Five?!"

The cry came from Nappa, Aspara, and Vegeta simultaneously. The Saiyans glanced at each other, and then Vegeta towards the sky. "Five of them...!" He groaned. "It can't be..but must be! It's the Ginyū Special Squadron!"

"The coward Freeza really called the Special Squadron!?" groaned Aspara, rage and frustration lacing her voice. It wasn't simply fear of this so-called Special Squadron that was flooding her body. Her father hadn't banked on something like this, and he was out of commission. Was this a chance for her? Or would the situation just spiral downward? She fought the urge to wring her head in her hands; surviving the Squadron came first.

"Vegeta, what do we do?!" Nappa asked. "It's the Ginyu Special Squadron! They aren't just your average solidiers!"

The Prince whirled on the spot, glaring daggers towards Pan and Kuririn. "Listen, you lot! You're coming with me, now! If any of us want to make it out of this alive, wewillhave to work together! That purple-headed woman of yours seems clever, and her combat strength is negligible! We'll hide these Dragon Balls with her! Meanwhile, your black-haired friend will lend us a hand!"

"What makes you think we're going to work with you!?" protested Kuririn hotly. "If you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly chums—!"

"Are you daft?!" snapped Vegeta. "The Ginyū Special Squadron aremonsters; the bulk of them are stronger than myself and there arefive of them!" He stressed the last part for emphasis. "Between myself and Freeza,Freezais the last person you want getting these Dragon Balls! If you want to make it out of this alive, then follow my orders!"

"But you tried to kill us be—" Kuririn was lifted off the ground by Vegeta, white glove grabbing hisgitop.

"Don't make me repeat myself!" snarled the Prince of the Saiyans. "I don't like the idea of working with you all either, but the moment the Ginyu Special Squadron broke through the atmosphere, open discussion ended! If we don't move now, theywillfind us with their Scouters! Or even worse, Freeza, as they've surely brought him a new model! If you want to live, then we move out now!"

Against Kuririn's better judgement, he nodded, and Vegeta let him down.

So, an unlikely alliance of Earthlings and Saiyans was formed, the new group of five making a mad dash towards the Earthlings' hiding spot.

A devilish feeling of delight overtook him. After all of the hassle, his victory was assured now.

Chapter 27: A Dangerous Game

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 27 - A Dangerous Game

A spectacle.

That's what Chi-Chi had come across when she saw trailing comet trails peter across the sky. Painting the viridescent heavens with neon blue they'd eventually make a distant impact in a thunderous *thuum* in the backdrop. With her gaze fixated on the new point in the redundant vista of this alien world she was on, she decided on gut instinct to follow the source of the landing; after all, she wasn't sure if the Saiyans she was pursuing were going to stay put by the time she caught up with them.

Soaring off in a trail of pale silver, she'd descend low to the ground and shear the surface of lakes she passed by in her hasty movement towards her goal. When she began to make out the shapes of a saucer next to the freshly smoldering set of craters that were evenly spaced apart did she finally slow down. Gracing the ground on all fours, she clutched to the earth and scrounged up the bend of a hill, her eyes peering ahead at five silhouettes emerging from the pods, rising up and exposing themselves.

Then, in a shimmering blur of swift motion, they appeared in front of the horned devilish creature -which she remembered was named Frost?- and began to...

...pose?

"Gurd!" A short, rotund thing postured with bulbous eyes wedged on the sides of its head where ears could've been, raising his arms up and arching them off with a bent knee.

"Butta!" A bluish snake man angled himself to the left, pupiless red eyes gleaming with bared fangs while rasping out his own name and bending his broad, lanky body astride in his practiced stance.

"Reacoom!" A deep voiced, human beast of a man with a tuff of orange hair on his mostly bald head with an oblong shaped skull gestured opposite of the blue reptilian squadmate.

"Jheese!" A white-haired humanoid looking man spoke aloud in a dignified shout with his arms arched up similar to the stout fat one, but looking a bit more fashionable doing so with his thick mane whipping back with his motions.

"Ginyū!" A violet skinned, tumour-headed being with his own set of horns jutted out his arse while looking between spread legs and throwing his arms out in his ridiculous posture.

"And together we are-!" They said in union, moving in a combined effort to twirl and frame each other's movements with a flourish of white gloved hands and tightly worn uniforms that exposed a bit more than she cared seeing of them. "-The Ginyū Special Squadron!"

She had to balk, her eyes thinly glaring with a dry sense of disdain. Who were these clowns? Are they enemy reinforcements or just stock entertainment for cheap gags?

Clearing his throat, the horned boss of the showboat crew brought their attention to the fore.

"It's good of you all to be in such high spirits," The pink-faced emperor spoke out of obligation, a thin drop of sweat dripping down his cheek from his head out of embarrassment, as he began the debriefing for their mission. "But I have pressing matters that need to be course corrected. As you know I've come to Namek in search of the allegedly mystical artifacts known as the Dragon Balls. After collecting five of them my luck took a turn for the worst and now I've suffered causalities. Both Dodoria and Zarbon are dead, Tullece is incapacitated and Vegeta has gone completely rogue."

"Hold on, hold on," Reacoom spoke, a curled smirk adorned on his face as he co*cked his head over at the taller, leaner built Butta. "Little Vegeta has finally broken his collar?"

"Yeah, the runt finally had it in him to sssstrike out on hissss own!"

"Actually, that's the thing," Freeza interceded, bringing two of the five's attention back towards him. "He's not alone. In addition to his caretaker Nappa and his lapdog Aspara there appears to be other fighters that are working against us. They managed to get the drop on Dodoria and scurrying away with one of the Nameccians. We've yet to determine where they're from but I have a strong suspicion they're Earthlings."

"What's an Earthling?" Gurd queried in his warbled, high pitched voice.

"Some dirtball yokels got recruited by Vegeta? That seems to be a bit out of character for him," Jheese mentioned, side glancing his superior with a curious glint in his eyes. "Maybe they're working on their own?"

"Doubtful," Ginyū replied, grasping his own chin with audible speculation in the form of a pensive frown and stroking his pointed chin. "From my knowledge, Earth has a low level species populating it with underdeveloped technology. They don't even have proper space flight. No, given the timing, it's very likely that the prince has somehow brought them in addition to his Saiyan cohorts to make up the difference."

"I know it's a bit silly to mention such insignificant pests, but I want to make sure you know what you're up against," Freeza intoned with a more satisfied expression. Unlike the threatening tones he took with Dodoria or Zarbon, he looked at ease even peaceful at the prospect such a famously successful squad was here. "Now, did you bring the things I asked for?"

"Yes indeed!" The Captain proclaimed with a deep bass voice trumpeting with enthusiasm. Looking over at his red-skinned, white haired companion, the man wordlessly complied by withdrawing a yellow colored, black striped suitcase of sorts.

"Here you are, Lord Freeza," The second shortest member of the squadron demonstrated, unlocking the latches to reveal a ruby red lens Scouter, similar to the same ones they all wore of varying shades of blue, green and red of their own. "The latest and up to date Scouter, just like you wanted."

"Marvelous!" He exclaimed, his tail twitching alongside him within his hover-pod vehicle he sat within. Grasping the device, he affixed it to the side of his face, testing its setting and grinning at the HUD that flashed with a more pristine flow of updates. Seeing that everything was in order, he turned to address them once more. "Now, thankfully they haven't left that long ago and I still have my five Dragon Balls. Return the ones they have back to me so I may make my wish."

"Easy enough," Ginyū deep-throat affirmed, accentuating afterwards with a dark smile emerging across his amethyst lips. "What about Vegeta and his compatriots?"

"I honestly couldn't care what you do, so long as you bring back the balls," The space tyrant confessed with an equally depraved smirk on his pinkish visage. "Though I could definitely go for a bit ofdeathto pay back my losses."

"Understood," The Captain nodded.

With a flourishing twist, he corralled his men into a ring. Their legs, pounding the earth, and their voices sounded off one after the other.

"It's time we come to bring a just end-!"

"-to the ones who knees we will force to bend!"

"Lord Freeza's given us the task-!"

"-we'll see reach the mark, our enemies in last!"

"And as soon as we meet the traitors head on-"

"-we'll send them flying into the great beyond!"

Twisting about with arms raised, theirkierupting in a flourish of blue, magenta and purple alike.

"GINYŪ SPECIAL SQUADRON," Their Captain shouted, leaping up first, and followed in synchronous, blurring motion that tore through the emerald heavens by the other four. "AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

The icy tyrant sighed, belated in his release after the squadron had been a full minute in their departure. The five were of a sort that his father had full rein of, even encouraged, back before he had taken full control of his parent's legacy. It wasn't his sort of thing to enjoy, the flamboyant nature of their antics and flippant tongue in the present of their superiors. However, their loyalty was unquestionable and their efficiency unmatched by any other that had come under his employ. Due to how vast his empire could be, he'd only call upon them when he felt normal means of handling a situation couldn't cut it.

With Tullece still recovering and his top elite soldiers both dying away from his grasp, he knew it was wise to preemptively call them in to expedite his personal quest for immortality.

Adjusting the rosy lens, he -for a moment- thought he detected a sizable power level by the hill near his ship. Could it be that he was being watched?

Glaring, he adjusted the instrument at his side, fixating his crimson eyes towards the mound of grass that lied just beyond his gaze. Raising a hand, he ignited his fingertip with energy, crackling with an ovular shape of pulsing scarlet hue. Pointing it at the hill he kept a dead calm-

-and then, a gust of wind blew across the air, bringing him to blink at the sudden gale that swept about. Blades of grass flew into his face causing him to spit and gag at the foul taste ofnaturethat assailed him. Baring his teeth, he pointed his finger at the hill and saw that the HUD no longer read a power level. At least, nothing of the size he detected.

Was it all in his head?

"Top of the line Scouter, hmmm?" Freeza sneered, scoffing at the new device already having bugs. He'd have words with the manufacturers once he was done here on Namek.

Turning about, his pod puttered in the air and brought him back within the hold of his ship, where he'd wait patiently for his squadron to announce their victorious return.

All the while, Chi-Chi clung to her Bashōsen with two sets of white knuckled hands as she lied flat against the opposite slope of the hill.

"That was too close!" She thought with sweat pouring down her face. "I thought I wasn't flaring up my energy, but it seems that blasted machine is more effective than Goku's brainiac hussy!"

Regaining her breathing, thanks to her training, she reined in control of her energy while suppressing it. Clawing back up over the lip of the hill she'd peer out, seeing the faint sign of movement through the bulbous protrusions that were assuredly the viewing glass of the dreadnought. Even without sensing ki, she could tell there was still quite the substantial amount of enemies still within without Freeza to deal with. She felt confident in taking them out, with the squad away, but she'd have to find an opening to slip past Freeza.

The Dragon Balls were here, after all. She wouldn't get a better opportunity than this!

It dawned on her the irony of her earlier departure was that she was in haste to stop the Saiyans from reaching Pan and Kuririn. But, as she was, it was likely not going to make a difference. The mountain princess hoped that the goon squad of Freeza could reach Vegeta and Co, possibly cause a distraction to allow his tentative acquaintances to escape.

Much as she was remiss to admit it aloud, but she couldn't bring herself to despise the child of Son Goku. Her earnest attitude was only matched by her innocence and surprising amount of skill she possessed for her age. She had no understanding of who she was, but she seemed to like the older woman enough to find her to be approachable. Even Kuririn wasn't so bad, beyond his timid behavior, he knew when to act serious when the hammer hit the pavement so to speak. She couldn't care less about Jaco, and Tights was just a useless ball of optimism in her eyes.

Regardless, it was her responsibility to make sure the trip to Namek was worth it and that she'd prove her worth. After all, how would it look if she didn't give it her all to the man she loved?

Puffing out her cheeks, she fixed a firm glare at the saucer shaped vessel and decided to do the hardest thing in her life:Wait.

Desperate.

That's what Vegeta was. Kuririn had no fathoming the threat this Ginyū Special Squadron possessed, but the Saiyan prince had an intimate knowledge of what they were like and he looked scared. It was probably the first time the dwarf had seen an emotion related to fear plastered over the normally co*cky, arrogant man. If he was this frightened of the strength this group of five possessed, then their situation has moved from bad to worse.

It was also a bit startling just how quick he was to force them to help him. After all, he was prepared to kill them or at the very least beat them within an inch of their lives for the fun of it. But now his mood shifted and he was in a bout of self preservation. It reminded him of how Raditz seemed to behave when he met the man after he had trained for the arrival of his colleagues. But there was still that restrained pride that didn't vanish; he was in control and he was giving the orders, much to his chagrin.

Pan had almost lashed out and he had to force her back. The bald ex-monk had to tell her now wasn't the right time. If they were going to bring back Piccolo and the others, they had to make sure they could live to see the Dragon Balls.

It was maddening to think just how much the situation has changed in the last hour, let alone the last couple of days -at least, they believed it was days- while on this night-less world. What had become of the time, let alone their current stance of keeping a low profile? Drafted into a battle he didn't know he could live through he hoped that Kashiko would understand his premature demise didn't come willingly or through a foolish choice he made.

At least, he hope it wouldn't be.

"So, where are we going?" Kuririn asked with a lump in his throat, already feeling bad about asking it to such horrid people.

"Huh?" Nappa turned to look over his shoulder with a squinting glare aimed at him. "You say somethin', runt?"

"I-I'm asking where are we headed?!" He squeaked out with broad, blinking eyes. "I mean, if they got those Scouters, does it even matter where we are?! They'll find us, eventually, right?"

"As logical as that sounds, it's also incredibly short-sighted," Aspara noted, her smooth mane lapping back in the plume of her own silvery energy. Casting an over the shoulder stare that brought chills down Kuririn's spine, she muttered aloud to inform him while hefting one ball under her arm as Nappa did with the other. "We have the very things that Freeza's more than likely called them to retrieve. What are we going to do if they nab them amidst the fighting and make a break for it back to their master?"

Paling at this dawning that swept him, the Saiyan prince let out a discontented grunt.

"We're going back to that little hidey-hole you call a lair," Vegeta intoned, surprising both of his compatriots as he openly spoke to the shorter man without even shooting a glare. He kept his eyes dead ahead, fixated on the energy he alone could feel that was the weak signatures of those that were behind. Swearing there was at least one other, he briefly wondered where it went; dismissing it with a scoff as he balled his gloved fists at his sides. "We're going to ditch the balls back into their hands and tell them to scram. We'll power up and bring them away so they can disappear, at least for the moment. Scouter tech isn't all that precise when distance and lower energy is taken into consideration; with a planet this large it'd be easy for them to disappear and buy us more time."

The former Orin monk was actually impressed. He had always pictured the leader of the trio as headstrong and ambitious without too much in the realm of forethought and planning. But it was clear he was far more intelligent than he gave him credit for.

Pan, however, had been silently stewing a pouty glare at him. Kuririn could see that her puffed up cheeks, pursed lips and eyes were complemented by a reddish tint. If it wasn't for the snorting spouts coming from her nostrils -almost like fumes from a boiling kettle- he'd thought she was holding her breath for an exorbitant amount of time.

"Maybe, between Pan's new strength and mine, even with Chi-Chi and these Saiyans, we probably have a chance," Kuririn thought, grimacing at the situation he was now resigned to being committed to.

It didn't take long for them to come across the familiar, if not fragmented island the others were left waiting at. Whether it was hoping to be there when they'd return or not having a clear goal of departure, Bulma and Tights were still around the same spot they were when the Saiyans left them. Jaco was cross-legged slouching over the top of the now closed aquatic Capsule Corp entrance, looking sullen and shaken about the near death circ*mstance he slimly avoided.

So when he perched up, seeing them with his unblinking yellow lenses for eyes, he let out a balking cry.

"OH COME ON!"

Bulma was already peering over in that direction, her eyes briefly flashing the HUD in her optics to give her the familiar energy readings of the Saiyans. But, in addition to that she saw her daughter -now with a much grander level of power than before- and Kuririn, both seemingly unharmed. Their deceleration upon touching down on the ruined island, sloshed with water and uprooted grass, ended with a cascade of soft taps of their feet hitting the earth.

"Mama! We gotta go!" Pan immediately said, rushing past the Saiyans to stop short of her mother and aunt.

"Go?" Tights questioned with a tilt of her head. "Where? The Saiyans brought you here-"

"Hold on," Bulma raised a hand up, her eyes fixing a more solid glare at Vegeta and the other two. "What's going on?! I thought you were trying to pick a fight with us, my daughter, the moment you people left. What have you done with Chi-Chi?"

"Who?"

"I think she means the girl who was giving you a hard time," Aspara proffered to Nappa's query with a sardonic smirk, earning a glare pointed at her in return. Looking over at Bulma, she gave a lackadaisical shrug as she smiled wryly back at the woman. "Beats me. We didn't run into her. Maybe she died from internal bleeding on the way to us?"

"You don't know that woman," The lavender haired mother of one declared, her hand dropping to her side and balling into a tight fist. "She's tougher than you give her credit for."

"Didn't seem so tough when I laid her out flat!" Nappa barked, much to the eye-rolling disbelief of Aspara.

Ignoring their commentary, the Saiyan prince snapped his partially ruined gloved fingers and gestured to the two lackeys of his. Pointing at Bulma and Tights, the two Saiyans reluctantly heaved up the balls and underhanded them in a casual toss that nearly bowled the pair of women over.

"Take the balls," Vegeta ordered stonily. "Find some place to hide, far away from here. And do it quick."

"W-Wait," The older blonde staggered, her breath still leaving her from the enormous spherical object that almost pummeled her chest. "Why?! Didn't you want these?"

"Don't be mistaken. I am coming back for them later, but I need you to keep them safe for the moment," The Prince invoked, placing his arms over his chest while staring at them dangerously. "From this point forward, if any of you Earthlings want to live, you'll do exactly as I say."

"And why should we listen to you-?"

"Listen!" He interrupted her, raising a balled up fist and glaring more heatedly than the woman ever thought possible. "We don't have time to yammer! The Ginyū Special Squadron could be here-!"

"Hi, Vegeta."

"-at any...mo...ment..."

He trailed off, and the air was sucked out of his lungs. The Saiyan prince, the bald caretaker of his and the daughter of Tullece all froze in place. Kuririn felt the wind bring a gust of something eerily cold that brought his sight directly behind him, floating above the water that had been Zarbon's unknown grave. Pan turned around and spread her arms protectively in front of her mother and aunt, now standing directly in front of them, while the others looked on with Jaco trembling at the very unfortunate knowledge of who the five colorful warriors were.

"T-The...Ginyū Special Squadron!" He hoarsely cried from his normally nasally voice. Raising up his gloved hands to cup over his ovular ears, he shook in place, folding into a fetal position as he trembled far behind the rest of the abled bodied fighters. "We're...so...dead!"

"Oh man up!" hissed Bulma viciously, though even though she knew she was feeling afraid. The internal Scouter within her eyes was goinghaywiretrying to read multiple combat strength.They all make Vegeta look like the boy next door!Numbers ranging between the 20,000s at their lowest and the 100,000s at their highest were flashing across her eyes as Bulma looked over the new arrivals. A lump formed in her throat, and she fought to swallow it along with a desire to scream the word 'Run'.

This had to be the end of it.

Nappa and Aspara stood rooted to the spot. Moments before Vegeta even had time to put his plan into action, the Ginyū Special Squadron had caught up to them. The two Saiyans swore as one, and it was only the conscious thought of there being a child with them that stopped the Earthlings from mimicking the same action. The same thoughts raced through their heads: "We're dead."

"You're here," Vegeta said, his voice as calm as he could keep it. In truth, fear had been quelled as quickly as it had come, supplanted by a strong swathe of hatred. The Ginyū Special Squadron were, after all, the highest of Freeza's troops; second only to him in cruelty and callousness. This didn't have to go the way his cohorts were thinking.I've become stronger than I've ever been — stronger than any Saiyan in history! If I play my cards right, I'll mop these fools up...just like Zarbon and Dodoria! If I bring every ounce of my Saiyan power out...no one will stand a chance!

"You lookin' surprised there, Vegeta!" said Jheese, his crimson face twisted into a cruel sneer. "Betcha didn't think we'd get one up on ya, eh?"

"Look at them!" jeered Gurd. "They're trembling!"

"Surprised?" repeated Vegeta. "Irritated would be the right word. I never wanted to see you lot again, but since you're here, I'll gladly pick you all off. Don't think I don't know why you're here—" The Dragon Balls in their possession gleamed with orange fire "—but I'm not going to let Freeza have them!"

Aspara was stunned, her thin eyes enlarging at Vegeta's words. Internally, she cursed herself for her own weakness. She'd been frozen in fear, while Vegeta, the man she loathed, had recovered himself and was taking control of the situation.What the hell am I doing?!

"If you want to rush to your death early, Vegeta, we're more than happy to oblige," said Ginyū easily. "However, I would like to return these Dragon Balls to Lord Freeza free of blood, at the very least."

Jaco, still curled up, had not yet ceased his blind panicking, and the words being thrown back and forth weren't helping his disposition. "It's the Ginyū Special Squadron! They're going to kill us all! And this widow-peaked idiot is just mouthing off to them!" His growing sense of panic seemed to have deprived Jaco of his ability for internal dialogue; his panicked thoughts were all racing out of his mouth at once.

"Would you look at that?" hissed Butta. "They even have a member of the Galactic Patrol with them! What'ssssss the matter, little guy? You're out of your jurissssdiction!"

"He recognises me!" howled the Galactic Patrolman in dismay.

"Can you shut up?!" snarled Aspara furiously. "If you want to die so badly, I'll kill you myself!"

"All of you be quiet!" ordered Vegeta. "Earthling! We're not simply going to give these fools the Dragon Balls! Take them from the women! We'll destroy them!"

"But—" Kuririn protested, unwilling to destroy the entire reason they came Namek to start with.

"Would you rather Freeza get the Dragon Balls and become immortal?!"

Kuririn groaned. Vegeta was right; if there was a choice between reviving their friends or letting the evilest man in the Universe obtain eternal life, therewasn'ta choice. "Bulma, Tights, give me the Dragon B—"

"—alls!" The shaved monk's hand was held out towards the sisters, both of whom glanced at each other in complete confusion. Where, only a second ago, they'd been holding two watermelon-sized spheres, their hands now clutched empty air. Feverishly, Bulma and Tights looked around for the spheres, believing that they'd somehow dropped them at first. Kuririn blinked in rapid confusion, but Vegeta presented the answers before the Earthlings had figured a single thing out for themselves.

"Don't waste your energy!" Vegeta's gloved hands balled into furious fists. Gurd was presenting the two Dragon Balls to Ginyū, who levitated them above his shoulders with the slightest hand gesture. "I'd only heard rumours, but it looks like there was some truth to them. Gurd can stop time!"

"That's...not possible...!" stammered Kuririn.

"It's possible," replied Nappa, darkly. He'd finally seemed to regain his voice at seeing the Dragon Balls stolen from under their noises. "That little runt may not look like much, but he's with the Ginyūs for a reason. That little bastard just showed us up!"

"Can—Can we fight against that?" asked Pan nervously. She'd only been trained for typical fighting; being able to stop time wasn't something she'd ever considered, even Piccolo had never brought it up.

"We're...gonna have to!" replied Kuririn weakly.

Keeping the orbs levitated firmly above his shoulders, Ginyū's lips curled into a contemptuous smile. "To be perfectly honest, Vegeta, nothing would make me happier than snuffing you out right now," His expression shifted to one of immense disappointment, akin to someone who had been denied a real treat. "The priority, however, is getting these two Dragon Balls back to Lord Freeza — these two, with his five, make the seven he needs." Seeing the look of shock and horror that crossed everyone's faces — Aspara's more pronounced than anyone else's — only made Ginyū happier still.

"Howdoesit feel, knowing that, for all your insurrection, you were merely fetching the Balls for Lord Freeza?" asked Ginyū smugly. "Men!" A sudden change in demeanor and tone followed, taking everyone but the Ginyū Special Squadron themselves aback, as they had been trained to take any change from their leader into account immediately. "The first half of our mission is now secure! The Dragon Balls have been acquired, and Freeza wants these traitors and rebels to pay in blood! I have onlyoneinstruction for you all: share nicely! They're yours to divvy up as you wish! Play janken, draw lots, it doesn't matter! But keep that team spirit as you pick them apart!"

"YES, CAPTAIN!" The rousing cry was almost immediate.

At the assent of his troops, the Captain immersed himself in a vivid aura, streaking away through the sky towards Freeza's ship. He was gone before the group could even blink, and Kuririn let out an involuntary exhale of relief. This action merely earned him an irate look from Nappa.

"You don't think we're safe, d'ya, Earthling?" the Saiyan general growled. "Keep your eyes forward; it's not like the other four are following him."

"But...uh..." Kuririn gestured towards the group of their would-be-killers. Rather than lunge towards the motley crew of Saiyans, Earthlings, and one random Galactic Patrolman, the Ginyū Special Squadron had taken their commanding officer's words to heart, and sprung into to a surprisingly spirited round of janken. "Why aren't we just escapingrightnow?"

"The most convenient exit is right in front of us," replied Aspara darkly. "And theywillcatch us if we run. Not that it matters. Even if we fight our way out of this, Freeza will already have his grubby hands on the Dragon Balls! He could be wishing for immortality any minute!"

"I don't think so..." muttered Bulma. She glanced from her allies, to her unwilling allies, and then to her enemies. Her words seemed to light a fire in the hearts of the three Saiyans.

"What makes you so certain?" inquired Vegeta. "Tell us what you know, woman."

"I'll tell you if we make it out of this," replied Bulma sharply. "But if Freeza activates the Dragon Balls,we'll know."

Kuririn, Pan, and Tights processed Bulma's words, and acknowledgment flooded their faces. "T-That's right! If the sky goes dark and everything, that'll be it, right?!" It was young Pan who brought it up, and her mother nodded in affirmation. "That's right, sweetie. If these Dragon Balls work like ours, the sky darkening will be our first clue. Until then, we can still get them back if we beat these lugs!"

"Yes!" came the booming cry of Reacoom. The Janken game had ended, and it appeared only the largest of the Ginyū Squad soldiers was happy with the outcome. "Would ya look at that? Vegeta's mine!"

"Sssssso I'm stuck with the sssshort-tempered woman?" complained Butta.

"How'd I wind up with the bald wanker?!" Jheese wasn't too pleased either.

"Iwanted Vegeta," groaned Gurd. "Why do you all sideline me with the pipsqueaks?!"

"Looks like they've got this all planned out then," said Vegeta, overhearing the match-ups. He personally didn't dislike them; if he could take down Reacoomfirst,ganging up on Jheese and Butta would make it far easier in the long run. If he played his cards right, the Ginyū Squad could be defeated.No, theywillbe defeated.He convinced himself, practically shouting it internally. "Alright, you two! You're up!" He ordered to Kuririn and Pan. "Pull your weight and give it all you've got!"

"...He sure likes barking orders," grumbled Kuririn, walking forward dejectedly with Pan at his side. "Of all the people to get stuck with—"

Pan shook her spiky purple head, prepping herself. "We can do it! I'll follow you, Kuririn!"

"Here's hoping I don't steer you wrong then, kid!" replied the dwarf. "Release yourki, Pan!"

The duo, one Saiyan-half, the other, a diminutive Earthling, burst into a pillar of vibrant white flame. Furious gusts of winds ripped throughout the area, and water churned. Beeping sounds of various Scouters filled the air, competing with the sound of rushing wind and sloshing ocean. Kuririn and Pan brought their full power to bear, shocking even Vegeta. They split off in an instant, Pan launching high into the sky, Kuririn running deftly along the ground, flanking to Gurd's left.

Thrusting his hand into the air, Kuririn generated aKienzan, the spinning disc humming dangerously above his palm. He threw the disc towards Gurd, and it cut into the ground, slicing across sheer stone towards its target. High overhead, little Pan thrust both hands forward with a mighty roar of "MASENKŌ!" Death barreled down on Gurd from two directions; in a blind panic, the short alien sucked in all of his breath while shouting "STOP!"

Everything froze.

The Kienzan, merely centimetres from him, was no longer moving. The Masenkō was now a halted beam of light, unable to so much as harm a fly. Even his comrades and enemies alike found themselves frozen, unaware. The progression of time had completely stopped for Gurd, who was now glancing frantically around with all four of his eyes. To his amazement, Kuririn and Pan had vanished, no longer aligned with the direction of their incoming blows. Running hurriedly out of the way, he kept his breath held, and was surprised to see his two opponents had made quite a distance above him.

How...how did they move that fast!?the green alien thought in shock. Feeling the growing pressure in his lungs, a feeling of burning, and his growing lightheadedness, Gurd knew he could stop time no longer. Expelling his breath with a sharp rasp, Gurd heard explosions rock the ground as the Kienzan and the Masenkō crashed into each other, bursting into a plume of flames, smoke, and debris.

Pan was the first to notice that something was amiss. "Kuririn! He's not there anymore!"

"He probably froze time again!" the bald monk said, frustrated. "Don't get distracted, Pan!"

In a burst of speed, both fighters vanished, stunning Gurd into freezing time again ("S-STOP!") and searching for where his enemies had gone. It didn't take him long; Kuririn had been halted midway, closing in on Gurd with his arm wrenched back in preparation for a violent physical strike. Pan was frozen with a kikōdan grasped in her tiny palm, ready to lob it towards Gurd. Astonished, Gurd made a break for it yet again.

How can they move that fast?! They nearly got me!He felt the panic flooding his body, mixing in with the strain of keeping his breath held, and the amount of energy it drained from him by the action alone.I can't...I can barely keep time stopped...I've got to hide somewhere...and get the jump on 'em when they run into each other!The plan was sound, and, under the cover of the nearest boulder, exhaling painfully.

Kuririn and Pan kept moving, nearly crashing into each other before realisation dawned on them that Gurd had ducked out yet again. They felt, however, hiskihiding off in the distance.

"I feel him!" Kuririn called out. "He's there!"

"How...do...they...know?!" Gurd wheezed. "Damn it...!" Gurd felt backed into a corner — almost literally — and knew he could barely keep time stopped anymore. It was time for his second trump card. Using bizarre hand motions, the pebble-skinned alien reached outwards towards Pan and Kuririn with his mind. A sensation that could only be described as paralysis took hold of them by force; Kuririn and Pan were frozen, unable to move yet struggling against a sensation where all of their muscles seized up at once.

"Well would ya lookee here?" chuckled Jheese. "Gurd must've pissed himself with these two, he's using telekinesis!"

"I didn't expect little shrimps like that to clock in with combat strength readings higher than 10,000," Reacoom folded his arms, observing Gurd's attempts to keep the opponents at bay with some level of amusem*nt.

"I thought my Sssscouter was lying," added Butta. "But I guessss not."

"All of you shut up!" shouted Gurd. With both hands, the alien shifted the focus of his telkinetic power. From binding their entire bodies, Gurd focused his psychic vice-grip solely on the throats of Pan and Kuririn. To them, it felt as if an actual hand was clasped around their throats. The two diminutive warriors fought against the hold, grasping as their own necks as if they could fight off Gurd's hold, but it was to no avail.

"PAN!" Bulma shrieked at the top of her lungs in fear for her child.

Gurd laughed loudly, and only increased his focus. "It'll be lights out so—"

The humming of energy, the flash of red, and a splatter of blood cut Gurd's sentence short. Whatever he intended to say, the alien never finished. His head was seen flying into the sky, hurtling in the opposite direction. Standing behind his body, which fell lopsidedly, was Aspara, her palm covered in crimsonki, extended into a blade. Gurd's head somersaulted into the waiting grip of Nappa, who clutched it in a large hand despite the fact that it could still protest...

...and crushed it. Making a horrible squelching sound, the head burst like fruit, blood and brains dripped from Nappa's enclosed fist. The two eyes on the side of Gurd's head bounced after they hit the ground, rolling lazily off in another direction. Nappa grinned horribly, but Aspara's face held nothing but contempt. She sauntered over to Kuririn and Pan, who were descending, taking in grateful gulps of fresh Nameccian air, glaring daggers at them both.

"I expected that sort of poor showing from the Earthling," she snapped, "butyou, girl, are a complete and utter waste of the Saiyan blood that flows in your veins! Such a weakling, and a member ofmyfamily?"

Pan, who had actually been about to thank Aspara for her help, now thought better of it. She glared at Aspara, but couldn't find her voice to snap back, still rubbing her throat. Bulma shot a reproachful look at Aspara, who had also earned gratitude that was quickly fading away.

"I thought the kid put on a good show," chuckled Nappa, shaking the bodily fluids and remains off of his hand. "For what I could see of it, anyway..."

"Don't forget that this was all just the opening act!" Vegeta barked. He knew well that, even if Gurd was defeated — and that was hardly an accomplishment — they still had the rest of the Ginyū Squadron to deal with.

"Vegeta, what if we just throw the Power Ball into the air and transform into our Giant Monkey forms?" suggested Nappa, hopefully. "Transformed like that, any one of us would be a match for these fools!"

Aspara hadn't expected this stroke of brilliance from her bumbling cohort, and quickly nodded in agreement. "That's...actually brilliant," Her tone was, for once, honestly sincere, even if she was inwardly kicking herself for not considering the possibility before Nappa had. "I'll just throw one up and—"

"Don't do it!" shouted Vegeta. "It won't work against them!"

Jheese smirked, mockingly gesturing towards the sky. "Please don't stop on our account, mate! Go ahead! Throw that moon in the air. See how long it stays up there!"

"Or better yet. How long until Frezzzzza shows up to deal with you himself?" added Butta.

"Trust us. We're givin' ya a sportin' chance. We could just kill you right away; but where's the fun in that?"

Freeza was the biggest caveat to the idea; the three Saiyans knew it, now that the Ginyū Squad had so blatantly said it. The Power Ball was like a flare, easily visible from all portions of the planet. It was meant to be this way, so the entirety of a Saiyan invading force could transform on sight. To make matters worse, Freeza was no fool; the Power Ball had been used in several missions by Saiyans when they were a part of his army, and the invention had been a proud talking point for some time. He would recognise it if they used it.

And he would come.

So they would fight without their transformations. This wasn't a hinderance to Vegeta's plan. The Prince of the Saiyans been planning to fight in his human form from the start, as he'd already considered the ramifications of transforming on a planet occupied by the enemy. Collecting his thoughts, Vegeta saw that Reacoom was clearly stepping up to the plate; ready or not, it was his turn to play their little game.

Reacoom grinned, simply and without any care of how ridiculous it looked on his obtusely shaped head. Long strides brought his muscular bulk to the field, easily being the most swollen by muscles of the whole team. Nappa himself felt intimidated by this walking pile of alien testosterone, and he reveled all of the nervous expressions he garnered simply by walking closer.

And then, he maneuvered in his own special way.

"Prepare to get stomped on, prince! I am the mighty REEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAA," He slurred out, twisting around and placing flared out flat hands by the wrists at his hips with one leg jutting out behind him and his face pointing out like some deformed bird; all while gutturally finishing his introduction. "COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-AH!"

After waiting to be stared at in awe and terror of equal measure, he spun around in a graceful arc that jutted one knee up, following the other as he took his time to mock his opponent, "Believe what you want about legends, of gods and transformations, or that killing Freeza's soldiers mean anything. Because I don't believe in anything but my strength; and it is unrivaled in all of the galaxy, barring the captain. So prepare yourself, for a clear dish of beating, cause I'll eat up all that despair you'll feel at the end of my fists!"

"I learned a very long time ago, Reacoom, that talk is meaningless! Actions, however, mean everything!" Vegeta's digits curled into a ball of bone and cartilage, his teeth gnashed against each other furiously, and his booted feet spread apart across the grass as the Saiyan began to rev up his power. If Pan and Kuririn had burst into flame, Vegeta erupted like a volcano. Dark flames of navy-hue fulminated around the Prince, shattering the ground beneath his feet and expanding outwards, creating a violent squall. His body was flashing with the intensity of thekihe was generating, every ounce of his power.

ʙᴇᴇᴘ! ʙᴇᴇᴘ! ʙᴇᴇᴘ!

The Ginyū Squadron's Scouters, and the readers lodged within Bulma's eyes were letting loose erratic sounds, and numbers flashed before all of their eyes. The readings were astronomical; beyond anything Bulma had ever seen, and certainly beyond anything the Ginyū Squad thought possible for a Saiyan. Vegeta wrenched his hands backwards, his aura shifting from navy, to indigo, to deep violet. It centered and crackled around his hands, giving off the feeling of electricity.

"GARLIC CANNON!"

Vegeta's cry pierced the heavens, exploding in a flash of purpleki, his Garlic Cannon engulfing Reacoom in an instant. The resulting explosion drowned out the whistling noise from Jheese, astonished by just how quickly Vegeta had released such a large blast. The area — already cratered from Zarbon's crash landing earlier — fractured still further, some of it crumbling and giving way to the might of the sea beneath it. The ground was going to give way more sooner than later.

Wind rushed across the battlefield, sweeping away the thick smoke. Where the blast had struck, Reacoom was standing tall, his combat jacket barely cracked, grinning with all the enthusiasm of a child.

His strongest attack amounting to nothing, Vegeta gaped at the smug countenance of Reacoom. Was he dealing with a monster?

Chapter 28: Minacious Accord

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 28 - Minacious Accord

As the leader of the Ginyū Special Squadron, Ginyū prided himself on his team's efficiency, if nothing else. Leaving the cacophony of noises behind him — explosions, shouts, and other sounds of violence — the Captain of the Ginyū Squad rushed over the surface of the Planet Namek, a man-sized, lavender comet streaking across the sky. Beneath him, the force of hiskikicked up the emerald waters of Namek's oceans, leaving a thin wake as he flew. Levitating above the heliotrope-skinned alien were his trophy, the Dragon Balls he had procured for Lord Freeza.

Ginyū was unable to force down his snickering. The Dragon Balls in hand. His men were summarily handling the traitors and their associates. And his superior, Freeza, would soon be immortal. For a loyal member of the Freeza Army — for one who had been there when Freeza rose to power — there could be no greater joy. The Captain's journey was a short one; within mere minutes, Freeza's ship began to appear over the horizon, enlarging from a blot, to a blob, to an identifiable body of the ship. He slowed his flight, making his descent towards the waiting craft. His Scouter pinged as he sunk through the air, the alien scanning the horizon for signs of life. When he was satisfied that nothing was there, or that perhaps it was a small creature, he touched down, and awaited the arrival of his Master.

Clinging to the ship's port side, Chi-Chi's breath hitched.How had he gotten back so fast?! It's barely been eight minutes...!The young woman had decided, in a spur of the moment, to try and get closer to the ship, as she was certain no one was coming back this soon. Ginyū had taken her off guard by returning before even ten minutes had passed. Chi-Chi cursed under her breath, and rapidly tried to conceal her combat strength. For a moment, a fleeting moment, she thought the alien had detected her with that damn device of his, which made for the second close call in so short a time.

She inhaled slowly, then exhaled slowly, an action to calm her as much as steady her power.

What am I getting into?

Chi-Chi heard a faint whirring noise, creeping alongside the edge of the ship at a snail's pace to follow the source of the noise. She stuck her black-haired head as far as she felt comfortable, until her line of sight was no longer blocked by the pauldron-like extensions of Freeza's ship. Chi-Chi's pale hand was wrapped firmly around the Bashōsen, knowing that the possibility of fighting for her life was the likeliest outcome of this new streak of daredevilry. Two figures came into view in Chi-Chi's dark eyes; the imposing figure of Ginyū, and the diminutive one of Freeza. Remembering the campy personality of the former and the sheer ruthlessness of the latter, Chi-Chi took one thing to heart: if she ever made it off this planet, she would get the saying to never judge a book by its cover engraved on a plaque.

"I'm delighted to see you've returned, Mr. Ginyū," Freeza spoke, and every trace of excitement was hard to repress in his voice, the tyrant's eyes settling on the gleaming spheres floating above Ginyū. Ginyū bowed low, settling the spheres on the ground. The five within Freeza's possession soon found their way to the two brought by Ginyū, creating a set of seven spheres that shone with the light of the varying number of stars lodged inside.

He really has them..all seven Dragon Balls...!Chi-Chi bit her lower lip. She could jump out right now, using the Bashōsen for a surprise attack. Even if she couldn't take all of the Dragon Balls, shecouldtake one of them and flee. Before Chi-Chi could act on this impulse — at the exact moment her right leg inched forward — she felt, for a brief moment, a beam ofkipierce her breast. The pain nearly sent her to the ground, and she felt for sure that she should topple over right then and there. Frantically, Chi-Chi grabbed at her chest...and felt there to be no hole, no damage.

Nothing had struck.

If I move from here right now...I'm going to die...The realisation had hit her like a speeding freight; she hadn't actually been struck, but something, be it intuition or much more, told her thathadshe moved, that brief premonition would have come to be true. She could only watch. Watch and pray for something to go horribly wrong.

"And what of Vegeta and his cohorts?" inquired Freeza. Caught up in the moment, Freeza had finally dismounted from his hovercraft, and it did nothing to improve his stature. If anything, his full unimpressive height was made even more apparent standing next to Ginyū, as Freeza only came up to the man's hip.

"My associates are handling them, my Lord," replied Ginyū smoothly.

"Excellent," Freeza's face broke into a wicked smile. "Then I can expect their heads delivered to be forthwith. You've outdone yourself, Mr. Ginyū. With this, my wish for immortality is at hand!

"Think nothing of it, my Lord," Ginyū said, his face lighting up. "Shall I show you the Dance of Joy to celebrate our successful mission and your impending rise to supremacy?"

Freeza's face blanched, and he let out a hesitant cough. "Perhaps some other time." Placing his hands over the Dragon Balls, which not only emitting their own glow but caught the light of the harsh Nameccian sun. As if they knew a prospective wish-maker was standing not even a foot from them, the Dragon Balls pulsated eerily, yet it was simultaneously beautiful. His voice demanding, Freeza's voice echoed to the heavens.

"DRAGON BALLS! I, LORD FREEZA, DEMAND THIS OF YOU: HEAR MY DESIRE AND GRANT MY WISH! FREE ME OF THE SHACKLES OF MORTALITY, GRANTING ME ETERNAL LIFE AND RIGHTFUL DOMINION OVER THE LESSER LIFEFORMS!"

No, he's made his wish!Panic flooded Chi-Chi's core, and she half expected to see Freeza's body to shift, radiating in golden light; in her mind, this is what someone who was immortal would look like. Yet there was no physical change, and nothing of the Dragon Balls — still luminous — suggested that they'd been activated. Then Chi-Chi remembered the old stories of the Dragon Balls, at least the ones on Earth. Using the Dragon Balls should have summoned a Dragon of some sort, but that hadn't happened here.We might have a chance...!

The silence that followed the lack of a response from the Dragon Balls was weighing heavily in the air. Freeza carefully inspected his body, and, in a move that surprised Ginyū and Chi-Chi both, made a thin but careful laceration along his left bicep. Purple ichor dripped from the wound, and when Freeza saw it made no noticeable effort to repair itself, his face split into a horrific expression of fury. Ginyū bravely voiced his concerns.

"D-Did...did the Dragon Balls work, Lord Freeza?"

"No," came the seething the reply of the tyrannical menace. "For whatever reason, the damned Balls didn't work. Why? What went wrong?!" His voice came out in a violent snarl, causing even Ginyū to step back in fear. "What...happened...?!" Freeza went over possible scenarios in his head, working overtime mentally to recall if there was any interaction with the Nameccians that should have tipped him off. Shuddering in realisation, the memory came flooding back. When he gained his first Dragon Ball, the Elder had left him with a dire warning:

Take it...go ahead...see how far it gets you, tyrant... Even if you gather all seven Dragon Balls...you will be denied your wish...!

If anything, this realisation made Freeza even angrier. "An old Nameccian..." he said through clenched teeth. "...told me that even if I collected the Balls, I wouldn't get my wish. I thought he was just being petty...!" Freeza's hands curled into fists, drawing more blood with the force of the motion. "No...he saidyouspecifically...! I missed something! What could it have been!? A password the Nameccians know!? The arrangement of the Balls?! A sacred land to which they respond?!"

Chi-Chi grinned in spite of herself, allowing herself to embrace the feeling of relief that washed over her.So he did make a mistake somewhere...we've still got a chance!

"Why did I kill all of them?!" Freeza was raging against his own trigger-happy nature now, realising that, if all of the Nameccians were well and truly dead, he'd ruined his one and only chance to achieve immortality. He couldn't force a corpse to speak, and he was now cursing his lack of foresight.

"M-My Lord, please, check your Scouter!" suggested Ginyū, in an effort to placate his master. "You may find a Nameccian holed up somewhere!"

Rapidly, Freeza began to check his Scouter, surveying the distant horizon for combat strength readings. He passed over a large cluster ofkireadings — Vegeta's group and the Ginyū Special Squadron — experiencing a rush of excitement when the Scouter struck gold. "There!" He crowed triumphantly. "I can see it! Three combat strength readings, unmistakably those of Nameccians!" His shoulders shaking with mirth, Freeza boarded his hovercraft. "Fortune has not forsaken me yet, Mr. Ginyū. I will interrogate these survivors myself. You remain here, and guard my treasure."

"Yes, sir!" Ginyū dutifully saluted Freeza, the latter taking off pelmel towards the surviving Nameccians.

Chi-Chi felt herself slump, barely able to force her body to remain upright against the ship. Whether she'd been conscious of it or not, Freeza's presence had instilled immense fear into her body. She'd felt like, the longer that main had remained her, the higher her chances of death remained. While Ginyū was no slouch in the strength department, he still wasn't nearly as imposing, or as powerful, as his master, and Chi-Chi allowed herself to breathe properly again.

I still need to get those Dragon Balls out of their hands...She thought, burning black orbs focused intently on shimmering orange spheres.If I can just get those, and then...hide them somewhere, we'll have the wish that those lot came for. And then Son will have no choice but to listen to what I have to say.The plan was sound, but the question remained to Chi-Chi: could she even get the Dragon Balls? The young woman cast an aside glance at the ship and groaned.There...might be something in the ship.This, however, posed a newwasshe going to get past Ginyū long enough to sneak her way into the ship?

Silently, she was biding her time; minutes passed, and when no idea came to her, Chi-Chi was about to curse her own situation. Then, when she chanced a look in the direction of Ginyū, Chi-Chi saw that the man had begun...dancing? She wanted to call it that, but the movements were strange to her; a flapping of the arms, leaping into the air, spiraling on his tiptoes.I...I might be able to distract this guy after all, honestly.Her expression showed exasperation, but at the same time, a twisted sort of relief. Chi-Chi's fist tightened around the Bashōsen, and her gaze drifted to the sky.

The forecast calls for rain, big guy...With a flourish, Chi-Chi swiped the fan towards the heavens, focusing all of its mystical energies on the sky itself. The clouds began to darken overhead, centralising over Freeza's ship. A rumbling noise filled the sky, and within seconds, rain began to fall heavily onto the ground. Chi-Chi was worried, at first, at the intensity of her creation; the winds began to rush furiously against her, causing the rain to move nearly sideways. She could hear it pattering against the side of the ship, feel the cool water drench her skin and soak her hair, a sensation made worse by the rush of the wind. Nearby, the ocean began to slap against the shore, the waters swirling against the current, and lightning flashed across the sky.

Ginyū ceased dancing, distracted by the sudden deluge. "What in the—?! A storm? Now!?" To his horror, he saw that the strength of the winds began to affect the Dragon Balls; the spheres were rolling in every direction. "No! Lord Freeza's Dragon Balls!" Reaching out with his mind, Ginyū extended his telekinetic powers, rendering the Balls immobile. This split second distraction — aided by a convenient flash of lightning and clap of thunder — allowed Chi-Chi to sneak past Ginyū, slipping into the automatic entrance of the warm ship's interior, Ginyū missing the alert of the Scouter due to the incessant noise of caused by the storm.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

No longer under the constant dredge of the rain, which Chi-Chi could firmly hear crashing against the windows still, water dripped from Chi-Chi's body, pooling under her feet. Placing her hands together, Chi-Chi channeled herkiinto akiai-like burst of wind, which dried her immediately, and she took a moment to gaze around. An appreciation for the fact that she did not have claustrophobia set in, the woman noticing that the interior of Freeza's ship was built in a way that the majority of it was a long corridor that stretched in both directions of the circular craft. The tiled floor resembled wood in shape, though it was clearly a synthetic material she didn't recognise, and the walls were a light rouge, complimented by the steel portions left uncoloured, creating a tiled effect.

"It...certainly looks alien..." Chi-Chi observed, walking steadily down the hallway. "I need something to help me get the Dragon Balls...though now that I'm in here, I don't even know what I'm looking for, do I?" She moved quietly, and talked to herself under her breath, trying to keep her presence as concealed as possible. She considered herself lucky not to have run into another one of Freeza's soldiers just entering the ship, and did not want to push her luck. Willing the Bashōsen to vanish — rationalising she couldn't make decent use of it in this cramped ship — Chi-Chi continued onward. Multiple automatic doors opened in a 'Y' shape as she passed them, and Chi-Chi looked inside to see if there was anything of use, but found, to her dissatisfaction, many of the rooms appeared to be personal quarters.

"Theyliveon this ship?" she muttered incredulously. "In this metal husk?" Chi-Chi frowned. She couldn't imagine for the life of her spending any extended time in a ship last this. Telling herself that she wouldn't find anything within the enemies' personal quarters, Chi-Chi plowed onward. Coming across another automatic door, it opened, revealing a room which was starkly different from the personal quarters of the Freeza Soldiers. The black-haired woman looked inside; on the floor were scattered pieces of glass, and something that looked horrifyingly like dried blood. Chi-Chi examined the room still further, seeing a console standing alone to the left side, and further in, a multitude of machines — one of which had its glass dome shattered, the obvious source of the glass fragments — and one of the others contained...

"...Son...Gokū?" Chi-Chi felt the words escape her mouth before she could stop them. Floating inside the liquid of one of the machines, she saw the distinct spiked hair that resembled the man she'd given her heart to. She felt herself take involuntary steps into the room, and comprehension dawned on her quickly, and she blinked rapidly before shaking her head. The other details of the man within the machine became apparent when she made her way closer to the machine; he wore the tattered armor indicative of a member of the Freeza Army. This wasn't Gokū. It was that man from earlier who so resembled him. One of Freeza's elite soldiers.

Chi-Chi trembled. Had she walked right into a trap? With that Ginyū man outside, and this man floating within this tank in front of her, was she trapped?I need to go...I shouldn't stay in here...!Her thoughts to flee came too late, and she realised with a surge of dread that Tullece's eyes were wide open, examining her with a mixture of curiousity and unwarranted interest.

Chi-Chi hesitated at first, but braved a few words.

"...so, it'syouagain..." Her words were careful and measured; she wasn't intending to die here by challenging the man, but she couldn't keep the confrontational tone out of her voice. Force of habit, perhaps, as Chi-Chi was hardly one for polite negotiations. The liquid surrounding the Saiyan's body receded, his spiked hair, so similar to Gokūs, sticking to the back of his battered Combat Jacket. The glass covering opened with a slighthiss, and Tullece clambered out.

"I could say the same to you,woman..." replied the Saiyan warrior. Chi-Chi saw Tullece glance around curiously, as though he was checking to see if anyone else was in the room besides themselves, and then examine his own body and attire. "Even I'm amazed at my own recuperative powers. That sort of attack should have laid me out for far longer." The grin crossing his face slid off when he gave his attire a closer inspection. "Tch! I need a new Combat Jacket." Striding past Chi-Chi easily, Tullece stopped in the doorway and beckoned imperiously. "You, come with me."

Chi-Chi scowled. "And why should I?" she asked, voice indignant.

Tullece's tail unfurled, amused. "Because I said so."

Feeling compelled, though rightfully irate, the black-haired woman followed the Saiyan out of the room and into the corridor. After a few minutes of silence — Tullece's leisurely pace giving the impression of having no ill-will — Chi-Chi broke the silence with a tentative question.

"Shouldn't you be killing me? I'm pretty sure your boss won't be happy if he knew you didn't kill me on sight."

"There's no point in killing someone by way of greeting," replied the Saiyan briskly. "It's something my 'boss' could do to learn. I haven't killed you yet because I don't have a reason to. Would you like to give me one?"

It was no longer an inkling. This man was more dangerous than the dancing Captain of the Ginyū Special Squadron outside, in terms of attitude alone. The two continued walking, taking a turn into one of the automatic doors that opened into what Chi-Chi could as a locker room. It didn't offer much privacy, and was in fact constructed in the same method as the rest of the ship. They'd opened a door from one curved hallway intoanothercurved hallway, and Chi-Chi was beginning to think that if she'd seen the full layout of this ship, it would merely cause her mental anguish.

Tullece busied himself at one of the lockers, pulling out an intact version of what Chi-Chi and her loose allies considered to be "Saiyan armor", but Tullece had referred to earlier as a "Combat Jacket". The Saiyan unceremoniously removed the broken one he was currently wearing, surprising Chi-Chi not only in his unsolicited stripping but the fact that the jacket, which had seemed so solid, stretched like rubber. The woman barely had time to marvel at the fact that his body under the jacket had several scars, before Tullece had stretched his way into the new attire. The combat jacket he donned this time was a shade of dark navy, with pauldrons that squared off towards the end, and only two hipguards, lacking the crotchguard of his previous jacket. The Saiyan seemed relatively content with his boots and gloves, as he saw no need to adjust them.

"Now," Tullece said abruptly. "Why don't you begin by making yourself helpful? What's happened since I've been out?"

Remembering Tullece's pointed statement of not killing anyone without reason, Chi-Chi saw no point in giving him a reason. Furthermore, the room they were in did not offer much room to fight back, much less escape. She would have to be 'helpful' for now. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Chi-Chi went off into a long-winded explanation, though hurrying to the part when Zarbon was killed at Tullece's suggestion, waving off information he'd known prior. "Freeza also called for this group...a flamboyant lot? I think they were called the Ginyū Force—"

"—The Ginyū Special Squadron," Tullece muttered. His olive-tone skin paled slightly, but if this information perturbed him, he made no other noticeable hint that it did.

"Yeah, those people," continued Chi-Chi more bravely now. "Well, I think they went off after my..." She couldn't use the word 'friends', as that was certainly the furthest thing from the truth. "...acquaintances. Their leader brought back the Dragon Balls to Freeza, but they didn't work. Freeza is off looking for someone to force the information out of, but he left that Ginyū fellow outside."

"So Freeza actually called the Ginyū Special Squadron..." Tullece looked pensive. He was speaking more to himself now, and less to Chi-Chi, who watched him warily. Now that she'd provided everything she'd known, the woman didn't have the slightest reason to think he wouldn't snuff her out right now.I can't say I'm surprised. I managed to get rid of Zarbon, but given I was out, of course he couldn't send me."But his haste to bring those fools here has just freed up my schedule...and I may be able to turn this around yet."

"Um..." Chi-Chi began, and this snapped Tullece's head back towards her.

"Ah, right," said the Saiyan coolly. "The issue of what to do with you remains, doesn't it?"

"...What do you mean?"

"I'm in a generous mood," Tullece's face broke into a smile. "Since what you did was beyond simply watching from a hill and taking off at the first sign of trouble, I like your spirit. Given you seem to show no real love for those acquaintances of yours, how about this. Come work for me."

Chi-Chi blinked, unsure if she'd heard correctly, but did not interrupt.

"If everything goes the way I'm planning it," Tullece continued, "You'll be not only at the top of the known Universe, but you'll be my lieutenant in the new regime I've got cooking up. And just to be clear, I take good care of my loyal partners; how much can you say that about your current associates?"

"Are...are you offering me a job?" Chi-Chi asked quietly. Her voice came out slow, her mind working a mile a minute. She'd expected him to have killed her long before this, but instead he was offering her a place at his side? She tried to keep her face impassive as she asked the question.

"In a manner of speaking," replied Tullece.

"But why me?" Chi-Chi was nothing if not wary. The proposition was too sudden, and far too unfitting. Recruitingherout of the entire crop of those she'd come to Namek with made no sense, not in her eyes. She pressed the matter, daring to try her luck.

"Naturally, I'd be surprised if you weren't dubious at my idea," Tullece agreed, pleased that she hadn't simply readily taken to the offer. "Truly though, it's been awhile since I've found someone with the right kind of cold...pragmatism, as you have. While I heard the qualms of that child and the distrusting dwarf's accusations, I can very much say that I reward those who I see as useful to me. Don't mistake us as friends," he added, "but more of us as business partners going into a venture. It's a big gamble, even with all of the cogs I have in my machine that's just about ready to go off. The only thing I'd like more, at this point, is someone who understands the gravity of my situation and is willing to do what it takes to help see this job through. Does that put your mind more at ease?"

It didn't sound like a lie, and that threw Chi-Chi off even more so. The fact that this man offered what so blatantly was the truth — at least insofar as he was willing to tell her — was far stranger than if he'd simply lied. Chi-Chi looked directly at his face, so similar to Gokū's own, yet so different at the same time, and carefully voiced her reply.

"...Fine. Consider me under your employ, then."

Surprisingly, Tullece clasped his hands together in apparent delight. "I'm glad to see that your mind works the way it should. You've made the correct choice, and you'll see that soon — I can give you more than you've ever thought possible." He walked over to another locker, pulling out a Combat Jacket of a more feminine design, and tossed the jacket, as well as boots, gloves, and other accessories, towards Chi-Chi, who caught them with a dull look on her face.

"Put those on," he instructed.

"I...what?" Chi-Chi glanced at the attire she now held, and then back to Tullece. "Excuse you?"

"Do you want to be caught immediately, or do you want to live?" asked the Saiyan impatiently. "Put. It. On."

Chi-Chi grumbled, resigning herself to her newfound partner's demands.

Grasping the tattered sash wrapped around her predominantly blue dress-top, torn around the waist up to her bosom from the injury she withstood from both Nappa and Vegeta from before, she pulled it up over the curves of her chest past the whipping streak of her black hair. Undoing the notches of the crimson outline of her qipao, she winced as she unfurled the top, using one arm to cover her mostly uncovered front while hauling it down the length of her supply pale legs. Taking the waistband of her pants, she fixed a glare at the Saiyan, whose eyes had been patiently following her movements. Even as she glared back, she eased the bluish fabric down to rest in a puddle at her ankles where her slipper covered feet presided. Kicking off the slippers, she sighed, and began to put on the Battle Jacket's attire granted to her.

Taking a hold of the effects handed to her, she pulled up the uneven leg sleeve fixated up her left leg, marveling at how it fit her like a glove with almost no distinction of her mass comparable to who it normally was worn by. Placing the barely shin high other matching boot, the toes of which were a blue, she latched a pair of armored knee pads; one over her bare right leg and the other over the thigh high protective mesh covering her leg. Stretching the leotard up over her hindquarters, she reached for the battle jacket and pair of gloves left. Pulling a blue abdominal and flaring shouldered jacket with mostly black fatigue -the same as the short leotard bottom hugging her buttocks almosttootightly- she found that it too was a snug fit; her bust contorted the top of the armor, meshing it on its own to hug her curvaceous torso from the waist up. Sliding the pliant white gloves on, she couldn't help but partially admire the mismatching pieces of gear she was given to blend in. Apart from her disliking of the shoulders, it wasn't that bad of a look for her...at least...for the moment.

"Would you look at that?" Tullece said smugly. "You actually clean up rather well."

Chi-Chi ignored this, though her new employer's amusem*nt was more than evident. She'd come this far, and had already agreed to work under him, so it was going to be time to lose the discomfort more sooner than later. In an effort to do just that, the ebony-tressed woman inquired, "What's our next step then?"

"Freeza may have rushed his pieces across the board, but I've still got enough in reserve," Tullece replied, pleased with Chi-Chi's use of the plural. He fiddled with the glove on his left wrist, as if inspecting it to make sure it was still in proper shape. Seemingly satisfied with whatever he saw, Tullece grinned. "Now is the opportune time to plantit." Turning on his heel, he strode towards the automatic door. "Follow me; we'll begin the first phase now."

With only the slightest hesitation in her step, Chi-Chi followed Tullece out of the locker room.

Unbelievable.

It was truly an impossibility.

Pan had seen the result of what she thought could never occur. Before this point, she had believed that Vegeta was the strongest person that wasn't her dad. The man had seemed utterly invincible based on what was told to her after she regained consciousness. He had the strength to possibly be the most frightening thing ever, and every new monster she couldn't handle on this world was beneath him in scope.

But now, he threw his most destructive attack, and the largest of the musclebound troop merely received superficial damage. Pliant armor only partially cracked, his gloves burnt, his boots soiled and his hair frayed. With only a small sliver of blood escaping the corner of his mouth, the jolly giant of the Ginyū Squad smiled a full set of pearly white teeth at the flabbergasted attack.

The child of Gokū just knew, without even looking to her mother for confirmation;Vegeta was no match for him.

"That was a nice hit. Had some real sting to it!" Reacoom complimented, lowering his hands down to his sides and standing erect in defiance to his smaller opponent's person, feet planted solidly on the fractured, water-logged soil beneath his feet. "Got another one in you, Vegeta?"

Taking a step back, the Saiyan prince bared his teeth in defiance. No longer was he in shock from how ineffective his signature technique was. Now he was simply moving one foot behind the other. He dared not turn his gaze back at his cohorts, though it stood to reason he knew what their reactions were like; with Aspara casting a bittersweet grin, knowing she'd be next, and Nappa of pure horror.

In the next instant, he took to the air. Pan could barely follow, his body evaporating in place and not even leaving a trace of an Afterimage.

"Where did he go?!" Bulma cried out, believing for a second that the Prince left in an act of cowardice.

"He disappeared?" Tights mouthed, looking left and right, trying to scan the environment to where he went.

Wordlessly, Jaco's head was already pointing up along with Reacoom's face. The orange tuff of his oblong shaped skull angled up with his arms now propped onto his hips. What the Galactic Patrolman saw was Vegeta gathering a swathe ofkiaround his body. A menagerie of navy-indigo colors maneuvering around his body, up his torch-like mane and curling around his gloved hands.

"H-He's not gonna-!"

"He's going to fire at us!" Aspara cried out with outrage, interrupting Nappa's stuttering indecisive fear with her own fist balling anger. She shifted around to look for an exit, determining to not be caught in the collision-

"You're going to wait your turn right there, love," Jheese ordered, bringing her movements to a halt. Frozen in place, she barely looked over her long-haired back from the left, her eye partially glaring but still possessing fear as the white-haired, red-skinned man grinned confidently beside his taller, bluer companion. "We could kill you all easily, here and now. Least you can do is play along with our game."

"Jheese, check out Reacoom," The aforementioned serpent-humanoid nudged the shorter man's shoulder. "He'sssss doing hissssss thing."

"Reaaaaaaaaacooooooooooom-!"

Sure enough, they'd see the man oddly gesture his arms, like limp noodles caught within a current of water. Bending down to squat, almost sitting upon the water filled earth, his voice cascaded in the air in a deep bellowing churn.

And in an instant, the ground erupted, as if exploding by an unseen power.

A streak of raspberry light briefly flared in the sky, following a crescendo of smaller blasts being unleashed by the airborne Vegeta. They ruptured their, blossoming balls of white-flamed orbs across the unseen moving object. In less than a second, after two dozen kikōha had seemingly met their mark, a obtusely shaped head of orange hair emerged between white gloved palms-

-and slammed like a battering ram into Vegeta's battle worn jacket, the front of which now exploded under the strain of connecting with his thick,ki-infused skull.

"CHARGE!" He finished with a succinct shout, the Saiyan prince's body lurching back from the blow and sent careening higher into the air. Twisting his body around in a flamboyant twirl, he'd begin under patented "Reacoom," in a long-winded growl. And, in another bout of pinkish swirl, his body arched around in a perfect semi-circle that elevated itself above the uncontrollable ascent of the Saiyan.

Allowing him to land a viciously shouted strike that struck Vegeta's torch-licked skull with an elliptical rupture in the skyline of splitting the air for the viewing audience's awe and terror at his power.

"ELBOW!" He crowed out, watching a deafening soaring motion of his prey soaring straight into the lake below. The water bent with his body's curtailing motion, burying him after releasing an expulsion of moisture. Waves cascaded violently, lapping upon the submersed Capsule headquarters of the gang while the island shifted with disruptive vibrations that made most of them lose footing; sans the two Ginyū Squad.

"S-Such power!" Kuririn croaked out, finding himself staggering just from the quaking impact the not-so-distant shortest Saiyan made with the lake just within eyesight. "These guys are no joke!"

"I-Is Vegeta alright?"

The dwarf didn't know if he should answer that question. While he bore no loss of love for the possible death of such a vile man like Vegeta, he was the strongest among them. If he went down now, it'd be unlikely any person among their ranks could match up to the others, let alone a monster like Reacoom.

And then, that quaking seemed to only intensify.

"W-What's happening?!" Pan cried out.

"I-I don't know!" The ex-monk exclaimed with fright.

The Scouters assorted along the two grounded and the one airborne Ginyū Squad raised brows at the sudden incline of numbers rushing up their colored lenses. The HUD displayed a similar ascent of numerical increase of power similar to the prince's earlier release of pent-up strength. But, given the general direction was all pointed below, there was no way of knowing exactly where Vegeta presided beneath the rolling waves of the Nameccian lake he was within.

Streaks of amethyst light painted the viridescent body of water, followed up with violent eruptions of golden electricity. What came next in the overcast that painted the land, air and observing people in purple was a surging comet wrapped around a silhouette resembling the Saiyan trio's leader. A pillar of destructive energy coiled a boiling water, quaking their standing isle further and more torrential, while propelling his body upwards by the pointed hands gesturing at the ground.

Reacoom saw the incoming charge with surprise, but felt no danger from such a similar display of energy. Bending his body to the left, he'd feel the white-hot plasma coursing from Vegeta's body, the figure lurching up past him. Reaching his hand out to grasp him expectantly, he'd lock eyes with the flashing purple that coated his shining visage-

-only to watch his body bow around, launching a pair of still violet-brimming feet to slam across his face, crushing the Scouter in a disintegrating flash and sending a bewildered Reacoom lurching back across the sky.

"How did you like that?!" A furious howl released from Vegeta's throat. Blood and water caked his crown, smearing his face around his brows while his teeth gnashed with similar ichor leaking between his teeth. Still wrapped in a brimming aura of crackling violet, he pulled apart thekiinto both palms. Condensing into a pair of sparkling spheres, he'd push them out towards the still sprawling Reacoom, unleashing a cacophony of arcing meteorites of light that sent him farther back with each explosive connection they made. "HAVE A TASTE OF THESE!"

Each blow was a veritable thunderclap. Without being able to right himself the spectators below saw bits and pieces of his armor chipping away, then being torn apart. The fabric of his costume was burned away, and pieces of hair down to flecks of his skin was being charred away beneath the heat of every blast. A tumorous line of purplish bombs sounded over their head, dominating the vista with its shine and loud drumming blows that flowed from one to the other seemingly without ceasing.

After connecting to a distant island, a familiar shine of rosy light blew back both the ground and Vegeta's never ending barrage of kikōha. As the distant isle to those held captive to look on could see, as much damage as that should have done, it wasn't nearly enough.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! That was great! Absolutely splendid!" Reacoom bellowed with glee, eyes shrunken and smile spread ear to ear. Despite being covered in burns that spottily shown from torn bits of fabric, the loss of his Scouter and his armor being completely erased apart from his gloves to his boots, he looked all too pleased.

"This guy's battle loving is worst than even Son's," Bulma thought with her eyes homing in at his churning figure of raspberry outline. "All this Vegeta is doing is just making him excited. So much for my hopes getting up...this guy isn't going down to anything!"

"Man, Reacoom must be thrilled to duke it out with the prince, eh mate?" Jheese asked his associate with a slight turn of his head up at the taller reptilian trooper.

"Oh yeah! Vegeta'sssss just making thissssss more fun to watch," Butta affirmed with a curl of his lipless mouth into a semblance of a grin. "No matter how sssstrong he's gotten, there'ssssss no way he'sssss going to match up to Reacoom."

"Are you ready, Vegeta?" Reacoom yelled, his voice painfully audible to everyone from the isle up to the high altitude the Saiyan prince hovered at. "Cause it's my turn!"

"Oh man, are we going to see it?!" Jheese spoke excitedly, breaking his cross-armed posture to lean forward with hands balled up at his sides, a smile breaching his face that seemed childishly giddy. "Blooming Hell, I think he is, isn't he?!"

"Here it comesssss!" Butta crowed out with a fist raised holler. "Lay'em flat, Reacoom!"

"Reaaaaaaaaaaaacoooooooooom...Eraser...!"

While the two members of the Ginyū Squad made Kuririn's stomach form a pit, Bulma couldn't help but steady herself. Her head felt like a pinging migraine as the sudden rise of numerical value of the burliest member of the Ginyūs charged up an attack. While his energy was visibly thin, it was being molded with the flow of his knee-raised body, and swinging hips. Raising a gloved fist, crossing the other in front of the other, she felt her voice hitch and she cast her gaze to her sister in time for Jaco to let out a panicked noise that sprung him into action.

Pulling them both down in time for the arching curl of a massive pyre of rosy-outlined white plasma dominating their respectful vista. The Saiyans hugged the ground while Pan was thrown to the soil by Kuririn. The Ginyūs stood unaffected and unfazed, their bodies looking on in tangentially close marvel at the stream of light that was passing by their heads and roaring straight towards the sky towards the airborne Vegeta.

"CANNON!" His word etched into the air as the annihilation wave ofkiwas fired towards his chosen target.

In a split instance, the figure of Vegeta was overwhelmed by the attack. Its speed and power incapable of being avoided nor ignored. Even as the blast arched away from the planet, all knew had it made connection with the ground it would have completely -pun unintended,erased- the planet. Streaking off into the blackness of space, they'd never see how it brought a sense of unstoppable force, the soundless vacuum giving birth to a pinkish fire that would eventually peter out into the horizon.

Amidst its firing, came a humming sound.

It wasn't detected due to the volume ofkibelched out by Reacoom. Simply present and faintly there, it was passing through a visible tear of the massive pillar of roaring rosy flames of eradicating light. Hearing it at the last second, the orange haired warrior would cease expulsion of his energy and gape at the sight of a razor disc appearing out from the head of his Eraser Cannon, cutting through it with ease and thrumming straight towards him in a vertical path.

"Whoa!" Reacoom exclaimed, performing a comical pirouette with his bulky body, watching the projectile cut past and bury itself into the water he was 'standing' upon moments ago. "That was a close o-NGH!"

Cut off in exclamation, the man was caught off guard by the still petering light of his own attack and being bereft of his own Scouter. A fingerless, torn glove slammed into his uninjured half of his face, crashing against his jaw hard enough to make him spit out several teeth in a spurt of blood. Bouncing across the water, he'd skate across its surface and catch himself on a squatting lurch, briefly reaching up to feel his face while eyeing up the Saiyan prince with a surprised expression on his obtusely shaped visage.

"No way," Jheese gasped, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. "Vegeta survived the Eraser Cannon! How was he able to get through that without a mark on him?!"

"It wassss a fluke! Hassss to be!" Butta tried to dismiss, throwing an arm to the side. "He'ssss still no match for Reacoom's power level! He'ssss just delaying the inevitable, right?"

"Of course, mate," The red-skinned Ginyū Squad member replied, easing his face back into a more relaxed smirk. "I mean, there's no way someone could breach that gap so quickly."

"T-That was my move," Kuririn gasped, his face blanching at the sight while still hugging the ground with Pan. "He only saw that move once...how did he know how to use it so easily?"

While Pan had no word to express her own amazement, the others were filled with a sudden burst of hope. Nappa looked on with a broad smile, Aspara simply looking on with shock that mirrored with her enemies. Bulma's face paled while Tights' lit up, and Jaco just cringed with discomfort at how stubborn Vegeta was.

"Was that the best you got, Reacoom?" The Prince asked incredulously, a twisted half-smile formed on his face despite the blood threatening to sting his glaring angled eyes. "I've justbegunto fight!"

"Y-You surprised me, is all!" Reacoom stammered, nervously shaking off his surprise as easily as his squad mates did. Rolling his neck side to side, producing a host of loud pops, he'd twist his body around while throwing his arms side to side. "I'm gonna get you now! Reaaaaaaaaacooooooooom-"

A blurring motion, and the behemoth of a man threw his left leg towards Vegeta's left side with a succinctly spoken, "KICK!"

Bloodied, gloved fingers grasped the top of his thrown boot covered thigh, lifting the Saiyan prince up and over the devastating move while pulling an arm back. His own feet stretched out to kick the larger man's face, blocked by a raised forearm almost as large as his chest. When the toes of his feet impacted with a loud crash, he'd throw his held back hand below Reacoom's guard, unleashing a bludgeoningkiaithat made the giant bowl backwards.

"UNGH!" The Ginyū Squad man wheezed out, feeling the breath leave his lungs with eyes bulging and mouth parsing out.

A mouth that'd form into a bloodied grin.

"REACOOM PUNCH!" He howled back in retaliation, slamming the shorter man into the lake below with an eruption of moisture that parted with his body's slicing velocity. The next moment later, a flash of navy blue came Vegeta ramming straight into his face, both gloves slamming his open mouth shut. Blood spouted from his nostrils and his body was thrown backwards but not off his floating heels that skated across the disruptive waves of Namek.

Catching sight of Vegeta in hot pursuit, he'd stop himself short and throw the full weight of his body forward with both arms crisscrossed in front of himself. Slicing the air and connecting with Vegeta's front, he'd shout aloud, "REACOOM DOUBLE CHOP!"

Thrown back by the force of the blow, they'd all see Vegeta's crest of his crown part through the lake and sever a nearby adjacent island. A cloud of smoke, a shower of debris and water blasted apart in a blast from the shockwave that was released by his impact.

But like before, he'd launch himself back, harder and faster than before to land another strike against Reacoom's face. The zooming motion was barely seen, and only the two island prone Ginyū Squad members could follow it. What's worse, it was only justthem.

Blow for blow, Reacoom was managing to land a blow for every one that Vegeta managed to avoid. But swifter than anyone could count, every second passed that Vegeta began to dish out more and more vicious attacks than the last. Damage that bloodied his face, tearing his armor nearly in half, and ripping the fabric of his costume was ruining his otherwise impeccably intact person. Contrastingly, warping bruises began to mark Reacoom's person, his costume tearing more and more, and the amount of teeth he had was just a few compared to the mouthful he started at the beginning.

During this violent exchange Butta began to adjust the instrument latched onto his face.

"J-Jheese. Wasn't Vegeta'ssss power level 75,000 when he fired that gallick gun or whatever?"

"Yeah, why you ask?"

"C-Check your Sssscouter," Butta insisted, his face already turning a shade of paler blue than normal. "C-Causssse I think mine's broken."

"I don't see how," Jheese began to adjust the reading on his instrument. "These things are brand new and had been tested already. There's no way its reading should be anything other than completely...accurate..."

His words trailed off, his mouth parted and his own face began to produce a layer of cold sweat. There was Reacoom's battle power, resting at a consistent 90,000. And then there was Vegeta's.

₈₇,₅₀₀.

₈₈,₀₀₀.

₈₉,₀₀₀.

₈₉,₅₀₀.

"No...way," He gawked, his voice trembling as he stared at the lens of his Scouter with a stupefied expression. "His Power Level...is-is rising!"

"Impossssssible!" Butta hissed aloud, his hands balling up at his sides, his body shaking in partial denial to conceal the part that was brewing fear. "There'sssss no way it can jump up like thisssss!"

A raucous laugh brought them out of their personal dismissive squabble. Looking over, they'd see Nappa jeeringly grinning at them with a now proudly standing despite Aspara's still nervously hunched over state.

"You guys really are all brawn and no brains, aint'cha?" The burly Saiyan questioned rhetorically. Thumbing at his own chest before pointing a jabbing finger at the current unfolding battle, he boasted loudly, "We Saiyans grow stronger as long as we keep fighting. This whole time, Vegeta's been getting stronger and stronger; by putting him directly in danger of his life, he's becoming more powerful in a few minutes than what would've taken him years to obtain!"

"T-That's bollocks!" Jheese cried out, jabbing a finger at the brazen Saiyan. "There's no way you Saiyans are that strong!"

"Oh yeah?" He inquired with a mirthful smirk. "Why don't you take another look?"

Daring the accept the challenge, the red-skinned mutant turned back to observe the battle that had been unfolding. His voice felt dry and his wide eyes almost bulged out. In the span of him stopping to talk with the meat-head of the Saiyan three he was now seeing what was said had truth behind it.

"HOLD! STILL! YOU!" Reacoom shouted, no longer smiling but holding a construed expression of bewilderment. Vegeta's body, constantly ebbing a pale blue luminous glow, veered left and right, avoiding each masterfully executed of the burly man's melee strikes. It was like trying to swat at a reed bending with the ocean's current, and the bloodied, torn person maneuvered as if the injuries weren't even present.

With a sudden rising leap a snap kick crashed against Reacoom's jaw, tearing the earth apart they were standing upon and rising straight up into the sky. Barely having time to cough, the fizzling outline of Vegeta's body appeared within an arc of virulent indigo, kicking his left side and throwing him across the air. Tumbling about over their heads, Vegeta charged across the peerless blue vista of Namek, unleashing a machine gun blows of punches into the undefended body of Reacoom. Thuds became wet crunches, and snaps followed by a fountain of blood spurting from an aghast Reacoom's visage.

Without saying a word, Vegeta pulled back, gathering a luminous crackling pair of orbs, now a pale white in color. Howling loudly, eyes nearly disappeared within a sea of white with red veins spread across, he clasped his wrists together and let out a furious roar.

Unleashing a massive sea of blue-outlined plasma that caked the horizon in a vista of snow hued overcast. The wind left a searing mark on the ground below, a miasma of heat and crackling lightning dancing across the expanse of their side of the planet.

Dying down, the light that replaced its luminous glow with the greenish heavens of Namek, they'd see no sign of the bloodied and bruised warrior of the Ginyū Squad. Just the steaming outline of Vegeta, his person breathing raggedly and hunched over. Grinning despite himself, the equally as ragged man turned to look down at the blue and red tinted bodies of Butta and Jheese, their eyes unbelieving of the power level he just now sported.

₁₀₀,₀₀₀...!

"T-Thisssss can't be happening!" Butta panicked aloud. "Tell me thissssss isssssn't real!"

"Vegeta...l-let's talk about this," Jheese began to stutter, his face forming a nervous half smile as he raised his hands up.

In the next moment, the Saiyan prince hurled blood out of his own throat. The staggering strength that was exhibited plummeted with the regurgitation of his blood. From the six digits it shrank down to a quarter of its worth. All beheld in a mixture of surprise and fear, his body falling straight to the ground below-

-narrowly caught by a speeding Nappa.

"V-Vegeta," He croaked out, holding the smaller Saiyan in his arms as he beheld a man rasping for air. "You alright? Say something!"

"Do I...look...alright...you dunce?!" Vegeta growled. "I don't care what happens next...use the Power Ball to-"

He never got the chance to give out the order. The limp Saiyan beheld a wrathful comet of burning crimson race up towards them, slamming into their flanks and exploding in a brilliant blaze of fire. The musclebound Saiyan had taken the full brunt of it, tearing apart his armor and burning him severely with a downward spiral, leaving Vegeta in an even more ruined state to drop to the ground with him.

This time, it was Pan and Kuririn who raced in to catch them from hitting the ground outright. While Pan opted for Vegeta, Kuririn had almost keeled over from catching the massive bulk that was the largest of the Saiyan trio. Tapping to the ground below they'd look over and see a cruel grin adorned on Jheese's face, while Butta was wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on his own scaled scalp.

"That scared me for a moment. Vegeta of all people almost gave me a fright for my life," The white-haired man admitted, fixing an angled glare towards the host of people now fathoming their new situation. "Too bad for you, your only real chance of beating us went down in smoke."

"Pan, stay close to me," Kuririn beckoned, placing Nappa to the ground with an unceremonious thud. "When I give the word, make a break for it and take Bulma and Tights as far away as possible. I won't be far behind."

"What about you, Kuririn?" Pan asked worriedly, suddenly getting a bad feeling what he meant by what he said.

"I'll think of something," He chuckled nervously. "Don't worry. I have Kashiko worrying over me. There's no way I'm going to let these jokers beat me."

"Jokersssss you ssssay?"

A hiss suddenly brought his heart to a stop and his spine chilled to subzero. Barely able to comprehend to lean shadow covering the three Suns' glare on his body, he'd turn around in time to see a storm of fists rush into him. Painful cracks were felt as much as heard, his body riddled with blows that was too fast for even his acute sense ofkito feel out. After dozens of knuckles struck him all around his short form, he was sent flying with the last one in a pinwheeling motion to limply skid over in front of Bulma and Tights.

"KURIRIN!" Pan screamed out, her body standing on end in fear at how instantaneous their luck had turned. Dashing from her point to the dwarf, she dropped to her knees and saw the man had left out shallow breathing. Despite the torn-up gi he now sported and the host of fist-shaped bruises embedded into his skin as much as his clothes, he looked unresponsive and inert.

"Pan, listen to me," Bulma spoke, her voice finally regained as her child looked over at her with a shrunken pair of pupils. "Don't fight them. Get out of here and wait for your father. Do you hear me? Do not fight them!"

It was a sentiment shared by the last of the three remaining Saiyans on their feet.

Aspara whipped her head around and leaped up into the air. She planned to put as much distance between herself and this disaster of a situation. If she survived this, there was no way she was showing her face to her father.

That plan was abruptly stopped when a blurring smile belonging to Jheese appeared right in front of her.

"Where you think you're going, love?" He asked with a smirk. "The fun's just getting started."

Backpedaling in the air, she growled, her silvery aura igniting and raising her smooth hair to stand on frayed ends. Coalescing her energy into a fine point of a blade, she threw her flank forward as swiftly as she could to cut him down the middle.

An explosion of pain slammed into her abdomen, followed by a continuous grinding motion that sent her whole body spiraling back the way she came thanks to an orb that was wedged in place from her enemy. Crashing back first into the island, she felt her body become submerged in muddied water and disappear into the lake beneath. Every fiber of her body screamed but her survival instinct compelled her to move out of a certain watery doom. Propelling herself out with a burst of energy, she emerged with a rasping cacophony of coughs, that left her hunched over solid ground inches from the hole she physically made; all the while clenching her pained waist.

"Don't like the water? That's fine," Jheese taunted, raising a hand to form a sweltering crimson kikōha that overlapped her body in its blood colored overcast. "Let me dry you off!"

"STOP!"

Bleep-bleep-bleep!

Jheese stopped his attack, in time to turn his head to the right to see a wrathful streak of pale blue soar towards him. Believing it was Vegeta, he pulled the orb around and launched it straight at the charging figure, detonating it with a fountain of red akin to magma.

What came out the other end was a burned, but still charging Pan. A fixed visage of fury etched onto her face, and was outright ignoring Bulma's wailful cries at her stubbornness to rush headlong into danger.

"You little runt," The white haired trooper grinned, turning his body's full attention to throw a punch that slammed fully into her face. "Should've listened to your mother!"

A painful crack was heard as a small nose was snapped and the whole of the head was pushed backwards with her own momentum adding to the severity of the blow. Thrown backwards in a streak of blood, she was sent bouncing across the ground, skidding across the loosely broken soil.

"Damn, seems I may have overdid it," Jheese bemoaned, placing his hands on his hips. Casting a stare at the now kneeling Aspara, he grinned evilly, raising a palm to create another reddish sphere of menacing light. "You want to go at it for another round, love? I'm game for it."

"Enough of your games," Aspara sneered between clenched teeth. "If you're going to finish me...just do it already!"

"If you say so-"

"JHEESE!"

"What is it now?!" The magma skinned trooper inquired with a whining drawl.

"Look!" The serpentine humanoid urged, his hand pointing up at the sky, a faint glowing meteorite of a projectile coming in from the emerald vista. They could faintly detect power levels on it, meaning it wasn't simply space debris making impact with Namek but rather an actual spacecraft of sorts. A faint, distant impact left a rumbling thud that could be observed from the foreseen horizon.

Even as Bulma had scampered over on all fours to huddle her body to protect Pan's near unconscious frame from further harm, her tear-filled eyes looked up with recognition. These signatures her optics were flashing. They couldn't be anything else.

"Son," She croaked out, a smile now present on her face. "You've made it...!"

They finally made it to Namek.

After a brutal near full week of training, the two Saiyan brothers had touched down on the planet in more or less one piece. The ship's integrity was put into question after the first three days, leaving it scorched, torn and ruptured in several places. While the instruments had an autopilot, something had went wrong in atmospheric entry and they had to find some way to guide it to a landing position.

Somehow managing to not utterly destroy it, the less pristine vessel extended the rampart from the doorway, unveiling the two occupants that stood eagerly within.

"Good thing Kaiō managed to get me replacement clothes before our trip took off," Son Gokū remarked as he fastened the pouch on his blue sash, holding the remains of their cure-all beans within. "Ours got pretty torn up."

"I'm surprised by your god's mimicry of the battle jacket," Raditz remarked, pulling at the seam of his breastplate padding and rolling his torso from side to side to test it. "It feels as durable as before, but it feels almost like I'm wearing nothing."

"Haha, yeah, pretty neat huh?" Gokū inquired with a cheeky grin.

"Now's not the time for vanity, however," The elder sibling intoned, his face a serious expression as his eyes slanted to look at the wall of the ship and see 'past' it with his refinedkisense. "You feel it? The others are in trouble."

"Yeah, I do," Gokū's face became stoic, his body embracing the shine of the three Suns of Namek, the air bristling his angular scalp of hair while rustling his loosely worn gi. With him at the lead, he leaped out into the air and took the sky, with Raditz following behind. "Let's go save our friends!"

Chapter 29: Dividing the Battlefield

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers
Chapter 29 - Dividing the Battlefield
Written by LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Jaco could scarcely believe it.

Just as hope was about to run its course for the super elite, hope arrived in the form of a distant comet trailing ship. With his impeccable vision being far superior compared to the average sentient life form he picked up the subtle transparency with the flames burning around the spherical craft. At first glance one could confuse it for another of those space pods of Freeza's men; but upon holding his gaze he could see the dim black painted streaks around the ovular incoming craft and the faint partial reading of "CAPS" on the side facing them.

Hearing Bulma whisper in relief, the patrolman had a nervous smile work its way up on his face. This truly was the highest and lowest of his career to have suffered so many nervous breakdowns in such subsequent order. He cast a glance around at Tights and she fell to her knees, her eyes having picked up the comet of hope that her younger sibling had.

And, seconds later, his unblinking lenses for eyes saw it. Streaks of raspberry and red light carried what was impossibly living beings. Whereas Butta and Jheese were still looking ahead, the patrolman would see the two Saiyan brothers pass them by and land directly in front of the Earthlings. The instant their feet produced a succinct pair oftaps, the two Ginyu members whirled around and gawked with disbelief.

"S-S-S-Ssssssso fassssssst!" Butta slurred out, his pupiless red eyes almost bulging from their sockets.

"Where did these buggers come from? And why do they look familiar?" Jheese inquired aloud to himself.

Ignored - at least, for the moment — Gokū knelt down and observed his inertly lying child. Prone to the ground, he showed a layer of care and empathy few would see from him, friend or foe. Placing a hand behind Pan's head he raised her face up, doing his best not to grimace at the grisly sight of her destroyed nostril or a series of fractures that was certainly lying beneath the blood caking her face. Pulling out a lime-colored bean from a pouch strapped to his side, he tentatively forced her mouth open and guided her mouth to chew before leaning the head back to swallow.

Seconds later, a briefpop!Then Pan's black eyes opened with a flutter and her lavender hair stood on end. Looking left and right, she'd look up to see Gokū's smiling face, relieved to see her animated expressions.

Then, she leaped up to wrap her arms tightly around his neck, nuzzling into the crook of it while letting out a muffle shout, "Papa! You made it! You really made it here!"

"That's right," Gokū softly spoke, rubbing her head and patting her back with both arms. "I made it just in time. You did really well while I was away. But now, you don't need to worry anymore," He paused, looking over to Bulma with a confident smile. "Both of you are safe now."

At the same time, Raditz had approached Kuririn who was adjacent to the kneeling Tights and the petrified Jaco. As he squatted down, cautiously rolling the brutalized dwarf onto his back while pinching a bean he was given by his brother, he looked up at the blonde with steely coals for eyes.

"Nice to see you're still in one piece," He muttered, absentmindedly, as he forced the bean into the ex-monk's mouth and forced him to chew it. "Good to see your meat shield has some use after all."

"I-I am a Super Elite-!"

"Sure you are," The elder brother of Gokū replied dryly, watching the bean become swallowed by the former orin monk. Within seconds the effects were made known and the man blinked rapidly. Looking up at the man with a long carpet of onyx mane, he briefly tensed up before realizing there was no ill intent in his eyes. Laying back on the grass, Kuririn sighed while Raditz stood up with a snort and arms crossed over his chest. "This is a pitiful display for yourself, dwarf. I thought you were better than this."

"Hehe...well...they were better, I guess?"

"Tch," He clicked his tongue. Raising his head, his eyes met a now standing Tights, her black eyes piercing his own. It was enough to make him briefly blink and avert his gaze from her face. "Wh-What? You're safe now. No need to stare at me like-"

Before he knew what happened, the blonde leaped the distance and wrapped her arms around his chest. Her Sun-kissed head rubbed into his chest and Raditz raised his arms up with surprise, feeling completely disarmed. A hint of red brandished over his face, only intensifying when her beaming smile looked up at him with an earnest sincerity.

"Glad you made it. Thank you for not being later than you already are."

"I...you...we are not late!" He shouted, his voice full of fluster. "Why didn't you keep out of sight and mind?! You were told to wait for us, right?!"

"Hey, they came to us!" Bulma cried out in indignation, bringing Raditz's fuming face towards her. "We were laying low. I even used an underwater hideout-"

"Did I really need your backtalk, woman?!"

"Oh put a sock in it, Raditz-"

"So, it reallyisRaditz," Jheese proclaimed, bringing their attention off of each other and back to the remaining pair of the Ginyū Special Squadron. He had his hand up on his Scouter, the instrument bleeping with alien numbers of energy it was estimating. When a flat number breached the screen, he grinned with relief as he put both gloved hands on his hips with assurance. "I thought it was you. But I can't believe it. Your energy's somehow gotten even weaker than before: 800 flat."

"Yeah, the other guy'sssss no better," Butta snickered, lowering his own clawed set of digits from the ruby lens reader on the left side of his head. "He'ssss only sssix hundred. Don't know how they got by usssss ssssso quickly, but it hardly mattersssss, doesssss it?"

"Yer right, mate. This will be a walk in the park," The red skinned elite of Freeza stated with smiling certainty. Taking a glance over his shoulder at the still sore Aspara, he gave a brief wink at her and laughed. "Congratulations, love. Your death is going to be stalled for a few. Get ready to witness these louses get their asses handed to-"

He'd be interrupted by an explosion of pain slamming into his face. His nose crunched under a set of knuckles, sending him skidding back by his heels, cutting through the water-logged soil till he was several meters back. While Aspara blinked with shock, Jheese raised a pair of hands up to his crooked nose, looking on with disbelief as the blood leaked over his tomato pigmented skin.

"H-How the Hell...did you do th-ACK!" He'd try to speak, only to follow up by another punch that twisted the nose in the other direction. Howling in pain, he covered his face with both gloves, now staining them with a different shade of red compared to his bright crimson flesh. Shaking visibly, he looked up, a blank pair of coals for eyes coming from the man who looked like Raditz but also like someone else he vaguely knew; not from experience but from reputation.

"Huh. I could'a swore you'd dodge that one too," Gokū spoke nonchalantly, raising his free hand to scratch his cheek while keeping his fist erectly pointing at the Ginyū Squad member. "Sorry, you were just leaving yourself open and my body said, 'Attack!'. So I did. Were you not ready?"

"T-This can't be happening," Jheese stammered out, taking one step back and pressing it to the Scouter again. This time, the machine whirred and then bleeped at a now substantially higher number than before, but somehow not even comparable to his own maximum battle power. "Y-You shouldn't be even able to touch me! 7000? That's not even a tenth of my power level!"

"You guys should really stop relying on those machines," Gokū advised with a smirk, his eyes construing into a hardened stare full of confidence. "We Earthlings have the ability to alter our battle power at will. That device won't do you any good."

Growling out, Jheese let out a howling bark at his partner, "Butta! Let's take this guy down together! No one makes a mockery of the Ginyū Special Squadron and lives!"

The tall reptilianoid rushed in a streak of bluish-black, while Jheese rushed in a stream of white-overlayed-crimson. Two sets of fists threw themselves at Gokū, each packing more than enough power to shatter a continent.

Connecting, they released a palpable bang, and a gust of air released from the point of contact; whipping out to make the bystanders grimace and close their eyes. When they'd look back, they'd look on in awe and -in Aspara's case, terror- as Gokū casually held back both pair of fists with either arm. One held above his angled frayed black hair, and the other out in front of his face.

Sliding by his heels, Gokū throttled them both through the intensity of their own physical pressure. Grasping at their arms he'd throw them around his shoulders, whipping them into the earth with a streak of force that smashed them through the island and into respective bodies of water on either side.

"Gokū's..."

"...really fast!"

"He's toying with them," Raditz commented, his arms crossed over his chest as Kuririn and Tights looked up in surprise. The Saiyan stared ahead at the scene that had unfolded before his eyes. "He's not even taking them seriously."

"S-Seriously?!" Kuririn gawked. "Just what kind of training did you two do in six days?!"

"The hardest in my life," The elder brother of Gokū responded, his eyes closing in memory of it.

While he was contemplating the past near full week, Butta and Jheese launched up out of the water into the air. They looked flustered, beyond furious, and embroiled with halos ofki.

"This is bloody stupid!" Jheese spat out, shaking his fists out with a temperamental outburst. "How can this top of the line Scouter be so broken?! Someone of your level shouldn't be making these kinds of moves!"

"You can always give up-"

"Are you in-SANE?!"

"Calm down, Jheese!" The crimson fighter heard Butta say over the Scouter's comm. Raising his head up to look at the not-too-far figure of Butta floating at a similar altitude, he felt a bit of his anger dissipate as he heard his comrade's voice whisper into his Scouter's audio. "Listen. He may be just really fasssst, but hasssss no power. Sssso we ssssshould combine our energiesssss and hit him with a ssssingular attack. After that, you ssssshould ussssse a Crussssher Ball and I'll russsssh him the moment he triessss to dodge. He may be fasssst, but he'ssss not the fasssstesssst in the Universssse."

While Jheese wanted to correct him on the last part, it wasn't a bad plan. True he hit fairly hard, but it wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before. Remembering his sparring match with the Captain after his newest acquisition, he had to take an entire week off to recover. This was just a slight setback, that's all it was.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Jheese howled out, powering up his amethyst aura till it turned into a stark red.

At the same time, Butta also raised his energy till it became a brilliant blue. When everyone below looked up curiously, they'd watch the pair of elite warriors rush at each other till they almost appear to slam bodily. Instead, to a few keen eyes, they'd notice how they'd swiftly rotate themselves in a perfectly coordinated spin, harnessing their significant energy till it became a rapidly thrumming disc of red lines overlapping blue lines.

Then, a cacophony of orbs of light fired from them, coalescing the energies of both fighters into singular spheres of destructive power. Approaching Gokū they'd whiz by, some missing their mark with the Earth-raised-Saiyan not even flinching. Even as they exploded in deep but precise holes nearby, he'd automatically swing his arms without batting an eye to deflect each attack, sending them careening to explode in bursts of orangish flames around their vicinity.

Splitting apart, the two flustered elites grimaced, seeing their luck hadn't changed even with their combined symmetry. Still, following up with the plan concocted, Jheese angled himself into a posture as if he was going to throw something. An upraised hand formed his telltale Crusher Ball, the same technique he used to knock out Nappa and Vegeta in a single blow. Hefting the shimmering orb, he'd throw it hard, sending it streaking straight towards Gokū's head.

Much to their combined surprise, Gokū pulled back his arm, fingers curling but not quite making a fist-

-and then thrust it out, landing akiaithat sent it shrieking back upwards, but aiming straight towards Butta instead.

"EEEK!" The blue reptilianoid squealed, narrowly sidestepping the destructive bomb as it veered up and disappearing into the emerald sky. By the time he turned to look where his enemy stood, their opponent was completely gone. "W-WHAT! WHERE DID HE GO?!"

A simple tap to the back of their jackets brought them rearing around with shock.

"Hey," Gokū replied, smirking at them while keeping a hard glance at the pair with a very casual mannerism that made them shake in anger. "I hope this isn't all you got. I came here looking to get a real workout. I'm kind of disappointed from what I've seen so far."

"H-How dare you mock ussss!" Butta howled, raising a vein throbbing fist as his obtusely shaped neck up to his oddly scaled head ebbed sweat while gnashing teeth in indignation. "We are the elite, the bessssst sssssoldiers in the whole galaxy! There aren't any compared to ussss in the whole Universsse! What makessss you sssso sssspecial?!"

"I'm a Saiyan who was raised on Earth," He replied with a casual shrug. "Does that make a difference?"

"No way!" Jheese balked, his eyes bulging. "Apart from him, the rest of you lot are garbage, barely worth recognizing! No monkey is better than us!"

"That'sss right!" Butta replied with venom, pointing his finger straight at Gokū. "How can a Saiyan be better than the elite of the elite?!"

"Maybe...I trained harder than you guys?" Gokū inquired with a tilt of his head. "Yeah, I think that might be it."

No longer bearing the patience for rational plans or strategy, the red and blue pair launched themselves in a feverous assault. Combined they could effortlessly weave in and around their larger or smaller frames, as they had done so in the past dozens of times over. However, even as they did, the lithe bodied Saiyan ducked, stepped and maneuvered around every attempt to hit him. The barest of glances were made from the palms of his hand or the sides of his feet to keep them from making a single precise blow.

While Kuririn looked up with amazement, Pan was leaping up with glee at seeing how strong her father had become. Bulma couldn't register a single thing, despite the mass of readings her optics gave her, never once pinning down a designation for what level of strength Gokū had at any time. Tights felt dizzy watching while Jaco felt like he was watching something while he himself was in slow motion by comparison.

Aspara looked up in disbelief. She knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this put a wrench into every plan her father had. It was enough that the brief panic she had with Vegeta surpassing Reacoom was now just a distant flight of needless fear. This was a real problem.

"How...how can my weak cousin be this strong?" She thought, biting her lower lip till she drew blood. Glancing over at Raditz, she felt anger boil up within her swollen stomach, seeing how he easily kept his gaze on the action. What's worse, he was perfectly content to stand by and watch. Was he just as strong, or worse, stronger than the runt of the family?!

In a split second, Gokū evaporated from sight, leaving Jheese and Butta to accidentally punch into one another. The impact made them rebound, and glare at each other due to the pent-up feelings they had at the time. Baring teeth, they raised fists until a loud whistle tore at their ears and brought their mutual gaze at a distantly floating Gokū waving his hand.

"Hey! You wanna call it quits here? I wouldn't mind picking this back up when you've gotten stronger!" He exclaimed.

"Quit?! You're talking crazy!" Jheese spat incredulously. "The Ginyū Special Squadron never retreats!"

"Let'sss waste this guy!" Butta sneered, raising a hand up and charging an orb of bluish light.

"Took the words right of my mouth!" The white-haired warrior jeered, raising his other hand to match the blue-scaled man's posture. While he formed his own ball of energy, the two spun in place, swirling around and then combining into a pure amethyst orb of light. Swelling up in size, they'd launch their full powered attack, shrieking across the air straight towards their designated target.

Inhaling deeply, Gokū clasped his wrists together while squatting in the sky.

A second later, when the orb was nearly on top of him, he let out a mighty roar. A blast equivalent to a hurricane tore through the horizon, blowing down to the viewers below, making them take cover or turn away. Only Raditz maintained a stoic gaze as his hair whipped wildly behind his back, his tail unfurling with an idle flicking motion of certainty. When Jheese and Butta recovered from their own attack's failure to connect, they'd see that their enemy, once again disappeared into oblivion once more.

Butta grimaced, balling his hands up and twisting around to find him, anywhere. While he looked side to side, even below, he failed to notice the speeding silhouette from up in the sky.

Jheese batted a pair of lashes, his mouth opening to release the words, "Butta, above-!"

Right before a sledgehammer of two pairs of fingers entwined into a single ball of kinetic force slammed straight onto the reptilian humanoid's skull. Eyes bulged out, the Scoutter cracked, then exploded on the side of his head, and he dropped down like a torpedo. Instantly, a shimmering Afterimage of Gokū appeared at his side, landing a crushing kick to his stomach that propelled him into a teleporting kick to the spine. Catching him in midair, he'd toss him down, falling ineptly to the ground before Jheese's horror filled eyes.

"BUTTA! NO!"

"Now you see how pointless this is?" Gokū inquired incredulously. "I don't want to see you again until you want to fight like you mean it. Otherwise you'll get what he got."

"Y-You murdered my best mate!" Jheese shouted out, his hands shaking in anguish while his face contorted in a miserable mask of fear and anger. "You won't get away with this! I'm going to bring the captain, and he'll show you what it means to cross us! Just wait and see!"

Igniting into a plume of purple, he arched away into a lancing spear into the distant repetitive vista of Namek.

And just as quickly as it began, the battle had ended. What would've surely been the end of everyone, Saiyans and Earthlings alike, had been dealt with all of the trouble of checking the kettle for boiled water. Gokū's showcase was so miraculous that it brought a well of relief and joy within the previously panic ridden heroes who were put in danger by the flamboyant squadron.

For Aspara, she could only stare with abject fear.

Watching her cousin descend to the air beside the fallen presumed corpse of Butta, she felt her body tense up, intensifying the pain she felt that was dealt not but minutes ago. What was he going to do to her? Even if she escaped -doubtful, but still a fleeting thought- her father would kill her for failing in such a spectacular fashion. Casting a glance at the burnt and barely breathing bodies of Vegeta and Nappa, she felt tempted to finish them, here and now, but that'd cause more attention on her.

Swallowing hard, she cast her gaze at Gokū as he put a hand in the pouch that she witnessed bring the child and the dwarf back to full health. Did he need it when he didn't lose a single ounce of stamina?

"Hey, you!" Gokū cried out, making Aspara's tail stick out in a frayed display of shock. "You're hurt, right? Why not help get these to Vegeta and the other guy?"

Balking, the normally smooth hair that reached past her hips briefly frayed up on end. Raising her hand that wasn't covering her swollen abdomen, she hoarsely croaked out, "You want me to help them?! Why?!"

"I know you guys don't have any real love for each other, but if this Freeza is as much trouble as I've heard, we're going to need everyone's help to get through this," Gokū replied. Despite the look Raditz was making at what Gokū said, it made enough sense that he didn't attempt to counter the point. They had argued about this on the trip over. They were sorely outmatched if Freeza was even a tenth as the nightmarish tales make him out to be.

Pinching the beans between his fingers he shot them like bullets towards Aspara. Watching the woman grab them, he'd cross his arms and look at her expectantly. Seeing the way his face partially frowned with a sour look around the lips put an almost tangential jolt of fear that brought a shudder up and down her spine. The face of her father ran deeply in her cousin, even if the intent was different.

Whether out of self preservation or years of conditioning ushering her into obedience, Aspara took the first bean and put it in her mouth. It tasted bland, with barely any real substance as she chewed it between her teeth. Swallowing it, however, she felt the 'magic' of this surprising cure-all take effect. The injuries she sustained from Jheese were gone, pain vanishing as if didn't happened; even more impressive, she felt a rush of energy from depleted stamina she didn't even realize she had lost from being rudely ejected from the tank earlier.

With Gokū's hawk-like gaze on her, she begrudgingly continued to follow his orders, complicit into his demands and the logic reinforcing them.

Bending down she shoved the bean rudely into Nappa's mouth and then, for a few moments of hesitation, placed the other into Vegeta's. After Nappa half consciously chewed it -with her having to force Vegeta to do the same- she witnessed firsthand from the outside what it did for the pair of Saiyans.

Nappa's eyes bolted open, burns gone with only the flecks of dried blood still staining his burly build. As he stood upright, patting himself up and down to check for injuries, Vegeta himself had his eyes bulge wide open. Realizing what the last thing happened Vegeta stood upright and looked at Aspara first, then over to Gokū; the latter of which now was armed with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Y-You!" Vegeta stammered out, his face paling. "Kakarrot! When did you get here?!"

"Just a little bit ago," He replied nonchalantly. "Good thing I got here when I did. If I was any later, you'd be in a lot of trouble."

The prince scowled, finding it hard to believe this man whom he soundly beat into the dirt had gotten strong enough to afford that kind of talk. But any words of derision left his mouth when he looked down and saw the prone form of Butta, his tongue hanging out for comical effect, while completely undignified for his usual proud self. Nappa himself gawked, which only added a bit of humor to Aspara as she had already gotten over the feat.

"You...did this?" Vegeta inquired slowly.

"Yep! Wasn't as strong as I thought he'd be. Kinda hope this Freeza guy is stronger, otherwise I'd feel a bit disappointed, haha!"

"Kakarrot, just because we trained in 100x gravity, doesn't mean you should get carried away," Raditz remarked with an eyeroll, much to Gokū's nervous chuckling chagrin. "Not everyone can just do the kind of training we did. I swore I felt like dying some days."

"Well, we made it out alright. I'm sure anyone can do it with enough practice."

"Your optimism is nauseating, little brother," Raditz sighed with eyes clenching shut with visible cringe. "Just be thankful I need you in top form, otherwise I'd slap you for talking so foolishly."

"H-Hold a sec!" Nappa exclaimed, bringing the pair out of their personal conversation. Vegeta was still stunned, allowing his burly cohort to raise a hand up with visible incredulity. "Y-You said you trained under a hundred fold gravity?! By what metric is that, and how?!"

"Gravity altering machine in the ship Kakarrot's mate's father made," The elder brother explained, unfurling his arms and addressing Nappa straightforwardly. "And the metric is by Earth's. So if you don't want to hurt your empty head, Nappa, it'd be ten times our old planet's gravity."

"What was that, you runt-?"

"Quiet!" Vegeta snapped, bringing the tallest of the trio under his proverbial heel. Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh, his arms crossing over his chest while looking ahead at the entourage of bumpkin idiots -or at least as he thought of them-. "As much as I like the sound of us working together, Saiyans in arms, I don't want to place my life in the hands of a traitor and a third class wretch; nor your half breed child, either, Kakarrot."

"And why not?" Kuririn interjected, raising his hands up with ridicule poised at him. "You 'volunteered' us quite eagerly when the Ginyū Special Squadron showed up before. Why stop now?"

"Because Freeza has the Dragon Balls, you dimwit!" Vegeta shouted, bringing a sense of alarm through realism of their given situation. "Ginyū took our Dragon Balls and more than likely reunited them with the others."

"Uh...he hasn't used them yet, though," The ex-orin monk noted audibly. "Whenever we use the Dragon Balls, the sky goes completely black and a massive dragon larger than any building anywhere appears from them. And I may have blacked out, but I swear we haven't seen one yet."

"That's right," Bulma said, her eyes blinking rapidly as she cupped her chin and looked over to Gokū then her sister. "Maybe, the Dragon Balls didn't work for him or some reason. That means, we still have a chance to keep him from using that wish."

"And bring Mister Piccolo and the others back to life?!"

"Exactly," The lavender haired scientist said to her child, bringing a beaming grin to the wagging tailed girl. "There's still hope."

"But, Ginyū is still likely at the ship with Freeza," Jaco pointed out, looking at everyone expectantly. "How are we supposed to get past him and Freeza?"

"Simple," Gokū replied, propping his hands on his hips. "We let that guy from before,— what was his name, Juice? — bring this Gen-yuu guy. He said he'd be back with the captain, so I can only assume that's who he's talking about."

"And between the two of us, we can easily take out these two louts," Raditz surmised, looking over to Vegeta. "If Freeza hasn't figured out how the balls work, then it's quite likely you or the rest of us don't either. So if you can make a break for it when Ginyū shows up—"

"I can connect the rest of the dots, Raditz," Vegeta hissed, closing his eyes as he let out a snort. "Much as I don't like to admit it, this does put as at a remarkable advantage. Moreover, we already have someone working with us on the inside. Getting the Dragon Balls away from him may not be as difficult as it could've been."

"But...can we really trust him?" Nappa leaned over, inquiring under his breath.

"Don't be dense, Nappa. Of course we can't. But we do need him to be in Freeza's good graces, so we'll have to rely on his underhanded nature to get us what we want," Vegeta spoke back, turning to give a tempered glare at Aspara. "Play your cards well, Aspara, and maybe you too can find reward in complying with us. Just make sure you know whose allegiances matter, less you be ground to dust."

"Understood, my lord," Aspara bent her head down, grimacing behind the frocks of her bangs.

She could only wonder how her father was handling things back at the ship, or what Freeza will do when he finds a way to summon the balls. Just how many hard places was she to be crushed by? Too many, for her liking.

If only she could get rid of the prince...

Freeza's Ship, Outside

There's no bleedin' way in Hell what I saw back there was real!

Jheese's panicked filled thoughts wracked his brain, the red-tinged man rushing in the direction his Scouter pinpointed; where he could see thekisignature of his team's leader in the distance. The Ginyū Special Squadron second-in-command was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't notice himself passing under a tumultuous storm cloud, the torrential rain drenching him even as he curved downward, veering left onto the landmass on which Freeza had left his ship.

He landed clumsily, nearly crashing into the ship, as opposed to the normal elegance expected of members of the Ginyū Special Squad. The eponymous Ginyū himself looked positively affronted at the tacky landing Jheese had made. Keeping a firm grip on the Dragon Balls, to prevent them from blowing away in a storm that simply would not end, Ginyū spoke loud and clear over the combined clamour of thunder and rain.

"Jheese! Just what is the meaning of this?!"

"C-Captain, you won't believe what I just saw!" Jheese spluttered, unable to maintain any sort of dignified composure. "Everyone...everyone dead sir! Saiyans...Vegeta...we all gotwrecked...and Butta...and I got away...and—"

If Jheese had possessed any sort of self-awareness, the man would have noticed a vein throbbing more prominently than the other veins in the Captain's temple. He did not, however, and it was only when his incessant rambling was cut across by a violent yell of "Jheese!" that the second-in-command of the Ginyū Squad stopped short, realising he may have made a mistake.

"Jheese, you will give me a report in a brisk and orderly fashion!" snapped Ginyū, sounding almost more like an irate parent than a disgruntled commanding officer. "Was all the training you went through under my command pointless?!"

"N-No, sir!" replied Jheese, standing at attention dutifully. "I...I sorta lost meself for a second there!" Clearing his throat, he continued, in a far more orderly manner than before. "Captain, we've...we've got ourselves in a right bind, we have.I don't know any way to say this, so I'll be out with it...everyone in the Ginyū Special Squad except us."

"Everyone?!" repeated Ginyū incredulously. "Gurd, Butta, and even Reacoom?! Lord Freeza'sfinest,defeated by Vegeta and a ragtag bunch he cobbled together in desperation!?" Ginyū was trembling, partially from shock, partially from repressed rage. He felt a tooth crack from the strength of clenching his jaw, but paid it no mind. The pain that Freeza would inflict on him — even if he was not allowed to kill him — would be far, far worse.

"That's...that's right, Captain. Everyone, even my old cobber Butta, defeated..." replied Jheese, a trace of remorse in his voice. "But it wasn't Vegeta who did the bulk of it...I mean, hedidclobber Reacoom, but the effort nearly killed the bugger...and Butta and I were ready to kill them all...but then Raditz and another Saiyan arrived! Our Scouters must've been wonky, Captain, because their combat readings kept fluctuating like mad!"

Captain Ginyū looked pensive. "Fluctuating power levels...Jheese, you made an amateur mistake! Those beings, Saiyans are not, must have the ability to freely control their own combat strength. The Scouters aren't going to do you any good against them, and you blundered because you relied on it too much!"

"I...sorry, Captain! I should have had the foresight!"

"Apologies are pointless, Jheese," said Ginyū. "Actions will serve us much better." Inclining his head towards the ground, the purple-skinned alien released a blast of telekinetic force, which hollow the damp soil out considerably, and placed the Dragon Balls deep within, before burying them. "The ground looks like it's been disturbed, but they're buried close enough to the ship that even if intruders arrive, they won't notice immediately."

"W-What are you going to do, Captain?" asked Jheese nervously.

"Isn't it obvious?" replied Ginyū. "We're going to kill the Saiyans who killed my men! We will have time to mourn our losses later! Show me some resolve, and let's bring those Saiyans to their knees in the name of Lord Freeza!"

"Yes, sir! Right, Captain!" Jheese crowed, ever at Ginyū's beck and call.

The duo erupted into pillars ofki— one lavender and the other deep crimson — before breaking off into the horizon, leaving the storm, and unknowingly, a plotting schemer, far behind them.

Freeza's Ship, Inside

The fierce rainfall continued to hit the sides of Freeza's ship, and the howling wind was only slightly muffled now; the storm that Chi-Chi's Bashōsen had created was, if anything, becoming stronger, rather than dying down. Tullece kept a watchful eye through one of the spherical windows, Chi-Chi at his side, as Jheese arrived, conversed with Ginyū, and then both left at breakneck speeds. A broad smile spread across his face, twisting what was otherwise Gokū's face, albeit older, into one of pure malice.

"This is turning out better than even I have planned," said Tullece, unfurling his tail, which was resisting the urge to twitch in delight. "Not sparing a single thought for foresight, any of them — Freeza, Ginyū, or his lackeys. Come with me outside. We won't have a better opportunity than this."

Chi-Chi nodded curtly, and followed Tullece towards the automatic doors of the ship. When the two exited, the full force of the storm hit them with all of its might. Their hair whipping around, Tullece raised a hand and felt the water droplets hit his palm. To Chi-Chi's surprise, his confident smile didn't waver. It only seemed to grow in the face of the relentless squall. "This is a surprise, but a welcome one."

"What do you mean?" inquired Chi-Chi, genuinely confused. "My storm is going to help you?"

"Youmade this happen?" Tullece couldn't contain his surprise, glancing at the darkness that shrouded the skies overhead, and the deluge of water that poured down from it. Lightning crackled and flashed, and thunder rumbled. "You're an even better acquisition to my forces than I imagined then, Chi-Chi," The woman noticed it was the first time he'd said her name since she'd told it to him, and was not surprised that it sounded strange on his tongue. "These waters are precisely what it needs to grow."

Chi-Chi was at the very urge of asking whatitwas — as her new master had been very tight-lipped about it, despite hinting at it earlier — but found herself saved from the necessity when the man pulled a small, round item from within his armband. Chi-Chi couldn't mask her curiousity; the object may as well have been a pebble, but Tullece was eyeing it with enough reverence to make her spine tingle uncomfortably. Whateveritwas, it was dangerous.

"Tullece...what isit, anyway?" Chi-Chi braved the question.

Tullece ignored the perceived rudeness, a lack of any title, and surveyed the area, not answering Chi-Chi at first.Where to plant this...? Ginyū buried those Dragon Balls around here, and while I don't care for them personally, it would amuse me to see them be forcibly pushed aside when it grows...His black eyes fell on Freeza's ship, the Saiyan shaking his spiked head.The woman, Aspara, and I will need this ship when it is time to depart...I can't afford to damage it, so I'll want this grown enough of a distance away that I can safely ensure the ship functions.Lost in his thoughts, it was almost as if he hadn't heard Chi-Chi, and only when she impatiently cleared her throat, clearly disgruntled, did Tullece acknowledge her again.

"Ah, my apologies," Tullece spared her only a passing look. "I'm going to be a moment, so I'll need your patience." Chi-Chi was clearly unhappy with the answer, but she held her tongue long enough for Tullece to find a spot he considered worthy; it was closer to the ship than he cared for, yet had enough distance to avoid damaging the craft for later. Kneeling down, Tullece made an indent in the ground with his ki, placed the pebble-like item there, and covered it again.

Following the burial, the entire planet trembled; beneath Chi-Chi's feet, she felt a clear shifting in the ground that was more than simply tectonic plates. Had that happened because Tullece planted...whatever it was? "It's a seed, I can see that much clearly..." muttered Chi-Chi, eyeing the spot where Tullece had planted the seed with an air of trepidation. "But what is it a seedof?"

"My endgame," Tullece replied shortly.

Seeing that she was going to get nothing else, Chi-Chi placed a gloved hand on her hips, malcontent threatening all over her face. "I thought I allied myself with you; are you not the sort of team player who shares information with his subordinates?"

At this, Tullece laughed, and sauntered over towards Chi-Chi. The man was surprisingly tall, something that Chi-Chi had failed to appreciate until he was quite literally looking down on her. Gripping her chin, he forced her to look directly at him, black eyes peering into one another. "I assure you, so long as you prove your loyalty to me, then our alliance will place you at the top of all creation. What I just planted is not for me alone — you will benefit from it too, should show me that you deserve it. So why would I spoil the surprise?"

"When Iprovemyself?" Chi-Chi wrestled her chin out of the man's grip. "I'm already wearing your colours, and I follow your orders; what more do I need to do?"

"I'm glad you asked," replied Tullece in a way that made Chi-Chi regret actually having asked. His tail snapped eagerly, Tullece jerking his head in the direction of the ship. "I'm sure when you boarded, you saw it was mostly empty; Freeza brought limited personnel — his most trusted soldiers, but also what amounted to scouts, techs, and pilots — to Namek. Most of the scouts are currently out running patrols, which is why you didn't exactly see a welcoming committee when you boarded." Wearing a supercilious smile, Tullece continued with the proposition. "What I want is for you to kill every last soldier on board this ship. We'll handle the stragglers when the time comes."

Chi-Chi balked only slightly at the proposition. She'd be hard pressed to say she wasn't a violent woman, but she didn't thrive in causing harm to people she had no quarrel with. And if what Tullece had said was true, then much of the ships staff were not fighters. Some might work in data entry, others in the galley, and some were simply pilots. They weren't fighters, and weren't actively causing harm, and yet Tullece was asking her to slaughter them. He was clearly watching her for signs of hesitation and refusal, but Chi-Chi gave none.

These folk are hardly innocent, right?She justified to herself.They threw in their lot with Freeza, and they get what's comin' to 'em. Glaring directly into Tullece's eyes, she said, "Fine. Do you want me to leave the corpses where I make them or pile them up for you?"

"It's chef's choice," replied Tullece airily. "Just try to damage the ship as little as possible. We will need it." While Chi-Chi didn't give Tullece the satisfaction of a verbal response, the two made their way back into the mercifully rain-free interior of Freeza's ship, and dried themselves off through the use ofki. The Saiyan waved his hand forward. "Go ahead, my lady. You have an appointment to keep."

Chi-Chi inhaled deeply. She wanted to end this quickly; the woman didn't intend to take any enjoyment in slaughtering these people, or following her new master's orders, that much was certain. But she also placed a value on her own life that was higher than the likes of Freeza's lackeys. Chi-Chi bent at the knees, crouching, almost like a wildcat. The pose might have embarrassed a lesser woman, with her rump raised suggestively, yet Chi-Chi paid it no mind. She was focused now.

She'd entered combat mode.

A rush of bubblingkiimmersed her entire form, cloaking the woman's body in a complete covering, with protrusions above her head resembling that of bull's horns, constructed from the samekithat made up her cloak. Chi-Chi grinned, giving herself over the rush ofkiaccompanied by the Gyūken, before sprinting off at a breakneck pace down the curved hall of Freeza's ship. Her armoured boots dug into the tiles, ripping tracks that trailed behind her she tore madly through Freeza' ship. The young martial artist took a turn, heading deeper into the ship — through an automatic door she hadn't seen when she'd been mesmerised by Tullece's presence in the Medical Machine — arriving in a circular room that she was almost certain shouldn't fit into the ship but somehow did.

The interior of the room was filled with various machines, each of them far too complex for a country girl like Chi-Chi to process. Her black eyes swiveled around, falling onto the soldiers who were busying themselves with the maintenance of the ship. They still hadn't noticed her arrival, but that was about to change within the next moment. Chi-Chi co*cked an arm back, the shroud ofkicovering it enlarging, appearing as an engorged, transparent glove. The young girl thrust her arm forward, extending the shroud outward; it raced along like a snake, the five large fingers gripping the midriff of one of the mechanics.

"Reel 'em in!" Chi-Chi crowed, pulling her arm back with excessive force. Thekiarm retracted, rushing backwards towards the waiting woman. This was the cue that Freeza's soldiers needed, the lot of them glancing towards Chi-Chi with shock, anger, and horror.

"Who the hell are you!?"

"Where'd you come from, bitch!?"

"Get her! In the name of Lord Freeza!"

The few who could usedkiprepared several kikōha above their palms. The rest grabbed blasters at their hips, co*cking the weapons and pulling the triggers. Chi-Chi, who had just slammed her first victim into a wall, braced herself for impact. The shroud around her flared upwards, donning a rotating spherical shape as it protected Chi-Chi's body from the incoming kikōha and blasterfire. Amid the flames of the ensuing explosion, the smoke that rose as quickly as it died, and the crimson aura, Chi-Chi appeared to the members of the Freeza Army as what she wanted them to see: a demon princess.

Chi-Chi lunged forward, blurring her form with her speed; gripping the faces of two nearest soldiers and slamming them into the ground. They twitched, their faces split like melons, and they were still. Turning towards the the soldier to her immediate right, Chi-Chi backhanded the soldier; he was sent flying into the nearest machine, his body going limp instantly. If Chi-Chi had been completely focused, she'd have time to marvel at her enhanced power, a gift from the Eldest Nameccian. Against the Saiyans, it hadn't meant much, but here? She was cleaning house.

"S-She took out ourkifighters!"

"Don't back down! That means we can prove ourselves!"

Chi-Chi released her aura in an expanding wave, a red explosion engulfing the bulk of the room. By sheer miracle, the machinery escaped damage, yet the soldiers found themselves thrown back. Those who could still stand forced themselves to their feet, others fell unconscious from the concussive force.

"She's a monster!" crowed one of the remaining soldiers.

"We're being routed! Fall back! Fall back!"

"You're not goin' anywhere!" Chi-Chi shouted. She leapt across the room, slamming her leg into the face of one of the retreating soldiers. The kick snapped his neck soundly, and he lay crumpled "I have my orders; no one is leavin' this ship but Tullece and I." The princess of Mount Frypan balanced on both hands, spinning violently like a top, applying her flexibility to her legs; she assaulted the Freeza Army troops nearest her with an upside-down rotating straddle split, multiple kicks striking the chests and face of the remaining forces.

Chi-Chi did bring the violence to a halt until there was no pulse left on the ship but of her and Tullece. She scoured every inch of the ship, bringing an end to the lives of each and every remaining Freeza soldier. By the time she had finished, Tullece — who had been observing — saw the woman he had recruited cloaked in red, standing in the middle of a group of corpses and flaming, broken machinery. She turned to glare sourly at him, clearly conflicted with the results of her rampage.

"Is this what you wanted to see from me?"

Tullece beamed. It was ruthlessness and jovial mixed into a singular expression, the man unable to hide his elation. "You've doneverywell."

The bubbling aura around Chi-Chi flickered and faded, her expression unwavering. She was in no mood to accept his praises, but she had made her bed, so she would lie in it. The woman took a harrowing look at the carnage she'd caused in no less than five short minutes. Was thisheror was this the role she was playing for Tullece? She didn't like to consider either option, and yet knew it had to be one of them. Hoping, truly hoping, it was the latter, the girl nodded curtly. "Thank you."

She'd see this through to the end. Chi-Chi felt the planet rumble beneath her feet again, and knew what was responsible for the tremors. That seed...when Tullece had revealed it, it had put her on edge. It looked...wrong. Everything about it radiated a sense of wrongness that she couldn't explain away.Mother...she would probably know...she'd know what's wrong with that...thing. Chi-Chi had no other word for it.I'll get to the bottom of this myself.

Namek, Location of the Battle with the Ginyū Squad

"What...whatwasthat?" Bulma shuddered. The planet had shaken, not once, but twice now, and whatever it was, Bulma could tell it was no normal seismic quake. She didn't knowwhatit was, but there was never a seismic quake like that. "Didn't you all feel that?!"

"Wasn't it just an groundquake?" inquired Jaco. "With Freeza and the Ginyū Special Squad on the loose, I think a shaking planet is the last of our worries."

Gokū shook his head firmly, a feeling of unknown dread creeping over him. His grandfather had always taught him to be acutely aware of nature; he was more like an animal than a man in that regard, and he knew something wasn't right. "That...that wasn't an ordinary shake. Whatever it was...it almost felt like the planet was screamin'."

"S-Screaming?" Tights repeated. S-Son, are you sure about that? That's ridiculous!"

"...Papa is right," chimed in Pan, looking from her parents and then off to the horizon. Like her father, she could tell something was amiss. "Something feels...really bad."

"Guys, this isn't the time for campfire stories," butted in Kuririn.

"I don't mean to interrupt your conversation," interjected Raditz, pointing towards the horizon. "But we don't have time for this idle banter. I can feel it; two largekibarreling right down on us. Jheese and the Captain are about to grace us with their presences."

"Tch..." Vegeta grunted. "The bastard didn't waste any time."

"And we're not going to either," replied Raditz. "Just keep the plan in mind when they arrive; Kakarrot and I are more than enough for those two."

"Listen here, you—" Nappa snapped, a vein throbbing in his forehead. Vegeta, however, raised a hand to silence him.

"Nappa, stand down," ordered Vegeta. While his voice was calm, he eyed Raditz with the utmost of loathing; it was clear the Prince of Saiyans wanted nothing more than to lunge now, but with Ginyū and Jheese closing in, as well as him not having a proper feel for Raditz's current strength, he wasn't so unwise as to attempt it. "Rush in half-co*cked and you might very well die."

The bulkier Saiyan desperately wanted to protest, but he heeded Vegeta's warning; if Vegeta could stand to hear Raditz's tone, then Nappa would put up with it, even if it was against his better judgement. Mercifully, their chances to continue arguing were brought to a literal crashing halt, Ginyū and Jheese smashing their forms into the ground with an explosion of crimson and lavender. At the sight of Jheese and Ginyū's arrival, Jaco, Tights, and Bulma ducked for the nearest cover they could find. Without wasting breath, Raditz shouted out,

"NOW!"

Vegeta, Aspara, Nappa, Pan, and Kuririn flared their auras, bursting into the sky and over the heads before Ginyū and Jheese were able to blink. Five streaks of light crossed the horizon, shining different colours, and leaving the two remaining members of the Ginyū Special Squadron gobsmacked.

"I...we...what in the bleedin' hell just happened?!" snarled Jheese.

"You didn't think we were wasting time in few minutes you were away, did you Jheese?" asked Raditz, his tail flicking at his side in apparent delight. "We had more than enough time to formulate a plan of action."

"W-What do we do now, Captain?" Jheese's voice hitched, the rising blood pressure and jumpiness that preceded ensuing panic making themselves known. "Those wankers are headed right towards Lord Freeza's ship!"

"Focus on what's in front of us," Ginyū ordered. Unlike Jheese, the Captain of the Ginyū Special Squadron, had recovered from his initial shock in mere moments. "That was your mistake last time, you allowed yourself to be too distracted." He placed a finger to the button at the side of his Scouter, scanning the combat strengths of the two Saiyans before him. The readings of 800 and 600 flashed across his screen, the leader of the Squad spitting in disgust when he saw them. "Just like I thought; there no way their readings are actually that low. They're suppressing their combat strength. Still, it's a bit strange; I never thought you'd be given trouble byRaditzof all people. And that man, is he—no, he's too young."

"Careful, Ginyū," replied Raditz, smiling nastily. "You'll regret underestimating me."

"So the purple guy is Gen-yuu?" Gokū observed. "I'll have a go at him then; you take Juice."

"Ginyū and Jheese," corrected Raditz lazily. "And why are you sidelining me with the weaker of the two, little brother?Ishould fight Ginyū, and you can fight Jheese."

"No way!" replied Gokū, turning from the duo to confront Raditz. "I can feel he's got some wicked power! I'm not going to pass up a chance like this!"

"If you're so confident, then go right ahead," replied Raditz, though the older of the two felt like he was giving in a tad too easily. Kakarrot had already had his fun with Reacoom and Butta, it seemed almost like a waste to pass Ginyū over to him.But at the same time, killing Jheese will have its own perks...

Gokū grinned, shifting his attention from Raditz to Ginyū and Jheese...

...just in time to be struck full-force in the jaw by a rush of purple.Ginyū's elbow was outstretched, the man's horned face splitting into the maddening grin of a man itching for a challenge. The second phase of the battle had now begun.

Chapter 30: Restraint and Wrath

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers
Chapter 30 - Restraint and Wrath
Written by LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

It was in an instant that Son Gokū found himself locking horns with someone considerably more capable. The first blow had him feeling a throbbing sensation of pain along his jaw as the captain of the squad lanced his elbow into his turned face. Despite the initial surprise, the man grinned past the inkling of stabbing needles in his mouth and twisted around to lob his heel around to the back of his horned adversary's skull.

Eyes bulging, the purple skinned man found himself sprawling in the air, head over heels. In one of his physical revolutions in the air, he saw Gokū twist his upper body around and throw his palm out, firing a kikoha straight at his exposed person. To the Saiyan's surprise, he halted in mid-body-spin and expertly deflected it while being perpindicular from the feet pointed to the angular haired Turtle Schooler.

"Not bad," The Squadron Commander replied, lifting himself upright with arms folded over his chest, maintaining altitude as he chuckled at Son Gokū's half-leaning levitated posture. "I really felt that one. And so quick after I caught you off guard, too. This might end up being more entertaining than I imagined."

"You're not half bad either," Gokū replied, landing himself back on the ground with a pair of taps. "I was a bit disappointed by Juice and the other guy, but you seem to be in a different league than them. Can't help but be a little excited."

"Your Saiyan blood pumping now? As I'd expect of your warrior race," Ginyū chuckled, shrugging as he appraised Gokū's person more informally. "But I can't judge; I too have a love of the clash of fists."

Gokū settled himself down into a stance, sliding his left bent knee forward while pointing his upper body in conjunction to it. Raising a mostly closed fist, with a pair of fingers jutting it into hooks, his back hand held aloft with the palm facing behind him, his right knee squatting by his side.

The wind rushed past his black hair, rustling his gi, and sending a slew of bluish grass sailing by the soles of his feet while caressing the banks of the lake surrounding them. In the backdrop of the pair of elite warriors, was another scuffle taking place. Flashes of light and balls of fire erupted not too distantly from them. In the periphery of their gaze they'd see Jheese, holding up a pair of spinning scarlet lit spheres, leaping away from a black-maned blur that raced towards him.

"Ya won't get past me, filthy monkey!" The white-haired, crimson skinned elite fighter snarled.

"Past you? Jheese, I'm circling around you," Raditz commented, grinning wryly as he kept his arms at his sides as he chased the man across the Nameccian landscape. "You've just yet to realize it."

"PISS OFF!" The crimson fireball roared out, launching one of his trademark Crusher Balls at the man's face. In a split second, the physical form disappeared, leaving a fading static impression that warped around the spiraling ball of destruction that whistled through the air and crashed into a distant island with a dramatic explosion. In the brief overcast of reddish-white light, Jheese twisted around to lob it as his Scouter bleeped in accordance to his reappearance.

Then it began to erratically ping as Raditz began to not just be at one place, but multiple ones. Yes, before Jheese's widened eyes and slackened jaw he'd watch the elder brother of Gokū dart around, producing dozens of Afterimages in his wake, all with a smug countenance of a smirk and arms crossed across his chest. They all spoke in conjunction, casting an eerie redundant timbre across the air.

"What's wrong, Jheese?"

"Can't keep up with me?"

"Why not check the Scouter?"

"I'm sure its just the machine and not you!"

"HRRRRRRR!" The tomato skin of Jheese turned darker red than one could imagine. Veins throbbed around his brow and jaw-line, hiskiof crimson overlapped and became a brilliant revolving fire. When he dissipated his remaining Crusher Ball, he himself had transformed into a physical matter of his own prized technique. Launching himself with a shrieking quickness he thrust a fist through one copy, then kicked another, splintering the earth and cracking the air with each scarlet streaked movement.

"Behind you!"

A voice announced itself behind the Ginyū Squadmate, followed by a trunk-sized leg crashing into his energy-embroiled back with a loud crack. Bowing with the blow, Jheese found his breath escaping his lungs and his vision threatening to darken.

Just as he struggled to flail his arms around to steady himself he'd watch as the massive biceps of his opponent materialized in front of his face.

A loud crack like a lightning touching the earth rebounded from his skull, snuffing out the flame of his energy entirely from the lariat's connection. It'd send him crashing the opposite way to skid across the ground with an explosive crashing impact into the island just opposite of the attacker.

"HAHA, what's wrong?" Raditz coyly questioned aloud, pulling his extended arm back and propping it on his hip where his other hand presided opposite of it. "You were so damn proud before, always lauding your rank whenever we crossed paths. Have the tables have turned this drastically that you haven't an ounce of dignity left?"

A sudden eruption from the crumbled pieces of earth came as an audible rebuttal to Raditz. While debris rained in a shower of smoke and dust, Raditz's hair flapped in the air like a smug flag, his smile deepening as angled eyes fixed on the silhouette rising from where seawater poured into the demolished land mass.

Heaving in place, Jheese's person was revealed, hunched over and breathing with obvious labor. Though he was only struck twice, blood was leaking from his twisted nostrils and oozing out of his mouth where several teeth had vacated from his orifice. But beyond the obvious injuries and the pain he was feeling, he was shaking with visible rage more than anything else.

"Y-You damn primate!" Jheese snarled, his energy rising up in another rolling sweep of light. "How dare a backwater weakling like you make a fool of me!"

"Jheese, I've done nothing but show you a fraction of what I'm capable of," Raditz boasted, his smirk revealing bared teeth as his eyes flashed dangerously. "You're acting the fool all on your own."

"JHEESE!" Ginyū bellowed out, surprising the pair. Amidst their battling they'd see the titular captain of the squadron was hand-locked with Gokū, the pair's arms shaking as they wrestled for physical dominance while pushing the island they stood upon in half from the exertion. "Don't lose your cool! They may have power but they lack your experience! Use that against him!"

"S-Sorry, sir," The white-maned fighter sheepishly lamented.

"Yes, use that experience you've had fighting people far below your class. I'm sure its beeninvaluableto your career," The Saiyan sibling jeered with a dark laugh.

"Talk while you can, monkey," Jheese growled, raising his hand upwards. "But you won't be so smug when I put a hole in your chest!"

To punctuate his claims a whirring sound revved up a sparking red light into his gloved palm. Twisting about as it expanded in mass, the light set an overcast of blistering crimson as it continued to stretch outwards. Once it achieved its maximum size did it equal the width enough to be as large as its user was; kicking up the wind with its threatening rotations it performed within fractions of a second.

"Get ready for my Super Crusher Ball," He declared with a boisterous holler. "I'm going to pulverize that body of yours into paste!"

Raditz remained silent, ever present with his smirk. As he watched his enemy hoisted his body around, assuming a posture reminiscent of an Earthling pitcher, he'd throw his whole back into tossing the swollen orb towards its target.

Deceptively swift, its shape swerved and streaked into a zigzagging line that maneuvered itself in erratic directions. Black eyes danced across the whites of his eye sockets, homing in on the actual shape of his enemy's technique without moving an inch.

Seeing it juke towards him, he'd throw his arm around and aim to bat it with his large muscular appendage. To his surprise, it looped up over his arm and arched itself to crash over his head, into the earth with a guiding motion of Jheese's not-too-distant gloved hand.

"I GOT YA!" He yelled with triumph, watching the shape of Raditz become swallowed up by his Super Crusher Ball before it'd elastically expand outward in a massive explosion that threw him off his own feet and decimate the island that the pair were battling on. The lake showered into the air as steam and another puncture in the planet's surface became evident as a dark hole with smoke ebbing from it was made manifest.

Breathing heavily, Jheese chuckled neurotically, righting himself in the air and marveling at his handiwork.

"I got ya! The bugger is toast!"

A rasping cough behind him brought his laughter to an immediate halt. Looking over his shoulder, he'd lurch back with horror at the sight of some soot marring Raditz's uniform and a few hairs standing on end; but otherwise looked completely unharmed!

"H-How?! I-I saw you-"

"Yeah, you got me," Raditz hacked, spitting out comical wads of dirt and smoke from his mouth as he dusted himself off. "Dodged the explosion at the last instant, though. Didn't think your Squash Ball was going to be that quick on the curve, but, it makes no difference," He stopped, looking up with an even, icy glare. "Was that your best shot, or do you want to keep going?"

"K-Kek! You-!" Jheese haggardly spat out, feeling his fury give way to bone chilling fear. Sweat poured down his marred face he raised a shaking hand and began to rev up another spiraling sphere of the same proportion, though he looked quite winded from the effort. "Th-That was just a fluke! You won't survive it this time!"

Throwing his Super Crusher Ball, he'd perform another dizzying array of zigzags. This time Raditz didn't attempt to following it with his eyes, simply staring ahead at Jheese's gesturing fingers. Even as the apprehensively attacking squad mate caught sight of his steely coals for eyes watching him attentively, he still tried to maneuver it around to jerk around and hit him from behind in the air.

A loud CLAP! was made as Raditz swung one arm over his shoulder and caught it without batting an eye. The sight of it made Jheese's mouth nearly unhinge, and his Scouter bleeped with sporadically shifting numbers. Taking his rotating ball of light in front of him, the Saiyan impossibly put it between both palms and ground it between flexing fingers hard enough to make it release sputtering sparks and the sound of a deflating balloon.

All while giving Jheese a deadpan stare as it shrunk and sputtered pathetically under his grip.

"N-No-!" He gasped. "I-Impossible!"

"So, I have to ask," Raditz dryly spoke, a bored look crossing his face. "What wassuperabout that ball?"

"C-Captain..." He began to whimper, his eyes watering as his skin turned into a shade lighter red as he paled all over.

Raising up a gauntlet covered hand, a crackling sphere of pink with jagged arcs of yellow energy whistled around the Saiyan's palm. Grinning savagely, he lifted his arm up and then threw the projectile at Jheese's paralyzed person, "Here's arealSuper Ball!"

"H-H-H-HEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL-!"

The scream never fully formed, the energy tearing into him and spreading out like crooked lightning. The howling torrent of energy eviscerated him, tearing through armor like paper mache and boiling his blood straight through his skin. His face elongated horrifically, his body twisting like a pretzel before disintegrating in an oblong blast of raspberry light that detonated loudly in the sky.

Ginyū spun from a fierce fisticuff exchange with Gokū, his mouth agape with both horror and bewilderment at what took place.

"No...Jheese!" He yelled out, causing Gokū to stop his assault and turn to see what his brother did. "All of my men...are dead..."

"Raditz! Why did you have to go and kill him?!" Gokū cried out from his position, ignoring the lament coming from his opponent, showing his own objections to the violent act. "He was already beaten, wasn't he? Why not let him live?"

Savoring the moment a few moments longer, Raditz's dark grin turned sour as he looked over his shoulder down at Gokū and Ginyū, "I thought we had this talk before, little brother. We can't afford sentimentality with enemies like these. What would happen if we let him run to report to Freeza? Or worse, somehow caught up to your woman or daughter?"

Gritting his teeth, Gokū looked away but shook in place. It was a sour taste in his mouth to admit his elder sibling had a point. He'd be putting his loved ones in danger if he ran and decided to do something abhorrent. But still...it seemed like such a waste!

"Speaking of which," Raditz intoned, looking over at the prone body of Burter, miraculously intact despite the violence surrounding it. "I still feelkicoming from him. You spared his life when you struck him, didn't you?"

A cold feeling gripped Son Gokū's spine as he heard Raditz's words. Looking up he'd see him point a curled fingered palm, a swelling yellow light forming within the base of his palm as he aimed it at the inert body of the second to last survivor of the Ginyū Squadron.

A sudden gust of wind left his side, and Gokū blinked as he saw a silhouette rush up behind Raditz, producing a pair of angry burning circles glaring at the Saiyan's back as it swung a knife hand towards his neck. With wide eyes the older Saiyan brother turned around in a blur of his mane, his aiming arm clashing against a purple humanoid limb, releasing a crackling blast of air and tendrils of friction-produced electricity. With his eyes homed in on wide staring eyes, Ginyū's face shown a particular breed of rage the former henchman of Vegeta didn't he'd see.

"Do not disrespect my men further,Saiyan," Ginyū snarled, his arm pressuring against Raditz's with enough tenacity that it produced sparks between their flexing biceps. "And wait your turn! Once I am finished with your brother, I'm coming for you!"

Raditz felt his eyes shimmer, his body throbbing all over from his core. He had to will himself to not lash out at the sudden attack. Restraint kept him from showing offthatkind of power when there was still bigger battles to be fought.

As much as he never thought he'd hear himself think it,Ginyūwasn't the one he came here for.

Pulling back, Ginyū shimmered out of view and landed back across from Gokū, his arms at his sides and his smile rearmed on his visage.

"I apologize about that sudden outburst, but I couldn't abide by your brother's actions," The Captain spoke, his eyes narrowing in memory. "Speaking of which, it took me awhile, but I think I remember why you looked so familiar. Your father was Bardock, the elite Saiyan that alone stood against Freeza when he laid waste to your world. The resemblance is quite uncanny."

"I'm not sure anything about that, but Raditz certainly talks a lot about him," Gokū intoned, his eyes stoically locking back onto the horned alien man's. "There's still time to walk away, though. You're quite strong, and you have quite a lot of skill. You even have a heart, to protect your men like that. It'd be a shame if you died here. Why not leave Freeza now and-?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Ginyū bellowed out, surprising Gokū whom shared owlish blinks of confusion to him. "I am no common thug like Dodoria, nor a lapdog like Zarbon! I am an elite fighter with honor and pride that's served him since his father had retired. I will not be persuaded to abandon my objective, no matter how dire. So like it or not,Kakarrotyou cannot stop this fight through words. Only with our fists can we end this."

"I mean, if you want," Gokū scratched his chin, weakly smiling as he did. "But...that speed you just showed. That was your best, wasn't it?"

"Hardly," The horned alien guffawed, scoffing as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But if you want an accurate estimate, I'd say it had over half of my power in that little demonstration."

"Oh, I see," The Turtle Schooler spoke with a 'o' for his mouth. "But, I'm not sure that's good enough. You should probably try harder."

"Why is that?" The strongest soldier of Freeza inquired with a raised, wrinkled brow.

"Because," Gokū leaned his neck to the side in simple explanation. "I'm not even at half strength right now."

Blink.

That's all the Captain of the Ginyū Special Squadron could do. This whole time he had been trading blows, sharing stings of damage, barb each other for weaknesses and testing each other's mettle...and he wasn't even at half his full power?

Shaking his head, he laughed, a bead of sweat showing on his vein pronounced bulbous scalp.

"Nice try," He spoke, his laugh full of mirth as he gestured. "You had me worried there. But, in my personal professional experience, I've felt out your power. You're actually just able to keep up with me because I am allowing it. There's no possible way you have more to give at this level."

"Haha, maybe not ordinarily," Gokū spoke, his grin turning wry and his eyes angling to show a serious side of himself; amplified by the raise of a single finger upward. "But, with the Kaioken, certainly."

"Kaio...can?" The Captain inquired with furrowed flaps of skin making up his brow. "I've...never heard of such a technique!"

"Hehe," Son Gokū dug his elbows into his sides, his hair already rising up as he focused on the energy within him like Kaio instructed. "Let me...show you...what I mean...hngh!"

BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP!

Ginyū's eyes widened and he felt himself begin to step back. The air felt hotter and convulsed with a sudden burst of wind from where his opponent stood. The Saiyan's skin turned beet red and veins throbbed over his flesh as a magnificent flame of pure crimson burst up from the ground till it came to full circumference over his torch-raised scalp. His voice let out a feral bellow, and the numbers began to climb, farther and farther, till Ginyū saw them surpass his own maximum power, and then again, and then again even still.

300,000

"T-Three H-Hundred T-Thousand?!" He shrieked, his voice hitting a pitch he normally didn't associate his throat hitting. Sweat poured off his face as he shook heavily in place, his gaping mouth looking at a terrifying black figure within a raging inferno of power. "How can this be?! A Saiyan can't be this strong! Impossible! Inconceivable!"

"You think this is impressive," Gokū spoke through bared teeth, a hint of a smile seen past it. "I can go even higher in short bursts."

"Y-You can do WHAT now?!" Ginyū hollered, his body shivering place, doing its best not to leap away to gain some distance from this freak of nature.

It was at this moment, that the Captain of the Ginyū Special Squadron had remembered. Stories echoed ever since the takeover by Freeza. Beings that were of legendary power that only appeared every one thousand years. They were unrivaled in ferocity and were wrath incarnate. Power born from fury and a vicious thirst for bloodshed, they were the best of the best and the last of them had destroyed itself with its own power consuming him.

"I-It can't be!" Ginyū staggered back, almost looking on with reverence. "The stories were true after all! You're the...the legendary Super Saiyan!"

Raditz, from on high, couldn't help but scoff. He had tasted Gokū's Kaioken firsthand and it was indeed a terrifying thing to experience with his body as the library of knowledge of how it worked. Much like how Earthlings' could alter their battle power, his little brother was taught a way to alter it on a wholly physical level to increase output on every minute detail of their strength. Senses, ki, strength, speed, all of it was amplified with a drawback.

"To think he can casually maintain a third fold multiplier as if its nothing. My brother's body is treating as if this is natural," Raditz thought, his eyes narrowing at the bristling red flare of light that embroiled his sibling. "But why is he hesitating? Surely one blow in that state should render even Ginyū inert?"

"Now do you understand how pointless further fighting is?" The Turtle Schooler spoke, the glare fixed at him with a fiery wisp of white circling his normally black eyes. "You will die if you fight me and it won't mean a thing to Freeza if he's half the things I heard about. Leave this world now and come back to face me once you've gotten stronger!"

While Raditz felt himself bemoan his flesh and blood's naive nature, Ginyū felt himself surprised.

The horned soldier had heard the intricacies of the stories from the king at one point, so he knew of its side effects and what was made of it. While he's never seen one like the rest of the now deceased race, this wasn't what he thought it was.

"I see," Ginyū proclaimed, far calmer than he once was before. Grasping his Scouter, he took it off his head and tossed it to the ground beside him. "You haven't transformed yet. If you had, then this fight would've been over. You're still trying to scare me."

"But even you can see I'm still much stronger than you!" Gokū persisted, maintaining his form despite the discomfort. "Give up and leave!"

"If its strength that's the only thing different between you and I," He spoke eerily low, charging up a swathe of energy around his right hand. "Then I'll have to turn the tables!"

Before Gokū could further rebuke him, Ginyū raised his hand up and then stabbed himself through the chest, straight through his armor. Raditz's eyes opened wide, surprised just as his younger brother was. It was enough that his sibling dropped his technique and looked on with morbid curiosity at Ginyū's now smiling face that began to cough up deep purple ichor that ran assuredly off his hand and out of the gaping hole around his upper torso.

"Wh-Why did you do that to yourself?!" The Turtle Schooler cried out incredulously.

"Oho, but you see...Ididdo it toyou!" He spoke menacingly with a glint of malice shining in his eyes.

"Wait, how do you mean-?"

It happened in an instant before Raditz even thought to voice a warning.

The horned alien raised his hands up, as if posing for something ridiculous, and let out a loud phrase escape his throat.

"CHANGE - NOW!"

A blinding flash of light struck the leaner built Saiyan. A haunting echo of a laugh radiated the metaphysical space between them as the astral forms of themselves became entwined by this strange mystical energy.

When it ended, both pairs of energies Raditz felt were changed somehow. They didn't feel right and he lowered himself down to the ground in an instant, facing both of them with a scowl armed on his face.

"Okay, what the Hell did you do, Ginyū?!" He shouted at the horned monster.

"A-Agh!" The Squadron's leader grimaced, holding onto his wound and barely keeping himself from falling to his knees. "This pain...wait, why do I sound so...weird?"

"No..."

"Oh yes," He heard a chilling tone escape his little brother's lips. Turning around, Raditz looked with wide eyes at Gokū - no, Ginyū - smiling evilly as he raised up his hands and laughed maniacally at his achievement. "This body, I can feel its power! Fantastic! Marvelous, even! With three hundred thousand or greater, I can easily make quick work of you and Vegeta's louts."

"G-Give me back my body!" Gokū spoke through Ginyū's lips, pointing with weak resistance at the man that looked like him now.

"You can't have it back. Its mine now," He smirked smugly, turning to look at Raditz. "Now that you've seen what I can do, are you going to surrender, or shall I kill you? I would much rather avenge my men than let their murderer run free."

It was Ginyū's time to suddenly look on with bewilderment. One moment, Raditz was fixed into a state of frustration and anger. The next, he shifted dramatically to something far more sinister. Teeth bared, a smile stretched from ear to ear while a darkened glare shined from his now glowing eyes.

It was a look that Gokū understood, and he desperately tried to raise his hands, "R-Raditz, don't do it! That's my body-!"

"-that you lost!" He bellowed, the force of his voice sending Ginyū's body staggering backwards till it fell on its backside. Energy began to waft off him, an reddish-coral light tinting it as a yellow swirled across his normally black irises into golden rings of visceral anger. "No more, little brother. You get tositthere and let me fixyourmistake. And you will learn to pay thepricefor you not listening to me and see how arealSaiyan does his work."

Ginyū had darted to his Scouter and placed it onto his face as he started hearing it beep. The numbers that flashed over his face was rising far steadily higher than he anticipated. He swore he saw him get bigger, his body becoming more swollen and cover the Sun behind him to encroach a shadow that covered his much smaller body. Instead of what he was expecting, he saw a silhouette that had Raditz's shape and glaring a pair of golden eyes down at him with a vicious grin armed on his face.

"N-No," He gaped, looking at his now cracking Scouter. "I-It can't be!"

"You picked the wrong brother's body to steal, Ginyū!" Raditz sneered, lifting up a raised fist as he erupted with fiery energy. "Not that I'm going to complain; I got repressed feelings I've beendyingto vent on you!"

Freeza's Ship, Namek

The sound of flickering, burning fire was music to Tullece's ears. Regardless of how she'd done it, Chi-Chi had slaughtered Freeza's soldiers marvelously, and the destruction she'd caused to the ship — slight, but enough to get minor oil fires started — while exactly the opposite of what he'd asked, had produced a serene quality to accompany the carnage that Tullece had come to enjoy. The slaughter of Freeza's soldiers may have proved unnecessary; after all, if one intends to take over an empire, would it not be best to claim their soldiers?

Should all this go according to plan, I'll have means of producing loyal soldiers and then some,Tullece thought to himself.I have no need for those who would willingly betray Freeza.From inside the ship, the sounds of the outside were muffled, yet Tullece kept a vigilant eye on the seed he planted. When it had entered the ground, the planet quivered. There were many who would have equated that to the planet crying or screaming; to Tullece, however, it was the swansong of something about to become part of a bigger whole. Truth be told, idling his time was not Tullece's way of spending it; however, he was unfamiliar with the growth period of the seed. Or, to be more accurate, it varied by planet, and even more troublesome, by system.

On a planet such as this, rich in nature with very little in the way of advanced civlisation,Tullece bit his thumb,I may be sitting here until Freeza returns. I knew luck would factor into this, but I can only hope those Nameccians are keeping him busy.

THUD!

The noise of a body hitting the ground caught Tullece's sensitive Saiyan ears; he felt them twitch as they responded to the sound several times over. His tail furling loosely around his waist, the Saiyan stood up, making his way outside of the ship. The first thing he noticed was that the rain had finally stopped; perhaps he'd been too engrossed in his own thoughts to pay attention to the furious beating against the ship that had become the most common sound for the past standard half-hour. The seed hadn't needed much rain; what it had gotten would be sufficient.

The second thing that caught Tullece's eye was the pile of bodies — he counted eight in total, perhaps more buried underneath the lot — resting outside in a manner that a feline would present its owner with a fresh kill. He recognised them as the scouts about which he'd warned Chi-Chi. Tullece's immediate next action was to search for Chi-Chi, but he needn't look far. She was descending from the sky, a vivid red aura fading from her body.

"Was this your doing?"

"You warned me against Freeza's scouts," replied Chi-Chi firmly. "So I handled 'em before they made it back to the ship. It wouldn't do for word to get our about what we're doing, would it?" She glanced at the spot where the seed was planted, to the ship, which on the outside appeared undamaged, but she knew she'd done a small number on it inside. "I hardly believe this'd be a proper use of your boss' time or equipment."

"I'm impressed," replied Tullece, sincerity in his tone. "I didn't expect you to take action like that, but it certainly simplifies a few things."

"Thanks for the praise, boss," Chi-Chi replied sardonically. If Tullece noticed, he at least pretended not to. "I know you're waiting on that seed to do somethin', but how long do you expect it to take?"

Tullece's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't given her anything beyond the vaguest of details when she'd asked questions, so suffice to say that 'shocked' was an understatement when Chi-Chi had let those words slip from her mouth. "I'm impressed. I hadn't told you it was a seed, so the fact that you figured it out amazes me." His mouth thinned, the smile betraying his own amusem*nt. "You're going to make for a fantastic partner, woman."

"Chi-Chi," replied the armor-clad Princess ruefully.

"Pardon?"

"Chi-Chi," she repeated. "You've used my name before, so drop the 'woman'. If you won't call me by name, this isn't going to work."

"Fine, I can acquiesce that much, Chi-Chi," replied Tullece, amused. "But since you've asked, let me see if I can create an example you can understand." Gesturing lazily to where the seed was planted, he continued, "Imagine the seed is yeast, and the planet is akin to an oven. Depending on the quality of the 'heat', the longer it can take for it to take effect," A grim chuckle escaped Tullece, his throat quivering. "Though, unlike bread, when it risesthere's nothing that can stop its growth."

"I don't cook," replied Chi-Chi dryly, Tullece's face reminding her of the man who was the reason why she wasn't joyfully preparing an evening meal over a hot stove. "But I suppose I get the gist."

"Good," Tullece nodded. "I assure you, stick with me, and you'll see with your own eyes just what I will have wrought upon this planet. And, at my side, you will profit from it in a way that no one else will."

That just confirms it,Chi-Chi's ebony eyes hovered over the seed's planted location, darting to and from the disturbed soil to Tullece himself.I have to get rid of that seed. But I can't do it while he's watching. So long as this doesn't get more complicated. The last person I need to see is that Veg—

Her thoughts were cut across abruptly, she and Tullece startled to see the arrival of three figures landing softly onto the rain-soaked grass outside Freeza's ship.

"—eta," the black-haired woman finished aloud.Damn it, why is he here!?

"Vegeta," Tullece said pleasantly, though the smile that played on his mouth did not reach his eyes, which remained as cold and unreadable. "I'm rather surprised to see you here..." His eyes swiveled towards his daughter, who flinched instinctively, and he finished the sentence in his thoughts,alive.

"And what is this?" inquired Vegeta, curiously examining Chi-Chi with his eyes. "You're wearing a Combat Jacket typical of Freeza's army; did you switch sides, woman?"

"It means what it looks like," replied Chi-Chi tersely, her eyes meeting Tullece's for only the briefest of seconds. As loathe as she was to admit it, the exchange of information happened between the two without words.Whatever our alliance is, Vegeta is to be no part of it. Vegeta is not to be trusted.She could take this to heart. Chi-Chi's torso stung as a vivid reminder of the fact that Vegeta wasnotan ally.

"So you're more duplicitous than I expected," observed the Saiyan Prince. "Aspara, Nappa, it looks like we've got ourselves a duo of co-conspirators." At this, Aspara and Nappa reflexively took stances, almost itching for a battle.

"That isn't the case," Chi-Chi said sharply. "I saw a chance, and when I realised it was more beneficial to ally myself with your lot, I did it. Besides..."

"...this is an offer for you, my Prince," Tullece cut in, relieving Chi-Chi of the need to spin a tale on the spot. That was, after all, his talent. "These slaughtered soldiers were to clear the path for you. We've even located the Dragon Balls, and you can use them at your leisure."

"Tullece, you're a lying bastard and you know it!" snarled Nappa. "You just told Vegeta you weren't expecting to see him! Don't go talking circles around us."

Aspara remained silent. She knew that's precisely what her fatherwasdoing; if he could use his silver tongue the right way, Vegeta wouldn't kill him or the woman. As much as she ached to do it, part of her simply could not raise a hand to the man. It was an instinctive fear that overpowered her desire to fight, her urge to kill. Aspara was still scared and inwardly, she cursed herself.

Seeing that trying to bluff wasn't working when even Nappa could pierce through such an obvious lie, Tullece himself began to sweat. Even without a Scouter, he could tell that a fully healed prince was far stronger than he was when he had let him run loose days ago. The fact he was here, and none of the Ginyūs in sight, made him contemplate that he might perish if he doesn't choose his words carefully.

"Alright, you got me," Tullece shrugged, adding a humored smile as he bobbed his head nonchalantly. "I didn't do it for you. But it works out nonetheless, right? You don't have to sully your hands on such peons beneath your notice and it keeps the ship intact. After all, I'm sure you don't want to confiscate some cramped ships for your victory cruise, now do you?"

Chi-Chi couldn't help but tense up, her hands balling up and her eyes barely kept from widening at how he kept talking so slyly. Unlike the man he so closely resembles, he knew how to use his words and was far more intelligent than most of the people she was contending or in association to. Then again, her gaze looked at the prince and his steely coals for eyes didn't break its hardened glare at the angle-maned man, as if measuring what he said and the cons of taking him at his word now.

Then, she heard a chuckle that made her spine crawl, and the blue blooded alien briefly looked in her direction - for a moment, making her stomach lurch - before relaxing his posture and crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're right. You do sweep out the trash quite nicely. I can see why Freeza kept you around as a lapdog," The Prince said with a thin smile, the contempt evident in his voice. Lightening up, he closed his eyes and let out a sated breath from his nostrils. "However, I'm in a really good mood. I'll let you and the woman live. After all, who else would I rather watch when immortality becomes ours."

The emphasis placed on what he said brought a haughty smirk on Nappa and a paled look of understanding on Aspara's face. Chi-Chi relaxed, realising she was out of harm's way for the moment, but couldn't help but wonder why the female Saiyan was looking so worried.

She understood immediately when she heard the prince speak.

"Aspara, you heard your old man. Would you be so kind as to retrieve the balls for us? I don't want the Earthlings behind us give us trouble when we finally obtain our justly earned reward of eternal life."

The others...!Chi-Chi remembered, her eyes bolting wide while Tullece looked over at her with a disapproving stare. Swallowing hard, she reined in her emotions and kept the best impassive expression while Aspara cast one last apprehensive look to her father. Met with no real emotion she felt as if she was allowed to follow the prince's orders and she quickly dashed to the spot of freshly wet dirt from the earlier storm.

With a brief sweep of her hand, the earth was rendered obsolete, and the balls were unveiled. Despite the slick mud and being unearthed, the large spheres wider than her own waist were still immaculate. Likely due to their magical nature, she suspected.

Focusing with her mind she compelled the balls upwards, levitating them by a moderately skilled use of one of her lesser skills of psychic persuasion, telekinesis. As the spheres orbited around her she glanced with her eyes to be set in front of her father, Chi-Chi and the still two standing cohorts of hers she resents being in association with. Releasing a sigh from her briefly parted mouth, she trotted over to her original spot, trying her best to avert her gaze to her father less they suspect her of treachery.

"Finally, at long last...!" The Prince raved, his voice swelling with excitement as his gloves trembled across his chest. "Immortality is within our grasp!"

A ping sounded in his head, briefly halting his jubilation. Looking over his shoulder, he growled, seeing the outline of several incoming auroras of paler colored figures. In addition there appeared to be a vehicle that was moving just alongside it.

"V-Vegeta! They've caught up to us!"

"I felt them before you even noticed, Nappa," Vegeta sneered, turning his head back towards the balls. Raising his hands up to the sky, he then began to shout, his voice filled with a demand as well as unconstrained excitement. "DRAGON! I, VEGETA, DESIRE THAT YOU GRANT MY TWO LOYAL HENCHMAN AND I ETERNAL LIFE! GIVE US IMMORTALITY! THIS I, THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS, COMMAND YOU!"

Chi-Chi had never bore witness to a wish from the legendary Dragon Balls. She had heard of them from her father, and even seen the orbs on Earth on occasion. She had no idea what to expect when the dragon was to burst forth in all of its terrifying stature and mystifying power.

And she was still left wondering, after a prolonged silence was spent between the five present. The translucent balls sat there, not moving an inch or even glowing a little bit. It was as if it was doing nothing to spite the prince, or by some hand of fate, stall long enough for the band of unlikely heroes to arrive to intervene.

Either way, Vegeta began to gasp aloud, "W-Why? Why isn't it working?! They're all here! What more do I need?!"

"So it wasn'tjustFreeza," Chi-Chi sighed with relief, momentarily forgetting how Freeza said and acted the same way when she was spying from afar. Eyeing Tullece, the man bore no outward sign that he was enjoying this, but she could see his tail shaking in place, as if this brought genuine joy to the Saiyan.

"W-What do we do now, Vegeta?" Nappa inquired, looking down at the man as he grimaced fiercely with frustration.

"Ah! What do you know?" Kuririn's voice sounded as he made a soft landing just beside the Saiyans and Chi-Chi. With Pan dropping beside him, the Capsule airship parked momentarily behind them with Jaco, Tights and Bulma unfastening themselves from the restraints to land and promptly re-capsule the transport as the dwarf looked up knowingly at the frustrated prince. "I told ya, if Freeza couldn't get them to work, it was more than likely none of us can. Not without a Nameccian who knows better."

"Did I ask for your input,Earthling?!"

"My prince," Vegeta whirled around, his irate expression freezing up as he looked shockingly at Chi-Chi; someone that Kuririn and the others glanced with surprise at her change in attire. Placing a hand on her chest, she placed a foot forward and began to express. "I've been to the Grand Elder's. It is likely that he knows how to perform a ritual or a password to have proper use of the balls. If I am allowed, I can go quickly to him and find out what it is."

"So what, you can just turn tail and run?" Nappa asked with a dubious expression on his face. "Fat chance of that! You're staying put right here, woman!"

"I know where it is, though-!"

"Are you hard of hearing?" Aspara inquired, her eyes icily staring at her with a look that told her that it was a mistake to push on the issue. "If you take one step without our say-so, you're dead. End of discussion. Our prince is allowing you to live simply for the spectacle of our wish for immortality. Don't expect any more leeway than that."

"Uh, I hate to break this nail biting tension," Bulma waved, bringing incredulous looks from the Saiyans, Chi-Chi and a curious look from Tullece at her. "But you people do realize that Freeza is more than likely heading that direction? If none of us go there to at least find this out, or even try to save his life from that lunatic boss of yours, no one gets a wish but someone hellbent on genocide and tyranny. Please, stop me if I'm wrong."

Tights subtly withdrew a notepad she kept in her back pocket, fiercely scribbling down everything she was seeing while Jaco nervously glanced every way imaginable.

Vegeta stood there, stonily glaring at everyone present. As he contemplated everything going on, something he had ignored in the back of his mind was a distant feeling that brought the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on edge. He couldn't shake it, but he felt something monstrous was in the horizon, but he knew it couldn't be Freeza.

Then, as if to answer and unasked question, a heavy tap landed right beside Bulma, the silhouette revealing the enormous stature and long mane of a Saiyan with another body slumped over his shoulder.

"Alright, what in the Hell is the hold up, here?" Raditz grated aloud, bringing looks of surprise at him from all sides.

"U-Uncle Raditz!" Pan cried out with joyful surprise.

"Nephew?!" Tullece croaked with a gawking expression.

"Raditz!" Nappa squeaked, his face oblong and full of shock at his sudden entrance, as much as Vegeta stared wide-eyed at his instant arrival and Aspara shrank at the sight of him.

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be done that quick!" Kuririn turned with a relieved exclaimation. Seconds later, he squinted his eyes up at the bloodied form over his shoulder and his stomach sank. "D-Don't tell me...i-is that-?"

"Don't fuss," He growled, throwing the bruised and bloodied form of his younger brother onto the ground with an undignified thud. While Bulma let out a horrified shout, the elder brother placed a finger in his ear and gave a grimaced snort. "The fool just had to press his luck. Apparently the Ginyū fellow showed why he hasn't been replaced as the top squadron leader in years. He stole Gokū's body in a moment of surprise."

"H-He stole papa's body?!" Pan took a step back, the color threatening to drain on her face at hearing that.

"What Ginyū didn't count on was that I was stronger than my little brother," Raditz emphasized with a smug grin, crossing his chest with both arms as he nodded over to him. "Say your sorry for putting me through so much of a headache, brother. Do it, and I may get you fixed up."

"S-Sorry, e-everyone," Gokū grinned, one eye swollen over while a couple of teeth looked ready to fall out from his crooked jawline. His gi, tattered, and torn to shreds. Blood and bruises covered the majority of his person, yet he was surprisingly without much in the way of disfiguration or loss of limbs. He simply looked spent.

"You idiot," Bulma fussed over him, hugging around his neck and then - with Tights help - hauled him upright with one arm lanced over theirs as they stood him up. Looking over at Tullece, she almost did a doubletake as the man looked with his own brand of speechless shock. "You...you're-"

"So itisKakarrot," Tullece spoke, his voice hollow and his body slackened for the first time. His eyes couldn't shake the feeling he had, of a scarred man that looked so familiar that it brought the memory back to the fore for an instant. But, just as quickly as it came, his smirk adorned on his face and he chuckled aloud. "To see both of my nephews, and one of their children no less, at the same time. This really is fate to bring us all together on this backwater planet."

"Wait, you're his uncle?" Bulma questioned with wide eyes.

"Wow, what a family resemblance," Kuririn propped his hands on his hips. "He almost looked like a twin. Now that I look at him, he does look a bit different, though."

"Bardock and I were twins. That's the resemblance," Tullece retorted, nodding to Bulma with a still armed smile. "Go ahead inside of the ship. There's plenty of available healing tanks that can get him back to full strength in a short time; we may need his help with Freeza still around."

"S-Sure," Bulma hesitantly complied, nodding to him as she helped haul him in while Tights kept a longing stare at him; full of wonderment and awe at just the sight of him.

"Dwarf!" Raditz barked out, instantly causing the shorter ex-orin monk to swerve around at being shouted at. "You know where the old Nameccian is, right? Go find him before Freeza does. He may have possibly hidden his power or moved since Freeza departed so there's still a chance you may find out what we need to know."

"Uh...all alone?" He gulped, feeling himself shaking at the prospect of being in the cross airs of a verified monster.

"Yes, because I don't trust anyone else here," Raditz snarled, stamping his foot and holding a hand out, priming a swelling orb ofkiwithin it. "Or do I have to send you flying?!"

"No, I'm going! I'm going!" He fearfully cried back, igniting in a mantle of light and shooting off into the horizon, making a beeline for the place he remembered heading to since before.

Lowering his hand, he disengage the ball of light and turned to look at Vegeta and his two cohorts, "You three should get some rest. With no night cycle, there's no telling how lacking of strength you have and I don't want any of you slowing me down."

"You got a lot of nerve talking to us like that, you damn traitor!" Nappa snarled, pointing a beefy hand at the long-haired former companion of theirs. "Just who do you take us for?! The only one giving out orders here is-"

"That's enough, Nappa!" Vegeta bellowed, harshly enough that it brought the general to heel and looking down aghast at his superior. Nasally sighing, Vegeta looked at the pair and nodded them to the ship. "For all of his talk, he has shown results. If he could take down Ginyū then we are in no shape to have a fight with him and then Freeza. As much as it turns my stomach, we will place a hold on our impasse...for now."

"Tch, consider yourself lucky," The Saiyan General jeered, strutting away with a persistent glare as he left ahead of the three. Aspara, casting a nervous momentary look to Tullece only to see the man armed with an ear-to-ear smile. It made her spine chill, and she looked away as soon as she was in the know of what her father's schemes were aiming.

As the prince gave a stony look to Raditz he looked to Pan and scoffed, "Hell must have frozen over for me to side with you freaks again!"

"Its a long road before we end up there, my lord," Tullece muttered, turning to join the prince inside, causing Chi-Chi to walk closely behind him. She cast a worried stare at Raditz, the man looking at her with a steely look of caution as much as suspicion. Biting her lip she cast her gaze back towards the shoulders that reminded her of the man she saw, bloodied and beaten, that she couldn't bring herself to even speak to in the condition he was in. Even in arm's length, she felt at loss at what to say or do.

It'll be fine. Once everyone is distracted, I'll sneak away and then dispose of the seed, Chi-Chi thought, a determined look crossing her face as she kept in arm's length of the man she's joined forces with.I'm not sure about this Freeza, or even Vegeta, but this man's plan might destroy the whole planet if he gets his way; and what happens to SonGokū, and Pan? No, I can't allow him to succeed...I must stop him, at any cost!

"But—"

"Elder, I—"

"My sons, let me speak," The Grand Elder cut across them both, his hoarse tones strong and firm. "My life ever wanes...and as it does...our Earthling friends chances of using the Dragon Balls to save those dear to them will be snatched away. And...nearer to us draws the...originator of this evil. The screams of my sons...and your brothers shriek out from his soul...their blood stains his hands. Whether I die of old age...or by his hand, the Dragon Balls will be no more."

"Elder, why are you telling us this?" inquired Nail, daring to interrupt. "You make the situation sound impossible. It isn't like you to remind us of our helplessness."

"Because that...is not what I am doing," replied the Grand Elder. "Come to me...you two. Stand adjacent; Nail...take a knee."

Confused, but obedient, Dende and Nail followed the instructions of the Eldest Nameccian. Dende stood timidly at the Grand Elder's side, while Nail respectfully bent a knee, so that his forehead reached the sidearm of throne, and it was only stuck in this position that Nail realised precisely what the Grand Elder intended. Withered hands placed themselves on the scalps of both Nameccians; from deep within their bodies, a sudden surge of power was pulled forth, manifesting differently for the both of them.

A rush of silver, glowing pure, erupted from the taller and shorter Nameccian; Nail stood tall, cloaked in an aura of pure white. Dende, wide-eyed, looked at his own body, mirrored with a similar aura.

"Your powers...my sons...I've brought your abilities as members of the Warrior and Dragon Clans to the forefront."

"This is...amazing, my Elder," The physical changes that came with the increase — a slight increase in muscle mass to accommodate his body's expanded reservoir of ki — was nothing compared to the feeling of the rush. Among his people, Nail was the strongest of the Warrior Class. Trained from when he hatched to defend the oldest of their people, the Grand Elder, it would take a multitude of the Nameccian warriors who had lived on this planet to merge and equal his strength. With the power he possessednow...

"I've become the strongest Nameccian in the history of our people."

"B-But I'm not a fighter..." said Dende meekly. "How can I help, Grand Elder?"

"Your talents...lie in your mystical powers...my son..." explained the Grand Elder. "Of all the sons I have birthed...there is none...with more potential for our spiritual arts than yourself." The oldest Nameccian's body shuddered violently as he entered a coughing fit, yet he waved Dende and Nail off weakly when they offered assistance. "My health is of no consequence...for soon it shall not be merely my own." Ignoring the looks of confusion on his sons' faces, the Grand Elder continued to speak. "Dende...you are of the Dragon Clan...and your abilities lie within the creation and maintaining of our sacred relics, the Dragon Balls."

The Dragon Clan, Nail knew, was the clan of Nameccians with the highest aptitude for magical power. All Nameccians possessed magic on some level, and could even use it in their day to day lives. And in the heyday of the Nameccian people, many of the Dragon Clan had been examples of what other species would call 'warlocks'; they fought, lived, and breathed by their magic. And the highest ability that certain Dragon Clan Nameccians were born with — it could not be learned, and was said to be a genetic memory of their people — was the ability to create the Dragon Balls.

Perhaps create was too strong a word,thought Nail.When the Grand Elder had described it to me, it wasn't an act of creation; he shaved our Dragon Balls off of a stronger, pre-existing source. Can this boy really...?

"The lifelink to the Dragon Balls no longer resides within me," said the Grand Elder. "In addition to awakening your latent abilities...I have imparted to you the knowledge...of how to activate the Dragon Balls...and placed the lifelink within you..."

"Grand Elder, you transferred the lifelink of the Dragon Balls to this boy!?" Nail shouted incredulously. "That's...he's too young for such a burden!"

"Age matters not...in desperate cases like these..." replied the Grand Elder. "Dende...you too wish to help our friends from Earth...when I brought forth your latent power...I could sense your good intentions. Now...I have given you the means...go to them...let us not do them the disservice of failing them...when they fight so hard for us..."

Trembling, Dende nodded. It was true. Pan and Kuririn were his friends, and had gone to great lengths to help him. He wanted to repay them. Following the Grand Elder's orders, Dende rushed to the door, bursting forth in a flash of whiteki. Even if it had been a boost to his mystical abilities, hiskihad risen too. Dende was flying faster than he ever had in his life, rushing pell-mell towards his friends. He could make the difference!

"My Elder, if I may speak, I feel like that was an incredibly reckless move," Nail said, his voice full of shock. "Dende is just a child...the burden of the Dragon Balls is too great for him!"

"Then...it will be up to you...to make sure he survives..." replied the Grand Elder. "The lifelink within Dende...is temporary...and will transfer to my true chosen successor...should we be able to right the wrongs committed...by this encroaching evil and his men..."

"Up to me...?" repeated Nail.

"Yes," nodded the Eldest Nameccian. "Nail...he approaches us...and when he arrives, he will bring power without equal...my time as the protector and father of our people has ended...you must take up the mantle of Namek's defender." The Grand Elder inhaled deeply, Nail feeling, with great surprise, thekiof his father beginning to rise. "Raising your strength was merely...the first step. Place your hand on my chest...and we will become one."

"What?!" Nail knew of the technique; the Assimilation was a genetic ability possessed by every Nameccian. In dire situations, they could directly absorb one of their own kind, and drastically raise their battle strength. When used by those who possessed the right compatability, it produced a warrior of incredible ability. It had been used scarcely in the history of their people, as they'd rarely ever needed to Assimilate to fend off anything. "Elder...you don't mean—!"

"I have lived...a long life. I have no regrets." The Grand Elder, brimming withki, exhaled, and the power dispersed. "But you are still young...and full of a fiery spirit few I've seen of my children. You deserve...to have a fighting chance...to avenge Namek."

To say that Nail didn't like this plan was an understatement. He'd never thought a day would come where he would no longer protect the Grand Elder, but to be asked to Assimilate the eldest of their people, their patriarch? It almost felt like too much responsibility. However, it was a direct order from the person he'd swore his allegiance too, and it could very well be their best chance to protect their home. "...I understand..." Nail placed his hand on Guru's chest, directly over where his heart would be.

"You've been a good son, Nail," replied the Grand Elder, his voice oddly forlorn. "I'm proud...of the Nameccian you've become." He inhaled deeply, and, suddenly, without warning, let out a voluminous howl that Nail had never heard from him before. The Grand Elder's body illuminated itself, brimming with vibrancy akin to a star; it poured out of the sanctuary room, swathing over Nail in a blinding wash of light.

Nail stood, alone, within the empty building. His father's throne was empty. But within his soul, he could feel the history of the Nameccian people; centuries of knowledge, centuries of experience, but most important, a wealth of love for his planet and his people filled his heart, along with an ample increase to his already bolstered combat strength. Nail could feel it; the 'him' of only a moment ago was not the strongest Nameccian in the history of their people.

No. The him of right now was the strongest warrior.

Nail's senses picked up the stifling presence of a horrendous, evil power closing in. It had passed Dende, and yet Dende's signature was mercifully untouched. It was time for Namek to strike back!

Go forward, my son...for the sake of Namek.

Chapter 31: Nail, the Champion of Namek

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 31 - Nail, the Champion of Namek

Moments Earlier

Firmly in his hovercraft — a luxury Freeza afforded to himself, rather than a necessity — he raced headlong across the seafoam green skies of Namek. The tyrant had but singular goal; force the information about the secret of the Dragon Balls from these filthy backwater savages who had holed themselves up in this remote location.

I suppose you thought yourselves clever, you lesser beings. But no one escapes.His thoughts burst from his throat in an irate snarl. "No one escapes Lord Freeza!" Freeza quickly pulled this slip into irritation inwards, steadying his breath. The failure to garner his wish from those pesky Nameccian orbs had not quite settled, and he was flying towards his quarry in a rage. Freeza knew, however, he may have to play his cards differently this time; his Scouter had detected three life signatures.

"Bargaining chips," he said. "In case diplomacy fails, as it so often does with these simpletons who fail to understand the chances I give them. I shall kill all but one of them...and torture him until the secret of these Dragon Balls is revealed to me!" A sickening grin crossed his face. "With our equipment, I merely need bide my time until they break. And what is a few days, perhaps, in the face of eternity?"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

His Scouter went off, attracting his attention. One of the signatures — the smallest of the lot — had flared, though the number was so insignificant that Freeza paid it no mind. Perhaps the Nameccians, with their tricks, could sense his arrival? It mattered not, is what he told himself. He continued his flight...

...and at that moment, crossed paths with a small Nameccian. The two locked eyes, the young lad flying directly past Freeza; an act of open defiance? Freeza kept his eyes on him, but the young Nameccian made no move to stop, and Freeza in turn made no move to stop him. His Scouter told him the larger signatures were still firmly located where he was headed. These clearly had to be the Nameccians he wanted. The fact that the child looked familiar bothered Freeza some, but it was these larger signatures where the secret had to be held, Freeza knew.

Why waste his time on a child when immortality was close at hand?

His destination came into sight not much longer after this; a giant rock structure, jutting out into the Nameccian sky in defiance of gravity and common sense. Atop the pillar of rock sat a small hut, and within that hut, Freeza's scouter told him were the two signatures he was after.

It was sudden and it was blinding.

Where Freeza saw at first the pillar and hut, in the next second, white filled the sky. Luminous and brilliant, a star all its own had formed on the Nameccian surface, enveloping the dwelling and the rock on which it stood. Freeza skidded to a halt, his Scouter running haywire with sound and data. Where once there were two signatures, he could only see one, and it had expanded massively.Is this possible? Or is the bloody thing playing tricks on me?! I specifically asked theGinyū Special Squadron for the latest model!Freeza then realised, however, that the Ginyū Squad never committed an error; surely this was to do with the manufacturer. "I'll be having a word with them when I return."

Freeza approached the Nameccian hut carefully, floating above the mint green grass of Planet Namek. His Scouter firmly detected one singe individual, a Nameccian who stepped outside of the of the half-spherical dwelling.

"I bid you good day, Nameccian," Freeza spoke lightly, immediately taking charge of the conversation himself. "My time is both short and valuable, so I will get to the point of why I am here—"

"There is no need to waste your breath, foul creature," replied Nail, cutting across Freeza harshly. "I know why you are here and what you have come for, and it hurts me in no way to tell you that you will not find what you seek here. The wish you crave from the Dragon Balls will never be yours."

"It would seem you are going to make things difficult," said Freeza tersely. The tyrant was not used to being cut off mid-sentence by anyone, not even his own parent. To have been interrupted by a the inhabitant of a backwater planet such as this one? A vein throbbed in Freeza's temple. "I was going to give you a chance to tell me how to activate the Dragon Balls of your own free will, but if you have chosen the more...painful route, then on your head be it."

"You've stained your hands with the blood of my fellows," Nail was unable to keep the anger out of his voice as he spoke. "My children have died by your hand.You will not be shown mercy, monster!"

Freeza laughed, a high, cold laugh, the mirth not reaching his eyes. "You fancy yourself someone who can take on Freeza in battle? It has been some time since I've gotten my own hands dirty! Let us see what you can—" His next words were muffled, a green hand gripping his face with enough force to crush stone. Freeza felt his entire body heave itself out of his hovercraft; it took him a moment to realise thathewas being dragged through the sky. The wind pressure against his body nearly held him at bay, and the following action occurred too fast for Freeza to resist.

Unceremoniously, the Emperor of the Universe was thrown downwards. He rocketed to the surface of Namek like a comet, barely managing to straighten himself from crashing into the ground with his whole body. His three-toed feet shattered the ground, Freeza crouching to keep himself upright. His entire skull throbbed in pain, while Freeza was trying to process the incomprehensible nature of it all. They were nowhere near the rock formation, or the hut that had rested atop it. Instead, they were alone on a barren island in the middle of the vast Nameccian ocean.How?! Someone like him shouldn't be able to make me move, much less push me this far away! It's impossible!

"In the name of the Grand Elder, I will pass judgement on you," Nail's hand flexed, clearly having only recently released Freeza's cranium. "I bear the weight of my people on my shoulders; someone like you, who fights only for himself,will never prevail over the spirit of Namek!"

Standing fully upright, Freeza held a hand lightly to his chin, regaining his normal composure and laughing. "Ohohohohohohoho! You do say the most amusing things, Nameccian. Allow me then, to let you in on a little secret." He gestured to the Scouter that he wore. "These devices are the pride and joy of my Research and Development Division, and they allow us to read life signatures of living beings. The average Combat Strength of even your strongest fighters has only been in the upper thousands. If you were to readmyCombat Strength, it would show you the true gap in our powers — I rest at a comfortable 530,000!"

"Meaningless numbers," replied Nail. "But if you are so insistent on taking stock in them, then keep your trinket locked on me." Nail gripped his fists tightly, holding his arms at either side of his power. He began to flash, a vivid white aura exploding out of his body, cracking the ground beneath him until far more than the entire island shook. The ocean churned, sloshing against the shore, and hiskikicked up dust and shattered rock. Brimming with aura, easily maintaining a staggering level of power, Nail spoke again. "What does your toy say?"

Freeza wanted to believe it was false. No being could match him, nay, surpass his strength, especially not someone from a backwards planet like this one. And yet, the number was plastered over his eye, plain as the binary stars in the sky.

₅₉₀,₀₀₀.

This vermin's Combat Strength exceeded his own. Freeza clenched his fists, tightening them into balls with force to draw blood.

That can't be!He refused to believe it, not until he tested it himself. While he did not do Nail the courtesy of replying, his face betrayed him; confusion, indignation, and rage crossed his countenance all in seconds. He knew Nail was his superior.

The Nameccian warrior wasted no time. No need for a combat stance. Speaking to the tyrant any further was a waste of time. Nail simply moved, trailing a glimmering white behind him. His elbow slammed into Freeza's jaw, the frosty tyrant staggering back on his heels. Nail's arm swung upward, the forearm crushing into the side of Freeza's head. This blow lifted him off his feet entirely, flung through the air by the sheer strength packed by Nail post-merger.

Bursting from the ground, cracking it beneath his feet, Nail pursued Freeza around the island; closing in, he brought his fist upwards, crashing painfully into Freeza's stomach. Winding the Emperor, Nail took the chance to kick him hard — the sound cracked the air, his foot indenting itself into the Combat Jacket that Freeza wore.

Every strike from Nail's limbs were packed with meaning. Each blow, revenge for the ones who he once called brothers. Every gasp of pain from Freeza was penance for those he now considered his dearest sons. His onyx eyes brimmed with fury and sadness. He would wrench payback for his kin out of this monster with a barrage of blows; he brought to Freeza all the pain of the Planet Namek. Freeza was unable to fight back. Nail's movements were too quick, too precise, and every strike Freeza attempted to throw — a cursory left hook in an attempt to catch him in the side, a swipe with his tail in the expectation he wouldn't expect it — were thwarted with expert skill, the results of the training done by the only remaining warrior to call Namek home.

Freeza managed to force himself away, releasing akiaifrom his entire body to push Nail back. His hand brimmed withki, crackling and snapping. "Die you worthless worm!" Thrusting his arm forward, Freeza let a ball ofkiloose. It ripped the ground beneath it, barreling forwards towards Nail.

Nail raised a four-fingered hand towards a battered Freeza. "HAH!" Shouting mightily, he released his ownkiaitowards Freeza's attack. It collided and crushed it, diminishing the size until the blow was nothing but dust.

In defiance of what Freeza considered common sense, he witnessed an attack of his own —his own attack —to be disrupted and destroyed by this Nameccian.

If he'd merely stopped it, I could have understood that! He shouldn't be able to, but I could still understand it! But to have negated it completely!? Must I suffer this humiliation still further?!Freeza grit his teeth, cracking one of the lower molars in frustration. "You simply won't stop, will you?! Not until I've been pushed to the very limits of my patience!"

"Do you wish to speak of limitations?" replied Nail tersely. "Then let us speak of the limitations of the tolerance held by my world and our people. We've long reached the end of our tether with your kind; there will not be a tomorrow for you. Not another chance!"

"You won't be talking much longer when I've left you bleeding and broken!" Freeza snarled. He extended a hand, his finger pointing directly at Nail. It began to glow with brilliant light, expelling a thin beam ofkifrom his fingertip. Nail's eyes widened, the Nameccian leaning his body easily to the left, allowing the attack to pass by him easily. At this, Freeza's fadce contorted in rage. A growl ripping through his throat, he expelled a multitude ofkiattacks from his fingertip, each and every one intent on piercing Nail's body — piercing anywhere, Freeza didn't care where.

Nail's body danced around each kikōha. First to the left, then to the right, ducking down, crouching low, and each blast skimmed past his body, passing over him harmlessly. Freeza gaped in terror at Nail, who returned to his full, imposing height, unperturbed by the movements he'd just undertaken.

"You're sloppy," said Nail, his arm lengthening outwards, a green and pink python which pulled Freeza in by the collar of his Combat Jacket. Nail's leg snapped upwards, the point of his toes banging into Freeza's chin. The alien overlord felt his neck rear backwards, yet to his fortune it did not dislocate. Nail brought his arm upwards furiously, fist clenched; it rocked vibrations through Freeza's body on contact, and Nail could hear the air rush out of Freeza's lungs.

Freeza fumed, frothing at the mouth with rage. He tried to counterattack; first a left hook, then a right hook, both blows easily avoided by Nail. The Nameccian Warrior deflected the next incoming strike with his glowing forearm, before jutting his arm out towards Freeza's face. A blast of yellow-white engulfed Freeza, whose body could be seen expelled from the resulting cloud of dust and smoke, knocked back towards the edge of their island arena.

Slowly, methodically, Nail walked towards Freeza, thekidrifting off of his body in waves. "Do you recognise this feeling, monster? Do you understand it? The numbness permeating through your body? You can't think, you're suffocating under feelings of anxiety and you don't know what to do.That's the feeling my children felt; that's the fear, the helplessness you instilled in the Nameccian people, creature!"

"You think I feel helpless?! You know nothing, worm! Hold your tongue before you lose it!" Freeza immersed his body inki, a purple flare rising to life around the frosty tyrant. He launched himself into the air, hovering high above the sky. He fought with the urge to destroy the planet — it would surely end this humiliation, but heneededthe Dragon Balls — settling down into the realisation that he would have to beat Nail within an inch of his life.

Freeza dove downward, a glowing, pink bird of prey attacking its chosen target. As Nail prepped himself for the strike, Freeza kicked off in the air, flying over Nail directly, before bolting downward behind Nail. All in an effort to catch the Nameccian off-guard, Freeza now rushed him full-on, racing along the ground towards Nail.

Nail was not to be fooled.

Spinning on his heel, he turned to face Freeza, his whole hand coated in a luminous yellowki. Freeza recognised his mistake too little too late, then suddenly both his and Nail's vision was encompassed by yellow, the attack being released point-blank at Freeza. The pink tyrant was immersed in the gigantic kikōha, the ground beneath Nail and Freeza cracking and spltting, the heat of Nail'skireducing a portion of the island to molten slag.

Freeza's body, charred and burned from Nail's onslaught, skidded across the ground, his Combat Jacket having been annihilated entirely. He staggered to his feet, the charred portions of his skin and exo-suit cracking with movement. Bright pink flame roared to life around his body, and Freeza let out a shout of fury, fresh and unrestrained from his throat. Pulling hiskiback inwards, the scream of rage had done the trick, and now, a look of pure, composed pleasure crossed Freeza's face.

"What are you smiling for, creature?" inquired Nail, his face marked by confusion. "You are on your last legs. You've nothing left!"

"Ohohohohohohohohoho!" Freeza chortled, smiling in spite of the pain coursing through his body. "My last legs? You know nothing, vermin. I'll let you in on a little secret, one that only those closest to my hand know.Thisis not my true form. I am capable of transforming and increasing my strength; Ichooseto remain in this regressed state because my power when transformed is so great that I tend to...lose control of my base urges. You would have been better cooperating with me when I asked."

He can transform?!Nail's brain worked quickly. Being merged with the former Grand Elder, he knew the legends and tales of species who could transform to increase their power in times of need. Was this creature one such species? It had to be a bluff.But what if he isn't?

Freeza clenched both fists at his sides, grinding his teeth as hiskibegan to spike. Nail could sense it — the increase in quantity, the soaring of its tainted, evil nature — and a chill passed through his body. His aura spiked again, making the land beneath him quake with hiski.

"YOU WON'T GET THE CHANCE!" Nail roared. The Nameccian's palms snapped, crackled, and popped with bio-electricity. Light pulsated from them, covering his hands and wrists in the glow ofki. Nail pooled as much of his power as he could into this surging sphere ofki,desperate now to kill Freeza before the latter had a chance to prove what Nail desperately hoped was a bluff to instead be true. Withall of his might, Nail hurled the kikōha towards Freeza.

The last thing Nail saw before the explosion his technique triggered was Freeza's torso massively enlarge in size. And then, everything was obscured in flames, light, and smoke. His kikōha detonated at it hit Freeza's body — Nail could feel it connect — yet he did not sense a drop in Freeza'ski. Staring in horror, Nail saw an enlarged monster emerging from the clearing smoke: Freeza had successfully transformed.

Freeza stood tall, his transformation towering over his previous form by a wide margin. It did resemble his previous form, only massively enlarged; he'd gained a huge increase in muscle mass, and his horns, formerly jutting outward, not curved upward. More frighteningly, his wounds had healed entirely; the transformed Freeza stood before Nail, pristine and untouched.

"You're quite a fighter, Nameccian, to have forced me to undergo my transformation," Freeza spoke in a deeper timbre, his voice having dropped several octaves. "Not many have seen this form, and even fewer have survived the battle to tell another about it. I warned you — I won't be as gentle as I was before."

His ki...it's suffocating...how strong has he become?!Nail eyed Freeza's transformed state in complete horror. That technique, had he released it only a moment earlier, would have killed Freeza. He knew it would have.I was a fool!Nail thought furiously.I wanted to exact vengeance for my people...for my sons...and now where has righteous anger led me to? My own death?!He clenched his fists, a snarled erupting from his throat as the Nameccian stood his ground. "Speak all you want, monster: I will not lay down and die for you! Namek will not let you do with it as you wish!"

Nail was beginning to power up, drawing even morekifrom the depths of his body. His merger with the Grand Elder had finally synced properly, and not a second too soon: white light oscillating around his body in a furious aura, the Nameccian'skibegan to rise rapidly.

"Oho?" Freeza's Scouter began to ping, numbers flashing violently across the interface. Seeing the Nameccian pull so much last-ditch power out at the last second was truly intriguing; the Scouter kept pinging, before suddenly, it exploded over Freeza's face, the remaining fragments falling to the ground in a smoking heap. The tyrant hadn't managed to get a good look at the Nameccian's combat strength, only that the number had surpassed 750,000 before his Scouter had given out. "Such spirit! I admire your courage, but let me tell you something else: if there was a device in this cosmos which could measure my power as it is now, it would clock well over 1,000,000. You didn't have a chance to begin with."

High off the end of this boast, Freeza charged headlong towards Nail. The Nameccian backstepped, boosting himself withkiin an effort to gain some ground...only to collide with something that felt distinctly flesh-like. He turned, realising only too late that Freeza had left his immediate field of vision the moment he'd taken a step back, and he was now staring upwards at the much taller alien.

"Were you going somewhere?" Freeza inquired, his arms folded, smirking lightly. Swiftly, Freeza brought his knee upwards, crashing it into Nail's torso. The blow was heavy, coupled by the crushing, blinding pain which caused Nail to feel his entire world reel. Staggering, barely able to keep himself aloft, Nail was unable to counter when Freeza gripped both of his hands above himself, bringing them down into a painful sledgehammer. The blow collided with Nail's skull, forcing him into the grassy dirt, his body indenting its shape into the land.

"Try to keep yourself alive, won't you?" asked Freeza mockingly. "I'll need to get my precious information out of you. Then, I can send you to the rest of your kin." Freeza raised a hand towards Nail's fallen form, a pink sphere forming just out of its reach. "I'll beat you within an inch of your life...and then, perhaps you'll be ready to comply."

A burst of light flared from the ground, Nail rocketing into the sky by propelling himself withki. The Nameccian was instantly airborne, soaring high above the island on which he and Freeza were doing battle. It was only for a second, but Nail had successfully evaded Freeza.

The tyrant let out an exasperated sigh, his muscular shoulders heaving. Freeza pursued Nail with immense speed, closing the distance between the two of them in mere moments...

...and felt his vision obscured instantly with a blinding flash. Nail's eyes widened, having emitted a dynamic flash ofki, turned into light energy, from his eyes. The glow, enhanced by the sun behind him, blinded Freeza instantly. The Emperor of the Universe held his arms over his eyes, roaring in pain at the sudden shock. Nail discharged a sphere ofkifrom his palm, winding around Freeza in every direction, emitting multiple other spheres until Freeza was surrounded by what appeared to several floating lanterns.

From above Freeza, Nail raise his arms high, exudingkiwhich coalesced into a larger sphere above his head.

"DIE, MONSTER!"

Thrusting his arms downward, Nail released the sphere towards the planet, an admittedly reckless move. It rained down towards his home, collided with Freeza and, in a chain reaction, set off the spheres around him. The sphere that had struck Freeza detonated along with the others, lighting up the Nameccian sky in an explosion ofki.

The smoke cleared with a gust of wind, revealing to Nail the futility of his efforts. Freeza floated in the sky, virtually unharmed. It finally sunk into Nail: he could not defeat Freeza as he was. A sinister snicker was followed by a blur of movement. Freeza's fist crushed into an exhausted Nail's stomach, followed immediately by the strike of an elbow into the Nameccian's jaw. Nail staggered backwards, barely held aloft by hiski.

It didn't matter.

Freeza held a hand in front of his face, grinning wide. Instantly, he discharged a point blank wave ofkifrom his palm. The blast ignited the above their island battlefield, expanding into a sphere ofkiwhich barely avoided grazing the isle above which they floated. Nail's body fell from the sky as the attack dissipated, charred and smoking. He hit the ground and fell limp. Freeza descended to his side, kneeling on a single knee as he smirked.

"Three attacks. And even that was excessive playtime," he jeered. "You should be alive, my friend, if barely. Now why don't you start by telling me how to activate the Dragon Balls?"

Blackness. Utterly instant, darkness swallowed the light of Namek's twin suns. Freeza's head jolted upwards peering into the stretching abyss of endless black, his mind working furiously.What's happening?! This planet has no night! And this...this isn't a night sky at all! Whatever it is, it isn't normal!

"Heh...heh...heh..." Nail laughed, the sound hoarse and weak. "You've lost...creature...I was not able to best you...but my son has made it to our unlikely allies hiding on this planet..." His shoulders shook with the laughter, even if he was unable to move properly. His black eyes glared at Freeza, staring as well as they could from their odd angle. "With him...he held the secret of our Dragon Balls...and now...you will never get your wish..."

"I...you..." Freeza's teeth began to grind against each other, the Emperor clutching his gigantic fists. "This...this was all a diversion! You wasted my time here...with you...believing you held the secret...!" Then he remembered, the young Nameccian child he passed by on his way towards the hut on the rock. "It was him...! I made a mistake...! When the two of you split up...I SHOULD HAVE GONE AFTER HIM!"

Nail laughed again. If he died here...he'd died protecting Dende. He'd died protecting Namek and giving it a second chance. He could face oblivion without regret.

Freeza was torn between the mad desire to kill Nail for the transgression of wasting him time and making his way towards his ship, desperately hoping he was not too late. His decision was made for him, however, when he began to see a literal light in the darkness; coming from the horizon, a pillar of golden light stood out against the background of infinite darkness. That had to be the Dragon Balls. It was so unnatural, so out of the ordinary, Freeza knew it was part of those damnable wish orbs.

His decision had been made. His aura flaring to life, the Emperor of the Universe made for the pillar of light at breakneck speeds, heading in what he did not yet realise was the direction of his ship.

"YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT!" screamed Freeza, tearing across the dark seas of the Nameccian ocean. "THE WISH OF THE DRAGON BALLS IS MINE BY RIGHT! I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY IMMORTALITY BY A BUNCH OF CRETINS!"

Pan was confused.

For awhile, things made sense even when they were at their most intense. The Saiyans were bad, with Raditz being an exception. They trained to fight them and beat their common enemy by any means necessary. Together, at great cost they were victorious.

Now, the stakes were much higher but things were a lot more strange to the young daughter of Bulma and Gokū. Vegeta and his two cronies were now their allies, though they certainly didn't act like it. Even scary people like Piccolo and Raditz at least *acted* like friends, even if they didn't want to admit it; but she sensed no such thing from those three, they were still evil through and through.

What's more, this man claiming to be her papa's uncle didn't seem trustworthy and she had nothing to go off of other than a strange look he had in his eyes whenever he smiled; like he really wasn't believing what he was saying. What hurt her the most was seeing Chi-Chi seemingly on his side...she thought she knew her, but now she wasn't sure what to believe now.

Sitting outside, she stood guard due to being too wound up. Unlike her mother - who wanted to stay near Gokū's pod like a good spouse - she didn't want to be cooped up inside the bizarre doughnut that was the enemy's ship. She also didn't feel like being close to any of her new 'friends'. And with Kuririn gone, the only other person standing outside was Raditz, and her uncle wasn't in a chatty mood.

This left her sitting alone on the opposite end of the vessel while her papa's brother was watching the other end himself. All was quiet before the storm, with minutes passing by listfully as they stood by and waited for the dwarven monk's return.

And then, the world beneath her shifted.

"W-What?!" Pan jolted upright, finding herself aghast as she looked up and all around. There was nothing there. But, she feltsomething.

She realized her mind had wandered and her senses were dulled because of it. Closing her eyes she forced herself to shut the outside world of the nearby terrain the dreadnought was parked on top of. She felt the wind brushing the blue grass and trees, gracing across the lakes surrounding the island she stood upon. And then, she couldseeit.

A man so much like her guardian and mentor, Piccolo, stood firm with a baleful cry unleashed from the deepest part of his lungs. The frosty tyrant's ocean of power was currently drowning in a sky of righteous fury. Even now she could make out his frustration as if he was standing in front of her face, just as much as she could see not just the man known as Nail but also the spiritual outline of the Grand Elder himself; no longer decrepit and full of girth, but massive with muscles upon muscles with a deep set of black eyes and fangs bared forth like a wrathful beast.

"That's Nail...and Grand Elder...?" She thought aloud, her eyes twitching with them being closed. "And that's Freeza. He's so strong, but...Nail is stronger!"

"What's going on?"

A voice appeared from behind her, causing the child whirl around. Her tension lessened upon sight of the taller Saiyan, his mane whipping down onto his back as he dropped to the ground - having leaped from one side of the pineapple-enamored ship to the other.

"U-Uncle Raditz!" Pan exclaimed, her fists balled up and raised to her face as she stated the obvious. "Someone's powered up to fight that Freezer guy!"

"I can feel that," Raditz intoned, his eyes squinting at the horizon, making his already fearsome visage more imposing to the child. "Hm. It seems Namek has one powerful warrior. I wonder if we'll be necessary to defeat Freeza after all."

Pan couldn't help but feel wholly relieved. While she appreciated a challenge, this Freezer person was real scary. The energy he gave off was the stuff of nightmares. Not even Vegeta and his henchmen - or Ginyū and his troupe for that matter - were anywhere close to as frightening as he was.

After they stared into the distance, focusing on the energy of warrior Pan knew as Nail, they had lost track of time. The seconds ticked by and they had no sense of anything else that was transpiring. Just the horizon's fated battle of Namek's champion against the evil tyrant.

So without warning, a pair of feet dropped by at their flank, bringing their attention to them in a jerking turn.

"Hey guys!" Kuririn exclaimed joyfully, jerking his thumb over at the green-skinned child at his left. "I got our ace in the hole!"

"Dende! Kuririn!" She cried out, happy to see the two back safely. As she rushed up to them, she looked back and forth, her eyes blinking curiously. "Where's the Grand Elder? I thought I sensed him before, when Nail was powering up, but-"

"He's passed on," Dende interrupted, being far more forthright than any of them expected. The emerald skinned youth looked down, morosely explaining. "Nail has become one with the Grand Elder. Their power combined is what is holding our common enemy in Freeza at bay. I don't know if it'll be an assured victory or not, but for now, we have limited time before something interrupts us."

"Yeah, like the little green guy said," The dwarf concurred, raising a thumb up to his grinning face. "Let's use the Dragon Balls, now, while everyone else is distracted."

"And you think Vegeta and my uncle are going to sit idly by as this happens?" Raditz intoned with incredulity.

"Its not like they could stop us with you on our side," The ex-orin monk pointed out. "And we don't have much time. When will we get an opportunity like now to summon the dragon? Dende says he knows how to summon it, and I doubt we'll be able to do it even with Freeza out of the way. Vegeta, that Tullece guy, and even Chi-Chi...I don't think its wise for us to sit on our hands and wait for a better time than we have right now."

"Fine-Fine," Raditz sighed, shaking his head as he looked over his shoulder, seemingly boring his eyes at an unseen spectator by the entry of the dreadnought. "You heard that, you nosy bug-eyed freak?"

Jaco made a squeaking sound and Pan felt herself yet again off balance. His energy was always small, but for him to be noticed by even her uncle? She looked over at her uncle and then at the creeping head of the Galactic Patrolman, in awe of how superb Raditz'skisense really was.

"Keep the women out of jeopardy. It won't do us any good if they get taken hostage or worse come over to us when something inevitably bad happens."

"R-Roger that," Jaco gulped, slinking back inside of the ship out of sight of the rest.

"Alright then, let's get to it," The long-maned Saiyan ordered the others around him. "If we're doing this, we're doing it now."

Exchanging some nervous grins, the three shorter members of the now assembled four man squad rushed to the lying spheres of orange and red coloration that were left outside from Vegeta's earlier tryst. Gathering them in each other's hands, with Raditz holding four under arms and the others carrying one each, they swiftly floated to a safe distance away from the ship so as to not be within immediate eye sight of the others.

Once they found a sizable island, they placed them in an ornate distance from each other, and stepped back from Dende as he splayed his hands out towards the orbs.

"I can't help but feel nervous," Kuririn admitted, looking to Pan and then over to Raditz's arm-crossed figure. "What if this doesn't work?"

"A little late to be thinking that, dwarf."

"I-I'm just worried we won't be able to make it in time or-"

"It'll be fine, Kuririn," Pan reassured him, smiling big and raising a hand up to bump. "We're a team, and you helped get Dende here. That's why it'll work."

Chuckling, the midget raised his own fist to bump into the girl's, watching her cheekily giggle at the affirmation.

"Takkaraput pop polunga pupiritt paro!" Dende finally chanted aloud, his language channeling through the knowledge he had obtained from the Grand Elder.

Through this action, the spheres lit up into a translucent golden luminous glow. A howling roar thrummed out as a spiraling light took shape straight up into the sky. The once Sun-less sky of Namek was now shrouded in darkness and an immense figure transmuted from the magical energies before their eyes. As Raditz had never seen Shenlong himself, seeing this beast was something he found himself dropping his jaw at.

A massive spiral of a tail that was tethered to the balls came to a humanoid shaped torso, with muscles entwined with scales of pale white to deep green. But to showcase the heritage of its progeny, a pair of antenna rested by its hairless brow, pupiless red eyes glowing perpetually with a more gator-like snout protruded from its face while a massive fin stretched from the neck down its elongated serpentine back.

"H-He's enormous!" Kuririn cried out.

"I-Is he bigger than Shenlong?!" Pan shouted, she herself having only heard of Earth's dragon but never seeing it herself.'

"Way bigger, Pan! Way bigger!"

"Enough gawking!" Raditz yelled out, his face now stern and looking over at the two. "Let us revive the fools from Earth and be done with this before anyone else catches notice."

The massive dragon, with muscular arms clawing at the air anxiously, began to speak in a bellowing tone of a tongue none but Dende understood. The child himself began to speak back, as if to reassure him. Glowering, the being looked left and right, as if observing the planet for the first time. With a sigh, it spoke lowly to him while the summoner proper back to them.

"Polunga says he can grant three wishes," He explained. "But you have to be specific. You can't wish for all of your friends back to life with just one."

"R-Really?" Pan asked, feeling her heart skip and her stomach fall.

"But, there are four people that died," Kuririn grimly acknowledged, looking over at the child and then down to his feet. "No matter who we pick, someone will have to stay in the Afterlife."

A heavy feeling weighed on the two while Raditz furrowed his brow, wondering what advantage could be gained in having more than one wish. What could they use it for that isn't involving just resurrection? Could immortality be afforded at this stage of their predicament, or was there more restrictions?

"Hello? Is this thing on? Can anyone hear my melodic voice?"

Interrupting the dread and mixture of thoughts, all four of the crew suddenly heard the voice of a squat deity enter their minds. Even without seeing him, they could tell the nature of his thoughts, while jovial, was utmost in importance.

"W-We can hear you!" Kuririn spoke out, if not a bit startled. "Are you Gokū's teacher, Kaiō?"

"Among other things, yes. But enough about me! We already have come up with a compromise that doesn't need more than one person revived anyways."

"A compromise...?" Pan asked, blinking with bewilderment. What on Namek was going on now?

"And you didn't think to chime in earlier?" Raditz inquired dryly.

"Stuff a rag in it, Raditz and listen!"

The voice of Piccolo interrupted, making Pan smile with amazement at hearing her other mentor's voice from beyond the veil of life to the afterlife. Kuririn was happy to hear his voice, strangely enough, and Raditz could only narrow his eyes with a petulant sense of annoyance.

"Right, as I was saying. Just use the Dragon Balls to resurrect Piccolo. Because his life force was tied to Earth's God, that means he'll be revived along with him. And with their Dragon Balls, they can resurrect the rest of your friends."

"T-That's fantastic!" Kuririn exclaimed, looking over at the ecstatic Pan with balled up fists that mirrored his own. "And with two extra wishes, we could even wish him here, if he wants to see his home planet!"

"That'd be great!" Pan shouted with glee, anxious to see her old friend again after so long.

"One thing at a time. Just resurrect Piccolo and then we'll see what we should do afterwards."

"Not that I care to see a world I've never known, I'm not sure how much help I'd be. I've been watching your progress thanks to Kaiō and quite frankly, no matter what kind of training I've been doing here, I'll likely just get in the way. Sorry but I'm going to have to postpone our reunion."

"Glad to see death hasn't addled your common sense, Nameccian," Raditz retorted with a smirk.

"Just for that remark, I'll make sure to close the gap in no time so I can make you see how much worth I still have,Saiyan."

"As much as I'd love to keep this collect call online there's something you all should know - Freeza has just transformed and is likely heading your way!"

At that prompt, everyone froze. The once overwhelming fervor of Nail was eclipsed by an even more frightening sea of blackness that smothered his significant life force. And, just as they had been taking note, they couldfeelit taking aim and rushing in their direction.

"D-Dende-!"

"-make the wish now!" Raditz cut off Pan, his voice bleeting out his own brand of panic.

Dende nodded and, with a slew of specifically phrased words in his own tongue, he communicated the wish.

Polunga, nodding sagely, spoke back as its eyes glowed - a telltale sign its mystical power was being utilized - and, within seconds, had finished it.

"Alright," Kuririn swallowed nervously. "That's the first wish. Maybe we should use the next one for-"

"Me!"

In a revolving whiplash, Kuririn felt himself jerk around to see a sudden group of feet land just behind the four. There, in full attendance, was Vegeta standing at the front, flanked by Nappa and Aspara on either side. Standing not far to their right was Tullece and Chi-Chi, dropping in less than perfect sync with the prince and only seeming to appear to check on why they had left so swiftly.

"Back off, prince," Raditz warned, his eyes fixing coolly at the shorter man. "You're in no position to muscle your way into this-"

"I beg to differ," The prince replied, grinning as veins sprouted across his sizable forehead. "I overheard the part of several wishes. You've already used one. Its only fair we get the remaining two."

"On what grounds?"

"That I don't kill everyone you value here," He promised, his smile deepening, seemingly enhanced at the twitch made across Raditz's eyes. "Between us three, it'd be impossible to protect everyone. I'm confident that even with most recent grace of near death I've become even stronger; perhaps even stronger than you."

Gritting his teeth, he held a hand out, urging Pan and Kuririn to stand behind him. He already felt wary of his uncle being nearby, but with Vegeta at the head the other two of his cronies were going to be a problem.

"Um, guys..." Chi-Chi cleared her throat, reminding the two sides of Saiyans that she was the odd woman out. "No need to draw all of your attention on me, but I have to say, can't we just claw at each other's throats after we deal with Freeza? Like, say, use a wish to send him off planet, and then we can worry about him later?"

"Polunga can't move people without their permission. So a wish like that won't have any effect," Dende explained matter-of-fact.

"Oh..." The Frypan Princess felt her face fall, having once thought of a convenient loophole only for it to not be plausible.

"This is all very entertaining, watching you kids squabble," Tullece remarked, his hands on his hips as he looked at the angry looks Raditz and Vegeta gave him. "But I wonder, would you even use this mystical dragon to its full potential? Why not let me make a wish?"

"Not on your life, Tullece!" Nappa bellowed, his meaty hand pointing at him. "You don't get squat, you toadie! Stay back and watch us use the wishes or you'll regret opening that mouth of yours."

Tullece exchanged a look with Aspara, as if indicating something unsaid between the pair. The long-haired Saiyan looked away, her left hand twitching and crackling with energy. A smile stretched on his face, eyes closing as he felt that things will fall into place as he anticipates; even if this wasn't part of the plan, this opportunity was too good to pass up!

"Now stand aside-"

"I told you it's not happening!" Raditz barked back at Vegeta, sweeping a hand around and releasing a gale of ki that forced the three back. Earth was rended upwards, dust flying back as if a hurricane swept the land. And while the prince had caught the sudden discharge of invisible energy with one hand, Aspara and Nappa were sent somersaulting backwards, skidding on their hands and knees.

"I told you," Vegeta remarked with a malicious smirk. "I'm a lot stronger than I was from the last time we crossed paths, traitor."

"I guess you really do need a...a..." Raditz trailed off, his eyes veering away to see something emerge on the ridge a few dozen meters away resting on top of the island.

Everyone's hearts skipped a few beats.

There, standing on top of a hill on this larger than average island was Freeza. Though he looked significantly different. Bereft of his Battle Jacket he now shown his muscular torso of white with several shades of scarlet intertwined with the rest of his reptilian-humanoid physique. But that wasn't the most significant change - no, that was his sheer size. His face formerly impish was now angular, with a strong chin and jawline that enhanced his already crooked eyes. With nary a scratch on his person from his previous scuffle, the long tail of Freeza snapped on the ground as he laughed, his voice now a booming timbre compared to the eloquent lisp it once retained.

"No, please, do tell me what Vegeta needs," Freeza intoned with a toothy smile, full of malice and eyes glowing with a black promise. "I'll make sure to give it to him in spades."

Tullece's eyes shrunk into dots, his mouth agape at seeing his boss in this state, a form he had never seen before; a towering demon of giant proportions and oozing a presence so tangible he felt as if the warm climate of Namek had turned to ice.

Chi-Chi's breath became shaky, sweat sloughing off her scalp and her hands trembling at her hips. Kuririn's face paled and Pan felt her legs become rooted in place. Dende felt his knees buckle and give way to falling down. Aspara felt like screaming and Nappa gulped audibly in fright. Even Vegeta, proud as he was, felt himself rear around and look up with horror in his eyes to seeing this gargantuan representation of his life's torment in physical form.

"H-How?!" Kuririn croaked out, his hands opening up and looking balkingly at Freeza. "You were on the ropes. I felt it, that Nail guy was beating you up!"

"Oh him? Ah yes he did give me quite a tussle from before," Freeza remarked, dismissively waving a hand while the other gripped his chin as he looked up at the dragon's immense form that lit up the otherwise blackened sky. "I take it that this is the Dragon of Namek myth? He's certainly larger than life, as you'd put it. Do I simply ask for immortality now, or do I still need an infernal password?"

"W-What happened to Nail?" Pan asked, her voice almost never heard until Freeza looked from on high down at her petite frame. Eyes watered and her face shook with fear mixed with outrage, the conflict of emotions overwhelming the child. "Where is he?!"

"Oh. Nail, was it?" Freeza sideglanced, remembering the miserable bloodied state he was last left before he flew with haste here. "He's not...doing well."

"Milord," Tullece attempted to approach, half-bowing as he gestured to the others with an air of thematic grace. "I've delivered the traitors and the Dragon Balls to you. If you wish I can assist in-"

"That's enough, Tullece," The demonic boss proclaimed, leaving Tullece stunned and looking up with surprise. "I've known of your slippery nature for quite some time. I've tolerated your presence simply because you've outdone my other employees. But now, seeing you here without even an attempt to stop these turncoats paints you with your true colors at last.I'll take special care in punishing you, my faithful servant."

"You don't get it, Freeza," Vegeta remarked, gesturing to the Dragon, smiling crookedly up at his former superior without showing the fear he was drenched in. "I'm one step away from obtaining my life's ambition: immortality. I know you want it as badly as I do. Once I have it, there's nothing you can do to threaten me. And with my powers of Saiyan biology, I'll only become that much stronger every time you try to slay me. And soon, no matter how much power you have, you won't be so haughty now, will you?"

"Are you testing me, Vegeta?" Freeza inquired, narrowing his eyes and his smile lessening. "Do you wish to die now instead of later? I can make that arrangement if you so desire."

"I won't die here," Vegeta turned to look at the frightened Nameccian, nodding to him. "Just say the word, boy, if you want all of us to make it out of here. Tell the Dragon my wish."

"Belay that order, child!" Freeza hollered, pointing his finger straight at him, a light of scarlet emitting from his index finger. "Give me my immortality, right this instant, or I'll begin killing everyone here, one by one. Do you understand?!"

"I-I...but...um," Dende stammered, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at everyone staring at him from all angles. The pressure was weighing upon him and he was beginning to weigh his options. Which was the lesser evil...no, which one was going to cause the least amount of death?

Both were malicious, prideful and couldn't care less what happened to everyone around them.

Which should he choose?

A sudden halo of sparking, rosy light dominated his periphery and engulfed everyone's field of vision. Everyone saw in a split second that Raditz twisted on his heels and made the decision no one had considered. Before the eyes of the icy tyrant and the prodigal prince, a beam of piercing light thrust through the chest of the towering colossus of serpentine shape. A loud gasp followed by a dimming of red eyes till they were as vacant as the lack of stars in Namek's sky.

And then, an explosion. Blasting outward with an elliptical shower of light, seven now gray stones slammed into the island in varying spots surrounding them. The three Suns returned overhead, and a steaming hand lowered down as Raditz turned to stare at both Vegeta and Freeza with a a rare stony glare.

"Whatever happens, from this point on, I'll know that I've robbed you both of your dream," Raditz grinned, chuckling a bit despite the bead of sweat dripping down the side of his brow over his cheek. "Immortality is forever out of your reach, and you have nothing to hold us hostage with. You've lost."

"You fool!" Vegeta croaked out, looking horrendously infuriated. "Do you know what you've done?!"

"And what, let you run loose as the new emperor? I'd sooner die."

"Raditz," Freeza sneered, his feet cracking the ridge and his face twisting in fury. "Allow me to assist your new endeavor!"

Chapter 32: Wrath of the Saiyan

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 32 - Wrath of the Saiyan

This was a predicament Raditz would have given his tail to avoid. He found himself face to face with his former lord and master, the tyrannical Emperor of the Universe, Freeza. Standing so very close was his pride, his niece. Not too far from her was the dwarf who had proved to be Kakarrot's most thorough friend, and the young Nameccian who had summoned the Dragon he killed only moments ago.

His uncle, not to be trusted and more of a headache than anything else, and the strange Earthling woman who wanted his younger brother's attention, stood at the far end. Yet the most aggravating of all was Vegeta and his troupe — Raditz didn't know exactly if they were going to be of help at all during the coming battle with Freeza, but he couldn't afford to dwell on that. The tyrant thirsted for his blood, and it was time to show Freeza just what he could do.

Tullece could feel the tension in the air, and he was no fool. His survival was the top priority here. His own plan had not yet come to fruition, and he'd already lost Freeza's favour. There was no choice. "Woman!" he hissed. "There's no merit in staying here; nothing to gain if we lose our lives now. Come with me and we'll flee!"

"What?!" Chi-Chi's voice was indignant, yet she had the since to keep it as low as Tullece did. "You're out of your mind, we can't leave them!" She gestured to Freeza's intimidating form. "You're suggesting we turn tail and run? I'm not that sort of a coward."

"Think of yourself for once," Tullece shot back. "I look after my own, but only if they continue to listen. Youwillsurvive if you come with me. Stay here, and you will simply die!" Despite Chi-Chi's protests, Tullece grabbed her by the scruff her Combat Jacket's neck, and pulled hard. She felt the tightness around her throat, but the man was simply so much stronger than she was that her body was lifted off the ground.

"Oh?"

A slow, deep voice rooted everyone to the spot. Freeza had turned his attention towards Tullece and Chi-Chi, eyes narrowed. "Do you really think I would let yourun? Tullece, after the service you've shown me, it is only fair that I reward you thusly. I was going to give you my attention later, but since you've so kindly volunteered...you've sent this entire lot to Hell along with yourself!" A vibrant purple aura flared around his body, the ground quaking and trembling beneath the weight of hiski. Grinning devilishly, Freeza thrust his hand upwards.

The result was the deafening sound of an explosion. Flames, lavender in hue, erupted from the ground, enveloping the entire island that group stood on. The ground shattered, kicking fragmented chunks of debris skyward. The ocean sloshed upwards at the island, waves crashing against the rocky shore. Freeza's powerful explosive wave had enveloped everything, the blast carrying high into the sky, blocking out the sun with plumes of smoke.

A gust of wind blew the wafting pillars of smoke away, thekidying down of its own accord revealed that Freeza's assault had not been thorough enough. Floating high in the sky, Raditz had grabbed Pan and Kuririn, holding them under his arms; the young Nameccian, Dende, was holding onto Raditz's leg for dear life, his robes singed. Vegeta floated at a slightly lower altitude, his gloved hands gripping the collar of Nappa's Combat Jacket, and keeping Aspara held aloft by her hair.

Tullece and Chi-Chi, however, were nowhere to be seen. Where they had been standing, a giant crater had formed, scorched and blackened. Not a trace of them was left.

"He...did he kill them...?!" Pan gaped, horrified. How could someone like Chi-Chi just die in an instant? And how could this monster kill them without a second thought?

"...I can't sense theirki," admitted Raditz, not a touch of remorse in his voice. "I don't know what your relationship to that woman was, but she made a mistake throwing in her lot with my uncle." The Saiyan descended, touching down on a burned island, placing his two companions down onto the ground. Dende followed suit, trembling and terrified.

"You...saved us?" Aspara was too surprised at Vegeta's act of mercy to be furious at the tugging feeling of her hair.

"Don't be flattered, either one of you," replied Vegeta sharply, releasing both of them to let them fall to the surface. He descended, landing easily next to their fallen forms. "We're going to need you both for this, so I simply did what was best for the situation."

"Annihilated in an instant," Freeza mused, lowering his arm. The man sneered mirthfully at the empty crater. "Just as I expected. Those two should consider themselves lucky — such an instantaneous death is a mercy. You lot will not share in their fortune.I intend to take my time with all of you."

"You won't have the chance," Raditz declared. "Pan! Dwarf! Get the women andgo back to our ship!You'll only get in my way if you stay here now."

"But Uncle Raditz—" Pan protested.

"Pan, I'm in no mood for arguments! You all accomplished what you came here for, didn't you?!" Raditz stepped forward, lessening the distance between himself and Freeza ever so slightly. "Then get going!"

"Pan, your uncle has a point," Kuririn said gently. "The way we are, right now...? We'll only get in the way."

The lavender-haired Saiyan-half didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit, leaving her uncle here to fight this monster. At the same time, Pan knew that Raditz and Kuririn were right; Freeza'skiwas monstrous, and just standing in its presence was stifling. She couldn't be of any help here.

"Dende, come with us," said Kuririn, but Dende shook his head.

"I'm going to stay, Kuririn," replied the trembling boy. "I owe you all...and I can still help, I know I can! Please, get to safety!"

A burst of white light signaled their intent to depart; Kuririn and Pan flaring their aura and increasing theirkito maximum. The duo took off into the sky, flying over Freeza in moments. The tyrant began to turn his body towards them, pointing his finger to the sky.

"You don't really think I'll allow prisoners to escape, do you?"

"Freeza..." Raditz said patiently. "Wasn't I your focus? You've allowed yourself to get far too distracted...and I'm going to show you the true strength of a Saiyan!"

"Raditz, don't go mouthing off when you know you can't handle Freeza!" snapped Nappa harshly. "Even the King, at the height of his power, wasn't able to fight Freeza one-on-one!"

"There's no point in measuring Freeza up to my father," interjected Vegeta. "I surpassed that man when I was a child; he merely bolstered his reputation to the fools that would believe him. Now stand aside, Raditz! I'll be the one to fight Freeza!"

Aspara, however, was wondering why Raditz carried himself with such confidence. Both of her cousins had somehow made it out of the battle with the Ginyū Special Squadron alive, and Raditz had been the better off of the two. Your average warrior didn't simply take on the Ginyū Squad and live with nothing to show for it.Vegeta is letting his pride blind him, and Nappa is just a fool. I'm not...what do you have up your sleeve, traitor?

"Shut up, all of you!" Raditz placed a hand outwards, blocking their path. "I personally don't care if you all want to roll over and die, but you're just going to get in my way right now. Nowstand back!" Light shimmered around Raditz's body, steams of it, reddish-coral with a yellow tint, bursting upwards and outwards around the Saiyan's body. His eyes flashed, changing from their regular onyx black to a staggeringly ominous gold. His hair, typically long and flowing, became rigid and spiked, almost like an angry animal's fur standing on end. A guttural growl ripped from Raditz's throat, erupting into a full fledged roar as the ground cracked beneath the weight of Raditz'ski.

"What..."

"...is..."

"...this?!"

Voices mingled with gasps of surprise, the three Saiyans watching Raditz's display of power in complete shock and awe.

"...What have you done, Raditz?!" Freeza's attention was now fully given to Raditz, who displayed a sort of power that he'd never seen. "Whatisthis power?!" Even without his Scouter, the waves ofkiRaditz was giving off were palpable; Freeza knew something was off. "You can't be...someone like you...are you the Super Saiyan!?"

Vegeta was floored.Raditz, the Super Saiyan? That's impossible...! The Legendary Super Saiyan was said to come around only once every thousand years...it's thrown around with other myths...and I didn't even believe it could be done...!Vegeta stared intently at Raditz's back, the Saiyan he had mocked for years cloaked in a vibrant aura unlike anything he'd ever seen on a Saiyan before....Have I been eclipsed byhim?

"You're kidding me, right?" snarled Nappa. "There's no way in Hell the little weakling Raditz could be a Super Saiyan! Absolutely no way! They're not even supposed to exist! That was a fairy tale we told each other to bring out results oh the battlefield!"

The...Legendary...Super Saiyan...? Aspara mouthed the words silently. Any Saiyan child knew of the tales of the Legendary Super Saiyan. Some Saiyans saw them as a god. To many, they were what a Saiyan aspired to be; the pinnacle of their race, one who only emerged every millennium. Her father had spent years trying to sire a child worthy of that legend; he believed in it, and as much as she was loathe to admit it, she did too. She was the child her father had expected to showcase this legendary power...but she'd fallen short of his expectations.

And now Raditz stands here, emanating a strength that could possibly be the ideal my father searched for...The young woman clenched her fist to the point of drawing blood.It's humiliating...!

Raditz's muscles bulked, hiskicontinuing to burn brightly. Raditz hands clawed the air, foregoing the need for a stance, and blitzed Freeza. The movement was swift, without effort, and not a single person present tracked it. First, Raditz was standing still, and within the time it took to blink, his fist connected with Freeza's jaw. The blow forced the tyrant's head back, his jaw indenting to match the fist, spittle flying into the air and vanishing.

"He's..."

"...so fast!"

Aspara and Vegeta were dumbfounded, unable to keep pace with Raditz's movements. First blood had gone to the weakling traitor they'd never given any regard too. He'd landed a blow on Freeza!

Freeza staggered back, his gargantuan body coming close to keeling over. Holding himself steady, he stood fully upright, towering over Raditz, whose aura had ceased flowing, but his eyes continued to glow vibrant gold. Purple blood trickled from his mouth, a droplet falling to the ground and being absorbed into the scorched dirt. "Well then...it seems you've made quite a personal improvement, Raditz; you remind me so much of that irritating Saiyan who refused to surrender, even when your planet was at my mercy! I think it was yourfather,wasn't it? The man who struggled pointlessly as I wiped your species from the face of the Universe!"

Raditz's glowing yellow eyes narrowed. "Unlike my old man, Freeza, I've gained a power that is more terrifying than you ever were!"

"You've not yet seentrueterror, Raditz!" replied Freeza boastfully. "But I will take my time and sh—" The tyrant's words were cut off, trailing seamlessly into a startled shout. Raditz bent low to the ground, throwing Freeza off his balance with a powerful sweeping low kick. Pressing his hands to the ground, he pushed forward, both legs slamming into Freeza's aloft body. The extraterrestrial Emperor rocketed away with the force of a hundred bullets, careening outward over open ocean. Raditz's reddish-coral aura flared to life again, the Saiyan tearing off of the island after Freeza.

"This can't be Raditz...!" Nappa's mouth was agape, making him look, if possible, even denser than usual. "Not the same bastard who would run and hide if the mission got too difficult! Not the same little sh*t who could never defeat a more skillful opponent without some dirty trick! What the hell is going on here!?"

"He made a fool of you on Earth, Nappa," replied Vegeta icily. "I don't know what sort of training Raditz did...but Irefuseto believe he is a Super Saiyan!"

Above the waters, Raditz and Freeza clashed mightily. A muscled Saiyan arm swung downward towards a fleeting pink body; Freeza raised both arms to parry, the resulting shockwave disrupting the surface of the green waters. With all of his strength, Freeza pushed back against Raditz, who refused to be staggered. He grabbed Freeza by both horns, pulling the Emperor's head forward as he raised his knee upwards, crashing into his face with immense force.

Freeza roared, the pain incredible, yet to his credit did not back down. "I will not suffer humiliation from lesser beings on this backwater planet for the umpteenth time!"

"I'm going to enjoy dashing your hopes, then," sneered Raditz in reply. Power coursed through Raditz's body, the Saiyan feeling not merely blood butkirushing throughout his systems. He only felt this way when he entered this state, and it was exhilarating. Feeling this sort of strength pulsating out from his human form; it was surreal, almost something a Saiyan shouldn't be able to do it. Buthe'dmanaged it, and he was pushing Freeza back. A domineering grin split Raditz's face.

I can do this!

Freeza, capitalising on Raditz's being lost in his own thoughts, lunged forward. His massive reptilian form flickered away, enhancing his speed tremendously to slip behind Raditz's guard. Spinning like a top, the tyrant was pointed to slam his elbow into the side of Raditz's skull. The long-maned Saiyan anticipated Freeza's strike, countering with remarkable ease; his fist snapped backwards as if pressed by a lever, the backside of his hand crashing into Freeza's face.

It was Raditz's turn to pivot, his heel slamming into Freeza's domed head; the sharp kick blasted the tyrant towards the glistening waters of Namek. Freeza released akiaifrom his body, steadying his position as Raditz dove downward, spinning unnecessarily above the surface of the water, zoning in on Freeza. Saiyan and Emperor raced across the waters, crashing against each other, their hands locked in a fierce struggle. Freeza pushed against Raditz, Raditz against Freeza, and neither budged...until Raditz simply lost patience, forcing Freeza's hands back and rotating him violently. co*cking his arm back, Raditz powerfully slugged Freeza's revolving form; the blow struck his side, and Freeza skipped across water like an ugly stone.

Righting himself, Freeza progressed backwards in flight, extending his arm and expelling a volley rose-tintedkiblasts across the ocean. The streams ofkiraced towards Raditz, who dove headlong into them. Winding and spiraling around them, each blast grazed past the Saiyan with the ease of dancing around a leaf. Raditz wasn't merely leading in power — he had the battle experience that Freeza's entire army knew the Emperor lacked, and he used it to his advantage from the way he moved to way he drew out his power.

"Haaaaaaaaaah!" Freeza bellowed, releasing an even larger kikōha from his palms. Raditz's vision filled with rose-hued light...and his aura encased hand reached into the light, gripping it, compressing it, and throwing it well and far behind him. Freeza was unable to even gasp or react, Raditz closing in and bringing a violent fist into the man's stomach. Winded, spitting, Freeza rasped and snarled, only to receive a sharp heel to the side of his jaw. Blood flew from his mouth this time, splashing on Raditz's cheek before evaporating from his aura.

"All those times you looked down on me...everyone looked down on me...and I cowered before you!" Raditz's voice projected, loud, thick with fury as he headbutted Freeza; his forehead crashed into the tyrant's, sending him reeling. "Well, look who's spilling your blood?! The son of a low level warrior, a third rate scum like me...is the one that's besting you!"

"Besting me? You think you'rewinning?" Freeza knocked his head back, howling with mad laughter. "You're more delusional than your general is stupid! I'm simply indulging in this fantasy of yours; once I've grown bored I'll end you slowly, and painfully."

"Words don't mean nearly as much as skill, Freeza," replied Raditz coldly. Veins began to throb in his skin, the Saiyan could feel his power surging.sh*t...! I can't afford to enjoy myself here! I'm still not entirely...!He cut his own thought off, not wanting to admit his own weakness. Focusing his energy, doing his damnedest to keep it in check — it was his power, it was underhiscontrol — Raditz opened his maw wide.Kibegan to pool there, vibrant, vivid orange, with a red glow shimmering around it. Without warning, it exploded, expelling a Mouth Kikōha of immense speed. The blast collided with Freeza, crashing into him and exploding violently over the ocean. The resulting sphere of death forced the water back on all sides, the sea violently churning beneath Raditz's attack.

Watching safely from their island perch, the three Saiyans who had once been Raditz's teammates and superiors were astonished.

"He's...really pushing him back..." Nappa gaped.

"This shouldn't be possible...but that traitor might actually win...!"

Vegeta was less interested in vague possibilities; his mind was working furiously, trying to understand Raditz's newfound strength.Raditz...Super Saiyan or not, his strength is peculiar...familiar...He almost fights like a Giant Monkey...but he hasn't transformed...he didn't release any sort of Power Ball, and this planet has no moon...Vegeta knew it should be impossible, but Raditz's movements, his manner of technique, called their Giant Monkey transformation to mind.Is that what the Super Saiyan is?! Our true power?He couldn't fathom it, and his mounting frustration made him only want to know more— but it also ebbed feelings of jealousy the Saiyan was unable to cope with.

Jealous ofRaditz?Had he been reduced to that?

Raditz and Freeza's battle raged on, continuing to clash over Namek's brilliant waters. Raditz deftly avoided an incoming strike from Freeza's left arm, using both hands to grip the man by the horns for the second time. Hauling him over his body with immense strength, Raditz released a single arm, still gripping Freeza's horn with the other hand. Roaring, the Saiyan rammed his fist hard into Freeza's face. Letting the horn go, Raditz placed both palms towards him, releasing a blast ofkiat point-blank range. The sphere glowed brightly, expanded, and exploded, erupting into a plume of smoke around them both.

Freeza ripped through the smokescreen, just in time to receive a slamming blow from Raditz's armoured boot. Strike after strike, Raditz pummeled Freeza, Each strike was a blow filled with rage, with a desire for revenge. Was it for the Saiyans? Raditz couldn't think he was that sentimental. Was it for his parents? He couldn't stomach admitting that. Was it for himself? For his own pride? In this fight, in this moment, his Saiyan pride was roaring to life in his core; every blow he landed on Freeza was a result of this.

A growl nearly ruptured Freeza's throat, the tyrant pushing Raditz back with a full-bodykiai.Taking advantage of the opening, Freeza unleashed a barrage of blows against Raditz. The formerly lower-class Saiyan avoided each and every strike, dashing backwards all the while. The two began to fly quickly across the ocean, rising ever higher as every blow failed to hit home. Raditz, clad in his black armour, manoeuvred around Freeza so that the tyrant was hitting air.

Weaving around Freeza, Raditz held his arm aloft, catching Freeza's neck wholesale in a powerful lariat. He pressed onward, diving down in a surprise move that dragged Freeza towards the surface of the ocean. They broke through the green mirror, plunging into the frigid depths at breackneck speed. Freeza struggled against Raditz's hold, yet this was unnecessary. Raditz released his hold on him, holding his arm above his head. It crackled and bristled withki, causing water to bubble.

Raditz's mouth moved, but underwater, no words were spoken. Bubbles issued fiercely from his mouth as the Saiyan brought his arm down towards Freeza. A vibrant, white kikōha discharged from his palms, lighting up the murky darkness of the oceans with its brilliance. Freeza's eyes went wide as saucers, the technique colliding with him in full force. Freeza's body splayed trying to keep the attack at bay, but it pushed him deeper into the depths of the sea. With a final surge, the blast exploded in a brilliant flash, splitting a great mass of the ocean in every direction with its force.

Freeza emerged from a surge of waves, his body damaged heavily, bleeding afresh from new wounds. He was breathing hard, weariness setting in. Raditz floated upwards, crossing his arms. Beneath them, the water rushed beneath them, trying desperately to re assume its place in the vast ocean. The tyrant's face worked in visible frustration, his teeth gritting against each other, threatening to crack.

"NO!" Freeza bellowed, his voice rising, pitching, and emitting a powerful kiai which stopped Raditz in his tracks. The wind trembled, the space between them vibrated violently. Beneath the two, the ocean raged violently, unable to properly reassemble with the new pressure applied. Raditz raised his arms up to his face, guarding against the fierce winds, his golden eyes narrowed sharply. "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE! YOU ARE A MONKEY — NO, YOU ARE THE MAGGOT ON THE PELT OF ALL MONKEYS!YOU ARE LESS THAN THEM AND TO HAVE YOU SHED MY BLOOD IS AN UNFORGIVABLE INSULT I CANNOT STAND!"

"Call me what you like, Freeza," replied Raditz sharply. "But you'll find even a maggot can burrow deep and cause the sort of damage that'll kill you!"

The tyrant's fists clenched at his sides, muscles flexing with the movement. Over his whole body, cracks, luminous and strange, began to spread, like a chrysalis ready to break. Raditz could feel it, and his stomach sunk faster than he into the ocean. "Prepare to die, mongrel!"

This was terrible. Truly a worse case scenario. Of all the possibilities that could transpire, this was the one Bulma wished didn't come to pass.

Freeza had found them out and was already doing battle with Raditz. Unlike the elder brother of her husband, the man chose to stand and fight, telling the others to flee the planet to get to safety. But did he mean it truly as an actual retreat, or only as a delaying tactic? How long could he hold him off, or could he actually have a chance of besting him. Truly, at the moment, her ocular implants that doubled as a Scouter was giving her a mighty migraine...and she couldn't tell if Freeza was at max power or had eons to go before he was at his peak.

"I don't even know why we're still talking about it!" Jaco squealed out in his nasally voice, turning around to look at Kuririn and Pan, the only ones who came back from the ground zero of engagement against the frosty tyrant. "Let's get your guy out of the tank, and hop into any ship that can fit us all to get the Hell out of here!"

"And if we leave Raditz to his fate, what then?" Tights rebuked, placing a hand on her hip and the other waving emphatically as she fixed daggers from her eyes at his unblinking yellow ovals. "How far can we actually go before Freeza finds us, and has his way with torturing us? There'd be no end, and no real way of escape."

"What part of 'Do not cross Freeza and his men' coming from high command of the Galactic Patrol do you not comprehend, Tights?!" Jaco yelled back, his gloved hand raised up in a fist as he gritted his nervously clacking teeth as tight as he could. "I've only stuck with you guys cause you dragged me here, against my will, and this is way beyond my pay grade. I may be a super elite, but even us patrollers can only do so much."

"Then leave, if that's what you really want-"

"You all should leave," Bulma intoned, softer than what was expected, cutting straight through the tension of the two friends that were arguing.

"But...uncle Raditz is in trouble," Pan weakly protested, still shook from fear of seeing Freeza firsthand and feeling his power. Though she spoke bravely, her mother looked down with a knowing gaze that pierced through her paper thin facade. "We can't just...just leave him!"

"I'm afraid we'd get in his way...but can't we do something?" Kuririn inquired, looking around at the two women, child and patrolman with his own brand of feverish helplessness. "I don't want to run with my tail between my legs; not after what happened with the Saiyans!"

"There's no shame from running from certain doom either," Jaco proclaimed, crossing his arms and standing straighter as he addressed the whole group. "Bulma, I've known you not as long as Tights, but you can see it, can't you? This whole situation is beyond normal means of completion. We're out of our depth here. I'm no elite fighter with strange powers. I'm just a space cop, and cops aren't soldiers. And it'd go against my conscience to leave this place without taking innocent bystanders with me."

"Gee, thanks for being considerate," Tights retorted sourly, her face twisting in anger and anguish as she crossed her own arms and looked away sullenly.

"He's right. You have to all go," Bulma said again, more stoically and with a much more assured face than the rest had. "I'll stay here, and wait for Son to come out of his pod. Once that's done, I'll find a safe place to wait for him to come out on top. I know him. Between him, those Saiyans and even Raditz, they'll pull through. You've all done enough and I want you all safe. Worse case scenario, I don't want you all to be put in jeopardy. You have people waiting at home, right?"

Kuririn had his mouth open but felt no words leave his mouth. Slowly closing his trap, he looked over at Tights who looked deeply conflicted. Jaco seemed to nod in understanding, his legs quivering at the notion of being a part of this any longer. And if they came to Earth, there was likely no one to protect it, not until the Dragon Balls were restored and Piccolo and the others returned from the Afterlife.

"I don't like doing this again, but...I don't want the Earth to be helpless in case this whole thing goes sideways," Kuririn reconciled, sighing heavily as he looked up at Bulma, giving her a reluctant smile. "Just make sure you don't do anything crazy. Gokū would be sad if something happened to you."

"I'll try my best," Bulma nodded, her expression shifting to one of pain as she looked to her sister. "And keep an eye on mom and dad, will you?"

"I will, if only you make sure Raditz comes back along with Son."

The words struck her like a hammer hitting an anvil. It didn't occur to her until just now how much her sibling valued the elder brother of her husband. She had always shown kindness, but she didn't think it was affection. But, in those familiar eyes, she could tell she was serious and she couldn't help but feel obliged to follow her request to the letter.

"I understand," The lavender haired woman nodded sagely. Looking to her daughter, she knelt down and placed her hands on her shoulders, "Pan, sweetie, you should go with them too-"

"I'm staying too!"

"Pan-"

"Mama, you were fine with me fightin' before, and I almost died. I want to make sure you and papa are safe too. Cause without Kuririn or Chi-Chi, who's going to keep you both safe until he gets better?"

Bulma was stunned. It was so jarring that she found herself laughing. Despite her being so young, she had concocted a perfectly valid argument for wanting to stay and she herself didn't know how she was going to manage if the fight was brought to the ship. She only had Capsule Corp gadgets and a few homebrewed weapons. What was that against antagonists capable of destroying worlds with a snap of their fingers?

"Alright, you'll stay," Bulma conceded, raising her finger as she looked sternly at her. "On the condition to listen to what I say. Understand?"

"YES!" Pan exclaimed, her tail swinging wildly behind her as she leaped in the air. "I'll listen! I'll be good!"

"Alright," She sighed, looking up to her sister. Taking a few steps towards her, she wrapped her arms around her, giving her a fierce hug that was returned just as much. "I'll see you soon."

"You bet you will," The blonde sniffled, separating as she wiped her eyes. "Or else I'd have a fierce talking to you with the Dragon Balls' help."

Chuckling weakly, she shook her head, "Of that, I have no doubt."

Lastly, she looked to Jaco, and gave him a look. It wasn't a harsh one, it wasn't even a critical one. While none of them could see exactly what Jaco saw, it was enough to straighten his stance and give her a curt, but understanding shake of the head.

"I'll get them out of here, no problem. I remember where I saw their ship land so it shouldn't be close to the battlefield," He neutrally declared.

Nodding, the woman watched as the three departed with resignation from the ship. Seeing them out of the main entrance, Kuririn grasped them both and launched into a swift as lightning flight in a single arcing bounce. As the twinkle disappeared into the horizon, and flashes of distant thuuming crashes of the raging battle continued, Pan reached up to grab her mother's hand.

To which Bulma adamantly squeezed it back.

"We're counting on you, Raditz," Bulma thought, her eyes still moist and her breathing shaky with emotion. "Don't let my sister down...no...don't let my family down by quitting now. Otherwise...I'll make you regret it...!"

Freeza's body mutated. Its form shattering the chrysalis of his own flesh to jut out shoulders, elongate his skull into something more ovular while spikes extended like crooked ribs turned horns. Hunching over, as the scarlet light ebbed its haunting rays, its energies rising upward till it all stabilized, a trulymonstrousform had taken the place of the hulking giant devil. The emperor's face had his eyes sunken in, enlarged and the mouth remove nostrils and a jaw-line to replace it with a pair of skin flaps resembling a mouth that held a row of jagged teeth behind it.

Shorter, and more squat, the uncharacteristic features associating with the icy tyrant made all the Saiyans feel unnerved; and of the four that could sense hiski, Vegeta looked on with palpably widened eyes, sweating bullets as he hung in the middle of the air flanked by equally bewildered and frightened comrades.

All while Raditz froze in place, his own large burly form static while his yellow eyes was affixed to staring in morbid awe at what he was beholding.

"Ahhhhhh, there we are," Freeza sighed, his voice gaining a grated tone, and far less eloquent than his previous two states of being. Grinning with his alien-like mouth, he let out a chuckle at the expression held true on his opponent's face. "I take it that you can feel this power, hm? I must warn you, while I have never had the power level examinedthisform is far more deadly."

It happened in an instant. A streak of chitinous pink-purple-white streaked by and Raditz moved on automatic reaction timing. As his head turned, part of his mane didn't and a hole tore through his hair, with flecks of black dancing across his periphery; along with a fresh cut across his cheek by the searing beam of red light that was just fired.

"Very well done, Raditz. You dodged my first attack," The emperor of the known universe proclaimed with a deep timbre laugh, his raised index finger lighting up more gradually than before. "But for how long can you manage that?"

In an immediate reflex, the long-maned Saiyan's power erupted in a flare of orange. Swathing him like a thick flame, he jettisoned himself his position straight towards Freeza. Throwing his muscular arm forward, the oddly shaped entity deftly bent his upper body and caught his appendage with his lower three-pronged foot. Clenching his biceps, the evil alien swung his tail around to strike his waist, forcing his target to reach out to deflect it-

-leaving him open for a salvo of piercing kikōha by Freeza's extended forefingers.

"AGH!" The older brother of Gokū cried out in pain, his shoulders, chest and upper arms swathed in burns and cuts from the energy beams that sought to cut deeper into him than they were actually achieving. Grimacing, his eyes shrank and with bared teeth he let out a loud shout - focusing his voice to sail out and strike the fiend, sending him straight into the sea with a loud splash.

In the momentary respite, Nappa began to back away, his own face ebbing moisture as his body shook from fear of what he was witnessing. Just as he thought to turn to leave, a small but powerful hand gripped his gauntlet, and he turned to see Vegeta stonily glaring ahead without even batting an eye his way.

"V-Vegeta-" He let out a hoarse whisper. "-we should leave...now while we have the chance-!"

"And go where, Nappa?" Vegeta inquired quietly, bringing Nappa with the startling realization that he explained aloud. "No. We cast our lot the moment Freeza found us. Do or die, it will be our turn once the traitor is felled. Don't make me waste energy by ensuring you don't attempt this escape before I must assume my destiny."

Swallowing a lump down his throat, he briefly turned to look at Aspara, noticing how she herself was shakily breathing. She couldn't even look at them, just staring with terror and bewilderment as a streak of purplish-white erupted from the water and rammed into Raditz's face with the force of a magnetically propelled battering ram of Arlok V. But even with the popping blast that shattered Namek's atmosphere, blood spewing from his jaw as he bit on his own tongue, it didn't stop him from throwing his forehead out like a flail to crash into the galactic oppressor's cross-armed guard - sending him flying backwards with a loudgong.

Pulling both arms back, Raditz charged two crackling orbs of rosy light and thrust them out with a guttural howl, unleashing his signature move as a pair of beams that merged into one enormous blast of pinkish luminescence.

To everyone's shock and horror, they'd see an amethyst-white form spiraled around the beam, swiftly blitzing up with a salmon-ribbed tail lassoing up around Raditz's neck and yanking him out of the sky. Twisting around in a twister of hyper-speed, creating a hurricane wind that forced the Saiyan spectators to shield their eyes with their arms, ending with a violent throw that slammed Raditz straight through an island body; and deep into the surrounding oceans of Namek.

"H-He's flying circles around him!" Nappa croaked out, still in disbelief this was the same being who was being punted around like some ball related sport object. "Raditz hits him good, but he's not fast enough!"

"I canseethat, Nappa, I'm notblind!"

"B-But what are we waiting for?!" He yelled out, looking to the prince and then back at Freeza. "If we're not runnin' shouldn't we try to take him by-"

"-surprise?"

For a split second, all felt their hearts stop for a second. Looking ahead, they saw Freeza looking straight at them - a looming presence overwhelming them as his eyes stared from what should've been a quarter mile away but felt as if he was straight only inches apart from their sweating visages.

"As if catching me off guard would give you an ounce of hope. By all means, do try," Their former superior spoke, a hideous grin breaching across his arched lips, baring fangs as he growled lowly. "I do enjoy dashing the hopes of ants."

Backing away, Aspara and Nappa floated backwards while Vegeta remained stubbornly rooted in his spot in the sky. But he didn't move an inch forward. His hands clenching with frustration, veins throbbing along his forehead and teeth baring with eyes glaring ahead. Moving now would be death, but retreat would be death. It was all the same in his mind.

But, the silent stewing of the prince just amused Freeza, causing him to chuckle as he turned to address the unseen form of Raditz that he sent crashing violently into the now shattered remnants of the massive island now ocean filled mass.

"I am impressed by your endurance. Despite me clearly having the advantage in speed and maneuverability, your strength and resilience is impressive. Allow me to show you the courtesy of not allowing you to get back up."

Raising his fingers, he postured his hands as if they were sidearms held aloft. Pale digits glowed along the two pairs of index digits; and then unleashed in a storm of piercing beams that showered the crumbled earth and water like meteorites. A nasally cackle was heard shredding the heavens, his mouth hung open and eyes wide with glee as he began to cut loose, causing the sea to buck outward, outer isles crumbling under the pressure and the sea lapsing over them.

The flashes of scarlet painted the skyline, overshadowing the look of fear and terror on Vegeta's subordinates. The prince himself gripped his gloves tightly, watching Freeza continue to unleash a devastating salvo. Believing that Raditz would be drilled full of holes he began to pull his hands back behind his right hip, a subtle ignition of energy as he prepared a blast to strike the tyrant in his flank being revved.

Thuum-Thuum!

As Freeza continued to firing kikōha, Vegeta feltsomethingstir within Namek's boiling seas.

Thuum-Thuum-Thuum!

"No...!" Vegeta choked out, disengaging his energy and looking straight at the site of ground zero. "He's...not dead...?!"

And before Nappa could question what he meant, a powerful kiai split the piercing waves of Freeza's relentless attacks. Like that of a monster of tales from legend, a silhouette emerged upwards from the waves, deflecting the barrage of energy sent by the galactic emperor, a vibrant orange halo of light brimming from flesh that throbbed of veins and muscles flexing outward. Eyes brimmed with a pair of golden rings, with vessels pulsing along his face as his hair whipped around like a chaotic flag of mane. With teeth bared, grinding molars against each other and tail erect with fur, Raditz bent his neck back and let out a feral howl.

His scream tore a torrential vortex that was even greater than the twister that Freeza had manifested mere minutes ago. His energy skyrocketed, and while Freeza could see that he was yelling in outrage, the prince looked down with a sudden dawning of what was transpiring.

"T-That...is not Super Saiyan," Vegeta declared, blinking with fear painted on his face. "That's...the primal force of a Giant Monkey!"

"An Giant Monkey?! But how?!" Nappa bellowed with trepidation and uncertainty. "There's no moon out! And I didn't see him use those damn contacts from last time either!"

"Its a rarity, something only a handful of Saiyans could manage. But what we see now is his feral instincts running wild, and his power is getting higher and higher!"

"What does that mean?!" Aspara croaked, finally speaking for the first time since the transformation of Freeza began.

With eyes fixed on Raditz, Vegeta watched him evaporate from his position and appear in front of Freeza - grasping him by his obtuse face and unleashing a massive scarlet kikōha that overwhelmed his whole angular body at once.

"If Raditz ends up beating Freeza...this world might be next!"

Chapter 33: The Emperor

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, Edited by Firegod00

Chapter 33 - The Emperor

Raditz's first, wild attack on Freeza had hit home hard, resulting in a vibrant explosion of coral-red energy which lit up the sky. The flames of the resulting explosion gave way to a thick screen of smoke, blackening the light around Freeza and Raditz, obscuring them from the view of the Saiyan trio in the distance; regardless, the shockwaves from the explosion were felt by all. The water, having finally settled from the storm of Raditz'ski,quivered and shook beneath the dissipating smokescreen.

A sudden gust of wind — no, a physical pressure blast from Freeza himself — forced the smokescreen to part, revealing the tyrant himself. His lizard-like second transformation had been damaged by Raditz's sudden attack; his face was singed, teeth were missing, and above all, his pride had been shattered more completely than his body. His crimson eyes narrowed in fury, the Emperor of the Universe scowling at Raditz's glowing form. "What...are you!? There's no way someone like you could be Raditz...could be that weakling! No Saiyan should have this sort of strength!"

"This power..." Aspara gaped. "It's...on an entirely different level."

"He survived..." Nappa couldn't force himself to jest, or even smile. Veeta's cryptic words still rang in his head, and even then, he had hoped that Raditz's first attack might have ended everything. They could worry about the planet later, right? "They're both monsters...!"

Vegeta didn't want to admit it to himself, but there was no denying it now. Watching Freeza and Raditz fight, the shifting balance of power, and Raditz's monstrous power...he could feel the beginnings of an emotion he thought he'd buried as a child.Fearwas creeping into his heart, the mighty Prince of Saiyans feeling like an impending causality in a battle between two forces that had no right to exist in this world.

Raditz opened his mouth again, and the same terrifying roar from mere moments ago ripped through his throat for a second time. The roar of the Giant Monkey of the Saiyan race, encased and trapped in a human form — a monster bent on nothing but destruction with a far more manoeuvrable body with which to carry it out. The bellowing which emanated from Raditz's throat kicked up shockwaves yet again, pulsations of wind which shot through the air, alternating in every which way. The pressure was strong enough that Freza had to force himself to stay aloft, raising his arms to shield his body.

Then the shockwaves ceased, the winds which whipped around the two combatants stalled to a dead halt. The air was still, and snarling, haggard breathing was audible from Raditz. His mane of hair, spiking with his enhanced form, bristled further, his tail unfurling to stand at attention. There was no longer time for delay; Raditz launched into a new offensive, His body, the muscle mass having increased its size, loomed over Freeza, who himself was not diminutive. Giant hands rushed towards a serpentine, elongated head. Freeza kicked back in the air, desperately trying to put some distance between himself and the mad Saiyan he could not comprehend.

It was to no avail.

Raditz's speed was superior, his goal singular. Freeza wouldn't escape, not when the rampaging monster had designated him as the target, as an enemy needing to be destroyed. Raditz's hand curled into a fist, crushing into Freeza's face with ease. Had it been possible to, it might have been flattened more than it already was, yet Raditz's bloodlust would have to be content with the shrill scream of pain erupting from Freeza's throat. Uncurling his fist, the Saiyan's hand grabbed Freeza's face in full...and they dove downward.Two bodies raced for the surface of the emerald waters, Freeza bracing for an impact that never came.

Pulling out of the dive to level himself, Raditz held Freeza over the water's surface, plunging the tyrant into the cold, crisp ocean and dragging him along. He made his way towards an outcrop of land, hardly worth being called an island, but it'd serve its purpose regardless...and threw Freeza headlong into it like a fastball. Freeza crashed into the rocks, his body indenting perfectly into the side. Freeza hard Raditz before he saw him, much in the same way one hears a vehicle ride before it collides with them; his vision clouded as an Raditz's form filled it, an armoured boot slamming into Freeza's torso, wedging him even further into the rock until it simply shattered and crumbled into the sea, Freeza careening backwards from the force.

"I still can't believe this...!" Nappa was looking completely idiotic, his mouth hanging open in shock at Raditz's brutality and strength. "Raditz was never like this...never this strong..." How far behind the 'Weakling Raditz' had they actually fallen?

"If only we had Scouters that could actually read their strength..." Aspara grumbled unpleasantly. "I don't want to admit it, but...Raditz's combat strength reading would probably exceed Freeza's."

Idle, idiotic banter was not to Vegeta's liking, so he kept his mouth shut, refusing to contribute to the conversation of his partners. But he knew. Aspara had hit the nail on the head; the energy he could feel emanating from Raditz right now — as vast and uncontrolled as the burning aura around him — exceeded even the strength of Freeza's transformation. But that is precisely what made him so dangerous. Raditz's instincts, the drive of the Giant Monkey to destroy, was targeting Freeza as the primary threat. Should Raditz eradicate him...they had no way of countering with he came for them.

"Aren't you...getting ahead of yourself, simian!?" Freeza roared, fury ringing in every syllable. The tyrant coated his hands inki, generating a pulsating orb of light above his head. Freeza then proceeded to rip the sphere in half, gripping two spheres ofkiin each palm, and discharged them towards an oncoming Raditz. Each sphere snapped through the air, crackling with electricity, and aiming to attack Raditz in a pincer formation.

The incoming Saiyan barreled forward, seemingly oblivious to the spheres headed his way. Freeza waited for the impending explosion...

...that never came. Raditz, a moment shy of the spheres impacting him, spun violently like a top. A trail of light followed Raditz as he spun, pink mixing in with his own aura's distinctive hue; he has grabbed both spheres in the middle of his spin, and redirected them back towards a shocked and speechless Freeza. Not having expected his own move countered, much less in such an unorthodox manner, Freeza could only gape as both attacks collided with him in a powerful explosion.

"He deflected them!?" gasped Nappa.

"And so easily!" Aspara watched in amazement.

"DIDN'T I SAY NOT TO GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF!?" snarled Freeza, flexing his muscles in a deliberate stance to chargeki. The energy emanated from his entire being, encircling him and forming a translucent barrier of pink hue. Raditz's glowing orange fist slammed into the barrier, being repelled by an incredibly dense protective layer ofki. The sound of Raditz's fists repeatedly hammering against the barrier was music to Freeza's ears; he'd finally found a method through which Raditz could not attack to, and yet hated himself for the fact that he'd felt the need to protective himself from a monkey like this.

"URRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Raditz's voice reverberated throughout the area, a violent scream of rage and fury that threatened to tear his vocal chords to pieces. Repeatedly, his fists beat away at thekiencasem*nt ceaselessly; each time, the noise echoed within, muffled the barrier. Every blow, however, was repelled by the barrier itself, and Raditz found no purchase against its tough surface. He gripped both hands tightly, landing a sledgehammer into the barrier which sent shockwaves down though it and into the green-hued oceans, causing massive ripples and powerful waves. The barrier itself descended towards the ocean, stopping just shy of the surface of the water — yet it was still pristine.

Laughter erupted from Freeza's mouth, cold and high, his shoulders shaking in mirth. "Exhaust yourself, fool! Punch away at my barrier; you won't find any way to pierce it! It's the strongest defence!"

Raditz stared down blankly at the barrier, tilting his head. For a single moment, his rampage had ceased; it was almost like the wrathful Saiyan was contemplating.

"Is that it?!" Freeza called out through the barrier. "Have you already given up?! By all means, continue to swing away until your body gives out!"

Silence was Raditz's response. He rose into the air, slowly at first, and then faster. Higher, and higher; Freeza, Vegeta, Aspara, Nappa, and the littering of islands began to grow smaller, becoming specks until they vanished from Raditz's vision entirely, the surface of Namek turning into little splotches of green and brown. Eventually, Raditz passed through a layer of clouds, hanging alone in a vast expanse of green. He floated high above Namek's surface, hanging along in the point between the heavens and the earth.

Then he dove.

On the surface, Freeza grew puzzled. He couldn't see Raditz any longer, and minutes had passed since the Saiyan had risen into the air.I won't pretend to understand the workings of the simian brain...so why did he fly into the sky like this? Has he given up? Certainly he no longer has the mental faculties to form a strategy, so was it instinct that led him to run away? What are you thinking, you bastard?

Freeza's questions were answered almost immediately when a bloodcurdling howl came from the skies; to the Nameccians, this might have seemed like an angry god. Freeza knew better. A burst of coral light broke through what few clouds were there, breaking them apart to reveal the glistening form of Raditz, descending towards Freeza at a ludicrously high speed. His face was worked into a mask of rage, the Saiyan co*cked his arm backwards, muscles flexing, biceps bulging. His fist crashed into the barrier hard, the resulting impact cracking it immediately. Freeza's eyes widened, the tyrant paled in fear, yet Raditz did not stop. He pushed forward, Raditz's aura flashing and trailing behind him, erupting into the distance; the force of his body, his descent, and his punch shattered Freeza's barrier into pieces, breaking through and slamming into the Emperor's jaw.

Unrelenting, Raditz brought his free arm down into Freeza's torso; the blow resounded through the water, separating it around them as Raditz continued pummel away. Each strike landed, eliciting gasps of pain and shots of breath from Freeza's lungs. Cracks began to form the epicentre of the punches, spreading from each point of impact, spreading along Freeza's chest and stomach like an infection. The pressure was such that Freeza could not keep up. Each blow defied his expectations. Each barrage put into further relief which of the two was superior in strength, Raditz pushing his quarry further and further back.

"Is...his body cracking...?" Aspara blinked, confusion mounting. "I knew Freeza was a monster...but is he even a living creature?"

"He is," replied Vegeta. "Freeza wearing the Combat Jacket was a mere formality, setting an example for his lower soldiers of what a proper member of his Army looks like. For as long as I've known him, Freeza has been able to create an exoskeleton-like form of natural armour; I've never seen it scratched, even before he started transforming. For Raditz to be able to even crack it...!"

Freeza extended a hand, releasing a powerfulkiaito stagger Raditz. The force of the invisible bundle ofkiwas astounding, managing to keep Raditz at bay long enough for Freeza to turn his attention to counterattack. Reaching out with his mind, not his body, Freeza gripped part of the destroyed island in the distance — the very same outcrop that Raditz had forced him through earlier — and pulled large slabs of it out from the ocean. Water slid off them easily, revealing smooth tablets; in an instant, Freeza beckoned them forward and they followed his suggestion. Raditz, who had just recovered from the strike of thekiai, shaking his head like a stunned animal, readied himself to continue assaulting Freeza...

...only to be struck in the back by flying slabs of rock. It wasn't painful, merely a mild annoyance at best, but it served to gain Raditz's attention. He turned furiously, searching for the source of the disruption, coming face to face with more rushing debris. He struck them down by hand, eventually opening his maw wide; energy formed at the fore of his mouth, letting itself loose, flying recklessly into the distance in an effort to destroy what Raditz now perceived an additional threat. The orange kikōha ripped across the ocean, setting a wake in its path, shooting into the distance, where it collided with a far-off outcrop of rock, exploding into a brilliant showing of light.

In its path, the kikōha had whizzed by Vegeta, Aspara, and Nappa, narrowly missing colliding with the three of them, and the sheer power behind the resulting explosion left them speechless. An attack like that would have wiped them off of Namek without a trace.

"You fell for it, fool!" Freeza raised a hand, a fingertip pressing into Raditz's backside; in an instant, it was accompanied by a brilliant flash of pink, a yowl of pain, and a thin line ofkiwhich rushed through Raditz's body and into the sky, thinning to nothing. "A rampaging ape can be fooled by the simplest of diversions!"

THWACK!

A muscled, bristle-haired Saiyan tail struck Freeza's face, leaving him stupefied. Raditz's elbow swung backwards, the enraged Saiyan pivoting in the air to strike Freeza in retaliation. A multi-hit combo of several punches and kicks left the staggered Freeza, if possible, even more stunned. Raditz kept the pressure up, spontaneously ramming his long-maned head into Freeza's chest, causing Freeza to spiral across the ocean in an uncontrolled motion.

Bursting to life around Raditz's hand, coralkiflared. A flurry ofkiissued from Raditz's palms, whizzing through the sky, almost as if they'd locked onto Freeza himself. The tyrant forcibly righted himself, gritting his teeth and using both hands to bat away each and every incoming kikōha; the spheres flew off in a variety of directions, creating a set of chain explosions across the deserted planet. The bombardment of repetitive kikōha, however, was merely the feint. Raditz had lunged through the haywire attacks, his fist connecting with Freeza's jaw. Freeza's eye swiveled angrily to glare at Raditz, grinning against the force, forcing Raditz back with both hands. The enraged Saiyan flared his aura higher than before, connecting a sharp kick which pressed Freeza through the air and across the ocean.

"They're...getting so far away...!" Nappa tried to see into the distance. "I don't even know what's going on anymore! Aspara, do you know which one is winning?!"

"How the hell would I know, buffoon?!" snapped Aspara, who was just as blind as Nappa, and inwardly cursing their lack of Scouters yet again.

"The two of you could do with picking up a trick from those Earthlings," snapped Vegeta impatiently. "Raditz has the edge, that much is obvious. He's still pushing Freeza back." Vegeta didn't bother to tell them, however, that something felt off. Raditz'ski, while still gargantuan, was growing erratic. Was it getting stronger?That form is such an anomaly...the Giant Monkey Form isn't meant to be restrained the way Raditz is doing...previous attempts always drove the user mad...I don't know how this is going to go from here.

"URRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

The familiar, resounding shout bellowed from the depths of Raditz's lungs yet again, only this time, it was mixed in with cries of pain. Despite this, the Saiyan released a vast burning aura from his body; it raged around him, uncontrolled and indiscriminate like a flame, the reddish orange hues setting the green sky alight with their blaze. His muscles bulged more, his hair became even more rigid, and the Saiyan's yellow eyes flashed ominously with thekibehind them, black pupils dilating.

Freeza's inability to sensekimeant nothing. He understood, plain as day, that Raditz'skiwas only continuing torise. Freeza stood firm against the wind pressure, feeling the sections of his exoskeleton which had begun to crack in the battle chip away, small portions falling into the ocean below them. He truly was at a disadvantage, but he wasn't out of the running yet. Shrieking, positively howling, Freeza's own purplish-pink aura burst to life around his body. The tyrant forced out the reserves ofkistored away in this form, the last hopes he had to make a comeback.

The two moved in a blur of motion. Pushing against each other, they clashed, their bodies crashing before separating, both of them trying to overpower the other through nothing but brute force. Raditz loosed akiblast that Freeza deflected. Freeza threw forward a punch that Raditz blocked, countering with a parried blow of his own. Freeza slipped past Raditz's guard, taking to his back and prepping another thin kikōha aimed directly for the heart. Raditz's instincts kicked in, spinning on the spot; as a result, the incoming flash pierced his shoulder, yet missed a vital organ.

This proved insufficient to incapacitate the wrathful Saiyan.

Yet something was changing. The very tide of battle. As they continued to clash, Freeza was beginning to land more solid hits. One of Raditz's incoming blows completely cleaved his left shoulder pad clean off his shoulder with a sickening crunch. It elicited no pain from the tyrant, who responded with a sharp blow that landed centre on one of Raditz's fresh wounds. The pain that normally would have been inflicted was magnified, and the Saiyan doubled over; the fact opening that Freeza had been hoping for.

A single strike. A second strike. A third. A fourth. Raditz's movements were growing sluggish, and Freeza was taking full advantage of the chance this provided. Freeza twisted his wounded body, deftly avoiding Raditz's incoming strike. The blow struck air, the pressure grazing Freeza yet proving other ineffective. The Frost Demon spun, using the momentum to slam his muscular tail into Raditz, forcing him back. Freeza had his turn to press the offensive, using as much at his disposal as he could; physical strikes, kikōha discharged at point blank range, tail swipes to keep Raditz on his toes.

Raditz, however, refused to give up. The surging power of his enraged transformation spurred him to fight, spurred him to kill, and killing Freeza was his singular thought right now. The rampaging Saiyan, even on the backfoot, would not stop fighting. A battle cry thundered through Raditz's body, co*cking his fist back for a singular, powerful blow meant to crush Freeza's skull.

The speed at which Freeza avoided it was astounding. Before Raditz's blow connected in full, Freeza had already countered, flipping over in the air to land two solid strikes to Raditz's face with his three-toed feet, kicking off with immense force and firing a kikōha that exploded instantly, covering Raditz in booming explosion. A giant hand erupted from the smokescreen, Raditz making his counterattack. Freeza was ready, ducking under the incoming blow and slamming it into Raditz's shoulder, taking advantage of the critical spot to inflict massive damage.

A malicious grin slid across Freeza's face. There was no need to strike blindly now. Raditz's own body would betray him. Crushing his elbow into Raditz's second wound, the scream that followed as the wound widened, Freeza digging the elbow into the flesh, was music to the tyrants ears. Jabbing two fingers forward, a flash ofkierupted, cutting into Raditz's leg, bursting out on the other side. Repeatedly, Freeza let loose these thin blasts from his fingertips in a bombarding volley; Raditz felt his body pierced in multiple places, staggering him horribly. Laughter erupted from Freeza's lungs, piercing Raditz's flesh with his onslaught of crazy attacks. When he finally ceased, Raditz was riddled with holes in his torso, legs, and arms, each bleeding afresh.

"Look at you," said Freeza, not an ounce of pity in his voice. "You got drunk on the filthy power of your worthless race, and believed for a second you could fight me on even ground.Know your place, Saiyan scum!" In a single swipe, Freeza emitted a slash ofkifrom his fingers; the blast erupted, tearing into Raditz's shoulder and Combat Jacket, blood spurting from the wound. Freeza gripped Raditz's face, pulling him along through the air, making a beeline towards the Vegeta, Nappa, and Aspara. A thuum of an explosion following Freeza callously throwing Raditz's body into the ground, where it collapsed in a motionless heap. The resulting expulsion of smoke cleared quickly, revealing an unconscious, bleeding Raditz. His muscle mass had shrunk, his aura dissipated, and his hair was the long flowing mane it had been before he triggered the transformation.

Their sole champion had been soundly defeated.

"H-He's lost...!" Aspara stepped backwards in horror. The sight of Raditz's broken body didn't elicit feelings of sympathy as a relative, but basic fear for the woman's own well-being. If Raditz had fallen, they had no chance of taking on this monster. "W-We need to go somewhere, anywhere! We need to run!"

"Run?"

The voice had come from behind them; the Saiyan trio turned to see Freeza, who had already moved from hovering above them to standing behind them, arms folded, faster than they could blink.

"Where are you going to go?"

Time stopped.

The three Saiyans instantly knew there was no longer any delaying this inevitable confrontation. Nappa felt his muscles turn to ice, and the fire that normally burned within his veins go completely numb. Aspara felt like screaming, running, and doing anything but be in this situation.

But Vegeta, turned to bare his teeth and glare over his shoulder, spoke back to him in a clear and unwavering tone.

"Run? How would I exact my revenge if I threw my pride to the wayside?"

The icy emperor chuckled darkly, his intact deep baritone a reminder that - despite his injuries - he was very much a league above them.

"Little words thrown by a paper tiger at a storm. I find it amusing, and that's the only reason I've tolerated your existence up until this point. With your ace in the hole out of the way, I can assume you're the only one left with enough grit to fight to the bitter end," His eyes leered towards the pair flanking Vegeta, weighing them with his overwhelming gaze they could feel as much as the heat baring down on them from Namek's three Suns. "I can see the spirit has left these two. Dead monkeys walking as far as I'm concerned."

A shearing crack disrupted the space to Vegeta's back-turned-left. His eyes barely had time to perceive the rush of blood-soaked purple-white slamming into Nappa's armored spine. The burly general's body folded over, arms splayed out and legs flailing, eyes bulging as the wind was crushed out of his lungs. It would have been amusing in any other circ*mstance to see his dim-witted caretaker thrown across the landscape like a rag doll, bouncing across the hills and crashing into the rise of a cliff in the distance with a smoke-spewing impact.

But this wasn't a laughing matter; Freeza was out to eliminate his enemies.

Asapra recognized this and made an immediate bolting gesture, leaping up into the sky and breaking the sound barrier as she went full power in just accelerating to escape!

I have to get off this planet! To Hell with my father's plans!She thought as she gnashed her teeth, tail whipping behind with her mane of smooth black tresses.Freeza's incapable of being killed as he is. If he can just set his sights on Vegeta, I can probably have enough time to utilize Freeza's ship to-!

The obtusely conical head of Freeza blurring in front of her eyes cut off her train of thought. An impotent squeak hissed through her now agape jaw, her acceleration breaking into an immediate stop. Sweat beaded off her brow, dropping off her chin as she breathed heavily at the sight of the blood crusted visage of her former superior of superiors. The smile curling across the lip-less mouth brought her more terror than the entirety of cruelty bestowed to her by her father or the prince.

"Going somewhere?" Freeza inquired coyly, chuckling at the sight of her poised panic. "I have a lovely destination in mind for you.Allow me to guide you there, personally."

Saying this, Freeza's form became a streak of purplish-white, slamming a three-toed foot into her gut. Spewing out saliva, she croaked out as she flew across the sky over where she originally took flight; only for an additional tail swipe from behind to send her slamming hard enough to split apart an island proximate to the Saiyan three's original standing position. Lying still, in a pool of her own blood, she grew still and slumped completely into the caved-in dirt.

"That makes two," The amethyst-white angularly shaped figure sang aloud with malice. "Now, to deal with the prince."

A shrieking orb came rushing towards the frigid overlord. Twisting about, he leaned his conical skull to the side, watching it pass him by lazily. Arcing up into the sky he curiously peered at it wondering what its purpose was?

Then, it exploded, and burst into a blinding circle of light that made his eyes wince.

Just as be began to question what it was, he heard laughter echo below. A dawning realization broached his mind, his body turning to see from his levitating position to the ground standing one of Vegeta, eyes whitened and teeth beginning to lengthen and curve into something more feral.

"Thank you for getting rid of them first," Vegeta cackled, his body expanding wildly, face extending into a muzzle ears sharpening and his tail becoming a thick trunk of an appendage. "Had you not thought to deal with them, I wouldn't have gotten the Power Ball off. And NOW!" He continued to speak, his voice becoming a booming thunder, deepening as much as quaking the air. His enormous boots crushed the earth below as his complete Giant Monkey form took hold. With his face now sharing the same altitude as the bloodied emperor of evil, Vegeta's pupiless red eyes narrowed, and a savage grin emerged on the Prince's toothy jaw. "OUR FIGHT BEGINS NOW!"

At this announcement, Vegeta's enormous jaw parted, revealing a swelling orb of scarlet light within his throat. Heels digging into the ground of the isle, the primal fury of the Saiyan prince was unleashed in a massive beam of reddish light poised to erase Freeza from existence.

Leaping away at the last second, the Saiyan's former boss evaded the deadly kikōha, idly noticing how it collided with the horizon's series of isles and exploding with a massive upheaval of fire and earth. Returning his attention back forward, his eyes widened with alarm as a massive gloved fist took up his immediate vicinity. Adeptly he somersaulted up over the massive arm, grasping the seam of the elastic covering and pulled the simian warrior forward.

So taken aback by the ease of his haul of his transformed being, Vegeta found a diminutive sized trio of toes crashing into his armored chest with force equal to his own. Coughing out, he found his heels sinking into the ground, the air parting in a thuum of impact. Not relenting, he swept his other hand to slap Freeza's person watching him ascend like an insect - avoiding him completely - and unleash a hail of piercing kikōha back down at him from his fingertips.

Through the pain, Vegeta howled, unleashing a lung-filledkiaistraight through the beams that cracked his armor and slashed through his flesh. It was enough that it knocked Freeza upward at an uncontrolled velocity, sprawling with arms and legs flailing about-

-unable to avoid Vegeta's leaping upward with deceptive speed for his mass, and being hit by a house-sized set of knuckles.

Thrown back with considerable force, a sneer crossed the mutant's visage, even as Vegeta began to catch up to him with a follow-up gigantic jump forward.

This pain...this kind of strength...

Vegeta's two-hands curled fingers together to form a singular mass of clenched muscle, raising it over his furred head and crashing it down upon him like an enormous wrecking ball. The loudpow!erupted the air with kinetic disturbance, launching him into a deep hole within the land beneath him, splitting it in pieces and forming a massive crater beyond a pillar of smoke that he towered over.

Opening his mouth, the enormous beast revved another oral-borne kikōha, intending on grinding as much power into him while he was prone deep into the earth.

With a wordless roar unleashed with a pyre of scarlet flame, thekiburrowed into the ground and made contact-

-only to feel an immediate resistance.

"It isn't enough!" Freeza cried out below Vegeta, his left shaking arm pushing up against the ceiling of light within the hole he was planted into, his ugly expression turning dark as he formed pinkish sphere in his other right hand. "Let me show yourealstrength!"

Thrusting his palm into the broad descending blast, an equally large - no, larger still - rose colored wave of energy cracked the crater into the sea surrounding it, boiling it over and casting the land into shadow with an unholy light overwhelming the blaze centered upon him from above.

Burning through over Vegeta's transformed visage, he cried out in pain, pulling back and disengaging, using a hand to bat out the fire that ignited his muzzle's flesh. Opening his wincing eyes, he'd see the bloodied emperor, inches from his brow-line and grinning albeit with an angry throbbing vein etched across his soft almost nonexistent brow-line.

"Vegeta. Did you think you cornered me with that quick use of the Power Ball? I've known about your monkey trick of creating fake moons years ago," He explained with a dark laugh, raising a finger that was colored a blood-red, emitting from his outstretched index finger. "Your power is significant, a ten fold increase. But, compared to whatever Raditz was doing, you fall just short of damaging me in this state. And it comes with its own unique flaw..."

Without waiting for Vegeta to react, he retracted his finger and then lanced his thumb over his shoulder, firing a significantly sized beam that arced up into the sky - detonating the pale light of the artificial lunar body hanging in Namek's upper atmosphere. Dispersing into particles, Vegeta's aghast expression translated to his convulsing body, thrashing about while returning to a normal but short stature that no longer bore a feral appearance. Now with a bloodied face, the prince grit his teeth angrily, looking up at the lowering feet of Freeza as they squeaked in touching down to the soft soil of the bluish-green alien world.

"...destruction of it, like any other moon, reverts you back to your normal size," He finished, chuckling and thus making his hunched over monstrous stature shake with a menacing movement that seemed anything but natural. "As much fun as I'd like to draw our exchange out, I'm at the end of my patience. And I'd have much more fun seeing a smaller face of you, little prince, as it turns into despair before my eyes. I'm due for that much after all the inconvenience you put me through."

"Oh cry me a river!" Vegeta spat, - followed by an actual wad of spit hitting the ground - glaring over at him with his fists balled tightly, creasing the burned gloves angrily. "You've made me suffer far more under your rule than you can comprehend. My pride, sullied. My confidence, on the verge of being shaken every day. And you have the gall to tell me how losing immortality is aninconvenience?!"

"Oh, prince," Freeza began to say, his tone deepening as his eyes glared with pupils nearly erased from his inhuman face. "I am beyond livid. I'm only holding back my desire to murder you because I want to extract what little joy I can in seeing you completely break!"

"I'll die on my terms, not yours," Vegeta yelled out, his aura bursting to life with a blaze of blue that kicked up the ground and swirled the air around him. "Do your worst, for I will not boworbreak! I've yet to reach my peak, and unlike those worthless trash you disposed of, I will see my birthright manifest! For I am the Legendary Super Saiyans!"

It was then, that the smile disappeared on Freeza's face. The look in the prince's eyes brought something to mind. He had been the most willful and resilient thorn of his side compared to all others. Not even Tullece had this kind of perseverance, even beyond his scheming.

No, even if he was to kill this man, he'd find some way to rob him of even that minor victory.

Standing more upright, far more than what his body should allow, Freeza let out a sigh.

"If that's what you believe, then I shall show you the error of your pride's folly," He intoned, cracks forming along his bloodied armor, as energy began to waft off him like steam from a volcano.

Then, squatting down, raising up co*cked fists with bent elbows jabbing below, Freeza let out a damning wail as if a demon from Hell was making its presence now. The shriek was so vile and so voluminous, a massive wave of air shuddered outward, forcing back Vegeta's hair and bringing his face of determination to shrink back and his mouth open with eyes shaking at the sight that was being unveiled.

Within the rising fire of blood-red light, came a silhouette, one slender and rounded with a pair of gleaming eyes staring back venomously. The shadow began to cease his shout - and with a twitch of his tail - shattered the exoskeleton, and ceased thekithat was being vented outright.

Standing before Vegeta was no longer just a mutation, or a monster.

It was the Devil.

"Ahhhh, that's better," Freeza sighed, his voice resembling his most recognizable, airy but with a tinge of sinister malice laced on every word that no longer held its false cordiality. No longer having sheens of pink skin, or bulbous amethyst chitin and angled horns. Now it was a slightly taller variant of his first sealed state, just far more predominantly pale in its complexion, save for the purple in a semi-circle covering his head. Dark colored lips curled into a smirk, with slender hands experimentally gripping before his own gaze, before forming into his right hand outstretched to him while the other lied casually at his hip. "Be proud for a few moments longer, Vegeta; its been many years since I've used mytrue form. Only my father has had the privilege of seeing me in this state."

"H-How...?!" Vegeta croaked out, baring his teeth again as he maintained his ground despite his face paling far more than he ever had before. "How is this possible?!"

"Its like I said, Vegeta," Freeza replied, his expression darkening as his eyes slanted into a dangerous glare. "I will break that spirit of yours. Only then will I grant you death; are you ready to begin?"

Chapter 34: A Saiyan's Worth

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20

Chapter 34 - A Saiyan's Worth

Petrified.

That's how Vegeta felt. Witnessing this unholy power unfold like a macabre butterfly emerging from a fictitious cocoon shook the Prince to his core. Legs shook, his throat dry and his heart pounding. Even as sweat sloughed off his brow down to his chin, a twinkle of the planet's three Suns made the drip of moisture appear like a falling star.

Striking the ground, Freeza's haunting white with traces of violet shimmered out of view; disappearing like a mirage. His eyes widened, a blur of pale color whizzing around barely perceived, even with his latent gift in ki sense.

Where-?!

The sound of a soft tap came behind him, bringing him to leap forward and whirl around with hands alight of blue fire. Not leaving anything to chance, he unleashed a pair of kikoha, twin beams streaking across the bare meters to meet their mark.

A violent explosion rocked the island they stood upon, blowing back the nearby bodies of his incapacitated comrades awry. Even if he showed concern, what amounted to a moment's respite quickly doused by the diminishing smoke and fire that rolled harmlessly off the galactic emperor's pallid flesh.

"Oh Vegeta, do tell me that wasn't your best effort?" His former superior jeered with a cruel laugh, hands relaxed casually at his sides. "I know I should have felt something beyond a measly tickle."

"Y-You-!" Vegeta gasped out, trembling on the ground at what he saw. "Not even a scratch?! I s-shot that at point blank!"

"If you think this display of my dominance over your filthy kind is unbelievable, then your legendary super whatever must truly be unremarkable," Freeza sneered, raising his arms up in an elaborate emphasis to his words. "But what can you expect...from monkeys?"

Clenching his teeth, Vegeta swallowed the lump in his throat.

Balling his gloved hands into fists, the Prince knew he couldn't use a casual or a quick shot of his energy. If he was to prove his birthright, he needed to dig deeper; deeper than he ever reached for power before.

He may be a monster...but I am the Legendary Super Saiyan!

The air crackled, ribbons of energy surging about within the viridescent expanse of Namek's heavens. Pale light wafted off the Saiyan, throbbing about him as the ocean swirled beneath his boots, the earth of the island completely coming apart and thrown to the wind. Black eyes glistened, hair stood on end and tail outstretched; an intense growl gave birth to a feral howl, the pulsing aura transforming into a radiant blue mantle.

As the seas of the alien planet blew backwards, the vein throbbing Saiyan glared back at his nemesis. Smiling smugly at him, the ground and water that fell beneath his feet did little to interrupt his arrogant relaxed posture; hovering in place with hands lowering back to his flanks.

"Your time has come,Emperor," The Prince spoke with a forced grin past the strain of his full power embroiled around his stout form. "Time to knock you off your throne!"

"Oh prince," The darkly grinning mutant chuckled in a low timbre. "I'll be making you kneel before your life comes to an end."

Without another word, Vegeta lunged forward. A streak of blue moved in a straight line, a gloved fist burning blue swung for the violet chitinous crown of his foe.

Leaning his head to the side, the Saiyan's attack whiffed over the mutant's shoulder, a blast of wind shaking the unstable land and water beyond. Not relenting, Vegeta threw a foot up to hit the leaning skull; only to see a whip of white lasso around his heel and halt his momentum entirely.

Eyes bulged, the Saiyan's face paled as the Emperor of the known Universe hurled him around like an adult would a child. Growing in velocity, he felt himself trapped in a dizzying cyclone that siphoned water and earth with him. Just as he felt his senses grow nauseous, the Saiyan was released, flying across the vast planet with a host of debris in tow.

Pain exploded across his skull, planting head first into the face of a plateau and was bombarded by a host of seawater and island fragments. Battered and bruised, the Saiyan was quickly overwhelmed by this collapse of a natural structure of sediment and earth.

Buried by the slew of rocks and sludge, the Prince felt waves of fire fill his veins from the indignity of the situation. Eyes widened and his voice let out an indignant scream that plowed through the pile of rubble that had pinned him.

Flipping back onto his feet, the Saiyan saw in time Freeza casually float above him with arms crossed. With his back to one of the Suns, a devilish shadow was cast over the upright warrior prince, red eyes aglow even within the obscuring rays of Sunlight. With earth still raining around the two, it looked like a god staring down at a mere mortal to any outside viewing bystander.

No words were spoken, but Vegeta could feel it with the nebulous expression he gathered from him: I'm waiting.

Stretching his hands out to either side, the Prince knew what to do to close the distance.

Tapping into the deeper recesses of his mind, the Saiyan Elite growled as he took the raining rocks out of the air and held them suspended by the power of his mind. Not showing any signs of being fazed by this feat of psychic prowess, the Saiyan hurled the dozens of earth at the hovering target.

A tail of white whipped around, swiping at the rocks before the frozen hearted fiend's sight. Crumbling to dust with ease, his red eyes darted to his left to see Vegeta appearing to his flank with a pair of clasped hands brought to bear; one crackling with pale-violet light.

"EAT THIS!" He howled, throwing out a stream of ki into the undefended side of his former employer. He felt something push against it, urging him to pour more of his strength into the energy beam. The kikoha swelled and gained mass within moments, transforming from a surprise strike into a plume of his signature technique: the Garlic Cannon.

Teeth ground tightly, muscles burned at being pushed this far but he didn't relent. This was his chance to destroy this menace and free himself from his clutches. Now and forever, he'll obtain his destiny!

Howling, he dredged up another salvo, causing the wildfire of energy to become a horizon consuming eclipse of luminous purple. This attack was hundreds of times stronger than it ever had been back on Earth. There was no way Freeza could escape harm this time!

"Vegeta, can you be honest with me?"

White fingers pierced through the blaze of his firing ki clasped around his face, smothering his nostrils with an inescapable palm vice grip. Black dots became pins, the howl turned to a muffled yelp, and the overwhelming surge of purplish energy petered out. Replaced by the light blue aura that thrummed calmly over Freeza's extended arm and around his smooth, untouched body.

"Was that the zenith of your potential, or are you going to continue wasting my time?" He sneered with a low growl.

"H-Hngh!" Vegeta growled out, grasping at his hand and tried to pry himself free.

"Let me show you," Freeza spoke quietly, thrusting his palm forward with eyes dilating with a delighted cackle. "How it's really done!"

A sudden shriek of invisible energy thrust Vegeta across the planet's skyline. Guided by an intangible grip, the Saiyan felt his back rip in agony as his armor tore at the rapidly passing landscape beneath him, clawing across his spine. Skirting across a lake, he'd feel himself crash into the face of an opposing island, feeling it cascade over and around him.

Gasping for air, the Saiyan struggled to stay afloat on the waves of the alien world's disturbed lake. Even as he tried to cling to an overturned tree, the palate of the environment shifted sharply to a scarlet-white.

Looking up, he'd gape at the sight: dozens of crimson beams streaking down like a meteorite shower lanced down onto him. A muted scream followed multiple balls of fire, blossoming in bright crimson petals of flames that boiled the sea and burned away the island's fragments.

A streak of blue was seen faintly emerging from the smoke, fists poised back with luminous balls of light within clenched fists. The bleeding, wincing prince withdrew his arms and lobbed the two kikoha at the skyborne adversary; only to see both spheres batted away by the whipping tail of the reptilian emperor.

"Dammit!" Vegeta cursed, heaving heavily as the dirt and blood stung his eyes, caking his hair and painting his bleeding back. Gritting his teeth, Vegeta howled out in anger at the smirking ruler of the galaxy. "I'm so close! I can feel myself almost there! So...why," He sneered, leaping across the air with a fist thrown at his enemy's face. "Can't I kill you?!"

His fist was casually caught in Freeza's right hand. Trying to budge it, he found it an impossible task. No matter how much he pushed or pulled, he was trapped in his former employer's grasp

Just like before, though this time, he knew he couldn't escape.

A brutal kick ballooned his backside from the front, the faint outline of the three prong toes imprinting along his spine. Spittle flew from the princeling's mouth, silenced by a just as instant slap across the face.

"The answer is simple, Vegeta," Freeza replied, backhanding his captive prey with a decadent smile, feeling the Saiyan's blood fleck onto his face. "Your so-called legend never has existed in the first place. It's a simple fact you small minded brutes would concoct such an elaborate myth, daring to believe you could ever transcend your limits. But I'll let you in on a secret…"

Pulling back a fist, he began to hammer Vegeta in the face and chest. Each blow pounded him like a hammer, the aura and armor barely keeping his skeleton from fracturing. Every time the fist met its mark, more blood caked the peerless white flesh of the emperor in red, savagely painting him as less of a ruler and more of a murderer.

The sky crescendoed the relentless beatings he received over the ruined planetscape. Whoever may have been lucky enough to survive the collateral damage would see the once proud Saiyan reduced to a literal punching bag. Pound after pound, the heir of a dead race was having the life stricken from him.

One strike at a time.

"None surpass me. No one even comes close," He darkly whispered, the mutant licking some of the blood on his lips and grinning at his trembling fist still in his grasp; the rest was a bruised, ichor stained display of the once unmatched princeling. "What you could never understand was that no individual could match me, in this world or beyond. I am without equal. Not even my father has half of my potential.

"So keep dreaming, Saiyan. Because that's all this fleeting attempt of undermining me was," Freeza spoke lowly, releasing hold of his captive's fist; long enough to spin around and kick him across the face, spearing him across the sky and slamming into a distant island mass with a thunderous crash.

"A false fantasy."

Darkness.

That's all Vegeta felt himself plunged into. All of his aspirations for being an elite fighter, without equal, was dashed as assuredly as his consciousness. Even as the numbness of his body set in during this brief respite against his lifelong nemesis, he knew the end of his life was nigh.

Just like his people.

Just like his father

I'm a failure...Raditz, Kakarrot...they rose above me despite being low class trash!

He remembered seeing the lax confidence of Kakarrot both on Earth and this world as well. Even then, Raditz had achieved a mythic power all his own, nearly besting the tyrant on pure instinct alone. All he could do was destroying Freeza's lackies, while their superior dwarfed their strength entirely.

And Freeza? He's too strong! How can I achieve the legend when I'm so damned weak?!

"Son, do you recall the Legend of the Super Saiyan?"

His eyes opened, somehow watching a scene he almost forgot. His younger self, standing by an expansive viewing glass overseeing space pods launched from the planet into the sky. Like viewing shooting stars in reverse, the torch haired princeling stood in his smaller fitted regal armor, complete with a vibrant red cape that matched his father's.

"Yes father,"He saw himself say to his single parent with a smile."Once every thousand years, a Saiyan with the power to destroy entire worlds. He was seen as invincible. He was the most pure warrior that has ever existed, right father?"

"That's right,"He saw the man who resembled a much taller version of himself say, smiling at the rising force of his kin ascend to the stars."Our bloodline is among the very elites with ties to that Saiyan of old. I believe with your potential, you can be the next Super Saiyan."

"But, how will I know when I become one?"He remembered asking."How strong do I have to become?"

"My son, when the time comes,"He saw the goatee bearded man turn around, smiling down at his younger self."You will know."

A sharp pain woke the adult prince back to reality. His hair yanked sharply, hauling his brutalized body upright thanks to a cruel hand grasping his raven tresses. Hearing the sound of his head throbbing, his heart pounding and feeling fiery pain all around him, he could barely make out the words Freeza said as something changed inside of him.

"You're making me so disappointed, Vegeta," Freeza bemused with a grin. "I thought after the great lengths you and your band of misfits went to anger me so that you would at least offer me something of a challenge. But no, weakling Raditz grew a spine and fought on your behalf. Your pathetic attempts make me pity the loss of a commendable subordinate; but with how many of my men you dispatched, I suppose one more body won't matter much in the grand scheme of things."

Raising a hand, forming it into a poised claw, he smiled wide eyed.

"Time to tell your father in the Afterlife how meaningless your struggles have been!"

Meaningless?

Veins throbbed, eyes blankly opened and a sudden motion of a bloodied, soot covered glove swung up. Snatching Freeza's thrusting hand less than a foot away from his face, squeezing tightly enough to make the tyrant make a grimacing surprised expression.

"W-What?!" He gasped, seeing Vegeta's blood soaked face bare teeth and glare pupiless eyes back at him.

Then, an aura of dark yellow erupted with a shrieking roar from his wounded body, blowing back the island's surface. Black hair became tinged with reddish hue. Muscles bulged and the sky darkened with crackling energy striking about the horizon like lightning.

"Meaningless?!" Vegeta snarled, bending Freeza back hard enough to make audible pops. "What do you know of meaningless?!"

Freeza cried out, feeling joints tear and rip about his hand, forcing him to backpedal in retreating pain. Clutching at his wrist, he stared wide eyed as Vegeta howled as power surged upward, a pyre of dark Sun-like luminescence. Overcast by the shine by the silhouette of the once powerless Saiyan now made the galactic emperor feel a pang of something he hadn't felt in years.

Fear.

A baleful roar and a sudden blazing charge brought the princeling forth, slamming a fist into the blood soaked mutant's chest; forcing him to vomit his own vile ichor from his throat.

Grimacing, Freeza swung a punch back, whiffing over the Saiyan's reddish hair as he ducked. Leaping up over a follow-up tail swipe, the transformed warrior pulled his legs beneath his chin before thrusting both boots straight into the reddish stained face.

POW!

A thuum followed the collapse of the atmosphere around them, a cone of supersonic pressure thrusting the heinous mutant across the landscape, peeling the tops of island land masses and skating across lakes' surfaces. Head first, the ruler of the known cosmos slammed through a pillar of rocky growth, bracing his uncontrollable flight and feeling it collapse atop his now pained body.

Moments later, Freeza thrust a burst of psychic energy, sending the debris flying in all directions as he screamed in outrage. Before he could mount a verbal statement of his own feelings, the sudden sight of a charging fist crashing into his skull, whipping his neck around painfully and stumbling around in circles.

"Spend your life, ruled by another!" Vegeta shouted aloud, stomping onto the pallid skinned creature's tail, grasping a retaliating hand swiping towards him in response. Twisting it about, Vegeta's blankly glaring eyes narrowed in tune with a kick to the fiend's chin, chest and throat repeatedly. "Your people murdered like dogs! Your father executed without honor! Your birthright and destiny, thrown to the wayside! You cannot fathom the anguish and mockery I've had to stomach! How could you, with your empire handed to you like everything else in your life?!"

Withdrawing his foot, he leaped up and spun around, kicking his nemesis across the head, sending him crashing into the ground with a skittling crash. Landing back down, his fists balled up as his dark solar aura gleamed with his reddish hair flowing animatedly while blank eyes glowed with a pale light.

"No more! I am the Super Saiyan of Legend, and you will deny me my destiny no more: prepare to taste death, Freeza!" He howled with thunderous fury.

"I see a sudden surge of adrenaline has gone to your head, Prince Vegeta!" snarled Freeza, the tyrant's onyx nails grinding into the grass and dirt of the Nameccian crust. His red eyes narrowed menacingly, and, while crouched, Freeza looked, if anything more dangerous than before. Pain was surging through his body; burns dotted each and every spot Vegeta had made contact with. "You have forgotten the proper place of the Saiyan race; beneath the feet of their betters! So continue to dream, Vegeta! I will show you that this burst of strength of yours is no Super Saiyan: just a desperate man'ws last flailing's against his Emperor!"

"You wouldn't underestand, 'Lord' Freeza," Vegeta spat the word with venom, his irisless eyes blind with fury. He could feel power rushing through every vein, every cell;ki, dark gold around him, burned, his normally black hair blazing with its new reddish-brown hue. "My struggle is beyond the comprehension of someone like you! Me, the Prince of the Saiyans, who had to fight for the right to be respected by your lackeys! Crawl and bite my way to the upper echelons of the Freeza Army, only to be knocked down and disrespected! Denied my birthright! Made a fool of by members of my own race: my lessers, my subjects!" Vegeta roared in fury, flexing his muscles as his goldenkiaura burst to life around him, expanding in every direction. "BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE! EVERY TRANSGRESSION AGAINST ME WILL BE REPAID TO YOU IN FULL, FREEZA!"

From this conflagration, Vegeta's body exploded forth, bathed in golden light. A flame in human shape, the raging Saiyan closed in on Freeza within moments. The tyrant, still trying to comprehend just how Vegeta was able to make such a comeback, found himself barely able to dodge the burning blows. Trailing gold with every movement, Vegeta did not rest. Freeza kept moving backwards, attempting to reassess the situation. In response, Vegeta thrust his arm forward, seemingly striking air...

...only for his golden aura to elongate, whiplike, and following the arc of his arm as it raced across the Nameccian soil. It struck Freeza hard in the side, the Prince of the Saiyans managing to catch the tyrant off-footing, careening across the teal-grass. Persistently, viciously, Vegeta pursued Freeza, a hunter seeking prey. Spiraling back upright, Freeza's hand ignited in pinkki, thrusting the pink flame in at the oncoming Vegeta...only for the blast to be snuffed out immediately. Bewildered, Freeza felt pressure grip his pale hand moments after the crushing of thekiblast; Vegeta's white-gloved hand enclosed over his, burning with a vivid flame of yellowki. His eyes, devoid of their normal black irises, stared furiously at the tyrant.

It was an emotion Freeza didn't consider himself familiar with. But for the first time since the tyrant could remember, he felt a flicker of a new emotion.

Fear.

The burning, rampaging Saiyan Prince extended a hand, his face set, brimming with primal fury. Freeza felt himself impacted by a crushing pressure. A kiai of incredible strength was pressing down, his clawed feet dragging along the ground. It was only when he felt like his arm might dislocate that Vegeta let go of the tyrant's arm, and he gave way entirely to the invisible force bearing down on him. The ground beneath Freeza gave way entirely, crumbling to nothingness, Freeza falling into the emerald sea.

A blessed silence washed over the battlefield, the Saiyan Prince floating over a still sea. He knew this hadn't finished Freeza, as the Emperor was well known for his ability to survive in near-impossible conditions. He raised his palms to the air, the flowing flame of his aura following the arc...and unleashed an absolute hell-storm into the ocean's surface. It was different from his standard continuous kikōha spam; his aura was being used as a weapon, stretching and retracting, much like extendable arms. It was an effort to prevent the destruction of the planet, as Vegeta couldn't fire carelessly. The water erupted around him, each blow meant to strike Freeza with the full power of Vegeta's awakened strength, and the Saiyan felt each blow connect with something.

BOOM!

His own blows were interrupted by an absolute geyser of water exploding into the sky. Freeza's slim body rushed from the sea, no worse for wear than before, but looking significantly more livid.

"SoSuper Saiyan, you have some bite after all," snarled the Emperior. "But let me tell you something...I have been using only a paltry percent of my power. In dealing me so much pain I will congratulate you by giving you my fullest attention: half of my power shall suffice! He clenched his fists, his body radiating an evil violet hue that, contrasting to Vegeta's burning yellow. "It's high time I end the charade and pull the curtain on your filthy race!"

Freeza's Ship, Medical Bay

Silence. Aside from the sounds of beeping machinery and the sloshing of the liquid inside the medical machine, the Medical Bay of the Freeza Army was devoid of sound. Bulma and Pan lay asleep, their backs leaning against side of the Medical Machine in which their husband and father, Son Gokū, found himself steadily recovering to his full, healthy state. The liquid within the machine had fascinated Bulma before she'd fallen asleep from the stress, had taken and encapsulated samples of the liquid and stored it away. Even when Bulma had fallen asleep — both she and her daughter exhausted from their inability to tell exactly what time it was, and the fact that it had simply been a long "day" — she was mulling over names for the new product, and considering patenting it when back on Earth.

"There was no harm in copyrighting an invention from another planet," she told herself, since her husband had passed out well before she had. Now, however, Bulma said nothing. She slept soundly, Pan clinging to her like a baby chimp to its mother, the young Saiyan's furry tail curled around her body. This respite, even if it had required Gokū to take a beating at the hands of his older brother first, was the first the Son family had been able to get in a very long time. It was to be relished. However, like all good things, it was also to come to an end.

The Medical Machine showed that Gokū's vitals were stabilised completely; his body had finally reached 100% health. In mere moments, the tranquility of the sleeping family would be upended.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

A shrill, rapid beeping filled the entire room. Bulma jolted awake first, fumbling around in her pockets for a capsule. Following aPOMF!, a weapon materialised in the young mother's grip; a handheld blaster pistol, one of her own design. She pointed it around the room quickly, intending to shoot whatever had triggered the alarm, only to realise she, her daughter, and husband were in fact quite safe. The piercing noise had, in fact, come from the Medical Machine that Gokū was recovering in. Exhaling slowly, and thanking whatever deity was around for her lack of relative impulsiveness, she recapsulised the blaster in time for her daughter to wake up in response to the alarm.

"Mama? What's that noise?"

"It's fine, sweetie," said Bulma reassuringly. "Papa is done." Chuckling at her own little joke, the lavender-hued woman walked over towards the machine, peering in at Gokū, whose eyes were wide open. He must have just woken up too. Seeing his wife and daughter had prevented him from completely destroying the machine to get out, and Bulma made a quick motion to show Gokū she was going to get him out. Mulling over the controls, Bulma realised something critical. She had absolutely no idea how to read a single thing in the script Freeza's Army used.

Furrowing her brow, the woman placed a thin finger to her chin. It was all gibberish, no matter how hard she tried to decipher it. Frowning, Bulma knew if she didn't hit the right button, Gokū would simply have to blow the machine to smithereens; this wasn't acceptable, she was still hoping to analyze its design, perhaps even commandeer it if she could.

"I should have been paying more attention when Raditz loaded him into this thing," she groaned, cursing her lack of foresight. Eyeing the keyboard, she did notice that there were two prominent buttons, and took it upon herself to make the deduction these buttons were the 'Activation' and the 'Release' button, as no other buttons would be so prominent.

"The Activation button would most likely do nothing, since the machine is already active...so there's no harm in pressing one of these at random and praying it gets him out."

Pressing her finger to the lowermost button, it flashed green. Bulma eyed the Medical Machine, and exhaled slowly with relief when a beeping noise was followed by the sound of receding liquid. Whatever the substance in the machine was, it was beginning drain out. The liquid completely drained, the Medical Machine opened with a hissing noise. Gokū removed the breathing apparatus from his mouth, and stepped out slowly. Bulma reached out towards him, but stopped as Gokū held up a hand.

"I-Is something the matter, Son?" Bulma inquired, but her own technology was answering her question. Numbers flashed in front of her eyes, quickly becoming incomprehensible as the readings flatlined to an ERROR message. Whatever her husband's combat strength was, her own technology was failing to read it.

Pan, however, was getting the feel for her father's ki, and was astounded. "Papa! You're so strong now!"

"I know," Gokū inhaled, then exhaled, his tail swishing behind him, shaking off liquid. It terrified him right now how strong he felt. How breakable everything around him seemed now. "I feel...so alive right now. I've never felt this much power. It's staggering..."

"S-Son?" Bulma felt a flicker of worry. This wasn't like Gokū, to be so lost in his own strength he'd forget they were there. She stepped closer to him, and wrapped her arms around her spouse, determined to make sure he was still there.

Gokū was taken aback, but gingerly returned the hug his wife had given. Pan looked up at her two parents, tail flicking in query. Her father grinned, which was all the invitation the girl needed to jump in and hug them both. "I'm sorry, you two. I know I worried you, but I'm alright. And now, I'm going to fix all of this."

Bulma wanted to stop him, to tell him it would be best to try and recover a bit longer, but she knew they didn't have the luxury of time. She'd been trying to suppress it, but now that her sensors could no longer read her husband's combat readings, he was trying to suppress them from going haywire reacting to the battle raging not too far from where they were now. Technology couldn't tell her who was fighting, but she sincerely hoped the bigger reading belonged to Raditz. Knowing it best not to start that argument when she had no hope of winning it, Bulma relented before the discussion could even begin. She still, however, had one thing to address.

"Even if you're going to fix our problems, you're not doing it dressed like this," Bulma gripped a handful of Gokū'sgi, which had been torn and damaged by Raditz after Ginyū had stolen his body. "This is the flagship of that Freeza guy's army, so there should be some of their combat jackets in here."

"You want me to wear their outfits?" Gokū sounded indignant. "I don't know how comfortable I'd feel fightin' in those things. I'm always more comfortable with mygi."

"Yeah, well, yourgiis shredded," replied Bulma huffily. "I can't have my husband giving off a bad impression and showing up to a big fight looking likethat. We'll get you something from their armour storage, and I'll patch yourgiup good as new in the meantime.

This was enough to convince Gokū, who relented. He, Bulma, and Pan looked thoroughly for the storage where combat jackets were kept – Bulma desperately wishing she had access to the ship floor layout – and stumbled across the room entirely by accident.

"Looks like it doesn't have much protection," Bulma said, easily opening one of the locked cupboards to reveal the preserved Combat Jacket inside. "I expected an encryption lock, or a key card at the very least. That Freeza guy really is careless." She removed the Combat Jacket, surprised by its lightness, and tossed over to her husband, who caught it, looking visibly disappointed.

"I don't like the colour," he noted.

"Orange compliments you best, but beggars can't be choosers," Bulma grinned. "Sweetie, let Papa change, so head on to the other room for a moment." Once her daughter had vacated the room, Bulma handed Gokū the undersuit. She didn't bother with the boots or arm guards; Gokū's own boots and wrist ties were the only undamaged parts of his attire.

The Saiyan quickly undressed and redressed, surprised at the elasticity of the main armoured part of the Combat Jacket, though he remembered how Vegeta's, Nappa's, and Raditz's had all increased in size to accommodate them on Earth when they transformed. It took a moment, but the man was fully dressed, wearing a black combat jacket with yellow shoulder pauldrons, blue leggings, and his regular boots and blue wrists ties. His tail hung loosely behind him, having been easy to sort out once he'd fully dressed.

"How do you feel?" Bulma asked.

"Honestly...it feels so light," Gokū grinned. "But sturdy. These were definitely made to fight in."

"It gives me mixed feelings," said Bulma. "You look like that creepy uncle of yours."

"You think so?" asked Gokū, chuckling. "I don't think much of that man, really, though I think he's been helpful enough."

"I won't say we don't owe him, but I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, and we know that isn't far," said Bulma, unable to suppress a smile at her husband's willingness to trust anyone. "I'm even more confused as to why Chi-Chi sided with him, unless she's just that far gone."

"I'll ask them when I get over there," suggested Gokū. "She wanted a favour from me, so I bet they'll work with us if it means knocking Freeza's head in."

"Let me see how that's going," Bulma suggested, and used her scanner to focus entirely on the area where the two combat strengths were clashing. Ignoring the larger two, which were causing a massive fluctuation of numbers, she focused instead on trying to count who else was there. She noted two smaller numbers, a third smallest so insignificant compared to the others she might have missed it, and one larger number growing steadily bigger.

These counts, however, were off-base.

"Son, we're missing two readings," Bulma was pale with shock. "I don't even know who..is...?"

Gokū stretched out his senses, marveling even now at how his ki sense had improved with his rapid jump in strength. Focusing on the battle, he was able to read these combat strengths with the accuracy that numbers couldn't give.

"Raditz is fine..." Gokū involuntarily exhaled, relieved to see his brother in o e piece. "I feel a smaller power with him. But Vegeta's two friends are down...they're not dead...and...wow, that's Vegeta and Freeza clashin' out there!"

"Your uncle and Chi-Chi?!"

Gokū looked grim. "I can't feel 'em." He said after a moment's pause. "It's not lookin' good out there."

"Then go," replied Bulma. "I don't want to see you get hurt after you just recovered, but I also don't feel comfortable leaving this in the hands of Vegeta."

Gokū chuckled. "Alright. I can't say I'll save the day, but as long as Vegeta keeps him occupied until I get there, we can work together."

"Is Papa going to fight Freeza?"

Pan's voice came from the doorway. The parents turned to their daughter, surprised she'd reentered without warning.

"Yeah," Gokū walked over to Pan, kneeling down and placing a hand on her hand. The two Saiyan's tails moved in sync for this moment - perhaps an unspoken, instinctual way of communication- but he still addressed his daughter verbally. "Papa is about to go fight a crazy strong guy. So I need you to keep your Mama safe in case any bad guys show up, OK?"

Pan nodded slowly. It didn't occur to her that this was her father's way of keeping her out of harm's way, by assigning her a task that couldn't get her hurt in the slightest. "Beat him up then, Papa!"

Gokū grinned. "You got it!"

The Saiyan stood up to his full height, cast a glance to his wife which was returned without words, and bolted from the room, out of the ship, and burst into a flare of ki to travel across the planet.

"Stay safe..." was the only thing Bulma sent with him.

Chapter 35: Nativity of a World of Trees

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers
Chapter 35 - Nativity of a World of Trees
Written by LastationLover5000 and Demod20

A paltry percent. Freeza was not one for bluffs - being the self-proclaimed strongest in the Universe had with it a certain je ne sais quoi, and boundless confidence came along with it. There was no need for bluffs. While all of Vegeta's reason had not entirely returned to him, and he could still feel the furious power brimming in his body, what did remain of his rational mind, honed from years of training to master the Giant Monkey transformation, balked. He'd been high on this surge of power, the shimmering golden aura which rushed around him from all sides.

He'd intended to kill this bastard with his strength.

So never once did he think, after Freeza had reassumed his true form, that it may be hiding further power. The aforementioned tyrant, who had been snarling mere moments before, had seemed to regain his composure. Freeza, like Vegeta, had years of controlling his emotions to call upon when the time came, though Freeza normally used it for a veneer of nobility.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to destroy me, oh warrior of prophecy?" Freeza leered with his arms held behind his back, tail sinuously waving behind himself like a cat. Chuckling darkly, his haunting red eyes glowed as he curled his dark lips into a sickening grin. "I'll make it easy for you. Strike me with all of your might; and I won't move an inch from this spot. That should be easy enough for you, right, monkey?"

Reason.

The one trait that kept Vegeta grounded; for now, at any rate. He wasn't beyond words, but reason was slipping. His greater ego fought with the surging rush caused by whatever transformation he'd undergone, and the great Prince of the Saiyans very nearly lost himself in the surge.

Yet, he didn't have the patience to indulge Freeza's taunt. The rise of power was felt and was far more telling than the tyrant's words. It was a stark contrast to before, as now within the vanishing wreathe of dark violetkicame a certainty.

He was going to be difficult to kill.

In a dilation of his pupiless eyes, he launched himself forward, a streak of malevolent gold streaking behind him like a comet's tail as he maneuvered within intervals of his own gonging heart. Crashing a torn gloved fist against an open palm, a massivethuumas the air blasted past the white reptilianoid's back and tail.

"Predictable," The malicious monarch chuckled out, holding back the significant pressure with next to no tension in his hand. "What did you think this kind of attack against me was going to accomplish?"

A subtle withdrawal was felt, allowing the tyrant to loosen what he thought was a retreating grip. Instead, a lock of burnt gloved digits wrapped around his, tightening a grapple upon his palm. A violent yank forward, and Vegeta threw his other fist at the galactic ruler's face.

Only for Freeza to lean his neck away, the shroud of muted yellow burning his cheek as it shunted space over his shoulder. Smirking, he whipped his tail around, catching the prince at his side, causing his whole body to lurch under the force of the extremity's blow.

A follow-up uppercut made the torch haired Saiyan's neck crack back, anchored in place by his own grip on his ex-employer's hand. Pulled back down, a punch to the stomach several times made him spit blood. Grinning at his own comeback, the pale skinned demon pulled back a fist and thunderously impacted Vegeta's jaw. Feeling his grip loosen as he felt the Saiyan's body twirl, he narrowed his gaze at him as he let out a laugh.

"I told you, you're to predicta-"

The Prince's spin from the force of his punch added to the momentum of a counterattack that stopped Freeza in his tracks. Whipping around, the back knuckles of the hand that was holding onto him stubbornly now collided into the conical ear of the emperor. Like a wrecking ball, Freeza's vision swam and pain rocked his mind as he nearly bit into his tongue.

Staggering back, Vegeta seized the opportunity and renewed his assault on the monster. Halting his own spin, he spat blood and surged forward with a flying twin punch into the icy dictator's core, propelling him across the bluish-green horizon of Namek. Punching him again, again, and again brought out elliptical bursts in the air, the speed intensifying as he increased haste and ferocity on his foe. The echoes of kinetic shock obliterated islands in passing, lakes parted and dissolved as the meteor of molten dark starlight continued the cacophony of hastening attacks.

Amidst the punches Freeza finally lashed out, a hand in the shape of a spear poised to impale the Saiyan's throat. Slashing by a swerving cheek instead, he felt his face grasped and his whole body pushed down within a meteorite of force. Crashing through an island that detonated from touchdown, the lakes wafted into the hole as a yellow flame erupted like a geyser. Lying prone and disoriented, freshly colored by purplish-red splotches of bruises, Freeza looked on amazed as Vegeta took the totality of his multiplying aura and siphoned it into a pair of hands.

Then, with a feral yell he slapped his wrists together forth and combined both dark yellow spheres of burningki.

"BURN!" He howled out, unleashing an immense wave of energy that blew outward in a roiling dome of light. Bright sun-like energy disintegrated the lakes, rolling over the soil of islands and destabilizing the entire hemisphere they stood upon. The sky crackled withki,the crater sweeping for miles as deep as a canyon's base. Only a faint light was seen between the two lone figures that would be near invisible without illumination of the muted gold glow wafting off the Prince.

"Thatstillhurts!"Freeze sneered out, his arms taking the brunt of the damage, scorched and hissing as if cooked. Unfurling his limbs only scant damage as red eyes glared into Vegeta's vacant fury ridden whites. "You are more stubborn than I ever thought possible. To think I would actually need to defend myself while usingthis muchpower...it's unthinkable!"

"Just die-!" Vegeta began to shout, gathering another swathe of seemingly endless energy. That is, till Freeza blurred forth and took the offensive.

Grabbing both of his wrists, jerking them aside and ignoring the scorching heat of the Saiyan's aura, his eyes gleamed with a swelling crimson glint.

"No," Freeza spoke with a venomous hiss, preparing to end this swiftly as he looked at the grimacing Saiyan one last time. "You will die, now-!"

Just as he intended to drill a pair of optic beams straight through the prince's sockets and out his skull, a sudden whoosh blew past him. And as that crimson flare hit his periphery, so too a boot collided into his cranium, ripping him away from his desired execution and slicing through the cratered earth of Namek. Acrobatically clawing the soil and righting himself, Freeza found himself staring at a ghost.

It can't be…!

There a Saiyan stood, draped in a sleeveless green battle jacket, flaps protecting the sides of his legs and a tail wrapped around the middle like a belt with white boots planted on the ground. Armored gauntlets flexed along with an arched crop of black hair, blowing within the wind as black eyes glared but an almost victorious smile danced upon his lips.

Bardock?!

Freeza's mind flashed back decades ago. The very same visage howling in defiance, the sole Saiyan that fought back against total annihilation. All for naught as he was consumed in the blast that resembled a molten meteor as it cracked the planet and had it explode into dust.

"Sorry I'm late," Gokū spoke softly, though the cheer wasn't there. It held a seriousness in it that even got through the barely contained consciousness of the wounded but still standing Prince. Looking over his shoulder, he let out a whistle and gauged his power through senses alone. "So, you got stronger as you fought Freeza? Impressive. What's the deal with that form of yours, though?"

"Damn it, Kakarrot!" Vegeta seethed between grit teeth. "This is my fight! Stay out of it!"

"Can't do that," Gokū replied, turning to glare ahead and balled his fists at his side. "Do you feel it? His power is rising. He still has way more. If you keep at this rate, he'll kill you before you can finish him."

"Freeza is mine-!"

"I'mnotarguing this!" Gokū snapped back, angrily turning and snapping Vegeta out of his rage for a moment by sheer looks alone. "Chi-Chi's dead! The Nameccians are gone! My family is still in danger! For once, let me help end this nightmare before it kills us too!"

The Prince's pride wavered. He knew what he said was true. His subordinates were either dead or crippled. Even Raditz was out of the picture and he was stronger only hours before. Soon, he could no longer ignore his own injuries no matter how substantial his wounds were.

Releasing tension in his jaw, he felt his fury calm just enough for dark eyes to emerge from his vacant stare. Though his reddish hair and burning aura remained, hisSuper Saiyanpower felt a bit more finite now that his senses returned. He could no longer deny his own current limits...for now.

A soft squeak of three pronged feet touching down caused both Saiyans to twist back into fighting stances.

"...Kakarrot, was it?" Freeza's voice emitted as arms were now crossed over his smooth chest. Dark lips curled into an amused grin as his eyes flickered to Gokū in remembrance. "So it wasyouthat started this all. Without your meddling, and Vegeta's, I wouldn't be in this state of anger I'm in. To think the two Saiyans I vanquished had such offspring to challenge me. No matter. I'll take care to go after the others who you mention escaped;none shall escape my grasp!"

As he howled, a singing in the air brought their attention skyward. Dozens of kikoha as large as boulders arced in the air before dropping down on top of Freeza. The pale monarch swung his hands, deflecting the blasts to explode all around him, swelling islands of burning light covering his immediate surroundings.

Then a familiar long mane whipped around his periphery and a large fist crashed into a raised arm. Red eyes widened as he stared into black eyes and a stony gaze that was too calm for his liking. A sudden whistling came as a follow-up thrust of his other hand brought a swelling orb ofkithat got past his defenses and erupted in a pinkish blast of light that threw him backwards.

"Raditz?!" He screamed out, skidding on his heels as he swipes away the smoke around him. Standing before him was the revived weakling turned foe that nearly put him through his paces, even after he transformed a second time. Had he not fought crafty, he would have not been able to emerge victorious…and yet…

"You! I killed you!" Freeza yelled out, eyes bulging with near mania from the enemies appearing from the dead or out of thin air. "How are you still alive?!"

"You can't kill me," Raditz said, a smirk emerging on his face as Vegeta and Gokū looked on in shock. "I'm therealSuper Saiyan."

Vegeta growled, feeling ignored by the elder brother of Kakarrot.

All the while Gokū smiled widely with relief. Between the three of them, their chances of victory were now obtainable! They had a chance after all!

Freeza glowered, feeling his rage bubble up as did his aura of violetki. The odds were beginning to tilt away from his favor. Even after all the effort he went through, fate was mocking him.

Super Saiyan this…Super Saiyan that...I have had enough of these so called Super forms…!

"Alright guys," Gokū spoke lowly, dropping himself into a forward leaning stance with one hand arched up with curled digits with his other hand tilted back into a fist. "This is going to need to count. With how strong this guy is, I doubt he'll give us any openings. Any hints to a weakness he has?"

At first, the shock of seeing Freeza ready his energy for attack had made the other two freeze up. They were reminded how much struggle it took to get this far, and the damage had been negligible. If anything, they had just made him angrier.

But hearing the young Saiyan's serious question brought them to speak their mind.

"Freeza is self taught, a savant and every move relies on instinct or brute force. What he lacks is skill and fighting sense; if we can outmaneuver him, we can temporarily push him into a corner," Vegeta postulated, angrily staring at his dreaded foe while keeping his voice down. "Use his lack ofkiagainst him!"

"Freeza is arrogant, his overconfidence being his biggest undoing. Make him think he has the upperhand and he'll have that opening he's talking about," Raditz spoke in a harsh whisper, turning his head around to stare at Gokū. "Just leave it to me, and I'll give you both your opening!"

Freeza's tail whipped the ground with a loud crack, making the three twitch nervously.

"What are you three plotting? It will make no difference," The galactic emperor proclaimed impatiently, his eyes slanted dangerously thin.

Raising a hand up, the trio of Saiyans widened their gaze as a glow of blue encompassed his pale hand. "Here, let me show youwhy."

In a single swipe, all threefeltthe danger before it could be seen. Darting away, a narrow wave of red light erupted, swift as lightning carved its way through the miles upon miles long crater. By the time the glare had dissipated, the trio could see with a share of aghast reactions.

"H-He carved a hole through the planet!" Gokū gawked, floating in the air, seeing distant seawater flow into the crevasse formed past his gaze. It seemed to have no end…!

"Of course, with how strong I am, destroying this planet would take minimal effort," Freeza explained with a cruel smile. "But it is at my whim. I want to take my time punishing you Saiyans for such insubordination to me."

"So what if you can?!" Vegeta howled, his aura intensifying into a blazing dark Sun; the fourth in Namek's triage of unwavering glares somehow blotting them out by presence alone. "I'll just kill you before you destroy the planet!"

"Vegeta, we have to work together-"

"RAAAAAAAAAH!" Vegeta howled as he descended like a demon upon the white fleshed devil in his sights. Unleashing a horde of kikoha that Freeza used his hands to expertly deflect them, he vaulted over an expected tail swipe, forward flipping and twisting around to land a kick on upraised wrist. Pulling back, just out of reach of another planet swiping fissure of energy, he fired another shot of the pale devil at his feet; casting a smokescreen that obscured his view of his foes.

"You think a paltry cloud ofsmokewill stopme?!" Freeza yelled indignantly, sweeping his hand to dispel the smoke in a guidedkiai.

Yet, as he did so, Gokū appeared in a flash of red and green.

"What-?!" He grimaced, using the same hand to catch the boot as it attempted to land a blow on him. Swinging the other boot, Freeza grasped the other and smiled evilly. Turning on his heels he spun him around, violently creating a top of white and green in a blur before throwing him into the crater filled vista.

Which left him open to a thunderous knee to the back of his head. Lurching forth, he'd attempt to turn only for a repeat crash twice, thrice, and when he staggered forward he'd turn only to see Raditz pull a boot back and catch him by the chin.

Skidding back, Freeza launched a pair of optic beams at the long haired Saiyan, only for him to deftly lean back and avoid it just barely. The top of his scarred armor seared on the surface as it lanced past him into the horizon behind him. While bent back, Raditz spiraled around, hair whipping about as he fired a pair of kikoha that redirected about to hit Freeza on either side.

Leaping up over the beams to have them explode beneath, the icy tyrant found himself struck from the glare of one of the three Suns within Namek's sky. Squinting, he tried to fire only for another moment to be hit with another, simultaneous in nature as not one but two attackers dancing in the air.

Growling, Freeza coiled himself into a ball and then let out a shrill shriek that sent a wave of supersonic pressure. Thekiaiwas so immense that it blew back Vegeta and Gokū in the background and forced Raditz to raise his arms up in defense. Seeing his foes no longer obscured by the glare of stars, he fired two piercing kikoha to the two skybound Saiyans.

Surprisingly, they both raised a hand, forming spinning discs identical to each other-

ZZZZ-THUUM!

-and launched two Kienzans that cut through the spears of light, buzzing across the heavens with the intent to bifurcate the galactic emperor.

"No-!" Freeza gasped, a pang of fear racing through his alien heart as he sped as quickly as he could away, watching the razor discs follow him as he moved at his highest speed. Alarmed they could keep up with him, he flew backwards and hurtled ball after ball of energy at the offending light razors; for naught as they slices through each effortlessly as they closed in on him.

"No-No-No-No-No!" Freeza chanted out, his eyes wide with terror. Pulling back both hands, he filled as much psychic energy as he could manage - veins bulging along with swelling muscles and throbbing vessels across his head - and threw out a massivekiai,not unlike his earlier one.

That finally destabilized the discs, cracking them and then fluttering out into sparks as they collided into each other. Panting and wheezing with an even paler sheet of white over his face, he knew for some reason he had been only inches from death just now. Nothing he did could even stop them till he upsetted their trajectories.

That...was too close,He thought, turning his attention to the three Saiyans.

Wait, where is-?

Suddenly, awhooshof movement and powerful arms wrapped over his shoulders in a full nelson. His body tensed, trying to move and jerk, but found himself confoundedly held in place by not just a superior mass but also a better position and greater strength.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down, Freeza!" He heard Raditz breathe down his neck, his periphery gaze allowing him to see the hauntingly familiar yellow eyes and his power now made sense. "Now you will have no way to runordefend yourself."

"Do you think you can hold me, Raditz?!" He yelled with almost incredulous anger, unaware of the nervousness creeping into his voice. "You can't kill me. Compared to you Saiyans, I am a god! None compare to me, not even close!"

"Then why haven't you powered up to maximum? Huh?!" Raditz growled out, tightening his hold, weakening the thrashing Freeza was doing. "Call me a betting man, but I guarantee you can't control your full power. If you could, there would be no need for the theatrics of multiple forms; unless you are a rank amateur at controlling your own energy!"

Freeza hissed, wondering how someone like Raditz could have read through him so well. It was true, his other 'forms' were controlled locks on his full potential. Each state was meant to rein himself in, trying not to destroy any of his own men or property in the process. The true form was so devastating that only his father had enough strength to keep him in check, and had taught him to restrain his power due to the...complications of his full potential.

"...so what if it is?" He asked in a dangerous hiss, sneering as he tried to focus on the mass reserve of strength still lying within. "Keep holding me if you must, but in a few minutes, you and the others will all be dead!"

Just as he felt himself draw on that power, his concentration halted as he finally realized why he was being restrained. Two glows, below him, of scorching gold and reddish blue. His eyes looked down and saw two star-like glares on the Namek crater they were battling upon, soil rising and cracking beneath the pressure of the two's preparing techniques.

"Ka…me...ha...me…" Gokū began to chant, cupping his hands at his sides as a swelling orb ofkiformed, the bluish tint of his Super Kamehameha forming within the Kaioken's aura.

"GARLIC CANNON…" Vegeta similarly adopted a similar stratagem, pooling all of hiskiinto curled up hands near his head by co*cked elbows. Violet light encompassing his dirty yellow mantle of energy, showing its readiness to discharge.

Wordless at the display of visual power, Raditz grimly smiled and began to laugh.

"I can feel you trembling, Freeza! You know your time is up! This is the end for you!" He barkes out, giving into his feeling of victory as he beheld what were once mortal enemies now fire their techniques: together.

"...HAAAAAAAAAA!"

"...FIRRRRRRRRE!"

Blue and purple fired off, howling as the twin beams fused at the ends, becoming an opaque white pillar of force. It was blinding to see, but Raditz held firm, gritting his teeth as Freeza howled in anger and terror at his approaching doom.

"NONONONONONONONONOOOOOOO-!"

A deafening impact followed the sky filling with fire. The blast crushed the ground beneath and sent waves upon waves of flames from the explosion that spilled out into the vacuum of space. The roar of power was unimpeded in its destructive union.

Beneath it all, the two weary warriors saw a long haired silhouette crash to the ground in the distance. Gokū, despite a wave of exhaustion apparent on his face, raced off to check on him while Vegeta's aura disappeared, following after slowly as he grimaced with uncertainty.

"Raditz! Raditz!" Gokū called out, racing over to the man, seeing him planted face first in the ashen dirt. Rolling him over onto his back, the younger brother winced at seeing the burns and blood oozing from his forearms. It was miraculous that the rest of him escaped relatively untouched from a blast like that, but he worriedly shook the unconscious looking man awake. "Raditz! Come on, wake up!"

"I'm in pain, little brother, not deaf!" He snapped, eyes straining open and lifted himself while nursing his arms by not moving them in place. "I vented as much power as I could to negate the damage to myself. I felt myself blown away as soon as it made an impact but my arms...took some injury as you can see."

"He's still alive…" Vegeta grimly proclaimed, confirming to Gokū and Raditz's sneaking suspicions. They felt it, but it was hard to tell with how wide such a power felt. For a moment, they had felt it disappear, but then reemerge like a pulse.

Looking upwards, the three could see it past the thick veil of smoke. Hanging in the air, slowly descending to them with a maddening grin, was the emperor of the known galaxy. But as his flesh was exposed, they'd know their efforts weren't completely for naught.

His face was darkened, the thin red lines leading from his eyes now split open and showing blood from red webbed eyes, the left which looked ghostly white instead of red; a sign of possible blindness. His chest's purplish sternum piece was split open, his equivalent of pectorals and abdomen burnt grey and black, with his legs and part of his tail receiving similar injury. His arms twitched at his sides, and his breathing erratic, uneven.

His body trembled in the air, all while he chuckled madly above the three awed Saiyans.

"Is that it? Was that all you had to throw at me?" He giggled insidiously, raising a single finger, erecting a black orb of red crackling energy that they could feel would be deadly if it connected with anything. "The great and mighty Freeza has not received such pain, such wounds...ever!"

Raising his hand, he prepared to throw it, his smile stretching ear to bloody ear.

"You know, I have a way to fix this little itch you've made," He giggled out, priming his attack as he maliciously threatened. "I'll just blow up this planet and watch you turn to dust! Doesn't that sound fun?!"

BA-BUM!

Raditz, Gokūu, and Vegeta all felt something, finally past the obscuring veil of Freeza'ski.It felt like a heartbeat...coming from below.

BA-BUM! BA-BUM! BA-BUM!

The crescendo of beats intensified as the ball of energy was thrown. They didn't know what to focus on and all stood rooted in place as the orb of death streaked to the ground, sinking past the charred crust-

BABABABABABABA-THUUUUUM!

Out erupted, swathed in blackish light, an enormous root that dwarfed the Saiyans in front of it, trailing forth and behind as the ground was split apart and broken by sinews of hundreds of other small branching roots. The energy absorbed, the ground quaking and causing the Namek rooted triage of warriors to leap into the air...spectating the new horror that delayed their fate.

"Wh-What is this?!" Freeza stammered, watching the planet become entangled by more monstrous roots in the horizon, each one as monolithic as the one that covered the expanse of their battle-borne crater.

"Raditz," Gokū spoke in a strangled whisper, his face pale and sweat crawling down his neck colder than his previous exhaustion made it. "Namek'skiis...being drained!"

"How is that possible?" Raditz questioned aloud, just as bewildered as his usually ignorant younger sibling is. Nothing about this situation added up, other than confirming a previous swelling feeling nagging him since landing on the planet.

Just then, in the distance, a tree sprouted. But to simply call it a tree denied its worth; it surmounted the size of any mountain or building that either of the brothers had seen. As it grew, its canopy touched the heavens and farther up still. Blotting out one of the Suns, a shadow was cast as an eeriepresencewas made and all three could tell something bad was about to happen.

Something absolute in its evil had taken control of Namek.

"Tullece," Vegeta let out a gritted gasp, drawing the attention of the brothers while Freeza gawked speechless at the sight. They'd see his face had a hint of knowing, as if he knew whom was at fault. There was no anger at this epiphany, or joy in it staving off an instant death by his former employer.

There was only fear.

Tullece...what have you done?!

Namek, Freeza's Ship

Chi-Chi was slowly coming to. The woman's entire body was aching, and her head was filled with fog. She could feel that she was under pressure, but didn't know where she was or how she got there. Everything was shrouded in darkness, but Chi-Chi knew this was because she hadn't opened her eyes yet. Breathing in - and she picked up a notable plant-like scent as she did so, along with a much stronger scent coming from atop her - the woman opened her eyes. Light filled her eyes, as the emerald-hued sky of Namek came into focus. Craning her neck downward, Chi-Chi saw the unconscious form of Tullece passed out over her, and memories began to take shape.

He...protected me?She blinked, remembering Tullece jumping over her, and creating a barrier ofki.At that exact moment, the ground beneath their feet exploded in a geyser of ki, and she'd known blackness until now. The woman blinked, confused. For a moment - one delusion filled moment - it was as if Son Gokū had saved her. That delusion shattered quickly once she processed the memories thoroughly once again. It was indeed Tullece, the man who had promised her safety so long as she swore loyalty to him. The man who so completely looked like Son Gokū.

Chi-Chi did not have the immediate strength to move, but the plant-like smell in the air - too strong for it to be far away - was making her curious. Furthermore, in her hand, she felt something, spherical, hard, and laden with bumps.

Slowly pushing Tullece off of her body so she could sit up, Chi-Chi brought her hand closer to her face, tightening her grip on whatever rested inside it. To her surprised, it was a fruit.

Bright crimson, as riddled with bumps as she'd expected, but looking very delicious to the woman who'd cheated death and not had a proper meal for ages now. She eyed Tullece, who remained unconscious, and, after being certain they were alone, abandoned decorum and devoured the fruit. Finding it surprisingly delicious, Chi-Chi ravenously consumed it down to the core, before casting it aside.

After a moment of enjoying the feeling of something finally in her stomach, Chi-Chi felt a sudden surge of strength. Her body bulked, before returning to its regular state, and ki was brimming from her body.

I must've been famished, she thought, surprised to feel so refreshed and strong after just that small fruit.Is that normal?

Following this sudden surge in strength was clarity. Chi-Chi, who had been in a daze from hunger and weariness, realised quite quickly that she was not on Nameccian soil. Looking down for the first time, Chi-Chi saw that she was resting on something wooden - dark, muddled green, gnarled and twisted beneath her and Tullece. And it was huge, bridge-like even. Scrambling over to the edge, Chi-Chi glanced down and saw, through thick clouds, a gargantuan trunk.

In a moment of shock, it all came to her.

The seed Tullece planted had finally sprouted, with herself and her Saiyan benefactor having been scooped up during the process.

Then that fruit, she thought,it must have come from this tree.Chi-Chi eyed the plant carefully. To say it was massive would actually be an insult to the word. Even from her perch on one of its branches, which held the weight of her and Tullece without issue, and was wide enough that she could have hosted a small dinner party on it, she still could not see the top of it. They were sitting within the clouds, and this immense tree towered higher than even that.

"It's so big," she gasped. Chi-Chi had to fight the urge to admire the tree, the planet-wide shudder occurring shortly after Tullece planted the seed coming back vividly.

"No...somethin' is wrong with this big thing."

Chi-Chi placed a hand along the trunk, moving it into the grooves of the smooth bark. It wasn't like normal trees at all, and in fact felt seamless.

Maybe if I cut it down, I can ask questions later? Whatever this thing is, it can't be good.

Costing her hand in ki, Chi-Chi plunged it into the bark, attempting to move her hand in a slicing motion along the trunk - admittedly it would be just a nick, but even a small crack could spread. To her surprise, the ki skipped from her hands before the digits made contact, being siphoned into the trunk.

"Did it...absorb my ki?"

Chi-Chi considered this for a moment to be an impossibility. After all, how could something just eat her energy? But she remembered Gokū had a technique like it, and accepted it might be possible. The black-haired martial artist turned her head skyward, gazing intently towards the thick canopy of leaves that permitted only dappled rays of light. Focusing her senses, she tried to feel for the tree's own ki, and to her horror, saw her fears confirmed.

Tendrils of ki were funneling their way towards the tree's centre, a glowing core where everything seemed to amass. Dotted at odd intervals along the branches were particularly strong concentrations of ki as well. Gasping, she pulled her senses back to herself, spinning around to glare at the unconscious Tullece. His tree was siphoning the very essence of the entire planet!

Chi-Chi found some shred of twisted amusem*nt in the whole scenario. She'd just devoured a fruit from a tree fated to doom a planet. There was a burgeoning cult of people on Earth with a faith fundamentally similar; it could only be more ironic if this tree had been planted by a deity. But Tullece was no god; he was mortal, and Chi-Chi knew he could bleed.

But...her thoughts turned towards that tree.What if I can't kill him? That fruit...it must have been brimming with energy, its why I feel so gung-ho now! So if I eat another...or maybe two...She glared at Tullece, the man who thought he could play on her desperation to further his goals.Then I can kill him.

"If I eat this, I can take him out no problem. Then I'll find Son Gokū back on that battlefield." Just before biting into the fruit, Chi-Chi hesitated. Did the ends justify the means here? This fruit was full of stolen life energy from a planet that had done nothing to her. If she ate it, just to take out one man, did that make her a monster?

"...How good to see you're up and well."

Chi-Chi froze. A voice, very like Son Gokū's, but older, and laced with intimidation, startled her. She turned from her sitting position to see Tullece standing behind her, arms folded, face inquisitive.

"T-Tullece...you're awake!" She turned to face him fully, but did not stand up; either the shock of seeing him up already, or the dread that he'd heard her slip of the tongue, kept her rooted. She tried to keep her voice measured, concerned even. The Saiyan knelt down to lock eyes with the woman, his expression soft but unreadable.

"I'm glad my effort to protect you did not go to waste," he said slowly. "I made you a promise, didn't I? As long as you were loyal to me, I would keep you safe. I am a man of my word."

Chi-Chi relaxed. The tension in her body flooded out. He really suspected nothing. Her grip on the fruit tightened, and she tried to form the words that would make her excuse for being mysteriously gone when he'd awoken. But nothing came out besides a startled gasp, as his hand moved to her wrist quicker than she could react.

"So who, pray tell, were you planning to take out with no problem?"

It might have been comical how quickly Chi-Chi went from relaxed to utterly still again, if she didn't know her life was in danger. "I-I was talking about F-Freeza!" she choked out the excuse rapidly, and her heart sank when Tullece audibly tsked.

"Let me give you a lesson to take with you, as you may not live long enough to appreciate it," Tullece was stone-faced now, and his voice laced with ice. Chi-Chi felt the grip on her wrist tighten, and in turn she tightened her grip on the fruit.

How had it not shattered?

"When a man builds his success on the backs of others, on deceit, on the souls of his family, he develops a talent for reading people," Tullece said quietly. His free hand rested on Chi-Chi's head, stroking her hair mockingly. "You, my dear, have tells obvious enough that I need not overwork myself to read you. When I offered you sanctuary, it came with it's own stipulations. Contracts are maintained only as long as both parties observe the rule of fairness."

"You..consider our arrangement fair?!" Chi-Chi felt indignation spike within her, bubbling to the surface.

"Why, yes," replied the Saiyan cooly. "I was prepared to offer you the Universe itself; you would have been my Queen, my equal in the Empire I will rise from the rubble of Freeza's rule, if only you'd maintained loyalty. Everything you ever could have desired - money, clothes, fine wines and foods - all of it would have been laid out for you. So why?"

"Because I dont want any o' that," Chi-Chi replied fiercely. "Son Gokū is the one I love!"

"I'll regret this..." Tullece's tone was bitter.

"I won't!" Chi-Chi's free hand reached for the sky. "Bashōsen!" A powerful gust of wind followed her shout, the very fan itself forming in Chi-Chi's palm directly after the wind surged around her. She swung the fan down, mimicking a sword stroke: clouds covered the sky, rain began to pour...and lightning rushed down from the sky, striking Tullece without warning. Chi-Chi slipped her hand out of the man's grip, which slackened from the rain and lightning impact, skidding back along the branch. Chi-Chi raised the fruit to her lips, devouring it quickly, all hesitation gone. Her ki spiked instantaneously when the fruit had been entirely consumed, and she cast it aside, fan gripped as if her life depended on it.

The lightning faded away, and Tullece was still crouched, yet furious, electricity crackling around his body. He exhaled slowly, his spiked hair whipping in the storm winds Chi-Chi had summoned. He reached towards the bottom of the branch, scooping a fruit that hung from it up with his tail.

"I won't make this easy for you. Let me show you what the fruit of the Shinseijū does in the hands of a Saiyan."

Chapter 36: Tullece

Chapter Text

Dragon Ball - The Heart of Adventurers

LastationLover5000 and Demod20

Chapter 36 - Tullece

Saiyans.

A unique species, in which the majority of its members were battle ready from a young age. There were variables as with any species; not one race is entirely uniform in its members. However, the Saiyans were uniquely known and feared throughout the Milky Way as fierce competitors. Their reputation had begun long before the planet Vegeta - itself a trophy of Saiyan conquest - had been annexed by the self-styled Emperor of the Milky Way, Cold.

Tullece had grown up believing in Saiyan superiority. Nothing, however, attracted his attention more than their legends: that of the Legendary Super Saiyan. There was tale an even older one, a Saiyan God as well. But it was the Super Saiyan which had enthralled young Tullece.

"The Super Saiyan? You believe that old tale? Tullece, the old kings made that legend up to inspire the soldiers! They even claim ancestry to that supposed warrior!"

His brother, Bardock, who laughed off this stories - his aspirations and dreams, thrown aside by his own twin.

"Say what you want!" Tullece had said. "You're just a weak warrior with no ambition! I'll become the Super Saiyan, brother! And when you see I was right, you can kneel before me!"

Tullece had clung to those aspirations, even when he and Bardock had gone along different paths. Bardock had become an elite among the lower class, leading a battalion of warriors through the sort of missions that would have killed other Saiyans. He would even go on to find a mate from among his group; a woman named Gine, so sickeningly sweet she made Tullece wretch.

Tullece had instead taken the long path to Freeza's good graces; refining a silver tongue to convince the Emperor of his own reliability and loyalty. He'd taken a mate from among the higher caste of Saiyans, a woman who had become enamored with his cruel actions that belied his cultured façade. Balisa was a Saiyaness to be feared, and soon, she bore him a child.

Tullece had given up on becoming a Super Saiyan years after being admitted into Freeza's service. He'd run into a wall many Saiyans eventually had to come to terms with.

Their own limits.

His daughter, however, showed exceptional talent. It was then Tullece hoisted his dream onto the young girl. If he couldn't become a Super Saiyan, then Aspara could. His bloodline would be the one to awaken that strength.

Then he'd found it.

On a planet, in the ruins of an abandoned Saiyan city - ruled prior to the Vegeta Dynasty, long before even Vegeta I - a seed. Despite the city long being run into the ground, the seed itself was remarkably fresh, and even...alive? Tullece suspected he felt an aura of sorts from it. So he pocketed it, the plunder of a man who deigned to know more than any Saiyan about their past. Dedicating himself to research, checking the information of various planets, even the archives on Vegeta, he'd discovered precisely the treasure he found that day.

The seed of the Shinseijū.

Pouring over documents, scattered legends, rumours, and even encountering aliens on other planets who were old enough to remember the time a Shinseijū last plagued the Universe, Tullece gleaned all he could. It was difficult work, convincing Freeza to allow him to take those missions. He'd become a trusted aide, a valuable asset — or, as Freeza put it, a "tame" barbarian. The two shared similar refined tastes, as well as a predilection for cruelty. The Emperor trusted him

But his efforts paid off. And Tullece had come to formulate a belief. The Shinseijū was related to the Saiyans in some way. Legend stated it was bore a fruit used to feed gods...but Tullece now wondered if that god was once a Saiyan. Why else would that fruit seed be in Saiyan ruins? Armed with this knowledge, and the seed, Tullece formulated a new plan.

The legendary Super Saiyan may be beyond him. But his daughter would rise to claim that title. And he, Tullece, empowered by the Shinseijū's fruit, would supplant Freeza: he would become the Emperor, with the Saiyan warrior of legend firmly under his control. For this reason, he'd waited for the ideal moment, the ideal location.

Namek was bountiful, its people brimming with life, and in tune with the natural environment of their world. The Shinseijū would grow large on such a planet, and it would become the stage for Tullece's rebellion. He'd be lying if he'd said everything had gone according to his plan, but beggars can't be choosers.

"That is why...you won't get in my way," Tullece brought the freshly picked fruit to his lips, staring daggers at Chi-Chi. "I've waited for this moment longer than you've been alive." Before Chi-Chi could stop him, Tulleve bit into the fruit, devouring it as if he'd never tasted food before. That was it. She felt this power shoot skywards immediately; ki rushed him his body in all directions, his hair rushing up in the burst. Muscles expanded before contracting, and Chi-Chi felt her hair stand on end.

Tullece rushed her, moving like the wind. His hand was around her neck before she could react, the man forcing her down, skidding along the branch until they came to rest at the edge. Chi-Chi felt the Bashosen fly from her grasp as his hand tightened its grip.

"A shame, truly," sneered Tullece. "I wanted to treat you as an equal. A woman of Fairy passion, impressive strength, and more backbone than many men in Freeza's army, but not short on intelligence," He sighed. "What a shame you were born an Earthling. But you will serve me regardless."

"As...if I'd ever...come with you now!" Chi-Chi snarled through inhalations.

"To be frank, your compliance isn't a factor."

Words were, however, just words. Chi-Chi was never one for relying on them alone. Her ki began to froth and bubble, a red aura encasing her entire body, Tullece's hand along with it. "Gyūken!" Focusing on the energy around her body, Chi-Chi used it to force Tullece off her, concentrating the bulk into an arm that trust him back. She scampered to her feet, surrounded by the aura which ended in bull horns at her head; much like Gokū's technique, but different.

Tullece frowned, flipping upright to avoid landing on his back. The man preferred dignity, after all. "You can choose to resist, but it means nothing now. You long lost your chance to stand by my side as an equal; but worry not. You'll hardly know or understand anything once I've made you my servant."

The statement chilled Chi-Chi, sending a quiver down her spine. Be it instinct, or intuition, she didn't like the way he phrased that.

The rains she summoned continued to swirl around them, wind lashing the water against their bodies. Chi-Chi's aura repelled the bulk of, causing her to emit a faint steam. If anything, it gave off a sense of power unlike anything Tullece had ever seen. And this enticed him only further.

Chi-Chi clenched her fist, the ki around her arm enlarging into into a phantom set of bull horns. Tullece, too enamored with trying to analyse the technique to prepare himself, was caught off guard when Chi-Chi rushed him. A thin, coated fist slammed into his gut, forcing him backwards.

A haggard chuckle, full of mirth and elation, escaped Tullece's gullet at the very impact of her blow. He grinned, staring directly into her eyes to show her attack had done little more than excite him. "Such sublime power and intense ferocity!" He laughed again, the sound bellowing from his chest. "Oh if only I'd met you before my late Balisa! You put Saiyan women to shame!"

"I don't need your praise!" Chi-Chi hissed. Her brain worked quickly; their clash, combined with her previous experience with the tree, led her to one conclusion.

It was only the trunk and roots that absorb ki on this thing, she thought. I can fight him on these branches and use ki just fine, so long as I don't touch that trunk!

Her aura expanded from her arm, gripping Tullece by the torso and chucking him upwards, so he entered a free fall through the branches. The long-haired woman cupped her hands. "Ka...Me...Ha...Me...!" The normally blue hue of ki mixed in with the red of her aura, tinting her Kamehameha a unique purple.

"HA!"

Intoning the final syllable, Chi-Chi thrust her limbs forward; lavender-shaded ki burst upward, colliding with Tullece in a powerful explosion. She lacked the chance to celebrate; before her storm winds blew the smoke away, Chi-Chi felt his ki rise, rather than drop. A fierce guest revealed Tullece, his Combat Jacket slightly cracked, while he was whole and hale. Chi-Chi realised why instantly. Clutched in the man's fist was another fruit, nearly down to its core.

H-He ate it right before I hit him!

"That was a well placed attack!" Tullece praised her between bites. Tossing the core into the storm, he didn't bother to wipe the juice of the fruit from his mouth as he felt his ki rocket upwards. "The prince had a technique almost identical to that. You really are something else. But—"

He vanished from Chi-Chi's sight, reappearing directly within her field of vision. Tullece swung, his muscled arm flying directly over Chi-Chi's head, the young woman having bent as far back as her spine would allow...

...then she fell from the branch entirely. Tullece's eyes widened in shock, and the Saiyan crane over the branch to look. She was nowhere to be seen.

She must have slipped from the rain, Tullece theorized, the very same smattering away at his body still now. No matter. A fall from even this height won't kill her. I'll just go pick up what she's broken and—

The sound of eating caught Tullece's sensitive Saiyan ears. The man turned, seeing Chi-Chi standing a fair distance behind him on the branch, Shinseijū fruit in each hand, devouring them.

Her power shot up, the aura that was bubbling around her shining a brighter red. Chi-Chi let loose a snake-like tendril, shaped as an arm, from the aura. Tullece narrowly avoided it, yet it only chased after him. He took to the sky, weaving in and out of every serpentine strike the arm made. Diving headfirst toward it, he spun, avoiding its strike for the umpteenth time. Consuming the fruit had given Chi-Chi a boost, but he was higher still.

He need merely prove it.

Pivoting in mid-air, the Saiyan which so resembled Son Gokū locked on to Chi-Chi like a missile. She braced herself for the coming impact, but it meant nothing at this point. Tullece crashed into her, his boots grinding along the tree as he abused his enhanced velocity to send her hurtling backwards. She collided, hard, with the trunk: Tullece pursued, grabbing both her wrists, pinning her firmly to a ravenous Shinseijū.

Her frothing aura disappeared almost instantly, receding from her body into the tree's depths. Tullece was sure that, somewhere on these branches, a fruit had sprouted. How he wished to find that specific fruit.

"Be still now," Tullece said, quietly. "Let your energy fertilise the tree. When you wake up, you'll already be in a world under my thumb."

"I..." Chi-Chi gasped. It absolutely pained her to see a face that so resembled Son Gokū, twisted in the way Tullece's was. The man she still loved, even after being soundly rejected...would she never be able to ask him what she wanted to? Tears began to pool at the edges of her eyes, running down her face. Frustration welled up within her.

She had to do something. Even if it was just stomping him flat.

This solid desire seemed to trigger something within Chi-Chi; Tullece noticed his grip slackening, however, it wasn't of his own will. Her wrists were simply becoming too large to hold. Beneath then, the branch began to splinter. A shuddering CRACK! told Tullece it completely shattered before he began to fall. The man straightened himself before he hit the ground, finding himself standing among timber and fruit. He was at the base of the tree...but this wasn't the most shocking sight. Directly in front of the tree, nearly the same thickness as its trunk, was a female leg.

"What...the...?!" The swear died in Tullece's mouth, his eyes traveling upward. Chi-Chi now towered over him, reaching a truly gargantuan height. She was at least half the height of the Shinseijū, rivalling his own Giant Monkey Transformation. "What is this?!"

Papa, where's Mama? The young girl always asked her father.

The large man laughed, the sound using his whole body. Your Mama is a very special woman, dear,Gyūmaō had told her. She has her reasons that she can't be here, but she's always watching.
And perhaps, one day, you'll be special in the same way.

Was this what you meant, Dad?Chi-Chi glowered downwards at Tullece, who now appeared to be merely an ant. Raising her hand, she recalled the Bashōsen, which adjusted to match her size.

What's Mama's name, Papa? If you're a king, she has to be a Queen, right?

Your Mama's name is Annin. She oversees the Kakkero.

Chi-Chi swung the Bashōsen downwards, a brilliant flash of lightning, larger and more powerful than ever, following its arc. The luminous, seemingly divine, strike, collided with Tullece, rendering the ground asunder in a massive explosion, eclipsing all Chi-Chi was capable of on her own. The power to command nature, bending the weather of the planet to their will: that was what made the Bashōsen mighty. Chi-Chi brought the Bashōsen upward; winds began to slow still more strongly around the tree, rustling its leaves and bending its branches. The rain increased on ferocity, blowing away whatever rubble Chi-Chi had created revealing a singed but alive Tullece.

"You're truly something special," the man said, his tone full of welcome enthusiasm as if he'd not been struck by the wrath of the gods. "Such abilities - so close to magic, they seem! Alright then!" Hastily devouring another fruit in record time, Tullece began to actively raise his ki higher. His aura burst outwards, the lavender energy becoming almost tendril-like. His ebony eyes glinted. "I'll take my time beating obedience into you. Loyalty will start afterwards."

Shock.

It is what carried the pregnant pause in a harrowing battle to the death to a dreadful standstill. The Saiyans and the galactic emperor did nothing but saw an enormous tree stretch into the heavens, all while gigantic roots upheaved the land and drained lakes dry for an endless stretch of the visible horizon. The contrast between the horrifying macabre scenery and the vibrantly swelling greenery slowing its ascent as it became a towering monstrosity wasn't lost to the warriors.

However, even as the minutes passed, it didn't take long for them to begin speaking in hushed whispers; appearing to be aware of their current threat's tenuous disposition.

"Tullece...is responsible for this?" Raditz whirled around to Vegeta, now digesting what the prince had said before.

The Prince tore his gaze away to look at the elder brother of Kakarrot. Grimly, he closed his eyes and looked back at the tree again, speaking more coherently than he had been before.

"I don't know how or why but I found him and that woman strangely sitting around a place outside of Freeza's ship," He explained, clicking his tongue in afterthought. "When I heard that cheeky remark that he had taken up gardening from before, I didn't know he was right, ironically enough."

"But Bulma and Pan were on the ship!" Gokū exclaimed with alarm.

"Calm down, you dolt!" Vegeta barked, beating Raditz to the punch with a nod to the tree. "I can still feel that brat's energy. It is unlikely that unnatural growth damaged Freeza's mothership so easily."

"So nice of you all to speak of me as if I am not here."

A sudden drastic exhale of force jettisoned the trio of Saiyans away from each other. Blown back by the tidal wave kiai, each of them narrowly righted themselves after tumbling away from the nearby bulging root that Freeza lowered to perch upon.

Bloodied, the wounded Freeza glared with his working and partially blinded eyes at them while burnt arms limply hung at his sides. No longer posturing, the damaged ruler of the known universe was simply asserting his power in the simplest way possible.

"So, correct me if I misheard," Freeza grated out, looking at Vegeta in particular. "But that tree is Tullece's doing? Apart from sucking the life out of this planet, and forestalling its demise, I don't see a purpose in it."

"Why ask me what his motives are? That snake was your lackey!" Vegeta snapped spitefully with a jab of his chin, still too worn from his earlier battle. "You should know what he was up to more than I!"

"As if I cared what a nicely collared monkey thinks or wants," Freeza dismisses with a roll of his partially impaired eyes, raising a finger to prime energy at its tip, rays of scarlet painting his own person in a menacing outline of reddish white. "It makes no difference. If I can't destroy it I might as well find out myself. It's high time I dispose of you and see what value that thing can yield me!"

In a moment, another strange phenomena took place. A sudden distant thuum as a storm erupted from skies surrounding the large tree. Lightning snapped and pulsed around it, bringing about large gusts of wind that even whipped over to their significant distance. It was enough Vegeta and Freeza turned to look at the instantaneous storm brought to life over the massive tree.

Giving one of the other Saiyans ample time to fire a kikoha at his face; one he saw with his good eye.

"I lose focus for one second-!" Freeza shouted, palming the beam with a wince. A second later, Raditz leaped up with a forward ball motion that unfurled his legs at the last second to fly drop kick the tyrant off his perch. Soaring after him, he would be joined by Gokū as the two began to persist throwing attacks at the injured and half blinded enemy. Punches and kicks deflected or narrowly hit the mark, releasing thunderous bursts in the air and flashes of purples, pinks and blues in the sky of their volatile ki being used.

Vegeta, however, was fixated on the storm. This was the second time he saw this happening, with the prior being when that woman fought Nappa. This planet didn't have a natural ecosystem and thus was cloudless at all times to sustain the people their need of endless Sunshine for nourishment.

A familiar trace of ki was felt beyond the storm itself. Sparking into being, a second came afterwards. The two were combating and he could faintly make out amethyst and crimson flashes in the horizon within the shadow of the stormfall.

Those two are alive?! How in the...their strength has also increased! What the Hell are you doing there, Tullece?! Vegeta thought with a grimace.

A sudden crash hitting the ground beside him broke him out of his thoughts, bringing his gaze to Raditz and Gokū wincing in pain, sprawled out on their backs.

"Asshole!" Raditz snarled, pushing himself up in an upright position while glaring at Vegeta. "Why are you just standing there?! We have bigger problems right now."

"If you haven't noticed, I am not in a great state to continue-"

"Neither am I, Prince, but you don't see me complaining!" Raditz bit back.

"Why would I care about you?!" Vegeta angrily shouted.

"Guys, can we just focus-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, KAKARROT!" The two snapped at Gokū as he raised then quickly lowered his hand.

A blistering wave of heat alerted them to the danger. The triage reacted with instant movement, reflexively lurching in impromptu leaps and jumps away from a storm of lancing kikoha that exploded the earth meters upon meters of detonation. Dodging out of the way, the three Saiyans mustered up what strength they had to the fore.