Rito's mind was elsewhere as the two walked. Tien said he had to return to his own training and offered Rito a chance to come with, but the boy turned him down. He needed some time to himself. He was in such a daze that he never noticed the pink body in front of him until he ran head first into it's owners own head. The saiyan boy fell back rubbing his head. "Ow! Man, you've got a really hard head!"
"I could be saying the same for you. Are you alright?" said a sweet, almost motherly voice. Rito opened his eyes and blushed brightly. What was in front of him was a young, pink skinned woman with a long tail behind her.
She was wearing a black tube top with black sleeves on her arm. She had a gold ring on her right middle finger. She was wearing a baggy pair of pants with a gold belt. The woman also had some of the bluest eyes Rito had ever seen.
The thing Rito was trying not to look at was the fact that she was rather busty. "U-uh, I-I'm sorry! I-I'm okay!" He stammered out, tripping over his own tail as he tried to stand, falling forward into her very soft chest. Everything went quiet for several seconds after until Rito pulled himself out of her chest. "Aieeee, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!!!" He shouted, bowing over and over again.
A light giggle pulled him out of his apologetic flurry. He looked up to see the woman giggling at him. "It's alright, it was an accident. I'm guessing you're not used to having a tail. It took me a while to get used to it myself. But," She stood up and kissed his cheek. "It was very sweet how you apologized so quick. I'm Android 21. Nice to meet you."
"U-uh, I-I'm Yuuki Rito."
"A pleasure, Yuuki Rito-kun." The android turned to Trunks who only nodded with a heavy blush, turning and walking off after, leaving Rito somewhat confused, something 21 picked up on. "It's a long story, Yuuki-kun. For now, you'd better catch up. See you, Trunks-kun." She said in a singsong voice, the saiyan youth taking off after his superior. The bio-android smiled after he left, thinking about how interesting a boy like that was. She'd be keeping her eyes on him.
He toured the city in a daze, only gently nodding every so often to show he heard Trunks. He saw many people, some of which were from different races entirely, though one did catch his eye. He was rather short, even shorter than Rito, with two black horns sticking out the side of his head. He had on what looked like blue armor with gem insets on his shins, forearms, in the center of his chest, and oddly, the top of his head. In fact, the gem looked like it was part of his head.
Trunks noticed this and walked over to the alien, Rito behind him. "Good morning, Iaas. Did you take care of that PQ in the GT timeline like I asked?"
"Yessir, I did. Rildo was a bit of a problem, but I outsmarted him and got the timeline back on it's proper course." the alien warrior said.
"I'd expect nothing less from one of my Elites. I'd like to introduce you to our newest member." He gestured to the young man standing behind him, said boy stepping forward a bit. "This is Yuuki Rito. He was summoned here by Shen-Long. Rito, this is Iaas, a Glaerisian and more or less the Glaerisian boss here. He's the strongest of his kind I have in the Patrol."
Rito extended a hand to the Glaerisian, said Glaerisian simply looking at his hand with disdain on his face before slapping the boys hand away. Rito looked at him oddly as Trunks simply glared. "Your energy is pathetic. You honestly think you have what it takes to be one of us, Greenhorn? Don't make me laugh, monkey."
Rito clenched his fist tight, looking up at Trunks as the elder saiyan put his hand on the boys shoulder. "Don't. Iaas is way stronger than you. He's almost as powerful as I am."
Rito ignored him, turning back to the Glaerisian who stood silent, as if waiting for a response. "If you think I'm so far below you, then why don't you come and see what I can do firsthand? Or are you scared of chipping one of those pretty little gems you're wearing?"
This wasn't like him. Rito never instigated a fight before, but this thing, Iaas the Glaerisian, he got under the boys skin in a way no one ever had.
Iaas smirked dangerously, his energy rising a bit. "Oh-ho, is the Greenhorn in that much of a hurry to join his ancestors?"
"Enough, both of you!" Trunks bellowed, stepping between them. "The last thing we need right now is infighting! Get a grip, you two!"
"Get out of the way, Trunks." The two quarreling men(?) barked, startling the saiyan a bit. He growled, but backed away. This was something he couldn't stop.
"Iaas, don't kill him." was the last thing Trunks said before pressing a button on his watch, all three of them immediately being teleported to an arena. There were a few other Time Patrollers sparring here, but they all stopped once they saw the trio teleport in. Trunks stepped back a bit more.
"You two wanna fight so badly, we'll do this right. This battle will have a fifteen minute time limit. Winner will be decided by the amount of damage done by that time or whoever is knocked unconscious first. You will cease attacking should your opponent fall unconscious or if they are in a position they can no longer fully defend themselves. You will not aim for lethal attacks. Should I see any noticeable attempt to take your opponents life, I will call the match in favor of your opponent. Am I understood?" Both combatants nodded. Trunks pulled his sword from it's sheath, lifting it over his head. "The match will begin once my blade touches the ground."
Neither warrior moved, only keeping their gazes locked with one another as they slipped into their stances.
"BEGIN!" Trunks shouted as his sword struck the ground. Rito was the first to move, rushing Iaas before running around him in a circle, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake. His blood ran cold as he saw Iaas' hand twitch and his afterimages vanish almost immediately. He had moved from his spot, attacked the fakes and returned all before Rito could react. And now, the Glaerisian stood before him, a bone looking mask in place over his mouth.
"Tonight I dine on monkey soup."
Rito slammed on the brakes, jumping into the air to get some distance before he was kneed in the gut by Iaas as the stronger fighter closed the distance almost instantly, carrying the boy backwards on his knee before slamming him into the wall with enough force to form an impact crater several times Rito's height in diameter. Blood shot from his mouth onto Iaas' knee. Despite him being almost Rito's height, this being had the strength of a monster.
He didn't have time to dwell on this as Iaas cupped his fists together, slamming them down on Rito's back and sending him flying down to the ground below them. He roared as he tore through the air at the boy, slamming his fist into the former Earthlings chest, Rito screaming out as he spat up more blood.
Rito was in more pain that he'd ever been before. He was sure his sternum and ribs had all been broken and several of his organs ruptured. He had come to the conclusion that this was a terrible idea.
Iaas rose slowly into the air, with what looked like disdain on his face. "So, that's it, eh? That's all the Saiyan Greenhorn has to offer? You really are pathetic."
The boy rolled onto his belly, propped up on his arms, coughing up more blood before getting to his feet slowly. He gave a glare that could have even made Raditz think twice about dealing with him, but Iaas only smiled, or maybe he did. Hard to tell behind his mask.
The saiyan screamed as he focused his energy into his hands. "KA, ME, HA, ME, HAAAAA!!!!" He thrust his hands up at the Glaerisian, enveloping him in it's beam. Rito thought he'd won. He was wrong. Iaas' head popped out of the base of his beam much to his horror, grabbing him by his hair and punching him hard in the face, sending him flying back before rushing in and slamming his knee into his airborne 'opponent' and slamming his elbow into his back, sending him down again.
The glaerisian didn't let him hit the ground, planting him into the wall again by his throat. "How sad. I expected more from a saiyan warrior."
Rito couldn't answer, only being conscious enough to know he was being spoken to. His enemy floated backwards, preparing an energy attack in his two fingers to move from enemy to executioner. Some of the other Patrollers started screaming at him to stop, but he paid them no mind. They didn't need some entitled puke cluttering up their ranks, especially not an arrogant saiyan brat.
"That's enough, Iaas! Rito is declared the winner!" Trunks screamed, appearing between the two in his Super Saiyan state. The glaerisian knew better than to test Trunks in his Super state, he liked his tail where it was and not crammed up his ass, so he powered down, letting Trunks do the same as Tien collected his mortally wounded pupil.
Iaas scoffed and backed off. "As you wish. We all know who really won here."
The fighter turned and floated off before a ki blast exploded against his back. He turned to see Rito back on his feet, staring him down. "Iaas… You think you're strong, but… what do you have to fight for? Even a dumb fight like this… to me… means I'm one step closer to seeing my family again. That's my reason, my purpose. What's yours?" He asked before finally passing out into Tien's arms.
This threw Iaas off. Purpose? What was he talking about? The glaerisian scoffed. "Uppity ape."
Rito felt… warm. It was like his whole body was wrapped in a blanket.
'Rito…'
Huh?
'Rito…'
L-Lala?
'Wake up, Rito…'
Rito opened his eyes, widening them as he saw Lala and Haruna standing in front of him smiling. 'Don't forget your promise…'
"Lala? Haruna? Is… are you really here?"
'Don't forget…' Haruna said as the two girls started drifting away from him.
Rito tried to move, but found that he couldn't. He reached out for Lala. "Wait! Don't go! LALA!!!"
'Don't forget, okay?'
Rito's eyes snapped open, his breathing quick and hard. He looked around and noticed that he was floating in warm liquid and also that he wasn't hurting. 'This pod… is it a regeneration pod like Mikado-sensei's?'
"Look who's awake." Rito looked down to see a beautiful red haired woman in glasses and a lab coat looking at him with a smile. "Good to see you up, Rito-kun."
'Her eyes seem really familiar…' "Android… 21?" he asked.
The woman smiled more, pushing her glasses up onto her face. "My, someone pays attention. Good guess." She said, biting into a macaroon and squealing a bit at the decadent flavor. Once she was done, she went back to looking at Rito. "Now, back to you. How are you feeling?"
"Better than I look, I'm sure."
"Well," she started with a devious grin, her blue eyes flicking further south than they should have. "To be fair, you look almost good enough to eat."
Rito shivered a bit as she enunciated the word 'eat' while also somehow making eating an éclair look incredibly seductive. He then noticed that he was feeling something odd, or more aptly put, he wasn't feeling something. He looked down and his face turned a brilliant shade of red as his tail wrapped around to hide a bit of his shame. "Where are my clothes?!"
"The regeneration pod can heal you with your clothes on, but not as well." She explained. "Your uniform has been repaired and sent to your quarters as per Trunks' orders. You've been unconscious for three days, Rito-kun."
"Three days?!" The speakers connected to his mouthpiece gave a sharp feedback squeal at the volume of his voice, causing 21 to cover ears.
"Yes, Rito-kun, three days." After checking her ears, 21 turned back to her patient. "Who's Lala?"
Rito's eyes widened at this. He must have been talking in his sleep again. "Lala is one of my fiancèes."
"One? My, you seem to attract a bit of attention, huh?"
"It was Lala's idea. She wanted a way to make everybody happy."
"She sounds sweet." 21 said, nibbling on a doughnut.
Rito nodded lightly. "She is. That's why I need to get home, to get back to her, to Haruna, to my sister. I can only imagine what they're trying to do to find me."
"Good, you're finally awake." Rito turned to see Trunks walking in, Tien in tow.
"I'm not going to bother going into how reckless that was, Rito." Tien started with, the young saiyan looking away from his master. "You need to pick your fights more carefully."
"Says the man that nearly killed himself stalling Cell." 21 said offhandedly as she downed her seventh doughnut.
Tien glared at her. "You're gonna get fat eating all that crap, you know?"
21 froze in place, her eighth doughnut just in front of her lips before…
"WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" 21 cried, running out of the room, still carrying her junk food.
"Dammit, Tien!" Trunks shouted, running after his top researcher/girlfriend.
The two men just stared after Trunks. After a few moments, Rito broke the silence. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Those were my doughnuts she was eating." was Tien's answer.
Rito chuckled a bit before his mood soured. "Sensei." Tien turned to his protégé. "I'm not sorry for picking that fight. If anything, it opened a door for me."
Tien smiled. "Found yourself a rival, huh?" Rito's silence was answer enough. "We'll turn you into a warrior yet, Rito. Don't worry, once you're out, I've got an extensive combat training course I'm gonna put you through. You're going to wish we had let Iaas kill you once I'm done."
"HE TRIED TO WHAT?!" Rito screamed, the earthling boy peeking back out for a moment. This made Tien smile all the more. The saiyan in him is getting a deeper hold on his personality, but he's still that same scared boy I met before.
"You've got one more day in the pod before 21 will let you out, kid, so get some rest." Tien said, turning to walk out. He gave Rito a wave as the boy started protesting, ending with…
"SENSEI, I HAVE TO PEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"
A rival has appeared and Rito has taken his first step to becoming a true warrior. Now, if he can keep himself from being murdered, he may reach that point.How long will it be before Rito is finally able to get home? How long before he loses his fucking mind?! WHY AM I ASKING YOU!? I'M WRITING THE DAMN STORY! Find out what my twisted mind came up with in the next chapter of To-Love-Ru: Xeno; First PQ! Finding a team!