Muwahaha, I'm on a roll! It feel so good to have this fic moving again!
All the usual disclaimers apply: Dragonball Z and all its characters belong to Aira Toriyama-sama, Toei, FUNimation, etc. I'm just borrowing them for a bit. All original characters belong to me, and you need to ask before you use them, please.
The Ways of the Saiyans
by
NansJns
Chapter 10: Past and Present
Kele's ship was a standard freight hauler, not unique to any species or world, which Vegeta realized was a stroke of brilliance. Unless Freiza's people knew that its pilot was Saiyan, they would have no reason to pay any attention to such a nondescript carrier, and it could go almost anywhere without anyone noticing or caring. What better way to transport items to secret colonies? No doubt all of the materials and eventually the people had been transported to the colonies in such ships. And it would provide the perfect vehicle for getting them safely to Earth, once Bulma had it up and running again. Vegeta wished, briefly, that their families could've been with them, but he put the thought aside quickly. Dwelling on regrets would not serve anyone.
"This is it," Kele said as they landed by the ship's open door. "My home for the last. . .ten or eleven standard years, if you're right on when Vegeta-sei was destroyed."
"We are, trust us. Unfortunately, we remember hearing the news all too well," Kakkarot answered.
Bulma was smiling eagerly as she looked over the ship's outer design. "Excellent! An old Mark-4 freight transport! This type was one of the first ships I was able to study after Frieza took over Earth! I know their systems like the back of my hand; this'll be a snap!" she said, sounding greatly cheered. "Do you know if it was an electrical failure or an engine failure?" she asked Kele. The old Saiyan shrugged.
"The power systems still function, but at about half-strength. What does that tell you?" Kele asked as he led them into the ship.
"Hmm," Bulma hummed as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Tells me it could be a couple things, but I'll have to run some diagnostics just to make sure. Thank Kami I always carry a wide array of tools on me."
"You don't have any tools," Kele said in bewilderment. Bulma grinned at him as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her capsule case.
"Oh yes, I do!" she said. "You guys go ahead and check out the artifacts. This'll take some time," Bulma said with a wave of her hand as she headed for the bridge.
"Just a moment, female! The prince has not granted you permission to leave!" Kele suddenly barked, startling all of them. Vegeta shot him a sideways glance.
"We came here to repair your ship, so of course she has my permission to take care of that task," Vegeta said, only a hint of his surprise and confusion showing on his face. "And frankly, she doesn't ask or need my permission for much of anything. Is this how it was – or is – in a Saiyan court?"
"Yes, of course – no one can leave a royal presence without permission, and they certainly don't address a royal family member with such informality," Kele asserted in return, puzzled by Vegeta's confusion. "You don't remember?"
"I was five the last time I was in the court," Vegeta answered. "My memories regarding all of its protocols are a bit dim."
"Oh yes, they would be, wouldn't they?" Kele observed thoughtfully.
"Not to mention that Vegeta hasn't lived like a prince all these years. He's used to people around him just doing as they pleased. Even my family, who always showed him respect, didn't ask his permission for every little thing, or bow every few moments," Kakkarot added in before he could think better of it. Kele scowled at him.
"You would treat your prince like a commoner?" Kele asked, frowning.
"Sort of – we were in hiding, and if we had all been bowing and scraping all the time to him, it would've been a giveaway to our enemies. I'm just saying we're not used to it. Besides, Bulma and Chi-Chi aren't Saiyans, so they don't know our ways," Kakkarot replied swiftly. The older Saiyan didn't look at all mollified by that simple explanation.
"If I am not offended by it, Kele, then there's no reason you should be," Vegeta finally stepped in with a growl. "Now, just show us the relics while Bulma fixes the ship."
"Yes, Your Highness, as you wish," Kele said with a swift, stiff bow. He turned to the left and led them toward the cargo hold while Bulma resumed her trip to the bridge.
The cargo hold was large, making up over half the ship, with padded walls and heavy metal rings in the walls and floors with various cords looped through them to secure different-sized items. The space was filled with metal crates that had obviously been opened, though their contents had been placed back inside them. Bits of padding were spread about the room and hung out of the openings in the crates. Extra lights and a worktable had been brought in, no doubt by Kele.
"I had nothing better to do," Kele said before they could ask, "so I've been studying the relics."
"Makes sense to me," Kakkarot said.
"Agreed. Where was all of this found?" Vegeta asked, slightly amazed by how many artifacts there actually were. He had been picturing a much smaller group of items.
"Most of this was recovered from a dig site in the Soisa Valley. We came upon an entire city buried there two years after you vanished. By the time I left the dig, we had yet to determine whether the city's burial had been caused by an earthquake or a volcano or due to an oozaru rampage. It may never have been determined, now that I think about it," Kele answered.
"Did oozarus bury cities a lot on Vegeta-sei?" Chi-Chi asked Kakkarot quietly.
"Dunno about that, but it wouldn't surprise me," Kakkarot answered with a light shrug.
"Often enough, in the old days," Kele said, cutting into their conversation. "For thousands of years, the only way we could control our oozaru forms was to purposely avoid the moon phases that would trigger the transformations. For generations, it was the wild oozaru rampages that kept the Saiyan race from developing large cities and high technology. And we probably would never have become a spacefaring race if it weren't for the Truffles," Kele said as though he were addressing students in a classroom. It didn't escape any of their notices that he uttered the word "Truffles" with icy contempt.
"Truffles? Oh, yeah, I think I remember reading that your world had had two intelligent races at one point. . ." Chi-Chi remarked thoughtfully, but Kele's stern look cut off her train of thought.
"The Truffles were not native to Vegeta-sei; they colonized our world long ago," Kele answered coldly. "In fact, one of these scrolls contains a recounting of their arrival and what happened during that first year."
"Colonized?" Bulma's voice suddenly said over the internal comm system.
"What are you doing?" Kele demanded with a quick look toward the comm speaker.
"Sorry, I just wanted to hear about the relics; the comm system seemed a good way to do that. On the plus side, I'm reasonably sure now that the failure must be something in the engine itself. So, the Truffles came from another world?" Bulma prompted.
"Hm, yes, the Truffles had come from a dying world, and found Vegeta-sei much to their liking. Our world was big and wasn't heavily populated. Since there was room, they offered various things in trade to the Saiyans for letting them have some of our land upon which to settle. At first, everything was fine, but then – oh!" Kele suddenly jumped as if he had been stung by something. He turned quickly to Vegeta and bowed to him again. "I nearly forgot! Your Highness, I believe I have uncovered a secret from those dark days, regarding the Super Saiyan!"
"WHAT?" Vegeta cried out in surprise. "What secret?"
"It - where did I leave that scroll? It'll be much easier to explain once I've shown it to you!" Kele said, loping off eagerly into the crowd of crates and ancient items. Vegeta, Kakkarot, and Chi-Chi followed on his heels as he worked his way through the maze he had built over the years. "It was around here somewhere – !" Kele grumbled as he searched.
They followed Kele down a corridor made by gray-blue crates on both sides then around a corner to the right. It wasn't until they were two steps around the corner that they realized that the corner itself was made of just one large box. Like all of the rest of the crates, it had been opened and the padding within loosened to reveal its contents. Two stone faces peered out from behind the padding; weathered, worn, chipped and cracked, yet still identifiably male and female. They were nearly nine feet tall, and even with the years of damage, the level of detail was amazing. Chi-Chi couldn't help thinking the statues must have been incredibly life-like when they were new. Vegeta and Kakkarot pulled the rest of the foam padding out of the way to get a better look, revealing that the two figures shared a single stone base.
The male figure was muscular, dressed in fancy armor with a cape on his shoulders; his handsome, pride-filled gaze seemed to be looking toward some far horizon. He made a formidable figure, despite his disrepair. The female statue was likewise muscled and dressed in armor, boasting a wild mane of hair that nearly reached her ankles. Although her face was a bit softer than her male counterpart, there was a strength and boldness in her lovely features that still showed through even with all of the cracks. They stood side-by-side, their faces looking out over a domain that no longer existed.
"Who do you suppose they are?" Chi-Chi wondered, looking up at the stone faces. "An early king and queen, maybe?"
"He does kinda look a little like Vegeta," Kakkarot observed with a nod. The male statue's hair was half-upswept like Vegeta's, though the rest of his hair rested on his shoulders, and there was a hint of similarity in the shape of their noses and chins.
"I'm not sure," Vegeta admitted with a slight frown. "I think he might be Biitoru, the God of Vegeta-sei, but I have no idea who she might be."
"She is Siidara, his mate," Kele said as he came back down the hall of crates, a scroll in his hands.
"I don't recall reading anything about Biitoru having a mate," Vegeta said, looking at the statue in surprise.
"For some reason, she was forgotten over the generations, and some of the realms over which she supposedly had power were attributed to Biitoru," Kele answered.
"Like what?" Kakkarot asked.
"Biitoru was the god of Battle, War, Honor, Sky, and Sun. Siidara was Goddess of Strength, Mates, Children, Wind, and the Moons. In time, Biitoru was given the moons and strength," Kele told them. "The strange thing is, considering that she was overlooked, it wasn't forgotten that the First Kings originally claimed the throne of Vegeta-sei on the basis that they were blood descendents of Biitoru, which begs the question: how could they have claimed direct lineage to him if he had no mate? In fact, I have a hypothesis that Biitoru was actually a real man once, and became deified over the generations. If that is so, then those First Kings weren't necessarily lying."
"Wow, kind of like the Pharaohs on Earth," Bulma said as she rounded the corner to join them.
"Aren't you supposed to be working on the ship?" Vegeta asked.
"I need to examine the engine itself, and this story was way too interesting to stay away from; I mean, I just came down to hear about the secret, of course, but this is fascinating!" Bulma answered enthusiastically.
"You guys never talked about your gods before," Chi-Chi observed lightly.
"Not many people still believed in Biitoru," Kakkarot shrugged. "My family didn't, much."
"That makes sense," Chi-Chi said with an understanding nod. She turned around and realized that there were two more large crates behind them, also holding statues. In one crate, there was a statue of Biitoru apparently standing guard over Siidara, a look of warning carved into his face. He wore simpler armor than in the first statue, and what appeared to be a ball-shaped bell hung from his belt. Unlike the first statue, this Siidara wore no armor; instead, she wore a long, flowing gown, most likely because armor would not have fit nor been comfortable around her noticeably pregnant stomach. "Well, obviously back then they were known to have had a child!" she said, pointing to the statue.
"Yes, indeed. Our third, also-forgotten deity; their son, Siidaringu," Kele said, taking two swift strides over to another crate. There he uncovered a different statue that revealed the two gods with a third before them; a strapping young man dressed in leather and armor, with long hair that all stood up on end, far spikier than his parents' or Vegeta's. "The 'God of the Golden Fire', they called him," said Kele proudly.
"Golden Fire? What does that mean?" Bulma asked.
"I'm. . .not exactly sure," Kele confessed as he gave his cheek a small scratch. "But I have a good guess, considering what I've learned about the Legendary."
"And what is that?" Vegeta asked, rounding on him and impatiently pointing at the other Saiyan's hand. "We got distracted, but you obviously found the scroll you sought! So what is this secret you think you've uncovered?"
"You know the legend of the Super Saiyan – how he was incredibly powerful, went berserk, and then destroyed himself? This scroll states that the legendary Super Saiyan came into being six months after the Truffles arrived, nearly two thousand years ago," Kele said as he spread the scroll out carefully on top of a smaller crate sitting next to the statues' crates. The scroll appeared to be made of ancient, dry leather, and the writing was faded, but still legible. "It says his mate died, and in his rage and grief, his power became like a star, a 'golden flame' that was painful to look upon. He then crossed half the land, indiscriminately destroying everything in his path, before his power turned in on itself and killed him. Many Truffles as well as Saiyans died."
"All right, some of that is new information, but what is the secret of which you spoke?" Vegeta asked, staring intently at the characters on the scroll. He couldn't read the ancient writing, but he still tried to glean meaning from the faded marks.
"It was after this rampage that the surviving Truffles drove what was left of the Saiyans into the deserts and wastelands. It was also then that they enacted prohibitive laws against allowing Saiyans to enter their cities. Our people were left to struggle for survival in the least livable areas of our world. And after they had left us starving for nearly two years, the Truffles suddenly showed up, offering what appeared to be a gesture of kindness in the form of a much-needed supply of food. They made sure that each camp of Saiyans received this 'gift' of food, which was eagerly consumed. Eventually, many Saiyans fell horribly ill, and the children born after the food had been given out also had low ki and were sickly," Kele said gravely.
"Wait, are you saying they tried to poison our ancestors?" Vegeta started, barely able to grasp what was dawning on him.
"More – I now suspect that the tainted food contained something that damaged our ancestors' DNA, to prevent another Super Saiyan from arising. There's another scroll that says, before the Legendary's rampage, several Saiyans had begun to develop incredible levels of strength; the 'Blessed of Siidaringu,' they were called. Apparently, their kis were beginning to flicker gold. The Legendary just got all the way there first," Kele explained, his face carved granite. Vegeta and Kakkarot froze where they stood for a moment.
"Damaged our DNA?" Kakkarot repeated in disbelief, his voice a croak.
"That's horrible!" Bulma breathed.
"Dear Kami," Chi-Chi said, dismayed.
"That means that no one can become a Super Saiyan!" Vegeta suddenly roared, and it took all of his self-control not to fire a ki ball through some of the crates.
"Not necessarily," Kele said quickly. "Nature is quite good at repairing itself, given enough time. I believe the damage has been healed over the generations – just look at the leaps in strength in just these last three generations alone!"
"Wait a minute, how did the Truffles suppress the Saiyans in the first place, if your ancestors were so powerful?" Chi-Chi interjected. There were parts of this story that simply didn't add up to her.
"Superior weapons technology and sheer numbers, I'm afraid," Kele answered with a shake of his head. "And since our exiled ancestors were forced into a position where they rarely got enough sustenance, they didn't have superior strength anymore."
"And possibly, except for those 'blessed' few, they weren't as powerful as we are now," Vegeta said thoughtfully. "Combined with the fact that full moons only happened once every few years, they couldn't use oozaru either, because they were too weakened by that time."
"Until they had healed enough, and were angry enough, to take back what was theirs, four generations later," Kele agreed.
"So, do you think Siidaringu was a Super Saiyan, too?" Bulma asked, looking again at the statue of the young godling.
"It's very possible," Kele said. "Or, it could be a coincidence. He may have just had a naturally gold-hued ki, or maybe he mastered fire. But, I don't think so."
"Huh, a Super Saiyan before The Legendary. . ." Vegeta rumbled.
"One thing seems pretty clear," Kele said, rubbing his chin. "Extreme anger and/or pain triggers the transformation, but some other factor is needed to control its rampant power. If the anger or pain is all you have, you'll just lose control like he did."
"The question is: what else is needed?" Vegeta grunted.
"That I couldn't say for certain," the older Saiyan admitted.
After a few seconds of silence as they all digested what they had just learned, Bulma sighed.
"Well, I guess I'd better get back to fixing the engine. This is fascinating stuff, though; I can't wait to see what else is in here," Bulma observed, giving the statues one more look before heading off to the engine room.
Kele automatically opened his mouth, ready to reprimand her for her disrespectful departure from the prince's presence, but Vegeta grabbed the older Saiyan's arm before he could make a sound.
"She has my permission to come and go as she pleases, all right?" Vegeta said firmly, an edge of annoyance to his words. He was starting to wonder if he could ever get used to proper courtly life again after living in hiding for so long.
"As it pleases Your Highness," Kele answered with a nod, though it was clear he was still unhappy with the situation.
"So, what else do you have in here?" Kakkarot asked cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. Kele glanced at him and Chi-Chi for a moment, let out a short sigh, and rolled the scroll back up.
"There are some interesting pieces of armor and jewelry you might like to see," the old Saiyan said. "The craftsmanship is quite remarkable."
As they examined some of the other relics, they could hear echoes in the walls coming from the engine room; sounds of tinkering, thumping, grinding, and Bulma's voice muttering and a couple of times swearing colorfully. At last, after over an hour, they heard a whoop of triumph. A moment later, the internal communications crackled to life.
"I've got it! I found the problem!" Bulma said gleefully over the intercom. "One of the fuel transfer nodes melted! They always did use cheap parts in these ships!"
"All right, Bulma!" Chi-Chi cheered.
"Then you can fix it?" Kele asked eagerly.
"Of course I can! But I'm going to need a hand. Unfortunately, it's not in a very convenient place, and I'll need extra hands to reach it without hurting myself," Bulma answered.
"On our way!" Kakkarot said, heading to the door of the hold with Chi-Chi at his side.
"Well done, Bulma," Vegeta called out as he and Kele followed the other two out.
"No problem for a genius like me!" Bulma chuckled over the speaker.
As befitting a ship of that size, the engine room was also large, and though designed to make repair work comparatively easy, it still contained a multitude of parts hidden behind other components, and networks of metal, wires, and tubing through which to navigate. The melted node was tucked up in a corner, behind a large, awkwardly shaped section of the engines, and there was precious little space between the two; too little for even Bulma's slender hands.
"The good news is," Bulma said as she showed them the problem, "these engines are designed to be easily disassembled and reassembled. We just need to detach that section there and set it aside, and then I can see how bad that node is and fix it; or, if I need to, replace it."
"Is that all?" Kele muttered, clearly thinking that it didn't sound so simple.
"It'll be fine. I told you, I know these kind of engines. The problem is, as you can see, once that section's detached from the rest of the engine, it's going to fall – and that's what I need you guys for, to hold it and put it safely down. And, of course, to hold it up while I reattach it later," Bulma explained with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"All right; come on, young man, you get that side," Kele sighed, and motioned Kakkarot to take the far side of the engine section. Kakkarot moved into place without complaint, and Vegeta lifted Bulma up to the area where the metal was bolted to the rest of the engine. Chi-Chi stayed to the side, steadily watching for any sign of danger. As she did, her eagle eyes spotted a loose electrical wire that nearly shocked Kele right before she warned him of it. Before long, the large piece of metal was loosened and set aside, and Bulma was removing the melted node from the wall.
"So that's all it was all this time?" Kele asked as he watched Bulma use one of her tools to easily pry loose the palm-sized piece of melted metal and silicon.
"Yep. You were still getting enough fuel flow to run the minimum electronics needed for life support, but not enough to fly. Did you even look at the engine?" Bulma asked as she dropped the damaged node into Kele's waiting hands.
"No, I don't know anything about engines, so I wouldn't know what to look for. And even if it was obvious, I wouldn't know what to do about it," Kele said with a shake of his head and a glance to the thing in his hands. "I mean, if someone needed surgery, would you know what to do just by looking at their organs?"
"No, I wouldn't," she admitted. "All right, fair enough. Sometimes I forget that what's simple and clear to me can be a total mystery to others."
"That is something many people tend to forget," Kele said, favoring her with a true smile for the first time.
"Anyway, I need to check the spare parts locker for a new node. Should worse come to worst, I'll have to cobble together a replacement, but I should have enough materials around here to do that. We should be on our way in no time!" Bulma said with confidence as Vegeta lowered her to the floor to begin her search.
The equipment in the spare parts locker was old, but still serviceable, and before long Bulma had everything back in place and secured. She was covered in grease stains and sweat as a result from all of her work that day, but her heart was lighter than it had been in some time. It felt good to use her skills, and she was sure they were reasonably safe from Frieza for the time being. Once they set out for Earth in this ship, they could really relax for a while.
"All right, that's got it!" Bulma said. "Let's go to the bridge and fire it up!"
"I'll meet you there – I need to re-secure my cargo before we lift off!" Kele said, his happiness at finally getting off this world shining through his eyes.
"Make it quick," Vegeta said with a brief smile, and the older Saiyan sped off to properly repack and tie down all of the crates.
Once on the bridge, Bulma turned on all of the systems to test them, and they all blinked obediently to life. Satisfied that the ship was once again spaceworthy, Bulma turned her attention to the navigation array.
"Now we just need to plot a course to Earth," she said cheerfully.
"First, we need to know where we are," Kakkarot observed with a smile.
"Good point," Bulma said, and began punching buttons to call up their current location.
"So, where exactly did your souped-up engines dump us?" Chi-Chi asked as the computer began displaying star maps.
"Let's see, according to this. . .this world has no official name, it's just called PX7-1123," Bulma said.
"What about the debris field?" Vegeta asked. "Did it have a name when it was in one piece?"
"Yeah, it did," Bulma nodded as the data came up on the screen. "It was called Namek-sei. It looks like the modifications to the escape pod got us about two light years away from where we started."
"I've heard of Namek-sei," Vegeta said with a frown. "Frieza destroyed it a year ago; but I never heard why."
"Was it populated?" Chi-Chi asked, hoping the answer was "no".
"Not heavily, but there was an indigenous intelligent race," Bulma answered with a soft frown. "What could they have done to make Frieza so angry?"
"Maybe Kele heard something over his scouter," Kakkarot suggested. "We could ask."
"How long do you think he'll be re-securing the relics?" Chi-Chi wondered aloud.
"Not long; he wants to get off this world pretty badly," Kakkarot said with a slight chuckle.
"In the meantime, I'm going to make sure nothing is left of the escape pod – Frieza and his followers will never know we were here," Vegeta said, suddenly turning and marching for the door.
"Good idea," Kakkarot nodded. "It'll just look like a meteor hit; with that debris field out there, it probably happens a lot on this planet."
"Exactly," Vegeta said, and then was out the door.
Five minutes later, the sound of an explosion could be heard throughout the ship. The intercom clicked sharply as the sound faded.
"What was that?" Kele called out urgently.
"Vegeta is destroying what's left of our pod so no one will know we were here," Bulma explained calmly.
"Wise," Kele said, more calmly now that he knew they weren't under attack.
"You just about finished down there?" Kakkarot asked.
"One more thing," Kele answered.
By the time Vegeta returned, Kele was on the bridge and they were ready to lift off. Kele bowed and saluted when Vegeta entered the bridge, and Vegeta rolled his eyes and waved the archeologist off.
"Everything ready to go?" Vegeta asked.
"Ready and waiting!" Bulma answered.
"Everyone, take a seat in the passengers' galley and strap yourselves in – takeoff can be a bit rough in these old ships," Kele said as he manned the primary flight controls.
Once everyone was secured in the passengers' galley – a small room off of the bridge with seats for non-flight crew passengers – the old freighter rumbled to life and lifted into the air. The g-forces were a bit rough, but passed quickly once they shot free of the planet's atmosphere. As soon as the ship stopped shaking, they unlatched their seatbelts and returned to the bridge.
"On my way at last!" Kele sighed.
"Once we've reached Earth, you have my permission to go to the colonies and deliver your cargo," Vegeta told him, figuring it was what the old scientist would want the most.
"My thanks, Your Highness," Kele said with a wide smile and another bow.
"Kele, you know Frieza destroyed the world that was neighboring the one you were on, Namek-sei?" Kakkarot asked.
"Of course; the destruction was hard to miss. What of it?" Kele answered with a slight frown.
"We were wondering if you knew why he did it. I mean, did you hear anything over the scouter?" Chi-Chi said.
"Oh, I heard plenty; not that I understood it all. From what I heard over the scouter, he was looking for something called 'Dragonballs'," Kele said.
"What are Dragonballs?" Vegeta asked with a frown.
"I have no idea. Apparently, though, he found them, but they went dead before he could use them. Use them to do what, I'm not sure, but he was so mad he destroyed the whole place," Kele said.
"He wanted to use them to grant a wish," Bulma said suddenly. "We have Dragonballs on Earth; if you can find all seven, you can summon the Eternal Dragon Shenlong, and he will grant you one wish."
The three Saiyans stared at her for a moment as if certain she had slipped a cog.
"Bulma, I think you've breathed in too many engine fumes today," Vegeta told her quietly.
"I am not crazy! And I live on engine fumes!" Bulma snapped. "I found a Dragonball in my attic a few years ago! I've helped the resistance fighters on Earth find the other six! We've used them! They are very real!"
"I've seen it myself," Chi-Chi added in. "We've brought some of our fighters back from the dead with them."
There was a moment of ringing silence from the Saiyans as they stared at the two human women before them.
"And why did you never mention this before?" Vegeta suddenly boomed. "Why didn't you just wish Frieza and his men away, if such a thing is possible?"
"We tried! But unfortunately, it was beyond Shenlong's power!" Chi-Chi answered, her voice rising in volume.
"And frankly, I've never known how to tell you without sounding crazy," Bulma said. "You thought I was crazy a moment ago, didn't you? How would I have worked it into a normal conversation?"
"But – but you could've told your friends to wish away that recording of Vegeta singing Blue Lady! You could've had them wish for Mikusubodo to be hidden -" Kakkarot said, his thinking becoming rapidly frazzled.
"We thought about it, but you know as well as we do that communications between worlds aren't fully secure; we couldn't risk contacting the resistance fighters," Chi-Chi said with a sad shake of her head.
"More importantly, the Dragonballs had been used shortly before we left for Mikusubodo that last time, and they can only be used once a year," Bulma added in quickly, regret and sadness in her eyes. "I'm really sorry."
Vegeta and Kakkarot fell into a frustrated silence for several minutes as they mulled over everything they had just learned. Bulma and Chi-Chi waited tensely for them to speak, half afraid of what they might say. Finally, Kakkarot drew in a deep breath and sighed.
"Okay, well, now we know," he said. "It's a bit hard to swallow, but it's not like there aren't other kinds of 'magic' out there."
"You have to wonder what Frieza wanted to wish for," Vegeta muttered. "He already rules over most of the galaxy, so what more could he want?"
"Immortality," Kele said with a sneer. "I heard something about immortality over the scouter, and I've always wondered what it was about. I guess now I have an answer."
"Somehow, that's not surprising," Chi-Chi grimaced. "He has everything, and he wants to keep it."
"I can't imagine that his father and brother would be too happy with that," Bulma observed.
"No, but then what could either of them do about it, once his wish was granted?" Kakkarot said.
"If half the things I've heard about Coola are true, he'd probably show Frieza that there are some things you wouldn't want to live through," Vegeta answered with a mirthless chuckle.
"So, how long will it take us to reach Earth?" Chi-Chi asked lightly, wanting to change the subject to something less unsettling.
"Roughly a month," Bulma answered. "We should work out our sleeping arrangements. And does the shower still work?" she added as she wiped some grease off her cheek.
"There are two rooms with bunks in them, and the captain's quarters," Kele said. "And yes, the shower works fine."
"Okay, that should work out -" Kakkarot started, but Kele cut him off.
"The prince will take the captain's quarters, of course; you and I will take one of the bunk rooms, and the women can take the other," the old man said calmly, his eyes daring them to disagree.
"That will work for now," Vegeta said, sending a quick "don't argue with the old fool" look to his comrades. "We can change it later if we wish."
"This is going to be a long trip," Kakkarot said with an annoyed sigh.
As the days passed, Kakkarot found his prediction to be unfortunately true. They filled their time with training, though he and Vegeta had to hold back a great deal to keep from damaging the ship, and by studying the relics in the cargo hold. Kele was happy to help with both pursuits, and could be very helpful. But he also seemed bound and determined to give Vegeta and Kakkarot as little alone time with Bulma and Chi-Chi as he could.
It became increasingly obvious that while he liked the Earth women as individuals, he was staunchly against them being with the Saiyan men, especially Bulma and Vegeta. Neither Vegeta nor Bulma was surprised by his attitude, and did little to dissuade him; instead, they just got more inventive in how they found privacy. Kakkarot and Chi-Chi laughed the old man off a few times, which clearly annoyed him, but in his estimation, a third-class warrior was not the same as the crown prince, so he didn't try to discourage their relationship as much. The only time he was sanguine about all of them being together was when they were looking at the relics, though few held their attention as much as the statues and scrolls had. In fact, only one other artifact got the prince's attention like those did: a small, ancient, jewel-encrusted box that Kele showed them during the second week of their journey.
"This was found in the remains of a place of worship," Kele told them.
"Is there something in it?" Kakkarot asked as he examined the intricate patterns carved into the old wood.
"Of course there is. Here, Your Highness, have a look," Kele said, handing the box to Vegeta.
Vegeta glanced at the old Saiyan questioningly, but took the box. It swung open stiffly on its time-worn hinges, letting out a tired creak as it did so. Inside was a soft cushion, slightly dry-rotted, and sitting on the cushion was a tarnished, dented, ball-shaped object.
"A Kukatoh bell?" Vegeta said in puzzlement as he picked up the ancient instrument with delicate fingers.
"The oldest ever found – so far as I know," Kele nodded eagerly. "Who knows, it could be the original bell!"
"Wait a moment - that statue of Biitoru and Siidara where she was pregnant – Biitoru had a bell like this on his belt," Bulma said. She wasn't sure why an old bell would be important, but it obviously was from the way Kele, Vegeta, and Kakkarot were all looking at it.
"There is an old legend that Siidara gave the first Kukatoh bell to Biitoru as a token of her affection and for luck. Nearly all of his statues and images have him wearing the bell somewhere," Kele said. "It became a sacred symbol to our people, even after Siidara was forgotten."
"I haven't seen one of these in so long, I barely remember them," Kakkarot said as he reached out and very gently tapped the side of the bell. To the surprise of everyone but Kele, the bell let out a bright, clear sound, despite its disrepair.
"Wow, who'd have thought it could still sound so good?" Chi-Chi said, and tapped it herself, making it chime again. "What must it have sounded like when it was new?"
"All right, that's enough, put it back," Kele said gently, though there was a strain in his words. "It's thousands of years old."
"Now, when you say that this could be the original bell, do you mean Biitoru's bell?" Bulma asked, arching a blue eyebrow as Vegeta gently returned the instrument to its box.
"If he was real, maybe. Or maybe it was the first Kukatoh bell made for ceremonial purposes," Kele answered quickly. "I'm still studying it all."
"Even after ten years?" Kakkarot inquired.
Kele chuckled. "This isn't a science you can rush, young man," he said. "And you've seen how full this cargo hold is."
"That I'll grant you," Kakkarot smiled in return as he looked at the dozens of crates around them.
The rest of the journey passed painfully slowly, with no way to contact the Munotes, Kakkarot's family, or the king's Moon Flare. They kept vigilant for any ships loyal to Frieza, but though they passed some warships, they went unnoticed; the freight hauler did its job in spades. When they were finally only a few hours away from Earth, Bulma contacted her parents to let them know she was coming.
"Bulma! Sweetie! We've been so worried!" Mrs. Briefs said over the communicator.
"Sorry, Mom, this ship has a very limited communications range!" Bulma said, guilt twisting in her stomach. With everything that had happened, she hadn't thought about how scared her and Chi-Chi's families must have been. "Chi-Chi and I are just fine, we weren't anywhere near that poor planet, you know that!"
"Yes, but then we didn't hear anything from you for ages!" Dr. Briefs said. "Ox-King is out of his head with worry for Chi-Chi!"
"We'll explain everything once we get there, I promise! I hope you have some of those lovely lemon chiffon cakes; you know they're my favorite, and I've really missed them!" Bulma said with an apologetic smile. The Briefs seemed to twitch ever so slightly at the mention of the cakes, and then Mrs. Briefs beamed into the screen.
"Of course, dear! I'll make sure to have some! We'll have someone pick you up at the spaceport and then we'll all have some nice tea!" she said.
"I look forward to hearing your stories," Dr. Briefs added with a knowing nod.
"Oh, I can't wait to share them with you," Bulma answered, and after sending them the ship's description and call number, the conversation ended.
"They haven't seen you in months, and they're sending someone else to get you?" Kakkarot asked as he walked up behind her.
Bulma smirked. "They're sending someone from the resistance to help get you guys away from the spaceport without being seen," she answered.
"How do they know we need that?" Vegeta frowned as he moved to her side.
"I told them in code," Bulma smiled. "Lemon chiffon cakes means I need to see the resistance. Calling them my favorite means we're smuggling something. And saying I missed them means it needs to be done right away."
"Damn clever," Vegeta grunted.
"It was inspired by my mother, actually; she loves cakes and pastries and can talk about them endlessly, and we tend to half-tune her out. One day, we realized that talking about favorite sweets, even over open communications, would be completely ignored by anyone listening in," Bulma explained.
"Very clever indeed," Kele nodded. "Listening through my scouter, I've heard plenty of chatter about sweets, especially among the Ginyu Force, and I turned a deaf ear to it. The last thing I needed was to hear about food I couldn't have," he added with a wry grin.
"The only question is: how high are the odds that Vegeta will be recognized? Shouldn't he wear some kind of disguise?" Chi-Chi asked.
The broadcast reached Earth, we know that. Mom kept teasing me about my sexy rock star boyfriend before we left Mikusubodo. . .Bulma mulled it over. But that shouldn't be a problem just yet. . .
"I don't think we need to worry about it yet, we won't be going inside the spaceport," she said out loud. "But it's something to consider."
Vegeta scowled, but said nothing. On the one hand, he had no desire to hide anymore. But on the other hand, he didn't want Earth to be destroyed like Mikusubodo was.
"Why do we need someone to meet us? You have a car in one of your capsules, don't you?" Vegeta asked coolly.
"The resistance is constantly moving, and I haven't had any contact with them for months – I have no idea where any of them are!" Bulma answered.
"She has a whole car in one of those capsules?" Kele gaped, clearly stunned.
"She has a whole house in one of her capsules!" Kakkarot laughed. "They're incredible devices!"
"Just think of how many more relics we could've packed with such things – and so little chance of damaging any of them!" Kele marveled, quietly aching at the lost opportunities. Then he sighed and shook his gray head. "Be that as it may, we need to prepare for landing; these barges are trickier to land than a simple one-man pod."
"If you can call what the pods do 'landing,'" Kakkarot chuckled again as Kele began punching buttons in practiced order. "More like crashing."
"You're in a good mood," Chi-Chi said to him quietly.
"With any luck, we'll see the others again soon," Kakkarot said. "That makes me feel better."
"Me, too," Chi-Chi smiled at him and squeezed his hand. He smiled back tenderly and squeezed her hand gently in return.
The freight hauler landed in a distant corner of the spaceport's landing strip, with Kele telling the control tower he would be lifting off again as soon as he delivered some cargo. Moments after it had settled and the engines switched off, a large, dark blue air car with tinted windows came gliding swiftly toward it, and parked ten feet away from the old ship in easy view of its side door and cargo bay doors. After several minutes passed and no one else got close to the freight hauler, the car's doors swung open, and two men stepped out.
The two men were rather mismatched; one over six feet tall, broad through the shoulders, with long, mussed hair that fell between his shoulders, and a lean, handsome face only slightly marred by thin scars on his left cheek and across his right eye; the other barely five feet tall, narrow and wiry, with a shaved head that showed six dots on his forehead and no nose. The tall man wore a t-shirt and jeans, and the shorter man was wearing a button-up shirt and slacks. Both wore shades that hid their eyes, so that no one could tell they were constantly scanning the area around them.
The side door on the ship opened and the two Earth women and three Saiyan men disembarked. Bulma and Chi-Chi moved swiftly over to the car, quickly and quietly greeting the men who waited for them.
"Yamcha, Krillin, good to see you!" Bulma said.
"Sorry we were gone for so long; is my dad okay?" Chi-Chi asked quickly.
"Ox-King is fine, other than being worried about you," Krillin, the short, bald man, said. "And actually, your absence worked in our favor; it looks like they no longer suspect CC of helping us."
"So what did you need us to collect?" Yamcha asked, trying but not quite succeeding to act aloof.
"Them," Bulma answered, motioning to Vegeta and Kakkarot. The two human men looked at the Saiyans straight on for the first time, and gaped for a moment.
"Aren't you the Saiyan prince?" Yamcha asked before he could stop himself.
Vegeta was momentarily startled by the human man's ability to recognize him, but it never showed on his face. "Yes, how did you know that?"
"It's been all over the airwaves ever since the last Munote concert," Yamcha said. "Several people recognized you and told the entire universe! Why are you here?"
"We're rendezvousing with some people before planning our next move," Vegeta said coolly. "That's all you need to know."
"Vegeta, Kakkarot, this is Yamcha and Krillin," Bulma said. "Two of Earth's best fighters. That's Kele; he won't be staying," she continued her introductions swiftly. There were a few murmurs of greeting, and Krillin held out his hand to Kakkarot to shake. Kakkarot clasped it firmly, liking the smaller man's friendly smile.
"Did CC tell you anything about any other ships arriving recently, carrying Saiyans or Mikusubodo-jins?" Chi-Chi asked quickly, then drooped as Krillin and Yamcha shook their heads 'no.'
"We haven't heard anything about any Saiyans or Mikusubodo-jins," Krillin said, taking note of the displeased look that Vegeta and Kakkarot shared.
"Come on, we shouldn't be talking in such an open place," Yamcha said, motioning to the car. "We can talk at the base."
"Right," Vegeta grunted as he and Kakkarot climbed into the vehicle while Yamcha and Krillin did the same.
Before Bulma and Chi-Chi could join the men, Kele reached out and gently grabbed Bulma's shoulder.
"May I have a word with you both?" Kele said quietly to Bulma and Chi-Chi. The two women turned to him and eyed him coolly. They had a strong hunch they knew what was coming. "About your relationships with the prince and Kakkarot. . ."
"We know what you're going to say," Bulma answered coldly. "You made your views quite clear during our journey."
"And frankly, whether you think we're 'worthy' or not doesn't matter. It's not up to you," Chi-Chi said with an edge of steel in her voice.
"Don't misunderstand me," Kele said quickly. "You are fine young women; smart, strong, capable, and I do respect you - but Saiyan numbers are few enough as it is. It would be best, for the prince especially, for them to breed with Saiyan women."
"We haven't even discussed 'breeding' yet," Chi-Chi said, turning bright red. "And either way, it's their choice, isn't it?"
"Then you and Kakkarot are just careless?" Kele asked, giving her a critical look.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Chi-Chi blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"I could be mistaken," Kele shrugged, going back to his ship, "although my nose has never failed me before. I recommend you see a doctor soon, Miss Chi-Chi."
"Wh-wh-what?" Chi-Chi stuttered out as the implication sank in. She and Bulma exchanged looks for a moment, and then she glanced at her own belly. "We. . .we'll worry about this later," she finally managed to say as Yamcha leaned out of the car window.
"What's the hold-up?" he asked.
"Nothing – nothing! Let's go!" Chi-Chi said quickly, and she and Bulma got into the car.
"The others are waiting in our current base; we can fill you guys in on what's been happening," Yamcha said to Bulma as he turned on the ignition. The air car rumbled to life and lifted off the ground.
"Okay; we can make some plans while we're at it," Bulma nodded. Turning to Vegeta and Kakkarot, she said, "I'll contact my parents once we have a secure line and ask them to double-check the recent arrivals for the Munotes and Kakkarot's family; after all, it's not like I could tell them to keep an eye out for them. We just assumed your families would go to CC since they know that it's my family's company."
"Right," Kakkarot said, and Vegeta nodded calmly. There was still hope, however thin it might have been.
Behind them, Kele's freighter lifted off and vanished back into space. Vegeta glanced over his shoulder at departing ship, and quietly hoped it would reach the colonies safely; all of that precious Saiyan history shouldn't be lost. Then he focused his mind squarely on the present. There was still a lot of work to do.
To Be Continued. . .
I hope you guys didn't find all of those history lessons too boring! I promise, there will be more action in future chapters!
Biitoru = a play on beet and beat, as in 'beat up.'
Siidara = a play on seed.
Siidaringu = a play on seedling.