Chapter 10: Return of the Saiyans
When Trunks finally awoke his first goal was to remember exactly what happened leading up to his sorry state. Before he opened his eyes he tried his best to calculate exactly how long he'd been out cold and whether or not he'd be paying the afterlife a visit. The cold steel of Capsule Three's upper deck surface pressing into his back told him otherwise, and with a silent prayer he finally opened his eyes, although the scene that lay before him served to make him only more confused.
Capsule Three hurtled through the void of space on no particular course. It spun like a flailing orb through an asteroid field, making a bang every few seconds as one of the rocks slammed into the protective shelling of the ship. To his left Goten was out cold and slumped in a similar position, looking more battered than he'd ever been in his life. To his right lay Uub, who looked just as worse for wear. It wasn't bruises or splodges of dried blood that mired his condition though; instead, Uub looked as cold and lifeless as death itself, being far paler than his dark skin should've allowed.
Trunks suddenly remembered the events of the previous day, and scrambling to his feet he limped over to Uub to check for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there alright, and Goten's heavy breathing served as his own proof for being alive. Trying to piece together the events, Trunks paused and calculated in his mind: before they blacked out, Gotenks had no doubt purposefully slipped off one of the rings to spare himself the aches and pains when he woke the next day. Uub on the other hand had probably used the last of his energy to transmit aboard before collapsing beside them.
After remembering the destruction Uub had wreaked upon the planet, Trunks realised to his horror that the plane they traversed through space wasn't an asteroid field; it was the scattered fragments of all that remained of the nameless world Majin Buu had terrorised. Considering that its citizens could've been rescued and turned back from candy meant that it was a hefty sacrifice on behalf of the Z-Fighters, but in some situations the lesser of two evils was the best choice; if they hadn't acted, Buu would've come back again and again, devouring planet after planet until nothing remained.
With a groggy head and legs of jelly Trunks picked up the limp bodies of Goten and Uub before making his way down the ladders and into the living area.
"Conference call. . ." he muttered lazily. As the screen lit up with multiple vibrating phone icons Trunks set down Goten and Uub upon the two symmetrical sofas. He propped up their feet and generously removed their shoes before each group answered one by one. Goku and Pan came into view from Capsule One, Gohan and Krillin from Capsule Two, Tien from Capsule Four and Piccolo from Capsule Five.
"We uhh." Trunks stopped for a moment to catch his breath as the others faced him with inquisitive stares, demanding a verdict on the fight. "We made contact with the five star – Majin Buu. It didn't exactly go according to plan but we managed to kill him."
"You separated, didn't you?" Piccolo interrogated.
"Umm." Trunks looked off into the distance, trying to recall the fight that now seemed a blur. Then he remembered; they broke the rules. When Gotenks separated into two beings there were three warriors in play: Goten, Trunks and Uub. This broke Alpha's two-fighter restriction, and apparently they'd paid for it. "Yeah we did – we didn't have any other choice."
"Trunks, we got a call about an hour ago from Alpha," said Gohan. "He torched Venus in a heartbeat for us breaking his rules. He said that if it happened again he'd do the same to Earth."
"And something tells me he wasn't messing around," chided Krillin beside him.
Goku suddenly decided to join in, defending Trunks's case. "Hey, don't worry about it guys! We'll just be sure not to break any more rules!"
"Yeah!" Pan agreed. "At least you all got out safe! That's what matters in the end."
Trunks bit his lip "Well. . . That's not entirely true." His thoughts went Uub, and he was about to fill the others in before the man himself decided to do it for him.
"I got beaten pretty bad," Uub said from behind him. Trunks turned to see that Uub had forced himself into a sitting position. He still looked pale and his eyes were bloodshot with heavy bags underneath them, as if all life had been drained from him. "I got absorbed during the fight – that's why Gotenks had to separate – to rescue me. They managed to get me out but by the time they did, Buu had already drained me of almost all my power."
"So what does that mean?" Tien asked. "Can you still fight?"
Sadly, Uub shook his head. "I can still do all the stuff I used to; I can fly, I can survive in space and I can use Instant Transmission; maybe I could even regenerate if I tried, but I wouldn't stand a chance in any current battles. My power level has dropped like a rock – it could take years for me to get back to how I was. All the efforts of my training were sucked away when I was inside Majin Buu, and they were destroyed when we blew him into oblivion. It was the only way to win." Uub's gaze fell to his sparring partner's quadrant of the screen. "Sorry Tien – it looks like I won't be able to help you out against the six star. You should wait for backup."
"No way; I'll be there in five hours so there's no point in turning back now," rebuked Tien.
"If it gets too rough then get back to your ship and fly away," warned the namekian. "Don't start a fight you can't win."
Tien nodded, having no intentions of dying again. "Right."
Uub's head fell back to the green cushion of the sofa as his eyes wandered to the ceiling. He let out a weary sigh and dropped his shoulders. He considered the unfairness of it all; why did his strength have to be the target for a gluttonous monster? "I can't believe this happened. I'm so sorry guys – I'm useless at this point!" he cursed. "I might as well just go back to Earth."
"Oh come on, you're being too hard on yourself! I wouldn't last two seconds against Majin Buu," assured Krillin.
"You're not useless Uub, you just helped defeat one of our greatest enemies," said Piccolo. "But going back to Earth isn't a bad idea."
"Piccolo, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" checked Gohan, as the same plan had crossed his mind as well.
"I think so."
The instant Tien came within range of the six-star planet he could tell immediately that it was one of the incredibly rare and exquisite planets the universe had to offer. He'd never been to space before, but even with his lack of experience it was clear this place was something special. For starters it was about fifty times bigger than the Earth itself, covered in its entirety by a grey, murky, fog that shrouded the planet's surface and gave the distinct impression of the paranormal. It looked like some kind of spooky marshland seldom visited by anyone, but Tien had faced worse than ghosts in his life, and he suspected he'd face even worse today.
Furthermore, the analysis from his computer suggested that the gravity on this world was actually lighter than that of Earth. Tien treated this information with suspicion as Capsule Four hurtled like a snooker ball into the atmosphere. Why would Alpha set up a battleground on a planet with such gravity that the advantage would be in his favour? He'd expected measures all the way up to five hundred Gs, but instead it read out as fifty times lighter than Earth's.
Hundreds of thousands of life signs swarmed the planet. They dotted the projected holographic map of the enormous world like a bad case of acne. Even this didn't give him any clues though; they'd faced many opponents with their own minions before. They could've been Frieza's soldiers, Cell Juniors, Saibamen, slaves of Babidi or Baby – the list was endless. Majin Buu and Broly had already been taken out, so at least they were off the list. Tien suddenly jumped from the noise of the supercomputer making itself heard.
"Gravity shifting: minus forty nine, minus fifty one, minus forty five, minus fifty, minus fifty seven, minus forty two."
"Wait, stop," Tien ordered. "You mean the gravity of the whole planet is changing? How's it doing that?"
"Suggestion:" began the machine, "A spontaneous shift in gravity could be due to any number of factors. The most likely would be that the planet's orbit of its sun forces a change in density."
"I'm not so sure. . ." Tien eyed the planet below with intrigue. With a buck like a startled bull the ship slammed through a layer of clouds and into a wide view of the misty world. The man took this as his cue to strap himself in and brace for a landing as the stilts extended beneath him for a queasy sensation of nausea. Once he'd passed the bumpy transition though, the ship slowed down and the ride grew more comfortable in an instant.
He knew right away that this was all thanks to the low gravity of the planet. The ship drifted effortlessly through the sky like one of the very clouds they'd just passed until it landed on swampy ground with all the force of a head hitting an especially feathery pillow.
"Great, just the vacation I was looking forward to," was Tien's first reaction when he approached the window. As he'd expected, a vast stretch of deep marshland stretched out for miles, and beyond it there were only jungle canopies of the same grey-green texture. Fog swirled from the swamp itself and odd puddles of a damp liquid could be seen wherever it missed. Tien didn't want to know what it was, but he doubted it was safe to drink.
Following Piccolo's advice about being smart, Tien had opted to land almost half the planet away from the location of the Dragon Ball that the radar detected. For now at least, he had to keep his energy to a minimum until he could see exactly who he was up against; if it was someone weak he'd go for it, but if it wasn't he'd have to make a tactical retreat and wait for backup. The others were right; there was no sense in him diving into a battle he couldn't win.
"Gravity: Minus forty one, minus fifty, minus fifty three, minus forty nine-"
"Alright I get it, the gravity is changing," Tien assured, if only to make the monotone voice of the woman stop. "Am I safe to go out there?"
"Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide levels are suitable for human inhabitation. Strong caution is advised however, the gravity-"
"-Changes, yeah. I gathered that already. Can you open the main hatch so I can see for myself?"
"Right away sir."
Without a microsecond of a delay steam suddenly shot out from six openings either side of the enormous door on the ship's flank as it began to depressurise. The moment it folded out into the metallic staircase Tien noticed the change instantly, as the open air of the planet flooded in through the crevices along with its own personal atmosphere. His feet left the ground free of his volition and his first intake of air felt like he'd inhaled one of those overhead masks that passenger planes dropped in case of an emergency.
In took only the slightest direction of energy from his fingers in one direction to send him floating in the other. It was simple enough to get used to, as within thirty seconds Tien had glided elegantly from the open hatch door, neglecting the stairs and floating right down into the marsh. His first guess had been right; even when dealing with a feather-light body, his feet still sunk right into the mounds of wet grass and it took a few seconds of struggling for him to wrench his boots free with a noise like a toilet plunger.
A few minutes of adjusting himself to the gravity Tien passed before finally managed a decent grasp on it. He knew that the direction of the Dragon Ball was far to the north, so he pointed himself in the right direction and prepared to set off. With a planet so huge it would take him at least a few hours to traverse, and the low gravity would allow him to fly without actually expending energy, making him effectively undetectable. Unfortunately though, his ship hadn't been; the moment he felt a small troop of evil energies skirting over the horizon he knew they'd seen Capsule Four racing across the sky and were coming to check it out.
"Warning: Life signs approaching," the computer echoed from the ship's doorway.
"Nice observation," muttered Tien dryly. He wondered what to do: he could stay here and fight them to protect the ship; then at least he might have some idea who the Dragon was. On the other hand, if he fought then he risked attracting the attention of the big six star before he knew what kind of power it packed. His mind raced as countless twinkles of a small platoon winked over the horizon until eventually he chose to stand and fight.
He watched them closely and dropped into a combat stance, ignoring the fact that he drifted in a new direction with his sudden movement and instead focusing on the great powers the raced towards him. Water splayed across the untouched marshes, separating beneath their paths and dousing the glum looking stalks of neglected grass.
Tien bit his tongue in realising that ten of them were incoming. He knew it was a risk, but he figured that if he fought, the size of the planet would mean that his presence would be hid, as whatever these things were, they were dispersed evenly across the planet. He knew he'd sensed their energy before somewhere, but he'd felt so many different strains of dark power in the past that putting a name on them proved difficult.
And then it hit him. As soon as they came within eyeshot showing no signs of slowing down he knew exactly what they were. They were the same creatures that had terrorised the entire universe and wiped out countless civilisations in their mindless killing frenzy; failed experiments devoid of any personality, left only with the primal desire to make others suffer. These creatures were Vynuls.
"Oh n-" An explosion by his feet cut off Tien's complaint, forcing him into the skies and tactfully wrenching himself right into a spinning uppercut, slamming with all his might into one of the hateful beings. Water from the explosion sprayed like a roadside bomb had been triggered underneath the damp of the marsh as the nine remaining turned blasts of energy on the man. Tien however, was much too fast for them. He dashed straight out of the air at speeds none of them could follow, back to the ground where the advantage was his.
As he expected, the Vynuls devised a strategy. They landed one by one to form a circle around him, feet sinking into the marshes as they stood ten paces or so away, ensuring that he had no chance of escape and that if one decided to attack, they could do so when his back was turned. Tien shuffled himself into a wider battle stance and focused hard, eyes glancing around each one of them, daring them to attack.
The Vynuls each stood between seven and eight feet tall, grey and lanky with vacant expressions and patchwork design. Stitches covered their bodies in odd zigzag patterns and no two were the same. Some were missing eyes, some had two right hands and others smiled with lopsided mouths – Tien hated those ones the most. Their arms, thin and gangling, ended in bony fingers of odd numbers and twisted design. Their legs shared the same unsightly deformations; sometimes their knees would bend in the wrong direction and often one leg was shorter than the other.
The best way Tien had found to describe them was that they looked like someone had tried to assemble a jigsaw of some kind of bipedal creature, but without the picture on the box to guide them the jigsaw had turned out badly wrong. Regardless of their mismatched appearance though, no one had ever found humour at the sight of a Vynul. Their fearful, malicious expressions and the way they often foamed at their twisted mouths at the very sight of a human ensured they were taken seriously. On top of that, they were also the most powerful henchmen Tien had ever faced.
A starving hiss from behind forced the man to spin around and knock an impatient, rushing Vynul to the ground with a kick raised higher than the level of his own chin. Keeping his leg raised, Tien made sure he was already prepared when another Vynul blitzed his way through the swamp to his right. He put the creature ten feet into the sticky marsh by bringing down his foot like an executioner's axe, but out of the bombing splash his attack created another pounced through the wall of water, dragging Tien into an exchange of fists.
Tien counted three swift punches and a turning kick that he blocked without much trouble before slamming his foe into the water with its friend, though now his troubles had been made worse. Three Vynuls leapt out of their positions and made straight towards him, barely giving him enough time to shoot up into the skies, where the other three now lay in wait.
One grabbed him by the arms, restricting his movements as the other two pummelled at his exposed chest. He struggled against the surprising strength of the stick-thin Vynul until a smack to his jaw forced him to act quickly. A brief focus of his energy allowed him to power up to a stable level, and with his skin suddenly burning to the touch his captor's grip loosened enough to allow him to wheel over and crush the creature's skull with a hammer blow of a kick.
A single glance to the ground told Tien that the three he'd left below had begun to ascend up to him, meaning he had a second or two to finish off the duo that had wailed on him. With no time to wait for them to move, Tien zipped forwards and slammed the first with a single fist before unloading another haymaker that sent it back down to its own small crater in the marsh. For the other he simply grabbed it, kneed it once in the face and hurled it with all his might towards the three ascending from below, scattering them like bowling pins and disorientating them for long enough for him to charge energy and cross his hands over his face.
"Solar Flare!" Using this signature attack had become second nature to Tien; he never got bored of the blinded, squinting expressions of the ugly Vynuls as a light more intense than any camera flashed from his fingers. Confused, blind and dazed, the creatures huddled together for safety in numbers until their sight returned, completely oblivious to Tien twenty feet above them making sure they'd never see daylight again.
With his hands outstretched in a triangle before him, Tien peered through the gap in his hands at the four defenceless zombies writhing in agony as he charged even more energy and prepared to unleash one his new favourite attacks. It seemed like overkill for just four pesky Vynuls, but this particular strain of one of his favourite attacks was untested on the living – if one could actually call the Vynuls alive.
"Perfect Tri-Beam!" A pure green blast of energy, more powerful than any Tri-Beam he'd used in the past, rocketed from Tien's palms. The technique shot faster than any bullet; before Tien could even blink the four Vynuls had been squashed into the planet like flies, leaving a triangle-shaped denture in the swamp over fifty metres deep.
With the last of the Vynuls defeated Tien allowed himself a breath. He had no time to consider how fun fighting in lighter gravity had been or listen to the steady sound of the marsh's rancid water slowly filling the hole he'd punched in the ground with his beam. The only thing he could think of was the presence of the Vynuls: If they were here, did that mean that the six star Shadow Dragon was who he thought it was? Had Alpha really revived such a powerful foe to the realm of the living?
No, he told himself quickly, dismissing this idea. Even when he wasn't at full power I could feel Chronus half a galaxy away. It must be someone else – one of the lesser Vices perhaps, but which one? It's been a while since I fought them, but Uub and I only managed to take down the fourth weakest by teaming up. I think if I pushed myself I might be able to take on a Vicis from one to six by myself. . . But what if it's a stronger one? I remember seeing that Unidecimus guy in action when Goku fought him – I wouldn't stand a chance against someone like that, and Vegeta fought an even more powerful one.
Tien's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a disturbance occurred across the planet. Vynuls were gathering together; they must've felt his presence whilst in battle and notified the others. Worst of all, the malicious presence of the six star was on the move. Tien privately scolded himself for using the Perfect Tri-Beam too early; he'd been so eager to try it out that he'd probably alerted half the Vynuls on the planet when it went off.
But it was too late to correct his mistakes now; Tien knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to save his skin. The Vynuls gathering meant that they were preparing to amount an assault on Tien. Against ten or even a hundred he could hold his own, but thousands were now amassing across the planet, headed by none other than the six star Vicis Shadow Dragon, whoever it may be.
Wasting no time, Tien smoothly glided back down to Capsule Four and made his way to the living area, where a simple vocal command was all the system required to call up every Capsule however deep in space they might be. As soon as the last one had answered Tien never even let them say hello before he began his warning:
"This planet I'm on – it's infested with Vynuls. I can't talk long; I just fought with a squad of them and now a whole army are on their way here." He kept his explanation as brief as possible to save time.
"Wait, so it's Chronus?" Krillin asked, paling immediately. "Him again?"
"I honestly didn't think that Alpha would have enough power to bring Chronus back from the dead," mused Gohan.
"I don't think it is," said Tien. "I don't feel his energy – I think it's one of the Vices. I'm not sure which one though."
"You should get out of there Tien, we'll back you up when we can," offered Trunks.
But Tien shook his head. "No, I'll stay here and go into hiding for a while. This planet's huge so if I keep my energy low they won't find me. I need to find out who this Vicis is and whether or not I can take him on. If I can't then I'll just wait for backup."
Lightyears away, Goku scratched his head and awkwardly shuffled. Part of him wanted to insist that Tien leave the planet whilst he still had the chance, but to do so would be insulting to a fellow fighter. To make matters worse the others looked to him for a final verdict through the screen. Despite having both a minuscule attention span and a child's mind they still saw him as a competent leader, so the decision rested with him to decide the best for all of them.
"Alright, but stay safe Tien," he warned, knowing that even if he commanded it, Tien would never leave the planet with his tail tucked between his legs.
"I will. Over and out guys." With his final words the screen went blank as Tien disengaged the call, leaving the saiyan and his granddaughter in silence. Pan looked worried. As an experienced adult Goku felt it was his duty to comfort her, though with all the social skills expected of an orphan man-child raised in the wilderness he found himself incapable of doing so.
"Will Tien be okay?" Pan asked at last, making no effort to hide her anxiety.
Goku smiled; this he could work with. "Of course," he assured her. "Tien's smart – he wouldn't just rush into a battle that he's got no hope of winning. It works out better this way: if it were me or Vegeta, or even your dad, we'd just fly in blindly without knowing what we're up against. Tien might not be a saiyan but he's got the upper hand in this kind of situation, we just have to leave it to him."
This seemed to work. Pan's face brightened up immediately as she saw the logic behind her grandfather's speech. She tightened her bandanna and was a second away from suggesting training again before a lurch from the ship knocked her off her feet. Without any warning Pan was thrown backwards, and would've hit her head painfully on the reinforced wall if Goku hadn't flown in and caught her. He hovered above the ground for a few moments, his eyes glancing accusingly around the walls and his fists clenching in preparation for an attack.
When none came he set her down and landed, finding that whilst the floor was stable again, something about it felt different to before. Pan shrugged and set off towards the ladders, prompting Goku to follow her into the upper deck and all the way over to the control panel. She inspected it closely as Goku's eyes stared at the open windows, still expecting an attack from any angle.
"Don't be so jittery grandpa, we just turned around," she said.
"Huh?" Goku made his way over to the scaled down map of the universe. Pan gestured to the four star ball they'd set themselves on a course towards. It had passed right by them, moving swiftly through countless systems on an erratic path as it dodged between planets. The ship had turned itself around automatically in order to follow the beacon of power it emitted, but with the power of a revived foe fuelled by a negatively charged four star Dragon Ball their ship was outclassed in speed. "Aww, we were so close too!" he moaned. "We would've landed in less than a day if it had just sat still!"
"What should we do?" Pan asked.
It was a good question; they could carry on following the Dragon Ball and hope for it to stop, or they could just fly towards a different stationary ball. After thinking for a minute or so the saiyan spoke.
"Hmm, I think we should change our course – we've got three saiyans landing on Earth soon so one of them should be to take care of the four star when it stops," Goku decided. He knew they'd never catch up to it, so his eyes quickly scanned the series of dots spreading away from their current location. The closest was a mere two days away: the seven star ball. He tapped the sensitive screen and hit the red button, sending the ship into another seizure before he had time to warn Pan.
This time he failed to catch her. Such was his excitement about feeling the ship change course again that he neglected his granddaughter. The capsule floor tipped dangerously as he sat down, allowing himself to childishly slide down the length of the training room with a giddy wail of enjoyment like a child on a rollercoaster. Five seconds of fun were all the ship gave him before steadying again, shoving Pan back onto her stomach as the floor became straight.
"Oww. . ." She rubbed her head and with one hand and pushed herself up with another. Suddenly the pain was unimportant though, as the sight of her grandfather laughing made a furnace out of her saiyan blood. She strode over with a fearsome march, and in one terrifying moment Goku could've sworn he saw Chi-Chi as her free hand curled into a fist and collided with his jaw. Pan knew that such an attack wouldn't hurt him, but it felt good at least.
"How about a little warning next time?" she demanded.
The saiyan laughed nervously and paid attention to her furious expression. Now that he'd noticed it once he couldn't stop seeing it; when she was angry she definitely took after her grandmother. "Oh yeah – sorry Pan!" he suddenly beamed, holding up his hands and waving around in a silly expression of surrender.
"Urgh!" she cried; the most infuriating thing about her grandpa was that it was impossible to stay mad at him, even when he deserved it. "You can be so annoying sometimes! Where is it taking us now anyway?"
"Huh? Oh, I put us on a course for the seven star ball!" he revealed.
"Wait. . ." Pan made her way back over to the radar, but this time she wasn't looking for Dragon Balls, she was looking for capsules. "I thought so!" she suddenly cried. "Grandpa, you do know that Piccolo is already on his way to the seven star?"
Goku nodded.
"Well what happened to that whole two-fighter limit? Or do I not count as one of the two fighters?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"Of course you do," he said simply. "It'll just be whichever ship gets there first gets to fight the seven star."
"And what if we arrive at the same time? You ever think of that?"
Goku shrugged. "We'll probably just play rock-paper-scissors or something to decide who fights. That's the way it usually works."
One Day Later
Raditz was still asleep when his saiyan space pod entered the Earth's atmosphere. He sat dreaming of gliding through the stars his ship had just passed, tucked away in his own little world without a care. In his dreams he knew nothing of war or battles or chaos, he was simply left to his own personal state of total bliss. So one could imagine his surprise when his deep slumber was suddenly sabotaged by a most horrific whiplash as his spacecraft slammed into the countryside just outside West City.
He'd never admit it, but a feminine scream beyond his control suddenly escaped him, luckily drowned out by the hiss of the claustrophobic pod suddenly swinging open, scattering the pebbles of the thirty foot wide crater he'd landed in. Yawning and shaking himself off, Raditz clambered out of his vehicle and immediately experienced a huge wave of déjà vu. Over forty years ago he'd landed at a similar stretch of countryside in an identical saiyan pod.
Last time though, he'd emerged with the intent of murder and greed, whereas this time he was driven by selflessness and the desire to aid his brother. He'd been to Earth three times before, and whilst all three stays had been brief, upon his second visit he suspected it was the closest thing to a home he had. Now that his fourth visit had come around he was immediately sure of it.
Two sudden explosions went off simultaneously to his left and right. Bardock and King Vegeta had obviously landed as well, and within a minute or so they'd hauled themselves out of the ground and regrouped. The king patted the dust off his royal battle suit and turned to inspect the planet.
"So this is Earth?" he said, unable to prevent himself from sizing it up in the hopes that it would meet his expectations.
"We don't have time to waste sightseeing, we have to get to Bulma's," Raditz ordered.
Without question the two older saiyans nodded and followed Raditz as he took to the skies. West City lay just a few miles to the east, meaning that Capsule Corporation headquarters were just a short flight away. Raditz had been keen to memorize exactly where all the major points of interest had been in case he needed them in situations like this. He knew that if they headed south they'd reach the mountainous region where his brother and family resided, and if he flew a little north and began their ascent upwards they'd reach the Lookout.
The three pureblood saiyans flew high above the clouds to avoid attracting attention from the citizens down below, wetting their faces with refreshing blast of moisture. It felt good to be free at last from those wretched pods. After just a few minutes had passed Raditz began his descent. He bombed down as fast as his regular state would allow him until the multitude of skyscrapers known as Capsule Corporation rushed up towards them. They plummeted past fifty floors of windows comprised of offices, with each cubicle of the thousands occupied by an office drone. Bardock asked his son whether or not this would draw unnecessary looks from the workers, though his son replied by telling him that Vegeta lived here, and as a result they were already used to this queer sight of people flying. Being the proud saiyan that he was, Vegeta never made any efforts to hide his abilities, much to the distress of his wife.
Finally Raditz touched down with the others in tow, landing on a wide stretch of beige driveway leading up to the front doors of the main complex. Behind him security barriers and a dozen burly men in suits and shades guarded the front entrance specifically to avoid people entering without clearance. Strangely though, none of them gave the saiyans a second look. Raditz figured that Bulma had probably instructed them long ago to pay no attention to anyone who could fly.
The saiyan strode towards the tan steps that marked the entrance to the main complex, wondering whether or not the receptionist would object to their presence until Bulma herself burst out of the revolving doors. She had a wrench in one hand and a half smoked cigarette in the other, and the expression of joy on her face told Raditz that he'd probably just saved her from a day of incredible boredom.
"Raditz! It's great to see you!" She waltzed over and hugged the saiyan after discarding the cigarette.
"Good to see you too Bulma," Raditz said as they released. He noted that even despite his short stay as an ally he was still greeted as an old friend. He then turned to introduce his two companions. "Bulma, this is-"
"I don't believe we've had the pleasure." King Vegeta took a stride forwards, cutting off Raditz's introduction in favour of announcing himself. "I must confess, when I heard my son married an earthling I was rather shocked, but I never realised she would be such a beauty."
Bulma blushed crimson. She didn't even need his comment about his son to know exactly who this man was. He was collected, charismatic and regal; he personified the exact image of a king. Furthermore, he was the spitting image of her husband. This could only be one man; she'd heard he was coming to Earth but had not yet adjusted to the fact that she'd be meeting her late father in law.
"You must be King Vegeta," she said, giving a short, polite bow before turning to the other man. He was exactly the same in that he looked almost identical to his son. A scar across his cheek and a blood red bandanna were the only features that set him apart from Goku. "And you must be Bardock, nice to meet you," she presumed. "Geez, do the females of your race pass on no genes whatsoever? I mean I thought I'd drawn the short straw on Trunks's side until now."
King Vegeta let out a great laugh and the other two followed. In his misplaced sense of superiority he'd previously regarded it as unwise to insult the saiyan race, especially in the presence of one so high ranking and powerful, but Bulma had gone ahead and done it anyway. She was smart, fierce, passionate and stubborn. Right away he noticed exactly what his son had seen in her, and she'd made him a better man for it. In fact, if Vegeta had never switched his allegiance to a nobler calling then none of the saiyans would have followed his example. Bulma had been a pivotal factor in his change of attitude, so indirectly she was also the one to thank for the whole saiyan race's sudden realisation of morality.
"I take it you're setting off right away then?" She took a far more prickly tone when it came to the topic of losing her interesting new company.
"Please Bulma, we have to get out there as soon as we can," Raditz begged.
The woman sighed. "Alright, alright. But you guys are gonna come to one of our parties when this is all over – we've got a lot to catch up on."
"Agreed," Raditz said with a grin.
With that, Bulma turned on the spot and started back down the brick driveway. Instead of leading them to the doors though, she took a left before the second set of stairs and led them around the back of the huge structure. Before they knew it the saiyans had rounded the corner and walked into an enormous compound the size of a small sports field, fenced off by twenty foot walls and capped with razor wire to prevent thieves. Of course, even if they got over the secure perimeter they'd never be able to steal one of the two shining beauties nestled comfortably at its centre.
They'd never seen anything like it before. Despite being a civilisation centuries behind most places they'd visited, these shuttles were clearly beyond even saiyan technology. On top of that, Bulma assured them that they were the fastest things around and could take a blast from a Super Saiyan 5 if needed. Even more impressive was the fact that she'd built them in just a week.
"May I present: Capsules Six and Seven. They're the last two and they're all yours for the taking," she informed, proudly showing off her latest creations and receiving a series of 'woah's as payment. Even King Vegeta, with his standards rivalled only by his ego, was astounded by the fine craftsmanship of these ships.
"Now," she started, grabbing a notepad and pen from her pockets and beginning to scribble. "Just a few things before you leave. Yesterday Goku and Pan passed right by the four star ball because it was on the move, but it suddenly stopped at a spot dangerously close by, so I'd suggest one of you guys go and take that one – it shouldn't take you more than a couple of days to get there. The other should go and back up Tien, he's stranded on the planet of the six star. Alpha laid out some ground rules that there's only two people to a fight and that you can only arrive by ship. Since there's three of you, one of you will have to take a capsule for yourselves like Piccolo did whilst the other two team up in the last one remaining."
"Piccolo's alive!" cried Raditz, elated by the thought of speaking with his old menor for the first time in years. Somehow Piccolo had managed to restore himself to the world of the living. "Anyway, I'll be the one to go alone then," he volunteered. He looked to his father and King Vegeta for permission and they nodded. Raditz was the strongest amongst them, so allowing him to fly solo was probably the best play.
"Fair enough. I'll give you guys a tour just to show you how things work."
Just as she'd done with the others, Bulma guided the three saiyans into one of the capsules and showed them around, instructing them on how to use the gravity machine and how to call the others before guiding them over to the control panel. It was just as impressive on the inside as it was on the out; technology far beyond human resources littered every corner and the Virtual Intelligence computer that governed the ship was extraordinary, if a little annoying.
"Intruders, intruders, intruders," it droned on and on in the background. Alarm lights flashed from an angry red to a warning yellow to signify the invasion of foreign beings.
"I managed to get a readout on Raditz when he used one of my devices a few years ago, but the ship doesn't recognise either of you two." She gestured to Bardock and King Vegeta. "Raditz, you're free to go whenever you like – I just have to input the data for these two before they set off."
"Sure thing. It's been great seeing you again Bulma," he said, making his way over to the ramp and looking over to the other ship. "You take care."
"I will, see you!" Bulma waved until he was out of sight before raising her voice to a commanding tone they'd previously thought her incapable of. "Ship! Manual override!" she barked. "Input new users."
After a few seconds Capsule Seven stopped the warning light show and its dull repetition of 'intruders'. The touch sensitive screen where the Dragon Radar used to be was suddenly replaced by a blue grid on which the computer instructed Bardock to place his hand and individual finger prints. The ships would not activate if their buttons were pressed by invaders and they wouldn't even open for anyone unauthorised.
All around them tiny cameras snapped still photos of Bardock to upload a fully three-dimensional model of him into their database. Bulma then had him read aloud from a series of sentences from a script so that the computer would recognise his voice whenever he wanted to ask the ship something. Whilst Goku's older doppelganger read passages of some old play with a look of confusion she used the time to interrogate the king; she needed answers after all.
"Umm, King Vegeta-"
"You wish to know about my son, yes? You didn't seem all that surprised to see us here – how did you know we were coming?" he asked, taking no notice of how he'd interrupted her in midsentence.
Bulma sighed, "Kibito-Kai told Trunks told me. He said you originally came with Vegeta but he got caught up in a battle. . . I mean, they said that they had it on good authority that he wasn't dead but-"
"He isn't dead." King Vegeta cut her off again. "The good authority you speak of is me: I can track anyone's energy in the universe that I lock onto, and I can pinpoint their exact location wherever they might be. Right now I can feel my son's energy out there, but I can't seem to locate where he is."
Bulma asked the obvious question. "But how's that possible? I thought you just said you could locate anyone?"
"I normally can, but this is a mystery to me. Someone could be blocking his signal to my senses, or he could just be hiding his location from me, bleeding out and slowly dying of his injuries."
"*Ahem*" came a cough from behind. King Vegeta turned to see that Bardock had cleared his throat and shot him a glaring look before motioning to Bulma, who looked on the verge of tears. The king quietly scolded himself; he'd forgotten how sentimental these earthlings were supposed to be.
"However. . ." the saiyan started again. "We both know Vegeta, and I daresay you know him a lot more than I do. If anyone could've survived and made a full recovery from that battle it would be him. I'm sure he's alright."
.
Author's Notes: Back again guys. Sorry I'm late – I went on holiday and forgot to mention it. So all the capsules are now away and almost all the fighters are doing something at last. The saiyans are back and straight up into space.
I realised whilst writing this that the amount of characters in this series is so huge that it's hard for the writer to keep track of who is doing what, but it's even harder for you guys the readers. So to remedy that I just thought I've give you guys a brief rundown of who is in which ships doing what. The number of the ship doesn't really matter since they're all the same, I just like to be specific.
Capsules
Capsule One: Goku and Pan. On their way to the seven star
Capsule Two: Gohan and Krillin. On their way to the two star
Capsule Three: Trunks, Goten and Uub. Just defeated the five star (Buu), heading back to Earth
Capsule Four: Tien. Stranded on the planet of the six star
Capsule Five: Piccolo. Also on his way to the seven star
Capsule Six: Raditz. About to set off. On his way to the four star
Capsule Seven: King Vegeta and Bardock. About to set off. On their way to the six star to back up Tien
Dragon Balls
One Star: ? (Presumably Alpha) Off the radar
Two Star: ?
Three Star: Broly (deceased – killed by Vegeta)
Four Star: ?
Five Star: Majin Buu (deceased – killed by Uub and Gotenks)
Six Star: ? (Presumably one of the Vices)
Seven Star: ?
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If you guys want me to update and repost this at any time in later chapters then feel free to ask, I know it can probably get confusing at times to keep track of everyone.