AN: The subtitle of this chapter would be 'Gine´s Telenovela'

I especially want to mention that since somehow all of you thought Gine wouldn´t appear again haha. Also warnings for minor character death.

Have fun!

"And we should arrive tomorrow around noon. The atmosphere is pretty rough, with the climate all crazy…"

Gine took a bite from her plate and slowly chewed it. "I wonder if there are still buildings left. I´d like to see some ancient ruins."

Hamu shrugged. "Dunno. But while they´re training, we should probably stay away from buildings."

"We don´t have to sit around in the middle of nowhere. Flying is ok on that Vegeta-sei, right?"

Hamu huffed, but he couldn´t hide the tiny smile. "Hey Gine, can you make something from Ara tomorrow? `s where I come from. I mean, it´s not often you get decent food on a flight…"

Gine punched him, lightly. It´s not as if she often had to serve during one as well. And if there had been a chance to say no she would´ve preferred not to be on this one anyway. "Do you know what they are trying to do? Yasai asked me something weird, I think they are working on their energy control."

Hamu leaned back, looking at the ceiling, contemplating. "That tailless guy did something strange. He made an energy ball and let it grow and shrink and all the commanders just sat around and stared at it. Dunno what that is good for."

"Did you peek?" Gine immediately leaned forward. She hadn´t dared to. If someone had seen her, they would´ve just told her to stay in the kitchen. And that was something she really didn´t need to hear.

"No, I had to get something from storage, not my fault if they are sitting around there. Maybe I had to search a little longer than absolutely necessary…"

They both fell quiet until they finished their meal. It was only fair for them to try and find out what was going on. They were obviously trusted enough to even be on this ship and even if the high ranks always thought that the lower ones don´t need to know anything didn´t mean that they weren´t curious. They just had to be a bit careful.

"Hamu, where do we land? Near the old palace? I need to take a few pics! I mean, now that I´m so inconvenienced with all that Ara food I´m going to cook…"

Hamu laughed heartily. "Yasai will decide, but I´ll try and present her all the advantages."

Half an hour later Gine heard the commanders come in for dinner. Hamu had already left and was waiting in the cockpit for her to finish up so they could watch something together. They didn´t so much as look at her, only grabbed their food and left. Not that Gine wanted to complain, they made her uncomfortable anyway.

The landing the next day was rough but without complications. Despite what Gine had assumend they landed in the middle of nowhere. It was hot, dry and nothing around them except for some low hills. Definitely no building inside. Hamu had just shrugged when she asked him. So he didn´t know any better as well. Two more days passed. The commanders barely left the ship and Hamu told her that he had to increase the gravity in the storage room. They were trying to get stronger, but… that was nothing anyone ever did. If she could just ask!

On day five they finally left the ship and Hamu immediately flew away from the area. Gine joined him in the cockpit, not wanting to waste the opportunity to see the original Vegeta-sei. Unfortunately there wasn´t much to observe anyway. There was a road here and there, barely visible under a layer of rubble and dirt. She couldn´t really make out any buildings, either they were already gone or overgrown so much that they looked like hills from the sky. When they finally reached the old capital though it had been worth the trip. She immediately took out her phone to get a few good shots from the sky.

"I dunno what I expected, but with the climate collapsed I thought everything would be barren."

"I don´t see much wildlife. I mean, I looked it up and it said that the ecosystem was almost completely destroyed. Maybe those plants just adapted." And there were a lot of them, growing like a jungle over all the crumbling buildings. "Where´s the palace though?"

"Over there." Hamu pointed at the huge hill in the middle of the city. Trees were growing on top of it. She wondered if it was still possible to go inside. "You wanna check it out?"

"Absolutely. We won´t get a second chance!"

Hamu laughed and pushed the handle down to let the ship slowly sink lower. The wind was quite strong and gave them a good shake, but it was still tolerable. "Good thing we don´t have to train like children."

Hamu side-eyed her hard. "Don´t show them your pictures though. This is a secret mission."

"Yeah I know." They both quickly threw over some hooded jackets before they went outside. It wasn´t very cold, but there was a lot of dirt flying around in the air. "Just something to show my boys when they´re older."

Hamu didn´t react. She knew he wouldn´t give her away, but he obviously didn´t think it was smart what she was doing. Walking the few hundred meters over to the palace turned out to be a hard task. Most of the asphalt was splintered and gone and thick roots and knee high grass covered most of it. The air smelled rotten and heavy and taking a deep breath was almost impossible. Gine pushed the collar of her jacket higher, trying to cover as much of her mouth as possible. Hamu made a tiny gesture after a few steps and started to hover. Right. They were on the old Vegeta-sei, they were allowed to fly. A few seconds later they landed in front of a huge wall of leaves.

"You think that´s the entrance?" Gine pushed lightly against the green carpet in front of her. It gave way softly.

"I think we should just kick it in." She shrugged and Hamu blasted a decent hole in it. She took out a flashlight, but unfortunately there wasn´t much to see.

"There´s only roots. We can´t even walk in."

With a huff they tried a few more sides of the building but to no avail. Frustrated, Gine sat down on a particularly thick root. "Man, I really wanted to see the palace! This was my only chance!"

Hamu sat down next to her, shrugging. After a few seconds he aimed at the floor and blasted a huge junk of pavement away. The blast had blown up a massive dust cloud and both of them quickly made way. It smelled horrible, like moldy food and sewer. At least the wind helped clear it out quickly.

"Why the fuck did you do that?"

Hamu pointed at the hole. It looked like a room underneath. "Thought the rooms below ground might still be root free. I was right."

"That makes no sense at all, Hamu." It didn´t. And yet they had found the palace cellar. Or garage, more like it. Hamu jumped down, blowing up another load of foul reeking dust. Gine waited for him to stop coughing before she followed as well, her flashlight ready. Old bikes. Lots of them. Not quite what she had expected, but…

"If we get our storage back, I´m so gonna take some of them back with me."

Gine nodded slowly. No way they would be allowed that. But she could still take some photos…

They made it back soon enough to fly the ship to the outskirts of the city and for Gine to start with dinner. Hamu had taken one of the engines and was busy cleaning it. It looked miraculously intact.

Gine jumped when someone quietly entered the kitchen and broke her out of her musings. She hadn´t paid attention, thought all the commanders had already taken their dinner. But it was the tailless one. She hadn´t seen him yet, she always looked down when the commanders came in. Now she couldn´t stop staring.

"Is something left? Overtime…" He shrugged, a strained smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.

"I… yes. Over there." He sat down, quietly. Gine had to remind herself that that one wasn´t a commander. He couldn´t be. He didn´t have a tail!

"Where are you from?"

"Excuse me?" He looked up, a frown on his face. "Has no one told you that I´m a bastard yet?"

A mixed… This whole mission became instantly even weirder. "You… do you know Bardock? You look exactly like him."

"No." He eyed her curiously. "Maybe one of his relatives is my dad. Don´t know much family history." That could always…

"Gine, get me something."

"Over there, Yasai. Don´t be so rude." Yasai glared at the mixed, but she actually did as she was told. Gine didn´t dare to look up, but she almost exploded out of curiosity.

"Anyway, that Bardock guy, is he a friend of yours?"

Gine glanced at Yasai, but she didn´t seem to take notice of them. Still… "No. We serve in the same team mostly and we´ve got two children together."

"Who decided that?" Yasai stared at her and she immediately wanted to shrink. Somehow she had become even more intimidating in the last few days. "It´s not uncommon when the match is good. We didn´t bribe any government officials. And we get along well."

Yasai huffed. It sounded like she was demeaning Gine. "Sounds like something you would do in the colonies. But I guess it´s different in the low ranks…"

"What do you even mean? Are you a couple?" Gine laughed, but stopped immediately. He definitely wasn´t from Vegeta-sei. "No no, the government decides which pairs are good for strong babies. Guess we´re good enough. Little Radditz is already doing well in school and Kakarott…" She eyed Yasai. The mixed was on this secret mission, but her little Kakarott was a completely different secret mission. "He´s just born but shows promise."

"Guess we don´t need to waste too much time trying different pairs if we only get low ranks anyway."

Gine pressed her lips together. She had another son not from Bardock and he had been sent away as an infant. It had been years ago and he was probably dead. Yasai was only required to produce one child and she was one of the strongest fighters on the planet. She would never know how Gine felt like.

The mixed lingered around until Yasai was done and left. He looked troubled. Maybe his father was one of the cast aways. "I´m Son Goten, Gine. I… I think I have heard of Bardock. From my father. I don´t remember much. Just…" He hesitated, playing around with his chopsticks. When he looked up, she took a step back. "Maybe you should leave Vegeta-sei when we get back. Take your sons and go somewhere else."

"Is something going to happen?"

He smiled, strained. "Something, yes." He got up and left.

Everyone was back in their rooms. She had the storage for herself. Yasai had instructed Hamu to turn up the gravity to 20g and leave it. They had tried 10g so far and it had been tolerable. 20… Yasai felt the strain on her muscles, every movement hurt, sweat was dripping down so fast she felt like standing in a shower. Even Burra had managed 10g of her home planet. Even that fucking girl!

Yasai felt her ki rise while she did her push ups even more forcefully. Gohtin had been right, feeling ki, controlling ki, it was easy once she had understood what she was looking for. Now they only had to become stronger and once she had felt what the ascension meant with her new insight she highly doubted they would manage it in a month. Yasai sank down, breathing hard. Every breath felt like a crushing weight on her chest. If she still had the energy she would scream at how much it hurt.

It didn´t help, though. Self pity was useless. One of them had to prove that it was possible. The king would demote them all and she had worked too hard for it. One of them was enough. Nashi and Mikan were doing well, Poroto and Cilek were close. She couldn´t rely on them. Groaning, she got up. Tomorrow, she would try 30g. Even if it killed her.

"Faster! Do it faster, I know you can!"

They were already at halftime and their progress was laughable at best. And since Goten had shown them how to detect ki they were all very aware of it. Unsurprisingly, their performance didn´t get any better. The only one who was still ahead was Yasai, but it still wasn´t enough! He didn´t even know what enough was, if it was already good to try and get her angry or not and… "Come on, Poroto, put in some effort!"

Poroto threw an energy attack at him, but Goten just swatted it away. They all hated him. They had made that clear from the beginning, but now it was so obvious he could almost cut the air around them. As if it was his fault that they didn´t become super saiyans in two weeks! If they would use that hatred to channel it into their training… He kicked Poroto in the gut a little too hard and quickly pulled his foot away before Poroto threw up on it. This was useless. His dad had injured himself to get stronger, Goten knew it worked. But even if they had the means to heal quickly, it was still horribly dangerous. As it was Goten had to be extremely careful anyway.

"Gohtin!" Mikan stared at him from a few meters away. Most of them had ditched their jumpsuits and Mikan´s dreads were falling over her sports bra. Blood was dripping down her chin. He wanted to tell her to be careful, but… "Yes, Mikan?"

"Finish up with Poroto and come here."

Goten eyed Poroto who stopped coughing and slowly wiped away the bile that stuck to his mouth. "Maybe I need more of that. Maybe you don´t push hard enough."

They were all insane! How couldn´t they understand that if he would lose himself just a little they would end up as a smear on the ground? He laughed and decided it didn´t sound hysterical at all. "If you want to throw up even more I can help you with that. But if I break a bone you´re out of commission."

Poroto smiled. Goten noticed that Yasai stopped beating up Nashi and looked over to them. This wasn´t good. He didn´t like all the sudden attention. Poroto attacked anyway, raising his ki with every punch. It still wasn´t enough, and it wouldn´t be for a long time and it was frustrating Goten to no end! He blocked without real effort, hoping Poroto would at least land one punch when Goten was sloppy enough. He wasn´t even good at it, he only ever sparred every few weeks if someone was in the mood.

"Gohtin! What are you doing, do you even want this to work? Do you think I´m throwing away my career for your half assed attempts? DO YOU?" Yasai´s aura was flaring wildly around her. He didn´t know what she expected from him, but she should continue. Maybe it helped. Poroto used this moment to land a solid punch on Goten´s jaw. He reacted instinctively and only the loud crunch made him focus. Poroto was lying on the ground, his head strained in an impossible position. Goten couldn´t stop staring at him. He knew what it meant. Slowly shaking his head, he made a step back, only to tumble into Yasai.

"This changes nothing."

There was no emotion in her voice. "Fuck yourself, Yasai." He fled.

No one bothered him until he got back a few hours later. They had to be angry, he had just killed one of their teammates. Or maybe it wasn´t that unusual. Maybe they were so used to killing and seeing their friends, their relatives getting killed that one more didn´t matter. Or maybe the thought… this was the game changer. This was the one thing that would justify a senseless death. And it had been his fault. Grinding his teeth, Goten stalked through the ship. He just wanted to lie down and stop thinking, stop…

Gine came around the corner and smiled at him. His grandmother. He hadn´t expected to tumble into anyone from his family, he wasn´t Bra, they weren´t royal. And yet… if she just knew. He very much would like to have someone to curl up next to and maybe even cry. He smiled back, weakly.

"Son Gohtin, I put back some food for you." When he just nodded she even dared to grab his arm. He had noticed how meek she got whenever someone else was around. He really must look like shit. "Are you ok? Heard of the training accident… It´s always…" She shrugged. "It happens. It´s not your fault."

No. It was. He had been distracted. It had been his fault and he would never forget it. "Gine, do you know what we are doing here?"

She looked at him curiously before she tugged on his arm, leading him back to the kitchen. "No, I don´t, but I´ve been speculating. Guess we´re going to war against someone strong if the commanders are training."

"Yes. Freeza."

Gine´s eyes widened dramatically. He knew it would get her attention. "Have you heard of the super saiyan? That´s true. I am one. Don´t look like that, I know I´m not a full saiyan, but everyone can do it. And we will…" He swallowed, hard. "If you can, you should really grab your sons and their father and leave Vegeta-sei."

Her eyes moved frantically over the floor as she tried to process it. "I can´t just leave, I´m serving in the army. But I guess… But if you kill him, why should I leave?"

"Do you really think everything will chance once that happens? I haven´t grown up here and I know it won´t." He huffed, almost laughing. "Both of your sons will get used and chewed out and thrown away by those people. You, as well. If I had grown up there it would´ve been the same for me. You don´t have to think it´s only natural to get treated this way. You can do better."

She grabbed his arm again, her grip so strong he actually felt a slight pinch. "But you are here."

"I´m only one person. I will change nothing."

She didn´t let him go. There was an intensity in her eyes that made him shiver. "Gohtin, when we arrived here, Hamu and I checked out the palace. There wasn´t much left, we only found some vehicles and storage rooms. But there were old reliefs there, stored away in the cellar. And there were… parents on them, with their children."

"Family. That´s the word."

Gine smiled. It looked sad. "It can go back to that. So many of us want it. It´s not all on you."

Somehow, he didn´t feel like her hope meant anything. He left her standing there. He knew what would wait for him on the next day. They still had two weeks left and they only became more frustrated. He should use the time Yasai had given him so generously and try to sort his feelings out. Since there was no sympathy to be expected anywhere else.

AN: Alright, another chapter with Goten and then we´re back at Vegeta-sei and Bra. Hope you had fun and I try my best and get another chapter out this week:)

Oh, and names: Hamu is Japanese for ham.