"Z'is is it!" Salza proclaimed with the righteous vigour of a religious fanatic, his gloved hand just above his brow to shield him from the glare of the mid-day sun (From his time on this planet, Salza had learned that the sun and moons that orbit the Earth are rather moody no matter what time of day it is), his other hand out stretched to point at the quaint little country side town below the slop of the mountain.
Behind the 'valiant' leader his fellow squadron members were not as enthusiastic, Dorne laid down sprawled out on top of the lush grass. His chest moving up and down slowly, only allowing him to puff out. "You said that… For the last three towns we crossed…"
Salza waved his hand dismissively as his comrade, before thumping his fist against his chest. "Ah, but z'is time, I know it to be true! I can v'eel it deep down in my core"
"You sure you ain't just got indigestion? You never had a strong stomach for spicy foods"
At the comment, the soldier swung to face Dorne with an annoyed frown. "Ack! I've told you a million times, zat incident on Dian Seven was a fluke. My stomach is forged from iron- STEEL even!" In his turn Dorne found a chance to shake his head again at Salza's face. Where there had been blue-tinged skin like melted ice, there was layers upon layers of makeup and dirt used to make the man's skin look darker. The final product was an image that Dorne would call both hilarious and disturbing. "No, my empty-headed swine. It is my soul crying out in a victory chorus, singing to me of our success! How this town will be the one z'hat holds the information that will be worth bringing before the feet of our great Emperor"
Dorne groans "It's been days…" Before rolling his eyes and looking away from Salza's mud smeared skin. "Urg, do you have to look like that? It takes away the only thing people remember about you. You look like a bloody muppet"
The man crossed his arms, frowning "It's a disguise!"
"A muppet disguise." Dorne replied bluntly. Though, to be fair, it wasn't as bad as when Salza tried to add an old hat to the disguise, only for his hair to send the article of clothing flying. Those blonde locks were stiff enough to be used as weapons. "I don't see why we don't just walk in there and bash a few heads in"
At this, Salza could only let out a scoff worthy of a supreme snob. "Z'hat is why you are the subordinate, and I am z'e leader. V'e are not mere brutes who thrash around the mud like rabid dogs. V'e are z'e elite! To not treat our mission with elegance and class, to lower ourselves as mindless animals in the heat of blood lust. It would be spitting on the great name of our Emperor"
By this point, Dore had completely tuned out Salza, instead looking over to where their third comrade had walked off to… Change. "Ey, Neiz! How long is this gonna take? What, are ya braiding your hair back there or something?"
The high-pitched squeal that was Neiz's voice barked back with an angry wave of his arm. "Don't rush me! These Earthlings must be masochists, their clothes are so… Tight fitting"
"'Course they are. I don't think Earthlings make clothes for your size"
"Are you saying I'm fat!?"
Dore shrugged and fell back down to lie on top of the grass "I'm just saying, you always wonder why people shoot at you first. Might be because you're the biggest target, Mate" He said before chuckling.
He saw Salza move from the slope to join in on the conversation, taking a moment to peel back his hair 'to perfection'. "Z'e green toad has a point. Perhaps you should break z'e habit of gorging on our fallen foes"
Only hearing agreement, Dore nodded in response. "Yep…" Though after a few seconds the rest of the sentence settled in, prompting the red-hot anger to rise to Dore's chin (A natural occurrence for his species) as he jumped up. "Wait, WHO YOU CALLIN' A TOAD, PRETTY BOY?"
The man simply shrugged with a roll of his eyes, nonchalantly saying "Z'ou are green, bloated, bulgy-eyed and are only good at 800 degrees served on a silver platter. Z'ou are a toad." With that, Salza snapped his finger like he just got an idea, slamming his fist into his palm. "I know, v'e should get you a girl to kiss you, z'hen z'ou would at least have royalty to compensate for z'our less z'han stellar looks. Preferably a blind girl"
The green ex-wrestler jumped to his feet with a loud thud, his impressive chin steaming up. "Alright, that's it, Laddey. I'm gonna bend you like a Glorbian tooth pick!" He said as he stormed over to Salza, cracking his knucles while the other man simply looked offended by the spit coming out with each word.
As Dore drew closer, Salza pushed out a sole finger to push into Dore's forehead, prodding the hulking man with an indignant frown. "Ack, you moron. It's a Toolian Tooth Pick for the metaphor, a Glorbian makes no sense in this context!"
"Don't you chuck your fancy words at me, you…" Dore struggled for the word "Ponce!"
"Oh, Dore, how impressive; z'hats a pretty complicated word for you"
The two's foreheads connected, their bodies twitching with frustrating as they barely held themselves back from throwing a punch at the other. But before either could initiate their usual fight, Neiz's tall form stepped into view, his screeching voices speaking. "I'm done!" And in that moment the two turned their head to look at their comrade, and in that moment, both of them had to do a double take.
In front of them, their tall amphibian comrade stood with his back bent over like an old man who's spine had long since been thrown out of place, wearing a long and tattered green trench coat that reached down to the creature's feet. Coupled with a large sombrero over his head and a pair of glasses with a fake moustache, creating an odd combo of complete suspicion.
"THAT'S your disguise!?" Both exclaimed in unity.
"I know, I'm like a chameleon!"
And in unison, the two face-palmed.
An hour later the three had found themselves pushing through the road winding its way through a town called 'Tunson', Dorne leading by a few paces with a wagging tongue, it seemed that a strong scent of food had caught his nose; prompting the man to take off with Salza and Neiz trailing behind. "Look at that bastard go!" Neiz exclaimed.
Salza (Refusing to look at Neiz while he wore that stupid hat) huffed as he nodded, saying "I know, imagine if he put that much energy into our work…" Slipping through the crowd was a rough experience, Salza knew that with his strength he could easily send any one of these people flying with just a tap, it took a lot of effort to restrain himself while keeping pace. They didn't want to attract attention to themselves. "At z'his rate we're going to lose him"
"I've got this!" Neiz pushed Salza aside, his snout barely sticking out from the folds of the trench coat's collar.
In response, Salza's tone grew dry "Ze last time I heard Zat, ve had the natives of an entire planet looking for our heads within ze hour"
"That doesn't count!" The tall amphibian stopped, trying to look casual as he smacked his hands together, a spark emanating from between them upon collision. In only a moment his finger crackled with purple electricity. Before Salza could say anything on the matter, Neiz pushed his hand forward in a flicking motion and flicked the spark off through the crowd, the small abnormality darting out of view in a sea of unsuspecting people.
When the two heard an all familiar 'Ouch… NEIZ!', the creature allowed himself a moment to cast a gloating smile which Salza could not see. Instead, Salza grabbed Neiz by the shoulder and dragged the amphibian through the crowd, bursting out of the other side to see their companion twitching down on the floor in front of a very confused saleswoman.
Salza looked over Dore, who had some sort of wrapped meat in his hand, before his arms fell into a crossed stance. "Ah, Dore. Sleeping on ze job again, I see"
The snow haired woman looked down from behind her stall, her eyes wide with confusion and worry "Is he gonna be okay? I did warn him that those dinosaur tails would be mighty spicy"
Her southern drawl drew Salza's attention, making him realise just how stupid Neiz's public attack was and how lucky he was that no one had seemed to notice their involvement. It also made him mentally note down 'Scold Neiz' on his to-do list. "He is simply being a vet blanket, mi'lady. Ze poor boy just doesn't know ven he is in over his head, especially ven it comes to food"
Stepping over Dore, Salza made his way closer to the stall, moving his arm across his chest in his species natural stance of apology. "I apologise for any inconvenience zis oaf has caused you" He bowed his head, the woman breaking out into a nervous giggle, still partially confused.
"Uh, no problem, Mr. He didn't do nothing wrong, just hungry is all" She held her hand up with rushed wave. Behind Salza, Dore had finally stopped twitching, however this also meant he could get up to his feet; now a burning glare set on an unsuspecting Neiz. "Mighty strange bow you got there"
With that, Salza saw an opportunity. "Ah, yes… I must look old fashioned. You could say zhat me and my friends have been living under a rock for ze past few years" There was no hesitation before Dore lunged at Neiz from behind, wrapping his rock-hard muscles around Neiz's neck, the amphibian struggling.
"You ain't alone there. Course, most folks went underground after the androids arrived, scorching all the cities" The struggle continued, Neiz kicking his feet up wildly while slapping at Dore's biceps. "I reckon not even half of them even know the androids are gone"
"Androids?" Salza rubbed his temples, pretending to strain his memory
She clapped her hands together "I know most folk like to call 'em demons, but they're metal monsters, alright. They look just like people, but they ain't got no soul in those eye of theirs" Behind Salza, Neiz sung his feet up, throwing his weight back to slam into Dore and knock him to the floor. "Some crazy experiments by that Red Ribbon Army, you could tell because of that logo on them. I got to see an android up close once… What a nightmare"
"I've never heard of this 'Red Ribbon Army' before"
"Nasty lot, I heard. I wasn't born during their time. Cut throats and tyrants, taking the world by force. They had this logo, a red ribbon with two 'R's on it" She held up her hands, wiggling her fingers like a twitching spider to make an 'ooooo' effect. "I still can't believe someone like my grandpa worked for those cretins- Ooh, don't tell anyone about that. Could ruin business!"
A dust cloud enveloped the spot where the two aliens fought for dominance, making their fight only a barrage of lines and mud to the naked eye. "You have my word. And my word has ze patience of stone! Now, vat happened to ze androids, again?"
"Well, a few years back some fella just came along and cut them down. Just like that. The few people there at the time couldn't believe their eyes, it was like a giant swatting a fly… Explosive flies. Like-" With a raise of his hand, Salza cut her off with a polite smile.
Before he turned around, throwing his mouth open to yell at his subordinates. "Stop behaving like children, zou morons! ZOU'RE DRAWING ATTENTION TO US!" The constant rhyum of the two's struggles came to a complete halt, the dust cloud exploding into clear air around them, revealing the two companions on the ground. Dore in the process of wrapping Neiz's leg around his shoulder with a fist aimed right at Neiz's snout, while the amphibian had his teeth over half of Dore's head.
Two pairs of eyes awkwardly met Salza's glare. "Zou make a mockery of our leader with your foolish antics"
"I don't know about that, I'd say all that air your lungs are letting out is what's bringing the most attention" The reply's southern accent made Salza initially think it was the merchant woman, but then he realised how much more deep and coy the voice was. Twisting his neck to face the voice, Salza was surprised to meet the sight of an even odder-looking trio than his own.
The speaker was a man who had a stunning resemblance to the saleswoman, even with all the muscles that built the man like a mountain. Again, the man spoke. "Don't be sour, stranger. I was making a joke" Instantly, something was… Off about him. And it wasn't the purple mime/clown beside him. His blue iris's were empty, a calm and steady sea of emptiness. No life. But they were moving, inspecting Salza.
"If I vasn't in such a mood, I'm sure I vould of laughed" Salza offered a forced smile, fully turning to face the man, signalling with his fingers for Dore and Neiz to get up. "I do not mean to be so rude. My name is… Sadala. And you are?" The man's smile did nothing to settle Salza's expectation of a threat. It was the cocky smile a mugger would make towards an unsuspecting victim that just walked into an alley way.
"Me? Well, I'm…" At the question, the man grew hesitant, thinking. "They call me Tucker"
"And your friends?"
"Are not important" At this, the purple dwarf huffed, turning away. Which only made 'Tucker' chuckle. "Don't mind that tiddler, he's having a tantrum" Before 'playfully' slapping the dwarf's back. "Ain't that right?"
"Uhuh" Both the dwarf and Salza replied under their breaths.
Tucker's eyes trailed off slightly, towards Salza's cheek. "Funny looking glasses you got there"
This threw Salza off guard a bit, before he realised that the man was talking about the scouter. Had he forgotten to take it off? "Technology grows every day, Mr Tucker" They both shared a fake chuckle, Salza moving his hand up to fiddle with his 'glasses'. I the had his scouter with him, might as well take a read on the man that's making him suspicious.
The results were a great shock to Salza, prompting him to do a double take. It wasn't because of a surprisingly high power level for the planet, nor was the power level undetectable (As he heard was a frequent occurrence on Earth), but it was… Odd. The readings read less like power level data, and more like energy readings. As if he was scanning a machine…
"What's wrong, Sal? You're looking a little… Blue." 'Tucker's thumb prodded against Salza's cheek, a knowing grin on his lips. Can he see my true skin under the mud!? How in the hell would he- Then a possibility tugged at his mind?
"I know most folk like to call 'em demons, but they're metal monsters, alright"
The unnatural feel. The threatening grin.
"They look just like people, but they ain't got no soul in those eye of theirs"
The lifeless eyes.
"They had this logo, a red ribbon with two 'R's on it"
Hesitantly, Salza's eye moved away from the captive steel gaze, lowering down the yellow vest; immediately coming upon a logo on the breast pocket. A ribbon. A red ribbon. Looks like the Androids weren't finished off after all. "Nice shirt, I'm guessing you're a… Mechanic of sorts?"
"Do I?" 'Tucker' moved closer, looking down at Salza, daring the man to make a move. "I don't think you're from around here, son. Where are you from, huh? Out of town? Country?"
"Lots of different places" Dore and Neiz could be heard moving to back up Salza, ready to brawl through the fog of thick tension. It seemed the Android had sniffed them out as well. Looks like keeping it quiet is out of the picture now…
"-on't you dare!" The scream from above them didn't break the intense stare down between the two trios. Salza tugged at the cuff of his glove, ki bubbling beneath his finger tips and ready to strike out.
"It's like you said, Mom. Don't be a baby!" That didn't deter either of the fighters either, but even they had to look up when the argument from the heavens broke down into a terrified scream. Tilting his head skyward Salza was met with the sight of a woman falling straight out of the sky, and hurdling down towards them, all why screaming her head off.
"SON PAN, YOU ARE SO GROUNDED AFTER THIS!" Like any mother scorning her children, the voice was almost demonic as she got closer to the ground. The people on the ground too stunned by the strange turn of events to move.
Android 15 was the most stunned when a pair of feet landed atop his hat, pushing the brim down over his eyes as the person tried to regain their balance. "And she sticks the landing… Kind of" This left the dwarf struggling to stay of his feet. It made him glad he didn't have lungs, or this would have been suffocating him.
The others merely recoiled in confusion at the scene of the chirpy raven-haired girl landing on a dwarf's head, all to catch the falling woman with an awkward smile. "See, Mom. Was that so bad?"
"That was terrifying!" Videl spat at her daughter
Pan shrugged. "That's revenge for my poor thumb"
Dore was the first to speak "Is anyone else really confused, or am I just dumb?"
To which Neiz bluntly responded "We're all confused. You're just dumb as well"
"Oh, okay."
"Pan, you're causing a scene…" Videl reached out to grab Pan by the ear lobe, pulling roughly on the girl's vital lobe, coaxing out a pain howl.
"Okay, okay, I'll put yo- OW- Stop it!" Immediately, the girl jumped off the dwarf's head (It took him a good few tugs before he pulled his hat back into place, allowing him to glare at her as she landed) and set the woman on the ground. Pleading for the mother to stop pulling on her ear. "You're such a buzz kill"
After a roll of her eyes, Videl mercifully let go before pointing at 15 "Now, you go and apologise to that strange purple midget for standing on him"
"But, mom. I want-"
"You say you're sorry, or no meat"
Within an instant Pan had flashed over to the dwarf, taking his hand and shaking it vigorously at such a speed that their handshake was invisible. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Please don't let her take my meat away" Then she came to an instance stop. "That good enough?" When 15 didn't reply she took that as a yes and jumped back. "Now, meat."
"Slow down, honey" Videl waved a knowing finger in Pan's face, dragging yet another sigh from the girl. "I'm sorry about her, she gets very jumpy when she's hungry"
"It is quite alright" Salza looked to Videl with a smile, waving off any tension he had felt before. "Zose little quirks are vat keep people interesting, no?" Casting a look back to the other trio, Salza was surprised to see the change in their expressions and body languages, all three of them becoming tense. 'Tucker' was confused, and the dwarf looked as if he was about to explode. Maybe it's best ve leave and report zis to Lord Cooler. He vanted us to lay low, and zis is our chance
"I've been telling myself that for twenty years"
"Mom!" The girl pouted like a child, which was strange on someone who Salza assumed was much older. She looked over to the adjacent wall, which caused her face to immediately light up. "Hey, look, they're already advertising for the tournament!"
"Tournament?" Finally, Dore was the one to speak, to which Salza shook his head at. This was the time to be leaving.
"Yeah, the world tournament's coming back soon. The world's strongest warriors come from all around to see who's the best. Awesome, huh?" She stared up at the rather shabby looking poster with awe. "And not to brag, but the one who's going to be taking that title, is gonna be me"
Salza could only face palm when Dore and Neiz lurched forward with shock all over their faces, yelling. "You mean YOU'RE the strongest warrior on the planet!? WOW!"
For a moment, the girl jumped back in surprise, before crossing her arms and forcing a cocky smirk, trying to assume a 'cool' stance. "Well, duh. See these muscles?"
"Pan, please…" Said Videl, sighing at her daughter's antics.
"I haven't even gotten into the tournament yet and I already have admirers. I AM awesome"
"Anyway." Salza made sure to speak loud and clear into Neiz and Dore's ears, grabbing them both by the shoulders. "I zink it is time for us to go. Have fun at zour tournament" With that, much to the two's displeasure, Salza dragged Neiz and Dore back through the crowd. And in only a few minutes the two had completely disappeared.
"They were nice" Videl commented as the two took off down the other side of the street, looking for a specific stall.
Pan added "I liked the chocolate one's hair"
This left the three androids back to their lone selves by the stall, 13 and 14 looking at each other trying to confirm if their heard the same thing. In their brains, their computer minds were going haywire as old subroutines and programs that had long since become invalid were drudged up. Flashing in each android's mind was the colour red, an order of blood, a need to kill. Each one felt a small piece of Dr. Gero's rage.
"Her name… That couldn't be…"13 looked down to 15, who's stare had grown as stiff as stone towards his hand. In the palm of the dwarf's hand, a spec of blood stained the metal skin, having found itself there when Pan shook the dwarf's hand. 14 and 13 recognised her surname. But 15's scanners instantly recognised the blood.
15 nodded grimly. No matter what the android thought about the nature of his life, no matter how much he didn't want to take orders anymore, his programming override every bit of thought in his metal mind. The rage of Gero's revenge was like alcohol to his mind.
"Son Pan…" 13 muttered.
"Son Goku." 15 curled his hand into a fist, imagining the blood's squelch as it's screams. "Son Goku must pay"
At this, 13 found his grind agai at this revelation "And do the Granddaughter's bear the sins of the father?" Before switching his gaze to the World Tournament Poster. "She's gonna get a title, huh? Well… I think someone needs to make this Tournament interesting. How about that, 15?"
"This target is… Acceptable"