A few days later...

"So this is Goku's spaceship, huh?" Bulma said, crawling into the ancient pod.

"Yeah, they haven't changed much. Mom says only the Ginyu Force gets the good, new stuff," Brussa said, floating in the air behind her.

"Huh. Almost none of these buttons are labeled…" Bulma said, turning around in the pod and looking around, "Not even the ones that are protected from the elements."

"They're meant to be intuitive, so any species can be trained to use them without having to learn a new language, or even know how to read. I mean, we sent literal babies out into the universe with them. When they do have labels, it's in Saiyan usually anyway," Meys explained.

"Huh? In Saiyan? Why's that?"

Meys shrugged, "It's easy to learn and we conquered most of the Galaxy. Most places still use our alphabet even if our people are gone. Lord Freeza's having it phased out, though. It's a shame, it's one of the few things I liked seeing around. Reminded me of home."

"Dad likes music, and Shive writes poetry in it," Brussa said, "Raditz writes his own technical manuals, and mom writes down recipes. They're all nerds."

"Hey! Brussa! That's not true! Raditz and I write our own technical manuals!" Meys objected.

"You do?"

"I was a communications officer for six years before Planet Vegeta was destroyed! How do you think I'm so good with tools?" Meys explained.

"I didn't, I thought you just broke stuff all the time."

"Get over here you little twerp!" Meys growled, grabbing for her tail.

"Wait, so do you know these systems?" Bulma asked, poking her head out. Meys looked over at her, only for Brussa to punch him in the face. When Meys pushed himself off the ground, he shot Brussa an angry look and rubbed at his cheek, which had still been sore from when Brussa had knocked him out.

"Not as well as Shive. He was Prince Vegeta's pilot. Best in the galaxy, if you ask me. I was dedicated to interstellar communications, encryption, software, that sort of thing. Not the most glorious post, which is why it went to a low-class warrior like me. But when the King wants to send the Prince a letter telling him how much of a stepping stone to Godhood he was, you make damn sure nobody else can read it."

"So you couldn't get this thing flying again?"

Meys shrugged, "I mean, with enough time, the right tools, and if I had the technical manuals, I might be able to get its floater working. If we had Shive, then sure."

"We should call him, tell him to get his tail over here," Brussa grumbled.

"It's weird that he hasn't shown up yet," Meys agreed.

"How can we communicate with him?" Bulma asked.

"Our Scouters are linked and built to communicate over Faster-Than-Light scale, and are capable of storing messages. We should have already heard from him, truth be told," Meys said, unfolding his, and tapping through the settings.

"That makes sense," Bulma said, testing some of the equipment on the pod by hitting it. She let out a shriek when a family of squirrels ran out of the pod. Brussa laughed at her.

"What are you even doing here?" Bulma snarled.

"I dunno, I'm bored," Brussa admitted, "I figured Meys would get in a fight again or something. But he decided to come out here with you instead."

"Well, why don't you make yourself useful, and go look for Dragon Balls or something?" Bulma took a Dragon Radar out of her bag and threw it at her.

"Why would I do that?" Brussa asked.

"Think of it as training," Meys shrugged, "Take Gohan. Go see Earth. Beat up bad guys."

"That does sound like fun," Brussa admitted.

"Goku found five of them in about a week when we were kids," Bulma said, "See if you can break his record."

"I'll get five in two days!" Brussa boasted.

"Hey, Bulma, could Kakarot fly when he was Brussa's age?" Meys asked.

"Hmm. No, flying is kind of new for us. Chi Chi and Master Roshi only started flying recently. Not even Goku's done it all that much," Bulma admitted. Meys nodded, and turned to Brussa.

"Take your Scouter. Stay in touch. Ask Gohan's mother if he can come with you. And, as part of your training, you're to wear as much weighted clothing as you can stand, and you're not allowed to fly," Meys instructed.

"You're not the boss of me!"

"You're right, you probably can't beat Kakarot's record without all those restrictions. You'll need all the help you can get," Meys said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll wear weighted clothing and carry Gohan the whole time!" Brussa boasted, coming down from flying and running up the hill, Dragon Ball radar in hand. She left a trail of broken branches and plants in her wake as she ran.

"Are all Saiyan kids that difficult?" Bulma asked.

"I wouldn't know. My brother and I were launched at some planet when we came out of the birthing pod, and took over a planet by the time we were ten, and the rest of the Saiyans found us. That's kind of how Saiyans are raised," Meys said.

"That sounds rough. Just killing, no childhood worth calling your own...Even Goku was a goofy kid that just wanted to play, even if it was training," Bulma said.

"Brussa's had it easier than most, even with everything we've gone through. She might not look it, but she's sharper than her father, and for all her bluster, she has her mother's heart. And she has three 'brothers' that love technology. If she didn't love fighting more, she'd probably be happy taking this pod apart with you," Meys said.

"Speaking of which, I think my dad and I might be able to do something with this thing. Do you mind flying it back to West City for me?" Bulma asked. Meys nodded.

"Do you mind if we make a stop along the way? There's someone I've got to drop in on."

"Yeah, no problem."

Bulma crawled out of the pod, pushing the door shut after her. She climbed up the side of the crater, and un-capsuled a flyer. Meys lifted the pod, grunting; carrying a pod was usually a chore for him, Raditz, or Shive. But Meys could already feel the effects of the few days' of training he'd been doing with the Earthlings, along with his Zenkai boost. Once he had it resting on his shoulders, it didn't bother him too much. He led Bulma into the air, flying over a few mountains into Chatzke village. He landed outside the market, and set down the pod.

"Woah! Did you see that? He can fly!" a kid gawked.

"Yeah, that's Meys! He was here last week, he has a tail, too!" another said. As they walked through the market, Bulma immediately caught her eye on something hanging in a stall, and began shopping. Meys stepped up to Pop's stall. He found it hard to look the Earthling in the eye.

"Oh. Meys. Hello," Pops said.

"Hey, Pops."

"I was worried about you. Glad to see you're okay," Pops said.

"Thanks."

"How did killing King Piccolo go?"

Meys took a deep breath, "It turned out to be a lot more complicated than that. He's...Not who we thought he was. This one isn't his father."

Pops nodded, "And what about you?"

Meys's gaze was on his shoes, "I've got a lot to do before I can say I'm not the person I was."

"Hey, Meys, look at me."

Meys struggled to fight his gaze, but he looked up at Pops.

"You're going to be okay. If you need anything, come back, all right? I'm always willing to lend an ear, but I might put you to work while I do it, okay?" Pops said. Meys nodded.

"You take care of yourself, Pops."

"You, too, Meys. I think Dice still has your cash box, by the way."

Meys nodded, "Thank you."

He walked down a couple of stalls. Dice's stall had gotten bigger, the money from the T-Rex giving him enough to buy more space in the market. He also had an additional couple of freezers.

"Oh, hey, Meys!" Dice smiled at him, "Good to see you back!"

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you and Bell for taking care of Brussa when I took off like that. She was...Upset," Meys said.

"You just lost a brother, and you've got a lot of pressure. It's hard to think straight when you're going through something like that. Trust me, I know. I lost my oldest daughter a couple of years ago. It hit our family hard. You've got to pull together, best you can, Meys."

Meys nodded, "Taking it a day at a time."

"All you can do, brother. Also, I believe this is yours," Dice pulled up the cash box. Meys accepted it, and nodded.

"I appreciate it, Dice. We'll be back around soon. Still a lot to prepare for with the family, you know?" Meys said. Dice nodded.

"Stay strong, Meys."

"You, too."

"Oh, Bell was asking after Brussa. She around?"

"No, but she should be available to hang out in a couple of days. I've got her set on a project. I won't see her until it's done," Meys admitted.

"How'd you manage that? If I could get my boy to commit like that…"

"I told her she couldn't pull it off."

"Ah. That would do it. I'll see you around, Meys."

Meys nodded to him, and found Bulma. She was trying on outfits at the tailor's stall.

"Hey, Bulma, how long are you going to be?" Meys asked.

"Just a few minutes!" she called back. The tailor shook her head.

"She's going to be here all day," the tailor whispered. Meys nodded.

"I'm going to take the pod back to West City. Do you want me to come back around for you?"

"I'll be fine!"

Released from the obligations of human-sitting, Meys put the cash box in the pod, picked it up, and flew to West City. When he arrived, he called for Dr. Briefs.

"Ah, Meys, good to see you again. I see you brought the spaceship! Excellent! I've been hoping to take a look at it!" Dr. Briefs said.

"I was hoping to get the com system working. What's the most advanced computer your have? I'd like to try to contact my comrade, Shive, without giving away our position, and I think the pod's communication system would be more than enough to talk to him, but I'm not familiar with your encryption technology," Meys said.

"Oh, I have just the thing! Bring the pod over here, my boy, and we'll get started!" Dr. Briefs said, leading Meys into one of the labs. Within a few hours of working, they had the communication suite removed and integrated with one of the computers Dr. Briefs provided. Meys was astounded at the complexity and efficiency of the Earth technology; it wasn't as hardy as Freeza tech, but it was above and beyond what he expected from Earthlings.

Meys adjusted the settings on their communications device, and he pinged Shive.

"Meys to Shive. Come in, Shive, can you read me? Please provide mission report."

There was a pause. Silence. Meys was about to ask if they'd tested it properly when he received a reply.

"Mission successful. Good to hear your voice, Meys."

"Shive! Where are you? We need you on-"

"Don't report your location. Things have changed out here, Meys. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go dark. I really don't want to, but I don't have a choice. Don't contact the others until they arrive, either. Keep coms-dark."

Meys winced, and tried to not to destroy the microphone in his hand.

"I read you. Stay safe out there, Shive. Meys, out."

Meys set the microphone down, and clenched his fists, fighting the urge to scream and destroy things around him.

"There's a beach that way, Meys, if you need some space," Dr. Briefs said. Meys nodded, and flew off, storming past Bulma, who had just arrived.

"What's gotten into him?" Bulma asked.

"He got in contact with his Saiyan friend, Shive. It wasn't good news," Dr. Briefs said, meddling with the machine, "He said he needed to keep communications down, but didn't say why."

Bulma set down the bags of clothes she'd bought from the tailor, "Wait, if I'm reading this correctly…"

"You see it, too? I thought the same thing while he was making the call."

Dr. Briefs changed views on the computer.

"Why is he keeping communications blackout if he's just orbiting Mars?" Bulma asked.