Chapter 100: Saiyan of Interest

The air wavered with their approach, throwing the little moonlight that reached them through the ink-black cloudy skies. Above South City Launch floated, arms crossed, waiting. She eyed Piccolo and Tien as they stopped in front of her. 'Good to see you two in one piece.'

'Likewise,' Piccolo said, gaze tight. 'Were you waiting for something to happen in South City?'

'From a distance.' Launch swept her vision over the quiet city and calm ocean further away. 'Once I knew everyone had gotten out safely, I figured I could lure out the right people if I kept from the immediate area. Then I got bored of waiting and flew over to see what was going on for myself.' She gestured at them. 'Hence.'

'Hence,' Tien echoed, staring.

'So, Tien,' Launch paused. 'Where is Chiaotzu?'

He hesitated. She knew what he would say after that. 'He's dead,' Tien answered. The night shadowed and hid his face.

'Ok,' Launch said. 'Gero?'

'As far as I can tell, yes.'

'Good. I'll make sure that I kill him then.' Her voice was flat. It was clear she meant to enact every word spoken.

'You'll have to get in line,' Tien informed her. 'Though, to be honest, I'm not sure where the others I'm holding spots for are.'

Piccolo coughed to get their attention. 'Where's your ship and crew, Launch? They are still alive, right?'

Launch made an amused face. 'He can be very aggressive when he's showing concern, huh?' She said, smirking at Tien.

'Just answer the question,' Piccolo grated.

'They're all alive,' Launch answered dutifully. 'Even Yajirobe, who I was told accompanied you when you fought Gero.'

'He tried his best,' Tien murmured. 'Where is he now? The Lookout?'

Launch nodded. 'I've met up with some others, too; we've holed up at Kame House.'

Tien's brow lifted. 'The island? Where Master Roshi lived?'

'The very same.'

'Who, exactly?' Piccolo asked.

'Krillin, Rayne, Bulma,' Launch said, ticking off her fingers. 'It'll get pretty cramped when you two settle in, but I think Bulma has some sort of capsule house or spots on the plane where you can sleep.'

'We won't be there tonight,' Tien said. 'We're looking for someone.'

Launch stretched her neck. 'Who, exactly?'

'Traveler,' Piccolo said.

'Traveler?' Launch froze. 'You mean — he's back? So we have Rush, Gero, and Traveler running around the Earth?'

'Launch,' Tien pressed, 'Speaking of Rush — we believe Chi-Chi, Yamcha, Retu, and Suno are working with Rush. In other words — we can't rely on them acting in everyone's interests. They're likely being manipulated by Rush.'

Launch squinted at them. 'What exactly are you saying? Manipulating them to do what?'

'We don't know, other than that it involves Raditz.'

A pulse of energy fluttered away from Launch. Quick enough that it was entirely involuntary. Her eyes widened. 'Raditz? What does he have to do with this?'

'I think you'd better off talking to Bulma about that,' Piccolo said. 'She knows more than me, after all. But tell her that Gero got to Raditz, and made him into a weapon.'

'West City wasn't the safest place in the world to keep him,' Tien muttered.

Launch grunted. 'Half of West City is rubble and the other half is still burning, so you're right about that.'

'Hm.'

The wind brushed past them, tugging slightly at their clothes. This far up they could see the waves shimmer with faint moonlight but not hear them.

'This is a mess,' Tien sighed.

'Agreed.' Launch pounded her fist into her hand. 'We have to get this settled — at least before that PTO ship chasing us from space gets here. That'll be soon.'

'How soon is soon?' Piccolo asked.

'Tomorrow, it'll arrive in three days, give or take several hours.'

Neither Tien nor Piccolo flinched. 'You're sure?' Tien said, quietly.

'Bulma says so.'

'...' Piccolo turned away. 'What a mess.'

'Yeah,' Launch echoed. She glanced around. 'We should get going then. These things aren't going to resolve on their own. I think the window for something happening here has passed. Time to move on.'

She began to move away, giving a simple wave, before freezing. 'By the way,' she said, turning even as her ki began moving her into flight. 'Bulma's pagers work now. Tien, I'd recommend you get yours from the shack soon. Any information Bulma might string along will come on that. And that'll probably happen sooner than you think.'

'Mysterious,' Tien commented.

'Bulma's always scheming. You know that.' Launch started spinning away, though her last words reached them on the wind. 'Sometimes doesn't even sleep in pursuit of her goals. I have nothing but respect for her…'

She might have said more, but the words were lost in the night air. Piccolo stared as Launch receded and blinked from view.

'Three days,' Piccolo muttered. 'This situation can't get much worse.'

Tien drew his attention with a small gesture. 'We still have this night. Let's see who we can find.'

'Or,' Piccolo cloaked himself in his aura, 'who finds us.'

0o0o0

The hallways and corridors of Fire Mountain were dark as Chi-Chi slid across the wood, parsing her way towards the kitchen and eventually outside. It was the middle of the night and she had a bad headache. Couldn't sleep, and couldn't think of a reason to stay inside with it. So better that she went out and comforted her pain with the stars, if only so they could distract her for a while.

When she entered the kitchen she tipped her head, massaged her nose and sinuses, and moved towards the counter. There should have been a teapot left on the stove, hopefully the slightest bit warm from earlier. She lifted it, grabbed a ceramic cup from a cabinet, lifted it.

'Chi-Chi?'

The voice startled her so much that she poured water on herself. Luckily it wasn't warm at all. She set down the teapot, sighed, and shot a look behind her. 'What are you doing sitting in the dark, Rush? Can't sleep?'

Even knowing where he was, he was hard to spot sitting at the farthest end of the dining table, chair's back against the wall. 'Yep,' he replied. 'You?'

'Yep.' She poured her cup correctly this time and sat at the table across from him. 'We've been here before. Us not being able to sleep.'

Rush shrugged. 'We're anxious.'

'I really feel like a walk would clear my mind.'

His face shifted in the darkness, though Chi-Chi couldn't see how exactly or to what. 'Do you mind?' He stood. 'If I go first, I mean. Go for a walk outside.'

'Hm?' Her expression raised in parallel to the cup's movement to her mouth. 'You don't want to go for a walk together?'

'I think we'd both stay up longer that way.'

'Fair enough.' She waved as if to prod him. 'Go ahead, get some air. I'll sit here with my cup in the meantime.'

He nodded.

0o0o0

The courtyard was as shrouded in darkness as the rest of the night. From the edge he could see even the village below was silent and lightless, nothing more than a few straighter than normal shapes in the landscape. Rush looked towards the heavens, locked and cracked his jaw, and flew up several yards so he would be at eye-level.

'You need to leave,' he said bluntly, staring at the faint shape hovering in the air. 'If we fight here, you'll kill these good people.'

The figure leaned forward, moonlight speckling and marking the ragged burn sweeping across his forehead like brush. 'You'll kill them,' Traveler said in a low voice, 'you mean. You'll kill them because at some point they'll become useless to you, right?'

'And you wouldn't?' Rush held the question in the air. 'But that's beside the point. If I wanted to kill you without regard for collateral damage, I would have done that already. After all — why else would I shelter here?'

'Don't lie,' Traveler snarled. 'We're both here because neither of us can find Raditz. But I knew you would crawl back and fester among them.' He gestured to his head to the castle behind Rush, '—take advantage of their good nature, their sympathy. That's what you are. A parasite. A maggot feasting on flesh you've putrefied. You're sickening.'

Rush allowed himself to smile. 'You don't even know what I am.'

'I know enough. And I know you can't conceal your evil forever.'

'Evil? That's harsh, coming from you,' Rush cocked his head, sticking out fingers from his hands like they were the ends of spears. 'How many worlds have you purged? Ten? Fifty? One hundred? A thousand? What about people — innocent people? How many have you killed?' He dropped his hands. 'I don't think I can count to as high as you've gone. As for me..' He stuck out two fingers. 'Considerably less.'

'You don't know who I am,' Traveler uttered.

'Oh, but I do, Gohan. In my own time I watched you kneel, in service of genociders and monsters. I'm actually curious. What's it like to be the Arcosians' chained dog, waiting on their beck and call?'

Traveler said nothing, did nothing, except stare. His brown pupils spun with malice. 'I justify myself to no one.'

'Your allies won't like that.'

'And what about you? Do you think Chi-Chi and Yamcha would like to hear how you tried to kill Krillin and Rayne?'

For the first time in their conversation Rush found a new mode beyond gentle amusement — annoyance. 'As if they'd trust you after everything that's happened.'

'They only need to trust Krillin and Rayne,' Traveler said slowly. 'I've done nothing to hurt the people of this time. Can you say the same?'

'I'll enjoy killing you.'

'You will try.'

Over the course of their conversation they had inched closer to each other. Rush could see the scars lining Traveler's forearms; Traveler could see the darkened lines criss-crossing Rush's face.

'You need to leave,' Rush repeated.

'See you soon,' Traveler replied, folding his arms and rising away.

0o0o0

'I'm alright.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah. You can move away.'

Despite the low stakes, he hesitated. Rayne turned from the ocean, feet feeling the grains of sand slide between her toes, and squinted at him. 'Uh, Krillin?'

It was nice to be able to hold her up like this. 'Uh, right.' He smiled at the ground as he let go and backed away. 'Sorry.'

Once free Rayne took a measured step into the surf and took a deep breath. Kame House's old wood paneling seemed to whistle in the wind behind them. Then she breathed out and the air returned to normal.

'Better,' Rayne said, tipping up her head. She blinked — and threw out a quick kick, sniping the air and zooming back below her. 'Much better.'

'I agree,' Krillin echoed.

'Well!' She placed her hands on her hips and turned around, beaming. Her teal hair rested in a bundle on her shoulder. 'Who knew bedrest could get you back on your feet in just a few days?'

'I think Bulma's medicine did most of the work,' Krillin said.

Rayne squinted. 'Medicine? I don't remember taking any.'

'It was that green stuff. The goop.'

'Oh. Oh, right.' She made a pale face. 'I think I had nightmares about that stuff. The taste…'

'Yeah. Yuck.'

Rayne took another wide look of the island, then the ocean. The sun was about to rise — just about to rise — but hadn't yet. The waves took on a dark, shimmery quality in anticipation for the radiant spill to come from the reddening horizon. 'You know,' Rayne said, then cocked her head. 'You know,' she started again, 'coming close to dying, it puts things in perspective.'

'You say that like every person who's ever nearly died hasn't felt the same,' Krillin said wryly.

She stuck out her tongue. 'You know what I mean. I mean — I've nearly died before too, you know.' She smiled in a sort-of distant way Krillin knew of. 'Way, way back… all the way back when I didn't even know what ki was. Kakarot nearly smashed my skull to pieces and Chi-Chi patched me up…'

'Feels like a lifetime ago,' Krillin said in that distant way he knew of.

'Well — it is, isn't it? When we were kids.'

'Chasing after Kakarot.'

'Fighting in tournaments.'

'Training under Master Roshi.'

'Fighting Kakarot, Piccolo, then Kakarot's brother, Raditz.'

'Being dead.'

Rayne shot a grin at him. 'Speaking for yourself now?' She paused, thinking. 'That was quite an experience, huh? For you to come back to life so much stronger. I can't imagine what you went through to achieve that.'

'Hah.' Krillin rubbed his head. 'Guess I never went into much detail what with me being… well… purple.'

'Wasn't much time for it,' Rayne agreed. 'Too much weirdness going on between us.'

'Yeah…' Krillin moved past her so that he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder and have an unobstructed view of the ocean. Darkened red was spreading across the horizon now. 'Huh.'

'What?'

'Just thinking. Did I ever tell you who helped train me in the afterlife? It was an old friend of ours.'

That grabbed Rayne's attention. She stared at him. 'I have no idea.'

'He was in disguise when I first met him, which is to say he looked really young and I couldn't recognize him.'

Rayne's eyes widened. 'You're… talking about Master Roshi?'

'Yuh-huh.'

'Wow. And he was?...'

'Same old, same old.' Krillin made a face. 'Except a lot stronger. From what I understand he agreed to become an… enforcer or something for the Kais. Would smack around whoever needed smacking.'

'That so?' Rayne flashed a smile. 'I'm jealous. If I died I'd want his job.'

'I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.'

Krillin's words hung in the air for a second. With a twist of her feet Rayne walked the edge of the beach, kicking up some grains into the ocean as she went. At the end she spun around and reapproached, attention still primarily on kicking. 'You're awfully confident considering what we just went through.'

'I don't know,' Krillin spoke truthfully. 'I just don't think it's worth thinking about. The thought doesn't make me happy.'

'Really?' Rayne stopped kicking. 'I think, if I died, I'd be happy.'

Krillin glanced at her. 'Why's that?'

'I'll probably have died for a good reason right?' She smiled. 'Like saving your life, or Marron's.'

Krillin's mouth twisted; either end pulled in different directions. He could have said more, but in all honesty, he didn't know what he would say. He didn't know if he wanted to say anything. His thoughts remained the same: this is something I don't want to think about.

'Speaking of Marron — you don't need to worry,' Krillin said, changing topics.

'Oh, I know,' Rayne said. 'Yesterday I sensed her around the Lookout.'

'You too?'

'I had nothing else to do other than sleep.'

Krillin nodded, he felt so immeasurably warm at that moment. When Rayne neared him again, they both hugged each other.

I figure I'll go today,' Rayne said. 'Visit her, because I think she's safer up there than down here.'

'I'll come with.'

'Actually,' a groggy voice cut between them, 'today might not be the day for that.'

They broke apart in a startled rush. Bulma was standing on the Kame House porch, mug of presumably coffee in hand, looking deathly tired. Her free hand was continuously rubbing her eyes at one spot or another. 'Just speaking my opinion, but I think we should chase down Gero before doing anything else.'

'Gero?' Rayne repeated. 'Does this mean… you've found him?'

Bulma made no response other than climb down the porch and shuffle across the sand to her workbench. She draped herself over it, fumbled with a few objects lying around, and then produced a tablet and tossed it. 'Here.'

Rayne caught the device. On it… 'Woah.' She showed it to Krillin and glanced back up at Bulma. 'You're sure this is his place?'

'After catching the frequency he was using to hack into the world's cable networks and triple checking my work?' Bulma took a sip of her coffee and leaned back on her workbench. 'Yeah, pretty sure.'

'When did you do this?' Krillin asked.

'Last night.'

'Yeah, but — when last night?' Krillin clarified. 'You look like you just woke up.'

Bulma took a larger sip. 'That I did. I pinpointed him around 2AM, maybe? So I tried to take a few-hours nap because I know this'll be a long day for me. Not to mention that you guys will all fight better after a good night's rest than if I had shaken you all awake earlier.' A gulp, even as Krillin and Rayne looked on, stunned. 'Why are you two awake, anyway?' Bulma asked.

'We slept most of yesterday — that's not important right now,' Rayne caught herself, shaking her head. 'Don't you think locating Gero would have been worth waking us up for? What if he's hid again since then?'

'Gero's not dumb, you know,' Bulma said. 'He knows as well as I do that sending out those broadcasts exposed his location, and sending out multiple broadcasts from the same place guarantees someone will find you eventually. Gero's lost any sense of caution, or he's planning to draw people to where he is, or he's just plain tired of running, in my opinion.' Bulma tipped her cup and finished it. 'Whatever it is,' she set her cup down, 'I'd bet my brain that he's not running anytime soon.'

'...Alright,' Krillin said. 'Should we wake everyone up now then?'

Bulma hopped up to sit on her workbench and tapped at something to her right. 'Your call. I just sent out the coordinates to all the pagers I handed out to everyone a little while back — wherever they are. Any of our friends still with one will know where to go in less than a few minutes. But fighting?' She smirked. 'Fighting's not my forte. You guys can decide when to go. I'm guessing…' She swung her feet, as they didn't quite reach the ground. 'This is going to be the last time you're going to fight Gero, isn't it?'

'Guess so,' Rayne said, stretching out her arms. 'That's a good goal. We'll make this count. Let everyone else sleep a bit more,' she said, conferring with a look to Krillin, 'and then we'll head off to finish this.'

'Before Rush can interfere,' Krillin said, a hard look in his eyes.

'Good,' Bulma nodded. 'By the way — when you see Gero, tell him: Bulma Briefs of the Briefs of West City sends her regards.'

0o0o0

As the sun climbed inches over the horizon, Kakarot and his father touched down in a wide, grassy field, parting blades of brush as tall as them, as they approached a small circle cut into the landscape. There the wiry weeds were flattened and dirt caked the being curled up in a ball, wracked by aching, choking sobs, perhaps the strongest being either of them had ever known, utterly helpless. They needed a pause to process this. Raditz was weeping.

Kakarot stood in stunned silence as his father brushed past him and knelt down. Calloused and scarred hands hovered over Raditz for a second, tensed or clenched as if to fight, twitching as Bardock struggled to make them calm.

'Come on...' Bardock snarled as he gripped Raditz by his shoulders, not squeezing or twisting, but turning. 'Raditz?' He rolled him onto his back. The sound of his breathing caused something heavy and round to lodge itself deep in Bardock's chest. Pressure and pain blossomed against his ribs. He sounded so... weak? No. So... pitiful.

Something like that would have made him furious in the past. Such weakness. Now? Whatever he was feeling, it wasn't anger.

'This isn't right,' Kakarot spoke, finding his voice. 'Raditz - he isn't right.'

Bardock dug his arms under Raditz and lifted his torso off the ground. He was so cold. The metal plating woven through his body sucked any warmth from him. Bardock looked at his eyes. Tears squeezed out from his original eye. His red one mechanically opened and closed again and again and again.

'Something's happened,' Kakarot continued. 'His ki — his natural energy — I can sense it now.' Kakarot grimaced as his brother. 'I'm not sure when it happened… sometime while we were following him, I think. Maybe that's how we didn't lose him when he ran off.'

'Why does this matter?' Bardock said. 'I doubt there are any PTO scouters on this planet. Without them, these people…' He trailed off, sucking air through his teeth. 'Shit. This is the planet where they don't need scouters, isn't it?'

Kakarot said nothing as he crouched down beside them. He ran a hand over Raditz's right arm, tracing the implanted parts snake their way under the skin towards the center of his being. 'Before, his natural ki… just wasn't there,' Kakarot muttered. 'It was suppressed, somehow. But now I can feel it clear as day.'

His fingers pinched together and pointed towards Raditz's chest. 'It's faint… but it's present. It's there. His energy. His real energy.'

Bardock grunted. His son had quieted and cooled his intensity but he was still intermittently twitching and thrashing. 'Bad time for this.'

'I don't think this is a coincidence,' Kakarot said. 'It must be related to the state he's in, somehow.' He stood and glanced around. 'We can't stay here in any case. We need to find someplace where we can hide.'

'Screw that,' Bardock growled. 'If they can sense him, we can't hide anywhere. What we need to do is find a ship and get off this planet! Find that…' Bardock's eyes narrowed in thought, then in frustration. 'Oh, what, you're having issues with this plan again?'

Kakarot pointedly looked away from his father. 'I shouldn't have suggested we abduct her — abduct Bulma. It's not the right—'

'What? Are you going to say "right thing"?' Bardock threw his arm out. 'The right thing is trying to survive! Whoever did this to Raditz is probably on their way right now to finish him! Earthlings or whoever else that might be! We need to leave!'

'I don't even know where to go!' Kakarot yelled. 'Where are we going to get a ship?'

Bardock yanked Raditz off the ground and pulled both of them into the air. 'We fly to where we landed on the Earth, full speed! We don't have any time to waste!'

'But—'

'And we can argue about whether we're abducting anyone when we get there and seize control of the ship!' Bardock barked, collecting ki around him to burst away. 'C'mon!'

0o0o0

The cabinet thrummed as Rush slid his hand against the wooden paneling. The pager was set against the interior paneling, buzzing and beeping, and made no sound as Rush gripped and crushed it. Metal pushed out of his fist between his fingers. His other hand tapped relentlessly against the cabinet's top. A quiet, understated rhythm that he lost control of for a second. A small crack soundlessly splintered into the wood. He stopped.

'Are you ready?' Chi-Chi asked, pacing in the main hall. She glanced at Rush. He nodded. 'What about you all?'

Yamcha, Retu, and Suno stood assembled together, wearing orange, brown, and snow blue gis respectively. 'We're ready,' Suno said, pressing her fist into her hand.

At the hall's entrance Ox-King stood in the doorway, hands twisting against his waist, betraying how nervous he felt. 'Please be careful, dear. All of you.'

'We've fought and won more hopeless battles before,' Yamcha said with a smile. 'Can't see why this one will go any worse, especially with Rush on our side.'

'We'll all do our best,' Rush added, standing. 'If we fight united, Raditz doesn't stand a chance.'

'And we won't lose him this time,' Chi-Chi added. 'He won't escape. Understood? He's the biggest threat to this planet right now.'

'Though Gero is still lurking out there,' Retu cautioned. 'Really… we shouldn't forget that we've been isolated here for a few days while recuperating. Our knowledge as to the state of the world right now is limited.'

Chi-Chi turned for a moment, clearly scanning with her ki. 'Even if we can't sense Gero and his androids… we haven't felt anyone else raise their power level, either.' She faced them, face steeled. 'Raditz picked a bad day to show himself.'

'On that topic.' Rush stood and produced a pouch. 'I expect I'll be fighting in the frontlines against Rush,' he said. 'I don't want the senzus to be destroyed by a stray energy blast.'

Rush handed the bag to Chi-Chi. 'Keep them safe.'

She nodded. 'Of course.'

'So?' Suno crossed her arms. 'Are we ready?'

Various nods started the procession towards the front gate. Its old hinges swung open, letting sheer sunlight pour into the room, and one by one they stepped outside.

'Wait.' Yamcha grabbed Chi-Chi by her arm. They were the last inside. Sensing the air, Ox-King excused himself from the room.

She frowned. 'What?'

'It's… odd,' Yamcha spoke, as if concluding what he was presently saying as he said it. 'You haven't mentioned him at all these past few days.'

'Who?'

'Gohan.'

Something tugged down on Chi-Chi's mouth. 'Oh.'

'Shouldn't we be looking for him?' Yamcha asked, keeping his voice gentle. 'I know Raditz is a threat, and I agreed that keeping a low profile these past few days was the right move, but now that we're leaving…'

His words slowed as he studied Chi-Chi's face. Anxiety and… anger, Yamcha decided, woven together and moving as one. He held back his next question. Are you not concerned about him?

'I'm focusing on Raditz,' Chi-Chi said, tone even. 'We're all focusing on Raditz. Don't you remember what happened last time? How he leveled West City's downtown and nearly killed Gohan? A baby? And now that he's even stronger…'

'Stronger than we may be able to deal with,' Yamcha said sourly. 'Rush is likely going to be the only one of us who can fight Raditz head-on. The rest of us…' He shook his head. 'I don't know. I just think one of us should focus on finding Gohan, so that—'

'Yamcha,' Chi-Chi said sharply. 'What we're about to do… this fighting…I don't want him to know this life. It's nerve-wracking, dangerous, and can kill us at any time. We're his—' She tripped, failing, considering and accepting a word. 'We're his parents, Yamcha. We should be fighting so he doesn't have to.'

Yamcha's face widened. 'You said?...' He pressed his lips together. Something to remember later, when he was alone in battle, and feeling the weight on the world on his shoulders. Parent.

'That's what you're worried about?' Yamcha asked, clearing his mind. Him fighting?'

'At this level?' Chi-Chi said slowly. 'Against these people? Yes.'

Quiet chatter reached them through the door. The others outside were clearly waiting. Yamcha and Chi-Chi stayed conjoined, his arm on her wrist, at peace with either direction. Together, or apart, while he waited for her to respond. She faced away from him, fingers twisting into her palm, and after what felt like an eternity turned and settled into his arms.

'Worried,' Chi-Chi muttered. 'I'm just worried.'

'We all are.' Yamcha closed his eyes and breathed in deep. 'So… after Raditz?... Gero?...'

'We find Gohan and take him somewhere nice. A trip, maybe.'

'South, north? East, west?'

'Maybe even space,' she said, smiling. 'Somewhere nice.'

'Somewhere nice,' Yamcha repeated. 'Alright. That'll get me through the day.'

0o0o0

It was a warm morning, bright and sunny, and visible enough in the mountain valley. He hadn't chosen this place for its aesthetics, but he had to admit there was a certain beauty present befitting a last stand. There were no other places to escape to. The valley mimed his life by tapering through an old and overgrown forest, dead wood ripe for a fire to burn it all down, towards the small bunker inlaid in the large, craggy hills ending the run of funneled land. Beyond these hills there was nothing for him. No last refuge or workshop to labor at. Even within this valley there was truly nothing left for him to do.

Gero was sitting in a chair outside his bunker, watching the sky and waiting for them to arrive. He had done his best with the last day of peace he had. Countermeasures prepared. Chess pieces manipulated. He could not face all his enemies at once. That much was made clear in the last battle.

He examined where the new synthetic flesh, brighter and more life-bearing, bordered the older, paler skin. His new hands were a monument to overconfidence and cockiness. So he would fight whoever showed up here, and believe he had done enough.

20 stood at his side, its metal frame rigid in the morning air, waiting. The work he had wanted to achieve had always eluded him. He sat here not as the being he wanted, but as the being he was forced to be. Time and age had both conspired, as they did now. Even with his biological body discarded, he knew his brain would not last forever in a jar. From time to time he became aware that his brain had aged just as perniciously as his cast-off body. Genius eluded him more often. Frustration filled the gaps. He was always running out of time.

The world in which he would have encompassed the Earth in his hands, in a body and being immune to the ravages and constraints of the sand of the ages passing through narrow glass, in which he could have molded society as necessary to prevent the Saiyans or any other malefactor from ever threatening his grasp on this planet, the mission of the Red Ribbon Army and civil domination carried on by the last soldier, had long surpassed his grasp. There was not much else to do except persist and make use of what was left in his lap.

Despite the circumstances, as Gero sat, waiting, he smiled.

0o0o0

'She's… she's gone.' Gohan held the figurine in his hand, as if he couldn't understand that the little ox took up space and existed between his probing fingers. They were in a field but he wasn't paying attention. He looked up. 'Mom's gone?'

He was sitting right beside him but Mr. Yamcha looked so different. Distant, like the stars. A part of him shone like Sirus in the night sky. All Gohan could see on those cloudless nights were the small dots of light. Enough to tell him something was out there, millions and millions of miles out, even if the details were lost in transit.

Mr. Yamcha didn't look at him. '...Are you okay, Gohan?'

'I don't understand. What happened to Mom?'

It was more than that the details were lost. Gohan watched Mr. Yamcha stand and struggle to turn as his arms bent and wanted to clutch at something near his chest. From the Earth, blanketed by clouds and atmosphere and stellar millions of miles of distance, Gohan would never get to see those stars with his own eyes and understand what they are. How they're different. At least — not now, and not soon.

Mr. Yamcha wrested away from whatever vision plagued him and bent down. The ruin and tears lined his face and wretched circles around his eyes. Old blood, bruises, and healing cuts stretched past what they could take. Blood tinged his tears. 'Gohan — you need to understand. We're going to be okay. Even if the people we love —' his voice halted. '-even if, we'll survive. We all — we all just need time.' Mr. Yamcha stood and faced away again like the stars. 'The Saiyans are gone now. They can't hurt us anymore. Now…we all just need… time.'

Time, Gohan wondered. All we needed was time—

Fire and flames spun into the vision, and Yamcha pulled apart, circling towards a huge bonfire. In the background buildings, skyscrapers, small little homes went up in a cloud of ash and force. 'So sad,' Yamcha whispered, as if he was right beside him and not being claimed by an inferno. 'Buying time. West City was a beautiful place. But time. We always need more time—'

With a suffocated yelp Traveler shot up, sweat clinging to his body. Soundless gasps plunged in and out of his lungs, chilling his body, making him shake and his teeth chatter. The waves came with the pain of memory and fear so taught that his hands started to bleed where his nails bit into his skin. Then it passed. Like them all, this too passed.

Out of the cave, Traveler rose into the sunlight and fastened his uniform. His fingers traced every square patch of differently colored clothing, tens of gis cut and woven into his own, feeling the varied fabric and threads. He could feel it on the horizon — the ki. The unfinished business. He'd failed once already to secure Raditz. He wouldn't again.

He couldn't. He couldn't face Mom again.

Everyone… Please wait a little bit longer. It's nearly in my grasp… I won't need to bargain for time ever again...

0o0o0

Traveling at high-speed Kakarot had to force out his arm from his slipstream to get his father's attention. 'There!' He said, pointing to a clearing in the forest distantly below them. 'I think it's there!'

They dropped quickly, Bardock and Raditz grunting as they landed harshly a few seconds after Kakarot. While his brother and father struggled to keep upright, mostly due to his brother's come-and-go will to stand, Kakarot dashed to the treeline, scanning, spinning… slowing. He stopped his frantic dashing near a dip in the land. He crouched, ran his hands over the pressed grass. Something heavy had laid here not too long ago. Something that was now long gone.

The clearing was empty — emptied, Kakarot realized.

'Damn,' he spat, turning back. 'They've moved—'

The sentence froze in his throat, like shards of ice needling his neck. Bardock and Raditz couldn't see. They were just struggling to stay upright. They couldn't know of the figure floating silently in the air not too far behind.

'Dad?' Kakarot forced out his throat.

Bardock perked up, sensing something outside his field of view. He opened his mouth —

'DODGE!'

His son's command pushed him away from a struggling, staggering Raditz, rolling in a frantic jumble of limbs, stopping half-upright before a massive shockwave erupted and shattered the land. Both him and Kakarot tumbled and twisted away, auras burning as bright as possible, as tendrils of earth and plumes of dirt and then dust pushed past their guarded bodies. Chaos and carnage unbound. They breathed, waiting for the area to clear.

A final pulse of energy restored visibility to the clearing. What had been a meadow was now a crater.

Like a tether yanking on both of them, the figure's gaze landed on them as he rose into the air again, body tensed and multicolored gi lit by the golden aura raging around him. As Raditz struggled on all limbs, coughing and retching into the dirt below, Traveler stared at them. 'You two. I know who you are. So I won't say this again.' His teal pupils shrunk to specks. 'Don't interfere.'

A/N: This chapter could have been longer but I felt it best to have one more "setting-the-pieces" part before we hit the run of insanity coming up. Chapter 101 is going to have some flashy action, just you wait!

Reviews:

(to be updated tomorrow! Rushing and didn't get the time to write review responses! But know that I appreciate each and every one left on this story!)

One of my favorite stories on this site introduced a special "bonus scene" into its chapters towards the end of its run. I've been thinking about all the "off-screen" events I'd really like to depict one day, but would probably be awkward fitting into the story and couldn't justify being a story on its own. In that vein, though I'm not sure I'd like to write out the full event, I'm leaving a little snippet of a particularly cool scene in this story that may get further snippets down the road.

Bonus Scene:

Age 761, Earth, timeline "A"

The air was thick and choked with sand as the wind picked up. From their perch above the future battlefield, Turles and Nappa gazed down as their leader trudged across the ground, red cape whipping in the air behind him.

Turles made no effort to hide his sigh as he kicked a rock off the ledge. 'Saiyan traditions never made sense to me,' he grumbled. 'Why bother talking to weaklings?'

'Vegeta wants them to surrender before the battle,' Nappa said, his face curling into a sick grin. 'Embarrass them utterly before he executes the runaways. There is no greater shame to inflict on your enemies.'

'Whatever.'

Closer to the ground, Vegeta stopped ten paces away from the negotiator. A much shorter being than him. Perhaps the earthlings meant to insult him.

'I care nothing for what you are going to say,' Vegeta began, crossing his arms. 'I will only accept your unconditional surrender and the delivery of your traitorous warriors into my possession. Any less will mean I take what is mine by force.'

To Vegeta's surprise, the negotiator chuckled. 'You must not know humans that well,' Krillin said, still humored. 'We'd never accept that.'

'Most say that, but most come to see the folly of their mistake after a few of your kind have died,' Vegeta said in a low voice. 'In most cases, a few being a few million.'

'There are more than ten of us,' Krillin said, projecting confidence. Confidence that he in truth didn't feel. 'And there's only three of you. This is a fight you can avoid.'

'No — this is a fight you can avoid,' Vegeta snarled. 'I wouldn't even be bothering with such discussion if not for the fact that the crimes of those you shelter are clear and severe enough to warrant their return to us.'

'You were going to kill them.'

'They never finished their contracts.' Vegeta swept his hand across the sky. 'There are still hundreds of planets left for them to destroy. Now,' Vegeta unconsciously pressed his hand over the three marks on the breastplate, 'more than ever, they are useful to us.'

'The answer is no.'

'A few million, then,' Vegeta decided. He tipped his head back towards his allies. 'Nappa! Turles!' He barked. 'Prepare to—'

The sound of air parting snapped Vegeta's head back forward, just in time to avoid a red-sheathed fist cutting towards him. He dodged a series of further quick strikes from Krillin, each one faster and more intense in color, before the Saiyan planted his feet and grabbed both of the human's thrown fists in rapid succession. 'Brave, aren't you?'

Energy suddenly whipped up around Krillin, exploding sand into the air and sending Vegeta's cape flat backward. 'More like stupid!' Krillin roared, as his red-cloaked head snapped upward and crashed front-to-front with Vegeta. Bone echoed through the desert and jaws snapped as both staggered back, blood now trickling down from faces, each one's vision cluttered with painful spots.

Vegeta shook off his disorientation first, but as he surged forward to strike, his kick cut through and dug into the sand as Krillin's afterimage faded and the real warrior rapidly backed away. In a band of auras flitting through the sky, Vegeta saw the Earthlings charge towards him in a line.

'All at once! Perfect!' With a deep breath Vegeta threw out his arms and shot his purple aura high into the sky. 'Come at me!'