Here's chapter 2! It's a bit short but there's more to come!

Bulma

It had been a lot of years since Bulma had had such a long and nerve wracking day and she found herself fighting back another yawn.

It was well past midnight but her kitchen was still bustling: her mother, completely overjoyed at the prospect of such old friends staying the night, had wasted no time at all in preparing rooms for Master Roshi and Krillin along with his family, after they'd accepted Bulma's offer. Now her mother was happily preparing them a late dinner, Trunks and Marron having already been fed and put to bed. Vegeta, of course, was digging into the leftovers of the children's meal and would undoubtedly be hungry again by the time their dinner was served.

Bulma wasn't a fighter but she hated being out of the loop on what had happened, so she'd extended the offer of dinner and a bed to her friends, knowing that she'd be lucky to get even the vaguest details from her brooding husband.

Their stories certainly didn't disappoint.

She could tell that Krillin was ashamed of having fallen out of the ring so early in the fight, but it had certainly given him the best vantage point from which to observe.

As she'd listened to the fragmented comments, it hadn't been hard to notice a pattern: even with such high stakes and no mutually beneficial ending possible, their team and Universe Six had worked together a significant number of times throughout the tournament.

She'd seen the short, lanky saiyan talking to Vegeta at the baseball match, never mind their fight at the first tournament, and had seen the rivalry between the two teams. But it seemed that, bit by bit, those rivalries were turning into friendships - even under such dire circumstances.

Now she wanted more than just bits and pieces. Time to start digging.

"Were all the Universe Six fighters from last time there? What were their names again…?" She asked the leading question, hoping to get them talking.

"That's right," Master Roshi answered, taking another sip of his tea, "there was that big metal-man: Magetta, and the Winnie the Pooh lookalike… What was his name?" He directed the question at the ceiling, lips pursed in thought, before glancing askance at Krillin.

"Erm…" Krillin looked quickly to his wife, but 18 clearly had no intention of supplying an answer. With a sigh he took on a pensive expression. "You know, I think it was Botamo. Or something like that."

"Hmm. That sounds like it. He was the first of that team to fall out of bounds, " Master Roshi confirmed and Bulma nodded at the old man in encouragement. That matched up with what small bits and pieces they had already told her.

Master Roshi sipped at his tea again before continuing. "Then there was that trickster, Frost. And Hit, of course. That little saiyan was there, too. The one who calls Vegeta Shishō," the old man chuckled quietly to himself at the thought.

Bulma didn't miss the scowl on her husband's face at the mention of Cabba and did her best to suppress her smile. Vegeta had never been good at admitting when he didn't dislike someone – 'like' was a word she knew he'd never use. Probably time to move on from the young soldier before he interrupted the conversation and things got sidetracked.

"But that's just five. Didn't you say something about other saiyans?"

"Ooooooooh, yes!" Roshi cooed appreciatively. "Two hotties!"

Bulma knew she really shouldn't be surprised that there were saiyan women - it was only natural, after all - but she was. She was so used to saiyans being an almost extinct race and had thought of them for such a long time in the male sense, that it seemed strange. Master Roshi's typically pervy remarks barely even registered, curious as she was to know more.

"Really Master Roshi?" Krillin chuckled uncomfortably. "I kinda thought they were pretty scary… especially the taller one!"

18 raised an eyebrow at her husband, "She was powerful, but she wasn't the dangerous one of the two…" a moment's pause. "Well, unless you were Goku."

A quiet huff of laughter came from Vegeta's end of the table. There was a story there, Bulma could tell.

"She's right, you know." Master Roshi took over the story once more. "That Kale's transformation has truly terrifying power and she was almost indestructible. But, at first she completely lost control of her mind. It took her far too long to gain control of herself. She's got terrifying power, no doubt about it, but she's practically a rookie and a follower to boot.

"That girl needs a lot of help before she'll be a threat to a skilled fighter.

"But the other one - the skinny one - she's a different kind of fighter altogether! Their universe has only known about super saiyan for a couple of months, but she'd already perfected it and achieved the next level, too. It took her mere minutes of fighting with Goku to go on and master that. She's inexperienced compared to Goku or Vegeta but she's got a good head on her and instincts to match.

"Add to that the fact that that Kale girl does whatever she tells her and she's definitely the more dangerous of the saiyans we've met."

Krillin nodded thoughtfully.

"And you said earlier that her transformation was different? Kale's, I mean." Bulma asked, intrigued. Just how many saiyan transformations were there?

Krillin was still lost in thought and Roshi was digging into the meal Bunny had just placed in front of him, but 18 nodded sharply.

"It was unlike anything we've seen before." The blonde's voice was typically sharp. "She grew considerably in size and it was as if she was completely impervious to damage while in that state… She was like a different person after she transformed…"

"Hmm," Bulma murmured, thinking, definitely wanting to know more about these new saiyans but wanting to keep the conversation on the tournament rather than going off on tangents. . "But that's still only seven. What about the others?"

"Well… There was that little 'Doctor', whatever his name was. I never saw him do anything before he got knocked out. And there were two Namekians." Master Roshi took up the story once more, speaking between mouthfuls of food. "They were the last fighters for that universe. They were unbelievably strong for namekians and they fought proudly."

Bulma nodded thoughtfully and let the others get on with their meal. There was still so much more she didn't know and so many questions bouncing around in her head, but they deserved to eat in peace after everything they'd been through. And she needed to piece together what she'd learned and decide what her next questions should be.

She watched her husband, eating in his typical, saiyan way and thought that perhaps he'd come back the most changed of all of them.

"I have an idea…" Bulma said at last, "Whis did say that he and Beerus would be back in a couple of days… I think we should have them invite Universe Six for a party!"

Goku

Goku was tired. He really was. But since following Chichi back into the house and finally getting into bed, he hadn't been able to sleep at all.

His mind kept replaying the fights of the tournament; the kicks, the blows, the impacts; the anticipation; the excitement.

And the pleas of his wife asking him to give up the thing he loved most.

Instead of being comfortable, his bed was stuffy and too quiet, and try as he might, he just couldn't clear his head. Sleep, for once in his life, had abandoned him.

Caulifla

Caulifla had gotten drunk last night. Really drunk. Too drunk, her head complained as she cracked an eye to the glaring daylight.

She hadn't stopped after putting Kale to bed: it hadn't been hard to find some of her guys and they'd all been happy to buy, even if by then she hadn't felt like talking about the fights. They'd all heard what Cabba had said about the universe being erased and they were all just glad to still be alive. She couldn't blame them.

She was sure, too, that it hadn't just been alcohol they'd been celebrating with last night, but she really couldn't remember.

Rolling over, she pulled the duvet over her head, grateful for the darkness, unte the thought intruded that she really ought to check on Kale again. She didn't want to think about it - she wanted to go back to sleep - but the thought had made its way into her muddled head and it was stuck there now.

Kale… Kale was a special case. Caulifla considered Kale to be one of hers: not just a member of her gang, but one of the few that she thought of as hers, no matter what. The young woman had a core of steel but she had more than her fair share of issues. Issues that sometimes Caulifla wished she didn't have to deal with, but the thought of leaving Kale to deal on her own just wasn't one she could swallow.

Grabbing her phone and covering her eyes from the glare she knew it would make, Caulifla grumbled at her phone to send a voice message, glad of how well it recognised her commands even when hungover, and managed to record what she hoped was an intelligible question.

The response came quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine." Kale's voice was quiet but steady, more reassuring than the words themselves. "Are you?"

Good question.

Caulifla couldn't be bothered with an answer, instead letting herself fall back into sleep, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't feel quite so awful when she woke up.

Caulifla

Several hours later, sunlight shining directly onto her face, Caulifla woke to find she had more messages waiting for her. Another voicemail from Kale, a series of messages from her second and a message from Cabba.

She knew she hadn't given the Elite her number. Maybe her brother deserved a good wallop.

Groaning but feeling a little better, she started on Kale's message.

"I guess that answers that. Um, Chini messaged me a while ago saying he couldn't get hold of you and what should he do about the shipment from Julienne. It's sorted for now but you should probably check that what I've told him is right. What happened? There wasn't that much beer!"

Pressing the record button she spoke into the phone. "There wasn't enough beer. I went down to the bar. I got carried away." Remembering the rest of Kale's message she hit record again, "Whatever you told him to do is fine. It's his job to sort it out, not yours and he knows it."

Stripping off as she entered the bathroom, she read through Chini's messages. Typical stuff. The man was capable, no doubt about it, but every now and then, he'd ask dumb questions. He'd have been her third, rather than second, had Kale been up to handling the pressure, and he knew it. That was why he'd deferred to Kale, despite her lower rank. She'd have to talk to him about that. He could be second and do it properly, or he could not. No in-betweens.

She was about to put the phone down and get into the shower when she saw Cabba's message.

Champa wants to see the three of us this afternoon

She looked at the time. It was already afternoon. Her head was still pounding and this wasn't helping.

What's that mean? She shot back, glad to see he was online already.

She'd finished cleaning her teeth before she got a response. Still waiting to get in the shower.

Any time between 4 & 5

Next came a location. The Elite's training centre.

Great

She really hoped he could read the sarcasm in that one word.

Thanks for reading! I know not much happened this chapter, I'm just trying to set the scene and start moving the characters into position for the following chapters.

Toodles!