Capsule Corp Compound
December 27, A762
"Man, so three ships in one day? What are the chances?" Yamcha asked as everyone began to assemble in the yard to welcome the warriors home.
"Higher than you might think," Bulma said, "Considering they all left the same planet at the same time, with similar engine power."
"Oh, yeah, I didn't think of it that way."
The first ship to land was the longer, multi-room ship that Goku's family had left in. When it landed, the ramp struck the ground and the door opened. It wasn't all the way open when Brussa shot out of the ship and tackled Meys to the ground.
"MEYS! You're alive! I can't believe it, you're alive again!" Brussa began to squeeze.
"ACK! Brussa-it's-good to see...You too...Wow you...Got strong...Let me...Go…" Meys tried to push her off, but Brussa's grip was legendary.
"Oh, yeah, I kept your knife. I was gonna use it to stab Freeza but I never got close enough," Brussa stuffed the knife into Meys's pocket.
"Brussa, if you don't let him go, you'll strangle him," Yamcha said. Brussa took the hint, hopped off Meys, and hugged Yamcha.
"Whoop! Hey, Brussa, it's good to see you, too," Yamcha laughed. Puar nestled into Brussa's hair, hugging her. Brussa reached up with another hand and stroked Puar.
"You guys are alive!" she sniffed, "The Dragon Balls really worked!"
"And what am I, salt water?" Piccolo asked.
"YEAH! I mean, no. I mean, guys, you should have SEEN Piccolo, he went right up to Freeza and was like 'Oh no you don't!' and was like POW and Freeza was like AUGH and Piccolo was like HAH and then Freeza-" Brussa began to float in place, imitating the battle.
"We know, Brussa, we were watching from King Kai's planet," Yamcha said.
"Oh. Well, it was awesome," Brussa said. Chi Chi and Gohans stepped off the ship, and Brussa flew over to pick up Gohan and brought him over to Yamcha and Brussa, and she began to talk about how strong they'd all gotten, how brave Gohan was, and Goku becoming the Super Saiyan.
Chi Chi smiled at her sister-in-law and Gohan. Chi Chi had trained and fought so hard to get this point, and now, they were going to have peace. Her family had fought for that peace. She was looking forward to going back home, back to casual training and keeping their home, and not worrying about alien tyrants or demons anymore.
"Hey, Chi Chi," Bulma said, gesturing for a hug. Chi Chi obliged.
"Oh, it's so good to see you again. We missed each other on Namek!" Bulma said.
"Yeah. Where'd you go?" Chi Chi asked.
"We went to find somewhere else to hide before the Ginyu Force arrived. Then Porunga asked if I wanted to go to Earth, and I accepted," Bulma said.
"Then we missed each other by minutes," Chi Chi said, "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"You, too! By the way, I want you to meet my sister, Tights!" Bulma pulled her over to Tights.
"The Princess Warrior Champion of Space!" Tights gestured to Chi Chi, who laughed.
"I don't know about that!"
Piccolo, meanwhile, was surrounded by Namekians, who were bombarding him with thanks and greetings. Piccolo kept insisting he wanted space, but a part of him bound him to stay, and he felt that he knew all the Namekians. Kami couldn't help but snicker at Piccolo's discomfort and conflict about being surrounded by his people.
"Piccolo? My name is Cargo!" the boy Namekian floated up to Piccolo's eye level.
"Good for you, kid."
"Grand Elder Tsuno asked me to train to take Nail's place, so I'm staying on Earth to learn. Will you be my teacher?" Cargo asked. Piccolo's eyes widened, and he hesitated.
"Yeah. Sure, I'll teach you," Piccolo said, "But it won't be easy. I don't wait for slackers, all right? You'd better keep up!"
"I promise, I will!" Cargo vowed.
"Ready up everyone," Dr. Briefs said over a loudspeaker, "We've got the second ship incoming!"
Everyone looked to the sky. The spherical Capsule Corp vessel that Nappa and Tao had taken landed next to the larger vessel. Brussa bounced up and down in excitement, sensing her family aboard. The ramp lowered, and the door opened. Krillin was the first out of the ship, and he darted away from the ship.
"I'm done with you dirtbags!" Krillin growled.
"Oh we're the dirtbags, Mr. Won't-clean-his-shirt!" Tien shouted at him as he left the ship.
"You're one to talk. You'd think you wouldn't sweat so much with no hair to warm your body, but you left puddles everywhere! You didn't even clean it up!" Nappa snarled.
"I'm thoroughly done with all of you," Tao said, hoisting the sack of loot over his shoulder, "All of you, do you hear me?"
Tao stormed off into the building, seething, and demanding to see Dr. Briefs immediately. Gine and Raditz were the last to leave the ship. Raditz looked confused, while Gine was amused. Raditz was assaulted by a speeding Brussa, who jumped from Yamcha to Raditz, with Puar still clinging to her hair. Gine went in for the hug, as well. With Brussa still clinging to him, Raditz walked up to Meys.
"You couldn't have waited ten minutes for me and Kakarot? You had to try and face Vegeta yourself?" Raditz said. Meys shrugged.
"Pride makes a man do stupid things," Meys said.
"Sure enough."
"Wait, if that's everyone, who's on the third ship?" Bulma asked.
"Could it be Kakarot?" Brussa asked, flicking her tail.
"No, King Kai told me Kakarot wouldn't be back for another year," Raditz said.
"A YEAR? Goku's not going to be back for a YEAR?" Chi Chi shouted, "What's he DOING out there in space? I'm going right back and getting him!"
"Chi Chi, with his velocity and direction, you'd basically be trying to shoot a bullet with a bullet, and that's even if you knew where he currently is, which you don't," Bulma said.
Raditz nodded, "There's a lot of danger still out there, too. He may have killed Freeza, but it'll take weeks for news of his death to reach the rest of his Empire. If anything they'll be more agitated and looking for something to shoot. I hate to say it, but we may need to just let him come back on his own time."
"Darn you, Goku," Chi Chi muttered. Gine rest her hand on her daughter-in-law's shoulder to comfort her.
"Ugh! A year? Kakarot's too slow!" Brussa harrumphed, "Come on, Gohan, let's go try and be Super Saiyans!"
"Hold on," Brussa grabbed her daughter before she took off, "Someone else is coming, remember?"
"But it's not Kakarot! It can't be anyone important!" Brussa insisted.
"That's one of Freeza's ships!" a Namekian called out, pointing to the vessel approaching. While the Namekians were afraid of the approach of the vessel, the warriors of Earth did not seem to fear it.
"Don't worry. It's just Vegeta," Piccolo assured them. Sure enough, the vessel landed next to the other two, and the Prince stepped off the ramp, to the silent and tense welcome of those gathered. Vegeta crossed his arms and, prepared to say nothing, began making his way towards the main building.
"My friend!" Grand Elder Tsuno called out, "It is good to see you again!"
Vegeta turned to the Namekian, eyebrows raised, "Oh. You're alive."
"Of course,thanks to you and your warning. As you said, we are friends, are we not?" Tsuno chuckled, "It is good to see you again. Allow me to be the first to welcome you back to Earth."
Tsuno bowed slightly. Offput by the greeting, Vegeta returned the gesture, and looked around to everyone around him. Meys was the first to approach him. He drew his knife, and threw it into the ground. Vegeta looked down at it, pulled it out, and handed it back to Meys, handle first. When Meys took it, Vegeta didn't let go.
"That moustache still looks awful."
"Good thing it's not on your face, then."
"Yes, but you don't have to look at it."
Meys smirked, took the knife, and slid it back into its sheath, "Welcome to Earth, Vegeta."
When it was clear Vegeta wasn't going to slaughter anyone, the crowd began to break up. Piccolo took his new apprentice, Cargo, and found a quiet place for them to train. Despite Piccolo's objections, Krillin, who had no place but Kame House, joined them. Kami took Tien and Dende back to the Lookout, along with Tsuno. Moori began to find volunteers of Namekians who wanted to explore with him and his tribe. Only Yamcha remained behind, wanting to taste Gine's cooking, having heard stories from Meys.
The Saiyans, always hungry, stuck around Capsule Corp at least so Chi Chi and Gine could make dinner. Conflict between the two was resolved by having them cook in the main kitchen, meant for events rather than personal cooking.
"Human woman," Vegeta said to Bulma before she entered the mansion.
"Uh-uh. Absolutely not," Bulma said, turning on her heel, "Care to try again? This time using my name, which is 'Bulma'."
Vegeta took in a sharp breath, and said through his teeth, "Bulma. I require one of your spaceships."
"Why? You already have one."
"Nappa's had a gravity chamber in it. I need to train."
"Knock yourself, it's not going anywhere. But you'll have to share with all the other fighters, and Brussa doesn't like giving up her turn," Bulma said.
"I don't just need the gravity chamber. I need it because it's a ship, too. There's something I need to do, and I need to prepare ahead of time," Vegeta said.
"Is it 'Take over the Earth'? Because the answer is no."
"Earth woman-Ack, Bulma, it's a...Family matter."
"You're the last Noble of a dead race, what family matter could you possibly have left?"
"My brother is being kept in a prison. If I don't perform a rescue, they might execute him," Vegeta said, "I can't let that happen."
"Oh. That's...A pretty good reason," Bulma admitted, "Well, okay. But promise me, you'll at least stay the night. You look exhausted, and you probably haven't had a real meal since you came to Earth. You won't do your brother any good, exhausted and stressed out."
Vegeta crossed his arms, "Who is cooking?"
"Gine and Chi Chi."
Vegeta gave a harrumph, "I suppose I could humor her."
Bulma grinned, "All right. Come on, then."
When Bulma arrived with Vegeta in the dining room, conversation was already light, but it stopped when Vegeta arrived. Even Puar stopped begging for pets from Raditz and Meys, and ran to Yamcha. Tights, who'd been standing near Nappa, slipped into the next room. Vegeta had been in many life and death battles throughout his life and career, but this was absolutely the worst situation he'd ever been in.
The tension was broken when Gine and Chi Chi both entered the room, trying to fit through the door at the same time while not spilling the plates of appetizers they'd made. Chi Chi won the race, but only when Gine noticed Vegeta, and she backed off. Chi Chi, not noticing the tension, laid her plates on the table, and let out a satisfied, victorious 'Hmph!'
Bulma rested her hand on Chi Chi's shoulder, and Chi Chi then returned to reality, and realized what was going on. Meys broke the anxiety by pulling a chair, and gesturing for Vegeta to sit. Taking the relief, he did.
"Chi Chi, can you handle the rest of the meal?" Gine asked.
"Yes, of course. Bulma, could I get a hand?"
"Yeah," she said, following her out of the room.
"I'll help," Yamcha said, following them.
Vegeta held his hands together, and then looked around.
"We're missing four," Vegeta said.
"Just Shive," Nappa said, looking around. Vegeta shook his head.
"We were always missing some of ours. There were more of us. Shive knew, probably for years, about dozens of Saiyans captured and experimented upon and executed by Freeza. For years, I was so arrogant to not even look. Too cowardly to even hope. If I'd had Shive's drive, if I hadn't been such a fool, we'd have known. But now, we only have four missing. Shive, of course. But also Kakarot, who saved us all."
Nappa facepalmed, having forgotten him, "Sorry, yeah. Kakarot. I guess I'm still thinking of the old team."
"But also Turles, who was strong enough to survive that hell. And the one person who I knew of, the one person I should have cared about, my brother," Vegeta said. He straightened up in his chair.
"You've all shown me, time and again, what the Low Class can accomplish. You've all left me behind, in terms of power, and I've failed all of us, as your Prince. I am unworthy of the title. But I will be," Vegeta said, "I promise you."
"I've hurt all of us, too. Even you, Vegeta," Nappa said.
"We've all hurt each other, and ourselves. Earth is the second chance we don't deserve," Gine said, "Whatever happens, we face it together. Pride is more than dignity, and it's more than power. Meys taught us that."
Vegeta considered the appetizers laid on the table. He took one, and popped it in his mouth.
"Oh thank goodness, I was waiting for someone else to start," Brussa started piling food onto her plate and then stuffing her face, "Listen, Vegeta. You're a jerk. You've always been a jerk, and I hate you."
There was a pause, until Gine said, "...And?"
"...And what? He's a jerk, and I hate him," Brussa said. Gine rolled her eyes. Brussa let out a grunt, finished chewing, and swallowed, "So, um...Stop being a jerk, and I won't hate you? I don't know what you want me to say. You've treated my father like a lackey, my mother like a servant, and my brother like a nuisance. I know we're supposed to stay together, but you've made it really hard to stand with you, Vegeta."
Vegeta made a fist, fighting the surge of anger that rose up in him at the insolence, "I'll earn my place, Brussa."
She shrugged, popping a few more morsels into her mouth, "We'll see. I'm going to start by rescuing my brother, and bringing him here. His weakness is not an excuse for him to suffer, and leaving him to that is a slight against all of us."
"Then we're going with you," Gine said. Vegeta shook his head.
"Earth is a target. It needs you to defend it. I need to get strong, anyway, and I need to do my part. The only things I did on Namek was recover one Dragon Ball and kill Dodoria."
"Then you're going to need a training partner, and someone to watch your back," Meys said, and he pointed his thumb to himself, "Gine and her family may have roots, but I've spent the last couple months dead. I haven't punched anything since ending my training with King Kai, and I'm eager to get back into the action. So you aren't going alone, Vegeta."
"I've had enough of spaceships for a while," Nappa said, shaking his head.
"I'm with Meys," Yamcha said, coming in with another plate of food, "We've learned a lot with King Kai, and I'm eager for some action, too. Just so long as we're back before the preseason."
"You'll need a navigator," Tights said, having been eavesdropping from the other room.
"We don't need a liability hanging around with us, Earth Wo-Uh…" Vegeta said.
"Tights Briefs. I'm Bulma's older sister, and I've been travelling and adventuring with the Galactic Patrol for twenty-five years. I might not have Bulma's knack for science, but I can still build a spaceship with my eyes closed, and I'm a hell of a shot. You're not going to find a better pilot on Earth," Tights said. Meys grinned, but tried hiding it by stuffing his face.
"Sounds like you've got yourself a team, Vegeta," Yamcha patted him on the shoulder.
"Two Earthlings and a Saiyan I've killed once. I'm so filled with confidence," Vegeta grumbled.
