"Sir, there's about ten minutes left before the rest start waking up. We've contained the cores and transported them to a safe area for decontamination, and we've cleaned up the area. The ship is quite safe now." Hank reported.
"Thanks Hank, we'll be right down. Have your staff clear out, some of these guys may not understand what is going on, and Saiyans aren't known for their gentility when they first wake up." Trunks smiled into his cell phone.
Celritri smirked over the last few bites of her meal. "You can say that again!"
Trunks had just concluded her son's life up to the point that Captain Ginyu became a frog. Her son's journey so far was nothing short of fantastic. She was dying to hear even more, but it was time they went back to the hangar.
Trunks stood up and everyone followed him out into the corridor.
Celritri was content on just listening to the people talk as they strolled back to her dilapidated ship; that is to say, listen to her family talk. She felt a momentary but deep sorrow knowing that the rest of her people would not wake up to their own family members. Frieza had destroyed them all but just a handful, only fortune had decreed that her own family members survived. Her people would start anew.
But it was still a wonder to her. She knew that Saiyans was not the evil people that Frieza had turned them into during the planet trade, but she was also aware that Frieza had not been totally responsible for the cruelties of their hearts. But these Saiyans, even Vegeta's own son, seemed… well… almost disgustingly gentle. She got the distinct impression that her grandson (GRANDSON! ARGH!) wouldn't so much as muss a hair on a puppy's head, much less actually kick one. There was a part of her, a very Saiyan part, that wasn't happy about that. Celritri dropped back to walk beside Goten and Pan.
"You look like you have something on your mind, Celritri." Pan said. Pan was quite a bit faster on the uptake than her uncle.
"Yes, but I'm not sure how to approach it." Celritri admitted.
"Just shoot from the hip. We're all family here." Goten gave Celritri a wide goofy smile.
Celritri couldn't help but to feel a warmth rush through her, he was so much like Bardock.
"Very well then, but remember I'm not trying to be rude. I was just wondering, do you two consider yourselves Saiyan, or Human?" Celritri asked warily.
Trunks, leading the way, decided that the conversation was family business, even though he was dying to add his own perspective. He decided to stay out for the time being.
"That's a tough question grandmother." Goten's smile faded to a look of thoughtfulness. "We are both, but at the same time we are neither."
"Celritri, we've found out a few years ago that Saiyans and Humans are from the same original people. That's why we are genetically compatible. It was from this planet that Saiyans originally came from." Pan said.
"What? How is that possible?" Celritri looked surprised.
"It's a long story, but the reader's digest version was that our ancient ancestors displeased The Ultimate Kai because we could not live in peace. So he split our people up. He took away the tails and the powers of what we now call the humans, and sent the rest of us to wander space like nomads. We eventually landed on Plantsei, which we conquered and renamed Vegetasei.
"I see… That's nothing short of Amazing. So this planet is the original Saiyia? The planet of our legends?" Celritri asked.
"Yes, it is." Goten said.
"Why haven't you taken it back for our people?" Celritri looked a bit angry.
"Try to understand Celritri… These are our people." Pan said soothingly.
Celritri thought a few seconds, letting that sink in. "So you consider yourselves human?"
"When I think about my powers and abilities; when I think about my fighting spirit and all the things that dad and Gohan taught me about being a great fighter; when I think about all the things dad taught me about being a Saiyan warrior; when I think about everything I learned from Vegeta about my heritage and my Saiyan pride, then I consider myself to be Saiyan. When I think about what I have learned about love, and compassion for others weaker than myself; when I think about my mom and the values she worked desperately to instill in all of us; when I think about my father's life here on Earth, then I consider myself human." Goten said at last. "That is not such an easy question to answer."
Pan looked at her uncle. That was by far one of the more intelligent things that she had ever heard him say.
"Okay, I can accept that. Are you warriors?" Celritri asked.
"When we need to be. I admit that I don't enjoy fighting as much as father, or even Pan here." Goten winked at his niece.
It was no secret that Pan still enjoyed a good scrap now an again. She turned to her grandmother.
"You want to spar later?" Pan asked.
Celritri smiled widely. "You bet!" She was happy to see some evidence of Saiyan blood, the blood of herself and Bardock, still flowed through their veins. "I would love to spar with both of you."
"You got it!" Goten grinned.
They had entered the far end of the hangar and were walking toward the run-down vessel. As Trunks ordered, the technicians and most of the medical staff had cleared out to a safe distance from the ship.
Hank, Capsule Corporation's Chief Engineer, ran up to Trunks.
"Sir! We've all cleared out, everyone except Dr. Morai. He… well… he refused to leave. He said that they were his patients, and he would continue to monitor them no matter how dangerous they were.
"Dr. Morai has always been a stubborn man." Trunks smirked. "I guess that's why I like him so much."
Hank smiled. "Me too."
"Alright then, you say the area is secure, no danger from radiation?" Trunks asked.
"No sir, we just finished performing another sweep with the Geiger Counters just to make sure. Clean as a whistle." Hank said proudly.
"Good, let me handle Dr. Morai then. Take everyone else out of the hangar and await further orders." Trunks ordered.
"Right away sir!" Hanks scurried off to fulfill his bosses' wishes.
Trunks crossed the rest of the hangar and reached the ship with his friends in tow. He entered through the hatch with Celritri asking everyone else to remain outside. "Let's not startle them with too many people at first."
Trunks and Celritri made their way to the sleeping cabin where they spied Dr. Morai running from chamber to chamber checking the various tell tales. The chambers were showing signs of life, people were breathing normally, and some were even beginning to stir.
"How's it going Doctor?" Trunks asked.
"Good. The Saiyans are all coming around; their vital signs are all approaching what is normal for Saiyans. As for the Avian and the Amphibian persons, I just don't know what is normal for their species. " Doctor Morai said. "They seem alright though."
Celritri gave their vital signs a quick look. "That is about normal for them." She said.
"Okay, Dr. Morai, I need you to leave now. I don't want to shock these guys with too many faces right off the bat. Saiyans can sometimes attack what they don't understand." Trunks said.
"Not unlike we humans." Dr. Morai smiled.
Trunks smirked. "Yeah, but humans don't blow away major population centers over it."
"Are you sure about that?" Dr. Morai frowned.
"I guess your right, now that I think about it." Trunks frowned as well.
"Okay, on your order I'll go, but I have put together a medical team just in case you need it, we'll be standing by." Dr. Morai said.
"Very good." Trunks said as the doctor left. Trunks turned to find Celritri standing over one of the sleep chambers.
"Looks like Pumkita is going to wake first." Celritri said. "That seems appropriate, she's a distant cousin of yours."
Trunks walked over and looked into the chamber. He saw a girl, late 20's, early 30's by the look of her. She was a lean, rawboned girl that looked like her life had been nothing but endless toil up to that point. As he looked at her face, Pumkita's eyes flew open.
Pumkita's eyes focused first on Trunk's aged face. A spark of frowning recognition flickered across her features, then confusion. Trunks smiled widely.
"It's okay, you're among friends." Trunks said. "No harm will come to you."
Celritri leaned over the chamber. "Did you sleep well my friend?"
Pumkita's eyes focused on Celritri's face and recognized her immediately; she visibly relaxed.
Celritri reached over and pushed the necessary buttons to open up the chamber.
"Take it slow Pumkita, your long sleep has made your muscles stiff. Don't try to just hop out of there." Celritri warned.
Pumkita tried some cautious movements. "Don't worry mistress, I'm not going anywhere for the moment." Pumkita lay back down and began a serious of isometric stretches.
Over the course of the next 30 minutes, Trunks and Celritri went from chamber to chamber reassuring everyone that they were in safe hands. Before lone, all the chambers were open and numerous people had taken their first tentative steps.
After everyone was awake, Trunks stepped up to the front of the chamber.
"Alright everyone. My name is Trunks. I want to stress once again that you are among friends, and that we mean you no harm. Please be warned that any attempt to harm this world or her people will be stopped." Trunks warned.
One of the Saiyan males limped up toward the front. "Look, we only take orders from Celritri! Who are you anyway?"
"Cukrine! You should have far more respect for the son of Prince Vegeta!" Celritri said.
"Whose word do we have for that?" Cukrine looked extremely skeptical.
"My mate, Bardock, told me." Celritri said.
"Look, Celritri, you know that I would follow you into hell if I had to, but you weren't the only one looking out of a porthole the day Vegetasei was destroyed. I seen Bardock get fried, many of us here did." Cukrine said.
Celritri looked around the room, many of the women, and the other men, assembled were silent and looked to be concentrating elsewhere.
"Tell me Cukrine, were you mated when Vegetasei blew up?" Celritri asked.
Cukrine looked to the floor. "No, there was a woman, but we didn't get the chance."
"Then you may not know that the others here have just discovered that their mate bonds are still intact." Celritri said. "I'd know that look anywhere."
"What? How is that possible?" Cukrine looked around at the others.
Then another Saiyan woman spoke in a shaky voice. "Mistress! D-Did you know a-about this?"
"About what, Rubaria?" Celritri answered.
"Vegetasei! Vegetasei has been completely restored, as well as all of our people!"
Celritri looked sharply at Trunks. "Is that true?"
"Yeah, sorry for not telling you, but Bardock wanted to surprise you with it." Trunks said sheepishly. "I guess the cat is out of the bag now."
"How is that possible?" Pumpkita asked.
"It is due, in large part, to Kakkarot." Trunks said using Goku's Saiyan name.
"He developed a relationship with the Gods, I suppose. When a grave threat was about to destroy the universe, The Ultimate Kai himself helped us out. In the end, he had not only restored the entire Saiyan race, and trained them up, but he also restored Vegetasei as it was before that fiend Frieza destroyed it." Trunks explained.
At the mention of Frieza, all the Saiyans looked vicious.
"Where is Frieza?" Cukrine asked nastily.
"Dead." Celritri answered proudly. "My son went Super Saiyan and defeated him!"
Trunks smiled at the reaction.
"Another Super Saiyan! How is that possible?" Many were murmuring this same sentiment.
"Listen everyone! Forget what you've been told about being a Super Saiyan. We have come to find out that with the right training and motivation, any Saiyan can achieve Super Saiyan, and beyond!" Trunks said. "I was a Super Saiyan shortly after my sixth birthday."
"What? That's simply not possible!" Cukrine said above the din of the others. "What's beyond a Super Saiyan?"
"If you are all able, then come out into the hangar and I'll demonstrate." Trunks smirked.
"Well, he certainly looks like a member of the House of Vegeta." Pumkita commented as Trunks and Celritri left the ship, followed by the still limping refugees.
"Okay, is everyone out?" Trunks looked around doing a quick head count. "Okay, good. Everyone put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you. Celritri, put your hand on Goten's shoulder. Okay, good!"
Trunks put his hand on Celritri's shoulder. The next thing everyone knew, they were all standing in what appeared to be a bombed out, war torn piece of land, mostly flat with gentle hillocks here and their and some mountains about 500 yards away.
Trunks turned to his grandchildren and spoke in a low voice. "Hanes, you and Lindera go up and spar. Start out as normal, and when I say, go super. Oh, and no energy attacks, understand?"
Both children smirked and nodded. Then took off into the sky. They bowed to each other, and then began.
It was apparent within the first few seconds that these children were not normal Saiyan warriors. None of the newly awakened warriors could keep up with their movements. The Saiyans desperately tried to watch the fight with their mouths hanging open. A look of utter shock stole across their faces.
"Okay guys, turn it up a level." Trunks asked.
"You got it grandpa!" Lindera called out as both of the kids stopped. Clenching their fists at their sides, they immediately made the transformation to Super Saiyans.
Jaws snapped shut in surprised, then dropped even lower as the pre-teen titans started sparing again.
The only thing that they could see was when pieces of the countryside would suddenly explode. A hill there, then a cliff face half a mile away, then back to their left the water of a small lake suddenly exploded into a huge fountain. They were completely untraceable by the assembled Saiyans.
"Okay! Stop!" Trunks yelled. Half an instant later the twins appeared above Trunks.
"Now what grandpa?" Hanes asked.
"Now go to your highest level, and be careful!" Trunks warned.
"You got it!" Lindera exclaimed, happy to be able to show off her powers.
The twin's hands clenched at their sides again. "We only just achieved this level the other day!" Hanes bragged as he started his transformation.
After the screaming stopped, Hanes and Lindera faced each other in Super Saiyan Level Two form.
"Okay, just for reference for those of you that rely on scouters, Super Saiyan level one is a power level from about four million, to about twelve million or so. Super Saiyan Two can go to thirty-five million or so." Trunks said giving Goten a wink and flying up into the air, Goten followed by his side.
"And at Super Saiyan Level Three, you can achieve powers of one-hundred and fifty million! " Both Goten and Trunks clenched their fists and started screaming. Seconds later they both appeared as Super Saiyan Threes.
Many of the Saiyans sat down hard, looking up. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Then Trunks spoke again. "Bra, Pan, will you join us?"
Bra and Pan flew up; they knew what was coming next.
"The next level is Super Saiyan Four. It's a huge increase over the third level topping out at close to a billion." Trunks smirked.
"A-A b-b-billion!?!?!" Celritri thought out loud. "How can that be?"
There, before her eyes, the four of them transformed. Their upper bodies and arms were covered in fur and their hair turned black again. Pan and Bra were beautiful as the Earth trembled slightly because of their power.
"Trunks, do you think it's wise to go further? These guys look like they've taken in about as much as they can handle for one day." Pan said wisely. "We don't want to overload them so soon. It looks like a few of them are already close to shock."
Trunks looked at his fellow Saiyans. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Let's call it a day for the demonstration then."
Trunks, Goten, Pan, and Bra flew down to land in front of the assembled refugees.
"Any questions?" Trunks said. All the Saiyans that were still standing up, fell over anime style.
After a few minutes, most of them had recovered and were asking a lot of questions.
"Okay then, let's all go in and get comfortable and we'll serve you all something to eat. Then I will take your questions. How's that?" Trunks asked.
Everyone agreed, especially to the food.
"Bra, would you please take our guests into the main conference room? I will be there momentarily." Trunks asked.
Bra cocked an eyebrow. "What are you planning brother?"
"Don't you think it's phenomenally stupid for Bardock and the others to spend the next three days in space?" Trunks smirked.
Bra smiled. "Yeah, now that you mention it, it does."
Trunks disappeared.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gohan's head snapped up from the sensor console, then he smiled. "We're about to have some company."
No sooner than Bardock could turn around when the king's son appeared in the middle of the pilothouse.
"Hey Trunks! Long time no see!" Gohan said embracing his old friend. "What brings you out here?"
"Nice to see you Gohan! Well Bardock, I sense a certain impatience with your mate. I figured I could get you to Earth much faster, it that's alright?" Trunks asked.
"Sure!" Bardock jumped at the chance of being reunited with his mate two and a half days ahead of schedule."
"Okay, bring us to a full stop, do you know how hard it is teleporting to a vessel this size while it's in hyperspace? I thought I missed for a second!" Trunks chuckled.
Bardock disengaged the hyperdrive and brought the ship to a full stop.
"By the way Bardock, your surprise got spoiled." Trunks said.
"I know. She gave me hell about it a few minutes ago." Bardock frowned.
"Oh... Sorry about that." Trunks said with a smirk.
"Not your fault." Bardock said dismissively.
"Everyone ready?" Trunks said placing his hands on the ship's walls and ceiling.
The ship and everyone aboard disappeared.
