Yes, I know...I know...it's a couple days late...*everyone facefaults at the absurdity of Gie-chan's statement* What? I said by the 4th...and it's the 6th....a couple days...plus a handful of months...
I won't make excuses for why I haven't posted in eons, but I just haven't. I know I've lost a zillion readers, and when people see this on the new chapters page, they're just gonna skip over it, but that's okay. It's my fault for being a lazy @ss, and that's my punishment.
I just wanna thank a couple readers for
their wonderful reviews over the past months.
Vixen--she's been on my case for
awhile now--and she made a review just to tell me that I was late!
*grin* Gotta love the persistent ones.
Sunder the Gold--gotta
say that she/he wrote one *awesome* review, summimg up why the main characters,
ie: Ranma, Akane, Vejiita, have changed from the original Takahashi/Toriyama
'verse into my own makings. If you haven't read it, go do so.
It's like the words were taken directly from my mind. Talk about
hittin' the nail on the head...thank you *very* much!
Shinji Ikari-ah,
can't forget about my worst public naysayer. Don't worry folks, I
bawled him out in a long and lengthy email on why flaming the phantasmagoric
7th letter is A Bad Thing. *evil grin*
And, I'd also like to point out something that really upset me a few months ago. An author, who I will not name, since everything is better now, plagiarized Vejiita & Bulma's lemon scene from chapter 8. The only changes that were made were to the names, and a few saiya-jiin/bonding points that would have made no sense in her story. I was *very* upset with this action--it completely threw me for a loop when I was reading the story--"Boy, this sounds sooo familiar..."--and two of my friends, Selenity Jade & Mia Skywalker were absolutely breathtaking in their vengence against the offender. I once again thank them for coming to my aid in that matter. The story has been changed, on-site and off-site, so there's nothin' to worry about anymore. Besides being illegal, plagiarism is just wrong, people!!!
*cough* Okies, I think I'm done with the soapbox...*grin* Whelp, here's the *first* part of Chapter 31 for you--I think there will be three parts--I have the second just about done,and the third is mapped out. I was gonna wait and post it as one *hell* of a chapter, but I figgered you waited long enough.
Thanks for stickin' by me, everyone!
Gie-chan
A Tail To Remember
By: Gie (phowah@cs.com)
A Tail To Remember
Chapter Thirty-One: A Meeting of
Minds; part 1
******
~~Outside the U.N. Building, New York City~~
A camera crew was set up on the bottom
few steps, and a smartly
dressed woman was talking into a camera.
"This is Susie Felle, coming to you
live right outside the United Nations Building
where the 68th session of the
UN Council has just started. President
Shamar has just called everyone to
order. Now, allow me to direct you
to a front-row seat for hopefully a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of this meeting
of the greatest leaders of
our planet. The biggest topic of the
day is of course, the Giant Bees, or
"Hachi" as we found out from an unexpected
source. Bulma Briefs, heir to
the large conglomerate Capsule Corporation,
announced last week that she
will be bringing with her, along with the
much-talked-about vigilantes, the 'Z
Warriors', highly anticipated information
on the invaders. How she knows
about them when all of the world's governments
are completely in the dark,
hopefully we will find out today in this
information-filled, if not
history-making, day."
~~Inside the U.N. Building~~
A sharply-dressed man, blond hair parted
down the middle to reveal
brightly flashing blue eyes, stood in the
center of the half-circular dais. He
pounded a gavel on the block in front of
him, trying to bring everyone's
attention to him. "This special meeting
of the 68th session of the United
Nations of Earth will come to order!"
Soon, the loud racket of ambassadors
from over 100 different countries and numerous
guests lowered to a barely
audible hum.
He cleared his throat and sat down.
"Thank you all. I know we have a
very important topic on our minds and hearts
today, and I want to make sure
we cover all the bases thoroughly."
He turned to the woman sitting on his
right. "Madam Secretary, please call
attendance."
Akane glanced around the large room,
awed at the representation of
people. Most of the different cultures
that Chikyuu held were here in the
very large room. Her eyes beheld many
a gaze directed at her and the
group; most were curious but every once
in awhile a wave of hostility would
hit her as she locked sights with specific
UN members. She leaned over to
Vejiita, who was sitting next to her, arms
crossed tight over his white shirt.
The black blazer that Bulma had coerced
him into wearing was draped over
his lap. "Did you think that Chikyuu
had such a diverse culture? The
circular seating reminds me of the advisory
council floor in the palace."
He nodded, black gaze scanning the
room constantly. "This format is
very common on many worlds, since just about
everyone can be seen from all
directions, with the leaders in the center
of attention." His focus stopped
at a table where everyone was staring wide-eyed
in his direction, and when
he curled his lip at them, they quickly
turned away, making sure their faces
were obstructed from their view. "It
seems I am a familiar face to a few."
She turned to look to see whom he was
talking about. "That's the
delegation from China. You fought
Goku in their country. You would
probably be the most familiar to them."
She turned away from the China
delegation and searched the room for the
delegation from Germany, and
when she found them, she discovered that
the four people were staring
right at them, calculating looks on each
face. She nudged Vejiita and
nodded in their direction. "Looks
like we have more admirers."
"Who are they?"
"That's the delegation from Germany.
More than likely we are going
to have the most opposition from them, especially
the one on the farthest
left. That's Dunkirk Spiel.
He's Chikyuu's Furiiza." Vejiita growled and
bared his teeth in the man's direction,
and both watched as Spiel raised an
eyebrow and nodded slightly in their direction
before turning his staff's
attentions to the papers on their desk.
"Che," he snorted and turned
his attentions to Bulma, who was
talking rapidly with the ambassador that
led them into the room. "The
worst thing that will happen today is that
we get to finally leave this
Kai-forsaken mudball."
"Let's hope that doesn't happen.
I really don't want to leave." She
glanced at him out of the corner of her
eye. "You really don't want to make
Bulma give up her home planet, do you?"
He snorted and turned his head
away. She shook her own head.
"Anyway, I don't want to leave
Chikyuu--neither does Ranma. It's
our home now, and we want to defend it,
and raise our family here. But if
we must, we must."
They both watched as Bulma came back
over to their section and
knelt next to them. "Soho-san said
that the Security Council is going to
announce what they feel is the status of
Chikyuu, then open up the floor for
discussion." She turned her attention
to Vejiita. "We're going to be
speaking in English. Are you going
to be able to follow along?"
He closed his eyes. "Do you doubt
my abilities to understand your
rudimentary languages, woman?" He
spoke his words in fluent English. He
opened his eyes to stare into her bemused
blue ones. "I know all of your
predominant languages, including several
that sound very similar to many of
your 'lost' languages. Your 'English'
is close to galactic standard."
"Okay, okay! Never again will
I doubt the word of the Prince of the
Saiyans." She pronounced it SIGH-yens.
"That is not how you say..." he frowned.
She cut him off, holding up a hand.
"That is the English translation
for Saiya-jiin, and how it will more than
likely be pronounced. Get used to it,
man." She made sure she stressed the
last word.
"Are the four of you ready?" Akane
asked, drawing her attention
away from the argument she sensed was about
to erupt. "Is Goku going to
speak?" She nodded to the three Sons
that were sitting next to each other
further down the row. Ranma and Goku
were going over several papers
spread out in front of them.
She shook her head. "No, he won't.
He backed out at the last
minute. Nabiki is going to present
the defense plans." Her eyes widened.
"Actually, I need to get those papers from
them." She stood up and made
her way over to where the pair of males
were talking quietly between them.
With a large sweep of her hands, she gathered
all of the papers, and neatly
arranged them in the desired order.
"Last minute changes are always bad,
guys. You were supposed to have given
Nabiki these before we even got
here!"
Ranma reached out and took them back
from her. "We did; these are
our copies."
"Oh, sorry." She smiled and put
a hand behind her head in
embarrassment. She snapped out of
it quickly when the President started
to speak again. "Okay, I gotta go.
Wish us luck, everyone!" As she passed
Vejiita, she threw him a heavy-lidded glance,
and hurriedly walked away.
Ranma and Akane both turned to Vejiita,
amusement evident in their
voices. "What was that look for?"
He grunted, unconsciously brushing
his hands across his shirt. "Stay
out of it, brats." Akane and Ranma just
grinned.
"And now we will hear from the Security
Council chief, Shaun
Levington."
"Thank you, Mister President."
A distinguished older gentleman
stood, his straight, dignified posture defying
the weary look on his
weathered face. He stepped down from
the front table and made his way to
the podium in the center of the room.
"I'm afraid my time on the stand will
be short. What you see now on your
touch-screens is everything the
Security Council knows, and can project
from the scant information we have
gathered." Behind the president, a
large screen descended from the ceiling,
and showed what could be seen on the touch-screens,
for those that did not
have access to the technology. An
image of a Hachi drone took up almost
the entire face, and several blurbs pointed
out various parts of the drone.
"Here we have a breakdown of the creature.
Through eyewitness accounts
and surveillance tape of actual attacks,
we have come to know that the
antennae of the creature are capable of
emitting a green light that has a
paralysis ability. The wings are functional,
and the creature can stand on
one or two sets of feet--usually the third
set--and the first set of limbs
generally are used as arms. The three-clawed
hands are mainly used to
attach the metal discs."
The image of the drone disappeared
and in its place was an enlarged
photo of an assimilation disc. "This
is the probe disc. Each drone comes
equipped with four, and they are attached
to the creature on the first two
sets of legs, one per leg. After the
green beam emitted from their
antennae paralyzes the victim, it attaches
the disc to the victim's chest by
means of mechanical arms that retract from
the main body of the disc.
What happens then is that the disc will
launch very small machines into the
victim's bloodstream--nanoprobes, if you
wish. From what we know from our
studies, the nanoprobes attach themselves
to the DNA of the victim and
readily mutate them into an exact copy of
the original creature."
The Security Council chief sighed and
rubbed his forehead. He
turned off the display and the screen rose
back into the ceiling. "Why they
do that, I don't know. Why they are
stealing mothers and fathers and
children from their homes, forcing them
to become--whatever they are, I
don't know. What I do know is that
the missing count has risen to over
eighty thousand, and if we don't find a
way to stop them, it's going to keep
rising and rising until there is no one
left to count the missing." Mr.
Levington shook his head and sat back down.
After a moment of silence, President
Shamar stood back up again.
"Thank you, Mr. Levington. The council
appreciates your hard work and
diligence against this unknown foe."
He glanced around and fixed his light
blue eyes on the dark blue gaze of Bulma.
"Now, since this is a threat to
security we have never had to deal with
before, we are going to do things
slightly different than normal. What
I am going to do is open the floor to
anyone that might have a suggestion."
Several people stood, waiting to be
recognized by the president. This
group included both Bulma and the leader
of the German delegation, Spiel Dunkirk.
President Shamar studied each
face that stood, and nodded to Bulma.
"I recognize Bulma Briefs,
vice-president and head research and development
scientist of Japan's
Capsule Corporation. Ms. Briefs, if
you will."
Bulma stood and made her way to the
front, Nabiki, Trunks, and
Tobuma following immediately behind her.
She placed her papers on the
podium, and taking a quick glance at the
rest of her party, she stepped up to
the microphone. "Thank you, Mr. President.
Many things that Mr. Levington
brought up are true. I'd like to clear
up a couple points first. The
creatures that are attacking Earth are called
Hachi. They are bee-like
creatures, obviously the physical characteristics
give them away, but also,
they live in colonies called hives, and
they create a Queen to lead them all.
There are several classifications within
the ranks, or drones--workers,
scouts, and warriors that can be distinguished.
I believe they also have a
leadership class, too, but that has not
been proven as of yet."
She glanced around the room.
"What I can also tell you is that they
do intend on taking Earth for their own,
assimilating the humans into new
drones to fill and work in their Hive."
Bulma paused for a moment as the
murmurs started to get louder and continued
after they settled down.
"They are not doing this maliciously--this
is their only means of furthering
their race. They have no sexual organs,
so they can not procreate on their
own, sexually or asexually. This means
there is no male or female drone.
Actually, the only one with a distinguished
gender is the Queen--which is a
native female from the race they are assimilating.
They search out the
strongest specimen they can find, and using
a special nanoprobe, create
their queen--part Hachi and part original
species. The reason for the
special treatment is that the queen needs
to be able to be aware of
everything, including the outside world
and the drones themselves, which
have a remedial hive mind. The queen
must be able to make decisions on her
own, and also be able to defend the hive.
She will have the ability to
paralyze using the antennae, like other
drones, but it is significantly weaker,
since the Hachi DNA within her is not completely
dominant."
President Shamar held up his hand.
"Excuse me for a moment, Ms.
Briefs. The floor recognizes Spiel
Dunkirk, from Germany."
"Thank you, Mr. President." Bulma
turned her attention to the
weasel-like man, narrowing her eyes slightly
at the grin he wore. "Thank
you, Ms. Briefs, for all of this interesting
information. But what most of us
are wondering is how do you know all of
this? It sounds like you've had close
contact with these Hachi on numerous occasions."
Spiel sat back down, his
grin wider as more murmurs ran through the
crowd.
Bulma turned to Trunks and Tobuma,
and both gave small nods. She
turned back to the front. "Personally,
I have had no direct contact with the
Hachi. The first time I was even near
them was last week, when they
attacked Shimigaki Mall. However,
my family and friends have had the
unfortunate luck to be included in the numerous
contacts. Through these
battles, we were able to gather the information
that I've presented thus
far."
"If I may again, Ms. Briefs.
The floor recognizes Sara Cunnigham,
from Britain."
"Thank you, Mr. President." A
tall, willowy 40ish woman stood up, her
dark red hair pulled back into a tight bun.
"Ms. Briefs, first, could you
introduce who is standing with you?"
"Of course. To my left is Trunks
Briefs and Tobuma Saotome. And
to my right is Nabiki Tendo."
"Thank you, Ms. Briefs. Is Mr.
Briefs a relation to you?" Bulma
smirked and nodded. "I asked you that
first, because I recognize the two
young men as part of the vigilante fighters
that have appeared at the attack
sites. In your brief interview with
the reporter from the mall attack, you
mentioned something about warriors trying
to defeat the Hachi. Are these
two of them?"
Bulma nodded. "Yes, Trunks and
Tobuma are part of the defense
force against the Hachi, the Z Senshi, or
warriors, if you prefer. Using
highly developed martial arts techniques,
they are able to channel their
inner spirits, or ki, and manifest it into
the visual spectrum. Then they form
and structure it in such a way to be affective
as a weapon against the Hachi.
I've heard various news sources and witness
call them 'hand-lasers'. Ki is
much more maneuverable and controllable
than any kind of man-made
weaponry."
"That's the scientific explanation
for a ki blast," Akane whispered to
Ranma. He just stuck his tongue out
at her.
Ms. Cunningham blinked a few times,
clearly confused, but nodded
anyway. "If you say so, Ms. Briefs.
But that doesn't really answer why they
are doing it. Why have they decided
to fight the Hachi? And why are they
so secretive about themselves?"
Bulma was about to answer when Trunks
put his hand on her shoulder
and whispered in her ear. "We can
answer, Okaasan." She nodded and
stepped back next to Nabiki. "We can
answer that, Ms. Cunningham. There
are many reasons why each of us fights.
There are many small, individual
reasons, but the main, underlying one is
the desire to raise and protect our
families in the safest environment as possible.
If you had the opportunity
and the ability to protect your loved ones
with any means possible, would
you, Ms. Cunningham?"
She nodded firmly. "Yes."
"And so do we. Through vigorous
training, diligence, and sometimes
hard and stressful situations, we have learned
to hone our bodies in such a
way that we can use our own life forces
to protect what we care about and
believe in. So we do."
Tobuma, next to him, nodded as well.
"And we haven't sought
publicity for several reasons. One
is that the press would not give us a
moment's peace--what we are doing is for
the good of all mankind, not for
the benefit of celebrity or 'superhero'
status. And most of the warriors
that are defending Earth are not completely
out of the public eye. If you
follow the martial arts circle, you'd find
that there is a prestigious
competition called the Tenka-ichi Budokai,
and many of the warriors have
competed in such an event."
Spiel Dunkirk stood up again.
"That's all well and good, Mr. Briefs,
but can you explain how you protect your
'loved ones' by killing the people
that had been assimilated into Hachi?"
Tobuma spoke up again. "When
a human has been injected with the
Hachi nanoprobes, and the process has started
assimilating the original
DNA, there is nothing that can be done to
the victim, except relieve them of
their pain. Through research on the
intact disc we found at one of the
attacks," Tobuma glanced at Bulma
and she nodded, "we have discovered
that the change is permanent. The
process can not be undone. Also, you can
not reprogram the nanoprobes to change the
Hachi DNA into human DNA.
Research into creating our own nanoprobes
is in the works, to try and
re-mutate the Hachi DNA into human DNA once
again, but it will take some
time before success can be achieved."
President Shamar spoke again.
"The floor recognizes Xi Hong from
China."
Xi Hong, a tall, darker-toned man that
appeared to be in his early
fifties stood, nodding to the center of
the room. "Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. Briefs, Mr. Saotome, could you give
a demonstration of such abilities you
have talked about?"
The pair of cousins looked at each
other, communicating silently, and
in unison, they turned back to Mr. Hong.
They each held up their left hand,
and slowly a small prick of light formed
above the palm of their hands,
gradually growing larger until it was the
size of a large cantaloupe. Loud
murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Bulma turned to Nabiki. "What do you know about Mr. Hong?"
She shuffled through the papers in
front of her. "There's not much
known about him, period. He came from
a very remote area of China--not
much around there except mountains and wildlife."
She pulled out a picture,
and they both stared at it. "You know,
if you give the man a lesson on how to
use hair gel, he sure reminds me of..."
She took the picture from Nabiki and
examined it in detail. "You're
absoutely right. I could swear that
he was..." They mouthed a silent word in
unison. Their attention was brought
back to the main stage when Mr. Hong
spoke again.
"You may reabsorb the ki, gentlemen.
Can I ask how old you were
when you mastered manipulating your ki?"
They glanced at each other again.
Looks of unease flashed across
everyone's faces, including Akane and the
rest of their group in the general
assembly. "We have been able to use
ki since we were born, Mr. Hong."
Tobuma cautiously answered.
"Not many martial artists have the
training, stamina, and heart to be
able to access their ki. Only the
aged grandmasters of very old schools have
complete mastery over their spirits.
And still then, many choose to live a
peaceful life, using their spirits to benefit
nature, and not as a living
weapon, which in many ways, is the antithesis
to the true meaning of ki." He
glanced down at a cabinet member who nodded
back. "How is it that you are
able to do something that takes decades
to learn and even longer to master
at such an early age?"
"It is a genetic trait, Mr. Hong."
Trunks spoke evenly. His eyes
narrowed slightly.
"I see. And would that genetic
trait also include other abilities, such
as flying?"
"That is part of ki manipulation,"
his expression softening somewhat,
"it is a fairly easy technique to use once
taught."
"True, true. Tell me, though,
Mr. Briefs, is that tail around your
waist another genetic trait?"
Trunks blinked and glanced down at
his waist. His dress coat, which
was closed, hid the furry appendage from
view. The only one that had theirs
out in the open, where it could be seen,
was Seiika. But she had worn a
brown dress suit, so it wasn't as obvious
as it could have been. He cleared
his throat. "What tail, Mr. Hong?"
"Come now, young man, don't make a
fool of yourself in front of these
people. I know an off-balanced warrior
when I see one. You hide it well, but
you are used to having your tail unfurled,
are you not? You're also used to
carrying something fairly heavy on your
back as well--a sword or battle-axe,
perhaps?" Trunks blinked rapidly,
but finally, he nodded. "Do not be
ashamed of your heritage, young one.
Wear it proud--your race is known
throughout the universe to be strong in
mind and in muscle."
The murmurs that rolled through the
council meeting now increased
to an excited roar. Akane and the
rest in the general assembly were
glancing confusedly between each other.
"Is he saying that he knows Trunks
is Saiya-jiin?" Ranma asked, his brows
furrowed in frustration. "Can you
see Trunks' tail?" His own tail twitched
from the hidden position under his
jacket, around his waist.
"It seems that Mr. Hong is more than
he appears to be," Nodoka
said, narrowing her eyes at the tall man
standing off to the side of the
room.
President Shamar blinked a few times
in surprise and quickly tried to
assemble order. "Please, everyone
settle down! Chaos will not answer the
questions you and I have. Mr.
Hong, you have made some...interesting
accusations to Mr. Briefs. Are we
correct in assuming that you are telling
the council that Mr. Briefs is an alien?
And if you are, how are you aware of
this fact?"
Xi shook his head and smiled.
"That is not my story to tell, Mr.
President. That is for his young highness
here to decide." He nodded to the
wide-eyed look Trunks gave him. "Yes,
young sir, I know more than you think
I do." He turned to the assembly and
focused on Vejiita and Akane. He
bowed deep, his fist on his chest and spoke
in an unfamiliar language to many
ears, save the ones he addressed and their
familiars. "My brothers and I
offer our most humble greetings to you both,
your highnesses. We are most
glad to see the Saiya-jiin race had survived
the wrath of Furiiza."
Vejiita and Akane glanced at each other,
both had surprised looks
splayed across their faces. Akane
raised her voice, so she could be heard
from across the room, speaking in the same
rumbling tongue. "Thank you,
sir. We exist, but just barely, thanks
to Furiiza. All of the remaining
members of our race are here on this planet."
She smiled and spoke in
English once again, so everyone could understand
her. "Please, Mr. Hong,
how are you aware of our secret? We
were not going to divulge such
information to the general public because
of the ramifications that it could
cause." She nodded to the rest of
the room, the looks of shock on most
faces more than ample example to explain
her words.
He bowed again, "Excuse me for my transgression,
your highness.
From the evasive answers the young prince
gave, I had an idea that it was
going to remain in the dark. But for
the sake of this world and its
inhabitants, I felt that them knowing would
be a lesser of two evils." He
turned back to President Shamar. "Please
forgive my rudeness, Mr.
President." He turned and sat back
down at his table, the other China staff
members immediately pulled Mr. Hong into
discussion.
Shamar rubbed his temple. "Somehow
I feel that this is going to be
a lengthy answer. Mr. Briefs, what
do you have to say in response to Mr.
Hong's...declaration?"
Trunks scratched the side of his cheek
and sighed. "I'm afraid, Mr.
President, you are correct. The answer
is a long one--many generations old.
Too long to get into the fine details.
We were not going to reveal this
information to the public, as she said just
before. It is complicated, and we
worried what affect it would have on the
general public when they
discovered the entire story." He stepped
away from the podium and undid
his jacket buttons. Silently he shed
his coat and draped it over his arm.
"But to answer your question, Mr. President,
I don't think I need words."
Slowly, he unfurled the dark brown furry
belt wrapped tightly around his
waist, and let it thrash around in the air.
Chaos wouldn't describe the reaction
from the crowd. Several
women screamed in shock and horror, and
a few people seem to actually
lurch back in fear. The people around
Vejiita and the rest were staring at
them silently, their eyes wide with realization
that aliens sat among them.
Akane smiled gently at them, trying to show
a more peaceful side to the
aspect. Vejiita, however, defeated
her purpose by growling, and most
immediately turned away in shock.
Trunks held up a hand. "Please,
do not be afraid. All will be
explained, if you give me and my fellow
Saiyans a chance."
"Please, everyone, do settle down."
President Shamar rapped the
gavel a few times, his blue eyes flashing
into the masses. "It was a
well-known fact that this conference would
give rise to many questions and
answers. Now, let's give Mr. Briefs
a chance to answer some of those
questions. Mr. Briefs, if you will."
"If I might have a few moments with
the rest of my council, Mr.
President." Shamar nodded. Trunks
turned to the three next to him.
"When did I become the spokesman for the
entire Saiya-jiin race? Wasn't
Obasan going to be the liaison?"
Bulma nodded. "She is.
You're going to have to introduce her and
your father." She sighed and rubbed
the bridge of her nose. "Kuso.
Everyone's reacting as we thought they would.
Did you see the look of
Dunkirk's face when Trunks let his tail
fly?"
Nabiki nodded, her face set in a grim
line. "He's got something up his
sleeve. You'd think that he already
knew the alien fact."
Trunks turned to his mother.
"Can you tell 'Tousan that Obasan and
he are going to have to come down here?"
He shook his head. "This isn't
going to plan, at all."
"Well, we knew that something would
come up about the powers. We
just didn't expect that there were even
more Saiya-jiin on Chikyuu, if Mr.
Hong is who he alludes to be."
Nabiki nodded. "He has to be
Saiya-jiin. There are too many signs
pointing in that direction."
"Exactly." Trunks squared his
shoulders and turned back around.
"Mr. President, in everyone's best interests,
I think that information should
be given on an immediate need-to-know basis.
Our story, like I mentioned
before, is a generations old one, and way
too complicated to get into depth
at this time. For now, I and others
that will be introduced at a later point,
will answer questions to the best of our
ability. So, Mr. President, what
would you like to know?"
President Shamar raised an eyebrow
at the openness of Trunks'
statement. "Well, why don't you explain
yourself first. At first glance, you
look human, except for the tail, that is."
He glanced at the other three
sitting behind him. "All of you look
human."
Trunks nodded. "Well,
you're half right. Mr. Saotome is the only
other Saiyan at the moment up here with
me. Both Ms. Tendo and Ms.
Briefs are human. Our two races are
very similar in physical characteristics.
You wouldn't be able to tell the difference
at a chance meeting, especially if
our most differiating feature is hidden."
The said feature thrashed once
and wrapped itself around his waist once
again. He slipped his arms back
into his coat, and re-buttoned the front.
"As you more than likely deducted,
our race's designation is
Saiya-jiin, or Saiyan, if you prefer.
We originated in the Deplos galaxy,
some seventy million light years from here,
on the planet Vejiita. About
thirty years ago, a space tyrant by the
name of Furiiza destroyed the
planet, because he feared our race's strength
and abilities, the main one
being a legend of the universe's strongest
warrior, the Super Saiyan. Only a
bare handful of our race was off-planet
at the time, and thus survived the
planet's destruction. To absolve your
fears, Furiiza is dead, defeated by
the one that you may know as Goku, a Saiyan
that was raised here on Earth
since he was a child. For various
reasons that are too complicated to get
into at the moment, others were also sent
away from Vejiita, but for odd
cosmic reasons, they ended up here on Earth.
Over the years, the
Earth-sent Saiyans have grown to love and
cherish this planet as their own,
acknowledging it as their home. Vejiita
may be where they were born, but
Earth is their home, and have vowed to protect
it."
Trunks paused for breath, and immediately
Shamar spoke up. "That
is a fascinating tale, Mr. Briefs.
So, if I am correct in assuming, the Saiyans
here on Earth are the last of your species,
are they not?" He pronounced
the name, SAY-yens.
"As far as we know, there are no other
Saiyans in existence. Records
that might have been accessed to the whereabouts
of others off-planet are
lost, due to the planet's destruction."
"And how many are there, residing on
Earth?" A member of the
American delegation spoke up. "Excuse
me for interrupting, Mr. President."
Shamar waved his hand in acceptance.
Trunks turned to the China delegation.
"Can I be safe in assuming
that you and your kin are fellow Saiyans,
Mr. Hong?"
Xi nodded his head. "Three of
us are half Saiyan, half human. I am
full Saiyan."
Trunks turned back to the American
delegate. "That would bring the
total to one female, four males and four
half-breeds. This total does not
include me and Mr. Saotome," he nodded in
Tobuma's direction, "because we
are technically not here."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
"What do you mean,
'technically not here,' Mr. Briefs?"
Spiel chuckled out loud. "That doesn't
sound very possible, since both you and
your friend are here in the flesh."
"Well, that is true, Mr. Dunkirk, but
things aren't always what they
seem to be. Yes, we may be here, but
truly, we are not even born yet." He
held up a commanding hand, and the room
immediately went silent. "Mr.
Saotome and I are actually time travelers
from twenty years in the future."
He put down his hand and intense conversation
filled the room.
Shamar blinked a few times in shock.
Shaking his head to clear it, he
pounded on the gavel several times.
"Quiet, everyone! There is no need to
get into an uproar over every statement
Mr. Briefs says." He turned back
to Trunks. "Is this a true statement,
Mr. Briefs? You are presenting a lot
of shocking information to us. Even
though most of it sounds like a science
fiction movie of the week, you have backed
up your statements. Is there a
way to validate that you do indeed come
from the future?"
Tobuma stood up. "Actually, if
it's okay with you, Mr. President, I'll
validate my associate's claim." Shamar
nodded. Trunks sighed in relief and
clapped a relieved hand on his cousin's
shoulder, giving him a grateful smile
as he sat in the seat Tobuma just vacated.
He took a big breath and started to
talk. "To explain why we are
time travelers takes us full circle, and
back to the reason we are gathered
here, and why we are talking with you originally:
the Hachi. For you see, in
twenty years, the fate of Earth has been
decided, and is in complete control
of the Hachi. Both Trunks and I were
born and raised under the Hachi
threat. Our lives have always been
overshadowed by the presence of the
Hachi. We were not normal children
that laughed and played lightheartedly.
We were trained from the moment we could
clench a fist to protect Earth
and her people from the overwhelming threat
of the Hachi. For years we
trained and struggled and fought against
the aggressors, but a small handful
of fighters of even our caliber is not very
effective against a million
paralysis beams. We did what we could,
and as the numbers dwindled, we
grouped together the survivors, hoping that
the close proximity of all of the
survivors would be easier for the remaining
warriors, since they only had to
protect that area, instead of the scattered
patches they used to be. But
the Hachi doubled and tripled their efforts
to gain the rest of the humans
into their hive. One by one, the warriors
fell, and so did the dwindling
number of humans that needed protecting.
Soon, our efforts were not
focused on protecting, but surviving.
The Hachi were ruthless in their
quest, and our thoughts turned to other
means. What if it was possible to
prevent what happened to us? What
if somehow, one was actually able to
travel back in time, like all of those science
fiction movies and tales claim?
Soon our best scientific minds were put
to the test, and through many a
trial and err, our means of transport was
created."
Tobuma moved away from the podium,
turned around and Bulma
handed him a capsule. He then moved
in front of the podium and activated
the small pill, where it exploded into the
familiar projector. "If you do not
believe my words, then believe my eyes.
These are the images that both
Trunks and I have been surrounded
by for the past twenty years. This is
what my father died for, and what my soul
still yearns to protect."
He started the projector and the large
3-dimensional image appeared
in the center of the room. Shocks
and gasps echoed as images once familiar
to many eyes were now war-torn flashes of
rubble, crumbling and abandoned.
National monuments of many countries decimated
to mere pebbles.
Landmarks and treasures, once beautiful
in their majestic prime, now
decayed and destroyed, never again to see
the glory of the days gone by.
But the familiar scenery soon faded,
and the unfamiliar took its
place. Tobuma spoke up again.
"What you see is the final constructed
product. This is the hive that will
be built when the Hachi secure their
Queen. Over a mile wide and a mile
high. All of the central activity
originates from the Queen and is carried
out by the millions upon millions of
drones she commands." He stared at
the image projected in the center of
the room., and it was a few minutes before
he spoke again. "As of the day
we left our time and turned to this one,
there was not one single human left
alive. Earth had fully become a Hachi
hive. And when they strip her off all
the natural resources and anything else
that it will provide, scouting parties
will be sent to all corners of the galaxy
to start the process over again." He
reached over and turned off the projector,
capsulated it and sat in the
empty seat next to Bulma.
President Shamar cleared his throat.
"I think to better absorb all of
this information, we should break for an
early lunch." Everyone glanced at
the clock and realized that two hours had
passed. "We will re-convene in
two hours at one o'clock, sharp."
He tapped his gavel three times on the
thick block in front of him.
******
~~Unknown location~~
He stared into the neat rows, ten drones
wide by ten drones long. He
silently communicated to them final instructions,
making sure each and every
drone would be able to fulfill their part
of the design. With a nod of his
head, the hundred drones launched themselves
into the air, staying in
formation as they filled the sky with their
striped bodies and beating wings.
Another corp of a hundred drones launched
themselves after them; each
laden with four assimilation discs each.
Daisy shifted to the side and stared
into two more identical sets of
ten by ten rows of Hachi. With another
nod of his head, the two platoons of
warrior drones launched themselves into
the air, only going in the opposite
direction as the first set. He watched
as they quickly disappeared from
sight.
When he looked back down, he turned
back to his original position to
watch the last of the third set of drones
settle into position, ten by ten
neat rows. With a nod and a flurry
of wings, they were gone from sight.
Another quarter turn and another nod.
Again. And again.
Beware, Chikyuu-jiin: The Swarming has begun.
******
~~U.N. Building~~
Immediately, the groups from Western
Capital converged upon each
other. Akane reached out and gave
Tobuma a hug, which he returned
gratefully. Ranma glanced at
the four 'delegates'. "So, what do you think?"
Bulma held up a hand. "I think
we need to get out of here, first."
She pulled a phone out of the bag next to
Vejiita. "The banquet room we
were at last night will be waiting for us,
again. Let me call for the limos."
"You might want to call the banquet
hall, Bulma, and tell them to set
four more settings--but prepare food for
twelve," Akane said as she
released Tobuma from her embrace.
"You and your kin will join us for
dinner, won't you, Mr. Hong?"
Everyone turned to see the four delegates
from China standing a
respectful distance away. He and the
other three bowed at the waist. "If
you so desire, my lady."
Ranma snorted and Akane elbowed him
in the ribs. "Please, there will
be no knowtowing in either mine or my brother's
presence, ne, Vejiita?" The
male in question grunted and turned away,
grabbing Bulma's arm and pulling
her after him. She made no sound of
protest, still talking on the phone, only
pointing at the handbag on the floor, which
Trunks retrieved as he followed
after his parents.
She rolled her eyes and bowed slightly
in greeting. "And please, call
me Seiika. My Chikyuu name is Akane,
so you'll be hearing that one, too."
She turned to Ranma. "This is Serori,
my mate, and our various adopted
family members." She pointed to the
rest of the humans. "And I suppose
you already know Son Goku," the two
males nodded to each other, "and that
is his mate ChiChi and their son, Gohan.
Did I forget anyone?"
Tobuma raised a hand, a grin on his face.
Akane grinned. "You were already
introduced, baka." She rolled her
eyes. "Tobuma, my future brat."
The pigtailed male in question just
snorted.
Xi pointed out his associates.
"Nanka, Tamana, and Ninjin." Each of
the three burly males nodded at their name.
"The Saiya-jiin name my
parents gave me was Yuukari, but each of
us has a Chinese name, as well.
"Well, the cars should be waiting for
us--why don't we go somewhere
and eat and then we can talk," Akane
suggested. "More than likely, you all
are just as curious as to why we're here
as we are with you, ne?" Xi smiled
and nodded. "Good, let's go."
***
After finally filing into the banquet
hall, and the many voracious
stomachs were satisfied, everyone settled
back for story hour. Akane
quickly briefed the four new saiya-jiin
on her and Ranma's origins on
Chikyuu, and Bulma told the story of Goku
and his arrival, skipping over the
many various adventures she experienced
with the Earth-raised saiya-jiin.
She also told about Radiitzu's arrival and
departure, and the subsequent
journey Vejiita and Nappa made.
Xi nodded when she got done talking
about the big battle between
Goku and Vejiita. "We were aware of
Son Goku for many years, following his
growth and progress through the world tournaments."
Goku blinked in surprise. "You
knew I was saiya-jiin before I did?
Why didn't you say anything?"
"It was not our business to do such
a thing," Xi shook his head. "You
were content as a Chikyuu-jiin, and there
was no reason to disrupt such
fluidity in your life. What difference
would have it made, then?"
"My reaction to my brother probably
would have been a lot less
violent, for one," Goku frowned.
"True," Ninjin, the smallest
of the four, also seeming to be the
youngest, spoke quietly, "but then Vejiita-sama
would not have come to
Chikyuu in search of Radiitzu's killers,
and that fight set in motion the trip
to Nameku-sei, which caused the death of
Furiiza." He smiled at Goku, the
thick black ponytail tied at the nape of
his neck bobbed back and forth as
he nodded. "Everything has a specific
purpose in our lives, which must be let
to follow through."
Xi snorted. "That's the great
philosopher showing through." Ninjin
just shrugged, obviously used to being teased
about his ideas.
"And if the Hachi hadn't come to Chikyuu,
me an' Akane would still
probably have our memories locked away."
Ranma stated, staring at his mate
with a certain fire in his eyes. She
returned it with equal fervor. Ninjin
nodded in agreement.
"So tell us, Xi, why are you on Chikyuu?"
Akane broke her gaze from
Ranma, focusing on the elder male.
"How long have you been here?"
"The four of us have been here all
our lives; we were born on Chikyuu.
My father was the commander of a first-class
purging squad, and his squad
was on their way back to Vejiita-sei after
a several month-long mission on
the other side of this star system.
A brutal meteor shower knocked out
their navigational systems, sending them
off course. Their fuel ran out, and
they were forced to crash land on this planet.
At the time, there were
seven members of the squad, but two died
in the impact from fatal wounds."
"How long ago was that?" Bulma asked.
"I was born over a century ago, according
to this planet's calendars,
and I am the oldest of us four. I'd
have to say almost 150, 200 years ago."
"It does make sense," Vejiita
spoke, his eyebrows furrowed in
thought. "Some of the early purging squads
went unaccounted for. Many
times they were defeated in battle, so not
much time went in searching for
the lost ones. And if yours was on
its way back from a sucessful purge, they
would have already reported their success."
He looked up and stared into
the black eyes of the four newly identified
Saiya-jiin. "So tell me, Yuukari,
since you have never been to Vejiita-sei,
how did you recognize your ruling
house?"
"Our parents' ship may have been damaged,
but the data banks were
not," Tamana explained. He was
a solidly built male with a row of spikes
trailing down the center of his scalp.
"You are the perfect example of your
blood, Vejiita-sama, and Seiika-sama looks
enough like you to make the
connection."
"And then you did the same with him,"
Tobuma guessed, nodding to
Trunks, who sat on his left. Tamana
nodded in agreement.
"I was wondering how in the hell you
knew I was saiya-jiin, and when
you called me 'your highness' I almost swore
out loud." Trunks grinned at
Xi. "I don't think President Shamar
would have appreciated that. He was
having enough trouble trying to keep some
sort of semblance of order in the
chamber." Everyone chuckled at the
remark.
Bulma quickly sobered up. "Discovering
you will hopefully be a major
turning point. We were sort of worried
that the Council would make the
saiya-jiin leave the planet."
"Why would you think that?" Xi
asked, surprised.
"Because we have been here and particpated
in society, keeping our
alien status from authorities." Akane
explained quietly. "We weren't really
sure how they would react knowing they had
aliens among them."
Tamana shook his head. "There
were 'aliens' on Chikyuu long before
our parents arrived. The henka-jiin
has been here for eons. They are not
native to this world--although many times,
they are forgotten about, since
their population is so small in number.
Also, the besshu-jiin is another race
not indigenous to Chikyuu. Although,
their numbers are growing more as
they become less choosy for mates."
"That makes sense," Bulma nodded
slowly, agreeing with the logic.
"If they force the saiya-jiin off Chikyuu,
then they would also have to force
the other races off Chikyuu, too."
Nabiki cleared her throat. "We
have half hour before session begins
again," she reminded them, "we should
get going back to the UN building."
"Right," Bulma stood and most
of the others stood with her. "This
session we present our war plans.
Are you sure you don't want to talk,
Son-kun?" Goku shook his head rapidly.
Bulma smiled. "Okay, I won't force
you to. I just know that you and Serori
worked hard preparing them."
"That's okay, Bulma, I'm not a good
public speaker." Goku waved his
hands in front of him. "But if Serori
wants to..."
Ranma shook his head just as emphatically
as Goku. "I'm not a public
speaker, either. I speak better with
my fists than with my mouth." The
rest of the males nodded in agreement.
"Ain't that the truth," Akane deadpanned. Ranma shot her a look.
"That's fine, Goku," Nabiki waved
her hand, "I don't mind speaking."
Goku nodded gratefully.
"Okay, the limos are out front,"
Bulma said, gathering up her things.
"Time to head back." She smiled at
Xi and the rest of the Chinese
saiya-jiin. "I hope that after this
day is over, we will keep in touch. Chikyuu
could use all the senshi she can find."
"That brings up an interesting point,"
Trunks stared at the four as
they walked outside to the cars, where they
split into three groups. "Is
there a reason why you aren't fighting with
us already?" Trunks, Vejiita,
Bulma, Ranma, Akane and two of the Chinese
saiya-jiin, Xi and Ninjin, piled
into one.
"You do know how to fight, though, right?" Ranma asked them.
"We would be honored to fight alongside
you, your highness," Xi
bowed, his fist on his chest in salute.
"We have not become active
participants because of our status in the
UN. As ambassadors, our job is to
promote peace between the different countries."
Akane frowned. "What will you
do, then? Will you be forced to
resign your posts?"
"If it comes to that, Yuukari, Tamana
and Nanka will resign, and I will
retain my post as Ambassador," Ninjin
spoke quietly. "If that suits you of
course, Vejiita-sama."
Vejiita stared hard at the smaller-statured
Saiya-jiin. "You refuse
to fight," he stated simply. "Were
you taught?"
"Yes, your highness," Ninjin
bowed slightly. "I was taught alongside
my kin."
"Yet you have gone against your upbringing,
the very nature of your
race." Vejiita scowled. "Or
are you more human than saiya-jiin?"
"Actually, your highness, Ninjin has
other abilities that outshine his
fighting prowess," Xi spoke quickly
before anyone got upset. "His human
mother was the healer of the village, and
he became the healer in her place
when she died." He smiled at his gentle
brother. "We've learned to place
high value in that talent as well as our
fighting skills." Vejiita snorted and
faced away from them to stare out the window.
"Well, the world always needs more
healers," Akane smiled at the
quiet male. "And who knows when we
will need someone with such an
ability?"
Ninjin nodded. "I am at your
service, your highness." He smiled and
gestured at her portruding stomach.
"I also would be honored to birth your
heir, your highness. When are you
due?"
She put a hand on the gentle swell
and smiled. "In a few months. I
would be honored for you to be the midwife,
Ninjin."
Ranma scowled. "Akane, I'm not
gonna let another *male* look at ya
down there!"
"Shut up, Ranma. So does that
mean that you're going to deliver
Tobuma?" Akane rolled her eyes in
anger.
"Well, I thought that's what Fujinkai-sensei was for!"
"Well, she can do it, Serori,"
Bulma said, her lips twisted in an
amused smile, "but wouldn't you rather have
someone there who would
understand a saiya-jiin birth?" She
turned to Ninjin. "I would also be
honored if you delivered Trunks. Seiika
and I are due at the same time."
Vejiita growled under his breath, but Bulma
elbowed him in the side as a
warning.
"Of course, my lady," Ninjin
nodded again. "So both of you are
pregnant with the time-travelers?"
He gave Trunks a smile. The
purple-haired male just blushed and turned
away.
Akane nodded. "We kind of figured
that out when they arrived by
comparing dates. Also their ki signatures
are the same."
"If I may, Seiika-sama, could I run
a quick scan?" Akane blinked in
surprise, then nodded. Ninjin switched
seats with Xi, who was sitting next
to Akane. He turned to Ranma, and
waited for his approval, which he
grudgingly gave, after an elbow in his side
made up his mind. Ninjin laid a
warm hand over the swell, and softly let
it glow with a pale white ki. Closing
his eyes to concentrate better, he smiled
as he slid the palm slightly. "He is
growing rapidly, Seiika-sama, and very content."
He opened his eyes and
gave the young mated pair an undescribed
look. "He will be a powerful
warrior."
There's no 'will' about it,"
Ranma boasted, leaning back in the seat,
"he already is. Look at who's his
'Tousan!" Everyone laughed at the prideful
look on Ranma's face.
The car came to a stop, and everyone
piled out, but were unable to
enter the building due to the mass of newsreporters
that immediately
surrounded them.
"Ms. Briefs! Ms. Briefs! Are you an alien, too?"
"Ms. Briefs! Are the Saiyans planning on taking over Earth?"
"Ms. Briefs! Is it true you're pregnant with an alien's baby?"
Bulma groaned under her breath as she
leaned into Vejiita, who was
hovering over her. "I hate crowds!
I feel like I'm suffocating."
"I can get rid of them fast, Onna,"
Vejiita murmured under his
breath. He let a snarl rip from his
lips when a microphone was almost
shoved up his nose. "Very fast."
"Stay cool, 'Tousan," Trunks
said lowly, "I'll handle this. Everyone,
cover your ears." He cleared his throat.
"HEY!" His roar quieted the crowd
immediately. Each saiya-jiin had their
ears covered and eyes shut tight.
"Thank you," Trunks continued, at
more normal levels. "We will not be giving
any statements as of this time. And
when we do, please think before you
speak," he leveled a glare at the
reporter that asked his mother the baby
question. "Now, we must get back in
before President Shamar re-opens the
discussions without us." The crowd
parted and silently everyone watched as
Trunks led the rest of the group inside.
***********
Part two will be out in a week or so.
By the end of February, for sure. I SWEAR!! **sweatdrop**
Let me know what you think! I hope
it's meeting your expectations...it certainly is mine. ^_~
*grin*
There are a couple things I wanted to explain: the besshu-jiin & the henka-jiin. These are the races of sentient animals. The henka-jiin, or transformers, are creatures like Puar & Oolong. The besshu-jiin/distinct species are the people-sized sentient animals, like Commander Yellow, or whatever his name was. Or the dog/wolf mayor of Western Capital. They needed to be explained, and they fit in very *well* with what I was trying to prove.
The Chinese saiya-jiin: Where did they come from?? *I* didn't even know they were saiya-jiin until they revealed it to me. Boy, was I surprised! *grin* And their names, Tamana, Yuukari, etc., are just japanese veggie names. *shrug* Go with the flow, ne?
Anyways.....
Gie-chan