A/N: Welcome to Saga Three of Altered History! And I now have a Beta Reader too, my girlfriend. (w00t!) So this should have less spelling mistakes.
Chapter One - Homecoming
Yamcha rubbed the back of his head as he walked down the hall toward the communications room. His head still hurt like hell, like he'd been hit by Goku or something. Those Tomyu Flowers weren't as good as Senzu beans, that's for sure. As he walked he'd been so lost in thought he'd not even sensed anyone approach him, it wasn't until her hands were on his shoulders and neck massaging out the tension that he realized she was there. "You're still tense." Hotaru laughed.
"Yeah well, getting knocked around like a kickball by a giant will do that." he said as he turned around. "And you're in much better shape than the last time I saw you."
Hotaru shruged. "A little Tomyu Flower Extract goes a long way. Soaking in the stuff for five hours like I did goes even further. Come on, we don't want to be late or Mother will give another of her lectures." Hotaru rolled her eyes as she jogged off down the hall leaving a chuckling Yamcha to watch after her. He didn't blame her though, when Sora lectured it could last for hours. Still, he took his time.
He spent the next few minutes of his walk looking out the floor to ceiling hall windows at the city far below the tall hill on which the palace rested. There were still a few columns of thick black smoke rising into the air here and there and numerous craters as well. But the Tanarian people were rebuilding already and they were going about it quite quickly. They seemed to be working on a natural high of sorts now, not that he blamed them. Recent events had helped bring closure to an old wound and had sparked new pride for them as well.
A moment later he was walking into the communications room. Sora was busy at the far end of the room with several techs, probably repairing some damaged systems or something, while Hotaru sat at one of the com stations. He moved over to her and sat beside. "Line's busy." she said with a frown. "Wonder who they're talking too."
Yamcha shruged. "Who knows. Probably offical bussiness or something..."
Hotaru sighed. "I just hope the Dragon's powers can reach us out here..."
Yamcha looked over at her and then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Don't worry, I'm sure Shenron has more than enough power to help us out."
"Oh, we're through!" Hotaru cheered as the screen flashed green once and then showed Piccolo, Gohan, Bardock, Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Bulma.
"Hey guys." Krillin said with a grin. "Man, you missed all the action. I'd have loved to have been there with you instead of getting beaten up here."
"You too?" Yamcha asked. "Well, you wouldn't have had much better luck here Krillin."
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked. "Did something happen?"
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, you could say that..."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Four months ago:
Yamcha stared out the window at the nearing planet before him. It still hadn't fully sunk in yet. That he was in space, that he was heading to another planet, and that that planet was the home of his girlfriend. He shook his head slowly at that. /From the moment I met Goku my life has been very odd to say the least./ he thought, then he caught a glimpse of Hotaru sitting at the controls. /A good kind of odd in this case I would say./
He turned his eyes back toward the nearing planet once more. It was a strange mix of pink, blue, and puprle dotted with white clouds. Even from space it looked breathtaking. A few moments later the ship was decsending through the atmosphere and toward the planet's surface. He watched as they passed through the cloud layer and emerged beneath them giving him his first real look at the planet's landscape. If the view from space was breathtaking, this was simply beyond description.
"Oh wow..." he breathed walking toward the window and peering down around. They were passing over rolling mountains now. They were covered with trees, some had pink leaves and others were purple with a few green trees here and there too. Directly below them a large and crystal blue river flowed calmly through a narrow valley going the opposite way they were.
He turned his eyes up and to the right as something grazed his vision and saw a large bird of sorts. Its wingspan was at least a hundred yards and it was covered in orange and red feathers. Even though its body seemed like that of a bird it's head reminded him more of a bat. "What is that?" he asked looking over to Hotaru.
The Princess smiled. "That's Max, he's a Dovi, one of the largest flying creatures on the planet."
"Max? He has a name?"
Hotaru giggled. "Yep. He belongs to my Mother now. My Grandmother found his egg when she was a little girl, the rest in his nest had been smashed and his mother killed by another animal. She felt sorry for him so she took the egg and hatched it and raised him. He's the only Dovi on the entire planet, they were native to our old world. He's the last of his kind..."
Yamcha looked back out the window as the large Dovi swooped down and flew only a few feet above the tree tops and glided off over a small rise ahead of them. As the ship passed over it as well, Yamcha saw a large lake with many small boats on it. The beaches were filled with people enjoying the warm and sunny day. He noticed that, as they saw the ship, they began to stand and cheer. Obviously they recognized that it was Hotaru's. The Sai-jins apparently did a really good job of repairing it after recovering it from the debris of Namek.
Her ship moved lower and closer to the large lake. As it did Yamcha caught sight of the sprawling city that Hotaru had described to him. She'd said the Tanarians built their homes into the forest changing it as little as possible and she'd been right. The homes were built up in the trees among the branches, some wrapping around the trees, some just sitting in the branches, and some seemed to be partly inside the tree as well. Wooden catwalks criss-crossed through the forest between the homes and stairs spiralled down to the ground level where a few small buildings sat here and there as well.
As the ship began to settle on an empty section of beach Yamcha felt a handful of notable powers nearing from within the city. Those that had been on the beach had ranged from the power of an average Human to probably the six or seven thousand range. These three nearing powers, however, greatly dwarfed them. None of them were as strong as Hotaru was, at least when she was powered up anyway, and even without the Kinryoku, but two were stronger than him and the third was close.
"That would be Mother, Sango, and Akira." Hotaru said standing from her seat. "Be ready for a lot of shouting... Akira's going to really dig into me... and then my Mother will probably have a go at one of her lectures..."
"Who is he?"
"Head of the army and my personal bodygaurd..." she laughed lightly at that. "Not that I need him anymore."
Yamcha nodded. If the strongest of the three nearing powers was her Mohter than that meant that Hotaru was now the strongest Tanarian. He moved off to the side of the doorway as Hotaru walked up to it and took a deep breath. Yamcha felt the three powers land a few feet away from the ship as Hotaru opened the door.
"Hotaru, so you finally decided to come back?" A male voice called out with a bit of an edge to it. "You had us all scared half to death! You were gone for so long we thought you might have been killed!"
"And yet," Hotaru began suddenly straigtening up, a gesture Yamcha was familiar with now. Hotaru was about to dig in her heels. "You sent no one looking for me. Not even an automated scout ship. So obviously you weren't too worried about me. Not that it matters anymore, I no longer take orders from you anyway."
"Now see here young lady!" Akira shouted loud enough he had Yamcha wondering if he was louder than Chi-Chi. "I am still in charge of you until you surpass my power, which I can sense you have not yet done, or until you are crowned in three months."
"You should know what you're talking about before making assumptions." Hotaru returned, interrupting him, as she finally began down the stairs toward the beach. Yamcha waited a moment and then followed her, still unnoticed by Akira but getting a shocked gasp from the young woman on the man's right and the crowds around the ship, and a raised eyebrow from the woman on Akira's left. "Mother, we should prepare for a Sai-jin delegation to arrive in six months or so." she said looking over to her.
Akira was wearing a blue GI with green trim, his silver hair was quite short. His green eyes carried the same anger as his voice. The young woman on his right Yamcha figured was Sango. She, too, wore a blue GI but with purple trim. Her hair was also silver and hung down to her knees, the longest Yamcha had ever seen, and her red eyes held a fire and a compassion to them. Hotaru's Mother, Sora, had on a simple dress that was also somehow elegant. Her hair, silver as well, was pulled into a braid and went halfway down her back. She had the same orange eyes as Hotaru. Yamcha glanced at the other people and quickly noted that everyone had silver hair.
"Sai-jin delegation!?" Akira shouted. "You gave our location to the Sai-jins! Freiza has spies in their ranks, once he lea..."
Hotaru snapped her eyes toward Akira once more. "If you'd pull your head out of the sand once in a while you would know that Frieza is Dead!" she said hotly. The statement caught everyone completely off guard, but Akira recovered quickly.
"Nonsense. Only his father is..."
"I was there Akira." Hotaru said. She decided to leave out the part about dying and then being revived and going back to Earth for simplicity's sake. "On Namek a Sai-jin that had been living on Earth and going by the name of Goku became a Super Sai-jin and killed him." Akira just stared at her speechless so she turned her attention to Sango. "Could you have a room prepared for Yamcha, he's going to be staying with us for a bit."
That's when Akira noticed the man standing just behind her. "WHAT!? You brought an ou..."
Hotaru's patience and fiery temper had reached the breaking point. Her aura flashed about her for a second as she turned to face Akira again. Her power climbed quickly but settled well below her full power, almost on par with that of Akira's. A second later it subsided and she sighed. "I'm not arguing with you anymore Akira. You can live in fear and with a closed mind if you like but I wont, and I wont let the rest of my people live that way either."
Akira looked like he was about to say something when the woman to his left raised a hand and he instantly went silent. Sora lowered her hand and stepped foward. "Pardon Akira," she said gently. "Yamcha, wasn't it?" Yamcha nodded. "He's a bit hot headed and rather paranoid, but his heart is in the right place." She glanced at Akira for a moment before looking at Yamcha again. "Tell me, are you a Sai-jin? You're not wearing their normal armor..."
Yamcha shook his head. "No, I'm a Human. I'm from Earth."
"The same place as the Sai-jin that beat Frieza?" Sora asked. "Wasn't that the world Zarbon was going... oh, I see. This Goku must have been the one Zarbon was after last year."
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah. That wasn't much fun." he said with a frown. "But thanks to Hotaru and Goku's family we managed to pull through." Yamcha had the same idea as Hotaru, explain the part about having been dead at a later time.
"And Namek?"
"I wasn't there." Yamcha said. "But I saw what happened. Hotaru and the others held their ground pretty well against Recoome until Bardock and Goku got there and dispatched the Ginyu force without any trouble. Frieza was a problem but, like Hotaru said, Goku transformed and beat him."
Sora nodded slowly and then looked at Hotaru again. "You fought against Recoome?" she asked.
"And Frieza, though I didn't do nearly as good against him."
Akira snorted. "I felt that power spike." he said. "With your Kinryoku you're almost even with me, I am rather impressed by that at least, but you'd never last against the likes of Recoome."
Yamcha couldn't help but laugh as he caught sight of the glare Hotaru was giving Akira. When she heard it she relaxed considerably. She hated how Akira had always been able to get under her skin. "For your information Akira, that wasn't the Kinryoku. I've learned to lower my power when I don't need it all, it comes in handy when you don't want scouters to detect you."
Sora smiled lightly. "An impressive ability."
Hotaru nodded. "Picked it up on Earth." she said.
"So then you can do this as well Yamcha?" The Human nodded. "Would you two mind showing us how much power you do have? I'm afraid my curiostiy has gotten the better of me."
Hotaru glanced back at Yamcha grinning. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she couldn't wait to see Akira's reaction. But at the same time she wanted to show off how strong Yamcha was too. So she gave him the nod to go first. He stepped off to the side, all eyes following him, and then clenched his fists. With a cry his aura exploded about him and his power shot up quickly. In a matter of seconds his power was nearly even with Akira's, much to everyone else's shock. And then he grinned. "Sanjuu Kinryoku!" he cried. His aura exploded larger and turned silver, his power jumping sky high.
"Very impressive." Sora commented. "Hotaru's tried to teach the Kinryoku to many people but you're the first I've ever seen to actually master it."
Yamcha relaxed, his power dropping back down qucikly. "I haven't really mastered it. Hotaru's a lot better at it than I am. And stronger than me to begin with." he said turning to look at her.
She grinned at him and then turned her eyes toward Akira as her aura flared to life. She threw her arms and head back and let out a cry as her orange aura danced madly, her hair flapping about in the violent winds she was creating. It only took a few seconds to surpass Akira's power, and then Sora's, before she finally hit her natural maximum. As she lowered her head to look at Akira, Yamcha was already laughing at the look on the man's face. When Hotaru finally got a look at him she smirked. Obviously the fact that she was more than twice his power was something of a shock to him.
She cracked her neck and lifted a few inches into the air clenching her fists and bracing her body. "Itsutsu Kinryoku!" she cried. Her aura exploded outward as it shifted to silver and a small crater formed beneath her from the sudden upsurge of energy. Yamcha looked out at the crowd as they all gasped and stared, and then cheers began to ring out from around them.
Hotaru had told him a good bit about her people and about the powerful warrior race they had once been. The loss of their power had broken them at first and they'd settled into defeat. But in the past few centuries their pride in who they once were had returned and they'd begun to try and reclaim that power. He could see it clearly in the faces of the gathered Tanarians now, seeing the kind of power Hotaru had was definitely stirring their pride.
"That's incredible Hotaru... how did you gain so much power in the last year?" Sora asked.
Hotaru relaxed and her power dropped quickly soon returning to her normal resting level. "A lot has happened in the last year." she said. "And I'm still not as strong as you."
Yamcha's eyes widened at that. Then he remembered, Sora could transform. The power he was feeling from the Tanarian Queen, if it was her max in her current form, was sixteen times less than her transformed state. The Human did some quick math of sorts, amplifying the power he felt from Sora sixteen times over in his head and swallowed. She'd be at least twice as strong as Hotaru's full power!
"Well, let's head to the palace and you can tell me all about it, and about your friend." Sora said turning. "Sango, do as Hotaru asked and have a room readied for Yamcha."
"Yes ma'am." Sango said with a bow before lifting into the air and flying off.
Sora turned to Akira next. "I want you to begin preparations for the arrival of the Sai-jin delegation. I rather agree with my daughter, it's time we quit hiding." Akira frowned a bit but bowed and flew off as well. Then Sora lifted into the air and began to go as well with Hotaru and Yamcha following a good distance behind her.
Yamcha looked over to Hotaru. "I don't get it, you're mother's power when transformed would be... unbelievable." he said. "How was the Ginyu Force able to survive when they attacked your first world?"
Hotaru sighed. "I wasn't born yet when they came," she began. "But I've seen the videos and the reports and I've heard the stories. When the Ginyu Force attacked us my mother was a bit stronger than Akira and couldn't transform yet. She knew, as soon as she'd felt them coming, that our people had no chance." Hotaru shook her head. "Those that couldn't yet fight were gathered quickly and we began to evacuate them. My Father put Mother in charge of the evacuation, which meant she'd have to leave with the ships. It was has way of saving her. He also sent Akira with her. Our elites stayed and fought to buy everyone else time to escape.
"Guldo managed to get past our forces and started killing people at random while Recoome did all the real fighting." Hotaru smiled. "My Father was powerful and he was able to hold Recoome off for quite a long time. It wasn't until my Mother's ship, and the other evacuees, landed here that they found out what happened. Ginyu's report to Frieza was intercepted by our systems." Hotaru's smile had vanished now and she closed her eyes. "Recoome had destroyed our forces by the time our ships left the solar system. Hours before they'd even landed here my Father was dead.
"When Mother heard the report... so emotionless and formal... and it sunk in that my Father was gone..." Hotaru opened her eyes once more and looked toward Sora. "She broke through the magical barriers that seal our true forms and powers and she transformed. By then it was to late to save our planet or anyone that had been on it, and Akira managed to convince her not to try and challange the Ginyu Force in case Freiza decided to come for us himself..."
Chapter One - Homecoming
Yamcha rubbed the back of his head as he walked down the hall toward the communications room. His head still hurt like hell, like he'd been hit by Goku or something. Those Tomyu Flowers weren't as good as Senzu beans, that's for sure. As he walked he'd been so lost in thought he'd not even sensed anyone approach him, it wasn't until her hands were on his shoulders and neck massaging out the tension that he realized she was there. "You're still tense." Hotaru laughed.
"Yeah well, getting knocked around like a kickball by a giant will do that." he said as he turned around. "And you're in much better shape than the last time I saw you."
Hotaru shruged. "A little Tomyu Flower Extract goes a long way. Soaking in the stuff for five hours like I did goes even further. Come on, we don't want to be late or Mother will give another of her lectures." Hotaru rolled her eyes as she jogged off down the hall leaving a chuckling Yamcha to watch after her. He didn't blame her though, when Sora lectured it could last for hours. Still, he took his time.
He spent the next few minutes of his walk looking out the floor to ceiling hall windows at the city far below the tall hill on which the palace rested. There were still a few columns of thick black smoke rising into the air here and there and numerous craters as well. But the Tanarian people were rebuilding already and they were going about it quite quickly. They seemed to be working on a natural high of sorts now, not that he blamed them. Recent events had helped bring closure to an old wound and had sparked new pride for them as well.
A moment later he was walking into the communications room. Sora was busy at the far end of the room with several techs, probably repairing some damaged systems or something, while Hotaru sat at one of the com stations. He moved over to her and sat beside. "Line's busy." she said with a frown. "Wonder who they're talking too."
Yamcha shruged. "Who knows. Probably offical bussiness or something..."
Hotaru sighed. "I just hope the Dragon's powers can reach us out here..."
Yamcha looked over at her and then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Don't worry, I'm sure Shenron has more than enough power to help us out."
"Oh, we're through!" Hotaru cheered as the screen flashed green once and then showed Piccolo, Gohan, Bardock, Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Bulma.
"Hey guys." Krillin said with a grin. "Man, you missed all the action. I'd have loved to have been there with you instead of getting beaten up here."
"You too?" Yamcha asked. "Well, you wouldn't have had much better luck here Krillin."
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked. "Did something happen?"
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, you could say that..."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Four months ago:
Yamcha stared out the window at the nearing planet before him. It still hadn't fully sunk in yet. That he was in space, that he was heading to another planet, and that that planet was the home of his girlfriend. He shook his head slowly at that. /From the moment I met Goku my life has been very odd to say the least./ he thought, then he caught a glimpse of Hotaru sitting at the controls. /A good kind of odd in this case I would say./
He turned his eyes back toward the nearing planet once more. It was a strange mix of pink, blue, and puprle dotted with white clouds. Even from space it looked breathtaking. A few moments later the ship was decsending through the atmosphere and toward the planet's surface. He watched as they passed through the cloud layer and emerged beneath them giving him his first real look at the planet's landscape. If the view from space was breathtaking, this was simply beyond description.
"Oh wow..." he breathed walking toward the window and peering down around. They were passing over rolling mountains now. They were covered with trees, some had pink leaves and others were purple with a few green trees here and there too. Directly below them a large and crystal blue river flowed calmly through a narrow valley going the opposite way they were.
He turned his eyes up and to the right as something grazed his vision and saw a large bird of sorts. Its wingspan was at least a hundred yards and it was covered in orange and red feathers. Even though its body seemed like that of a bird it's head reminded him more of a bat. "What is that?" he asked looking over to Hotaru.
The Princess smiled. "That's Max, he's a Dovi, one of the largest flying creatures on the planet."
"Max? He has a name?"
Hotaru giggled. "Yep. He belongs to my Mother now. My Grandmother found his egg when she was a little girl, the rest in his nest had been smashed and his mother killed by another animal. She felt sorry for him so she took the egg and hatched it and raised him. He's the only Dovi on the entire planet, they were native to our old world. He's the last of his kind..."
Yamcha looked back out the window as the large Dovi swooped down and flew only a few feet above the tree tops and glided off over a small rise ahead of them. As the ship passed over it as well, Yamcha saw a large lake with many small boats on it. The beaches were filled with people enjoying the warm and sunny day. He noticed that, as they saw the ship, they began to stand and cheer. Obviously they recognized that it was Hotaru's. The Sai-jins apparently did a really good job of repairing it after recovering it from the debris of Namek.
Her ship moved lower and closer to the large lake. As it did Yamcha caught sight of the sprawling city that Hotaru had described to him. She'd said the Tanarians built their homes into the forest changing it as little as possible and she'd been right. The homes were built up in the trees among the branches, some wrapping around the trees, some just sitting in the branches, and some seemed to be partly inside the tree as well. Wooden catwalks criss-crossed through the forest between the homes and stairs spiralled down to the ground level where a few small buildings sat here and there as well.
As the ship began to settle on an empty section of beach Yamcha felt a handful of notable powers nearing from within the city. Those that had been on the beach had ranged from the power of an average Human to probably the six or seven thousand range. These three nearing powers, however, greatly dwarfed them. None of them were as strong as Hotaru was, at least when she was powered up anyway, and even without the Kinryoku, but two were stronger than him and the third was close.
"That would be Mother, Sango, and Akira." Hotaru said standing from her seat. "Be ready for a lot of shouting... Akira's going to really dig into me... and then my Mother will probably have a go at one of her lectures..."
"Who is he?"
"Head of the army and my personal bodygaurd..." she laughed lightly at that. "Not that I need him anymore."
Yamcha nodded. If the strongest of the three nearing powers was her Mohter than that meant that Hotaru was now the strongest Tanarian. He moved off to the side of the doorway as Hotaru walked up to it and took a deep breath. Yamcha felt the three powers land a few feet away from the ship as Hotaru opened the door.
"Hotaru, so you finally decided to come back?" A male voice called out with a bit of an edge to it. "You had us all scared half to death! You were gone for so long we thought you might have been killed!"
"And yet," Hotaru began suddenly straigtening up, a gesture Yamcha was familiar with now. Hotaru was about to dig in her heels. "You sent no one looking for me. Not even an automated scout ship. So obviously you weren't too worried about me. Not that it matters anymore, I no longer take orders from you anyway."
"Now see here young lady!" Akira shouted loud enough he had Yamcha wondering if he was louder than Chi-Chi. "I am still in charge of you until you surpass my power, which I can sense you have not yet done, or until you are crowned in three months."
"You should know what you're talking about before making assumptions." Hotaru returned, interrupting him, as she finally began down the stairs toward the beach. Yamcha waited a moment and then followed her, still unnoticed by Akira but getting a shocked gasp from the young woman on the man's right and the crowds around the ship, and a raised eyebrow from the woman on Akira's left. "Mother, we should prepare for a Sai-jin delegation to arrive in six months or so." she said looking over to her.
Akira was wearing a blue GI with green trim, his silver hair was quite short. His green eyes carried the same anger as his voice. The young woman on his right Yamcha figured was Sango. She, too, wore a blue GI but with purple trim. Her hair was also silver and hung down to her knees, the longest Yamcha had ever seen, and her red eyes held a fire and a compassion to them. Hotaru's Mother, Sora, had on a simple dress that was also somehow elegant. Her hair, silver as well, was pulled into a braid and went halfway down her back. She had the same orange eyes as Hotaru. Yamcha glanced at the other people and quickly noted that everyone had silver hair.
"Sai-jin delegation!?" Akira shouted. "You gave our location to the Sai-jins! Freiza has spies in their ranks, once he lea..."
Hotaru snapped her eyes toward Akira once more. "If you'd pull your head out of the sand once in a while you would know that Frieza is Dead!" she said hotly. The statement caught everyone completely off guard, but Akira recovered quickly.
"Nonsense. Only his father is..."
"I was there Akira." Hotaru said. She decided to leave out the part about dying and then being revived and going back to Earth for simplicity's sake. "On Namek a Sai-jin that had been living on Earth and going by the name of Goku became a Super Sai-jin and killed him." Akira just stared at her speechless so she turned her attention to Sango. "Could you have a room prepared for Yamcha, he's going to be staying with us for a bit."
That's when Akira noticed the man standing just behind her. "WHAT!? You brought an ou..."
Hotaru's patience and fiery temper had reached the breaking point. Her aura flashed about her for a second as she turned to face Akira again. Her power climbed quickly but settled well below her full power, almost on par with that of Akira's. A second later it subsided and she sighed. "I'm not arguing with you anymore Akira. You can live in fear and with a closed mind if you like but I wont, and I wont let the rest of my people live that way either."
Akira looked like he was about to say something when the woman to his left raised a hand and he instantly went silent. Sora lowered her hand and stepped foward. "Pardon Akira," she said gently. "Yamcha, wasn't it?" Yamcha nodded. "He's a bit hot headed and rather paranoid, but his heart is in the right place." She glanced at Akira for a moment before looking at Yamcha again. "Tell me, are you a Sai-jin? You're not wearing their normal armor..."
Yamcha shook his head. "No, I'm a Human. I'm from Earth."
"The same place as the Sai-jin that beat Frieza?" Sora asked. "Wasn't that the world Zarbon was going... oh, I see. This Goku must have been the one Zarbon was after last year."
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah. That wasn't much fun." he said with a frown. "But thanks to Hotaru and Goku's family we managed to pull through." Yamcha had the same idea as Hotaru, explain the part about having been dead at a later time.
"And Namek?"
"I wasn't there." Yamcha said. "But I saw what happened. Hotaru and the others held their ground pretty well against Recoome until Bardock and Goku got there and dispatched the Ginyu force without any trouble. Frieza was a problem but, like Hotaru said, Goku transformed and beat him."
Sora nodded slowly and then looked at Hotaru again. "You fought against Recoome?" she asked.
"And Frieza, though I didn't do nearly as good against him."
Akira snorted. "I felt that power spike." he said. "With your Kinryoku you're almost even with me, I am rather impressed by that at least, but you'd never last against the likes of Recoome."
Yamcha couldn't help but laugh as he caught sight of the glare Hotaru was giving Akira. When she heard it she relaxed considerably. She hated how Akira had always been able to get under her skin. "For your information Akira, that wasn't the Kinryoku. I've learned to lower my power when I don't need it all, it comes in handy when you don't want scouters to detect you."
Sora smiled lightly. "An impressive ability."
Hotaru nodded. "Picked it up on Earth." she said.
"So then you can do this as well Yamcha?" The Human nodded. "Would you two mind showing us how much power you do have? I'm afraid my curiostiy has gotten the better of me."
Hotaru glanced back at Yamcha grinning. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she couldn't wait to see Akira's reaction. But at the same time she wanted to show off how strong Yamcha was too. So she gave him the nod to go first. He stepped off to the side, all eyes following him, and then clenched his fists. With a cry his aura exploded about him and his power shot up quickly. In a matter of seconds his power was nearly even with Akira's, much to everyone else's shock. And then he grinned. "Sanjuu Kinryoku!" he cried. His aura exploded larger and turned silver, his power jumping sky high.
"Very impressive." Sora commented. "Hotaru's tried to teach the Kinryoku to many people but you're the first I've ever seen to actually master it."
Yamcha relaxed, his power dropping back down qucikly. "I haven't really mastered it. Hotaru's a lot better at it than I am. And stronger than me to begin with." he said turning to look at her.
She grinned at him and then turned her eyes toward Akira as her aura flared to life. She threw her arms and head back and let out a cry as her orange aura danced madly, her hair flapping about in the violent winds she was creating. It only took a few seconds to surpass Akira's power, and then Sora's, before she finally hit her natural maximum. As she lowered her head to look at Akira, Yamcha was already laughing at the look on the man's face. When Hotaru finally got a look at him she smirked. Obviously the fact that she was more than twice his power was something of a shock to him.
She cracked her neck and lifted a few inches into the air clenching her fists and bracing her body. "Itsutsu Kinryoku!" she cried. Her aura exploded outward as it shifted to silver and a small crater formed beneath her from the sudden upsurge of energy. Yamcha looked out at the crowd as they all gasped and stared, and then cheers began to ring out from around them.
Hotaru had told him a good bit about her people and about the powerful warrior race they had once been. The loss of their power had broken them at first and they'd settled into defeat. But in the past few centuries their pride in who they once were had returned and they'd begun to try and reclaim that power. He could see it clearly in the faces of the gathered Tanarians now, seeing the kind of power Hotaru had was definitely stirring their pride.
"That's incredible Hotaru... how did you gain so much power in the last year?" Sora asked.
Hotaru relaxed and her power dropped quickly soon returning to her normal resting level. "A lot has happened in the last year." she said. "And I'm still not as strong as you."
Yamcha's eyes widened at that. Then he remembered, Sora could transform. The power he was feeling from the Tanarian Queen, if it was her max in her current form, was sixteen times less than her transformed state. The Human did some quick math of sorts, amplifying the power he felt from Sora sixteen times over in his head and swallowed. She'd be at least twice as strong as Hotaru's full power!
"Well, let's head to the palace and you can tell me all about it, and about your friend." Sora said turning. "Sango, do as Hotaru asked and have a room readied for Yamcha."
"Yes ma'am." Sango said with a bow before lifting into the air and flying off.
Sora turned to Akira next. "I want you to begin preparations for the arrival of the Sai-jin delegation. I rather agree with my daughter, it's time we quit hiding." Akira frowned a bit but bowed and flew off as well. Then Sora lifted into the air and began to go as well with Hotaru and Yamcha following a good distance behind her.
Yamcha looked over to Hotaru. "I don't get it, you're mother's power when transformed would be... unbelievable." he said. "How was the Ginyu Force able to survive when they attacked your first world?"
Hotaru sighed. "I wasn't born yet when they came," she began. "But I've seen the videos and the reports and I've heard the stories. When the Ginyu Force attacked us my mother was a bit stronger than Akira and couldn't transform yet. She knew, as soon as she'd felt them coming, that our people had no chance." Hotaru shook her head. "Those that couldn't yet fight were gathered quickly and we began to evacuate them. My Father put Mother in charge of the evacuation, which meant she'd have to leave with the ships. It was has way of saving her. He also sent Akira with her. Our elites stayed and fought to buy everyone else time to escape.
"Guldo managed to get past our forces and started killing people at random while Recoome did all the real fighting." Hotaru smiled. "My Father was powerful and he was able to hold Recoome off for quite a long time. It wasn't until my Mother's ship, and the other evacuees, landed here that they found out what happened. Ginyu's report to Frieza was intercepted by our systems." Hotaru's smile had vanished now and she closed her eyes. "Recoome had destroyed our forces by the time our ships left the solar system. Hours before they'd even landed here my Father was dead.
"When Mother heard the report... so emotionless and formal... and it sunk in that my Father was gone..." Hotaru opened her eyes once more and looked toward Sora. "She broke through the magical barriers that seal our true forms and powers and she transformed. By then it was to late to save our planet or anyone that had been on it, and Akira managed to convince her not to try and challange the Ginyu Force in case Freiza decided to come for us himself..."
