"Okay I'll start from the beginning, because Chiaotzu had been knocked out during the preliminaries." Bulma started, "He was knocked out by a cyborg named Taopaipai, who was..."
"... And after I showed Dr. Gero around, you guys came in." Bulma ended her story. "Anyone have any questions?"
The news was worse than Chiaotzu could ever possibly suspect. Not only Tien gone, but Launch too. Even Goku and Krillin, which he had come to respect, were gone. He just sat there slumped in his sofa, wishing he'd never heard of the Budokai in his life. Suddenly, he remembered something.
"Umm, Bulma," he said, "can't we just use the Dragon balls to wish everyone back?"
"Yes we can, but unfortunately Piccolo guards them while they're recharging." Kami interrupted, "They should be restored to full within three days too."
"Hey Gero, didn't you say you stood in the audience when Piccolo appeared without the disguise?" Yamcha asked.
"Yes I was," the scientist replied, "somewhere in the middle section, I believe. Why do you ask?"
"Just a minute, I have to make a phone call," Yamcha said, lost in thought, "I just had something I wanted to check..."
Yamcha stood up and walked towards the videophone built into the wall. He dialled a number, and waited for the call to be answered.
"Kame House," a voice said, "this is Muten Roshi speaking"
Yamcha's heart skipped a beat. As Roshi was one of the few people who still used regular phones, the video feed was offline, rendering him unable to see if there was anyone else there with him. Gathering his hopes, he leaned towards the microphone
"Roshi, do you know if there are others who survived those blasts?" Yamcha spoke agitatedly, "Who is there with you now?"
"Puar and Oolong, I took them to safety when things started getting ugly." Roshi told him, "They've been worried sick about you and the others though."
Yamcha felt an incredible relief surge through his body, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He announced to the others that Roshi, Puar and Oolong survived as well and asked if they could come on over as well. Bulma agreed on that and Yamcha told Roshi that he'd explain later, but that it was important that they'd head for Capsule Corp as soon as possible.
"Sure thing, we're going to leave as soon as we can," Roshi replied, "We won't be there until tomorrow anyway, since we can't fly from the South-eastern Islands."
"Ask him to drop by the RR Base underway, he'll be passing nearby anyway," Gero interrupted them, "we could use Piccolo's severed arm as a tissue sample..."
"Oh yeah, could you pass by where they held the Tournament and pick up Piccolo's arm?" Yamcha told Roshi, trying to make it sound like a normal request.
"His WHAT!" Roshi screamed, "Why in Kami's name do you need THAT for?"
"Umm, it's a long story," Yamcha said, "let's just say there's someone here at Capsule Corp. that can help us defeat Piccolo, but we need a tissue sample."
"You mean a fighter?" Roshi asked, "But I know the names of all of the strongest warriors. Who is it? I might know him."
"Oh you know him alright. But he's a scientist, called..." Yamcha changed what he was going to say, "Like I said... long story. I'll tell you when you get here, okay?"
"Aww shucks, I'll go find my airship capsule then." Roshi said, obviously not looking forward to dealing with severed limbs, "I guess I'll have Oolong pick 'it' up then. See you tomorrow."
"Wait a sec," Yamcha quickly said, "What time do you think you'll get here?"
"Ohh, about noon, I guess," Roshi answered, "since we have to go look for that... you know... first."
"Yeah, well, sorry about that," Yamcha apologized, "but trust me, we have a VERY good reason not to do it ourselves."
"You'd better have one." The old master muttered, before adding, "Okay, see you guys tomorrow, at noon."
"Sure thing, see you then." Yamcha said, ending the call, and rejoining the others to discuss who was going to do what next.
"While awaiting the tissue sample," Gero noted, "Bulma and I can brainstorm for ideas on what the weapon is supposed to do."
"Yeah, and since you managed to save your research," Bulma agreed, "we could upload the data into my central computer too."
"Kami," Chiaotzu asked, "since we're both strong psychics, would you care to discuss techniques with me? I have a few ideas, but I need to find out if they'll work on you."
"No offence," Chiaotzu quickly added, "but since you and Piccolo are originally one being, you're the closest thing to him that we have."
"No offence taken," Kami said, "and I see your point. Very well then, I accept your offer. Shall we begin"
"Man, I'd like to train," Yamcha grumbled, "but I can't, knowing Piccolo could detect my Ki as soon as I raise it."
"Oh not necessarily," Bulma told him, "I made a training room with Ki deflecting walls."
"I made it in case any of you guys dropped by," Bulma added, with a wink, "since you can't get training out of your mind 24/7."
"Thanks Bulma," Yamcha said, exited at being able to train at full power, "all this walking around with my Ki suppressed was getting to me."
"Bulma, I know I promised to help you, but would you mind if I join him?" Chichi asked, before adding with a smile "all your talk of neurochemical suppressants and endorphin blockers gave me a headache not too long ago. You tend to think out loud."
"Sure, go ahead," Bulma said, "Gero and I need to implement his research into mine anyway and you couldn't help us with that."
And with that, everybody left. Kami and Chiaotzu were discussing psychics, while Bulma, flanked by Gero, showed Yamcha and Chichi to the training room. After a brief explanation on how to work the controls (the Ki deflecting field needed to be set at the correct strength) she took Gero to an empty room, next to her lab.
"Is this room large enough to decapsulize your research in?" Bulma asked.
"No, this will do nicely," Gero told her, "now stand back while I decapsulize everything."
Gero took a capsule out of his inside pocket and tossed it to the centre of the room, where it decapsulized into more capsules. Gero then proceeded decapsulizing those, and after a few minutes of rearranging, his old lab was rebuilt into its original state. Bulma helped hook everything up to her central computer, and began uploading the backups that Gero had made regularly. When everything was uploaded into the mainframe, Gero began to override the security devices he implemented in his files, which he had installed so nobody would steal his research. While Gero was doing this, Bulma looked around his lab, now noting several human-sized pods lined up against the wall.
"Gero, what are those," Bulma asked, pointing at the pods, "It looks like there's something inside them."
"That is correct." Gero replied off-handed, not looking up from the terminal, "Androids."