"So how much stronger did you get in that room?" Goku wondered, eyeing Chayote around with an inspecting look while the entirety of the inhabitants of the God Temple walked outside from the hallway where the Room of Spirit and Time was located.
"Not all that much. I've had some training but most of the time I've spent assisting Upa in his training. Turns out becoming a Kami is a far greater bother than I initially thought and at some point I almost wanted Piccolo Jr. to show his head and attack us." Chayote ran her hand through her hair and sighed with bother and frustration that was slowly relieving itself now that the Saiyan had realized that her troublesome time in the Room of Spirit and Time was over at last.
"I see… Well then, I wonder if Piccolo Jr. is just lost or if he truly did find a way to escape the room somehow. I'd really like to fight him one day, you know." Goku clenched his fists and stretched his body out.
"Tough to say, Upa's sensory abilities have far surpassed mine after just a couple of months inside that room and he couldn't sense a trace of him there. Then again, the room is pretty damn large. All I can say is that if Upa can't sense him – there's a fat chance he could sense anything else from wherever he is as well." Chayote shrugged. Her stare became fixed on Upa who just stood there staring at the skies.
"Hey, quit daydreaming, we've got a place to visit before you can complete your stupid trials and become Kami for good." Chayote yelled out to him but the young man remained stationary and stared at a point in space. With no haste in his motions, Upa reached behind his back for his tomahawks and swung them in a vertical circle before pressing their blades together.
A turbulent howl left the colliding blades, making its way into the layer of skies that were meant to be devoid of such natural occurrences as the typhoon that Upa had sent that way. For a moment there as everyone tensed up and struggled to maintain their footing, Chayote had wondered if the trainee to become Kami had only been showing off. It did not take long, however, for the round gust of raging winds to slam a weathered spacecraft right in front of the attendants of the God Temple.
"That's… Jaco's ship!" Chayote couldn't believe it. Everyone turned to her, surprised that she knew the nature of this spacecraft and, after realizing that the owner of this spacecraft was familiar to Chayote, Upa let up on the vortex of winds that contained it within.
"You know this spaceship, Chayote?" Tenshinhan wondered.
"Yeah, it belongs to the Galactic Patrol. They're sort of a space police force. I've met one of them who was traveling alongside Bulma's sister when I was looking for the Ultimate Dragon Balls." Chayote explained as briefly as she could.
"Bulma's sister!?" Krillin stumbled back in surprise before focusing attention on this spaceship that he lacked to spare before he knew this factoid.
"Oh… So Bulma had a sister? I see…" Goku reacted with as easy of a time dealing with such news as everyone expected for him.
The lid of the spaceship tilted up, letting those inside to leave the spaceship and confront the inhabitants of the God Temple where Upa had forced the spaceship soaring above the space of the planet he was about to swear to protect to land. This was the first time that the rest of the folks met Jaco though they dealt with the shocker of setting their eyes on a bona fide alien policeman easier than most would, which wasn't all that surprising, given they already know at least two aliens.
"And that's why I objected to coming to this damn planet!" Jaco grumbled while patting his bodysuit and grinding his teeth at the passenger of his ship. "And to think that I would receive this kind of welcome after I've helped out one of yours!"
"One of ours?" Yamcha wondered, bending his head to gander at the open spaceship and noticing a pair of rabbit ears sticking out from an anthropomorphic rabbit with sunglasses sitting in the back seat alongside a pair of ordinary humans with breathing apparatuses on their mouths and noses. The skins of the pair of humans were far too orange to be considered a normal hue but other than that they looked quite human.
"That's right, these guys were floating in space not too far from your moon. Who knows how they ended up there or why those two are orange, honestly…" Jaco shook his head. "If Tights didn't ask me so nicely over and over again to bring her back home so that she could see her sister, I'd have stayed as far a…"
Jaco froze in mid-sentence after seeing Chayote standing right in front of him, a fact that he had remained oblivious to while he went off on a tangent but noticed the moment that his fury over being forcefully landed subsided somewhat. The Saiyan had been giving him simmering stares but she wasn't lashing out which Jaco knew to be the Saiyan way, which confused him greatly about the nature of their relationship post him leaving her to die and, quite frankly, made him far more frightened than if Chayote just flipped out on him for abandoning her on Slug's cruiser.
"Bulma's been brought back to life. You should drop Tights by West City." Chayote replied after closing her eyes and taking a few breaths to compose herself. She felt like flipping out, she wanted to grab the head of this pathetic little alien and plant it all over the temple, grind it and drag it across every single tile covering the place and then smash it off of the Korin Tower but… She didn't really blame him for leaving her. Heck, had he not done so, he might have gotten Tights murdered alongside him which wouldn't have been any better to anyone.
It would have just made for another chore to gather the Dragon Balls, just another distraction to Chayote amongst all too many she had on her plate already.
"Huh? Oh… Okay… So… I assume that this boy here is the new Kami of Earth then?" Jaco pointed at Upa.
"Kami-in-training." Mr. Popo corrected the alien policeman.
"Ah… I see… I guess this one's a bit more gung-ho about protecting his planet, I'll make sure to let you know when I plan on inspecting the planet or scoop up some prisoners off of it then." Jaco scratched his cheek while giving Upa's serious look a goofy and slightly intimidated stare in return. "In the meantime, I found this bunch floating in space, I assume they must be ones of yours. Scooping people floating in space up is a part of the code of ethics for a Super-Elite of the Galactic Patrol!"
"Super-Elite?! Whoa! You must be super-strong!" Goku rushed up to Jaco while the alien policeman posed in front of the Earthlings. Goku's tail flapped and wiggled beside him in excitement, Chayote knew that motion, it was likely to only be followed by a fight to sate the hunger it represented.
"Huh…? You're… Another Saiyan… Aren't you?" Jaco dropped his jaw and leaned back, intimidated by the enthusiastic approach of yet another fearsome member of the violent space warriors.
"Don't bother, Kakarot. This guy's all talk. He's weaker than Raditz was when you fought him." Chayote grunted and shook her head in disappointment.
"Oh, I see… That's too bad…" Goku sighed and shook his head. "Don't go around calling yourself super-elite and stuff if you're some sort of a weakling then…"
"Ah… I see… I apologize for the confusion…" Jaco bowed a pair of times in rapid succession, looking rather chipper about the fact he had just dodged out of a clash against another Saiyan who looked far more willing to bring his fists raining down upon him than the last one from Earth he had met.
"Oh, hey, it's those guys!" Goku pointed at the rabbit with the shades. "I completely forgot about you guys! You were on the moon, weren't you!?"
"On the… Moon?" Chayote turned to Goku before her eyes widened up in shock. "B-But Muten Roshi destroyed the moon once…"
"Yeah, so one time a beam came from the Earth and popped the moon once, see? We wents floatin' around in space, see?" the rabbit wearing shades and a martial arts uniform with the kanji reading "Rabbit" on it explained. "That's 'till this 'ere guy scooped us up, see?"
"It's crazy that you guys survived out in space for so long!" Chiaotzu gasped and covered his red cheeks with his hands. "Why were you on the moon, to begin with?"
"I kinda put them there…" Goku stroke the back of his head while chuckling with an innocent flush of red on his cheeks. "They were behaving really bad so I put them on the moon so that they wouldn't hassle everyone and turn them into carrots."
"That's right, those guys are some really bad guys. They once terrorized an entire village, turning people they didn't like into carrots." Yamcha crossed his arms over his chest and gave the Rabbit Mob alongside its leader a mean look. "If you're a Galactic Patrolman, or whatever, may as well take those guys to a space prison, or wherever you keep bad guys in."
"Wait, what?! Turn people into carrots!? Forget that! I'm out!" Jaco fumbled back from his spaceship before making a goofy gesture for the Rabbit Mob and their boss to get out of his vessel. "He's your problem, you deal with him!"
"Jeez, I didn't realize that the Galactic Patrolman is such a wussy…" Krillin squinted at Chayote who just shook her head with embarrassment, somehow she ended up being affiliated with this guy in everybody's mind as if he was her friend, or something, which in terms ruined her reputation at the same time in the eyes of everyone else.
"Don't even get me started…" Chayote grumbled out, fearing that any dreams for a potential career as a fearsome and loyal soldier of any kind of space army would be permanently sealed off to her now that people saw her around this guy or, at the very least, considered them acquaintances.
"I mean… He's too small-time for a serious Galactic Justice-Keeping Organization such as the Galactic Patrol! Leave alone a Super-Elite such as myself!" Jaco struck a few poses again, feeling mighty proud by the fact that he washed his hands away from the troublesome Earthling criminal.
"So this is God's Temple, huh? A nice joint, see?" the rabbit with shades looked around. "I think we'll takes it, see?"
"What's this asshole's name?" Chayote turned to Goku.
"Ummm… Rabbit Who Turns People Into Carrots." Goku replied, leaning back on his arms, apparently taking the rabbit's threats with as little seriousness as Chayote was taking them with.
"Why did I ask you, of all people, Kakarot. Yamcha, what is this guy's name?" Chayote turned to Yamcha with an irritated expression after what she thought to be yet another case of Goku fumbling his way through words and names.
"Umm… Well… Goku got it right, he's actually called Rabbit Who Turns People Into Carrots…" Yamcha scratched his cheek, looking embarrassed. If one's name was so stupid it embarrassed other people solely because of the fact they were pronouncing it, that was a problem in of itself.
"Tsk… What a mouthful. I'll just call you Rabbit Carrot, or whatever. Look, you've got a unique chance to scatter your mob and start a new life here. We've got no time to take you to the moon, or wherever, mostly because we might end up blowing it up again and then we'll just feel bad when we remember you guys." Chayote warned the mobsters but the rabbit just turned to Tights and wrapped his arm around her, extending the other one over her head.
"Gives it up, see? Or the girl gets it!" he threatened the folks.
"Eek!" Jaco leaned back, considering this situation as one that has successfully gone tits up. "Why do these things always happen to me?! What's wrong with this damn planet!?"
"Can you turn her back if Rabbit Carrot turns Bulma's sister into a carrot?" Chayote wondered after looking at Upa.
"I think so…" Upa shrugged. "If I had to guess, he's probably working with some manner of Magic Materialization, which just happens to be the specialty of a Kami."
Before Chayote could proclaim her excitement and dispatch of the Rabbit Carrot in a way she saw fit, a loud pop made her turn her head back at the developing situation at hand and she saw Rabbit Carrot frozen in place and twitching in pain. A faint trail of smoke lingered over his head. One of the orange-skinned Rabbit Mob members held a gun pointed at the back of Rabbit Carrot's head, once the rabbit fell off the ship and planted on his face and the bullet hole in the back of the Rabbit's head became more apparent, the outcome of this deadlock became self-evident.
"Y-You bastard… Not even a second back on solid ground and he's already causing trouble!" the frightened orange-skinned man mumbled out. His voice was high-pitched, his tone was weak, he looked and felt punier than even a normal human which was of no surprise, given that he had spent what might have been years floating in space. "Say whatever you will, I'm not going back floating in space and eating space rocks and garbage that this asshole turns into carrots for my entire life!"
"We ate poop…" the second one fell on his knees and burst into tears. Tights, who looked as if she had absolutely no idea of what was going on, except for the slight fright for when the fuzzy bunny grabbed her from behind and tried touching her on the forehead inappropriately, began patting the poor man on the shoulder and comforting him. "He turned our own poop into carrots and we ate it all… This bastard had it coming, we give up! Just don't put us back on the moon!"
Chayote felt a puny Ki signature still emanating from Rabbit Carrot, it was impressive that this anthropomorphic animal could survive being shot in the back of his head with his puny power level but his potential for magical abilities might have granted him a greater vitality as well. It was either that or he was just that damn lucky.
"We'll take him with." Chayote decided. Everyone turned to her with objecting stares, Upa was the one who focused on a whole different part of her declaration.
"Taking him with? Where?" he wondered.
"Your last bit of training before the trials, Jaco, you can take these Earthlings to West City and let them go, they've clearly suffered enough and you're headed that way in either case, if you're bringing Tights home. I'm sure that a Super-Elite can handle a little bit of delivery service." Chayote put her arms on her hips as she gave Jaco a blaming stare as if implying he owed her and Earth that much, at least.
"Okay…" Jaco whistled with his lips turning to the side, in an expression of self-proclaimed innocence and oblivion of any sense of blame that Chayote was blackmailing him with. "Leave it to me!" he struck a heroic pose before jumping into his spaceship and blasting off.
"Training? You said training, didn't you?" Goku ran up to Chayote. "What kind of training is it? If Piccolo Jr. won't be any trouble, I wanna do it too!"
"It would be useless to you or me. It's only something Upa can do and use. It's not training for the muscles but training for his heart." Chayote explained. "That being said, I'd be thankful if you lent Upa your Kinto, Kakarot."
"Kinto? I'm not sure why but fine… Kinto!" Goku called out for the magical cloud that hurled up and stopped in front of him obediently. "You're gonna carry Upa around for a while, 'kay?"
Seeing how the cloud did not respond, both Goku and Upa turned to Chayote for further instructions for the training that she meant for Upa to complete before undertaking his trials to finally become Kami. Mr. Popo smiled, he must not have had any questions about Chayote's intentions.
"Alright, Upa, hop on." Chayote pointed at the cloud. "This is the first step, if you can't do this, there's no way to even attempt the Sudden Death Step."
"The… Sudden Death Step?" Krillin paled out.
"This makes me glad that Chayote's not training me…" Yamcha whispered to Tenshinhan and the two rivals shared a smirk.
Without getting too worked up over the entire affair, Upa hopped atop of the magical cloud. Kinto rustled like disrupted water, shifting about to maintain the weight of the young man riding it but Upa did not plummet through like most trying to ride it did.
"Alright then, to Baba's Palace we go." Chayote nodded and took off, leading the way for Upa to follow.
"Ah… Fortuneseller Baba's Palace… I see…" Goku smiled. "Chayote was right, that test would have been pointless to me."
"Eek! She took the Rabbit Carrot with her!" Krillin pointed at the empty spot of the God Temple grounds where the dispatched rabbit had laid previously.
"Let's just hope that he doesn't recover mid-flight and cause trouble then." Tenshinhan closed his eyes and nodded. The three-eyed martial artist turned around and began making his way back into the temple.
"Huh? Where are you going, Tenshinhan?" Goku wondered.
"Isn't it obvious? Even if Piccolo Jr. is no longer a threat to us, we've spent so much time training in God's Temple that at this point it would be a waste not to see which one of us is stronger. The 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament is just a year away, soon enough you're going to be busy with married life, this is our best chance to finally overtake you as martial artists." Tenshinhan raised his fist up with a bold statement.
"Oh, that's right!" Krillin smiled, crouching with excitement.
"As if!" Goku smirked. "I'm not sure what you meant with all that married life stuff but… I'm not married yet. I can still train just as hard!"
Chi-Chi observed Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tenshinhan dashing off toward various mystical facilities that God's Temple was equipped with to train. Chiaotzu floated off by Tenshinhan's side as well. The young woman pressed her knuckle to her chest before looking up to Goku's back and dashing after him. That Saiyan woman told her that showing initiative and becoming powerful was the only way to get Goku's attention. She didn't need to say that, Chi-Chi saw it with her own eyes when that Saiyan walked out of the Room of Spirit and Time.
While the men took off toward the room with dark gloom and golden clock patterns filling it, Chi-Chi took a different turn and rushed to an old, wooden door with a golden frame and handle. That Saiyan woman had Goku's attention the whole time after leaving this room, that meant that if Chi-Chi became as powerful as that space lady, Goku would notice her and start taking his promise to marry her more seriously too.
The blinding whiteness and absence of sound or smell that hit her face when Chi-Chi opened the door leading up to the Room of Spirit and Time took the young woman by surprise. It took a recollection of everything she was doing this for to gather the strength necessary to take the first, bold steps inside. Goku patted her crotch when the two were children, they were bound to marry each other from that day forth. If becoming strong was the way to make sure that she became his wife and got his attention, no amount of hardship was going to stand in between the goal of taking that crude boy as her husband!
Author's Note: Okay, so it's absolutely canon that Monster Carrot (who is, more correctly, literally called Rabbit Who Turns People into Carrots) survived both destructions of the moon and just floated in space, alongside his mobsters, which makes little to no sense but it's Toriyama's word and that word is law, as far as I'm concerned :D
Had to stretch that suspension of disbelief as thin as it gets to make this work but I think it kind of fits in good. I just wanted a bit more conclusive end to this particular storyline than "they were just floating in space after the Moon got destroyed" and maybe answer some questions which might naturally rise from that plotline. In any case, it's just a minor side story in the whole intermission period between the Grand Tour and... The thing that comes next.