Project Cloud


Chapter 14 - Preparation


As the Earth's best Martial Artists continued to train, Mister Popo was able to further gauge their strengths and weaknesses and battle. Based off his judgements, he had all of them partnered against a particular person when it came to sparring: Krillin and Upa spar as Tien and Yamcha spar.

Krillin and Upa's strength and weaknesses off-set and they both appeared to be going at it punch for punch and kick for kick. By partnering these two up, Mister Popo hoped that both of them would eventually find out what their weakness is so that they can strengthen it and use it to take advantage. It was only inevitable that this would happen.

As for Yamcha and Tien? It was much different. Yamcha was showing out with all his flashy moves, but he fought angrily. Because of this, Tien had a constant edge over Yamcha, who only continued to get more frustrated as their sparring waged on. After failing to successfully strike Tien down with his signature move, he is kicked in the gut and then put in a lock-hold.

"Your rage isn't going to get you anywhere, Yamcha. Cool it. Fighting with a level head is the only way to ensure victory."

Noticing he's loosened his grip, Yamcha rams the back of his head against Tien's face prior to turning around to clock him in the cheek. Face fuming as he huffed and puffed, Yamcha angrily shouts, "What the hell do you know!? Anger is the only thing that keeps me going! It's how I feel alive!" He clenched his fist. "It only adds to my strength!"

Wiping the blood from his nose as he got back on his feet, Tien expresses how adding anger to his power means nothing if he is unable to use it in a proper and efficient fashion. "Head to the castle, meditate, and cool off."

"Whatever," Yamcha huffs. As he's storming off, he mumbles how all of this is just bullshit.

Seeing what was going on over near the edge of the look-out out of the corner of his eye, Krillin had to be distracted as he sparred with Upa. The young boy noticed this early on, yet only decided to strike whenever he could surprise Krillin. The bald boy fell over to his side subsequent to being taken advantage of with an unexpected leg-sweep from Upa, who then keeps him pinned on the ground by holding his foot on his chest.

Looking up at Upa's victorious smiled, Krillin moaned in aggravation. "T-That won't happen again…"

"As long as you don't drop your guard, you should be all good, heh."

"You know…" Tien walks up over to Upa. "you're an extremely focused fighter for someone so young. Who inspires you to fight?"

Upa goes silent for a moment. Once Krillin gets up, all eyes are on him. Even Mister Popo, who's watering his plants, keeps an ear open. He himself had an idea for who it could be, but he wanted to hear it from the man himself. Being back home, his one and only inspiration had always been his father. He was the protector of the land. He was big, strong, and showed the absolute pure definition of leadership. He didn't run away from anything or anyone, even if it risked his life. He was the man he looked up to. But then Goku came. Seeing him for the first time just lit a spark deep down inside. Goku, like Upa, was and still is a kid, showing the same bravery and internal power that his father had. But now, Goku wasn't the same. He couldn't even call him Goku anymore. "If I had to be honest…" Upa looked at Tien. "The person Son Goku was before - before all this - was - no still is - my inspiration. I want to be just like him one day."

Hearing that caused Krillin to look away. Hearing those words come from Upa's mouth almost had him tear up. Sure, he and Son Goku didn't start on the best of terms but it was only because Krillin wanted to prove himself. Despite how Krillin tried to cheat and best Goku in many different aspects, he was still looked at as a friend by the monkey-tailed boy. He, too, inspired him.

"I miss Goku…"


For only the third time in her entire life, Bulma is on a ship in outer-space, accompanied by Slain and Tyber. The first time was going over to the Galactic Patrol and the second served as a purpose for her to be able to tell sectors apart while in space as a form of training. But now? She had to get ready for the real deal.

She had been a huge asset to the Galactic Patrol in far many more ways than one. Despite growing up in a less technology advanced society back on Earth all her life, Bulma was light-years ahead of her own kind in intelligence. When introduced to the works and foundation of the Galactic Patrol and all the tech that the Universe had to offer, she faced some minor complications. But through working on it and adapting, Bulma proved herself - so much to the point that the higher-ranked soldiers such as Slain was convinced she was ready for the battle-field. With her smarts and some training, he believed her to be a force to be reckoned with.

"I don't expect smooth sailing," Bulma said, "but I don't think this should be that hard." Looking over the data on her tablet, she points something out. "But still...if only one person is headed here for a conquest mission, then he must be crazy strong or crazy smart - maybe even both."

"Strong is more like it," Tyber says. "The person headed toward that planet comes from a race of warriors, bred and built for battle. Intelligence has never been a strong-suit, but it'd be insanely foolish to underestimate them in all aspects."

Hearing Slain doing his best to keep his muffled chuckles remain unheard gets Tyber's attention, who raises his brow and pouts subtly. "And just what is so funny?"

"It just amuses me how hard you try to separate yourself from them."

Bulma starts to open her mouth to say something, but the words don't come out. Everything Slain had just said right then and there was all the proof she needed. By Slain's words and a bit of verbal dissection, Bulma was able to conclude that Tyber was most likely one of them, the people that he described to be bred and built for battle. That would surely explain to her just exactly why Tyber is said to be one of the strongest and most skilled combatants within the Galactic Patrol Force. And the way he spoke most definitely was a way to disassociate himself from that kind. She couldn't blame him, either. If they hopped from planet to planet, tearing down entire civilizations just to sell worlds, then she could understand why he'd want no part in that.


If not for a nearby planet's moon just out in space, the world that they landed on would be completely pitch-black. Just mere moments after stepping outside on land, Bulma falls over to her knees. Her breathing gets heavy and her body begins to shake. Just as Tyber goes in to help her, Slain prevents him from doing so by putting his hand on the man's chest.

After getting a very concerned and frustrated look from the worried Tyber, Slain reassured him that Bulma would be fine - that she knew what to do.

For the young woman, it feels as if the entire world is starting to crush her and keep her down. Her body gets red hot and nothing but soreness begins to overwhelm her solely by staying on her hands and knees. "H-How...How much g-gravity…"

"According to the gravity of this planet in comparison to the gravity you're used to, it's fifteen times that of Planet Earth's."

Reaching into her utility belt, Bulma grabs a a silver brace to wrap it around her wrist. The only two circular buttons were meant for the numbers to go either down or up. Clicking the button at the bottom fifteen times got the brace to show a number of negative fifteen. Once she held said button, the number stayed. Typer, amazed, watched as a grey aura came over Bulma's body for a split second. Once the sequence was complete, she was standing up on her feet, feeling as good as new.

"Much better," she said with a relieved sigh.

"Since when did we have such technology," Tyber mumbles.

"Ever since she joined the club," Slain answered Tyber, chuckling and adding a pat on the shoulder.


For an entire half hour. Upa and Tien had been sparring with one another since Krillin decided to go ahead and rest with meditation. Tien, being the superior fighter, was dominating Upa, but also had been doing just enough damage to keep Upa in the match. The kid, who showed himself to be determined, was exhausted. Though still, he was bent on sparring until his body didn't let him anymore.

With one nice kick, Upa is knocked over right to the edge of the lookout, with his backheels over it. Swinging his arms in desperation, he manages to keep his balance and remain on the look-out. Though right ahead of him, is Tien, who just stands there with a smirk on his face.

Tien and Upa, focused on one another in these supposed final moments of the sparring match, don't seem to notice Kami coming out of the castle. The overseer of Planet Earth is greeted by Mister Popo, who expresses that it's rather a surprise to see him.

"Something's about to happen," he said. "Keep watch."

"One shot…" Tien says, lifting an index finger. "You either have to dodge this or fall and come back climbing this look-out." He starts to generate ki.

Upa, taking in a deep breath, nods his head, welcoming Tien to try. With a brief battle-cry, Tien puts everything he has into the attack. Upa, not so much as trying to think where to move next, spins around the attacks and leans back with both feet on the look-out. Leaning back, Tien's attack goes off into the sky. Tien's eyes widen in shock, but he doesn't have much time to internalize what the hell just happened before Upa rockets over to Tien, who receives a solid kick to the face, with enough force behind it to send him right toward Kami's castle.

Before he gets in the way, Mister Popo is right there in time to catch the tri-clops from wrecking into the castle, though this effort surely meant that Popo fell over in the process.

Remaining still, Upa keeps his eyes locked on Tien. As his guard's still up, Kami approaches Upa and tries to put his hand on his shoulder, but Upa instinctually hops back with his guard still up.

"Calm…" Kami told him. "The spar is over. You've won." Upa looks over to Tien, now confused. He remember doing what he just did, but the only thing that can come to mind is the how. "What you did was not a miracle," Kami reassured the young boy. "And it wasn't the first time." Turning around, Kami beckons Upa to go inside with him to the castle. Sure enough, he needed to speak with Upa about this, because whatever it was, if improved, he just may be able to truly best Son Goku and Dr. Gero for good.


Speaking with the inhabitants of Planet Mache, a hedgehog looking people, doing her best to explain to them that an intruder is coming for them and that they need to get out as fast as possible. "We also have a ship nearby to transport you all to safety."

"We've all been there before," one of the inhabitants speak. "It's not the first time someone's tried to intrude. We tend to hop from planet to planet, some of which get attacked, and we always make it out - with or without casualties."

"But how? Do you know they're coming...or - no wait - you can't know if people still get hurt."

He just smiled. Clapping his hands together, he begins to spread them out, opening up an entire portal, which his kind start to all hop in one by one. "We're strong and skilled with some techniques, but if you claim to be able to solve this problem, then we'll give you a few days. Whether we come back to you or our intruder, we will be sure that we remain protected. We're not weak, but we're not stupid, either. Handle your business."

The portal shuts as the hedgehog man hops into his portal. Now left alone, Bulma appears to be dumb-founded, albeit relieved at the fact that she doesn't have to work so hard to move them to safety. Looking up at the starless skies, she sees a bright flashing light pass on by. Having watched shooting stars before, they often vanish after a few seconds...but this one didn't.

Out of nowhere, Tyber comes landing right next to her hard on his feet. "He's just seconds from landing, Bulma. We must head to his destined location this moment!" In a rush, he grabs Bulma by the wrist and rockets over to where the intruder is supposed to land.

The ship was going just as fast, if not, far faster than a shooting star ever could. For that reason, the landing was nothing pretty. A heap of smoke came up subsequent to landing, which left a giant crater dead smack in the middle of the land. A bit of smoke came out as the doors of the pod opened.

Once he's out and met with a planet with such high gravitational pull, he lets out a sigh. "And here again, Vegeta and Nappa go have all the fun while I must dispose of all the trash. Stupid quota."

PIPIPI

The beeping noise from the orange device over his left eye gets the young man's attention. "Three readings...power-levels of 8, 343, and 650...all headed toward me." His lips curl into a grin. It didn't take a rocket scientist for the long-haired man to realize that he's been expected. "This should be interesting."

Right then and there, Bulma, Slain, and Tyber all appear before him.

"We know why you're here," Slain speaks. "In the name of the Galactic Patrol, you can either surrender while you still have a chance this very instance...or be forced to."

His eyes jump from Bulma, to Slain, then to Tyber, then back. His head goes back and he starts to howl out with laughter. "What a nice way to greet me, truly," he continues to laugh. "Is there any other way I can assist you folk...apart from giving you a slow, painful death…" He then raises his hands. "The almighty Raditz, to surrender himself to the Galactic Patrol? What is this - a comedy? You're all nothing but a bunch of Saiyan baby killers - or at least used to be. Heh. Hell, you probably even killed my little baby brother. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm no longer a baby...quite far from it, in fact."

As quickly as she could, Bulma draws her weapon and fires it. By slightly moving his face to the side, Raditz just barely misses being struck head on. The laser does graze his cheek, leaving a little opening, which starts to pour blood. The big smile he had earlier was all gone now. "I'll be sure to save you for last…"

Just as he begins to fire a ball of ki, Tyber and Slain remain one step ahead by firing first. Their attacks collide with Raditz's and cancels it out - luckily for them.

"You won't have as easy a time as you think you will," Tyber tells him.

Looking over Tyber, Raditz notices a tail wrapped around his waist, just as he has his. "So you're a Saiyan as well, aren't you? So you, a Saiyan, join these fools! These same ones who take part in killing our own kind before they even have a chance to reach their potential!?" A vein starts to show on Raditz's forehead. "Oh I promise you, on behalf of the Saiyans and their pride as a warrior race, I will enjoy tearing you to shreds the most."

"PREPARE TO DIE!"