"Can this thing even go lightspeed?" I muttered in what was only half jest. Standard lightspeed, of course, was a long outdated form of travel on all but the most backwater planets. Then again, this ship looked like it pushed the boundaries of even being space-worthy.
It was decently larger than the one the Sons and I had been using, and bigger than the one I'd stolen from PTO soldiers. Except unlike those two, this spacecraft was littered with dents and scrapmetal repairs on the outside. The design was also relatively angular in comparison with the normal round or oblong foundation most common nowadays, though the interior was a little less questionable.
The rain had pattered lightly on the roof as we'd entered the ship through a drop ramp, which retracted once the four of us were inside. The corridors had been tall and spacious, enough to fit three people walking side-by-side, a few lights flickering on ahead at our presence. Korravi had led the way and he rest of us followed, and her path had taken us to the engine room.
I'd taken one look at the engine itself and wondered what value any mechanic had seen in its upkeep, ever. Hence my dubious assessment of its capabilities.
It was a quantum core at least, a deformed sphere that kind of resembled the shape of an orange without peeling. Except the device was nearly as large as I was, lined with steel straps along its side, flexible metal tubes protruding from the top and bottom and an angry ball of electricity broiling behind its glass-like confines.
"Ship won't start normally," Korravi said as I moved to stand closer to the quantum core. She began walking around it to get to the other side. "We'll see whether you can really fix it. But if you tell me to try turning it off and on again you're going back outside."
I smiled a little despite myself at the unexpected humour as I leaned in closer to the engine, daring to put my hand on the glass. There was a slight tickling sensation from the electrical polarity but nothing serious.
"I'm guessing this ship is yours, then," I said for confirmation. There was no response.
I stood up straighter so I could see her and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. When she merely copied my expression I repeated my statement aloud.
"I borrowed it a long time ago and never gave it back, if that's what you're asking," she replied at length. I noticed a slight lisp or slur was appearing as she'd got comfortable and started to talk at a more regular speed, though still a little slower than normal.
"So it's yours," I said. After giving the quantum core another once-over, I reached up to the tubing sticking out of the top and started twisting it off.
"You really know what you're doing, huh kid?" Bardock asked from behind me. "I've never seen a ship this old and I've done my rounds."
"Sort of. I've never seen a ship this old either – the quantum core is huge for a spacecraft this size. But it's working, so I'm just checking my bases to see if there's an immediate problem that's causing the..."
I trailed off as the tubing popped out and I pulled it towards me. In that same instant, and alarm began to sound somewhere distantly in the ship and a big square light on the wall began blinking red. Korravi glanced at the light but didn't otherwise flinch, thus I assumed the ship wasn't going to self-destruct at least and I ignored the alarm.
"That's comforting," Bardock remarked at the noise.
Adjusting my sword, as it was still on my back, I expelled a breath and reached forward to stick my arm inside the tube, the circumference a little under twice the size of my shoulder. When my hand touched something gritty inside I brushed at it, tilting the tube in such a way that the stuff started to fall out next to me, like silt. I summoned a minute amount of ki to my hand to melt it away faster, satisfied at having found what I was sure was a big part of the problem.
"Mineral buildup. The last time this was cleaned was probably never, so this is likely a big reason the ship won't start – core's blocked up, although I'm guessing this isn't the first time," I said, turning so that Bardock and Daikon could see what I meant. I pulled my hand out of the tube and wiped my palm on my pant leg. Some of the minerals stuck to my skin anyway and I winced inwardly.
"Truth be told, a ship like this is old enough that you could find things to fix on it endlessly. I could get it running eventually, but the ship my friends are bringing here makes that unnecessary. I know that because I built it, although we could still keep this one handy," I continued. In my peripheral vision I saw the woman walk back around to rejoin the other two Saiyans.
"You have allies coming here?" Daikon said.
"Yes. We're waiting for each other's signal. I'll have to see what they say about taking you three on board, though," I mused.
"I think the smarter thing to ask is what kinds of company the Prince of All Saiyans would keep," Korravi said, eyes on me. "After all, he was able to best me in close combat, fairly or not."
"I suppose you'll have to wait and see," I replied. Wait and see indeed. An ill-tempered, heavily tattooed Saiyan who seemed to hate everything that came within thirty feet of him; a giant, soft-spoken warrior whom I couldn't read but probably wanted to get even with me; and a man who saw the future and just happened to be my best friend's grandfather. As if the already motley crew I'd set out into space with couldn't get any worse.
Despite its low oxygen, Pimien wasn't very cold at least. Even though it wasn't raining hard, I was soaked at this point from standing outside in it, waiting for Gohan to let me know when to raise my energy. It probably hadn't been more than ten minutes, but ten minutes was a long time when the weather was bleak and your new travelling companion wouldn't stop complaining.
"Are you waiting for them to appear out of thin fucking air?" Daikon said louder than necessary. He had halted his pacing near where the woman sat on the ground, back resting against a rock as her gaze flicked around in apparent boredom. Bardock was off to the side, lost in his own head and looking away into the distance.
"Yep," I said, partially to annoy the tattooed Saiyan and partially because it was true. "If you point out how long it's taking every two minutes instead of three maybe it'll happen faster."
"Maybe you should watch that smart mouth of yours, half-breed."
"You don't have what it takes to threaten me. Call me that again and you're staying behind."
"What, half-breed? That's what you are."
I turned partway around to stare at him.
"Is the only reason you're this confident because your large friend is sitting right there?" I countered.
"Tch. We're not friends and I'm not scared of her. I owe Ravi a debt and the rest isn't your business," he retorted, finally breaking eye contact.
Hey, Trunks. We're ready, Gohan's voice interrupted.
Okay. Give me a second, I said.
I took a few steps forward, giving myself a little more space before I activated Super Saiyan.
"What are you doing?" Bardock asked from behind me. I ignored him and continued to raise my power level, a few loose pieces of earth in the vicinity rising into the air. I'd become much more adept at controlling my ki, but I wasn't yet at the point where I could take it to the next level without a bit of fanfare.
My energy crested and I reached the second Super Saiyan form, a small crackle or two of lightning snapping around me. It felt like a good stretch, not having gone to my higher capacity in a while.
I looked back to address my new companions and paused.
Three pairs of eyes were locked on me and I realized that even if none of them could sense energy, that didn't mean they had no awareness of the strength I possessed right now. Granted, Bardock didn't look as surprised as the other two, but I definitely had his attention.
A brief disturbance of the air sounded ahead of me and three very familiar energies burst into existence.
"Fresh air!" I heard Goten exclaim. "Aaaaaand it's raining."
"I thought you liked the rain," I called, turning my focus his direction and beginning to walk over as I released my Ascended state.
The Sons stood outside the Capsule ship blinking around at the scenery, Goku taking his hand off where it was placed on the hull. Gohan and Goten let go of their father, but the latter noticed me first.
"If it isn't my favourite royal pain," he said as I approached.
"Here I was thinking you'd look a little happier to see – uhf," I replied, cut off when he wrapped his arms tightly around my rib-cage, almost picking me up off the ground.
The scabbard was being pressed a bit painfully into my back and the bruise on my sternum from where Korravi had kicked me was aching with the pressure, but it was nothing against being reunited with the person I trusted more than anybody else.
He finally released me with his usual stupid grin.
"How ya been?" he said, tousling my hair like his family always did even though they knew it annoyed me.
"All over the place," I replied as I messed up his own black mop in miniature revenge. It had grown out a bit, making me wonder how much time had actually passed since leaving home at this point.
"You look tired," he said.
"Me? Have you looked in the mirror?" He did indeed have a little darkness under his eyes.
"Instantaneous stress just from being on the same planet as you."
"Fuck off," I replied in the usual fashion.
Just then, Goku and Gohan interceded the conversation, giving me their hugs and hellos before starting to ask questions.
"Looks like you made some friends," Goku said as he raised his eyebrows and looked behind me. "Are they...?"
When he trailed off I turned around. While the other two Saiyans were still waiting behind a little, Bardock had moved and stood only a couple metres away. But he wasn't staring at me.
"It's been a long time, Kakarot..." he said.
Goku chuckled nervously as he stepped forward. "Uh... hi? I'm Goku. Boy, I was gonna make a joke about hoping you weren't another brother I didn't know about, but it's kinda funny, I mean, you actually look a bit like the last guy."
"Do you know who I am?" Bardock said.
"Uhhhh..." Goku screwed his face up in concentration, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "No, I don't think so. Sorry. But I guess you know who I am, so maybe I just forgot. I forget stuff all the time. Ha ha, I guess we'll just have to reintroduce again."
Bardock pursed his lips in what might've been dismay. I could almost see the gears turning in his head. His gaze flickered over Gohan and Goten before his attention returned to their father.
"The last time I saw you in person was over a Half-Cycle ago. You were just a few days old and we were introduced because your crying was giving the whole medical ward a headache," Bardock said.
"Oh. Sorry, I guess. But wow, you must be pretty smart to recognize a baby who annoyed you way back when," Goku replied in half astonishment.
Bardock's eyebrow twitched. "That's not – Kakarot. I wouldn't care about some stranger's brat. I'm surprised Gine never tried to find you and tell you anything, unless she -"
"You're Bardock," Goten cut in abruptly. I looked at him, expecting his surprise, but not expecting the suspicion lacing his features as well. It was something I rarely saw on him and I didn't have the slightest clue as to why it was there.
"Bardock? Really? Oh wow, I thought you were supposed to be dead!" Goku said in a comparatively happier way. "Man, that's neat. And you seem strong, too!"
"Kakarot, I'm here because -"
Bardock was cut off once again as his hand snapped up to catch Goku's incoming fist to the face.
"If you're my father, let's see how strong you really are!" Goku challenged.
Before anyone could speak he was volleying off a flurry of punches, pushing Bardock back several paces as he dodged, only for him to finally catch hold of Goku's arm in a sidestep and attempt to throw the other man. However, partway through the toss Goku grabbed his father's shoulders and tugged him upwards to throw him into the sky instead but Bardock was able to halt his trajectory in the air, spinning to face his opponent on the ground and fire several small ki blasts in his direction.
As Goku jumped out of the smoke Gohan and Goten and I moved back to avoid any stray hits that could come our way, the former shaking his head in exasperation as Goku flew a wide arc around his father to avoid more incoming blasts.
"Hey, watch it!" Daikon exclaimed from across the field, immediately after the woman had grabbed the back of his shirt to tug him away from an errant energy ball careening into the ground.
Once they were in close range of each other again, Goku managed to catch Bardock with a feint and, becoming Super Saiyan, landed a roundhouse kick that knocked the other man back to the earth not far from where I was, kicking up a small dust cloud. Goku then descended, awaiting his father's retaliation.
The dust shifted and through it Bardock stood relatively unhurt – but his eyes were bright teal now, hair glowing gold.
"I'm impressed," he said, relaxing his stance. "I would almost venture to say you're stronger than I am, Kakarot. You really have become a warrior." He then released his transformation as quickly as it had arrived, and after a moment Goku relaxed and followed suit.
"Oi! That blond hair power-up thing might've been helpful if you'd mentioned it before, old man!" Daikon called over, marching towards us. Korravi trailed behind more leisurely.
"Oh, I almost forgot about you two," Bardock replied.
"Saiyan survivors?" Gohan asked.
"Yes. The prince has already had the pleasure of getting acquainted," Bardock finished just as the pair in question came within conversation distance.
"So you people are some weird, chummy family and that's fucking great and all, but I'm seriously starting to question whether any of you have the slightest inkling of a plan going forward or if we're just relying on the self-proclaimed prophet here," the tattooed Saiyan huffed.
"Uh, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but we do make decisions as a group... um, whatever your name is. Are you coming with us then?" Goku said.
"I offered for them to come along, provided you guys agreed to it," I explained. "It's just Bardock plus the two of them, but this one talks more than enough for everybody. I'm not one hundred percent clear how they survived, but I guess they teamed up with Bardock along the way and he led them here."
"If he does the talking, I guess that makes you the muscle to back it up," Goten finally spoke up, directing his statement at the female who had gathered little attention so far. All she offered in return to Goten was a blank stare like she hadn't been listening.
"Do you not speak Standard?" Goten asked.
"I only speak Standard," she replied, slow and clear once more.
"Okay. So you and your friend with the face tattoos – you're strangers, and we're supposed to trust you and take you with us. Bardock too," my friend said.
Sure, we didn't know them that well, but it seemed a little odd that Goten would be the one questioning this. Unless he noticed something I hadn't. He did have a gift for telling good energies from evil ones, after all, although Goku had the same ability and he was acting fine.
Korravi seemed to mull my friend's statement over for a moment.
"Fair enough. Although I don't know I can trust you either, even if you're as innocent as you look," she said, smiling a bit. Goten actually blushed a little at the remark, although I doubted he took it as a compliment.
"However, I'm willing to work together if you and your companions cooperate in return. My life can't go back to the way it was until the Cold empire is destroyed – my reasons may be less noble than you and the prince's, but we want the same end nonetheless. That's all I can say to make you begin to trust me," she elaborated.
Goten scrunched his brows in thought, probably about to respond before Bardock interrupted.
"Then it's settled. Now... I guess I have to explain this again, but before we attempt to rescue Vegeta we need to find our Namekian. Luckily for us, I know where to start," he said.
"Wait, hold on. Rescue Vegeta from what? Which Namekian? If you don't mind me being a little skeptical about you, I think you first ought to explain the part where you're still alive and how you managed to find Trunks," Gohan stated.
Bardock rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before, like with me, he started at the beginning.
By the time he'd finished, the rain had let up and I was left wondering again how much of it could be true. Whether it was really possible he saw the future – a future that couldn't be changed.
For better or for worse, I knew only time would tell.