The strange man tapped the handle of his sword, a mischievous grin playing upon his features.

Goku thought the guy looked familiar, but he couldn't place where.

He seemed to vaguely resemble someone, but he let the thought fly away. It was irrelevant right now and he couldn't place what his features reminded him of. All that mattered was the fight at this very moment.

Goku remained in his Turtle Hermit Stance, left foot and arm forward, lead arm raised. He steadily slid forward, feeling out his opponent's energy.

"Trying to predict my movements, eh?"

Goku clenched his teeth, pausing in his movement. "Tch," Goku scoffed, a sarcastic smile on his face. "Am I that easy to read?"

The stranger shrugged. "Not really," he admitted. "This is definitely good field research for me, but I'm really on a schedule, so..."

Vegeta stood on the sidelines, his gaze instantly drawn to the sword sheathed at the man's waist. The figure drew it, and Vegeta could sense an energy from the sword, separate from the strange man.

"Kakatot, the blade..!" Vegeta warned. Goku could sense it too. Almost as if the sword was a living thing, with it's own source of Ki. But that couldn't be right!

Goku wasted no time, launching a Ki blast, much like a professional baseball player. The figure made to deflect it, and Goku made his move.

He charged forward, instantly jumping to Super Saiyan God, swinging both his lead arm and leg. His aura burst to life with a bright and glowing orange-crimson glow, temporarily blinding the stranger, whom, to his credit, managed to keep from shielding his eyes, although he was still forced to shut them.

Goku's arm swiped for the weapon while his foot came rushing towards the man's face. His boot only managed to whiff by the man's bespectacled face, while his grip barely missed the sword.

The figure was no longer smiling. He still made to draw his sword.

"I think this session has gone on for long enough. Not sure if I can withstand more attacks like that," he said. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to use some cheesy tactics."

The swordsman extended his sword outward as if going on guard, before suddenly front flipping and closing the distance between himself and Goku. The younger of the two Saiyans planted his feet in the ground, intent on countering.

Easily, he caught the blade in his hand.

Regardless, he saw some sort of energy pass right through.

There was no pain...but the energy of the blade was suddenly wrapping around him like some sort of miasma.

"What the hell?!" Vegeta closed in, planning to engage the man and stop whatever was going on.

The stranger heaved with a straines grunt, swinging both his sword and by proxy, Goku, bodily to the side. The miasma seemed to release itself from Goku, leaving only strands painlessly holding on.

The fog of energy then widened into a portal of some sort, very similar to what Goku Black had created, but of a different hue.

"Damn it," Vegeta sucked his teeth, vanishing and instantly reappearing in front of the stranger, chopping downward at the man's bladeholding wrist.

His attack went wide, his opponent having sped forward again, creating more space between all three of them.

Without warning, tendrils of energy shot towards Vegeta. With no other alternative, he leaped backwards, ducking and dodging.

What are these things?!

Vegeta strafed to the side, kicking up grass, and drew his Ki into both of his hands. He thrust his hands forward, launching them towards the portal like object.

It exploded on contact, then the portal pulled Goku into itself.

"Woah!" the younger Saiyan shouted, his cry cut short when he disappeared into the wormhole.

"What the..!" Vegeta sped forward, readying his hands into a Galick Gun.

"Galick..!"

Before Vegeta could launch the blast, the portal seemed to suddenly surge forward, engulfing him.

"Told you I was in a rush," the stranger said, his voice seeming to fade away. Whatever he had landed into, it seemed to be pulling him in some unexplained direction.

"You'll like where you're going anyway!"

--

Goku groaned, the pain startling him into wakefulness. His head was ringing, a dull ache in his chest. It felt like the breath was knocked out of him. He could immediately tell that he wasn't lying on grass. His surroundings felt much warmer than the chilly highway by Ginger Town.

The grassy ground wasn't tickling his back. Rather it was replaced by some sort of rubbery tiling. The warmth in the room kept the floor from being cold. He opened his eyes only to be greeted by a dimly lit room. A single bulb was suspended far above his head, in some sort of lamp, in a style he'd never seen before. The lamp was a sphere of some sort, that was brightly lit on one side. Thankfully, the bright end was facing away from him, leaving him to bask in the oddly comforting dull light of the other end of the sphere.

"Ngh, where am I?" he breathed.

What he could see of the room looked sonewhat high-tech, if not extremely spartan looking, save several screens that might have been televisions.

He attempted to sit up, but a firm hand stopped him halfway, halting him and positioning him back on whatever he was lying on.

"Easy, old man," a feminine voice spoke up. "You were knocked out pretty good out there."

Goku attempted to sit up again anyway, but was met with no resistance this time. "Don't worry about me," he assured. "Just got caught off guard," he surmised, massaging the sore spot on his chest. Actually, he didn't remember falling down to get such an injury. Faintly, he thought the woman muttered something that sounded like "Stubborn old man."

Goku paused. "Wait. Old man?" he parroted.

He hadn't gotten a look at the person he was talking to, but he heard footsteps coming from his side to his front.

His conversation partner came into view and his eyes widened.

The woman wasn't very tall. Probably about a head shorter than Chi-Chi. But what surprised him was an other trait of this woman.

There was a tail wrapped around what looked like the kind of Armor Raditz wore.

Raditz. There was someone he hadn't thought of in 20 years...

The woman vaguely resembled that lady he fought at the Tournament of Power, Caulifla. Goku could see now what Vegeta meant when he said Saiyans share a lot of distinctive physical features.

Goku schooled his expression into something more neutral.

"You're a Saiyan," he observed aloud.

The woman raised an eyebrow, as if he stated something obvious.

"Have you been drinking or something? The real question is where is your tail?" she retorted, lazily pointing at him.

Goku chuckled lightheardedly. "Haven't had one of those in a while," he replied honestly. The woman grimaced.

"Sorry for your loss," she commented sarcastically. "You're a weird old man," she observed.

Goku ignored her comment at his expense. "Well, thanks for your help," he said, studying his surroundings. The architecture was unfamiliar and it was dark outside.

Silently, he brought his index and forefinger to his forehead. The woman watched him warily.

Goku concentrated. Using the core principle of Instant Transmission, he searched the entirety of the planet, but almost immediately stopped short.

This wasn't Earth.

There were billions of Ki signatures all across this planet. But the core of these Ki signatures were similar but vastly different from Humans.

Everyone but small portions across the planet were Saiyans.

"What was that?" his apparent caretaker asked. "Your power level suddenly shot up...by a lot."

She was holding a device in her hand, a box shaped electronic with a lens attached to it. A scouter.

"Uh, nothing," Goku dismissed. He had to be careful. A planet of Saiyans was unkown territory, and the only person who could help him make sense of all this was mussing in action. The last thing he wanted to do was draw unwanted attention to himself.

"Really..?" she snarked. She wasn't convinced. Goku cleared his throat.

"Say, what's your name?" Goku asked, finally standing up.

"Bokchi," she replied. "You?"

"Name's Goku!" he replied with a smile. "I-"

"What's a Go-kew?" she interrupted. She waved a dismissive hand. "Nevermind."

"You seen a guy with white hair, pointy ears, and purple skin?"

Bokchi shrugged.

Goku figured she hadn't. "Hm," Goku sighed. "Well, I better get going. Thanks," he said, placing his fingers to his forehead again.

Still no luck. He couldn't seem to pinpoint Vegeta's signature, and he had no sense of direction from this planet to transmit back to Earth.

But this was an opportunity when he thought about it. Maybe to learn more about his own people.

Maybe he was just internally rambling.

A planet of Saiyans...

How were they alive right now? Goku closed his eyes momentarily, digesting the information. It was something he'd discuss with Vegeta, if he could even find him, that is. Hopefully he was okay, where ever he was.

"You sure you're well enough to be running around?"

"Hm?" Goku had forgotten she was there. "I'll be fine," he assured. "Say, know where I can find a lab or something?"

Bokchi pointed towards the northeast.

"Uh, well there's a-"

"Thanks!" Goku cut her off, suddenly winking out of existence.

"Wha-!" The Saiyan jumped from the floor. "How did he?!" She exclaimed, looking in every direction.