Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.
Author Notes: A little change of pace on how things will go forward from this point on. Since more things will be happening at the same time, some character will have less "screen-time" than others, but everybody is getting their role on this arc, don't worry about it.
Cabba rolled comfortable in his bed; once again he had a very pleasant night of sleep. After passing his hands on the empty space, he caught himself wishing that Caulifla was still there, but he still doesn't have the courage to sleep with her in his house with his whole family being there in the house.
A silly, but very real idea crossed his mind, that maybe it is time for him to get a house of his own. 'Ah… No money for that just yet.' Pouting at his own thought, Cabba rolled to the other side of his bed, almost embrace the spot where Caulifla had lied close to him.
"Big Brother! Cabba!" Lettu knocked hard on the bedroom's door, the noise it made was so loud that made Cabba jump out of his bed.
Lettu never before went into his brother's room, at least not when Cabba was sleeping, and yet the little boy kept knocking on the door, passing the urgency of his voice even more to his brother. "It is open. You can enter, Lettu." Cabba said rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
After getting his brother consent, Lettu slammed the door open, rushing inside the room. "Mom is calling you." The boy looked back to the way he came; the expression on his face was making Cabba very nervous.
"What is wrong Lettu?" Cabba asked.
"There are a lot of soldiers downstairs with mom and dad." Lettu glanced back to his brother, unsure of what to do.
"Calm down, Lettu." Cabba fondled his brother hair. "I will get changed and then come down there."
Lettu nodded just once with his head and then bolted out of the room, Cabba could hear his fast steps on the stairs and then after his mother yelling to the boy not run on the stairs.
'A lot of soldiers?' Cabba grabbed a clean set of clothes from his closet. 'I have a bad feeling about this.' He changed the fastest he could, trampling all over the room when his pants got entangled on his legs. After a quick visit to the bathroom, Cabba came downstairs; his eyes glanced all over the place.
"Yo, Cabba." A young Saiyan called him. "It has been sometime since we saw each other, right?" This cheerful young man carry in his lips a wide and warm smile, he wears the same uniform that Cabba uses. His black hair is very silky and it stretches out in a long ponytail. If was not for his somewhat deep voice, anyone could mistake him for a woman, with his skin being so smooth and his face very delicate, not helping at all in that regard.
"Coorin?" Cabba's eyes widened at the sight of the soldier.
"I am here too." Another soldier called out as he stood up from his seat. Different of his partner, this one wears a white long-sleeved coat covering a dark-black shirt, a pair of grey pants and leather boots with iron tip on them. His hair is short and spiky, but it is somewhat very strange for a Saiyan, half of it is red, while the other half is black. He is tall and muscular, making Coorin, who is at his side, seem even more fragile.
"Janola too?" Cabba commented. "What are you guys doing here?"
"King Sadala called us. Actually he called everyone from the elite back." Coorin said. The smile on his face quickly faded away.
Cabba swallowed dry, he felt the room atmosphere turn tense and cold. "What happened?" He asked, not sure if he wanted to know. If every Saiyan of the elite are back, then something really bad is happening.
"The palace was attacked last night." Janola's voice was stern as ever, but it still drove chills to Cabba's spine. "Whoever did that, also took the prince with them."
"We believe that the prince was their target, the attack itself and the damage were just a consequence." Coorin said.
Words escaped Cabba's mind, he couldn't process the information he just received. He stood there froze in place, staring at the soldiers.
"Cabba? Are you okay?" Cabba's mother walked to his side and grabbed his left arm.
"This doesn't make sense, who would be crazy enough to attack the palace and to take Asparus is even worse." He moved forward, getting very close to Janola. "How did that happened? I mean, there is at least twenty soldiers at the palace all the time."
"Don't know." Janola responded shrugging his shoulders.
"Too close." Coorin put his hand in front of Cabba, making him back a few steps away from Janola. "We don't know who or how, but we have to go, the king is awaiting and his is in a very bad mood right now."
"That is why most of us came here to fetch you." Beano's head popped in from outside through the living room window. After noticing his older friend outside of his house, Cabba noticed too that are quite a few other soldiers along with Beano.
"Anyway, let's get moving. After everyone has assembled there, the king will pass the details to us." Janola turned to the door and walked outside.
"Mother, I have to go." With just a quick glance, back Cabba warned his mother and nodded his head to his father.
"Be safe, son." His father walked to his wife and placed his right arm around her back, to reassure and calm the older woman.
"Don't worry, Don't worry." Coorin said with a big smile. "I doubt it, but if anything happens we got Cabba's back." He lunged his arm around Cabba's neck and started to pull the young Saiyan with him.
"Hey, stop… You are strangling me." Protesting in his way outside, Cabba felt the tightening in his neck vanish when Janola grabbed Coorin by the back of his shirt and pulled him away.
"Too close." He smirked as he dropped the smaller soldier on the ground.
"I already told you to not grab me like that, you jerk." Coorin straightened his shirt, giving death glares to his partner.
"Fine, but this is not over yet. I am going to get you for this Janola." Coorin took off, sticking out his tongue to the tall soldier.
"Not if I get you first." Janola took off following Coorin. Strangely enough, even with his cool demeanor, he always turn a bit childish around the short Saiyan.
"Seriously, is every elite soldier a weirdo?" Beano scratched his head.
'I am elite too, you know.' In another instance, Cabba would have complained right back at Beano, but he doesn't have the time for that right now. Asparus is missing and at this moment, this is the only thing that matters.
Asparus woke up, chained against a metal wall, his stomach still throbs with a fierce pain echoing in his side. As the thirsty hit him, he licked the inside of his mouth and the felt the taste of blood. 'Where am I?' he scanned the whole room with his eyes, but it is so dark that the only thing he could see was a worn down chair and the glint of the metal bars far ahead in the room.
"H-Hey, anyone ther-" After raising his voice, the pain got even worse, making Asparus arch forward and gasping for air. "Dammit. Where am I?" The prince tried to pull his arms down, but the ice cold chains only wiggled in his efforts.
A soft knock on the metal bars, got Asparus attention, he noticed a shadowy figure staring at him, but with the almost non-illumination on the room it was impossible to recognize who it was.
"Finally up and about, huh?" A very familiar and friendly voice reached to Asparus. With a click noise of some buttons, the man opened the door and stepped inside, carrying with him some bandages and a bottle with a blue liquid.
"Cabba?" For a moment Asparus felt relieved, however, the events of last night are still very fresh on his mind. Kale attacked him, no, someone who looked exactly like Kale. "Who, What are you?" He asked the Cabba's look-alike.
The Cabba impersonator, placed the bandages on the ground and smiled to Asparus, in the same way Cabba does. "What? I thought you would like to see a friendly face, after waking up." He pulled a small blue orb from behind him and changed his friendly smile in to a devilish smirk. "Or maybe you like this one better?"
A blinding blue light erupted from inside the orb, forcing Asparus to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Caulifla standing in front of him.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." She waved her index finger slowly in front of her lips. "To lust after your friend's girlfriend, what a naughty boy you are, prince Asparus."
Asparus cringed back, hitting his head on the wall. "What do you want with me?" The way that this Caulifla is looking at him, her eyes pledging for attention, is making him very uncomfortable.
"Before with go down to business, why don't we have a sideway fun?" She put one finger on her magenta top, threatening to pull it down.
Asparus shifted his head to side, looking away from the girl. "Don't you dare to take that off. You sick bastard."
"Geez, you're no fun at all." The blue orb shined again, now changing from Caulifla into Henkanegi. He waited very eagerly to see the prince's expression, but he was let down, when Asparus acted as nothing happened. "You're not surprised?" Negi commented.
"After you took out that stupid blue ball I knew who it was." Asparus smirked at him. "So, are you working with that Freeza guy?"
"Something like that." Negi confirmed without much thought. "We serve the same master, so at times I help Freeza."
"Who is your master?" The prince asked, now sure that Negi would answer this too.
"Hey, give me some credits, man." Negi slapped Asparus right arm. "I am not that stupid to just spill everything out." He opened the glass bottle and reached his left hand to Asparus's stomach. "I really did a number on you, didn't I?" He laughed by himself. "Well, since you complied my request of not dying, I will give you a reward. How that sounds?"
Asparus stared down, quietly watching as Negi poured the liquid on his hands. Suddendly Negi slapped with force both of his hands on the prince's wound, making Asparus scream terribly in pain. "What…. What the hell was that?" He then shrieked even louder, his entire body started to burn from the inside, like his flesh was on fire.
"Don't be such a baby, is just some medicine." Negi grabbed the bandages and wrapped around the part he applied the strange fluid. "After some time you will not have even a little scar, trust me on this."
"Are you going to tell what you want or will keep playing the nice guy act?" Asparus wheezed in pain between his heavy breaths.
Negi released the chains holding Asparus, making the prince fall flat on the floor. "Directly to the point then." He grabbed Asparus by the neck, lifting his head to look into his eyes. "I want you to join us, I want you to be my special puppet or if you prefer, my shinning knight."
With an unintentional snort, the prince shook his head. "First you attack me, then kidnap me, now you want me to join you?" He released a low and timid laugh. "You must be insane, there is no way I am going to join you freaks."
"Know what? I was hoping you would say no." Negi planted a punch on Asparus's guts. "You see; I can be very persuasive when I want." He landed another punch, now on the prince's right cheek. "I have a lot of that medicine I just gave you, so hurting you is not a problem to me." He proceeded with two more punches. "And I really want to experiment on something else too, so please, reject me some more." Negi kicked Asparus straight on the head, sending him to the wall. "Ready, to say yes?" He asked, maliciously.
With a lot of effort, Asparus sat up again, blood coming out of his mouth and one of his eyes completely swollen. "Fuck you." He coughed some blood and fell to the side again, placing one hand on his stomach, now burning up again.
"Doesn't matter how much time it takes; I'm going to break you." Negi cracked his fists. "Hahah. Asparus boy, we are gonna have sooo much fun together."
"There is way too many people in here… did they call all of Sadala's population?" Coorin complained as he squished his way through the massive number of soldiers inside the throne room.
"Want me to carry you in my back?" Janola tapped Coorin's head, smirking at his own joke.
Coorin made an incredible effort to punch Janola's side, moving his hands between the soldiers on at his side. "Shut up."
"Can you guys keep it down?" Cabba slapped his forehead in frustration. "We're far ahead enough that the king can see you two bickering all the time." He noticed both the king and the queen looking their way. "He is even staring at us."
"He is probably staring at Janola's outfit." Coorin pointed at his friend. "He is the only one that is not using the defense force uniform."
"And I will never use that thing again." Janola crossed his arms.
"Wow." Coorin poked Cabba's arm. "The queen really is pretty, right?" His voice was loud enough that most of the soldiers close to him stared at the small Saiyan. King Sadala only shook his head in disapproval, while the queen graced them with a half-warm smile.
"Coorin, for the love of the gods, just shut up before you kill us." Cabba desperately squeezed Coorin's left arm.
"Ouch, that hurt. Why are you doing that?" Coorin rubbed his arm and frowned at Cabba, but before he could do anything else, Janola wrapped his left arm around Coorin's shoulder, pulling him close enough that he couldn't do anything else. The smaller Saiyan glared at Janola, who only pointed with his head towards the king, standing up from the throne and walking closer to the soldiers.
"Now that you are all here, we can begin this meeting." The king's voice echoed through the room, silencing all the small chatter that was happening "Yesterday someone was stupid enough to attack Sadala's royal palace." He stopped for a second, carefully choosing his words. "Not only that, they dared to attack a member of the royal family. My son, your prince, was taken." The silence was broken again, with whispers and gossips, the king clapped his hands together, bringing back all the attention to him. "We ran a very quick, but detailed, investigation and with that was discovered that no ship left Sadala from yesterday to this time." He caressed his tired eyes with his fingers in a brief pause. "Whoever did this didn't leave the planet. Therefore, we will search every corner of Sadala and find the culprits."
"Your majesty, please forgive my rudeness, but I have to ask." Janola bowed his head right after getting the king's attention. "Can I assume that, we are all restrict to Sadala until this problem is solved?"
"That is a correct assumption." Queen Arula interjected. "No one will leave Sadala until Asparus is found and the invaders captured." Her usual soft voice turned in to a fierce and commanding one, making her even more intimidating than her husband.
"So if you have any plans to attend to, I recommend that you find him fast." King Sadala continued from where she started.
Without another word, Janola bowed again, he glanced down at Coorin, who was looking at him with a sad and concerned expression. Janola just smiled and nodded his head quietly comforting his friend.
"Do whatever you need, but do this with extreme urgency; we don't know what they want or how big of a threat they are." The king walked down the steps to the throne and placed his hand on the shoulders of the closest soldiers he encountered. "You all are dismissed for now, go and do your mission. Make me proud once again, Defense Force of Sadala." He turned his back on the soldiers and walked again towards the throne, but suddenly stopped on the first step. "And for the one that finds these criminals first… Show them no mercy."
The trio walked together out of the palace, Cabba in the lead with Janola and an annoyed Coorin close behind. Cabba watched very closely every soldier that was exiting the building, his eyes never drifting away from the entrance.
"I can't believe this." Coorin threw his hands to the air. "We are stuck here now… We can't go back."
"It is just for a little time, just hold on for a while." Janola noticed Cabba's abstention of mind; he tapped his friend on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. "What is the matter, Cabba?"
Cabba turned his head a little to the side, but never took his eyes away from his previous view. "Something is bugging me… The king stated that everyone from the force was here, but…" He paused for a moment, moving his eyes to Janola's direction. "I didn't see him."
"Didn't see who?" Janola asked.
"Henkanegi. Someone annoyingly flashy as him, there is no way I would have not seen him." After giving his answer, Cabba resumed his far inspection of the gateway.
"Henka-who?" Coorin jumped in. "Who's that?"
"Sorry, I forgot you guys were gone for so long." Cabba started to explain. "Henkanegi, is a new member of the elite. He is a difficult to forget kind of person."
"Troublemaker?" The bigger soldier asked.
"Something like that." Cabba responded. "Always trying to show himself… One of the first things he said to me, is that he would be the new Ace of the Elite."
Coorin scoffed at Cabba's description of Negi. "Sheesh, what a clown." He crossed his arms and smirked. "Even the two of us couldn't beat you into that Ace position."
Janola tensed up and coughed up in reaction. "I never fought for the title." He straightened up the collar of his coat, slightly blushing.
"Hahaha, I know that you wanted to be Ace too, don't need to play dumb." Coorin slapped the back of his partner.
"Anyway, I think this is an appropriate time to bring that issue to him." Janola changed the topic very fast, and pointed it to Cabba.
"What issue?" Curiosity grabbed Cabba's attention, making him leave his observant watch of the gateway.
"Caulifla." Coorin said in a serious voice. "That is the name right?" He looked to Janola, who just nodded in confirmation.
Hearing the name of his girlfriend, made Cabba jolt back in apprehension. He knows that Caulifla always had issues with the Defense Force, but if the elite is now getting an interest in her, things could get complicated. "What… What issue?" Cabba said stumbling in his words. "I hope everything is alright… We don't need another problem right now."
"She is, now I quote half of the soldiers I asked: 'The worse criminal of Sadala'." Coorin studied Cabba's reaction very closely. "The prince went missing, someone attacked the palace. Just put the things together and you get my idea."
"She is innocent; I give you my word on this." Cabba jumped forward grabbing Coorin's left shoulder. "Caulifla has her problems with the force, but she would never do something like this."
"Being her boyfriend, your word is not very trusting is it now?" Coorin said back. "And-"
"Coorin, Enough." Janola interrupted his partner. "Sorry Cabba, is just normal procedure. We have to search everywhere and she is just one person we will look into it…" He cut his words and smiled to Cabba. "That is what I have to say, but in truth Coorin is just curious about your girlfriend, no need to get on your guard."
"Whaaa- Don't put that all on me, you jerk." Coorin slapped the back of his partner once again. "You too want to meet the infamous Caulifla."
All the tension on Cabba's body disappeared, making him waver to the sides. "By the gods, don't do that guys. I almost had I heart attack."
"Ah, don't get so cocky just yet. We still need to interrogate her." Coorin slided his way to Cabba's side, hitting his elbow in the young Saiyan's arm. "And if she prove to be dangerous we might arrest her."
With a raised eyebrow, Cabba stared at his friend and then looked at the bigger one, who in response just shrugged off his shoulders.
Caulifla was training by herself close to her house, when she noticed Cabba approaching from the sky. She started to run towards him, but quickly noticed two other people flying right behind him, stopping in her tracks. She crossed her arms and waited for them to land.
"Er… Caulifla good day." Cabba said blushing, for some reason he felt very conscious of the gazes his friends were giving them. "Those two are my friends Janola and Coorin, from way back when we were just recruits."
Caulifla tilted her head to the left, to get a better view of said friends.
"This is her?" Coorin asked.
"The only and one." Cabba answered proudly.
Coorin's shoulders fell down and his expression turned into a mix of frustration and annoyance. "I have to say, I am disappointed." He gave Caulifla yet another judging stare. "I was expecting a giant woman or something of the sort, no this skinny ass girl."
A vein popped on Caulifla's forehead, she dashed forward grabbing Coorin's shirt. "What the hell did you just said?"
"Skinny ass girl." Coorin repeated in provocation.
In a bloodlust rage, Caulifla delivered a punch square on the short saiyan's face. Coorin slid a couple feet back, holding his head down. The furious saiyan girl prepared to jump again at him, but Cabba appeared behind her, holding her with both of his arms.
"Yo Cabba, do you mind if I give a couple of knocks on your girlfriend's head?" Lifting his head again, the short saiyan's eyes are filled with anger and excitement.
"Huh?! Just try your luck, you shit head." Caulifla yelled while fighting to escape Cabba's grasp.
"Come on, you two just met…" Cabba struggled a lot to keep his girlfriend on place. "No… Need… to fight."
Coorin dashed with extreme speed, holding his left arm read to strike Caulifla. Suddenly he felt his entire body come to a forced stop, his feet got out of the ground and two strong arms wrapped themselves around him. "Janola, what are you doing?" Coorin immediately started to kick the air, trying to escape.
"You promised to behave… this is not good behavior." Janola effortlessly held his partner in place, keeping him from attacking Caulifla.
"She started it!" Coorin yelled very loud.
"You started it, retard." Caulifla yelled even louder.
"I beg your pardon Cabba, this one is my responsibility." Janola gestured with his head a symbolic bow. "We will search in other places for the time being." The big saiyan turned his gaze to Caulifla making the same gestured as before. "Sorry for anything, lady Caulifla."
"Sorry my ass, I can take on you too, light pole." Getting even more mad wtih Janola's apologies, Caulifla wiggled even harder on Cabba's arms.
"Arhhh, release me right now." Coorin punched Janola's arms. "Are you taking her side?"
With no reaction at all to the punches, the bigger Saiyan put his partner on the ground, but still held him very close, with that he started to push Coorin away with him. "I am not taking anyone's side."
"Yeah, that's right. Hide behind your big boyfriend and run away." Caulifla laughed angrily accompanying her taunts.
"Aaargh, I want to kill this bitch. LET ME GO." Trembling in rage, Coorin drove his teeth on Janola's right arm.
"Please… Stop biting me." Worried only about the damage that is being done to his coat, Janola kept pushing his partner with him. He quickly made a far enough distance between them and Caulifla, that her angry shouts no longer reached them.
With the other soldiers making their leave, Caulifla slowly started to calm her nerves… or so Cabba thought.
"Why the hell did you bring those jerks here?" She yanked away right after Cabba released her arms.
"Well, they asked to meet you… and they are my friends, so I thought, Why not?" His explanation sounded much better on his mind.
"I don't like them, specially that girly looking soldier." She pouted crossing both arms. "Maaaan, I really don't like soldiers from the defense force."
Even when mad, Caulifla made Cabba smile with her reactions, the way she started to stomp on the ground on frustration was just too cute for him. With some effort, Cabba held his laugh to not aggravate even more her already bad mood. "They are from the Elite, just like me." He said in a calm manner.
"Elite you say?" She wondered by herself for a minute. "Now I want to smash those two even more."
'But Janola didn't even do anything.' Cabba thought to himself, feeling sorry for his friend also getting some blame. "Like most Elites, they don't spend much time on Sadala, so try to be nice to them, okay?"
"Yeah, right. Keep dreaming." She snorted turning her head away. "What are they doing here then?"
Cabba took a deep breath, recollecting in his head everything he learned this morning. "The king called everyone back to Sadala… Something bad happened yesterday."
"Like what?" She asked with a very clear interest.
"The royal palace was attacked last night." Cabba shook his head, disheartened.
"Hah! Someone gave the royal old fart a spook?" She smirked mischievously. "Too bad for him."
"They took Asparus." A cold and harsh voice escaped Cabba's lips; he closed his eyes, an unsettling felling took place on his chest now that the information has finally settled on his head.
"Someone took him? Why?" She eyed confusedly to him. "That I can't let pass."
Her words made Cabba let out a warm smile, even with all the fighting between the two, Caulitla still shows some sort of affection towards Asparus. Behind all the trash talk and harsh personality, Caulifla still is a very caring and loving person, and every time he notices that, just makes Cabba's love for her increase more each time."
"Have you told Kale yet?" Caulifla asked.
"No. I just got out of the meeting with the king." Cabba rubbed the back of his head, knowing what will come next.
"Shit… That is going to suck." Caulifla closed her eyes and imagined her friend's saddened face when she hears this news.
"Will you come with me… to tell her?" Cabba grabbed her left hand, holding it very close to his face.
"That is obvious. She is my friend… and I owe at least this much to Wimp." She pulled Cabba by the hand and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Let's go then." Caulifla turned to leave, but to her surprised she got pulled back by Cabba.
"I love you." The soldier said out of the blue.
Caulifla smiled, but responded to his words with a soft slap on his forehead. "This is not the time for flirting." She released his hand and slowly started to fly away. 'I love you too, dummy.'
"Heeey Kale!" With her friend's house at view, Caulifla yelled loud enough to make Cabba cover her ears.
Kale who was sitting in front of her house, working on something inside of a dirty bag, glanced upwards, startled by Caulifla's voice. She waved happily and stopped her chore before the other two landed on the ground.
"Good day, Kale." Cabba greeted her.
She greeted him right back and nodded to Caulifla too. She grabbed a piece of cloth from a chair behind her and started to wipe the ground's dust of her hand.
Caulifla bent to the side, taking a look at the bag behind the other girl. "What are you doing?" Her curiosity like always, quickly get the better of her.
"I am helping dad with his work." With a modest answer, Kale grabbed the bag and put it beside the front door.
"Your old man is here?" Caulifla asked, somewhat excited. "It has been some time since I saw him."
"No, he just left to finish a job." Kale smiled. "But he will probably be returning soon."
"Maybe I will wait around to see him." Caulifla walked pass Kale, going towards the door. "I will grab some water, my throat is killing me." Like that, she excused herself inside the house.
"Hm… May I ask what are you two doing here?" Kale politely asked Cabba.
For some time Cabba himself, had forgotten the reason of his visit, but her question reminded him very fast. He gulped his hesitation in and walked closer to Kale. "I think is best if you sit down, Kale."
Confused at his request, the saiyan girl reluctantly complied. She sat on the chair that was closer to her, still outside the house. Her eyes got big and frightened, her hands started to shake and her heartbeat pace increased very quickly. Cabba never talked to her in such cautiously manner before, and the expression on his face was terrifying her.
Cabba rubbed his head, changing the focus of his eyes from Kale to the ground and then going back to her. "There is no easy way of saying this, but, I think that it is something that I need to tell you."
With her cup of water in hand, Caulifla appeared at the door again. "The palace was attacked and the prince was taken." Measuring no words, she dumped the information on Kale.
"What!?" Kale jumped out of the chair, her eyes bouncing between Cabba and Caulifla.
"Caulifla, why did you said it like that?" Cabba raised his voice at his girlfriend.
"It is better to just say it up front than keeping her in suspense." Not minding the frown on Cabba's forehead, she took a sip from her cup.
Kale held her hands together, staring at her feet. The subtle glimmering in her eyes quickly transformed into a river of tears. "Why would anyone attack him?" She asked desperately. "He did nothing wrong, he is a good person." Her voice cracked and the flow of tears got worse, blurring her view.
"He is strong, you said yourself." Cabba said with a comforting tone. "He will hold on and we will find him." The young soldier pulled her closer for a friendly embrace. "I promise you. I will find him."
Caulifla's eyes twitched at the scene, but she kept quiet just watching Cabba hug Kale, but her fingers kept impatiently tapping the doorframe.
"I have to go now." Cabba gently pushed her away. "I have to look for Asparus too." He glanced at Caulifla and shivered at her jealous gaze. "Ca-Caulifla… I think you should be with Kale for some time." He said waving his hands, explaining to her that it was just a friendly hug.
"You will be going where exactly?" Caulifla rolled her eyes to the side, feeling a bit silly for her reaction.
"I need to-" Cabba was cut short when someone else pushed him aside.
"KALE! What happened, my girl?" Kale's father rushed to her side, wiping off the tears in her face with his right hand.
"Dad... Asparus… He was..." She embraced her father, mustering her voice to speak only fragments of a sentence.
"It is okay now, I am here…" He patted her back, paying almost no attention to the other two saiyans.
"I will be going now." Cabba whispered to Caulifla.
"Come back safe to me, you hear?" She gave a light punch in his right arm. "Don't you dare to go missing too."
Cabba chuckled at the way she demonstrated her concern for him. "I will never go missing on you." Giving her a soft pat on her head, Cabba took off into the sky. Leaving Kale crying in her father's arms and Caulifla only staring at her.
"What do you think?" Coorin asked juggling a piece of shattered floor on his hands.
"The blast came from the building direction… The attackers were probably very close to him." Janola carefully walked around the hole in the balcony.
"Yeah, I thought the same… These invaders walked right over the security." Coorin glanced towards the guards down in the pathway to the palace. "Traitors in the army?"
"We can't assume anything yet, but it is a possibility." Fixing his white coat, the soldier noticed someone walking over to them.
Greeno opened the door and nodded to the two soldiers. "This is the place." He pointed to the ruined balcony, taking three steps to the side; he made way for Cabba to enter.
Cabba stopped in surprise after seeing his friends, but he too nodded his head to them. After leading the young soldier to his destination, Greeno excused himself and closed the door behind him.
"Another elite coming to see the crime scene?" Coorin smirked.
"It is the best place to start an investigation." Cabba replied.
"True enough." Coorin said back.
"Have you guys found anything yet?" With a quick glance around Cabba tried to find any clues.
"Not much." Said Janola. "We just got here too." He crouched closer to the edge. "We assume that the target at least recognized the attackers."
"Why would you assume that?" Cabba asked.
"The blast came from where you are standing, more or less." Coorin answered.
"So the invaders attacked while standing on the floor… They passed through security?" Holding a hand on his chin, Cabba pondered silently, until his eyes caught another detail. "Janola, look behind you, to the right."
The bigger soldier complied, turning his body into the direction appointed by Cabba. He reached his hands to the ground, passing his fingers on a stained spot. "Blood?" He commented.
Coorin jumped down into the garden, landing to the side of the debris. "There is a lot more down here." He lifted his hands up, showing the blood on his fingertips.
Janola gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. "That make things worse."
Cabba jumped down to Coorin's side, his body froze in place and his eyes stared at the red mess on the floor. "Dammit, that is way too much blood." He clenched his fists in anger.
"It is not a very good kidnapping if they killed the prince on the spot." Coorin's words awarded him a death glare form Cabba. "Don't take this on the wrong way, but, is the prince even alive at this point?"
"He is!" Cabba yelled. "He can't be… dead. I have faith on him."
"Sorry, it was a rude thing to say." Coorin lowered his head in apology.
"No way!" Both Cabba and Coorin look behind them, startled by Janola's shout. "Look at this." He pointed to a few footsteps going away from the impact zone.
The marks continued in a straight line with bloodstains following beside it, after a certain point, both the footprints and the heavy line mark disappeared, with not even a single blood drop going pass it.
"It stopped here, but how?" Coorin kneeled down putting his face close to the ground. "Even if they flew away, it would leave some blood drops somewhere."
"That is my thought." Janola said. "To just disappear. Is something like this possible?"
'Instant transmission?' Cabba remembered about Goku's ability to teleport anywhere, his master Vegeta somewhat complained about this annoying to deal with technique. 'But can this be real; someone that possess the same skill as mister Goku, captured Asparus?' His mental struggled stopped when Janola whistled to get Cabba's attention.
"What are you thinking about?" The saiyan with white coat asked.
"N-Nothing important." Cabba dismissed his idea, before getting things more complicated that they should be.
"Anyway, looking at the scene, from up there to down here. We can conclude that it was only one invader." Janola walked back and forward between the landing zone and the spot where the trace ends. "And the prince is at least in critical condition."
"So much for quickly resolving this." Coorin snorted, kicking a pebble away.
"What do you mean?" Cabba raised an eyebrow at Coorin's statement.
"If he can disappear or use a small vehicle to flee, then he can be anywhere in Sadala." The smaller saiyan crossed his arms. "Or the more real assumption is that they are not even on the planet anymore."
"This is getting complicated and dangerous." Janola complained, resting his back on the wall.
"Dammit… Dammit, who the hell did this?" Cabba punched a stone pillar close to him, taking out a chunk of it. "Asparus… where are you?"
P.S: Coorin and Janola are pun names for Corn and Jalapeno peppers. I really liked writing those two, I hope you guys like them aswell.
Reviews:
VcArchangel chapter 9 . Jul 5 – I am sure that Cabba loves Caulifla's teases, he just will not admit it. The plot goes somewhere very interesting, that I assure you.
mrCRACKZvid chapter 9 . Jul 6 - Being from Latin America myself, I really appreciate your comment. It means a lot to me, thank you.