Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball.
Six months later…
"You've learned everything I've had to teach you, and more," King Kai commented as he stood across from Goku. He'd been surprised when this saiyan from earth had first shown up on his planet, already stronger than him and asking for training. He hadn't bothered with baby steps, seeing as he hadn't even noticed the intense gravity upon setting foot on his home. So he'd skipped right to teaching him the Kaioken and Spirit Bomb. For the remainder of their time, he had been training himself to the limits to enhance his own ki.
"Thanks so much, King Kai!" Goku said cheerfully. "You said the saiyans would arrive tomorrow, right? Are you going to teleport me back to earth now?"
"I can't teleport," King Kai replied curtly. "With the level you're at now, it will only take you a few hours to cross Snakeway again."
"Oh, well that's fine, I guess," the saiyan accepted. "Thanks again for your help!" he said with a smile before jumping off the planet and flying over Snakeway again.
When Kami teleported Goku back to the Lookout, the saiyan quickly caught sight of Tien, Chiaotzu, Krillin, and Yamcha.
"Hey guys! Long time no see!" he shouted, as the four turned towards him.
"Goku!" Krillin exclaimed, clearly astonished. "Is that really you? Man, you've gotten much stronger!"
"I can say the same to all of you," he said with a grin. "Although, how did you do it? I was able to progress so much because I'm a saiyan and all...but you guys have made some serious progress too!"
"Well, we kind of spent some time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber," Krillin admitted with a shiver.
Goku's eyes widened. "You went in there? Damn, that's extreme. I remember trying that when I was a kid, and I barely survived. You really wanted to improve, huh?"
Tien sighed. "Well, that's not the whole story. Kami was convinced it was necessary. He really thinks we'll need this to face whatever's coming."
Goku frowned. "Does he have an idea what that might be? I trained with my brother for months, and I'm convinced he has no ill intentions. I'd hate to think that the other two mean trouble."
Yamcha shrugged. "While I think you're putting too much faith in those aliens, I honestly don't know. Kami's vision was really vague. He isn't sure exactly what's coming, just that it's going to be rough."
"Well, all the better for it I say. If you guys all spent a year in there, you should be able to handle it."
Krillin snickered. "Actually, not all of us are done. Two of us are taking their turns right now. Though they should be out within the hour."
"Huh?" Goku said dumbly as he did a head count. "Who…?"
"Your son and his new favorite teacher," Tien said with a roll of his eyes.
"What!? Gohan is in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!? Oh man, Chi-chi's gonna kill me…and who is this favorite teacher of his? You don't mean Piccolo do you?"
"That's the one," Krillin confirmed. "I was surprised that he even agreed to the training, what with Kami suggesting it and all, but he seemed pretty agreeable. Almost...subdued." His brow furrowed. "It's like he and Kami had this silent understanding. I'm not sure what to make of it."
Goku hummed. "That could have something to do with Kami's vision. It's possible Piccolo caught a glimpse as well. So...he hasn't been too rough on Gohan, has he?"
Yamcha winced. "I wish I could reassure you on that one, buddy. The kid looked a few years older when we saw him again. I don't know what Piccolo did, but it had to have been brutal. The crazy part was the tough little kid didn't even complain. In fact, he seemed to have taken a liking to that crazy bastard."
"Well, who knows. People can change, after all. We'll see how things go," Goku said optimistically. He looked over the horizon, sensing a familiar ki. "Well, I should really go find Raditz. He insisted that I be there when his friends show up."
Vegeta sat in his pod with his eyes closed as he conversed telepathically with his traveling companion.
I have to say, that planet was exceptionally dull. What did you say that rock was called?
Arlia, Nappa responded across their link. And I have to agree. To say nothing of the fascist empire we overthrew, the food was disgusting. When you first laid eyes on that feast they prepared for us, I thought you were going to lose it and blow the planet to ashes.
Vegeta snorted. I haven't eaten a decent meal in a year. Artificial nourishment appals me, and I wasn't about to settle for the mush they considered sustenance. I just hope earth has something tolerable.
Well, you'll find out soon. We're arriving in less than a minute.
Vegeta opened his eyes and smirked as the first sight of a lively blue planet came into view.
As Piccolo and Gohan exited the Room of Spirit and Time, they both tensed.
"Gohan, do you feel that?" Piccolo asked, eyes narrowed.
"Yes," the half-saiyan replied. "It looks like we're right on time, huh?"
It was a lively afternoon in East City. Though the residents were generally not as technologically advanced as their West counterparts (it was hard to be when the Briefs lived in the West), their city was still blessed with a thriving urban life, low crime rates, and their own fair share of innovation. But today, their city's legacy would grow to rival that of West City, to the point of becoming one of the biggest tourist attractions on earth.
For it was here that the legend began.
It started off as a nervous whisper, a few citizens glancing up curiously, children chattering excitedly as they pointed at the sky, local law enforcement tensing, as if awaiting an oncoming disaster.
When the sky falling objects descended into the lower atmosphere, they began rapidly decelerating, and just as the tension broke and the nervous whispering turned to screams of panic, they finally came to a complete stop, just short of crashing into one of the city's tallest skyscrapers. Slowly, they continued into a more controlled descent into a rather popular shopping plaza, and came to rest perfectly, much to everyone's amazement, in two adjacent parking spots.
The city was nearly silent, as impossible as the residents knew that to be with their current population. They could do nothing but stare in bewilderment, fear, and curiosity as one of the spherical ships opened, and a tall bald man with a tail and some sort of strange armor stepped out.
"Close call there, Boss. This planet is more densely populated than I thought. We entered the atmosphere right over a civilian settlement."
They continued to stare in wonder as the other door opened, and a noticeably shorter man with a spiky flame of black hair emerged, with a tail to match, and dressed in the same attire.
"It's of no consequence," the second extraterrestrial stated in a bored tone, as sirens began to sound in the shopping plaza. "We pulled up in time, didn't we?"
"Um…" one brave citizen came a bit closer, and mustered up the courage to speak for the entire crowd that had gathered around. "So, it kind of seems obvious, but I have to ask. Are you guys...well, you know…?"
Vegeta's eyes snapped toward the man, who reeled back and quite comically fell backwards onto the pavement, shaking. The crowd was deathly silent.
"Well?" Vegeta asked impatiently, causing the man's eyes to widen.
"Well?" he repeated dumbly, causing the prince's eyes to narrow.
"Well what? You never finished your damn question, so don't expect me to know what the fuck you were about to say, you spineless earthling."
The crowd broke out into gasps, followed by awed whispers as Vegeta unintentionally answered the unasked, and heavily implied, some privately thought, question. As the chattering continued, Vegeta grew visibly annoyed. "Cease your incessant gossiping at once," he said at a normal volume, though for the reaction he got, he might as well have shouted. The crowd was instantly silent again.
Suddenly a loud voice broke the silence. "You two! Down on your knees, now!" an East City police officer shouted, startling the crowd, as he pointed a gun at the two aliens."
Vegeta's eyes slowly turned toward the stiff officer, but he made no move to react, whether to comply or otherwise. Next to him, Nappa sighed. Here we go.
"Hey, did you hear me? I said down on the ground, now!"
When Vegeta spoke again, his tone was perfectly neutral, but his voice had dropped to a noticeably quieter drawl. "Are you suggesting that I bow, earthling?"
The question caught the officer off guard. "Uh...well...not exactly, I was just—" Before he could continue, Nappa stepped between the two.
"Aw, I'm sure that's not what he meant, Vegeta! It's probably just some weird earth custom. You remember those bizarre traditions they had on that planet Aronia, don't you?"
"No."
"Oh...well, the point is, I'm sure he didn't mean it that way. So let's not start anything, ok? Raditz said Kakarot was really fond of this planet and its inhabitants, and we're trying to change his mind, remember?"
Vegeta turned away slightly. "Whatever. Let's get going."
"Uh...wait, I can't just let you guys go…" the officer said in a shaky voice. He wouldn't be doing his job if he just let aliens wander the city without knowing a single thing about their intentions, would he?
Nappa turned back toward the officer, eying him speculatively. "And who are you to stop us?" he asked blandly.
The man turned red. "I'm with the East City Police Department! This is my job!" he said, as the gun shook in his hands.
Nappa raised an eyebrow, before reaching up to his scouter and pressing the button, causing the man to tense up. He frowned. This guy's power level isn't anything above average from what I've seen so far.
"You're the local law enforcement?" he asked skeptically. At the man's indignant nod, he snorted. "Your culture is so strange. Do they let just anyone be an enforcer here? Without that thing you're pointing at me, any of the civilians here with half a brain would have a good shot at overpowering you."
A few snickers actually broke out amongst the onlookers.
"But, at least your race is advanced enough to have law enforcement in the first place. Fine, what are our charges?" he asked.
The man blinked. "Ch–Charges?" he repeated.
"Well, yeah. I assume the reason you're pushing your luck is because we broke some obscure law that we didn't even know about upon landing here. So which laws did we break?"
"Well...no, I...actually, uh," he man stammered helplessly, completely blindsided as he considered the fact that these two hadn't broken any laws. Hell, they had even parked between the lines. At best he could ticket them for unregistered vehicles, through currency they didn't use, or call someone to tow their completely unfamiliar and possibly dangerous space pods.
Nappa's face fell as he appeared to come to a realization, though inwardly he was laughing his ass off. "Oh. I get it. It's just because we're not from around here."
"What?" the man squeaked. No, that was discrimination! It went against every code of conduct he had sworn himself to! Dammit, he could get fired for this! Not only that, but he was actually starting to feel guilty for it too!
"Well, I see how it is. I suppose even though we haven't done anything wrong, we're just not trustworthy, since we're foreigners and all," Nappa continued, with a resigned air about him.
"Hey, you jackass!" a woman from the crowd shouted at the stunned officer. "What the hell do you think you're doing!? Don't you know this is first contact!? You're giving us humans a bad name!" The crowd broke out into shouts of agreement as Nappa started laughing hysterically across his telepathic link with Vegeta, who for once, didn't seem to mind as he watched the proceedings with what could almost be interpreted as amusement.
The officer shrank away as the crowd began throwing things, figuring he was way out of his depth at the moment.
Vegeta gave Nappa a dry look as they slipped away. "You know, I can almost respect you when you do shit like that."
Nappa smirked. "Hey, you know I used to be a bit of a politician. That shit never leaves you."
"Wait up, you two!" a voice called, causing them to turn around and come face to face with the woman who had just helped galvanize the crowd. "This is your first time to earth, right? Let me show you around! I know all the best places around here. You don't have any money yet, right? I can treat you to a meal if you want.
Volcanos seemed to erupt in sync inside their stomachs as they both gave her their undivided attention. "Lead the way," Nappa said with a grin. As they walked, he continued talking. "Hey, you sure you wanna get involved with us? Either one of us would be considered a planetary threat if your leaders found out what we could do."
"Eh, been there, done that. My love interest has three eyes and I've hung out with a talking pig for for crying out loud. I won't judge you for having tails. Actually, a good friend of mine used to have a tail like yours."
That caught their attention.
Nappa grinned. "You know, I don't think we could ask for a better tour guide. What did you say your name was, lady?"
"Oh, me? The name's Launch. Remember it. And what do I call you guys?"
Paying no mind to the numerous smart phones that were out taking audio and video of them as they walked, they both answered.
"Nappa."
"Vegeta."
A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time.