So, this thing is more than twice as long as MOTS and about half as popular. Thing is that I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but there's a good chance that we're not even to the middle yet. Geez… I can't even think up an ending.
Piccolo and Atsarute came to the ship just as Arufuredo was assessing a sudden problem. The queen had called unexpectedly and had a million questions that he couldn't think up a reasonable answer for.
"My Empress…" Arufuredo took out a handkerchief and wiped off his sweat, "This situation is very delicate. We really shouldn't even be communicating."
"I can tell from the streams that some of Atsarute's forces are mobilizing nearby your location. They realize that it's there, don't they?"
"Y-yes... I mean, it's impossible to keep such information from them without… eh… without…"
"Doctor! Things aren't adding up! Have you not captured Atsarute yet?"
"Err... no, my Empress… Atsarute is still loose… we're having problems capturing her…"
"And where is the Namekku-sei-jin Piccolo? I'm having trouble pinpointing him. Has something happened to him?"
Arufuredo's face just seemed to say, "Fuck" and he looked around him at the others, mentally begging for some sort of assistance. Atsarute sighed and stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and grinned into the view screen. "Good evening, Komugiko. Decrepit as ever, I see."
"Ats-Atsarute! You're—"
"Yes, I'm alive," she said a-matter-of-factly, "And very well now, thank you. I have the Talisman of Eiaa, these unusual beings under my control, and I'm going to massacre all of your men on this ship like I do in every battle I have with your army."
Komugiko gripped the armrests with her thin fingers, a gnarl seizing her mouth. "And where is the Namekku-sei-jin, Piccolo?"
"Hmm… young guy, warrior type, with several personalities, suffering from a rare Namekku-sei-jin mania?" She dropped the panicking doctor, who fell down to the floor with a thud.
"Yes! What did you do to him?"
"Killed him."
"W-what! But… do you realize… he's one of Katatsu's grandchildren!"
"Meh," Atsarute shrugged, "He has too many, anyway. I don't think that he'd care if he lost one that he wasn't even aware that he had. Besides, I think I did him a favor. A quick death is much better than being ripped to pieces from the mania, wouldn't you agree?" Instead of waiting for the shocked queen to answer, she reached over and laid a finger on a button on the view screen. "Sayonara, Komugiko." The picture blinked off.
Arufuredo, still looking somewhat dizzy and overwhelmed, staggered as he pulled himself up, and asked in a feeble voice, "Atsarute-sama… what did you mean by… all that?"
"I was simply messing with her… riling her up and manipulating a bit," she said.
"And… telling her that you killed Piccolo-sama?"
"I wanted to see what she knew about his lineage, since I figured that she'd blurt it out in that situation…" She sat down on the couch. "Plus, I wanted to see what he meant to her—" a light chuckle came from her, "—Got more than I expected."
"B-but… but… she's going to send her own forces over here now that… Atsarute-sama, have you thought this through?"
"Yeah. I figure the army could use a good exercise after the feast."
"'E-exercise'! Atsarute-sama, I realize that the death ratio is always vastly in your favor, but don't you think—"
"'Vastly in my favor'? That's not even half of it. Hell, there is no death ratio. I'm used to my side eradicating the enemy and never gaining casualties; there hasn't been a casualty in years. But the fights with the Pasuko-jin are more than one-sided: we hardly get anything other than flesh wounds while we still wipe the opposition out. We get more critical injuries from training than from our battles with you."
The scientist blinked a bit. "I didn't think that we were that bad off…"
She scoffed. "You must have some crazy kind of propaganda and intelligence control in that government."
"That's true," he sighed.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
The feast, held at the branch office hall and court, was more than extravagant. There were several tables lined up with delicacies of different types all around the universe, many fine examples of this universe's culinary expertise, and all on short notice. Not everything was edible to the Humans and Saiya-jin, but what they could consume was marked for them with little colored papers sticking out from under the large dishes. The Saiya-jin only needed one glance at these before he began to seize about half of the contents of each dish.
Instead of having things marked for him, Suraku volunteered to show Piccolo what he can and can't eat, but he was more interested in talking with Atsarute about their lives than listening to his recently-found cousin about food. He quickly filled a dish and asked for the strongest drink that wouldn't kill him before bolting to sit down by the general woman. Looking around, Goku was already stuffing his face full of different things while his wife rolled her eyes at his behavior. Jakkaru, by Atsarute's other side, was doing the same thing, hardly chewing before swallowing and shoving another fork of meat into his mouth.
Atsarute laughed a bit before Piccolo nudged at her. "Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking how good it is to be back."
"You were explaining earlier about how you obtained the army."
"Right. I was telling you about how I got the first soldiers. Most of them I met in travels, and since I normally didn't travel alone because of—"
"Oi!" Jakkaru had risen with a large mug of alcohol in one hand. "I think it's about time we tell Atsa who went crazy since she left, eh?"
A big cheer came from the group. Several people were jumping and clapping all around the party.
He gave a hearty laughed and motioned for them to quiet down a bit. "First off, since we can't give him enough humiliation on it as it is, Suraku here pulled a 'me' and went off looking for her with little basis and only blind determination." In response, the young Namek blushed and lowered his head, finding it more productive to study his soup. "I guess we switched bodies or something, 'cause I stayed back at the base and called you guys together incase a scuffle came up. And before, some of the rookies took a ship and tried to ambush Pasuko-jin vehicles while they crossed the Red Stream, which we all know is really intelligent… if getting the bulkheads ripped off your ship from the strain is the goal. The kiddies are over there trying to hide under the tablecloths if you want a look." He continued to list off several people who made mistakes, little and big, in the anxiety they had without their leader in command, even though she had only disappeared about a year in Earth's time. During this, Atsarute and Piccolo continued their conversation.
"So, everyone in your group has died at least once?" Atsarute said in an intrigued manner.
"Yeah. Like I said, we were all wished back by one of the sets of Dragonballs sooner or later. We have a set on Earth, and there's a set on New Namekku-sei."
"What do you mean by New Namekku-sei?"
The dinner continued rather pleasantly (at least in the terms of this crowd), followed by a "little" training session with the soldiers, eager to get their leader back into fighting frequently. She clashed around for a few hours, but retired early to get a start on forming the strategy for any future battles with the Pasuko-jin forces (since it was now inevitable). The rest of the soldiers barraged around the courtyard like it were the best fun they ever had.
The Z fighters found that they were, on the most part, outclassed by the fighting skill of the soldiers. It was a strange turn of events for them: before, they were able to wipe out entire armies solo, but now, an average soldier was enough to take on several of them. The only real exception to this was Piccolo Sr., who fought several one on one, graduating to fighting against small groups alone, and still came up with the upper hand. His son was the next up, but still had problems with some of the highest ranks. In fact, the highest rank that he was able to beat was his cousin… after several hours of throwing punches.
After the training session with Suraku, a tired Piccolo dropped down to the grass and wiped his forehead. From getting his own spirit "back" and feeling such a great amount of new power, he thought he would be able to beat Atsarute's best, easily, perhaps even Atsarute herself. But he was not able to try arms against her before she left, and Suraku, who was personally trained by Atsarute and still strives to be as strong as her, as he said during the fight, was hard to beat as it was. If he's this strong, who knows what the trainer could be like… he thought.
He sensed someone large walk up behind him. A gruff voice followed. "Ah, Piccolo, Suraku explained to me who you are. After we battle the Puroeriun, Atsa might take you to Katatsu-sei if you wish to see your family. I'm sure she would agree to it if you asked her."
Piccolo turned around and saw Jakkaru, the hefty Pasuko-jin that served as her right-hand man. "I don't care," he said.
"I asked your father about it, already. He seems very excited to go. And the other man… Neil was it? He also wants to see more of his people."
"Great…" Piccolo mumbled, then after a slight hesitation, "Why do you call her 'Atsa'?"
"Oh, I've just known her for many years, since she was a child and I was in my teenage years. That was quite a many year ago. She grew up pretty fast."
No kidding. "Does she do the same to you?"
"Yeah, she calls me 'Jako' normally. By the way, she told us about what you did, and we're grateful that you were able to bring her back to us. It's not like we can't act without her… she's taken long vacations before and left people in duty… but we were very worried that she might have been killed like the rumors were telling us."
"I guess you would be, having the whole army here to celebrate her coming back."
Jakkaru laughed. "You think that this is the whole army? These are just the guys I thought would be useful if we had a little clash with the Puroeriun here. I know that I might have ordered too strong and too many, but I'm not the one that supplies the strategy here."
"What? How much of the army is this?"
"A small fraction… I'm not good with numbers, but I would guess about 10, if you don't count the brigades and factions stationed elsewhere. And we can get more from allies if need be."
"Damn. And is this the strongest in the army?"
"Not really. We don't have Big Man, Hoard, Barricade, or many of the others here, although I'm sure that they'd be thrilled to hear that Atsa has returned in good health. Actually, I should go contact the rest of the forces now and ask Atsa if she wants me to inform her family back at Pasuko-sei." He went off back into the office.
"Piccolo-san," he heard Gohan coming from another direction. He looked back at him, seeing that he was rather roughed up and still sweating from the training. "Piccolo-san, mind if I talk with you a while? Okaa-san and Videl pushed me off so they can have 'girl talk', Otou-san is still fighting, and I'm too tired to do anything else."
Our universes are completely different. "Sure, kid."
I've decided to go with about 2,000 words for each chapter from now on, so they wont often run over or come shorter unless the story calls for it. Right now, this seems to be the best method, because the story is running a lot like the series at this point in ways of plotline.