Disclaimer: It had appeared to me in chapter two.

What? It's already at chapter 26? How the Hell did that happen? Damn, I haven't even gotten to the climax yet.
Apologies for the extreme tardiness of my chapter. I've been using a lot of my "creativity organ" for things other than fanfiction and fanart. Namely, being DM in a DnD campaign. To make up for it, I made it a little longer than usual.
And now, finally, the resolution to one of the dumbest jokes ever put in a fanfiction.
Atsarute gritted her teeth, and her gaze slowly rose to Kenturion's arrogant smirk before she lifted herself off the ground and went back into a fighting stance.

"Ring-out!" The soldier shouted, "As the rules state, you are no longer confined to the ring for the duration of the fight, Kenturion-sama."

The prince swung his sword over his shoulder. "Now you won't be able to humiliate me with such a defeat as pushing me off this stupid platform, Atsarute."

"Ooh… this is going to be a better fight than I thought," a voice said from behind the Z-fighters, "Kenturion must have gotten stronger since last time."

"Hmm…" said a different voice, "That is true… but Atsa's punches and diversions aren't as precise as before."

Then even another spoke, "Yeah… she must have not been able to train while she was inconvenienced."

They looked over their shoulders to see three Puroeriun men, two of which had deeper hues of green and were more mature looking than the other, whose skin tone and age seemed closer to Atsarute's.

Before asking for their identities, a different question came to be voiced first, by Goku. "Hey… what's going on? What happens with a ring-out in this fight?"

The men seemed put somewhat estranged from the question, as if the answer was common knowledge, but they shrugged off the notion quickly before one of the more mature ones, the tallest man with large horns that reached out from the back of his head, said, "You're not from around here, obviously. As law states, in such a fight, the only way the suitor can win is by knocking his opponent unconscious. However, the law does not stipulate under what conditions the suitor loses, so tradition has placed rules that include loss through submission, disqualification, and ring-out.

"Of course, the ring-out rule has to be regulated somehow so that the woman can't just walk off and automatically win because the suitor chased after her, so the rule has always been 'ring-out until the female's own ring-out'. Thereafter, she can still win through all other means, but they are no longer confined to the ring."

"Are you quite finished, father?" the younger man said, "The battle is about to start again."

Kenturion was still gloating over gaining his foothold in the match when Atsarute smashed her armored elbow into his stomach. He was sent flying back, and she followed, adding another hit to his chest, which threw his already moving body to dig into the ground.

He got back up soon after, shaking around his locks to get the dust out of them. "Damn, we're you just playing with me before, Atsarute?" He smirked again and got into position. "Very well. Let's continue the game!" Soon nothing but a streak of him was visible until he reappeared before Atsarute, who blocked his swing with the spikes on her arms.

She forced the blade away from her and bashed her fist into his cheekbone. He recalled with another swipe and a shoulder-rush. The range of attacks and actions spread out and more momentum was being put in each hit as a result. The fight had become much more serious and, more surprisingly, harder to watch. Despite the lure to try to keep their eyes on it, the speed was too great for even Goku's ability. Many of them found themselves thinking, There's always someone stronger.

There were only flashes of the fighters, appearing for a moment or so in random spurts all around, sometimes on the ring, sometimes not even close to the edges, and sometimes high in the air. What was usually seen was Kenturion blocking Atsarute, which would suggest that either Atsarute is on a vicious offensive, or she was cleanly dodging his blows without having to slow down or stop. The instances gradually became less frequent, but longer lasting when they occurred.

They suddenly burst into view again, about 20 meters from the edge of the ring. The fighters' hair and loose-cloth swirled, revealing along with the positions of their bodies that Atsarute had kneed Kenturion in the abdomen with a high momentum from a spin as he was turning to slash behind him. The wide-eyed man fell backwards, sweat running down his temple. She must have knocked out all of his air, and it was obvious that he would not be able to retaliate before she claims her victory. With another spin, she knocked him over the head, straight into the dirt, and thus the fight ended. Kenturion was rendered unconscious.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kenturion was taken back to the guest room, accompanied by a few of the palace nurses to ensure that he was all right. After all, the guy was the prince of Berra-sei, a planet that produced some substantial imports for Sui-sei. Their royal families were in good terms, and they would like to keep it that way.

The victor said nothing before taking her leave, not leaving an acknowledging glance for them or the three men that had appeared.

"Oh, right." A spark seemed to have flashed in the head of the tallest man. "Toniko, these people are with you as Atsarute's guests, correct?"

She nodded. "That is correct, King Naiosai."

"Well, the Three Twenty-two is operational for their use. Come, I'll lead you all there." He motioned down a hall, and the whole group followed.

"If you don't mind me asking, Naiosai-ou," Toniko said, "why are you escorting us instead of a soldier?"

"I dismissed all the soldiers for the day as soon as I heard that Atsa had landed. She dislikes their company the majority of the time… I think she just dislikes being called 'hime' like that. Of course, they've been doing so since she was still a small child, but it's just awkward and unfitting for her now. She outgrew it when she outgrew 'chan'."

The youngest scoffed a bit. "I still call her 'chan' sometimes…"

"Only so you can annoy her," said the other older man, "I know what sibling rivalries are like, Derosen. Your father and I have been in enough of them."

"Heh. That's certainly true," said King Naiosai before going through a door into a separated chamber, beckoning the others to do the same.

When everyone had poured into the room, Naiosai began fiddling with the controls a bit himself. This was taken as an opportunity for the Humans and Saiya-jin (The three Nameks had somehow broken themselves off from the group while they were being led, and the Pasuko-jin had been lead elsewhere) to evaluate amongst themselves what had been happening thus far.

"So that guy," Gohan muttered quietly to the others, "is Atsarute-san's father?"

Kuririn lowered his head solemnly. "It seems that way. Toniko called him 'King' after all."

"And the other two are also related to her?" Videl pointed at the other men while pressing herself slightly more towards Gohan as an attempt to quell her unease that she never had a chance to settle. "The younger one, he called him 'Derosen', is her brother? And the other—"

"—is her uncle," Bulma interrupted. "I definitely see a family resemblance here." Indeed, there was. It was perhaps strongest seen in Derosen, exhibiting the same shade of skin as Atsarute's with similar silver scales and long black hair, except his was bound into a thick braid instead of let loose like his sisters. Naiosai's skin, however, was even darker than what would be exhibited in a Namekku-sei-jin, and his tall horns didn't seem to be inherited by either of his children. Regardless, they did have features that could be called his own: their broad shoulders and much of their faces could not have been genetic gifts from the queen they had seen earlier.

They did not get to learn the uncle's name (or whether any of the information that they deduced thus far was true), as the three men quickly made the adjustments and left the group with little instruction on how to use the device.

Chi-chi huffed. "The whole family is antisocial, I take it?"

Goku gave a nervous laugh along with a light shrug. "But they let us use their device to contact Earth. I think that's rather nice of them."

Bulma went forward and started on the controls herself. "I gathered how to work this thing from what they said. It's all ready set to Earth. We just need to choose the person to link to." She turned to the others. "We can contact each in turn and have them gather together if you want."

"That's a good idea, Bulma-san," Gohan smiled, "Try to contact Kame-Sennin first. He can call Trunks and Goten together while you contact Tenshinhan and Yamcha, and have them meet at Kame House."

Videl made a face to Gohan. "Don't forget my father and Buu."

"Right. Contact Buu as well."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo left the group at the same time as his cousin, but he wandered towards a different direction, looking at the murals painted into the walls and the decorative fixtures set throughout the halls. Unlike Katatsu-sei, his surroundings were cold, dark, and spacious. Outside, the sun had already set, and the inner castle's corners seemed to extend with the darkness. The wide windows let the ocean mist drift in from time to time, making the surroundings look very surreal.

"Ah, you're Piccolo, right?" a voice came from the side as Piccolo was examining a painting of one of the previous Sui-sei monarchs. When he turned, he saw the uncle that had been watching Atsarute's fight earlier. He wasn't quite as tall as his brother King Naiosai, and he wore his hair just as long as Derosen did, but instead of being bound into a tight braid, it was loose and wild, almost reminding him of Raditz. He held up a bottle of some sort of alcohol that Piccolo was able to smell even from where he was standing. "My name is Setto. If you haven't heard yet, I'm Atsa's uncle. If you're looking for her, she's probably training in the floor above."

"Training? So soon after a fight?"

"Well, what can I say? She's like that. Besides, that's usually how she spends her time when she's waiting for her clothes to be tailored, and she just ordered a new set made since her body has changed from slight malnutrition."

"I see… when will she be out?"

Setto tilted his head. "It's hard to say, really… I'm sure that she'll be out, washed, and dressed in time to see Kenturion's leave. I don't think that she'll mind if you came into the training chamber, though. It's one of the few rooms on that floor in this wing of the castle; it shouldn't be hard to find."

Piccolo nodded his thanks and went towards the last staircase that he saw while walking along the halls. Setto continued to the direction he was going previously, intending to continue about his business, when he stopped and thought aloud, "I wonder if I should have warned him to be a little wary of Atsa's training dress? Oh well."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Setto said, the chamber was easy enough to find. Even if there were more rooms on that floor, Atsarute's enormous power would still make it easy enough to locate. However, right before it was another person with his arms full of clothing, whom he supposed was the tailor.

"Atsarute-sama," the man called to the room, "I wish to show you the design for your battle arena outfit so that you may tell me if it is satisfactory."

"Just a moment," her voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"All right. I'll get it ready." He fidgeted with the clothing a bit, and finally pulled out what looked like a mass of hide straps into one hand. "Here it is," he mumbled.

Piccolo looked at it in disbelief. "How the Hell is she supposed to wear that?"

The tailor looked over at Piccolo. "Huh? Well…" He scrambled little more to let his other hand poke out from the mound of cloth. "All the pieces run over different areas of the body to provide protection to the more vital areas. This is the main strap, which all the straps intersect at some point to maintain structure. It runs from her neck, between the breasts, and down over her—"

"Never mind," Piccolo growled, "Forget that I asked."

"Oh but it's really an ingenious design, I think. After all, even though its light, it's very tough and cannot be ripped unless—"

"I said never mind!"

Then a loud clank came from the door. "Okay. It should be open now." Atsarute's voice said again.

Piccolo barged in first, now somewhat angered and wanting an answer to the enigma that the tailor held before him. "Atsarute! Why the Hell do you go around fighting practically—" He cut himself off short when he saw her.

She did a series of speed punches and kicks before looking to the side at Piccolo. "Huh?"

"…Practically…" He swallowed, then made a scowl and crossed his arms tightly, squeezing his eyes closed.

Atsarute raised a brow and crossed her own arms over her bare breasts. "Uh huh…and what's with you?"

"…You train in the nude?" He grumbled out, trying not to sound too surprised.

She looked down at herself. "I'm wearing trainer braces on my wrists and ankles…"

"That doesn't count."

"…And a bandage on my cheek where Kenturion cut me…"

"That doesn't count either."

"I don't wear cloth when training; I don't want to tear it. It's not like I can conjure it out of thin air like some of you Namekku-sei-jin can. And what were you yelling about when you came in, huh?"

He pointed at the "outfit" the tailor held before him.

Atsarute walked forward and gathered some of it into her own hand, apparently testing out its weight. "It's lighter than ever. I take it that this is an improvement upon the older leather one?"

"Yes, Atsarute-sama."

"Ah… this really is a good job… and the material looks even thinner, so it probably offers even less wind resistance."

"That's how you wanted it, right?"

"Of course." She smiled and looked back at Piccolo, who looked like he wanted to smack himself. "And what's your problem with it?"

He growled again. "How can that possibly offer any sort of protection?"

"You'd be surprised. It covers the vital points, after all. My bracers and boots guard my forearms and shins, and the straps on this are of perfect distance to keep something off my skin while not needing more material. Besides, it's not designed for protection as much as it's designed for speed. Speed is the most important element in an arena battle, more important than it is in almost any other battle setting." She turned back to the tailor. "Thank you. This design is definitely satisfactory. Are you redesigning any of the other arena outfits?"

He made a nod. "The webbing one. I found an even stronger spider webbing that would do splendidly for it. The prototype will be finished by the end of the day."

"Good. You may leave." She turned to a small control panel after the tailor exited. "Piccolo, do you mind if I lock the door again?"

He grunted. "Why would I mind?"

"Are you sure?" She smirked. "I mean, you're Namekku-sei-jin after all."

Piccolo's eyes rolled. "Gee, maybe you shouldn't after all. I'm sure that my deprived Namek blood would just boil at the thought of being locked in a room with a nude woman," he said sarcastically.

She stared at him a moment before busting out laughing.

"Now what is it?" Piccolo's veins were plainly in sight by this point, and he clenched his fists so hard that it was a wonder that he didn't pierce his own hand with his nails. "You were laughing like that earlier at Katatsu-sei. What the Hell is that about?"

It took a moment for Atsarute to regain her composure. "I suppose it's about time that I tell you." She sighed and brushed away a tear. "You know that Valentine's Day when we were living together on Earth?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"It's so good to be able to speak to you again," Kuririn said to the floating orb that hovered above the strange machine, trying to keep from crying tears of joy. "I've missed you both so much."

"We've missed you too, Daddy!" Marron's voice rang through from the orb, "Didn't we, Mommy?"

Then #18's voice took dominance. "Kuririn, how long are you going to be until you get back? You've been gone for a good two months now."

He sighed. "I know, and it looks like we're going to be gone for even longer. We've decided to stay here to train."

There was a conglomerate "What!" that bashed though. Then Mr. Satan's voice screamed out, "Videl! Do you intend to stay with that kid in that other universe?"

Videl laughed nervously at her overprotective father. "Well, I'm not about to let him stay here alone."

"What kind of nonsense is that? Gohan! Bring my daughter back to Earth immediately!"

Gohan frowned. "But I really want to stay and train with my father and Piccolo-san."

"What is that universe like?" Kame-Sennin's voice said next.

Goku looked up in thought. "It's really hard to explain. A lot of unexpected things happened after we got here. We even met Piccolo's old girlfriend."

"Girlfriend…?" A stifled chuckle passed about among the group from both sides of the line.

"Figures that she'd be in an entirely different universe," Yamcha's voice mumbled.

"Bulma," Dr. Brief's took over this time, "Have you found some interesting samples that you can bring back?"

"Yeah. You'll be amazed when you see the stuff. I have several blueprints and sketches from Dr. Arufuredo of various kinds of equipment. The Pasuko-jin are a very advanced race. But the Puroeriun turns out to be even farther ahead! I've been trying to get things from them as well."

"Hmm…they're the enemy, right? Won't that be a little dangerous?"

Bulma blinked. "Oh, right. We forgot to tell you about what happened about that." She turned to the others. "Heh… which one of you think that you can explain this the best?"

Almost everyone shook their heads, many feeling lucky to understand what's been happening themselves.

"I'd be a lot easier to explain if they were here," Chi-Chi said.

This seemed to make the usually-dim light bulb over Goku's head light up. "Hey, I've got an idea! You guys can sense their ki through the machine too, right?"

It seemed to strike Vegita as well. "Yeah. Clearly."

Goku turned to the orb. "Can any of you guys sense us?"

There was a short pause. Tenshinhan's voice spoke. "You're ki is very definite. It's almost like you are right here among us. Why?"

"Hehehe!" Goku made a goofy smirk before bringing two fingers to his forehead. "Yosh!" And in an instant, he had disappeared.

A commotion came from the other side. "Goku! You mean you're able to teleport through that thing?"

"Since I could since you, I used my Instantaneous Movement to get here. If you want, I could bring you back with me to that planet as long as the machine is on."

"Sugoi!" Kuririn said, "I didn't think that it would be able to do that as well!"

Gohan leaned forward towards the machine more. "I bet Atsarute-san and Dr. Arufuredo would like to see this. I don't think they know that Otou-san is able to this.

"I DID WHAAAT!" A completely different voice boomed in from above. Everyone's eyes shot up immediately.

"What was that?" Videl wandered aloud.

Gohan stared upwards a little longer before answering, "It sounded like Piccolo-san."

Hime – Princess (if, for some reason, you don't already know)
Another reason this was a little late: FIGHT SCENES ARE HARD! Can't I just make them roll their initiatives?
And here is the URL to the Namek girls picture that you've all been waiting for!
http/www#deviantart#com/deviation/20638973/
Remember to replace the #s with periods. FFnet still hates URLs.
And since that has been posted, you guys can go ahead and submit suggestions for the next drawing if you like. I promise that I won't take so long with drawing it this time… ;;;