Disclaimer: Huh? Chap'a' two.
Ah, Germany. G'luck with studies and whatnot, Ace. Hope to see your word around the internet sometime again.
Atsarute reported back to her men that she would go to a branch base after she finished her business on her next stop. Afterwards, she holed herself up in her room, away from Piccolo. At first, he thought it was just because of the scale-teasing, but as he heard her rummaging through things, muttering frustrated curses in Sui-go while doing so, he came to believe that it had more to do with the broadcast by that queen and her new husband.
She seemed to eventually find what she was looking for, and it grew quiet within, his ears only able to pick up the scratching of an ink pen on a piece of paper, along with the occasional tap of buttons on what he assumed was a computer. She's plotting out something… but what? There was some more rustling of papers, particularly of what sounded like the opening of large scrolls and such. From time to time, he heard a feint muttering from her, but, once again, they were in Sui-go, and he couldn't understand a word of it.
Well, I'm not finding out anything here, he thought to himself before withdrawing back into the main room and bringing himself into meditation. He didn't focus on anything, except making himself stronger. Constantly trying to improve himself, especially in the shadow of such huge energies, seemed to be his only method of keeping any sort of hold in this universe. To have so many more people stronger than him, he found unacceptable.
It's hard to keep track of time once in meditation, but he surmised that it was at least five hours before Atsarute appeared on her own accord, and that was his signal to stop and take a rest. Looking at her hands, they looked raw, covered with ink and blood.
Atsarute could see the question that he wanted to ask, so she answered before he vocalized it. "I've been making strategic calculations for when my army goes against Funzen." She brought her hands up before her and looked down at them. "It appears that I've overdone it a bit."
"You're already making calculations?" Piccolo stood from where he had been seated on the floor. "Isn't it a bit early? I doubt you even know where you're fighting or what kind of condition his forces are in."
"Which is why the calculations took so long. I've been considering every situation, starting with what I felt was the most likely."
"Are you going to wash and bandage you're hands? You're already nursing your bruises from Sanatoasu; you don't need an infection to go along with it."
She laughed. "I suppose you're right, but the PVCs have almost completely gone, and most of the pain has disappeared. It should be completely gone before we get to our next stop." The washroom wasn't far off, and she quickly washed and treated her hands before she rejoined Piccolo.
"If you even think about doing that to my scales again," Atsarute warned, "I'll tear off your ears."
"That's an absurd threat, but I get the point," Piccolo scoffed, "You better not have forgotten; you said that you'd translate that song for me."
"Hmm? Oh yeah. I'll write it out for you sometime."
"Write it out? That's all?"
"Hell, Piccolo. There're a lot of verses to it since it's a folk song. No way am I going to recite the whole bloody thing for you. Besides, it sounds really weird when it isn't in Sui-go. If it didn't, I would have sung it all the time back when I was living on Earth as Jin."
"Alright, fine. Still sounds like an excuse."
"Why do you want to know the lyrics so badly, anyway?"
"I'm curious. You're brother told me the first verse, and you hummed it all the time. I just want to figure out why."
"Because I'm a twisted individual. I'm going to check the ship's status then take a rest. You probably should go rest, too." She grinned. "If I feel any better tomorrow, I might make you train with me a bit."
And the training session that next day was rough for both of them. But neither was willing to show it, which was probably why it was as rough as it was. Piccolo wouldn't readily admit he was inferior in strength, and Atsarute wasn't about to let "a little chest pain" keep her back.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
The broadcast was shown to the guests of the castle at Sui-sei. Arufuredo reclined in his chair, feeling the urge to smoke something for the first time in seven years. "Well, it's been decided. We can never go back home."
Another Pasuko-jin nodded. "We knew that this would eventually happen, but it still is very painful to have it realized like this."
The scientist took off his glasses and placed them in his pocket, looking up at the ceiling. "It can't be helped. We rebelled because we love our planet and our people. We know that, logically, the only way to help them is to join the enemy and defeat our queen."
The Earthlings couldn't help but feel some sympathy for their friends. They had been traveling with them all this time in this new universe, helping them the best they can to find someone that was an absolute stranger to them. Goku probably owed his life to the scientists' fast medical work on his throat when it was slashed out.
Bulma sat down beside Arufuredo (much to Vegita's dislike). "This must be really tough on you."
He glanced over at her and smiled. "If any one of us denied that, that man would be lying his ass off. But we've been prepared for it since we bound together and made the decision to be traitors to Queen Komugiko. Something like being tossed away by our family, our friends, our homeland… something like that is just another reason that we must succeed in our goal."
He brought a hand up and pulled his bangs back from his face. "At least, that's what we're telling ourselves right now; a load of nonsense that's being repeated to make us feel a little better about it mostly. But that's how we're supporting ourselves… by patting ourselves on the back."
A large silence fell over the room, but Arufuredo shook it off and looked over at Toniko, still smiling. "We don't need sympathy, but I can't help but to envy you Namekku-sei-jin. To belong to such a large intelligent race… with a mindset that never forgot where it came from… it must be nice."
"You're wrong," she answered.
Arufuredo's face changed to curiosity. "I beg your pardon?"
"It isn't that great. With overpopulation and the incredible gap in the ratio between males and females, we've suffered continuously for remembering our nature. Wars, struggles, famines…" She sighed and looked to the side. "We've even lost our native world because of it. I wish I could have seen it, but we left long before I was born."
Neil blinked. "I don't understand. Suraku said that what happened to Namekku-sei was the migration through the Red Stream."
"That has to do with it. But, to be more specific, the thing that caused the planet to drift from orbit around our star originally was the planet's population. Since sorcery was so ingrained in our culture, every Namekku-sei-jin is a magical creature, capable of a multitude of things. With such a large population of sorcerers, the extraneous energy began to cause havoc on the natural order, unsettling the planet's balance."
Bulma's eyes widened. "I see! Because of the energy, the horrible weather conditions started to arise and the stress and energy effected the polarity and made the planet escape from the gravity of its star."
She nodded and turned back to Arufuredo. "So you see, Arufuredo-san, not a single Namekku-sei-jin is any different from you. Even the ones born after migration like me, because we are so close to our roots, feel it strongly."
Arufuredo heaved a breath. "Toniko-sama, you're a third generation Katatsu-sei-jin, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Nothing. Thank you, Toniko-sama. It's good to have people to tell us that we'll be all right."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Komugiko lowered the ribbon from before her. "I still think that now is a good time to strike against her. She's still not at a hundred percent, I can sense it through the streams, and if we wait too long, she'll have an even larger force allied with her."
Her new husband shook his head. "So soon after regaining their general, the army is still upset and shaken. You might think that as a good thing, but it means that we'll have the biggest of her warriors against us in any battle that she prepares against us as a safe guard. At my army's current level, we wouldn't stand a chance against them."
"Then shouldn't we split them up by making several fronts? That way, your men won't be overpowered?"
"Also not acceptable. I don't have nearly enough manpower to make multiple threats at once against Atsarute, and we can't combine our armies effectively at this moment."
He sighed and paced over to his suit of armor, looking at his reflection in one of the large spikes. "We really should be counting our blessings since she hasn't struck against us immediately. Even though I can give her a good fight, I believe such an effort right now would be in vain."
The woman made a groan of frustration. "It seems that even with joint forces, we might never get to a position to rid the universe of that demon."
"Don't worry. Just give me enough time to merge our armies and train them. And if we keep patience, later a wonderful chance for us to exterminate her will arise, and we'll be there and ready to take advantage of it."
She frowned and tied the ribbon back around her neck. "But I have seen through the streams that she will gain a powerful ally with a force of manpower many times the size of her own. The streams do not lie. If we wait too long, we have to deal with that burden as well."
Funzen shrugged. "It does not signify if that force is 3 times her's in size or 300 times. What we need to worry about is occupying her own men while we bring the strike upon Atsarute. That is the only way that we can wipe her out once and for all."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Piccolo looked at his surroundings skeptically. "To say that a place like this has no name…"
"Well, I guess that isn't exactly true," Atsarute said, leading him down the sidewalk, "It actually has several names, each given by one of its many gangs, but since none of them have complete power and they're constantly at war with each other, there isn't a definitive, single name."
"Are the gangs here any different from those back on Earth?"
"Hmm… it's hard to say. In a lot of ways, they're very similar. The most noticeable characteristic that they differ from Earth's is their incredible strength. The bands on this particular planet, since there is no real law, have their economic base spread out in more than "illicit" practices and territory, though it does include it. They exact their own law and their own law forces. In a sense, you could say that, for a lawless society, it's pretty stable."
"So government is replaced with gang warfare? Can't say that it's much different. Even taxes are reminiscent of the practice of selling protection." The flashing signs reminded him a lot of the cities back on Earth, particularly North Capital. "So, are you going to go and continue some more business anytime soon?"
"Nah. I finished everything before I picked you up out of the ship and brought you out."
"What? Then why are we still here?"
"I wanted to enter a match in the local battle arena and I need someone I can trust with my money to bet on me in the match. That isn't too much trouble is it?"
"Why should I do such a—" Then some words clicked. "'Battle arena'?"
"That's what I said."
"As in that leather strap outfit battle arena?"
"Yeah. I want to test out the two prototypes the tailor designed." She pulled them out of a knapsack on her side and held them out before her. "Though I don't know which I should try. Perhaps I should find out what kind of creature I will be fighting against before I choose." A shrug lifted her shoulders as she frowned. "But I won't be able to test the other one immediately since I'll be leaving immediately after the fight."
Piccolo kept a stoic face as he looked to the sidewalk before him. "I'll do the betting for you, then."
"You will?"
He nodded. "I'll be able to watch you in the fight, right? I've been taking every opportunity possible to see your style, and this isn't an exception." He suppressed the smirk that went with the lie of his last statement.
Ah, with that last part said, it's hard not to imagine that, inside, Piccolo has a lecherous grin that could rival Miroku's. Whether or not that's the case is up to the interpretation of the reader…
It's unknown, but hopefully, I'll be able to get another chapter out before school starts. We'll see, wont we?