A/N: At last, a new chapter. I appologize for these long dealys, but Real Life™ is constantly getting in my way anymore. Progress on this, and on Altered History Saga 6, is slow. I am still working on them, and they will get finished. Eventually.
Chapter Forty-seven - In Preparation
"One of us could remain here." 17 said as Tao waved off Zukina's apology. "Help you out if any of them do come across you. Leberion's not exactly suitable for most forms of life. Pan and Bra wont be able to go down to the planet, anyway."
"We're not separating." said Pan. "We've come this far together. Besides, there's no telling what could happen later, no telling when we'd be able to regroup again."
"The Cabal wouldn't allow it, either." said Tao. "That they've given you any time at all to stay and gather supplies, instead of forcing you to leave at once, is more generous than usual for them."
"I still don't see how they could make us leave." said Bra. "I'm the weakest of us and even I'm a lot stronger than them."
"You would be wise not to assume your senses can tell you everything there is to know about an opponent." said Tao. "Or would you assume that you're stronger than 17 and 18 simply because you can't sense anything from them?"
Bra blinked a couple of times, then frowned. "I suppose." she said. "It still seems impossible to me, though. It's not like with 17 and 18, or Videl, or those three Androids from earlier. I can sense their powers."
Tao shook his head, she clearly still had a lot to learn about the universe beyond Saiya, but before he could say more 18 spoke up. "Power isn't everything." she said. "It's important, of course, but so is skill and strategy. You may be far stronger than those three, but if you dropped your guard they could still kill you, even as a Super Sai-jin. Don't forget, you're still within the power threshold of focused ki attacks with the three of them. Also, never assume you know everything your opponent is capable of. Look how close your father came to losing because he thought he knew everything I could do."
"Yeah, I suppose." she said, though she clearly still didn't sound convinced.
"There's more out there in the universe than you could imagine." said 17. "Believe me, I've seen a lot and I'm still being surprised by things."
"So what do we do from here?" asked Pan. "We still need to get our supplies, but 14 and 15 could still be out there wandering around. If they spot one of us again..."
"We could do your shopping." suggested Zukina. "Avo and Kado only know Tao's face for certain. They were far enough away, and Tao reacted fast enough, that they probably didn't get a good look at the rest of us."
"That's a pretty big assumption to make." said Eve.
"I don't think so." said Zukina, shaking her head. "At best they'll have an idea of what our group looks like, but not what we look like. And that's if they're even looking in the city for us anymore."
"She has a point there." said Rain. "The two of them are likely to have moved on by now. Even if they found Tao's ship they'll have also found that it was sold. I doubt they'll remain here in Xentron City long after making that discovery, hoping to track him down elsewhere. I know that's what I would do. And even should they still be here they would be checking the ports, not the city proper."
"I think small groups of two or three should be safe." said Tao. "Zukina is probably right, which is why I was willing to send her and Storm out for shopping earlier. Speaking of which, Storm, we still need the supplies from Tremo's."
"We'll head back out." Storm said, nodding. "You ready to go, Zukina?"
Zukina stared at her for a moment, then nodded as well. "Yeah."
"Rain, how about you handle their shopping?" Tao asked. "You can take Xeno and Everfrost with you."
"Yeah, ok." Rain said to him, then turned to the others. "Just give me the money and the list of what you need."
"I... I can help, too." said Faith. "No one from the Empire would know me."
"Thanks." 18 said to all of them.
Eve had watched Storm and Zukina leave and as the door closed behind them she bit her lip and turned to the former Masters. Just looking at them sent a chill down her spine. Her time in Imperial custody hadn't been pleasant and the memory of it had stayed with her. Still, as all of the others turned to leave, she took a deep breath and dove in head first.
"Um, Mistress Bra?" she started.
Bra stopped just before walking out the door and looked back, Pan stopping just outside the door too. "Just Bra." the girl said. "We're not Masters anymore."
Eve nodded. "Um... Bra... I was... I was wondering if we could talk, uh, just for a minute?"
Bra nodded. "Go on ahead." she said to her friend. "I'll catch up."
"Alright." Pan replied, turning and walking off.
XXX
Zukina sighed in relief as Ferri's store came into view over Storm's shoulder. They'd gotten everything they'd needed at Tremo's, though they hadn't found any Regen Tanks that looked to be in good condition. She'd checked each of the four at the store and they would have all required extensive repairs to make usable. Even so, they had three large and heavy items that couldn't be capsulized.
She had the two lighter ones, the V6LK power cell and the power drive control unit, on a cart she'd pulled while Storm had pulled the heavier one, the Gravitonic Field Coil, on her own cart. The Sai-jin couldn't believe how sore and tired she was after only a mile and a half. She wasn't a weakling and yet she was near exhausted from hauling only around six tons so short a distance. She was annoyed with herself both for having worn out so fast and easily and for being relieved and happy that the trip was nearly over.
"Getting a little flabby around the middle?" Storm called back jokingly, apparently having heard the sigh.
"I'm a mechanic, not a pack mule." she replied. "I spend..." she hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "I spent my days working on mechanical and computer systems, not doing manual labor."
"You're a Sai-jin, aren't you?" Storm asked, smiling, as they pulled to a stop outside the store front. "I thought your people were all about being tough."
"I don't know if you've noticed," the Sai-jin began, pointing toward her chest. "But I've got a few things that get in the way of doing intense physical stuff."
"Oh, I've noticed." the Wathor replied, smirking, as Ferri came out with an anti-grav cart for the supplies.
Zukina rolled her eyes at the other woman's remark. She knew she didn't have anyone to blame but herself for that. She knew what the Wathor was like and had left the door wide open for such a comment. So, she ignored it and set about helping Ferri and Storm move the heavy machines onto the anti-grav cart. She soon forgot her fatigue and found herself wondering how the short woman was able to help them at all. She didn't have a scouter or any means of detecting the woman's power but she'd picked up that she wasn't particularly strong.
"I guess this is what Tao and 18 were talking about earlier." she thought as they set the power cell down on the anti-grav cart and went back for the slightly heavier power drive control unit next. "You can't judge what someone is capable of just by their apparent power level." The three finished moving the control unit, then moved the Gravitonic Field Coil. As Zukina stepped back she watched Ferri, single handedly, pull the cart into her shop and shook her head.
"Alright, let's get back inside." Storm said, holding the door open for her. Yet another one of the odd idiosyncrasies of the Wathor. The Sai-jin still hadn't figured her out. She was domineering, sadistic, hostile and... occasionally compassionate, gentle, and polite. The odd incongruity of how the woman treated her, more than anything else she did, was driving her crazy. She pushed it aside, though, and went in. Ferri had already moved the cart out of sight and the main lobby of the store was empty.
"Think everyone else is downstairs still?" she asked.
"Probably." said Storm, adjusting the settings of ring unit of the Restraint System. "Alright, range is re-set back to normal. I'm going to go grab something to eat, you can do whatever for now."
Zukina watched her walk off and sighed. She knew what the 'for now' meant. "Go with the flow." she said to herself, making her way toward the back of the store and the large hangar space where Ferri was assembling Tao's ship. "Go with the flow. Go with the flow." she mentally repeated. She'd managed to keep all of her interactions with Storm peaceful so far by repeating that to herself.
"No, your other left!" Ferri's voice sounded as she walked into the hangar where Tao's ship was being constructed. It wasn't much of a ship yet, didn't even look like one, but it was already impressive. Far larger than Tao's old ship and no longer shaped like a giant space pod. She couldn't discern yet what the final shape would be but she was sure it was a design she'd not seen before. Not surprising since all she'd ever seen or worked on had been Imperial ships.
Shifting her gaze from the larger picture of the hangar and ship to a narrower focus she found Ferri had been talking to Mistresses Pan and Videl, who were apparently in the process of trying to place and secure the Gravitonic Field Coil. As she watched the women work she started to frown and, before she knew it or had time to think about what she was doing, she heard the sound of her own voice calling out through the hangar.
"If you keep tipping it like that it's going to fall!" Her mouth stopped moving while still open and she just stood there, unable to believe what she'd just done. Meanwhile, the two women had glanced her way and, in that instant, the coil tipped too far and started to plummet. Pan let out a sudden curse and surged down after it, aura flashing gold and lightning sparking around it as she got under the heavy piece of machinery and caught it. Videl floated down and joined her, taking it from her daughter as the younger girl shifted back to base.
"Sorry..." Zukina started.
"Don't apologize." said Pan. "I didn't even know there was problem."
"Neither did I." said Ferri. "You've got a pretty keen eye."
Zukina shrugged. "I've worked on ships for the last twelve years, fixing just about every part of them."
"Care to give us a hand?"
Zukina smiled. "Sure, I'd love to help." she said, walking farther into the hangar. "Go with the flow, eh? Maybe there is something to that. I've always wanted to work on ship construction, not just repairs." She joined the other three around the ship and helped the two former Masters place and secure the Gravitonic Field Coil, then they set about placing the turbine coils. Aligning them properly with the framework of the ship, to keep it balanced, and then linking them in with the Gravitonic Field Coil was slow and exacting work. Work she'd done before during ship repairs, and before long Ferri was letting her lead the process.
The Sai-jin quickly lost herself in the work, forgetting all about Storm and the unwanted, and equally inescapable, situation she was in there. All that existed was her, her job, her work crew, and the ship. She wasn't sure how much time it took to finish, it seemed to fly right by, but eventually they had everything aligned and connected to Ferri's specifications. As she floated back to take a look at the set-up and the framework of the ship she thought she saw what the design would be like. She couldn't be certain, there would be other components to add that would shift weight this way or that, that could balance the ship out in a different direction, but she thought she saw what the short woman was going for, and it was pretty impressive.
"What next?" she asked, looking over to Ferri and wiping some sweat off her brow. Before Ferri could answer, however, another voice called from somewhere else in the store.
"Zukina!"
It was clearly Storm and the sound of it brought her fully back to reality. The Sai-jin sighed, her shoulder's slumping a little. "Well, I'll come back later if I can." she said. "Apparently her highness is done eating."
"Thanks for the help." Ferri said.
"No problem." Zukina replied as she left the hangar. Entering the lobby she glanced around for the Wathor but didn't find her, so figured she was likely still downstairs and made her way over and down to the basement. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she found Storm standing there waiting. "What do you want?"
"Head to Eve's room." the Wathor said. "When you're done there come find me in the kitchen."
Zukina stared after her in confusion as the Wathor left. "What was that about?" she wondered. If the woman was only now going to eat then... what had she been doing all this time? And when she was done with what in her and Eve's room? Shaking her head to try and clear it she made her way down the hall to the room she shared with the Nezorf, pushed the door open, and stepped inside. She came to a sudden halt then as she got a look at the room. Eve was no where in sight but Bra was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning back on her arms and staring at the ceiling.
"Princess...?" she asked, uncertainly.
Bra sat up, looked toward the woman, and smiled. "Zukina, right?" she asked, and the Sai-jin nodded. The royal then patted the bed beside her. "Have a seat, I'd like to talk to you for a bit."
Zukina nodded and made her way over to sit beside the girl, confused and curious about what was going on. "Uh... what...?" she started as she reached the bed and sat.
"You don't have to be so nervous." said Bra. "I'm not going to bite. Now, I've heard you're a slave, and Storm's Mate?"
Zukina cast her eyes down to the ground and nodded. "Yes." she said. Having her Princess ask about it made her feel even more humiliated by the whole thing. "For around a month or so, now." She turned her gaze back to the other then as she continued. "How... how did you...?"
"Find out?" Bra asked, raising her eyebrows. "Your friend Eve stopped me earlier, while you were heading out to go shopping. She filled me in on what she knew, from you turning up in the Talon's hold up to when you called out to Avo and Kado. I also just finished talking to Storm." Bra sighed and looked toward the wall, leaning back onto her arms again. "I get the distinct impression from what they've told me that you don't like your situation at all."
"I'm a slave, I'm someone's property, I can't think of anything more... disgusting or degrading. Especially since she's not even a Sai-jin." Zukina replied, surprised by the ferocity of her words, especially considering who she was speaking to, and quickly turned her eyes back to the floor again after she'd finished.
"No, I suppose not." Bra conceded. "Though, would you really feel any different if Storm were a Sai-jin?"
"I'd still not like it." she answered. "But it wouldn't be as humiliating."
"Well, I think you're looking at it from the wrong perspective, myself." said Bra, drawing the woman's gaze back to her again. "I know, I know. It's not a pleasant position. I wouldn't want to be there, and I wouldn't put someone there myself. When I... when I was telling Marron how I felt I made sure she knew it was her choice. But at the same time... Well, it's how I came about, after all. And Gohan, and Goten, and Pan. Now, you'll say those are all different, because it was a Sai-jin doing the taking of a non Sai-jin, but you have to realize the Humans dislike it just as much as you do.
"What I wanted to get at, though, isn't that it's happened before. It's that the primary root cause of why you hate it so much is your belief that it somehow diminishes your honor. That it's an insult to your pride. I can see why you'd feel that way, we Sai-jin's don't much like being on the losing end of anything, especially when the winner isn't even a Sai-jin. But I say you're not on the losing end of anything."
"How... how you can say...?"
"Think for a moment." Bra said slowly, sitting up straight again. "Storm told me the reason she took you. She said she told you, too. Do you remember it?"
Zukina thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. It was because she wanted the challenge of 'breaking' me before we got to Saiya, since she was certain she'd be executed after getting there."
"Well, there was that, yes." said Bra, nodding a little. "But why did she believe it would be a challenge? What made her change her mind from just 'playing' with you on occasion to actually taking you as her Mate?"
"Because... Because I fought longer than she thought I would."
Bra smiled faintly. "Exactly. You may not have realized it, but you impressed her."
"I... what?"
"You impressed her. You showed her you were made of tougher stuff than she thought. She told me you're not the first Sai-jin she's spent time with. That she spent time as an inquisitor and had several Sai-jin warriors 'under her care' during that time, and all of them broke and did what she wanted faster than you did. She took you because she thought you'd be a challenge, and she thought you'd be a challenge because you impressed her. I know a little something about Wathors and they're even more conquest centric than Sai-jins. They value and admire strength above everything, and desire it in nothing more than they do in their Mate."
"So... you... you're suggesting that I... look at this as... what? Proof of my strength?"
"Something like that. Putting aside your apparent lack of interest in women, the central reason you hate your situation is because you view it as a sign of weakness. Only, it's not. Sure, you broke a little, you gave her what she wanted, but you lasted longer than trained warriors. You impressed someone of a race that cares as much about strength of will as we Sai-jins care about raw power. Stop qualifying your situation as 'I gave in to her will' and instead as 'I lasted longer than warriors stronger than me' and a lot of your resentment will fade."
"I suppose... what you say makes some sense. Still..."
Bra smiled. "Yeah, I know. Not your typical Sai-jin response to such a situation. But then, I'm not your typical Sai-jin, am I?" Bra sighed. "Of course, even if you do flip your view around, there's still the fact she's female, no? Unfortunately, I can't help you with that. You're either born liking us or not."
The Sai-jin woman nodded and then sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, she looked toward Bra again. "Um, do you mind if I ask why you're helping Storm?"
The Princess raised her eyebrows at that. "Helping Storm?" she repeated. "You think that's what I'm doing? Eve asked me to help you, not her, and you're the Sai-jin, not her. The more you resist her, the more you'll pay for it. I know that the biggest fear looming over you now is that Storm will eventually try to break you completely. That's not an assumed blemish to your honor but the loss of the very thing that makes you Sai-jin."
Zukina nodded. "Yes." she said softly. "But you just suggested..."
"I'm not particularly a fan of my father right now," Bra interrupted. "But he told me once that no matter what position a Sai-jin finds themselves in it is their duty to fulfill that position to their full potential. No matter what the situation, a Sai-jin can offer nothing but their best at being the best at what they are, or they can't truly call themselves Sai-jin."
Zukina sat and mulled that over for a moment, trying to figure out what the Princess was trying to tell her. Clearly her first supposition was wrong, or she wouldn't have been interrupted just now. "Qualify my situation as lasting longer than warriors stronger than me." she mused. "That's something to take pride in, a mark of honor. She's saying that even though I'm now a slave the means by which I got here keeps my honor intact. I didn't get here by being weak, but by being strong. What about the rest? Be the best at what I am, or I can't call myself a Sai-jin... But what am I now, except for a sla..."
The Sai-jin jerked slightly as the concept suddenly bloomed in her mind, the entire thing already fully formed. It seemed at first glance to be completely counter Sai-jin in nature. So much so she thought it couldn't be what the Princess was suggesting. But further consideration of it showed that, no, it wasn't counter Sai-jin. It was pure Sai-jin, all honor and pride and strength. It just stepped back from the situation and objectively looked at it in a way she had not before.
"I'm a slave, and Storm's taken Mate. I can either refuse to act like a Sai-jin and wallow in self-pity, act like a child and throw an unending fit over it, eventually be broken, and thus lose what makes me a Sai-jin. Or I can act like a Sai-jin, do what my situation demands of me no matter how much I dislike it, and forever remain a Sai-jin." she thought. And as she ran the concept through her mind she knew it was what Bra had been suggesting. Surviving, remaining a Sai-jin, and yet still doing her duty as what she now was, Storm's Mate and slave...
The Masters had signed off on Storm taking her, the Princess had just affirmed her ownership by the Wathor, and so this was, in its own way, a mission to be done. Find the honor and the pride in being what she had become, instead of clinging like a child to the past. Obey Storm not because she was a slave, but because she was a Sai-jin following her duty and following the orders of her superiors. It was amazing to her how quickly her mind started turning over, and the actions of resistance that she had once prided herself in suddenly seemed cowardly. Only cowards with no honor refused to let go of past status, refused to even try and succeed at where they were now, refused to...
"Go with the flow." she thought suddenly, her respect for the Nezorf increasing yet again.
"I think someone is waiting for you." Bra said after a few more moments. Her voice brought Zukina back to reality again and she nodded.
"Yeah." she said, standing. "Thank-you, Princess, for helping me see."
Bra shrugged. "Thank Eve." she said. "For not having any Sai-jin blood in her she's pretty good at understanding the way we think."
XXX
"What are you thinking about?" 17 asked as he sat down on the floor beside his sister. It had taken him a while to find her, with their tracers off he couldn't just pin point her location at will like usual, and she'd found a dark and empty hangar to hole herself up in. He'd had a feeling that learning of Krillin's likely survival the day before would have made an impact on her, and the fact he'd barely seen her since then all but confirmed it. When she didn't answer after several minutes he glanced over at her and saw her staring off into the darkness and he could tell she'd been crying. "You ok?"
She closed her eyes for a moment and wiped away the old tears. "I don't know." she said at last.
"What's on your mind?" he asked. "I thought you'd be happy. I know how much you care about him, and now you know he's still alive."
"Probably still alive." she corrected, opening her eyes again and looking down at her hands. "And it's great, having hope that he's not dead."
"But?" asked her brother. "I can sense there's a 'but' at the end of that statement, so what is it?"
She sighed. "How do I tell him?" she asked, looking up at him, her eyes meeting his. Hers were glistening as fresh tears threatened. "How do I tell him I wasn't able to protect her? That she's dead now because I wasn't strong enough? That he has a daughter he's never going to get to meet, and it's all my fault?"
"Hey, hey, enough of that." 17 said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It's not your fault, 18. You were both dealt a bad hand and you did the best you could with what you were given."
"But if I'd still been on Saiya, instead of going on that mission, I could have gone with her to Gorneo and..."
"And nothing. Vegeta would have found some way of keeping you on Saiya, or away from Gorneo, or come up with some other plan, or maybe killed you both. You thought she was safe, we all did. And until that power spike happened, she was. There's no way you could have predicted something like that. And this way, at least you know who's responsible, you know the truth. If you hadn't gone to Leberion you wouldn't know the truth, Vegeta would have just fed you, fed all of us, his cover story."
"But if I'd come back sooner, or called Saiya sooner..." she shook her head and closed her eyes again, fighting against the tears.
"You can what-if all day, all night, all century, and it wont matter. The more you question everything you've done to get to this point, the less it all means. No matter how much you second guess what you did you can't change it, and can't prove that any other way would have been better. All you'll do is cause it all to loose any meaning by not moving forward from it. If you don't take it, accept it for what it was, what it is, and move forward with it, then nothing comes of it, and it all means nothing."
18 nodded, wiping her eyes again. "You're right." she said, taking a deep and calming breath. "Sitting here thinking like this gets us nowhere. Wishing things had happened differently undermines the reality, lessens the significance of what's happened." She climbed to her feet and took another deep and calming breath. "Thanks, 17."
"Any time, sis."
She gave him a smile, then made her way out of the hangar. She needed to find Tao and speak with him. Leaving the dark empty hangar behind she checked her scanner and frowned. He was apparently suppressed, none of the powers she was getting in the area matched his. "I guess I'll check the hangar where his ship is being built." she thought. There were several powers located there that could have been him. Approaching the door into the hangar she heard voices and the sound of machinery drifting out.
"Hold it there!" Zukina called. "Keep it steady!"
"I'm doing the best I can." Pan called back as 18 entered the room. She spotted the Hybrid floating up in the midst of Tao's future ship holding a large device of some sort over her head. The girl still had her power suppressed down to around ten thousand, likely why her arms were shaking from the strain and she was wobbling in the air. Floating around the device were Videl, Storm, and Rain, using energy torches to weld the object to the ship's frame.
"Steady!" Zukina yelled as the device slid a little to the left. "If it's not properly balanced the gravity field will be lopsided inside the ship and we'll have to remove it and start all over!"
"It could always be re-calibrated, couldn't it?" asked Everfrost from beside the Sai-jin.
Zukina shook her head. "No, not out of a faulty physical alignment. I mean, sure, you could change the field angle to match the ship, but then the generator itself would be out of alignment with the field. That's a great way to burn them out real fast. Re-calibration of the generators to restore proper field alignment is done to protect the equipment, not for the comfort of the crew."
"Do you know where Tao is?" 18 asked as she came up behind the pair.
Zukina glanced back at her and nodded. "He's downstairs with Eve." she said. "He's got her hacking into the ComNet again, digging through reports. Same room we were in yesterday."
"Thanks."
Zukina nodded again, turned back to the work at hand, and yelled again. "Higher! Get it higher, damn it, it's too low!"
18 smirked to herself a little as she left. The Sai-jin was most definitely in her element if she felt comfortable shouting like that at Pan. She could tell how nervous most of her new allies were around all of them. Tao was the only one who seemed completely unfazed by it, even around Pan and Bra, who he'd never had contact with before as he had with her and her brother. But then, little ever seemed to faze him. She'd noticed that the few times they'd had contact before this.
Leaving the hangar behind the Cyborg made her way downstairs to the room they'd all gathered in before. It was fairly easy to spot which one it had been because of the temporary patchwork covering over the hole she'd accidentally made earlier. "Come in." a voice called as she knocked. Opening the door and stepping inside she found Eve sitting in front of her computer as before, with Tao sitting beside her. Faith was sitting back on the bed watching over the shoulders of the two.
"Find anything?" she asked, closing the door again.
"So far, no." said Eve, frowning. "I've found a lot of reports on Slug, including one that was never issued that blamed him for the attack on Gorneo, but nothing to indicate who might be hiding him or where."
"So, that was his intended cover." 18 muttered, frowning. "I'd have probably bought it, too. He's attacked installation worlds before, looking for supplies." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair then as she gathered up her resolve. "Tao, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." the Human replied, turning from the computer, climbing to his feet, and moving over to join her. "What do you need?"
The Cyborg licked her lips and shook her head slightly. "I've been... doing a lot of thinking these last few hours." she said. "And I was wondering, once things calm down a little, if you could take me to... to the new Human world."
Tao remained silent for a moment, then nodded. "I expected you'd ask eventually." he said. "If things go according to plan from here out and we recover the artifacts that Slug has claimed, I'll need to go to New Earth to deliver the Potaras to the others. You're welcome to come along."
"Tao, 18!" Eve called over, before 18 could say anything else.
"What is it?" Tao asked, turning her way again. "Have you found something?"
"Nothing on Slug's location." she said, turning to look at him. "But a series of new Imperial Posting reports were just entered into the system. A defense team was formed and dispatched to the Leberion system five days ago, slated to arrive on station in another ten days."
"What?" asked Faith, surprised. "They did send a team?"
"Apparently." said Eve, turning back to the screen and reading off what she saw. "Twenty-five people, powers ranging from 25,038 to 42,847. Fifteen Hiharys, eight Wathors, and two Kiskotians. Orders are to repel any pirate attacks on Leberion, and capture any pirates seen utilizing Imperial equipment, for extradition back to Saiya."
"What does it mean?" asked 18. "Does Vegeta not know it's Slug's people? Or are the two of them not working together anymore?"
"Interesting." said Tao. "Though this complicates matters slightly. The defense team will be in place long before any of us reach Leberion. While they wont be a threat themselves, they could alert Saiya to our presence if we're spotted."
"We'd be gone again before anyone could get to us." said 18. "Even Vegeta's fastest ship would still take at least twenty hours to reach the planet."
XXX
"This is just so frustrating." Bra said, staring at her reflection in the full length mirror on the door of her room. Up until a couple of minutes ago she'd been shadow boxing, the only means of training that was really available to her at the moment. "I need to train as hard as possible but with those two Androids still out there I can't risk powering-up!" She turned away from the mirror in disgust and left the room. Attempting to train was getting her no where but pissed off, she had to find something else to do. So she made her way back up stairs and decided to see if she could find Pan. Even with her friend's power greatly supressed she still found her easily, recognizing the feel of her power signature, and followed it into the hangar where Tao's ship was being constructed.
"Stop!" Zukina yelled, flying up into the air and toward the under-construction ship, as Bra entered. "It's off angle again!"
"What?" Pan moaned, looking up over her head at the massive square shaped device.
"It's two inches too low over here." replied the Sai-jin as she reached the top front right corner. "You need to keep it level, you can't let it drift."
"I'm trying!" Pan said, shifting the weight of the device in her hands. "But this thing weighs almost three tons and my arms are getting sore. I've been floating up here, holding it in place, for over an hour, now!"
"If you'd kept it steady it would have only taken us thirty or forty minutes to install it." said Zukina as she pushed against the box and balanced it back out again.
"I've been trying to keep it steady!" the Hybrid cried, exasperated.
"You're the one who wanted to do it by yourself." said Storm.
Pan sighed. "I know, don't remind me."
"Want to switch?" asked Bra as she reached them. "My attempts at training on my own have been a bust, thanks to the Androids, but this looks like it might be worth something."
"Yeah, ok." Pan said, nodding. "My arms are killing me, I need a break."
Bra floated up and slipped into place as Pan slipped out and floated back to the ground. "So, I just hold it steady here?" she asked.
"Yes." replied Zukina, floating back to the ground as well. "Don't let it tip in any direction, it needs to be perfectly balanced and level. Storm, Rain, Videl, go check all the old welds before continuing. Make sure the metal hasn't warped from the shifting. If it has, re-weld the spot so it's secure again." The three women nodded to show that they'd heard and then set about doing as instructed.
"Bra, I know you want to be able to help 18, and to keep your promise to Marron, but I think you need to be a little more realistic." said Pan. "Even if the Androids weren't here there's no training you could do that would have you matching your father any time soon. We're talking way too big of a difference here. Your maximum is about twelve times less than his."
"I know. But I'm not going to let that deter me. I know it's a long shot but I have to try, Pan. I can't just stand back and let you guys do all the fighting. Hell, right now I'd settle for having enough power to deal with that purple midget."
"What about Zenkais?" asked Zukina. "It would take a lot of them, I'm sure, but they would speed things up."
"Can't." said Pan. "Only Sai-jins who don't have access to Super Sai-jin get Zenkais." While the three Sai-jins continued to discuss possible training methods Videl, Storm, and Rain completed their re-checks and repairs, and then moved on to making the new welds they still had left to do. It was almost a half hour later that Zukina called a halt to the work and Bra floated down to the ground again, nearly exhausted. Flying while holding something so heavy, without letting it move, was a lot more exhausting work than it seemed. Especially supressed so low.
"Well, maybe Ferri can help." Videl said as she joined Bra and her daughter.
"Help with what?" asked Ferri as she flew through the door into the hangar, a gleaming silver object in her left hand.
"My training." said Bra. "I need to get a lot stronger as fast as possible, but with 14 and 15 still out there I can't power-up to do it."
"I think I could probably help with that. But, first, this is yours, Videl." she said, holding out the silver object. It was oval shaped, about five inches long and three inches wide, and on closer inspection they saw that lengths of black cloth were attached to the back of the device. One length came out the top and looped, like a necklace, while the other came out on either side and had a clasp attached to either end.
"It's your scrambler and canceller. The device needs to be held near the center of your torso, hence the straps. Put it on over your head, center the chest peice, then fasten the second strap around your torso to help secure it in place. As long as the device is within two feet of your body the nano-bot tracer signal will be blocked."
"Great, thank-you." Videl said, taking the device from her and putting it on as instructed. It felt kind of odd, and looked kind of odd too, but she was happy to have it. It meant she could stay with her daughter without endangering her or the others anymore.
"Now, as for you." Ferri said, turning to face Bra again. "Hmmm, I think maybe a PGM would be best."
"A what?"
"A Portable Gravity Modulator."
"What's that? I've never heard of it."
"No, I suppose you wouldn't have." said Ferri, smiling a little. "They don't exist inside the Empire. They were developed by some black-market scientest about five or six years ago. I've got a few in stock I haven't been able to unload yet becuase of how insanely expensive they are, and how few people recognize their true potential. With a PGM on you can reduce the gravity of any location to as little as 0.6 times galactic standard levels, or raise it as high as 250 times galactic standard."
"So, like, a portable gravity training room?" asked Bra.
"Yeah, one that can go up to..." Ferri paused for a moment to convert galactic standard gravity to Saiya normal. "Up to about 45 times standard Saiya gravity." she finished. "With it you'll be able to train without actively training. Have it running when you're doing your normal daily routine and just brushing your hair becomes a work out."
"You said they're expensive, how much?" asked Pan.
"I think we can work out a fair trade. You came in on a saucer ship, right?"
"Yeah, one of my father's." answered Bra.
"Perfect. I still need two regen tanks for Tao's ship. What do you say?"
"I say you have a deal."
XXX
North Kai stood with his hands clasped behind his back and a scowl firmly planted on his face. It had been seven days now since Yamcha had hit Gregory and they'd started this special training. He had expected at least one of the five of them to have succeeded at at least one of the skills he'd been trying to impart. Instead, even on the final day of the week of training, all five of them were still unable to do any of them. Not one.
Marron, on the other hand, had already succeeded at three of the skills. She had gotten one of them on the first day, having tried it on her own while watching the others and listening to the explanations. Her success had, at first, put a fire in the others. That had burned out by the time Marron, now participating directly in the training, had succeeded at the second skill while they were still struggling with the first. The one among them who wasn't a fighter, whose ki was barely high enough to even allow for her to harness it, had succeeded. Their five champions, who were to be the last hope of the universe against the Masters, had achieved zip.
Zilch.
Nada.
And just now, yet again, the five of them had failed, spectacularly. It clearly wasn't his teaching methods. He'd taught these skills to others before, and Marron had picked up on them with ease. He also knew the five of them were very skilled. Each had invented attacks of their own, some of them quite difficult. Each of them had considerable experience and accomplishments under their belts. And yet, at the present moment, all five of them were laying face down on the ground, unconscious, having failed to avoid the attack Chaotzu had launched at them.
"No go still, huh?" Marron asked from behind him as she walked out of the Kai's house.
The North Kai sighed. "No go." he said. "I had hoped the added incentive of an incoming attack they couldn't avoid would at least kick one of them into gear."
"I don't get it." said Marron. "I mean, it's not that hard to do. I can't go very far yet but that's only because I can't sense ki, so I have to see where it is I'm going. The five of them can sense ki, though, so they should be able to pop up just about anywhere in Otherworld."
"They should." agreed the Kai. "Of course, to pop up somewhere else first requires leaving their current location."
Marron winced at the Kai's tone and handed him the extra milkshake she had. The Kai took the cup and started sucking down the cold chocolate shake as he continued to stare at the downed warriors through his glasses.
"They'll get it." said Chaotzu as he floated down to join the two of them. "They just need a little more time."
North Kai grunted. "You mastered this particular skill in six hours, Marron did it in ten. And you could at least do all five of them to some degree within a week. They still can't do any."
"I was also dead." said Chaotzu. "And so is Marron."
The Kai snorted again. "Being dead helps with physical things. Durability, stamina, things like that. It does not, however, help with matters entirely skill related. Such as learning techniques like these. The Kaioken, certainly, as that also strains the body, but these techniques do not." He sighed and shook his head. "Marron, would you care to do the honors?"
"Sure." she said, nodding. She then closed her eyes and a moment later there was a groan from Krillin, then another from Enzeru, as the five of them started to stir. Sixty seconds later all five of them were sitting up and looking rather dejected.
"Alright. I think we can all agree that was another failure." said the Kai.
"This is pointless." muttered Yamcha. "We've been at it for days and it's just not working."
"Chaotzu can do all of these techniques." said the Kai. "And Marron has learned three of them. If there is a problem it is with your actions, not with the techniques. You need to get through whatever that problem is and then you'll be able to learn these."
"Yeah, well, I don't know how." said Mitsuki, climbing to her feet. "Kais, I didn't even know half of this stuff was possible just a few months ago."
"This is important." the Kai said. "If you can't even learn these five skills you will never learn the Kaioken or the techniques that the Supreme Kai wishes to teach you. And that makes all of this pointless because without learning them you have no chance at defeating the Masters."
Marron winced again, though not just at the Kai's tone of voice this time. She thought he was being a little hard on them. Even though they hadn't succeeded at any of the techniques yet they were trying. Each of them was giving it everything they had. They didn't need more... "Could that be it?" she wondered, blinking rapidly in wonder and confusion. "It always caused me to lock up at school, could they be having the same problem now?" As she watched the Kai set the five of them up for another attempt, again with Chaotzu sending an attack at them as added incentive, she decided it was at least worth investigating.
"North Kai?" she asked telepathically, not wanting to alert the others to the conversation.
The Kai blinked and looked back at her, but apparently caught the meaning of the look on her face as he responded telepathically as well. "What is it?"
"I was just thinking, could their problem be entirely mental? Stress, anxiety, nerves, the pressure of the situation?"
The Kai tilted his head a little, then nodded slowly. "Hmmm. That could very well be the problem." he said to her. "Their anxiety is manifesting in doubt, making them think they will fail, and so they do." The thought hadn't occured to him because of how well they'd done in the actual training, how determined and gung-ho they had been. They'd done amazingly well at the first two tasks they had been set. But those had been physical tasks, not ones of the mind, and so he felt it was possible.
"Is there anything we can do?"
The Kai smiled. "I think there just may be." he said. "So, let's see if you are right." He turned from Marron and looked toward the others again who were still getting into position. He cleared his throat loudly to attract their attention first, then spoke. "Hold it. We're going to take a break from this for a moment. Marron has brought something to my attention and now I want to try something else, first."
"It's not another technique, is it?" asked Krillin.
"No, not a technique. An... experience. Come, place your hands on my back. Marron, Chaotzu, you as well." Marron nodded and laid a hand on his shoulder while the others joined the two of them and did likewise. An instant later the eight of them vanished. It was only the second time it had happened and the five living mortals found it as disorienting as they had the first time. The Kai had whisked them off once more.
The first time they had gone from the world on which they had first appeared on, where they had met the Supreme Kai, to the North Kai's small planetoid. Now they had left that world behind and were on another one, a much larger one. An... odd one. The grass underfoot was purple and the sky above was orange. Where they had materialized appeared to be a vast field, a few lone pine trees growing here and there. At least they were the right color.
"Where...?" began Krillin.
"This is Renni, one of the many different worlds located within Otherworld." the North Kai said. "This particular world is located near the outer rim, which is why the sky is orange. Constant dusk."
"Outer rim?" asked Mitsuki.
"Yes." the Kai replied. "The universe, Otherworld included, is not infinite in size, despite what many mortals have assumed. The mortal world, Otherworld, and the Demon world all exist within a space that is shaped like a massive sphere. Otherworld, from Heaven down to the depths of Hell, exists at the top of this sphere, the Mortal world exists at the center, and the Demon world fills the bottom. In all three there is an outer edge, a point where the universe comes to an end. The outer rim is the most outward part of Otherworld, before the Edge of the Universe."
"And we're not quite there yet, just close?" asked Yamcha.
"Close is a matter of scale." the Kai said, smiling. "The distance from here to the Edge of the Universe is still somewhere in the ballpark of fifty times the span of the entire North Galaxy. The universe as a whole is about a quadrillion times larger, most of that space in the Mortal world is empty void. That is not the case in Otherworld or the Demon world. Of course, our populations are vastly larger, what with having to house all of the mortals who have come and gone since the dawn of time."
"Makes sense." Krillin said, wide eyed.
"Ummm..." Mitsuki started. "If Otherworld is above..."
"No." the Kai interrupted, shaking his head, guessing where the question was going. "A mortal could not simply travel upward from the Mortal world and locate Otherworld, or downward in Otherworld to return to the Mortal world. They would find the Edge of the Universe, but never find their way between planes. Otherworld, the Mortal world, and the Demon world exist in different dimensions. I would explain more but the details would, not unexpectedly, go over your heads. I can think of only maybe seven mortals, living or dead, who would understand it all. Anyway, we must press on to why we are here."
"Why are we here?" asked Marron.
"To test your theory." the Kai told her. "Enzeru, Mitsuki, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, what you are about to embark on is a most difficult journey. An experience that could very well destroy you. I am not being melodramatic when I say that, nor do I mean that it could kill you. It could very well destroy you, completely. Not even your soul would survive. However, I believe it highly likely you will succeed."
"And if we do, we'll be able to learn the moves you've been trying to teach us?" asked Enzeru.
"If Marron and I are correct, yes. Even if we are wrong, however, this journey will help you greatly all the same."
"Alright, what do we do?" asked Tien.
"Enter there." North Kai replied, turning and pointing at something behind him, about thirty feet away. At first none of them saw anything, but then Yamcha noticed a small patch of darkness on a boulder that sat between two trees. A moment later he realized it was a cave. It looked barely large enough to for them to crawl through.
"A cave?" he asked.
"Yes. That is the Cave of Shadows. Enter it and confront what you find inside. That's all the information I can give you."
"Well... let's get this over with, then." Mitsuki said, starting off toward the cave, Enzeru and Tien right behind her.
Krillin sighed, shook his head, and started after them. "Well, let's just hope this goes better than the last week has." he said.
"Tell me about it." agreed Yamcha, following. "Though I suppose it really can't go any worse."
"I just hope this was a good idea." the North Kai mused as he clasped his hands behind his back and watched the five warriors drop to their hands and knees and crawl into the cave one by one. "If Marron's right they need to get over it in order to proceed with the training, or they'll never have a chance against the Masters. But right or not, if they fail here all our hopes go down the tubes."
He watched until the last of them had disappeared inside and then turned away from the cave, waved a hand through the air, and three lawn chairs popped into existence. Another wave of his hand brought forth two small wooden tables and a larger one upon which sat an industrial sized blender and a cappuccino machine. "Well, get comfortable you two. This could take a while."