Piccolo had made his way from the Sai-jin toward the others again at first but then spied the only other Namek in the tournament. Eskarga. Curiosity getting the better of him he'd approached the Namek and asked about why Shale and Torg, both having been revived during the fight against Frieza, hadn't entered into the tournament. Eskarga's answer had been a little unsettling. Apparently Azura had a feeling that something was off and has asked the two powerful Nameks to remain behind.
Now Piccolo was even more curious as to Tatamo's presence. He knew Dende had been sensing something for few months now as well. At least two Guardian's felt something was wrong and one of them had spoken to a third who was now in the midst of the strongest fighters in the galaxy. The powerful warrior had trouble believing this was all just coincidence. With this drifting through his mind he cursed whatever gods were listening under his breath. It was starting to feel like the cosmos themselves were against the formation of the Sennari. Or at least, a simple and hassle free formation.
He'd been just passing by Vegeta's location when one of the Arena's staff had reached the Royal. He was close enough that he'd overhead their whispered conversation. "Message from Mellona, sir. Code Blue Alpha 7."
"Blue Alpha 7?!" Vegeta repeated in shock. Piccolo recognized the code as well. Intruder detected, casualties already resulting, and a possible compromise to royal security. There was only one place there was royal security within the Arena, around Bulma. Piccolo saw the royal stiffen up for a moment before relaxing again and following the other man out of the room.
Back in security room S9 Mellona had the Changeling take a seat at the table in the room. Then she'd taken up a position by the door to wait for the King. While she did she patched in to the Control Box for an update. Nothing had changed. The Transal energy reading had gone up from 50 to 50.01 and Mazda had taken a seat in the stands. That was it.
And so she waited the next several minutes in silence until the door finally opened and King Vegeta entered the room. Vegeta stiffened visibly as he spied the Changeling. But his step never faltered, he entered the room and the door hissed shut behind him. "So, what's going on?" Vegeta asked, his eyes still locked on the Changeling though his head was turned in Mellona's direction.
"We had a waveform signature reading of a Changeling so I and Rapin investigated." Mellona said. "While en route I contacted the Queen and learned that Yaam and Kurat hadn't reported to her yet. The guard I sent to locate them in the staff cafeteria found them, and the rest of the staff there, dead." Both Sai-jins saw a look of shock and fear flash through the Changeling's eyes for a moment but she collected herself quickly enough.
"Rapin's standing guard over the Queen currently, I've already called in Kele to take his position and the first through third divisions to step up security. Just to be safe." She then motioned to the other woman. "When I approached her in the stands she came willingly, I've not had any resistance at all."
Vegeta nodded and moved toward her. "Who are you and why are you on my planet?" he demanded.
"My name is Nova." she said after a moment. "My troops and I tracked another Changeling here, one we have been after since we learned of his existence two years ago. I thought it best that I come down alone so I left the others in our ship outside the system."
"Your troops?" Vegeta asked, eyes narrowing.
"My personal guard." she explained. "I am the new Queen of the Changeling race."
"So, who was it you supposedly followed?"
"His name is Kuriiza. He is, apparently, Frieza's son."
"Frieza's... WHAT!?" Vegeta cried, his arms uncrossing for the first time since he arrived.
Nova nodded her head once. "That was our reaction as well. We'd not known of any children either. He was apparently being raised on another planet under his mother's care. Two years ago we learned of his existence when he landed on one of the few colony planets we still had and took out the command structure I had established. He's not come out of hiding fully yet, but he's been working to undermine our new government."
She sighed. "We don't even know how powerful he is. We've only gotten one reading so far, during his first attack. That was 100,000 even. We are trying to rebuild after finally coming out from under thousands of years of nearly psychotic leadership. First Blizard's family's rule and then the Cold family. So we've kept this as quiet as possible. When we realized he was coming here..."
Vegeta nodded. Having a Changeling around, especially one related to Frieza, at this juncture was not a pleasant thought. "Mellona, any other Changeling waveform signatures detected?"
"No sir, we only picked up the one."
Turning back to Nova he spoke to her again. "Is this Kuriiza, if he truly exists, alone?"
"No. We know of two others who have been spotted with him. An Anubian named Jackal and someone of an unknown race apparently named Tox. Power of around 70,000."
Vegeta looked back to Mellona again but the woman was already a step ahead of him and talking with those in the Box. A moment later she nodded and looked toward him again. "There are a hundred Anubian's here but only one of them is outside general population areas. The D4UU2 hall, I've already got a team going there. There are two unknown waveform signatures in the building as well. One by the south exit and another by the north. I've got men going to those locations as well."
"Good. I intend to get to the bottom of this before the fights start." Vegeta said, glancing at the time on the wall clock. Only fifty minutes left until the first match.
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Galactic Games Arena, Competitors Area
"I wonder where father's going?" Trunks wondered as he watched him leave with the other Sai-jin. "He looks like something's bugging him."
"Probably just a system glitch." Sakura said. "Didn't your mom say things were still glitchy?"
Trunks nodded but he didn't think that was it. He'd never seen that look on his father's face before, no matter how big a problem had been. And he'd seen the royal face a lot of them the last couple years with his Sennari work. Still, there was nothing he could do. The fights would start soon and he didn't want to risk missing his first match.
"So, working on battle plans?" Videl asked walking over to the group.
"Yep!" Goten cheered. "We're going to win this tournament! We've got secrets!"
"Goten!" Cheri cried, slapping the back of his head. "The point of a secret is not to tell!"
"Oops, sorry!" the boy grinned, rubbing the back of his head.
Videl laughed and shook her head as she ruffled Goten's hair. "Well, give it your all. You never know, you really could win." Walking from the kids she made her way over to where Hotaru stood with Kavar and the other Tanarian's who'd made it into the tournament. "Hey Hotaru."
"Hi Videl." the alien Queen said smiling. "Nervous at all?"
"A little. I'm almost positive I can take Gohan but I'm not sure..."
Hotaru shrugged. "Try not to think about it so much." she said. "If you focus on the negative it'll affect your performance out there. Stay positive, anything can happen during a match."
"Yeah. So, what about you? Worried about fighting Vegeta in the first round?"
Hotaru shrugged again. "Like I said, anything can happen."
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Kai Plane
Two figures stood in the midst of a wide open grass field. There was a large and elegant palace some distance away, just shy of the horizon. But there was nothing but tall grass, rocks, a few trees, and some small hills around the two figures. A strong breeze was blowing across the plain, the grass nearly bent over flat in the wind.
The figures were similar and yet quite different in appearance. The one was tall, he was at least seven foot. He had long white hair that went about half way down his back, black eyes, and his skin was a reddish-pink. He wore yellow boots, a blue shirt, blue pants, and a red vest with yellow trim over that. He had an orange belt tied about his waist, the excess cloth hanging down to his ankles. Lastly he had on a pair of earrings.
The other was considerably shorter, only about five foot tall. She had spiky white hair that reached down to her waist, black eyes, and peach colored skin. Her boots were yellow as well, her shirt and pants pink, and her vest red with yellow trim. An orange belt was tied about her waist, the excess cloth hanging down to her ankles. She, too, had on a pair of earrings.
"I don't like this." the man said after a moment. The two had been drawn out from the palace by a growing feeling that something wasn't right. Just a few moments ago the wind had suddenly picked up but it felt more as though something was pulling at them than pushing. Like the wind wasn't really wind but suction.
"Nor do I, Kibito." replied his companion. Her normally cheery expression replaced by one of concern. "Some evil is stirring out there..." She turned her eyes skyward and looked off passed the clouds and numerous moons at some place far in the distance. "Could this be connected to the tears that have formed?" she wondered.
Kibito glanced down at her. "If it is... then I fear what it is that is coming." he said. "To create tears between the planes takes extraordinary power."
The woman nodded. "Yes. Even more power than I possess. That is what worries me the most." She lowered her gaze from the sky and cast a look about her. The wind, or suction, or whatever it was was fading now. Whatever was coming, it wasn't here yet. "Come on Kibito, I want to look around, see if we can find the source of this." To this the man nodded and then both vanished.
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Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena, Security Room S9
Mellona's eyes snapped open as the sounds came through the ear piece of her scouter. Reaching up she pressed her hand against it to hold it closer. "Team 3, repeat that?" she ordered catching the attention of the other two.
"We have a hostage situation at the South Gate." came the voice again saying what it had before. Mellona had hoped she'd heard wrong. "The unknown saw us coming, must have realized we were on to him, he grabbed a near-by spectator. Hostage power reading of 147. Unknown's power has climbed up to and stabilized at 79,614."
Mellona cursed and then patched in to the other two teams. "Team 1, status?"
"Team 1 here. We've found the Anubian. He's in the barrier generator room." came a whispered reply. "Looks like he's trying to do something to the generator... must not know about the issues we've been having."
"Understood. Can you take him?"
"No problem ma'am."
"Do it."
There was silence for a second, and then a minor explosion through the scouter. The team leader's voice came back a second later. "He's out cold, never even saw us coming."
"Take him to the detainment area and secure him in a cell."
"Understood."
"Team 2, what's your status?"
"Team 2 here. We've got a visual on our unknown. He's facing away from us, hasn't seen us."
Mellona stood in thought. Nova only mentioned two but it was possible this third was connected as well. "Can you take him down quietly?"
"It's too crowded." came the reply. "Too dangerous."
Mellona sighed. "Understood. Keep an eye on him." She then turned her gaze to the others. "We caught the Anubian in the barrier generator room. The unknown at the South Gate has taken a hostage, the one at the North Gate is being watched."
"A hostage!?" Vegeta growled. Mellona nodded and with that the King walked toward the door. As it hissed open he glanced back into the room. "Come with me." he ordered, his eyes on Nova. The Changeling hesitated only a moment and then quickly stood and donned her disguise again. And then the three of them were moving through the halls.
It only took them a couple moments to reach the main south lobby. The spectators had formed a ring around the man, his hostage, and the five security guards. As Vegeta emerged from the crowd the unknown's blue face drained of color. He was dressed in a similar fashion to Nova, only no hood or mask and his cape, gloves, and boots, were purple.
"I would release him, now." Vegeta growled. He saw the alien shaking visibly and realized he was scared. Probably too scared to move. The Sai-jin royal frowned and then vanished. He re-appeared a second later with his elbow smashed into the alien's neck. His hands twitched and he fell over, releasing the hostage on the way down.
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Galactic Games Arena, Detainment Area
Vegeta glanced at the wall clock. Still fifteen minutes left until the first matches. He smirked. The three alien's were currnetly sealed away inside barrier cells. As none of them even surpassed eighty thousand, including the Anubian even when transformed, there'd be no chance of them escaping.
After having caught the unknown alien at the South Gate he'd gone to the North Gate and captured the other without even being seen. Now all three of them were awake and locked up. Vegeta, Nova, and Mellona stood outside their cells trying to get answers. All with time to spare. "What were you doing at the generator?" Vegeta demanded again.
Once again, silence. The King scowled but before he could speak again a muffled voice interrupted him. "I think I know." He turned and looked back at Nova where she was looking over the equipment confiscated from the aliens. "This was stolen from one of our colony worlds." she said, holding up a small device. "Most of this was."
The three aliens turned their attentions toward the cloaked woman now, for the first time. She reached up with her free hand and removed her mask and hood once more and all three of them gasped in obvious shock. It didn't go unnoticed by the Changeling. "Didn't think I'd follow you here, did you?" she asked, looking at them. "I'm not a fool, letting Kuriiza run rampant in the galaxy, especially on Planet Vegeta, could only bring disaster. I'll do whatever it takes to stop him and finally put an end to the Cold Family."
"Watch your tongue!" one of the blue aliens hissed. "Kuriiza is the rightful ruler of this galaxy. He's still only a child and yet he is the strongest Changeling. In a few more years he'll surpass all others, including that pathetic 'Super Sai-jin'."
Vegeta smirked and then cracked up laughing. This drew all eyes back to him for a moment. It took a moment for him to calm down and, then, still smiling, he spoke. "Tell me, what's the last news you've heard from the rest of the galaxy? Obviously you know about the tournament today, even the Sennari... but is that all? Do you know about the Androids that appeared on Earth? About Cell? Or, even, about what happened here when Cooler came?"
The three aliens just stared at him blankly and Nova shook her head no when Vegeta glanced toward her. "I didn't think so. Well, let's just put it this way. There's more than one Super Sai-jin now, all of whom are superior to the one that defeated Frieza. And that particular Sai-jin is dead, seven years now." He turned his attention back to Nova. "So, you were saying you know what they were up to?"
"I think so." she said. "This device is called an Imploder. It's a component used in our new engine designs. When attached to a generator or other power source it compresses the energy and then shoots it into the next compartment. If, however, it isn't attached to that compartment it's designed to not work. They've removed the safety just enough, though, that it'd activate but not expel the energy..."
"You mean, it'd just keep accumulating compacted energy?" Mellona asked, understanding now what the three had hoped to do.
Nova nodded. "Until it exceeded capacity, at which point it'd cause feedback with the generator and..."
"Boom." Vegeta said softly, trying to think out how much damage that would have caused. He soon realized the entire arena would have gone up and, most likely, only his father and Piccolo would have survived unprepared for the explosion. "Well, even if we hadn't caught them it wouldn't have worked anyway." he said, smirking. "We've had power issues, the generator's not been putting out any energy for weeks. Everything's running off the back-ups.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I do have a tournament to get back to. Mellona, head back to the Control Box and keep an eye on things. And send someone here to find out where Kuriiza's hiding." He then turned to Nova for a moment and stood in thought. He couldn't send her out into the stands, too risky. And it appeared that, for the first time in history, he was on the same said as a Changeling. No reason to start off on a bad foot with the new ruler of the Changelings.
"I'll take you to the V.I.P. Box." he said. "Less chance of causing a panic if you're out of sight."
She bowed and put her disguise back on. With that done the three of them departed.