The next morning, Vegeta and Nappa made it to the meeting room before anyone else got there. They spent the entire night before going over all of the documents, pulling the most relevant ones to present to the council. As ready as they'd ever be, they agreed to present it all to the council the very next day.

Vegeta tried to calm himself down, sitting with his arms crossed. This was going to be a long and tedious procession. Their proposal was going to anger many of the council members, and among them were people who enjoyed trying to rile him up. He couldn't afford to get upset, no matter how much they tried to goad him. Unfortunately, they wouldn't get anywhere unless a sizable chunk of the council could see their point of view. He hated that he had to work through all of this, but if that was what it took to get back to his family, he had to suck it up.

"Nappa, how the hell do you do it?"

Nappa looked over at him, as he glanced over the documents one last time. "How do I do what?"

"How can you stay calm, when you're surrounded by these imbeciles?"

He laughed. "Decades of practice, Vegeta. Eventually, you learn to tune out the worst of it. If it's any consolation, you have better composure around it than your mother did, when she was younger."

Vegeta opened his eyes. He had trouble believing that - he couldn't recall his mother so much as raising her voice at anyone, even at her angriest. "You're joking."

"I promise you I'm not. Did I ever tell you about the time she nearly fought our entire village over an insult?"

Oh, he had to hear this. "Enlighten me."

Nappa chuckled, as he sat down at the table next to him. "Back during the first war, your grandmother - your mother's mother - was captured by the Tuffles. She eventually got out when the king - your grandfather - liberated all of those captured Saiyans. Because she wasn't able to get out on her own, some of the people in our village looked down on her for it."

He scoffed. "That's nonsense."

"Believe me - I thought so, too. Your grandparents were able to brush it off, but your mother didn't take kindly to her family being insulted. When some hecklers in our village saw how mad she got over it, they threw those insults her way because they thought it was funny. One day, she snapped and managed to knock out three Saiyans twice her size in a matter of minutes. She would have gone after the rest of the village, had I not been there to hold her back."

The mental image of his mother fistfighting three people on her own, only to be held back by Nappa, was too priceless. He couldn't help but smile at it.

Soon, the rest of the council entered and took their seats, chatting amongst themselves about their lives and recent goings-on. The king took his place at the front of the room. As he passed by, he looked at his son and nodded.

"This meeting is now in session," he said, bringing everyone to attention. "I, King Vegeta II, will be leading. I understand that my son, Prince Vegeta III, has a message he would like to share. Vegeta, you may proceed."

Vegeta stood up. He glanced back at Nappa, who nodded at him. He nodded back, before looking at the rest of the council. "Gentlemen, I would like to discuss our broken alliance with the Earth."

Chini scoffed. "You're still on that?"

"Chini," the king said, "the prince has the floor at this moment and permission to speak. You do not. If you interrupt him, again, you'll be out of this meeting." He was about to retort before he saw the serious look in the king's eyes, making him realize he wasn't joking. Chini just huffed and crossed his arms, looking away. "And the same goes for anyone else here. Apologies, Vegeta - please continue."

Vegeta straightened his back, before he spoke. "I've made it no secret that I believe our decision to pause our alliance with the Earth was a poorly thought-out one. Abandoning our allies on circumstantial evidence not only betrays out Saiyan ways of unity and respect, but it leaves them open to threats. And unfortunately, it appears that my fears were proven correct. Nappa."

Nappa stood up, passing out the papers to everyone at the table. When the councilmen received them, they flipped through each, seeing all of the documents that Bulma had sent the night before.

"While Gero's been attacking us, he's also been attacking the Earth. His androids have destroyed cities and terrorized thousands. They may be in more danger than we are. With our common enemy, we must unite to defeat Gero together."

"Oh, so now they want our help," Chini said.

The king was about to intervene when Vegeta spoke up. "No, father. Let him speak."

"Wasn't it just months ago that we learned the people of Earth didn't want us? But now that they're in danger, they need our help. Why should we care?"

"Their level of gratitude is irrelevant, but I believe the anti-Saiyan sentiment is greatly exaggerated."

"And what's your proof, your highness?"

"There are multiple Saiyans living on Earth. If they had issues, they would have reported it to us directly. But they have not. We didn't suspect a thing until it was brought to our attention by the investigation team."

Some of the councilmen murmured and muttered amongst themselves. They never considered that.

"Are you suggesting that the team brought it in bad faith," one of them asked.

"I never said that. I mention it to show how hasty the decision was. We had a handful of anecdotes and no real facts to back it up. If you'll pardon my bluntness, perhaps you were letting your emotions get the better of you."

Chini laughed. "That's right coming from you! Are we really going to let this lovesick boy preach to us about acting with our feelings?! Last time he was here, he flew off the handle!"

The king crossed his arms. "Chini, it seems like the only one flying off the handle is you."

He stammered, before groaning. He was almost pouting in his chair, he looked so bad. Vegeta nearly laughed at the sight of it.

"As I was saying," he continued, "perhaps you acted too rashly. All of us are stressed and so much is at stake, so I cannot fully blame you. But since there is ample evidence to the contrary, we must correct our course. Planet Vegeta and the Earth will be stronger together and it will help us finally put a stop to all of this."

Immediately, the councilmen began discussing this. Vegeta sat down and Nappa patted him on the back. "Nice work, kiddo," he said with a smile on his face. Vegeta nodded in thanks.

The king silenced the talking and brought everyone's attention back. "Well, this is certainly an important development. If all of this is true, then we must reconsider our previous choices."

"But how do we know if it is true," one of the councilmen said while flipping through the documents. "For all we know, these could be forgeries."

Nappa shrugged. "Maybe we should ask Earth directly. That would give us a straight answer."

"Sounds reasonable to me," the king said. "I say we call a vote on it."

Chini leaned over to the man next to him. "Now who's being hasty," he whispered. The councilman laughed.

"Gentlemen, have you forgotten that I'm the king? Because perhaps you need a reminder of what I can do." That promptly shut them up. "Now, all in favor of questioning the Earth, say 'aye'."

Four raised their hands.

"All opposed?"

Four more raised their hands.

"And a tie leaves it up to me, to which I say 'aye'. Therefore, the people of Earth will get to argue their case against severing the alliance. Once we have broken, I will call upon someone to alert the Earthlings."

"And then what," one of the councilmen said.

"They will have a week to gather their evidence and arguments. Once they are ready, they will present them to us. We will have the chance to ask them questions and get the full story. Then, we will hold another vote and see if the alliance will be restored. Now that matter is taken care of, is there anything else we need to discuss?"

As the meeting went on, Vegeta felt as if a large weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Some of the councilmen were starting to see sense, even with how close the vote was. The real challenge was still to come. But at least there was a chance that things would be turned around. That he'd see his family again. He was not one to feel hopeful, but he felt more optimistic in that moment than he had been since this whole thing began.

Mizu was growing antsy. Ever since she gave Nappa the scouter, he hadn't asked for her help. Maybe that was all he needed, but she was anxious to do more. She hadn't heard a word about their mission since. Hopefully, things were going well.

A door slam brought her back to reality. A soldier ran in and stood at attention. "I have an urgent message from the king. The Earth will be questioned in order to determine the state of the alliance. He asks that two members of the investigation team be there for the questions."

She grinned. "That's great news!" She quickly realized everyone was looking at her oddly. "I-I mean… that's good for the investigation. Maybe we can finally get to the bottom of this, you know?" She laughed, awkwardly.

"Indeed," Haricot said in his usual monotone. "Thank you for alerting us." The soldier curtly bowed and left the room.

Mizu felt positively giddy with excitement. Finally, they'd be able to reverse all of this. And she helped make it happen. As the afternoon persisted, many of the other scientists were discussing it, wondering who would get to take part in the interrogation. It took every bit of restraint to keep her eagerness to herself. Surely , she'd be able to help if she was there.

Once the lab cleared out, she ran up to Haricot. "Haricot! Can I be a part of the interrogation?!"

"Someone's eager," he said as he cleaned up his area.

"Yeah, but I really think I can do a lot for it! Oh please, Haricot, can I?"

He looked at her impassively, before shrugging. "I don't see why not."

She nearly squealed. "Thank you so much! I won't let you down!"

He waved his hand. "Nevermind that. I'm sure General Nappa will be pleased to have you there."

"There for what?"

Her heart stopped. Okra was standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She tried to laugh it off. "Oh, it was nothing. Just… stuff, you know?"

"Oh is it? Well, I just heard news that the council will be hearing arguments from the Earthlings. Why was I not informed on this until moments ago?"

"If you had been here," Haricot said, "you would have learned sooner. Instead you were off doing Rein knows what as opposed to working with the rest of us."

"Only you would be closed-minded enough to define 'work' in such a narrow way. Isn't that right, Mizu?"

She did a double take. Why was she trying to bring her into this? "But… where were you?"

Okra looked at her in surprise, before she chuckled. "Oh, you mustn't worry about that. Back on subject." She pushed Mizu out of the way to stand in front of Haricot. "You need two people for that interrogation. I intend to be one of them."

"That's not your decision to make. For the record, Mizu took the initiative and already asked. And I'm leaving the choice of a partner up to her."

"Is that so? Well, since my pupil is already in attendance, there's no one better to go with her than I. She's still so young and inexperienced. She needs a guiding hand to help her. I'm certain it would be for the best if I went with her."

Mizu frowned. She wasn't a child - she didn't need to have her hand held. Okra never said things like this. What changed this time around?

"As I said, the decision is up to her. And I disagree - I think she can handle herself fine."

Okra turned back to Mizu, walking up to her and taking her hands. "Oh, Mizu, surely you can see sense. Don't you want your teacher to be with you during such a momentous occasion? I'm certain we can still do great things together. Just like we always have." She smiled at her.

She just stared up at her, her brows furrowed. She wasn't sure who she wanted to work with her. She might have considered Okra, but with how strange she had been acting lately, she wasn't sure. And now, after everything she had been saying, she couldn't find it in her to say so. Regardless of everything, she still loved and admired her - she didn't want to disappoint her. She slowly backed away. "I… I don't know. I want to think about this first."

Haricot went over to her, standing next to her. "And that decision is yours to make. Now, unless you have something urgent to share, Okra, you may take your leave."

Okra rolled her eyes and sighed. "Very well, then. I do hope you'll make the correct decision, my pupil." Then, she left without another word. Mizu couldn't help but notice how forced her calm demeanor appeared. Her shoulders were tense and she spoke in a tight voice, like she was forcing herself to stay calm and level-headed. Especially the way she emphasized 'my pupil'. Maybe she was just reading into things too much, but she didn't seem very pleased to not get a straight answer.

"I apologize for putting you on the spot," Haricot said. "If you truly want her to be with you during the interrogation, I cannot stop you."

Mizu looked up at him. "No, it's fine." She ran her fingers through her dark crimson hair, twirling a piece on her shoulder. "Actually, I was thinking… do you think you could be there? I mean, you know a lot about the case and you've led us for so long that I think it would do a lot of good. Would that be okay with you?"

"If that's what you want, then I'll be there."

She smiled and bowed her head. "Thank you, Haricot. And I'm sorry I acted like such a brat, a while ago."

He patted her shoulder. "Water under the bridge, Mizu. I'm just pleased to see you invested in all of this. We can discuss how it will be another day. Until then, you're dismissed." As he spoke, a small smile came onto his face - the first time she had ever seen him do so.

She grinned. "Thank you, sir!" Now, she was confident that they would finally get to the bottom of this.