OPENING THEME
Episode 16:
NOT AS IT SEEMS: THE UNFOLDING OF DANGER YET TO COME
The two men stared aimlessly up and down before their arms tightened about the other in a quick but warm hug, patting each other on the back.
"I cannot believe it - the prince, after all of these years here on Mezora," remarked Sentee.
"Yes, and I cannot believe you have hair so long," Vegeta said, half-jokingly.
The boys' eyes gave away their confusion as they watched the exchange in awe. One minute they were grabbing hold of Vegeta's arms to which he deserted them to study nothing in particular because they could not see what he saw or at least that was what they were hoping. They picked themselves up and patted the dirt off of their clothes and drew closer.
"Long hair is the strength to any warrior race. I'm sure at some point you have discovered such as your race is bent on adapting to any situation - in many ways, the saiyans are just as mystical as the Mezorans," beamed Sentee.
Vegeta smiled, "You were always convinced of such. And yes, you may be right." He motioned over to the boys to which they stopped in their tracks, shaking nervously. Sentee chuckled at the sight of the two in their super saiyan 3 forms. Feeling embarrassed, the boys reduced their power and returned to their bases.
A little taken aback, Sentee exclaimed, "Ah, definitely mystical."
"What the heck is going on?" asked Goten, stumped by the reaction of the stranger, "Where did this guy come from?"
"He used time displacement to save my life," Vegeta said, gratitude shining in his eyes and he nodded towards the man.
Sentee eyed him curiously, "How would you-?"
"Time displacement? Like Mela, Dad?" asked Trunks, "I saw her use it to retrieve the dragon ball like if she went back in time or something. So can every Mezoran do that?"
"Not every Mezoran," Sentee explained, "It is unlocked at a certain level and it takes several levels after that to have a handle on it - however, no matter how strong I have become, without the Klonkindine, I cannot tap into my true potential."
"Then I believe you would be needing this," Vegeta said and he took out a DynoCap. Pressing a firm hand on the lone button on the tiny, bean-shaped pod, it exploded into a burst of smoke. As the smoke settled, a necklace replaced the pod in Vegeta's hand. He passed on the jewellery to Sentee.
Sentee stared at Vegeta and then at the necklace, "How-?"
"A gift from Mela."
Sentee took a deep breath and almost forgot to breathe again, "Mela?"
"It's a long story," Goten said from behind.
"So - she's alive?" he asked, turning to face the boy.
"Nuh-uh," Goten replied and noticing the worried expression on Sentee's face, he continued, "Told ya - it's a long story."
With emotion twinkling in his eyes, Sentee touched the lone yellow stone embedded deep within the last of the three silver tiers. With tears making a start and his voice breaking off in a wobbly struggle, he added, "Thank you, brother."
Vegeta nodded and smirked.
Goten turned to Trunks, "Your dad has another brother?"
Trunks shrugged.
"Hey, you look funny. You're wearing a woman's necklace," Goten laughed.
"Well, of course. It was designed to be worn by my sister," Sentee corrected the boy in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Your sister?" Goten and Trunks said at the same time, casting shocked glances at one another. They knew exactly to whom the necklace belonged.
"Yup, my name is Sentee and I do believe that you must be my nephew, am I right?" He outstretched his hand, waiting for a handshake.
Trunks stared at the man in awe and ignoring the hand, hugged him. Not sure exactly how to react, Sentee reluctantly wrapped his arms around the boy.
"I never really had an uncle, how cool!"
"Are they always this dramatic?" Sentee asked Vegeta.
"He gets it from his mother," Vegeta grumbled.
Hiding a chuckle, Sentee continued in a stern tone, "You saw me using the time displacement. No one, not even another Mezoran can do such. It is unheard of." He thought a while and then charged a sliver of energy that broke off a tiny portion of the stone from the dead center. Vegeta eyed the act in rage.
"Why - What the hell?"
"Relax," Sentee said calmly. With a sudden gush of wind, the tiny portion of the rock was wedged into Vegeta's arm to which he yelled out in pain, "Don't worry, the precious stones of the Mezorans are not poisonous."
"Why the hell did you do that?" Vegeta growled, grabbing hold of his bleeding arm.
"Look."
Vegeta obeyed and marvelled to see that not only was his arm no longer bleeding but the blood itself had disappeared. The new wound had completely healed, leaving no mark behind whatsoever.
"You now have that as part of your being for life - no matter what, you will be able to both see and attack one who uses the time displacement. Perhaps with the stone, I too can achieve the same."
"But - I - I don't understand."
"Mela and I were born under the exact same moon, the exact same month - which is why I am sure she would have asked you to give this to me. I am sure you know the story about the stones emphasising our mystical abilities," Sentee smiled when he noticed Vegeta's firm nod, "Well, merely holding this thing, I was able to fuse the power of time displacement in you."
"Huh?"
"Dad," Trunks called out, "He's saying that you're protected or whatever from anything Mezoran - like time displacement or giving people freaky dreams and stuff. Technically, because of him - you're sort of a Mezoran now, too. And not just through holding the necklace on you."
Vegeta nodded with understanding, "But why did it work in the first place?"
"I am sure of it as I can feel her power within the stone - she passed on a portion of herself in the Klonkindine before she gave it to you."
"Damn magicians, the lot of you," Vegeta grumbled, annoyed by how coolly Sentee explained such an oddity as though it was part of the every day.
"Your uncle's a pretty freaky guy, huh?" Goten said.
"Well, he's not really my uncle."
Sentee chuckled, "What I did before - I could have only gone back as far as thirty minutes but there is only one person who was able to retrieve their special stone and unlock their powers and as such have the full mastery of the technique down - the Great Ruler."
Vegeta grimaced, finding it difficult to contain his anger.
"He could use the technique and kill you just like that as you wouldn't have been able to even land a punch and his time, it would seem, never runs out."
"Damn him. And what about those blasted weapons these creatures have?"
"That is a special alloy used to suck out your energy."
"Suck out? Are you saying that this was how Frieza came by most of his power? A damn metal!" Vegeta growled, baring his teeth.
"These rods are different - the alloy is not malleable in the slightest and as such are shredded to shards for use. While on Mezora, Frieza dispatched thousands of these that will slide painlessly into the pores. They were programmed to suck energy gradually or in one gulp. Hence, why the so-called plague. The alloy is self-sustaining and ultimately it burns out after one use, being so small in the first place. In fact, this is the first time I have seen such a large portion of such a metal."
He grabbed hold of the metal rod and fell on his back. He released immediately and sighed, grabbing hold of his head as he dizzyingly looked about him, "Whoa! There's something especially different about this metal - it's like it's been upgraded somehow. Even the outer core has the potential to steal energy just by simply touching it - but how did the Elmorite hold it with such ease?"
"So now you're telling me that there's a metal that can reduce your strength to nothing and the Great Ruler can manipulate time indefinitely - and somehow I thought this wasn't going to be a challenge at all," Vegeta scoffed at the idea.
"Trust me, everyday since your departure has been a challenge to my people, even now despite us having grown much stronger," Sentee said sadly.
Vegeta thought a while before he ventured to ask, "Tell me, where do your people hide while the Elmorites are out?"
"Underground. After a young boy with incredible strength wiped out the Elmorites seven years ago, Ratio upgraded your devices that you used to sink us below ground to save us that night. Since then, we have never seen the boy but we celebrate him year after year, day after day in our hearts. The first two years since that day were incredible and we rebuilt our homes. For a long time prior to that however, we were forced to live underground as the air current available could last for several years as you know but we would have to slip up every now and then to gather food, have a proper rest but they were always lying in wait. If only our people took your suspicions seriously, many more would have survived especially the ones that were once with us as we would have stocked food and built underground facilities but as you know we didn't listen. They would beat us for fun, for the sake of it and toyed with our lives. Many used the devices to escape the planet itself and we have not seen them since. Others like me, stayed back in hopes of defending our honour, our home but we were no match for them for as we grew stronger so did they - especially since they were feeding off of our energy to begin with. We share some sort of freedom now but once again, we are living in such times."
Vegeta's fists twitched violently, his teeth bared in a vicious snarl, "So you're saying that the Great Ruler was the one who ordered these creatures to do what they did to your people in the first place? That bastard!"
"That's correct. No one had a clue that he was even alive - we had prayed for so long that he could be, to not only lead our people in times of great distress but to lead us to victory as he once did alongside my father. He did show himself, shortly after the young boy left Mezora and he did lead our people - lead us to a slow and torturous death," Sentee seethed in anger.
Vegeta lost control of his anger and sent a wave of his energy to one side which turned mountains behind him to rubble and then dust, the earth shaking violently.
"Calm down, Dad," Trunks said.
Glaring at the boy, Vegeta eventually calmed down, his eyes slowly contracted to normal. He cocked his head towards Sentee and firmly stated, "That boy you speak of - was Fahren."
"Fah - Fah - Fahren. But, how -?"
"Apparently he survived that night and was corrupted by whomever took him. Which reminds me, where is the Great Ruler?"
Sentee understood immediately, "The dark side of the planet. He hides out there with his most trusted lackeys who have become exceptionally stronger without the worries of the sun."
Vegeta narrowed his eyes, "Is the sun something we can use against these things?"
Sentee nodded, "Although, it only weakens them for a moment - a sort of temporary paralysis - this has aided us in quite a few victories over the last two decades."
"How odd - to buy a planet with a sun so damaging to your being," Vegeta pondered, "Take the children and find a means to getting me plenty more of whatever this metal is. I have no doubt that they are not short on supply. I think I have an idea."
"But, Dad - you can hardly touch the stuff."
"And," Sentee interjected, "I cannot even begin to think of where to look. Chances are, the metal was relocated here and perhaps you are correct and they had an unlimited supply but the Great Ruler would never be so stupid to keep it here. Our people consistently have global searches for any such thing that can be used to create weaponry or to aid in our technology. What planet in the whole universe...?"
"We have a pretty fast ship - so no sweat," Trunks said, "And I'm sure whatever this metal is, my Mom can figure it out with just a picture of it. If it's as rare as you say, perhaps she can pinpoint where it might have come from."
"With the time displacement technique, I can move through space and time but if your mother can indeed target which planet, it would make my job easy."
"You can do that?" asked Vegeta in awe.
"Oh yeah. Now I can," he said looking down at the necklace and smiling.
"Alright, boy - contact your mother, right away."
END THEME:
PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
Bulma's face pops up on a small screen.
"Son Goku here! Aw, man! Even Bulma is getting to help and she's not even there!"
The trio hurriedly eats their fill and are making several returns for more delicious-looking food.
"Wow-wee! Yum! Now my stomach's growling. Oh, man. Now I really wish I was there. See you NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL SUPER: HOME AWAY FROM HOME: MEZORANS VS. HUMANS"
END CREDITS : Author/Creator of the DBZ series and characters: Akira Toriyama
Author/Creator of this Story/Series; Creator of the awesomeness that is time displacement ("Damn magicians, the lot of you"); and the realisation that Vegeta had no idea what he was walking into when he decided to venture to Mezora: Chrissi B (c) December 2015